The year of the humans fifteenth birthday, Shem is 21 – Eliad is 31 – at the Festival of Ashar, where all the townsfolk dress in scary costumes or costumes of their heroes.  Shem goes as his God Arvoreen, Eliad a tree, Nathaniel goes as a scary monster, Raina actually dresses up as a girl not as a hoyden, and Hennet goes as a powerful paladin.  The festival goes on for most of the day and into the early evening.

Near the end of the evening, the friends notice that their parents are all attending a secret meeting in the town hall with the mayor.  Shem follows them and looks inside the window and noticed them all huddled around a document and whispering in hushed tones.  The document is locked up, safe and sound in a cabinet.  The friends decide that it is time to act.

Over the years the friends have all received special training in regards to certain things.  Shem has trained to be nimble and quiet, Nathaniel has had hours of work in the gym and in melee fighting.  Hennet, in addition to combat training, has been lectured to on the church and its role in society.  Eliad has spent countless hours away in the forest, learning to identify the various plants and animals.  Raina has been locked up in the library studying the arcane arts.

The group meets outside of Raina’s grandma’s house at midnight.  Shem is placed in the lead, as he is the best at sneaking around.  He unlocks the window and climbs into the town hall.  Hennet stands guard outside – in case of any trouble.  Once inside, Shem easily picks the lock to the cabinet and discovers the document.  Unrolling the document on the table he begins to read it aloud.  It is here that Hennet and Shem reveal that they too have stars on their abdomens.

Hennet has red stars.
Shem has gold stars.

The group talks it over and decides they must find out whom this Ashar actually was.  They remember a bard in town talk about him.  Disguising themselves so they look a lot older than they are, the group goes to one of the local taverns where Arugilla the Bard is known to frequent.

After Nathaniel is unsuccessful in getting anything out of him, Shem buys him a drink and Arugilla begins to open up!  Ashar was known as a crazy old man that had “lights” talk to him!!!  These “lights” gave him visions of the future and he soon became a prophet.  Arugilla gave the party direction on where they could find Ashar’s grave, just north of the city.

They set out at once for the gravesite.  Once there, they searched around but found nothing out of the ordinary.  Watches were set and the night began to pass.  Just as Nathaniel’s watch was ending, Eliad awoke after what seemed like a nightmare.  Sitting straight up, Elaid then pointed over to the grave, where a spirit was floating above the burial ground.

The party awoke with a start and immediately rushed over to the apparition.  After conversing with the ghostly figure it is determined that Ashar was a gimp.  His entire left side had been paralyzed due to a stoke.  After the stroke, he began to see the “lights” in the barn.  He then wrote the letter that the party discovered.  They were the starborn and only they could save the town.

Following this discussion, the party returned home in time to get up and go to school so that their parents would not be the wiser.  Hennet had other ideas.  He confronted his parents and found out the truth.  The party had been brought together because of this prophecy.  They had been trained and the town was actually counting on them to save them.  In the morning, the friends were brought together and given the letter from the town hall.  Their training continued because the inevitable was coming – the horrible fate!!!
 

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