Babble was not the first one Elizair brought back to Rattedaumen on one of his trips. I was.

The elf found me somewhere in the Sepia Uplands, alone among the bodies of dead goblins. This was over forty years ago. He took me to a gnomish settlement near there. They were having an elaborate funeral, but none that he was able to talk to recognized me. Elizair felt something else was amiss, but due to the somber state of affairs (or his “lapses of judgment” as he likes to say), he took me to Rattedaumen. He even managed to take care of me for a good thirty minutes before dropping me off at the Shrine to Pelor. The clerics at the shrine, in turn, asked some local halflings, the Whisperleafs, to look after me. Much to Elizair’s chagrin, they just happened to reside close to him.

I stayed pretty much on my own in an abandoned burrow. The clerics at the shrine had been wise: the halflings not only didn’t mind me “borrowing” items from in and around their houses to survive, they actually seemed to enjoy it; though they often made it challenging for me. This, in turn, helped me become quite good at hiding and moving quietly, though somehow Elizair always seems to know when I am sneaking around his home.

About twenty years after my arrival, another “orphan” was dropped off at the shrine, and again, this one didn’t quite fit in to any of the established communities in Rattedaumen, so Munthrek was unofficially adopted by a local innkeeper. I kept an eye on his progress in much the way Elizair had done for me.

I’m off to the Staggering Lich to teach Munthrek some more of the gnome language right now, and I’m letting him think he’s teaching me some draconic. Elizair usually stumbles in around this time, and one of my “cousins” Janet, usually meets us for her mid-morning breakfast after prayer at the shrine. Hopefully she will tell me what that damned parrot keeps shrieking at me; Elizair claims he has no idea, even though Babble is his familiar.

Character sheet: Fortuna Outlawe [Whisper Gnome Rogue]

A whisper gnome rogue / sorceress / jack of all trades with her weasel familiar Dabs.

Character sheet: Holli Joat [Whisper Gnome Rogue / Sorcerer]
Companion sheet: Dabs [Weasel Familiar]

Born on the coldest day of the year it was obvious Pyotr was different. His ice blue eyes matched with hair that looks of pure silver; he was sure to stand out. Time passed and when his sorcerers powers manifested it wasn’t the usual levitating items, or sudden bursts of fire. No, he turned a glass of water into a solid block of ice.

Although different, it was very use full in the heat of some regions’ summers. Cold never bothered Pyotr as much as it did his friends and family members. And a large family it was: two aunts, three uncles, two brothers, four sisters, and numerous cousins, not counting extended family, his family was large and well-versed in many areas of life. Learning to harness his abilities helped a lot and it didn’t take long for him to realize that not everything is hurt by cold, so he added a bit of variety to his arsenal.

Life wasn’t always easy though. There were times when the clan fought different creatures that lived in the mist. These were deadly and many times his closest friends were mortally wounded. It was the way life sometimes took you from heights of glory to the depths of pain and despair: defeating your enemies only to turn around and have a close friend dying next to you. Or being sent on a mission to find an artifact that might not even be there, only to wake up and find your companion had left you to die in the desert. It was obvious this giorgio Mickehil, he called himself, didn’t have the stomach to kill, but he apparently didn’t have any reservations on leaving someone to die. Good thing the elders had the presence of mind to give him a spare map without the betrayer’s knowledge. Taking his staff in hand he headed out towards the ruin hoping to get there in time, and as he walks his mind wanders.

Pyotr remembers how he found the staff leaning next to a tree almost five years ago. Just standing there, its light barely noticeable in the sun. and how his father showed him the secret compartments that his eyes were untrained to find. That’s one of the reasons Mickehil was allowed to go with him, that and the betrayer owed his father a favor.

Pyotr thinks of the time his mother gave him the symbol of The Morninglord and a gift for his 18th birthday. She told him that as long as he wore it The Morninglord would keep him safe. Memories of his family would always make him smile. He thought for a second of how his family would feel if he never got home, or was found dead. Mickehil would pay for this, pay with his life as soon as Pyotr caught up to him.

Standing outside the ruined temple Pyotr pauses a moment waiting to see if anyone would exit, and noticing the charred bodies on the ground he wonders who they were and how that happened.

Character sheet: Pyotr Malov [Half-Vistani Sorcerer]
Companion sheet: Volos [Dread Cat Familiar]