Heroes of the Realm Chapter 1: Meetings

Bud walked down the bustling street unimpeded. He realized why Captain Fisker always had him stay on the ship whenever they stayed here. Mostly human, the inhabitants avoided eye contact wherever possible with the dripping wet half-orc as he walked up the cities market street.

Most port towns wouldn't look twice at a half-orc, but the kingdom of Kind was a different beast entirely.

He idly padded the small bag of coins at his hip, reassuring himself that even here an innkeeper wouldn't turn him away if he could pay, and thanked sweet Gabrius that he at least had the coin to do so. He was exhausted, and while he could sleep anywhere, one night at an inn would probably do him good.

***
Gimini Cogworthy knew a mark when he saw one. Walking up the Trade Street, bare chested and soaking wet, the orc had to be drunk. Didn't see much of his kind around here, but the gnome wasn't about to question his good luck.

He slipped into the crowd, bright green cloak billowing around him. Most thieves traditionally wore black but Gimini wasn't a fan of advertising himself to targets. Using the magic inherit to his race he conjured an illusionary fly to buzz around the orc's head. In an instant Gimini had the bag of gold and was walking back into the crowd.

He was only a dozen steps away when he heard "Hay!" coming from behind him.

Gimini broke out into a run.

***
Talesian of the Honorable House Quithlana sat enjoying his afternoon tea at the quiet little bistro near the marketplace. The book he read had a particularly interesting chapter on the frequency of goblin hoard attacks on the Western Planes during the avocation of Vulmon the Generous.

If the chapter hadn't been so interesting he may've noticed the gnome running at full speed around the corner, running across his table and jumping over the back gate. Unfortunately by the time he looked up all he caught was a glimpse of an orc smashing through both himself and the table and slamming into the gate with a roar, breaking its hinges.

Talesian was so insulted by the rude disturbance of his reading (And the spilling of his tea over his long coat) that he decided to go after the miscreants himself and turn them into the city guard at once.

***

The dog stopped in front of an inconspicuous building and began to howl. Cassandra drew her bow and knocked an arrow. The creature had to be near here, but in the city she was completely lost. Moonlight howled again and began scratching at the wall of the building, indicating it was inside.
She looked around trying to spot an opening without looking too conspicuous. She saw a window 15 feet off the ground and made an annoyed huff at it.

Human cities were too tall.

Removing a grappling hook from her belt, she began to tie a rope to it while estimating if she could get ahold of the bars. In the wild her size rarely made any difference, as an owlbear could take out a halfling just as easily as it could a human, but in the city everything felt just a little too far out of her reach, like she was a child.

After a couple swings she managed to nab the bars and climb up to the window, her athletic body having no trouble with herself or her gear. At the top she peered through the glass at her prey: An ogre stood in a large room, pacing back and fourth in front of a human with a whip.

"What in the hells..." she whispered as she peered in. Before she had time to decide on a plan of attack, her dog Moonlight started barking below. She looked down to see a gnome in a green cloak grab her rope and start climbing up, with an orc- no a half orc- hot on his heels. In a moment the gnome was sitting on the small window sill staring down at his persuer.

"Good afternoon," the gnome greeted.

"Good afternoon," replied Cassandra, now beyond confused.

The half-orc and Moonlight both seemed to be below them barking, though the half-orc sounded far more threatening, especially wielding an axe in each hand.

"Look, I'm sorry, here." said the gnome as he dropped a small purse down. It clinked on the pavement with the unmistakable sound of gold, but was completely ignored by the half-orc.

"Did you steal that from him?" Cassandra asked, arranging herself to a similar sitting position next to the gnome.

"Well, yes, but in my defense I thought he was drunk." he replied with a smile.

"How is that a defense?" She asked.

Before he could reply she saw the half-orc throw an axe and barely miss their heads. This was getting out of hand.

"Now see here," Cassandra said, pulling her bow back out. "You got your gold back, if you still have issue with this man then take it up with the city guard, but don't go dragging me into it by getting me killed!"

Either Cassandra's words or the arrow in her hand convinced the half-orc to calm down because he took a deep breath and visibly relaxed, though kept his eyes glued above him. Cassandra breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wasn't going to have to kill this idiot, though she felt like she should remember something...

Just then a man with a floppy pointed hat and a long black and gold jacket turned the corner.

"You owe me a new cup of tea!" he shouted, pointing at the half-orc. The half-orc turned to him and opened up his arms as the other man approached.

"I'm sorry but he stole my purse!" he shouted as he pointed up to the gnome.

"I thought you were drunk!" the gnome shouted back.

Cassandra was about to try and have the man explain again why that gave him a right to steal when the wall they were sitting on exploded outward in a shower of stone and dust. Her and the gnome both managed to tumble to the ground without taking any serious damage, though the half-orc and hatted man were both sprawled on the ground. As the dust settled Cassandra realized three things at once: The first was that the man had lost his hat and she could now see that the man was an elf, second was that her bow was no longer with her, and third that she had completely forgotten that the only reason she was on that wall was that she was tracking an ogre through the city.

An ogre that was now standing in front of them.