adventureswithdnd

[adventureswithdnd]

Character Summaries

This campaign follows a group of four adventurers from across the continent.

Vera is a halfling bard who hails from Fairriver. Her natural good looks and affinity for dancing let her charm many of the people she meets. Additionally, she has a strong singing voice that can get her out of many tricky situations. She carries a dagger just in case.

Martin is a monk from the temple on the west Berden Isle. The Berden monastery worships the deity Hori, a god of hospitality, kindness, and hot tea. He has a perfectly tuned moral compass, but his social skills need some work.

Leona is a cleric from the kingdom of Solara. She has spent most of her life training on Mt. Crulevi to become a Solari, one of Meridia’s elite warriors. Now, she’s taking a gap year to find herself.

Rita is a dwarf fighter from the island of Oakren. The island floods half the year, forcing the working class to head to the continent to find work while the wealthy dwarves remained and spent the rainy season partying (a la Margaritaville). Once wealthy, her family’s socioeconomic status has recently shifted, and she has gone to the mainland to find a new source of funding for her party lifestyle.

**pictures of painted miniatures coming soon**

[adventureswithdnd]

Prologue

Four Solarans are tasked with going undercover to check up on the Nearon canal project on the Endwell peninsula-- and sabotage it. The canal would route whale oil shipments directly into the Lyren Bay, where the central kingdom would completely claim them, cutting out Meridia and devastating the kingdom’s economy. They board a ship and, paying the captain to keep their departure secret, row to the north shore.

They stash the boat in a collection of shrubs and head west, toward the canal. They run into river and struggle to find a way to cross. Their passage across the waters-- via a rope fastened between two trees-- is interrupted by a couple of Nearon guards patrolling the riverbank. Suspicious of their activity, the guards place the crew under arrest. The agents kill the guards and throw their bodies into the river. 

The four Solarans continue on to the west and head into the mountains, where they stumble across the home of Andvari, a dwarf who is tasked with guarding the mountain range and preventing anyone from entering or leaving by way of foot. After shooting one of the Solarans with an arrow, another soldier, who speaks Dwarven, explains their situation. Andvari allows them to pass through, unharmed, but warns that he will not be here should they return.

After another day of travel, the crew make it to the site of the canal project but find an empty camp. Tents are left open, unguarded, and a few tents have been destroyed, with remnants strewn across the ground. A couple of the agents glance into the supervisor’s building, a small space with a bed and a table. They find nothing much to note, no unusual entries in a journal, and a candle burned down to the stump.

Returning to rows of tents, they notice that one of the tents has been abandoned several hundred feet away, near the base of a bluff. Examining it closer, they find that the bluff has an opening, and they decide to venture into the cave. 

The path declines steeply in the ground, but the group stays together as they follow what appears to be the main pathway. They walk into a large room fill with stalagmites and pause. Sensing another presence in the room, one soldier sends his familiar, an owl, to scout out the room, and she confirms that an ambush is set up. 

Two of the soldiers start quietly arguing over how to proceed or whether to turn back. As they angrily whisper back and forth, one turns back to look across the room and looks right into the eyes of an elven face, but dark, with solid white eyes. The drow smiles and extinguishes their torch.

Several drow move toward the group until the Solarans are backed out of the room. Before turning and running, one of the soldiers constructs a sort of Molatov cocktail and has the owl drop the explosive on top of the nearest drow. To their surprise, the flames and the accompanying light prevent the drow from following the group as they flee-- and take one drow, separated from the others by the flames and weakened from the brawl, with them as a captive. 

They rush through the cave and run into the cool air of the early evening. The group doesn’t stop running until they make it to the foothills of the mountain range, hiding in the only cover they can find, under a few trees. 

They question the drow they took prisoner, but she only gives sarcastic and condescending replies about the location of the canal workers. The crew decide to take her with them back to Meridia, and they head toward the row boat they have waiting on the banks a few days’ walk away.

[adventureswithdnd]

Campaign Prequel Part 5

This will be much more brief, as I’m just trying to recap all of the stories that have happened that I forgot to blog about.

Leona found a couple of prisoners in the storage of the ship, two gnomes. They’ve been chained up for stealing food and are being sent to a prison in Nearon. Leona, outraged at the lack of hospitality shown for them (and their sentence), tracks down the half-orc who holds the keys to their chains and convinces him to free the gnomes. She helps them escape in the middle of the night on a row boat. 

Additionally, in her time on the ship, Leona shared her bread-making knowledge with the ship’s cook and made a new friend. Another traveler caught her attention, an adventurer, but he paid Leona little mind.

Upon docking in Sandmore, Leona found a group of farmers traveling to the capital city of Nearon and joined them on their day-long march to the city in time for the Adventurer’s Guild Festival and the story-telling competition.

[adventureswithdnd]

Campaign Prequel Part 4

The next leg of the solo campaign I’m running with my fiance:

The ferry pulls up to a dock on the east side of Meridia, just outside of the city’s walls. The passengers, exhausted from the travel and on edge from the recent fight, scatter, disappearing into the sprawling city.

Berinon, the ferryman, recites a paragraph in a sarcastic tone. “I hope that you all enjoyed your travels along the beautiful Solusridi. The next time you plan to journey, please consider our tax-payer funded services...”

Leona catches up to Malkyn to tell her goodbye. Sybbyl glares at Leona before pulling her younger sister along, heading straight for the inner city. Leona and Akari pause for a moment, and Variel uses this time to talk to them. He compliments Leona on fighting bravely against the Gripplis earlier that afternoon.

“I hope our paths will cross again,” Variel says, bowing slightly.

“I’m sure they will,” Leona replies.

Variel smiles at the two of them, but especially Akari, and walks away. When he’s out of earshot, Leona leans over to Akari. “Are you interested in him?”

Akari laughs. “He’s like, a hundred years old.”

The ferry dock lies just north of a small plaza with a large fountain dedicated to the deity Iomedae. Looking around, Leona and Akari decide to try to find food before they head into an inn for the night. In the morning, they’ll need to catch another ferry across the Solusridi to the northern island of Meridia, where the School of Healing is.

They head toward the city center, to the west, passing through the remains of what were once the city’s walls. The walls were broken down a few years ago, when Meridia’s population began rapidly growing and there was simply not enough space to accommodate the new residents inside the walls. The more wealthy residents bought their way in, to safety, while those of lower socioeconomic status were left outside. Now, Meridia keeps guards posted around the city’s outskirts, patrolling, questioning anyone who may not be a citizen of Solara.

Leona and Akari head down main roads and cut through back alleys, heading due west until they find some larger buildings. One is a tavern called “The Shining Raven.” Once inside, they see long wooden tables on either side of the hall. Most of the patrons are dwarves; in fact, it’s like all of the dwarves in Meridia are in this tavern. In the back of the hall, however, there is a crowd gathered of people of many different races. Leona and Akari head straight there.

Leona, in her armor and with a weapon at her side, easily pushes past people in the crowd, but Akari cannot fight the throng of people and, somewhat disappointed, goes to find a seat at a table. Pushing closer to the wall, Leona sees that the crowd is around a message board. As she watches, jobs are occasionally posted, and every once in a while, an arm will extend from the crowd and grab a flyer. Leona scans a few of the ads and grabs one that catches her eye. She tucks the paper into her bag and goes to find Akari.

A waitress stops by, and Leona and Akari order some food and ale. Akari picked a seat beside a couple of dwarves who are passionately talking about something. Leona leans over to the one beside her. “Do you know if they have any of that red dwarven ale here?”

The dwarves look at each other. “I’m betting not. The Lormount dwarves would never ship their red ale this far west.”

Leona asks the waitress when she stops back by, but the woman confirms that there is no red dwarven ale in the tavern, despite the abundance of dwarves themselves. Leona and Akari spend some time chatting with the dwarves beside them as they eat. Leona stops the waitress one more time as she passes by to ask if she knows where a good inn is located.

“All the inns are just outside the city walls,” the waitress explains. “Inside the walls got to be pretty full when all the people started showing up. So some business folk started building inns outside the walls to accommodate ‘em. Just head due east and you can’t miss ‘em.”

Leona and Akari thank the waitress and head out to find an inn. Following her directions, they find a dense collection of signs just outside the walls on a main road. On the right side of the road, the signs all beg the reader to choose the Morning Sun Inn. On the left, the signs all suggest staying at the Songbird’s Nest instead. The two travelers head left.

Inside, they are greeted by a woman who steps out from a backroom, flour coating her apron. “One room or two?” she asks without greeting.

“One,” Leona answers.

“One bed or two?”

“Um, two?”

“I’ll see what I can do.” The woman disappears into a different room. As Leona looks around, she notices a lot of dirt tracked in on the floor and hears the sounds of many footsteps on the second floor over her head. The innkeeper reappears, Leona exchanges payment for the key, and the two head upstairs to get a good night’s rest.

As they’re preparing for sleep, a flash of light catches Leona’s eye. She looks up at the window just in time to see a bright ball of light fall straight down towards the earth dead to the south. Leona goes to the window to try to see where it landed, but her view of the horizon is heavily obscured by other buildings in the city. She makes a mental note of the strange citing-- a meteor, she assumes-- although she has no time to investigate on this journey. Maybe another day.

The next morning, the two set out quickly for the ferry. On their way, they pass through the market square, which is buzzing with activity. Without much time to spare, they stroll briskly by the market stands of fresh crops, just-butchered meats, and hand-woven textiles.

Watching the crowd around her, Leona decides to follow the flow of people north toward a large tent that has been set up. It has heavy, black sheets that conceal the wares inside. As they get closer, they realize that there is a massive line forming to get into the tent. A guard, posted outside, allows only a person or two inside at a time as previous buyers dash away to avoid being questioned by the growing crowd.

Leona turns to Akari and asks if they could spare time to check inside the tent. But Akari eyes the line with concern. “I really think we should catch this ferry if we can,” she says. “I want to make a good impression at the school.” Leona tries to convince her but quickly gives in, and the two of them hurry to a nearby dock. The take a ferry across the river to the north island.

Unsure of how to get to the School of Healing, Leona and Akari head toward the Temple of Light. They have to fight a crowd of people who just departed from the morning’s service, however. (It’s Sunday.) They stop someone on the street to ask for directions, and soon, they find their way to a long, rectangular building with a sign that states “School of Healing.”

Walking through the entry room, they are greeted by a middle-aged woman who introduces herself as Helewys. As Leona and Akari explain their reason for being here, the woman’s face grows cold and she simply nods along. “It is interesting that you have journeyed such a long way. However, we have a strict policy. All prospective students must visit the school with their guardians-- most likely their parents-- no less than one year in advance. Then they need to submit an application for acceptance. It seems that Akari here has done none of those things, and as such, she simply cannot be admitted.”

At this, Akari bursts into tears. Leona has her walk back into the entry room to collect herself while Leona speaks with Helewys, who, despite Leona’s best efforts to convince her to admit Akari (including recounting the night Akari saved Leona’s life), is adamant.

Finally, the woman says, “You believe that Akari is a capable healer?”

“Of course,” Leona replies.

“And I take it you would do anything to help prove your friend’s worthiness to be accepted into this school?”

Picturing another journey to find an obscure medicinal plants, or a week seeking out the most disease-riddled residents of Meridia to try to heal, Leona answers, “Yes, of course.”

As soon as the agreement is spoken, Helewys draws a dagger and forcefully plunges it into Leona’s stomach. She cries out in disbelief and shock, but suddenly realizes what Helewys is doing. “Clever,” she mutters. Then louder, Leona calls for Akari’s help. Akari does not come into the main room, so Leona staggers back toward the main door. “Akari, a little help?”

Akari sees Leona, then the dagger, then the blood, and immediately starts panicking. “What happened?” she shrieks. Leona sinks down to the floor, wincing.

“Just patch me up, okay? I’ll be fine.”

Akari is shaky and takes several minutes to calm her own nerves. Then she reaches into her backpack and pulls out the box from her shelf at home in Wrenville. When it’s open, Leona can see that it’s a collection of medical supplies Akari has managed to gather together. In a few minutes, Akari has removed the dagger and stitched up the wound. She gives Leona a couple of small elixirs from vials she has stored in the box-- one to heal the wound itself, one to ease the pain.

Helewys steps from the doorway, clapping her hands slowly. “A bit slow, but still well done, overall. I think you have earned yourself conditional acceptance to the School.” Leona and Akari get to feet.

“What conditions?” Leona asks.

“Well,” Helewys begins, “there is the matter of the tuition, 10 gold pieces per year and 5 up front.”

Akari’s face falls suddenly, but Leona reaches into her pockets. She hands Akari 15 gold pieces. “Write to me if you ever need anything, money or help or otherwise,” she tells her. “And I’ll visit you every year.” Akari brushes away tears and thanks Leona.

“Come, Akari,” Helewys interrupts. “I’ll show you to your room.” The woman’s eyes meet Leona’s, almost challenging.

“Send letters to Nearon. That’s where I’m going next,” Leona continues. Akari promises to do so. Leona wraps Akari in a hug and the two say a final goodbye.

Back on the streets outside, Leona heads to the Temple of Light. Inside, there are statues dedicated to all the deities of light and the sun. Iomedae’s is the largest and stands before the eastern window. (Services take place in the early morning, usually ending when the sun rises between Iomedae’s hands, stretched overhead.) She says her belated morning prayers in front of a statue of the goddess Sarenrae, then heads south to the docks to seek out a ship to Nearon.

She spots the dock master's office and walks inside, where a sleepy man sits reading a book behind a desk. “Excuse me. I was wondering if there are any ships to Nearon today.”

He sets down his book slowly, looks at a schedule to his left, and then back to his book. “Yes,” he replies simply.

When it is clear this is all he plans to say, Leona adds, “When are they leaving?”

He repeats the motion, staring at the schedule longer, then states, “One in three hours, one at 1 PM, and another at 5 PM.”

“Where could I find the one that leaves in three hours?”

Again, the same set of actions. “The West Port.”

“Where is the West Port?”

This time the dock master does not move. “The West Port,” he says tersely, “is the westernmost port.”

“And how do I get there?”

“Go to the row of docks. Go west. It’s the last one on the westernmost part of the island.”

Satisfied, Leona thanks him and leaves. She follows his directions and starts heading west, following the road in front of the Queen’s Palace. Looking up at one of the spire’s, she notices a woman standing in a window, a long braid of red hair draped over her shoulder and running down to her hip. The woman looks out over the city but suddenly looks down, making eye contact with Leona. She smiles and steps out of sight.

Leona continues down to the West Port, where she spies a small wooden building and a group of people, mostly humans and halflings, milling around the dock.

She walks up to one of the halflings. “Excuse me. Could you tell me who the captain of this ship is?” She gestures to the boat docked beside them.

“Why,” the halfling replies, “that would be me. Captain Fenwick, at your service. Are you on your way to Nearon with us?”

“I am,” Leona says. “Do I give you your payment now?”

“Oh, no, take care of that inside.” He points to the wooden building. Inside, Leona finds another halfling who appears to be the mother of Captain Fenwick. She tells the woman she is here to pay for the journey.

“You must be the captain’s mother,” Leona says. When the halfling woman nods, she continues, “You must be so proud of him.”

“Indeed I am,” she responds. “Gives a lot of halflings a much better life than they would have here, that’s for sure.”

After she’s settled up, they walk outside together. “Would you show me to my bunk?” Leona asks.

“Me?” the woman laughs. “Oh, no, let the cabin boy take care of that.” She waves at someone in the crowd. “Walter? Could you show this young lady to her bunk?”

“Right away, ma’am.” The person who walks over is an adolescent elf wearing sailor’s garb that is obviously way too short for him. He is a ridiculous sight, but he kindly helps Leona find her bunk and goes back to loading goods onto the ship.

Leona sets down her belongings and goes to the deck. She looks out over the city of Meridia, eager to begin her long journey. In her heart, she knows she’ll come back here someday, and she’ll have to wait until then to check in on Akari and to uncover the secrets of the city.

[adventureswithdnd]

Campaign Prequel Part 3

I ran two more solo sessions with Leona, so I’ll try to summarize them.

After falling asleep in their room at the Solus Inn in Milltown, Leona and Akari awake early the next morning. They get breakfast downstairs, where they find out that the girl who was serving them was Serena. Leona informs her that they had run into a very drunk Trig the previous evening. “Oh, not again. Did you at least help him get home?”

“Uh, no,” Leona begins, “but he did ask us to tell you that he thinks you’re pretty.”

After this statement, Leona and Akari quickly finish eating and run out the door. On their way toward the ferry, they pass by Trig, still passed out in the middle of a dirt road. Leona bends down and shakes him awake. “Hey, uh, I told Serena that you love her. Can I have the map now?” Trig, hung over and confused, takes a few moments to sit up. Leona explains the situation and again asks for the map. 

“Oh, to Copper Woods? Yeah, uh, okay.” He reaches into his backpack and pulls out an old piece of paper that’s rolled up. “Yeah, you have fun with that.”

“Great, thanks, bye!” Leona and Akari dash off to find the ferry. They notice some signs posted along the road that say, “Ferry - Free passage to citizens of Solara.” The signs have arrows pointing towards the small dock on the riverbank, and Leona and Akari easily find the ferry. 

They greet the ferryman, a slightly heavyset man who dryly tells them to get in the boat, which is narrow and could fit no more than 10 passengers comfortably. His gaze is unbroken from a sundial that stands beside him. He watches for several minutes, motionless and silent, then suddenly turns away from the sundial. “Alright, let’s get on with it.” 

On the boat, Leona spends the first hour in prayer to Sarenrae. As she finishes, someone taps her on the shoulder. Turning around, Leona sees a young girl who excitedly asks her if she is a Solari. When Leona says yes, the girl exclaims, “That is so cool! I want to be a Solari too.” 

Leona laughs. “How old are you?”

“Six. This many.” After a moment, she holds up the correct number of fingers.

“Only six more years to go before you’ll start your training, then.”

“Do not encourage her.” The huffy voice comes from an older girl seated beside the younger one. They appear to be sisters. “Malkyn and I are of nobility. We have no reason to become warriors. In fact, doing so would be ridiculous, a disgrace to our family!”

“If you’re nobility,” Leona interrupts, “why are you on a free ferry to Meridia?”

The older girl’s face turns bright red and she shuts up. Malkyn waves silently to Leona, smiling a little at her sister’s irritation.

Ahead of Leona, a female elf sits, proudly fanning herself with a wooden fan.

“Miss? Aren’t you going to get sunburnt?” Leona asks her. The elf looks over her shoulder, huffs, and turns back around. “Your ears,” Leona insists. “Won’t they get sunburnt, sticking out from your hair like that?”

The elf stops fanning herself and turns around. “That is nonsense,” she snaps haughtily, but she brushes some of her hair to cover her ears anyway.

Later in the day, Leona and Akari hear someone behind them walking up the boat. “Excuse me.” A figure asks to sneak by them, and Leona and Akari move apart on their seat to let the other passenger step between them. It’s a male elf, tall, with a bow and quiver strapped to his back. He smiles at the two of them. “My name is Variel. I wanted to introduce myself, since you both seem to be adventurers such as myself.”

As they exchange names and pleasantries, Leona notices Variel’s quiver has a cap on the top, and she gathers that it has yet to be used. After some time, Variel returns to his seat.

Just before they dock for the evening, Leona glances down the river and spots-- no, surely it’s a trick of the light-- and island with people who, oddly enough, appear to be blue. Once the boat is pulled onto shore and she has managed to set up a tent (provided by the ferryman), she tells Akari she’ll return shortly. 

Leona walks calmly down the riverbank until she’s close enough to the island to see it more clearly. She notices something is off about the island, but she can’t quite place it. On the island, she sees two tall blue humanoid figures, both armed. They see her, exchange brief whispers, and one dives into the water to speak with her.

Walking up on the shore, Leona sees that this person, whatever they are, has bright blue skin and sleek, darker blue hair. They ask her if she possesses any cloth or metal she would be willing to trade. When she explains that she does not, the creature grumbles for a moment before inviting her to swim back to the island. Leona, however, rejects the invitation. “I just came to see who was on the island. I’m not actually interested in seeing it. Thanks.” The creature nods curtly and dives back into the water, joining his companion on the island in seconds.

As Leona starts walking back toward camp, she catches a flash of blue in the reeds beside her. She grabs her holy symbol around her neck and casts a quick spell to prepare for combat.

“Whoa.” A small blue child steps from the tall grass, eyes fixed to Leona’s glowing necklace. “How did you do that?”

Leona softens a bit at the sight of the child. She spends a few moments explaining what spell she cast (Virtue). She casts it again, this time on the child, who gasps. “Can you teach me how to do that?”

Leona explains that unfortunately, she can’t, since her spell-casting has taken years of training. The child, slightly disappointed, then asks Leona for a favor. “You’re human, right? So, you can’t swim that well? Would you mind racing me? I’m the slowest swimmer out of all my friends and if I could beat somebody... Maybe they wouldn’t give me such a bad time.”

After a bit of debate, Leona accepts the challenge and takes off all her gear. They count off and dive into the water together, and the child easily passes Leona, making it across the river and back before Leona even reaches the other side. When Leona joins him on the river bank again, he thanks her for racing him.

“See,” Leona jokes, “you’re not such a bad swimmer. And everyone will believe that you could beat a human.”

The child laughs. As thanks, he offers her a gift, a pouch of shells, and warns her not to get them wet. Leona thanks him and asks for his name. “Brom,” he tells her. 

“Brom-- that’s a good name,” she says. “Take care.”

The two part ways as Leona walks back to camp. When she gets there, she notices that a fire has been started, and Akari and Variel are sitting around it. Variel is obviously flirting with Akari, who looks visibly uncomfortable.

Leona sits down and asks the two of them if they know any folk songs to sing. Suddenly, from one of the tents, they hear a voice shout, “Songs? I have plenty of songs.” Berinon, the ferryman, stumbles out of his tent, a lute in hand. He seats himself by the fire and starts strumming a lovely tune. His singing, however, is less than lovely. Leona convinces Akari to join her in singing, too, so they can drown out Berinon’s out-of-key yelling. At one point, the female elf leans out of her tent, shouting at them all to keep it down. The group around the campfire laugh and keep singing into the night until, one by one, they go to sleep.

The next morning, the ferryman wakes up early and orders everyone to hurry into the boat. They need to get on their way if they want to make it to Meridia by sundown. 

In the ferry, Leona says her morning prayers again. She also speaks to her deity, Sarenrae, to find out more information about the strange blue people she met last night. The goddess tells her that they are Undine, humans (outsiders, really) that can trace their ancestry to the Plane of Water.

The day passes, more boring than the last, as the ferry winds its way west along the Solusridi. In the afternoon, the boat and its passengers find themselves descending into a swamp. Berinon has to pilot the boat between trees and occasionally shove the boat off of fallen trees that block the way. In the muggy afternoon, Leona and most other passengers are dozing off. 

Suddenly, the boat rocks. From behind her, Leona hears Variel’s voice call out a warning: “Am--” He is interrupted by a dart to the neck, and he tumbles into the river.

Looking around, suddenly alert, Leona notices a couple of frog-like humanoids, each in separate trees. She locks eyes with one of them, and it slowly lowers the pipe it had just used to shoot Variel. Near the front of the boat, in another tree, sits another of these creatures. 

Leona, thinking quickly, directs a spell at the monster ahead of her, ordering it to attack its own ally. The frog leaps out of its tree and swims towards its companion before climbing the tree and stabbing the other frog, rather suddenly. Confused, they fight one another for a few moments until Leona casts her next spell. The entire tree catches on fire, and so do the creatures standing in it. They jump down from the tree and climb into the boat. The frog with a sword targets Leona, while the other jumps on Berinon.

Variel climbs back into the boat in that moment. “Don’t worry!” he exclaims, pulling out his bow. “I’m here to help.” But as he reaches for an arrow, Variel realizes that all of his arrows emptied into the river when he fell in. He pulls out a dagger instead and throws it at the frog. The dagger sticks into the creature’s shoulder. Leona draws her scimitar and slays the monster, which falls backwards into the water. 

The other creature, which has been clambering over Berinon, panics and leaps away, hiding behind a nearby tree. Leona casts a final spell (firebolt) and the entire tree and frog are burnt to a miserable crisp.

After the fight, the ferry and its passengers continue, slightly shaken, onward to Meridia. As dusk settles on the Solusridi, they see buildings rising in the distance: the city’s Temple and the palace of the Queen of Solara.

[adventureswithdnd]

The southwestern peninsula, governed by the kingdom of Solara, ruled by Queen Autumn.

[adventureswithdnd]

Campaign Prequel Part 2

Ran a second part of the campaign with Dave last night. We picked up with Leona waking up the next day, wounded but very much alive, in small room in an unfamiliar house. She channeled energy multiple times to regain some of her strength. A 14-year old girl, named Akari, had saved her when she fell trying to fight the flue hag the previous evening. 

Akari wants to become a healer and asks Leona to escort her to Meridia so she can begin studying. Leona agrees, so Akari packs up some of her belongings and says goodbye to her parents. Akari also gives Leona a dark grey cloak with several pockets on the inside, and she wears this with the hood up to obscure her face from the other villagers. On the road away from Wrenville, Leona retrieves her armor and other belongings that she had left behind in the nearby woods. 

They start down the road toward the ford on the Solusridi. That evening, they make it to a small settlement called Sumner. After searching for a while, there’s not a single inn or tavern in the village. Akari mentions that her aunt lives in this town, but she’s generally not hospitable. They seek her out anyway in the hopes of having a place to stay overnight.

Akari leads Leona through the village to a house marked with the name “Fletcher.” A rather tired-looking woman in her late 30′s answers the door, and Akari introduces her as Sonya, Akari’s mother’s older sister. Akari explains the circumstances and the woman begrudgingly lets them into the house. Half a dozen young children, no older than 7, are sprinting around the home, full of energy. Sonya tells Leona and Akari that they can stay in the bedroom with the older two children (who are 5 and 7 years old): “Absolutely no talking after 10 PM or before 6 PM. I mean, AM.” She sighs, exhausted. “It’s been a long day.”

In the morning, Leona says her daily prayers. To her surprise, none of the children disturb her. Sonya makes a large breakfast for all of them. “Eat up. You’ll need a hearty breakfast so you can get on the road tomorrow. I mean, today.” Sonya sighs again. “It’s been a long morning.”

Leona and Akari continue on their way to Meridia. It’s a long and uneventful day of traveling, but by dinnertime, they make it to the shores of the Solusridi. There’s a ford where they can cross easily, but on the north side of the river, there’s a larger settlement called Milltown. Leona tells Akari they should try to find an inn to stay in for the night, then they’ll find dinner. 

Milltown has three inns of varying quality, since the town sees so many travelers to and from Meridia. The middle-tier inn is the Cedar Lodge (which is made out of wood but definitely not Cedar). The worst of the three inns is the Rusted Gate, near the outskirts of town. (Outside this inn, there’s a sign that states “under new management.” Added under that is a smaller sign that says “New Low Rate: 2 silvers”.) They decide to stay in the most expensive (but also the safest) option, the Solus Inn near the river bank. 

When they walk into the lobby, Leona and Akari are greeted by a very old innkeeper who walks out from behind a counter. “Hello, and welcome to the Solus Inn,” he croons. 

“We’d like a room for the night,” Leona tells him.

“Mmmmmyes, one room. First floor or second floor?”

“First floor, please.”

“That’ll be 1 gold piece, ma’am.” He bumbles off without taking the money from Leona and returns with a large metal key. “Here is your room key. Breakfast is served at precisely 4:30 a.m. in the summer time.” Leona and Akari are silent. “Ooh, I’m just joshing ya,” the old man laughs. “I can have some fun, can’t I?”

Leona laughs. Reaching for the key, she asks, “Is there a tavern around here where we could get some dinner?” 

“Mmmmmyes, I suppose there is.” The old man pulls back his arm without giving Leona the key. “If only I could remember what it was called. I think it’s called... Ooh, I wrote it down somewhere.” The innkeeper turns and scuttles back to a room behind the counter. Peering after him, Leona notices a desk in the room, piled high with papers and unopened envelopes. Sealing wax has been spilled all over one of the piles. “If only I could find where it is. Ooh, I think it’s... Mmmm, I believe it is called the Noble Flounder. Yes, that’s it.” 

“What a stupid name for a tavern,” Leona mumbles.

“What was that?”

“Oh, what a lovely name for a tavern,” Leona bluffs. “Thank you so much. What was your name?”

The innkeeper pauses. “My name. Ooh, if only I could remember my name. I think it was... Merle? Yes, I think it’s Merle.” The innkeeper suddenly seems to remember the room key in his hand. “Here is your room key,” he croons to Leona, holding out a shaky hand. “Breakfast is served precisely at 4:30 a.m. in the summertime.”

“Yes, you already told us that, Merle.” 

“Oooh, I’m just joshing ya,” the old man repeats. “I can have some fun, can’t I?”

“Thank you, Merle.” Leona takes the key and hands him a gold piece. 

Leona and Akari find their room and leave their belongings behind, carefully locking the door before heading to find the Noble Flounder. Outside the tavern, a young boy, about 15 years old, starts calling out to them. 

“Sssserena?” he slurs. “Serrrrena, is that you?” Leona and Akari get closer to him. “Yyyyyou’re not Sssserena,” he says, disappointed.

“Who is Serena?” Leona asks.

“Sserena, Serrrena is the prettiest girl in, in the entire continent, no, the entire universe!” The boy is seated on a bench outside the tavern, slouched over, his head supported by his hands resting on his lap. 

“Well, you’re very lucky, then.” Leona tries to walk past the boy.

He reaches out suddenly and grabs Leona’s arm. “Nnnno, Serena, she, sssshe doesn’t know I exist,” the boy says, sadly. “Sssshe doesn’t know.”

“Oh. Is Serena in this tavern?”

“Ssserena? Ssssshe’s somewhere. Maybe she’s in there orrrrr maybe she’s not, but sssshe’s somewhere.” He grabs Leona’s arm harder. “You have to tell her. Yyyyou have to tell her for me, tell her ssssshe’s the prettiest girl ever. Okay? Can you do that?”

Leona stands, silent. “Yyou have to tell her,” he slurs on. “I’llllll do anything. Anything you want, I--” His eyes light up a little. “Yyyyyou, you know the Copper-- No, that’s not it, the Bronze-- No, they’re Copper. The Copper Woods. Yyyou know the Copper Woods. I hhhhhave a map. I have a map there. There’s, there’s ruins! Grrreat ruins there. And I have a map. I’lllll give you the map if yyyyou tell Ssssserena that I like her.”

Leona pulls the boy’s hands off her arm. “Alright, I think I can do that for you. What’s your name?”

“Mmmmmy name is... is... I’m Trig.”

“Okay, Trig, you should get home.”

Trig stands suddenly. “Yyyyyou’re right. Thanks.” He begins to stumble off as Leona and Akari enter the bar.

The Noble Flounder has a decent number of guests tonight. They’re mostly humans, just like all the residents of Milltown. But behind the counter, there’s a rough face obscured by a long beard, one that could only belong to a dwarf.

Greybeard the dwarf built the Noble Flounder by hand years ago. He runs he tavern by himself. The counter stands at a normal height in the back of the tavern, behind rows of long tables, and near one of the walls, there’s a series of steps leading behind the counter so Greybeard can stand at the same height as his patrons. 

Greybeard greets Leona and Akari, who ask for ale and some roasted pheasant for dinner. “Of course!” Greybeard booms. He gets the two young women pints of a light ale in large tin mugs. Leona immediately throws hers back while Greybeard disappears to the back to start cooking the pheasant. When he returns, he laughs at Leona, who has finished the drink. 

“Got anything stronger, like dwarven ale?”

Greybeard inhales sharply. “Oh, how I wish I could serve some dwarven ale! I dream of getting some of that great red ale they brew in the great dwarven city of Lormount! They say they brew it only a few months a year and when the year’s brewing is done, they seal it all away in a great cavern in the Artorel Mountains! That great ale, it runs like an artery through the mountains! One day, I’ll serve some of it here, in my tavern.”

Leona asks for another brew, something stronger. Greybeard hands her a small cup of an expensive stout imported from Winterport in the northeast. She toasts to the red dwarven ale, and the tavern cheers with her. Then Leona stands and asks if anyone in the bar is planning to sail down the Solusridi toward Meridia. A man sitting in the back of the tavern waves her over. 

He introduces himself as Declan and says that he can smuggle her into the city of Meridia for a high price. He is clearly very drunk and it takes a while for Leona to finally explain to him that she does not need to be smuggled into the city; she just needs a boat to take her there more quickly. Agitated, Declan tells her that there’s a ferry that shuttles passengers down to the docks once a week. It leaves in a couple days.

Leona thanks him and goes back to the bar. While relaying this information to Akari, Greybeard overhears and butts in. “The ferry leaves tomorrow morning. You can’t trust a word that Kelan says.”

“Kelan? He said his name was Declan.”

Greybeard scoffs. “Kelan can’t help but lie about everything.”

As he says this, Kelan stands on the table and raises his cup. “I toast,” he shouts, “to myself...” he trails off into gibberish before losing his balance and falling onto the floor.

Leona and Akari finish their meal and drinks and wish Greybeard the best of luck in finding his ale. Leona promises that if he doesn’t have some of that red ale in his tavern in a year’s time, she will personally go get him some. They shake hands on this, and Leona and Akari leave the tavern to return to their inn. Outside, only about ten yards from where they first met him, Trig is sprawled out on the dirt, a pile of vomit on the ground to his left. Leona checks if he’s breathing before leaving him to find her own place to sleep.

[adventureswithdnd]

Campaign Prequel

So I’m trying to start DMing. I built a huge map and started trying to nail down the details of all of the locations, the history behind the continent, etc. My fiance, Dave, also plays RPGs and has taken an interest in the world I’m building. He agreed to join the campaign and even run through a couple of small solo sessions with his character so I can get better at running combat, developing the world, and role-playing as NPCs. 

We’ve spent two hours so far with his character, and I want to recount what just happened. He’s playing a human cleric named Leona (yes, modeled on the LOL character). She starts the campaign as an acolyte, having lived on the top of a mountain for five years with a religious sect, training to become an elite class of warrior known as a Solari (it’s a southern matriarchal kingdom near a desert and they all worship the sun, so I was’t terribly creative with this name either). 

Leona failed her final tests to become a Solari, but the council who live on the mountain (Mt. Crulevi) have told her to leave but return in one year to retake the test. She collects her possessions and a few days’ rations and leaves. She descends a series of steps that have been carved into the mountainside towards the gate that marks the edge of the sacred grounds. Upon exiting, she stops to pray at a stone statue outside the walls. The statue, which is of the goddess Iomedae, has been vandalized, both of the arms crudely broken off. A couple of guards are inspecting the statue, one in tears. Leona, unable to notice any clues left by the vandals, leaves and heads for Meridia.

The road from Mt. Crulevi to Meridia heads first due west, towards the Copper Woods. A few miles later, after completely descending the mountain, Leona approaches a crossroads where she will head south to cross the Solusridi (a long river controlled by the Solara kingdom). As she nears this crossroads, small homesteads exist closer together until she reaches the outskirts of a small village named Wrenville.

By one of these outer houses, Leona sees a group of children playing in the mud with a handful of stone statues. She nears them and asks to see their statues. One of the children holds up his toy: it’s a small stone effigy. She can tell it’s a deity of some sort, but she does not recognize it (possibly because it is caked in dirt and mud).

Leona casts “create water” over the child to try to rinse off the effigy. The child, unhappy at the scary use of magic, begins screaming and the other children just watch in horror. Leona calms the children down enough to ask about the statues they’re holding. They don’t provide a lot of answers, except that the statues show up every day.

One young girl gives Leona a small statue, a stone figure holding an ax. She rinses it off in the now-larger puddle of water but still does not recognize the figure. She pockets it for later research and gives the small girl one gold piece, which she drops in the mud but picks back up to place in her pocket.

Walking further into the settlement, Leona notices many of the houses have the same effigy on their doorsteps: a black statue crudely carved out of obsidian. She picks up one of the statues but again does not recognize it right away. Near the center of the village, she runs into a man who is tending some livestock and chickens and asks him about the statues. At first, he is hesitant to answer, but finally responds that the effigies show up by dawn every morning. They don’t know who brings them, but they don’t dare to find out. When Leona presses him on this final answer, he ignores her and walks off. She sets down her items near the center of the town to rest for the evening.

Later, a couple of adventurers returning from the Copper Woods spot Leona. Recognizing her as a Solari (and presumably a religious zealot), they do not appreciate her presence in the town and repeatedly threaten her to leave. She begrudgingly walks down the road but circles back to keep an eye on the small settlement from a nearby grove of trees off the road. She wants to see who is leaving the effigies.

Leona stays awake all night. Just before dawn, she hears a rather loud scuffling and grunting nearby. She moves closer to inspect the sound. She spots a hunched figure in a large black cloak moving from house to house. It reaches into a basket under its cloak and sets a small stone statue on each doorstep with a grotesque, misshapen hand.

Leona approaches it, drawing her sword and casting “light” on her sword to make it glow. The figure eventually spots her, and as it looks up, Leona sees its dark, gaunt face under the hood. The creature runs for the woods, easily losing Leona in her heavy armor. Leona decides to wait another day. She wants to confront this creature and find out why it creates these effigies.

Before resting, Leona casts “know the enemy” and asks her deity, Sarenrae, about the creature she just encountered. The goddess informs her that it was a flue hag that harasses these villagers, leaving effigies on their doorsteps every morning to scare them. It sometimes changes the type of deity it carves to hint at an upcoming event, such as leaving a deity of death the day before it murders a resident. 

Leona spends most of the day sleeping and praying. When she wakes up in the early afternoon, she wanders into the town to find food. She walks into a bakery and asks the baker behind the counter if she could help him bake bread for the day, as she worked as a baker back on Mt. Crulevi. At the mention of the Solari, he refuses to let her step behind the counter, but he hands her a roll of bread and advises her to “leave and I won’t tell anyone you were here.” She takes the bread and agrees. 

In the village center, she meets a couple of young mothers (named Rylee and Aubriella) washing laundry with water from the settlements’ well. They do not recognize that she is a Solari soldier, and they happily invite Leona to help them with their chores. Leona asks about the effigies again, particularly about the creature that leaves them. The women are extremely reluctant to answer her questions. The villagers believe it is bad luck to talk about the flue hag, and that talking about it publicly could seal one’s own fate. Leona stops pressing them about the flue hag and, after helping the women wash their children’s muddy clothes, she asks if there is a candle maker in the town.

They point her to a small shop on the first floor of the home of Samuel Chandler. Upon entering the store, a bumbly little man walks from the back room and asks how he can help her. She asks if he has a candle, a nail, and a frying pan. Puzzled, the man replies that of course he has candles, and he can probably find a nail in his shop, but that he can’t help with the frying pan.

He shows her his stock, which includes simple pillar candles. Leona purchases a candle that burns for 8 hours. Samuel also convinces her to purchase a candle he has been experimenting with making. He says he has purchased a rare spice called Cinnamon from a distant land and has started scenting his candles with it. He also enthusiastically explains that his wife has started flavoring her baking with the spice and that it has helped make a lot of her food, especially the pumpkin pie she makes, even better. Leona agrees to purchase one of his new candles.

Leona eats a set of the rations she took from the kitchen on Mt. Crulevi and settles in for the night. She sets up the candle on her metal canteen with a nail driven into the candle so it should fall after the wax melts in six hours. This works, and she wakes up shortly before dawn. The creature is quieter this time, and it is only about 80 yards away when Leona finally hears it scuttling from house to house.

Leona removes her armor, hoping to be able to keep up with the creature if it tries to escape, and draws her sword. The flue hag fails to hear her approaching, and Leona charges but misses terribly. the flue hag’s aura of misfortune affects Leona, and for several rounds, she swings her sword over and over, missing every time. The monster lashes out, attempting to bite Leona, and instead stumbles, falling onto the ground. Her basket of stone effigies spills out over the dirt.

Leona casts “fire bolt” at the flue hag, but realizes that the monster is resistant to fire. Leona slashes at the monster again and again. She makes eye contact with a small child in the window of one of homes. They’ve been awoken by the fighting outside and are too curious to keep from peeking outside. “Help!” Leona screams at them. The child’s face disappears.

They continue fighting for a short while, but the monster’s searing bite and sharp claws are too much for Leona. The cleric casts “cure light wounds” once, but the monster bites Leona’s arm, and she is critically injured. She collapses to the ground, just as she hears a door open and a loud voice shouting “Get back!” Everything goes black.