The Rise of Bigs and Smalls

The party set sail for Vendleheim. It was a quick and uneventful trip. The arrival to the “city” of Vendleheim was anything but. They could hear the shouts of the audience in the arena from the docks and they only got louder as they came closer to the bright town. They had a small job to complete before having fun in the fighting pits. 

There had been reports of missing livestock in the farming areas around Vendleheim. Recently, a body had been found, mangled beyond horror. The quest scroll called the predator the Banebeast. The group arrived around early evening, so the sun was going down by the time they began hunting for the beast. They split up, heading into the high open grassland with small bushy trees dotting the area here and there. Aleera heard a low growl to her left. Kariss flew up in her flying broom to check the area from above. Malachi headed straight forward into the dark with his weapon out and at the ready. Kaladrax went off to his right, slinking forward but making so much noise. He was a city kid and not used to traipsing around the open countryside. 

A loud roar suddenly ripped through the night. Most of them were alright but Kaladrax and Malachi became frightened by the intimidating sound. Up ahead of them was a dark shadowy lump. As it stepped closer they saw dark, coarse fur covering a heavily muscled body, and razor sharp teeth that glistened in the moonlight as the saliva dripped off. The beast ran straight at Malachi. Kaladrax saw this rush and tried to muster the courage to fight but ran away instead. Malachi was left to fight the Banebeast alone. Aleera cast her witchbolt at the monster, marking it and damaging it at the same time. After a few more minutes Malachi landed the final killing blow. Everyone came back together after the fight and looked on as Malachi chopped off the head to collect the quest bounty, and Kaladrax harvested some of the blood in a small vial. 

As the group finished up and a large bang ripped through the air making them all jump. A little ways off, the door to a darkened house was thrown wide open and Milo came strolling out. After hearing that they had already killed the bounty he tried to go to the door only to look around in a confused manner, shrug, and headed back to them. The group, completely together again, headed to the bright torches of Vendleheim to rest after their ordeal. 

The next morning they quickly turned in their quest with the head for proof and headed to the arenas to compete and gamble. Milo and Malachi signed up for fighting as a team and went off to prepare for the next set of bouts. The rest of the party moves on to the arena viewing areas and passes vendors peddling food and wares everywhere. They came across Mulgash, the Slave vendor. Kariss saw that there were a few slaves he was selling but one was an abused looking white Aarakocra child with rags on her and a silver collar on her neck. Her wings were clipped and she was using what was left as a way to sweep around her. 

Aleera, seeing that Karris was about to lose her temper over the enslavement of a child, convinced Mulgash that she was royalty looking for servants and would love to talk business in a more comfortable place. She succeeded in convincing him and they were invited to his private box to view the arena fights. They put the talks on hold as the fighting began. The first match was with The Rhino and Zaro Zoran against Bigs the Halfling and Smalls the Half-orc. The fight began and about half way, Aleera felt a weird power come off of Zaro Zoran as he seemed to heal himself of all his wounds. Evil seemed to pulse off of him in waves, assaulting Aleera’s senses. Bigs and Smalls get the upper hand in the fight as they incapacitated The Rhino. Seeing his partner at their mercy, Zaro Zoran forfeited the match when he fled from the fight and the arena. The fight ended with Bigs and Smalls (Milo and Malachi) as the victors. They left the arena amid cheers of “Bigs and Smalls, Bigs and Smalls, Bigs and Smalls!”

With the fight ended Aleera, with Kariss and Kaladrax in tow, negotiated the purchase of the small white Aarakocra child with the intentions to set her free. Mulgash transferred the ownership of the control collar to Aleera, the new owner and even showed her how to remove it, should she choose to do so. Once they were out of the eyesight of the slave vendor Aleera made sure the small bird was clothed better and promised to get her to a bath as soon as possible. They decided to keep the collar on while in the city and proposed to remove it once they were safely away from Mulgash and other like minded people.  

They finished their business in the city and headed to find an inn for the night. They had high spirits and a new companion they could set free as soon as they were safe. They had money in their pockets and for once, nothing was trying to kill them.