Chapter 1: Festive Beginnings
General Summary
The town of Ebonmere was busy. It was that time of year again, the Festival of the Hunt was in full swing with games, contests and food aplenty. Folks were running around from booth to booth, stage and game. A young human woman is trying her best to organize the carefree chaos to little effect.
Captain Spalding, a wandering barbarian of orcish descent, had heard of this festival and the town's delicious Blood Boar Stew. He decided it sounded like fun and found himself in town square on this day.
Upon arrival Spalding ran into the young woman who directed him towards the games of strength and skill set up in the fields nearby. He saw a test of strength, swing the hammer and ring the bell. Twice he swung, not once did it ring. With a little insight he came to the realization that the game was rigged. Pissed off by this he swung one last time in anger. Still no bell. Spalding swung at the attendant instead, knocking him to the ground and storming off in rage. As he walked away from the game he began to be shadowed by two hulking forms.
During this time a gnome ranger by the name of Nyx High-Hill decided to try her hand at the archery range. She fared well, but luck was not on her side that day and she was bested by a shy elven girl by the name of Aurae Toryllen. Frustrated by defeat she turned to the orc she saw create a scene earlier to see what caused him to strike the attendant.
Thonur, the goliath fighter, sees a group of men engaged in arm wrestling and joins in the fun. There seems to be one human in particular who is undefeated. Thinking the challenge was great sport Thonur chose to be the next opponent. Putting his gold where his mouth is, Thonur was bested twice. With that he decided to walk away and save his pride. He made his way to a nearby orc that seemed to be a lot more fun than this.
Nyx and Thonur came up to Spalding, curious to the cause for his commotion. He explained to them the man was a cheat and he gave him what was coming to him. They all shared a laugh and decided to stick together as they saw the sights of the festival.
Lura Fenrie, an elven bard wandered over to the archery range, having enjoyed the sport in her younger years, and decided to take a shot. She bested both her competitors including Aurae. Having come out on top against the one who beat her caught Nyx's attention. She challenged Aurae and Lura to a new round. With luck on her side Lura came out on top again.
Belagar Ironhammer, dwarven cleric of Helm, was looking for a fight. He found his way to the sparring arena. He watched as a man they called Havim took down another without breaking a sweat. Interested he offered himself as the next challenger. Bets were made, Spalding, a mysterious aarakocra, and Belagar himself laid money on his victory. The bets on the table, arms in hand, the battle began. The clash of weapon on weapon, body to body the fight raged. When the dust settled Belagar stood triumphant. Feeling fairly pleased having won money on him, Gantreal the mysterious aarakocra, as well as our ragtag party, congratulated Belagar and made fast friends.
Tired of his tail Spalding decided it was time to shake them. He slipped away from the group and down a side alley. The guards didn't notice at first and continued following the party for a while before they realized they had lost their quarry. They split up and went searching.
A short time later they found themselves near the market. Where a pie eating contest was taking place. Belagar, Thonur, and Spalding all took part. Gantreal bribed the barmaid running the show to dump a vial of ink into Belagar's second pie. When they entered the second round Belagar felt something was wrong. His stomach twisting, he was unable to keep the pie down. Upon seeing him lose his lunch Thonur and Spalding both followed suit. The contest was won by a young elven woman. When she was presented with her prize, a lewd statue of copulating kobolds, she fled the stage in embarrassment.
As they sat recuperating from their experience Spalding noticed one of the guards that had been trailing him was searching the area. With some quick thinking Spalding caught his attention and lured him into a side alley where Belagar was waiting, Thonur and Nyx cutting off escape from the rear.
After some interrogation they explained to the guard that the bell attendant was a cheat and convinced him to come with them and examine the setup.
Back at the game, Billy the attendant tried to convince the group that he only runs a fair game. He patted the machine for luck and went to bat. When he swung, the bell rang. During this Lura noticed when he patted the machine he hit a switch. Having discovered the source of the rigging they destroyed the switch so it could not be changed from the fair setting. Angered by the cheating and his earlier humiliation Spalding took the ill gotten gains. Billy pleaded with them to leave him with something as he only did it to feed his kids. But Billy was a bad liar, and Thonur saw through it. Billy ain't go no kids. Spalding took this as an opportunity to slap Billy to the ground again. The party bribes the guard to look the other way to all the assault that has gone around today.
Our group takes Billy's gold to the tavern and pays the bar tab for all the patrons and find a table to enjoy some food and ale. During this time Gantreal slips off and informs the caption of the guard about the bribery and assault.
They are approached by a tiefling rogue who introduces herself under the pseudonym Red Nymph who thanks them for covering her tab that had grown truly outrageous from a very long day of drinking.
Feeling good and confident, Belagar, very drunk by this point and still hungry for a good fight, challenges any interested patrons to a brawl. Castor Brevelle, the very same human who had previously beaten Thonur, rose to the challenge with two of his own cronies in tow. They return to the arena where Havim fell to Belagar Ironhammer. Five gold per participant is put on the table. Winners take all.
During the battle Belagar is brought low to the brink. When things were looking dire Thonur catches Lura's attention, and Belagar feigns a spell cast while she uses the opportunity to charm Castor and turn him against his friends.
At this same moment a group of guards with Gantreal in tow arrive on the scene. Thinking on her feet Lura Fenrie turns around and charms the captain of the guard as well. She convinces him that Castor Brevelle's paladin friend had attempted to sexually assault her and he needed to take all of his guards to apprehend this dangerous assailant.
Leaving this fight as a 4 vs 1 Castor's barbarian crony did not last long. When the barbarian hit the ground the party, not content to take their winnings and leave, moved to surround Castor while he was still friendly to them. Fighter, Barbarian, Cleric, Ranger, Bard moved as one, left him unconscious and robbed him blind.
As the sun began to set, exhausted and triumphant the party returned to the tavern and spent Castor 's gold on comfortable rooms while he spent the night face down in the mud.
Character(s) interacted with
Report Date
10 Apr 2020
Primary Location
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments