The Demagogue 2

The Demagogue 2 is an encounter in Children of the Dragon-Rider.
==Enemies==
* Royal Sentry (1365 Gold, 168/170 XP, 105 Energy, 7/8 HP)
* Royal Guardsman (1410 Gold, 176/178 XP, 110 Energy, 7/8 HP)
==Transcript==
===Introduction===
"Here!"
Roderick dismounts after making that pronouncement. You and Tessa exchange dubious glances. When he asked you both to mount up and accompany him, he said it was to meet friends. You expected to find yourselves at a gathering of commoners in a pub or cellar.
"That's the Darcus Bloodwyn crest," Tessa says. She points at an elaborate coat of arms which has been carved into a marble gatepost and filled with gold.
Roderick grins up at her, while you begin to wonder whether he intends to storm the mansion and steal the silverware - and has brought the two of you along to help carry off the loot.
He offers Tessa his hand to help her down from her steed. And though she's far more accustomed to the saddle than he, and could vault down with ease, she accepts his courtesy and takes hold.
Together you approach the tall gates. And ancient manservant, who was a goblin in life and is now a zombie in undeath, bows to the demagogue as though he's a lord instead of a rabble-rouser with a pitchfork.
"Greetings, Roderick."
"These are my friends, Tessa Tullian and <name> Kasan."
The Servant Bows to each of you in turn before opening the gates and ushering you down a broad path between the rustling evergreens. Other menials, these ones living, meet you at the ornate doors to the mansion and guide you within.
You and Tessa exude awkwardness inside the hallway. Surrounded by gold ornaments and lavish paintings of mounted aristocrats, you both become conscious of how unfitting your attire is. She glances at her worn traveling boots and rugged tunic. You begin to wonder when you last washed under your fingernails or brushed the dust from your breeches. Yet Roderick, a low-born peasant, strides across the polished floor without a care.
The gaggle of men and women who meet you in the dining chamber are dressed in such luxurious fashion that you feel like a barbarian raider come to pillage their treasures and wipe your nose on their silks. But once more the demagogue is unperturbed. And they greet him with the kind of warmth and delight which might otherwise be reserved for the greatest duke in the kingdom.
Beatiful ladies kiss his bearded cheeks, enduring the rough, bristling hair without complaint. Dapper noblemen clasp his wrist and shoulder. Praise gushes from every mouth. To you and Tessa they're polite and friendly. But to Roderick...
"This is the man," a woman in a sumptuous blue gown declares. "I told you that you simply had to meet him! Roderick, allow me to introduce you to Cornelia Bloodwyn."
Cornelia, a lovely your woman with ivory skin and golden hair, actually curtsies in front of him.
"I've heard so much about you!" she says. "Did you really fight off a band of soldiers to save a girl?"
"I'd fight all of Crenus' armies to save an innocent woman from his evil!"
The words would sound ridiculous from your lips. Something akin to a drunkard's inane boasting. But from Roderick they throb with firm, unyielding truth. And the nobles simper - even the men.
No one bats and eye when Roderick tears his food apart with his hands, and talks with a mouth full of succulent meat, spraying droplets of juice. They hang on his every word, cheering his recounted triumphs and sharing his outrage over the treatment of the peasantry.
Afterwards, when you've retired to another chamber for drinks and conversation, they press gifts into his arms. Bags of gold, fine daggers, well-made jerkins. And you learn that it was a member of this august company who bestowed the demagogue's mail shirt upon him. With each offering comes the expressed hope that it will help bring down Crenus. One woman shares such sentiments whilst presenting him with a gilded lily. Tessa rolls her eyes, and it takes you great force of will not to make a sarcastic comment.
You leave the mansion with newfound respect for the extent of Roderick's influence. Those who resent the king in this part of West Kruna, nobles and commoners alike, have raised him up as their champion.
===Conclusion===
The soldier at the back of the group was slower than the others. He lagge behind his comrades, mouthing something under his breath, making absurd faces. As it happened, he had a stone in his boot. It was irksome.
This trouble was lifted from his shoulders when Tessa Tullian's arrow burst through his throat. He pitched forward headlong and lay in the grass. The soft clatter of an armored body against a fallen shield made the nearest soldier turn round. His perceptiveness earned him the next arrow.
That second death didn't go unnoticed. But by then the archer's allies had emerged from the shadows, and death was swifter than their cries.
Category:Children of the Dragon-Rider