The town of Emac was small, and largely unimportant in the large scale of things. Nothing particularly notable came into the town or was produced by it. Due to its placement near a forest in the foothills of the nearby Icepeaks, it did occasionally see monster activity, but enough adventurers passed through Emac to mitigate any problems.
Our story begins in one of Emac's inns, the Bronze Hind. It was a fairly nice inn, considering the somewhat low income of the town. The beds were nice, only the third door on the right squeaked, and the floorboards didn't creak too much. The food and drink, while somewhat generic for an inn, was still high quality.
Lively music filled the bar, produced from the instruments of five musicians sitting around a table. One had a fiddle in his hands, another provided the beat with his drums, two twins had flutes, and the fifth matched the fiddler's lively song with her guitar.
The door to the inn opened, admitting two people. The first looked to be human, and young at that. Blue robes hung loosely off his form, and he leaned wearily on his wooden staff. His sky blue eyes searched the room for an empty table as he ran a pale-skinned hand through his short white hair. His companion, a young-looking aarakocra in black leather armor, nudged his side.
"I don't see any empty tables," she said quietly, her brown feathers ruffling. The young man nodded.
"Maybe we could sit with them if we asked," he said, pointing to another patron. The aarakocra followed his finger to the back, to see something surprising to her. The patron in question was a tortle, not something you see too often. The tortle had a greataxe propped up on the nearby wall, marking them as an adventurer, like the young man and the aarakocra. With a shared nod, the young man and the aarakocra walked over to the tortle. When they reached the table, the young man spoke up.
"Excuse me," he said. "May we sit here?"
The tortle looked up at the two, studied them briefly, then smiled.
"Of course," the tortle, female and somewhat old by the tone of voice, said. "I would love to sit and talk to you."
"Thank you," the young man said while taking a seat across from the tortle. The aarakocra took a seat next to the young man without saying a word. He noticed this, however, and lightly elbowed her side.
"Thank you," the aarakocra said, rubbing her side where the young man had hit her.
"No problem at all," the tortle chuckled. "My name is Jappa. Might I ask yours?"
"My name is Parcifal," the young man said.
"And I'm Ikki!" The aarakocra chirped.
"Nice to meet you both, Parcifal, Ikki," Jappa said. "If you don't mind me asking, what brings you to Emac?"
"We're adventurers!" Ikki said.
"We've been travelling around Diaire," Parcifal said. "Just doing odd jobs, fending off monsters-"
"Exploring ruins!" Ikki interrupted.
"You know, generic adventurer things," Parcifal finished. "What brings you here, Jappa?"
"Mostly the same things that brought you here," Jappa said. "You're never too old to start adventuring."
At this, she gave a slight pat to her greataxe. Parcifal responded with a nod and a tap to his staff.
"Well aren't you three getting along!" A fourth voice said. A somewhat small figure leapt over the back of the fourth chair at the table and sat down with her feet on the table. She had pale skin, short black hair, and green eyes, and she wore very heavily decorated leather armor and a short cape. Her slightly pointed ears and air of mystic quality marked her as of some kind of elven descent, likely a half-elf. Set down next to her was a guitar.
"Vyandra," Jappa said to the half-elf. "Feet off the table; we have guests."
The half-elf jumped slightly and set her feet down on the ground.
"Sorry, folks," she said. "Forgot my manners for a second. Vyandra Ascalon, bard extraordinaire, at your service."
Parcifal and Ikki nodded, shook Vyandra's outstretched hand, and introduced themselves. The four made small talk, ordered a meal, and talked some more.
"So, you used to be an actor?" Vyandra asked Parcifal.
"Yeah, but I wasn't very good," he replied. "Once I figured that out, I decided to use my magic abilities for a life of adventure."
"And that's how we met!" Ikki chimed in.
"That's pretty neat," Vyandra said. "So, you're a spellcaster. Any idea what kind?"
"Sorcerer," Parcifal said around a bite of food.
"Show me something you can do," Vyandra said. "I'm curious."
Parcifal shrugged. He grabbed his staff and tapped the table they were sitting at. Suddenly, it lit up a soft yellow.
"Know anything else other than light?" Vyandra asked. Parcifal opened his mouth to reply, but all that came out were some pink bubbles. He rolled his eyes and slammed his forehead into the table while Vyandra and Ikki laughed. Even Jappa chuckled a little.
"So, you were granted wild magic?" Jappa said between chuckles. Parcifal nodded and extinguished the table. Almost immediately after, a townsperson barged into the Bronze Hind.
"Goblins!" He shouted. The entire bar erupted into chaos. The four looked at each other and nodded. At once, they stood up and rushed outside.
In the square outside the inn were four goblins. Parcifal stood near the door to the Broze Hind, while Jappa unslung her greataxe, Ikki pulled out two daggers, and Vyandra drew a rapier. With a cry, Ikki unfolded her wings and shot into the air. She looped around to the goblin farthest in the back and tried to jab him twice, once with each dagger. However, both jabs failed. The first hit a particularly tough part of the goblin's leather armor, and her second dagger slipped out of her hand and she had to catch it.
Parcifal saw this happen, and pointed the tip of his staff at the goblin. Muttering a quick incantation- thankfully the odd effect of his wild magic had worn off- he launched a bolt of fire at the goblin Ikki was directly behind. The fire bolt spell hit the goblin, but it didn't hurt him much.
Jappa's eyes dilated and her breathing got heavy. She opened her mind to that primal rage and let it fill her. With a wordless battle cry, Jappa ran over to the nearest goblin and swung at him with her greataxe. The head of the axe made contact with the goblin's body and tore him clean in two, killing him instantly.
Vyandra leapt to the next closest one and lunged at him with her rapier. However, the goblin brought his shield up between himself and the rapier and laughed at her. He then cut at her with his scimitar, which scored a hit down her side, which began to bleed. The second remaining goblin drew her shortbow and fired at Jappa. However, the arrow glanced off Jappa's shell. The third goblin spun around and slashed at Ikki with his scimitar, cutting a shallow line across her chest.
Ikki gasped in pain, but looped back around behind the goblin and attacked him again. Her first dagger slipped off the goblin's armor, but the second one cut through, killing him. Parcifal spun to face the goblin with the shortbow. He muttered another incantation, and this time three bolts of magical energy appeared around his staff. He flicked his staff, and fired all three bolts at that goblin. The first one caused her to stagger, the second killed her, and the third blasted her hard into the ground. As soon as Parcifal cast magic missile, he felt a spell wash over him, and suddenly he was twenty feet in the air, but not falling.
Jappa ran over to the last goblin and swung at him with her greataxe. Once again, her powerful strike cleaved the goblin in two. Once Jappa finished her backswing, she looked around, eyes wide and frothing at the mouth for another enemy. Vyandra, meanwhile, sheathed her sword and pulled her guitar off her back. She played a quick tune which seemed to hum with magical energy. The large gash in her side healed mostly, although it still bled slightly.
"You okay up there, Parcifal?" Vyandra asked as Jappa came out of her rage.
"I think so!" He said. "Just another wild magic thing, I'm sure it's- heads up, we've got more company!"
As soon as Parcifal said that, eight more goblins poured into the square. Just as soon as the goblins came into the square, however, four more figures appeared. The first was a wood elf, with coppery skin, green eyes, and long black hair. She wore scale mail, and she had a longbow in her hands. Second was a human man, also wearing scale mail, with pale skin and long black hair. In one hand was a warhammer, and the other a shield. Third to appear was a female dragonborn. Chain mail covered her blue scales, and she held a longsword and a shield, the latter with a seashell emblem engraved on it. The fourth person to appear was a short tiefling girl, with black skin, red eyes, and shoulder length white air. She wore a set of beat up leather armor.
The wood elf fired her longbow at the nearest goblin to Parcifal. Her arrow shot through its head, killing it instantly. The human swung his warhammer at the nearest goblin, but it glanced off her shield. Ikki flew over to the goblin the human had attacked and tried to stab her with both her daggers. Her first dagger pierced through the armor, although it lost most of its momentum and didn't hurt the goblin very much, her second dagger, however, found a chink in the goblin's armor, piercing her throat and instantly killing her.
One goblin cut at Ikki with his scimitar, drawing an ugly line across her back, which bled profusely and made her scream in pain. Two goblins shot their shortbows at Parcifal, but both missed, their arrows spiraling off into the twilight. A fourth goblin slashed at Ikki again, but this time she dodged out of the way. The fifth goblin fired his shortbow at Ikki, but also missed. The sixth and final goblin charged Jappa and tried to cut Jappa, but his sword scraped off her shell.
Parcifal angrily turned his staff to the goblin that had cut Ikki and cast fire bolt at him. The fire exploded against the goblin, but just barely did not kill him. Jappa reentered her rage and swung at the goblin nearest to her. Unlike before, though, the goblin was not instantly killed. Had Jappa been capable of lucid thought, she would have been impressed. The dragonborn muttered something quickly under her breath, and suddenly her longsword was crackling with lightning. She ran over to one of the goblins that shot at Parcifal and swung at him. Her swing cut through the goblin's armor and drew blood. Suddenly there was the crack of a lightning strike, and the goblin was now dead and thoroughly charred.
Vyandra strummed an eerie chord on her guitar, and suddenly the goblin Parcifal had cast fire bolt on fell over, dead and bleeding from the ears, nose, and eyes. The tiefling shot her hand out at the other goblin that had attacked Ikki and mutered something quickly. A beam of white energy shot from her hand and blasted the goblin in the chest, killing him instantly. The wood elf then shot another arrow, this time at the goblin Jappa had attacked. Her arrow shot through the air and impaled the goblin's chest, but did not kill him.
The human then laid a hand on Ikki, who trembled from pain on the ground in front of him. Golden light spilled from his hands and sealed Ikki's wounds while he muttered a prayer. Ikki looked up to him and nodded in thanks, before flying over to the other goblin that had shot at Parcifal and stabbing him in the back. Her first stab lost most of its power cutting through the goblin's armor, but the second didn't make it through. That goblin then spun around and cut Ikki with his scimitar. His strike cut deep, and Ikki nearly passed out from the pain. The goblin that Jappa had attacked attacked Jappa back with his scimitar, but once again scraped off her shell. The third remaining goblin cut at Ikki with his scimitar, cutting her back deeply. Ikki howled in pain, and passed out, bleeding on the ground.
Parcifal roared in anger. He swooped down in front of Ikki and spread his hands so his thumbs were touching. He quickly muttered an incantation, and blasted the two goblins with the fire from his burning hands spell. The blast incinerated the two goblins. Jappa, meanwhile, swung her greataxe again at the nearest goblin. The goblin was cut cleanly in half. Parcifal turned to the human.
"You! Cleric!" He shouted. "Fix her!"
"R-right," the human said. He laid a hand on Ikki's chest and muttered a prayer. Golden light spilled from his hand and swirled around Ikki. Three agonizing seconds later, Ikki sat up and began to cough violently.
"That's all I can do for the moment," the human said. "I'm all tapped out, spell-wise."
"It's fine," Parcifal said. "It's more than enough."
"Holsten?!" Vyandra shouted. The human looked up, just in time for the short half-elf to tackle hug him.
"It's so good to see you again!" She said.
"Good to see you too, sis," the human, Holsten, said. Vyandra let go of him and looked him over.
"Lookin' good, bro," she said. "Where'd you get the gear?"
"The temple gave it to me," Holsten said. "They said a proper cleric should be outfitted like one."
"Well, I think it suits you," Vyandra said, making Holsten blush. Someone cleared their throat. Vyandra flinched, and turned to see Parcifal, with Ikki snoring away in his arms.
"You mind introducing us, or...?" Parcifal asked.
"Right!" Vyandra shouted. "Holsten, these are my friends: Parcifal's the human, Ikki's the aarakocra, and Jappa's the tortle!"
"Nice to meet you all- well, all once Ikki wakes up," Holsten said. He turned to Parcifal and Jappa, who had just walked over. "My name is Holsten Ascalon, and I am Vyandra's half-brother. The wood elf is Naivara Amastacia, the dragonborn is Yarjerit Nala, and the tiefling is Larissa Hapthorne."
Before the two could introduce themselves to the other three, who had come when Holsten had listed their names, a stout human, likely with some dwarven blood in his veins, walked up to the gathered eight.
"I'd like to thank ye all for defendin' our village," he said. "How abou this- ye can stay for three nights for free at me inn, the Bronze Hind."
The conscious seven exchanged glances. Parcifal turned to the innkeeper.
"We'd love that," he said. Five of the six behind him let out a huge cheer. No one noticed that Naivara was instead looking strangely at Vyandra.
And that's the end of chapter 1! Don't really have too much to say, other than this'll definitely be a long haul.
Characters (numbers in parenthese is the character's level. Numbers will be added when they do an action only available to that level or higher):
Parcifal- Human(?) Wild Magic Sorcerer (?)
Ikki- Aarakocra Rogue (?)
Jappa- Tortle Barbarian (?)
Vyandra Ascalon- Half-Elf Bard (?)
Naivara Amastacia- Wood Elf Archer of Some Kind (?)
Holsten Ascalon- Human Cleric of an Unknown Domain and God (?)
Yarjerit Nala- Dragonborn Paladin of an Unknown God (2)
Larissa Hapthorne- Tiefling Spellcaster of Some Kind (?)