This adventure is based in the world of Celestia, a diverse world filled with Elves, Humans, Dwarves, Orcs and other creatures living their day to day lives. It's a free form D&D game so feel free to join in at anytime...

And so our tale begins....

~*~
Avalon walked into the tavern of the Blind Pig with her hood drawn up over her fine Elivish features. She kept her head down to hide her features even more as she walked to a table at the far end of the tavern. She seated herself as her ice blue eyes peered at the people in the tavern from the protection of her hood. She knew that she had to stay well hidden from certain people, people that would rather see her dead than draw the same air that they breathe. A barmaid walked up as Avalon placed a silver coin on the table and a note, which read "A pint of Ale." The barmaid returned quickly with her request and just as quickly disappeared into the crowd of people at the tavern. A lock of her honey brown colored hair tumbled from her hood. She calmly reached up and tucked it back behind her pointed ear. She remained seated in the shadowy corner of the tavern watching the people coming and going, sipping on her ale. Occasionally her hand would slip to the dagger that was strapped to her right thigh when a few of the locals got rather loud and rude from the amount of liquor they had drank. She allowed her mind to wander and sink deep into thought as the tavern continued it's hustle and bustle...

The Blind Pig was a fine establishment. Well, the floors were littered with damp hay and a bar-fight was never far away. The air stank of alcohol and burnt roast, and it was quite dark in there.What was fine about all that was that people minded their own business. And that was just why Jorak liked to come there. He wanted company, but also wanted to be by himself. The Blind Pig was just the place for a strange contradiction such as that.

Jorak sat his old frame down, nodding to the familiar sight of Sop the baker, a few tables away. He received a slight motion of Sop's hand as a greeting, which curved his lips into a thin smile.
Leaning back against the wooden chair he arched his back, cracking the rusty segments of his worn spine before oozing down into a state of relaxation.

Josie came by and asked him if he wanted the usual. He did, and not much later she brought him a tankard of Dragon-Maw beer, one of the few habits of his old life he still permitted himself to enjoy.

To the eyes of the unknowing he was just and old man with neatly trimmed hair, a big nose and a wrinkled brow. But his deep brown eyes hinted at a mind that was any bit as dusty as a 20 foot waterfall. The locals didn't know who he was, or who he had been. They knew him as Grampa Jorak, who had been living in town for almost 10 years now, and spent his days feeding the ducks and chatting with the locals. And that was exactly how he wanted it; a quiet, peaceful life and a chance to meet people.

Avalon stood up from the corner of the bar she was sitting in, scanned the crowd one last time and decided that none of the people in the tavern meant her no harm. She reached up and pulled her hood down revealing her long, slightly curled honey brown hair and her pointed ears. She decided she wanted another drink and didn't want to wait for the barmaid and sauntered up to the bar her heeled boots making a light clicking sound on the floor be neither her feet. She pulled her traveler's tunic off and draped it over the stool before she sat down. She had a pair of tight leather pants on and a white blouse. Her dagger now in plain sight was still strapped to her left leg and strapped to her back was a sword. the handle of the sword appeared to be made of gold and the blade resting soundly in it's leather sheath.

She took quick note to the man that just walked in and dismissed him as no threat as she sat and waved for another ale. The man sat not far from her now but she couldn't help but feel as if he was a bit out of place in the tavern.

Entering the Blind pig in a slight slight saunter, Torell fingered his short sword as he knew this crowd; rowdy yet "respectable". Today there was two intriguing characters present, he waited for them to make a move that may be a catalyst for trouble. He ordered a bowl of stew and an ale and sat down at his regular table in the centre of the establishment and cleared out the area. He had a reputation and he liked it that way. He did not know how he got it but he had one and it helped to obtain information that was "hidden" as well as keep the guard off his trail.

Avalon noticed the halfling enter the Tavern and shifted a bit uneasy. Her crystal blue stareing at the halfling from the corner of her eyes. She swiftly stood for a brief moment and pulled her traveling Tunic back on, drew up the hood and calmly sat back down. She knew the reputaion of the halfling but had never seen his face. Trying not to draw too much attention to herself she continued to sip on her drink hoping that trouble would not find her that evening. Instinctivly her left hand slipped down to her dagger and played with the ring on the tip of the hilt. She was ever ready to defend herself and hardly ever found a moment to where she could fully relax. Her middle finger slipped inside the tiny circle ready to draw the weapon at a moment's notice if the situation called for it. She was on the run and didn't need the trouble or the unwanted attention.

Sipping his tankard and being very occupied in minding his own business, Jorak noticed a slender figure approaching the bar. The sword on the person's back combined with an otherwise obscured features caught his attention. He'd seen swords carried into the Blind Pig before, and usually it wasn't a good sign.

Then the person dropped her hood to reveal something Jorak hadn't expected to see ever again. She was an elf. And a very skittish one at that, but he couldn't blame her. She was far away from her own people.

It occurred to him for the slightest of moments that she was there because of him, but he didn't see any reason why. Well, that wasn't true. He saw many reasons why, but he didn't think any of them very likely.

She made her way back to her table, and after a few moments of contemplating he decided to go to her.
He approached the table casually. This was not some kind of feigned nonchalance, not some kind of routine to take people of guard. This was who he was; an open and interested old man. He pulled back a chair from her table and sat himself down. He looked at her face, somewhere hidden under that broad hood and smiled politely. When he spoke, the slight hisses in his voice betrayed the fact that he was missing a few teeth here and there. Old age... pffff.

"Hello there, miss. I couldn't help but noting your elven features there. I'm very curious to know what brings one of your kind here. If this is none of my business I'd be more than happy to just talk about the weather."

He smiled reassuringly. He was, after all, just an old man in a bar, trying to make some conversation.

Avalon seemed shocked as the man pulled the seat out and sat down across from her. Her left hand instinctively dropped to her dagger at her hip. She looked the man up and down and decided that he meant no harm to her and if he did she would have the clear advantage of speed considering his old age. she reached up and pulled her hood down her crystal blue eyes locking onto the man.

"What brings me here you ask..." She responded, her voice sounding melodious, calm, soft and gentle. Her voice truly betrayed the sword strapped to her back and the dagger at her side. "I take it my kinds is a rare sight here? " She smiled and gave a small laugh. She found it amusing that the man was looking at her like she was an exotic animal. "I have traveled far from my homeland..." She scoffed... "Or what used to be my homeland in search of someone..." Her gaze became distant but quickly snapped back as she gently shook her head. As she shook her head a lock of her honey brown colored hair slipped from behind her long pointed ear. She reached up and slipped the lock back behind her left ear. Her finger tip stopped to rest of the the shimmering earring at the tip of her point. The earring was oddly shaped and appeared to be made out of crystal and from what appeared to be a family crest. "How do I know that I can trust you?" She asked with an arched eyebrow.

Her gaze slipped from the man and once more scanned the ever thinning crowd in the tavern. To her relief the crowd was starting to thin out to only a scattered few in the tavern. A few of the town ruffians were in the corner of the tavern getting loud and rather rude with each other but she took no personal threat in the men. Her gaze wandered again and rested on the Halfling that had entered the tavern a while ago. She dismissed him as no threat and turned her attention back to the man in front of her.

"I do apologize for being on edge..." The sincerity sounding clear in her voice. "You must understand. If you have seen and been through what I have being on edge is second nature." Her eyes sparkling as a smile played its way across her lips. She seemed a bit more relaxed as the crowed seemed to find its way to the tavern's door weather it was by their own will or the tavern owner throwing them out.

There wasn't much Jorak could do to prove to the elven woman that she could trust him. He reasoned, however, that trust came from a feeling rather than rationality. And wouldn't trying to prove trustworthiness trigger the opposite?

So he just smiled kindly and shrugged his shoulders apologetically.

"I guess you can never know if you can trust somebody." He lisped.

"But I can lend you my ear and listen to your troubles. Perhaps the only thing that will happen is that you'll be unburdened somewhat by sharing. But maybe that's a good thing in itself."

He loved this part of interaction. That part where you don't know the other person very well. In some cases it was the most true form of communication, because there were no expectations yet. Things had been so different for him, but he realized, and not for the first time in the past ten years, that giving up his old job was the best thing he ever did.

Getting his stew and ale, Torell sat quietly and watched the two talk, thinking about whether or not to join them in the conversation. A bit later when his stew was finished and only a single drop of ale leftover, finishig it off he went over to talk to them. "Hello, how are you two this fine day? Care if I sit down to join you?" He waited for a response to that question though he asked another question, this time directed to the elf "Lovely seeing one of your kind here, its been so lonely without your people giving the blessing of their presence. Yes, I noticed the ears, a trained eye can pierce many shadows." His horribly scarred face gave the intention of "My, your lovely, I wonder how your head would look on my mantel" when it wasn't. He could not remember the last time seeing a smooth face in the mirror, what and the jobs he had to do made him remember the last he looked in a mirror anyway when he was constantly away from his home Triny town on the east side of the river Triny.

Looking from the old man to the halfling. She nodded politely and waved her hand at the seat elagantly. From the the way she moved so gracefully she appeared to be of royalty.

"You ask me of my troubles and not of my name." She gave of a soft smile and a small laugh. "Very well." She waited till the halfling was seated and comfortable before she started her sad story.

"I know that it seems unusl for a Silvermoon elf to been seen so far from home but I was driven out of my homeland by forces so dark and crule." She took a deep breath. Bringing her hand upto her forhead and letting it rest gently while shilding her eyes for a brief moment she sighed. "I should start with my name, shouldn't I." She moved her hand and took her glass of ale in it. "I am Avalon Silvastii." She waited for a moment or two to see if the two shown any sign of know that she was royality, the only living heir to the royal thrown to the Elven City to the East. "As you know the King and Queen were viciously murdered in the Elven city of Telsia. The Asgoth army invaded the beautiful city bringing death and destruction to the city as they fought their way to the castle." Her eyes becoming distant as if she was slipping into a memory. "It was the night of the Moon Tree festival, the king and queen were celebrating their only daughter's coming of age birthday in the castle ball room. THe moon was about to take it's rightful place above the Moon Tree, and in turn the Moon Tree would have given it's blessing to their daughter when a hooded stranger approced the thrown. When he dropped his hood it shook the whole ballroom, for he was a single drow elf promising peace between our own people and theirs. He offered the king and queen two wine glasses as the peace offering. His smile so vile and wicked as they placed the glasses to their lips and drank. Before the glasses shattered on the floor my mother and father were dead."

She paused realizing her slip in the story, hoping the two didn't catch that her mother and father was the king she shrugged it off. If they heard she prayed that neither would turn her over to the dreaded Asgoth army.

"The princess ran for her life through the castle and made it to the river that cut through the castle garden. There she found a boat and quickly got into it, covering her self with a blanket that was left in the boast she let the water carry her down stream." She averted her eyes which were starting to mist over in tears. She shook them away. "The people in Telsia are now the slaves of the dreaded Asgoth army. I am in searh of the man that killed our king and queen. I have travled and seen a lot but the carnage and devastation that the Asgoth bring are rivaled by nothing, I have to find a way to free my people." She finished as she looked from the old man to the halfling.

"I've seen what the Asgoth do to their new recurited army, their eyes are no longer their own color, they glow an earie redm and they are branded with marking to show their ranks. They stay well hidden for their eyes do not produce that glow all the time. That is why I am so careful with whom I speak with. Their spies are everywhere and they still look for the missing princess..."

She aburptly stopped her story, shook her head and gave a weak amile and a small laugh. "I must apologize for i have drone on for far too long... I have board you to the verge of sleep." She blushed lightly and waved down the barmaid and asked for one last pint of ale.

"Enough about me... I wish to hear your stories. You both seem rather interesting and it takes a lot of courage to approach a complete stranger and strike up a conversation." She leaned back in her chair and relaxed a bit. she reached up and started to twist a lock of her honey brown hair around her finger as she waited for them to tell their stories.

Aerick walked briskly through the mud ridden streets as the rain started to come down even harder. Pulling his cloak tighter over his small frame the Dwarf picked up his pace as he saw the glow of the Blind Pig Tavern ahead of him. "Doesn't seem like much but it'll keep me dry for the night."

Pushing open the door, Aerick stumbled inside not realizing how deep the mud had actually been. Shaking himself off he let his hood fall back as he looked around the tavern. He noticed the odd group at the table consisting of an Elf, Halfling and an Old man. They didn't seem like a threat and neither did anyone else here. Walking up to the bar and propping himself on a stool, Aerick slammed his Axe down on the bar with a pile of coins and called out for a drink for himself and everyone sitting at the bar. What better way to get warm and dry then by sharing a drink with a few locals? Looking back around the room he noticed the odd group seemed to be swapping stories like old friends. "Let's see if I can hear what they're talking about." Aerick scootched his stool over closer to the table whilst trying to not make to much noise so he could hear the conversation. Once he was comftorable the dwarf bought another drink and strained his ears to hear what the others were chatting about.

Avalon jumped slightly at the clanging sound that rang out through the bar from the battle axe hitting the bar. Her instincts fully took over and her defense snapped up ready for a potential fight. Her left hand slid quickly to the dagger strapped to her hip as her eyes scanned the crowd to see where the noise came from. Her crystal blue eyes found the target rather quickly. She eyed him up and down with her hand ready to draw the deadly blade at any moment if she thought him be a threat. Hearing him call out for drinks for the whole tavern she released the grip of her dagger and eased her attention to the Halfling and the old man that sat before her. She smiled softly at the barmaid who had just stopped at the table and placed the drinks before Avalon and the men she was sitting with. Avalon looked over to the Dwarf smiled sweetly and nodded with gratitude towards the act. Thanking him silently and slipping her attention back to the conversation that had her attention originally.

Jorak had a hard time believing what the elven girl was telling them. The way he saw it, and he saw it from the slips she had made in her tale, made purposely or not, she was not just a girl looking to free her kin. This evening, not an ordinary elf had walked into the Blind Pig, but an elven princess, ready to reclaim the throne which had been so violently taken.

The question burning on his lips had to wait for a moment more because a dwarf barged into their conversation offering them all a free glass of ale. Jorak accepted the gesture but didn't accept the drink. He had enough with his Dragon-maw beer, sipping it slowly. Doing more than one of these would get him in a different mood entirely; a mood he was not ready to get into ever again.

Once the waitress had brought the others their drinks he asked what had bothered him in her tale.

"So, who exactly are you after? Is it the dark elf? Or are you looking to free your people by destroying the Asgoth completely?"

A serious look shaded Avalon's features. "I am in search for the man that killed our king and queen." She looked away from the man for a brief moment as she continued. "I am one of their personal guards. I was helpless to help them from the Drow. He deceived us all. I have been tracking him, in fact to this town but when he got here it seemed he just disappeared." She took a deep breath hoping that the group did see through her story and seen who she really was. "My first task is to bring the Drow to justice, then to free my kingdom... And as for the Asgoth army... I know that I will never be able to fully beat them but I can drive them from my lands." She sipped on the drink that the dwarf offered her. her voice held passion regarding the tasks that were set in front of her. She showed no fear but a deep sadness. "I cannot fail..." her words trailed off as her gaze became distant.

"Drow, drow, oh yeah that guy, he went hours ago, said something about going east toward some city there. I'm not much of a story teller anyhow but i'll help ya find that bugger, who knows it might end up near my home that we go near." Draws some more ale from the cup and looks to the dwarf and motions him over.