D&D 5th Ed: Heroes of Talltree

[Cashdash25]

@Melissia @Miracle @Rookie @Thane Korino @Dogmatic Hermit

Talltree, so named for the oak tree sitting squarely in the middle of the village, didn't seem that tall to the collection of travelers who had gathered around it, but then again, they were not Halflings. Each had their own reasons for coming, the promise of money, the lure of adventure, the satisfaction of helping those would couldn't help themselves, whatever their motivations five figures had gathered in response to a request for aid from the village Constable.


The Constable himself was an older man, his hair greyed and walking with the aid of a wooden cane. He did not seem impressed with the group that had gathered before him. His assistant, a significantly younger man with a stack of papers, seemed intimidated by them.


After a few moments of uncomfortable silence the Constable spoke, "'Ere fer ta bounty t'en?" He asked. Assorted variations of the word "yes" came in response. "Hrumph, good fur nuthin' leeches." He shook his head. "Bandits er sumfin's been attackin' people on ta road West o' 'ere. Damn Dwarves woan' sor' it out n' woan' send any mo' traders till it is. Take care o' it n' see ta lad 'ere fer ya pay, mayor took up a collection fer ya."


"That's right." The younger Halfling said, leafing through his collection of papers, "The village pooled some money together, there's fifty gold pieces in it for you if you bring back proof of a completed job. Oh, and one pie, old Mrs Rose offered to bake a fresh pie to whoever took care of it."


"Right t'en, deal wid it 'n see ta boy fer yer gold." The Constable said, turning and starting to walk away, "N' doan' come botherin' me 'bout it."


"Don't mind the old Constable," the Assistant advised, watching the Constable depart, "He's just grouchy because the Dwarves won't take care of it for us." Turning back to the group he looked through his papers one more time. "Need anything else from me? Or have you got the gist of it?"

 

[Rookie]

The 6'3" human known as Jek knelt down to be almost eye to eye with the halfling , he had heard this was rude but decided he could care less at the moment and didn't want to crane his neck down. "Yes, I have three questions, what is the easiest way to identify these bandits, what flavor is this pie you mentioned, and how will the gold be divided?" he spoke the last question as though he was more interested in the reward of pie and gold than he was in the bandits.

 

[Miracle]

Halya simply nods her acquiescence when the somewhat more... Comprehensible assistant finishes appending his notes to the constable's explanation. She takes a few steps away, before turning to evaluate the gathered group.


A tiny... Human? Perhaps a half elf. Maybe a human. A not-especially-tall woman, regardless, in bland grey clothing and with a small sword to her name. She didn't seem especially impressive. Conversely, a very tall... Human, she presumed, in dark leathers, with blades and bow. At least he looked like he'd come prepared, she mused. A well dressed lizard, also in leathers. Also wielding small blades. And with a lute on his person. She sincerely hoped that he knew some magic and was not just a wandering musician who fancied a run at some bandits. Finally... A lanky elf... Half-elf? She wasn't very good at discerning the differences sometimes. Half-elf, perhaps. Possessed of a stick and supplies, as far as she could see.


I am the only person here with a real weapon. She told herself, making a mental note that if they were to operate as a group, she would have to be the one to throw herself in harm's way more often than not. She herself was wearing her old gladiator regalia - as she almost always did. In as much as she had a series of largely ineffectual leather and steel plates attached over her mail, above her shoulders, knees and elbows. It was very much the mail she relied on to not having a knife go through her these days, and with this flimsy group of fighters, she had every expectation that she would need that.


"I'm ready." She announced flatly. "Go west, find bandits, kill bandits, return." She summarised. "You'll be safely connected with the rest of the world soon enough." She continued to eye her soon-to-be travelling companions, curious about their own observations on the task.

 

[Cashdash25]

The Assistant took a startled step back, almost dropping his papers in the process. "Well, um, presumably they'll be the only people on the road, since the only settlement in that direction is a Dwarf city called Daza Kur, and they've banned all travel until they're gone. They'll also probably be armed, and probably attacking you." He sighed. "We, um, we don't actually know what they look like, none of us have actually seen them. As for the pie," He said, his face brightening considerably, "Ms Rose is really quite famous locally for her apple pies. I don't know how you're gonna split the reward though." He rubbed the back of his neck. "To be honest I don't think anyone was expecting more than one person to show up, if anyone showed up at all. The bandits probably have more money and stuff they've stolen though."


He glanced at the woman as she spoke, "Well, uh, glad to hear it."

 

[Rookie]

Jek stood up and looked at his new team, he pondered each of them for a moment and stopped at the lizard man "Do you plan to serenade our enemies with that instrument of yours?" He gestured to the lute on the lizard's back. He thought about whether or not these bandits would have any connection to the group who killed his sailing crew. "I do enjoy a good bit of music, perhaps you know the whaling tune..." He wondered for a moment if the lizard spoke common.

 

[Miracle]

"Perhaps he knows the one about how good human flesh tastes." Halya interjected, snidely. "You take the pie and the gold. The rest of us will split what the bandits have - does that sound good to you?" She said all of it with a level stare and an entirely serious face, but in truth she just wanted to stop the man from openly ridiculing his travelling companions quite so quickly.

 

[Rookie]

"Not quite, but I will take the pie, you can have a piece if you want, these bandits probably have some decent items and I would like to take as much as I can carry." Jek looked at the woman and even though she couldn't see his face he grinned, he kept his stare for a moment and then he turned his head and looked at the other members of the group, the half-elf looked like any monk he had ever seen and wondered if she was on some sort of pilgrimage.

 

[Melissia]

The robed lady quietly listened to the others, pondering to herself the merits of their... plan, such as it is. Finally though, she spoke up. "This is not a question to you, so much as all of us. How do you intend to ambush bandits who are prepared to ambush, and are watchful for travelers, when we are looking like the heavily armed group of adventurers we are?" For her part, the lady looked very much unarmed, with naught but a single shortsword for self defense.

 

[Rookie]

Jek jestured to the dark leather armor and his particular set of weaponry "I can take to the high ground and attack them with my bow while you distract them, then while they are distracted and/or killed I will sneak in and slaughter the rest." He stated his plan as though he had planned to be the only one here or that there would be a gullible idiot here with him.

 

[Miracle]

"For one." Halya replied flatly. "We do not look heavily armed." She took another long glance around the group. "We look armed." She sighed, slightly, then added. "I look heavily armed. The rest of you are equipped with children's toys. We look like a group who know that there are bandits around and have made preparations for it. Not like a group who is actively hunting bandits. If they're stupid enough to attack us, great. If not, we can hunt them down. If they've taken loot, they will either abandon it or be easy to catch." She considered the rogue's words for a long moment, contemplating another snide remark, but decided against it. For now. Of course they will be conveniently camped below 'the high ground' she thought. There's always 'high ground'. She still thought the snide remark, of course.

 

[Melissia]

"In the day, sir black-clad, you stand out like a dot of blood upon a cleanly bleached piece of parchment, and all eyes can see your movements. Wherefore would you hide with such a getup? And why would they try to attack us where our strengths are? What if they see us and simply pull back, and let us pass by? I instead suppose that we ask survivors of the attacks what distance out that they were attacked, and come up with a plan to get as close as possible while avoiding sight, so that the cowards do not run before we might end their crimes."


She turned to the warrior. "As much as it might boost your ego to have them flee and scatter before your terrifying visage, it would make cleaning up the banditry much more difficult."

 

[Miracle]

Halya furrowed her brow, at that. "I would rather they died misunderstanding our strengths... Assuming we are possessed of them." She turned to the assistant. "Are there reports of their numbers, these bandits? How well they are armed? Whether they have the look of veteran fighting men or of farmers fallen on hard times? These are all factors that should affect their confidence."

 

[Rookie]

The rogue pondered the monk's words "Then we gather what information we can and set out at dawn, also young halfling, do you have a tavern in this village?" While Jek was talking to the young halfling he knelt again to be eye to eye with him.

 

[Cashdash25]

"Well." The Assistant began, nervously shuffling his papers. "As I said, none of us have actually seen them. But, um, they have attacked several merchants and their guards, enough that the Dwarves won't allow any more to travel that road, we actually only know about it because they sent a magic message to the Mayor. As for a tavern," He said turning to the tall Human, "The Soggy Foot is a little ways down the "South road, but I'll expect you'll have some trouble fitting in, the ceilings are only five feet high." He shrugged. "Only people who travel around here are Dwarves so we never felt the need for taller ceilings."

 

[Miracle]

"So they've attacked large, armed parties before." Halya reiterated, folding her arms across her chest smugly. "It is likely that they will try their chances with us, as well."

 

[Rookie]

"Like I said, we need a distraction team and a ranged team, anybody with powerful armor should be on the distraction team and anybody with ranged weapon should be on the ranged team." Jek stated as he stood up once more and glanced at the party. "I also believe we should visit this 'Soggy Foot' there might be one of the bandits there for a drink since none of the villagers have seen them, I think we should perform a stake out and follow shady characters." Jek knew from his line of work that taverns were great spots for cliché bandit groups to visit, especially when they haven't been seen by the villagers.

 

[Steel Tiger]

Razel let out a bit of shrug and was rather attracted with the award of the apple pie and how it should be divided for a brief moment. It seemed rather that he was being looked down upon as the fighting aspect when dealing with bandits but that seemed quite fair really. Oddly it simply made him chuckle a little. Especially the thought of trying to serenade of a thief, now that gave off a bit of an idea especially if did manage to find a 'shady' character. He would keep it in mind for a back up plan. "Thanks for the idea." He smirked teasingly. "think we may have a bit of trouble all staking out around the tavern. Especially since it seems we would be the shady characters..or at least out of place. Perhaps just a few of less noticeable presences should go or view more closely or perhaps those with distraction enough not to bring suspicion?" He rather chimed his left hand tapping upon his lute.

 

[Miracle]

"Unless these bandits are halflings or dwarves... I think they'd have been very suspicious indeed at this tavern." Halya announces flatly. She doesn't expand on the point, but she does seem fidgety and impatient by now, her eyes very much focussed on the western road out of the village.

 

[Rookie]

"Well, it looks like we might be spending a lot of time together, so let's get formal introductions out of the way. I'm Jek" He figured it was probably best to know the people he is going to be fighting next to.

 

[Miracle]

As a woman of some minor repute, Halya did consider simply passing over her introduction. But with elves... Possibly? Present, and the lizardman for sure, she deigned to give her name. "Halya." She announced. She stopped herself short of adding her well-memorised fighting statistics as an appendage to her name.

 

[Melissia]

"I am Serice. A pleasure to meet you." There was a sense of serenity around the robed lass as she talked and moved. Every step efficient and fluid, moving like she was floating on clouds. "A traveler and adventurer, at your service." Her smile was reassuring, though her vividly blue eyes were a little disconcerting, and it was hard to pinpoint why.

 

[Dogmatic Hermit]

Finally breaking his silence Sai spoke up, "You may call me Aramil." looking at this ragtag group, he quickly decided it had potential. Potential that he could utilize. Granted he knew they had to be cooperative. Judging from their exchange so far this is going to be a challenge. Turning to the halfling he sits down in front of him. "Do you have any maps I could buy? We cannot plan very well if we lack even basic knowledge of the topography." He flashes a smile

 

[Cashdash25]

"Well, um, not really." The Assistant said, shuffling nervously. "No one ever leaves Talltree, so we never really needed maps. I, I think the Mayor has one of the town, and Dwarf travelers usually carry one, but that's about it." He shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry."

 

[Rookie]

Jek kept his eyes on the group "Well, it looks like we will have to go to the tavern to find a dwarf traveller."

 

[Melissia]

"Regardless, maps can get expensive, and I carry very little. Let us check the tavern then." She starts to head over towards it.