Brethren of Grath - Gameplay

Welcome to Grath, a diverse island where you can have many adventures if you so choose.

We will start our story in the island's capitol, the City of Grath.
Largest city in the area and Capital of Grath (named after the island). Walled city and 3rd largest port. Governor of Grath lives here. Very rich city and full of interesting characters. Many quests to be found here. Criminal activity is thriving as this is the center of the whole area. Many baddies to fight.

Our journey begins in one of the local markets. Stalls are set along a wide road, the morning sun is beating down upon your brow. It is spring in Grath, the climate is mild and comfortable for the most part. It seems like today will be a perfectly sunny day. The vendors are exchanging their goods with the populace, guards patrol the market in pairs.
Children play in a nearby alley. The roar of a thousand voices hangs in the air. Vendors yell out to passersby, waving fruit and loaves of bread, trying their hardest to peak their interest.
The wealthier vendors have indoor shops in the market, sheltered from the noise and the sun. The small ringing of a blacksmith's hammer on hot metal can be heard from one of the indoor shops. The sweet smell of baking bread from another.
There is a group of sketchy fellows watching the market at the opening of an alley, down the alley some men are throwing dice, they look like a roug bunch.
One of the vendors is standing beside his stall, which is scarce of goods, just a few trinkets scattered on the table; his face is bruised and his clothes freshly torn.
A woman and her child huddle against a wall. They are covered in ragged blankets, faces dirty and sunken in from hunger. There is a chipped wooden bowl in front of her that has a copper piece in it. The child holds his mother closely.
A man in full plate armor stomps through the market, his hand resting on the sword at his hip. He looks around the market, and ducks into the nearby tavern.

I come walking into the market place looking for a place to drink my feel. I have my face covered with a tattered hood and body covered in a even worn robe. Dirty from sleeping on the ground. I see the armored cover man go in to the tavern and I follow as such.

"Is high time to put some sweet mead on these lips o' mine..." I mutter to my self in an irish canter.

You open the door to the tavern, the armored fellow is at the bar, the barkeep is handing him a horn of ale.
There is a short ugly man sitting at a table. He is chewing on a turkey leg. He is balding with just a semi-circle of red hair crowning his head. His mustache is long and ungroomed. His nose is bulbous and red.
There is a rough looking woman sitting in the corner, she has a long knife stuck deep in the wooden table. She has a cup of spirits that she is siping as you walk in. She is raven haired and lean. She is dressed in black leather armor. She eyes you, giving you a chill.
A man dressed in leather sits next to her. He has a scar running from his forehead down his right eye and to his chin. He wears an eye patch on his scarred eye. His blonde hair is slicked back and long. He eyes you and frowns as you step in. His hand rests at his hip.

The bartender waves you over, "What do you want, lad?"

I pay no mind to the rude ass staring me down and walk over to the bartender. Dropping my bag to my feet and releaving the hood to uncover my face. Short white hair petutuding from a headband, couple of noticeable scars on my cheek, ears tucked into the headband. Eyes, a dark mixture of green and yellow, peircing.

"I would like a hot meal, something meaty and hardy, a fine drink of ale and someone to talk to" I say with not much eye contact hoping to get some information.

I take in the area around me and mark all the people who are uneasy about my presence.

The bartender pours up an ale and sloshes it onto the bar in front of you. "A copper for the ale, two for the meat." He shouts at the open door to the kitchen, for your food. Moments later a skinny boy about 16 comes out and lays the plate on front of you amd disappears into the kitchen. "What you be wantin to talk about, eh?" The bartender mutters at you, he rests his hand on the bar.

I drop 3 coper on the table, take a sip a ale with a big sigh of pleasure. The taste is exquisite for how long I've yearmed for it. The food looks appetizing.

"I had some information leading me here. I'm looking for a man. Eerie looking, green peircing eyes, white hair. Seen anything of the like? Or just anything that is not right of late?"

I dig into the food waiting for a response of the bartender.

The bartender looks down at the coppers. "Information costs a silver." He smiles an crooked smile.

The boy who brought your food out peers around the corner. The others in the bar are silent.

...*sigh* I look around without moving my head and leave my eyes on the boy who brought me my food.

"Information for a silver...why pay when I can get it for free." I continue eating until I finish and sip on my ale eagerly waiting to see what will happen next. Adrenaline slowly rising, the chains around my wrists burning.

Do I notice anyone coming towards me? or feel a presence coming?

You feel no presence around you. The creepy couple at the back of the tavern have not moved since you came in. They are keeping a watchful eye on you. The bartender just chuckles, "hard to get anything in this city for free, even information." He scoops the coppers up and throws them in his pocket. "If you change your mind, my price has gone up. Two silver for any info." He looks to the boy. "Get your ass back in the kitchen, boy!" He yells.

"Then how about you fill my ears with stories about this city that doesn't come cheap?" I shake my cup indicating some more ale as I slide another copper and a silver in his direction just to ease the tension.

He scoops the coins up and pours another drink for you, "Don't know nothing of the man you are lookin' for. But if you are looking for someone, you I might know a guy who is good at finding people." He taps the counter like he is waiting for more coin.

You hear a snicker from the ugly man behind you. "Torin, stop trying to rob the lad." The man's voice is deep and ragged. "Boy, he only knows the local gossip and tricks newcomers into paying him for bad tips and info."
The man gets up, he is shorter than you. He walks over to you. Torin, the barkeeper, scoffs at the mans words and head into the kitchen angrily.

The man holds out his hand, "I am Owen, I own this tavern...if you can even call it that. Sorry for Torin. He is a greedy fool. The man you speak of does not come to mind. We get some seedy folks wandering in here, but none that match that description. Do you need a room? Another drink?"

"Well thank you for putting an end to my naivety" I say with a slight chuckle.

I reach out my hand to meet his and greet him with a firm handshake.

"That is a shame to hear, but a room....possibly, a drink? As long as you have a drink with meh? Tell me more about these seedy folks...or about this capital? Saw some shady people in alleys as I trekked through the streets."

Having just landed into Grath, I walk through the marketplace looking out for possible allies, opportunities of information, or even valuable materials.

"Hey, Ord! I heard the Dwarven history of that place may yield possible valuable metalworks. You can reinforce your entire armament." I roll around this information in my head again and again. The feeling of a bad lead or poor reason to come here is getting stronger.

You proceed towards the tavern after having noticed many colorful characters.

Zylo: Owen shakes your hand, "Torin will pour some ales. The alleys are dangerous for unseasoned folk, the local thugs usually rob those that wander into them. But our capitol here, you can find mostly what you need. Just have to ask the right people, and have enough coin. Your silver will rent you a room for a few nights if you'd like. Don't want my customers being ripped off."

Torin brings the ales, giving you nasty looks as he does. "Torin, tell the lad to get the a room ready for Mr..... i didn't catch your name, sir" Owen takes a sip.

At this time, the door wings open. A dragonborn walks into the tavern.

Ord: you see the same two pair at the back of the tavern, there is an ugly man and a cool guy drinking ale, and an armored man sitting at the bar downing some ale.

I look at Owen,"Zylo is meh name, just a traveler is all I am." Better not to feed out to much information...don't know who all could be listening.

I see the white dragon come in but put my attention back to Owen.

"I would like to have a room for a few nights, just for a few to find out if this place has what I am looking for." I pass Owen a piece of silver and look at Torin and give him a double eyebrow raise to know I will be sticking around for minute.

I move slowly up to the bar and sit at the corner stool making a loud *clang* noise (realizing that I'm carrying 100 lbs of equipment and gear) and adjust my weight accordingly so as not to break the stool.

I wave the barkeep over.

[In a rough but gentle voice] "If you please, I need the largest ale you have and any information you might have regarding a man and some rare minerals, sir."

Zylo: Owen takes the silver and pockets it. "Aye, good to meet you, Zylo. We'll take good care of you here." He takes slip of his ale.
Torin grunts at your eyebrows movement and focuses on the large dragonborn who has just sat down.

Ord: The barkeep grunts at the men sitting behind you sipping on ale. Then focuses on you. "Large ale is five coppers." He pulls out a mug that must be at least a half gallon. He looks at you and smirks and leans in close to you. "Information costs a gold piece," he whispers to you, "you came to the right tavern for info on minerals, my specialty." He leans back readying to fill the mug.

I pay the 5 coppers and the 1 piece of gold eagerly awaiting to gulp down the ale.

"I am interested in finding some rare metal to reinforce my armaments - particularly of the Dwarven variety. I both read and heard that there's a lot of Dwarven history on this island. As for the person, I'm looking for a famous athlete - the so-called [leans in and whispers] 'Strongest Creature Alive - Savage.' Yes, both of these requests are related."

Do I hear Torin say 1 gold for info?

I take another gulp of ale and say,"well I'm glad I found a friend quickly in you. I'm sure Grath will peak my interest in some ways. Oh, that's right, I am looking for a good place to beef up my fists? Whether that be a fight Club of sorts, or a weapon smith to fix me up something fancy."

Ord: The barkeep smirks, "Dwarven minerals? Head to Dravenport in the west or Veer Island in the east." He picks up a cup and starts wiping it with a rag in typical bartender fashion. "Dravenport will probably have the minerals; Veer will have a craftsman that can make anything for you." He inspects his work on the cup, sneers and puts it to the side. "Now for the athlete..." he thinks hard, "Don't know where on the island you might find him." He shrugs and picks up another cup and starts wiping away. "Might find some more info on him in Dravenport."

Zylo: Your instincts tell you that Torin thought that the heavily armored showy nature of this Dragonborn with all his fancy armor made him think he could squeeze more coin from him, seems like it worked since the big lizard handed over a shiny gold coin to ole sleazy Torin. Your simple garb must not have flashed that you had a fair amount of coin.
Owen smiles "Yes, lad, Grath has many wondrous cities and some boring ones, too. Plenty of things to do if you look in the right spots. There is a smith in the market, he does decent work. Name is Harold, you probably heard him hammering his steel and iron as you came in." He takes a long sip of his drink and sighs in satisfaction. "There is the arena if you want to test your skills. A newcomer like yourself could get some coin if you are good enough, but it is to the death, so you might not want to take that risk." He takes another sip. "You might ask the gamblers in the alley if they know anywhere to find a good bare knuckle fight. I'm sure that sort of thing goes on in this city!" His laugh is uproarious and he slams his fist down on the table multiple times; everyone in the bar looks at him like he was about to attack. "Calm down ye drunks!" He shouts at the patrons.

"Dravenport sounds like a good place to start! Thank you, sir."

I proceed to daydream about Dravenport while eagerly awaiting this large ale. I feel like the bartender is taking his time with the cleaning of the cup(s). 'Has he forgotten the ale?,' I think.

I also eye-up the white-haired ruffian who looks like an escaped prisoner - he seems to have just completed some business as I have - possibly information.

I shout up in a manner,"Don' mind us! We are just a pair having a good time!" I take another sip of ale. In a lower tone but enough for the dragonborn to hear,"Thank you for the pieces of knowledge, but no, I do not want to lose my life, just a friendly fighters club is what I desire, but Harold ye say? I will seek him out to ask him if he could fancy me something to make these fists more powerful for meh own protection. At least I don' have to keep paying that bar keep another silver to help me get by!," I say with emphasis towards the white scaled one. I laugh as I take another sip of ale finishing it off. "Another friend! One more! Then we can continue our merryment at a later time! Show me the finer things in this town after I explore a bit. Meet this Harold."

I eagerly await my final drink and wonder what time of day it is?

I glare at the bartender who's currently washing a second glass - seeming like he's been playing with me.

"Silver?! Are you serious?" I stand up slowly looking down at the barkeep expecting an explanation now.

Ord: The bartender pours your giant ale and slides it to you. He whispers to you, "You get the info you pay for. See, you both are looking for people. Don't know those people. But you," he looks at you in the eyes, "you asked questions I could answer." Then looks at the scruffy lad, "Mind your business friend."
Owen just chuckles and stands up and walks over to the bar. "Torin, get this fellow another ale. And stop grifting my customers. Pour some more ale for me and Zylo here, too. Sir, come drink at my table with me and my friend, I am the owner here, name is Owen."

Zylo: You start feeling the ale getting to you. Your head gets light and your eyes heavy.
It is early morning at the moment. You see all that unfolds at the bar. The couple in the back of the bar have not said a word the entire time, all you have heard from them were smalls sips of their drinks.

"Ahhh we friends now? Then join us bar keep, drink among friends!" I chuckle as I say this.

I take this last ale and sip it slowly and wave over the white dragon,"Come yes, join us dragon. Drink with me and this fine owner. I am Zylo, a traveler of sorts. Please enlighten me with your grace and bestow your name upon my knowledge."