While Alton mentally readies himself for combat, Kaellanna looks around trying to determine anything she can about her present situation. Not knowing this particular jungle from personal experience she is able to determine some key aspects of its particular anatomy. Specific is the mix of characteristics usually identified as jungle, forest and marsh. In addition is the extreme heat, humidity, altitude, and size of individual flora. By the sounds of them the fauna are both large and prolific. Even the undergrowth is much larger than anyone has experienced previously. By the looks of the few paths winding through the undergrowth, there are some creatures of medium size living here, though none have shown themselves yet. And by the limited, dappled and dim light finding its way to the groups location they can see a tree canopy above beginning about 100' up.

New Beginnings

Avegnum Nor, warrior extraordinaire, comes stumbling out of the nameless tavern mid-Sharn and barely manages to arrest his momentum before he is flattened by the early morning traffic. The stench of ale is heavy on his breath but as his eyes adjust to the brightness of the light outside, he utters an unintelligible curse. Looking around he spots a water trough for traveler's mounts and dunks his entire head into the water to knock some sense back into himself. Gasping and hacking up alcohol scented phlegm, he slicks back his brown locks and stares at the reflection of his face in the rippling water.

Only a handful of years ago he had been human... but now a face, a stranger still, peers back at him. The only remnants of his past life that he still recognized were the piercing blue eyes that had been hardened ever since their unmitigated failures and the menial work that had been assigned to them. Feeling more sure of his body, Avegnum sets off for the Wanderer's Inn, a House Ghallandra establishment three levels up. So many things had taken... unexpected turns, but a slight softening of his features were the only sign that his mood had improved at the thought of meeting up with Vel Biggleton.

* * * * * * * * *

Meanwhile, Vel Biggleton's eyes just opened as his nose detected the delightful scents wafting from the kitchen down one of the back halls of the Wanderer's Inn. Feeling cozy under the covers, Vel rolls over and is about to fall asleep when he leaps out of bed with a wide grin. Donning his armor and checking that his wands, gear, and bags were all in place he leaves his room and moves towards the kitchen to round up food. Seeing a number of halflings in the hall, he gives a polite "Good Morning" to each of them and smiles broadly as they respond in kind, they are his family after all. Making way for a halfling bearing a tray laden with food as she comes out of the kitchen, Vel's stomach grumbles at the sight before he slips into the already blazingly warm and busy room.

A halfling matron wearing a green dress with a white apron over top is stirring a sweet smelling porridge with one hand and as soon as Vel enters, she points to him without looking and then to a tray set aside on a high shelf. She has burnished bronze hair and her arms are thick with muscle from the countless hours she spent working in the kitchen. Speaking with motherly concern Tera Biggleton says, "About time you were up m'dear. You'd better get your belongings and eat that food out in the common room so that you can be ready for when Mr. Goodbarrel gets here. Oh, you're father's out there too."
"Thanks Mom, wish me luck," Vel replies as he snags the tray and wends his way around the busy kitchen halflings. Entering the partially filled common room, due to the early hour, he takes one of the least favorable tables, so that actual patrons could have the better ones, and begins to scarf the toast, eggs, beans, mushrooms, and bacon on his plate. Just as he's finishing his food Mosco Biggleton joins him at his table and snags the last piece of bacon with a smile. The older halfling man has brown hair and twinkling green eyes, actually very similar to his "son's", and while he wears the fine clothes of a well to do inn keeper, the lightness of his step and the faint scars on his arms and neck belies the fact that he certainly has other skills.
"Setting out again, are ye? I hope you're being careful. This adventuring you're doing is a lot more dangerous than actual merchant work."
"I know, father, but even if I did simply travel on the roads I could still be encountering monsters and bandit ilk. Besides, my companions are great! I'm sure they can protect me. I'm lucky you found Alton to look out for me when I was starting off, but I really enjoy what we're doing now. I'm sure we'll be fine."
"Very well. Just let your mother or I know if there's anything we can do to help," Mosco replies. Looking up towards the door as it opens, the pair make out a lightly armored halfling bearing a greatsword and pack on his back who is looking around the room before his eyes settle on their table. Standing up, they both walk over with Mosco shaking Alton's hands in greeting. Smiling slightly, the mercenary-guard-adventuring companion looks up and says, "I hope we're ready to go, young Biggleton."
"Of course sir - I mean Alton. I've got all my stuff right here," Vel says enthusiastically.
"Very well then, we'd better hurry so that we can get to the meeting spot on time," Alton replies. With a respectful nod towards Mosco, he leads the way out of the Wanderer's Inn, but Vel can't help but turn around just as he's walking through the door and waving good bye to his father before he's swallowed up by the outside world.

Moving swiftly through the Sharn traffic, they head to the designated meeting spot to see Lady Elaydren and their other companions.

The Time Between #2

As the group succeeded  on their assigned kill-destroy missions they slowly recovered their self esteem, reputation, and the odd mission to find or recover something. It was also during this time that Vel Biggleton joined the group. Or was it that Alton Goodbarrel was hired for Vel, and Kaellanna Virindil tagged along due to her affections for the reformed and reconstituted Avegnum Nor? Perhaps none of them will ever know the truth.

Due to their reputation from previous encounters and the failures earned, the group is commonly sent on missions across Kohvaire via teleportation arranged and paid for by their patron. In this way the group has been able to leave the Breland area and avoid further encounters with there enemies in the numerous groups they have thwarted up to this time. In this way they have been able to travel through out the five human nations quickly and discreetly.


And now, when they have reconvened in Sharn after taking a couple weeks off from their last adventure they receive a message from their patron asking them the meet her again for a job involving teleport in to the mountains of the Demon Wastes to recover another valuable family heirloom.

At last! Another mission that isn't just go kill-destroy something. Perhaps you have earned your patron's trust once more, and she now feels you are worthy of better missions.

And so it begins ... again ...

The Time Between, #1

For the past year and a half the group has been pursuing missions assigned by their patron Lady Elaydren and in between taking time off and doing their own adventures. For the most part the missions for Elaydren have been heavy-handed assignments to stop something or destroy something else. Very few have been recovery missions or anything with subtlety, considering the groups two phenomenal failures. Lady Elaydren only ever made one comment about each failed mission and left it at that, saying no more of either failure.

During these dark days of failure hanging over the groups head, the elf enchanter left the group for his own insidious intents, and the group later heard he was killed on a mission back into the Mournlands - looking for something he had lost.

kaellanna is the best!!

:3 +tara

The Last Battle

The group was in the midst of a building fallen on to the Fallen district of Sharn, inverted, shattered and crumbled apart. Having explored most of the building in the search for a stone hand taken from a noble woman's house they made their way up to the top. Fighting barbarians of various sorts along the way they also fought a pack of blink dogs who harried them, and worried them until the dogs vanished leaving the group to continue up. One more level and they found a large room with a boy inside. In front of the boy was the rest of the statue they were searching for the hand of. The boy was on the ground, on his knees, chanting in a psuedo-magical and religious way. The statue was complete except for an eye. The statue was white stone and the outstretched hand matched the description the group had been given so they went for the statue intent on bringing the entire thing back to the woman who hired them.

The boy screamed, he held the missing eye as he chanted in fear. A massive blink dog appeared, then the rest of the pack of blink dogs as well as many of the reavers the group had been fighting. As the battle ensued the boy climbed the statue and placed the missing eye in the empty socket of the statue. The statue came to life. It was a statue of a 9' beautiful naked man. His arms were outstretched and he was crying, but when he came to life he screamed and blasted the entire room with waves of energy that knocked almost everyone down. Then he too joined the frey against the party.

At the end of the battle the barbarians lay dead, the blink dogs were either dead or had vanished. The boy hid in a corner and mumbled to himself, if not for his maniacal screams. Three of the party survived. Though they were badly injured and only survived by running away, running very far away. The beautiful naked man retained the room with the small boy and had torn the cleric to pieces with his claw-like white hands, after turning the warlock to stone and shattering the statue.

Thus, the remaining party members returned to their employer in the shame of having failed their second mission in a row.