Festival of Dyhena

The rain is pelting down, hammering against the roof and the cobblestone outside the Inn. It’s a fairly average Inn by all accounts. It has rooms for sleeping, rooms for eating, rooms for cooking.. nothing about this inn is exceptional.

Except it’s patrons. It’s not long until the spring festival in Eldermere, the nearby capital city. In fact, it’s only two weeks away until the Festival of Dyhena, where all the races gather for trade. Dyhena is the goddess of trade. During this festival, an unusual life comes to Eldermere - it’s streets tingle with warmth and humour. The money flows freely and new and fascinating goods swamp the city. Fine silks, unusual spices, smoked fish from the islands, sweets, teas, books and fruits - the list goes on. If you have loose change, the Festival of Dyhena is the place to spend it.

The rumours are that the underworld of Eldermere lights up for the two week festival as well. Some even think it is they who help fund the festivities, but nothing has ever come of any investigations. The circus also comes to Eldermere, several of them in fact. Eldermere is a bustling hub, a shining citadel to over 50 thousand souls. It is, by the standards of the land, the heart of the civilised lands.

As such, around the time of Dyhena Festival, many strange faces appear at unexceptional Inns. This particular Inn has both the good fortune and the terrible misfortune to be only half a days travel from the outskirts of Eldermere, and as such gets very busy at this time of year. The owner, a burly but not unkind man of middle age by the name of Bor, finds this time of year particularly stressful. Tonight, his stress is not helped by the fact that currently sitting in his common room were, aside from his regulars, four very distinct groups. One group consisted of five dwarves. They were all staying in the Inn, and were sharing two rooms. This seemed to be causing some arguments within their little band. However, they spent their coin on food and plenty of coin on ale, so at least they made up for rowdiness. Another group was an assortment of travellers, a party of four, they were merry but kept to themselves. A dwarf, a human, a gnome and what looked like a half orc. The half orc was a good part of the stress the Innkeeper felt tonight. The other groups consisted a contingent of Elves and traders respectively. some of the traders were simple farmers from outlying lands, come to sell their stock or yield. The elves, it seemed, none of the staff could figure out. Bor had decided that they seemed smart, and likely there were some political people - but his guess was as good as the next. The half orc waved Bor’s assistant, his daughter, over for more ale.

When she arrived at the table, the half orc - a hulking creature with broad shoulders and a slight overbite that showed off the two sharp teeth on the bottom jaw, lifted the jug and handed it to the girl. It then spoke, and for a moment, the barmaid was surprised that a female voice came from beneath the travellers robes.

“More ale, girl.”

“Yes Miss!” the barmaid squeaked, petrified, trying not to drop the jug as she took it. They had all heard stories of Orcs. Savage creatures who lived beyond the eastern plains.

“Oh, you needn’t be afraid of Roe - she just looks scary. She’s really a big softie!” The dwarf across the table piped up. His voice was warm but firm, rather like Bor’s, and despite what the barmaid saw before her, she was marginally inclined to want to believe the dwarf.

“Be quite Harbek. No one asked you,” Roe, the half orc directed her attention to her companion. This didn’t seem to bother the study little dwarf. He was made of sterner stuff, a curt word from a creature twice his size wouldn’t stop him.

“Girl, I’d like another plate of meat and cheese, and another loaf of bread as well,” Harbek pointedly ignored the request to remain silent, and Roe turned away from the young girl and hunched over her meal. The barmaid nodded and dashed away, pleased that her father was paying her well for this week.

“Why don’t you go and drink with your clansmen Harbek,” Roe muttered.

“Because I have to keep an eye on you my dear, you’ve been upset the moment we started talking about Dyhena Festival. We went last year and had a glorious time!”

“No Harbek, you had a glorious time. Everywhere we went I got suspicious looks and sideways glances and high pitched voices and mothers telling their children ‘stay away sweetie, the half orc might get angry’,”Roe attempted to shut down the conversation by glaring at her friend.

“Be calm now, Roe. At least until the ale comes. We can return to this topic later. You know that Harbek cares for you,” the soft spoken human finally said.

Roe sniffed in acknowledgment, but said nothing more.

“I hope they have those sweets again!” the gnome, Nissa, changed the topic completely. “I remember I spent far too much on those sweets from the island.”

“I suspect we’ll have to go past the docks to make sure you don’t have too much money left over after this trip,” Harbek scratched his beard, shooting a smile at his comrade.

It wasn’t long before the food and ale came out, the barmaid scurrying away quickly to assist another guest calling out for ale.

“I want to talk to you all once supper is finished,” the human leaned forward and folded his arms on the table, “about tomorrow. We need to go over some details.”

“Shall we meet you in your room Fai?” Nissa asked seriously.

Fai Tan nodded, known to many as Tan, his friends were some of the few people who referred to his by his first name. “We won’t need too long I expect, but don’t get too drunk Harbek, or you Roe,”.

Roe scoffed. She rarely got drunk. Tipsy, all the time. Drunk, not so much. It made drinking contests with her friend Harbek very entertaining.

“I was feeling lucky about tonight too,” Harbek sighed, dejected.

Nissa rolled her eyes. She and Fai were no strangers to Harbek and Roe’s drinking competitions.

The conversation ebbed and flowed throughout the evening. Harbek eventually left the table to have a drink with the dwarves sitting at the nearby table, and Nissa and Roe decided to retire to their room until Fai came knocking.

It wasn’t until around 9 o’clock that Fai came, dragging Harbek with him. He knocked on the girls door as he passed, and shortly thereafter, the four of them were crowded around in a two bedroom room. It was cramped, especially with Roe squished in, but they managed.

Fai made sure to keep his voice low, you never knew who might be listening outside the door. The last year had taught him some valuable lessons.

“I know we talked about it before, but I wanted to emphasise, I don’t think we want people to know we’re back in town. Not yet.”

“I’m not against staying out of the public eye,” Roe didn’t have any objections to staying out of the limelight - as it were.

Nissa chuckled. No surprise there.

“That means no sweets, not yet anyway Nissa.”

Nissa’s face fell, and Harbek leaned over and patted her knee.

“Relax Nissa, the sweets will still be there later. It’s still two weeks until the festival begins.”

Fai gave Nissa a smile.

“It’s just for the moment at least. After the letter that General Darsk sent, we don’t want to alert his enemies that we’re in town and as soon as we’re seen, especially Roe, they’ll be on high alert.”

“Does that mean we can’t go home?” Roe asked, suddenly realising that one of the few pleasures she’d be looking forward to, might be further away than she thought.

“It may not be ideal…” Fai admitted.

Roe sighed, her big shoulders slumping. It was her friend in trouble, and despite her aversion to large groups of people, she had pushed for their return to Eldermere to check in on Darsk, and to be able to return to their city house. They’d all wanted to return though.

The four of them had been companions for several years now. Roe had been wandering the fields around the city aimlessly when she had happened across Harbek and Fai, who offered her some of their lunch, and asked if she’d lead them a hand with a job they had been given. Roe had been honourably discharged from the Eldermere military after an incident involving some slave traders. She hadn’t been in the wrong, not exactly, but if her commanding officer - then Colonel Darsk, hadn’t stood up for her and saved her from the prison yard by pulling some strings, she’d have been in a lot worse situation. She wasn’t book smart or quiet but she was street smart and could hold her own in a fight, and as such, she’d been welcomed by Fai and Harbek once the three of them earned each other’s trust.

Nissa had come along not shortly after. She’d sought out Harbek - an old family friend, because she wanted to see the world. She loved her family back home, but from what they had been able to gather, some sort of heartbreak had driven her to travel. Since then, she’d been invaluable to their little band - though her scruples were not as high as Roe or Fais’. She had managed to get them some extra cash here and there, and after Nissa had answered truthfully the first few times, they had stopped asking.

The four of them had, a year and a half ago, purchased a house in Eldermere, as much of the work they took was based around the city. Escorting caravans, documents, odd jobs with the local militia - anything they could find to pay the bills. Shortly after that however, they’d received well paid work escorting a merchant to some of his territories, and by the by, after tracking down some goblins who were raiding small settlements and other assorted jobs, they’d managed to be away longer than they had anticipated. Almost a year. Luckily Fai had a friend who’d been looking after the place.

The group been on their way home when they received news from Darsk that he might be in over his head at his new job - Advisor to the Council of Eldermere. He hadn’t said much, but what he had implied had made them all, especially Roe, nervous. She was a hard person to make nervous.

“What do you think we should do then?” Nissa asked Fai. They hadn’t really discussed what they’d do when the group arrived in Eldermere. Nissa suspected they may have been dodging the topic, or at least, Fai had been.

He rubbed his face, his hands going over his stubble. He hadn’t shaved for days and the road was taking it’s toll.

“I think, we leave as planned, and then once we’re only a short distance away, we rest, and go in at nighttime. If we go in under cover of darkness, we won’t be as likely to be seen entering the city and then we can go straight to our place. No one is staying there at the moment, so we can go in and then decide what to do from there.”

“I’d quite like to be able to go back to my room,” Nissa agreed. She’d been missing her belongings on the road, and had grown tired of wearing the three sets of clothes day in and out. Oh to be able to lay down her bow and armour, and wear her city clothes. She had sent many parcels home as well from their travels- some bought, some… not, and she was eager to reacquaint herself with her belongings.

“And your ill-gotten gains I’m sure,” Harbek said, slightly judgementally. Nissa didn’t respond though. She was used to judgement from her friends over her sticky fingers. Funny how they forgot about that when they didn’t have enough money to pay for dinner though..

“Alright, I’m ready for bed now,” Fai finally raised his voice. He was finished of the night.

“As would I,” Roe agreed.

“You lot are right boring sometimes,” Harbek sighed. “I’m back downstairs to drink with those dwarves. They’re a very merry little crowd.”

“Sorry to disappoint you Harbek,” Fai smiled at his friend.

“Ah, who cares. You’re good with the sharp end of a knife so I can’t complain too much,” and with that, Harbek jumped up and left the room. Roe and Nissa followed shortly after.

All were preoccupied with their thoughts. Fai on keeping his friends out of trouble, Nissa on her longing of home, Harbek with his drinking buddies downstairs, and Roe. Roe couldn’t get her mind off what trouble was coming that General Darsk had alluded too.