-----As the men of the village gather around the blacksmith at his beckon call, it is apparent that what force they could assemble would be small. Between 20 and 30 males of various ages stand and listen to the bearded man who somehow seems to have influence here.
-----“Hear me, my neighbors,” the blacksmith says, “our thorp has been saved this day by these gallant riders who are more than worthy of our friendship. They have expressed a desire to spend the night here and we should find a place for them as we would our own kinsmen.”
-----As grunts and nods are observed among the men, the blacksmith turns to more concerns. “It is certain that we have not seen the last of the slave wagons. It has been suggested that we arm ourselves with the armor and arms of the slavers and hold out here as long as we can.”
-----Pointing toward the Gorian, he adds, “One of the valiant warriors who helped saved us has offered to train us in the use of weapons.”
-----Many of the villagers then turn toward Sol with hopeful and friendly expressions.
-----Just then Garrison approaches Sol and whispers to him, “Our friend is no longer invisible.”
-----Sol nodded to Garrison at the burly man's report, and as the Gorian worked to unstrap the scabbard from the dead commander's hip, he asked of his friend, "Can ye let th' others know that I've decided t'stay here fer th' night an' help these people set up some form o' their own defense? If th' rest o' ye want t'move on earlier, that's fine, I will catch up th' next day."
-----“This sounds good,” Garrison replies, “although I’ll suggest we all stay the night here. It won’t do any good to run into more trouble if we’re separated.”
-----The Stormrager then stood and walked over to the collection of villagers, gripping the now sheathed commander's longsword in his left hand. He acknowledged the blacksmith with a friendly smile before turning to face the men and spoke in a loud, clear tone, "It's clear that ye've earned yerselves a respite, but I fear it will not come immediately. Basically what ye all have now is an opportunity t'stand up fer yerselves a'fore a more permanent sort of aid arrives... an' believe me, such a thing is coming."
-----He raised the new, sheathed blade up so that the tip pointed straight down, "What I offer is t'give ye some basic teaching on how t'use these, an' perhaps some ideas fer how t'defend against possible future slaving wagons. Now some o' ye may be thinking what good are th' lot o' ye against trained soldiers, but th' simple fact is that they won't be expecting any serious resistance from th' village. Ye'll have enough arms between ye t'make a proper threat against attack, an' if th' worst did happen an' ye are attacked again, yer foes may break an' run when they find they have a true fight on their hands."
-----The blade swept horizontally as Sol gestured to the littered bodies. In an urgent tone, he implored, "As yer first step t'protect yer families an' home, collect up all th' weapons int' a pile an' th' armour int' a separate one."
-----As the woodsman runs off to alert Raven and the others, a few men of the village begin to scour over the dead soldiers. The prisoners are also subjected to being liberated of any remaining arms and armors in their possession.
-----Soon two large piles are made as Sol ordered. One pile is mainly comprised of nearly forty suits of chain armor. The other pile features mostly long swords with about ten crossbows among the mix. One of the villagers indicates to the blacksmith that all the arms and armor had been accounted for.
-----Whisper had been standing at relative ease, out of the way, keeping the hood of his jerkin, as well as his scarf, partially up. He had no wish to start answering questions about his heritage.
-----He cocked his head at Garrison, and nodded. Showing a determined stride, Whisper walked over to where they held their captive, if he could still be called that, and stood there, watching him silently for a few moments, judging that which was before him.
-----Then he turned away, and started looking for an out of the way place, to rebuild an arrow out of the parts he had salvaged.
-----"Firstly... " Sol called out, once both piles had been completed, " ...Has anyone had th' opportunity t'use any o' these sort o' weapons before? If so, go ahead an' grab yerself a blade an' some fitting armour."
-----Raven watches the men go through the piles. Raven is silent, but his eyes are judging the men by what arms they choose.
-----Raven says to Sol, "I'll help where I can. I'll see if there is anyone that has used a bow before." Raven starts to talk to the men to find out more about them.
-----In response to the Gorian, most of the men nod their head. Raven and Sol then watch as the male villagers move among the piles. As they assemble back together, it looks as though all of the men have selected long swords. Out of the 23 men, 20 of them look competent as they heft and swing the weapons. Thirteen of the men pick up chain armor, eleven of which begin to put it over their clothing. Nine of the men also pick up the crossbows.