Humble Beginnings

"Humble Beginnings" (1x01) is the first session of Breadgar's Campaign and the first session in Chapter 1. The chance meeting of seven individuals occurs at the small farming town of Humil. They find that it is a quiet and peaceful town but where peace reigns, trouble is sure to follow...

Synopsis
The story begins in the small farming town of Humil, a town affiliated with the Caelish Princepality and located in the border territories. It is a relatively quiet town, where people work hard but live in peace. Seven different people have a chance meeting at the local tavern, where the very fate of all is decided.

Outside the town, walking slowly up the dusty road leading to Humil is Ann’lyse De'von and the trade caravan of Malias Fyrel. When they arrive at the gate they are processed by the head guard on gate duty, Soldier Arath. After being processed and let in, Malias Fyrel thanks Ann’lyse and pays her the second half of her payment for guarding the caravan en route to Humil. Malias informs Ann that some information may be gleaned from the local tavern/inn. The two then split ways with Ann going to the tavern.

Afterwards, the duo Marutavik and Eve arrive at Humil. They enter the village, take in their surroundings and walk down the path of Humil and explore. As they walk, they see a group of giggling children run past, followed by a older child who seems to be watching after them. This child is known as Aamon who is warned by a local to not let the younger kids get dirty and muddied up. The duo of Marutavik and Eve continue walking and eventually arrive at the doorstep of the local Inn/Tavern known as the Lucky Few. The duo meet the bar keep/owner known as Darry and together they order some ale. Darry gives the orders to his chef, Mysora Iisu who promptly does so. As the two drink, there is a loner in the darkest corner of the room known as Talucia (REDACTED). As the occupants drink and eat in relative peace and quiet, another person enters the tavern. This person is Ambrose, who orders a drink as she takes a seat.

As the occupants sit in the tavern, screaming can be heard and the town bell can be heard, alarming everyone in the town and tavern. An injured soldier stumbles in the tavern and implores its inhabitants to help. Eve heals the injured soldier who thanks her before leaving to go back into the fray. The inhabitants all go towards the gate, where 30 soldiers and Captain Lasander have formed in front of the gate. Watching the gate as well is the young boii, Aamon. Ann tries to get him to go to safety but he ignores her in favour of the gate. The gates are closed but something is trying to break through. The gates eventually give way and they burst forward open.

An explosion of debris and shrapnel burst out and the formation of soldiers raise their shields to protect themselves. Anne goes in front of Aamon to shield him. Through the smoke, debris and shrapnel, three lumbering forms walk into the light. They are revealed to abominations with different body parts of various races. They roar a loud, deafening cry before charging the formation. The abominations charge into the formation and although the soldiers initially hold formation, the wall eventually gives way through sheer force. Soldiers are sent flying in the air or sprawling to the ground as the abominations wreck havoc. Captain Lasander himself bravely charges one alone to save a injured soldier, Second Lieutenant Reese. He manages to distract it long enough for two soldiers to drag Second Lieutenant Reese to safety but is wounded and knocked unconscious. Most of the soldiers are knocked unconscious or dead.

The abominations soon find new resistance in the form of the seven companions who engage the abominations. During the battle, Talucia climbs to the battlements and sees outside the settlement, various orcs dragging off screaming and unconscious citizens with a mounted ork on an horse abomination shouting orders to the other orks. In the ensuing fight, Ann manages to bisect one vertically and slice another down from the shoulder blades to the bottom. The third one however undergoes a transformation where the various body parts of the defeated abominations go to the third abomination. Two arms are latched onto the shoulder blades and two legs are attached to the lower middle part of the back. The abomination roars an even louder roar than before, terrifying the young Aamon and Mysora. It then lets off a combo of hits that downs and almost kills Marutavik. In the end, Marutavik transforms into her hybrid formation and pounces on the injured abomination, viciously and brutally tearing it apart.

As the fight ends, Ann goes to outside the settlement to see if there are any stragglers that needed to be rescued. To her utter surprise, intense anger and vengeful glee, the leader ork shouting orders turned out to the very one who led the raid on her home town of Aestavale two years ago. She attacks the pale ork but is unable to stop him from fleeing as arrows feather her in the shoulders and through the arm. A storm of arrows fly towards her but the intervention of Mysora with an unparalleled command of the wind, she is only lightly injured by one more arrow. The two walk back to the town. As this is happening, Talucia takes a sample from the abomination and takes weird photos of the group. Ambrose vigorously pats Aamon on the back and when Talucia takes a photo of Aamon, it sparks Aamon’s curiosity who has his two minotaur summons restrain Talucia so he can investigate the glasses which turn out to be normal glasses. With the battle coming to an end, the soldiers nurse their wounded and retrieve the dead. Cpt Lasander manages to bring himself to his two feet, his wounds weighing him down. He is approached by Ann who asks him about any reports to do about the ork raids and Aestavale. Reinforcements from the guards protecting the villagers in the town hall arrive led by Lieutenant Morris. Lasander requests Morris to bring over the soldier from Aestavale, the soldier Arath. Arath talks to Ann about the Aestavale incident and the ork raids. After this talk, the group go back to the Lucky Few. They nurse their wounds for an hour before Cpt Lasander enters the tavern. He talks to the group and asks them to undertake a rescue operation for the captured citizens. He offers monetary rewards for the group. He leaves but before he does, he tells them to go to the garrison to retrieve half of their payment (50 gps) before they leave.

The group elect to stay at the Lucky Few. They each get their own room except Talucia who stalks Eve on the rooftop. Ann goes door to door knocking to get info on the incident. She knocks on one door and almost gets stabbed by a paronoid, one armed, scarred veteran of the Caelish/Ork War some thirty years before. She knocks on another door and is greeted by a crossbow. The occupant turns out to be a child standing on a chair. Ann manages to coax the child to bring down the weapon and finds out that the child’s parents/caretakers were victims of the orks. The child can’t even bring themselves talk, so engrossed in their sorrow. Ann leaves the child after making sure of their safety. She returns to find Aamon reading a book called Common for Dummies: How to speak and read basic Common. She spends a few hours teaching him the basics of Common (after rolling a nat 20). Ambrose also comes back late after exploring the immediate forests.

Morning comes and Mysora treats the group to breakfast. They go the garrison and retrieve their money before leaving the settlement and entering the forest. It is a sunny day, the same as yesterday but it has none of the positive and peaceful energy as before. As they walk deeper and deeper into the forest, the light slowly disappears and the group finds themselves in the middle of an unknown and dark forest.