I like the idea of keeping this forum clean and mostly role-play & action elements.  After this post, I will create an OOC private message thread so we can engage each other in rules questions, and if the need for an out-of-character detail needs to be posted here, can do so in this format of highlighting the text, clicking the exclamation mark ! in the toolbar to make it a spoiler tag.  

I will put character related information also in spoiler tag formats, and I have no problem with other players reading this information but this is where role-play comes into play as you wouldn't know what that character knows until they divulge it.  Just as if you are at a table full of players and you are overhearing the DM's description when your character isn't in the room etc.  I'd ask that rolls/knowledge checks outside of what I have wrote hold until we actually start our first play post, I am tying up some plot points to make the final three characters introduction, now that I know how to format the post how I want it and getting things smoothed over I expect we can start really playing after the next post of mine.  

"You're not like the others."  The young red skinned Tiefling said as Ehla held a thorn branch waiting for Raggs to make his way across the narrow pathway along the Suesee River.  

Ehla smiled, "The others?" Her eyes looked quickly behind her to the clearing in the woods then back to Raggs who ducked under her arm and stepped past the raven haired girl.  

"Aye, the other children, you are nice."  Raggs looked around the clearing and marveled at the small hut constructed of tree bark and sticks ahead of the clearing tucked underneath a large oak tree.  

"I can understand what it is like to be different from the others." Her words were hard for Raggs to believe, what would a human girl know what feeling different was like, the majority of Canheim was humans, all children of the glorious Hu, father of all human kind.  To be Tiefling, was to be an outsider, not of this world.  Ehla's words continued as Raggs attempted to hide his rage.  "People look at me like an apostate, Akalis says that it is because most people fear what they do not understand."  

"This is your fort?"  Raggs said hoping to change the subject, he could not stomach feigning his interest in hearing Ehla's troubled life living as a Locksmith's daughter and having a Wizard for a best friend.  

Ehla ran ahead and stood proudly in front of her fort which had lately been the talk of the town's favorite place for the hideaway from Varkas, the town bully.  "Eramyth's Heroes!" She gestured back to the simple child's fort as if it was a grand monument.  "Feel free to come here if you need to escape Varkas and his snakes."  Ehla noticed Raggs looking inside the opening of her construction where a makeshift table displayed a finely crafted wooden sword.  "That is property of Lady Thorne, she left it here for safe keeping."  

"I know, I saw her practicing with it."  Raggs blurted out before he realized his mistake.  

Ehla looked confused and glanced once more back to the wooden sword, the Tiefling quickly attempted to explain, "I saw her practicing with it, near the tree you and the others play near."   

The young girl's face held a questioning express as she swept the raven hair back behind her ear.  "You saw that?"  

Raggs looked back to the narrow path he entered the clearing from wondering how quickly he could get through the bramble gauntlet if he needed to.  Ehla must have sensed the boy's intentions as she stepped inside her fort and moved the wooden sword out of sight behind the entrance way of the playhouse. 

Raggs turned back around this time wearing a smirk realizing he may not be tall as Ehla, but intimidation as Varkas has taught him can easily be conveying just how far you will go.  "I saw everything."  The tone of the boy's voice froze Ehla in place as she was just stepping back out from her fort, her mouth opened as if to explain but no sound omitted.  

"I saw her practicing with her trainer, but stayed for the entertainment."   

Ehla was visibly shaken realizing she may have invited the wrong child into the hidden area of the woods.  "It wasn't what it looked like."  

"Tell that to her father."  Raggs wiped his sweaty hand against his trousers then extended an opened hand.  "The sword please."  

Ehla flinched as if in pain, "Please, you know what it is like to be hurt, don't do this" she pleaded while looking towards the boy's red palm awaiting for her to hand over the sword.    

Raggs ignored her and stepped forward reaching around the doorway to grab a hold of the sword but Ehla grabbed with both of her hands to wrestle it away.  The Tiefling was surprised at the strength of the thin girl, and quickly grabbed the handle with of the wooden weapon with his other hand attempting to twist it out of her grasp.  Varkas and the other boys would surely hand him a beating if he was bested by a girl.  The two children fell to the ground together grunting as they frantically wrestled at the sword. 

With a quick twist, Ehla managed to claim possession of the weapon to which she used to aid her in standing up.  Springing up from the ground as quickly as he could, Raggs felt the top of his head collide with the girl knocking her back, the wooden sword tumbled a few feet aside on the ground.  Seizing the opportunity, Raggs rolled sideways grabbing the sword and running back towards the thorny pathway.  It wasn't until halfway down along the river that Raggs realized he wasn't being chased and looked back to barely spot the form of Ehla rolling back in forth clutching her face.  Perhaps she was really hurt, the thought occurred to the young Tiefling, but he quickly shook the guilt from his mind as he sprinted back to the home of Varkas just as planned.  

Moments later, Raggs was in front of the stocky red headed Varkas, retelling how he not only discovered where the Eramyth girl had built her fort, but also how he had bested the sword from her.  Varkas reached out and Raggs expected for him to grab for the sword, so he raised it up only to watch as Varkas's hand disappeared out of view above the Tiefling's head.  Watching the expression on Varkas's face as he retrieved his hand, Raggs quickly connected where the blood had come from and felt the tip of his right horn protruding from his temple to confirm.  

"Did you gore her?"  Varkas asked as he grabbed the sword roughly from the stunned Tiefling's hands.  

"I...must have hit her with them when we were wrestling..." Raggs looked down at his finger tips worried he may have blinded the girl.  

It was later that rumors among the boys that Varkas had made a few coins off of that training sword, master craftsmanship they had said.  The young Tiefling was relieved to realize he did not take the girl's eye out.  For reasons unknown to Raggs, the owner of the sword, Delilah Thorne, never did seek to avenge the theft.   

"Dead lunge" Turian said as he stepped over the young girl who quickly wiped the dirt from her face realizing she had an audience.  The children smiled back to Delilah, but it was Ehla who shouted out her support, "Get up Lady Thorne!"  

Turian spun on his heels hearing the girl rise to her feet, his face grew an unimpressed expression.  "Your stance is all wrong, turn sideways!"  The sword trainer did not wait, lunging forward and stabbing towards Delilah poking her roughly with the end of the wooden training sword sending her back to the ground clutching her shoulder.  Though dull, the impact would surely become a nasty bruise.  The girl was obviously used to the rough play, jumping back to her feet but this time adjusting quickly to a side-face stance.  

"You learn." Turian said with a smile, taking a defensive stance squatting low to the ground serving almost as a cue to Delilah who quickly advanced sideways to her trainer, slicing towards his head with the end of her sword only to have it smacked away leaving her guard wide open to which Turian quickly faced away from her to deliver a strong elbow to her gut.  "You learn but you forget." Turian declared over the girl's desperate gasps for air.  Clutching her stomach, Delilah fell to one knee coughing. 

Through tear filled eyes, Delilah could make out the four children who sat side by side on the ground a safe distance away watching her.  The feeling of failure stung more than the sharp elbow of master Turian.  Wiping at the tears quickly with her dirty hand she jumped quickly back to her feet and twirled the training sword fancily in a wide circle then pointing it back towards her opponent.  Just over Turian's shoulder, behind a far tree, a red skinned Tiefling child named Raggs Malxis saw that he had been discovered.  Turian must have sensed the distraction as he stabbed forward but Delilah quickly recovered to guard against the attack countering with an attack of her own slicing in an arc upwards just barely missing her trainer's chin who had bent backwards.  Stepping forward, Turian stepped on top of Delilah's left foot just as she was moving to retreat but her foot remained pinned sending her off balance and falling to the ground once more.  The fall caused her to drop her sword which was quickly kicked away by Turian as he stepped over her pointing the end of his wooden sword towards her face.  "If this was a real sword fight y-" Turian's words were cut off by Delilah who quickly retorted with a quivering voice "I would be dead, I know."  

The trainer's harsh expression melted away realizing he had bruised the girl's pride enough for the day.  A gloved hand reached down to grab a hold of Delilah's hand and pulled her to her feet.  "Your attacks are doing great, it is the strength of your blocks and stances that need the work."  Turian said as he brushed dirt off of his student's shoulders.  

Delilah listened to her trainer, knowing he had the best intentions to mold another expert fighter as his reputation was known to produce.  All the while stealing glances back to her audience, to the raven haired girl who was still smiling.  It wasn't long after that Turian and the others had left, leaving Delilah to catch up with her new friend.  Ehla complimented her friend on her stance and progress, but Delilah knew the terms used in regards to sword fighting was all the same words Ehla had heard just in the last few moments.  Still, it felt good to hear something positive of her performance after the beating she just endured from Turian's training.  The two talked about Ehla's new hideout, a play area where the other kids could play without fear of Varkas and his bullies, but Delilah wasn't afraid of the boys.  The thought of them chasing young Eramyth with a snake as she had described made the blood inside Delilah feel as if it was boiling.  "Perhaps you could show me how to defend myself?"  Ehla suggested.  Delilah handed Ehla her wooden training sword, "You need a weapon to train with first."  

At first, Ehla was reluctant to take her friends training sword, but after it was promised she would only be borrowing it, and that they could trade the favor of getting Delilah ready for her family hosting a fancy dinner in just under a week.  Though Delilah was familiar with such events, the ruse of needing help being more feminine was the best she could craft leading up to her desired outcome.  After a quick lesson in etiquette learned from Eramyth traditions in manners, Ehla showed her friend some simple ways to be more "lady-like".  It was the confession by Delilah that she was fond of one of the boys that would be attending her family's dinner that seemed to really spark Ehla's interest to help.  The imaginary love interest had dark hair, blue eyes, and the lips of the angel. 

"You sound quite smitten." Ehla said holding Delilah's hand obviously excited for her friend to have such an opportunity.  

Delilah bit her lip feeling the havoc inside her stomach as she worked up the nerves to choke out the words she had planned, "If only I knew how to kiss Fernando."  

Ehla laughed to which Delilah nervously joined.  "You know how to kiss! Your parents kiss you goodnight do they not?"  

Delilah giggled, "Of course, but that's not how you kiss the one who your heart yearns for."  

"It's not that different, just maybe longer?" Ehla said recounting from the only experience she ever had kissing a farmer's boy.  

So it was agreed upon, the lessons in swordplay in exchange for Ehla to show how a lady would initiate a kiss.  The moment seemed almost lost when Ehla said that lessons can begin as early as tomorrow.  

"Just quickly, how would I do it?" Delilah feared she sounded too desperate, perhaps even revealing that the boy didn't exist at all.  "I am just so helpless in this area as you know."  Delilah crinkled her nose feeling her cheeks warm to which she quickly tried to hide feigning embarrassment at the lack of experience she had hiding her face in her hands.  The soft touch of Ehla's hands pulling her friend's hands away was a surprise, but even more so when she moved in to press her lips against Delilah's.  It felt as if the young girl's heart was going leap out of her chest as Ehla tilted her head sideways doing her best to emulate a lesson in the exchange.  To Delilah's disappointment, the kiss ended and she opened her eyes to see Ehla crinkling her nose.  

"Tastes like dirt" Ehla said wiping a thumb over Delilah's lips and showing her the dirt that remained.  "First lesson, don't taste like dirt!" The two girls laughed but Delilah promised she would get cleaned up for tomorrow's lesson.  

"We will get you ready for your Fernando!"  

Delilah smiled widely, hugging her friend, "Thank you Lady Eramyth, this means a lot to me."  

Ehla nodded excitedly, "Of course!  Just don't let him find out you kissed a girl."   

"Oh I am sure a boy wouldn't mind the thought-" Ehla interrupted "Wizard Anzulore said it is punishable to practice vice between two women, good thing we will ever be just friends".  

The words hit Delilah like a landslide.  Mustering the words, the young girl softly replied in an almost whisper, "Good thing we are just friends."  

The two friends hugged once more with the raven haired girl departing leaving young Delilah to her thoughts.   The pit remained in her stomach knowing she would likely never be anything more to Ehla than just a good friend, and somehow that was upsetting.  Looking towards the west the sun was rising to be just above her head, it was probably time to return back to town to retrieve the dinner's glassware from the Upgood glass blower.  Just as the thought occurred, Delilah saw the red skinned boy still watching from the tree line.  

Wiping beads of sweat from his brow, the young hill dwarf pounded the hammer down on the red hot metal shaping the curled edges out.  Just then, another sound from the woods as if an animal or person was crying out in pain.  Stopping his hammering, Lancel listened closer, he thought he recognized the voice as his friend Ehla. Setting the hammer down, he walked slowly away from the forge when he heard the cry a second time.  This time, Lancel was sure it was his friend Ehla, and from the stories she had been telling lately, this was probably them following through with their threats.  Running from his metalwork, Lancel continued to hear the screams from Ehla but also the shouting of angry boys up ahead. 

"She has a demon inside, beat it out of her!"  The voice was obviously Sven, a larger than the other bullies that seemed to band together, and surprising to Lancel why he wasn't the ring leader of the misfits rather than Varkas.  

Clearing the tree line, the dwarf realized a circle of probably nine boys had formed around young Ehla.  The brutal game of tossing the dark haired girl between them was escalating and Lancel could tell Varkas had no plans to make it stop before it went past being bloody as he caught the young girl roughly by the harms and throwing her to the ground.  

"'Hey' shouted Lancel, 'stop that'. But just as he did, Varkas landed a kick to Ehla's face.  A fury, never before felt in Lancel, surged up within him causing him to run straight towards the group of boys.  Four of the boys broke from the circle to engage the charging dwarf tackling him to the ground.  Three of the boys held the would be defender to the ground as the fourth, Sven, rained fists wildly down upon the dwarf.  

As the rest were going back to torturing their latest favorite target, three more figures broke forth from the tree lines and it was this time, Mixum, Upgood, a gnome and friend to Ehla's Mentor that shouted for the assailants to stop, "You will answer to master Anzulore if you continue!" But the bullies ignored the threat causing the gnome's two companions to charge forward.  The young elvish girl known to the town's children as the shy outsider to Canheim, suddenly appeared as a wild animal as two boys struggled to keep her from breaking through their line. 

The other who charged, Delilah Thorne, a noble blooded young girl who was known for her ability to fight was intercepted directly by Varkas.  While Varkas had an advantage in height and size against Delilah, it was obvious she knew how to fight as she sidestepped his advance punching him in the ear.  Varkas grabbed a handful of Delilah's hair yanking her around to the other side of him then to the ground.  While pinning the now kicking and flailing girl to the ground, Varkas stared into the girl's eyes, "I heard you learned how to kiss".  The red headed bully laughed and Delilah growled as she could feel some of the boy's spittle drop onto her face sending her even more into a rage.  Just as Varkas was leaning down to force his mouth onto the girl he was wrestling, suddenly he was send sprawling sideways to the ground.  The red skinned tiefling boy now standing over Delilah with his hand outstretched to which she grabbed quickly helping her up.  

"You betray me demon!?" Varkas spit out venomously looking angrily back at Raggs.  It was then that a small gnome jumped and covered the face of the bully knocking him backwards to the ground.  

Just on the southern edge of the clearing, a tall man in a blue and gold cloak leaned on his staff stopping his journey back to town. The Wizard, Arkalis Anzulore, looked down at his dwarf companion,a young Slate Irondhand who had realized what was transpiring ahead. Just as Slate went to move in to join his friends, a strong hand held him by the shoulder. "Let me go! I have to help." The dwarf attempted to shrug the old man's hand off from his shoulder, but his grip was surprisingly strong.  

"It is over, watch."  The wizard gestured with his staff to the scene.  Slate watched as they worked together, Delilah and red skinned tiefling known as Raggs picking up Ehla from the mud, Nyaris throwing rocks at the boys running to the northern edges of the woods while Lancel in that very moment was lifting Sven over his head as if he was about to throw him to the stars.  

"You will help your friends, but this is a battle already won, let them have that."  Arkalis said smiling as Sven was tossed into two of the other bullies.  

Meanwhile, Lancel stared his fourth challenger in the eyes and growled feeling the blood dripping from his busted lip.  The sight of the enraged dwarf hardened by working metal was enough to cause the bully to retreat.  It was then that the hill dwarf could see the young Ehla was being tended to, but her face too was covered in blood as her nose spilled blood down in a steady stream.  Running straight to her, his hands instinctively went to touch her face.  A soft blueish glow pulsed twice from the palm of Lancel's hand and he felt something wash over him.  The sensation was that of both pain and relief, but it seemed Ehla's nosebleed had ceased, only to have her startled at the apparent similar sensation she felt from her exchange with Lancel.  

Arkalis made sure he had Slate's attention as he used his staff's head to lift the boy's chin up to speak to, "We each have our gifts Slate, see that your friends use theirs for good. Whenever your heard needs a direction, let Lancel be that compass."  With that, the Wizard released the dwarf's shoulder sending him to run towards his friends. 

This is now where you can roll for your checks and declare your general actions.  Reading back on the previous post as well as this one, a few checks mentioned - knowledge in Arcana or Nature as for the nature of the mentioned Wolves acting strangely.  History to learn of recent events that may have to deal with the village of Werflowe.  None of you personally knew of Penelope Fizzlefing, but you knew Arkalis traveled quite a bit making friends and having connections with the mage's guild.  

I can't tell from the description, is Elha riding with us?

Natural Explorer, favored terrain: Forest. You remain alert to danger even when you are engaged in another activity, you can move stealthily at a normal pace

Stealth 9

Perception 19

Lancel always has a kind word for me. He certainly doesn't fit Mom's description of a Dwarf. I wish I knew what her problem is.