We followed the tracks south for a day, and by early evening, found that they lead us to the ruins of an old tower. The crumbling foundation, measuring about forty feet in diameter, had only a few feet of wall left standing. No sooner had I said, “There must be some stairs that the kobold used around here somewhere!” than Grundl called out that he found a slab over some stairs, complete with the telltale footprints heading downward.

Despite the ever-present bucolic nature of Fairhaven, for years I’ve had a strong suspicion that eventually, something sinister would attack, and most likely in the dead of night. I would say that my vigilance had finally paid off, but due to my lack of foresight, it never occurred to me that the attack would be from outside the town, rather than from inside the cemetery.

One fall evening as Pelor turned his gaze away from the village of South Nellix, Strum’s family home, a band of gnolls from the edge of the Celadon forest descended on the village. The gnolls sacked the main structure, a temple to Pelor, and burnt all of the buildings in the village. The militia attempted to make a stand but their lack of training and poor tactics caused them to be slaughtered. The death of the militia left the women and children as easy prey. Young Strum hid with several other children in a dry wash just outside the town […]

Vasha Bermin was found at an extremely young age in a gnomish burrow that had been overrun by undead who’d been dormant in a nearby cemetery– the dead gnomes she was found near had obviously expanded the gnomish home too closely to a seemingly-abandoned crypt. Vasha was rescued and raised by a clan of traveling halflings who ranged far and wide throughout the Duchy of Urnst. Vasha enjoyed her time with the halflings, excelling and even surpassing the small folk with her ability to hide and sneak around, though she was always shocked at their predilection for “borrowing” things; though […]

Grundl was born and raised as a member of a group of dwarven raiders in a mountainous region of Greyhawk. The Band of the Bloody Axe (so named because of their terrible brutality and because of their signature weapon — an axe made from an unusual ore found only in the mountains near their stronghold that gives the steel a strange reddish hue.) made its living primarily by attacking passing caravans on a nearby trade route. From a young age Grundl took part in these attacks, first as a scout and lookout, and later as a fighter for the Band. […]

As a child, Ben Shettleton led a somewhat privileged life. The only son of a widowed bureaucrat in the service of the King, he lived in and around Court, but his common birth kept him from being a part of it. His father was well liked, and deemed harmless, so Ben was generally uninvolved with the normal dangers and intrigues of the Nobility. Ben was a bright boy, and his easy nature and charm helped to persuade bored tutors, so frequently spurned by their official charges, to provide him lessons on a wide range of subjects. One such tutor, known […]