Upon my arrival at the large, multi-leveled tavern, I first noticed the pit at the very center. Every level opened up and looked down toward this pit. Apparently it was the entrance to a large ruined castle and was what attracted so many adventurers. There was a large robe and pulley attached to a chair used to lower adventures down into the pit.

Rather than exploring the tavern proper, however, I decided to pull up a chair by the bar. "Is there any good wine here?" I asked to no one in particular. "Of course," said a bar man. I order the finest wine. No sooner had a received my first glass than a commotion rose up between a large woman, standing nearly a head taller than me and a woman half a head shorter. I could not tell what was being said, exactly, though both seemed to be speaking in common tongue. I could make out something about a performance, then, as the two grew nearer to me, something about wine and cheese. Brie I thought, that would be perfect with this wine. I decided to be generous, as the others ladies were bantering about the cheese and wine, and offered each a piece of brie. The shorter of the pair, a moon elf, with gorgeous blueish skin and light hair, took the brie and ate before heading toward the stage. Perhaps it was her that was performing.

With magic, the moon elf cleaned the stage and caused her raiment to sparkle. "The Great and Powerful Tracie will shock and amaze you all!" the woman began. Genuinely intrigued I watched as the sorceress, for that is how she referred to herself, pulled various objects out of a large wizard's hat. Mere parlor tricks, nothing of note. I was not the only one who was less than impressed with this performance as the crowd gathered in the tavern yelled and booed. "Get off the stage," I heard one say.

"Well, I never," Tracie muttered. "For my next trick, I need a volunteer."

As no one felt compelled to answer her call, and as I had a burning desire to end this ridiculous excuse for a performance, I rose up. "I'll volunteer," I cried. As there were no other volunteers, I was instructed to take a sit in a chair on the stage. Naturally, I thought of abandoning this whole performance, but, I had volunteered of my own will and I would not leave. "What is your favorite pie?" Tracie asked before listing off several different kinds, among which was banana cream.

"Banana Cream!" I responded. The sorceress, for that is how she called herself, pulled a banana cream pie from the depth of her hat. "I will now cause the pie to disappear!"

Hoping to garner at least a little praise from the crowd, or a laugh, I buried my face in the pie. Normally this was not something I would have even considered, however, if one would question it, I would simply say the woman charmed me. Surely that would also garner her some favor. I devoured the pie. Yet there was not a single chuckle or applause. Instead we were both being shooed off the stage. I was only too happy to oblige, and, was shocked when Tracie did the same. "I don't suppose you could clean the pie off my face?" I asked as I returned to my seat and my wine. "Be clean," the elf said. The cream was removed and my face was beautiful and unspotted once again, aside from the faint and small group of freckles which dotted the top of my cheeks I'm sure.

No sooner had the performance ended the a call rang out from the bar. "Troll!" I looked around, and spotted the offending object surrounded by three bat-like creatures. I wanted nothing to do with this, and began looking for an escape. Finding none, however, I decided to simply watch. Perhaps I would not need to draw my bow or my swords. The barkeep leapt from his bar, pulling out a large greatsword. He turned toward the woman with fiery red hair, who bantered with Tracie, I woman by the name of Ember, and said. "I'll take care of the troll, you and yours take care of the Sterges."

What did he mean by her and hers? I wondered to myself. It soon became apparent, however, that I and Tracie and somehow been lumped in with this Ember woman. I fired and arrow and hit one of the bat-like creatures. I hurt it, but it remained alive. Meanwhile Ember cleaved one of them entwine while Tracie stood and watched. I fired another arrow, but, much to my embarrassment, it spectacularly missed its mark, embedding itself, instead, into a banister in the second level.

Soon, however, the creatures were slain, mostly with the help of Tracie and Ember. The barkeep, and man by the name of Durnan, slew the troll and all was well. Only we heard a call from somewhere in the crowd. "You look like adventures in need of an adventure." I, however, had a sudden yearning to return to the home of my father and forget this whole mess of a day. "I have gold," the man said. My ears perked and a turned, I was not an unwealthy woman, but I did have a strong need to earn my own way, and this would be a means to that end. "I suppose I could be persuaded," I said.

"I need to you look for someone for me," he explained. "A friend, we were out drinking and I'm afraid we parted ways, and I have not seen him since."

"Surely there is more to the story," Tracie responded.

A bit discomfort flashed on the man's face. "Aye, for you see this may have been my fault." I, however, had enough information. We were supposed to look for a princely-looking man with striking red hair. We were to be paid ten gold and than ten times that when we return with the man. What else did I need to know? Deciding we might as well work together on this as Tracie, Ember, and I were called together already, we were each given our ten gold pieces and headed out toward the last known location of the man we were tasked to find, the Skeward Dragon

To say I was worried of the future of our endeavors would have been an understatement, especially after ending up on a street they called Fillet. Every street lamp had been shattered and none gave any light. Yet something managed to catch my eye just ahead. It was on the corner of an intersection. It looked like a creature I had heard about, a beholder, I believe, but this one was stuffed and was a deep purple, a noble color. We approach the stuffed beholder and notice a sign. Old Xoblob's Shop

The adventurers I had elected to follow didn't seem to keen on entering this shop. I, on the other hand was very much interested in it. I'm not sure if it was the sign, or the faint purple hues that I could see through the windows, but I was drawn to this place.

I don't remember much about the shop other than a few interesting pieces of merchandise. One was a beautiful crystal, which Tracie was all to happy to snag up. Another was a feather, deep emerald in color. I thought this feather would make a great adornment for my hair and a snatched it for a pretty coin. The final was a dairy. Something about this dairy drew me to it. Now I know more than my share of languages, but this was written in one that I didn't even recognize. This just made the dairy more interesting, so I purchased it as well.

With our business concluded at Old Xoblob's Shop, we continued on our way toward the Skeward Dragon. This was a place I would not have walked into or even came close to in my previous life. It was a tavern for the lowlifes. There were absolutely not luxuries and it was completely rundown. Nevertheless the man we need to find was last seen drinking here. It was really our only lead. Reluctantly, I entered the "establishment" with my new party.

We left much of the talking to Tracie. At Skeward Dragon, we met the man that had been seen drinking with the one we were meant to find. He pointed us to the direction his friend was heading for when he was left. He mentioned the man was attacked. We headed toward the docks to further our investigation. There we found a warehouse. This was filled with scum. We wasted no time with them. I even managed to take one out with a well-placed arrow through the neck. Sadly, our companion, Ember, had said "We probably should have left one of them alive." once the fighting was over. To her credit she did try to hold them, but I thought this was just to make them easier to kill. Nonetheless we did manage to find and entrance to a sewer which we spent a bit too much time getting lost in.

It took us many, many wrong turns before we managed to find a large chamber. Before arriving there, however, we stumbled across some interesting folks, including a halfling guard and a few goblins. Using magic, Tracie even managed to befriend one after we managed to take his coin purse. Of course, after seeing the measly sum, Tracie decided to give it back.

In the chamber, we met an mind-thief, or something of that nature. It did manage to use a spell on Ember, but we were able to defeat it and its master. This is where we rescued our target and ended up back at the Yawning Portal where we would find out that the gold we were promised…well…was not exactly gold.

"I have something better than gold!" the words were of little comfort to me. I was quickly coming to the realization that I may not have managed to gather enough of my father's wealth before I left his household and I was beginning to worry about how I would be able to eat, to say nothing of the comforts I was used to at home. Nevertheless we had little choice in the matter. We had to find out what it was that was better than gold.

We were presented a deed. It detailed a large manor in the middle of Trollskull Alley. This was a part of the city that was not effluent but not rundown. Kind of a middle of the road place. We decided we would take the property and vowed to have a look at it the next day. At least I had a place to stay for the night, as I had enough to afford a nice room at the Yawning Portal. Who knows, maybe a manor wouldn't be too bad. At least I would probably not have to worry about the expense of maintaining a residence at an inn or tavern. Of course, who knew what condition this so-called manor was in…