Firalick

Summary
It's been a couple days since the party returned from the infiltration and decimation of a nearby goblin hideout and as Arpeon gets ready for the opening ceremony of the Sapphire Festival the other characters used their free time to better hone their skills. Carter honed his speed, reaction, and agility, hoping to never be incapacitated in battle, Firali had been wandering, looking out for any sign/word of orc activity, honing his skills and researching/practising a few spells, and Baldrick had been preparing physically and mentally for the trials of the festival ahead.

Sofae and Scraaw had left earlier, saying that they heard of something strange going on in the Elkvald. As they left they paid their share of the party expenses and a little extra on account of all of Scraaw's droppings.

The productivity helped avoid squabbles, but one night the party noticed that JAD had not been eating and seemed a bit ill. As they argued over what happened and caused general hell for the other patrons trying to catch a wink of sleep, a Half-Elf from the next room knocked on the door and mentioned that he was a Druid who could take a look at the dog, hoping to quiet them down upon success.

The Half-Elf introduced himself as Verathis, and promptly discovered that JAD had suffered from food poisoning, as he inquired about what the dog was eating, the party realized that Baldrick had been feeding him the Bullywug legs, which have begun to rot. After the party calmed at Baldrick's unintentional poisoning, Verathis coaxed the dog to vomit and provided a concoction for him to drink and settle his stomach.

The party then decided that instead of disposing of the legs, they could apply it to their ammunition and poison their foes, but Baldrick was not keen on giving any of his things to Firali and gave the sack of legs to Carter instead. Carter immediately handed the sack to Firali, who reached in and dumped some of the contents on the inn floor. As the stench approached their nostrils, Verathis ran back to his room, gagging while the others suffered from the foul odour. Carter then decided to run downstairs and get a rag and bucket of water, while he was downstairs he met Farmer Hob, who heard from the baker that Carter helped him out. He said he was missing some goats and had no time to search for them himself, but would compensate Carter if he could locate them or tell him what happened as Hob had sold the goats to a merchant, and would have his name sullied if he were to say they went missing on the day of the exchange. Carter agreed and made his way up, where an argument ensued as the party tried to decide who would clean up the mess and the volume was so great, no one in the inn could sleep.

In frustration the bloody mass was thrown outside the window, unfortunately it was closed and the pulp was spattered everywhere. The window was later opened and the mass continued dripping, end eventually landed on a burly Half-Orc mercenary sitting outside. The sounds of retching and screaming were heard, followed by yelling coming from the downstairs portion of the tavern as the mercenary stomped his way upstairs. Carter took the opportunity to jump out and revel in the fresh air, hoping to make some coin on his stroll while Firali attempted to hide in a chest and Baldrick, picked up JAD and tried to enter Verathis's room. Verathis grudgingly accepted as Baldrick told him JAD had taken a turn for the worse.

When the furious mercenary appeared at the door, he ran in and slipped on the puddle of pulp. He stood up, angrier than ever, and spied a half open chest with a hunched over elf. As the mercenary became more irate, he began to threaten Firali and started taking out his weapons. Fortunately guards who had heard the commotion decided to intervene and try to make sense of the situation. The mercenary gave his account and Firali unsuccessfully lied. As the guards separated, one tried to calm down the mercenary while the other starting binding Firali's hands.

Baldrick, peering from the doorway decided to help Firali and run out of the room, holding JAD and crying, in between sobs and wails he told the guards that the Half-Orc had run in drunk, threatened them and threw a sack of filth around. The mercenary became more and more upset while the guard was scratching his head trying to calm down Baldrick. Firali took the chance to slip free from the guard's grasp and ran back to the chest where he unsuccessfully hid initially.

At this point, Verathis who had enough of the circus happening outside, approached one of the guards, and corroborated Baldrick's fib. The guards, who had enough on their plates due to how Arpeon was crowded and the crime rate was increasing, decided to take the mercenary away, trying to get as far away from Baldrick, Firali, and the stench as possible.

As Firali slipped out of his bindings, Baldrick started arguing over who would clean the mess (which had skid marks due to people slipping in it). Verathis, who had enough of their bickering charmed them, and instructed them to clean the mess up together, and immediately climb into bed after. Upon hearing the Druidic chanting (which would sound like various profanities for those who speak the language), the two looked puzzled, but listened, feeling that Verathis was a trusted friend, with judgements they can trust.

As the rest of the inn finally settled down for some much needed and much delayed rest, Carter was prowling the streets, looking for some easy pickings. He made his way to the public armourer's shop and climbed into a second story window with ease. He heard the deep breathing of what he guessed to be the shopkeeper and headed downstairs, cursing at the scarcity of light while attempting to make sure he didn't bump into any displays and alert the owner. He eventually felt his way around to the weapon's cases behind the counter and attempted to unlocked one of the displays. As he grasped what appeared to be a short sword, he felt a hum of energy and felt it rip out of his hands. Feeling very vulnerable, he rushed to the exit, and felt the swishes of the blade inches away from his head. His frantic attempts at unlocking the barred door while parrying the blade yielded no results and he scrambled his way to the stairs, taking a mighty blow as the floating blade cut his arm. He eventually made his way to a window and leapt out, landing safely and bleeding steadily.

Carter strained his ears and heard the tell-tale sounds of a blade clattering to the ground and the grunts of a Dwarf who was woken up. Not taking his chances, he disappeared into the various alleys, hearing cursing fading behind him. Once he thought he was safe, he started a small fire to cauterize his wound. The light attracted a guard who questioned him, and shooed him off, taking him for some drunk looking for warmth. Carter eventually made his way back to the inn, exhausted from his ordeal and wanting nothing more than a good night's rest.

The following morning Baldrick wakes up to the back of a slender elf. He brushes the shoulder and hair away as the elf turns and reveals itself to be Firali. Not knowing what happened that night, Firali immediately leaps out of bed and grabs his blade, demanding to know what Baldrick did to him. Baldrick knowing that nothing had happened stands up and starts teasing Firali who tries to pull him out of bed, but instead falls on top of him. Mortified, he jumps away and demands that Baldrick leaves.

Baldrick stands and poses, with one leg on the bed, presenting himself and laughs as Firali threatens to cut his member off. Baldrick threatens to tell everyone that they were in bed together and enjoys tormenting Firali as he goes through various stretches and bends over to grab his clothes. Firali shudders and opens the door, telling Baldrick to calmly leave, where they see Lippa with mop in hand staring at the scene before her. As Baldrick calmly grabs his clothes and strides out in his birthday suit, she immediately closes her mouth and blushes, looking away. Baldrick gives her a wink and makes his way to his room, while Firali slams the door shut. They hear Lippa chuckle, thinking that she no knows why Firali and Baldrick are always bickering like a married couple.

When Carter finally woke up, a little sore from the night before and made his way down to grab a meal, where he was met with a smiling Lippa, sighing about all the commotion and mentioning that Arpeon always has unrest and increased crime during this time. Verathis makes his way downstairs and sits a couple seats away from Carter, listening in while munching on his meal. As Lippa hums to herself washing dishes, she hints at her knowledge of Firali and Baldricks apparent relationship, which causes Verathis to grin and Carter to furrow his brow in confusion. As she sees Firali approach down the stairs looking like he scrubbed himself pink from his bath she gives him a little wink and a smile, to which Firali looks away embarassed.

Eventually, Baldrick makes his way down the stairs and Carter recounts the story of his night attempting to steal from the armourer and how he was approached by a farmer who promised payment for some help. Verathis, upon overhearing of payment enters the conversation, saying he can help as he has tracking prowess. The group agrees and they all set out, following Carter.

Upon reaching Hob's property, they don't see anything out of the ordinary and as they wait for Hob to finish talking to his hens he leads them to the edge of the woods where he let the goats graze. Firali starts heading to the wooded area and leaves the party behind, focusing on the task so that the image of a nude Baldrick isn't stuck in his head. As the rest of the party follows behind, Verathis morphs into a wolf, startling Baldrick and Carter who grabs his weapon as a reaction. Verathis patiently waited for Carter to calm down, who has now picked up a stick and tossed it to test him. Verathis slowly turns away with the wolf equivalent of a sigh and makes his way to the woods, picking up on the scent of goats.

Verathis eventually catches up to Firali, who pays him no heed as he knows of Druids taking on beast forms. As they continued on their path Firali notices the signs of some sort of scuffle, with drag marks and wolf prints. Verathis notices the scent of blood and reverts to his humanoid form, notifying the party. As they follow the trail Verathis and Firali see the goats grazing beyond the hill. As they advance and take a closer look, they notice the blood dripping from the goat's mouths and the body of a couple of wolves lying beneath them. The goats take no notice of the party until Baldrick yells out to the party, asking them if they see anything.

The goats suddenly look to them, and baah as menacingly as possible (not that menacing, but the blood and red eyes could be unnerving) as they approach slowly. Verathis and Firali try to handle the animals, and succeed in confusing them, stopping them in their tracks. They notice that the behaviour isn't natural and there seem to be some sort of runes inscribed on their necks and back.

The sudden calm is broken as Baldrick and Carter attack, missing completely. The goats then advance on the rest of the members. Firali ended up taking a step back and unsheathed his short sword. The goats attempt to tackle and bite the party but give them no real trouble. Carter ends up covering some goats in oil, while Verathis tries to knock one out and tackles one to the ground, saying that the party needs to bring this to the attention of Hob, or else it would be suspect if they said they were evil and were slain by the party.

Two goats are promptly set on fire while a third is stabbed through the brain by Firali. The last goat is restrained by Verathis and Carter, then slung over Baldrick's back. The unburnt Goat corpse is examined, where Firali and Verathis notice that the runes are those of a deranged group known as The Order of the Owlbear. They tell the party that the Order experiments on animals, interested in enhancing abilities and enjoy unleashing their monstrosities on civilization. They then decide to take a chunk of rune inscribed flesh, with the plan of bringing it to the attention of the Willow Wardens, the protectors of the natural world.

Once the party reached Hob's home they explain the situation, telling Hob that this beast needs to be killed. Hob mentions that he can tie the goat up, to prove to his buyer that he didn't live up to his word, and hopefully arrange a different deal with him. The party agrees to return in a day or two and figure out what kind of compensation the farmer will give them for their aid, and rushes back to the city, hoping to get there in time for the Sapphire Festival opening ceremony.

The party arrives at centre of Arpeon where they are met with a huge lineup of locals. They ask a guard what the tent is for and he pulls the flap back, showing a magical stadium that is much larger than the tent itself. The guard states that only those with business in the tournament can gain immediate entry while the public must stand in line.

Baldrick shows his papers and is ushered in, and Carter sneaks in while Firali and Verathis explain that they need to show the mayor about people fucking with goats. The guard initially misunderstands what they exactly meant, but upon seeing the rune inscribed flesh allows them entry. As all of them find seats in separate areas, the gnome mayor approaches the steps, magically amplifies his voice, and starts talking about the origin of the Azure Armada. At the end of the speech, he tells everyone to enjoy the events and tells the contestants to prepare for tomorrow the first of the trials begins, and gets off the stage as fireworks go off. Drowning out Baldrick's intentional boos and the roar of the crowd itself.

Kills
3 Crazed Meat-Eating-Goats

Loot

 * Promised Payment from Farmer Hob.
 * Rune Inscribed Flesh
 * A random stick

Audio
