Background Information
First let’s discuss the party.
Alaric Kado-Human Paladin of Hades
Cerebus- Drow Cleric of Hades
Aurelion Silverspear-Elven Bladesinger
Thalous- Half Elf Warlock with an unknown Patron
Our DM gave us the following blurb to start out what the world was:
The story is going to revolve around two separate invasions on an island nation that was in a peaceful accord of five kingdoms. The game starts with two out of the five kingdoms having been ravaged by the opposition with their forces bleeding further into the island. To the north, a coalition of monstrous races that have banded together under a single warlord threaten to push further inland. To the south, a chaotic frenzy of an undead scourge continue to push ever inland, bolstered by the very innocents they ravaged.
The game centers in on a group of unlikely heroes brought together by the warring state of affairs and in the hopes that the last kingdom stands against the oncoming hordes.
- - -
This is a time for heroes.
This is a time for legends.
This is a time for your story to unfold. . .
He filled it out a little more explaining to us how the invasions were affecting our characters. The majority of the party came from the elven nation of Na’usil which is being invaded by hordes of undead. My uncle Rialoth made a pact with the undead to conquer my home city and kill my family. This turned me into a refugee heading north where I met up with the rest of the party on the road. Kado was a former member of the Na’usil army who took part in a disastrous battle, he doesn’t say too much about it. Cerebus had never left the temple before meeting Kado as he left Na’usil, and Kado has made it his penance to keep the cleric alive. Thalous is a complete mystery.
Journal
4 Days ago we arrived in Rathe’s Wall, the flight from Na’usil, was harrowing and long. I was fortunate enough to find other travelers on the road, and we banded together for mutual protection. I am unsure what to think of them as of yet. Cerberus, and Kado are devotees of Hades and have the pragmatic view on life that comes when you worship Death. Kado was a military man though, and that is worth a bit of respect. Thalous is a mystery to me. He has some sort of connection to the beyond, but is less than forthcoming about what is there. All said this is a group that could do some good in the world if only they could be guided along such a path. I will stay with them as long as possible, there is a destiny here I can feel it. This is the type of adventure that will get me closer to my goal of defeating my uncle.
In the time since we have been in Rathe’s Wall we have seen a high demand for mercenary work of every sort. Most of it lacked the zest that my travelling companions needed out of work, until a particular mystery fell across our laps. Althol, a teacher at the Magisterium, has contracted us to track down several children that have gone missing. He believes that they were abducted by a creature of legend called the Thundermaw, he even recited the nursery rhyme that speaks of the beast. I remember hearing of the legend long ago, but didn’t pay enough attention for it to be of use in this quest.
We started our investigation at the Magisterium, one of Althol’s students by the name of Dohl’shelt was researching the Thundermaw, and this seemed like the best lead we had. As we searched his chambers we found that his books didn’t seem to fit with the level of practice his teacher felt he had. We also found a displacer beast forelimb, a reagent that is prohibited by the rules of the school. None of this gave us a solid direction to continue our investigation, but it gave me the feeling that the student was our suspect.Next we decided to investigate the homes of the missing children. As we left the Magisterium we overheard the end of a discussion between Althol and a town guard.
The party split up to investigate the homes more quickly, Thalous and myself went to the second home, Cerberus and Kado to the first. Our investigation didn’t turn up as much as we would like, mostly more questions it seems that the child was taken from the bed as her brother slept beside her. The only thing of note that we found was the residue of ectoplasm on the external wall, it wasn’t until we all met up that we found that the beds themselves were filled with ectoplasm. Whatever is going on the Ethereal Plane features heavily in this.
When we met at the final home and compared notes, we found a once heroic man who crawled into the bottle after losing his daughter. I am not sure I can blame him, I can only imagine such a pain. I just wish he would put his talents to work finding this missing child. Searching the room we found a variety of dolls in the forms of all sorts of magical beasts. As I examined them it became clear that they were somewhat out of order. In the fixing of the order I came upon an inscription in abyssal. Thankfully the drow could speak it, and she was kind enough to translate, although not before she set off some sort of magic mouth spell by reading the abyssal aloud. The message was “The mists have parted. He is coming.” Kado being the good man that he is tried to speak with the father and he was able to find that there was a displacer den 2hrs North of the city. Our path becomes ever clearer.
When we arrived at the den it was guarded by devotees of Hades, who had no interest in entertaining guests. We made short work of them before being stopped by a door that could only be open during the day. Thus we camped for the evening, all in all a very active day.
In the time since we have been in Rathe’s Wall we have seen a high demand for mercenary work of every sort. Most of it lacked the zest that my travelling companions needed out of work, until a particular mystery fell across our laps. Althol, a teacher at the Magisterium, has contracted us to track down several children that have gone missing. He believes that they were abducted by a creature of legend called the Thundermaw, he even recited the nursery rhyme that speaks of the beast. I remember hearing of the legend long ago, but didn’t pay enough attention for it to be of use in this quest.
We started our investigation at the Magisterium, one of Althol’s students by the name of Dohl’shelt was researching the Thundermaw, and this seemed like the best lead we had. As we searched his chambers we found that his books didn’t seem to fit with the level of practice his teacher felt he had. We also found a displacer beast forelimb, a reagent that is prohibited by the rules of the school. None of this gave us a solid direction to continue our investigation, but it gave me the feeling that the student was our suspect.Next we decided to investigate the homes of the missing children. As we left the Magisterium we overheard the end of a discussion between Althol and a town guard.
The party split up to investigate the homes more quickly, Thalous and myself went to the second home, Cerberus and Kado to the first. Our investigation didn’t turn up as much as we would like, mostly more questions it seems that the child was taken from the bed as her brother slept beside her. The only thing of note that we found was the residue of ectoplasm on the external wall, it wasn’t until we all met up that we found that the beds themselves were filled with ectoplasm. Whatever is going on the Ethereal Plane features heavily in this.
When we met at the final home and compared notes, we found a once heroic man who crawled into the bottle after losing his daughter. I am not sure I can blame him, I can only imagine such a pain. I just wish he would put his talents to work finding this missing child. Searching the room we found a variety of dolls in the forms of all sorts of magical beasts. As I examined them it became clear that they were somewhat out of order. In the fixing of the order I came upon an inscription in abyssal. Thankfully the drow could speak it, and she was kind enough to translate, although not before she set off some sort of magic mouth spell by reading the abyssal aloud. The message was “The mists have parted. He is coming.” Kado being the good man that he is tried to speak with the father and he was able to find that there was a displacer den 2hrs North of the city. Our path becomes ever clearer.
When we arrived at the den it was guarded by devotees of Hades, who had no interest in entertaining guests. We made short work of them before being stopped by a door that could only be open during the day. Thus we camped for the evening, all in all a very active day.
Behind the Screen
First sessions of new games always take most of the time with people getting accustomed to the setting, and the group. Ours was no different, the GM gave us our history lesson so we could understand the terrible state that the island was in. Then our adventure hook, children missing. We started with our mystery searching around, the first thing I noticed from the system was the change to skills, there were fewer and we got fewer. This made it very clear what each character’s role in a given situation was. I do appreciate the fact that it feels like the brought back a ton of utility that I felt had fallen by the wayside in 4th. Now, I feel like there is as much to do out of combat as in combat.
Our investigations went off without any serious issues, Kado may have a permanent fear of beds from here into the future after he found that all the beds were filled with pressurized ectoplasm. I really enjoyed the session, but there wasn’t enough rules to really get a feel for them. All in all can’t wait for the next session.
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