Jim Asheton

## In the Beginning

James "Jim" Asheton was your simple, Rohgardian farmer boy. He and his brother Red grew up on the farm, but Jim always thought he was better than just a farmer. When he was told by Red that there was a Guild opening up in the city for people who wanted to prove themselves as heroes. Jim and Red set out with their adopted dwaven brother Dundalin, their dog Trooper and their childhood friend Denz'a. Denz'a was the daughter of the village herbalist, and Red's childhood sweetheart.

They arrived at the city gates within the day, and immediately made their way to the Adventurers Guild Hall. Here, they met many friends. Jim became especially fond of Gort, Abul Abas, Ichabod Becker, T'zerda Giovannia, and Lyra Softpaw.

When he had heard later that day that three of his new friends had perished on their first mission and that one of them returned in dire condition, Jim felt this must be his way to prove himself to the Guild, and to his new friends, that he could avenge them.

## Wolf Cave

So Jim and his companions left towards what is now called "Wolf Cave". Upon arrival, Trooper could smell the blood from within the cavern. They each prepared their ropes, and rappelled down the slopes entrance leavings Trooper at the top to watch for other possible intruders.

The dirt within was firm beneath their feet, and the humid air was filled with the smell of death. None but Dundalin could initially see what lay in the center of the room, until they each lit their torches ablaze.

The white fur was the first thing to catch Jim's eyes, and he quickly knew why his friends had lost their lives. Now standing, snarling at Jim and his friends, was the great Winter Wolf.

What Jim saw next was what shot fear and rage into his heart. The beast had been feasting on Lyra's headless corpse. Also noticing this, Red Denz'a and Dundalin drew their weapons in preparation for the beasts inevitable attack.

Filled with rage, Jim let out a wild scream and charged forward. Sword in hand, Jim truly believed his anger would make his blade strike true. This, sadly, was not the case. With a swing, and miss, of his sword, Jim was immediately swept away by the monstrosity's massive paw. Thrown against the nearby wall, Jim could barely breathe. The fear of this mighty beast was taking over him.

*"How can this be happening? Didn't the Guild know we couldn't handle something like this? THEY couldn't handle something like this!"* Jim thought right before giving out a **"RUN!!!"** to his allies. Denz'a and Dundalin made a break for the entrance to the cave, but Red had noticed something in the darkness of the cave.

Underneath the cadavers of three other wolves laid a golden sheath, which caught Red's eye the second the Beast moved toward his brother.

Red knew he only had seconds before it would inevitably kill them all, and he had no plans to die today. Making a mad dash towards the sheath, Red immediately drew the finely made sword within.

The room filled with a gust of air, and the loud **"ROAR"** of a lion swept Dundalin and Denz'a off their feet. When they looked back, they saw standing behind the Beast was Red. Golden blade in hand, he jumped in front of his brother.

Now on his feet, Jim noticed what his brother had picked up.

*"Wow, where'd you find that?"* Jim had proclaimed, almost forgetting about the Monster standing within arms reach of him.

Jim drew his sword too, and together the two began to fight the white furred mongrel. Denz'a and Dundalin drew their weapons as well, and turned around to join the fray. They all had made one mistake, however.

None of them had ever encountered a Winter Wolf, and so when they had began to see an ice colored cloud of frost begin to bellow out of the beasts jaw, none of them expected it to breathe a massive wave of ice over them all. Nearly freezing all of his allies, Red knew he had to get everyone out as soon as possible. Especially his little brother Jim.

*"To the ropes! I'll hold it off!"* Red yelled, pointing to the entrance.

Denz'a and Dundalin immediately began their sprint toward their ropes. Jim, being still shaken up by being hit against a wall, was having trouble running toward the entrance. Jim began to swing back and forth, and eventually tumbled to the ground unconscious. Red immediately sprinted toward his brother.

*"Get up, dumbass! You aren't dying here!"* Red said as he raised him up.

After pushing Jim toward his rope and tying it around his waist, Red yelled to Denz'a and Dundalin from the base of the cave.

*"Pull him out Gods dammit! Pull!"* screamed Red, as he heard the heavy breathing of the approaching wolf.

As they pulled him up, Jim awoke from his exhaustion to see his brother staring up at him. What Jim saw next would stay within his memory forever.

Some say when you hear a Winter Wolf's growl, it's already too late. Red knew that, and what he felt next was the searing pain of fangs seeping deep into his shoulder. "Tell Mom and Dad I'm fine, and keep good care of Trooper" Red whispered to his brother, as he felt the cold from the beasts jaw envelope his torso and then his entire body.

*"Throw the rope down for Red,"* Denz'a proclaimed as she untied Jim.

*"There's no use, lass, he's gone"* Dundalin said to Denz'a, placing his hand on her shoulder.

Jim rose up, anger filling his very soul, and a strange red aura began emanating from all around him. Jim heard a familiar voice within his head, whispering to him.

"You can kill the beast. Let the anger fill your soul, use my the bloodrage to fuel your fire my Son"

Just like that, Jim drew his sword and jumped off the cave entrance landing on the Great Wolf's back.

He plunged his blade into it's spine, which caused it to rapidly throw him off it's back. Tossed to the ground, Jim drew his brothers new sword and felt a fire within him that he could only extinguish with the blood of this foul beast.

The Wolf let out a roar, and to everyone's surprise Jim was unfazed. Immediately following the roar, Denz'a noticed something. The blade Jim was wielding had grown a mane around the hand guard, and Jim himself was beginning to grow fangs. Just as she noticed this, Jim let out a lions roar and charged the beast.

In response to the roar, the Wolf charged at Jim as well. It was a duel between man and beast. Canine and Feline. To Jim, Man versus Demon.

The battle was over in seconds. Dundalin, Denz'a and Trooper waited patiently, watching for who's body fell. It was in fact, the beast that had fallen. Jim cleaved it's head off with a clean strike, and rain of ice cold blood fell from it's open throat.

Jim immediately rushed to his brothers frozen corpse, and raised it up over his shoulders. Dundalin had climbed down, and began helping Jim prepare the rope to pull Red's corpse up when he noticed a golden glimmer nearby.

What appeared to be a large suit of golden armor, Dundalin packed it away for further investigating later. He then climbed up and assisted Denz'a in pulling Jim and Red's body outside of the cave.

They prepared a burial site outside of Wolf Cave, and Jim left his sword there as a marker for the site. Jim had no final words left for his brother, but he did have something he needed answer to. "Who was the woman talking inside my head? Am I who I think I am?"

These are the questions that sparked Jim to continue adventuring with his friends and dog, and for his brothers sake he swore never to allow another one of his companions to die.

## Other adventures

Jim followed this up with first NPC debut along the side of Rolt, Tiptoe and Lokota, where he assisted the three in dealing with Gnolls who were kidnapping the women of a settlement on the outside of town.

## The Quest for Gort

Jim, Dundalin and Denz'a started their quest to figure out what the magical suit of armor was. They had heard of a dungeon nearby which was home to a powerful sorcerer, so clearly they rushed there as soon as they could. A mishap in the dungeon cost Denz'a his life, but after finding the sorcerer he was able to bring Gort to life. Losing Denz'a tore Jim apart, and he contemplated just quitting the adventuring life. However, he knew he couldn't just leave Dundalin and his new friend Gort alone.