New Friends

Map of Westerhaven

"**New Friends**" (1x01) is the *Dun-Johns & Dragons* series premiere.

## **Synopsis**

### **Beginning exposition**

On the western half of The Cracked Continent, lies The Cagaspian Empire, the dominion claimed long ago by the Eternal Emperor, recently divided at the dying King’s wishes. Set apart from the Elven land of Eldidra across the Emerald Ocean to the North West, and fractured off from the Eastern half over the sundered shore, where the Republic of The Fourth Dwarven Empire try to hold their hard-won peace from the untamed fury of The Ragelands, and far away from the wild expanse of Crystaria, where mystery and magic hold sway.

To the south of the lush green lands around Cagaspian Capital, lies the principality of Wolvia. Similar to the barren wastes of Dirtlandia beyond the Fierfoot Mountains, this quadrant was recently formed and named for its provincial ruler, Prince Tara Cadagast dubbed The Wolf, and the King’s oldest brother. Whilst not boasting the natural beauty of the capital lands, nor the richness of resources found in the western swamplands of Dunmire, Wolvia provides easy living and verdant farmland for its subjects, though not without ample opportunities for budding heroes to keep it that way.

On the east coast squats the city of Westerhaven. An ancient port and long-established hub of commerce, the territory has prospered under a long period of peace. Visible from miles around, the Halcyon Spire catches the bright sun on its alabaster surface, a beacon of the region’s power, home as it is to the Prince.

The large fractured moon Selu’may makes its way lazily across an inviting Nuwat sky, its smaller counterpart Heggia, hidden below the horizon. A warm Suncrest breeze blows through the houses and market stalls of the mercantile quarter of the city, disturbing some petals and scraps of coloured paper, discarded from the previous week's Laurel’s of the King celebration.

### **Part I**

We meet Yoolna and Zander deciding to pick up the quest to kill bears near Lamlet Rise, from the notice board at the Westerhaven Docks. They decide that they need to expand their party to complete this quest, and promptly meet and join up with Dugluss, Stone and Magpie who just arrived by ship, in part to even out the height distribution of the group. They decide to leave the docks after receiving some sideways glances from the stevedores and sailors and find a pub in the merchantile quarter. They to go "The Fallen Flagon", where they meet Father Buckitt, an odd dwarf wearing a bucket on his head, preaching the word of The Great Bucket in the Sky to any passers-by. Stone goes into a protective stance, Dugluss is interested in what Father Buckitt has to say. Father Buckitt is told to leave by the innkeeper, making Father Buckitt despair at his lack of progress with spreading the word. Magpie proposes making flyers instead of trying to get people to take buckets. Dugluss invites Father Buckitt to join them for a drink and they all enter the Fallen Flagon. He pays two silver for six beers which Magpie and Zander wish to be served in flagons since they've never seen a flagon before. The innkeeper wants to serve in mugs but Dugluss calls him out for false advertisement. They get their beers in mugs anyway. Zander, Dugluss, Father Buckitt and Magpie partake in the beer, to the delight of Father Buckitt and Dugluss, and the detriment of Zander and Magpie. Zander drips some on his sword, Carrot, which most of the others see him do, but without getting a good look at the sword. Carrot asks if it was old vegetable liquid. Dugluss comments that Zander is odd and Father Buckitt orders another round and a cheer goes around the table, "To new friends!". Zander invites Father Buckitt to join them on the bear quest but then questions his own decisions because he believes that Father Buckitt can't see. The others decide to test his sight, and the magical abilities of his bucket make short work of. Dugluss is starting to consider the faith of the Great Bucket in the Sky at this point. Father Buckitt remembers that he left his belongings outside, and find that all of his buckets are now stolen. Since he now has nothing to do in town, he decided to join the party. At this point Magpie is tipsy and wants more beer, but everyone else is leaving, and Stone is the voice of reason and convinces Magpie to go earn some money before spending anymore.

They leave the city, and Father Buckitt knows the way to Lamlet Rise. They arrive at Lamlet Rise after a few hours and start looking for bear tracks. Dugluss makes a lot of clanking noises, making it near impossible to stay quiet should they want to. Stone has some experience in survival and finds the trail. They come across the half-rotted and half-eaten remains of a goat which shows them that they're on the right path. They carry onwards north, find no more carcasses, but starts noticing movement. As they get closer, they notice that the wind isn't in their favour and would blow their scent towards the bears, so they go around westward to avoid that. They find two bears in the forest, and the bears do not initially notice them so Zander and Yoolna manage to get a little closer, before the bears' notice and attack Yoolna. Zander is revealed to have a magical sword shaped like a carrot, with green vines creeping up his arm and an eye on the pommel. General combat breaks out and Yoolna gets injured fairly early on. Stone activates The Twilight Zone. One of the bears tries to eat Dugluss, to no avail, given that he's covered head to toe in armour.

### **BREAK**

The break starts at 1:52:57, ends at 2:04:53

### **Part II**

Yoolna attacks the bear, cutting a Y into its side, before falling back a bit. Zander attacks one of the bears with Carrot, who comments that it thinks beer tastes funny. Father Buckitt heals Yoolna, and she's visibly impressed and grateful that this bucket wearing person could help her. Magpie also carves an M on its side. The bears are eventually defeated. They know they need to bring proof to the captain's office and Stone takes some meat and hide. Zander and Carrot attempt to skin the other one, and gets one strip of hide.

The dwarves go over to the cave that the bears came from, following the smell of rot. Magpie advises not to make noise, and Dugluss instantly shouts "Forward!", making the cave echo. Magpie and Zander sneak in, and find bear corpses, causing some amount of worry among the group, thinking about what could have caused this. The dwarves don't consider stealth and just walk in. The echo of the cave made it near impossible to keep quiet, especially Dugluss doesn't care for quiet. Father Buckitt detects no fiends, celestials or undead in the vicinity. The smell gets worse as they go further into the cave. Father Buckitt then hears a noise echoing around the cave, and guesses it's spiders. A giant scorpion appears, crawling down the side of the cave.

#### **Notice Board**

- "Crew wanted to man The Queens Tempest, must have sea experience and nothing to lose, inquire to Dockmaster Halft{presumed}"

- "Bolts of silk wanted, highest quality, varying colours, details from Seer{presumed} at Hide and Sheek in The Silver Sector"

- "Any citizens with information about the identity or whereabouts of The Baelor Butcher, must inform The Braven Fist or any member of The Wolfpack, under threat of imprisonment" - grafittied with "It's Prince Tara!"

- "Sellswords needed to seek and destroy the threat to northern farmlands. Multiple large bears sighted killing and stealing cattle near Lamlet Rise, 120g reward, plus any meat and hide recovered. Bring proof to the captain's office outside the Silver Sector barracks" Everyone decided to join up to even out the height distribution.

## **Featured Characters**

### **Player Characters**

* Dugluss Deep-Forge
* Father Buckitt
* Magpie
* Stone
* Yoolna
* Zander Brushspark

### **Mentioned**

* The Baelor Butcher
* Dockmaster Halft
* Seer
* Tara Cadagast

## **Quotations**

* Magpie: "That's a really neat magic trick, can you teach it to me?" Zander: "You probably wouldn't enjoy it"
* JD: "Father Buckitt spent his live in the care of the temple" Le Humph: "No one else would take him" JD: "I don't want to get into it, but yeah!"