Dungeons and Dragons: The Fated

Chapter 1

The sun beat down upon the three adventurers as they walked through the path towards Amoura, eventually reaching the entrance to the forest. "Finally some shade!" Esmeralda said, wiping some loose strands of hair from her forehead. Almorith reached into his backpack and pulled out a water canteen he picked off a dead soldier, popping the lid off and taking a swig before holding it out to the girls. Aurora snatched it up and took 3 massive gulps before handing the canteen to Esmeralda, "God, I don't think I've ever felt the sun so hot before!"
"It's probably cause we were dead 2 hours ago, our bodies are probably still in recovery." Almorith chimed in as he kept his eyes focused on the forests edges. The sun was nearly completely blocked out by the trees, seeming as if the sun faded from existence once they passed the treeline to the forest. The path was a long one, so the three exchanged stories of origin.
As the son of a wealthy merchant family, Almorith didn't struggle for much, he had nice clothes, nice dinners, and his mother and father, would throw huge parties. The daughter of a rival merchant would attend. He had quite a crush on her back then and still somewhat do now. As Almorith got older, his father said Almorith need to carry his weight around the house, so one of his fathers friends taught Almorith to hunt. He taught Almorith how to use a bow, traps, and bait. They would hunt in the forest outside the city, occasionally some undead would wonder near and Almorith loved killing them. The fathers friend also taught Almorith to treat people less fortunate than him kindly and with respect. Almorith's family didn't like him acting as a commoner and treating them nicely so they were ashamed of him. They gave Almorith some gold and kicked him out so he could be on his own and so he would stop making a mockery of the family name. All Almorith has to prove he's related to his family is his signet ring with his family crest on it, a round shield with a dragon with 2 heads on it.
Aurora grew up in a small village known as Doomglaive, or Ashville for the locals due to the Neverending ash falling from the sky. She had a caring Father Bard, and mother Cleric, both of which Aurora wants to become, already successfully becoming a well experienced Bard. Unfortunately no amount of love and care and protect anyone outside of there home, or even inside, as Ashville was rotten to the core, death and crime rates making it one of the worse villages in Detura. Such a unfortunate fate occurred to Aurora as a group of bandits broke in to her home and slaughtered her mother and father in front of her. The bandits went to strike Aurora, but she had a friend in Ashville who was an older mage, who taught her how to defend herself. Aurora left her house aflame with her attackers inside, not looking back. She found herself reaching Lumberburg, a small farmer town, and she got herself a volunteer job with the Lumberburg fire department.
"Jesus, both of your parents in front of you?" Almorith exclaimed as he looked towards Aurora, causing her to nod. The two looked to Esmeralda, who ignored their gaze. "Weeeell? What's your story since we are all 'fated to be stuck together' til Drelocke is dead?" Aurora nudged Esmeralda. Esmeralda looked away from the group and mumbled under her breath as she crossed her arms. Almorith glanced over, "Gotta tell us eventually. How can we trust each other otherwise?". Esmeralda stopped in her tracks and looked at the party, "How do we know what the old geezer said was true?! What if he was just crazy and are playing in to a sick game?! Like Jesus, WE WERE DEAD AND YOU TWO ACT AS THOUGH NOTHING HAPPENED!" She snapped. Almorith and Aurora crossed their arms, "At least we are alive again, right? That has to count for something."
Esmeralda went to retort, but there was a yelp in the forest that stopped her voice. Almorith drew his bow and kneeled, as did the others. Almorith followed the source of the noise which led to a deer, entangled in vines with a family of rabbits next to it. The three adventurers walked towards the deer, causing the rabbits to flee, and the deer to begin flailing in fear, despite not being able to move. Esmeralda carefully inched her way closer to the deer and began to speak softly to it, "Shhhh, it's okay, we won't hurt you.". Almorith heard sticks and vines moving so he crept up to a tree stump and crouched next to it, waiting to strike if need be. Aurora knelt next to Esmeralda as the deer whimpered towards Esmeralda, causing her face to go white. Aurora caught the sight and looked to Esmeralda, "What is it?". Esmeralda looked around them, "It's the trees."
At the moment as quick as a flash of light, Almorith was wrapped up in vines and pinned against the stump, and a bundle of vines went to ensnare the girls, but they both jumped out of the way. Almorith pulled out a Dagger from his boots and cut the vines around him, freeing himself and rolling away from the stump. Aurora pulled out her duel daggers, Esmeralda her sword, and Almorith his bow with an Arrow at the ready. The three glared at all the trees surrounding them, and Aurora grunted, "How do we fight trees?!"
"Fire!" Esmeralda answered as she raised her left arm up and a ball of flame emerged from her palm. She directed the fire with a toss towards one if the attacking trees, casting it in flames. As Esmeralda went to toss another fireball towards another possessed tree, Almorith shot his arrow through the fireball, catching the arrow in fire, which stuck to his target tree, the tree bursting in fire. Aurora cut the deer loose as fast as she could, but with her gaze elsewhere, a vine wrapped around her ankle and began to drag her towards the stumped tree, a small hole appearing in front of the tree. "Shit! No!" Aurora screamed as she dropped her daggers from the surprise attack. Esmeralda lunged from the air and slammed her blade between the vine and Aurora's foot. The vine bleeding a green ooze took a swipe at Esmeralda, which was deflected by an arrow through it's vein, pinning the vine to its owner. The three stood back to back with their weapons and looked around. The forest stood still.
The silence was shattered when the treetops opened up slightly, and more of the animals of the forest began to reveal themselves to the adventurers. The deer, limping from a injured leg, went and nuzzled up to the party as thanks, before walking away slowly. Esmeralda's attention was caught by a family of rabbits carrying a basket full of fruit. Esmeralda walked over and knelt down slowly, "Thank you friends." she said with a soft tone. The animals left as quickly as they appeared.
"Was that it?" Aurora questioned, and Almorith nodded, "Seems like it.".
The party returned to the path and continued to track on, hours passing til the sun had actually set. Almorith looked around, "We should set a camp here soon, get some sleep and reach Amoura tomorrow.". The girls looked to each other, then Aurora looked back to the path, "Let's just push a bit longer.". Almorith nodded in agreement and looked up to the sky, the beautiful stars watching over them. The three climbed up a little hill on the path, their collective energy depleted. A happy yet tired grin came across Esmeralda's lips as she pointed down the hill, "There's a building there!".
The three suddenly got their burst of energy and ran down the path towards the shelter, and upon closer inspection the three stopped. "It's a cottage?" Aurora said with a puzzled look. "It's a place to sleep." Almorith corrected and walked to the door, knocking on it. His knocks opened the door, and he peeked inside, the inside dark and dusty. "It appears vacant." He told the girls as he walked in. The three walked in and got nervous as they saw three beds. "Destiny might actually be on our side." Aurora told Esmeralda as she sat on the bed, rubbing the wool blanket before laying down with a deep sigh of relief. Almorith set down his pack beside him, plopped down into the middle bed and closed his eyes. Esmeralda took the bed closest towards the wall and laid down, but sleep evaded her as she thought to herself about earlier. She let out a frustrated sigh, "Alright, I'm only talking about it once so listen up."
Esmerelda was the 3rd child and only female born to Elora and Blaize. She grew up in a fairly nice town with lots of shops and homes. Her siblings were always better than her and she tried so hard to get as good as them. For some reason her father was always distant with her and her mother and would sometimes even flat out ignore them. Her eldest brother Alaric decided to help her and become her sort of care taker whenever mother was away and father would disregard her. When she turned 18, her family all celebrated with a big party. Her father was off the entire time though he was very distant at the party, Esmerelda would often see him sneak in to a room periodically throughout the party and followed him one time to see what was going on. She hid around a corner and once her father left the room she stole some documents he had hidden in there and ran to her best friend who had also been at the party to show him everything her father had hidden away. Her father found the two and became enraged that Esmerelda had shown her friend his private information, that he was part of a group secretly working to overthrow any and all governments and kings. Since her friend had learned the information from Esmerelda, Blaize took the two deep and far into the woods blindfolded, and as a punishment for Esmerelda's mistake, he slit her friend's throat right in front of Esmerelda and then abandoned her in the woods. Heartbroken and alone, she spent a good two years trying to figure out how to get home, but by the time she had gotten home, her family was all gone. Her second eldest brother Lex had found her after 2 years and offered her a position in his organization, a rival to their fathers organization, she agreed and became a spy for them. Esmeralda's mission was put on halt once Drelocke became known to the world, and she was sent by her order of the Raven's to help aid in battle, along with a few of her companions. They lay dead while she lives, and she holds that against herself.
Aurora and Almorith stared at Esmeralda, who shrugged, "So that's that. I don't want to talk about it anymore.". Esmeralda rolled over in her bed and closed her eyes. Almorith and Aurora looked to each other and they too went back to trying to sleep, knowing Amoura wasn't to much farther now.