The party is having breakfast at the Dark Titan Taproom, having finished several weeks of training and a few odds & ends keeping them occupied. Now that all these tasks are done the usual boredom slips back in and the topic of leaving Badger Falls comes back up.
Unbeknownst to the group, Badger Falls has a couple of unlikely visitors. One is an Elven Maiden outfitted in simple blue robes. She has causally traipsed into town from one of the logging roads. There are few Elves in town, so the sudden appearance of one is noted, but doesn't garner too much immediate attention.
The other visitor, however, draws a lot of attention to himself. A horse comes barreling through town with a rider barely hanging on. The horse is on a dead run, foaming and frothing as it races through town. The road has a few gentle curves, but splits off into almost a T intersection close to the town center. The horse makes a sharp break right, but the rider doesn't manage to hold on, instead landing like a sack of potatoes in the middle of the road. The horse, freed from it's burden, slows down and eventually stops along the river bank.
Pretty much anyone who saw the rider come into town gathers around to investigate. Nobody actually checks on the rider or the horse, they just stand around like idiots gawking. The Elf weaves through the crowd and makes her way over to the other stranger and begins administering First Aid. The rider is unconscious and appears to have been on the losing end of a fight. He has a wicked deep wound across his chest.
As she is administering aid one of the Village Elders comes forward, having been alerted to this recent commotion. Elder Foxhorn takes charge, directing some villagers to take the wounded man to the Barber. He also inquires as to the Elf's name and she stammers, "I'm Gala Nudirstotoun."* The Elder asks her what happened, assuming (naturally) that the two strangers came in to town together. He asks that she stays with the rider as he tries to figure out what is going on.
To that end he sends a runner to the Dark Titan Taproom to see if the party can get over to meet him at the Barbers.
Once the party arrives they look over the man with the Barber, an older Gnome Titan named Flanl Steelfoot. Together they surmise that the man had probably been sliced open with a scimitar, most likely an orc attack. orcs have been known to get this far South on occasion, but not usually so early in the spring. They ask Ms. Nudirstotoun about her companion and only then find out that she doesn't know him, that she only stepped in because she has some healing skill and the man was wounded. They've done all they can for the man which doesn't seem to be enough for the Elder. He really wants to know if there are orcs poised to attack the village.
Someone from the party goes to retrieve their small measure of healing salve that they had taken from the kobolds. Flanl recognizes it as an old Gnome-Titan herbal concoction that is "pretty good stuff". He's convinced that with a good application of salve this man should be awake before the end of the day. He won't be much good aside from a few words, but he'll probably live.
The group, with the Elf in tow, goes to see about the horse, who by now has laid down next to the river. It is obviously in pain with two arrows embedded in it's flank. This town doesn't have a stable or really many folks familiar with horses, so Myka decides to run home and get her father, a retired Knight, to come and see what he can do.
While she is away Vrykor decides to try and help the horse herself. She manages to get up to the horse and somehow manages to get the arrows out without any extra damage. Once the arrows are removed the horse tries to get up, but she cannot do so without help. It takes some effort, but the horse eventually rights herself and allows Vrykor to lead her around. They take the horse over to one of the few houses with a sufficient barn and convince the owner to allow the horse to be temporarily stabled there.
Relemir Cinder shows up and immediately goes to check on the horse. One wound needs to be cleaned out some and both need to be stitched up, but he is able to take care of the animal's needs easily enough. When he is finished he meets with Flanl and discusses the man's wounds as well. Between the wounds and one of the arrows, Relemir is certain that orcs are to blame. The other arrows gives him pause because it is a fine target arrow that probably belongs to a fellow Knight. He is unsure who the markings belong to, but he is certain that he has seen them before.
When the stranger seems to be getting close to wakening, Flanl has the Elder brought in and a brief interrogation is held. This man is Annair Foamclaw and he is a tracker that was hired to hunt down a orc war party that murdered a prominent member of the family who hired him. For some reason he will not reveal the name of his employers, but he thinks he was ambushed maybe 20 miles from town, not far East of the trail head to the Sageem Road.
The Ranger lapses back into unconsciousness and the Elder asks the party to go investigate this matter. Relemir takes some offense to this and asks for a private conference with the Elder. Anise goes to her employer to see if he has any information regarding Knights from the surrounding areas and the rest of the group goes to the Elder's house to wait for further guidance.
Things quickly become pretty awkward for Myka because she can her her father getting rather vocal inside with the Elder. As he emerges from the residence he asks Myka to come home with him just about the same time as the Elder asks everyone to step inside. Myka leads the group inside and the Elder has a serious conversation with them, but not before asking if they have accepted Ms. Nudirstotoun into their group. Gala explains that her name is not Nudirstotoun*. The Elder doesn't quite apologize, but notes her name for future use.
The issue at hand with Relemir is that orcs are a rather dangerous lot. While the Elder wants to know where this group is, which Relemir agrees is important, they differ on sending the group. Before the Elder activates the militia and effectively boards up the town in anticipation of an attack, he needs to know if that action is warranted. Relemir's main concern is sending a group of women, including his daughter, to that task. Orcs are known for being kind of "rapey" and there is a genuine concern that the orcs might try to capture the party specifically for a fate worse than death.
The group decides, then and there, to a suicide pact for this worst-case scenario and decides their next step is to by a set of daggers just in case. They will head out in the morning to investigate.
*We have a new player to the group and when asked her PC's name (in character) she kind of stammered "I'm Gala New-Here-To-Town" While I knew what she meant, I went with what I heard and she didn't do anything to correct me until the end of the session.
Moons:
Bardra'Kar 2nd Quarter Waning
Shadara is Full Moon
Light level: Dim
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