Dappere Avonturiers van Aldûn

The Dappere Avonturiers of Aldûn (Brave adventurers of Aldûn) are a collection of adventurers of various backgrounds from the Tethyria region in Southwest / Southern Faerun.

## History

### Origins

The adventurers strated as individuals selected by Aurelius Steenschip, the owner of the Steigerende Satyr tavern in Aldûn, to deal with a group of plundering bandits in the region of Aldûn after the constable of the town, Paulus DeGrijs, failed to do something about it. Steenschip saw potential in these individuals, and urged them to take up arms against the plundering marauders.

The individuals who would form the Dappere Avonturiers group were:

* Andy Hilltop, a local Halfling citizen of Aldûn. Professional signmaker who had certain Bardic talents.
* Fae Fallon, a wandering Tiefling who had been trained in the ways of the Paladinae.
* Thaërdin Boulderborn, travelling Dwarven brewer who had weapon experience and understood the fighting ways of the Barbarian.
* Lea, an urchined Half-Elf who has grown up in the wild nature, adopting a Druidic lifestyle.

These four individuals were promised a handsome reward by Steenschip if they could clear out the marauders. The group set out into the woods where a mysterious broken cart had been found, and where the constable's deputies had been ambushed and shot.

Finding the broken cart, the group found evidence that a rich and important traveller had been ambushed, and that a heavy crate had been stolen from their cart. With this information, they set out to the hut of the hunter Letholdus, who was rumored to know more about the caves that the marauders were supposedly dwelling in. Arriving at Letholdus hut, the group found the Half-Elf laying dead in his hut, also shot with a multitude of arrows. In Letholdus' hut, the group found a hidden passage that led into the hills and towards the marauder caves.

This passage turned out to be part of an abandoned Dwarven refinery, where dangerous traps and guardians had been placed. One trap consisted of a heavy trapdoor that slided shut to keep intruders out, but due to the combined strenght of Fae and Thaërdin, the group managed to bypass this obstacle. The second trap, an animated stone golem, turned out to be much more of a problem. The golem chased Andy, Lea, and Thaërdin into a watery cave and almost killed Thaërdin with it's big stone fists when Fae intervened by throwing a javelin straight into the Golem's crystal heart.

Traversing deeper into the refinery caves, the group encountered a band of Kobolds who were trying to hatch a Dragon Egg. The adventurers cleared out the marauding Kobolds, but the egg started to hatch during the final battle. A baby Green Dragon emerged, and latched on to the adventurers, who appeased the baby dragon with food and attention. The adventurers promptly adopted the baby dragon and named it Koen Tjerk Paul Band.

Returning to Aldûn, the group of individuals now had bonded in adventure and were tied together by their adoption and parental duties to Koen, and decided to continue their adventuring partnership.

### Aldûn in trouble

After resting for a time in Aldûn, getting acquinted with each other and with their baby dragon, the adventurers were surprised when a few merchants strolled into town who immidately took a profound interest in the baby dragon. The adventurers tried keeping the merchants at bay, with moderate succes. Aurelius Steenschip offered the adventurers new jobs and prospect, mostly in name of Baron von Durfmann. Barman Danny also advised the adventurers to visit the Fey Festival which would take place soon.

The adventurers accepted a job offer to take care of bandits on the pilgrimage path toward the Abbey of the stone sword, but they would travel toward the Fey Festival first.

The adventurers quietly left town in the middle of the night, trying to escape the prying eyes of the merchants. As they rode into the hills east of Aldûn, they looked back and were shocked to see that a major fire has erupted in the town. Fearing that the merchants were behind it and that they had evil intentions, the group quickly returned to town.

Returning to town, the party quickly encountered a group of darkly dressed figures who were plundering and murdering in frenzy, loudly shouting for the adventurers. The party trembled in fear at first, and watched as two elderly people were murdered for failing to reveal the adventurers whereabouts. Following this, the darkly dressed figures started moving towards the party's hiding location and thus the adventurers were forced to act. And act they did, as they mustered their courage and made quick work of these darkly dressed figures.

Arriving at the town's square, the party watched how Steenschip, barman Danny, and constable DeGrijs were in combat with a swarm of darkly dressed figures. The adventurers proved to be a real tide-turner, and started to fight back the invaders when the merchants Johannes and Aubrey returned, revealing themselves to be the leaders of the murdering invaders. They were cultists of Tiamat, and served a dark mistress. They wanted the baby dragon Koen returned to them, as they saw it as their property and believed that it was stolen from them.

During the ensuing fight the adventurers really proved their worth as they battled through more than a dozen cultists to save the town. Eventually all cultists were defeated, and peace was restored to Aldûn, although many villagers had lost their lives during the assault.