Séance and Mane six play D&D: Thieves of Night

Rebecca Daring and Galen Nightwave were practically siblings even though they were polar opposites; where one desired action and excitement, the other wanted nothing but honor and glory.  Despite their differences, however, they were close friends and always looking out for each other.  However, one day Galen had to leave their village of Neihilb to pursue his dream of being a glories knight.  Rebecca remained in her village to protect it whenever trouble arrived.  The past few years were peaceful, until the last few weeks.

Unwary travelers and merchants have recently been the victims of robbery and kidnapping.  The village had sent several men out to save them, but none have returned and the worst is assumed.  Every time Rebecca attempted to join a rescue party, she was ordered to remain in the village as a last line of defense.  Regretfully, she had no choice but to follow her commands.

Not all friendships ended, however in the small village.  The farmer Amanda Jackson was always willing to assist with searching for food and supplies when Fiona Sylna was involved.  Being two of the best hunters in Neigilb, they were often very busy.  Only recently have the two friends been less and less willing to enter the forests due to something disturbing the animals.  A greater evil was beginning to cloud the village.

The sky was clear save for a few roaming clouds on that fateful day.  Rachel Diamond and Patricia Party were riding along in a caravan filled with wandering merchants, who continuously kept speaking of legends and rumors that Neihilb had been cursed.  The sole reason they were even traveling this road was because they were ordered to deliver supplies to the condemned village.

“I don’t see why we should be afraid of something as silly as a curse.”  Rachel quipped, wearing a dazzling blue and white dress under her loosely fitting leather armor.  Her flowing purple hair was tied up to prevent it from getting in her way too much, but was fashioned to accent her sapphire eyes.  A bejeweled rapier rested on her waist while she kept her hand lightly holding onto her short bow.

“I agree with you, Rachel!”  A high pitched voice resonated from behind the magnificent rough.  As Rachel looked back, she saw her Halfling companion, Patricia Party.  The overly energetic bard wore bright pink, studded leather armor that hugged onto every curve of her body correctly.  If the males were not focusing on Rachel, it was this cute little ball of energy, though the short sword that hung on her side showed she was as lethal as she was adorable.  Her crossbow hung on her back, prepared to be drawn should the need arise, though she’d prefer to party than fight.

“Patricia, darling, please tell me you know of anything worth exploring near this tiny village of Neigilb.”  Rachel begged her Halfling friend.  The energetic creature put her finger on her bottom lip as she thought, attempting to recall any useful information.  “All I know is that the village is supposed to be cursed, but one of the knights of King Long’s army dose come from the village and has been asking to return home a lot.”

Rachel raised her eyebrow in interest at the information.  “Really, dear?  One of King Long’s knights came from Neigilb?”  She pushed her hair to the side a bit as she thought of what a knight’s home town could possibly look like.  “Maybe this little adventure won’t be as boring as I thought.”

After traveling a few more miles down the road, a loud and pained grunt broke out from within the caravan; one of the merchants had been shot with an arrow from the wood line!  Before the hired guards for the caravan could set up a defense, however, a storm of arrows swarmed the wagons.  Rachel and Patricia both dived for cover, narrowly avoiding getting hit by the raging arrows.  With the horses startled, the caravan scattered and chaos was assured.

Through the chaos of the ambush, a single shrouded merchant rose from the back of the wagon, drawing one of the arrows that hid behind his shroud and drew it back before sending it flying towards the wood line, a high pitch shriek resonated from the direction of the arrow, showing the attack landed.  Rachael glanced to the sudden counter attack and gripped her bow as well, sending an arrow soaring through the air, unaware of its landing spot.  Patricia joined in on the retaliation, sending her crossbow bolt forward and receiving another loud scream.

***

Séance couldn’t help but chuckle at Pinkie’s roll after seeing the die twenty reveal her first 20, and so early in the game too.  “Alright Pinkie, the reason why I asked you to roll after rolling that first twenty, was because you threatened a critical hit, in gaming terms.  That means, since we’re using the vitality/wound point system, if you hit with the second roll, you deal damage directly to wound, which spoiler, you did, congratulations.”  The pink mare simply giggled at Séance’s complement.  “Anyway, it’s the ambush’s turn now…”

***

As the arrows soared back and forth from the retaliating wagon and the forest, Rachel narrowly dodged an arrow that would have possibly pierced her shoulder.  Seeing the threatening situation, the shrouded individual reached into one of the bags and conveniently drew a rather large steel shield and raised it in front of the rough, face still concealed by the hood but unleashing a rather confident and strong aura.  “Fall behind my shield.”  The figure commanded Patricia, defending the startled damsel.  The Halfling gave the figure a giddy smile as she said “Okie, Dokie, Jokie.” And dived behind him, smiling at Rachel.

With the figure acting as cover and protecting Rachel and Patricia with his shield, the retreat was successful.  Though they had no choice but to leave the remainder of the caravan behind, the shrouded figure slowly lowered his shield, glaring at the distant ambush, shoulders slowly rising and falling as he attempted to regain his breath.  When Patricia spotted the emblem on the figure’s shield, however, she quickly recognized who it belonged to; a knight of King Long’s army.  The burning silver phoenix on flying before a flag was the iconic symbol of the King’s knighted army.

“Hey, you’re the knight who’s been trying to return to Neigilb, aren’t you?”  Patricia exclaimed with a happy smile, ecstatic that she could meet a knight.  The figure’s hood moved towards her, but didn’t respond.  It simply returned the shield to the bag and sat back down; assuring that the hood concealed its face.

“Well, it appears our savior is a bit on the shy side.”  Rachel teased lightly as she slowly picked herself up and moved to rest next to him.  “Even if you are shy, I have to thank you for saving us back there.”  Patricia, taking the less-than-flirtatious approach, hugged the figure tightly.  “Yeah mister knight, thank you so very, very much for saving us.”  The shrouded figure weaved slightly after having the halfling tackle him.

“I couldn’t just stand idly by and let everyone fall to the ambush.”  The figure said in a low and quiet tone.  Rachel smiled to the man as she recognized the male-like voice.  “So you are a man.  I wonder how cute you are behind that shroud of yours.”  Slowly, the rough reached her hand towards the man’s hood, attempting to get a glimpse of their savior’s face.  Before she could touch the cloth, however, the man’s hand suddenly shot out and lightly gripped Rachel’s wrist, catching her off guard.

Slowly moving her hand away, the man remained silent, only whispering “Forgive me.”  After the demonstration of his speed and strength, Rachel decided to stop prying, less she begin to anger their savior.  Patricia, on the other hand, continued to chat with him through the trip to Neigilb.

Rebecca continuously grunted as she practiced fighting against invisible forces, her bastard sword swinging in when needed and her large wooden shield rising to defend herself.  Her rainbow hair was concealed by the scale mail that covered her entire body as her incredibly balanced form combined her fierce, devastating offense with a quick and nimble defense.  Not far from her was the daughter of the wise man, the Elvan apprentice Twill Spellweaver, studying her spell book quietly.

After a few moments of the two doing their own activities, the wise man, an Elf by the name of Manil Spellweaver, began to approach the two with Amanda Jackson and Fiona Sylna.  Twill was the first to act, quickly rising from her seated position to greet her father.  “Good evening father, how can I help you?”  Hearing the elf’s voice caught the strong warrior’s attention, stopping her training in respect of the wise man’s appearance.

“Amanda and Fiona have informed me of some troubling news, Twill.  They have discovered the meaning of the darkness that clouds our village, a group of goblins and bugbears working together and growing dangerously in numbers.  According to Fiona, their appearance has also caused the wildlife to grow scarce.”  Twill nodded in understanding while Rebecca spoke out in outrage.  “Then we need to strike back.  Just waiting here until these monsters attack or we starve is pointless!”

Manil looked to Rebecca, reminding her that she had raised her voice to the leader of the village, normally a very bad move.  “I’ll over look this, Rebecca, because you are right.  I have hired Amanda and Fiona to lead you and Twill to the base of our enemy and attempt to dispose of them in whatever way you see fit.”  Rebecca nodded, anxious to begin her adventures, but Twill wasn’t as confident.  “Father, I mean no disrespect, but every time we’ve sent a scouting party out to find the missing merchants or travelers, they have never returned.  Is it wise for us to go as inexperienced as we are?”

Amanda smiled as she spoke up.  “And that’s where you would normally be right, Twi.  But, Fiona saw a wagon escape nearly being captured by an ambush, taking two goblins out in retaliation.”  Fascinated, Twill and Rebecca looked to Fiona to explain.  “Umm, well, they looked like they had some experience, there was a halfling in pink who used her cross bow with impressive accuracy and a woman who hit a bugbear from the back of their wagon.”  Twill thought for a moment as she looked to Rebecca.  “Well, that would make six of us, which makes one more than an average scouting party.”

“A-actually, there was another one, I couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl, but they wielded a shield and protected both of the women.  I think he’ll help us if we ask him.”  Twill glanced to Amanda and thought of the odds of success, applying Rebecca’s combat skill, Amanda and Fiona’s tracking skill and her spells, their odds alone were not very good.  It all depended on who these three extra hands were, if they would help them at all.

Suddenly, a man started running up towards the group, calling for Manil.  “Wise man Manil, you should see this.”  He said after reaching them and catching his breath from exhaustion.  The elf glanced down at the man, waiting patiently for him to gain his second wind.  “Rest for a moment, my friend.  Speak when you have your breath.”  After a few minutes of huffing heavily, the man spoke once again.  “A-A wagon holding supplies arrived, carrying three adventurers.  B-but one of them, one of them is…he’s a knight from King Long’s army.”

The elderly elf’s eyes rose in shock at the news, looking to the young women who stood before him.  “Amanda, Fiona, Rebecca and Twill, gather your things and meet me at city hall.  If what our friend here says is true, we may have a chance after all.”  The four women nodded in agreement to the wise man’s words, going their respective ways to regain their items.

As the wagon finally reached Neigilb, Patricia was the first to leap out of the wagon, happy to see a new town that was ‘cursed.’  The giddy halfling glanced around the village, hoping to see tale-tale signs of a curse, but the village was like any other.  The bard’s disappointment would be short lived, however, when the villagers began to gather around the wagon to greet the new comers.  Rachel smiled lightly as she stood before the men, their eyes staring at her beauty as she began to walk towards the end of the wagon.

Before any of the men could assist her down, the shrouded figure revealed an intimidating presence, causing most of them to back away in fear.  However, being the second to move away from the wagon, he was the one to assist her down, taking her hand with surprising gentleness.  When she reached the ground, the man quickly moved towards the side of the wagon, grabbing his bag.  Patricia decided to lighten the mood, drawing her lute and playing an enjoyable tune with it, dancing lightly as her song flowed through the air.

“Is scaring everyone really necessary, dear?” Rachel asked quietly, following the shrouded man.  He didn’t respond, simply moving towards the forest while Patricia distracted them.  Annoyed at being ignored, Rachel pursed him, whispering angrily “Don’t you ignore me, I am talking to you!”  However, her whispering was quickly muffled when the man tossed his cloak to the side, accidently hitting her.

Rachel, however, thought it was on purpose to quiet her.  Furious, she fought with the cloak and threw it to the ground.  “How dare you!”  She hissed quietly, looking towards him only to see he had reached the wood line.  Now red with rage, she stomped towards the rustling in the woods, turning the corner as she opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind.  However, she lost her voice the moment she noticed he had very little on him besides the cloak.

The man before her was indeed human, standing at six feet of handsome muscle.  His flesh was a bronze tone and his muscles were nicely shaped, the only article of clothing was a pair of shorts that covered his modesty.  The face was angular, yet strong with sun dyed blond hair running down to his shoulders and emerald green eyes staring into her blue pools.

Seeing her savior standing almost completely revealing, Rachel had forgotten what she was angry about and now instead of red with anger, she was red with embarrassment.  She quickly turned around and covered her eyes, attempting to not see him as he was.  “Oh my, darling, I-I am so sorry, I didn’t know you were…”

“Don’t fret madam; it is my fault for being so rude to you until now.”  He said calmly and now with more emotion than he had before.  “I had to pose as a merchant to avoid brining too much attention to myself.  I am under King Long’s orders to return here and investigate the disappearance of the travelers and merchants.”  The chime of chains dancing against one another rung from his position, showing he was equipping his armor.

Still red with embarrassment, Rachel waited a few moments before even daring to speak again.  “S-So Patricia was right; you are indeed a knight of King Long’s army.  This is your hometown too, correct?”  The knight was silent, the sound of a sword falling into its scabbard resonating before he spoke.  “Yes, I haven’t been here for some time, though, around 5 years.  I swore I wouldn’t return until I became a knight and now that I am one, I want them to see me as a symbol of pride and honor, not a half-naked merchant.”

Rachel glanced to the townsfolk, dancing happily at Patricia’s music, laughing as she entertained the masses.  A rustle behind her, however, informed her that the knight had finished redressing himself.  Turning to look upon him once more, she saw why he wanted to reveal himself with his armor on; he was indeed a symbol of pride and honor of the Long army.  The chainmail that protected most of his body glistened with polished wax, the large shield on his back had the rising silver phoenix which showed his allegiance, a beautiful long sword rested on his waist and the long bow he had used earlier was now over his shoulder as well as a strap which held his quiver filled with arrows on his back.  The only new addition was the onyx embroidered halberd that he held in his right hand, letting the upper part of the weapon rest on his shoulder.  The embodiment of King Long’s Pride and Honor stood with purpose before Rachel, prepared to reveal himself to his home.

“My name is Galen Nightwave, my lady.”  He said, bowing before the beautiful rough.  She smiled lightly as she gave the knight an elegant bow of her own.  “Rachel Diamond, what an honor to meet such a valiant knight such as yourself.”  With the introduction complete, the two walked back towards the town, Galen smiling as he waved to the towns people.  At the moment they spotted Galen, they quickly stopped their merriment and looked in shock.  Galen looked to the fastest looking person in the group and approached him.  As he spoke, his voice held power and reason.  “Tell wise man Manil that a knight of King Long’s army has arrived.  Make haste, friend, we have little time.”

The young man nodded as he turned tail and ran, calling Manil’s name.  Galen looked to the villagers and nodded, looking to Patricia to stop her performance momentarily.  Once she did, he slammed the bottom of his halberd on the ground and spoke with confidence and power once again.  “I am Galen Nightwave of Neigilb, knight of King Long’s 37th offensive battalion and I have been assigned to return to you, not as the young boy who once lived here, but as a man with newfound pride and honor.  Let you all take witness today, that I, Galen Nightwave, swear by my honor, that before this week is over, the trade route will once again be safe and all who oppose Neigilb will be met by my blade!”  To emphasize his last statement, he raised the halberd with his right arm, demonstrating his strength.

A roar of cheers erupted after he finished his speak, Rachel and Patricia looking to him with widened eyes.  He glanced to Patricia and smiled, nodding to her as he walked into the crowd, shaking hands and speaking with the townsfolk.  The halfling knew when she was nodded to, it was time to party and that was just what she did, with newfound vigor, she began playing her music again, sending the entire town in a parade of merriment.  Happiness and joy filled the town; new hope had given the once cursed village.

As the four adventurers made their way to town hall, they spotted a mob of people demonstrating an incredible amount of merriment and happiness.  Twill spotted that only one wagon was there, could this knight be so important?  Rebecca, however, spotted him, being one of the tallest people in the crowd and the only one wielding a halberd.  “Hey, there he is.  It’s the knight.”  She exclaimed, running towards him to meet him.  “R-Rebecca!”  Twill shouted, annoyed her ally would simply run off to meet a knight, though she couldn’t deny she wanted to meet this knight that was supposed to help them.

Following their rather comrades towards the group of happy people, Rebecca called out with excitement.  “Sir Knight, Sir Knight!”  Grabbing his attention, the knight did indeed turn to meet the eager young warrior.  However, when his electric green eyes met her crimson eyes, they both remembered each other instantly.  She slowed to a walk as she looked up to her childhood friend, amazed by how much he had grown and how much stronger he appeared to of grown.

“Long time no see, Galen.”  She said quietly, attempting to disguise her joy.  The knight smiled as he stood with pride before her.  “It has been too long, Rebecca.  I have indeed missed you so.”  That appeared to have destroyed the remainder of her discipline, because she instantly dropped the tough girl act and flew into her friend’s arm, hugging him tightly

After sharing a warm moment together, Galen’s eyes rose to see Manil, the elderly elf holding his wizardly blue robes as he walked towards him.  “I thought the knight would be you, Galen.  We all have missed you in the village.”  Rebecca blushed as she quickly turned around and regained her posture.  Galen stepped forward, halberd in hand as he spoke “Forgive me, wise man Manil.  It had taken longer than I wished to gain the title of Knight, but now that I have finally become one, I return to you as a symbol of Neigilb’s pride.”

“And what pride you give, Sir Galen.  It feels like yesterday that you left us to pursue your dream.  Now that you’ve gained it, I am afraid our village needs your help.”  The wise man moved to reveal Twill, Amanda and Fiona, looking to the three as he continued “You should remember Twill, my daughter, Amanda Jackson the daughter of Jack and Fiona Sylna.  Amanda and Fiona have discovered an enclave of goblinoids and fear that they are preparing to attack the village.”

The knight’s eyes looked to the woman and nodded.  Rachel speaking up for him as she said “We actually ran into an ambush during our travel here, the caravan was almost completely destroyed save for the wagon that we arrived in.”  Manil nodded lightly as he stroked his long, grey beard.  “Then we have little time indeed.”

“I shall go and conquer the goblinoid tribe that cowers in the forest.”  Galen said with a strong nod before turning to Patricia and Rachel.  “The journey will be difficult and we are guaranteed to meet resistance on this adventure, but will you two join me in this campaign?”  Patricia hops up happily as she says in a cheerful voice “Of course, silly!  Adventure sounds like fun!”  Rachel gave the knight a small, coy-like grin as she spoke.  “I guess I do owe you for saving my life back there, so I’ll join you.”

The knight turned to Twill and the others as he gave them a confirmative nod.  Twill gave their new companions a small smile before looking to Fiona and Amanda.  “Alright, we’re all ready.  If we hurry, we might be able to save the caravan before it’s too late.”  Fiona gave everyone a small nod as she turned and began walking towards the forest, the party in tow not too far away.