System Used: DnD 5e
Players: A playing as Ski, Jess as Nerida

It's been a few days since Princess Ski, her best friend, Nemeia, and Nemeia's older sister, Ea, arrived in Aidespir. The festivities went by largely without issue, as tensions were clear but also helped ensure that no one stepped out of line. The duties of a diplomat essentially complete, Ski and her group went to enjoy a meal at one of the local eateries.

Inside, a bartender with long blonde hair served food and drinks to the patrons, which currently consisted of your own party and one other. After about thirty minutes, a female fae walked in and asked the bartender something before heading to the back near the restroom. When she entered, she glanced quickly at Ski, a move that Ea took note of. The bartender rolled her eyes.

The Fae race was a fairly diverse group made up of many forms of beings. Some were small and pixie sized. Some were subspecies of monsters, such as the two-foot fae dragon that was encountered recently in the forest. In this case, this fae was about the same size as most humanoids and looked almost elvish if not for the large wings that came behind her. It is worth noting that there is a lot of racism in the land of Mern and that fae are typically one of the most commonly targeted minorities of the land.

Soon, the fae exited the restroom, said something briefly to the bartender which saw no reply. She then directed herself towards the exit before stopping, hesitating slightly. Ea's hand reached for her sword just in case. In her defense, the fae did indeed turn toward the group in a look of nervousness.

"Why....hel..hello...are you....are you the Princess from Garell?"

"She is, what of it?", Ea replied quickly, though not out of bigotry but of caution.

Ski smiled, "how can we help you, dear?"

The nervousness lifted a bit with the warmness of Ski's words.

The fae then told them that two days ago her dear friend, Marwena, had gone missing. She had tried to speak with anyone that would listen but that was a rather small pool and most just assured her that her friend likely was fine while essentially brushing her off. The best lead she had so far was that there were rumors of goblins in the forest near and, well, goblins were known for bad habits. After a slight bit of rambling she finally remembered to introduce herself as Nerida. 

After a brief chat with the Garell group, Ski stood up and walked over to the table that seated the other union of patrons and asked if they had any ideas on the subject, largely because they kept glaring over at the fae. While the one that she asked directly was annoyed and tried to shoo her off, the elf in a green cloak that accompanied them chimed in quickly, silencing the rude eye patched girl to tell them that he had heard a few people claim they had seen goblins acting suspiciously around the outskirts of the festival of late. The third member of the group, a large half-orc, added that when he had been hunting last night he had seen what he presumed to be a goblin lookout near a waterfall north east from here, and to follow the river.

Ski thanked them and returned to Nemeia, Ea, and Nerida.

"Seems like I have a lead", she smiled. "We're going to come with."

Ea tried to debate the princess to no avail, and Nerida was admittedly shocked by the news, having no real expectations heading in other than faint hope.

They paid up for their meals and went straight towards the trees, quickly locating the river within a short walk. As suggested by the half-orc earlier, they saw a small goblin near a bush seemingly keeping guard, though he currently had his back turned to them.

Nerida used a spell to pull water up from the lake and froze it at the ground, freezing one of the goblin's feet in place while the others ran in to attack. The little green beast quickly went from shock to terror and begged for its' life which caused

Ski stopped Nemeia and Ea from attacking and asked it to confirm where the base was, if they had a captive, and what to expect before sending it loose with the promise that it must never come back.

They then followed the river to the waterfall and entered through, all swimming outside of Nerida, but were attacked immediately by a set of goblins. Luckily for them, they were poor shots.

The first shot an arrow out through to the other side of the waterfall and the other broke his bow while trying to shoot it. The party put them away with relative ease and pocketed a bit of gold that they had. They then went about exploring the small cavern. Heading down an alley, they quickly spotted a tiny cell. A gasp of relief exited Nerida as she caught the image of her friend, the sole captive, behind the bars. She looked hurt and unconscious. From behind them, a goblin attacked from the shadows along with another that had been guarding the prisoner but was awoken by the battlecry of his ally. Making matters worse, the goblin boss and his goblin dog that he had leashed joined from the west.

Ea and Nemeia took the battle to the boss and canine. Ski to the goblin that attacked from behind, and Nerida worked with the guard.

Metal clanked loud, echoing throughout the chamber and the few tunnels to an almost deafening level.

Nemeia thought herself in trouble when she saw Ea miss a shot with her morningstar and it catching into the rock wall but she managed to dodge an attack and pull her sword evening things back out. Once Ski and Nerida had finished with their enemies, they joined in against the boss and goblin dog. Like the fae dragon before and the goblin earlier that evening, Ski insisted on releasing the beasts when they pleaded for their lives. Ea, increasingly reluctant, followed orders.

"He has no forces. He's nothing now. Show mercy, Ea. It's the right thing."

They used the key the boss gave them before fleeing to get Nerida's faeish friend out of the cell. Nerida thanked them sincerely for helping and told them she would fly Marwena to get medical help.

They nodded in return, Ski smiling in the belief that all would be fine now, and let them leave; but not before catching Nerida at the last second to ask a question:

"Why did you come and ask us, by the way, for help?"

She replied back,"Because of what you did for the dragon, of course."