Plot
After the
War of the Vale,
Igor, a
human man, travelled to the Summer Fair in Hofendal to take part in the celebrations. Igor was a strong man with sharp facial features, grey blonde hair and a rough beard. Standing 2 meters tall he towered over most people. His previous experience fighting in the war and the
defeat at Derwon had left him uncomfortable in large crowds. Still, he wanted to mingle with pick up his life from before the war and he thought that attending the Summer Fair would be a good start.
Shortly after arriving he found out about a strength contest. A small crowd had gathered around a small stand where two participants where lifting weighted barrels. The challenge was to lift the barrels and each time stones where added until one of the participants couldn't lift the barrel. Igor felt confident, bet 100 gold pieces on himself and entered the contest. He was immediately put up against the crowds favorite, James. A large man, both tall and wide. His torso was revealed and covered in sweat.
The first round started and already James seemed to have a lot of trouble lifting the weights. While Igor liked this sight, he himself was only barely able to lift the weights as well. With a lot of effort both participants were successful and stones were added to the barrels. The second round started. James grabbed the barrel, made a loud noise and tried lifting the barrel. His strength seemed to have disappeared as he was unable to lift the barrel a second time. Igor, feeling better after seeing this was able to lift the barrel a second time and won the game.
Igor decided to join for a second round, but, as the current champion had been beaten, no one volunteered to participate. The crowd grabbed a young man and pushed him forward, forcing him to enter the contest against Igor. This second match was not as exciting as the first. Both participants were unable to lift the first barrel and stones were taken from the barrel for the second round. With a lot of effort Igor managed to beat his opponent, but it wasn't as glorious as the previous match.
Meanwhile, across the main square a
wood elf sat resting against a tree.
Dubhe was a young elf, young meaning 157 years old, which compares to a human in their twenties. Dubhe had a slender figure, like most elves had, and long black hair. Her eyes were green and her skin was pale, almost white.
She did not often enjoy crowds, but she came to the Summer Fair hoping to find a person she had been looking for for a long time. As she was observing the crowd something got her attention: an archery contest. Dubhe had always been talented with a bow and arrow and immediately felt tempted to join. She didn't like being in the spotlight, but couldn't resist the challenge and eventually she signed up for the contest. She was put up against two others, a human and a
high elf. She paid little attention to the other contestants and focussed on the target. There were three targets to choose from, one close by, another further away, and one in the middle, each worth a different amount of points. Each contestant got 5 arrows and the one with the most points won the contest. Her first shot was aimed at the furthest target but missed. Usually she did so much better and this frustrated her. She decided to aim for the middle target next. The second shot was a hit, but the third one missed too.
"It must be the crowd" she thought to herself.
The fourth and fifth shots were also hits, but it was not enough to take first place; the human had missed nearly all his shots, but the high elf managed to beat Dubhe by ten points. He claimed his price and strutted passed te audience, happy to show off his price. Dubhe was upset by this and went back to the tree where she sat earlier. As she looked across the square she could see a drinking contest about to start.
Svarog walked across the fair, looking for people he could rob. The
tiefling tall and towered over most fair-goers. Some tieflings were blessed with a gentle appearance, sometimes attractive even, but not Svarog. Svarog's demonic ancestry was clear to see. His skin was a red, leathery colour and his facial features resembled those of the demons from the Plane of Darkness with two horns growing from his forehead. People gave him looks, but he was used to it.
As he approached a tavern called
The Howling Hound he noticed a drinking contest going on. The winner would get free drinks for the rest of the day. Svarog approached the table where the contest was taking place and was set up against Igor. The contest began and the two starting chugging their ales. The contest didn't last long though: Svarog didn't handle his liquor well and threw up right after the first cup, making Igor the winner.
Igor let Svarog recover a little and then asked him to join in another drinking game, to which Svarog agreed. The game was "Guess-the-Lie". Each player would tell two truths and one lie, and the others had to guess which was the lie. If the guessed it right, the liar had to drink, and if they guessed it wrong they had te drink. Igor and Svarog were joined by Dubhe and
Sabrina.
Sabrina was a female tiefling. Unlike Svarog, Sabrina was blessed with an attractive appearance. her hair was long and red, and her skin was a beige colour. She had white eyes and two horns curled backwards from the sides of her head. Sabrina came from a noble family, and though she has left that life a long time ago, her apparel still resembled that as she wore in a nice dress.
The four started playing and slowly got to know each other better. They didn't get too far into their game though, as suddenly they were interrupted by screams. People came running from the south in panic. The four adventurers decided to investigate and went in the direction of the source of the commotion. They arrived in the South District where kobolds were attacking citizens. The creatures seemed to have come from the sewers beneath the city.
The group was immediately attacked by a group of kobolds in the streets. This was the first time to four were able to see each other in the face of danger, and they fought alongside each other bravely. The kobolds were no match for them. Igor charged the kobolds and struck them down with his short swords while Dubhe fired arrows at them from the back. Sabrina and Svarog used their magic abilities to attack the creatures. Together they made short work of the kobolds.
Igor knew that kobolds maintained the sewers below the city. The creatures were forced into their job and kept in line by guards of the city. Every couple of years the kobolds would get sick of their oppressors and rise up in an attempts to overthrow them and break free. This seemed to be one of those revolts.
Initially the four could not agree on how to handle the situation. Igor insisted that these lowly creatures were to be shown who's in charge and urged to group to hunt them down as a warning. Dubhe and Sabrina felt sorry for the creatures' situation and wanted to negotiate with them. Svarog agreed that negotiating with them could be a good idea, hoping to gain the favor of the creatures.
Eventually the group decided to head into the sewers, attempting to find a peaceful solution.
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