At the ruins of the peasant village some hours (after Pro's post ), Danny Hearn, the Raptor, Banshee and Mason Templar were salvaging anything they could. The three had spent several hours damming the river-waters which had flooded the town, a job made simpler by the fact that the waters had been receding by themselves for quite some time. They made a point of destroying the bridges along the river, however, as they wanted to make it difficult for any of the Red Archers to return any time soon. Thanks to Erasmus and the winged Vanguardians, they had little trouble bringing in any supplies they needed.

While the watchtower in the town was the only building that had apparently remained intact, many of the other buildings were sturdy enough to remain mostly intact after the waters had receded.

And then there were the bodies.

There were several Red Archers, naturally, as well as a few Wargs, but there were also many dead villagers, mostly old women and children. While the Vanguardians began fortifying the town to use as their new, temporary base of operations, the Raptor spied a few villagers who had survived the flooding and were slowly coming back. He landed before one, an old man with a long white beard, and addressed him with the few words that Sam and Mason had taught the team so far:

"{{Man, where you go why return?}}"

The old man looked bewildered yet too old and tired to bother running away. "{{Your accent is strange, winged one, but if you are asking why we have returned, it is because this was our village before the Red Archers took it over. We are merely poor hunters and gatherers, though there are a few peasant farmers among us who work the lands of Lord Grayavale. We know nothing of your strange battles in far-off lands. We want nothing to do with it.}}"

Euro shook his head, trying to make out the words but failing. "Mason, can you understand what this man is saying?" he called.

Mason Templar had the man repeat his words and carefully explained them to Euro as if he was an ignorant child.

"Thank you," Euro said sarcastically. "Maybe you can get this man to understand that we've arrived to free him and his people from domination."

"Right, right. But is that true? After all, are you not the one who destroyed their village?" Templar said with a wink. "Ah, but they don't need to know that. Let them assume, as they already do, that it was the will of the gods that the river overflowed and defeated the army of Red Archers for them. The villagers will be returning, however. If we expected to take over an empty village, we've misjudged the intentions of the villagers drastically. A few of them survived the flood in the town, and besides, the majority of them were out working in the fields or out in hunting parties, so the population of this village is largely intact. If we're going to use this village as our headquarters -- even if only for a short time -- we'll need their cooperation."

Templar chuckled. "And we may have to contend with their landlord as well. This 'Lord Grayavale' might not take too kindly to our appropriating the villagers for our own needs. I've never been fond of the nobility, but we may need his help -- we'll have to find out whether he can be turned into an ally or whether he's allied with Godbolt."