Adventure 1 - Jousting Tournament
General Summary
Our adventure begins with Balfor Boreus waking suddenly from a nightmare - a vivid dream in which he remembers his siblings, his beautiful wife and their daughter, all laughing and joking in the dwarven city that they grew up in, before making an abrupt exit and fleeing together. Balfor finishes his drink and heads off in pursuit, running and calling after his wife and child, but they don't respond. They exit the city and end up walking through a forest that seems to get darker and darker with each passing step. Before he realises it, Balfor has lost sight of them, and is completely lost in this mysterious place. He notices a glowing red light off in the distance, with what appears to be a shadow of a figure in the distance. This figure does not respond to Balfor's calls, it just stands there watching him. He notices that another shadowy figure has stepped forward from the forest, and then another, and another. Balfor can hear faint whispers on the wind between them, until they all start making their way closer and closer toward him...
He wakes with a jolt as a horse from the stables gently nibbles upon his shoulder. He is made fun of by his Boss, a generous man who has given Balfor a job working with the horses in the town stable. Chastising him for sleeping on the job, he urges him to get back to work and help two customers who are looking for horses for rent on their travels. The two distinctive travellers introduce themselves as Cora Lunasong and Grognak Odinson who are looking to hire three horses for travelling after they have visited the famous Wiverhead Dragon Fall Fair that they have heard so much about. They ask permission from the stable boss if Balfor would accompany them to the fair himself and show them round, to which he allows it.
The three of them make their way through town, making small talk with one another until they get to the fair itself. Everybody from town has made it, as well as many people visiting from the whole kingdom. Balfor, Grognak and Cora proceed to take part in a series of festive games hoping to win tokens to exchange for a special prize.
The Fair
Guess the number of beans – As the three of them approach the small stall, they see, what appears to be a couple arguing behind the table, on which is a glass jar holding only 5 beans and a goat stood beside them, munching on something. They ask them about the game, to which the couple apologise since the goat seems to have eaten the majority of the beans. They state that they had written down the number of beans that were in the jar prior, so they are welcome to guess if they want. Being a Druid, Balfor walks slowly toward the goat chanting softly under his breath as he gestures with his hand (Cast – Speak with Animals). He asks the goat if he remembers how many beans it has eaten, to which a bewildered goat at the fact that a dwarf is bleating at him, replies that he hasn’t eaten any of them – he much prefers grass. Balfor, returning to the couple gives his answer that 5 beans were in the jar from the start. The two of them, looking miffed that he has seen through their con, reluctantly hand over the maximum amount of tokens.
.
, which is correct.
, which again, is correct.
.
The woman rewards the three with a set of tokens, but also offers them another riddle with a special prize as a reward if they answer correctly. The only stipulation is that they only have one guess. Considering her offer, they reluctantly decline, wanting to see more of the fair instead.
Arm Wrestling
At another tent sits a very large gentleman sat at a table, challenging people to an arm wrestling competition. Cora steps up first giving it a try, but fails to make the man’s arm move an inch. Grognak, keen to show off his superior strength, sits down and accepts the mans challenge. Despite his best efforts, he also fails to win. Finally Balfor sits down and politely asks if he can use his left hand instead. The large man agrees, and the two of them begin wrestling. Balfor erupts with a roar as he stands triumphantly after winning a tight-fought victory – his left arm sore from the contest. Grognak, surprised at seeing the small dwarf succeed, tries a second time – this time with his left arm as well, but unfortunately loses again, much to Cora’s amusement.Eating Contest
A large tent has been setup in the centre of the fair, in which a stage with a set of eight chairs in front of tables is arranged. Learning the rules of the contest, both Grognak and Balfor volunteer to take part, taking their seats. Balfor asks if there is a vegan alternative to the Oxen burgers being offered up, to which the organiser allows him to have Carrot burgers instead. The rest of the competitors take their place alongside them and the contest begins. Both Grognak & Balfor start well, chewing down several burgers as some of the other challengers quit out early. The two of them keep up their pace, out eating some other challengers who drop out as well. It gets down to 3 challengers; Grognak, Balfor and the rather large Butcher’s boy. At this point Grognak is really starting to struggle, looking in disbelief at the little dwarf out eating him. He finally taps out before he is sick. Balfor continues for as long as he can, but looking at the Butcher’s boy and seeing that he isn’t even struggling yet, he finally admits defeat, finishing second place overall.Answer the Riddles
With the two guys feeling rather bloated after the eating competition, the tree of them head over to a small little tent on the outskirts of the fair and head inside. Within is a small old woman, offering tokens as a reward for answering a set of riddles.What has a head and a tail, but no body?They reply to the first with the answer “A story”. The woman being generous allows the answer for being creative, despite the real answer being Riddle Answer
A coin
It belongs to you, but other people use it more than you. What is it?To the second riddle, they reply after careful thought, Riddle Answer
Your name
David's parents have three sons: Snap, Crackle and... What's the name of the third son?For the third, all three quickly reply with the answer Riddle Answer
David
Three men are wearing three hats. One man is young, one man is middle-aged and one man is old. One hat is red, one hat is blue, and one hat is green. Which man is wearing the largest hat?The forth riddle has them stumped, and despite offering up a variety of different answers, all are incorrect. The correct answer being Riddle Answer
The one with the biggest head
Target Practice
Lastly, the trio head over to the target practice tent, where contestants are throwing a set of three knives at a target. The three of them agree to take part and take up their blades. Cora misses with 2 out of 3 knives, barely hitting with her third. Balfor, similarly misses with 2 and hits fairly well with another. Grognak on the other hand hits 3 out of 3 bullseye’s, breaking the target in two with his final throw. They all head over to exchange their tokens for prizes, picking up a ‘Level Up Potion’, ‘2 Bags of Ball Bearings’ and a ‘Set of Playing Cards’. As the fair comes to an end and the three companions have gotten to know each other a little bit, a loud horn sounds from the other side of town signalling the start of the traditional joust. Balfor leads them back through town, amongst the bustling people heading in the same direction. Cora and Grognak seem somewhat preoccupied and are chatting to themselves quite intently. They begin to ask Balfor what he knows of the Duke of Miston and are quite keen to learn if he will be attending the ceremony as usual.The Jousting Event
As they reach the jousting field, Balfor's comrades make haste through the crowd to get a good spot directly opposite the royal box, where, to their seeming relief the Duke is busy taking his seat. The three of them watch the horses and riders warming up, practising their skills before the tournament begins. A white and black knight makes their way out, mounting their horses clad in ornate armour. A number of bookmakers work their way around the watching crowds taking bets on who they believe will win, to which Grognak places all of his money on the black knight. He roars with jubilance as the black knight wins two out of the three rounds, knocking the white knight clean off of his horse.
As is tradition at the Dragon Fall Fair, a volunteer from the crowd is given the chance to challenge the winner of the jousting competition, in commemoration of St Austead. A vast number of hands go up in the crowd putting themselves forward to take on the honour. One of the Duke's guards roams up and down the front of the crowd, sizing up a potential candidate. He stops right in front of Balfor, laughing at the fact that the rather portly dwarf had volunteered himself. "You wouldn't fit in the armour," he chuckles looking him up and down. He does however size-up both Cora and Grognak as suitable candidates, both of them looking eager to take up the challenge. Not knowing which to pick, he offers the Dwarf the option of who should take part, to which Balfor chooses Cora.
Cora is escorted over to a small tent where she changes into a suitable, if a little ill-fitting suit of armour. She is greeted with a huge roar from the crowd as she reappears. ready to mount her horse and take up the challenge. Balfor notices that Grognak's eyes are firmly fixed upon the Duke, a steely determination in his eyes, before he makes eye contact with Cora, nodding affirmatively at her. Lowering the visor on her helmet atop of her horse, she takes the lance and shield in her hands and steadies herself before the duel begins. On the first round, the black knight hits her shield with a glancing blow, Cora wildly missing with hers. As Cora begins her run on the second attempt, she does something that stuns the crowd.
On her second gallop towards her foe, she purposely dodges the knights thrust of his lance, jumping from her horse right in front of the royal box. Rolling skilfully on the ground, she produces a small knife that had been tucked into her belt, throwing it straight at the Duke. It misses his head narrowly, flying past his cheek and sticking firmly into the wooden wall behind him. The Duke gets up in a rage, his guards positioning themselves in front of him in order to protect him. "Kill her!" he screams the crowd since going quiet at what they just witnessed. Before Cora could even try to move, the black knight rode up behind her, pulled out his sword from his sheath and in one stroke, cut her head clean off.
"Kill her!"Grognak let out a blood curdling scream. With rage in his eyes he grabbed his great axe from his back and jumped the railing in front of them, running straight toward the royal box and the Duke himself. He didn't make it too far before the entirety of the royal guard had tackled him to the floor, dispossessing him of his weapon and making him kneel before the Duke to answer his questions. The soldier that had picked out Cora for the joust came back along the crowd, dragging Balfor out and throwing him down beside Grognak as though he was an accomplice to their plan - despite knowing nothing of what was happening right now. The Duke demanded that Grognak explain himself, to which he just smiled defiantly back at him. The Duke nodded toward the black knight, to which he pulled out a small knife and stabbed him between the ribs. Grognak slumped where he kneeled, gripping his side from the pain. The Duke, once again, demanded answers from him. He refused to answer, until the knight made his way towards Balfor, knife in hand. "Liar!" He screamed toward the Duke, his face red with anger. With every bit if strength he could muster he made sure to shout as loudly as he could for all the crowd to hear. "You claim to be a just man, a merciful man, a man of honour, and yet you send out your armies to kill and murder innocents. You are responsible for the death of hundreds, I witnessed you burn Oakedge to the ground, and you demand answers from me! Why don't you explain yourself before your subjects and tell them what kind of man you really are?" A confused murmuring reverberates around the crowd as the Duke's subject’s talk amongst themselves. Balfor, realising just how serious of a situation he is in, pleads with the Duke to spare him as he has no knowledge of what is going on, explaining that he had only met the two outsiders a few hours ago. Just as the Duke begins to address the crowd and quell any unrest that they have, an arrow whistles through the air towards the Duke, grazing his cheek as it barely missed him. Grognak, sensing the opportunity takes out some kind of potion from his tunic and throws it straight at the ground where it explodes into a bright ball of light, dazzling everyone. It takes a few seconds before the guards regain their sight, to which they see that Grognak has made a run for it, back towards town. The Duke sends his guards to go and arrest the fleeing assassin, turning his attention towards Balfor, who now remains kneeled, on his own before him. The Duke plucks the arrow from the wood behind him and throws it at Balfor's feet. "Find them and bring them to me Dwarf, now!" he demands. The crowd shout out two opposing locations to where they thought the arrow came from - the roof of the blacksmiths, or from the top of the ruined tower. To help motivate Balfor, one of the Duke's guards brings out his Boss from the crowd, a knife pressed against his throat. He makes it very clear to Balfor that if he doesn't bring both Grognak and the other assassin before them soon, he will kill the Boss without hesitation. Balfor trudges off from the jousting grounds, the whole crowd watching in silence as they part, letting him pass heading back to investigate the town for clues.
The Investigation
Balfor decides that the first place he should try is the Blacksmiths. He greats the old, partially deaf man that works there - he is one of the few people, besides his boss, that he has spent a bit of time getting to know since living in Wiverhead. The blacksmith himself, unaware of what has just happened at the joust, is busy hammering some dents out of a piece of armour. When he asks him if he'd seen anything unusual, he does mention that someone jumped off of his roof a few minutes ago and headed into the pub across the road. He didn't get a good look at them, though he did describe them as wearing a flat hat that had a distinctive feather sticking out from it. Glad of the lead, Balfor decides to check out if he can see anything from the roof itself, clumsily climbing up some boxes stacked up against the outside wall. From this vantage point he can just about see the royal box from here, though if anyone did shoot an arrow from here, they wouldn't have had a clear shot, with many trees and foliage obscuring the view.
Seeing that he had knocked over one of the boxes when climbing up onto the roof, Balfor retrieves a piece of hempen rope from his backpack - tying it around the stone chimney, before climbing back down. He pops back in to talk to the Blacksmith to ask if he could help him retrieve his rope, to which he replies that he will get it for him. If he comes back later, he will have it for him.
With a lead to investigate, Balfor makes his way over to the town pub - The Dragon's Tooth. The tavern is packed with people who have been at the fair, or who have just come back from the jousting event. Due to Balfor's small stature, he can't see past the line at the bar, let alone skim over the whole pub to see if someone wearing a feathered flat hat is sat somewhere. Feeling bold, he pulls up a bar stool, climbs upon it and hops onto the bar itself - getting a much better view of everyone from here.
"Oi! Get down from there you wazzock!" the pub landlord shouts, angry at this strange Dwarf, covered in mud treading all over his bar. The crowd grows quiet as some of them recognise him from the jousting event. "Buy something or get out!" the landlord tells him, ordering him down at once. Unable to see anyone matching the Blacksmith's description, Balfor admits defeat, climbing back down from the bar and heading back out into town. He decided to go and check out the town shop over the road, whilst remembering to pick up his retrieved rope from the blacksmith that was on the way.
With that, the ancient stone door slowly slid open, descending into the ground. Balfor made his way inside the dark tower, keen to find more clues.
End of Adventure 1.
"Oi! Get down from there you wazzock!"The female shopkeeper didn’t look too happy to see the dwarf walk into her shop, recognising him from the earlier joust. Sensing that the owner was keen to get him to leave as soon as possible, Balfor cut to the chase and proceeded to ask her if she had seen anyone suspicious around town. When her only answer was Balfor himself, he decided to ask if she had any information on the arrow itself that the Duke had given him – pulling it out from his backpack and giving it her to take a look at. She recognised the arrow straight away, stating that she had sold a full quiver of them (20 arrows) to a mysterious hooded man only yesterday evening. After a few moments thinking carefully, she also remembered that a young man had stolen some of these exact arrows last week whilst browsing her wares. Balfor asked if she could remember what the young man had looked like – to which she described a young man with blond, curly hair who wore a flat hat with a feather in it. Balfor, matching this description to that of the blacksmith’s, asked if the shop keeper would accompany him to the pub to try and identify the man. She was hesitant at first, but was convinced by him as they agreed payment of 4gp as payment for her time. Making their way back over the road to The Dragon’s Tooth, Balfor lead the shop keeper up to the bar. The landlord, seeing the dwarf return, reiterated that he needed to buy something, or get out. Balfor asked if he could buy a single carrot, placing 1sp upon the bar. Begrudgingly the landlord takes the money and goes off to the kitchen to look for a carrot for him. Meanwhile the shopkeeper is busy looking around the tavern to see if she can see the feathered hat wearing man. The landlord returns, carrot in hand and tosses it over to Balfor, keep for him to leave the premises. Wanting to buy himself more time, he decides to order a mug of Ale – again placing his money (4cp) onto the bar. The landlord sighs heavily before retreating into the back to change the beer barrel. The shop keeper returns to Balfor with good news, she has seen the young man sitting in the corner of the pub. Balfor heads over to confront the guy, deciding to try and intimidate him. This works since the man saw Balfor win the arm wrestling match at the fair earlier that day. He confesses that he was the one who stole the arrow from the shop earlier that week as he needed them to hunt Oxen in preparation for the Dragon Fall Fair. He also admitted that he had been stood atop the Blacksmith’s roof earlier, but only to get a better view of the Jousting event. Listening to the man, Balfor came to the conclusion that he was telling him the truth – though he insisted that the man pay what he owed to the shop keeper. With that lead ending up being somewhat of a wild goose chase, he decided to head back out to town and look for more clues. Just as he left the pub, the landlord reappeared from the back with Balfor’s mug of Ale, to which he politely declined, saying he had changed his mind. An annoyed landlord refused to give him his money back, glad to see him leave. The only other lead to go on was that some of the crowd had thought that the arrow was shot from the Ruined Tower. Heading over to the rather large stone structure, he was surprised that there was no door that he could see. Checking around the back of the structure, amongst the overgrown trees and foliage, he found a small, what looked like to be, door – yet it had no handle. Instead, on the front it had three circular stones with several ancient looking symbols engraved into it. Fortunately for Balfor, he recognised these symbols as Primordial, and began to rotate the stones until he found something that made sense – ‘O-P-E-N-M-E’.
Rewards Granted
Level Up Potion 2 Bags of Ball Bearings (2000) Playing Card Set 1 Arrow -4gp (Shop keeper’s time) -1sp (Carrot) -4cp (mug of Ale)
Character(s) interacted with
Report Date
16 Aug 2021
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