12 Hematite (cont.), Early Summer, 212 - by Asob Momuzzokun
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The adventurers step off the wagon as they see me wave to them. Seven in total, they gather around.
"Thank you so much for coming!" I see no reason to hide my excitement! "We don't get visitors such as yourselves around these parts. Our fortress is so far beyond the borders of our civilization, we don't hear much of current events in the world. Are you from the Free Folk?"
The lizard man - who, up close, looks an awful lot like a muscular red-scaled dragon - speaks first. "Aye, we Free Folk made contact with Pesor Siti nigh a few years ago. We're separated by land bridge, but our borders are currently open to each other. My name is Sergei Bloodscale. I come South to look for work, don't mind the travel."
The bard, fair haired and strapped with a lute, drums, and a violin at least from what I'm able to see, chimes in. "I'm Edward. Alefgard and I hail from Goodcherishs of Pesor Siti. We decided it's time to explore and see the world. Isn't that right?"
He gives his companion Alefgard a nudge - a gray-robed man with a skullet, holding an old tome. "We're at your service," he says abruptly, shifting uncomfortably under scrutiny of attention. Seems shy, this one.
Lurking behind the pack, I catch notice of the cloaked man in the back, attempting to blend in with the shadows. The sun is angled just right so that, even with his hood up, I'm able to see his pointed ears. It seems I was mistaken about him being human!
"Oh!" I say, "We have an elf, too, I see!"
"Half," the shady man says. "I'm a half-elf."
"Wha-- they do that??"
"Uh, yeah. I'm Zumies. I became a thief because everyone picks on me for being half-elf, and I never really fit in at home. I spend a lot of time on the road - hasn't been easy finding a home among either the humans or the elves, so this is the only life I know."
"I thought I smelled somethin'
seedy." The small, cute, adorable cat-like creature speaks with a grating drawl. "Why'd you have to bring your bad half with ya, elf?"
The man dressed head to toe in armor stands placidly in the back. He reeks. There are flies buzzing around his head. No introductions necessary my good sir, please may I introduce you to this lovely pond you may bathe in.
"Wot's all this then?" Archibold strolls in from the barracks yard and takes a look at our new visitors. "So, you think you're tough enough to take on work for Severedcoils? Ha! Why don't you puny weaklings step into the ring and show us what you got?"
"Sergei," the mouse person says to the lizard man. "Throw me."
Without hesitation, the lizard picks up the mouse and throws him at Archibold! Archibold raises Kobembetan, the artifact buckler, in time, and the mouse lands on it with two daggers out at Archibold's throat.
"Ready when you are," he says.
Archibold laughs. "Well! That was quite an impressive move. Perhaps you do have what it takes!" Archibold nods with approval.
"If we're all done fooling around," Kikrost says, "I'd like to get into the details of your first mission. Let's retire to my chambers - I'll give you a tour on the way down."
As we enter the fort proper, the party looks in awe at the pit of bones in the bridged entryway. Sergei notices Nelare, the dragon, peering at him through the arrow slits.
"Oi, is that a dragon there? What's it doing chained up by your gate?"
"Oh, that's Nelare Fedíofi Fonenelare! She tried to attack our fort once, but Zon got up some cage traps just in time and she walked right in!"
"I tamed her myself," said Kikrost.
"You
tamed her?" Sergei looked distraught. "This is... unnatural."
"She knows 'paw' and 'roll over!'"
"We don't have time for that right now," I interject. I can tell this... lizard man... is he a dragon man?? is getting uncomfortable. "Come, let's go."
We stop at each floor briefly, showing the grounds to our new guests. We hurry past the well room before Minkot notices us. Once in Kikrost's chambers, she withdraws her black diamond from her cloak, and the scroll for the 'FORTUNE' spell.
"Asob, your wine?"
I sigh. Some day, I will get to enjoy my wine without it being commandeered as a magical implement. As before, she drops the diamond into my bronze goblet. I pull out the finger bone, and it begins glowing the instant it's out of my pocket. The wine churns as the gem spins, until at last it reveals the image of the apple once again.
"Each year, a pack of goblins show up at the town of Oakhurst selling a magic apple. Supposedly, the apple has healing properties, but the goblins are fiercely protective of their enterprise. Each time the seeds are planted, the goblins come and steal the saplings as they're starting to grow. We need one of those apples, so we want you to get there just ahead of the solstice and take it from those dirty goblins!"
The group just sort of stood around for a while. "You want us to
rob the goblins?" Alefgard looked suspicious.
Zon spoke up. "They're goblins. If you saw how often they attacked here, and their numbers, and saw all the dwarves they kill on a yearly basis, you might have a little less empathy for them. Either way, I doubt this village really enjoys being next to a goblin settlement."
"Hey, you justify it however you want," the cat person says, "we'll go steal your apple or whatever."
"Err, I'm sorry kitty," I say, "I'm not sure I caught your name."
"Space Pants."
"...Come again?"
"I said 'Space Pants,' that's my name." Space Pants pulls out a handful of catnip and snorts it. "There, much better. Anyway I'm a sorcerer, have fun with that."
"I am Bubb." The fully armored man suddenly speaks, with an odd, grating, buzzing, metallic voice. "I am cleric. You are safe with me."
"...'Kay. Um, Kikrost, where is Oakhurst?"
"To the Northwest, on the south side of the mountain range between The Coastal Kingdoms and The Wayward Twigs. It'll take about 21 and a half days to get there, but we will provide for your travel expenses."
"Do we get any spending money to prepare with?" Edward the bard asks.
"Sure," Kikrost says, pulling out a sack of coins. "Here's 150g for each of you."
What-- "Kikrost, where did you get that? We've only just started an economy!"
"Right, we just minted all these gold coins! And now they can go and spend them at the shops."
I forgot that dungeon masters like to work in the forges. She must have pulled the coins straight out as they were minted. "F-- fine. Let me show you to the markets so you can get yourselves prepared."
I lead the band of adventurers upstairs to our freshly built market square. All of them head towards the general store, where 'Skuorgs' seems to have a collection of healing potions in stock... wait, healing whats? Is that from some kind of plant extract? I don't remember having anything like that available...
Sergei takes a liking to our fine dwarven crafts. He purchases a talc bracelet with hanging rings of grizzly bear leather.
The bard comes up to me and asks, "Where can we get a drink around here?"
"Oh! The meeting hall is right upstairs, in the room with all the levers. Please, don't touch the levers."
As the party leaves the market, I see Skuorgs frantically counting his money, and then counting his health potions. He seems to be missing one, or miscounted his money during his transactions. Hmm...
Up in the meeting hall, Edward and Alefgard seem to have gotten themselves into the Sewer Whiskey, of all things.
"C'mon, Alef! Don't be a baby, you can do it."
"It smells awful!" Alefgard complains. "And it looks like greywater. People drink this?"
"If they're not cowards!" Edward slaps his friend on the back. "Bottoms up!"
Alefgard sighs, and raises his mug. No sooner does the Sewer Whiskey touch his lips does he spew it all over the table.
"Mmm. Let me get that for you." Bubb sits down next to Alefgard, picks up the rest of the Sewer Whiskey, and dumps it over his head. He then proceeds to smear Alefgard's vomit all over his face. More flies appear, buzzing happily around the smelly mess he's made of himself.
Space Pants buys a drink for Zumies. Space Pants spills the drink onto Zumies's lap. Space Pants does catnip.
Almost as soon as they arrived, they're on their way again, off to find us a magic apple that might lead us to a way out. I'm just glad they didn't ask too many questions, or stick around long enough to suspect anything funny going on around the fort. I'm sure Zon will feel better knowing these people are only interested in making a profit, and don't seem to be in any danger of sticking their noses where they don't belong. For now, at least.
Author
Topic: Severedcoils - Consort Accumulation Challenge (Score: 5) (40d + DnD 5e) (Read 131854 times)