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Bremen was torched at dawn

The people of the sht when the wave of arne River They put up token resistance at the ford, firing a few bursts of arrows at the lead goblins just to slow the ranks long enough for the heaviest and slowest ships to clear the harbor and reach the safety of Maer Dualdon The archers then fled back to the docks and followed their fellonsoblins finally entered the city, they found it co ships os and Termalaine Bremen was too far out of the way to be of any use to Akar Kessell, so, unlike the city of Termalaine which had been converted into a caround

The people on the lake, the newest in the long line of homeless victims of Kessell’s wanton destruction, watched helplessly as their ho splinters

Frois watched, too "He has

"How so?"

"Kessell has backed the people of Targos and Ter and Caer-Dineval, and now Breo now; their only hope lies in victory"

"Not is remarked "You have seen what the tower can do And even without it, Kessell’s are"

"Perhaps," Cassius conceded "The wizard believes that he is invincible, that much is certain And that is his ht bravely when it is backed against a wall, for it has nothing left to lose A poor man is more deadly than a rich man because he puts less value on his own life And a man stranded homeless on the frozen steppes with the first winds of winter already beginning to blow is a formidable enemy indeed!

"Fear not, little friend," Cassius continued "At our council this , we shall find a way to exploit the wizard’s weaknesses"

Regis nodded, unable to dispute the spokes to refute his optioblins and orcs that surrounded the city, the halfling held out little hope

He looked northward, where the dust had finally settled on the dwarven valley Bruenor’s Cli toppled with the rest of the cliff face when the dwarves closed up their caverns

"Open a door for is whispered absently "Please let me in"

Coincidentally, Bruenor and his clan were, at that verya door in their tunnels But not to let anyone in Soon after their ses outside their beards had realized that they could not sit idly by while orcs and goblins and even worse er to take a second shot at Kessell In their underground wo, or if Kessell’s army had already rolled over all of Ten-Towns, but they could hear the sounds of an encae complex

Bruenor was the one who had proposed the idea of a second battle, er at the imminent loss of his closest non-dwarven friends Shortly after the goblins that had escaped the tunnel collapse had been cut down, the leader of the clan froathered the whole of his people around him

"Send someone to the farthest ends o’ the tunnels," he instructed "Find out where the dogs’ll do their sleepin’"

That night, the sounds of themonsters beca Bryn Shander The industrious dwarves i the little-used tunnels that ran in that direction And when they had gotten under the ar just shy of the surface

A special gleam had returned to their eyes: the sparkle of a dho knows that he’s about to chop off a few goblin heads Bruenor’s devious plan had endless potential for revenge with minimal risk With five minutes notice, they could complete their new exits Less than a minute beyond that, their entire force would be up in thethat Cassius had labeled a council was truly more of a forum where the spokesman froies Yet none of the gathered leaders, even Glensather, the only other spokesman in attendance, protested in the least Cassius had studied every aspect of the entrenched goblin army and the wizard with meticulous attention to detail The spokes the oblin and orc ranks and his best estihting to sufficiently weaken the arh, that the cornerstone holding the siege together was Cryshal-Tirith The awesome power of the crystalline structure would cow even theobedience Yet the limits of that power, as Cassius saw it, were the real issue

"Why was Kessell so insistent on an immediate surrender?" the spokese for a few days to soften our resistance"

The others agreed with the logic of Cassius’s line of thinking but had no answers for hi a hold over his charges as we believe," Cassius hiht it be that the wizard fears his arth of tiht," replied Glensather of Easthaven "Or th of his advantage and knows that we have no choice but to comply Do you, perhaps, confuse confidence with concern?"

Cassius paused for a moment to reflect on the question "A point well taken," he said at length "Yet immaterial to our plans" Glensather and several others cocked a curious eye at the spokesman

"We must assume the latter," Cassius explained "If the wizard is truly in absolute control of the gathered arht attempt shall prove futile in any case Therefore, we must act on the assumption that Kessell’s impatience reveals well-founded concern

"I do not perceive the wizard as an exceptional strategist He has embarked on a path of destruction that he assumed would cow us into subthened the resolve ofrivalries between several of the towns, bitterness that a wise leader of an invading force would surely have twisted into an excellent advantage, have been ard of finesse and his displays of outrageous brutality"

Cassius knew by the attentive looks he was receiving that he was gaining support fros in this aive them back some shred of hope

"Our people are out there," he said, sweeping his arm in a wide arc "On Maer Dualdon and Lac Dinneshere, the fleets have gathered, awaiting son from Bryn Shander that we shall support thean’s Hole do likewise on the southern lake, fully arle there is nothing left at all for any survivors if we are not victorious!" He leaned forward over the table, alternately catching and holding the gaze of each rimly, "No homes No hope for our wives No hope for our children Nowhere left to run"

Cassius continued to rally the others around hiuessed at the spokesnized the value of it Cassius searched for the most opportune moment When the majority of the assembled leaders had replaced their frowns of despair with the deter plan

"Kessell has demanded an emissary," he said, "and so we must deliver one"

"You or I would seem the most obvious choice," Glensather intervened "Which shall it be?"

A wry smile spread across Cassius’s face "Neither," he replied "One of us would be the obvious choice if we intended to go along with Kessell’s deaze squarely upon Regis The halfling squir what the spokes us who has attained an alendary reputation for his considerable abilities of persuasion Perhaps his chariss with the wizard"

Regis felt ill He had often wondered when the ruby pendant was going to get him into trouble too deep to cliis now, apparently intrigued by the potential of Cassius’s suggestion The stories of the halfling’s charm and persuasive ability, and the accusation that Kemp had made at the council a feeeks earlier, had been told and retold a thousand times in every one of the towns, each storyteller typically enhancing and exaggerating the tales to increase his own i the power of his secret - people seldoht in the eye anyree of faative side effects of having so , the former spokesman from Lonelywood, represent us in Akar Kessell’s court," Cassius declared to the nearly unanimous approval of the assembly "Perhaps our small friend will be able to convince the wizard of the error of his evil ways!"

"You are is protested "They are only rumors "

"Hu And all gathered here appreciate the sincerity of your self-doubts and appreciate even ainst Kessell in the face of those self-doubts!"

Regis closed his eyes and did not reply, knowing that the motion would surely pass whether he approved of it or not

It did, without a single dissenting vote The cornered people were quite willing to grab at any possible sliver of hope they could find

Cassius moved quickly to wrap up the council, for he believed that all other- were of little iis failed, every other inconvenience would becois remained silent He had only attended the council to lend support to his spokesmen friends When he took his seat at the table, he had no intentions of even actively participating in the discussions, let alone beco adjourned Cassius and Glensather exchanged knoinks of success, for everyone left the roois back when he moved to leave with the others The spokesman fro a private briefing with the principle character of the first stages of his plan

"You could have spoken to rumbled at the spokesman’s back as soon as the door was closed "It seeiven the opportunity to e as he turned to face the halfling "What choice do any of us have?" he asked "At least this e have given theis protested