Expedition to the Emerald Vale

You continue on your journey when sure enough you soon happen upon the guards at a road block. You hear them before you see them as they are laughing and carrying on quite loudly. There are 5 men in typical Arlaean guardsman uniform and one man who wears an Arlaean surcoat over chain mail armor. They have yet to spot you as you are about to walk around a bend in the road before it straightens back out at the roadblock....

Spoiler:

As you approach the road block, the grizzled man in chain mail moves to meet you. Waiting until the rest of his entourage join him before he calls out to meet you.

Well 'allo there travelers! Sorry for the inconvinence to your journey but due to crime in these here parts the king has set up some toll stations to help alleviate the financial burden of enforcing his majesty's law upon these ne'er-do-wells. So I'm afraid we can't allow you to continue along this road with out some compensation from your traveling party. Now our usual price is a flat 50 gold pieces but since it's just you two, we can settle this little exchange for 25 gold pieces.

There are 6 men at the barricade including the man who is speaking to you. The road is situated on a raised hill and there is a shoulder to the left (south) side which slope downward at a moderate angle but enough to ruin any wagon which should try to travel around the blockade. There is a wooded area to the right (north) side about 20 feet away from the edge of the road. The road continues on the other end of the road block heading west. The barricades themselves are on either side of the road. They stand about 8 foot tall and are made of large logs. There are large steel bars which are used as the arms of a gate on both the entrance and exit of this road block. The arms are currently in the lowered position and are about 4 foot off the ground. The guards are on one side of the arm looking at you two on the other side. The distance between the to gates is about 35 feet.

The man in chain mail looks to you with his left arm outstretched and his right on the hilt of his currently sheathed longsword. The surrounding guards tighten their grip on their weapons.

Now, the gold please...

'fraid that the fee is fixed my friends. If you wish to travel farther down this road, it will be 25 gold pieces. He looks to you more sternly than before and crosses his arms as he waits for your response.

I suppose we will not be continuing down the road then.... The two companions cautiously begin to back away to head back up the road toward their company.

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