Phaendar's Market Festival is off to a rousing start. The first day of the seasonal celebration featured rousing entertainment, delicious food and spirits, and copious trading as people from all of Nirmathas arrived to celebrate the coming of spring. Any levity comes as a welcome reward to the rough, earthy souls of this riverside trade town.
As the sun sets outside, dozens of people head towards the welcoming glow of the Taproot Inn--"the Root" to locals. The two-story inn's walls are made of hewn timbers stained a dark green, all capped with a pine shake roof. A wooden statue of a rearing grizzly bear guards the front door.
Inside, a massive fireplace plays host to a warm fire. The walls are decorated with the horns of two dozen elk, and the bartender, a woman of mixed Shoanti and Varisian descent named Jet, greets her customers with a warm smile, an iconic teal scarf wrapped around her waist. Many people gather around Aubrin the Green--the retired Chernasardo Ranger-turned-Caydenite cleric--as she recounts bawdy tales of adventure from her youth. Outside, the celebration continues, as raucous shouts carry on the night air.
"So there I am, thinking, when will I ever be able to talk to a bear again?" Aubrin says as she moves about the room animatedly. Though the lower part of one leg ends in a wooden peg, it does little to slow her down. "So before the grizzly can stand back up, I turn to it and say, 'All I need is the honey. You can keep the bees!'" The room erupts into laughter as Aubrin finishes her winding story and takes another draught from her tankard. "But it's fine now. All's good. She named a cub after me. Someday I'm going to have to check in on little Ow Oh Gods That's Too Many Bees."
Aubrin gives a little mock bow before heading over to the bar. Other members of the crowd begin to share their own boasts and jokes.
After a long day of bartering herbs, medicinal plants, and other wild vegetation with the other traders, Griffo is feeling a bit shagged out. He leads Herschel, his mule from which he's been pulling his wares and storing his purchases, to the Root, a wolf walking by his side.
"A nice seat by the fire and a mug of beer, that's what I need, Minto," he says to the wolf. "Maybe a hambone for you too. That should hit the spot, ol' boy."
He ties Herschel to a rail outside the Root and heads inside. Minto's head darts back and forth on entry, alert to threats, but Griffo is relaxed and the wolf falls in behind him as he veers past the bar, signaling for a beer, before settling near the hearth. Minto lies down at his feet.
In response to Aubrin's humorous story, Griffo advises Minto, "See, that's why you need to be careful around bears. They're too gullible." Minto naturally regards him as if he's talking nonsense.
It had been a long day for Eilyne. She had started off making the journey into Phaendar that morning to sell the herbs she'd obtained to the apothecary and though she had intended to simply head back out before the night came upon the town she'd caught wind that Griffo was in town as well. She'd met the druid shortly after her arrival in the area a couple of years ago and, while they followed different faiths, she had become friends with him. It wasn't often that she got to see him as both she and most of the druids led fairly solitary lives and she decided to stay in town that night to visit with him for a while.
As the day wore down, and Elyne finished her business, she made her way to the Taproot Inn. The Root was really the only place of consequence for travelers to stay at so she knew where she could find her friend at and was relieved to see the doors come in sight. As she entered the inn she immediately felt far too warm, it was unusual for her to wear clothing per se, at least the kind of clothing everyone else wore, and at times, especially in crowded placed like this, she felt very hot. Still she knew that after a time she would become adjusted to the difference and so made her way to the bar to order a water, some food, and a meaty bone. She noticed the group gathered around Aubrin and smiled slightly at their camaraderie as she waited for her food.
Despite what she does for the town Eilyne is still very much an outsider, though one that is tolerated well, the only real enemies she has are the woodcutters who don't like her meddling in their choice of trees to cut down. Fortunately they tolerate her as they have never been able to catch her or drive her away since the plants themselves protect her from them. She noticed one of those wood cutters in the group around the former ranger and decided to simply ignore him...for now at least. With her food ready she made her way over to where Griffo sat with Minto, his wolf.
Kneeling down next to the animal she offered him the bone and said, "So you're still letting him drag you into town huh Minto?" She reached out to scratch at the wolf's ears a moment as she looked up to Griffo and said, "Hello Griffo, it's a pleasure to see you again." Her words were laced with a very thick accent and exotic accent that made it obvious common was not her primary language, in fact she would likely sound much like a fey that spoke common to someone, something he and others may have heard before. She rose then and sat at a chair where she could keep an eye on the crowd for trouble and see Griffo while they talked.
Mia silently slips in through the door, doing her best to not be seen. Even here amid the crowd she keeps a deep hood pulled low over her face to hide her ears and eyes. The voices were quiet, for now, but they'd start soon enough. They always did. She makes her way to the bar, hoping that no one would realize she was here. She succeeded, mostly. As she is passing the table Griffo and Eilyne are seated, a tipsy farmer bumps into her and causes her to stumble into the table. The farmer barely notices, but several others snicker as she nearly topples the table, drinks and all, to the floor.
The young woman looks up at Griffo and Eilyn, her eyes flashing blue on one side and silver on the other for a moment before she looks away.
"I-I-I'm sorry! I'll– I'll just go," she says as she turns to leave the two of them alone.
Griffo starts to share pleasantries with Eilyne, first thanking her on Minto's behalf ("Manners, Minto, manners.") and then starting on her mode of dress - meaning that she has one for a change.
"There must be some pretty hot trading today to bring you in... dressed and all. You wear it well. I doubt anybody else here would know...WHOOPS!" he finishes as the table knocks about and sloshes the beer all over the place.
As the clumsy young woman tries to skitter away, Griffo interrupts, "Now hold on a moment there, Miss Mia! If you are going to spill our beer about the least you can do is be neighborly and see to it they are refilled."
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Minto seizes the opportunity to lap some of the spilled beer off the floor while Griffo is distracted.
Hearing her name stops Mia in her tracks. Slowly she turns back to face both of them, though she does her best to avoid making eye-contact.
"I-I didn't mean to," she says weakly. It only takes a second longer before she turns to head to the bar and orders two tankards to replace the ones she spilled.
So much for getting myself something to drown out the voices and leaving.
After she has them, she carefully makes her way back to the table Griffo and Eilyn are at to hand them over, then she turns to leave.
Eilyne nodded to Griffo and said, "Yes, any day they are celebrating the villagers seem far looser with their coins. I felt the need to come into town today regardless of that, the plants were whispering something, if only I could..." The crash occured and she quickly grabbed her water and food from the table before they got spilled. As Mia returned with another beer for Griffo the lovely woman said, "Stay with us Mia, get a drink if you want and have a seat." She gestured to a seat at the fire and watched to see what the woman did next.
Slumped over at the corner of the bar the tall woman with long unkempt crimson hair had slept soundlessly through Aubrin's tales and the laughs that followed, right until the other woman bumped into the table.
The sudden loud sound brought the woman to her feet, but not up, as she was crouched. Arms up defensively and one hand holding the tankard as an impromptu weapon she frantically scanned her surroundings.
Seeing that she was just in a bar and the only other sounds was that of merrymaking and drinking she let out a few heavy breaths before she stood up in order to slide back into her seat. "'Nother round, love." she said while rubbing her head. "Please?" she remembers to add.
While getting her bearings she looks over to where the sound originated, another wolf and redhead catching her eyes. They were a dull green and had heavy dark circles around them.
Jet gives Surma a concerned look. "I think you've had your fill of ale for the night, dear. Perhaps your coin would be better spent on a room upstairs--no offense, but you look like you could use a good night's sleep."
"Wha? Na, I just did the sleeping... um, the sleeping... thing." she responds on impulse as she turns to face the bartender. "Besides, the drink helps me sleep." she adds, more coherently, as she thinks the offer over.
"Our darling hostess Jet has the right of things," says Aubrin as she sits beside Surma. "There's a line between drinking for merriment and drinking to excess. Alcohol is one of Cayden's favorite things, after all, and so the abuse of such is a no-no."
The cleric smiles and slides a gold coin across the bar. "Here, I'll pay for your room."
"It's one of my favourite things too, I'm sorry Mistah Cayden." she mumbles until the she spots the coin. "What, no, don't do that. Thank you but no, no." she says as she tries to stop the coin with her palm, and only meets the bar countertop to the immediate right of the coin. Noticing her failure she slumps forward.
"I'm sharry, I just want to sleep. Good sleep, like a corpse, no dreams. Drink helps, drink good. No dreams..." she starts before her words turn into incoherent numbing followed by soft breathing.
"Stay with us Mia, get a drink if you want and have a seat." She gestured to a seat at the fire and watched to see what the woman did next.
"Indeed, Miss Mia, the grave damage you have inflicted on our drinks has been well-mended. But you should share our fellowship too,' Griffo agrees. The halfling hops off his seat to slide another one over for Mia's convenience.
"We were just discussing the day's trading. You do a little trapping, is that right?"Griffo then notices the woman pass out at the bar. "Oh, there's one well into her cups. Be right back." He then heads to the bar to assess the drunk woman's condition. If she's fairly insensate, he just makes sure she's well situated on the stool and not likely to fall off and hurt herself.
While she may not have heard the pitterpatter of small feet the strong smell of herbs intermixed with the familiar canid musk made her sniff the air before rousing. "Wha? Why's everybody got to crowd me... oh." she lets out upon spotting the halfling.
"Hey, you're... you."
Mia gingerly takes a seat before asking for something strong to drink and some stew. She looks curiously at Eilyne after Griffo wanders off, and it takes her a moment to realize what was nagging her.
"Don't you normally wear leaves an' flowers," she asks as she waits for her food.
Nodding at Mia's observation Eilyne responded, "Yes, I do." She took a bite of her food and continued, "I learned that human settlements frown on what's different and it could endanger me while I'm here. Because of that I dress like the townsfolk when I come here for whatever reason."
"Same here," Mia replies as she pulls the hood of her cloak down further over her eyes.
If you've only met Mia in the past couple of years, you wouldn't have been able to get a good look at her face, beyond enough to know that she has mismatched eyes and black hair that shines like silk when the light hits it.
As Griffo checks on Surma, somebody tops off Aubrin's tankard and pushes her back into the center of the room. The crowd cheers and clamors for another exciting tale.
"All right, all right! Don't shove," she slurs a bit. "Okay, Cayden strike me down if this isn't true—"
The front door explodes into flinders. A cry of agony pierces the chaos. Aubrin lies on the floor, gasping and clutching at the blood gushing from a wound in her chest. A ballista bolt still quivers in the wall behind her.
Two muscular, gray-skinned hobgoblins in military dress stand beyond the shattered door, blades drawn. Behind them, lit by the glow of burning homes, dozens—perhaps hundreds—of hobgoblin soldiers march the street. Phaendar burns, shouts of celebration now replaced by the panicked screams of the frightened and dying. Behind them, above the flames and humble rooftops, rises a tower of black stone.
"No!" Surma whimpers weakly on reflex when she hears the explosion and sees Aubrin knocked bloody to the floor. Turning to see outside and seeing the hobgoblins and that banner the whimpers turn into growls.
"NonononononoNoNoNONONONONONONONONONO!" she screams as she charges one.
"Help her," Mia tells Griffo and Eilyne as she moves to fight. Her eyes blaze silver and blue in the shadows of her hood as she stalks forward to the goblin Surma had not engaged.
"Shoulda stayed in your dark hole, earfang," she growls as she draws her sword and then explodes into a flurry of violently slashing steel and swirling cloak.
Initially shocked, Griffo recovers quickly enough to move into action. "Minto! Guard!" he calls out, indicating the stricken Aubrin. Then he moves to the entertainer's side to check on her wounds and status. Seeing that she's bleeding badly, he starts with some magic.
Minto moves to stand his ground between the intruders and Aubrin. He growls at the hostile invaders.
Aubrin gasps as Griffo's healing spell takes effect. The wound in her chest stops bleeding, but the cleric is still grievously injured. She tries to get to her feet, only to abandon her efforts with a groan of pain.
Surma's axe slices deep into the hobgoblin's chest. He howls in pain as blood drips from the jagged wound.
Mia whirls and slashes with her sword, but her opponent manages to deflect her attack with his shield.
The wounded goblin snarls and drives his blade into Surma's belly, returning the favor of the wound she dealt him.
The other one glares at Mia and clashes his sword against his shield. "Surrender and we will spare your miserable lives. Resist, and we'll gut you like pigs!" However, the threat does little to strike fear into the determined aasimar.
The Root's patrons begin to flee in panic, running in every direction. Several follow Jet through the back door into the kitchen, while a few jump out of windows. Soon, the taproom is empty save for you, Aubrin, and the hobgoblins.
Her shock at the sudden attack over Eilyne stood up and moved towards Aubrin, staying behind the line of combat. She reached into a pocket of her clothing and pulled out some seeds. She held her hand out palm up and said to the seed, "Grow and attack my foes little ones." With that she tosses the seeds up as power swirls in. The scent of the first world surrounded her and flowed into the seeds before they streaked out at the nearest attacking hobgoblin. As they zipped across the space between them the seeds sprouted and then grew into large thorns that slammed into the hobgoblin with resounding force.
Surma lets out an inhuman howl before clamping her teeth shut, snarling she swings back at the hobgoblin.
"I don't surrender to earfangs," Mia growls as she steps around the hobgoblin to try flanking him with Surma.
Gruff gets out and loads up his sling with one of the bullets from his pouch. He's not overly thrilled with the close quarters of the fighting, though, since he's not particularly good at picking out his target in those situations. So he moves to try to make sure he can get a better shot as well as get a look at the situation in town.
"Where are these hobgoblins coming from? What the blazes is going on?" are the questions that occupies his mind.
Minto continues to growl menacingly while protecting Aubrin.
Eilyne's thorns tear into the hobgoblin confronting Mia, piercing his armor and leaving deep, bleeding wounds.
Griffo tries to peer past the melee, catching glimpses of the chaos outside. Sounds of battle and fearful screams fill the air--it would seem all of Phaendar is under attack!
Aubrin grasps the flask around her neck and calls upon the divine power of Cayden Cailean. Warm energy radiates out from her, healing herself and Surma.
Surma brings her axe down again, cutting down her foe with a brutal chop. As she steps up to the other hobgoblin, Mia sidesteps to flank him as well. The aasimar stabs with her blade, but he parries with his own sword.
Growling, the hobgoblin slashes low at Mia's legs. The ranger steps back quickly, dodging the low attack.
Hair tingling from the healing energy Surma rips her axe free from the remains of the first foe and turns it on the remaining one, staying in tune with Mia.
Surma yanks her axe free from the first hobgoblin only to immediately bury it in the other one's back. The warrior twitches as he collapses, blood spurting from his fatal injury.
Aubrin struggles to get to her feet, managing to do so this time. The cleric squints towards the splintered remains of the Taproot Inn's front door. "My eyes aren't what they used to be, but it... it sounds like there's an army outside the door. How did they fall on us without being seen? These damn plains are so flat you can see an elk from two days off, let alone an army!" She winces and presses her hands against the bloody hole in her chest. "They sound large. Too large to fight on the ground like honest fools. We need to gather what we can, cross the bridge, and hide out in the Fangwood. I—I know a few secrets that may keep us safe. Should probably figure out how to take down the bridge while we're at it, else they'll just march themselves across before we have the chance to hide."
Griffo peeks out the door, hoping to see Herschel is still tied up out front. If he is about to go on the run, his mule (and other gear) would come very much in handy.
"Heel, Minto. Looks like we've found ourselves in quite a pickle. You stick close to me and I'll stick close to Aubrin and the others."
Herschel is still tied up outside the inn, lowing nervously. Griffo can see a bit more of the town now. Hobgoblins battle with townsfolk in every direction, chasing after those who try to flee. Bodies lie on the ground everywhere, run through by hobgoblin blades and left where they fell. A wolf howls in the distance, its eerie cry echoed by the screams of the dying.
"Stuff!" Surma lets out after she notices no more hobgoblins immediately present and seeing what they held. "More stuff!" she says again upon grabbing the quivers. "Other stuff!" she continues as she grabs the lumpy backpack.
"Okay... so... more of them, definitely more of them, never just a few." she mumbles to herself while frantically looking around.
Griffo, his face white as a sheet, leads his shaky mule into the common room.
"It's bad. It's a total disaster. The town is being completely overrun and there's blood everywhere." He puts his hand on a table to steady himself and his jaw sets in halfling determination. "I'll raid the kitchen and load Herschel up." He then quickly hustles the mule into the kitchen.
"Yep! More of them!" Surma says to herself in a congratulatory manner.
She stops and her eyes widen a bit. "... that's not good."
She then starts looking to the others still present and then to her axe.
With the last of the immediate hobgoblin threat dealt with Eilyne breathed a sigh of relief before moving to pick up the remnants of the seeds she had cast out at their foes. She knelt over the thorns and murmured something in a strange language, "Lepää rauhassa lapseni." She then blew on the thorns and they turned to dust, blowing away on her breath.
"Got any cheap rotgut," Mia asks as she helps Surma with the gear, motioning for some people to help get the armor off. "or lamp oil, we could douse the bridge with it then set it alight once we have everyone we can get across."
As soon as they have anything of value from the two hobgoblins, she looks out the door and lets out a growl that wouldn't have been out of place coming from Minto.
"I want to rip out their throats," she whispers to herself before going to help Griffo with his mule, trying her best to control her temper and avoid taking shots at the hobgoblins raiding the town. As soon as they get herschel in, she goes behind the bar and grabs two bottles of dwarven stout and hands one to Aubrin before taking a swig from the bottle she is keeping for herself.
Aubrin grimly accepts the bottle from Mia. "Cayden, give us the courage to survive this vile night," she prays before taking a swig of her own.
When Griffo opens the door to the kitchen, he sees the room in disarray. The back door to the inn hangs open, and a young, wiry hobgoblin soldier is tossing supplies off of shelves as he searches for hidden valuables. He turns to peer at the halfling, lips curling up into a snarl.
The Sword Devil gives the other woman a bit of a side eye and a low growl as she approaches and begins to help loot the fallen hobgoblins but she catches herself for being territorial when she didn't really have any right to be right now, shaking her head she removes the confrontational thoughts from her mind.
Until Griffo opens the door and a new Hobgoblin was revealed. Now aggression was called for as she quickly charged the raider while snarling.
"Whoa! We've got trouble here!" Griffo cries out as he stumbles onto the hobgoblin in the kitchen.
Since he has his sling in hand, Griffo lets the bullet fly... and hit some of the inn's nice crockery.
"Get him, Minto!" he tells his companion, still loyally dogging his heels.
Minto springs at the hobgoblin, trying to bite him and drag him to the floor.
Before the hobgoblin can react, Surma comes charging into the kitchen. Caught flat-footed, he is unable to avoid her axe as it cuts deep into his side.
Griffo misses with his sling before sending Minto into attack. The wolf springs forward. He buries his fangs into the hobgoblin's neck, and the soldier falls under the animal's weight. Minto worries the wound as the hobgoblin slumps into unconsciousness, bleeding profusely.
Seeing the hobgoblin felled before she act, Mia begins grabbing everything of use from it, and any food she can stuff into the sack.
"Damn goblins. If we want anything for the trip, now's the time to grab it," She tells the others before grabbing as many bottles of liquor and ale as she can, starting with the top shelf. Then she looks for a barrel of lamp oil or cheap, but flammable, rotgut.
Much of the foodstuffs have been ruined, but there is still some that can be salvaged. There's also a keg of water that is clean, fresh, and easily transported.
Searching the top of the shelves, Mia comes across a dusty box containing two wands, two elixirs, and a set of juggling balls. There's also a few bottles of cheap liquor, though no lamp oil.
There's a trap door in the adjoining pantry that seems to be barricaded from the inside. However, Aubrin moves over and raps on it with her peg leg. "Jet! If you're down there, girl, the coast is clear. We've got to get a move on!"
After a few moments, the door opens and Jet emerges, along with four other scared-looking men and women. "What's happening? Where did those goblins come from?" the bartender asks worriedly.
"Dunno, but I know we're dead or worse if we stick around," Mia says as she helps haul everyone out of the hidey-hole.
"Anything we can use for food down there," she asks before taking another swing of her stolen drink, "or to start a fire?"
Either way, Mia is ready to leave as soon as they have everything gathered up and have sorted out who is carrying what. With her bow in hand, she begins to check the back way to see if things are clear enough for them to make a break for it.
First the voices, then this. What's next? A dragon?
As the group grabs whatever it can, Griffo calls Minto off the dying hobgoblin, "Good job, Minto. We'll leave him to his fate, whatever it is." And then turns to Jet, "If there are any more foodstuffs you can scare up, we'd appreciate it. If we're all going to go on the run from a hobgoblin army, we're going to need whatever supplies we can manage."
"We'll gather what we can," Jet says. She is able to scrounge up a few more provisions from the cellar.
There don't seem to be any hobgoblins around the back of the inn. If you are quiet and use the buildings as cover, you should be able to move around the town undetected.
"We should try to check the town's other primary gathering centers--Oreld's shop, the Trading Company, and the Riverwood Shrine. There might be more survivors and supplies we could use," Aubrin says.
"And we should look upstairs if you haven't already," Jet adds.