You start in Artolyn, the Shield City. It is nestled in the tiny country of Shou, a diplomatically neutral country. On this eventful night you are in the Fruit of the Halfling, a bar in the Bay Ward of Artolyn. At your table are a group of other odd individuals who look much like you; adventurers. You feel an instantaneous bond upon finding others who understand the urge to explore and fight.

Take this time to find each other and introduce yourselves.

Rurik was singing at the top of his dwarven lungs, pounding the drum in his lap.

"Brothers of the mine, rejoice!

Swing, swing, swing with me!

Raise your pick and raise your voice!

Sing, sing, sing with me!"

No one had asked him to do any of this, and he neglected to ask the owner's permission, but his grin indicated that he didn't care.

No one really cares; after all, in a bar for adventurers, you get all types. A few even join in.

Trilin grins appreciatively at Rurik's performance and the drums seems to enhance in resonance and tone slightly to accompany his voice. 

The proprieter, a halfling named Bibble Raresteak, nods appreciatively at the music. "Tha's better tha' ya often hear around 'ere. What would ya say ta playin' some more ditty's tonigh' fer some pay?"

Trilin hears some talk about adventures and dungeons, but the real information is traded in the back, behind closed, locked, warded doors. That's the type of info worth having.

Trilin wanders away towards the back, because she just can't help herself, and looks for these interesting closed, locked, warded doors to see just who might be going through those doors or if there is another less obvious entrance in that direction.  

Rurik hopped off his chair and headed after Trilin. "You got yourself a deal! We'll give you a great performance together, my friend and I!" He grabbed Trilin about the shoulders and continued, turning her away from the locked doors she really shouldn't be messing around with and turning them both toward the proprietor. "Legends will tell of the songs of Rurik and, er..." Without lowering his voice he asked her "What's your name?"

Trilin looks longingly back to those marvelous doors and then at Rurik and chuckles, "Trilin, but most call me Tree. Eager adventurer, lover of wilderness and seeker of knowledge!" Trilin regards the proprietor, "Do drinks come with that pay?" She says and clears her throat slightly.  

"Oh, yes. Drinks on the house!" Bibble shouts to everyone. As they cheer, Trillin notices one of the doors open and a cloak wrapped figure say to someone else in the darkness, "Akran tomorrow, then." Then the cloaked figure leaves and the door closes.

Alfonso Deepgleam leans back in his chair, nursing a drink while watching the others. He mirmurs softly ”An excitable bunch.“  

He then proceeds to play look out for Tree. 

@nscrock, what do you mean?

Quote from AvalonofWaterdeep >>

@nscrock, what do you mean?

 Lookout? Like to watch for someone who might catch him being somewhere he’s not supposed to be?

OK, sorry, it sounded kinda weird.

At the table a small figured chirruped something in draconic about free drinks. The small red-scaled form of the kobold stood barely over 2 feet tall, rather unintimidating on the surface, he was dressed in simple coveralls, with a loose robe overtop, bound at his waist by a tool belt. A heavy crossbow, almost half his size, was slung across the figure's back. A pair of goggles with dark shading were pushed up on his forehead, revealing bright golden eyes with black irises. He held a mug of ale in both hands, that looked enormous by comparison.

While he looked rather unintimidating and even, by many standards, cute, the steel defender standing behind his chair was off-putting and unnerving. In its current configuration, it looked like a metal armored skeletal boar; its glowing faceted eyes looking around the room, seeming to take in everything. It's massive tusks pushing up through a lipless mouth that displayed too many teeth. When the thing turned there was the grinding noise of gears, and the faint scent of oil and fuel surrounded the beast.

The small kobold, having to stand on his chair in order to reach the table, looked over at the dwarf and gnome, who had promised a song. "This one help too!" He chirped. He hopped off the chair and dug around in one of the many bags attached to the steel defender, finally coming out with an oblong metal box that was almost the same size as he was. Popping it open, he revealed a clockwork hurdy-gurdy. He dropped the box back in the bag, and took the instrument back to his chair. He cranked the lever at the end of the instrument, that squealed in protest for a moment as he attempted to tune the thing. Satisfied, he began to turn the lever in earnest, doing his best to accompany whatever music the others made, the hurdy-gurdy only occasionally spitting sparks or grinding as the gears missed. (Performance: 1).

Bibble Raresteak laughs and goes to get those free drinks.

Chrerc is winding away when a tiefling walks up and starts wondering at the device, talking to the kobold about this spring and that gear.

Chrerc quickly forgets all about the song, instead lost in his element of describing the device he had created, at times excitedly slipping back into his native Draconic tongue. He describes the various pieces and experiments that had gone into making the device and the future improvements he planned. At some point, it should be able to play itself.

The tiefling starts taking some notes and tells you of his own experiments (e.g. making an Old Erth boat go on its own, re-creating the locomotive, etc.).

The small kobold excitedly draws his own journal and jots down notes of the tiefling's experiments, while discussing his own experiments. He's particularly proud of successful experiments he'd had related to an explosive used for making pretty designs in the sky, not to mention the snow removal device he had helped his guild create that threw sheets of flames. When he left, they were still working on a way to insulate the wooden housing, which had burned down several times, but they had successfully removed ice in the city streets.

For @Benificence: