Fantastic Tales from the realm

Chapter I

Confused Acquaintance

The party sat to a corner of the tavern, the dark hue of the afternoon glow sending streaks of shadow across the room, the melodious voice of a soft-faced bard carrying across the room as a woman spoke, her weary eyes trembling with worry as she explained her predicament 'My husband. Simply rose from bed one night and walked out, his eyes glowing green as he did'

'Did you see where he went?' asked an inquisitive rogue, her stick of charcoal in hand scribbling furiously on the inside of her opposite arm with notes.

'I... I tried to follow him but it was late and he disappeared off past the woods and they're unsafe to travel at the best of times besides night,' she said, her head shaking 'Please just bring back my husband, I'll pay you each 5 Dragons now and 5 Dragons when you return him to me' she pleaded. The rogue looked at her and nodded in acceptance.

'We'll find your husband' she promised as bags of Waterdhavian Gold Coins called Dragons were spread across the table to each of the party members, their disinterest towards the money varying dramatically. With the transaction complete the woman rose from her chair and left the tavern followed quickly by the party. As they exited the establishment, the rogue turned to her companions. 'So how do we want to proceed?'

'Well. I need to visit a tavern' the sage said matter-of-factly, his jawline stiff with empty determination. The rogue sighed.

'If you needed a drink we were just in the tavern' she flatly retorted.

'Ah, yes but I am not in thirst, I came out to this area to study language change and I'm fluent in Orcish if anyone else has been affected I'll know it!' he declared rather loudly. The rogue merely rolled her eyes.

'Fine, I'm off to inspect the husbands forge' the rogue declared before turning to walk-off

Faehana slipped through the thick doorway back into the tavern and moved toward the bench, the barkeep gazing across at the majestic bard as she sang her gorgeous chorus to the heavens. Faehana slipped onto the bar stool with a satisfying thump and listened to the slow bustle of the tavern around him, the shuffle of footsteps as an elf rushed off to a late appointment, the grumble of a hungry Dragonborn 2 meals in. Faehana was having a field day, the accent of this region was extraordinary, transcending language and race as it pervaded all facets of spoken language in this region. As he listened, his brown began to furrow as he heard the low mournful scowls from a trio of orcs. Faehana quickly strained to hear.

'It don' happen, I can' not think Dror and Ghok gon' like that' one orc remarked, his head shaking intensely from side to side

'And whatn' wit their glowin' eyes and strange walk?!' another replied in agreement.

'Glowing eyes' Faehana muttered to himself as the music abruptly died down.

'What's this about glowing eyes?' came the intense query from an unknown speaker. At first, Faehana had ignored the inquiry assuming it had been directed at the orcs but as the sharp nudge of an index finger pierced his thick cut sages robes his sharp eyes looked up into the piercing gaze of a half-elf, her sharp jaw and intense inquiring stare made sharper by her tightly braided hair. Faehana stared up silent for a moment before the stranger asked again.

'What's this about glowing eyes?' she said more intensely.

'Um... several townsfolks... have walked off into the woods' Faehana stumbled as he slowly attempted to shift from philologist to conversationalist. 'And they were all denoted by glowing green eyes as they walked off,' he said more comfortably recovering his ability to speak. The stranger frowned; her lute cradled more tightly in her arms now as she paused to think.