Current members:
- Aengus – Cleric of Moradin
- Vara – Paladin of Eldrith
- Urs – Zealot of Balador
- Desmond – Druid of the Infinite Steppe
- Avery Hawkins – Captain of The Altair
- Bratak – Slayer of the Canyonlands
The Wild Rovers were born of a shared vision: A better world than the one they woke in each day. But how did such a motley crew manage to find each other in the chaos of the modern world? Well seemingly by accident in each occasion.
It all started when Aengus, Cleric of Moradin, crossed paths with Vara, Paladin of Eldrith. Aengus was in a small town called Medras helping a local prospective smith set up a new forge, when suddenly there was a loud “BOOM” in the distance. Aengus looked out to see what was happening, and he saw a lone warrior standing against a band of goblins, one of whom was tossing sticks of explosives at the warrior. Aengus grabbed his gear and rushed out to lend aid, and by the time he got there, the goblins had ceased their attack, and those that lived were cowering before the warrior. Vara stood there, staring each of them down into submission. At first, Aengus was a bit put off by the sight of such carnage, but he quickly realized the good that such power could do.
Aengus and Vara spent the rest of the day exchanging stories and information. They found, in their own unique ways, that they wanted the same thing; a better world. Aengus sought it through aiding those less fortunate, and Vara sought it through the destruction of her enemies and those who bring great evil to the world. They agreed that for as long as their main goals aligned, they would assist one another. And so they set off in the world, dealing out equal doses of kindness and wrath.
Roughly 2 weeks into their new found alliance, they were traveling through the Verdant Lands, in The Bearden Forest, so named because many bears of various species called it home. They came across a small battle between a Humanoid brigade and a sloth of bears, led by one, which while smaller in stature than its brethren, carried great ferocity into battle. But his ferocity was no match for the multitude of bolts being fired by the Humanoids, and he fell. Aengus and Vara looked at each other, and without saying a word, leapt into action. Vara repulsed the remaining Humanoids with her terrifying energy, and Aengus quickly ran in to heal the fallen leader of the sloth. Aengus did not know any form of resurrection spell, so he pumped as much healing energy as he had into this man, and suddenly, as if hit with a surge of adrenaline, the bestial man came to life and rose to his feet.
Not much was said as this man walked about, seemingly saying a silent prayer over the various bear corpses that littered the area. Vara and Aengus were both religious individuals, and as such they gave this man his time to worship. After 20-30 minutes had passed, the man, who stood nearly seven feet tall, easily dwarfing the Dwarf and making even Vara seem a bit short, approached.
In almost broken Common, he simply said, “Thank you for aid, Humans.” After introducing themselves and explaining that neither of them were in fact Humans, they asked his name. “My name is Urs.” His vocabulary and sentences were small, but his presence was anything except small. Vara and Aengus quickly tried to discover the motivation of such a man as Urs, and it was quickly discovered that he was as simple and forthcoming as he seemed. Urs simply wanted to protect the only home he knew, but that was destroyed. So, Vara and Aengus offered to have Urs join them in whatever adventures may follow, and Urs accepted.
It only took 4 more days for the group to exit the Bearden Forest which marked the end of the Verdant Lands. And once they cleared the treeline, they were greeted by the Infinite Steppe. A massive grassland that stretched as far as the eye could see. To any naturalist, it was truly a paradise. The small group traversed it with relative ease, and rarely encountered any kind of Humanoid, most of the time they were Druids with whom Urs identified with on a spiritual level. After a great, peaceful journey, the group came to the bustling port city of Lo’thar, named for its founder, Lo’thar Ungnot the Red, some 300 years prior.
While Lo’thar himself had died over a century ago, the city was as alive and prosperous as ever. Huge sailing vessels would line the docks, unloading cargo from far away including fabrics and spices, arms and armor, and of course, alcohol of the finest vintage. The taverns were lively, the shops were packed, and the streets bustling. It was, and to this day is, a bastion of civilization.
The trio decided to spend the next few days recuperating from their long journey, and resupplying before heading back out into the world. After visiting the local smiths to make minor repairs to their gear, their next stop was to the apothecary to resupply on healing potions. Despite Aengus and Vara’s divine powers and Urs’ hearty nature, it is never a bad idea to have a healing potion when you don’t know when rest can be had safely after a long day. They stopped in a curious shoppe known as The Aquatic Concoction. It was run by a pair of Water Genasi, which were truly a sight to behold. The one, Mason, seemed to be very business minded and the person with whom they traded. His brother, Desmond, seemed the far more curious of the two, and questioned the travelers with great vigor, trying to learn more about them and the world they came from. The trio invited Desmond to join them for a drink at the local tavern and he agreed. Great conversation was had, and Urs quickly took a liking to Desmond as he reminded him of an old friend whom he had lost in battle not even a month prior. Desmond seemed to share the same ideals of making the world a better place, and brought an even more unique vision of how to do that. The group was quickly growing, and with it, the hopes of each individual member grew. What more could be added to such a unique and interesting group?
Suddenly, there was a crash across the bar, a loud commotion erupted almost immediately. The music quickened as they all saw a man leaping from table to table, trying to escape the grasp of several disgruntled gentlemen.
“You were making moves on my wife!”
“He was making moves on my wife too!”
“He made a pass at all of our wives!”
The men shouted various other obscenities just before the agile man climbed into the rafters and shouted back, “Yes, I may have said some kind words to most of your wives, but it was only to liven their spirits and get them even more excited to be with you all! Except for you, your wife is too ugly even for these drunken eyes.” And with a point and a wink, he had seemingly sealed his fate. The men lit rags inside of bottles of wine and began to toss them at the roguish man in the rafters. The man dodged, but the fire began to spread. It was at this time that the group of Aengus, Vara, Urs, and Desmond realized they had to intervene. Vara and Urs took care of the ruffians on the ground, Desmond extinguished the flames, and Aengus made sure everyone was healed and escaped the building. Once everything was well in hand, the man in the rafters came down.
“Thank you gentlemen for seeing reason and handling this mess. I of course would have been fine without your intervention, but this is one of my favorite watering holes, and as such it is nice to have it still standing. My name is Captain Avery Hawkins of the Altair, I am sure you have heard of me.” The 4 stared at the man with no recognition of his face or name. “Ah, well you must just be from a completely different place in the world, presumably under some form of rock.”
Urs replied, “I grew in cave.”
“See, under a rock! So, do you all seek fame, fortune, and the love of a good 40-50 women at the same time?”
Aengus quickly responded, “Well, we are all new found friends, but we seek to make the world better than it is each day we wake.”
Avery smiled and said, “That touches my heart. And it also means that you are truly altruistic. Which means you will need someone to help negotiate wages and deals, and I believe that is something I am adept at handling, so I accept your offer to join the group!”
Urs was puzzled and looked to Vara and said, “Did we invite him?”
Vara looked back, a bit perturbed by the entire thing and simply said, “No.”
Desmond excitedly agreed to bring Avery into the fold, as he was happy to have yet another interesting friend in such a short period of time. Without much of a discussion, the group found another member, and the next morning they set out into the world to enrich it in their own unique way.
Several weeks later they found themselves in the small town of Faluk, a simple mining community that worked in the nearby silver mine and tended small farms. Unfortunately, an ogre had decided to take up residence in the mine, and none of the miners or farmers were equipped to deal with such an issue. As such, the group of Aengus, Vara, Urs, Desmond, and Captain Avery was enlisted to deal with the issue. They tracked down the monstrous creature and engaged in battle. Things were going well, until it was discovered that there was more than one ogre, there was a family of them. The tide had turned. Aengus did his best to keep everyone up and fighting, Avery nimbly ducked and dodged most attacks only for Urs and Vara to end up taking the hits. Desmond shifted into various beasts to try and absorb attacks as he concentrated on a Moonbeam. But alas all of their efforts were draining them, and there was one last ogre who emerged, obviously the leader of the band. Just as he was about to land a blow on Avery, one that would most likely kill him, a roar was heard from the rear. The entire group thought, “There can’t be more, can there?!” Suddenly, of all things, a minotaur wielding a greataxe ran in and began to fight the ogre one on one. It seems that the minotaur had been tracking this group of ogres for some time. After a few rounds of trading blows, the minotaur took the head off of the last ogre.
The minotaur turned to the weary group, whose guard was still up, and said, “Who speaks for your group?” His tone was surprisingly calm given the current situation.
The group all just looked at one another, and before Avery could open his mouth, Aengus stepped forward and said, “I suppose I do. I want to start by thanking you for your assistance. I am Aengus, what is your name?”
“I am Bratak, Slayer of the Canyonlands. I have been hunting this family of ogres for several days. I apologize for you getting caught up in this. What brought you to this cave?”
“We were hired by the local village to take care of this so that they could get back to work.”
“Did you do it for the money?” Bratak curtly replied.
“No, each of us believes in making the world better, and this was what we could do today.” Aengus nobly replied.
“Fine, then I will join you and help in this cause.” Bratak quickly replied as he began collecting trophies from the various ogres.
“Did we invi-” and before Urs could even finish that rare thought, Vara raised her hand, silently imploring him not to say it and implying she already knew where this was going.
Desmond ran up and began asking Bratak many questions about his life. He answered none of them and looked to Aengus and asked, “What do you call this group?”
And this time, before Aengus could say anything, Captain Avery spoke up and said, “Captain Avery Hawkins and his Wild Rovers!”
“The Wild Rovers. This is a good name. We shall do good things.” And just like that, Bratak joined, and The Wild Rovers were formed.