AN: What's going on Ninjaz and Ninjettz! Welcome to my first ever FanFiction! Quick background of this story. It takes place in the World of Greyhawk setting (for now) running on the 1st edition of Dungeons and Dragons with a small twist. I will be going through around 93 different modules of 1st edition and more when we get there. More than likely we'll have separate stories for separate realms but that is yet to be determined as this is an ongoing story with a set of characters. Plus, character progression may call for a new story. Reason behind this story is I'm DM'ing for a game and decided to write out everyone's backstory. I had fun with the backstory that I thought I'd continue to write the campaign down as well and in turn I decided to turn it into a FanFiction! Lastly, if you have any questions on anything PM me! This story is rated M due to the hard topics, adult language, themes, etc. and will be updated bi-weekly! (Or that's the hope!) Hope you enjoy and I'll let you get into the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Dungeons and Dragons, it's official settings and modules that are used.
Edited: 3/14/2018 - grammar checks and sentence restructure
Prelude - Part 1
Welcome to the World of Greyhawk. A world of twenty-nine thousand charter miles from the northern to southern most borders with thousands of miles still yet uncharted. A world full of think forests, deep waters and barren deserts. A world where her people are of many different races and languages. A world full of adventure, and it's adventure that brings us to a little north part of the world and the beginning to our story.
The Burneal Forest. A stretch of forest of well over a thousand miles, from just beyond the shore of the Dramidj Ocean to the bogs of Blackmoor. This huge and sprawling forest of pines and firs is nowhere less than one hundred miles broad and in some places over two hundred miles. Beneath these woodlands are the prairies of the Tiger and Wolf Nomads, and these fearless horsemen often roam the Burneal seeking sport. They do so at peril, however, for there are defenders of the forest that dwell in this vastness, and they lurk amidst the thick trunks to attack by stealth and surprise.
Reports state that these tribes of hunters are humans and elves who live in small huts made of green boughs in the summer and in burrows dug into the ground in the cold months. They hunt by means of pits, snares, and with bow and spear. They pride themselves in being masters of the forest. Yet, there is no peace in the forest between her people. Since the dawn of the human expansion of Greyhawk, the humans and elves of Burneal Forest have been in turmoil. However, there are some humans and elves that feel differently about each other than their brethren do. Some humans and elves have made several attempts to live in peace and harmony. There folk were called the Old Ones. The Old Ones tried tirelessly to relinquish the turmoil that surrounded their home villages of the Burneal Forest, yet it would prove difficult as their numbers weren't large enough to compete with the warmongering majority. They lived out of fear of being exiled or worse, executed, thus they had to keep quite.
Things had started off surprisingly well as the Old Ones made partnerships among their kind and neighbors. People from both sides began to trust each other more and more till the fighting had almost stopped through the Burneal Forest altogether. That was, however, until an opposing force known as the Dark Ones erupted and started to poison the minds of the good and brought great catastrophe to the area. Lives lost, hearts broken, souls darkened. The Dark Ones brought down everything that the Old Ones stood for. The Old Ones were forced into hiding among the populace waiting for the day that they would rise again and unite the humans and elves of the Burneal Forest once and for all.
Now fast-forward some one hundred-thirty years later, the Burneal Forest is split into two, east and west, humans and elves with the Fler River splitting them in two. As we zoom into our picture of the Burneal Forest, we take a look at the southern edge of the forest where we follow a man in his early twenties on his way home from a day's work. This man's name is Renley, a human that lives in a village east of the human/elven line near the edge of the Fler River where things have been fairly peaceful. Renley, a man who's grown up his whole life learning of the ancient clash between the Dark Ones and the Old Ones, longs for what now seems to him an impossible goal of reuniting his homeland of the Burneal Forest and bringing peace forever to the region.
It was a peaceful evening in the Dozenmonth of Planting on a warm Starday night as Renley was returning home from a hard work day when, in the distance, he heard screaming. Renley, a man of action, drew his greatsword that he carried to and from work and waited to the attack. Yet, the attack never came. Then he heard it again. A scream of fright and sadness echoed across the Fler River valley to where Renley was standing. He then heard shouting and clashing of metal coming from the side of the elves and again the loud scream. On instinct he rushed towards the bridge that connected the east from the west, sword in hand and adrenaline pumping, telling himself that if he doesn't do this selfless act he'll regret it for the rest of eternity. He knew there would be consequence, but he'd deal with that later. He had lives to save.
After what seemed like hours, but only mere minutes of running Renley could hear more screams, shouts, and the clashing of steel. When he came over the crest of the bridge, the sight before him made him pause his advance, if not for a moment. In front of him, he saw the elven village under siege from a group of Tiger and Wolf Nomads from the south.
'The nomads hate each other' Renley thought
'They'd never attack together'
And then he put two and two together. They were fighting each other. It was a three way battle and Renley needed to get in there and stop it. Without more hesitation then his moment's pause Renley rushed into the fray to help the elven people, not caring of what may happen to him. Renley, with is greatsword in hand, stepped off the bridge and entered the village starting his trek to the village center. As Renley made his way to the center he was cutting nomads down left and right, freeing elves that were taken prisoner, handing them weapons despite the possibility of getting stabbed in the back and continued his trek to the village center killing more nomads on the way.
At the center of the village, Renley found a small group of nomads starting to make their retreat with, what Renley noticed as, elven prisoners. Using what little stealth he had Renley went to go take out one of the nomads from behind as a surprise attack, but ended up tripping over a rock and went crashing into the nomad. With Renley, now on top of this nomad and his greatsword, being what seemed yards away from him, felt hopeless. However, when Renley ran into the nomad, it made that nomad release its elven prisoner of what Renley saw be of the female variety. Renley looked from his position on top of the nomad he collided with and saw said elf spring into action, picking up the fallen dagger from the nomad Renley had crashed into, slitting said nomads throat, then going on and proceeding to kill the rest of the nomad party in turn rescuing the rest of the elves.
Once every nomad was dead, Renley was left in shock at what he had just seen. He continued to stare at the elf as she turned to look at him his mind went blank.
'Wow, she's beautiful' was the thought that came to his head.
Her beauty was that of a goddess and it rendered him speechless and gave him a stupid look on his face. Until, that is, she held her newly acquired dagger to his throat.
'Well shit' Renley thought
As all of the thoughts of the goddess in front of him left immediately and he looked upon his now dire situation looking for a way out. The elf then spoke and when she did she sounded like an angel, but he quickly put that thought on the back burner seeing how he couldn't afford to let his mind cloud his much needed judgment. Otherwise he'd be as good as dead. The elf asked,
"What are you doing here human? Give me one reason why I shouldn't slit your throat!"
Renley could sense the venom she practically spat out at him despite the angelic voice. Renley carefully replied,
"I heard screaming and yelling from across the river and on instinct I came to lend a hand and now here I am at your mercy, my lady"
At the last words in his sentence he could feel the dagger slightly move away from his throat, but only for a moment has he heard the elf snort at him in disbelief and anger at what she had heard. The elf replied,
"Don't lady me you liar! You were with those nomads weren't you! You killed innocents just so you could have your silly war! I'll kill you for this!" she yelled.
There, in that moment, Renley thought that he was going to die and his dream and everything he wanted to live for would die with him and be lost forever. Yet, nothing happened.
When Renley opened his eyes the elf still had her dagger to his throat, but it was held loosely and she was no longer looking at Renley, but behind him. Wondering what was going on, he got his answer when he heard an old, yet wise, voice call out to the elf.
"Adrienne! Release him at once!"
"But grandfather!" the elf, now known as Adrienne, replied
"He was with the nomads! We have to kill him for what he's done!"
Her grandfather laughed,
"No, my dear girl, you see this young man saved our village, but more importantly he saved your life for which you should be thanking him. Not trying to cut his head off. Now release him at once."
Renley could see the hesitation in her body language, but then when she looked at him, her eyes were portraying something different. With the look of guilt, Adrienne lowered her dagger from his throat. After what seemed like an eternity of looking into each other's eyes, Renley was about to give thanks to her grandfather and make his leave when suddenly Adrienne hugged him making Renley grunt out in surprise. That was when she started crying and shaking form exhaustion. Renley was taken aback by what had just happened that he did the only thing that he could do. He returned the hug and held her. Here Renley was, with the beautiful women that took out a group of nomads that was ready to kill him only moments ago, was now crying in his arms. He didn't come back to his senses unit someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Adrienne's grandfather standing in front of him with a smile. The man that saved him and unknowingly changed his life forever.
"Bring her and follow me" the old man said pointing to Adrienne.
Renley blinked for only a moment and complied, walking in the direction of the old man. He only took a few steps though before realizing that the women he was holding passed out on his shoulder. Being the gentleman that he was, Renley picked up Adrienne bridal style and proceed to follow the old man. Unannounced to the old man or Renley, many people in the village saw what happened and how Adrienne's grandfather stepped in to save Renley. Many accepted his choice as he was the head elder of the village, but many, including one young elven man who's heart had just been crushed, were furious and would vow to seek vengeance one day.
The old man lead Renley to a house on the edge of the village, near the bridge where Renley originally came from. Renley walked into the house to see a well-kept and clean home.
"Put her on the bed" the old man said.
Renley complied and laid Adrienne down on the bed. As he did he noticed the sorcerer's supplies and the many books within the home.
"Thank you for saving the village and thank you for saving my granddaughter" the old man said bowing.
Renley scratched the back of his head from the praise he was receiving,
"Oh it was nothing sir. I heard screams and knew I needed to help." Renley replied.
The old man chuckled
"Oh my dear boy that is where you're wrong. It was more than nothing. It was a heroic deed, yes but more importantly it was progress."
Renley raise an eyebrow at this.
"What do you mean progress?" he asked.
The old man clasped his hands behind his back and started to pace the floor. At this time Adrienne woke from her exhaustion, but stayed still as to not interrupt the conversation that was happening, for she did not want to miss what her grandfather had to say. The old man then said,
"Progress towards the humans and elves of the Burneal Forest to live in peace and harmony."
Adrienne held her breath and Renley looked at him in surprise
'Is he talking about the Old Ones?' he thought. Renley had to ask,
'The dream of one united Burneal Forest?'
"Ahh, I sense that you know of what I'm talking about then young man?" the old man asked.
"Y-yes sir I do" replied Renley still in shock. He continued,
"You talk of the Old Ones and their dream, no, their quest to reunite our lands so that humans and elves can live in peace and harmony together as one"
At the end of his sentence Renley looked at Adrienne who was now wide awake looking back at him
"So this means you must have the same dream then or quest as you put it?" the old man asked.
Renley nodded firmly
"Yes sir. I do"
"Good" said the old man
"Then sit and stay for we have much to discuss as I have a request of you."
"Of course sir, anything" said Renley…
AN: AND DONE! How was it Ninjaz and Ninjettz!? I'd like to say from a personal stand point I thought I did good for the first time, but just like anybody else there's always room for improvement! Please leave a review and tell me how I did! What you liked what you didn't like so on so forth. There's no beta reader for this chapter and I don't think there will be for the whole story. I try to catch as much as I can so bare with me :) Again if you have any questions leave them in the review section or PM me! Until next time guys! SwedishNinja OUT!