Bert takes his hand away from his rapier once the half-elf speaks. "My name's Bert! Apologies for the distrust -- it's been a weird day. I'm not used to this adventuring thing. I'm a cartographer! But we did rescue these lovely people from that cave back there. Some goblins, ogres, and rats thought they were dinner but we convinced them otherwise. We'd ideally like to return the poor lads and lasses to Nightstone. We may have accidentally let the Zhents take over when we left for the cave rather abruptly earlier today. If you really wouldn't mind helping us with that, we'd be very grateful."

He looks to the others.

"Can anyone see if the drawbridge is down or up?"

"I am called Halizthan." He says as he nods to the rest of the group as they are introduced, carefully moving his greatsword so he is resting his hands on the pommelmas the tip touches the ground. "While I am not entirely sure what Zhents are I have both monsters and men alike in the name of the greater good. Somif these zhents are doing something to harm the innocent then I will gladly assist in dealing with them."

The drawbridge is up currently

The small forest gnome with simple, loose fitting clothing and a light blue sash around his waist touches the tip of his walking stick to his head and then extends it with an accompanying nod in Halizthan's direction as he makes eye contact. With a smile, he offers a greeting to the stranger with the rather big sword. 

"Greeting Master Halizthan, and well met. At least well-timed it would seem. As our sole companion with the multi-syllabic name has indicated, I am Zook, originally from the Western Heartlands, and I am also pleased to make your acquaintance."

"As for Zhents... I did not know very much about them myself as of yesterday, but I quickly learned that they are untrustworthy bullies who seem to think that they can take whatever they wish, even if it belongs to someone else. At the very least, they seem to have a reputation of being opportunists and mercenaries. In this case, they have taken advantage of the tragic events that have recently befallen the the people of this village, and that just doesn't sit right in my book."

"After what these people have been through, they deserve to be able to go home in peace without the threat of being bullied about, and that's what we intend to see happen. If you would like to offer us your aid, in this matter, then we would kindly accept it."

Bert is a slender but somehow still dorky eladrin elf, dressed in dark green studded leather armor that should fit a bit better and carrying a longbow and rapier. His pack has the usual adventuring gear, plus a few rolled-up scrolls that you might guess are maps. 

"Indeed, the Zhents are usually in cities, acting as mercenaries, brigands, and thieves, and I don't know how often they come out to towns like this and try to take them over. The guards in the keep asked us to remove the Zhents from the town, but a bigger threat in the form of a band of orcs trying to enter the town caused us to briefly forget that task and scare off the orcs. Then we went to go get the villagers. Oh, and the reason the villagers left? Apparently some giants in a cloud came in a floating castle and threw stones down at the town, and then came down and stole the eponymous nightstone in the town square, which was apparently some sign for the goblins to come in and try take over the town and kill some people and chase some livestock. I'm more than a little curious about whether the story about the giants really happened that way."

He runs his fingers through his hair. "As for our next task, though, I can step through mist from the path across the moat, through the wall, and on the other side, in town. That gets one person inside if they're not acting welcoming. But I'm not very good at frontal assaults or, you know, singlehandedly attacking a large group of brigands. Think we can talk our way in? And then once we're in, if they don't want to get going, we can try to subdue them? Or we could just wait outside and then try sneaking over under cover of darkness, maybe on the other side of the town where they're not looking?"

Hawk, while waiting for the night to come, is going to ask around amongst the villagers trying to find out if anybody knows of another or secret way into town that isn’t the drawbridge.

Most villagers point you towards the unofficial leader, a dwarf named Morak Ur’gray, the owner of the Nightstone Inn. He knows of no secret entrances, though one guard does point out that you might be able to get in where the bridge is broken to the keep.

Bert asks the guard how they might do that, and if it involves swimming...

It does involve swimming. And a small amount of climbing probably, up a steep bit

At the unofficial introduction of Morak Ur’gray, Zook steps forward and introduces himself to the dwarf. "Greetings Master Ur’gray, I am Zook Fiddlefen, and I believe that this belongs to you." He reaches into his pack and brings forth the bottle of dwarven whisky that he procured from the village.

"I rescued it from your fine establishment, which I'm afraid, is in a bit of a shambles right now. I didn't want it to get broken or stolen by someone who might not fully appreciate its fine, smoky flavor. I hope you don't mind, I've taken a few nips, but I'd be more than happy to compensate you for the few drams that are missing. At any rate, here you go. You've suffered enough difficulty during the past few days, and you should have back what rightly belongs to you, including this bottle of whisky."

At the talk of swimming and climbing back into Nightstone, he says, "Ah yes... just as we did last time, except in reverse. Climb down, swim across the moat, scramble up the other bank and then shimmy up one of the bridge supports. Not very easy, or enjoyable, I'd say, but certainly doable, if we can't find another way in."

Halizthan keep silent as he listens, nodding as he is given information on the Zhents. If they were giving the people of the village trouble then he considered it his job to deal with them. Whether it was through diplomacy or the edge of his sword he would do his best to be of use. "If we must swim then perhaps it would be wise to have someone able to do so easily to go across the moat first and then use a rope to assist in others crossing."

"It might be difficult to get everyone across safely, especially since many of these people are quite tired and no doubt famished from the events of the past few days. No need to expose them to further danger. I'm thinking that two or three... or four of us, maybe even five, can sneak in and try to lower the drawbridge."

"Unless, of course we want to walk up and knock on the front door. Bert, do you really think they'd deny us entry back into Nightstone?"

I say we sneak in at night, when we are less likely to be greeted by the whole gang, and then open the bridge to all that are ready to fight for their homes and we take the village back! I don’t like the idea of letting the Zentz people being in control here.. if you guys want to go and negotiate then do what you must!

After a few minutes he adds:

Actually, if some of us get to the front of the drawbridge and try to ask politely to get in, it could provide a good diversion for others trying to sneak in the south part of town, then we hide until night to come open the bridge.. but in this case, they might be more alert and on guard tonight.. just bouncing ideas.. Whatever the plan is, I volunteer to sneak in!

When Hawk begins describing his second idea, Bert begins nodding excitedly. 

"Yes yes yes that is what I was trying to describe, only better! Some of us sneak over and try to get in unseen while the main group with the villagers are trying to enter via the main gate. Best-case scenario they let everyone in and agree to leave and we snuck in for no reason. Or they let them in and don't agree to leave and then we have an advantage with two sneaky folks they don't know about. Or they don't let anyone in and we can sneakily try to lower the gates, knocking out some Zhents if we have to. I volunteer to sneak over too. Zook I would love to be proven wrong and they let us in and agree to leave. But they seemed pretty happy to get what they thought was an empty town for a new base."

Mandaway scratched his mop of grey and black hair, " Well, I'm not the sneakiest so best I stay with these folks, don't get in too much trouble."

OOC:

So.....we haven't long rested so we're completely out of spells right?

OOC: This was partially why I was suggesting we rest back at the cave but everyone seemed to want to get back to town!

Where exactly are we at this point? Where did we meet up with Halizthan? Meaning in relation to the town. Are we close enough to be able to see people on the walls/in the towers, and would we be close enough to have individual people be seen from the walls? 

You are close enough to see the walls, not close enough to make our individuals, though would see movement of a torch if it was dark 

Bert still likes the sneaky plan and suggests the rest of the group go off to the front gate, while he and Hawk crouch low and try to sneakily get to where the villager indicated would be the easiest to cross.

(is that everyone's final plan? If so sneaky people give me a stealth, and front gate people let me know what you are doing) 

(Halizthan will go to the gate since he is not th best at sneaking in his chainmail...)