Trials and Terror

[Fenrir13]

There weren´t many hamlets on the small island of Ire. But those that were they were all harmonious and well kept, despite the king not having stationed many soldiers there. Those that were mostly guarded the ferry to the mainland. One such hamlet was Westwend. It was the biggest of its kind and the wealthiest. Close to the ferry in the west. Which meant ocassionally peddlers would show up, which passed for trade here. It kept close contact with Farnworth and Bardford, the next two closest settlements and in summertime all the villagers would gather in Westwend and celebrate the great harvest festival at the Tavern. It was a merry occasion on those hot summer evenings. After a long (but no too long) ceremony at the shrine, in which token offerings were given to the god of the fields the people would gather round a huge bonfire, sing eat and drink. There was good bread, meat and ale. Many of the peasants got drunk and despite a few fights and arguments there was no trouble - usually. One young maiden, not much over sixteen, was sullen. Her sweetheart had chosen this night of them all to break up with her and she ran off after a slap and giving him a piece of her mind. Now she found herself at the shrine, before suddenly hearing some noise...who could it be? While brave she was of a careful sort and thus sought the next tough man (for in those parts it was mostly unheard of to find women wielding weapons) and explained the situation to him. "Hey, stranger! There is some commotion near the shrine. Come quick and have a look, someone might be disturbing the offerings...and anyhow, only the village priest is allowed in there!", she explained, for she wasn´t familiar with the man, tough she thought she had seen him around doing jobs for the farmers. The girls name was Uhna and she was a half elf. She was dressed in a simple, but well tailored peasant dress, with only a pair of light blue flowers decorating her hair, which was blonde with a hint of red. She had a cute, round face with a pointy chin, but her expression was a bit melancholy, espacially now, though those familar with her would often see her frowning in a haughty manner. Maybe it was the elfs blood?



(Going to keep it like this for now, guess its the prologue. Probably going to narrate it more like an rpg next, unless I am feeling descriptive.)

[guardianjohran]

(Narrative writing like this works great for me if it's what you prefer. It gives me plenty of information to work with from the get go, and I can set up my character for the start of the adventure)

Adan looked down, blinking a couple of times to the teen as she ran up to him, and trying to wrap his mind around what she was saying. He was full up on food, after all, and maybe more than a little wine too. He heard her telling him about some kind of disturbance over by the shrine, and was halfway toward asking her why she was telling him, and what she wanted him to do about it. But, he sadly knew what she wanted him to do about it. She wanted him to get up from his comfy spot, and go and see what the commotion was. He supposed it did make sense for her to come to him about it, even if the two of them weren't known to each other. He had the big knife on his hip after all, and a bit of a reputation around the village for hunting or handling dangerous animals - as well as breaking up the occasional drunken brawl. So he knew he should probably get up and do what she wanted. It was going to be a bit of a bother, though. But, she had a point. If someone was stealing from the offerings, and the Harvest God felt slighted, it could wreck the next season's planting.

"Okay, okay." He grunted, as he stood up, with a stretch and a grunt. "It's probably just a couple of drunks looking for some privacy to f-" He stopped, looking down again at how young the girl was, before he finished that sentence. "Uh...looking for some privacy. But, just in case it is somebody with bad intentions, you need to stay back here where it's safe, okay?" He didn't even really wait for her to answer, just assuming she'd follow the direction, as he headed off in the direction she'd pointed. He didn't mean to just bust into the shrine, in case it was just some young lovers or something, but instead he simply walked, quickly but quietly, over to the shrine. Finally, he did rest one hand on the handle of the knife he carried, in case he needed to draw it quickly, but he waited, leaning against the side of the door and listening, to see if he could figure out what all that noise inside might be.

[Fenrir13]

The girl seemed pleased with herself as Adan stirred. But when he talked about people looking for a place to fuck she gave him a weird look, definately having understood what he meant. She was pretty quick witted. When the "hero" asked her to stay back, she followed. Alltough in some distance, as not to get his attention. They were soon joined by the local priest, a thin old guy in a coarse robe that wore no shoes, and a twisted wodden staff as the symbol of his office. "Goblins!", he said in horror,"I would recognize that stench everywhere! One is in the shrine, having indulged in the wine offered. Quick! Put it out of its misery..." He reinforced the order with a look that made clear he would not react kindly to any protest. In the heat of the situation no one seemed to mind that the shrine usually was taboo for anyone but the priest. Well...it has been profaned now anyhow.

[guardianjohran]

He was trying a bit, to focus on his approach, and then to focus on the sounds inside the shrine. But that didn't mean he hadn't seen the girl follow after him, despite his clear instructions to do the opposite of that. Brat. He sighed a bit, rolling his eyes as he started to press his ear to the door of the shrine.

At least, right up until the point where the priest came up to him, waving his staff about, and talking about goblins. The man spoke like he knew what had happened. To recognize goblins by smell alone, would be something that perhaps an experienced traveler or fighter could pull off, but a cloistered priest? That was suspicious. More suspicious was that he claimed to know it was only one goblin, and that it had sampled the consecrated wine. Had he been inside and run away at the site of it? Or was he just making all of this up? Adan doubted the man's words a bit, but he'd have to investigate the circumstances, never the less.

"Stay here." He looked to the priest, and then turned to the half-elf girl, and locked his eyes with hers. "I mean it this time." And with that, he drew the messer from his hip, holding it in front of himself, and opening the door to the shrine, just enough to step inside.

[Fenrir13]

The half elf girl gave him a sort of offended look. She seemed to be to brave and curious for her own good, not uncommon with children in these parts, they lived pretty sheltered lives, luckily, except for small accidents like a burned down shed it usually did not cause much problems. As soon as the "hero" turned around, she stuck out her tongue a little, showing what she thought of his authority. The priest also seemed not pleased. "Hurry!", he instructed. There was not really reason to doubt his words, as Adan could soon hear a sort of chortling sound and foul smell himself. Yes, there really was a pudgy little goblin sitting in the shrine, dressed in yellow rags, drunk from consecrated wine and apparently left by his comrades. Next to him was a stone knife...his only weapon. This would be an easy kill...and probably it made no sense to reason with the creature.


(Might be clever to wound the goblin and have him run to his comrades, or I just invent some tracks (or the priest/girl knows something) , you decide.)

[guardianjohran]

(Wounding it so it runs back to its lair seems like the best idea.)

Adan wouldn't see the priest's displeasure, nor the girl's gesture of attitude, since he was headed into the shrine already at that point. The goblin was alone, just as he'd been warned, and it was drunk. He couldn't smell the alcohol over the general stink of the creature, but he could tell by all the empty wine bottles around it. He knew it was likely going to become aware of him, at the same time he became aware of it, though. Coming through the door that way had left him backlit by the evening light. But it's reactions were likely to be slowed by all it had drank. Which meant he'd have the first strike. Unfortunately the messer wasn't really a long range option, so he'd have to move quick. But the goblin wasn't even holding a weapon. So, he dashed forward, thrusting the sword toward the little monster. He didn't like killing people, but goblins weren't exactly people, and the creatures were quite a menace. He wasn't sure he'd even be able to finish it off with a single thrust, though. Even if he couldn't, if he could run it off that might be good enough for the priest and the bratty girl. Though, it might be worth the bounty to track it back to its hideaway and try to claim any bounty on finishing off the whole pack, if he were up to it...

[Fenrir13]

(Ah, I forgot a detail...)


The goblin cried out as it was wounded by the Messer and tried to stagger away. It wasn´t very fast on its small legs, pretty easy to follow. The priest got into the shrine and looked around, shocked at all the chaos. Such a Shrine needed to be kept orderly and that was his task. The girl also glanced inside, as this was normally forbidden, but under these circumstances nobody cared really. A few curious villagers also came closer. "Oh no, they have taken the totem...", the priest said to Adan. "We must recover it!", he said, pointing at Adan. Which meant him alone most likely, even though he had said "we"!

[guardianjohran]

"We do, huh?" He looked back at the priest. The emphasis in Adan's voice was clear. He understood that there was no real 'we' here. There was 'he' must recover the totem. Great.

"Yeah yeah." He sighed. "The goblins stole the totem. Lovely." He spun the sword in his grip, and looked around the shrine. "It must be something small then?" He'd never been in here. People normally weren't allowed in here. But he assumed so, if the goblins were able to carry it. "Small enough at least, for me to carry back alone?" He looked off in the direction the goblin had run. "It's not very fast, and it's bleeding, so it won't be difficult to track. But I'd still better get after it." He rolled his shoulders, and then set off at a jog.

[Fenrir13]

"Yes, it is very valuable. Both wordly and spirituality.", the priest said, apparently overlooking Adans snark, though he certainly did not appreciate it, in such a desperate situation. Maybe he exaggerated a little when he described its wordly worth, it was just a carved piece of wood, roughly as tall as a gravestone, but much narrower. Still, the people would be highly demoralized if it was gone...that was, if they didn´t face godly punishment, either.

"It is not very large or heavy, I am sure you can carry it easily and will recognize it once you see it.", the priest described and gave Adan an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Go with the gods, my son.", he said and tried to sound encouragingly. Meanwhile the girl was still listening from behind them, this was the most exciting news in months, if not very good news.
Meanwhile the goblin stumbled across some meadows until he reached a bunch of cliffs at a beach in which the goblins had made their den. There was also still some crudely made rafts visible, which they had used to migrate to the island. All in all the area was perfect for goblins. They could hide and fish, if they didn´t go out to pillage. In the next couple of months their population could double, or even tripple. Good thing there usually were adventurers who could stop this pest...

[guardianjohran]

Adan didn't much like the gods. Basically for the same reason the priest was worried. Divine retribution, over some silly trinket they didn't even have control over? Were these truly the motivations of some grand and glorious entities, worthy of the worship they demanded? Surely no being worth adoration WOULD demand it. No, the gods were petty children to be appeased, in fear of their temper tantrums. He resented the whole thing if he were honest. And it was not for the sake of any god that he followed after the goblin now. He wasn't a bad person overall, but he was more mercenary than zealot, to be certain. Coin motivated him more than cause.

That being said, he knew that having goblins in too great a number would pose a problem for everyone, before too long. Something did have to be done about it, and he was likely the only one who could or would. And even if the priest would probably never actually pay him, likely citing some bullshit about it being his holy duty or whatever, he was just going to have to deal with the problem now, for the sake of having anywhere safe to live in the future.

It was lucky for him, as he'd noticed earlier, that the goblin was neither too quick, nor too careful, in its retreat, with its injury. It left an easily trackable trail, across the prarie and toward the cliffside. Holed up in a cave probably. Smartest thing to do would have been smoke them out if that was the case. Start a fire and pick them off with arrows as they fled. But, he couldn't risk destroying or damaging anything inside, with them having raided the shrine. That meant he was left to have to plan something new. Especially as he got closer and noticed they were so close to the water. Just under the cliffs like that smoke could blow away, and they could have used the ocean for safety. Damn. He needed more information.

Trying to stay as low to the ground as he could, he crept nearer. As near as felt safe at least. And he tried to find some spot to hide, and watch them, for some kind of clues he could discern.