The Protagonists (Un-named Group)

The Protagonists, an un-named group, is comprised of six core members: Citrus, the eccentric human chef; Kaj'alee, the shady goliath rogue; Rosa, the mysterious tabaxi rogue; Rufus, the oddball goliath ranger; Sylvi, the obsessive kitsune fighter, and Terra, the peaceful Floran gardener.

The group sticks together mostly out of necessity, with small bonds beginning to form between some members, and rifts between others.

### HISTORY

Chapter 1: Strangers In A Stranger Land

Chapter 1 saw the Protagonists crash landing on Esora, an untamed planet stuck technologically millennia behind the rest of the universe, with very few tools at their disposal. Climbing out of the wreckage, the group began to get to know each other, trying to come out of the shock and hopefully tend to the wounds of the ship's captain. Sadly, he succumbed to the wounds, leaving the group down one person. Suddenly, the group was "ambushed" by a lone kenku, Kreek, who was swiftly knocked out. After some communication, the creature led the party to its home, a hidden village of kenku led by Jace, their half-elf defender.

Jace welcomed the group with open arms, offering food and bed in exchange for some assistance. Amidst the negotiations, the village was assaulted by a small band of gnolls, who were swiftly dispatched. Said gnolls were part of a larger pack, hiding in nearby mountains, who regularly assaulted the village. The last time, Jace had been unable to stop them from kidnapping two of the most important kenku to the village; the Protagonists immediately extended their hands in an offer to rescue the poor creatures at no cost to the village. They happily accepted the offer, and the Protagonists set off to rescue the birds the next morning.

Upon arriving at the cavernous entrance to the mountains, the Protagonists found no way inside, just mounds of flesh and bone. They investigated, but it was Citrus' keen eye and sharp wit that found a secret pressure plate buried beneath the morbid mess. The group moved inside, finding a disturbing amount of discarded bones, some of which seemed to belong to kenku. As they made their way in, shenanigans ensued, with Terra and Sylvi's unwillingness to kill providing debate, Citrus' compulsive need to gather food pulling the group in strange directions, and the general seeds of discord that had been sowing starting to bloom. Eventually, despite their quick wit, and thanks to a healthy dose of misfortune, they found themselves face to face with the pack lord, an immensely powerful creature; multiple near-deaths, fires and broken walls later, the pack lord lay dead at the groups feet, his followers confused and erratic, allowing the Protagonists to escape to rest up some.

Exploring the other winding pathways, the Protagonists encountered Rosa, who they readily accepted into the group at the mention of her knowing Jace. Allowing their curiosity and ambition to swallow their logic whole, the group engaged in a bloody, brutal, bone-breaking battle with a kraken. Escaping by the skin of their teeth, suddenly realizing their mortality, the group once again took a breather, this time in a much more gloomy, exhausted fashion. Finishing their sweep of the caves, the Protagonists found a baby gnoll; Terra and Citrus immediately deemed the creature to be their child, much against the rest of the group's liking. Emerging from the caverns with the gnoll, and now both kenku in tow, suddenly the group erupted into a massive argument: should they keep the gnoll, or send it back to its people? Sylvi's blunt tongue crossed the line, sending Citrus to run off teary-eyed while the child scooted back into the caverns. One emotional heart-to-heart and one small scouting mission later, they six reconvened and spoke with the kenku, debating how fast they should return to the village. The kenku ran off in the night when Rufus, who was supposed to watch over the group during the latest shift, fell asleep on duty.

Returning to the kenku village, the Protagonists had a feast to celebrate their victory and the joyful reunion of the kenku. Sylvi taught a small cluster of kenku how to fight, in order to aid Jace, while many of the others aided Citrus in preparation for the feast or interacted with some of the stranger local residents. After the party had died down, Taka, the chief kenku, gave Terra a map of the area, showing in specific a set of ruins where apparently one last kenku had gone missing. The Protagonists once again agreed to aid the village. On their way to the ruins, Terra picked up their new canine friend, Geode; their arrival to the ruins was not so nice. Finding a lone kenku amongst the massive swath of crumbled buildings, they were shocked to see blood running down its face and neck, and multiple insect-like creatures crawling in and out the poor bird's body. They hacked and slashed up most of the creatures, bottling one insect to later look at, and brought the young kenku back home.

There, they discussed the insects with Jace, and decided, upon being handed a more fully-realized map by Taka once again, to leave what they now knew was but a small island, and head to the shore of a much larger world nearby. Finding a duo of fishermen, the Protagonists bullied them into giving them a ride across the river. Citrus, Kaj'alee and Terra berated the poor men, much to Sylvi's chagrin; when the duo opted to leave their boat and fishing supplies and simply swim back to shore to escape the Protagonists, an argument erupted in which Sylvi accused the group of being overly cruel and emotionless. Physical altercations were had, and eventually the group arrived at the docks of Miegoves, a bizarre little city. The group explored what the city had to offer, engaging in hijinks and purchasing many trinkets. Citrus was nearly arrested; Rufus investigated around a bit, looking for information on a strange streak of smoke the group had earlier seen in the sky (that seemed similar to that of an old or busted-up ship); it all ended with Terra meeting Poppy, a fellow Floran, and a sudden realization that Terra was in fact *not* the last Floran in the universe.

As Sylvi and Terra spoke with Poppy and Rufus conducted his business, Citrus and Kaj'alee hit up a nearby tavern/inn, drinking, dancing, singing and just generally having a dang good time. Totally wasted, the two stumbled their way through a fun afternoon, until a shifty man offered Kaj'alee some strange powder. She accepted, breathing it in, right as Rufus, Sylvi and Terra arrived; Sylvi, in blind fury, grabbed the shifty man and brought him outside, "interrogating" (beating the ever loving crap out of) him, while Terra, Citrus and Rufus tried to attend to the now further gone Kaj'alee. Sylvi returned inside, blowing up on Kaj'alee, initiating the soon-to-grow rift between the two.