Abraxus Acerbus

User: Tesservet

Passives:

Perception: 13

Investigation:15
Insight: 11

Race: Reborn

Class: Wizard

Was it the mists? The rain?  Some other power yet unknown in this horrid land?   Something had awoken him that night.  

A single, worn chess piece, a rook, rested upright on the damp dirt above a shallow unmarked grave.   The mists had come in, as they regularly did, and then the heavy rain started, quickly saturating the ground.   A bolt of lightning arcs across the sky, and then, the cry of a raven.   The raven lands on the soggy ground, and cocks it’s head, looking expectantly at the rook. 

Momentarily, A hand, long fingered, bony and white, bursts through the mud, grasping at and closing around the rook.   A man, thin, pale, with a scraggly beard, matted dark hair, and a haunted look on his green eyes emerges from the muddy grave.   He looks around, confused.  He’s clad in half rotten dark clothes, bloodstained and torn.   Against a nearby tree is a familiar, but weathered and mildewed pack and a  long staff,.  By instinct, he grabs the things.  A voice in his head says “welcome back, Abraxus Acerbus”.  
 

Filled with a sense of unspeakable dread, he turns and runs into the mists.  The raven flies behind him….  
 

he loses all sense of time and direction in the misty woods, but is stirred into action by the sound of a girl’s  scream- coming from a hill ahead!  
 

He runs faster towards the sound…

(Something along these lines works to get him into play) 

Alden

User: LeapingMountain

Passives: 
Perception: 13
Investigation: 13

Insight: 13

Class: Bard

Race: Variant Human

This is Alden's story...a bit:
'My very first assignment!" These thoughts run through the young Alden's mind as he heads out the gates of Daggerford to investigate complaints by the Hanson's about something  prowling their farm late at night.
"I want you ta go out there an' see what their jawin' about an' report back ta me in tha mornin'" is what Chief Irons had told him.
As Alden made his way to the farm he could not help but dwell on this assignment, relishing the idea of his upcoming success and glory he was about to receive. "Even from the Duke himself" he thought. It never occurred to him to ask why he was the only one going to check it out. If there was something prowling around, shouldn't others be going too? But alas no, all he could think of was the glory he might gain from this endeavor.
"Why worry?" he asked himself as he trekked along. "My Da taught me how to fight, and My Crazy Uncle Earl taught me about magic, among other things. There is nothing I can't handle!"
It was dusk when he reached the Hanson's place, a small farmhouse nestled at the bottom of a forested hill, next to a creek bed, and a barn a few feet north of the house. Alden stopped to take it all in and after a minute he became uneasy. No one had come out to greet him, not even a dog and the Hanson's were known to keep large hunting dogs. The barn was quiet too. Alden subconsciously moved his hand to his rapier as he moved forward towards the house. A few steps in he realized no light came from inside. No candle or fire place light. The hairs on the back of his neck started to raise when movement from the hillside caught his attention. An unusual "Mist" started rolling in. Alden moved cautiously forward to the farmhouse when he noticed the front door stood ajar. His attention was drawn to the bottom of the door and the arm, curled in an unusual angle, that lay there motionless. Alden quickly moved up only to find a headless corpse laying in the doors threshold. His breath quickened as he drew his rapier and his heart leaped almost out of his chest when he heard the scream of a young girl coming from the hill above, out of mist. Alden spun around, looking towards the hill. "Didn't the Hanson's have a daughter?" he thought to himself. The the scream came again from the misty hill and Alden sprung into action, racing towards the location.

Carl Oakpyre

User: Badfishingdad75

Passives

Perception: 12

Investigation: 16

Insight: 14

Race: Human

Class: Rogue

Hi, Carl Oakpyre here. Human Rogue. You've shared your backstory so here's mine.

Carl was raised in the slums, the oldest of three siblings. His younger brother and sister are dear to him as he was taught to value family and connections with others. Being the oldest he was often asked to look out for his siblings while his parents worked. His parents are failed merchants but they are still trying to run a shop kind of like the jewelry shop they lost in fire. At least that is what he is told.

Carl's life of crime started out as most childhood misdeeds do, lots of free time and a dare from another child pushing social boundaries. Nothing quite gets under Carl's skin more than someone saying he can't do something. And it feels so good to make a new friend after showing them he could do what they said he couldn't. The first two dares to steal something from someone were heart pounding out of your chest moments of almost terror, even if the items stolen were not very valuable and dropped back in the pocket or basket after showing the item in his hand. But it didn't take long before it was more of an adrenalin rush as he realized he was quite good at this.

One day at the age of 13, while attempting to steal an arrow from a city guard on a dare, he was caught and put in prison. His parents made a bargain for his release by having him work the debt off by joining the country spy guild to put his talents to better use.

He has been training for five years and has now received his first solo mission: to gather information on the neighboring land of Barovia. However, while traveling the road a thick mist suddenly rolls out of the nearby forest and engulfs him. He continues on, the mist getting thicker. Suddenly he jerks his head up as if he had suddenly fallen asleep though he is still on his feet and the road has vanished. He is walking uphill on grass. Suddenly a young girl screams from somewhere ahead of him. He starts running in the direction of a second scream from the girl.

Carl is lanky, has an unremarkable face, and people seem to have a hard time remembering what he looks like because he seems so bland, even for someone so friendly as he is.

Tristen

User: Neithen

Passives:

Perception: 10
Investigation: 9

Insight: 12

Tristen is a half-elf Darkonite soldier who finds himself enshrouded by mist abruptly while on an assignment. The rest I will let come out through play (

Class: Paladin

Race: Half Elf

Traramui

User: Brad_The_Bread

Passives:

Perception: 15

Investigation: 12

Insight: 13

Name: Taramui.

Race: Orc

Class: Rogue

Background: Criminal.

Backstory: taramui was in a clan of orcs but one day human raiders came they enslaved my people, my mother let me run i ran to the closest town away from the raiders and tried to make some money as i got older i did more dark jobs like becoming a assassin.

Sample post: a dark green orc trudges down a alley the rain patters around him his cloak up suddenly a tiefling slips out of the shadows a knife in his hand "hello taramui I'm guessing you killed him?" the orc pulls out a bag blood dripping from it taramui says: the head like you asked now 50 gp please" the tiefling shakes his finger "no no i asked for his hand" the ork pulls out a knife and pins it to the tieflings neck a line of blood falls from the tiefling neck "gimme the money or ill kill you" the tiefling pulls out a pouch the orc grabs it and throws the head onto the ground and walks of into the rain.

Talorin

User: DragonMage 77

Passive Stats:

Perception: 13
Investigation: 13
Insight: 13

Curse of Strahd sounds great! Here's my submission.

Name: Talorin Alaundo

Race: Variant Human

Class: Cleric (Knowledge Domain)

Background: Sage

Backstory: The monks of Candlekeep found a baby boy lying alone and helpless outside thier walls, so they took him in. They named the baby Talorin and gave him the surname "Aluando" which was the name of the man who founded Candlekeep. Talorin was raised as one of the monks of Candlekeep, and as grew older he became more and more interested in learning. He would spend hours poring through Candlekeep's vast archives, learning every piece of knowledge he could. The monks were impressed by Talorin's determination and skill for absorbing knowledge.

He lived by Candlekeep's most important rule. "Those who destroy knowledge with ink, fire, or sword, are themselves destroyed." Talorin grew particularly interested in the multiverse and studying the various planes of existence. With the permission of the monks; he devoted all of his free time to understanding the multiverse. By the time Talorin was twelve, he had already learned more about the multiverse than most of the scholars in Faerun. Talorin was reading one of the many books on the multiverse in Candlekeep when he heard a voice calling to him, the voice did not belong to any of the monks in Candlekeep. Talorin dismissed the voice as nothing; believing he was simply hearing things but then he heard the voice again, it spoke louder and clearer this time "Talorin; you have proved yourself to be a great scholar at a very young age, I want you to be my champion." After conversing with the voice for a little while Talorin discovered he was speaking to Oghma, the god of knowledge. after the conversation Talorin began to pursue knowledge in service of Oghma. Oghma slowly shared pieces of his knowledge of the multiverse with Talorin, promising more each time. As Talorin progressed in his studies, he became especially interested in the Shadowfell and its Domains of Dread. One of the domains fascinated Talorin more than any other, Barovia. Talorin decided he couldn't contain his studies to the confines of Candlekeep, and he left in search of the land of Barovia. 

Appearance: Talorin is relatively short with big circular glasses and a mop of messy brown hair. He has bright blue eyes and likes to wear formal clothing.

Personality Traits: The multiverse is a puzzle, and I intend to solve it. I tend to lose track of time when I'm talking about a subject that interests me.

Bond: I owe my life and my knowledge to the monks at Candlekeep.

Ideal: Understanding: We must seek to understand every element of the universe around us.

Flaw: I will place gaining knowledge above the safety of others.

Example Post (also roleplaying NPCs): Talorin walks past a man holding a red leatherbound book and sees the title; A Deeper Vision. Talorin had already read that book, he'd found it to have a few interesting points, but was otherwise pretty dull. The man notices him watching and looks up at him.

"Have you read it?"

"Yes, but I prefer Snow's other works." 

"Which one's your favorite?" Talorin thinks for a few moments before answering. "Probably The Wisdom of the Crowds; it was definitely a darker read, but I found it to be more interesting." The man looked thoughtful for a few moments, and then he answered. "I've read that one, I found it to be a little long. But I can see why you might like it." "Do you have a favorite?"  "Not really; I like them all pretty equally," He paused before speaking again. "I think I'll return to my book now, it was nice speaking with you." "You too."