Tymora was the halfling god of luck. It was said long ago that once she gifted the halflings their luck as a defense against the cruel world. A group of halflings used this luck to take advantage of those around them. Angered by this, Tymorra turned these Halfling into Jinxes. She inverted their luck so that every day every action that they took caused karmic ripples. Fate's pendulum would be strike and no one, not even Tymora knew where it would land for a jinx. In Phanadalin, it's one still used temple was a shrine to her.

There a halfling girl stood over a low fountain and with a gross noise hawked a wad of spit into the fountain.

"Stupid luck god, taking my friend."

"OI IF YER SPITTIN' IN THAT FOUNTAIN I'LL SKIN YA!"

"Renata!"

The halfling girl glances back to see her jinx friend Oliver walking up the road to her, along with three strange adults.

"Ollie?"

"Hey! Where's sofia? You look sad, you doing alright? You wanna spit in the fountain?"

"Stop badgering your lady, lad let her talk." James said as he lit up a pipeweed cigar.

Renata, looked nervous but she needed to confide in her friend.

"Sofia she… You know those strange dreams we've all been having?" Renata askes, pulling her frizzy hair to one side and brushing her hand through it nervously.

"Yeah? I had one last night, did you get a giant key?"

"What? No! It was the dream about… the Fairies. I had the dream again, and yesterday she said that night she also dreamed of fairies. And when we woke up..."

"She was gone, disappeared under mysterious circumstances?" James said as he took another drag from his cigar.

Renata numbly nods, her frown deepened.

"It's stupid! The adults think she ran way but we had plans! This isn't part of it." Renata sounded on the verge of tears, and Oliver looked angry.

"This isn't like her, me and Pip were just about to start on the raft…" Oliver said as Renata exploded gently.

"Exactly! But they won't listen! And Now I'm having the fairies dreams and I think… I…" She begins to tear up as the words break. "I don't wanna get taken to the woods! I want Sofie back!"

"Hey Kid?" James got Oliver's attention briefly. "Talk to your friend, calm her. We're gonna plan our next move."

Oliver nodded as his three new friends huddled up to discuss the situation.

Not really knowing what to do, Oliver awkwardly pulls her into a hug.

"It'll be okay Renata. My friends here? They're brave heroes who do this kind of stuff professionally. We'll get Sofie back, and we could even use the money to buy a real boat! We could sail all across the great divide!" He spoke as her sobs reduced to sniffles.

"They'll really help us?"

"We're not seriously gonna help these kids right? None of them can pay us for this." James said bluntly, causing Randor to stomp on his boot. "Ow! What the hells?"

"Yer not seriously thinkin' to abandon orphans to deal wit the Fae on their own, are ya?" Randor glared up at the obake as the monkey man pulled a pipeweed cigar from his pack and lit it.

"Look that's a pretty good pipeline for warlocks, someone will get magic powers out of it."

"That's not a good argument!"

"So fey are like ghost-spirits right? I'm the incarnate, the bridge-path between the world-planes, should be quick-fast to do some spirit bridging and be on our way. Plus-add, other plane-worlds have different Vahi, what could be a minute-moment here could be a tenday there." Kame spoke up before his party mates started arguing. James let out a sigh.

"Alright you're in."

The party whirled around to face the kids, James taking a drag off his cigar. The jinx and halfling exchanged looks.

"What?"

"A raft isn't gonna get to anywhere except an early grave, plus the world is a dark place. A bunch of kids landing on the port of Saltmarsh or gods forbid anywhere in the great divide, you're toast. Game over, adventure done. Now you sail in with a ship, some time to train, and maybe unlocking a magic trait or two. Though maybe not anything fae based because Someone doesn't like warlocks."

Randor put his hands up indignantly. "They're getting kidnapped! The fae aren't makin em warlocks you stupid ape!"

"Unlike you fools, I have a tail, I'm a monkey." James replied with a sarcastic deadpan to his voice.

"I'm in. So long as we get Sofie back, I've got nothing here if Ollie and Pip leave." Renata said as she rubbed the tears from her eyes.

"OI GUYS! MY PARENTS LET ME GO!" Pip came running up to the group. "Hey Renata! Where's Sofie?"

The human boy was filled in on what was about to happen, and was excited to join his friends. The party of six decided to arm the younger half of the party, stopping off in the shopping district and formulating a plan for later that night.

Above the road leading up to a large wooden shop hung a wooden sign cut in the shape of a shield and bearing the icon of a blue lion.

"Here," Pip called to the party pointing up to the shop. "This is the Lionshield Coster. We can buy weapons here."

The six of them entered the building and the kids set about finding their weapons as Kame and James made their way to the human woman staring at the kids.

"Hello there!" Kame said cheerily.

"Welcome to the Lionshield. Don't let the kids hurt themselves." The woman nods towards Pip trying to lift a massive great axe to impress Renata who was laughing at him.

"They're all over 12, I think they can lose limbs on their own terms." James said with a shrug.

Oliver felt his stomach sink as he stared at the sword.

It was that sword, from his dream. The blade was perfect for his height and the pommel bore the same symbol as that weird keyblade from his dream.

He picked up the sword and it perfectly fit his hand. The weight was as if it was tailored to him, it was so strange.

Oliver took the sword, Renata picked a pike that was made for halflings, and Pip took a hand crossbow and 20 bolts.

The party stepped out and James grumbled about the lack of coin.

"We still need to buy health and mana potions. I also need more pipeweed. Oi Ren fair, your shit starts disappearing at night right?"

"...Yes one of my few friends, a sister essentially, was kidnapped in the middle of the night." She said shooting the callus man a glare.

"Exactly, come on let's go swing by the job board and make some coin before then." James said as he brushed past the party.

The party made their way to a large manor home, home of the Phandalin town master. In front of the home was a large wooden board, which had various bits of parchment nailed to it.

"Alright ally-friends, let's quick-read these…" Kame said as he stepped up to read the fliers.

"So you guys just wander around, picking up odd jobs and doing stuff?" Oliver asked, having kept mostly silent through the walk.

"Yep," James said as he leaned up against the job board taking a drag off his cigar, "it pays well enough. 'Sides you don't need much beyond booze, pipeweed, and the clothes on your back. That was your plan wasn't it? When you sailed off?"

"We're going to the Great Divide. All the way to the end." Pip spoke up with a determined confidence.

"And?" James fired back with an exhale of pungent smoke. The three kids looked at each other for a moment, unable to answer the question.

"Here this one should be easy for the kid-children." Kame said pulling a flier down and showing it off to Randor and James.

The local midwife—an Alchemist of Chauntea named Adabra Gwynn—lives by herself in a stone windmill on the side of a hill a few miles south of Phandalin. With dragon sightings becoming more common, it's not safe for her to be alone. Urge Adabra to return to Phandalin. Once she's safe, visit Townmaster Harbin Wester to claim a reward of 25 Gold Pieces.

"Dragon sightings?" Randor questioned. "Didn't those orcs mention something about a dragon?"

"Yeah they did, must be our scaly friend… Perhaps before we head out from here we'll kill that. Or atleast steal it's loot." James said with a deadpan.

"You three are seriously gonna kill a dragon?" Oliver asked with a hint of fear in his voice.

Kame glanced back with a raised eyebrow.

"You aren't gonna come with?"

Renata burst out laughing, only to stop after a moment as she realized she was the only one laughing.

"We're kids, how the hells do you think we're gonna kill a dragon?" She asked, still chasing giggles from her voice.

"I started when I was a wee bit younger than ya, lass." Randor said with a shrug.

"And we're not fighting it yet, right now we're swinging by potion lady then saving your friend. So come along, mini adventurers. I like my meat shields within bullet blocking distance." James said before stepping away from the board.

The party begins making their way to the North of Phandalin, the kids mumbling among themself as they found themselves now a part of an adventuring party.