Saerirra sighs softly to herself and heads to the washroom for a quick bath before dressing and heading down the stairs, getting a drink of water from the bar. She sits at a table by herself, clearly lost in her thoughts.

Cade - After checking to make sure that Baron was ready he does his morning routine ensuring that he is clean. Especially, since he doesn't know when he may get the chance to so again. Afterwards the three of them descend the stairs and enter the bar area. He sees Saerirra sitting by herself and walks over and says, "Is everything okay?"

"Oh, Cade, good morning. I am well, yes. How about you two? Quite a performance we put on yesterday, I must say."

Saerirra smiles to the couple, gesturing to a chair at her table if Cade wants to sit.

She palms the new pendant hanging from her neck beneath the shard, a shiny and new Holy Symbol of Meryn.

"Am I to greet a new sister this morning?" As usual, Laievis appeared quietly and suddenly, all dressed for the travel ahead with the very same Holy Symbol of Meryn (if only well-worn) on a fine chain around his neck. "Did not hear the news in the Temple. If I missed the initiation, I am wholeheartedly greet you now."

"Hello Laievis. I had visited the monks and clerics of my people. That is how I was granted the title and power of a cleric. In doing so, I also learned some things about my clan, including possibly an identity of one of our enemies."

Saerirra's smile had faded once more, her thumb brushing across her holy symbol.

"Meryn be praised! I remember the time I was called. A changing moment in every meaning of the word. Since then it is always the greatest pleasure to see that fire lighting up in the souls of others. Welcome, sister." Laievis ceremoniously bowed. "But what of our enemy?  Is it truly that bad?"

"Well, perhaps it is best to explain when as much of us are gathered together. Not just us five, but Edeleth's group as well, possibly. I would think they would wish to know as they are just as likely to enter battle as we are with whoever is behind these attacks."

Relieved to see his friend conscious and feeling better, Edeleth returns to the plaza and his mule wagon.  The problem with owning things, he realizes, is that you need to keep watching them all the time.

The army has still not assembled, though he hears some commands being shouted and bleating war sheep from somewhere nearby, so he supposes it won't be much longer. There is some other sort of commotion around his wagon.  Edeleth approaches to find the guard who had been watching his rig surrounded by a small group of dwarf children, who seem to be arguing with her.  The guard sees Edeleth approach with some relief, and says, "I'm glad you're back. They want the wagon moved, so they can play Hobs n Gobs here."

Edeleth obligingly moves the wagon to the edge of the plaza and leans against it as he watches the children set up their game, drawing the prison and guard post on the cobbles with chalk, and propping a basket up on a memorial statue to serve as the Hobking's Head. Hobs n Gobs was not considered genteel enough a game to be suitable for the court children, so he had never played himself, except for that one time when Prince Kalrondo had been in the first of his 'let's sneak out and disguise ourselves as peasants' phases, and they had joined some of the local farm children in a game.  Edeleth had only had one turn with the club (totally missed and got hit in the head with the skull) when the prince had got into some sort of argument in Gnomish with the Hob hurler, and the whole thing had broken into a fistfight. All the way home, Kalrondo had begged Edeleth to take the credit for the prince's blacked eye, and Edeleth had refused, fearing the hell he would have to pay at home if his family believed he had struck the prince.

Edeleth realizes suddenly that one of the Dwarf children is trying to communicate with him.  The youngster speaks little common, and Edeleth has not picked up more than a few words of Dwarfish yet (he supposes he ought to try) and it takes a few minutes to understand that the children are asking if they can use his wagon as their Safety goal. "Eh, I don't know. Do I get to play?" Edeleth asks.

To his surprise, they take him seriously, and enthusiastically drag him to their Gate. The teams are soon divided: Starting the game as the Hobs are Huldra, who takes a position as Fetcher out on the far side of the plaza, Machlan, warming up as the Hurler, and Ockham, standing as Guard along the path. Standing in the prison as the Goblin team are Edeleth and the smallest and youngest of the dwarves, Fionn, whom Edeleth suspects of being someone's tag-along little brother.

Normally a team has seven players, Edeleth wonders how he and Fionn will manage when it's their turn as Hobgoblins. Maybe some others will show up to play...

Fionn is the shortest on their team (by a long shot), and so is the first to approach the Gate and pick up the Whacker's club. 

Machlan winds up as Fionn lifts the club, and hurls the skull at Fionn's head. 16

Machlan's throw is good: Fionn swings the club! 4

Fionn misses, and the skull hits him in the shoulder.  Edeleth winces, remembering how much it had hurt when he was hit.  Though that skull had been carved from wood, and this seemed to be padded with leather. Rubbing his shoulder, Fionn sadly returns to prison, and Edeleth picks up the club.

Machlan hurls again> 15

Another fine throw.  Edeleth dodges out of the way and swings the club.13 He just barely manages to tag the skull, and it flies 85 feet...4 off to the left--Edeleth is able to adjust his swing to send it even further left.  By the time Huldra fetches the skull, he should be safely to the wagon...unless Ockham stops him.  The stocky dwarf boy attempts to tackle him 16 as he dodges. 2

Edeleth is pinned down, and must return to the prison. Fionn pats his shoulder and says something that sounds reassuring in Dwarfish, then picks up the club again.

(OOC: if anyone wants to play while we wait...Hobs N Gobs...still a work in progress. You can scroll down to Page 4 How To Actually Play.

Ooc: wow that is awesome dude! *right click save* Rosri wouöd love this game if he wasn’t so shitfaaced 🤔

Quote from gosset92 >>

Ooc: wow that is awesome dude! *right click save* Rosri wouöd love this game if he wasn’t so shitfaaced 🤔

 OOC: LOL, the things you come up with when you're trying to keep your impatient character entertained. XD  Maybe Rosri should ride the wagon today, we wouldn't want him falling out of the saddle...

Rosri decides that he can’t be spending the entier day moping. Everyone is doing so much for him an asking nothing in return. He grabs a servent and ask them to fill an ice cold bath for him. Then he walks over to Gavin behind the bar ( or who stands there now, cause I guess Gavin can’t be working all the time?) and ask if they have a hangover remedy. He is handed some awful concoction of egg yolk, mead, sugar and salt, a bit of chili pepper and something else. It almost makes him puke over the bar but he manages to keep it down. Barely. He then heads over to the washroom where his ice bath is waiting. 

Once washed he dresses himself in his knights leather and goes out of the inn to get some fresh air. 
although he is still tired, he feels much better thanks to Edeleth healing. 

As he rounds a corner he finds Edeleth with his face and cloth all dirty and a bunch of children playing some kind of ball game. “Hey there, what are you doing?” He ask Edeleth with a smile and climb up on the wagon to rest a bit. 

"I have been invited to take part in a game involving skill, strength, swiftness and not getting bonked on the head. If you want to join in, we are quite...er, undermanned." He had been going to say short-handed, but the dwarf children might take that as a slur. "Turns go in order of shortest to tallest, so if you want to join our team, you would be up after Fionn."

Machlan hurls the skull 4 It is a pretty bad throw--Fionn swings! 3 He somehow manages it that the ball, which was nowhere near him, bounces off the club to hit him.  With a growl of rage, Fionn returns to prison. Edeleth pats him on the head comfortingly.

"Want to give it a try?"

Machlan reminds them that, as Fionn has failed to escape twice, it is time to swap sides.  But since the teams are so small, and since they are eager to have more players, he is fine with going an extra round if Rosri wants to join in.

(OOC: All the dwarf children get straight rolls with no modifiers. We may as well get some benefit from growing up.)

”I would love to, but I fear that I would only just puke if I did..” Rosri regrets last nights drinking. He was sincere when he say that he would want to try, it looks hecka fun. But he is just exhausted and he doesn’t know the rules, but that might just be a bad excuse. 

ooc: that was a lot of roll rules that I don’t have time to learn :’( got a 6month baby to take care of at home and a 14yo intern at work so i’m swamped ^^

(OOC: No problem, congrats on both the newbies! <3       It's not as complicated as it sounds, though. ^^ Roll to throw, hit, catch, grapple or dodge, mainly.)

The children are disappointed at Rosri's refusal, and swap sides.  Edeleth wonders what position he should take.  They can probably do without a Fetcher better than without a Guard. That leaves him the choice of tackling children or throwing a hard skull-shaped ball at them, both ideas uncomfortable.  Fionn flips a coin: Odds, Edeleth is hurler, Evens Edeleth is a guard. 4 (Should be a 1d2 for coin flips.)

Fionn grabs the skull and heads for the guard post, while Edeleth waits beside the path to Safety.  Huldra is the shortest of the Goblins, so she steps out of the prison and picks up the club.  Fionn flings the skull at her. 19 It's an awesome hurl! Huldra swings: 19 a solid hit goes flying 74 feet.  Direction doesn't matter, since they have no Fetchers. It is too far for Fionn to have a hope of retrieving it in time to throw at Huldra, so the only chance to stop her is if Edeleth can grapple her.  He makes a grab at the dwarf girl, 20 and she attempts to dodge. 2

Huldra is brought to a complete standstill and stomps angrily back to prison.

Rosri applaud the takedown with a cheer! “Don’t you think you should go easy on the kids Edeleth? Or are you afraid they will overpower you then?” Rosri ask with a grin on his face. “ You might get a reputation this way!”

"They are big, strong, fearless future warriors," says Edeleth.  "They wouldn't want me to go easy on them." Besides, while he might be more agile, he feels certain that every one of the children can match his strength. He was surprised that he had stopped Huldra so easily.

Machlan has stepped up to the gate and picked up the club.  He and Fionn shout what sounds like dwarfish trash-talk at each other. Then Fionn hurls the skull. 1 It's a wild, terrible throw, fueled by anger, and...1 hits Rosri!

Edeleth walks over to make sure his friend is okay while a lot of angry shouting happens behind him. By the official rules, Fionn is now banned for the rest of the game, and his team loses a point....which leaves the score at -1 to 0. Either the ban will have to be waived or the teams will have to be redrawn.

Rosri sees the ball flying towards him and try to dodge it. 20. He caches the ball with one arm. Then to try and impress the kids, he stands up and try to flip of the cart while throwing the ball back. 13. He jumps off the cart, vaults through the air and land on his feet. In mid air he throws the back to Fionn 11. The ball fly in a high arc but Fionn is so impressed with Rosries flip that He fumbles the ball and it rolls away. 

The ball flies over Fionn's head, but all the kids are incredibly thrilled with the dodge and the flip and mid-air throw, and they cheer and whoop excitedly. Fionn is even happier that he didn't hit Rosri after all and won't be banned from the game.  The score is still 0-0.

"I see you still have all your moves, even on a morning like this," calls Edeleth. Rosri definitely knows how to impress.

Fionn prepares to hurl the skull.  He lifts one foot thoughtfully, then puts it down and lifts the other.  Edeleth suspects the dwarf child is thinking of attempting a backflip throw like Rosri's. Wisdom prevails in the end, and he just hurls the skull normally. 18 It's a pretty weak throw, and Machlan draws back the club as if he plans to send the skull to the moon. 17 He whiffs and misses.

Fion jeers as Machlan fetches the skull and tosses it back.  He hurls again. 9 A perfect throw! The ball smacks Machlan on the chest as he swings and misses! Machlan growls and returns to the prison, as Fionn runs to Edeleth and Rosri for high-fives.

Edeleth wonders if anybody ever actually scores a point in this game.

Rosri chuckles. "I'm still young after all" he winks at Fionn "But I don't think I will try that again for a while.." He watches as Fionn throws the ball and hits the other kid in the chest. Rosri applauds him and cheers. When Fionn comes up to Rosri and Edeleth for a high five, Rosri tells Fionn to come closer and whispers "I want to show you something. If you hold the skull like this and throw it  the like this, the batter will miss the ball almost every time. It is a little tricky but I know you can do it." 

OOC , YES I AM ALIVE AGAIN! All moved-in at the new "Command Center" with my friends/ co-creators of Talaveroth, already running/playing 3 to 4 different RPG campaigns (D&D 5e, Pathfinder/ Starfinder, Shadowrun 5e, Shellshock). All of them interconnected through characters and various  plot hooks, including some in this pbp campaign/setting. So in other words:

LETS DO THIS!

As the game of Hobs and Gobs intensifies, a crowd quickly starts growing around the "pitch". Soon, cheers echo througout the City of the Three Peaks, and a new official sport is born...

OOC: Astalda, way to keep the crowd entertained😎

Thanks to you, HOBS AND GOB IS NOW AN OFFICIAL SPORT IN TALAVEROTH. We shall discuss the details of it later, but we should almost start a separate campaign based solely on that game, and see it evolve into a professional Super League, or underground "Deathmatch style" leagues, etc...lots of potential there...

But as the Sun rises the next morning, the adventure calls...

The Captain of the Granit Clan's 2nd Company, Hungar Shatterstone, has gathered his 200 men by the Main Gate, and is about to depart the City, heading to Pinekeep, to try and root out the Evil that has spread there...

A small crowd of family members has gathered around them to say goodbye. Captain Shatterstone rides forth on his armored Battle ram, donning his horned helm, and brandishing a banner of the Granit Clan.

"Second Company, we have been tasked with re-claiming Pinekeep and its surroundings. There is a Dark Force there at play, and it would appear a new Ennemy has emerged from its Lair to threaten our Lands. Our Recon units report movement inside the small village itself, and the presence of a powerful Black Dragonborn commander by the name of Gornar Blackhorn. There, he leads a force of about 300 of his Red Brothers. They have the numbers, but these are OUR lands! And we shall show this acid puking Lizard that the Dwarves will not be bullied into submission!"

His Dwarves all cheer loudly. But the cheering is suddenly interrupted by the cawing of Giant Eagles flying down from the sky. Two of them land next to the Captain, mounted by a High Elf, and a Half Orc. Both of them wear Alliance Airforce colors, and bear the banner of the Alliance. The High Elf comes forth.

"Seleth Byllian, Leader of the 15th Squadron. We've spotted some suspicious activity along the road to Pinekeep. Gnolls hiding around...a few Kobolts here and there...looks like they're setting up their own scouting network. You have to be extra careful. But we'll provide air support and recon updates. The Alliance is with you, Captain. My Squadron and I shall not let you fail."

50 GIANT EAGLES WITH RIDERS JOIN FORCES WITH YOU.

30 Battle Rams (Medium sized) with Dwarven riders lead the vanguard, with 70 crossbowman watching the flanks, and 100 Defenders covering the rear.