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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crothian" data-source="post: 1326025" data-attributes="member: 232">“Push, Push..there…here he comes”  a loud cry filled the room.  The child was a large for a halfling newborn but Yondalla blessed him with health.  The clerics stayed with the mom.  There was a lot of blood and the birth had been difficult.  But the son was healthy and one of the few to be born in the new lands.  Yondalla was the patron on demi goddess of the Halflings.      “Rock!!  We will name him Rock, steadfast and steady, never wavering!!  He will be the one to lead the people back home.”  The father held his son with pride.  Rock was to be the hero of the Halflings, the Chosen of Yondalla.  He had much work to accomplish before his son was ready.    Years later Rock has grown to a boy.  On his sixth birthday his father gave him a sword.  “That’s what you’ll use to take back Dilanto, our lands that were lost.  Remember Rock, you are the Chosen of Yondalla, many halflings are counting on you.”    “Isn’t he a bit young for a sword, Calin?” inquired Stepha Rock’s mother.    “Nonsense, he’s a Brightblade and Brightblades handle weapons.  We are the leaders of the Halflings, Stepha, all we have dreamed and prayed for lies in the abilities of our son.  He must be ready for that.” Answered Calin.    “That’s fine, but he should also learn to read, to play, to have fun.  Allow him to be a child Calin.”    “He doesn’t have time for such frivolous activities.  The boy will do great things; important things.  He has to be ready, he has got to have our full support and our love for him to do these things.  Besides, he’ll be going off to wizarding school we heard about.  Nothing is to good for Rock, he has power and they will help him learn to use it.”    Stepha just watched her son train with a sad look in her eyes.  Calin meant well, but pushed Rock to hard she believed.  Soon, she was seeing Rock off for the last time.  The city of Pira they lived in was many weeks travel from Montinelle were the Mage School was.  She knew she would be seeing very little of her son.  Rock was their only child.  The birth had been hard and left her barren after that.  Calin had focused solely on the halflings and Rock after that leaving little time for Stepha.  She didn’t know if Rock was destined to do all the things Calin claimed.  All she knew was she loved Rock, unconditionally and hoped that that would be enough for him.      The Mage School was a tough place for Rock.  He was the only Halfling there, and still a child Halfling at that.  He had magic that came naturally to him but the things he could do were not the same as the others.  The teachers were unsure how to teach him.  Plus, he was a little slow.  Normally the brightest students attended the Mage School, people who could read and write several languages.  Rock had difficulty speaking other languages and he did not know or care to know about writing.      Rock was also having problems with the other students.  He was shorter then them, but really hated being called short or had his height called out.  He was always armed with the sword his father gave him, and this caused more then a few problems.  Rock was not afraid to draw the blade and stand up against the other students.  Many of the teachers didn’t like that he was armed all the time at the school, but Rock was adamant about his sword.  He bloodied a few students and soon got a reputation to be left alone.      After a few years Rock’s reputation was one of fear and respect.  He could do magic using a sword, a talent that almost unheard of.  The teachers guided him, but also tried to study him as well.  Rock’s abilities were formidable and his devotion to Yondalla was unshakable.  Few believed he was the chosen, for even clerics of other faiths did not see anything divine in his abilities.  But that did nothing to shake Rock’s belief.      There was only one person at the Mage School with more mystery about him.  His name was Jacob and he was not respected, but he was feared.  Millennia ago he was known by another name Aegwareth.  Then he was a conqueror of the people and a vicious slaver.  He was alive again through circumstances few knew.  His being at the school was allowed by Nicandra the Headmistress, but it did not seem that even she trusted him.  Jacob had powers that were said to rival the gods.  He seemed to speak ever language, and there few things he didn’t know.  The students stayed clear of him at all times.  Even Rock never braved an encounter with him.    Rock grew up and learned many things at the Wizard School.  He picked up bits of knowledge here and there, but not enough to be seen as anything but a failure in the eyes of the teachers.  They never got a grasp on how to help him, but they always tried.  Rock was a halfling now, no longer the child that had first come to visit him.  He was very skilled in the blade and his magics complimented that.  It was with a little relief that they finally sent him away.  They had nothing more for him, he needed to seek answers else where.  They suggested he make his way up to the city of Thesden in Calador.  Calador was the country north of Andavar of which Montinelle was the capital.  Thesden was well known for travelers and for being a pleasant city welcoming outsiders.  Rock was told to stop back at the school if he was in the area, he was welcomed back.  Rock travel ed across country for about a month before he got to Thesden.</blockquote>

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