Story - Part 1 - The way to Icespire peak

You are on your way to Icespire peak. As far as you know the first part of your journey will mostly consist of traveling down the road until it curves away from the mountain. Then you must find your way through the woods and the last obstacle before you reach the mountain will be a swamp surrounding it.

You departed Flowergrove in the morning. You tried to keep your plan a secret but as usual the village elders knew something was up and learned about your plans. They weren't happy with you going on this dangerous journey but seeing that you are fully committed to investigating the ruins they procured some basic gear for all of you as well as rations. There was a nice farewell ceremony and some tears were shed.

You traveled the whole day only interrupted by a short lunch break and it's afternoon now. So far your journey has been pretty uneventful. You left the fields that surround Flowergrove behind and instead the road is flanked by a forest that grows denser the further you travel

Just as you discuss where you'll rest in the evening you hear screams from further down the road.
You run forward and peek around the next curve of the road.
You see a Salimar in a bright blue robe sitting on a tree. The tree is surrounded by six boars that are grunting and digging at the roots of the tree.
A carriage that has been knocked to its side is blocking the road. Two more boars are rummaging through its contents.
Help! Help! Anyone! he screams
Neither the Salimar nor the boars have noticed you yet...

Perfect! A "damsel in distress" situation. Thinking Garic says Time for some action! I will try and scare them off first. quietly to his friends.

He then focus a moment then create a illusory sound of a wolf howling followed by withe a bit closer. The sound will come from down wind off to the side in the woods. Hopefully the boar will simply be scared off. It works on smaller beasts but he is not sure about a group this big. If he Kross the sound up it may prevent the boar from noticing any preparations his friends make.

Josiah, who is more wary about this whole affair than anyone else present (he's mostly here because his friends were going), readies the two-handed felling axe he's taken with him as a weapon. "Be careful everyone," he says quietly, looking to the surrounding woods as he moves to the front protectively.

"There may be more boars or worse in the forest..."

Don't worry my friends. These are just hungry wild pigs, I'm sure I should be able to befriend them with a little snack. Food makes everyone kind.

Naively, Foldrat grabs a little bit of food from his rations and tries to approach the boars.

Vienne shifts closer to Josiah and does her best to watch where he is not. "Six boars is...a lot." Her voice is soft, hopefully not drawing the wrong attention. "Are boars afraid of wolves even?" Akhi gave a small hiss, causing Vienne to correct herself. "Eight boars."

Sprout keeps towards the back where he can watch and decide what best course of action to take. "Let's try and avoid bloodshed if possible. These boars are probably just acting naturally."

Just one of them will make good eating for all of us, Josiah thinks to himself...

Jahamu grumbles and rears up big. Not for the first time, he wishes that he had the gift of speech with beasts. "We don't want to fight this many boars," he says. "Even one can be as dangerous as me. But maybe we can rescue the Salimar without fighting. Let's see if the boars will let us approach nicely." He begins to swagger bear-style toward the tree, grumbling as he goes.

Seeing that most of his friends seems to want to avoid bloodshed, Gale slowly approaches the bear along side Jahamu.
You may not have the gift to speak with beast, but I do my friend

Loud enough for the boar to hear he says
Leave that poor fellow alone. If you want food we have some to share. Take it and be on your way

Despite his goodwill he keeps his bow close at hand. If he had learned one thing during his hunting trip is that wild animals were unpredictable.

Garlic channels his magical powers, imagining a pack of wolves howling. He tries to project the imagined sounds into the distance but his concentration slips.
Instead of the sound of howling wolves he creates a noise that sounds more like the yapping of a small dog. The boars are unphased by this.
While Garlic, Josiah, Sprout and Vienne keep back, Foldrat approaches the boars and two come towards him, grunting and sniffing the rations that he holds out. Jahamu follows suit and the boars seem to be wary.
When Gale speaks to them they slightly tilt their heads to their side.
Hurt our head when the big wooden boar crashed into us. Very pain we have. And hunger. We eat wooden boar and small lizard. Both look tasty

Hefting his shields Garic moves if needed to not be too far from Foldrat and Jaham (Basicly 1 zone/move behind them)

She shifted her balance, working on not giving away her amusement at the 'wolves' while being both pleased and confused at the fact that the talking was going well. "Hopefully this conversation works out...It seems to be working?"

See, they are very friendly! Foldrat says.

[b]They are hungry[\b] whispers Gale to the folk near him as he reach for his own ration.

To the boar he replies:
[b]The lizard is too spicy it will hurt your tongue. Better take what we offer and leave it alone[\b]

Gale grunts and sniffs in the air.
Garic readies himself to defend the group but whatever grunting Gale did seems to work. The boars grunt and gently shove Gale and then feed on your rations.
Foldrat sits down and hands out rations left and right until his pack is empty.
Then they grunt once more and, happily grunting, leave for the woods.The Salimar climbs down from the tree. He adjusts his robe and then shakes each of your hands.
Thank you very much for your help. My name is Frazzt! What are your names?
I was riding my carriage down they road when the boars suddenly ran out of the woods and hit my wagon. It was knocked over and I was barely able to climb the tree before they attacked me.
Frazzt looks at his carriage and then turns to you with a pleading look on his face tapping his fingertips against each other repeatedly.
Errrm... It's a bit embarrassing but can I ask you for another favor? Can you maybe put my carriage back on its wheels? And I also had two horses that were drawing it. They fled after my vehicle was knocked over. If you'd be so kind to find them I'd not only replace your rations but also offer you a reward as a token of my appreciation. Without carriage and horses my financial situation would be.... dire

Stand back everyone, this is a job for me! Foldrat spits in his palms and goes to put the carriage back on its wheels.

Though familial with the woods he's no woodman himself so he goes to take a look at the wagon after helping, a bit, with resituating the wagon. Taking a moment to focus Garic will begin using his magic to repair any breaks he finds. If the break process too much he simply does what he can and moves on.

Josiah waits as their fellows speak with and disperse the hungry boars, standing guard, protecting those who remained in the rear. That includes Vienne, who is cute enough to normally redden the strapping lad’s cheeks when she speaks to him directly. It’s not so bad when she addresses the group, as she does now.

"Aye. Gale’s got this way with animals. And it probably helped that Jahamu was beside him. Smart of Foldrat to feed them, too. See? Off they go."

Soon enough they join the others and hear what the Salimarian merchant has to say. Josiah help Foldrat right the cart without a word, but he’s not so sure about chasing after the trader’s horses without clear mention of what the reward would be.

Giving Garic a wide berth as he works his goblin magic, Josiah looks for tracks, asking, "How long since they’ve bolted, and which way did they go?"

Sprout smiles at the peaceful resolution that his friends were able to negotiate. Well done, my friends!" Coming near to assist in the righting of the cast, Sprout is caught off guard by the sheer strength that Foldrat exhibits and stands speechless as he observes.