Kana comes out of the burning building carrying an unconscious woman, and the guy that stumbled out coughing maybe a minute before is now sitting on the ground. He sets her on the ground, saying "She's alive, for now anyway. I don't know what the smoke might have done, but…"

One of the villagers says "If we can wake her up, she should recover. Probably inhaled some smoke, so waking her up and getting her breathing deeper would be good."

Cera says "I think I can help." She stares at the unconscious woman's face for a minute, and then she sits upright and starts coughing harshly.

The villager starts pounding her back, and Cera herself is breathing hard for a minute before regaining her breath.

Kana curiously asks "What did you just do? Give her soul a jolt or something?"

"No, I used my Cipher powers. Yanked her back to consciousness. So…I guess you could say I gave her mind a jolt." She shrugs, her concerned expression fading as the woman is helped to her feet and heads towards The Gref's Rest.

Now that the panic over the ogres and the burning house is over, everything settles back into a calm of sorts - still on edge, but not outright frantic and panicking. And soon even that edge fades, as the people in the village turn their focus to what needs to be done to survive.

They head into Renengild's house, where they meet the aged mayor of the town and her son. They're in a heated debate - apparently over the ogre attack, as the son says they should make peace with another nearby clan. Renengild says they're all the same and can't be trusted, then notices the two of them aren't alone anymore. She gives them a warm welcome to Stalwart, then gets down to business about Durgan's Battery and the White Forge. She wants to get to the White Forge to bring business to Stalwart - because the place is dying, nobody comes way out here anymore. But if they could get to the White Forge, they could make Durgan steel - business would come, and the town would prosper.

When Cera asks about a group of strange people in robes that came through the area, they immediately know they came through the town - Renengild's look turns dark, and her son's posture stiffens. "Yes, they came through here. Barely asked any questions, didn't give their names, only stopped long enough for directions to the Battery and then just left. We all thought they'd been taken by Beregan's ogres, the Flames-That-Whisper clan - but seeing as Galvino lives up by the Battery…" her look turns even darker, and she finishes "maybe not."

Kana asks "Who's Galvino?"

Her son says "He's an animancer, from the Vailian Republics I believe. Can't say for sure, never met the guy."

Renengild glares at her son, and says "And what Uldric isn't mentioning is that he was run out of town a long time ago. Nobody in this town wants to see hide nor hair of Galvino again."

Aloth mutters "Why am I not surprised about that?"

Uldric says "He might be nobody's favorite around here, but he's also nobody's fool. He's lived in the Battery's shadow all these years, if anybody knows how to get in its him."

Cera says "Thank you for the information. Anything else we should know about?"

Renengild says "Yes, the ogre clan. According to Uldric, it's not the one that just attacked us. But still, ogres are ogres. The ones in Russetwood are called the Flames-That-Whisper clan. Its highly possible they got to the group of people you asked about, so finding them may give some results. And if you could deal with the ogres, one way or another, all of Stalwart would be grateful."

Cera nods and says "We'll figure something out, I swear."

"Thank you. If we can get into the Battery and re-ignite the White Forge, well, there'd be work enough for all of Stalwart. Business would come, even if we were in the White that Wends." She shrugs, suddenly seeming like she's carrying a burden that's too heavy to bear, but doesn't say anything else.

Cera says "We'll find a way, Renengild."

The elderly woman smiles, and says "Gods be with you."

They get into the chamber in the ogres' cavern home, having gotten the key from the dead ogre down below, and the five ogres inside turn to face them. The one in the middle must be Beregan, the ogre matron Uldric told them about. She takes a deep breath in through her nose and says "Smoke. Flesh. Fish. Stalwart."

The other four tense up, giant hands straying near their weapons, but Cera says "We didn't come to fight!"

That gives them all pause, and Beregan says "If you did, you'd have slaughtered my clan. Why did you come then? More adventurers seeking to breach the Battery in search of weapons to destroy us?"

All six friends share looks, and Cera finally asks "…What? What makes you think Stalwart wants to get into the Battery for weapons?"

"I have seen a great army marching across the White March. One that will destroy us. It happens if they get into the Battery."

"But Renengild just wants the White Forge so Stalwart will survive! They don't want weapons, they want business! They aren't looking to destroy anyone!"

Beregan eventually says "If what you say is true…" She closes her eyes for a minute, then opens them and says "It is rare for an ogre matron to betray her dreams. This is what's left of the last group of people that came from Stalwart." She points at a small pile of items in a corner, including some familiar robes.

When they take a look through them, sure enough they were Leaden Key agents. There's a few strips of speckleback jerky they had, a small tile in the shape of an anvil, and a journal - too bad there's no soul though, it could have been informative.

Cera flips through the journal page, then stops and quietly mutters an invective that she must've learned during her travels. "We're going to have to visit Galvino. Something about a Cantec, whatever that is, and how his information was a revelation even to them. And this tile came from the Battery door." She turns to Beregan and says "Thank you, Matron. Stalwart won't seek war with you or your clan. They're just looking to prosper, for their town to thrive."

Beregan nods her head after a moment, and says "Survival. The same goal as all others have."

AN: ALright, White March has started! Yes, I'm going to give them all the Soulbound Weapons, most of which happen to be found in the White March. Not going to be a hardcore completionist, sorry, but the story of the game is that you've got to find these guys before you go insane - that generally doesn't leave a lot of time for helping out a million people, no matter how much you want to.