You young adventurers begin your journey in the small town of Harken, seeking fame & fortune as most do.
You've only been in town for a day, and you've heard rumors of Goblin raiding parties, Giants roaming the countryside, and of course the Darken woods...
Needing a good meal and fine drink, all of you find yourselves in Heroes Hall.
Heroes Hall is the local tavern/ inn.
It is here, that the group meet each other for the first time, or perhaps you traveled together on the road, whichever it might be, all of you are here now.

A heavyset man with a brush red mustache raps his knuckles on the wall, gathering every patrons attention.
"My name is Mister Vandernman, I am seeking men or women who can handle themselves, and protect me and my wagon of supplies, I will pay each person one hundred gold coins."
A dwarf with a hefty axe by his side, looks from his mug of ale "Where to?"
The jolly man smiles and mumbles a reply.
"Speak up man!" a patron said from the back of the room.
"Through Darken woods...t-to Evergrim." answered the merchant.
"REORX BEARD!" the dwarf shouted as he went back to drinkin.
All the patrons went back to whatever they were doing before the merchant came in.
"200 gold?" the merchant asked, raising the price.
But they ignored him.
He was about to offer another price when the bartender stopped him, "None will set forth into Darken woods, it's rumored to be haunted."
"Aye, and there be witchery, black as night, evil dwells in them trees."said an old man at the bar.
"But I need to get the supplies thru, won't anyone come? I'll pay three hundred gold." The merchant said one last time.

Ferezanthe entered the inn, catching on to the last words the Merchant spoke.
"But I need to get the supplies thru, won't anyone come? I'll pay three hundred gold."
"That's a hefty sum for none of you's to be replying." She spoke generally, before moving over to the man.
"But if none of them will aid you, I shall. I would be a discredit to the Boys if I allowed such a business opportunity to go to waste." She pulled him along towards an empty table.
"Sit yourself down, I'll need to get ourselves a couple of ales first before you will tell me all about this particular job of yours." Ferezanthe said gesturing for him to sit before heading over to the barkeep.
"Darling, I would like a couple of regulars. You know I am good for it." She said with her usual cheeky smile.
The barkeep snorted.
"Didn't we always pay the tab at the end? Including expenses for broken doors and furniture?" She calmly jogged his memory.
"And if I do end up missing, well you know my father is good for it."
As she received her ales, she flashed him a smile before heading back to the table.
"Here Mister," She said shoving the drink towards him, before taking a swig herself as she sat herself down.
"What, where, When, How and Why?" She rattled off the top of her head as she looked at him with calculating eyes.

---

---

The old man let out a long sigh of disappointment as his brows knit together with worry. He had arrived at Harken a day ago in hopes that this town would be better than the last. But sadly, he was wrong. Most of the well paying jobs required a group and the ones that didn't only paid a pittance compared to what he needed.

His eyes wandered down towards his hands on the bartop, clasped tightly. He couldn't bear the idea of loosing his little girl. Maybe...maybe this was a sign that he had to go back to his old ways to save his adopted daughter. The gods know that he could make that money in a couple weeks in his prime.

He left out a soft but bitter and mirthless chuckle. What a cruel twist of irony.

But it seemed that maybe some of the gods pitied the elderly father. A merchant made himself known and said sought able men and women to protect his caravan from the perils of the roads for nearly 25% of what he needed to treat his daughter's sickness. He couldn't let this opportunity pass up. Standing from his seat at the bar, he scanned the room for the merchant.

He saw him being led to a seat by a woman, seemingly interested with the merchant's offer as well. Throwing aside any reservations with working with others, he made his way across the room to where the two sat. "I'm interested in the job if you'll have me." He takes a seat at the table. "I'm a hunter by trade," He gestures to the longbow and a little bit less enthusiastically to the light crossbow. "Shooting a buck 80 paces away and in between trees is no problem to me."

Akio

"What, where, When, How and Why?"

"That, I'd also like to know." He said, placing his own drink on the table, inserting himself in the conversation. "I'm only curious about it though. On the condition that you're coming with us and pay at least half of the gold up front, then I accept your offer."

He took a swig of his drink as an older man came up and joined them. The ale was fairly low-quality, but there was a certain rustic charm to it. He set his mug down and saddled up next to the man, putting a hand over his shoulder. "I'm not afraid of some danger, but you have to understand that this is not an agreement to fight to the death on your behalf. It never is, and you should be careful of those who'll lie to you and say they will. We'll guard you and your goods up until the point where it clearly becomes impossible. If you're still willing to pay us the second half, we'll make sure you get to Evergrim alive even if protecting your goods becomes untenable. To that end, you should hire the old man and convince the fine lady here to join. We're gonna need more hands in case we run into something... bad."

With that, Akio takes his arm back, taking another nonchalant swig. It was a common negotiation tactic to look like he didn't care about the man's decision, though truly, Akio wasn't desperate for money, so it didn't really matter to him if his conditions were rejected. He'd already run into a witch once, and she was pretty nice before she tried to kidnap him, so it was more that the rumors of hauntings and witches didn't really bother him.

Fay smirked as the two others joined her.
It gave her some assurance at least, it was always better to travel in numbers when in dangerous territory. She gave an appreciative nod of acknowledgement to the older man and couldn't help but raise a an eyebrow at the 'fine lady' remark of the young man.
Having travelled with the Monstrous Regiment one did kind of push aside the compliments, because they either came from the lecherous leader or the twins would act protectively, which meant that innocent stableboys were glowered into a corner and soldiers were 'tested'. Usually ending bad for the soldier and the twins having to be picked up from prison.

"Well, it seems you have the help and expertise of an accomplished huntsman, a formidable youngman and a my sorcerous self, unless you believe we aren't capable enough, I doubt you would find many others eager to help you with your current predicament." She offered.

Fay calmly considered the proposal. It was fair enough, though it explained the man's desperation.

"Do you have any questions relevant to your job?" Vandernman asked.

"Any outstanding vendetta's, rivalries, misunderstandings or unresolved issues of any kind? If so, I'd like to know who we potentially would be crossing." She stated before moving her hand up to hold her chin in a sort of thinking pose.
"And what does your cargo exist out of? As in are there objects that we should keep an eye of in particular should we get 'troubled'?" She asked before looking at the other two, before adding.
"And you don't need to pay me as of yet. Only at the end when you have arrived at your destination. I don't know how these two feel about it, though."

---

---

Edgar returned the sorceress' nod of acknowledgement with a quick but respectful bob of his own head. The younger man seemed well versed in his negotiations with potential employers and made it clear that their lives were not worth the gold if things get too hairy. The boy was wise. More so than when he was a sell-sword in his youth. He'd just took whatever job he could. From picking up herbs for an alchemist that was too busy to do it themselves, to clearing out giant rats that infested sewer systems; if it paid him coin, he took it.

Though looking back on it, many of his jobs underpaid him for the most part. 5 giant rats for a silver coin? Ludicrous.

The merchant then tossed the bag of gold to the table. The heft of the coinage hitting the wooden surface got his full attention. The man was dead serious about getting his wares across the Darken forest as soon as possible. Whatever Vandernmann was transporting must be very valuable, very important, or perhaps even both to warrant a spending of a small fortune. Well at least a small fortune to his standard of living. "The young miss has some good points, Mr. Merchant. Would you kindly answer her questions?" Edgar said as Fay mentioned that she wouldn't accept full payment but was unsure how he or the far younger man felt about it. "I will be taking my share of the initial pay." If by stroke of great misfortune struck, he could at least have enough coinage to ensure that he and his daughter would spend their last remaining months together in relative comfort.

But that will not come to pass.
He will simply not allow it.

The Cleric sat in the corner of Heroes Hall, nursing his glass of wine. While there were more interesting alcohols available from the inn, only wine didn’t turn Dubuk’s stomach. The only reason the grape based alcohol didn’t do the same was because he grew up drinking it at the monastery.

He had been tasked with providing aid to those in need, as part of a trial to prove his devotion to his god. Unfortunately most people didn’t want his help as he was a half-Orc, a race that was looked down on by most of civilized society. Dubuk wouldn’t know as he was raised among Humans and Elves, never having actually met someone else with Orcish blood.

Finally someone in need of help appeared. This Mister Vanderman needed help moving supplies through something called the Darken Woods, a place that Dubuk was not familiar with as he was not from this land. However, the reaction of a Dwarf to the proposition seemed to indicate that this was a fool hardy venture, especially when he mentioned the evil in the woods.

Vanderman then raised how much he was offering. Dubuk wasn’t sure if this was a good value as he had been raised in a currency less area, only being given a meager bag of coin for his journey. Then an Elven woman entered the tavern, immediately accepting the job. Two Humans then spoke up, also signing on for the escort.

Vanderman then raised his payout to four hundred gold coins, offering half in advance. He then stated that they would leave at sunrise. Dubuk decided to finally stand up as he finished his wine. Having already paid for it, he walked over to Vanderman and the adventurers.

“If you need any more help, I shall offer my aid. Your stated offer of payment is perfectly acceptable for me,” stated Dubuk.

The Cleric hoped that they wouldn’t react to his Orcish heritage. But it did seem that most of the adventurers in the tavern weren’t interested in this quest. Vanderman would be quite foolish to turn down the aid of a skilled Cleric.

Akio

"Do you have any questions relevant to your job?"

"And what does your cargo exist out of? As in are there objects that we should keep an eye of in particular should we get 'troubled'?"

Akio chimed in, "it would be good to know if we have to carry goods that could attract the attention of wildlife by the smell alone."

As the girl stated her disinterest in the initial pay, Akio reached over to take his share of it. Edgar had only taken a third of it, as if to save a third for the lady, despite how she declined. It felt awkward holding onto her share and giving it to her afterwards, but it worked out as a fourth mercenary - a half-orc, if he wasn't mistaken, had arrived to join. More people meant less pay, but the wisdom of this venture was still dubious in the first place. He took a third of the original amount, adding it to his funds and tossed the rest to the half-orc, indirectly accepting him in place of Vandernman. The man didn't seem particularly discerning anyway.

"So, once we get to the other side, that would be 33 more gold for us three and the full 100 gold for the lady." He frowned at the word. It wouldn't do to be calling each other by appearances the whole trip. "My name's Akio, by the way. How should I address the three of you?"

---

---

Edgar frowned slightly at the merchant, not because the lack of respect shown towards himself or those who would be protecting him, but from his lack of disclosure regarding what cargo he carried. As Vandernman left with the wench he hired for the night, he turns to face the new addition to the group, a cleric apparently. Edgar didn't consider himself a religious individual but he knew of the usefulness of a cleric...well, magic users in general actually. "Do you perhaps know how to cast Greater Restoration?" He took a moment to consider something for a moment. They were strangers but he was desperate. Not even their town's priest could do anything but stave off the sickness with Lesser Restoration. "My name is Edgar. Address me as you like. I am a hunter by trade of a quiet town a day's travel by carriage to the North of Harken. I do not have much to my name but if you can heal my daughter's sickness, consider anything I can give yours."

Ferezanthe raised an eyebrow at the manner the Merchant merely brushed her questions aside.
So much for transparency.
It mattered little in the end, they would probably all take the job, one person for certain, as she observed the old man.
The elderly man was eager, perhaps even desperate.
Though Fay wasn't one to judge on someone's appearance or age considering her own dealings with the Monstrous Regiment, it did make her wonder why a man of his age would be driven to such an uncertain path as theirs.
The adventuring life was hardly ever a guarantee for payment, Fay had heard of many adventuring parties getting in over their heads or becoming 'lost'.
Still, whilst she had her own past and need for the thrill, she could not help but feel that this job meant far more to him than it meant to her.
Her eyes quickly scanned his clothing.
They had seen better days...
Still she shouldn't pry and poke her nose in these affairs without invite, perhaps his reasons would come up later.
Eyeing the rest of the group she had to admit, they could certainly be counted as an eclectic bunch.
No doubt with interesting stories of their own.
The Human introduced himself as Akio and easily tossed the bag of coin over to the half orc that had joined them. Fay wasn't going to object in any case, Clerics were a useful bunch.
"Well if all of you are coming then I'd best get us another round so we may get to introduce ourselves. I'm assuming you all won't object to ale?" She asked before heading back to the bar to get 4 more.

As she returned she caught the words of the elderly man.
"So that's why you're risking your hide... Nice to meet you Edgar." She said as she shoved the mug of ale across the table over to him.
She eyed the cleric for a moment.
"Barkeep informed me you were drinking wine, so got you a goblet of wine 'Mister fanciful'." She joked with a wink.
"All kidding aside I for one am glad for your help. Having a divine to back you up does soothe the nerves a little." She said with a smile before shoving the other mug to the younger human 'Akio' and said.
"The name's Ferezanthe, but since that's a bit of a mouthful you all can call me Fay. Spellsword is my trade...that's what they called a Sorcerer Sellsword anyway, back in the days I was with the Monstrous Regiment." She said raising her mug in a sort of toast.
"Nice to be working with you boys." She said before taking a swig from her mug.

Akio
"Hmmm. A hunter, a cleric, and a sorcerer. I guess that would make me the vanguard."

He took another drink. There was plenty of it to go around with Fay part of the group, it seemed. There was a comfortable atmosphere as the low-quality, low-potency alcohol tried its best to make him feel something.

He wasn't exactly a prototypical warrior, so, with Fay's prompting, he figured it made sense to more thoroughly define his role in the group. "I may not look it, but I know a bit about Druidry. I'm a bit more inclined towards fists than fireballs, but the cleric here isn't the only one with healing magic. You guys familiar with the Goodberry spell? I'll prepare a bunch of them tonight."

He spared a sheepish smile towards Edgar. "Greater Restoration is a bit beyond me, though."

The Cleric was surprised by the size of the bag of gold that the Human adventurer tossed toward him. Dubuk had grown up in a place where money meant very little, most of the people who inhabited the monastery simply did good deeds to and helped others. Since the Cleric was not so far into his pilgrimage, he was still getting used to the fact that everything had a price in the wider world.

As one of the adventurers announced himself as Akio, another approached Dubuk questioning if he could cast greater restoration. He then mentioned that the spell was for his daughter and that he would pay all he had if Dubuk could heal his child. A pang of sympathy went through Dubuk’s body. This kind of situation was exactly why he had went on this pilgrimage, and yet he knew this kind of healing was beyond his ability.

“My name is Dubuk, mister Edgar. While I am training in the divine arts, I am afraid that power of healing is beyond my current strength. If I had the power to cast that spell, I would, no payment needed. But I’m afraid I can’t. But hopefully one day the gods will bless me enough so that I may heal the terribly sick,” stated Dubuk.

As Dubuk felt bad over his inability to help the man’s family, an Elf approached the pair. She then made a joke about the Cleric being fancy for drinking wine. This made Dubuk wonder if his beverage of choice was rare in the wider world. It had been quite plentiful at the monastery, and yet most people he encountered now were drinking ale or other liquors.

The Elf then introduced herself as Ferezanthe, though she said she could be called Fay. Dubuk was glad about that as he always had problems with pronouncing traditional Elven names, even while studying in Elvish at the monastery.

Akio then appraised the assembled party, noting that each of them filled a role. He then mentioned that he had druidic magic. Dubuk’s ears immediately perked up at the mention of this. While studying in the divine arts, the Cleric had heard of magic that didn’t come from the gods, but rather nature itself. Dubuk had always wanted to see it in actual use, and perhaps he would if the party encountered trouble in their dangerous crossing.

But Dubuk’s musings were cut short when he saw a Dwarf knock over the waitress. While ale spilled everywhere, the Dwarf then kicked the woman in the gut. The innate anger of Orcish blood overtook Dubuk as he marched over to the Dwarf.

“What in the name of the gods are you doing?” shouted Dubuk.

As the Half-Orc stepped up next to the Dwarf, his hand unconsciously reached for the mace on his belt. Given that he was much taller than the Dwarf, Dubuk glared down at him, his eyes looking more Orc than Human in the dim light of the tavern.

---

---

Edgar nodded in understanding to both Dubuk and Akio. It was a longshot either way, they were in the boonies and he doubted any high ranking healers would be wandering the countryside. He looked down at his reflection on the mug of ale. It would seem that his daughter would have to wait a bit longer before they could be rid of that nasty disease.

The old man just finished taking a sip of his drink when he heard the commotion coming from a dwarf and a filthy looking man. He could assume that the barmaid on the ground clutching her stomach was something they were responsible for judging by their reactions. It seemed like folks couldn't leave folks well alone. He disapproved of the random act of wanton cruelty. Maybe during his wayward youth, he would have smirked. But in his advanced age, he knew that most people didn't deserve the wrongs these folk experienced. His frown deepened as he took another sip of his ale.

But he wasn't going to do anything about it. It wasn't his problem. But if the dirty man and the dwarf were wise, they'd cut their losses and leave before he got buzzed enough from the ale to care. It was around his third sip that he realized that their cleric had marched over to the cantankerous duo and demanded an explanation to their actions. Edgar let out a quiet sigh; he wasn't even buzzed enough to claim this was a spur of the moment decision and he wasn't going soft. Heck he wasn't even a fifth of his mug done.

Standing up from his seat at the table he backed up his cleric companion. He took a stance around ten feet away from the dwarf and the, now noticeably terrible smelling man. Edgar rested his hand on the top of the pommel of his rapier. The sword in itself was mainly used by him to finish off wounded quarry but it could fell a humanoid regardless if used well enough. He'd killed with less before. "Oi. Midget. Bugger off and bring your shit smelling boyfriend with you out of here." Edgar's eyes narrowed and his frown turned into a sneer. "Or you want to wait and find out?"

The dwarf looked up at the holy man, "I smell a foul stench, smells like an Orc." His eyes locked with Dubuks, "Damn Orc bastard disguised as a human!"
The Dwarf draws his hand axe with his right and a small knife with his left.
"Days just got better, Quinn."

Quinn was looking at the old man, "An Orc and an old cow walked into a tavern, stop me if you heard this one before."
"I don't need any weapons to take on grandpa." Quinn said doubling up his fists.

(Initiative Roll) (Ruffians 14)

Akio
It was rather shocking to see someone so ill-mannered as to kick an apparently defenseless barmaid in front of so many. He thought he wasn't so sheltered after spending so much time on the road, away from his family, but maybe he's still a bit lacking in that regard. In any case, while he was addled by the possibility that this wasn't particularly abnormal for a patron of a raucous tavern, it didn't occur to him to step up in the good lady's defense. He'd left behind the stifling calculus of honor and was used to having to look the other way so as to avoid a diplomatic incident. His first thought was that the ornery Dwarf would simply be banned from the tavern and that would be that, but then their cleric walked up to the man to ask him what he was doing, and Akio couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't the one doing that.

To put it less charitably, he sat there like an idiot while the cleric and the hunter both beat him to the punch. Still, he wasn't prepared to start a bar fight for fear of troubling the tavern more until the Dwarf and his thuggish compatriot both openly announced their intention to attack their healer based on his race. So, an irreconcilable conflict, then.

Well, so much for sparing the tavern keeper the trouble. Akio quietly casts Mage Armor on himself as he readies his dagger.

(Initiative Roll: 15)

---

---

Edgar's sneer wasn't for show. The human, now identified as Quinn, didn't just smell like a pig. He smelled like he'd never known a bath in his life. But what got his attention was that the dwarf drew his weapons. He had full intentions of killing. Edgar was about to return the killing intent in kind when he realized that the human chose bare knuckle brawling over a weapon. Unfortunately for the smelly human he had no intention of fighting him bare handed while his bigoted dwarf companion had his weapons at the ready. Not that he had the intention to fight the man fairly. He wasn't a white knight from a child's fairytale.

"Your friend shown his willingness to die by drawing his weapons." He unsheathes his rapier. "You? I'll try to avoid your vital bits." Just as he brandishes his blade, by stroke of bad luck, the tip of the blade lodges itself to a chair's leg. Hindering his initial ability to act and likely putting him dead last to act as he wedges the sword's tip off the chair.

{Initiative roll: 4}