"Certainly not. Though at the time I didn't think it was meant to be an assassination. I merely thought it was ruffians causing a ruckus. Did you have their bodies searched for any notes or insignias upon their clothes or bodies?"

"The only thing that is different from normal clothes was the blue bands of fabric that your friend found." 

"Are blue cloths a known signature of any sort of gang or organization? Or perhaps a group most associated with the color blue? And was it a lighter or darker color than the blue of my clothes?"

Aramae holds out his arms and does a full turn to show his sky-blue clothing.

Fenro waits as Rollo responds about the color of the bands. "I guess any lead that might help us track down what is going on would be useful. I would love to hear from the other nations if there were similarities to the attacks beyond the targets, but, it will take too long to get word from them in any meaningful way. I don't know how much more we are going to get done sitting here. I doubt any answers are going to come strolling through that door. I, for one, would like to get my feet on the road before the footprints disappear." Fenro stretches before refocusing on the group.

"Let's quickly recap. What do we know so far? There was an attempt made on the life of the Æthling, one of many that were coordinated across a number of nations. There was a hobgoblin attack that coincided with it. The attackers all had the same armbands. People generally like the Æthling and there have been no direct threats recently. What else do we know?"

"Their numbers, at least as far as I am aware of, were far below what I would consider necessary for an attack on the ruler of a nation. I had counted maybe four men in the tent with us. One I had disposed of myself and two others were....well, swiftly finished by the crownsman. The last had run off, I believe. The lockdown of the city was quite quick to enact, so if that man had escaped the city, he did so quickly."

Putting his fingers interlocked together in front of him and looking deep in thought, Aramae casts Message to Fenro.

'I also had Edgar follow a shady looking man we saw in the tavern last night. He seemed to be part of the town's underworld, so I did not want to mention it out loud as Edgar has explicit knowledge of underworlds in general. I do not wish to get my friend in trouble, you understand.'

Rollo points to Edgar, "Ask your friend, he still has them. As for groups, that's not really my area of expertise. There may be some guilds or something like that. I know among the religious orders blue is common with followers of Tisus, Zeryph, Onoso, or Aramet. I couldn't tell you what blues they use though, they're not my gods." 

Edgar, when you pull one of the braids out you see it's a light blue, lighter than Aramae's clothing. (Think robin's egg)

"Well, I do worship Tisus, but of course, I myself am not among the assassins. I have proven that. My current thought is that, for the attack here at least, mere sells words were hired to assassinate the newly crowned Baron, not expecting such resistance as provided by those sitting here. As well as that burly lion, whose whereabouts are unknown as of yet. But he too aided in defense, so I believe we can trust him. He may have learned something by now, if we can find him."

Oryxis mulled over the words for a while. "Hobs attacked at the same time? How many and from where? I'd like a battle rapport, if possible, and would like to see captured equipment or slain hobgoblins, if that's possible. Also, he who saw the two man and the gnome, you reckon you could describe those folks in more detail? Would you reckognise them again?"

Vlad shakes his head. "Too dark. All I know is they were either humans or elves. Size was wrong for anything else." 

The first dwarf you talked to, the one seemingly in charge, gestures for you to follow him up a set of narrow stone stairs to the wall. "You need proof, here you are. Careful though, there's still snipers in the tree line." Before you there is a small open field and then a line of trees up against the base of the mountain. In-between the trees and the wall are a good number of hobgoblin bodies, mostly felled by arrows it seems. "There were probably about 300 or so of them. As for a battle report, they started by picking off sentries. Lucky they missed one and she sounded the alarm. From there they tried to rush the walls but we managed to hold them back." 

Oryxis thanked the dwarf: "I don't mean to sound so cynical, it's just that I don't want to rule anything out yet. Is there a way to speak with the sentry who sounded the alarm?"

The dwarf shakes his head. "Unfortunately not. After she made her first call they ganged up on her. I believe they were hoping that no one heard and they could still get away with it." 

The extent of the attacks clearly showed that there was an organisation of considerable influence and reach involved. However, with the limited details that were available, it was clearly one that worked from the shadows and wished to remain that way, at least for now. It would be interesting to see who filled the void of power in the places where the attacks had been successful. Fenro felt that it would not be unlike some plants in the jungle, that attached themselves to an established tree, drawing nutrients from it until it died, creating a gaping hole in the canopy. The parasite then grew to fill the space it had created. He was certain that at least some of the people who stepped up to fill the void would be connected to the events of the past few days.

Rollo stands and nods to the group before taking a bag of food from the bartender and heading out into the streets. 

What would the rest of you like to do?

"Well, shall we go look for the last of our small band? Or are there things you wish to do first?"

Oryxis thanks the dwarf: "That'll be all for now, thanks to you and your squad. May the coming days be easier on you." Then, Oryxis looks back out onto the field strewn with hobgoblin bodies.

Perception to try and determine if they wear some sort of uniform that would indicate they fight for the same organisation, or if they are all clad individually as could be expected from sellswords: 10

They're all wearing rough leather armor. It's hard to tell much more than that from where you are on the wall above them. Best guess is that they might belong to the same tribe. 

With that all taken care of, Oryxis thanks the guards for their time, and leaves. Not before asking the captain's name though, just in case they needed to refer back to him in the future. Once everything was taken care of, Oryxis headed back to their inn.

The dwarf tells you that his name is Ragnar. You overhear an aide refer to him as General as you leave.

As you approach the front of the inn you see your group exiting out into the street, looking around like they're trying to decide something.

”So, what have you guys found out? I might have a lead by the third bridge at sunset. But the source is a bit shady so I would not say no to back up.”

"Third bridge by sunset, hmm? Yes, I think we should accompany you. Edgar and I followed a potential lead that turned out to be little helpful, unfortunately. The news of the attack is, of course, known by everyone at this point. Though not everyone knows that the other nations were also targeted."