I really dropped the ball here! I apologize. The afternoon passes. Baths, food and drink are had. The beds are not too lumpy but are warm against the still cold nights. Morning comes.
Simon Baker joins you all at a breakfast of ham, eggs, beans and bread in the private nook next to the larger public room.
"About three months just as winter began attacks began against the small settlement on the west side of the river by Goblins. The attacks increased in frequency and seriousness until the folk over there simply had to leave and join us here on the eastern side." Simon says, "This isn't unheard of. When winters are especially bad the Goblins come down from the hills on raids, but this was different. The Goblins stayed!"
"Still, at first we weren't really worried. This was on the other side of the river and we were safe and traffic up and down the river system went on as normal, just on *this* side of Dragon Island. I reported all this to the Guild, but they weren't all that concerned as traffic continued just fine."
"However, the Goblins, for the first time in anyone's memory ventured out across what remains of the old bridge and occupied the island!" Simon tells you, "From the ruins of the Citadel they could fire arrows and catapult rocks down on passing boats, and that was a problem not just for us but for the entire Guild of River Merchants!" Simon shrugs, "Boat Captains turned back from here toward Fallcrest and you pretty quickly got hired to deal with things."
"That's the background of things. Any questions?" he pauses knowing you'll have some.