The group huddled around a campfire and immediately commenced with eating, drinking, and general merriment. In the middle of them all was Marnu, strumming his harp and filling the night air with a sense of peace. Much of the group swayed back and forth, occasionally breaking out in fits of laughter as they swapped tales.

Murder Bunny, however, stayed in the fringes. He took to sharpening his falchion...over, and over, and over as he fixed a deathly glare on the group at large all the while.

Suddenly, the frog bard snapped his gaze over at Murder Bunny, and before he knew it, he had lost focus on his falchion-sharpening and gave himself a nice slice across his paw.

He didn't even bother to look down as he felt the warm blood start to trickle out. Instead, he locked his gaze back at the frog bard, curiously. His heart began to flutter a bit.

He then noticed Marnu give him a wink and gesture him closer to the group. Murder Bunny didn't know what was coming over him, but he hesitantly obliged.

He immediately noticed a few in the group recoil in fear...he was used to this. But he also noticed a few looking at him expectantly, as suddenly a slight lull had befallen the group. It seemed it was his turn to tell a story.

"I...uh..." Murder Bunny cleared his throat.

His paws began to sweat a bit but he quickly stuffed them into his keikogi before anyone saw. As he took a seat, he wracked his brain for something to share, but only one tale seemed to spring to mind.

"I have one for ya. Took place on a night much like this. Drinking. Merriment. Campfire. Ya see there was a band of halflings that had set up camp for the night, just about a dozen miles outside of the great city of Xalo. Ya see they were a bunch of friends that had just visited to bet on the big jousting tourney. Y'know, a couple years back, record purse? Prince Kirdan was the headliner? Maybe you heard of it. Anyway...they defied the odds and bet against the good Prince...and won big. Envu Plaindarter...the centaur wunderkind made a name for herself that day. Some would argue centaurs have a pretty unfair advantage in a jousting tourney, and well...they may be right. There's a reason they've been banned from most major tourneys since.

Anyway, these halflings...they musta bet their whole life savings on Envu. And at eight-to-one odds, the payout was enormous to say the least. However, these little halfings made the grave mistake of hitting up the Bucking Bronco tavern afterwards. Had more than a few drinks, and with those drinks their lips loosened and they couldn't help but brag about the riches they'd just made. Lotta ears in a tavern like that...some of them big. And floppy. Like mine, I'm talking about my ears.

And so, of course, when I noticed the group heading out later that day I tracked them down...waited in watching til they set up camp, the sun set, and the drinks commenced. Halflings may handle an impressive amount of mead for their size, but it still don't take much for them to fade. It was really too easy.

WHAM! My flail connected right on the cheek of the first one, his teeth went skittering into the campfire like little pieces of hail...and his body followed soon after, as that one hit was all his little head could withstand.

The other three of them began to run off in a panic, but not nearly fast enough. A simple slash across the throat with my hidden blade did in the next one. Another, in his drunken stupor, drowned himself trying to escape across the river. Disappointing. The water gods owed me one for that.

But there was one last halfling, of course. The runt of the group. I dug my claws into the back of his neck and hoisted him up.

'The gold. Where?' I asked him.

He didn't seem to have an earthly clue what I was talking about, as he swore up and down that he didn't have a single copper to his name.

Wrong answer. Up his arse the marshmallow stick went, and over the flame went the halfling.

'Last chance. W̷̟͎̻͂h̴̡͇͆ͅë̸͇́r̷͖͛͑͑̕e̴̞̩̪̍̈́͛ ̶̨͚͙̹̍͆i̴̝̰͖͋̓s̵̗̦̄̏̕̕ ̸̨̿̉̚t̶͖͚̭͑h̷͒̕͜e̸͔̊͐̚ ̵̙̥̯̅̑̃̍ġ̶̺̮͆ǫ̶̱̭̈̋̌l̴͈̃͑͗̚͜d̶̛̙̯̓?̴̧͕͗' I asked once again.

'Lord...have mercy...have mer--' is all he could muster before he succumbed to the flames.

I shrugged and scoured the camp, but wouldn't you know it...not a single copper in sight.

Moments later, I heard singing coming from the road. I peered out and saw a very small carriage being led by a single pony. Inside was what appeared to be four halflings. But that's not what was most intriguing. My ears perked up as I heard the unmistakable sound of gold jingling from a pouch in the back.

I could not stop laughing! What a silly, honest mistake I had made! I proceeded to snuff out the campfire and stalk the halflings down the road. I'll let you fill in the blank with what came next!"

Murder Bunny had been droning on for quite some time. He was so caught up in his story that he hadn't even noticed that several people had slowly backed away from the campfire at various points. The ones that remained looked almost uniformly mortified, from what he could tell.

He frowned to himself. This is why he didn't open up to anyone anymore. They just didn't get it.

"So anyway...I believe it's time my watch began...yeah."

He needlessly pushed Priggat out of the way as he made his way back to the Ying Yang Yang's little spot.

##MQ1: First Watch
##MQ2: B (Sneak over to it)
##SQ1: Criminal

Tuuluuwaq was tired. That battle took more out of him than he expected, but he was able to protect his friends, even though he did take some punishment. As he pulled out an arrow that had lodged itself into his fur, he spoke to the rat and the elf.

"I will take the first shift, so you can all collect your supplies and relax. After that, I plan on sleeping through the night, as this bear needs his sleep if he's going to keep having to fight like that.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Main Quest #1:
## Option A: First Watch

Main Quest #2:
## Option A. Ignore it and continue on with your long rest. If you choose this, you will end the night with full health.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

As Tuuluuwaq left the group tent, he began to reflect on his time since leaving St. Augustine monastery as a young adult. After tracking down the hunters who had taken his parents, he returned to his original village of Paulatuk. It was here where he made use of his impressive size and strength to assist the other members of his clan when needed.

After his watch was over, he noticed there was a group sitting around a campfire. He sat down briefly, and heard the crazy red-eyed bunny finishing a story, and well, he was glad he missed most of it. The group looked up at the new member, and quickly asked him if there was a story he'd like to share.

"Sure, I guess I can share..." he said, before starting in on his tale.

"It was about a year or so after I left St. Augustine, and many months before I met Priggat, that a young fawn came running into our village and was all frantic. I asked her what was the problem, and she said that there was an evil sorceress that was destroying the forest on the far side of the valley. Her family had originally hid in a cave to escape the sorceress, but was quickly trapped when an errant spell triggered a landslide. There was only a small opening, and the fawn was the only one that was able to escape. She needed someone to help rescue her family as well as to rid the forest of the evil sorceress. I told her that I would help her rescue her family, but I didn't know what I could do against a magical creature.

She quietly led me through the valley back to where her family was trapped. It took all of my strength, but I was able to remove most of the boulders from in front of the opening. Just as the last deer was coming out of the cave, the sorceress reappeared. She cast an evil spell onto the elder deer, which caused it to get very sick and collapse. I tried to help the poor creature, but at that point there was nothing I could do. I prayed to the Divine for strength, and was somehow able to pick up one of the larger boulders nearby and threw it as hard as I could towards the sorceress. She was caught off-guard by the move, and was not prepared to deal with a flying boulder. It crushed her almost immediately. The fawn and most of her family was safe.

After we had returned to the village, the deer began to tell everyone they could about the bear who saved the valley. I was just doing what I could to help, but the stories were too much to be contained. It was at that point that requests for my services began to rise. I eventually had to leave that village behind and that is when I found Priggat and Boobarella. Even though I've never returned, every now and then someone will recognize me and ask 'Are you the protector of Paulutuk?' I just nod and go on with my way, as I don't like the attention. I don't think of myself as a hero. I just do what needs to be done."

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Side Quest #1: Background
## Folk Hero

Bonus Quest:
See above.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Priggat ish very tired after that awful sheries of eventsh. Phewwwww, sho shlow I'sh getting on with age, hehehe.

Tuuluuwaq, I'sh admire your enduranshe. I'sh will take thish time to peshtel some herbsh and brew up a potion for that nashty arrow wound. Shleep will come after.

B. Second Watch
A. Ignore it and continue on with your long rest. If you choose this, you will end the night with full health.

##A first watch

##B bushes

Side Quest 1
##Criminal

Spin @ 10/2/2021 0:12

(activity must have died in here because the game was moved into a subforum, am I right?)

:rodney:

The deadline change! No one feels the need to get a head start on things now. I knew it

There definitely is a mental change moving it back two hours

We are RESTING

Rodney @ 10/2/2021 8:31

We are RESTING

Tbf that was kinda the point of this one

##Main Quest #2: B. Sneak over to it and check it out from some bushes.

Christian @ 9/2/2021 19:47

Rara, Cyrillus will take second shift. Randall will take whichever shift Rara does not want.

Rara rake rirst watch

First watch

##Main Quest #1: First Watch

##A. Ignore it and continue on with your long rest. If you choose this, you will end the night with full health.

##Side Quest #1: Soldier

##main quest 1

Second watch

##Main Quest #1: C. Final Watch

MQ2

##B. Sneak over to it and check it out from some bushes.

SQ1

##folk hero (in training, as Greaseface does not yet know the glory he will soon bring to his homeland!)