Copperheads: Betrayal and Strange Runes and Burning Dead, oh my (short update 02/12)

By the standards of the empire, St Cuthbert doesn’t have a large following. The worshippers that fill his temple may never match the hordes that file through the grand cathedrals of Sarcon, Laremon and Archan in Seldarn City, and he lacks the broad appeal of the common gods like Durkannan the Forger or Uldora the Hearth-Maiden. The forces of the Saint are few, but his followers are plentiful enough for his purpose and what they lack in numbers they make up for in faith and position. St Cuthbert is god of Law, and his faithful serve as judges and lawyers in the larger cities, guard chaplains and commanders in the Imperial provinces, and roaming Justicars in the wild lands in between. The reach of the Saint is broad, and Cuthbertite clerics are owed favors by a wide variety people.

It all starts with a debt that must be repaid.

For Halgo Torke, the church was a means to an end. After hearing an elf deride his races ability to master the arts of magic, the young dwarf went searching for a tutor that would accept him. It was an act of petty defiance, or perhaps one of poetic justice, but he was connected with an aging illusionist through the church, and in return for church paying for his tutelage he has agreed to repay the debt with service.

For Blarth, duty was repayment for a favor yet to be rendered. As a youth he was abandoned as his parents were taken by bounty hunters and kidnapping, forced to rely on his own considerable strength. Found by a psi-warrior who served the Church as a Drakkarim, Blarth’s raw talent was molded and shaped. A warrior in every way, Blarth is a follower of Drakkar – St Cuthbert’s Angel of Righteous War and Vengeance, and the half-orc is convinced that loyal service will one day return his parents to him.

For Geoffrey Cromwell, his debt is repaid with service. An aging cleric of the Saint took him in as a youth, guided him towards his fate when he was lost and angry with the world. Molded by the old mans words and deeds, Geoffrey was trained in the arts of theology, magic and battle before being sent out into the world. His superiors have high hopes for him, and it’s thought that with time and training he may even reach the rank of Justicar.

For Yip, Brother of the Unbending Fist, the debt was burned into his very soul. Born, like most of his clan, in a temple of the Saint and raised to believe in a life of service and obligation, the church forged the young kobolds very body and mind into a living weapon. The church has given him a life, a purpose, and a family, and he will repay them for these gifts with loyalty and dedication.

It all starts with a debt, and when the call comes to report to the Cannon of a small town along the Halark Coast, all obey.

The Meta-Game Notes

Those of you who just want the story, skip ahead to the next post.

The early posts in this thread are undergoing some slight renovation in the coming months - mostly checking for spelling mistakes and minor re-writing. I settled into the style a little more comfortably in later updates, so I want to give that feel to the entire thread if I can.

DM’s Campaign Notes

In the beginning, there’s nothing truly ambitious about the Copperheads campaign. I was running Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, but there were two main problems – one was a couple of players who worked shifts, and the other was an itching on my part to explore a world outside of the mega-dungeon. The copperheads started to solve both problems. It gave the rest of us something to do on weeks when the shift-workers couldn’t make it, and it let me run adventures that went a little beyond the Elemental Evil. The original plan was to have the two campaigns twist around one another, with some crossover of NPC’s and locations, so the players were told to create characters that would work in relation to the church. They could start out as a sort of clean-up squad, I figured, doing all the behinds the scenes stuff the other group didn’t have the time or inclination to do due to the narrow focus of their mission.

Naturally, it didn't work out that way. Strange how that always seems to happen.

Instead the Copperheads became a game based on dealing with the politics of the Church of St Cuthbert, running off into the wilderness so they never heard a thing about Elemental Evil after the first adventure, and thwarting the will of numerous power groups across the length of two continents. It also became a game about watching a succession of kobold monks get killed off, one by one, in particularly messy ways. It developed the wider scope I was hoping for, has allowed for long-term story-arcs and player development, and exists now long after the Elemental Evil group has fallen apart due to time constraints and lack of interest (although the aborted storyhour of the mega-module game can be read here.

The game starts at first level, and despite the mention of a few elements from Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, the Storyhour has nothing to do with the mega-adventure aside from one NPC and a reference to the Elder Elemental Eye.

If you have questions, comments or suggestions about the past, present or future events and locations in the game, please head over to the Seldarn Empire Notes, Suggestion and Discussion Thread or just head to my website at http://arwink.themadship.dhs.org (If you're a player in my games, please keep out - we'll be talking about you over there )

Current Cast – A running list as of members as of the last update

Geoffrey Cromwell - Geoffrey is a human cleric of St Cutherbert, a young man with a calling a tendency to be a little more neutral that good in his approach. He's gradually driving towards the Warpriest prestige class, but hasn't quite made it there yet.

Halgo Torke - Halgo is a dwarven diviner (who was an illusionist under 3.0) who took up the wizards calling after an arrogant elf told him dwarves couldn't possible be wizards. He keeps his beard in a short goatee to stop it from dipping in alchemical solutions, and is largely along for the ride because he owes the Church of St Cuthbert a favor. Now that he's mastered magic, Halgo's main focus tends to be on gaining power, and staying with the Copperheads lets him do that.

Blarth - Blarth was abandoned by his father at a young age when the orcish mercenary went chasing after a bounty hunter who'd kidnapped Blarth's mother. Blarth was then raised by an elderly Psi-Warrior who served the Angelic Mardak - Leader of St Cuthbert's Drakkarim (Essentially Holy Bodyguards and Fists of Vengeance). Blarth is enormously strong, not that smart, and collecting heads under the belief that Mardak will eventually show him to his parents should Blarth prove to be a not-puny warrior.

Yip II - The Church of St Cuthbert maintains a small force of brainwashed kobold monks that they send hurtling through sewer drains to route thieves’ guilds. Almost all said monks are named Yip and have little by way of personality. This Yip was sent out into the world because, honestly, he's a tad strange. Much better at sneaking than his Yip brethren, and he has a tendency to pick weak points and low blows when he gets into a battle. Hopefully, by being exposed to the positive influence of the Cuthbertite cleric, he'll learn to become one with the Yip's in the future.

Amarin Yarrow- A pale, schollarly human from the Old Kingdom of Charos, Amarin is a psionic shaper who specializes in manifesting astral constructs. He was lured to the northern continent of Bor by an omen, then stuck around in order to work out what was causing the northern continent's weather to act so strangely. While there, he joined the Copperheads and has adventured with them ever since because, really, they're such a bunch of interesting fellows. Amarin is far too nice to be an adventurer, and his somewhat naive outlook can cause trouble when he deals with his comrades.

Been and Gone – Briefly PC’s, but now part of the NPC unwashed

Brind - Human Fighter. A seldani by his appearance, this mercenary fighter wore chain and used a bastard-sword with great skill. Cheerful a touch undisciplined and played by Mantreus for a single session before real life made it impossible for him to game with us.

Thrash - A human ranger with a slight drug addiction and spiky hair. It is known that he's been raised from the dead, but certainly not by any of the Copperheads.

Deceased – Were Player Characters, Now Fond Memories

Brother Yip - The first Yip, who was a good monk and followed orders. Inevitably, he ended up dead because of those very traits.

Spoiler Listing: Modules and Dungeon Adventures Used in the Storyhour

Of Sound Mind
A Heroes Tale (2e adventure)
King Oleg's Dilemma (2e Adventure from Dungeon)
Depths of Rage (Dungeon 83)

Saturday, August 19th, 518 AF

Four of the churches servants sit in the hallway before the office of Y'Dey, Cannoness of Hommlet. They eye each other carefully, trying to appraise what they can as they sit in silence. All of them know what their task is to be, but it is the first time all four have been in the same room since they arrived at the temple.

Geoffery is slightly confused by Yip's presence. It's rare that the Yip-monks are chosen to act as individuals, and rarer still that one manages to survive without others of his order nearby. Geoffery's heard rumors that several of the small monks were set free for their part in the Trollmist wars, but this Yip still seems to anxious and excited to be a combat veteran. A part of him still wants to believe his Instructors were joking when they told him of the Brotherhood, the stories of teamwork fostered by stripping away their individuality and warfare against thieves in sewers below the city streets. As he watches the small creature, sitting crosslegged and focused on the door, he is forced to admit the humor of the idea isn't as great as he once thought.

Blarth and Halgo look particularly dour, eyeing each other off. Racial distrust is high, and neither looks particularly pleased to be near one another.

"You got axe?" Blarth grunts, breaking the silence. He glares at the robed dwarf, a racial tuant on the tip of his tongue.
"Don't need one," Halgo retorts. "I have magic."
"Hrmph, puny dwarf."

The sound of the door opening stops the arguement in its tracks. Cannoness Y'dey stares out at the four of them, her grey eyes demanding silence.

"I think it's best if you come in," she says.

Once the party is comfortably seated, she makes the relevant introductions. Everyone nods as politely as they can manage, with Yip staring at the three tall-folk he's expected to accompany and serve with wide eyes.

"I think you all know why you're here," Y'Dey explains. "It goes without saying that it wont be explained any further, but but I suggest you look around and get used to each others faces - you'll be relying on one another to stay alive. Whatever personal differences, whatever hatreds your races may share, put them aside. Your duty here is to the church, and it is more important than any petty concerns you bring with you."

"All of you would have heard the rumors about Hommlet before you were sent here. You were gathered here because it has become expected. This town has a dark history, and the dangers it's people have faced have been great. Adventureres still pass through from time to time, usually young groups like yourselves, fresh from their apprenticeships. The history of the place draws them, despite two decades of peace and prosperity.

"The town sent some vetrans from the Trollmists out to look at the old Moathouse where the Elemental Cults were once based. It was a precaution. There are always rumors of evil cults poking around out there, or the dead walking once more. Usually they turn out to be false, but history has taught those of us here not to be complacent."

"This time around, the group we sent out encountered a dragon. This wouldn't necessarily be worrying, but among some of the dragons victims they found this."

Y'Dey opens the draw of her desk and pulls out an ornate holy symbol.

"The symbol belongs to a being called the Elder Elemental Eye. No-one knows what exactly it is or where it came from, but it's the same being the Elemental Cults worshipped as a god in Hommlet's past. Given the relative newness of the holy symbol, and the quality of work that's gone into its making, it's safe to say that this doesn't bode well. I performed an augery not long after this was delivered to me, and St Cuthbert has confirmed that suspicioun."

"If the temple does rise again, Hommlet isn't prepared to face it's evil again. The people have grown softer, more comfortable in the safety of recent years. If possible I wish to avoid allarming them until further evidence has been gathered, but it is clear something must be done. I've confered with the church elders in Khest, and it's been decided that a Warding Bell will be created to help protect the town. A number of powerful priests are on their way here to help in its creation, the last will arrive inside of a month."

"What we still need is a bell of sufficient quality to hold the enchantment. The Yedraphon Monestary had commisioned a new bell from the forges of Bellhold months ago. It's supposed to be finished in a few days, and their craftsmen are said to have forged the bells for the Great Chapel of Heironous in Seldar city. The Canon of Yedraphon has agreed to allow us to collect this bell for the ritual and commision another for his temple."

"We're sending you to collect the bell. We tried this once before, in the old days when the Element cult was first active, but every time they destroyed or stole the bell before it reached the temple. With luck, these new branches won't know the bells significance, but it's thought that a less...obvious...group is the best choice to bring the bell here, just in case."

Geoffery takes a moment to look around the room, wondering if a fiercely devote, brainwashed kobold, a half-orc and a dwarven mage are any less obvious. He hides a smirk, and it occurs to him that if nothing else, they at least look the part of a rag-tag adventuring group.

"There will be a wagon waiting for you in the couryard tomorrow," Y'dey anounces. She pulls a small pouch from her draw and tosses it to Geoffery. "There's twenty-gold peices in there to pay for room and board at Bellhold, along with a map of the route. I expect you to be gone at dawn."

There is a momentary silence as all four look at the Cannoness, quickly followed by the realisation that the audiance is over. Hurridly making their goodbyes, the four companions hustle back into the door. The door is shut firmly behind them.

"So..." Geoffery says. Everyone else waits expectantly for him to say something. "ah...who wants to be woken up?"
The kobold sniffs and stalks off. Geoffery remembers their order is trained to be up before dawn, sleeping only a few hours a night whenever posisble. The half-orc shrugs and follows Yip.
"She was kidding about the dawn thing, right?" Halgo asks.
"I'll get you up," Geoffery says. "I think she meant it."

Sunday, August 20th, 508 AF

An hour before dawn, Geoffery is beside Halgo's bed with a bucket of water in his hand. For a few moments, the young priest contemplates other methods of waking the slumbering dwarf, but in the end temptation wins out. The bucket's contents are dumped on Halgo's head. As the spluttering dwarf wakes, trying to cast some kind of defensive spell through a his gasps of surprise, Geoffery retreats to the doorway laughing.

"Get up," he says. "We leave in an hour."

Monday, August 21st - Tuesday, August 22nd, 508 AF

The trip to bellhold is a four day journey, and the road between the two town is relatively sparse in the later months of winter. The mid-point of the journey is punctuated with a small hamlet, and a brief stay in its inn, The Travellers Boon. The sparsely populated common room is full of sullen farmers, and the barkeep is suspicious.


Wednesday, August 23th, 508 AF

The travellers close on Bellhold as the evening wears on. All four are dusty, and many have picked up splinters from the churches wagon.

Up ahead, they spot an elderly man standing beside the road, a loop of rope clenched in his fist. He's shaking his hands at a pair of horses that are quietly grazing forty feet down the road...

Wednesday, August 23rd, 508 AF, Continued

The farmer lowers his fist and tries creeping towards the horses again. He get's no closer than five feet when the horses suddenly look up and scampre further down the road, settling down some thirty feet away to resume grazing.

Blarth grunts at the farmers actions.
"Hrmph, puny farmer."

Geoffery takes a moment to work out everything the half-orc has called puny since they left church grounds. It includes every inhabitant at the town they stopped at, the town itself, many of Blarth's fellow travellers and a seemingly random assortment of roadside landmarks.
"You know,' Geoffery comments, "I'm starting to think that Puny is half-orc for hello."

Blarth sneers.

They pull the wagon up next to the farmer. He's an old man, puffing slightly after the chase with the horses.

"Travellers, are ye?" he asks, looking over the wagon. "What can I do for ye?"
Before anyone can answer, the farmer spots Yip meditating in the back of the wagon. His eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"We're on our way to Bellhold," Geoffery explains. "Can you tell us how far we have to go?"
"Well, not much more than two or three miles," is the answer. "So you're adventurers, aren't ye? If you're looking for a preists to dispell you're friends curse, you're out of luck in Bellhold."
"Curse?" Halgo asks. "What curse?"
"Well, the one that turns him into a kobold."

Everyone's silent while they think about this, followed by a hurried attempt to explain Yip to the farmer. Eventually, it's Halgo who solves things by naming yip his intelligent, bi-pedal familar. This is followed by a round of introductions. It turns out the farmers name is Othic, a long-time local of the area.

"Seems like you're having some problems," Goeffery offers.
"Aye, these two." Othic grumbles. "Blaze and Broadsword. Dissappeared from the paddock a week ago, then came back yesterday. Came out this morning and they'd jumped the fence again. Spent the better part of the day tracking them down, and now they wont let me get close enough to get the halters on."

Othic sighs deeply, then looks up at the adventurers. "Don't suppose ye'd be willing to give an old man some help?"

The four adventurers look at one another. None of them know a thing about horses, although Halgo seems to have developed some knack after a few days of driving the wagon. Eventually, Geoffery solves the problem.

"Yip," he commands. "Go give the man some help."
Blarth and Halgo smile appreciatively at this, obviously convinced it's a very good plan. Yip looks less convinced, but dutifully stands and slides down the side of the wagon.

"What do?" he asks, taking the rope from Othic's hands.

I ever so love the Brothers Yip.

They have a certain charm to them. When the player first threw the idea at me, I let it past without giving it a lot of thought, but with every successive Yip that gets introduced (he's currently on his fourth), they get that little bit more interesting.

Wednesday, August 23rd, 508 AF, Continued

Yip sneaks slowly towards the two horses, rope clenched in his tiny paws. His companions maintain a comfortable distance on the wagon, watching with huge grins on their faces. Othic looks nervous.

"He won't eat 'em, will 'e?" Othic asks. No-one answers him. Yip creeps within ten feet of the two horses, then notices for the first time the differences in size and strength. There's a momentary pause as he looks at the horses hight, to the rope in his hand, and then back again. He looks over his shoulder at Geoffery, Blarth and Halgo. The trio offer him a wide grin and waves of encouragement.

"I put five gold on the horse," Halgo mutters low enough that Yip can't hear. No-one takes him up on the bet.

Yip slinks away from the horses, the beginnings of an idea forming in his head. He runs to the opposite side of the road and ties the rope to a fence-post, hoping it's strong enough to prevent a horse from bolting once the rope falls over his head. He then concentrates on tying a lasso and creeps forward again. He stops short from the horses, then proceeds to start circling the loop above his head. The loop expands, getting larger and larger, before unravelling just as Yip throws. The untied strand of rope hits one of the horses in the nose. It looks up, flashing Yip a glance that could almost be annoyed, and trots down the road with his companion.

"Er," Othic says after watching the display, "does yer little fella have any experience with horses?"
Blarth's cry of "Puny Kobold" is the only response. Geoffery nudges Halgo in the ribs as they watch Yip botch a second attempt and send the horses further down the road.
"Maybe you better help," he suggests.
"Why me?" Halgo asks.
"You've been driving the wagon all this way. Horses seem to like you."

Halgo grumbles, but he gets off the wagon and heads down the road to help Yip...

Wednesday, August 23rd, 508 AF, Continued

Halgo strides down the road, muttering to himself as he does so. Yip is ordered to block off the far side of the road, to try and slow them down should they attempt to escape. The kobold is dubious, but doesn't argue.

The dwarven illusionist gets closer to the two feeding horses, speaking to them in calm tones as he gets close. He even gets close enough to stroke one on the nose, but both Blaze and Broadsword bolt when he lifts the rope to throw it over their heads. Yip makes a valient effort to grab one of them as they trot past, but the three foot monk barely serves as an obstacle.

Halgo scratches at his short beard as he watches them go.
"This could take a while," he comments. Goeffery and Blarth and laughing from their position on the wagon.

"Maybe they're were-horses?" Geoffery calls, and Halgo is almost certain he hears Blarth muttering puny dwarf under his breath.

"I've got an idea," Halgo calls back. "Just be ready to stop them if they bolt."
Othic 's expression immediately changes to one of alarm.
"Don't worry," Halgo assures him. "This looks worse than it is. It wont hurt them in the slightest."
Then he sucks in a deep breath and begins the incantation for a color spray. The arcane words rush from his mouth and the flare of multicolored lights spring from his fingers towards the horses. Yip lets out a short yip of surprise, and Othic looks like he's goes into a state of shock.

The weaving colors dance in the horses vision for a few seconds. Blaze, the larger of the two, stares transfixed into the weaving pattern then falls to the ground. Broadsword, smaller and darker, panics and bolts off in the opposite direction - away fromt he waiting Yip and towards the wagon.

"Stop him" Halgo calls. Geoffery just watches, ammused by the proceedings, but Blarth leaps from his spot and chases the horse. The panicked Broadsword kicks out as the half-orc approaches, catching a glancing blow on his armor.

"Arg, Puny horse," Blarth yells, then proceeds to punch the horse in the nose with a gauntletted fist. Broadsword looks wobbly in the aftermath, even takes a few unstead steps to the left.

At this, Othic faints dead away.

Broadsword and Blarth are at it immediately. The horse rears up, striking out with its forehoves, while the half-orcs heavy blows are hammer out at it even as the hooves strike him. Within seconds, Blarth has beaten the horse into unconsciousness.

"Puny Horse," he spits vehemently, rubbing at a bruise already starting to form on his brow. Then he walks back to the wagon and retakes his seat.

Halgo and Yip rush in to rope the incapaciated horses.

"How long does it take a horse to regain consciousness?" Halgo asks, looking down at the unconscious Broadsword. "The other one will be awake and unharmed inside a minute."

"Maybe I'd better heal it before we wake up Othic?" Geoffery offers. Nobody dissagrees. Geoffery heads over to the unconscious horse while Halgo ties the now-conscious Blaze to the back of the wagon and goes to wake othic.

"Humans strange," Yip offers to no-one in particular. He hops up on the wagon beside Blarth to watch Geoffery and Halgo go about their work.

Interestingly enough, I've run through this section of the module twice, and both times a player has come up with the theory of "were-horses" within seconds of hearing about the problem.

For some reason, livestock aren't expected to be scary all on their own