Dally ran into an old friend, The Wizard Floki, at a local tavern in Ok-shy. Dally had been living comfortably, researching for her ancestors books. Floki and Dally knew each other from a small heist, undescribed as of yet. Dally found Floki had joined forces with an acquaintance of hers, the Dragonborn Paladin, Karath. Dally had previously met Karath through Melosius, Dally’s Patron. This was most likely an event for the order of Bahamut, Karath's patron deity. They are also travelling with a blow-hard religious zealot, Cleric of Bahamut, Uther, and his small servant, the halfling teenage Rogue, Lonk. As spring approached, and their stay in the town of Ok-shy reached an end, they invited Dally on an adventure, as she was moving south in search of her books and they could use a bard/goodwill with the locals along the way. Uther received orders from his order to move south to Camoor.
They secured some space on a barge traveling south on the river Ell-sher-nahn-dee-later, towards Camoor. However, 2 or 3 days down the river their barge was forced to run aground, or sink. The Captain of the barge noticed a dirt road heading west, towards some giant mountains, the FuqYuShon Mtns. The Captain agreed to cut them a deal on their travel if they ran into the nearest town and brought back some carpenters to help them fix the vessel.
The Heroes walked down the road, uneventfully, until they reached the town of Hocks Hollow around midday. The front gates of the town were open wide, and there were two major guard towers. The stones were all old and mossy and uncared for. One stone wall had collapsed and been rebuilt as a wooden palisade, with some decehad taken over the town, not a dragonborn to be seen. In fact, Karath may have been the first dragon most of the townsfolk had ever seen.
The town of Hocks Hollow was small.There were many building, including a Blacksmith, two Inns, an apothecary, a militia, The Restful Willows(tavern), The Oaken Staff(tavern) Temple of the Many Gods, General Store, Stables, Tenaments, Manor house, fishing dock and a mill wheel.
They were greeted by a jovial man, who seemed to like our Bard, as most people do. He informed them that they had arrived at the beginning of festivities for their Spring Faire. He told them that the town was under the rule of Steward Crosby. When questioned about help for the barge, he told them that everyone– local farmers, peasants, and tradesmen from miles around - was coming to the town in the next 1-2 days, and the team would have their pick of carpenters and helpful men to help them after the festival. They had no choice but to wait as no one wanted to spend the day of festival working on a boat. Uther asked about their temple and tributes to Bahamut. Karath accompanied him to the temple of the many gods. Lonk slipped into the shadows to lurk about.
Being the functional alcoholic, with a roguish companion, Dally asked about the local taverns and requested the greeter's favorite of the two- the Oaken staff. The Oaken Staff was a beautifully refurbished tavern, with intricate woodworking details and a shrine to Lapuard. The owner/barkeep, was a dwarf named Hoggin. He confessed that he regretted not adventuring. He admitted that he settled in a town in the middle of nowhere with his wife to have a quiet retirement. He had 3 kids, at least 2 sons, who helped him refurbish the bar. Dally mentioned their barge troubles and asked if he'd be willing to help. He agreed in exchange for a few nights of performances during the faire. It had been a while since there was a bard in town and he thought it would really boost traffic throughThis meant free drinks and a free room for Dally. She loosely agreed, on the terms that she need to check with her party members before committing.
Karath joined the two at the bar, and they all drank and made merriment for about 3 beers, until they hear Uther bellowing for Lonk. Shortly after, Lonk came into the bar to retrieve them. Uther was on a mission to find a caravan of lost iron to build Bahamut statues for the temple, because the local temple of many gods didn’t have enough Bahamut tribute. He wanted to leave right away. However, Karath was several beers in, and Dally had made loose commitments to a local to help get them back on actual mission. Dally was not enthusiastic about leaving the tavern; it was midafternoon and probably not the best time to go off in search of a lost caravan, that could have been up to 2 days away, coming from the mountains.
Uther was very angry, Dally reminded him that his god is not Her god, and Dally doesn't necessarily prioritize his holy mission over her overall mission. Dally, of course, was willing to help, but maybe she could get one performance in, and the Dragonborn and Wizard could sleep off their alcohol. Uther agreed that they could stay the night, but they must leave at 6am sharp, on the condition that their party spent the time awake and crafting wooden Bahamut tokens. Lonk, of course, efficiently whittled out about 60 (1 every 10 minutes for 10 hours) beautiful, perfect replications of Bahamut. Karath whittled a bit, no solid number. Floki tied some twigs together and added a note to a few that said "Bahamut." Dally spent the night performing for the tavern. Hoggin proclaimed that he had record breaking foot traffic and business, and was very happy with the bard. Dally earned 6gp in tips (a lot, considering how small and poor the town was.) About halfway through the night Floki left, following a lady who had just had a heated discussion with another guy. He came back in with a look of scheming.
6am saw them leaving town, west towards the Fukyushon mtns. After half a day’s ride, they could see, just on the edge of vision, a cart, and dead horses. They stopped, Lonk stealthily approached, noticed no traps, poked the dead horses, saw the back was full of mostly iron ore, but missing was something. He gave the all-clear, they all approached, and Dally noticed tiny foot prints from several days ago. About 2 days after those prints, booted feet left the caravan, into the woods east, towards the town. Floki recognized the footprints as goblins after Lonk took his shoes off and compared - they were the same size, but missing a toe.
They loaded the iron into Floki's carravan, and also cannibalized the wheels from the broken down wagon, just in case. They reached the city just before sunset, and there were tons of wagons awaiting to enter the city. Joining the line, they saw another caravan with armed militia men leaving the town. Lonk snuck up on it and saw it had about 500 gp worth of items. He pocketed about 250gp. He returned and told them there were shinies, and then noticed something shiny in the woods. Dally spoke with the militia men, trying to glean information but they didn’t say much. It was hinted that they were paying tribute to their feudal superiors. They promised to run into the bard later, at the bar where she was performing. Lonk investigated the shiny in the woods - goblin tracks. The Paladin(Karath) and Cleric(Uther) convinced the rest of the group that they must stop the goblin attack, for the good of the people. They sent Lonk into town to grab the Blacksmith. He was happy to sit with their iron-full caravan, waiting in the long line to get back into town, while they ran off on a task. Floki didn't trust him. Blacksmith was named Gen. (like again)
They ran after the caravan. As they approached, they noticed movement running parallel with the caravan. The group quietly moved into the woods to flank the goblins. That way the group could attack when the goblins were distracted by the caravan. However, Uther and Dally somehow alerted the goblin party to their presence, which then turned and attacked. Uther threw some kind of illumination spell from the gods to alert the caravan of danger, and to help the teams vision, as it was just past sun down. Seeing this, the militia men ran away, abandoning the caravan of gold and food.
They battled the raiding party to the death. Dally killed a firebeetle, they collectively killed 3 goblins, 2 fire beetles and a Bug bear. In the heat of the win, Dally cut out and ate the liver of the fire beetle she had killed and smeared blood on her face. It was intimidating. Lonk found a pair of shiny boots that were perfectly sized for his feet. The rest of the group debated on what to do with the caravan. Floki and Dally suggested keeping it, since it was abandoned and they had protected it. Uther and Karath argued that it would do the town no good to have to tithe twice, and it wasn’t right. Knowing they wouldn’t win this battle, but they may gain some fame and tribute from the locals, Dally and Floki agreed to take the caravan back to town.
They arrived back in town, Dally still blood smeared and intimidating. Dally approached Hoggin, asking about where to find the steward, telling him that they had recovered a caravan that belongs to the steward. Hoggin cheered the group, and poured a round of beers around the house. The Heroes are soon approached by an assistant of the Steward who extended an invitation from the Steward, for a late supper to speak about the caravan. Dally suggested it might be a trap and someone should stay behind, just in case. However, Dally was cajoled into accompanying the group to the manor house.
The steward asked them about the caravan, claimed his men told him that the heroes had attacked them. After explaining their actions,(and a side adventure where Uther demanded to see his Bahamut shrine) he claimed that the town has an old treaty with the goblins that they had just broken, and he would like to take them into custody. They argued that there was no way they could have known, and he told them that there were posters at the general store with the laws. Dally brought up the goblin attack and dead horses mear the mountains. The steward claimed that he would check into it. Uther suggested that the steward let the group enjoy the festivities in town, in exchange they would surrender their weapons. He argued that they had nowhere to go, and they may as well party. (And maybe spend money?)
Floki and Dally didn't really agree, but ended up submitting. Floki had a backup staff in his caravan, which was stabled. Dally has gold and charm. There was an apothecary in town. Dally was unsure about how the townsfolk feel about the steward, but it was possible that his dealings with the Goblins have cast him in a negative light. Maybe Floki and Dally, will need to take matters into their own hands.
I repurposed an old stationary card box into a felt lined dice box. It just fits my miniature, inside it's plastic case from the dollar store (i didnt want it to get tossed around with my dice) I also can fit my mechanical pencils and accouterments(extra lead and eraser.)
