The (Primary) Villains

Sir Briefadel: 

Middle-aged and bitter, Sir Briefadel rules the small but fortified, Feywild bordering town of Scar Borough. He is the unloved and unwanted, only son of Lord Urdurel and a (apparently at the time) young and beautiful Gypsy woman. His Father; Lord Urdurel, rules over the entire Kingdom of Stowan but banished his son, at an early age, to the furthest reaches of his realm. After hiring the four adventurers to find a magical pool, Sir Briefadel betrayed them in order to save his (supposedly dead) Mother; Hetzabah from his Father’s imprisonment. During the chase, despite appearing to be a normal, if aristocratic, armoured Knight, Sir Briefadel revealed that he secretly possessed (much frowned upon in this realm) arcane powers and his Mother was much, much more than just a mere, innocent Gypsy healer.

Hetzabah: 

Dark haired and so eye-bogglingly voluptuous, every incidental jiggle is akin to a full blown ‘exotic’ performance. The second wife of Lord Urdurel, she was discovered, too late, to be no mere Gypsy. Instead it turned out that she was responsible for the (previously presumed natural) death of Lord Urdurel’s first wife; Dulcetta and, later, his teenage Daughter; Lamenta. Hetzabah encouraged Lord Urdurel to restart his stalled conquest of the neighbouring kingdoms and bore his second child; Sir Briefadel. Later, almost immediately after the death of his Daughter, Lord Urdurel discovered the truth and, despite her enchantment over him, still managed to drive out her witch coven, capture Hetzabah and imprison her on a different world, where she’s been held and perpetually tortured for a hundred years in that dimension’s timeline, although only fifty-years by Fissian reckoning.

Madame Morgarna:

Posing as a simple, flimflam, fortune-teller, this old woman is secretly a shrewd and powerful Witch in the, long-term, employ of Sir Briefadel. She was part of Hetzabah’s coven of thirteen witches, fifty-two years ago, that helped her ensnare Lord Urdurel and poison the Lady Dulcetta. The coven was broken up and destroyed by Lord Urdurel’s elite guard but many of its members, including Morgana herself, managed to escape. Recently tasked with reforming the fractured coven, she seeks to help her old mistress and more recent master succeed in their fiendish, possibly world changing goals.

The (Current) Heroes

Fortu: 

Raised in the brutal gladiatorial arena, without love or kindness and with no real memories of his life before his childhood enslavement, Fortu eventually won his freedom through his martial prowess but soon found life outside the arena, sans friends or sponsors, as potentially dangerous as life was within. 

Travelling oversea to Stowan to escape the land of his erstwhile masters and, perhaps reclaim some sense of who he was… Who he might have been before he was captured or sold, Fortu headed for the border town of Scar Borough. A place, he’d been told, where fortunes could be found and a strong man could be his own master. 

Arowe:

Still young by Elven standards, but old enough to have lived through the final years of the Dragon Queen; Theranthor’s reign and raised on the terrifying tales of the Demon Prince; Zartak, the foppish and impatient; Arowe suffered from a sense of not quite fitting into High-Elven society and yearned instead for a life of adventure. 

Never feeling completely at home in Glendorne, tall Arowe left his childhood friends, his graceful and noble Mother and his mean-spirited, flint-hearted, short-of-stature Father behind him and set out for the ever expanding Human lands to seek, not gold, but fame and glory.

Liga Bur:

His adoptive Orc Father; Mahd Boss never spoke to him about his real Halfling parents and after his fifth ‘disciplining’, he learned not to ask again. He was just a baby when he was taken in by the Darkstar tribe and they were kind to him in their own brutal way but he was still curious about his real parents. What happened to them? What happened to the shire they were from? Still he learned to fight, despite his size, and worked hard to earn a place there and became the best tracker of the tribe.

When the unrelenting ‘Red-eyes’ came, seemingly out of nowhere and drove his tribe further into the inhospitable badlands, Mahd Boss ordered Liga Bur to take his loyal hound; Mir Hundur and travel out of the Orcish broken lands and find a new life for himself. To survive, even if they could not.

May-be-days?

Due to typically accursed scheduling issues, April’s sadly a bust, so let’s move along to far away May…

9am start so I’ll have around four hours to set up.

Saturday the 3rd of May

Sunday the 4th of May

Saturday the 10th of May

Sunday the 11th of May

Sunday the 18th of May

Sunday the 25th of May

Saturday the 31st of May

Just for the sake of game momentum, I’d prefer earlier in the month rather than later. I’ve already written the opening scene!

Thanks for all the speedy-ish responses.

Let’s lock down Saturday the 10th of May before we lose all hope.

I’ll start planning in Ernest now…

Keeping track of things

 As Fortu rested against a boulder, refusing the 'hospitality' of the Fey, he watched the insidious way the others were taken in by their hosts. Even the hardened trio of guards, whose very lives had been so close to being ended by these same hosts, were grinning and fawning apologetically at the aloof Estrid.

He still felt cheapened that their course of actions, chasing down Briedefel, aligned with her wishes. Glancing over at Estrid he was again dazzled by the magic of her presence, it was easy to believe all the stories he'd heard of the mystical Fey and their beguiling ways. Had they all been taken in? The Fey had been helpful and courteous but it was he and his friends that had ventured the dangers of the Givrad Void.

Briefedel needed to be stopped though, the malicious conniving 'owner' and his demonic mother had plans and ambitions that would be harmful to so many. So for now the support of this nest of Fey was required and Fortu would not make waves to upset their loose alliance.

When they'd first located the Fey glade and learned the magic of the pool, Fortu had planned on returning. Originally he'd planned of getting Riffers to make a map, knowing that he would not be able to duplicate the tracking marvels of Liga Bur. The longer they had travelled together though, the more he'd learned from the enigmatic ranger. By just observing; then as his bond to the halfling grew, questioning, he learnt the skills needed to track/ map and survive in different environments. After their many battles he would listen as Liga Bur explained the various ways to exploit weaknesses in 'favoured enemies'. He realised that his many years in the fight pits had unconsciously taught him the flaws in humans; soft spots, blind spots areas that he could manipulate to achieve more damage. Fortu had always been good with animals, spending years of his early life in the pits mucking out and feeding the various animals used to fight the pit fighters. As he'd studied Liga Bur's relationship with the noble Mir Hunder and the other animals who's crossed their paths he became aware of the empathy employed to further enhance relations with them. Fortu felt he'd now learnt enough and there would come a time when this was over that he would use the skills he'd picked up from Liga Bur, the ranger pathfinder, and find his own way back to this glade.

 With a force of his own he would claim the magical healing pool for humans.

Semi-Soft Reboot

Return of the Demon

Sadly, no new arty-farty fake module cover this time, as my old AppleMac died a year ago and I’m totally unwilling/unable to spend any money on a new one. So it’ll be just a new module masthead and the start of the next chapter of the game. Maybe a roughly drawn doodle and some expository text though, if I can bring myself to use my uncooperative right hand.

I’ll also need from you, some character change rational posts. Liga Bur’s spiritual enlightenment. Fortu’s interest of skills beyond those for killing. And an entire (7th level) history for whoever/whatever character Assif’s introducing.

Let’s pretend I’ve already written beyond the title though and propose some weekend morning dates in April. An actual session deadline may provoke me into literary action!

Below are the April weekend dates I’ve still got available. Check if you can do any of them and let me know here.

Failing that I’ll suggest some May ones.

9am start so no-one has to skip breakfast.

Saturday the 5th of April

Sunday the 6th of April

Sunday the 13th of April

Saturday the 19th of April 

Oh Noe’s! May dates to follow…

The Circle of the Scale

A brief three chapter recap…

Module 1: The Rat King

The recently freed Human Gladiator; Fortu, the thrill seeking Elven Archer; Arowe and the Orc raised Halfling Tracker; Liga Bur met up, travelling on foot through the region of, magic-use-restricted, Stowan, toward Scar Borough. Though cautious at first, they found themselves bonding after rescuing a naked, demi-elven Bard; Rifkin from a band of bandits, lead by the Afro-haired; Spider Murphy. Only he escaped the slaughter by taking to the trees, after swearing his revenge on Rifkin.

In town, the newly formed, four-man, Party encountered the usual corrupt town guards and spent some time at the town fete, where they met a worryingly convincing fortune teller; Madame Morgana, a troop of acrobat Halflings and several travelling merchants, including potion seller; Al-Khemi.

Then, hired as a group by the leader of the small town; Sir Briefadel, to discover what happened to Rat-catcher; Hamlyn and why an outlying tannery hadn’t made two scheduled deliveries. The Party found everyone dead, including the hung-by-the-neck; Hamlyn and were soon set upon by a crazed old Druid leading a mass of rats of various sizes. The battle was fierce but, despite being bitten and infected, the four adventurers managed to kill Koenig and survive. On their return to town, they passed on a map they’d found and the magical set of ‘rat summoning’ panpipes to Sir Briefadel.

Module 2: The Wolf Pact

Impressed by the Party’s tenacity, Sir Briefadel recruited them to accompany himself and his personal Wizard; Egrow-the-Magnificent, to find the magical pool deep within the Feylands shown on the map. 

During their horseback (aside from the Mir Hundur riding Liga Bur) journey, they encountered wild boars, bears and a little fox before finally arriving at a hidden glade. Once there, they battled strange hybrid creatures, such as the owl-horse; Howl, the orc-scorpion; Scorcion and the half-halfling, half-human; Three-Quarterling. Sir Briefadel took great delight in crushing the pacifistic, in-a-fish-form Three-Quarterling and killing him. Slightly disturbed by his behaviour, the Party searched the Three-Quarterling’s comfortable and fortified den. Enraged by finding ‘the wrong pool’ Sir Briefadel commissioned the Party to search on without him, as he rode back with Egrow to Scar Borough.

Travelling on with a rescued, old hawk-dog; Dawk, the Party encountered a tribe of Centaurs lead by the handsome; Prince Tsigan and after sparing their lives, were invited back to speak to his Father and chief; Rozinante. Though suspicious, the Party were welcomed and actively helped by the inner group of malformed Centaurists.

Next came a malevolent talking tree and then a wolf-pack, led by the Werewolf; Kane. Those battles were hard and the Party were lucky to escape unscathed. Then came the Dryad archer ambush and the discovery of the second magical pool and its Fey goddess guardian; Estrid.

But before trust could be earned from either side, the glade was overrun with Human soldiers! Sir Briefadel had planted a small scrying device, hidden in one of the horses saddlebags and used his Witch ally; Morgana to help him create a portal, linking Estrid’s glade to the Courtyard in Scar Borough. The battle was fierce and brutal with the tiny Fey Pixies, Nixies and Dryads trading their lives for their Queen. Realising the treachery, Fortu found himself fighting back-to-back with the charming Satyr, Magritte and Liga Bur and Arowe picking off the Human soldiers from protected positions atop the rocky formations. Despite their ‘cold-iron’ weapons though, the Human soldiers were quickly overwhelmed and it became apparent that they were just being used as a distraction so Sir Briefadel could reach the pool unconfronted. He and his, suspiciously clever Hawk, successfully made it through the hidden dimensional gateway, deep below the pool but the ‘Wizard’ Egrow was caught and stopped by Liga Bur.

Realising his dire situation, Sergeant Philco and a few of his men surrendered but they were butchered anyway, alongside their blinded Captain and the bleeding Egrow. Fortu was appalled but wise enough to keep the worst of his anger to himself.

Module 3: The Givrad Void

In exchange for her gratitude and the lives of the three surviving town guards; Henshaw, Doberman and Barbella, the Party agreed to help Estrid and persued the dastardly Sir Briefadel through the void. Whatever plans he had, he mustn’t be allowed back through the portal!

After a disconcerting journey, the, now enlarged, Party travelled to an ice world called Kik-ri, where they encountered a gigantic, burrowing insectoid monster and a friendly Frost giant called; Droofin.

Then they travelled to a three-sunned, desert world called Calcinta. After a skirmish with a group of human, snake and monkey zombies, they were back on Sir Briefadel’s trail and Liga Bur led them to an oasis, where they met a strange but welcoming merchant of magic; Whackeem. After that Arowe killed a highflying hawk before the Party were hunted down and captured by its owner, a wrathful slaver, Magician; Moody and his mounted swordsmen. Only Rifkin managed to escape, thanks to the aid of the (magical bangle) summoned Tsigan.

Fortu then realised, to his horror, that he (and his companions) had been returned to the slave arena. After several fraught death-matches, the Party managed to escape during an attempted city revolt and Rifkin’s cleverly timed rescue plan. They then, by an accident of fate, encountered and captured the very slaver that put them in that predicament. Moody pleaded for his life, but after unwillingly guiding the Party to the, apparently mythical ‘Singing Tower’, Fortu slit his throat.

More giant insectoid, pounce-predator creatures caused a moment of fright and the strange, targeted and protracted, dream harassment of Liga Bur, but the Halfling Ranger still successfully led the Party to the mystically shrouded tower.

Dulcetta’s tower itself was full of traps and tricks but it also acted as a prison to several other apparent malefactors, such as Dijonn the tiny fire elemental and Pardrik the teenage ghost guard. After rescuing them and evading the living green slime, Fortu, Arowe, Liga Bur, Rifkin, Henshaw, Doberman and Barbella finally caught up with Sir Briefadel again and his beautiful, raven-haired Mother. After rejecting his offer to join him, there was a brief melee, after which they fled on flying horseback.

Giving up any hope of still being able to track them down, the Party headed back to the void and to Estrid’s pool, where, despite their failure, they were welcomed with open arms, genuine smiles, music, sex, food and wine.

Liga Bur was forced to sacrifice himself for his friends though, after the mighty Thornberg demanded restitution for the deaths of three of his brothers. The Halfling was forced to give up his lance, his bow and a year of his life to join Thornberg’s Druidic brotherhood; ‘The Circle of the Scale’.

Now though, decisions must be made.

Next…

Module 4: Return of the Demon

Out of Option A or B, you choose C?!

It was nice to get a unanimously positive response to my ‘Shall we play or shall we go’ post, albeit with an odd caveat. I hadn’t even remotely considered the option of restarting afresh with a new campaign.

Character creation is (as David pointed out) a fun element of the game. So many choices, so many possibilities! That said, the story is what captures my attention. It’s no secret that my frustration with the (multiple DMed) University game was that it lacked a cohesive plot. That’s almost certainly why I ended up DMing the majority of the final 3.5 sessions.

I wanted the disparate threads to somehow weave together. I needed a sense of purpose and completion! As such, considering the already ‘half-baked’ plot in our current adventure and the myriad of lovingly named NPCs, I don’t think I could bring myself to start over. Better to just let the current story wither and die on the vine than to (in all probability) fail twice. 

New character creation however, is an entirely different proposition. Scott wasn’t enjoying playing Liga Bur. He liked his character concept and backstory but felt (and justifiably so) that he was being totally outshone in ranged combat by Arowe and in melee by Fortu. After a short conversation, we reached a class swap compromise. As a Ranger, he was already shining with his animal summoning tactics and it wasn’t a huge leap from there to full Druid. 

A subtle alteration of your existing characters would be my ideal solution but, despite my attempts to tie in some of your histories to the plot, your characters are absolutely yours to control. It’s not under my remit to refuse you. I’m against needlessly killing characters but I’ve never really believed in ‘plot armour’ and if bad planning, bad luck or Player boredom lead to their deaths… Fair enough.

Assif; if you want to retire Arowe or have him die heroically mid-battle, that’s fine by me. I’m sure we can work out how your new character (whoever and whatever they are) would mesh into the ongoing campaign. Would the currently All-Fighter party end up with just Fortu acting as, heavily armoured, meat-shield?

David; if you also want to ‘point-buy’ a new seventh-level character, that’s also fine.

If I have truly failed to enthral you though and you really don't care about or want to continue the son vs father, Sir Briefadel vs Lord Urdurel story arc, I think our adventure in Fissa is finished.

Unless one of you three is feeling the urge to claim DM godhood and total dominion over our shared world? I do have a character concept or two that I’d like to play with.