By the time Roark got to the castle's courtyard, it was surrounded by a thronging mass of people. After a couple of failed attempts to politely push his way through to reach the courtyard proper, he sighed before simply wading through the crowd, ignoring the indignant cries as people got pushed out of his way, most of which quickly quieted when the saw the stocky dwarf who was responsible for their disturbance. Admittedly, there were even odds as to whether they were silenced primarily by his stout stature, his somewhat rough demeanor, or the large shield and well-crafted war hammer latched to his bizarre metal rucksack.
Breaking out of the mass of spectators, Roark finally made it to the main area of the courtyard, populated with a much thinner crowd, just in time to see the king emerge, accompanied by a fanfare of trumpets. Joining in with the edge of the crowd, he found himself next to a rather nervous-looking human girl, who seemed to be fastidiously not looking at the very large man (who appeared to be just a bit shy of twice Roark's height). Settling in, he listened up to what the king had to say, silently absorbing the information as it came.