AGGR Storm King's Thunder 0.2 Introduction

Unbeknownst to each other, the tortle Club Foot, the goliath Sidheag of Clan Frostblade, the wood elf Sarydark Rothenel, the half-elf Tallas Darkstar, and the human Timor Godspell have all been fellow Waterdhavians for at least several months now. Most of them hail from elsewhere in the Realms but they have all came to Waterdeep. And they all did so for the same reason; to seek a life of adventure and the fame and fortune it will bring. Their efforts have not met with any positive results so far and they have all barely gotten by largely through menial jobs and manual labor. When they hear that there will be an assemblage of swords for hire at the harbor late in the winter of 1499 Dalereckoning, they believe this may be their chance. They all answer the call and, at last, our heroes meet.

11st Ches, 1499 DR

Early morning - Shortly after breakfast time, a well-dressed woman addresses the crowd of adventurers for hire/mercenaries that has gathered at the harbor. She reveals that the Lords Alliance is hiring adventurers to head into the countryside north and west of the city to gather information on their behalf. Then she instructs the many dozens of aspirants to form three queues.
All the applicants are interviewed quickly by one of three representatives of the Alliance. Many are presumably selected and head off. Our heroes are told to wait off to the side while the rest are questioned. Two groups of the waiting form and the future comrades coincidentally wind up together. After all the applicants have been reviewed, the interviewers again asses the two groups of those left waiting. Finally, they give further instructions to the others before telling the five members of our party to "try again next time." Then the representatives of the Lords Alliance leave.
Disappointed and angry, the group takes a couple of minutes to introduce themselves to each other. They wonder aloud if they'll ever get an opportunity to do something significant. Sidheag affirms that the reviewers will fail in their task because they did not choose her. Finally, Club Foot grumbles that he's done with Waterdeep and he's headed to Nightstone.
As he begins to head off, Tallas catches what the tortle says and he remembers hearing about Nightstone. It is a small settlement at the edge of the Ardeep Forest south and east of the city. He's heard that it is used as a base for the wealthy of the area to hunt in the forest. He presumes that, with spring nigh, the hunting will pick up. While it's still menial work, the coin will probably be better and he decides to follow Club Foot. He motions to the others to do so as well and, after some confusion and questions, they agree. All of them return to whatever places they kept in the city to retrieve their possessions and, shortly after lunch, the five of them set off out of the city, south along the Trade Way.