“All these talking won’t get me any gold, will it?” Jacks proclaims petulantly. “I have a throne to get back to, so let’s get this nasty business over with.”
“I know.” The golden prince says, oblivious to Fuego’s sarcastic undertone. Back in their castle, their toilets did look like thrones to normal people, grand and ivory, each has five servants waiting in line to wipe their royal behinds, and the loo was constantly kept scented with exotic flowers. His scarlet lips twitches, disgusted at the sight of wombats’ excrements. “How uncivilized.”
"Such a truly tragic state of affairs for the poor creatures," Andre says as Fuego mentions the wombats' lack of thrones, shaking his head sadly. "Perhaps that is the threat that we must save this town from! Perhaps we need to build latrines for all the wombats! But whatever the case may be, there is clearly nothing to be gained by standing around here. We must venture on if we wish to save this town from absolute destruction!"
"What? No! Don't help Pleasant Pastures! That's what I'm telling you! That village is cursed!" He jumps up and down with anger and throws his hat to the ground as you begin to walk away. "Nobody ever listens. They just think I'm crazy. Crazy ol' Maurice!" He continues to rant until he disappears in the distance. (OOC: If you like, you can interact with him more; I just got the impression that y'all wanted to move on).
An hour later, the road reaches the top of a low hill and you can see the idyllic village of Pleasant Pastures in front of you. The town is very neatly arranged, with several well-kept houses, each with its own garden or pin for livestock. There is also what appears to be a general store and a tavern. It is not a large town; you'd guess maybe 20 families at most. As you approach, you can hear chickens clucking, a cock strutting about, a cow mooing, and several wombats burbling. You also see children running around the little town square, playing a game of tag. Two children are chasing each other around the town's well, right in the center of the square, when they notice you and skip up to the party.
"Who are you?" asks one of the little tykes.
One tyke:
The other tyke
Pleasant Pastures (you are all currently by the well; the tavern is the building to the north and the general store is to the northwest)
"I... am Fuego!" says the genasi, wishing he had a minstrel to play a fanfare everytime he introduced himself. "And who might you two young warriors be? The town militia? Deputies of the sheriff? Rival adventurers here to challenge us?"
“And people who got in our way. And people we don’t like. And ugly people. You know, the usual.” Jacks says casually, a thin smile on his blood red lips. “Now, where are the grownups? This is not a children’s conversation.”
"Tranquilo, Tranquilo, Jack," says Fuego. "These two are not just ordinary children. They are keen observers, they see and hear much more than the grownups realize, no? Tell us, young warriors: what is happening in your village? We hear that the wombats are behaving strangely, and the carrots are dangerously large! Can it be true? Also... has someone gone missing?"
Marnoa nods and crouches down, staying silent. He gets to eye level with the little ones and his ersatz eye swings around and looks at them, swiveling independently back and forth in between the two. “Yes, please tell us everything that has been happening lately in this town…”
"Uhhhh... could we maybe not terrify the children? Andre asks, scratching his chin. "I feel like they'd be more helpful if they aren't scared of us..."
Marnoa straightens up and his eye swivels around to Andre. “Who is terrifying them?” He looks quizzically at Andre, having no idea what he’s talking about.
The little girl says, "My name is Dee Dee and I am 7 years old and I have been told that strangers can be dangerous so I shouldn't talk to them but I've never met any strangers so I talk to everybody and I really enjoy it and I also think wombats are dumb because one chased my daddy and carrots are yucky no matter what the grown-ups say and I like apples and pie so much more and do you think you could buy me some hard candy from the store it's only a copper my daddy won't give me any even when I ask nice and sometimes they say things in whispers but I don't like it and also I think that I could eat a whole bag of hard candy and you should probably go talk to my daddy in the store or my gampa in the tavern and can I hold your sword?"
The little boy looks at you solemnly and nods. Dee Dee says "This is Petey. He's my cousin. He don't talk much."
Fuego regards the two children solemnly. "Pleased to meet you, D.D. and P.T. I guess they only use initials in your village? Well, if your papá says no candy, I don't think we want to disobey him. But maybe we'll go talk to him now. See you later!"
He then turns to the building indicated as the store, and will enter, looking for an adult to speak to.
Marnoa pauses for a second, saying “Wait a minute, slow down. A wombat chased your daddy? Isn’t that strange behavior for one of them? Why do you think it did that?” He allows Dee Dee to answer, and then asks “I know, we can look out for any candy for you, but one more question. Those whispers that you don’t like, do you ever catch what they are saying in those whispers? Can you hear what they are talking about?”
Dee Dee looks at Mamoa. She says, "I like you. Your eye is silly." Then she skips away to the other side of the square where there are a couple more children, Petey forlornly following her.
"Calm yourself, sir. Where would you have us go? We heard your village needed help..." says the druid.
“All these talking won’t get me any gold, will it?” Jacks proclaims petulantly. “I have a throne to get back to, so let’s get this nasty business over with.”
"At least you have a throne to do your nasty business on," quips Fuego, "These wombats just do it squarely out in the open."
“I know.” The golden prince says, oblivious to Fuego’s sarcastic undertone. Back in their castle, their toilets did look like thrones to normal people, grand and ivory, each has five servants waiting in line to wipe their royal behinds, and the loo was constantly kept scented with exotic flowers. His scarlet lips twitches, disgusted at the sight of wombats’ excrements. “How uncivilized.”
"Such a truly tragic state of affairs for the poor creatures," Andre says as Fuego mentions the wombats' lack of thrones, shaking his head sadly. "Perhaps that is the threat that we must save this town from! Perhaps we need to build latrines for all the wombats! But whatever the case may be, there is clearly nothing to be gained by standing around here. We must venture on if we wish to save this town from absolute destruction!"
"ONWAAAAAARD!" Morty shouts holding up his fist
"I've always wanted to say that "
"What? No! Don't help Pleasant Pastures! That's what I'm telling you! That village is cursed!" He jumps up and down with anger and throws his hat to the ground as you begin to walk away. "Nobody ever listens. They just think I'm crazy. Crazy ol' Maurice!" He continues to rant until he disappears in the distance. (OOC: If you like, you can interact with him more; I just got the impression that y'all wanted to move on).
An hour later, the road reaches the top of a low hill and you can see the idyllic village of Pleasant Pastures in front of you. The town is very neatly arranged, with several well-kept houses, each with its own garden or pin for livestock. There is also what appears to be a general store and a tavern. It is not a large town; you'd guess maybe 20 families at most. As you approach, you can hear chickens clucking, a cock strutting about, a cow mooing, and several wombats burbling. You also see children running around the little town square, playing a game of tag. Two children are chasing each other around the town's well, right in the center of the square, when they notice you and skip up to the party.
"Who are you?" asks one of the little tykes.
One tyke:
The other tyke
Pleasant Pastures (you are all currently by the well; the tavern is the building to the north and the general store is to the northwest)
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
"We're a group of adventurers for hire that heard your town might be in trouble."
"I... am Fuego!" says the genasi, wishing he had a minstrel to play a fanfare everytime he introduced himself. "And who might you two young warriors be? The town militia? Deputies of the sheriff? Rival adventurers here to challenge us?"
They look at each other as their eyes grow wide. "Adventurers? Have you killed a lot of people?"
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
"Why yes, but only bad people... Or people working for bad people... Or people that had stuff we REALLY wanted"
Morty's expression sours as he realizes he might not be the nicest person
“And people who got in our way. And people we don’t like. And ugly people. You know, the usual.” Jacks says casually, a thin smile on his blood red lips. “Now, where are the grownups? This is not a children’s conversation.”
"Tranquilo, Tranquilo, Jack," says Fuego. "These two are not just ordinary children. They are keen observers, they see and hear much more than the grownups realize, no? Tell us, young warriors: what is happening in your village? We hear that the wombats are behaving strangely, and the carrots are dangerously large! Can it be true? Also... has someone gone missing?"
Marnoa nods and crouches down, staying silent. He gets to eye level with the little ones and his ersatz eye swings around and looks at them, swiveling independently back and forth in between the two. “Yes, please tell us everything that has been happening lately in this town…”
"Uhhhh... could we maybe not terrify the children? Andre asks, scratching his chin. "I feel like they'd be more helpful if they aren't scared of us..."
Marnoa straightens up and his eye swivels around to Andre. “Who is terrifying them?” He looks quizzically at Andre, having no idea what he’s talking about.
The little girl says, "My name is Dee Dee and I am 7 years old and I have been told that strangers can be dangerous so I shouldn't talk to them but I've never met any strangers so I talk to everybody and I really enjoy it and I also think wombats are dumb because one chased my daddy and carrots are yucky no matter what the grown-ups say and I like apples and pie so much more and do you think you could buy me some hard candy from the store it's only a copper my daddy won't give me any even when I ask nice and sometimes they say things in whispers but I don't like it and also I think that I could eat a whole bag of hard candy and you should probably go talk to my daddy in the store or my gampa in the tavern and can I hold your sword?"
The little boy looks at you solemnly and nods. Dee Dee says "This is Petey. He's my cousin. He don't talk much."
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
Fuego regards the two children solemnly. "Pleased to meet you, D.D. and P.T. I guess they only use initials in your village? Well, if your papá says no candy, I don't think we want to disobey him. But maybe we'll go talk to him now. See you later!"
He then turns to the building indicated as the store, and will enter, looking for an adult to speak to.
Marnoa pauses for a second, saying “Wait a minute, slow down. A wombat chased your daddy? Isn’t that strange behavior for one of them? Why do you think it did that?” He allows Dee Dee to answer, and then asks “I know, we can look out for any candy for you, but one more question. Those whispers that you don’t like, do you ever catch what they are saying in those whispers? Can you hear what they are talking about?”
Dee Dee looks at Mamoa. She says, "I like you. Your eye is silly." Then she skips away to the other side of the square where there are a couple more children, Petey forlornly following her.
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd