A new Beginning in a broken Kingdom

As the darkness around me finally dissipated, I found myself surrounded by my companions examining me curiously.
 
“So… what exactly did you change this time around?” Nabi asked.
 
I looked down at my body and up again. “I think, I have just rewritten my own past somehow”!?
 
She raised her eyebrows for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure. Shall we go then”?
 
“I guess so”.
 
We made our way back to the entrance where we had left behind our equipment and our friends but what we found there left me shuddering for a moment. A scrawny figure in ragged clothes and greasy hair that distantly resembled Khionk sat next to a pile of rusted armour which undoubtedly belonged to… I mean was Sable. The goblin’s gaze was completely blank and it noticeably took her a lot of effort to speak.
 
“We didn’t expect you to be alive after all these years.”
 
Apparently our journey had taken a little longer than we thought. In her rasping voice, Khionk explained that it was about 25 years since we went down to the brewery. Rimvaul had taken over leadership of the goblin tribe until a massive army rolled through the valley and exterminated every last goblin and the old orc shaman. Judging by the banners, it was probably Godard’s force, which had marched further east after the skirmish. Khionk and Sable had managed to stay hidden and thus had survived the onslaught.
 
We decided to return to Iverbent, but were shocked to find that the city had been almost completely devastated. The hills on the outskirts of the city were littered with pieces of armour similar to Sable's. Apparently the defenders had drawn the short straw and lost the siege in the end. I set out to examine some of the armour and found a piece displaying some kind of sigil inside. It was incomplete however and I suspected it to be the same magical compound that was used to bind Sables soul to the metal. Khionk eventually agreed to let me peek inside his armour to compare and copy the intact sigil. Maybe we could somehow reverse the process if we were to find his original body.
 
After reaching the city gates we decided to take a cautious approach. Oxton sent his unicorn rabbit in to scout the area. He was able to control the animal within a certain distance and could see through its eyes. Cid and Nabi followed. I stayed behind with Khionk and Sable to guard Oxton’s body that appeared to be in a trance until he came to and told us that it seemed safe enough to proceed.
 
The last survivors had barricaded themselves in the town center and were using the remains of the hero's seat as their headquarters. Inside we were happy to see that the innkeeper was still alive and had expanded her responsibilities to include the entire rest of the population. Nabi seemed particularly enthusiastic when Gwindish took her down to the cellar to get her home-brewed beer she had manufactured 25 years ago. Oxton, on the other hand, wasted no time making himself useful in the field hospital. Apparently survivors who urgently needed medical help were still being rescued from the rubble. What was left of the self-appointed city guard was directed by a gentleman named Jonzub, who briefed us on the events of the past few years. Never before in my life have I seen similar suffering and felt so useless when I realized that I did not have any skills that could help these people in their predicament.
 
At sunset we gathered in the canteen and enjoyed Nabi’s tart beer and Gwindish's stew as best we could before going to bed, which essentially meant finding a place to sleep in between the crowd.