Ok, I'm going to preface this simply because of how old this portion of the story is. This was originally written in 1986/1987 for my Creative Writing class in college. The perspective is from my character as we played AD&D 2nd Ed rules - to this day I wish I had recorded our sessions, but they're pretty much lost forever. There's only 2 chapters completed and part of a 3d - ch 1, 8 and 10 respectively. I still have my vague notes laying around someplace in a box in my storage room - certainly not enough to fill in the blanks. Oh, and some of you may recognize what module we were playing at the time. Half of the characters were my best friends from high school, a few others came and went, but it was pretty much a tight-knit group.

So, long story short - Bren has been around a LONG time - lol. Hope you like it, and remember, this was written by some college punk Pardon the formatting, I'll try to fix it as time permits.

Chapter 1
The Meeting


The weather has been fair lately. It is still chilly in the early morning, after all, it is still early spring. But now I sit at a table at the "All Season's Inn". I am not the only one, for there are others here also. I see their faces, but I don't know any of them, except for one. Word is out that there is a need for men at arms to patrol the roads around a small town of Hamlet (pronounced "Homlet"). I personally never heard of it before, but it is a two or three day ride south of here. Where is here? I figured you might ask that. Here is in Verbobonc, a bustling little city of around twenty one hundred people.
As for the group around the table, it is an interesting lot. An assortment of elves, half elves, a dwarf, and a halfling, but not even one human amongst us. It truly amazes me sometimes what kind of individual is attracted by the word "adventure". I have to smile at this, because it, too, has attracted me. To my left sits Alifar, friend and traveling companion. We set out from our homeland nearly four weeks ago to find, ahem, adventure. Although we are kindred, he reveres a different deity. I do not hold this against him since Tritherion, my god, professes individuality. He is kind and holds himself in a stately manner. Talking to Alifar is Moonchance, a seemingly respectable individual, after all, he is an elf! He's just a hand shorter than Alifar, but has a build that makes him a tough fight. Off to the right of us stands a strange group. Glina, a halfling, is talking to Zabethil and Atriana who are both elves. This is a funny sight because Glina has to stand on a chair just to talk to the elves! But we go from the funny to the unusual. A difficult sight to see is a dwarf sitting directly across from me. "Difficult?" you ask. Difficult in two ways. First, it is common knowledge that dwarves don't particularly like elves, let alone half elves, so what is this dwarf doing with so many elves? Second, and even more peculiar, is that as my gaze falls upon him, he is looking directly at me and I see something, something others would overlook. There is fire in those, but why is his gaze fixed intently on me? He says his name is Theron, Theron Warhammer to be fully correct. He doesn't say much, but just stares, perhaps wondering just as I am as to why he is amongst us. I return his stare only to be distracted by some human running up to the table. What does a human want with us?
"Greetings all," the human says. Everyone eyes him intently, just absorbing him into their minds, searching for a reason as to why he is here. Zabethil speaks up first.
"Good evening. What might bring you to our table?"
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Krind and I would like to join you. The innkeep directed me to your table when I asked him if he knows of anyone heading towards Hamlet. So here I am."
"And what if we are heading to Hamlet? Who says we have need for a human in our group?" asks Atriana in an icy tone.
"Well, excuse me then. I know elves think they are higher than us mortals, but I didn't think that I would find one that is as snotty as you amongst these other humans,"
Krind snipped back, waving his hand in the direction of the other patrons of the inn.
"Atriana, give the guy a break, after all, he just might prove useful to us," as Alifar came to Krind's aid. Yeah, useful as dragon fodder maybe, but useful to us? This will
have to be seen.
"Well, it's fine with me," I say quietly.
"It should prove interesting," stated Theron, rather bluntly. I quickly look at Theron. His face is still expressionless, but now he is eying Krind.
Zabethil says to the party, "Well, if it is all right with everyone, then I say let him join."
"Fine. As long as he buys the next round," says Moonchance, looking at his nearly empty mug.
"No problem," Krind says looking for the barkeep. "Barkeep, another round for my friends, on me!"
"Then it is settled," states Zabethil, "Krind, you may join the party."
We have a few more drinks and the night begins to wind down. I find that everyone has basically the same story: the idea of travel, of sharpening one's skills and, of course, gold brings each here. Some have been here mere hours while others a week or two. Alifar and I arrived three days ago.
It was not hard to find this group. Upon entering the city, the guard at the gate recommended the "All Season's Inn". Once we got to the inn, the innkeep, after a few pieces of silver, informed us that a small group of individuals have been meeting here for the past few nights, usually just after dinner. This gave us a few hours to kill. We therefore wandered about the city, stopping to replenish our supplies.
That evening we met with Zabethil, Atriana, Glina and Moonchance to hear what news they had. It was basically the same that we heard before. People were getting robbed on the roads around Hamlet and the town council sent word out that they needed some men at arms to patrol around the town. Theron arrived yesterday and Krind just got here.
I think the group is in agreement: we leave in the morning two days from now. This will give us enough time to get anything we may need for the ride. It shouldn't take
long, only two or three days (as long as the weather holds good for us). It is getting late so we now say our "good nights" and go up to our rooms.

When I wake up, it is already late morning. Not that it would matter much, I only have a few things to get and I'll be set for the journey. Alifar has already left so after I
eat breakfast, er, I mean lunch, I go and get some arrows, along with some rations. That doesn't take long, so I take in the sights. I spend most of my afternoon at the market place. Goods from all over can be found here. One individual is selling strange looking pelts from a place located very far to the north. Needless to say, I don't
recognize them, I'm from the south. Food is everywhere, it is a good thing I ate before, because I would be broke now. A few people were selling leather goods, belts and the such. Some were selling cooking utensils, while others had cloth displayed at their booth. I picked up a couple pouches from one table, they might prove useful. Just before I went to dinner, I visited the church devoted to my god to pray.
It was interesting just to wander among the tables. As I sit, back at the inn, waiting for dinner, I think that if only I had some money I'd be able to get the things I want.
But that day might come soon enough. Alifar comes in the door with an armful of goods. I motion him to put the stuff away and then join me to eat.
A few moments later, he reappears. "Alifar, come, join me for dinner and tell me of your brief adventure in the city."
"Oh yeah, what an adventure. What are you some kind of comedian? It's not like I haven't been in a city before you know ."
"I'm just kidding, don't get upset. It's just that you've been gone longer than me."
"I picked up a few things here and there. A couple spell components from the magic shop, some rations and a new mace," he says with a gleam in his eyes. "I also had to stop at my place of worship, because I don't think we will have a chance before we leave tomorrow."
"I spent a lot of time in the market place. Some of the usual stuff you would find, and some interesting as well. And the food, if you could only smell the aroma that lingered throughout the place. It's a good thing I ate before I went," I told him with a chuckle, "but I didn't see any of our companions."
"I saw Krind and Moonchance going into a weaponsmith's shop early this afternoon. Besides that, I ran into no one else. Well, tomorrow is the big day, we ride for Hamlet.
What do you think we'll find?" Alifar asks.
"Hopefully something interesting. I didn't travel all this just to be bored you know. Enough about business, let us eat before the food gets cold," I tell him as our food
arrives.
The rest of the evening passes quietly, except for the occasional loud cheer coming from the common room. I retire early to get plenty of rest. My thoughts wander to what may be before us. Who knows what we shall meet? Even worse, who knows if any of us shall return? Hmmm, these may be answered sooner than I hope. But for now I am content and I drift off to sleep.

For some reason I awaken early. I look to see if Alifar is up, and he too is wiping the sleep from his eyes. It must be near dawn, the sky is still dark, but lightening a little towards the east. "You too?"
"Don't know why I woke up so early, maybe it's because this is our first real adventure. I wonder if the others are up already."
"Well, if they're anything like us, then I'd definitely say yes. Who knows? For all we know they're already up, had breakfast and are ready to leave."
"Let's don't push it. After all, it was probably our compatriots that were making all the noise last night." We stumble down the stairs to get some thing in our very empty
stomachs (maybe that's why we're up).
A couple of the others are also down eating already. I guess we will be setting out early to Hamlet today. There isn't much in the way of conversation (of course I never say anything until after breakfast. There is only one thing worse than waking me up early in the morning and that's talking business before breakfast!)
Breakfast is wrapped up rather quickly, although there appears to be no real haste. After a short conference we gather up our belongings and head for the horses. Nothing
for heavy warring, but simple steeds that will get us there (hopefully!) I reflect on that thought for a moment: the first thing I will have to do is to get a sturdy steed.
Perhaps a medium warhorse, something built speed, but also for war, trained not to bolt in the course of a fight. The only problem with that is money, something I don't have much of right now.
We mount up and begin our trek. All eight of us. We shouldn't run into anything during our ride, but just in case, we do have the numbers to help discourage any small
band of raiders. At least I hope so. It's just a few hours after sunrise, we should be able to get in some good riding before we break for lunch.
Ahhhh. To ride again in search of adventure. I have a good feeling about this, although I don't know why. The road is still a little damp with last night's dew. At least we won't have to worry about the dust for a while. We trod through the city on our way to the south gate and without any incident we are soon beyond the walls.
We ride by two's with Zabethil and Moonchance at the lead. Next comes myself, along with Alifar to my right. We are followed by Atriana and Glina, then Krind and Theron bringing up the rear. Our pace is not hurried, simply because there is no sense for us to arrive in Hamlet exhausted. And who knows what may await us during our long
journey there.