Ander & Meng I: The Lizardfolk's Ways
In the forgotten realms, a land that stretched as far as the material plane allowed it, there emerged two heroes destined to save the port city of luskan. the first of these two heroes was Ander Brightwood, a human artificer with an ingenious mind. he wielded a mighty crossbow and a mace, among other weapons, and had many robotic helpers tending to the heroes' many needs. the second hero was Meng Mei, a sneaky human rogue who was stealthy enough to take the helmet right off a guard without them noticing. he wielded a mighty rapier that Ander had imbued with shadow magic for him.
the adventure started when, in the port town of Luskan, sailing vessels started to go missing. Ander and Meng heard about this unfortunate turn of events, and decided to travel to Luskan. they trekked through marshes and swamps, forests and jungles, and finally, they reached Luskan. when they got there, they decided to ask around about what was happening. they searched and searched. but, alas, they found nothing. but just as they were about to try to find an inn, a dwarf in battle armour came up to them. "So! I hear yer tryin' to find why those vessels went missing, eh? well, I could help you with that. I'm Thoradin of the Battlehammer clan! I was on a sailin' vessel called 'The Battle Spirit.' me and my crew stopped on an island, and we got ambushed by lizards! but I should explain. after runnin' out a' fuel, we decided to stop at an island called 'the thing in the sea'. at least, that's what was written on a wooden sign in blood-red letters. we didn't pay to much attention to it. anyway, I ordered my mates to start searchin' the trees for fruit. when it was almost dark out, I started worryin' about 'em. they had been gone since midday. I was just about to get up to look for em', but before I could, my crew mates came runnin' up to me screamin', chased by humanoid lizards. I grabbed my battleaxe and ran up to those cowardly lizards. they ran away as soon as they saw me, but I could tell that they were itchin' for a fight! as soon as we struck out, I thought, 'well! I guess we gotta hire an exterminator or somethin', or else we'd be ambushed every time we sail past that cursed island!' when I found you, I thought you could help us get back on schedule." Ander pondered this for a while, then said, "well, we would love to, but we do require a slight fee." Thoradin raised one bushy eyebrow. "A fee, eh? well, I got somethin' even better for ya. I'll give you half of whatever goods we ship from evermeet tonight. elven goods are very rare, and very valuable. I once came across an elven necklace. it got me one thousand platinum pieces in the marketplace!" Ander's jaw dropped. Meng fainted. after blowtorching meng's pants so much that he screamed once he woke up, Ander said, "we're sold!" "great! I'd like to see you two around, oh, let's say, tonight at mossglow? then I'll be ready to give you your reward!" then, Thoradin walked off. Ander sighed, knowing forever that Thoradin forgot to relay to them what mossglow was. Ander asked meng this, who said, "seriously? mossglow is the time at sunset, when the moss begins to glow." "oh. okay," said Ander. they then went to bed.
at first light, Ander and Meng got up, rented a longboat and a crew of twenty, and set sail to 'the thing in the sea'. after reaching the island, the sailors, who were also warriors, grabbed their weapons and strode ashore, with Ander and Meng leading at the front. they ventured deeper into the island, and found what looked to be a swamp village. stilt houses dotted the swamp. totemic poles were smashed into the ground. and a group of twenty lizardfolk were standing on the shore, weapons drawn.
Ander shouted, "Attack!" and they engaged in melee combat. Ander leaped through the enemy ranks on the back of his robotic warhorse, providing a hail of crossbow bolts. whenever he fired one enchanted crossbow bolt, it multiplied into a volley artifice destruction. meng darted in and out of shadows, striking down his enemies with a precision on a level only Artificers and Rogues knew. whenever he was targeted by his enemies, he drew his shadow rapier and parried the otherwise devastating blow. the sailors were decent fighters. their shortswords were able to pierce the lizardfolk's shields with ease, and their javelins always found their marks. Ander, Meng, and the sailors kept fighting until there was one left. it skedaddlethed. Ander and Meng returned as heroes, knowing that they would be forever painted in the sky as the heroes who saved luskan.