It pains you to watch these people carry on like this. Just wandering, barely any food, scarce shelter, and no chance of ever entering the city they're so desperate to live in. This Count of Sodran guy. You've never heard of him, considering the last time you were here the title was still "mayor". It doesn't matter who he's supposed to be, because you know that he's not doing this city any good.

You walk away from the guard and head to the nearest refugee. "Do you have a leader I can speak to?"

He looks up at you, a dejected expression on his face, and gives a weary sigh. He points to a tent that's larger than the rest. "Hugo, the old man in there, is sort of our leader. He gets us jobs in the area and makes sure everyone is well fed."

You nod. "Thanks for the info." With those words, you head to the tent, intent on pitching your idea to the leader. Opening the tent's flaps and stepping inside, you see that it's decorated scarcely. There's some small bedding in the corner, next to a chair and a small bookshelf. An old man with weathered features and a bushy beard sits in the chair reading a book.

You give a cough to break the silence, and he looks up, smiling at you. "Oh, hello there. New to our fair camp?" His voice carries a thick Kishak accent. Guess you know where he's from now.

"No. I came to speak to you about Sodran, and the Count."

"What about it, stranger?"

"Have you ever thought about how many people you have here? It's at least a legion's worth, damn near a thousand from the looks of it. If you banded together... You could take the city."

Hugo looks a bit shocked by your proposal, but not disapproving of the idea. "... Maybe we could, stranger. But what business do you have with us, or Sodran, or the Count?"

"None at all. I'm just a traveler with too much time on his hands."

Hugo mulls your words over. He stares at you, as if trying to assess your reasons for approaching him with this proposition. Finally, he shrugs, and nods at you. "Very well then. I'll organize the refugees... Did you come here just to plant the idea in my head, or do you want to participate in this... Uprising?"

You no, you don't think you will. The idea was to give them the push they needed, not participate.

You shake your head. "All I wished to do was push you in the direction of uprising. Now that you're planning on it, my work here is done." Without another word, you exit the tent, leaving Hugo slightly baffled by your bluntness. Taking a look around the camp one last time, you depart, heading off down the road.

A few weeks later you're drinking at a pub in a town with no name. A man rushes in, and brings you all news of an attempted uprising in Sodran. It fell apart rapidly due to a lack of discipline within the troops; for every soldier they killed, they lost ten of their own. What should have reached the Count's manor instead ended two blocks from the city's entrance.

There were no surviving refugees.

The news makes you shrug. No skin off your back. It was their own faults for rushing in without a plan. You finish your drink and order another. When the second one's done, you pay the barkeep, and head out the door. Tomorrow you should be nearing the Kishak border. It should be nice this time of year.

You walk off into the sunset.

THE END