Chapter 1

This narrative tells the tale of Jade and his eclectic group of ten traveling friends, nine of whom he grew up with from the same small village, and two who joined the group in recent years. But I get ahead of myself and let me introduce the group to you.

My name is Rodger, and I am a human. My friends all call me the group storyteller, jack of all trades, and all-around keeper of tells. But you can call me the group bard.

Jade, the group’s leader and half-elf, fits the stereotype of an introvert. He likes to keep to himself, but to those of us close to him, we know it’s because he is a monk.

The group healer is a female dwarf. Her name is Helena, and she stands out from the majority of dwarfs we have encountered during our travels. Unlike other dwarfs of her kind, she does not indulge in drinking and fighting. She makes sure the needy finds what they need drives her.

The party’s most amazing member is halfling druid named Koemi Kallowood. She uses her knowledge of nature to make sure that the group is always protected and well fed when we are out doing our adventures or missions.

Next is the elf fighter that many of us have had issues with due to the fact that even though we all grew up together, he has the mentality that he is better than us. His name is Dagor, but we call him Dag. Even with all of his shortcomings, he still makes sure that we are all taken care of, and we love him for it.

The holy inspiration of the group, also known as the paladin of the family or group, is fearless dragonborn. Her name is Khalyra Drakenscale, but she goes by the name Khal. She is a fierce warrior and a spiritual light; she keeps us on the path of good when we are tempted by the evils in the world. We would be lost without her, and we are all so grateful that she was brought to the village as a youngling.

We are now beginning to engage with the more boisterous members of our family. First up is the troublesome Gnome rogue Hagert the slick. To be honest, he lacks slickness, often finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and constantly in need of someone to rescue him from trouble.

The second member of the trouble group is a friendly half-elf named Mryielle Duskwhisper. She has recently begun to develop her abilities as a sorcerer, and due to the lack of an official teacher, she has had to learn how to control her powers on her own. Needless to say, this has led to numerous mishaps and issues for the entire group.

The final member of the trouble group is the not-so-easy-going male wizard, Harry the Clumsy. We call him that because every time he tries to cast a spell or make a potion, something always goes wrong, or he drops something, and, well, let’s just say we have been kicked out of many keeps because of him.

Now I know a lot of you are thinking the same thing—that’s only nine, not eleven. What about the other two? We are now introducing them to you; they have only been part of the group for a few years. We acquired them both during our time working for an evil emperor after he and his men took over our village, but we will delve deeper into this topic in a moment. Let’s meet the last two members of the group.

Firstly, we have a simple-minded and easily entertained half-orc friend named Orrg. We encountered him during our reconnaissance of a village that the emperor’s army was preparing to assault. They were unaware that the village was facing a more pressing problem than the army itself. They constantly had to feed and care for Orrg, as he was left outside the village, and the people refused to harm such a young child.

And lastly, we have a lonely Ranger; now I don’t know how much any of you know about what we call dark elf’s or drow. But as kids, we are told that they are evil and that if you ever come across one, you either kill it or you are sure that they never see you. Well, we did not heed this advice, and now we have a nice young drow male that is part of the group. His name is Dairin Nightwhisper. Dairin doesn’t know which house he previously belonged to, which could mean that either he was from a lower-level house without a number, or his house was destroyed, and he was cast out to die instead of being welcomed into a new one.

But let’s get to the point of me telling this story to you, as the events of our lives have a great deal to do with what has transpired in the world that you know of now.

It was always a typical nightlight. The group had just completed their latest mission and were on their way to bed. We had just finished up yet another quest and were settling in for the night so we could collect our reward the following morning. As the night passed by, the group took turns taking watch as we were sleeping out in the wilderness, which seems to happen more often than not. When at about two o’clock in the morning we are all woken up by a loud scream coming from Jades tent. As we go to check on him, we see that he is sitting upright, his head is dripping with sweat, and he is holding his knees tightly.

Rodger asked, Jade, are you alright We heard a scream coming from hear what happened.

As Jade looked around, Rodger it happened again. While I slept, my mind drifted back to the night when the village came under attack, and we were forcibly removed from our home. It was like it had just happened. I could still hear the sounds of the army approaching, smell the smoke, and hear the screams of all the villagers that their parents couldn’t save. I keep seeing their faces and hearing their voices as if they were just outside my tent.

While Jade and Rodger were engaged in conversation, Harry, Khal, and Hagert went out to gather wood for their new firepit. While there were gone, Koemi pulled out a steel pot and some clay cups, along with a small bag of tea leaves. She used her powers to make a small pot of water so she could boil the tea to help calm Jade down.

By the time the three returned with the twigs and wood, Koemi was ready to begin boiling the water and preparing the tea. She had Khal use her breath weapon to start up the fire. In a quick second, Khal took in a deep breath and then let out a stream of flames that ignited the wood in a heartbeat. As the fire burned, Koemi had the rest of the group find berries and other edible plants to add to a stew that she would make after the tea was done.

Once the tea was complete, Koemi called for Rodger and handed him a small glass of tea to take to Jade. This will help calm his nerves. Have him drink it, then come out to get some food so we can talk to him. Rodger took the tea into Jade and had him drink it before escorting him out to join the rest of the group. As Jade sat with the rest of his now-makeshift family, they all looked at him with concern.

Mryielle was the first to speak up; Jade You must understand that it was not your fault; we all did our utmost to save as many people as possible. We had heard rumors that the Talos army was coming for months; that’s why we set up the early warning traps in hopes that it would allow us time to escape. There was nothing else that you or anyone else could have done.

Jade is reflecting on the night when his village was attacked by the army. Yes, the early warning alarms helped save many lives, but he still felt that more could have been done. They could have fought; they could have prepared better. The last thing he remembered of that night was watching as his parents were about to be killed by the army’s war chief as he raised his axe above his head to kill his parents.

He learned that his parents and the parents of the other kids tried to negotiate with the war chief to let them survive and that they would join the army and secure the surrounding villages. The war chief dismissed the offer with a sneer, threatening to kill their parents before forcing the children into the army. But faith had something different in mind that night, because as the war chief raised his axe, he lost his grip and the axe fell to the ground behind him, and the next thing anyone saw was a young Jade come out of nowhere and flat palm the war chief’s chest and shatter his armor and knock him on his ass.

As the war chief laid there dazed and confused, the small army that he had with him was surprised at what just happened. Some of them laughed at the war chief, while others braced themselves to attack the children and their parents. The only thing that stopped this from happening was the captain of the army stepping forward and accepting the offer; he knew that whatever happened that caused this young boy to be able to put a war chief on his ass would also cause his army to fail. He then brought the children and their parents back to the capital of the Talos empire, where they would receive training and begin working for the empire.

As Jade and the rest of the group sat there and ate the stew that was made, they reminisced about all those years ago and what transpired for them. The first year of their training was a nightmare; they would spend four hours a day training, then another six hours working before being allowed to go back to their parents. This happened seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. What made it worse for them was that restraining collars were put on them so that they could not try and escape.