Two farm boys, Malfoy yes, there was a Harry Potter Marathon on TV during character creation - thanx for asking! and Neo, were out working in the fields near the only "road" that connects their tiny unnamed village with the much larger cities - Orlane to the East and Andevar to the West. That afternoon they happened to see a fairly large group of mounted travelers on the road heading West towards Andevar, the city that controlled most of the surrounding region. The group included several heavily armed guards some sort of officer and several baggage animals and porters.

With visions of adventure in their heads inspired by the passing caravan, the boys got out their trusty "weapons" after their work was done (really an ancient discarded dagger and an equally old short bow) and pretended they were mercenaries hired to protect the King. This was hilarious! I had him rolling dice to hit a tree a few times to get a feel for the process. He was taking it MUCH more seriously than I was

A couple of days later finds the boys working in the same field again what else do farmers do? when two travelers come down the road heading East - one on horseback and the other walking and leading the horse. As they were passing by, the one on the horse wobbled a bit and fell off. The other traveler immediately went to his aid and, seeing the boys, yelled for help. They went over and did what they could but the injured man was unconscious and they could not revive him. In the process they noticed that the second man, who identified himself as Hendrix, was injured as well but not as seriously as the unconscious fellow. Between the three of them they managed to drape the injured man over his horse and take him into the village.

This village was tiny, had no official name and showed up on no maps but, as all GOOD village do, it DID have an Inn of sorts with a couple of rooms that never got used much and a common room that served as a combination tavern/village meeting hall. The boys led the injured men there. When they got to the "Inn", the grumpy Tavern Keeper/Mayor told them how much it was to rent a room get a meal. He asked for the money for the first night up front. Malfoy, having saved up a few coins that he hid under his bed, ran home and got the money and paid for the room for two nights. He did not even ask Hendrix for any money. IMHO this was a very interesting thing - I asked him about this at the end of the session and he said the important thing was to get the people taken care of. He figured he would get more money someday

The next Day, Malfoy dropped by the Inn to check on the travelers. He found them both sitting at a table and eating. Their clothing was torn and stained but they were both completely healed of their injuries. The man that was riding the horse the previous day introduced himself as Magnus. It turns out he was the "officer" leading of the big group of people the boys heading West some days ago. Magnus described himself as a Cleric of the Temple of Merika located in Orlane. a few days ride East from the village. He was so thankful for the assistance of the two boys that he paid back the money Malfoy spent for the Inn - twice!

Magnus explained that he had been tasked with escorting a "priceless relic of the temple" to the regional temple in Andevar - close to a month's travel from his home temple in Orlance. About three days after they passed through Malfoy's village the group was attacked in the night. They lost about half their number in that attack. In the morning they discovered both humans and goblins amongst the dead attackers. Magnus decided to push on for Andevar instead of turning back. Two nights later they were attacked again - this time by an apparently larger force. The next thing Magnus remembers is waking up in the little Inn.

Hendrix filled in some detail here. He was hired by the Temple as a personal body guard for Magnus. When Magnus went down in battle, Hendrix dragged him away to safety and dressed his wounds as best he could. The sounds of battle eventually quieted down until they faded off to silence but Hendirx kept Magnus hidden for the rest of the night. When Hendrix went back the next morning to see what happened, the only sign that there had been a battle was some blood on the ground and a lot of foot prints (Human and Goblin). The rest of the caravan and even their horses were gone. The dead attackers (assuming there were some) were gone too. At this point Magnus was still pretty much out of it so Hendrix foraged around a bit and "borrowed" a horse from a local farmer for Magnus to ride and started heading back to the Temple on Orlane. After spending two days at the Inn and feeling somewhat refreshed, Magnus decided to was time to head back to Orlane. When Hendrix asked if they were going back to the Temple, Magnus said no. He said his intention was to recruit as many adventurers and mercenaries as he could and set of in search of the stolen artifact. The Temple had entrusted him with the mission to deliver the artifact and he did not intend to return to the Temple until the missions was accomplished.

Malfoy and Neo thought this was finally their opportunity to leave the confines of their tiny village and "see the world". They kept pestering Magnus until he reluctantly let them come with him - at least for the 5-day trip to Orlane. They were so excited to get started on their first adventure that they never thought to ask Magnus for payment for their first job as "guards".

Magnus and Hendrix spent the rest of that day negotiation with the local farmers to purchase three more horses and one almost functional Short Sword to replace Malfooy's hopelessly rusted dagger. The little group set out for Orlane the next morning. The first two days of travel were uneventful. So much so that Malfoy made a comment along the lines of "this being a guard thing is really not all that hard"..

On the second night, the party neglected to set a watch. In the middle of the night, they were attacked by a group of 6 Goblins attracted by the campfire. Identifying Magnus as the leader by his armor and surcoat , three of the goblins attacked him and each of the remining three attacked one of the other party members. With the surprise of the attack, all of the party members except for Neo took minor damage for the Goblin's initial assault. Amazingly, even with three attackers focused on him, Magnus only suffered a minor scratch before he got to his feet and was able to defend himself. Hendrix dispatched his foe with a couple of deft thrusts of his short sword and moved to assist Magnus. Neo and Malfoy having never been in actual combat before forgot all about attacking and focused on just parrying the incoming blows. At least this is what it looked like to an outside observer - in truth I have never seen so many swings and misses at an AC 7 opponent in my life! Eventually Magnus and Hendrix managed to kill four of the goblins. The remaining two decided to make a break for it and ran. New and Malfoy, bravely struck their opponents in the back as they fled ending the conflict.

When things had calmed down a bit Malfoy realized that he had taken a pretty serious wound in his shoulder during the fight but now it was almost all the way healed. He vaguely remembered Magnus touching him on the arm at some point. When asked about this, Magnus explained that healing magic was something that Merika granted to her cleric followers. This comment clicked a few things into place in Malfoy's mind and he said "So that is why you looked all better at the Inn after only one night's rest!" See? Intelligence is not totally a throw away stat for a fighter…

After learning their lesson and setting a watch at night for the remainder of the trip the party reached Orlane with no other incidents other than a rather territorial bear trying to convince them that it needed their rations more than they did.

So, this is where the first session ended. Two young men have started on a life of adventure and one priceless religious artifact has gone missing. The person arguably responsible for both events is trying to figure out a way to complete his mission without asking for the assistance (or the resources) of the Temple that assigned him the task. The only person coming out ahead in this adventure so far is the guy that bought a full bear pelt and claws from a young man for only a few silver pieces….