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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Olgar Shiverstone" data-source="post: 1746552" data-attributes="member: 5868">It was Shyla’s first time staying at an inn.  Though she’d ventured to Ashabenford several times before while running errands for her family back in Elven Crossing, she’d never actually entered the old whitewashed building that stood on the west bank of the Ashaba River.  Now she stood on the porch, taking in the sights.She wandered Cormanthor near her small village home for years, learning the ways of the woods from her elven family.  She’d studied briefly under the druids of the Oakengrove Abbey, learning the ways of the plants and animals of the Dales, and learning to respect and live in concert with nature.  Her human family taught her to bend nature to her will, and to train the horses and dogs that they used to ply the small farms on the edge of the forest.  And most of all, they taught her to fight – to use the bow and sword of the elves, and the axe and spear of the Dalesman.  In memory of her father, killed these long years ago by an ogre deep in the forest, she carried the horse bow her mother had made for him, strung with her own elven hair.As she took in the sights of civilization, a small boy from one of the outlying farms ran up, red-faced and nearly out of breath.  “Albern!  They’ve taken Albern!” he panted.“Slow down,” she said “what has happened?”  Albern was a unicorn who wandered the northern edge of the forest and spent time at the grove, occasionally helping a Dalesman found lost or wounded in the forest through the magic of its healing horn.The boy slowly caught his breath.  “It was goblins!” he said, shaking with fright.  “They attacked Albern and dragged him off!  There was blood on the road.”Shyla shrugged.  She certainly wasn’t going to take on a horde of goblins all by herself.  “So what do you want me to do about it?” she said, then waved toward the open door of the inn, “Maybe one of those hero-types in there will help you.”  She certainly wasn’t a hero, a forest girl just wandered out of Elven Crossing!The boy looked taken aback, then poked his head into the inn.  It was midday, and a few down-on their luck adventuring types were about taking their midday meal and listening to the half-elven minstrel strum her harp in the corner.  At one table, a man with a shining helm and shield sat, sipping water.  His shield was emblazoned with the symbol of the rising sun, and a heavy mace leaned against it.  Nearby, two dwarves hoisted mug after mug of ale, with the occasional “Praise Moradin!” thrown out in a drunken belch.  Across the room, a young, strong-looking bearded man with an enormous sword resting by his side tore a haunch from an impressive roast.  Finally, an elven woman sat cross-legged at a table in the corner, flipping slowly through a thick tome.“Um …” the boy said, then finally stepped up to the closest man, and spilled his story.“Well met, young one!” the man boomed in a friendly voice.  “I am Jozan, beloved of Lathander, and I will take up this challenge to recover your dear friend.  The depredations of goblins shall not be tolerated in this Dale!  Who will join me?”  He looked about the room, though none of the revelers met his gaze, until he locked eyes with Shyla.  “Well, my lady?”“Well, I guess.  I know Albern and he’s a good sort, too good to end up as goblin chow.  I’ll join you, though I think we’ll need greater numbers.  Shyla, of Elven Crossing, by the way.”“Jozan, “ he replied, bowing.  “And do you know any of this august company who should join us?”Shyla looked over the guests of the inn.  All were strangers.  The dwarves were well on their way to getting drunk, no help there, and the young man with the big sword had a sort of dim look about him.“Perhaps the elf in the corner?” she asked tentatively.  Jozan stepped over to the elf’s table.  “I am Jozan of Lathander,” he introduced himself, “and my companion Shyla and I are undertaking a quest to rescue her friend Albern, a great unicorn captured by goblins.  I guess from your book that you have knowledge of the arcane, which might be of value to our quest.  Will you join us for the greater good?”The elf woman closed her book and looked up at Jozan.  “I might consider it if you make it worth my while.  Share any arcane writings you might find with me, and I will join you – for a while, at least.”“Is that acceptable, my lady?” Jozan asked, looking at Shyla.  When Shyla just shrugged, he clapped hands with the elf woman.  “A deal, then!  Welcome to our band!”“Shyla, “ Shyla introduced herself noncommittally.  “Mialee,” the elf woman replied.After a brief discussion of logistics, the group followed the young boy to the spot where he’d seen Albern abducted.  Shyla searched the area.  There had clearly been a struggle – four small bare-footed humanoids had attacked a hoofed creature, and eventually drug something large off to the southwest.  There was a clear trail, along with a few drops of blood.“Take a look at this blood,” she asked Jozan, “do you think it is serious?”  “I don’t know much of unicorn anatomy,” Jozan answered, “but that loss of blood seems fairly minor.  What the goblins intend with your friend may be far more foul.  The trail leads into the beast country to the west, a dangerous place where few civilized folk dwell.  The nearest civilized shelter beyond is the fortress at Peldan’s Helm.”“We should follow quickly, then,” Shyla replied, slinging her bow and rapidly following the track.After several hours travel, during which time the blood drops grew steadily larger, fresher, and more frequent, the trail eventually led to a dark copse of trees surrounding a small hillside.“I don’t like the look of this place,” Shyla said to her companions.  “We should proceed with caution.  I’ll scout ahead.”She followed the trail to the mouth of a small cave in the hillside.  Two trails converged there – the tracks she was following, and a set of booted footprints leading away to the northwest.  Shyla returned to her companions.“I don’t like the look of this,” she told them.  “The trail goes into a small dark cave, but there’s another trail, different, leading away.  Something bigger than goblins could be about!”“But if Albern is in there, he could be in great danger!” Jozan replied.  Mialee merely shrugged.Shyla sighed.  “Very well, but we’ll need some light.”  Jozan mumbled a brief prayer to his god, and the head of his mace began to glow with a soft light.  Shyla crept forward to the cave, the light from Jozan’s mace providing just enough illumination to see ahead.The passage went a short way into the hillside, and ended in a small round chamber with an old wooden door to the left.  Shyla motioned to the others to halt, then crept forward to the door, checking it.  It was unlocked, so she jerked it open.The chamber beyond was completely dark, but she could hear the cackle of inhuman voices and the ring of steel sliding against steel, and smell an animal stench.  She quickly stepped to the side, cloaking herself in the shadows at the back of the cave, just as three short, greenish-skinned creatures came running out, holding spears at the ready.The three creatures immediately focused on Jozan, who was shedding light just up the passage, and surrounded him, poking with their spears.  Shyla slowly took aim with her bow, as she heard Mialee chanting in Draconic.  A green bolt of light appeared, sizzling against on creature’s chest, and it fell, thrashin, but one of its companions dodged past Jozan’s wildly swinging mace to confront the elf mage.Shyla released her arrow, but in the dim light, with the wildly gyrating creatures, it went wide.  She heard Mialee scream in horror as a goblin spear pierced the elf woman’s chest, and Mialee fell to the ground, motionless.Shyla panicked, and dove into the small chamber, closing the door behind her.  She sensed a presence in the room, which was pitch black.  She smelled an animal smell, and heard heavy, labored breathing.Jozan’s screams from the next room reminded her of her companions’ plight.  Steeling herself, she cracked the door, with her bow at the ready.The light from Jozan’s mace glowed from the floor where the cleric was slumped with the figures of two goblins dancing about him in glee.  Shyla let fly, dropping one of them, and drew her sword as the other turned on her.  She charged, exchanging a set of ringing blows with the creature until she finally put a thrust through its chest.  She immediately rushed to check her companions.Jozan had been knocked senseless, but would likely recover given time.  Mialee was bleeding heavily from a deep penetrating wound, and Shyla could not stem the flow of blood.  She decided to take a chance.  She grabbed Jozan’s glowing mace, and returned to the dark chamber.There was a door on the far side of the small room, but tied in the corner was the white form of Albern the unicorn.  He was awake, blood crusted in a wound along one flank.  Shyla rushed to him, cutting his bonds with her sword, and helping the large animal to his feet.  “My friends are dying in the next passage!” she implored him. “You must help!”The unicorn whinnied, and rushed into the cave.  He passed Jozan, and reaching Mialee, touched her briefly with his horn.  There was a pale flash of light, the bleeding stopped, and the flesh began to knit before Shyla’s eyes.  Mialee began to stir.“Thank you, Albern!” Shyla said, as she poured water over Jozan to revive him.  “We’d best go.  We’ve got what we came for; there’s at least one more goblin about somewhere, and we’re not in shape to face it.”With Jozan and Albern’s help, they beat a hasty retreat back to the spot where the original attack had occurred, where the young boy and his farmer father were still waiting.  They bid Albern goodbye, and accepted the farmer’s offer of hospitality for the night – more for his protection than their own, Shyla surmised.No matter.  As Shyla slipped off to sleep, she wondered: where was the fourth goblin, what was behind the other door, and had they left behind any treasure with which they could have paid Mialee?</blockquote>

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