We leave the confrontational meeting with the Baron and head back to the Golden Dragon Inn to await the delivery of the treaty.  As we come down one of the roads, we are confronted by several men standing in the road.  As we approach, more men file out from between the buildings and block the way.  They are accompanied by three half-orcs.

A booming voice rings out from the back of the group, “Nice day for a stroll?”

“Gentlemen, is there a problem?” Ulric asks.

“You can leave that pretty lady of yours here,” he indicates Briggette, “or if you want a peaceful resolution, she can get off her horse, come here, get down on her knees and suck my cock.”

Ulric dismounts. “You seem to have plenty of men here to take care of that for you.  I’m sure they must be quite talented, else why would you need so many?” 

He continues to walk forward toward the throng of men.  “I suggest you leave the street, or there’s going to be violence.”

Another voice comes from behind him, “That’s kind of what we had in mind.”

Ulric grins and challenges the crowd, “Come Cretans, and meet a true son of Zurwald!”  For his trouble, he receives a dart in the chest.  He begins cutting through the chafe in the front of the crowd, slicing down one man while simultaneously dodging blows from six others.  He steps forward toward several men who carry spears, once again taking one down in a single blow.

Briggette calls for strength from our Oh, Cuthbert!  Give me the strength to bring you back to these unreasonable bastards!”  One of those bastards fires at her, but doesn’t appear to harm her.  She spurs Chancellor and charges into the crowd, running down two of Ulric’s attackers on the way to the leader at the back.  When she reaches him, she lands one solid blow with Helga and ends him in a stroke.

I wheel and fire at one of the men near me, killing him instantly.  Just as a tiny bolt plants itself in the armor of my left shoulder, a half-orc woman steps up to me and swings.  I fight back and take her down, just before being torn from Obsidian.  I take him out, then spin to annihilate the man attacking one of our horsemen.  As I begin to turn toward the remaining battle, a Halfling falls off of a nearby building’s roof.  I look up to see who dispatched him and see a man with long, flowing brown hair wearing red velvet and carrying a dagger and a sword.  I have never seen this man before.

Gustav, carrying no weapon, but rather, only the flags of Zurwald, charges into the fray, “For Zurwald!”  His horse tramples several of our enemies, before they both go down.

The battle rages for a few more moments before the remaining enemies break and run.  The man in red runs out into the main street to continue the fight, and I follow, but there are no more enemies to best.  “Thank you, sir, for your help!” I say to him.

“You’re welcome,” he replies.  “Are you with young Zurwald?”

“Yes.  He’s my friend.  Who are you with?”  I realize the question was a bit blunt and try to recover with, “I mean, siding with us around here might not be the most popular idea.”

“Ah,” he pauses, “The Bonecrushers are assholes, and blood is thicker than water . . . .” I notice he is speaking with a Groznian accent.

“What is your name?”

“I am Boian.”

I know that in our tongue, this means warrior.  “Well named.”

Ulric rides up and I introduce Boian, “He fought well for our cause.”  The two men converse, and Boian agrees to accompany us back toward Grozney.  Ulric finds it odd that the man would recognize our standard, and asks what part of Grozney he hails from.  He says that he grew up near Brasov.

As we speak with him, I realize that he has well-done snake tattoo on his left arm.  It is long and winds down his arm, culminating in the snake’s head on the back of his hand.  We head on to the Golden Dragon Inn, and Boian heads to buy a horse so that he might join us on the trip home.

Later he joins us at the inn and we talk about home, our histories, and our plans for our return.  We spend a few hours drinking and carousing, just generally having a good time.

The next day, roughly around noon, a messenger arrives with a scroll case for Ulric.  He opens and looks at the document, then rolls it up and puts it back in a case.  We check out of the Golden Dragon Inn and head for home.  After a day of hard riding, we are still inside Nevers, but well away from Port-Biot.  We make camp, and although we hear several smaller animals throughout the night, none of them come into camp. 

The next day, we meet up with our waiting comrades.  Korvinean says that while scouting, he discovered a stockpile of light ballista and other equipment being moved and guarded by a small force of men.  We make note to be sure and report this when we hand over the treaty to the Duke.