FC0 - CH 1: Goblin Raid

[JadedDM]

It's a late summer morning when Octavia wakes up in her bedroom, alone. Her older sister, Hallie, and her younger sister, Sparrow, were all ready awake and gone to do their chores. Likely, they had been up at dawn. Looking out the window, Octavia reckons it's closer to 10 now.

This means she has slept in again. She's missed breakfast, so her mother will be furious.

Times have been tough here in the small nation of Gontoria. Years ago, long before Tavi was born, this nation was quite prosperous. It had good trade relations with its neighbors, like Tramilar to the south. The village of Sturnheim was quite important in that regard, as it was something of a crossroads between all the larger nearby cities. But that all changed forty years ago.

A large merchant caravan, which included a gold shipment composed of much of Sturnheim's money in its cargo, disappeared. The gold had been sent away for an investment. The disappearance occurred on the road in the eastern edge of the foothills. Outraged at this loss, many merchant guilds of the surrounding larger cities collaborated and organized different routes, by passing the unfortunate village.

Determined to restore Sturnheim's honor and reputation, a band of eight adventurers combed the hills looking for traces of the caravan. Tavi's grandfather, Roland, was among them. He died, along with three others, in the process. The other four returned home failures.

Shamed by their defeat, two of the survivors left town. Of the two who remained behind, one eventually went mad and fled town, and the other stayed in Sturnheim despite the ridicule and dislike showered upon him by the villagers.

Tavi's grandmother, the now widowed Lillian, was unable to handle it. She never even knew how her husband died, and was too grief-stricken to deal with the shame and dishonor piled upon her late husband's name. She took her daughter, Aubrey--Tavi's mother--out into the country and tried to scratch out a living there.

Life was hard. It was made all the harder by the constant raids from brigands and goblins. Because Sturnheim was no longer important, the king never sent many troops to patrol the roads and keep the people there safe. One day, a soldier turned mercenary happened by and saved the ranch from such a raid. The soldier, Lindsay, fell in love with Aubrey and he decided to settle down and help her and her mother protect the ranch.

Although her parents have survived here, barely, life has not been easy. They now have three daughters and cannot marry them off as the only men nearby are from Sturnheim, and even after all of this time, there is much stigma tied to the family.

It is because of all of this that Tavi hopes to one day find a way to restore her family name and earn enough gold to keep the ranch afloat. But she'll never do that at this rate. Her mother won't even let her visit town. She's never seen anything of the world outside of this ranch.

Even though there's no reason to believe this day will be any different from all of the previous ones, something in the morning air convinces her that somehow, today will be different.

[HorizonsDream]

Knowing that she was going to be in trouble, Tavi takes her time getting dressed. Despite the fact she likes to play a sword-wielding hero that saves the day, she also likes to look like a girl when she gets the chance. Of course, there weren't any men around to impress. Those were the days where she decided there wasn't much of a point in primping. Today felt different though.

With a satisfied grin after a thirty minute primping session in front of the mirror, Tavi nearly skips out of her bedroom and into the living room. Something about today just makes her cheerful, or at least more cheerful than normal. "Good morning!" she calls out to the nearest person she sees, hoping that it isn't her mother. A lecture this early in the morning is something that would put a damper on her mood for sure.

[JadedDM]

"Good morning, dear," her grandmother Lillian replies. "Although a little later, and 'good afternoon' would have been more appropriate. Your mother is in the kitchen, if you want to risk getting a cold breakfast and a lecture as opposed to no breakfast and...a lecture later on," she teases.

Lillian is a 62 year old woman and it showed. She is a tough old broad, but a lifetime of hardships and loss has given her gnarled hands, a bent back, and leathery skin. Supposedly, she was quite the beauty in her day. Tavi has wondered, more than once, if she might one day suffer a similar fate in the far future.

[HorizonsDream]

"You know, someone, and I'm not going to name names," Tavi starts before coughing out the name 'Hallie'. "Could have woke me up, but I guess she is still sore about her dress," Tavi says with a snicker. "I had to use something to clean up my sword, and it isn't like she is ever going to use it anyway. Of course, I probably shouldn't have folded it up and placed it back where I found it either now that I think about it."

[JadedDM]

"Ah, yeah. I had forgotten about that," Lillian says, putting a finger to her chin. "Guess that means you now have two angry women to avoid. Good luck with that, Tavi," she says. Lillian had never called Octavia by her full name, and most of the family had adopted the nickname over time, as well.

[HorizonsDream]

Tavi lets out a small sigh, as this was turning out to be a more difficult day than she actually wanted it to be. "Maybe if I get a few chores done first, she won't be so mad," she offers as she turns to walk outside to the barn. "I'll see you later, granny Lil!" It was her turn to sweep out the barn, and replace the old hay with the new hay.

[JadedDM]

It takes a couple of hours before Tavi completes her task. But when she's done, although sweaty and tired, she can take pride in the fact that she did a good job.

As she's admiring her handiwork, a younger girl of fourteen years strode in, her black hair in pigtails and a wide-brimmed hat too big for her on her head. It was her baby sister, who everyone just called Sparrow. "Nice job," she comments, looking around. "Mama's gonna tan your hide, though for waking up late. And Hallie's fit to be tide still 'bout her dress. You gotta plan to make it up to them or something?" she asks.

====================

Tavi makes a DEX check (1d20): 12, pass. She does a good job sweeping.

It is now 12:30 PM.

[HorizonsDream]

Tavi wipes her forehead with the back of her sleeve, so much for all that primping she did today. "This was pretty much what I planned on doing for ma," she says with a shrug. "As for Hallie, I think the only thing that would appease her would be to buy her a new dress, or take over her chores for a week." She didn't look too terribly worried about the whole thing from the look on her face, but then again after doing such a good job on the barn she was tired.

"You know this is nothing new. Besides, if I see daddy first, I might be able to convince him to get ma to go easy on me," she says with a grin.

[JadedDM]

"Better catch him before he goes to lunch, then," Sparrow suggests. "He's out at the corral with the horses. Oh, yeah, that's what I came to tell you. It's lunch time now." With that, she turns and moseys back out to return to the house.

[HorizonsDream]

"Right!"

Tavi drops her broom, and runs from the barn to hopefully catch her dad before he returns to the house for lunch. "Daddy!" she calls out.

[JadedDM]

Running out the barn, she spots her father just about to step inside the house, his hand on the doorknob. He starts when she calls for him, and looks around until he sees her. "Afternoon there, Sweet Pea," he says. He always called her that. Hallie was "Pumpkin" and Annissa was "Sparrow." The latter is what everyone calls her now. So Tavi can be thankful that it was her grandmother's nickname that stuck, not her father's. "Ready for lunch? If you finished your chores, you can help me with the horses after we eat."

Her father, Lindsay, was once a soldier in Gontoria's army. He had signed up as a young man, hoping to make a difference. When he learned that this area of the country had all but been abandoned, he asked to be assigned there. But the king saw little reason to waste manpower on such an endeavor. Frustrated, Lindsay retired and became an adventurer instead. He patrolled the land himself, and that was how he met Tavi's mother. The ranch had been under attack by goblin raiders looking to steal some livestock when he happened by. He fought them off, fell in love with Aubrey, and remained here ever since.

Goblins still raid on occasion, but only when they get very desperate. And Lindsay is usually able to just scare them off without much bloodshed. He still keeps in shape, although in his forties, as a result. Not to mention all of the work he does on the ranch, too.

[HorizonsDream]

"I finished cleaning out the barn," Tavi admits with a grin. "It looks really good by the way," she adds. "So I think I can help you with the horses. Anyway, do you think maybe you can talk to mom? She has it out for me today because I slept in...again," she says with a sigh. "But you know I was up late finishing up the chores I had piled up on me."

[JadedDM]

Lindsay smiles and shakes his head. "Yeah, I remember. I remember you fell behind in your chores in the first place because you keep sleeping in." He tousles her hair. "I can only do so much, you know. Your mother has a point about you lacking discipline. There's a time and place for fun and games, but only after all of the work is done, you know?"

[HorizonsDream]

"But the work is never done," Tavi points out. "When was the last time us girls got to just...be girls?" she asks curiously. As far as she could remember, she was always doing chores for the ranch. "But I guess I can't complain," she admits and kisses his cheek. "Thanks, daddy."

[JadedDM]

Lindsay sighs. "I guess you have a point there. It's no wonder I can't get any of you gals married off," he jokes. "Even if some dashing prince showed up at our doorstep, holding a glass slipper like in that old story, you'd all look more like farmhands than anything else." He scratches lightly at his stubble. "Hmph. All right, I'll talk to your mother. But you've got to promise me to try a little harder and keep up with your chores, all right?"

====================

Tavi makes a CHA check with a +6 bonus for being a daddy's girl (1d20): 1, Lindsay is moved from Indifferent to Friendly.