A Very Warm Greeting

## Prologue

It is late on New Year's Eve as you walk through the deserted streets. The people of the city know that an army is on its way, so normal festivities for the Festival of Dreams have been a little muted this year. While normally this would have been a disappointment, it does allow you to travel unmolested.

The location where you are to meet your contact with the resistance tonight is in a poorer district of the city, a little over a mile from the western city wall filled with slush-covered cobblestone streets and dark snow-filled alleyways. The evening is dark, claustrophobic, the multi-story buildings of the city looming in the night with no lights in most windows. The city seems to be holding its collective breath as if the few flakes lazily drifting from the sky were instead a blizzard. You start getting closer towards the target, the location that you're headed to, the Poison Apple Pub, and along the way you start to notice that you're not actually as alone on the streets as you first thought.

Some faces nearby that seem to be traveling in the same direction as you resolve into familiar faces by now, or at least ones that you've seen around the city. The only one that's a little bit more of a surprise probably, the one that's a little further back, a little more in the shadows and a little bit taller than the rest of them and a lot a bit furrier. You realize that all five of you are headed in the same direction to the same place.

The two Elves are first, shortly behind comes a Half Orc in slightly misfitting armor, stepping out from the shadows is a small Halfling covered in a cloak, and a little further back, but curious nonetheless, is the snow white with black spots Tabaxi. The resistance has put together a slightly larger party than you might have first thought. It seems as though five of you are going to meet together to fulfill this request we're all still outside the pub right

## Plot

Snow and slush covered the wintry streets of Gate Pass, and though it was the eve of New Year, celebrations were slight and ill-attended. Candles in the windows of family homes and the occasional group of joyous participants could not pierce the veil of tension and worry covering the city. Something deadly and dangerous was on the way to Gate Pass, and everyone knew it was coming. The squelch of boots on slush marred the night as five brave souls marched into the darkness. The high elves, Jack the bard and Myetharia, the fighter, led the way followed closely by a stealthy and determined Rayland, the halfling rogue, and Bryn the half-orc who blended more into the shadows than one would expect of a cleric. Closing the distance behind the loose group, Winry the Tabaxi definitely avoided the puddles and deeper snow using her training as a monk.

After some brief greetings, the mismatch band was allowed into the dark and sparse Poison Apple Pub and joined a table where only one person was seated, Torrent, a white-haired woman revealed to them some stark news, a Ragasian army was marching for Gate Pass with a platoon of deadly inquisitors, there to question the magic users not aligned with their nation. Torrent said the only salvation for Gate Pass was to rally an army to rebuff the invaders an army from the Lyceum in Dassen, but first they needed to meet a gnome named Funzbar Biteknee, who held a package for the resistance which contained vital information from the heart of the Ragasian palace itself.

As the party dusted off their coats to head back into the cold night, the inn was attacked. Fireballs rained down on the roof as assailants wearing red armbands emblazoned with the head of a black horse moved in to disrupt the group. A few of these assailants fell to the fires as their human captain barked orders from outside the pub. A tense fight ensued, with Myetharia holding a strong front line as she slashed foes with her twin swords, Winry athletically floating across the floor, punching and kicking her way through the attackers, while Rayland searched for a way out of the burning building, lunging with his sword and firing with his crossbow. Jack attempted to delay and distract the attackers with tricks and ploys as Bryn healed wounds and magically incapacitated foes. Finally, the fighting band found their escape, and while escaping, Bryn asked Rayland to assist her in acquiring one of the red armbands of the attackers. As Torrent had stated, the army had arrived and the battle for Gate Pass had begun.

## Trivia

The episode title name comes from Jack's signature greeting when meeting new people.