Ch1

Chapter 1: Falcon Village

 * Harvest Moon Festival was in full swing in Falcon Village, but a few lone individuals found themselves alone in a bar on this night. The bard Rano and the wizard Everander sat in silence while a festival of merriment went on outside on the other side of town. Both had their reasons for not attending.


 * Rano, a human, was not invited and felt attending such an event by alone without an invitation would have been a bad idea.


 * Everander, an elf, had been invited, but due to his dour disposition, his failing military career, and a general lack of respect from other elves, he had no desire to join in the frivolity.


 * They found themselves sitting by themselves, trying to find comfort in the bottom of a cup of wine. But this was not how their night would end. Their serene silence was abruptly interrupted by a group of goblins that broke through the door all carrying sacks of loot. The goblins must have been looting the town while the festival had been going on. As quickly and abruptly as the goblins broke into the room, most of them seemed to scurry off into far corners of the bar. Quickly on goblins’ trail of chaos was a staunch looking, armor clad warrior; the paladin Hadrian . As the paladin entered the room, he quickly saw the very surprised wizard and bard and barked at them a singular command.


 * “Stop the intruders!”


 * At the command of the paladin, Rano sprang to action, immediately firing several arrows at the goblin raiders. Hadrian ran up on one of the goblins who had been trying to climb over the bar and cut it in half before it was able to do anything else. Everander was less compelled by the paladin’s lead, instead waiting for a proper moment to engage the combat.


 * As the goblins in the bar were cut down, more goblins carrying sacks of loot from outside begin pouring into the bar. After dispatching as all the goblins in the main room of the bar, Hadrian, Rano, and Everander followed the trail of goblins into a back room where it looked like a trio of goblins was trying to escape. Hadrian, Rano, and Everander quickly dispatched of the one of the goblins and the other two surrendered. After tying up the two remaining goblins, the group discovered an unconscious elf female in one of the sacks. Removing her from the sack, the heroes found a note with a few images scratched onto it. On one side was a portrait of the elven lass, with the logo of the bar, as well as large piles of food. On the reverse side was a symbol of the Grinning Fools.


 * They began bringing her back into the main area of bar when a massive orc walked in through the door, threatening to take them down. While this took all by surprise, Everander and Hadrian quickly recognized the town’s sheriff, Glumm . Around this point, the elf lass finally started to wake up. She only seemed to have enough energy to thank her rescuers before passing back out.


 * After Glumm was talked down, his deputy, Jayn Bushfoot, as well as Mayor Uptal , walked in, relieved that the heroes were able to save the young elven maiden, whom the Mayor identified as Sorin Hawklight , daughter of Lord Horven Hawklight , the wealthiest landowner in Falcon Village. The Mayor was so pleased with Hadrian, Rano, and Everander that he had them join him for the remainder of the Harvest Festival, and the next day, lauded them as heroes in front of the entire village. He even gave them a nickname by which to go by; Uptal’s Boys.


 * Hadrian, Rano, and Everander wanted to know why Sorin was targeted by the goblins, so they sought an audience with Lord Hawklight to see if he had any insight into this. When they arrived at Hawklight Manor, however, they discovered that Lord Hawklight had been robbed of a precious, if less than legal, artifact; a phoenix egg. Uptal’s Boys resolved to recover the phoenix egg for him.


 * Rano and Hadrian went to speak with Deputy Jayn to release one of the goblin prisoners into their custody so that they could follow it back to the rest of the goblins. Though Jayn had reservations about this, she agreed to let them take one of the goblins.


 * While Rano and Hadrian were negotiating this with Jayn, Everander had been seeking out some trackers in the town. He was distracted, however, by an overly appreciative Sorin. With her help, however, he was able to find out that the local Fighter’s Guild had a tracker staying with them. Everander negotiated that he would track the goblin for the group for a set price.


 * The group then set upon the forest, deciding that letting the goblin go in the middle of the night and trying to follow it was the best course of action …

Next: Phoenix Egg Frenzy