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Cleric Generic
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
565 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Oct 2010 : 08:58:58
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Greetings fellow scribes!
I've just srarted DMing a fairly informal game with one player and two PCs focused on the Great Grey Land, and I though this might be a good place to record the shenanigans. It's a spin off from my last, more traditional campaign that ended prematurely (but on a nice, dark cliff-hanger) based in the Silver Marches where Gargauth's minions were hard at work.
The prologue is thus:
"Although Lore did not hear the words of Corban herself, their evil truth was clearer to her. The power Gargauth held over all the Grey Ravens would only grow as they fought against him; it would grow even as did their camaraderie and with every drop of blood they spilt together. Even the destruction of the Jack in the Box and the breaking of Gore-Storm's horde would grant the world only a temporary reprieve as the heroes unwittingly served The Exile's will anew. Lore knew this.
If the keys to Gargauth's power were to be scattered, however, his might would be similarly diluted. As the Grey Ravens thinned themselves, thinned their tainted blood, Gargauth's might would fade. This was true for them all, even those who had never seen the walls of the orphanage, but Lore knew that the taint in her blood was strongest, that she was they keystone to Gargauth's bridge to Hell.
And so it was that Lore bid farewell to the Grey Ravens, leaving those of purer blood to face the threat of the Exile, for the most harm she could do to the creature's plans was to steal herself away from them. Gargauth, she knew, is not the only or even the greatest evil to plague the Forgotten Realms, and finding new and worthy victims for her infernal wrath would be an easy thing.
It was only much later, after many days of solitary wander, that lore realised she had been heeding a silent call. East; always to the east, the strange pull beckoned her. Across the Blasted Realm of Anauroch and the umbral spectre of Netheril at it's heart. Through the wild and tangled Border Forest, where unseen elves watched the wanderer from afar. Through the tyrant gripped realms of the Moonsea, where tales of the Horned Pilgrim and her Golem always preceded Lore. Then, finally, to the much whispered of Grey Land of Thar and legendary Mt. Throndor beyond.
The sole passage into the black dominion of Vaasa.
This forbidden realm, Lore knew, was the source of her irresistible summons. It had brought her to Vaasa's mountainous border and left her there with little more than her curiosity, adventurous spirit and a vague sense of dark purpose."
- Lore, the Horned Pilgrim = Tiefling Wizard PC#1, distand relative of Gargauth by way of his estranged son, Corban.
- Corban = Son of Gargauth, who went about in the mortal guise of a barbarian hero until he was found out and entombed alive.
- Grey Ravens = Lore's former adventuring party, the core members of which, including Lore, grew up at the Greyraven Orphanage.
- Jack in the Box = A powerfuyl artefact containing a fragment of Gargauth's broken horn that he uses to influence and corrupt people.
- Golem = PC#2, a Shardmind (free willed astral construct) Psion named Random who spontaniously burst into existence and has been following Lore like a moth to a flame since Anauroch.
The 'silent call' is, in fact, the spirit of the Witch King of Vaasa, who has seen the potential of Lore to unite the regional forces of darkness under her banner, bring low the Warlock Knights and eventually serve as his motal vessel... But that's all way down the line at this point. Session 1 report to follow shortly.
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Cedric! The Cleric Generic and Master of Disguise!
ALL HAIL LORD KARSUS!!!
Vast Realmslore Archive: Get in here and download everything! http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archfr/rl
2e Realms book PDFs; grab em! - http://poleandrope.blogspot.com/2010/07/working-around-purge.html |
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Cleric Generic
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
565 Posts |
Posted - 19 Oct 2010 : 09:48:34
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Session 1: Eyes, Spies and a Dusty Toad.
Start of play finds the PCs, Lore and Random, settling in for the evening in a corner of the Dusty Toad, a perfunctory inn and stables just outside the eastern Sword Gate of Thentia. The proprietor, the formidable Mme. Tharling, has agreed to let the two strange creatures stay based on the merit of their good coin, and the law of her word is sufficient to prevent a witch burning.
Despite being enthralled by the spectacle of Lore becoming profoundly drunk, it does not escape the notice of Random that they are being watched with something more than curiosity and mild terror by some patrons. Despite being incapable of reading the faces of these squishy, hairy mortal creatures, their minds are like open books to random, and some minds told her that they had been payed to expect the Horned Pilgrim and her Golem.
As Random is incapable of reading human expression, so too has she failed to understand the nuances of proper social grace. It did not occur to her that lifting a man high into the air with unseen force and dragging him to their table would be cause for excitement.
The quick thinking Lore, roused to partial sobriety by the sudden uproar, employed her silver tongue against the armed mob forming around their table. She convinced them that this witchcraft was not of her or Random's doing, for they had seen no sign of the invisible force Random had conjured. While she spoke her calculated words to the mob, Pickle, her imp familiar, went unseen and stole away under the flying man's cloak. Then, having talked the mob down from lynching her, she accused the flying spy of witchcraft himself and revealed with a flourish the presence of the imp, and with that the peasants were convinced.
The 'witch' was bound and gagged, and hauled away by the mob to the nearest guard tower to await trial in the morning. The people of Thentia, especially those who dwelt outside the city walls, were exceptionally wary of witchcraft and ill omens, according to Mme Tharling. Strange things could be seen in the Great Grey Land nearby, and those that ventured there were never seen again save a few that staggered out of the mist as mad men.
As those who found out the 'witch' Lore and Random were permitted a private visit with thr accused in hi cell, and here a secret deal was struck. The spy, a street tough of relatively good breeding named Edan, would be set free, apprently by his own magic, if he told everything he knew of who had paid him to watch for the Horned Pilgrim and why, taking them to visit him employer as soon as possible. Edan desperately agreed, and revealed that none other than Jacoda Khodoil, the fifth son of one of Thentia's ruling merchant lords had hired him, and that agents of the other houses were everywhere on similar missions. The immenant arrival of the Horned Pilgrim, it would seem, had caused great fear among the rulers of the city that their many enemies would somehow take advantage of any evil they braughrt with them. The ruling houses were to convene a secret council upon recieving the reports of their spies the next evening to decide how best to deal with Lore and Random, and Edan had a good guess as to where this might take place.
Satisfied, Lore instructed Random to override the free will of the gaoler while she spun an illusion to mask their meddling. The gaoler unlocked the cell at the apparent beckoning of the witch, and replaced the fleeing Edan with himself, locking himself in and casting away the key.
With that, the fugitives fled to a Khodoil safe house where Edan could send word of his predicament to his superiors. |
Cedric! The Cleric Generic and Master of Disguise!
ALL HAIL LORD KARSUS!!!
Vast Realmslore Archive: Get in here and download everything! http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archfr/rl
2e Realms book PDFs; grab em! - http://poleandrope.blogspot.com/2010/07/working-around-purge.html |
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Campaign Report: Random Lore in Thar
