The Road to Drakkenheim

Supplies for Emberwood Village

On the outskirts of Drakkenheim on the island-filled state of Westemär, lies a cloth covered caravan on the side of well-worn road in Altberg. The grass is greener here than anywhere in all of Drakkenheim. At least, so thinks the usually chipper driver, Eren Marlowe. Oh Gods, it is quiet today. Even the crickets aren't paying their usual tune. "Chirp, chirp, chirp all day long." Singsongs Eren as they tend to one of their two draft horses. Good thing the air here is breezy and cool. A warm wonderful summer's day. The horses seem to notice the difference compared to their regular travels to and from the village. They whinny in delight as Eren hands them another apple. "You're welcome, Miss Molly. And you too, Greenberry."

"'Betcha they'll come real soon," Eren tells themself, leaning against the caravan, their leather cap obscuring the top half of their face from the sun with their arms up to their head. Once you approach, they smile and get up, "Well speak of the devils."

A week or so ago, a flyer had went up around Altberg asking adventurers to help to guard a caravan to Emberwood Village. Unfortunately, this call was answered pretty early, well, until something made the team drop out last minute. And that's where you arrived, somehow someway scooping up the call just in time.

Greeting each of you all with a handshake, they eye the fairy with a large grin and a look that gives a vibe of 'you're a bit far from home, aren't ya?'. Eren gives you all a warm smile and introduces themself, "Goods to meet all of yalls. As you could've guessed, I'm Eren Marlowe. And these are my two horses, Molly and Greenberry."

"Glad to see y'alls in one piece. 'Heard Altberg out there is a real scary place. Brrrrr." The lean in to fake a shiver. Smiling, Eren puts their hands on their hips and snickers, "Nothing's like where we's going. Drakkenheim's must be safest place out here, I'll bet, huh?" They raise an eyebrow, guessing that's where most of y'all are headed anyways. "Good thing we's only going to Emberwood Village then."

"I, uh, just wanted to thank yous for comin' out here real quick. Sorry it's a such short notice. The other crew I hired stiffed me last minute. I gots to say I real appreciates y'alls bravery. It ain't gonna be an easy trip, not gonna lie. I'll raise the price and a pays yous each 'bout 25 gold for the trouble once we get to the village."

They pull on the collar of their woolen traveler's jacket to straighten it out a bit, and with a flick of their head nod to the caravan, "I'ves got the usual goods. You can help yourself to a snack or more if you'd like. The 'van's petty cozy. I've got some extra blankets in case it gets cold." Eren begins to clamber up onto the diver's seat, their short frame making the jump up a bit difficult.

"It's a gonna be three weeks journey. We should get to know each other. Fun fact: I lost this finger while heading into the ruins myself." They lift up their gloved left hand to reveal their thumb is missing. "Didn't actually get to the ruins, but some harpy by the walls got to me first. Wondering why y'alls are going. Beats me." 

"Well!" They tap the seat next to them whilst holding on the reins. One of the horses whinnies. "One of yous should also sit by me on the drivers seat. We's got to always have a lookout."

((Hey welcome everybody!!! Please introduce your characters! I hope you have fun! Sorry this was my best interpretation of a Midwestern accent. I really tried.))

A tall, bulky human slowly clambers into the seat next to Eren. As he does so, Eren can see a large scar going from the human's right eyebrow down to his cheek, as well as a large black mark on his left hand. He is wearing commoner's clothes and scale mail under slightly tattered wolf furs, and he has two weapons on his person: a maul strapped to his belt and a crossbow slung across his back. Under his hood can be seen a mess of jet black hair, and his eyes are gray with a blue sheen, almost like the color of storm clouds. He crosses his arms after climbing up and looks ahead, seemingly not inclined to say anything. He looks to be about in his 20s to mid-30s, but his face makes him seem much older.

(You did a decent enough job on the Midwestern accent :])

(OOC Good job with the accent)

Sanimar is a dark-skinned female dwarf with her shoulder length hair fashioned into dread locks. Scattered among her hair glints steel dwarven ringlets usually seen in the beards of dwarven men. Sanimar stands at 4 feet 5 inches tall and has the stocky quality common to dwarves. She wears a dull charcoal grey suit of scale mail with no insignias or emblems. Beneath her armor she wears a white tunic, sensible workman trousers, and steel toed boots. On her back is her pack and on the side of her pack rests her light crossbow and the bolts in their quiver attached to her belt. Along her belt are 2 daggers and a keyring with several keys. She also wears leather gloves with her left glove bearing a small insignia of an anvil and gears. She still has a youthful appearance, but her age can easily be in the 50's or above as dwarves can live for centuries. 

Sanimar shakes Eren Marlowe's hand firmly with a strong grip "Well met I am Sanimar and earning 25 gold pieces along the path I intend to travel seems like an opportunity I could not pass up." 

If there is room in the back, she will climb up and take a seat. If not, she will walk alongside the caravan. 

((Ahhh thank you guys!!! Y'all are so sweet! I'm going to post Brian_Avery's post here for them. I'll add in in a bit.))

Twinkleblossum is a few inches shy of 3 feet and is a fairy with snow white hair, a glittering mist saturates the air around her, and scores of playful pixies zing, dart, and zoom through the glittering mist. Wearing stylized leather armor, a bow on her back, and two daggers in matching sheaths, one on each hip doesn't seem to affect her ability to spread a pair of orange and blue patterned butterfly wings and take flight.

Once Twinkleblossum has flown up 60 feet above the caravan she will take a quick look to scout ahead and see what might lie in store around the next obstacle by looking over it from above, a true 'bird's eye view' if you will. Spending just enough time to get a good look she will fly back down and land next to the caravan. Offering up her small, dainty hand to shake while looking up at the towering form of Eren Marlowe, "Twinkleblossum is my name and I'm traveling out of Eylria. The way just ahead is clear and I can help keep lookout."

The lack of a greeting by Sarűmir makes Eren's mouth twitch a bit, but they shrug it off just as easily. They've been used to much stranger things.

"Nice to 'ave met ya too there Sanimar. There's plenty of room in the back there, of course. Drakkenheim's 'bout past one hundred miles north of where we're ares right now. But if yas needs to, feel free to stretch all yalls legs-" They tilt their head warmly at Twinkleblossum, "or yours wings."

They nod at the little fairy, being only 5'2 themselves they know a bit of how hard it is to be short in an tall people's world- well not as bad as Twinkleblossum has it. When Twinkleblossum goes up to fly, after about a couple miles out of Altberg, she starts to notice that the farm and villages up ahead all look so... well lifeless. All of them one hundred miles surrounding the perimeter of the dark city have been abandoned. No crops can grow there anymore. No animals nor beasts can be seen roaming anywhere up ahead. It is truly desolate. She can see the distant speck of glow from the purple Haze emanating from the city's borders like an nightmarish sunrise. 

"Wells... I guess you twos are lookout then." They say, looking at both Sarűmir then at Twinkleblossum. Taking out a map, though they don't really need it, they quip, "Nows yous couldn't pay me any amount of money to gos back into that city, ya hear. But like all of yalls I betcha, there's a always people whose a willing to risk it for the right price."

"And sos those honest people's gotta eat, and me and 'em other honest folk can make good profit feeding 'em." They pull on their horses reins a little bit just for fun and feed one of them another apple, "I ain't gonna lie, this journey's not gonna be an easy one."

When Sarűmir sees the borders of Drakkenheim, he growls with unrest. And not the way a human would growl. More like... a wolf's growl. In a deep, gruff voice he says, "After all this time... can't believe I'm this close to that god-forsaken place."

A blond, fair-skinned elf can be seen running his hand through his hair as he walks towards the caravan. His silver amulet and the gold accents on his tunic reveal themselves to Eren as he gets within arms reach. The elf extends his hand and says, "Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Aster Ferris at your service." After shaking hands with Eren, Aster climbs up into the caravan. In full view, one can observe that he stands at around 5'4" and wears brown clothing adorned with gilded paisley. His skin is free of wrinkles and his irises glow gold when caught by the sunlight. A backpack with a shield slung on top sags on his shoulders. If one pays attention, they may see that some crossbow bolts are peaking out from under the shield. 

Aster finds an open spot and dusts it off a bit with a black gloved hand before sitting. "I look forward to working with you all," he says with a smile.

Sarűmir turns toward the newcomer, and a look of irritation passes across his face. His says nothing though, and turns back around to once again lay his eyes on the Haze in the distance.

After returning from a short flight Twinkleblossum shares with everyone, "There doesn't appear to be a living soul within miles of Drakkenheim, not even animals." upon finishing her report she asks Eren, "May I feed Greenberry an apple?"

Twinkleblossum will cast Mage Hand which results in several of the playful pixies that flit about her to link together like performing circus acrobats and take the vague shape of a hand, which then offers the apple to Greenberry.

A young knight pulls up to the front of the wagon, a nod of the head to Eren and Sarumir. A lady knight, slim yet strong by the looks of her. Black hair, shaved on one side and with eyes almost as dark. Master Eren sir, it looks like you've got a lookout up here, motions to Sarumir and with eyes in the skies, nods to Twinkleblossum, I think I should bring up the rear guard, if'en that's ok sir?

"It's a pleasure to meet all of yalls!" Eren laughs. Then they nod solemnly at Twinkleblossum, "Yep. That's a right. Nothin' has been growin' there since the sky fell. That's what a happens when weird magic and water don't mix. Yalls seeing some down right nasty contaminated soil up in 'ere. Nothin' grows 'bout round here anymore. Thats whys I gots to import everythin' into the village." They click their tongue, "Ands that's why everythin's upped a much higher price."

They look at the apple and then smile, "Of course! Whys ain't yous such a sweetheart. How yas know that she likes 'em apples." They joke. Their eyes widen a the sight of the small pixies. They're never ever seen something like that before, and that's saying something. They find it real sweet. 

Greenberry on the other hand snorts and rears her head at the sight of it. The horse cautiously sniffs it, blinks, then chows down upon the apple and whinnies. "Guess she likes it! Thanks you very much." They tip their hat at Twinkleblossum and then warmly nods to Lara, "Sures! Whys not? You can take the rear post, why dontcha?"

"Okays. Well! Let's get started on the road shan't we?"

The breeze and birds from Altberg give you all a warm goodbye as you gone off and set for Emberwood Village, heading on a smooth dirt road nearby a cascading river for a three week journey.

After two weeks and about 100 miles travelling on the road, the countryside turns dreary and desaturated. You pass many abandoned villages with dilapidated homes, crumbling farmsteads with sallow empty fields, and forests of dead trees. Thorny brambles and harsh scrubgrass are all that grow along the mud-slick road. Drizzling rain fills most days, and the wind howls at night. Aside from the creaking wagon wheels, you only hear the cawing of crows.

"At least Flamekeeper Hana, yall knows of the Sacred Flame, helps keeps us a comin'. She's a always providin' us caravaners some seed money to up and keep ours businesses to be stayin' afloat."

Eren Marlowe keeps up good conversation the rest of the way there. They almost always don't stop talking. It isn't until when... you (Sarűmir), first spot the trouble up ahead. You are only a few days away from Drakkenheim when...

A dragonborn thug on a riding horse calls out to the caravan, stopping in front of it with his horse. "Oi, oi! Let yous and yours friends know you're travelling on a royal road, eh?" Eren taps the side of the caravan three times (your secret codeword) to let the rest of you inside know that trouble's coming.

Sarűmir stands up and growls loudly like a wolf. "What do I say? I say you an' your lackeys should shove off before I fill y'all with bolts." He slings his crossbow off his back and points it at the thugs.

Intimidation: 8

(ooc: If allowed, Twinkleblossum will try to Help Sarumir gain advantage?)

Flying into view from around one of the wagons, hovering just a few feet off the ground to put her at about eye level, and always accompanied by a virtual 'cloud' of playful pixies, "If you're not careful we'll snatch you off to the Feywild and that will be that!"

2nd Intimidation: 11

Twinkleblossum's Intimidation: 14 

Sarűmir's intimidation check with advantage: 11 ---> Fail.

Twinkleblossum's intimidation check 3 ---> Fail. 

:(

"Whoa now. Down doggy." The dragonborn barks, putting his hands up mockingly. "Be careful now. Don't want to skin ya now, hows 'bout that?" He taps his chin with his own mace and snorts. "Could always use a new taxidermy." 

When the fairy goes to his eye level, he just chuckles. "Thinkin' of taking me to the ol' Feywild? At yer size?" He pinches his claws together to make a 'squishing you' gesture. "Ittsie bittsie... Try and pick on someone else your own size. Ye'd be barely makin's it off the ground with me in tow, wouldn't ya?" He blows on your pixies to make them scatter a bit before they come back to you.

"I'm only askin' for whats I'ms due. You gonna coughs ups the goods or we're going to have to make y'all do it for you?"

"Hosh! Mildred!" He waves at his lackeys who were by his side. "Why don't ya hold her down." The two, a bugbear and a tiefling, step forward but do not grab you just yet, just make the gesture to.

"Anyone else thinks their bein' brave today, eh?"

Sarűmir howls, then begins to change. His fingernails turn into long claws, and he grows at least a foot taller. His body starts to sprout fur, and his face elongates into the snout of a wolf, as well as his ears growing larger and pointier. Also, he suddenly sprouts a tail. He has become... a werewolf. In a voice that sounds like a crude cross between his normal voice and the growl of a wolf he says, "Who's a 'doggy' now?" He then bares his teeth in a horrifying smile.

Intimidation: 17

Sanimar does her best to tune out Eren's constant yammering and imagines she still is living at the serene rectory where she stayed for the past year. The dead plant life and purple haze draws her attention. The purple haze must be depriving the plants the nutrients from soil somehow. The effects seem more severe on plants than animals as I have heard people still live within Drakkenheim. Once I arrive, I must conduct some tests. Then she hears the 3 taps and snaps out of her mulling. She steps down from the back of the caravan and loads her crossbow with a bolt.

Well speaking has not worked so far. Let's see if these brigands like the feeling of a bolt sprouting out of their chests. 

She readies an action to shoot the dragonborn should the brigands make any hostile actions. 

Light Crossbow attack should the brigands attack. 

Attack: 9 Damage: 7

Intimidation 19+3 = 22

Lara rides up from the back, standing in her stirups, Hosh! Mildred! stay where you're at or by the Sacred Flame you'll pray the blight take you before tasting my steel! 

unless combat has started, then int roll 8+1=9