Snippet #2072191

A grunt and an exhale of breath escaped the dwarfs lips as he strode down the last stretch of road towards the city gates. He'd run out of bread and cheese days ago, and it had been a while since he'd caught a rabbit, and while Hogar did enjoy his time walking in nature, even he had to admit it would be nice to have something in his belly other then nuts and berries for a change. Returning to civilization brought the prospect of food fresh from the market, and the old dwarf could feel himself salivating at image of some stew and potatoes with a full pint of ale to wash it down.

Food, however, wasn't his chief concern at the moment though, as the real reason for his trek to the human city was to follow up on a job board he'd seen posted some odd days ago. While he really didn't need the money, having enough to get the basic essentials in his own pocket, the excuse to go on another little adventure was all he really needed at the moment, and the promise of getting to crack a few bandit skulls open was a nice bonus.

"Name?" came the short question of the customs officer as Hogar reached the gate.

"Hogar Rafun." The dwarf replied, setting his pack down and pulling out his travel papers and handing them too the guardsman who looked them over quickly.

"What's your reason for being in the city dwarf?" The man asked. Though from the glances the guard was giving toward Hogar's armor and weapons it was easy to guess the man had an idea as to what the dwarf was there for.

"I'm 'ere fer the royal bounty huntin' job I saw on the message broads." He replied.

"Another mercenary then." It was a statement more then a question. Lots of folk like that had been popping up in the last few days. "Alright you probably know the rules. Don't steal anything, don't pick any fight, don't burn anything down, yadda yadda yadda." The guard rattled off with the tone of a man who had been say this a lot recently. "Also you may want to hurry to the keep then, the cut off time is going to be in the next hour or so for anyone that wants to pile on."

Receiving his papers back the dwarf nodded and gave a word of thanks, before picking his pack back up and treading through the gates. He passed quickly through the streets, resisting the urge to stop at any of the shops to gawk at whatever was on display for the sake of good attendance. As much as Hogar wanted to, he would have to put of his usual sight seeing till later. Getting a few directions he hiked through the twisting streets till he reach the Fortress In Stone, as the locals called it. He stopped briefly to place his hands on the engraved walls carved out of the mountain side. "Good stone work." He muttered to himself, still feeling some of his heritage as a man of the mines calling to him.

Further entry to the keep end up with him being redirected to the "stables" he found. Odd, he thought, as he was thinking that they would have met in a court yard or something if the hired warriors were assembling. It didn't matter much to the old warrior though, but he did have to wonder about the odd placement of the stables in the back of the keep.

Reaching the room where the band was being the assembled at last, the dwarf stood giving a scrutinizing look upon the gather men and women. His opinion on the group still on debate. "So do I just sit anywhere then?" He asked the nearest member of staff. They waved the dwarf of toward a random corner as they soldiers attended to getting the mercenaries placed. Hogar gave a gruff and sat himself down on a box in the corner of the room. Setting his pack down, he pulled out a bag of nuts, popping a few in his mouth and eliciting a loud crunching noise as he bit down on them. Resolving to wait until somebody decided to get things moving, the large dwarf settled down quietly, occasionally chewing loudly on his snack while he watch people come in the door.