Stranger ranger

Aayesha rises from her chair and slowly moves towards the window, being careful not to be in line of sight with whoever is outside. As she slightly leans in, you see her shoulders relax.

"It's the Undercreek police." she states: "They've come with prison wagons."

She opens the door and steps outside. The sun has risen at this point. Aayesha is the first to approach the wagons, closely followed by you. Seeing as there is no threat, the other citizens of the town carefully move outside as well.

There are three carriages in total. The first two looks to be made of some very solid steel. In general, they look pretty sturdy. These must be the prison wagons. They are both manned with two men each. The back carriage is manned with two rat-men, and the front carriage is manned by an additional rat-man plus a wolf-man hybrid. You can tell by his mannerisms that the wolf-man is in charge. Trailing behind the two prison wagons, is a third, much shoddier wagon, manned by one underwhelming-looking goblin. He looks severely out of place with the rest of the cavalry. You're not sure if he is even police.

"Oh crikey, Aayesha," the wolf-man speaks up with concern: "You look like hell."

It wasn't untrue. Aayesha still has a bandage wrapped around her shoulder from her bullet wound. You've never seen her without that hole, but you assume she would have more of an authoritative presence, if she didn't look like she was in constant pain. That was a fairly relatable feeling. You could easily see how her intimidating long snake tail, her jet-black hair tied up in a bun, and her form-fitted, but extremely guarded uniform would make her look fierce and hardboiled. However, there is very little of that in the woman before you now. It of course doesn't help that she has got at max two and a half hours of sleep.

"Nice to see you too, Walter, you piece of shit." was her only response. Walter just chuckled.

"Still ever the mean woman, I see." he replies: "I'm glad to see you alive."

"And I'm glad to see you still haven't been promoted to sheriff, deputy Foley."

"Is that how you talk to your savior?" the deputy continued to quip.

"'My savior' my ass. You're gonna transport a couple of goons, how heroic. My savior is standing behind, you haven't done shit." she shoots back. It's hard to gauge whether she's genuinely upset or if this is just the kind of way these two talks to each other. Walter leans to the left and gets a good look at you.

"An orc? An orc saved you?" he asks confused.

"Yep, took out like eight of them. Plus, she did all that with a hole in her gut from a Desert Killer and she had walked for a day in the desert before then too. She is an absolute beast." she answers smugly. Well, technically Trisha took out a lot of those eight guys, but still...

"So how many assailants are we talking about?" Walter asks, seemingly wanting to change the subject from talking about you.

"Seven alive, five dead." she answers.

"Perfect! Each wagon can fit four people, so there should be enough room for everyone." he exclaims happily.

"Actually, can you fit six people in one carriage?" she asks.

"No, that's definitely not possible." he answers: "Why?"

"If you put the gargoyle in with any of the kobolds, it's gonna start a brawl."

Walter ponders: "Hmmm.... would it be okay for you, if you keep the gargoyle in your cell for a little while longer, and we take all of the kobolds now?"

"I guess it can't be helped." Aayesha shrugs: "By the way, why is Craig here?"

The goblin on the endmost carriage perks up at his name.

"Oh, we met him on the way here. He was on his way here with his goods as usual. When we told him about the situation, he became concerned. We realized that you guys might have it rough out here, so we bought out his entire wagon worth of food and materials."

Everybody looks surprised. Finally, a bit of fortune. Even Aayesha can't keep the façade up: "Oh wow, thanks. That will really help, Walter."

"Yeah, well, what are old superiors for, huh?" he shrugs. You help Aayesha, Walter and the three rat-men loading the kobolds into the wagons. They don't even fight it; they know that they've lost.

You and Emily retrieve some hay for the horses before Walter and his entourage mounts the carriages once again.

"Thanks for giving the horses something to eat and thank you Craig for the supplies." Walter says. Craig just nods in response.

"We rushed to get here as fast as we could, but now knowing you are not in any immediate danger, we can take our time. Once we get back, we can send for another wagon for the gargoyle. It will probably be about a week from now." Walter announces.

"Yeah, that's fine I guess. It's not like the kobold goons could have any backup come raid the town at any given moment." Aayesha sighs.

"Well, we must already depart," Walter bids farewell: "I'm sorry I couldn't stay and catch up."

"What are you talking about? You fucking off is my favorite part of your visits." Aayesha yells at the carriages as they are moving away. This time you definitely see a smile on her face.