Campaign V

This page will follow the events of the fifth campaign's party.

Current Party
Yakub: A human fighter from An'khadar

Magaera: A half-elf ranger from Forellia.

Olorin: A half-elf bard.

Sarmon: A human rouge from Astor.

Past Members
Sal: A gnomish sorcerer.

Johanis: A human bard from Elicyn.

Caravan: Introduction
The party begins sitting around a campfire with a clear night’s sky above them and the sound of crickets chirping in the trees alongside the crackling of the fire. Their day has been long and they are grateful for the respite. Their traveling companions are the owners of a caravan, two brothers, who are dwarven scribes journeying to Var’Sted with their trove that is teaming with books, maps, letters and knowledge. There is the older dwarf Worah and his younger “brother” Tarvik. There is also a contingent of Golden Drake Mercenaries, easily recognisable by the fierce gilded dragon that is blazoned on their chests and shields. Hired by Worah to guard the caravan, they are a renown guild across both Astor & Dragha. The drakes who accompany you are Celia, the human leader, Grunt a mute half-orc, Sharna a human & Keenen a fresh human recruit to the drakes.

Wharar and Tarvik are sitting on the ground near the campfire playing a game of cards none of you have ever seen before. Grunt is slumped up against the side of the caravan with a wine skin in hand watching Wharar and Tarvik play, whilst the other three drakes are positioned around the campsite perimeter and keeping watch.

The group then proceeds to introduce themselves to each giving descriptions of their appearances, what others may know about their character by now and what they are currently doing around the campfire. Johanis is working out, Magaera is napping, Sarmon is drinking & Yakub has started approaching Wharar with a book in hand. As Yakub approaches he overhears Wharar criticizing Tarvik for playing sub optimally. Eventually Tarvik has had enough and storms off behind the caravan toward the tree line. Yakub speaks to Wahar then follows Tarvik where he finds him passive-aggressively scraping a sample from under a rock into a test tube. Yakub spends some time listening to Tarvik to try and reconcile him into returning to the campfire.

In the mean time Sarmon walks over to Wharar picks up on of his cards and after a small dispute throws it into the fire. This sparks a huge argument where Celia has to intervene and states they will let the authorities in Var'sted settle the dispute.

Yakub leaves his book with Wharar realizing he will probably never see it again.

Caravan: Ambush
Later in the evening whilst eating at the campfire the party notice Grunt standing for the first time all evening with a hand on the hilt of his great sword and a stern look on his face. A titanic roar is then heard from deeper in the forest.

Celia shouts at the drakes to form up as they ready their weapons and stand in a line in front of the trees. The sounds of heavy feet hitting the floor and bristling movement in the trees fills the air as Wharar shouts at Tarvik to get inside the Caravan and then stands guard outside.

Out of the trees bounds a huge red lizard with spikes running up and down its back, it roars again at the camp and charges toward the drakes who are formed up in front of it. The drakes respond by side-stepping the beast and takes attacks of opportunity on its flanks as they are presented. Yakub skewered the lizard on his spear and is able to fell the beast with the assistance of the drakes. However, the beast is quickly followed by five elves who come storming out of the treeline shouting “KILL THE DWARF!”. Johannis and Sarmon leave the lizard to be handled by the others and manage to dispatch the elves. They slaughtered them all.

Caravan: Aftermath
The elves were attacking the camp because they heard about Wharar traveling back to Var’sted and know of him as Wharar the builder they presumed he would be used to assist in the design of new cities to be built on elvish domain.

Once the battle was concluded there was some disarray in the camp as Celia was deeply wounded and Keenen lay dead. The party assisted those wounded, lifting the beasts head and pulling Celia from under it. Johannis tended to her wounds, stopping the bleeding and setting the fractured bones. Delirious and drifting between consciousness she instructed the group to pack up and head straight for Var'Sted before passing out.

Keenen's body is found crushed. Sharna is distraught about this but Johannis attempts to calm her down and takes care of her. They wrap the body up in blankets and put it on the caravan to take with them to Var'Sted. Sarmon has a brief moment with Wharar demanding if the lives of the elves she slew to save him with worth the card she destroyed.

Johannis also retrieves one of the fangs from the lizard and fashions a necklace out of it on the journey to Var'sted before giving it to Sharna as a gift so she can never forget Keenen. The party chose not to loot the elves. (+karma?)

Var’sted: Plains
When they party reach the end of the road through the forest they gaze over a vast plains spanning out in front of them, with a plateau rises up from the earth in the centre of the clearing. On top of this plateau are the bright white walls of the city of Var’Sted, displaying battlements only the steeples of palace & cathedrals rises from above them. An enormous chain of Iron soars over the plains and city leading all the way from Elicyn to the northern cities in Lominis.

As you head through the clearing you pass many acres of farm land and notice that the entrance to Var’sted appears to be a ramp that circles around the entire plateau leading to a large gatehouse at the peak. There are sewer exits on the sides of the plateau with water pouring out of them. You can see farmers tilling their fields and other travelers on the roads heading to and from Var’sted.

When they reach the bottom of the ramp they are eyed up as they look pretty rough from the fight. Magarea notices that the sigil the guards are wearing is the same sigil found at her ruined village. Guards warmly welcome the dwarves up but demand a weapons tax from the party. The Dwarves are friends so they helped the party out. Whilst circling up the ramp the party have a spectacular view of the surroundings.

Var’sted: Common District
When the party reach the gatehouse at the peak the caravan and bobax are lead to the stables by stable boys and an escort of guards are awaiting Wharar & Tarvik.

The entrance to the city smells of animal shit mixed with wafts of various cooking.

The party can see merchants loading carts, stalls of food and street merchants all against the walls, buskars & entertainers, there is also a large guard presence.

Wharar tells the party that he will speak to Tarin the high commander of their valiant defense of the caravan and will call upon them later this evening when he is able to schedule a meeting with the high commander.

Wharar will also hand one of the party members a coin with an intrinsic pattern on it and tells the party to hand this to Ang in his tavern and he should look after them.

Yakub doesn't pay the stablehand much to look after his horse.

Var’sted: Ang’s Tavern
Ang is a very thin, young, lank, weak twenty something with long hair who is quite shy in his behaviors. He inherited the tavern after his father died and brother abandoned it after running up some serious debts with the merchant guild.

If the party present the coin Ang will comment how nice it would have been six months ago but the party will receive free food and accommodation from Ang.

If the party enquire as to why Ang looks so depressed they will discover about the large debts he has inherited. His brother had actually bought a block to open up a new tavern in the merchant district from the guild at an auction however when he went to inspect the block there was another business already there. The brothers tried to appeal to the merchant guild however kept getting tied up in legal arguments to ever reach an agreement and eventually their purses ran dry as they could not support the initial investment as his brother had put everything into it and there was nothing being returned.

Ang will say to the players that if they are able to help in any way they would always have food and shelter in Var’sted and could make use of any connections he might have or any assistance he could offer in the future would be there’s. Characters may also discover that there is a hidden passage into the aqueducts below which could be used for smuggling.

Johannis and Yakub share a bath together...it is awkward. Johannis also searches around the local taverns to in search of ladies and finds out there is an open mic night at the tavern she works for this night.

Var’sted: Merchant District
The air smells much fresher hinted with the scent of flowers. There is even a breeze and everything seems to be cleaner.

The party is led by the guards to the tallest tower in the halls. When they walk in they see Wharar &Yarin talking over blueprints and papers which are quickly rolled up as they enter. Wharar greets the party and introduce Yarin the high commander of Var’Sted. Yarin offers his apologies and congratulations for their previous encounter.

Yarin says to the party that as thanks for protecting his dear friend Wharar he has a proposition for them. He can offer them a one-time reward now or if they are looking for more work in the future he will promise that the rewards will only be restricted by their potential. The first of these is the capture of Brynn who fled into the outskirts of Forellia. He needs the party’s help as he doesn’t want the elves to assume the worst if they were to spot soliders from As’tor in their territory. Yarin says that ang will be the contact from now on.

Johannis then sprints for the tavern to attend the open mic night on time. Which he barely manages and performs brilliantly. The crowd will speak of this night to many others. He thinks he might be able to see sharna in the background but isnt sure. After the gig he comes down has arms swung around his head but it is the tavern wench from before. He doesn't see sharna that night. He meets up with the rest of the party and has drinks before heading home with his tavern girl for the night.

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Var'Sted: Preperations
Party tried to rise Johannis from his slumber but he was too hungover from his gig the night before. The party then tried to find an old friend of Sarmon's: Vanessa. This lead the party to the merchant district where they bribed the guards with enough gold to last them a month+. Eventually the party find Vanessa after some searching at the entertainers guild.

They then return to Ang's with Vanessa in tow and interrogate her for any information about Brynn. She is unable to give any details of his location but mentions some info about a character named the same. Asks to come along on the mission as she wants to take advantage of the high commanders hospitality as well.

Var'Sted: Farm
Stayed a night at a farm, stole some wine and valuables such as a necklace without being caught. This caused issues between the party members.

Strewham: Village
Assisted the villagers in some repairs and helping the wounded. The mayor/tavern owner then asked them to find the culprit and gave them all the information that they could. Elaine caught a boar and gave it to the mayor.

Forest: Journey
Attacked by baboons, solved riddle.

Forest: Temple Ruins
Chose to bypass the gem and fought zombies in the halls below eventually Vanessa ran away and attempted to steal the gem on her way out but a trap triggered blowing her up. The party then went on to find Brynn who informed them of the real reasons Yarin wants him returned. The party is in disagreement as for what to do.

Forest: The Journey Home
Decide what to do with Brynn.

Var'sted: Yarin
Meet with Yarin and face the consequences of their decision.

Other
The entertainers guild is hosting a talent contest at the end of the month for Johannis.

Ang passes on information about the underworld to Sarmon.

Wharar gives a book to Yakub.

Magaerea????