current chapter Chapter 1: Greenest

[Colin]

The trade caravan you have been traveling with just recently starting moving again, after a quick stop for lunch and to water the working animals. The break was quick and unremarkable, and the caravan master is intent on making it to Greenest before nightfall. After the events of the previous night, you didn't blame him.

Last night there had been a bandit attack. It was small and disorganized, and you and the other caravan guards were able to repel it with no issue. It has been the cause of much excited talk today though, and the time has passed quickly while all recount the events of the fight. It has been insightful, seeing and hearing what skills your travel-mates have at their disposal.

The road takes a gentle turn along a farmer's field, a simple wooden fence separating the travelers from the wheat. The pace is steady but manageable as you converse with your companions.

 

OOC

In your first post  please cover in brief your character's reason for being along  as well as describing them, for the other players' benefits. 🙂

 

[Vladim]

Alex looked nervous, different from what she had seemed in previous days. Her eyes were on the road, but constantly darted left and right, fearing another attack. It was an uneventful journey-or at least it had been until last night. Before that, she was even beginning to suspect that her sources might have been wrong about the troubles in the south. But the bandit attack confirmed it, in her mind at least.

 

She had been hired as a drover and animal-tender of sorts. She was half-good at this task, in great part owing to the spells she had been taught by the druids. The payment was meagre, but it mattered little to her. There was safety in numbers, and if the rumors were to be believed, the journey south could prove dangerous.

 

In truth, she planned to remain with her employer only until they reached the town. Afterwards, she would follow what few leads she had to find her missing parents. This she had not confided in anyone yet. It suited her well to pretend that she was just another nameless member of the caravan.

 

As they stopped, she sat beside the fence and ate a few pieces of old rusk, making periodic crunching noises. To the others, she might have seemed simple and unassuming: a plain attire with a travel-worn cloak and muddy boots. She kept her hair tied in a bun, and her face was sunburned. She never strayed too far from the animals. She looked like she needed a bath-but then again, they all likely did.

 

Last night’s events had hinted that she might have been a bit more than she let on, as she had resorted to using her spells to help the others repel the attack. But it had also been very dark. Perhaps no-one had seen it. Either way, no-one had pressed her on the matter thus far, and she was content not to make much out of it anyway.

 

‘There’s been rumors of trouble here. And now bandits, so close to Greenest… is this thing common here?’ she said to those around her, trying to strike up a bit of conversation between mouthfuls of dried bread.

 

OOC

Feel free to feed her with rumors and BS-it's more an excuse to start talking to one another than looking for accurate information.

[AbsentWizard]

In the middle of the wagon train is a cart hitched to two fat, black goats. The awning over the top is a soot-blackened green and has several suspiciously arrow-shaped holes torn in it. One such hole has been rudimentarily stitched together, but the mender seems to have hurried off without tying off - the needle still dangles by the thread and tinkles against sideboard with every other bump. Travelling alongside this hazard is a beard belonging to a man whose black, beady eyes stand level with the eyes of his goats. Those eyes turn right, fixing themselves on a mudstain on the tunic of a second, taller man, then very annoyedly trace up to his face. Or at least the underside of the chin.

 

"No. Is not even one bandit. Master of the Black Board have story about every kind of thing. No bandit."

The dwarf sniffles, then rolls his shoulder underneath the rope holding a bandolier of bagels around him. A few seeds fall loose, to the excitement of an assortment of birds that had been trailing the caravan since dawn.

"Naturally," A thick, meaty hand - the most dwarfish kind - knuckles under the yam-like nose that had just sniffled, "It because human nature is inclined against laws. They are short-lived, like animals. Like animals, they not feel strong inclination towards laws. Civilization. Bagel?"

 

The same hand wipes itself against the white-dusted apron stuffed into its owner's belt, then yanks loose one of the bagels and proffers it to the adjacent human.

 

"Thank you, Eradishman." The tall man grates out as he snatches away breakfast.

 

"E-rald-ish-muab," Eraldishmuab slowly corrects, "No worry. You get it someday. Today cheese in back, short bucket. NO touch other buckets with muslin. Dough is sleeping. Understand?"

 

As the tall man dropped back, Eraldishmuab returns his attention to his other hand, which holds an very sturdy rolling pin of good nethercap. The dried blood hardly shows against the indigo-black wood, but the two teeth stands out like pinkish-yellow stars in the night sky. He picks at one tooth-root with his fingers, but it's too deeply embedded to budge. He rumbles in frustration.

[SerakHawk]

Priest had just finished a shortened elevation cermony while the sun was at its hieght. With the caravan beginning its lumbering movement again he weaved through the travellers checking up on those he ministered to and those he provided medical aid after the bandit attack the night prior.

 

The black feathered kenku was in the robes of his station, sky blue and white vestment with gold trimming and a sunburst prominently on his chest. A sunbust medalion hung around his avian head. A book satchel hung on his hip and he carried a traveller's pack on his back. While travelling by foot like the rest of the caravan he was oddly clean and his vestiments almost shined.

 

In the dark of night when the bandits attacked Priest had been directing the triage of the injured and caring for those injured. A moment in the fighting required him to fling magic about to protect his charges but it did not require much of him. The caravan guards were good and he mostly only needed to grab those injured out of the way of further harm. He was of course only doing his duty, the caravan had not hired him, he was on his own journey to find those in shadows and shine on them. But for now, listen to the people and shine in the light.

[Gwyn-finity]

Les Hiddins

Goblin Figher 2

AC 12 HP 25/25 Speed 30ft 

DV 60ft FOTS [x] SW [X] AS [X]

---

Les was sleeping in one of the forward wagons, her head banging off the back as it moved along, the gentle movement causing her snoring to fluctuate. Until a bump in the road literally sent her flying to the ground. 

 

"HUH? I'm up! More bandits? Where? Oh... Nope, nothing, just poor road conditions." She yawned and elected to stay up at that point. She had been on active guard when the bandits struck and she was so amped up afterwords she just couldn't fall asleep at the time.

 

As the day went on, she got an amazing bagel from the dwarvish baker, she was never gonna say his name right so she just elected to think of him as Eldy. She saved half of it and wound up sitting next to the oddly quite person who was tending to many of the animals. "Howdy, names Les. I noticed you using some spells last night, that's mighty helpful of ya, where'd you learn?"

 

Upon being prompted for info on Greenrest, she tilted her head in though. "I've not been around these parts for long, mostly in passing to other places so nothing of interest comes to mind. Except of course the landsharks, but everyone knows about those." She bites into her bagel.

[Dmitri_Ravenoff]

The human looking man with pointed ears has been quiet for much of the trip. He wears no armor or vestments, only simple clothing of an odd yet elegant foreign design. Though he does not appear to be a strong man or carry great height, he walks lightly on his feet and had managed to fend off a bandit or two with his quarterstaff he now used as a walking stick. Though he did not come from the encounter unscathed, the small slash to his forearm seemed to be mending well already.

 

He has kept mostly to himself not to snub those he traveled with, but simply because he didn't always understand and he was very conscience of his accent and foreign look. He was unfamiliar with these lands and their customs and did not want to offend anyone accidentally. His common was good enough for most conversation but he occasionally confused the words from his homeland or couldn't quite find the proper translation to get his thoughts across.

 

Seeing the large bird-man (Kenku, they call them Kenku here) come near, he gave a perfunctory bow and spoke in softly accented common to the dark feathered bird-man. "Good afternoon Karasu.  I thank you again for your tending of my wound."  After a moment, he remembered that the great raven had few words of his own. "It heals well. Auigatou."  He adds another small bow and continues to walk along with the caravan.

 

Kai had a few of his own opinions about humans, rather being fond of them as his mother was one, but he decided for the moment to leave the Dwarf's words to go to seed. He did not feel like starting animosity among his traveling companions.

"In my land such bandits would be rooted out. Why do these people not dig them out like weeds from a garden? Their bad seed will only bring more weeds."

 

OOCOkay, so I'm not a weeb, but I thought I would throw a little Japanese in here for flavor of the character. If it gets to be too much or if people want some clarification on the words I can certainly add that in.

As it is I have to look up each and every Japanese word via google translate and hope i'm not accidentally calling somebodys mother something unpleasant.

Definitely not trying to offend anyone here.

Oh and I called Priest "Raven".

I'll try and get the picture smaller and offset here in the future, but It's late and I'm too tired to learn things just now.

[Vladim]

"The Land-Sharks? Is it what they call themselves, these bands of bandits?" She had misunderstood the goblin's jest: not only had she taken it at face value, but she had assumed that it was some kind of nickname for a gang. Such things were not uncommon in Neverwinter; she could only conclude that the same was true all across the entire Sword Coast.

 

More alarmingly, her contribution to last night's misadventures had not gone unnoticed, and now demanded an explanation. She could not simply ignore it and say nothing: it would only raise suspicions. And though she was reluctant, she gave an answer that some might deem unsatisfactory, but it would have to do for now.

 

"I picked up a spell or two from some druids in my travels. Good folk, but lacking in coin. Handy from time to time though." She gave a smile, and wondered if Les would call her out on what might have seemed like an obvious lie. Instead of waiting to find out, she quickly shifted the subject.

 

"Call me Alex! Say, that..." she added, unsure if her reintroduction was a necessary reminder, and eyed her bagel jealously, "...did the dwarf give you that?"

 

To her eyes, it looked far more appetizing than her dried rusks.

[Ironblaze]

The bugbear lumbered along next to the frontmost wagon, longbow and arrow in hand. "Landshark myth. Fish no swim in soil. Also silly gang name. At least pick scary myth for gang name." She looked at her fellow guards. "Gurruk. Is surprised caravan hired Gurruk, happy to make coin all same. Last night fight good fun. Hope for more fight, yes?"

[Dmitri_Ravenoff]

Kai's soft voice piped up, a bit louder as to cover the noise of the carts and shuffling feet: "I have heard of such creatures that swim through the ground. They are known to cause troubles across many lands. I believe much to be myth, but there must be some truth for so many tales to be told." Kai added to the gruff commentary by the large, hairy, beast man. 

 

(I wonder how this caravan chose those to guard it. This group is most kimyo. _strange)

 

[Gwyn-finity]

Les Hiddins

Goblin Figher 2

AC 12 HP 25/25 Speed 30ft 

DV 60ft FOTS [x] SW [X] AS [X]

---

Les was genuinely suprized when her obvious jest was taken seriously and applied in a way that was completely different then what she intended. She chewed on her bagel, and tried to reason if she should keep up the joke or drop it, she decided to drop it. "Ya, I was just pull'n ya' leg Al. Fur real though, I don't know much 'bout this area, so I am as blind as you."

 

Once her bagel was gone, she pulled her pack axe. It was a normal size for a human, but in her smaller hands it could be mistaken for a great-axe. She checked the blade, looking for any chips or rolling left from last night's scuffle. 

 

Edited August 5, 2022 by Gwyn-finity (see edit history)

[Vladim]

Alex smiled at the two of them. She was not offended-such jests were common on the ships she had been on, where everyone seemed ready to poke fun at everyone else, as long as they were of a similar rank... and then turned towards the half-elf. She did not know what to make of his comment. Had he meant ankhegs? She had heard a tale or two from her folk, and dreaded encountering such a creature... yet she decided to merely nod politely at his direction. He seemed an outlander, and who could tell what tales and what customs he carried with him? Courtesy and quietness seemed the best options.

 

After a while, she made a beeline for the bagel-dwarf. She was eager to try one before the caravan set out again, and she felt as if she was running out of time. She didn't even try to pronounce his name properly, knowing full well that she would fail.

 

"Master dwarf! So, you're giving those away for free? You might make good coin for them, you know!"

 

She was practically salivating at the chance of securing one for herself.

[AbsentWizard]

After straining for a moment more, Eraldishmuab gives up on the tooth for now and stuffs his rolling pin back onto the cart. His brows remain knitted as he turns around to face whoever was asking for a Master Dwarf, because while he was no master (journeydwarf, actually), he certainly was one of the most prominent dwarfs in this entire caravan.

 

"Pay for feed the caravan is pay for feeding you and them and them and everyone." He waves his hand around expansively, then rips free a bagel from the bandolier and thrusts it towards Alex while struggling to make eye contact. People were just too tall to get used to, in the above ground. "Today cheese in back, short bucket. NO touch other buckets. Dough is sleeping. Understand?"

 

And then, a moment later, Eraldishmuab decides that it was worth a try, "Someone have pliers?"

[Vladim]

She took up the bagel and offered a "Thank you!", quickly followed by a shaking of her head. "Not me, I'm afraid. But someone must. Let me go ask the caravan master for you."

 

But first, she hurried to the back of the cart to add some cheese to the offering. Inwardly, she cursed herself for not having figured out sooner that the dwarf was their provisioner, and thus having sustained herself with whatever food she had brought with her, which was not much. Then, she was off to the caravan-master, and to the task of finding the dwarf some pliers.

[Gwyn-finity]

Les Hiddins

Goblin Figher 2

AC 12 HP 25/25 Speed 30ft 

DV 60ft FOTS [x] SW [X] AS [X]

---

Les shadowed the much taller Alex back to 'the one with bread'. She tilted her head at the request for pliers and an idea loped into her head. "Hey! Breadman, if i can get that tooth out of your rolling pin... can make a whole loaf if bread, like... the size of my head?"

[AbsentWizard]

Eraldishmuab retrieves his rolling pin and turns it to show both of the yellowish-pink teeth sticking backwards out of the black wood. "Both teeth. Else holes in bread. Dough is sleeping. When Dough awake, I make Dwarf Five-Braid size of you head, Omer-Kadol."

 

He hands it over, but warns, "No hurt wood. Understand?"