Greetings fellow gamers!
After a long break, I
decided to post now about an unlikely hybrid build inspired by one of my
earliest attempts at combining a Warlock with a Paladin. This one is a
combination between two E-Classes (E comes from Essentials Series)
namely the Blackguard and the Binder.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Saturday, April 6, 2013
The Fey Resistance - Cast of Characters
Good day fellow gamers!
You might've wondered what characters play at my campaign, how are they optimized and what gear have they acquired insofar. Thus I decided to post the links from the iPlay4e site here for those playing at my regular session named "The Fey Resistance". For the story, please check the "Beciuri si Balauri" blog from the Links section.
You might've wondered what characters play at my campaign, how are they optimized and what gear have they acquired insofar. Thus I decided to post the links from the iPlay4e site here for those playing at my regular session named "The Fey Resistance". For the story, please check the "Beciuri si Balauri" blog from the Links section.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
[June, 16th 2009] World of Drakonia. A world of marvels
Drakonia
Drakonia is comprised of 5 main continents: Endallion, Kharaz’Kor, Yiluma-Orod, Haragh and Mist. Each continent was inhabited by its unique races, but those times are long gone. Nowadays a traveler can get from one continent to another by boat or airship in matter of days and in spite of all perils of sea and air, commerce has but flourished throughout Drakonia.
Magic in Endallion is scarce at best, and even the high regarded “academies” cannot reach the pinnacle of those maintained by the elves before the War. Humans dwindle in the Art, yet they are far from understanding it. At the opposite, elves continue to study their magic within their secret schools and monasteries in the deepest recesses of their beloved woods. Magical weapons also are a rarity and in high demand after the war. Dwarves weapon smith rarely relinquish their secrets to humans who they consider unworthy of such crafts and look upon human creations in contempt. After the Great Recess, dwarven and elven good were subtly drawn from open market and now they can only be found in shady trade guilds or shady merchants who smuggle them.
Human kingdom and the Duchies:
The human kingdom, namely The United Kingdom of Arador, is in fact an alliance between the six great duchies who share the throne once every 10 years thus preventing one Duchy to have upper hand against the other. Thus even if the King has his last word in theory, in practice, nothing moves or goes without the approval of the Lord’s Council. Only in dire matters may the king attempt to seize control over the Council and that is done only via a Vote of Non Confidence, thus dissolving the Council and granting the King unlimited powers. No king attempted such foolishness because the other Duchies would have reason to wage war and place another king on the throne.
In ancient times, these duchies, have been provinces for the former Ubolossos Empire, that crumbled in dust after the assassination of the last emperor, by five of the six Moguls that ruled the now-called duchies. The sixth Mogul, Elerra Haonim, the ancestor leader of the Golden Lion duchy, was assassinated afterwards, because of her imperialist partisanship and her place taken by her son, Velorom the first.
Nowadays the king is Lord Theodor Leonis of the Golden Lion Duchy. His reign will come to an end in a year or so, but according to common folks he might be reelected as king, against the tradition. The only opposing Duchy is the Staghorn Duchy, because the next king in line would be from their honored house.
The other four duchies, Jade Griffon, White Bull, Dragon Skull and the Black Cougar have not yet pronounced their thoughts and thus the issue is still causing many conflicts and strife among people and subjects of those duchies.
Golden Lion Duchy
The members of this duchy are the first paladins known to humans, since time immortal. They are honorable, courageous and honest. Nobles of this duchy are known for their chivalrous code of conduct, good armors and wise words. They are men of careful ploys, carefully picked words and usually try to talk their way out of nasty political situations. Always diplomacy was the strong point of this duchy and it ensured their survival for a long time.
T
he current leader of the Golden Lion Duchy is Sir Athar Leonis, son of the actual King Theodor Leonis who relinquished his leadership when he was elected King. Sir Athar Leonis is the High Marshall of the King’s Paladin and a member of KS 9 (Kingdom Security), a service established by Golden Lion Duchy to ensure good ruler ship. As the son of the King, much is expected from him not only as a Duchy leader but as the protector of his father life. KS 9 is the King’s ears and eyes throughout the kingdom, thus helping the King maintain a degree of peace not only in the clustered center of civilized lands but also in the Outskirts where various monster’s problem might appear.
The capitol city, Pridemane, is located in the Great Southern Plains of the continent, on a great isle in the middle of the River Qvas. The city maintains all its trade routes via water and in the recent years twin bridges for the both river banks have been constructed for easy access to the city, thus facilitating the trade over land, water and air.
Staghorn Duchy
The members of this duchy are the first hunters and gamekeepers of the kingdom, but since the past decade, after Lady Aalana Stag, seized the lordship of the duchy through a series of misleading information’s, deceptions and well paid bribes, all these have changed. Now this duchy trades in selling information’s to the highest bidder, assassination, bounty hunting and all around black mail. It is rumored that the personal guard of the Lady is formed mostly of highly trained assassins and mercenaries, but no one dares speak about in the open. Also it is said that the recent raise in taxes might be for some secret war preparations in case that Lady Aalana is not elected Queen, as she is rightfully her right, by the law, thus the possibility of a war breakout are pretty big.
Lady Aalana Stag does not trust anyone after her right hand tried to assassinate her at a public party. Nowadays she rarely is seen leaving the walls of the castle, relying mostly on couriers and servants to do her bidding. She maintains a counter intelligence service of her own, in defiance to KS 9. So far their purpose remains unknown and their actions enveloped in mystery.
The former city of this duchy, Veluna, was retaken by the elves, who, after the Great Recess, burned it to the ground. Any attempts to rebuild it were met with severe retaliations by the elves Core
Military who zealously guard that region. Nowadays the capitol is located on a hill, overlooking a small forest that still belongs to humans in the hill region of Highlands. There are few trade routes overland, most of the trade being done via air, thus the increased port taxes and high prices from the traders. Not so long ago a Trade War broke out leading to great lack of food and resources across the duchy, crisis solved in blood by Lady Aalana who afterwards gave an edict creating the Trade Guild.
*******************
This is the first part of what I have written for my campaign setting, called Drakonia. Please do leave a comment and some opinions.
- Lands of Drakonia
Drakonia is comprised of 5 main continents: Endallion, Kharaz’Kor, Yiluma-Orod, Haragh and Mist. Each continent was inhabited by its unique races, but those times are long gone. Nowadays a traveler can get from one continent to another by boat or airship in matter of days and in spite of all perils of sea and air, commerce has but flourished throughout Drakonia.
- Endallion
Magic in Endallion is scarce at best, and even the high regarded “academies” cannot reach the pinnacle of those maintained by the elves before the War. Humans dwindle in the Art, yet they are far from understanding it. At the opposite, elves continue to study their magic within their secret schools and monasteries in the deepest recesses of their beloved woods. Magical weapons also are a rarity and in high demand after the war. Dwarves weapon smith rarely relinquish their secrets to humans who they consider unworthy of such crafts and look upon human creations in contempt. After the Great Recess, dwarven and elven good were subtly drawn from open market and now they can only be found in shady trade guilds or shady merchants who smuggle them.
Human kingdom and the Duchies:
The human kingdom, namely The United Kingdom of Arador, is in fact an alliance between the six great duchies who share the throne once every 10 years thus preventing one Duchy to have upper hand against the other. Thus even if the King has his last word in theory, in practice, nothing moves or goes without the approval of the Lord’s Council. Only in dire matters may the king attempt to seize control over the Council and that is done only via a Vote of Non Confidence, thus dissolving the Council and granting the King unlimited powers. No king attempted such foolishness because the other Duchies would have reason to wage war and place another king on the throne.
In ancient times, these duchies, have been provinces for the former Ubolossos Empire, that crumbled in dust after the assassination of the last emperor, by five of the six Moguls that ruled the now-called duchies. The sixth Mogul, Elerra Haonim, the ancestor leader of the Golden Lion duchy, was assassinated afterwards, because of her imperialist partisanship and her place taken by her son, Velorom the first.
Nowadays the king is Lord Theodor Leonis of the Golden Lion Duchy. His reign will come to an end in a year or so, but according to common folks he might be reelected as king, against the tradition. The only opposing Duchy is the Staghorn Duchy, because the next king in line would be from their honored house.
The other four duchies, Jade Griffon, White Bull, Dragon Skull and the Black Cougar have not yet pronounced their thoughts and thus the issue is still causing many conflicts and strife among people and subjects of those duchies.
Golden Lion Duchy
The members of this duchy are the first paladins known to humans, since time immortal. They are honorable, courageous and honest. Nobles of this duchy are known for their chivalrous code of conduct, good armors and wise words. They are men of careful ploys, carefully picked words and usually try to talk their way out of nasty political situations. Always diplomacy was the strong point of this duchy and it ensured their survival for a long time.
T
he current leader of the Golden Lion Duchy is Sir Athar Leonis, son of the actual King Theodor Leonis who relinquished his leadership when he was elected King. Sir Athar Leonis is the High Marshall of the King’s Paladin and a member of KS 9 (Kingdom Security), a service established by Golden Lion Duchy to ensure good ruler ship. As the son of the King, much is expected from him not only as a Duchy leader but as the protector of his father life. KS 9 is the King’s ears and eyes throughout the kingdom, thus helping the King maintain a degree of peace not only in the clustered center of civilized lands but also in the Outskirts where various monster’s problem might appear.
The capitol city, Pridemane, is located in the Great Southern Plains of the continent, on a great isle in the middle of the River Qvas. The city maintains all its trade routes via water and in the recent years twin bridges for the both river banks have been constructed for easy access to the city, thus facilitating the trade over land, water and air.
Staghorn Duchy
The members of this duchy are the first hunters and gamekeepers of the kingdom, but since the past decade, after Lady Aalana Stag, seized the lordship of the duchy through a series of misleading information’s, deceptions and well paid bribes, all these have changed. Now this duchy trades in selling information’s to the highest bidder, assassination, bounty hunting and all around black mail. It is rumored that the personal guard of the Lady is formed mostly of highly trained assassins and mercenaries, but no one dares speak about in the open. Also it is said that the recent raise in taxes might be for some secret war preparations in case that Lady Aalana is not elected Queen, as she is rightfully her right, by the law, thus the possibility of a war breakout are pretty big.
Lady Aalana Stag does not trust anyone after her right hand tried to assassinate her at a public party. Nowadays she rarely is seen leaving the walls of the castle, relying mostly on couriers and servants to do her bidding. She maintains a counter intelligence service of her own, in defiance to KS 9. So far their purpose remains unknown and their actions enveloped in mystery.
The former city of this duchy, Veluna, was retaken by the elves, who, after the Great Recess, burned it to the ground. Any attempts to rebuild it were met with severe retaliations by the elves Core
Military who zealously guard that region. Nowadays the capitol is located on a hill, overlooking a small forest that still belongs to humans in the hill region of Highlands. There are few trade routes overland, most of the trade being done via air, thus the increased port taxes and high prices from the traders. Not so long ago a Trade War broke out leading to great lack of food and resources across the duchy, crisis solved in blood by Lady Aalana who afterwards gave an edict creating the Trade Guild.
*******************
This is the first part of what I have written for my campaign setting, called Drakonia. Please do leave a comment and some opinions.
[June, 16th 2009] Module 1: Song of the Scare Crow (Story)
Prologue
After our heroes have defeated Yoru, the evil young sorcerer that was bound to conquer all Dal’Eggria, they have been forcefully sucked into a vortex of energy which transported them into a far realm, called Drakonia. The one responsible for this abduction, is a Shadar-kai, named Terennis, a good servant of the Raven Queen and a powerfull Archspell.
He summoned these heroes, to this realm, because of a frightening and disturbing vision sent by his beloved goddess, in which he was asked to put down a terrible foe, that threatened the position of the Raven Queen in the Pantheon. The villain in question is an Eidolon, a powerful construct, powered by unknown energies and given sentience by some malign primal or abyssal god, to further a dire agenda on the Material Plane and also on other Planes as well.
The Archspell, tried himself to get rid of this devious creation, but he was too powerful for the wizard to manage. So he created a ritual to call for some powerful heroes in aid, but the result was unpredictable to say at least.
Seeing that the scions he summoned are no match for the Eidolon, Terennis sends forth the heroes to act as a strike team and foil the plans the Eidolon has for this Material Plane in any way they can, by either destroying his power bases or destroy the newly erected temples and holy sites created by his fervent followers.
After our heroes have defeated Yoru, the evil young sorcerer that was bound to conquer all Dal’Eggria, they have been forcefully sucked into a vortex of energy which transported them into a far realm, called Drakonia. The one responsible for this abduction, is a Shadar-kai, named Terennis, a good servant of the Raven Queen and a powerfull Archspell.
He summoned these heroes, to this realm, because of a frightening and disturbing vision sent by his beloved goddess, in which he was asked to put down a terrible foe, that threatened the position of the Raven Queen in the Pantheon. The villain in question is an Eidolon, a powerful construct, powered by unknown energies and given sentience by some malign primal or abyssal god, to further a dire agenda on the Material Plane and also on other Planes as well.
The Archspell, tried himself to get rid of this devious creation, but he was too powerful for the wizard to manage. So he created a ritual to call for some powerful heroes in aid, but the result was unpredictable to say at least.
Seeing that the scions he summoned are no match for the Eidolon, Terennis sends forth the heroes to act as a strike team and foil the plans the Eidolon has for this Material Plane in any way they can, by either destroying his power bases or destroy the newly erected temples and holy sites created by his fervent followers.
[June, 16th 2009] Nero’s Gossip
Nero, is a human ranger, brought in Drakonia through a magical ritual
from another world, named Dal’Eggria. Alongside his trusted friends
Phobos and Garret (a.k.a Blades) they explore this new world, they so
forcefully have been abducted into.
And here is a journal scrap, from his first day of work, in Drakonia, namely the Staghorn Duchy in the city of Forestwall.
**********
It all began with a strange cave, where me and 2 of my companions were fighting a dude… with now a dead pet adult black dragon *cough*. After I two shot him, we started gathering all the loot we could find while enjoying our achievement. Suddenly… a stupid vortex appears and sucks us into it. While inside the stupid vortex i could feel myself being “corroded” all the way to the bones. Fortunately it all ended before that could happen, but bow and armor were damaged beyond repair.
On the other side I found myself in a large chamber standing inside a summoning circle. My head was aching like hell. While looking around, I noticed a man coming towards me. He introduced himself as Elan. He applied a treatment to a guy lying on the floor next to me, after which he told me that all will be explained as soon as his master recovers from the effort of performing the ritual. I was all ears… whatever this things was… it has to be huge.
The one laying next to me got up and started asking questions. Elan answered them and it was then when we found out that we both were brought here from another astral plane. I was… speechless. If what he said is true then that means that now I’m in a completely new world of which I knew nothing of its history, laws and people. I honestly wasn’t affected by the news as much as the dude next to me was.
In the meantime, Elan’s master known as Terennis, who was at the other side of the chamber, addressed us. He apologized for the violence and boldness of his action and explained his intensions with a short history tale. From what he told us, it seems that the gods made a few Eidolons to fight in their name in the material world and it so happens that one of those Eidolons has gone rogue with the sole objective to destroy The Raven Queen, his creator, and take her place in the Panteon. Right now that is easily achieved because the gods have left to another plane a long time ago. There aren’t many (if any) people that can face Dark Crow, the rogue Eidolon. Terennis who just recently gained a greater power tried to stop him. The battle was long and fierce but futile. Dark Crow was already stronger and he had a lot of followers. Terennis had no choice but to retreat. That’s when he decided to bring help from other worlds, and… here I am. The other person next to me comes from a race known as Shifters, half animal-half human, as I will discover soon that shifters might not exist in this world.
After been explained the reason behind all of this, I agreed to help because it seems interesting and I might just fulfill my goal more easily by confronting the gods more directly or individuals that try to become gods. I don’t know my friend shifter reasons, but… he’s not that bright anyway. I also asked about what happened to my other 2 companions and Terennis told me that only 1 of them will arrive but with a delay. Right there in that spot I actually wanted to pray to… a god, although I don’t rely on gods because it might get turned down so… that’s why I rely on my own strength and wisdom to accomplish my tasks. Like I was saying, I wanted to pray so that the other companion was Garet, the evil rogue. At least he’s not an idiot like Drakan, the swordmage. Anyway… from what I learn, it could be any of them… so I’ll find out later. He comes with a delay because the arcane power necessary to pull a stunt as Terennis just did just wasn’t greater enough. That’s also the reason why our magical items were destroyed in the processes. Elan opened a closet which contained some replacement items for us to use. After further inspection we noticed that the items were quite powerful. I have to say that the weapons were most interesting, like nothing I’ve ever seen.
After equipping them, I asked Terennis what the plan of action was. He told us that he doesn’t know the location of Dark Crow and that we’d have to do some research in a nearby village where some of his followers were known to travel once in a while for unknown purposes. I didn’t expect to go fight a future god right away, so… this is a good opportunity to further polish my skills before I face him. Once everything was explained, we were told to go to sleep and continue in the morning. We stepped into a magical circle and got teleported out of that room, after which we were seen to our personal quarters where we rested.
In the morning we set out towards our objective. After stepping into another magical circle we got teleported into the outskirts of the village where a contact was expecting our arrival. He told us to follow him to his tower, which was a few feet away. I was starting to wonder what’s with the tower thingy in this world…
After we went inside his tower, he introduced himself as The Apprentice. He told us that Terennis is his master and that he’s in charge of enchanting magical items for personal and marketing purposes. After a short talk we learned that the village is 2 km away and we went on our way.
Upon reaching the gates of the village we were “greeted” by Tom, the captain of the guards. He seemed a little disturbed by the looks of my shifter friend, whose name is Phobos by the way. He told us that he’s on the lookout for suspicious people and after a short conversation I managed to convince him that my friend is a bit deranged and he let us pass.
After a bit of investigation we found the location of various important buildings, like the inn for example which was our next stop. We headed straight for the bartended who is also the innkeeper. He seemed a bit unfriendly at first, especially after we started asking about the strangers that come once a few weeks. After some diplomacy from me and a weapon display thanks to my shifter friend he started to cooperate. We learned that those strangers come once every 2 weeks or so and that they were due to come again in about 2-3 days. They come late at night, rent a room and leave early in the morning to make some business with the blacksmith after which they leave the village. After gathering all this info, we ate and planned to leave for the blacksmith.
After giving a last glance at the people inside of the inn we noticed someone who turned out to be the blacksmiths apprentice or helper or… something. He’s a nice guy but was very disturbed due to the looks of my wolf-like friend. Phobos went and bought him a few beers, three I think and behaved as friendly as he could. The guy relaxed a bit and after a while he agreed to take us see his master.
Upon reaching the blacksmith we saw a big guy that was working very diligently. He was so focused at what he was doing that he didn’t even notice us standing there. Phobos waved his wolf-axe in front of his eyes… and… that seemed to have caught his attention. A few second after he started speaking to us I noticed that his IQ was waaaaaaaaaaay below the sea level… which was very sad. After a “simple” conversation with him we learned that those strangers come and buy weapons off him and that right now he was making the 11th weapon for them. The order was for 30 but he didn’t manage to complete it. He also works with the enchanter at the outskirts of the village to enchant his weapons before he sells them. He even made us a business offer for 50 gold. We are supposed to go into the forest and hunt a big bear and bring back his skin. I turned down the money and told him we’ll do it for free if he can introduce us to those strangers. He agreed and told us that they usually come at about 7 am in the morning so we should be nearby so he can get a hold of us. Before we set off I asked him for a skinning knife. He was so glad we accepted that he gave us the biggest dagger he had, after which we left.
Before we headed for the forest we stopped by the temple to pay a visit to the priestess because Phobos wanted to buy some potions from her. The temple was dedicated to Melora I think. The priestess, whose name is Eawenna Sunglade, was quite intrigued concerning the “nature” of my hairy friend. After a small conversation we bought a few potions and set off for the forest.
After a nice 2h walk, we finally reached the spot indicated by the blacksmith. After following some huge bear tracks we stumbled upon a HUGE cave, and in front of that HUGE cave was a HUGE bear chewing on a HUGE deer. I mean… wtf… anyways. Phobos and I split up to flank the HUGE bear. I successfully managed to evade detection but my fluffy friend got noticed. I made a swift bow attack from the cover of the trees at the bear while Phobos charged him. In the middle of the battle with the HUGE bear his mate shows up. She didn’t prove much of a challenge but Phobos got grabbed by the… you guessed it… the HUGE bear. He managed to escape before the… HUGE bear had the chance to maul him. The female tried as hard as she could to take me on but she failed miserably to hit me… even once. After a while and several arrows nocks, we were victorious. As soon as Phobos finished skinning both of the bears so we set on our way back to the village.
It was about 9 pm when we reached the blacksmith. He was counting some gold and after rewarding us for the great work with 75 gold we learned that the strangers already came and left for Veluna. Judging by the horse tracks on the ground… this happened about 30 min ago. After saying goodbye to the blacksmith we left once more to see the priestess at the temple for some more potions.
Upon reaching her we noticed that she was a bit troubled about something. It took some convincing but I managed to make her tell us what the problem was. She told us about her visions of a necromancer and strange happenings in the nearby cemetery (go figure). She asked us if we could go and check the cemetery at night because that’s when strange things tend to happen (go figure…). We were in a hurry to catch the strangers who were on their way to Veluna… but we were already tired so we decided to check the cemetery tonight, rest and then leave for Veluna in the morning. Eawenna, the priestess, was so glad of our decision that she gave us a few free potions as a reward.
When we arrived at the cemetery… we saw something very disturbing. It was crawling with undead skeletons and a human necromancer or something was performing some kind of a ritual (go figure?).
Anyways, at least it’s something you can deduce by normal common sense. Just like in the case of the HUGE bear (ow and… these undead were even bigger than the HUGE bear was), we silently tried to avoid detection while we got into position. Phobos failed… again, and almost all of the undead skeletons went to attack him. I was successful on the other hand and managed to one shot the necromancer. Due to his swift death, the ritual was interrupted and 4 of the 6 undead enemies were weakened. As the first skeleton falls to my arrows I notice that he comes back to life, but weaker than before. After killing him… again, I offered my fuzzy friend some ranged support because he was overwhelmed. After a long fight, Phobos falls but due to his constitution and quick thinking he manages to stay alive and make it seem like his dead. And… of course every standing undead skeleton charged me. I managed to stand my ground for a while, but then I saw that I couldn’t fight all of them on my own, so I tried to buy some time until Phobos recovers. When the time was right I created a diversion and disappeared into the shadows. For some no brain undead that was an easy stunt to pull. They all went for Phobos again, but this time he was prepared and managed to tank them while I did some sniping from the shadows. One after the other they fell and we were once again victorious.
After inspecting the fallen necromancer we found a statue of The Raven Queen and an amulet made out of 2 things: crow feathers… (go figure) and an obsidian stone. We took both of them and set off for the temple to let Eawenna know that she can sleep in peace now. It was quite late when we got there and she was too sleepy to think so we left the amulet and told her that we’ll return in the morning. That been said and done, we headed for the inn to get some shuteye. In the morning we returned and learned that the amulet is supposed to give more power to Raven Queen followers and that she will destroy it as soon as she can. We both said our goodbyes and left for the tower at the village outskirts to report to zah Apprentice.
ZAH Apprentice was quite pleased to see us and after reporting everything we’ve learned and done, he told us to head to Veluna and that we’ll be contacted when the time is right. He will report everything to Terennis as soon as he can. He also told us that he didn’t know that the weapons the blacksmith brought to him were for the strangers. Ow and… we also sold the Raven Queen statue to him for a nice amount of gold when we found out that it was part of a rare set.
Veluna is 2 days on horse so… we needed horses…. We went back 2 km… to the village… and bought 2 horses from the stables after which we set off for Veluna.
As we were riding and riding… at dawn, we got ambushed *sigh*. There were three javelin flinging dudes, a mage woman and… a rogue or something. The first dude threw a javelin and managed to scrape me a bit. I got pissed. The second dude with a javelin fell to my arrow before he had the chance to throw it. The stupid mage managed to hit me with a spell and turned me into a tiny creature for a short time… and… that made my day. Phobos charged the enemy but he couldn’t do much alone. Once I recovered from that spell I launched a huge barrage of arrows at the enemies. I killed 1 and severely wounded the others. I got attacked by all of them and almost fell thanks to that rogue, but I managed to hold my ground and delivered the final blow to the rest them. Only the mage was alive and busy with casting the same spell that she did on me, onto Phobos. He got hit and… got turned into a tiny creature, but the mage didn’t have much time to rejoice because she soon fell to my next arrow. This ambush was quite a close call, but we managed to win. After looting some nice elven boots from them we retreated a bit into the woods and made camp to heal and rest until morning.
Not bad for the FIRST day in this… new world. I must say, it was much more peaceful, safe and NORMAL in my world, not that I liked it or anything. I wonder what awaits me tomorrow in Veluna.
End of Captain’s starlog, unknown date, unknown year. (I really should ask someone for this info)
**********
And here is a journal scrap, from his first day of work, in Drakonia, namely the Staghorn Duchy in the city of Forestwall.
**********
The Beginning
*sigh*It all began with a strange cave, where me and 2 of my companions were fighting a dude… with now a dead pet adult black dragon *cough*. After I two shot him, we started gathering all the loot we could find while enjoying our achievement. Suddenly… a stupid vortex appears and sucks us into it. While inside the stupid vortex i could feel myself being “corroded” all the way to the bones. Fortunately it all ended before that could happen, but bow and armor were damaged beyond repair.
On the other side I found myself in a large chamber standing inside a summoning circle. My head was aching like hell. While looking around, I noticed a man coming towards me. He introduced himself as Elan. He applied a treatment to a guy lying on the floor next to me, after which he told me that all will be explained as soon as his master recovers from the effort of performing the ritual. I was all ears… whatever this things was… it has to be huge.
The one laying next to me got up and started asking questions. Elan answered them and it was then when we found out that we both were brought here from another astral plane. I was… speechless. If what he said is true then that means that now I’m in a completely new world of which I knew nothing of its history, laws and people. I honestly wasn’t affected by the news as much as the dude next to me was.
In the meantime, Elan’s master known as Terennis, who was at the other side of the chamber, addressed us. He apologized for the violence and boldness of his action and explained his intensions with a short history tale. From what he told us, it seems that the gods made a few Eidolons to fight in their name in the material world and it so happens that one of those Eidolons has gone rogue with the sole objective to destroy The Raven Queen, his creator, and take her place in the Panteon. Right now that is easily achieved because the gods have left to another plane a long time ago. There aren’t many (if any) people that can face Dark Crow, the rogue Eidolon. Terennis who just recently gained a greater power tried to stop him. The battle was long and fierce but futile. Dark Crow was already stronger and he had a lot of followers. Terennis had no choice but to retreat. That’s when he decided to bring help from other worlds, and… here I am. The other person next to me comes from a race known as Shifters, half animal-half human, as I will discover soon that shifters might not exist in this world.
After been explained the reason behind all of this, I agreed to help because it seems interesting and I might just fulfill my goal more easily by confronting the gods more directly or individuals that try to become gods. I don’t know my friend shifter reasons, but… he’s not that bright anyway. I also asked about what happened to my other 2 companions and Terennis told me that only 1 of them will arrive but with a delay. Right there in that spot I actually wanted to pray to… a god, although I don’t rely on gods because it might get turned down so… that’s why I rely on my own strength and wisdom to accomplish my tasks. Like I was saying, I wanted to pray so that the other companion was Garet, the evil rogue. At least he’s not an idiot like Drakan, the swordmage. Anyway… from what I learn, it could be any of them… so I’ll find out later. He comes with a delay because the arcane power necessary to pull a stunt as Terennis just did just wasn’t greater enough. That’s also the reason why our magical items were destroyed in the processes. Elan opened a closet which contained some replacement items for us to use. After further inspection we noticed that the items were quite powerful. I have to say that the weapons were most interesting, like nothing I’ve ever seen.
After equipping them, I asked Terennis what the plan of action was. He told us that he doesn’t know the location of Dark Crow and that we’d have to do some research in a nearby village where some of his followers were known to travel once in a while for unknown purposes. I didn’t expect to go fight a future god right away, so… this is a good opportunity to further polish my skills before I face him. Once everything was explained, we were told to go to sleep and continue in the morning. We stepped into a magical circle and got teleported out of that room, after which we were seen to our personal quarters where we rested.
In the morning we set out towards our objective. After stepping into another magical circle we got teleported into the outskirts of the village where a contact was expecting our arrival. He told us to follow him to his tower, which was a few feet away. I was starting to wonder what’s with the tower thingy in this world…
After we went inside his tower, he introduced himself as The Apprentice. He told us that Terennis is his master and that he’s in charge of enchanting magical items for personal and marketing purposes. After a short talk we learned that the village is 2 km away and we went on our way.
Upon reaching the gates of the village we were “greeted” by Tom, the captain of the guards. He seemed a little disturbed by the looks of my shifter friend, whose name is Phobos by the way. He told us that he’s on the lookout for suspicious people and after a short conversation I managed to convince him that my friend is a bit deranged and he let us pass.
After a bit of investigation we found the location of various important buildings, like the inn for example which was our next stop. We headed straight for the bartended who is also the innkeeper. He seemed a bit unfriendly at first, especially after we started asking about the strangers that come once a few weeks. After some diplomacy from me and a weapon display thanks to my shifter friend he started to cooperate. We learned that those strangers come once every 2 weeks or so and that they were due to come again in about 2-3 days. They come late at night, rent a room and leave early in the morning to make some business with the blacksmith after which they leave the village. After gathering all this info, we ate and planned to leave for the blacksmith.
After giving a last glance at the people inside of the inn we noticed someone who turned out to be the blacksmiths apprentice or helper or… something. He’s a nice guy but was very disturbed due to the looks of my wolf-like friend. Phobos went and bought him a few beers, three I think and behaved as friendly as he could. The guy relaxed a bit and after a while he agreed to take us see his master.
Upon reaching the blacksmith we saw a big guy that was working very diligently. He was so focused at what he was doing that he didn’t even notice us standing there. Phobos waved his wolf-axe in front of his eyes… and… that seemed to have caught his attention. A few second after he started speaking to us I noticed that his IQ was waaaaaaaaaaay below the sea level… which was very sad. After a “simple” conversation with him we learned that those strangers come and buy weapons off him and that right now he was making the 11th weapon for them. The order was for 30 but he didn’t manage to complete it. He also works with the enchanter at the outskirts of the village to enchant his weapons before he sells them. He even made us a business offer for 50 gold. We are supposed to go into the forest and hunt a big bear and bring back his skin. I turned down the money and told him we’ll do it for free if he can introduce us to those strangers. He agreed and told us that they usually come at about 7 am in the morning so we should be nearby so he can get a hold of us. Before we set off I asked him for a skinning knife. He was so glad we accepted that he gave us the biggest dagger he had, after which we left.
Before we headed for the forest we stopped by the temple to pay a visit to the priestess because Phobos wanted to buy some potions from her. The temple was dedicated to Melora I think. The priestess, whose name is Eawenna Sunglade, was quite intrigued concerning the “nature” of my hairy friend. After a small conversation we bought a few potions and set off for the forest.
After a nice 2h walk, we finally reached the spot indicated by the blacksmith. After following some huge bear tracks we stumbled upon a HUGE cave, and in front of that HUGE cave was a HUGE bear chewing on a HUGE deer. I mean… wtf… anyways. Phobos and I split up to flank the HUGE bear. I successfully managed to evade detection but my fluffy friend got noticed. I made a swift bow attack from the cover of the trees at the bear while Phobos charged him. In the middle of the battle with the HUGE bear his mate shows up. She didn’t prove much of a challenge but Phobos got grabbed by the… you guessed it… the HUGE bear. He managed to escape before the… HUGE bear had the chance to maul him. The female tried as hard as she could to take me on but she failed miserably to hit me… even once. After a while and several arrows nocks, we were victorious. As soon as Phobos finished skinning both of the bears so we set on our way back to the village.
It was about 9 pm when we reached the blacksmith. He was counting some gold and after rewarding us for the great work with 75 gold we learned that the strangers already came and left for Veluna. Judging by the horse tracks on the ground… this happened about 30 min ago. After saying goodbye to the blacksmith we left once more to see the priestess at the temple for some more potions.
Upon reaching her we noticed that she was a bit troubled about something. It took some convincing but I managed to make her tell us what the problem was. She told us about her visions of a necromancer and strange happenings in the nearby cemetery (go figure). She asked us if we could go and check the cemetery at night because that’s when strange things tend to happen (go figure…). We were in a hurry to catch the strangers who were on their way to Veluna… but we were already tired so we decided to check the cemetery tonight, rest and then leave for Veluna in the morning. Eawenna, the priestess, was so glad of our decision that she gave us a few free potions as a reward.
When we arrived at the cemetery… we saw something very disturbing. It was crawling with undead skeletons and a human necromancer or something was performing some kind of a ritual (go figure?).
Anyways, at least it’s something you can deduce by normal common sense. Just like in the case of the HUGE bear (ow and… these undead were even bigger than the HUGE bear was), we silently tried to avoid detection while we got into position. Phobos failed… again, and almost all of the undead skeletons went to attack him. I was successful on the other hand and managed to one shot the necromancer. Due to his swift death, the ritual was interrupted and 4 of the 6 undead enemies were weakened. As the first skeleton falls to my arrows I notice that he comes back to life, but weaker than before. After killing him… again, I offered my fuzzy friend some ranged support because he was overwhelmed. After a long fight, Phobos falls but due to his constitution and quick thinking he manages to stay alive and make it seem like his dead. And… of course every standing undead skeleton charged me. I managed to stand my ground for a while, but then I saw that I couldn’t fight all of them on my own, so I tried to buy some time until Phobos recovers. When the time was right I created a diversion and disappeared into the shadows. For some no brain undead that was an easy stunt to pull. They all went for Phobos again, but this time he was prepared and managed to tank them while I did some sniping from the shadows. One after the other they fell and we were once again victorious.
After inspecting the fallen necromancer we found a statue of The Raven Queen and an amulet made out of 2 things: crow feathers… (go figure) and an obsidian stone. We took both of them and set off for the temple to let Eawenna know that she can sleep in peace now. It was quite late when we got there and she was too sleepy to think so we left the amulet and told her that we’ll return in the morning. That been said and done, we headed for the inn to get some shuteye. In the morning we returned and learned that the amulet is supposed to give more power to Raven Queen followers and that she will destroy it as soon as she can. We both said our goodbyes and left for the tower at the village outskirts to report to zah Apprentice.
ZAH Apprentice was quite pleased to see us and after reporting everything we’ve learned and done, he told us to head to Veluna and that we’ll be contacted when the time is right. He will report everything to Terennis as soon as he can. He also told us that he didn’t know that the weapons the blacksmith brought to him were for the strangers. Ow and… we also sold the Raven Queen statue to him for a nice amount of gold when we found out that it was part of a rare set.
Veluna is 2 days on horse so… we needed horses…. We went back 2 km… to the village… and bought 2 horses from the stables after which we set off for Veluna.
As we were riding and riding… at dawn, we got ambushed *sigh*. There were three javelin flinging dudes, a mage woman and… a rogue or something. The first dude threw a javelin and managed to scrape me a bit. I got pissed. The second dude with a javelin fell to my arrow before he had the chance to throw it. The stupid mage managed to hit me with a spell and turned me into a tiny creature for a short time… and… that made my day. Phobos charged the enemy but he couldn’t do much alone. Once I recovered from that spell I launched a huge barrage of arrows at the enemies. I killed 1 and severely wounded the others. I got attacked by all of them and almost fell thanks to that rogue, but I managed to hold my ground and delivered the final blow to the rest them. Only the mage was alive and busy with casting the same spell that she did on me, onto Phobos. He got hit and… got turned into a tiny creature, but the mage didn’t have much time to rejoice because she soon fell to my next arrow. This ambush was quite a close call, but we managed to win. After looting some nice elven boots from them we retreated a bit into the woods and made camp to heal and rest until morning.
Not bad for the FIRST day in this… new world. I must say, it was much more peaceful, safe and NORMAL in my world, not that I liked it or anything. I wonder what awaits me tomorrow in Veluna.
End of Captain’s starlog, unknown date, unknown year. (I really should ask someone for this info)
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