Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 3396973" data-attributes="member: 11760">The town center is crowded with rambunctious festival-goers, but Tucker has been doing his best to keep an eye out for pickpockets, a task made much easier by the fact that Chandler was in plain sight, showing his instrument to any young lasses who wandered near enough. Sometimes he let them touch it.In even the best of situations, keeping track of dwarves would be no easy task -- it's easy to disappear into a crowd when you're only shoulder-high -- but with two fruitful clans milling about, he was having a hard time with an accurate head-count. From his position on the path to the cemetery, the deputy had a good view of the dwarves gathered in front of the smithy, and the clans were obligingly staying well away from one another, but even then it was hard to tell "That One With The Beard" from "That Other One With The Beard" and "The One With That Other Beard." Despite that, one side seemed to be, well, a bit short.There had been a pair that was never more than an arm's length apart from one another, and they had seemed agitated about something ever since they arrived that morning. Not quite shifty, but definitely more tense than any of the others -- and that was saying something.Making his way through the crowd, Tucker moves east toward The Cat & The Fiddle, looking for the wayward pair. He sees Hazel watching over her siblings and apparently threatening to tear someone a new axe hole. His uncle Russell is leading Renraw around, and though the seed counter looked to be engrossed by his ledger, he doesn't seem to actually be writing anything down at the moment. Emus stumbles out of the woods, adjusting himself, and calls something inaudible over his shoulder before heading for the door of the Cat.Pausing a moment, Tucker looks in the direction Emus is coming from, then toward the Cat. He scans the crowd once more, then heads for the trees.* * *Ragglus gives a raspy chuckle that resembles a coughing fit more than anything. He blows his nose heavily to clear a path to better breathing, blood spattering the dirt around him. Raising his head with no small amount of difficulty, he stares Erilon straight in the eye."Girl?" Ragglus mutters in mock disbelief. "Could have fooled me."He trails off, jerking his head forward suddenly to spit in the dwarf's face.The taste of his own blood trickles down across his lips, Ragglus struggles in Dalarn's grip. For a moment, it looks like he'll be able to break free, but the dwarf's hands are like a vise on his wrists."Keep laughing, you piece of crap," Erilon snarls, wiping off his face and beard. He punches Ragglus in the face again, eliciting a spray of blood from his nose.Struggling to no avail and fighting a losing battle with consciousness, Ragglus decides a change of strategy is in order. If the cowardly rock-munchers weren't going to play fair, neither was he."I DON' CARE HOW MUCH GOLD YOU TWO 'AVE!" he cries at the top of his lungs, hoping to draw some attention. "I AIN'T TOUCHIN' YOUR WEE DWARVEN WILLIES! I LIKES WOMEN!"With a groan of irritation, Tucker double-times it through the trees toward the sound of Ragglus' shout.Erilon punches Ragglus in the gut, driving the wind out of him, and nearly his breakfast.His brother hears the jingle of Tucker approaching through the trees and suddenly releases Rags, letting him fall forward into the mud. Both dwarves step back, doing their best to look innocent as the deputy arrives, Erilon tucking his split knuckles beneath his thick brown beard, glaring silent threats at the human sprawled on the ground."Oh, hello, Deputy Gotaway," Dalarn grins. "We was just about to help our clumsy friend Rags here up out of the mud what he done tripped and fell into.""Oh, give it a rest, you're not fooling anybody," Tucker says, glaring down at them. "Just because you're both three-quarters-tall doesn't mean that the pair of you get to pick on one guy."The deputy offers a hand to Ragglus, who grips his wrist and pulls himself up."Now get your butts back to the party," Tucker says, jerking his head toward Maidensbridge proper. "Everybody's here to have fun today, and it'd be a shame if it were to turn out that all the gold you brought along for entertainment had to be paid out in fines. That's your father's wagon you rode in on today, isn't it? Maybe while you're playing around out here in the trees like a couple of elves, it'll turn out that you're parked a bit too close to one of the buildings, or that you're improperly hitched. There are a lot of laws it's easy to forget when you roll into a new town with nothing but a festival on your minds."The dwarves murmur something darkly among themselves, then smile brightly, heading back to town."Don't worry, Rags," Erilon calls back, "You fall down again, we'll be right there to take care of you.""Take care, fellas," Rags calls after the departing dwarves. "Say hello to that lovely sister of yours fer me!"Ragglus turns and spits. He mutters something that sounds like thanks as he stalks past the deputy, his mood foul as he walks back toward town, intent on searching out Mother Bridger.</blockquote>

Verification