CH 1: This Place Sucks

[JadedDM]

"You've no doubt heard of the Shield of Baerin, right?" the pilgrim asks.

Naturally, Echo has heard of it. Nobody in this region has not heard of the legendary relic.

The story goes that shortly after the Carnage War ended, a terrible green dragon known as Vile began terrorizing this whole land. Gonto chose a champion, a man known as Baerin, and granted him the powers of a paladin as well as a powerful shield. With this shield, he was protected from the dragon's toxic breath weapon and slew the great beast, bringing peace to the land once again.

"The shield was lost some time later. Our group is searching for it, and we think we are close to finding it. Including pilgrims, clerics and guards, there are at least 40 of us. If they hire you, you'll probably be a guard, or whatever the mage equivalent is. As for how long it will take, I can't say for sure. Likely the leader would hire you for a contract; you would work for us for a specific time, like a few weeks or months. When the contract ends, you can renew it or just go home."

[HorizonsDream]

"A difficult quest," Echo says thoughtfully. "I'm a little curious as to what you plan on doing with the shield once you find it, but that can wait until later I suppose. So you all ready have a few guards, I assume. How many more are you looking for?" she asks.

[JadedDM]

"As many as we can afford," the pilgrim says. "Which isn't much, admittedly. It takes a lot of gold to feed and clothe so many mouths, as well as keep our guards paid and armed. We rely a lot on charity. We stop at towns like this one and ask the local lord for donations. Or get help from the churches. We also make some decent coin along the way from defeated bandits, monsters, and what have you."

[HorizonsDream]

"You might get a little help from the church, but not a lot," Echo points out. "The church here isn't very powerful, and the Countess isn't exactly very religious. If you are looking for a donation from her, you are going to have to find a way to convince her without focusing on religion."

[JadedDM]

"Hmm, really? I should probably try and warn the leader before they meet then," he says, getting back to his feet. "If you are interested, you can come with me. If not, so be it. If you need time to think, we'll be staying in town at least another day or two. You can find us either here or the hostel, or the temple."

[HorizonsDream]

"Well, I might as well come with you now," Echo says as she stands. "I can get more information from your leader, and then decide from there. By the way, my name is Echo Soulstaff."

[JadedDM]

"Echo Soulstaff? What an exotic and unusual name," he says. "Surely it's not elven? But not Swadian, either. I am Hollidan Redstone, at your service, my lady," he says with an exaggerated bow.

[HorizonsDream]

Echo watches as the man bows before her, which was something she wasn't at all use to in her life. ~I wonder if he is always like that,~ she mentally says to herself. After all, the man had shown nothing more than respect towards her the whole time that they were talking, which was also something that she was not completely use to. She found it a little refreshing. "My mother didn't exactly want to point out the fact that I was half elven, but she didn't wish to go for a Swadian name either because they aren't as flowing as elven names," she explained. "I took up my father's last name a few years ago."

[JadedDM]

"Very interesting," Hollidan says, eying her curiously. "Well, no matter. Shall we be off then?"

[HorizonsDream]

Echo motions to the door gracefully. "Lead the way," she says as she follows after him. "You carry a sword, and act much like a knight I might read about in a book," she commented. "So I'm curious if you are actually a knight or not."

[JadedDM]

Throwing his green cloak on, he steps outside into the cold with her. "A Knight? Not exactly. Knights serve the king. I serve Gonto. I suppose the proper title is paladin then." He holds the door open for her.

[HorizonsDream]

Echo pauses for a moment as the door is opened for her. This is just so shocking to her that at first she isn't sure how to react to it. Clearing her throat a little bit, she steps outside into the cold. "That explains quite a bit then," she says as she pulls the hood of her cloak up over her head to protect herself from the chill. "Are you the only paladin in your group?"

[JadedDM]

As the two walk to the church, Hollidan shakes his head. "No, there are two others. We also have seven clerics of Gonto, including our leader. We were hoping to find a handful of men-at-arms here in town, as well."

[HorizonsDream]

"Yeah, I wouldn't count on finding anyone too handy with a sword around here," Echo says with a scoff. "I would be surprised to see someone that knew which end of a sword to use."

[JadedDM]

Hollidan chuckles. "Yes, I'm sure the only competent person in the entire town. I suppose we have no choice to hire you then, likely for an absurd amount of coin." He shakes his head. "When we get to the Phairse, I would suggest talking up your talents, rather than talking down everyone else in town. Just a word of advice."

Echo may not care much about Gonto, but she's studied the faith a bit. She recognizes the title of Phairse as quite high-ranking among the Gonto clergy. This town only has a mere Kohen. After Kohen comes Sadduce, then Phairse. So the leader of these pilgrims must be high ranking, indeed.

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Echo makes a Religion check (1d20): 9, pass. Recognizes the rank of Phairse.