After a few rounds of bargaining, the rangers got tired of it, and agreed to Allan's terms. Avara was still grumpy about the whole deal, but didn't say anything. Meryn was calm, and he seemed content.

"Meet us at the gates after market day, in the early morning."

"Will do. See you then." Allan said with a nod of acknowledgement. With that, the half elf departed from the rangers' presence. A satisfied smile settled onto his features. He knew the rangers coming to town had meant a good opportunity for profit. And now he had found it. Though it wouldn't be until the day after tomorrow before work on that could continue in earnest. Though Allan didn't let that bother him too much. He was fairly certain he could find some more immediate opportunities to pass the time. And so he looked about the Keep once more to see what else was happening at the moment.

Olek was slowly preparing his cart, his aides hauling the heavy bags and boxes, Cass was listening to a few farmers with a sceptical expression and the adventurers' guildfolks were practicing with some weapons, to the delight of a few local kids.

Some craftsmen and farmers were going on about their business, and the baker's started to get crowded.

When he saw that Cass was still talking to the farmers after all this time, Allan became curious as to what it was that they were speaking about. And so he drifted casually into earshot of the conversation, hiding his snooping beneath the veneer of a simple stroll about town that just so happened to take him past them.

They were talking about an imminent attack by a massive bandit army annihilating the village, at least according to the farmers. Cass was obviously not convinced about the threat, and was trying her best to calm the farmers down, largely unsuccessfully. When Allan was close enough to hear them clearly, the bailiff was explaining to the worried farmers that the Lord Commander will do everything in his power to keep the region safe. Which, though technically true, wasn't a real promise.

The farmers' words about a massive bandit army made Allan pause. While he was fairly certain that it wasn't entirely true, the merchant was also fairly certain that it wasn't entirely false either. As such, he felt that this warranted investigation. "Ho there." Allan slipped into a lull in the conversation as he approached Cass and the farmers. "What has you so certain that there is a massive bandit army nearby?"

Thrown out of their routine by the sudden new speaker, the two farmers started stuttering from embarassment. "Errr, we ... Turran, really, ... ummm ... saw the bandit ... bandits lurking near the path. And for some time ... a few weeks, maybe, hmmm, forest folk stopped coming to ... to trade. Yeah."

"And the forest folk don't scare easily, no, sir." - added the other.

For a moment, Allan wondered if the farmers were referring to elves. But after that blunder with the rangers on what they were hunting, he wasn't ready to assume so easily again just yet. And speaking of the rangers... "I don't think you need to worry too much about those bandits." Allan said. "I just saw the Eastwatch Rangers bargaining with Karek for new weapons. I imagine anyone looking to cause trouble for us won't be doing so for long."

"Oh... that's good." replied the younger one.

The older one, a weather-worn scrawny guy in his fifties, wasn't so content with what they heard, and shook his head slowly. "We'll see how much the Lord Commander actually does."

Cass closed the argument as emphatically as she could. "Well, you know we don't have a massive army, and whatever those bandits are up to is going to be dealt with. Woodhaven is in a sheltered valley, and no-one can just sneak upon you. Especially not a whole army."

When Allan heard that the farmers were from Woodhaven, he realized the forest folk couldn't be elves. Woodhaven was to the south and the elves kept to their own lands far to the east unless they had reason to roam further afield. Allan made a note to mention bandit sightings in Woodhaven the next time he saw his mother. If she didn't already know, he didn't want any bandits getting lucky and surprising her if her work sent her that way. If she did already know, she might be able to shed some more accurate light on the situation than the farmers could. Either way, with Cass bringing the argument to a close, Allan gave a nod of agreement, supplied a "I don't doubt that. Have a good day, Cass", and turned to go see what else there was to see this day.

Olek's travel was mostly prepared, he was ready to set out, but Jenna came by and they were chatting. Somehow the priestess managed to make a chat peaceful and calm -- maybe even a little spiritual by the look of it.

Kara and Seris had stopped practicing, said goodbye to their leader and were walking towards Olek and company.

Helric and two soldiers were riding out of the keep, probably on patrol.