Necromancer's Delusion-Homebrew

Gabriel stands and hefts his axe in one smooth motion. "I will be taking my leave of you for now. " He says. "I wish to silver my axe." Pulling his helmet low over his eyes he strides out the door and heads for Tiberius', breathing deeply of the chill morning air and gazing around at the many people as they go about their everyday business.

Perception: 15

Insight: 13

Mucor, finishing his breakfast would sit with the others for a bit until they were finished eating before standing up. "I think it is time to find Jesse and figure out what kind of job he has for us" The Minotaur will say with a smile before making his way to the door.

"Good luck!" Yera calls out from the table, "Meet us by the barracks when you're finished!"

As the group finished up their meal, and prepared to leave to find Jesse, Yera goes up to the barkeep and offers to pay in full for all of their food and board.

Onyx glances toward Yera from over the top of his glass. "Mornin indeed." A quick look to the others before focusing on the halfling once again. "Are we to face a dragon or has something else possibly come up? 

Gabriel doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary, except that some townsfolk have puffy eyes and are carrying an extra handkerchief.  You assume they were among the ones who lost loved ones yesterday.  You make your way to the blacksmith and are greeted by a human male, "Welcome.  Heard you and your companions helped save us yesterday.  Thank you.  Tiberius is by the forge and should be out in a minute."   A solid built male dwarf walks through the archway already covered in black soot and beads of sweat on his brow from working.  "What I can do for ye?" asks the dwarf.

"5 gold." the barkeep says to Yera.  "Drinks were free last night as well as the rooms.  Least we could do for y'all helping protect the city. If y'all are leaving come back and see us sometime.  If not, I'll hold the rooms for you."

Placing 5 gold pieces on the counter between them, Yera's face shows her appriciation, "Aw, it's no big deal. What else were we supposed to do? We may be in town a few more days but I'm not sure, I'll come by later today and let you know" She says her goodbyes and walks out with the rest of her party to find Jesse.

"Sounds good.  See ya around"  the barkeep says with a wave.

The group makes their way out of the tavern and towards the barracks at the southern gate.  Upon arriving you are directed to Jesse's office and find him at his desk.  A similar map of the world on his wall (map in campaign notes for reference) as well as the same tattoo symbol that Quentin showed you drawn on a piece of parchment nailed next to the map with some scribble below it.  He greets you saying, "Welcome friends. I hope you slept well.  I see you are all here except for Gabriel... is he still asleep?"

"He was going to see about getting his axe silvered" The minotaur will say scratching behind his ear again. "You know how concerned he is about keeping up his appearance.. I think he wanted to make sure he had the shinniest axe in town!" Mucor will say with a smile.

"G'mornin' Mr. Duke" Quentin chirps amiably upon seeing the senior guardsman. "M'tall companion 'ere has the right of it. Gabe'll be joinin' us soon nuff." The rogue glances over to the map and the sketch of the tattoo that he found at the attempted siege, but refrains from mentioning it just yet. Better to play some cards close to the chest for now, he figures. Turning his gaze back on Jesse, "So ya' mentioned yes'day that ya' had some 'portant business for us. Welp, you've got yerself a right capable posse here Mr. Duke, and I reckon we're ready to git whatcha need done. Point us in the right direction an' we'll git t'solvin your troubles."

Affecting a casual, almost disinterested posture, Quentin gestures toward the tattoo sketch on the wall. "By the by Mr. Duke, what kinda picture you got hangin' up yonder? Any significance to that, or ya'll just speculatin' on sumthin'?"

"I see." Jesse says chuckling before his face becomes more solemn and the smile dies and hardens. "Well if it's alright with you I'll get straight to the point and I can inform Gabriel when I see him or y'all can.  I've conferred with my guards and we think we've narrowed down the orc's cave to two locations.  When we last heard from our scouting group they were about 30 miles northeast of Riverwood.  There are only two caves large enough to support the amount of creatures we fought yesterday plus whatever reserves they were keeping in the woods."  He pauses to indicate the location of the two potential caves on the map and and continues.

"We'd like your group to go after them and remove the threat from our doorstep so to speak.  Our scouting party tallied 5 Ogres, 48 Orcs and 32 Goblins.  Yesterday we killed 3 Ogres, 38 orcs and 27 goblins leaving only 2 Ogres, 10 orcs ad 5 goblins to deal with.  I know it sounds like a lot but from what I saw from each of you I think you are up to the task.  In return for a successful mission we would be paying the group 1200 gold."   He pauses again standing from his desk and begins to pace behind it for a moment then turns and looks at each of you meeting your eyes before moving to the next.

"Riverwood is an integral part of the defense for the Azuven empire.  We supply a tenth of the lumber and crops.  Losing the Riverwood valley would be devastating to us not only from a strategic standpoint but also for morale.  Yesterday was a good win... and we need more of those and I think your group can give us another one.  We can supply you with horses and any additional gear you may need from the armory.  The mission will take 3 days, a day to travel up, a day to search the two locations and fight and a day to return.  I received a letter today from a recon group of 10 men that says an army group of 100 men will arrive within 24 hours and stay 2 days before heading south to the front.  This is the perfect window for you to leave Riverwood and me to know that the town is safe in your absence." 

He stops to read the expressions on your faces before resting his hands on his desk looking down at the papers and looks back up at you.  "Will you help us?"

Looking into the distance, Yera contemplates the task with a blank face. A task that involved more killing. She didn't expect any less, but the thought of having to further add to the her morbid portfolio nonetheless turned her mood melancholy.

But when he finally asked his question, she responded without hesitation, "I'd be happy to be of service" She looked over to the rest of her party expectantly, "Right?" The smirk on her face was self-assured, but her eyes were dour.

through a mumbled beak grunting lets out a small "kaw." (fine, if we have to.)

Gabriel holds out his axe to the dwarf. "I wish to have my axe silvered. Time is of the essence, but money is no object. If you can have it done within a few days I will pay double."

Gabriel: The dwarf looks over the axe and the wielder for a moment before saying, "200 gold and it'll be done in 3 days. The price is the price take it or leave it."

Gabriel looks intently at the dwarf without speaking for a solid minute. After the fellow is thoroughly disconcerted he nods. "Agreed. " He hands the man his axe and money pouch (keeping 50 of the 250 gold in it.) "The art of metalworking has always intrigued me. Will you permit an audience? "

Quentin listens attentively as the guard speaks, his usual cavalier demeanor surprisingly focused on the task at hand. The rogue runs his hand over his lightly stubbled chin and absorbs the entirety of what Jesse is asking of the party, and his blue eyes harden as he contemplates just what is involved in the job. He remains silent for a moment, then brings his gaze up to meet Jesse's.

"Awright Mr. Duke, I reckon you can count me aboard. I gotta admit though, that's sure nuff some 'pressive intel yer boys picked up out there on them Orcs n' Goblins, right down to the stitchin o' their underclothes seems like. Mighty fine work n'deed for that. Leaves me t'wonderin though. If'n ya been scoutin' so careful like, didja ever happen t'come across any word bout where them curs are comin from, or why plum half of em' yes'day was undead?"

Quentin studies Jesse's face very carefully as he asks these questions, probing the man's eyes and expression for any hidden information.

Insight Check: 18

Gabriel: The dwarf looks back up at you, takes the pouch and the axe and heads off to the forge.  "Sure" he shouts as he walks through the archway.  As you cross into the forge you are hit with a blast of heat.  The dwarf already at his work lays the axe down on an anvil.  He goes over to some open crates on the wall and retrieves a bar of what you imagine is silver.  Looking over the axe a second time he goes back to the crate and retrieves a broken bar roughly a third the size of the original and places it on top of the large bar then looks up at you  "I can work faster without someone staring over my shoulder but if you wish to watch you may. However, the real work won't happen until tomorrow." 

The dwarf picks up the axe and walks over to the open forge and hold the axe head near the fire for a minute until it begins to turn red.  The smell of burning wood and a few puffs of smoke escape from the part of the handle nearest the axe head before the dwarf pulls the axe out of the fire and places the axe head down on the anvil with the handle straight up.  He looks over to you and says, "well make yourself useful" and looks towards the axe for a moment before leaving it sitting on the anvil.  As it starts to tilt and fall you rush over and catch it holding it upright.  The dwarf chuckles to himself and grabs two hammers.  He walks over to you and says, "Now hold it steady and twist the handle up or down when I say."  Over the next 10 minutes you hold and twist the handle as he meticulously taps the axe head on either side of the handle slowly removing the head from the handle.  Three times he grabs the axe out of your hand and heats the head in the forge before returning to hammer it slowly out of place. The axe head finally drops onto the anvil with a clang and the handle now free has blackened near where the axe head was. "Come back tomorrow if you want to see more. I have to finish some other jobs today and your axe has had enough heating and cooling for one day.  If we continue it'll become brittle and crack upon hittin a feather."  the dwarf turns and resumes his work on various other jobs and you sense your presence is no longer welcomed as he bumps into you on his way to retrieve a pair of tongs.

Group:  Jesse looks up hopeful from the responses, "Yes very fine work. The capital sent them to us when the front got within 150 miles. They gave their lives for this information and they deserved better."  You see the hardened features relax into a soft frown, no signs of withholding information.  "We know the tattoos started to appear early on in the war but only 1 in every 3 would have the symbol.  We know it is somehow related to the god Vaeril (god of the undead). Over the past 4 years we've noticed that almost all of them carry the mark.   What we don't know is how after 200 years of relative peace between the kingdoms, the Drekthar kingdom suddenly became a united front against the rest of the world.  Drekthar was the most disorganized kingdom, made up of hundreds of feuding tribes.  The other kingdoms basically left them alone trading with the local chieftains rather than whoever declared sovereign leadership.  We think some group or someone has managed to rally the tribes either through powerful magic or charismatic prowess.  Given the tattoo we fear it is most likely dark magic that has caused the sudden change.  We get reports from the capital every week on the slow advance of the Drekthar hordes over both continents.  The Mazar and Xirin kingdoms have shown little support to the southern kingdoms who are facing the brunt of the assault.  They choose to fortify their current positions in relative safety and wait for the enemy to come to them.  I fear it may be too late by that point.  

Jesse finally looking up sees some of the resignation in the group.  "Make no mistake, these orcs and goblins whether by their own accord or through dark magic have slaughtered thousands of innocent women and children on top of countless soldiers for no apparent reason other than to consume Eraas.  When we took back elderhorn in the south we discovered only piles of bones from the villagers. The bones were scraped clean of meat and the bones broken with the marrow sucked out.  Every defeat we suffer only goes to feed their army.  That is why we fight... that is why I fight..."  a tear comes to his eye and rolls down his cheek "I've already lost my mother, father and son.  I will not lose my wife and  daughter." 

Jesse stands up straighter willing the next tear to stop. "This mission is vital to us.  The orcs have proven worthy enemies and wiser than we thought.  They've penetrated the front lines and they're raiding groups only serve to weaken us from within."

News of the mark was troubling to Yera, all the villages burnt to the ground she had seen and the viciousness of the orcs had now had an explanation. She already knew what the war was like, but hearing further of the grim deeds of the orcs, served only to harden her heart against them. "How far is the front from Riverwood right now?"

Gabriel thanks the dwarf, respect in his deep grey eyes, and returns to the street, glancing around at the shops and stores. He still has fifty pieces of gold in his pocket, after all...

Group: "The latest report we've received is 70 miles.  We have 4 groups of 1500 men stationed across three strategic lines.  To the east is swamp and to the west is desert.  We one 2 groups stationed at each and our naval group is our only advantage so far in the war.  We've cut off the support from Zhora's west coast for now. " Jesse responds.

Gabriel: You walk out of the blacksmith shop in the heart of the marketplace square, directly across from the guard barracks where your companions are. Almost every kind of shop you want is at your disposal.