Session I: Scratching the Surface
"I came into the village of Cristalwater about six months ago on my way to Eberus, looking for a swordsmith by the name of Jerek Towerblade. I was going to pass the village by after a quick stay at the Four Flaggons Tavern and Inn, but that night the village was attacked by bandits. They were weak through and through, and I cut them asunder without any troubles, but the villagers begged me to stay so pathetically I didn't have much of a choice.
"The attacks on the village continued moderately regularly, but in the past month or so before the rest of my soon to be companions showed up, the bandits became stronger. I don't just mean bigger muscles either. They fought much like the regimes of the New Shining Crusade, and were much meaner too. I still was able to repel them with little effort, but what caught me as strange at the time was the large, only partly opaque shard of gemstone in their chest. Encased within the stone was their still beating heart, and numerous veins.
"About a week before the rest, Semish showed up in town. The first time you see Semish, you feel chills run down your spine. The guy is almost pure white, with bright, bulbous red eyes and a fishlike build, complete with fins up and down his arms and neck. To make his appearance even more unsettling, he walks around with a snake coiled around him almost all the time. Despite his appearance, he's a good fighter with knowledge of some kind of magic. Our fighting styles compliment each other well, and he's not half bad as a person either.
"Anyways a week goes by and Semish and I deal with another bandit attack. He saved my ass and I saved his, and we were sharing drinks at the Four Flaggons for the better part of a week without incident. Then a pretty little elven lady came into town one morning. She looked like she had spent her whole life out in the wild being tan with unkempt, but beautiful red hair. She had a sword on her belt and a bow on her back, but at the time I didn't think she could have been much of a fighter. Her name was Fera. Later that day, two more guys show up, too. One's elven, the other is a light affinity. The elf's name was Scios Daiveen, and he was something else; Always playing with that blonde hair of his and straightening out wrinkles in his clothes. He had a sword at his side and proved that he knew a thing or two about arcane magic though, so I guess he's a pretty good guy to have at your side. Ebon Starfire was the name of the light affinity. He kept staring at me funny, but he's the only one of the bunch besides Semish and me who really know how to hold a weapon, so he isn't really half bad. He had white, closely cropped hair, swirling stormy eyes and a build similar to mine. You know, the type all the ladies fawn over.
"Bandits attacked again that day and we were able to repel them with relative ease. We didn't lose a single person, so I can't really see how things could have gone any better. After the fight, we all decided that we should get to the bottom of just why and what was going on with these bandits. Valdro, the old wizard in town didn't know too much about it either, so I decided to head over to the Jacobson farm and investigate myself. See, the bandits were always heading toward the farm since I'd been there, at least I thought so, so I figured that would be a good place to start. I went into the shed and quickly discovered a hollow part of the floor, which I pried open with a crow bar. Semish had come with me, and the others had spread out through the village looking for more clues. Under the shed was an old cave entrance, which had been filled in years ago by a mudslide according to Semish. There was also a willow tree in the yard, which Semish said was an uncommon and strange thing for the area. The tree turned out to be strange indeed, since later I tried to blast it with my fire breath and it turned out to be completely unscathed!
"We found a key hole in the tree, not that any of us really knew what it meant. And despite all of our best efforts to dig out that mudslide, it turned out to be too dense, even for magic. None of us trusted the mayor, but we didn't really find anything out about his involvement or lack there of. The ones who visited him said that he was purposefully vague and defensive, but they think it might just be about his plan to sell Valdro's tower when that old wizard finally kicks the bucket. So we decided to establish a watch at night at three places: The town hall, Valdro's tower and the Jacobson farm. Turned out we wouldn't have to wait that long.
"Danny Jacobson, the owner of the Jacobson farm came back telling us he scouted the forest across the river and found the camp of the bandits. He said they were some kind of beasts with a glowing chest, and though I thought his mind was playing tricks on him he definitely was wounded, so he was telling the truth about something. We sent him back to his farm, gathered the town militia and waited. And waited. And waited. Anyways, after a few minutes we heard twigs snapping toward Valdro's and the Jacobson farm, so we all went to check it out, leaving the local militia to defend the village. When we got to the farm, we saw some strange beasts. Some had more than one mouth, and they all had huge claws. Their chests glowed bright blue: Right where the shard was on the rest of the bandits we'd killed. I don't want to talk about that fight, but let's just say that Scios and Danny Jacobson almost died, and old Valdro had to save us. After that shameful fight with those fast little buggers, we decided to sleep our wounds away and think of a plan to strike at the bandits come morning."
-Cinder Sunstriker, 3rd luitenant for the New Shining crusade.
"The attacks on the village continued moderately regularly, but in the past month or so before the rest of my soon to be companions showed up, the bandits became stronger. I don't just mean bigger muscles either. They fought much like the regimes of the New Shining Crusade, and were much meaner too. I still was able to repel them with little effort, but what caught me as strange at the time was the large, only partly opaque shard of gemstone in their chest. Encased within the stone was their still beating heart, and numerous veins.
"About a week before the rest, Semish showed up in town. The first time you see Semish, you feel chills run down your spine. The guy is almost pure white, with bright, bulbous red eyes and a fishlike build, complete with fins up and down his arms and neck. To make his appearance even more unsettling, he walks around with a snake coiled around him almost all the time. Despite his appearance, he's a good fighter with knowledge of some kind of magic. Our fighting styles compliment each other well, and he's not half bad as a person either.
"Anyways a week goes by and Semish and I deal with another bandit attack. He saved my ass and I saved his, and we were sharing drinks at the Four Flaggons for the better part of a week without incident. Then a pretty little elven lady came into town one morning. She looked like she had spent her whole life out in the wild being tan with unkempt, but beautiful red hair. She had a sword on her belt and a bow on her back, but at the time I didn't think she could have been much of a fighter. Her name was Fera. Later that day, two more guys show up, too. One's elven, the other is a light affinity. The elf's name was Scios Daiveen, and he was something else; Always playing with that blonde hair of his and straightening out wrinkles in his clothes. He had a sword at his side and proved that he knew a thing or two about arcane magic though, so I guess he's a pretty good guy to have at your side. Ebon Starfire was the name of the light affinity. He kept staring at me funny, but he's the only one of the bunch besides Semish and me who really know how to hold a weapon, so he isn't really half bad. He had white, closely cropped hair, swirling stormy eyes and a build similar to mine. You know, the type all the ladies fawn over.
"Bandits attacked again that day and we were able to repel them with relative ease. We didn't lose a single person, so I can't really see how things could have gone any better. After the fight, we all decided that we should get to the bottom of just why and what was going on with these bandits. Valdro, the old wizard in town didn't know too much about it either, so I decided to head over to the Jacobson farm and investigate myself. See, the bandits were always heading toward the farm since I'd been there, at least I thought so, so I figured that would be a good place to start. I went into the shed and quickly discovered a hollow part of the floor, which I pried open with a crow bar. Semish had come with me, and the others had spread out through the village looking for more clues. Under the shed was an old cave entrance, which had been filled in years ago by a mudslide according to Semish. There was also a willow tree in the yard, which Semish said was an uncommon and strange thing for the area. The tree turned out to be strange indeed, since later I tried to blast it with my fire breath and it turned out to be completely unscathed!
"We found a key hole in the tree, not that any of us really knew what it meant. And despite all of our best efforts to dig out that mudslide, it turned out to be too dense, even for magic. None of us trusted the mayor, but we didn't really find anything out about his involvement or lack there of. The ones who visited him said that he was purposefully vague and defensive, but they think it might just be about his plan to sell Valdro's tower when that old wizard finally kicks the bucket. So we decided to establish a watch at night at three places: The town hall, Valdro's tower and the Jacobson farm. Turned out we wouldn't have to wait that long.
"Danny Jacobson, the owner of the Jacobson farm came back telling us he scouted the forest across the river and found the camp of the bandits. He said they were some kind of beasts with a glowing chest, and though I thought his mind was playing tricks on him he definitely was wounded, so he was telling the truth about something. We sent him back to his farm, gathered the town militia and waited. And waited. And waited. Anyways, after a few minutes we heard twigs snapping toward Valdro's and the Jacobson farm, so we all went to check it out, leaving the local militia to defend the village. When we got to the farm, we saw some strange beasts. Some had more than one mouth, and they all had huge claws. Their chests glowed bright blue: Right where the shard was on the rest of the bandits we'd killed. I don't want to talk about that fight, but let's just say that Scios and Danny Jacobson almost died, and old Valdro had to save us. After that shameful fight with those fast little buggers, we decided to sleep our wounds away and think of a plan to strike at the bandits come morning."
-Cinder Sunstriker, 3rd luitenant for the New Shining crusade.