The Party

Through the door came four people, First of which was a dwarf with dark brown hair grey eyes, and a beard that touched his belly, "G'day laddie. My name is Oloric Strongheart. Best fighter of all the thunder coast. You may have heard of me exploits, especially when I took down 100 of the land's best fighters and came out unharmed." I shook his hand, the other one who entered was a half-elf, she had light brown hair, dark green eyes, and a scar that went across her face, "Hello, my name is Kara Ofandrus. I'm a ranger, I've trained with the ironwood elves for about 60 or more years, so I'd say I'm pretty good at what I do." I shook her hand and behind me, I felt a presence that filled the room with darkness and hate, there stood a human man, long black hair combed back, he had a combination of a goatee and beard along with a large claw mark that revealed one of his canines, it was filed to a point, "Good afternoon, my name is Atlan, I suppose we are to work together." As I took his hand to shake it, it felt cold and lifeless, yet he shook it with force and determination.

As I took my hand away I felt a tug at my cloak, I looked down to see a halfling woman, a bright and sincere smile on her face, she had a tiny scar across her nose, light reddish-brown hair, and light forest green eyes. "Hello hello, my name is Willow Goodbarrel. I trained with other sorceresses by the lone tree." "The Lone Tree? As in THE Lone tree?" "Yes indeed."

For the uninitiated, the lone tree is a huge singular tree in a large open plane. When you enter its area, a calm sensation fills the air, many sorcerers and wizards go there to learn and perfect their powers of magic. Soft green and perfect grass surround this enormous tree that stands 400 feet tall, 40 feet wide in diameter. It is one of if not the biggest tree in the world. Some say it holds all the magic from the world, others say it was the work of a powerful magic user, perhaps a druid, or a wizard. There are some magic users in Ulvenguard that say that it was the resting place of one of the most powerful magic-user in the entire world it was said that he fought off an evil mage who planned to destroy the world and plunge it into darkness and death, however, this magic-user was able to subdue him, however, it cost him his life. As he died, his magic was released into the earth and became the tree, since then it has kept all dark and malicious magic at bay.

We all sat down as Fren explained the situation. "My friends, I have hired you all to rescue a dwarven woman. She has thick dark brown hair usually tied into a messy bun, hazel green eyes, and a chin strap beard, though I have been told that she has recently shaved to look more presentable for the wedding. Unfortunately, she was kidnapped and taken from my dear brother." Willow gasped and placed a hand over her mouth, "Oh no. That is just awful." Oloric crossed his arms and shook his head, "Shame on them for taking a lady before her wedding day." "From what we have gathered she was last seen in a clearing just northwest of the city, likely tried to escape and taken back to wherever these ruffians come from." I took out a journal that I have been writing in during my adventures and took notes on when and where some specific locations are, names of people I can contact, etc.

Fren explained to us that we needed to not bring her back to the city but take her to the coastal city of Islolis, there we would meet his brothers and an elven woman clad in gold armor at Kingshill harbor, there we leave Gala and the elven woman will escort us back to Valchester where we will receive our reward, then she will accompany us to Poppytown where we will all go our separate ways. "Very well, any questions before you set off?" Willow raised her hand, "How much will we be paid for this?" "You will each receive a payment of 200 platinum each. I nearly spat out my tea. 200 platinum may not seem like much, but it's about 2000 gold pieces each, I should take jobs from rich folk more often. "Now then, I have prepared a covered wagon, and two spare horses for you all, the other horses you came here with shall remain here until you return.

We all got up and made our way to the door when Fren stopped me, "pardon me Mr.crowfeather, a moment if you will?" I nodded and followed him into the kitchen as the others loaded their belongings into the cart, "I do not doubt that you will be able to complete this task, you have many….abilities, that suit you very well." He took off my hood and placed a hand on my cheek and used his thumb to rub my cheek, he then placed a soft kiss on the other as he whispered in my ear, "A little sorceress friend once told me of the nights she'd spend with you, I believe her name was...Imani." How he knew the name of one of my past lovers I will never know, how he knew it was the one that tried to curse me, I will likely never know either. What I did know was that there was a warm feeling in my chest and my….well, best save it for another time. I loaded my belongings from the horse I came in onto the cart and got in, as I did, there was a distant rumble of thunder and the once pure white clouds began to grey and darken the sky. When we left the city when it finally began to rain, the gentle sound of the raindrops felt soothing as we continued on our quest to rescue Gala.

We spent about a third of the first day estimating how long it would take us to get to the clearing since Fren never really got too specific on how long it would take. When it got too dark we decided to make camp on the far side of the road in case anyone else would be coming by. We set up a couple of tents in a small area surrounded by trees to shield us from the rain, at least somewhat. We all sat around the campfire keeping ourselves warm and fed, still estimating how long the journey would take. "Alright, the distance is about 50 miles following this road to the location where the other cart was attacked, likely to take us two days. The area in which she was last spotted was around this area here, not too far from the scene, but it's pretty rough terrain, adds another three days to it all." Willow rubbed her chin while she did the math in her head, "So, 85 miles altogether, 50 miles for two days, add the other 35 of rough terrain which adds three more days, that comes to….five days of travel should we keep normal pace." Kara chuckled, "very nice, won't take us too long I reckon. However, one question remains. How long will it take us to reach Islolis?" "Oh that's easy, Islolis isn't too far, it's just about 60 miles from where the cart is here, add the 35 miles from the rough terrain, and it will likely take us approximately, five days, three hours, and 20 minutes." "That specific eh?" "That is if we account for only a short rest and keep going along the road." "Works for me, lassie." I put away the map and warmed my hands by the fire, "Say, how about we get to know each other a little better eh? Who knows, we all might not make it out alive in the end." Oloric said, "Aye, well I'll go first since I suggested the matter. When I was a young lad, my father used to be one of the greatest fighters known to all in the thunder coast, we lived like nobles within the mountains, when he died, he left me a legacy to protect and to continue, To this day I fight as hard and as much as I can to make myself known to the world and make him proud." "Very interesting. As I have mentioned to our rogue friend here, I am a ranger and trained with the Ironwood elves for several years to perfect my craft as such. But, I do not wish to stay here, no, I wish to live far from this land, stay in the land of a seemingly never-ending forest, a place where I can hunt and track and put what I have learned to good use. I don't know if a land such as this exists but if it did, I sure hope that it is far from here, and far from the empire." I looked over at her curiously, "Why stray far from the empire? I mean I know several reasons, but what is yours?" "My mother, a human woman, was a captain of the city guard where I was born, my father was one of her guardsmen. We lived together in secret, we lived very well, we lived among nobles, we were respected, but when my father died and everyone found out about me and the secret relationship she had with a non-human, we lost everything.

Most of the time having a non-human partner would be fine, as long as they were an elf, or a dwarf, or even a gnome. However, that was reserved for the lower class, those beneath us. Among the higher classes, elves married elves, humans married humans, etc. When they found out about us, we were stripped of everything, my mother blamed everything on me. She said if I was never born she would still be pampered and among the rich masses, but now she was stuck in the slums with a good-for-nothing knife-eared brat. Well, she got her wish, when I got older I ran away, I ran far, I ran until I reached the iron forest. There I stayed, I never wanted to return to her, ever." "Love is shown in many ways. Your mother had no love for you, though you were her daughter, she resented you, it was a constant reminder of her secret shame, she probably only wanted to sleep with your father for pleasure, nothing more." Atlan stated, "And what would a warlock know about love?" Oloric said, "Funny you should ask my dwarven friend. Before I became this," Atlan said gesturing at himself, "I was a simple traveler, I did odd jobs for payment, I drew and took down notes of the places I've been, but as young as I was, I was already thinking of retirement. Perhaps settle down somewhere near the coast of Jimena's tragedy, I hear it's gorgeous there during the spring and summer. So, I decided to take a look, and there I found my…." there was a pause, in his hand, there was a beautiful wedding ring embroidered with black diamonds.

He took a deep breath. "My wife. She's a drow woman. An unimaginable figure, soft skin the color of a dark lavender, as dark as anyone would imagine with hints of purple showing in the moonlight, she had violet eyes, and long beautiful hair as white as the moons. Her name was Baltana Dhuunyl, and I loved her so much. She and I planned the perfect wedding, I had never seen a smile so bright on a drow, when she was happy so was I. However, on the day of the wedding, as she came down the aisle, The sons of midnight came, they killed everyone, they kidnapped her and left me for dead. I will never forget her screams."

A clap of thunder sounded overhead, "That was when I heard a voice, it offered me the power, it offered me the power to bring her back to me. So I took it and vowed that I would be strong enough to kill those who took her from me, and we can finally be together and happy once it's all done." The sound of thunder kept rolling closer as he clutched the ring. "Well...if anyone is up for it, I could share my story?" We all gestured for Willow to share her story, "Right. Now I live in a quaint little village near one of the empire's cities, well used to, this town wasn't too keen on having magic users around, said it always leads to trouble. So, before anyone could tell the local authorities I bailed, said I was going to find my place. I settled down in a new town near the mountain wall, they were more tolerable to magic users, but I still felt down about my situation, the only thing that made me feel better was the bed and the bottle, which surprisingly was the name of the inn that was about half a mile from where I stayed. In reality, however, the bottle meant booze, and the bed meant…." "What did it mean?" I asked, "Are you sure you want to know? It's a little bit...Scandalous."

"Oh please," Kara piped up, "We're all adults here, besides, we've all had relations right?" We all nodded in agreement, "I've had many a lover, my dear halfling friend, there was this one tiefling man from the desert of the black dunes. Oh, he had such stamina." Atlan chuckled, "Before the whole incident, my fiance and I would spend all night in bed, we hardly ever slept. Though it's rare to see on many women, she had very notable, let's call them, "features" on her that went well with her figure." "Oh aye, I have laid with many a woman in my travels, humans, dwarves, even pretty little halflings such as yourself." Willow smiled and bit her bottom lip, "Well if you must know, I have mainly gone to bed with mostly humans and half-elves, they'd bring me back home from the bar and we'd just go at it, it was great. Then came a knight, clad in purple armor. He was a stunningly handsome human, had a scar across his nose, short black hair, and a bushy goatee. His name was, Grim Amblecrown. We talked for hours and when it came to that time and he took me to bed, I swear to you the gods blessed me that night." I didn't notice it at first but the others leaned in, seemingly very invested in the story all of a sudden.

"We spent almost all night doing it in a rough manner, he grunted and groaned like a wild animal and I was his mate in heat. I couldn't tell if the banging was from the headboard of the bed or one of the neighbors telling us to keep it down. But then, a few hours past midnight, we woke up and did it again, only this time was, quieter and much more gentle. It felt, wonderful and loving. A few weeks before I had gone to the lone tree to train with the other sorcerers and wizards and magic users, he proposed to me." and she showed us all a ring, it was gold with an amethyst gem, "We're still planning it all but it will hopefully take place in a few months." we all smiled and looked up at the sky as it seems the rain has begun to dwindle. "How about ye all get some sleep. I'll take the first watch." Oloric said. We all agreed and headed into our tents to get some rest for the long journey ahead.