Nentir Vale Adventures

Enter the Nentir Vale. This is a vast heavily forested region with impressive mountains that line its borders. Numerous small farms and townships dot the countryside that are easily overshadowed by the two largest cities of riparian Fallcrest and the dwarven necropolis-stronghold of Hammerfast. The Nentir Vale is not unified and lacks any sort of central ruler or governing body. Two centuries earlier the great human Nerath Empire fell. It had acted as the glue that held the Nentir Vale and its southern neighbor the Barony of Therund together. The Nerathi were a font for culture such as music, literature, and architecture and with its fall the Nentir Vale followed suit with a period of decline. In recent decades there has been an intellectual resurgence and newfound interest of the empire of old; a renaissance if you will.

Relative peace and prosperity has been prevalent in the vale. Yes, the wilds are not without danger from occasional banditry or malevolent creatures. Yes, there is political corruption. Yes, the rich tend to become richer and the poor poorer. But for the most part, times have been pretty good with the weather permitting a bountiful harvest this year.

You are en route to the rural fortified town of Winterhaven in the western reaches of the vale. Some possible reasons for your trek are:
1. Missing Mentor: You seek news of your mentor at the Academy of Magic, Douven Stahl. The man who trained your for a life of adventure bade his friends farewell three months ago and headed for Winterhaven. Douven, an archeologist and explorer of old ruins, always looking for forgotten lore, had found an ancient map that revealed the location of a dragon’s tomb not far from Winterhaven. He reasoned that if a dragon were buried there, it would be rich with archaeological relics and maybe even its hoard. The mentor should have returned some time ago, and his continuing absence bodes ill. The Academy’s Council fears the worst and decides to send out the player character with some loyal henchmen to find out what happened to your mentor.

1. Ominous Signs: As a divine class or a character with strong religious fervor you were contacted about the disappearance of a powerful artifact that had been protected at a clandestine shrine of Bahamut. You are to seek the counsel of Sister Linora, a priestess at the Temple of Avandra within Winterhaven.

2. Some other reason of your choosing, perhaps your own variation of one of the aforementioned plot hooks. Maybe you're a mercenary looking to get paid. Are you a resident of Winterhaven?

Regarding the question of combat rules during a session: I have a pretty strong grasp of the rules, but I do not claim to be an absolute expert in every facet of the game. I have access to the D&D Compendium and can quickly pull up what the rules state should a problem arise and we can BRIEFLY discuss it. I really do like making sure the correct ruling is made but not if we have to spend an eternity going over it. That only slows down the flow of the game. I will have the final say in the ruling, not that I wouldn't consider your input. If it turns out I made the wrong call, I'll make amends to you in some way. No one's perfect.

The character creation rules are as follows:
1. Level 1 with 100 gold to spend.
2. 22 point buy for your ability scores (recommended), although if you decide to roll know that it could potentially hinder your character, since 4e is more reliant on your stats compared to say 3.5.
3. Character Themes and Backgrounds are permitted. I encourage you to come up with an interesting reason of WHY your character has these traits and/or abilities associated with these two creation features. Breathe some fluff and life into your character!
4. All D&D material is available to you (book supplements, DDI Insider material, etc.) at this time aside from certain races. Thri-kreen, duergar, goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, bullywugs, githyanki, gnolls, kobolds, and orcs will be the only races not permitted. If you have a question about something, feel free to ask.
5. Please don't try and break the game with some crazy overpowered build! I'd like you all to have competent characters, but please don't try and make the game imbalanced.