Winterhaven Style

The following will be a collected and slightly cleaned up (not much though) recount of my group's adventures up to this point. Our first session amounts to Cerra (Kristina) and Blinders (Lance) walking down the road towards Winterhaven and Erevan (Me) stumbling out of the forest like a, well, like an Erevan. He is special. Anyway, they exchanged pleasantries and the DM (Shawn) explained that our characters would know the road is dangerous so we joined together and headed out to Winterhaven. On our way to Winterhaven we encountered some road troubles involving some Kobolds and Erevan failed at pretty much everything he did. It was pretty spectacular. Once we got to Winterhaven, we found a tavern and cooled our heels while drinking some ale. Then we started with the emails.

I guess I should say what everyone is. Erevan is an Eladrin Bard, Cerra is a Halfling Rogue, and Blinders is a Razorclaw Shifter Warden. We're all level 2.

DM: As you all are gathering yourselves and Blinders is sucking down his ale, you look around and take account of all the people in the common room:

1. Bartender
2. Old farmer
3. A sage-ish looking old man with a long beard (think ZZ-top)
4. A tough-looking man appearance commands respect, sitting at a corner table sipping ale
5. A female elf looking bitter sitting alone

Erevan: Erevan looks forlornly at his coin purse and resolves to prove he is moderately competent at something and puts a carny grin full of his clean white elfy teeth on his face. He gets up from his lonely table and meanders over to the bartender and says, "Would you be interested in adding some entertainment to this humdrum establishment? On the cheap? I assure you, I am a competent smith of songs and tomfoolery and can brighten the day for all your drab and sorry customers, and perhaps by word of mouth I can draw further attention to this nearly unnoticeable establishment." He makes a Diplomacy check to get gainful employment singing songs and gets an 18. Erevan is not being snarky, he genuinely assumes that non-Eladrin are depressed about not being Eladrin.

Blinders: Blinders is about finished with his first ale by the time Erevan is digging through his purse. He then check his own purse and orders 3 more rounds. Before leaving the bar to sit at the table Erevan has chosen, he asked the bartender about the strange encounter they had earlier today. I wonder if this sort of thing was common, or if roving bands of Kobolds were new to the landscape. I make a streetwise check to see what kind of information I get from the bartender before sitting down and get an 18.

Cerra: Cerra nods a small thanks to the bar tender and joins Erevan and Blinders at the table. "How long do we plan on staying in this town?" she asks, her boredom of Winterhaven present on her voice. She glances at the Eldarin as he is looking wildly around the bar with a massive grin on his face and gives an amused smile. The shifter seems totally oblivious to everything except his drink. With a sigh she resigns herself to these travel companions, sits back and enjoys her ale.

DM: The bartender looks at Erevan and considers his offer. She then takes a second glance at Blinders and a cursory glance back at the Halfling whom she didn’t notice before.

Looking back at Erevan she says “My name is Salvana Wrafton, in case you were ever going to ask.” She offers a quick smile then adds “I will take you up on your offer to entertain, however with this stingy crowd here tonight I won’t have much of a profit to send your way. I propose that, since I have a few open rooms, that I will provide you with one at no charge to you tonight in exchange for your entertainment. If you accept, please go have a seat with your group and eat some food first, then you may feel free to start.” (Diplomacy pass)

As Salvana is stating this, she notices that Blinders is beckoning for more ales and absent-mindedly starts filling up 3 more mugs. As she is delivering those mugs and after the makes her offer to Erevan, Blinders asks her about the Kobolds.

“Why, yes, those pesky Kobolds are everywhere it seems lately and braver all the time! Lord Padraig would probably be interested in hearing your story though; he’s been trying to get the militia to clear out those vermin for the last few months with no success. If you would like to talk to Lord Padraig, he arrived shortly before you did and is over sitting in the corner sipping his ale. However, he likes to sit and relax a while before being bothered. Please, all of you sit and eat!” (Streetwise pass – she seems very open to divulge any information she may know)

You all are at a table in the middle of the dining room. You hear noise in the kitchen, reminiscent of pots and pans clanking and the smell of food is wafting out towards you.

Erevan: Erevan says, "Offer accepted!" and performs a rather foppish bow to the human at the bar, then returns to the table he was seated at. He immediately pulls out a [writing utensil] and [appropriate medium for the tech level] and begins composing a ballad of bloodshed and mayhem to fire the souls of the drab humans in the bar. He uses some vague memories of a snippet of information he read about a battle between the Eladrin and Drow of the Feywild as his inspiration, not realizing that the Eladrin lost the particular battle he is writing about and that they were in fact fighting Fomorians. Nonetheless, it is a song of honor and glory and the horribly outnumbered Eladrin do stomp the icky Drow pretty forcibly and send them running back into the Feydark.

Blinders: Blinders grabs the three mugs and before he heads to the table asks more about Lord Padraig and where to find him. I'm sure Salvana has a response. After hearing the response, I would like to go sit at the table with Erevan and Cerra, and proceed to eat and drink. Blinders is thinking he may bring this up with Lord Padraig if there is a opportune time to meet with him. But right now he is focused on resting his aching body, and consuming, what he thinks was the dwarven greatest contribution to society was, ale.

Erevan: Erevan puts his [tech level appropriate writing device] away into one of his various pockets and produces his lute from another. His gaze is focused and quite nearly steely as he takes to the stage and prepares to sing. He fiddles with his lute for a moment, tuning it and also unhooking a clamp device that holds his hastily scribbled notes in such a position that he can look at them while holding and playing his lute. He clears his throat and calls for the attention of the room, and without waiting for a response, he begins.

What follows is a ballad that speaks of bravery, excitement, war, love, the ever present disease of ennui that threatens the immortal Eladrin, and also possesses the lute equivalent of power chords. Erevan will forever remember it as one of his best performances ever. The people of the tavern will remember it as a bunch of high pitched gibberish, because Erevan tells his noble tale in the Eladrin variant of Elven that is spoken in the Feywild.

Following his performance, a single tear falling from his eye, he bows and returns to the table he shares with Blinders and Cerra. After putting away his lute and notes he extends his hands across the table and rests one on one of Blinders and the other on one of Cerra's and says, "Thank you for being part of that." Erevan makes an Insight check and gets an 8, he assumes that Blinders and Cerra are as touched and affected as he is by his epic ballad.

Erevan reclaims his hands and clears his throat, choking back his deep heartfelt pride for his race, and says, "So, this Lord Padraig gentleman, he sounds like he has money and holdings and perhaps could be divested of part of said money and/or holdings if canny adventurers, such as ourselves, were to wreak mayhem on his behalf. I think this is something we should investigate."

Cerra: Cerra looks at Erevan after his performance with bewildered amusement. She turns to Blinders and says "At least he is entertaining!", trying to stifle a giggle.

She looks back at Ereven to address the matter of Lord Padraig saying "I agree that we should speak to him on this matter, if anything it will give us a chance to become more familiar with the area." With a warm smile she takes another swig of her drink and leans back in her chair.

DM: As Erevan is leaning back in his chair and Cerra has taken a sip of her ale, a tall dark tough-looking man lays his hand on Erevan's shoulder. None of you heard or saw him coming, and as you look up at him, you see a glitter of moisture in his eyes. He looks down at Erevan and says:

That was beautiful son. I have never before heard such a powerful ballad. Even though I don't know what in the Abyss you were saying, it touched me. ::Slight sniffle:: I would like to buy you all a round of whatever you are drinking.

With that, he motions to Salvana and makes a circular gesture over his head with his index finger pointing up. He then moves towards the empty chair and, as he is sitting down he continues.

My name is Lord Padraig, I am this measly town's lord. What brings such a motley crew such as yourselves to a run-down humdug place as this? Looks like you have had some hard travels as well.

Erevan: Erevan smiles at the human and yells, "THAT IS UNDERSTANDABLE MILORD. I HAVE HEARD THAT HUMANS OF ADVANCED AGE, SUCH AS YOURSELF, HAVE DECREASED HEARING ABILITIES."

He takes a moment to gesture at the elegant curves and points of his own ears and says, "MY PEOPLE HAVE NO SUCH PROBLEM, AGE BRINGS ONLY WISDOM FOR US, NEVER DEATH OR DIMINISHED FACULTIES. ALSO, THE POINTS CHANNEL SOUND, MAKING IT MUCH EASIER TO PERCEIVE THE FINE DETAILS OF OUR TONGUE THAT ALL HUMANS TEND TO MISS."

Erevan gestures at the table now and says, "PLEASE JOIN US LORD PADRAIG SO THAT WE MAY DISCUSS THE INTERESTING EVENTS OF OUR TRAVELS WITH YOU, SHORT THOUGH THEY MAY HAVE BEEN."

Blinders: Blinders gives Erevan a sideways glance, pondering how much time outside of his own race he's spent. He looks back at Lord Padraig and gives a terse recollection of their travels to Winterhaven … figuring Erevan would fill in any details that he left out.

Blinders then asks Lord Padraig if this sort of Kobold activity is common … realizing while he tries to get out of the cities as much as he can … he never in his travels had seen such a large group on a road as developed as the one to Winterhaven. He also asks the Lord if he is charged with the protection of the roads they came in on, or if that was too far out of his dominion. Blinders makes a Diplomacy check and gets a 14.

Cerra: Sensing Blinder's urgency to pull the Lord's attention off their Eldarin companion, Cerra says lightly "We'd be willing to help you out with your Kobolod problem....for a price of course. Such endeavors are not risk free and we'd expect to be fairly compensated." Cerra then scoots closer to Lord Padraig and says softly "I do apologize if our friend has offended you in any way. Blinders and I happened upon him on our journey here and he was quite out of his element battling several Kobold's so we felt we should help the poor lad out. I am fairly certain he bumped his head a bit during battle which has resulted in his...behavior." With that, she smiles sweetly at the Lord and asks what he recommends from the bar. Cerra makes a Diplomacy check and gets a 22.

DM: Lord Padraig looks quite taken aback by the way Erevan is speaking to him. So much so that he seems like he is about to throw his drink at Erevan. Luckily, Blinders and Cerra jump in to the conversation to correct what Erevan has started.

After listening to Blinders, Lord Padraig gives him a sigh and a nod, showing his understanding and disdain towards the Kobold activities. Before Lord Padraig can start speaking, Cerra continues the conversation. Lord Padraig listens intently to Cerra, taking a sip of his ale as she concludes.

Well, Cerra, what I recommend is the ale that I have already ordered us all, it is the best in Winterhaven, as well as the only. As for your friend here, he must be fresh from the Fey Wild as he seems to not know much about the human race. Lord Padraig makes an Insight check and gets an 8.

However, you have survived one encounter with those pesky Kobolds. Those beasts vex me sorely. Yet the villagers refuse to recognize the seriousness of the problem. Attacks along the road have grown more frequent over the last few months. Something’s stirring the kobolds up. I'll take you up on your offer. Here is a map showing the area where the kobolds are believed to be brooding. If you can manage to eradicate their lair, you can keep whatever loot you find as well as I'll throw in 100 gold. How does this sound to you?

Erevan: Erevan raises of flagon of what he can only assume is mop water from the bar floor and takes a long pull off of it, attempting to conceal a grimace as he does so. (Bluff check of 13)

After wiping his face with the back of his hand and thumping his mug down he says, "They task us as well Lord Padraig, they task us, and we shall have them!"

He leaps from the table (Acrobatics check of 24) and performs a salute with his sword to Lord Padraig, saying grimly, "We shall have them Lord Padraig, we shall find them and take them in their holes and bring down your wrath upon their scaly heads. In your name we shall bring fire and fear to the kobolds terrorizing Winterhaven."

Erevan gestures wildly with his unsheathed blade and says, "We sally forth now my boon companions and know that we ride out for war, for Winterhaven, and for a red dawn on the morrow!" (Diplomacy check of 23 to inspire his companions, Lord Padraig, and all the weary souls of the tavern)

He then charges out of the tavern, nearly skewering a townsperson passing by the door with his sword as he does so.

Blinders: Blinders is obviously struck by the spectacle. He covers his face with his hand and slowly shakes his head. He has never seen a creature with such zeal, and yet seemingly clueless.

At this point Blinders can see what's unfolding infront of him. He finishes his flagon, looks up to Lord Padraig, and reiterates what Erevan says.

He then looks over to Cerra and asks "I hope he did't get us in over our heads ... I suppose we ought to help our enthusiastic friend before he hurts himself."

Cerra: Cerra gives Blinders a small smile before rising and heading out the door. She only hopes she can catch up to the bard before he causes more trouble....

The next session involves the group restraining Erevan and brining him up to their room in the inn because it is fairly late in the evening and they don't want to wander off into the forest without resting after the fight they just finished. On the following morning, Erevan's enthusiasm is undimmed and he barrels off into the woods with sword outstretched and his cape billowing out behind him. The three of them then get jumped by Kobolds and what follows is an encounter that the three survive just barely. Erevan's first two rolls are critical successes, much better than last battle. Heh.