The men think for a bit before replying, the one who had been silent up till now looks at his companion and says "On your head be it." then gets up and leaves.


"Sorry about him." the man says "He is just a little bit on edge about this whole situation."


"And just what is this whole situation?"


"Ha! fair enough. Well I can tell you some of it now, You did some work in the mines recently and our employer owns several of the new sites that have been opening, so in reality you've been doing work for him."


You nod slowly, its common for prospectors to open several sites to ensure one produces. You don't have enough information to pin down a specific job or owner though so keep listening.


The man continues "He developed an interest in you from the reports he was receiving which is what put you on our radar and your behavior and reaction to the war made up my mind to come speak to you. Now you can appreciate how much of a risk I am taking here but I have decided to trust you. The war isn't all it seems and you know that. There are a lot of things you don't know about but the main one is that Carn didn't start the war and didn't attack the Old Quarter."


He pauses to watch your reaction before continuing.


"Now lets set one thing straight, we aren't talking treason here, we are completely loyal to the king, but we think he is being betrayed and tricked by his council. Now I will give you tonight to think this over and talk to you tomorrow evening again if you want to know more."


The man gets up and leaves. You realize you don't even know his name but he is too far to call out too now so you sit back and think over your options.

You wait it out and see what he says the next night, theres too much truth in what he says to ignore it all.

You've had your doubts all along so now you want the facts. You wait till evening when you are all making camp and head out to the edges where the two men normally set up their bedrolls. It isn't long before they come over, set theirs up near you and join you at the fire. "So you didn't try to turn us in?"


"I thought about it a lot but I need to hear what you have to say."


"Hmm honesty at least, I'm not sure I would have trusted you if you said it didn't cross your mind." he gives you a smile then moves closer so he can speak in a lower voice. "Everything I said last night is true and we have the proof with us, letters and land deals signed by keys members of the council, all encouraging the war. One was even stupid enough to put in writing that he had captured the two Carn ships to use in 'plan spark'. Others talk about preparing for war and the buildup of the army being hidden from Carn's spies. Even the torture and murder of people they think might betray them or go to the king. Basically everything we need to avert a war and have the king put the men to justice."


You think for a while and decide if they really have all this proof that you are going to help them, besides now that you  know this much you are sure they would kill you if you show any sign or betraying them. You talk till sundown about plans and strategies.

You reaching the Front Lines

The marching is taken slowly but efficiently and you approach the lines in just under two weeks. The Capt calls a halt for the evening about half a day out from the front lines and says that  he plans to arrive by lunchtime tomorrow so you better all clean up your gear and look presentable for the last march.


That night you and the two men set up your sleeping rolls near the edge of camp like normal and the man you often see them talking to goes on sentry duty nearby. Its all been arranged for midnight when all but the sentries are asleep.


The three of you stay awake and near midnight you all pack up your rolls and sneak over to the sentry who steps back into the light. One more man joins you and the five of you slip out of the camp then turn towards the front lines and break into a jog. The weeks on the road has made you strong and fit so you all go double time for the first few hours before slowing to a normal fast marching pace.


The man who is obviously the leader calls back to you all "Right we need to get across by sunrise today or our chances of survival are near zero, our Proprietor has provided us a rough map of the front line fortifications as of when we left the city and plans of what work should have been completed since we will be heading about 2 miles south of the road where there shouldn't be any defenses in place yet so we will only have sentries to deal with."


You start marching again when you suddenly remember a conversation you had with Capt. Argor only 2 days back


"Wait!" everyone stops and looks back at you "listen, I was letting the Capt. go on about his love of rocks again when he mentioned a runner from the front, he said they came across solid granite just south of the road so moved a mining operation there at short notice, if its close to our crossing point it'll be swarming with men."


The leader stares at you for a second before considering the map again.


"Good work Glor, we cant afford to meet to many guards, so its north 5 miles instead. Double time people!"


You all set off at a fast jog and your just glad you let the Capt. talk about rocks.

You reaching Carn

Your leader guides you skillfully through he front lines, avoiding encampments and guards and you get across the lines with only one guard killed. You are sad that one had to die but there was no other way and plenty more would die if you didn't succeed.


You get through as dawn begins to break and all collapse two miles across the lines from exhaustion. You've all been jogging in full gear for just over 7 hours now and are all spent but you're across the lines and the leader says you can rest. You don't know what to expect but you soon see a small farmers cart approaching your position. The leader quickly speaks to the man and you all pile into the back as he turns back towards Carn and whips the horses into a trot.


The journey from there is uneventful, you all change out of your gear into nondescript clothing and the other men all have identification which marks them out as working for Carn's king so no soldiers bother you.


You reach Carn after several days hard travel, swapping carts a few times.

The War

THIS IS THE SECOND BEST ENDING, THE SOLDIERS ENDING.


 CONGRATULATIONS!


Once in Carn you are taken before the king and your leader makes his report after presenting the documents. King Hader immediately sends them to his scribes who make several copies and over the next few days they are smuggled out of Carn to all near-by kingdoms. King Hader also sends several emissaries to your City and is finally granted a cease-fire when one of your kings high council personally intervenes and tells the king that the council had been blocking Carn's requests and emissaries from reaching him. The Councilor was in fact your proprietor and was able to tell the king some of the truth of the situation.


Once the king knows he was being lied to he immediately took control of the military and ordered a cease-fire and confined the council to chambers under guard until he had found out the truth. And once the truth came out the entire council bar one was hung from the city gates. Peace was made between the two kingdoms and it was all due to you hearing your captain talk about his love of rocks.