ToF4-01-01: The Gathering - A thief in the night: “You dropped this master dwarf!” Aeron called out. “What!?!,” Tarl spun around toward the young human, who held his purse in one hand and the beautiful moon elf who had just stolen it with the other. She had just passed on the darkened street, brushing against him as she did, but he had been so distracted by her slender, toned, yet delightfully shapely figure, that he hadn’t noticed her slip the purse off his belt. “Why you little, pointy eared… THIEF!” he roared, storming forward as Aeron tossed his purse back to him, smiling with amusement that a dwarf, a race known for the breadth and color of their curses, couldn’t find a better one. “Let go of me!” Nykira demanded, as she squirmed and struggled to break his grip. He had caught her by surprise, both because he had appeared from the shadows as if from no wear and because there was something about him that caught her breath and set her heart pounding, but she knew what fate awaited her at the hands of the Watch… Silverymoon held a very dim view of theft! “Why? So you can just find another purse to steal?” Aeron retorted, seizing hold her by both her arms. He couldn’t help but admire the stunning beauty of her alabaster skin, short blue-black mane, and sapphire eyes so deep he could easily drown in them. Seeing the look in his eyes, and knowing how her beauty affected men, Nykira took advantage of his distraction and stumped down on his foot; catching him off-guard, and assuring that he couldn’t pursue her well, she used the instant of surprise to break his grasp and bolted into a dark alley. “Here!” She turned back toward him, despite knowing that she should have kept running, just in time to catch the purse, his own, that he threw after her, and stopped dead in her tracks. “Now you won’t need to steal someone else’s tonight,” he answered the unasked question on her stunned face, before she spun and vanished into the darkness. “She must need it more then I,” Aeron said with a shrug to the shocked dwarf, who turned from the last glimpse of Nykira’s retreating form to regard the young human with an amused look. “You’re new to the city, aren’t you lad?” Tarl inquired, with out really needing further confirmation, as a great smile split his bearded face. The first of the five principal characters from “the Table of Five”, a Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in the Silver Marches of the Forgotten Realms. Raised in the Moonwood near the village of Quaervarr, Aeron earned the nickname “the wanderer” in his youth for his pension for spending days on end exploring the depths of the forest. Befriended by wood elves who recognized him as a kindred spirit, he was named “elf-friend” by the Moonglamaer clan, an honor very few humans receive, and one he continually strives to be worthy of. Aeron left the Moonwood seeking some higher meaning, when his family was brutally murder by the "People of the Black Blood", Malar worshiping lycanthropes, and stumbled into the role of reluctant leader of the Table of Five, as the band literally formed around him. A ranger and wild scout, Aeron is a “free scout” for the Argent Legion. He, and others like him, serves as the eyes and ears of the Legion in the wild; given the authority to act in the Legion’s name, but no real standing with in the military order. Aeron’s sword, Albion, is an ancient, minor artifact with powerful magical properties that he has yet to discover. One of the fabled “seven swords of Wayland”, it is tied to the fate of Hellgate Keep, although few bards and sages recall the tale of the overly ambitious wizard and his part in the city’s damnation. Yes... I'm back! Actually I didn't really go anywere. I've just been sitting quitely on the side lines, but still checking out the excellent work being posted here. Even if work and "real life" iissues have kept me too busy to post anything for a while.