Saturday 20 March 2010

And so it begins.........

Chapter 1 - On the Road

...our tale began with the Dwarven Cleric, Thorgar Grimbarrow, sitting beside the East Way enjoying a pipe in the warm morning sun. He is observed by the Elf Eriash, who is sitting in a nearby tree. A couple of minutes later Thorgar is joined by a human fighter making her way to the town of Winterhaven to search for a missing archeologist by the name of Douven Staul. Having established acquaintances, they hail the elf to join them and the three set off.

Shortly, they come across a robed figure, (Riffon the Mage),attempting to get his stubborn donkey to move. Information is exchanged and soon the party is united and heading to Winterhaven.

About half and hour away from the town the party are ambushed on the road by a band of kobolds. Eriash the Elf leads the way down the road and manages to spot a couple of the hidden Kobolds. Was it Avandra's luck ? or was it Lloth's spider senses that prevented the party being surprised.

The encounter began, Eriash headed off to the right to engage a Kobold Dragonshield fighter whilst Thorgar attempted a flanking manouvre on the left. Kayesha the fighter headed straight down the road whilst Riffon positioned himself to cast.

Thorgar was mobbed by some Kobold minions who had been hiding nearby, whilst a kobold slinger popped out from behind a rock and started firing. The battle ebbed and flowed with the Kobolds having the better of it. Eventually, their numerical advantage paid off as Thorgar fell. Meanwhile Eriash was also bloodied having gone toe to toe with a tough Dragonshield and looked like a strong wind might have blown him over.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man (or in this case woman), as Kayesha hit her stride and quickly despatched the Kobold minions to even up the numbers. By now Riffon was letting fly left, right and centre with magic missiles from his wand of accuracy. Unfortunately, this had obviously warped over time resulting in many of the missiles failing to hit their intended targets.

Then, like Lazarus, the Dwarf rose from unconciousness, dusted himself down and proceeded to grab the remaining Kobold. Having subdued the Kobold and tied him up the party then struck a deal with their captive. In return for his freedom the captured Kobold told the party about a Dragon burial site located south of Winterhaven. The party looted the Kobold bodies and ventured on to Winterhaven leaving the captive cursing them and vowing to himself that he would avenge his fallen brothers.

The party arried at Winterhaven, a small town on the East Way. They quickly found lodgings at Wrafton's inn and were soon bribing the serving girls for tidbits of information. After some fine hog and some tankards of "old knocker" the party were in good spirits. Towards closing time an Elven Hunter called Ninaran quietly entered the inn and spoke with the proprietor. Eriash took a particular interest in the Elf as he believed it to be his quarry. However, he was unable to get close enough to question her as she rode off into the night.

The next day, the party set out to explore the town. It was market day and Thorgar started by replenishing his stock of pipe weed with a costly purchase from a fey herb seller who assured Thorgar that he would not be disappointed with his purchase.

The party then tried to off load their stash of stolen Koblod shortswords with the Dwarven blacksmith but he was not interested in such poor quality material and suggested they try the general store instead.

Just before lunch the party made their way towards the Manor House where they struck up a conversation with the Local Area Public Defence (LAPD) officers. The LAPD captain was interested in hearing about the parties encounter with the Kobolds and commissioned them to clear out the Kobold lair in return for a 100 gold pieces and the right to keep any booty they found.

End of chapter 1.

Wednesday 17 March 2010

I am Riffon

I was born on the road. My parents were merchants who plied their trade amongst the Dwarven mining communities of the Thunder Peak mountains and the merchant city of Arabel in Cormyr. The Thunder Peaks run in a north-south line marking the eastern edge of Cormyr and are home for many tribes of Orcs and Goblins that launch raids into nearby Cormyr, Sembia and the Dalelands. It was one such raid that attacked my father’s caravan killing my parents. The band were led by a particularly cruel Goblin who had an Irontooth and a double handed axe. The Goblins would have killed me as well had it not been for the timely intervention of a War Wizard from Cormyr who drove them away.

This morning I woke and found a notc:

“My Dear Riffon,
I have tidings of great import for you. It is not by chance that we find ourselves journeying on the East Way and our visitor last night bore news that I had sought for these past three months.
I can now tell you that the Goblin known as Irontooth dwells near the village of Winterhaven. Should you wish to seek this villain out then take heed though, for those that plot the destruction of others often perish in the attempt.
I feel that this is the point at which our paths must part. You are ready to walk your own road. Winterhaven lies along the road to the East.
Fare thee well


Revenge is a meal best served cold, who cares to join me?

Tuesday 2 March 2010

Eiriash's past

My name is Eiriash Dryearanea, meaning sharp bow of the champions of the night, in Elvish. I was born in the great forest of Cormanthor as part of a smell clan,whose name i have long since forgotten. When i was just a small boy the Dryearanea attacked my clan and killed all but a few of us, the ones they spared like me were pressed into service first as slaves, and then some of us were trained in the ways of their rouges.

Two years ago i was travelling with my brothers from the Dryearanea and we stumbled upon a small clan in the woods, much like the one i remember from my early years. The other members of the Dryearanea, as ruthless as the ones that attacked my clan,saw it as a chance to freely restock, pillage and plunder, take slaves and strip the poor forest clan bare. i could not stand the sight before me as men and boys as young as i was were killed or captured. I did not stand by my brothers that night, i killed the guard of their so called 'prisoners' and helped free the captives from the Dryearanea. I took arms and stood with the clan until the last brother was gone, killed or ran.

I have spent the last two years hunting the rest of the dark clan of the Dryearanea, to try and put a stop to their reign of terror helping as many of the small Elven clans along the way as i can. i keep the dark clans name to remind myself what i am fighting against and in the hope no other young elves will be taken from their homes and families as i was.

Meet the Heroes - Part 1

Ok - it's time to meet our heroes. I'll profile each character over the next few days. First up is Jason who has chosen to play an Elf Rogue called Eriash Dryearanea, a follower of the god Avandra.

His starting Stats (after modifiers)are as follows;
STR 16, CON 12, DEX 16, INT 11, WIS 12, CHA 13
His starting Powers are; Piercing Strike and Riposte Strike (at will), Elven Accuracy and Torturous Strike (Encounter Powers) and Easy Target (Daily Power).

He is kitted out in Leather armour with a longbow and short sword as his weapons of choice.

He has 24 Maximum hit points but can make 7 healing surges per day.
His defenses are 15 AC, 13 Fort, 15 Ref and 11 Will.

Jason came up with an interesting background for his character which I was able to weave nicey into the campaign setting. I won't detail the back story at this point as it will be up to Eriash to decide how much he wants to disclose to the other party members.