[ARCHIVE] 01 - New Arrivals in Malforten

[mithrandir138]

NOTE: The game officially kicks off Saturday, Dec 8. You do not have to respond until then. I would prefer that you focus on finalizing your character at the moment, but I wanted to get this posted to get your minds working. Let's have a good time and good luck! These frontier lands are harsh!

The Drunderry River runs narrow and fast through much of its course before tumbling into the lowlands beneath the Fallow Hills. From there, the river spreads out across fertile plains, laboring slowly to the south before emptying into the Elmarsh Lake. Until recently this area was unsettled. The writ of the King of New Aenoch has changed all this. Several small villages, thorps, and farming communities have been settled in this region since the King’s permission was granted.

Malforten and surrounding area
The town of Malforten lies in the East March, nestled along the banks of the Drunderry River near the Fallow Hills.

This frontier region is known to be open to raiders, bandits, and other nefarious creatures who fear no retribution from the West; so many villainous malcontents and upstarts thus come here to raid, and with each passing success, act with ever more audacity.

The people of Malforten are few in number, but are sturdy folk with many a stout heart amongst them. Knowing they were settling at the edges of the kingdoms of New Aenoch and far from help if ever there was need, those who came here were of the uncommon and daring type. Lacking support otherwise, the people of Malforten have banded together and fought off many a wild beast, bandit, and raiding goblin. They are proud of their independence from the Lords of New Aenoch and their capacity to care for their own.

Preface and party creation
The party met, seemingly by fate, shortly after a crier in the town of Hrueset had announced that the neighboring frontier town of Malforten needed aid. Each of you were in search of adventure or just passing through the area when the crier had demanded the attention of the people in the square. You had learned from the crier that a gnoll by the name of Gritznak the Bold and his troops had been raiding the town in the recent past, but now he has changed his tactics and demanding tribute. He takes cattle, grain, and other goods he desires. The town is offering a bounty for Gritznak to lure adventurers to the town for assistance.

Members of the yet-to-be-formed party were the only ones who seemed to take serious heed to the crier’s calls for attention and no one else was really paying attention to the announcement. You all converged on the crier to get more details. After the details were given, you all decided that working as a team would be the best option for all of you. You were up against a small army, after all.

You have been shown the way to Malforten on a map by the crier, and you have been instructed that you should seek out Eryl the Hoskin, who is the leader of the Malforten militia for more details.

Travel to Malforten
The party has been travelling east along the West Way. The West Way is a dusty track leading across the grassy plains of western New Aenoch. It passes through several small villages before ending at the settlement of Malforten. Your party has just began to get to know one another along the way. Stopping in these small villages for short rests and to take advantage of the local flavor and drink in any alehouse you could find along the way. You have bonded, but you are still only new acquaintances. The bonds of trust are just beginning to form over the last week of travel.

The Beginning
Your party is still on the road to Malforten, you feel as if you are not far from your destination. You can tell you are getting closer to the settlement because have started to pass several farms along the way. Since the last thorp you passed through, the scenery has been nothing but bleak wilderness or grassy plains until now. Large willows and oaks are now only clustered along the river’s banks or in rare locations instead of everywhere you look (which has been the most recent scenery). Parts of the area seem to have been cleared of overgrowth. You are starting to pass fields of grain, pastures with cattle, and small farm houses that are away from the road, but have footpaths clearly coming off of the road in their direction. The group is growing weary, as it is getting close to dusk and you have been travelling almost all day. The last thorp did not seem to have any water to spare, and the people seemed very suspicious of the party, but they were not overly unfriendly. Still, this didn’t help the party’s morale. Everyone is in need of a hot meal and good rest in a bed instead of a bedroll on the ground (none of the small villages along the way had lodging).

You start to hear a dog starting to bark in the distance and you scan the horizon to see where it is coming from. You spot what looks to be two small figures running through a pasture towards the party. There is a crude wooden split-rail fence on the side of the road separating the party from figures running toward them. As they get closer, one appears to be a dog and the other seems to be a young boy. You notice another taller figure, which seems to have a shepherd's staff in his hand, standing still and he seems to be yelling something that you cannot hear. The dog and boy show no signs of stopping, so the taller figure starts to make his way to the fence as well, quickening his pace. As the dog and boy come closer and finally stop at the fence, the dog starts to bark again at the members of the group. The boy shouts “Sally, stop it! C’mon, girl, hush!”

You can now see that the boy is about 11 years of age. He has red messy hair, freckles, striking green eyes and is very dirty. His hands are filthy with black dirt, and you can see that he has smeared some of the dirt on his face at some point during the day. He is grinning ear to ear. Oddly, you notice that the boy has small sword on his belt, held in a worn leather scabbard. The handle seems to be very tarnished and dirty. The dog appears to be a shepherd’s breed of some sort.

The boy excitedly yells “HEY!.... Hey, are you guys headed to town? Have you ---” As the boy notices the pale green skin of the half orc in the group, his face turns quickly to a look of fright. He yells over his shoulder.... “DAD! … DAD! COME QUICK!” He places his hand on the hilt of his sword and the dog begins to bark. The man with the staff quickens his pace even more, and the dog starts to growl and bark again.

What do you do?

[Mondego]

Yorick, a warm smile on his face, addresses the boy, “No need to worry young man. My companion doesn’t mean you any harm. Actually we are here to help. We seek Eryl Hoskin, leader of the militia.”

[NJWilliam]

Arot quietly cuts a strip of dried meat off some rations he had and tosses it near the dog, which he gives just the faintest of smiles. Turning back to the boy, he nods and smiles just a bit more when he sees that the boy has been properly allowed a weapon. Maybe these two will have something to say worth hearing, he thinks.

[Dogma]

"Aye, Yorick, and its a good thing our green skinned companion means no harm. This one has the look of a champion, straight from the old songs." Tomas says with all seriousness.

"We best all behave lest we we feel the wrath of his brave warrior and his fierce animal companion," he follows up in whisper loud enough to carry to the boy.

hoping a little flattery will help things along...

[Vargr1105]

Alias says nothing and lets his more talkative companions handle the diplomacy with the two common country bumpkins.

[Blazeguard]

Filibert self consciously fidgets and tries to blend into the background. As others start conversing, he begins to look around and examine the surroundings, hoping to gain some useful information about the area and possibly even something about Griznak and his troops.

[moorcrys]

Embiri takes this as an opportunity to drop his backpack and sit down for a moment. Quite obviously unused to walking long distances, he pats some dust from his traveling clothes, squints at the sky and shakes his head slightly as he catches his breath.

[jdluna]

Luna hangs back and watches the others approach.

[mithrandir138]

The taller figure has finally joined the boy, and he says kindly "Thad, calm down, son. Sally, HEEL." The dog obediently turns her attentions to the figure, leaving the jerky on the ground and walks to the man's side and stands up straight, almost "pointing" at the party with her nose. The man has been within earshot long enough to see that you appear to mean no harm, and you certainly aren't a threat. He places his hand on the boy's shoulder to reassure him that everything is OK.

You can now see that the taller figure is a middle aged man who's face is starting to show the signs of hard life and constant work in the outdoors. His hair is starting to grey at his temples. He has a scar from his forehead and across the orbital bones around his left eye and down his cheek. It is still pink, and you can tell it isn't an old wound. His left eye is also cloudy.

You notice he has a rough brown cloak on over his very plain clothing, which seems like odd apparel for the weather until you start to notice a slight chill in the breeze. Apparently the weather is starting to turn, as it is almost the autumn months. The leaves will soon be turning the color of rust and bright orange.

You notice he also carries a sword on his side, you can see the hilt poking through the front opening of his cloak. It seems a little less crude than the boy's, almost polished.

He addresses the group in a even and calm tone: "If you are looking for Eryl, you will likely find him in town. The evening watch is about to start, and he is surely there giving orders to the other men." He points to the east down the road, though you cannot yet see the town, you notice a thin line of smoke rising over the horizon line, which seems to be very close, as if the road sharply descends into town.

[Mondego]

“Thanks for the help”, replies Yorick. “What can you tell us about Griznak and the recent raids? ”

[max_vale]

Vax did his best to appear unthreatening; but he wasn't sure how well he pulled it off. As his companions talked to the man and his son; he nodded his head respectfully to them and glanced all around the countryside; his habit of always being on the look-out from his rough city-life background was something he'd probably never shake free of....

[moorcrys]

At the mention of Griznak and the raids, Embiri listens quietly.

[jdluna]

Luna comes up with the rest of the party to join in on the conversation.

[Blazeguard]

Not finding anything of interest in the immediate vicinity, Filibert hangs out at the edge of the group, listening to what the farmer has to say.

[mithrandir138]

The party makes their way towards the crest of the hill. From this vantage point you see two-dozen or so wood and stone houses with thatched roofs are huddled closely together on the upper banks of the Drunderry River and around the town, you see fields of grain spread out north and south of the village. You are also able to see more sparse groups of cattle grazing in the fields past the grain.

As you walk closer to the houses you begin to hear the ringing of a bell coming from the town. This starts with one single “clang” then after a few seconds later eight sequential “clangs”. You can tell that the sequential ringing sounds like someone is deliberately rapping on a bell, and this is not a typical bell that you would hear ringing at the top of a church with a swinging clapper. The eight sequential tones happen 3 more times after a few seconds of silence between them.

As you travel down the hill towards town, you come to a fork in the road. Both pathways lead into town. There is no signage at the fork. One leads to the part of the grouping of houses to the south, the other to the north. You see a line of three houses before you, past the fork, with several trees around them. There also seem to be more trees also on either side of each “fork.”

(see attached map, the party is approaching town from the left/west side -- I figure this will help to move things along and will hopefully make up for lost time this week)

[Mondego]

Yorick frowns and says, “my guess is the bells are a warning to the townsfolk. If the eight sequential rings are meant to indicate the size of the group approaching we need to be prepared for the possibility that the warning is referring to us. Let’s move slowly toward the town center” and with a look towards Vax adds, “and try our best to look non threatening.”

[Dogma]

"Excellent advise, good Yorick. Mayhaps a jaunty tune will help sooth an hostile intent towards us, eh?" said Tomas as he pulled out his flute. "Let's see...what to play...The Beardless Dwarf? No, no...to bawdy. The Lady of Turmagal? No, not that...to depressing. Hmmm.....I know...The Seven Lasses! That will do the trick."

With that he puts his flute to lip and begins to play.

[mithrandir138]

Following the sound of the bell, the party takes the northern fork as Tomas plays his tune. As the party gets closer to the houses, you see several armed men emerge from the trees. Some have smiles on their faces, as it seems that the song has filled them with happiness. Others are less amused by the bard’s ditty.

The man closest to the group holds out his left hand and places his right on the hilt of his sword. With a smile he says: “Hail, travellers! I am going to have to ask you to stop.” The man eyes your weaponry as if he is sizing you up and taking inventory.

“We don’t hear much music here in Malforten, this is a welcome change. I assume you are answering our call for assistance. However, I must ask that you surrender your weapons if you intend on entering town.”

Two men approach the group holding large burlap sacks and open the bags to receive the party’s weapons.

“This is merely a precaution. We have too many bandits in these parts. Your weapons will be safe, and they will be returned to you when you leave. Make haste, Eryl is waiting for you.”

You notice that two other men have appeared behind the group, but they seem to be closer to Alias and Vax, and are showing signs that they are nervous about these two.

If I don't hear from you guys by the end of the day (like 8PM Eastern), I will just assume that you surrender your weapons. I just wanted to pause to see if anyone wanted to roleplay or try to negotiate. I want to get us moving, but I didn't want to disarm you without you having a say.

[NJWilliam]

Arot says "Well, this won't fit in those sacks without ruing them," as he takes his bearded axe and hands it to the speaker. He watches to see if the speaker seems to know how to handle such an axe. He then takes his thigh worn knife and hatchet, and says "In case you consider these weapons." as he tosses them into the nearest burlap bag.

[jdluna]

"Seems silly for your town to do a "Call to Arms" and then disarm us when we answer it. But, hey, you're in charge chief and from the tell of it, you're doing a bang up job." as Luna hands over his staff and darts.