Scourges of war - The first EN's World Dragonlance Story hour

[Guilberwood]

Hi guys,

I have decided to give this story hour thing a shot, and so I am posting the prologe from the Campaing I have been runing for more than a year (almost two by now)

It's a Dragonlance game (something unique in this boards) and it takes place some 10 to 20 years after the war of the lance, but I have not included th summer of chaos or the war os the souls into the cronology yet (maybe in the future). So, the world is basicaly as it were after the legends trilogy, given the logical consequences of time.

The story spins arround the consequences of the war of the lance..Ansalon is still hurt from the war, and Dragons (and draconians) are back into the world, and they wont accept a passive roll in the history of Kryn...besides, their Dark Queen has lost the war but she's not quite finished yet.

We have 4 players, and we generaly play twice a month, on sunday afternoons.

The characters started at 1st level, and they're currently at 7th level.

The characters are:

1- Dante of Hillfall (Human fighter) - Dante was still a teenager when we started, he was only 17 . He's a boy who grew up in an orphanage in the city of Hillfall. A exiled knight of Solamina who lived in Hillfall trained him in the arts of war. His quest is to rid his city of the opression it's currently been suffering from a misterius lord called Ogrimar Darkcloak. Dante has a dubious feeling about the knights of Solamina, although lately he's been feeling more hate than awe. As the campaing stands now, he's a killing machine with his greatsword (a present form the knight who trained him).

2- Lua Azul (Elf fighter/Ocult slayer) - Lua is a Kagonesi (wild elf) who lived in the woods of Southern Ergoth until he became a slave (like many of his race) of the more "civilized" elves during the war of the lance. He served a White robed mage called Nimb. After a few years of servitude, he was release, although he had already become a civilized elf, and so he decided to adventure into the world. His history is full of tragedies and, in the end, his life is all about finding his true identity.

3- Elliot (Human Ranger/Fighter) - Elliot is a man who did not know his parents. He was raised in a forest of Southern Ergoth by a woodsman, and eventually he started walking with his own legs, after learning a lot about nature from his foster parrent. Elliot was kind of naive when the Campaing started..almost too good to be true, but events seriously changed the way Elliot saw the world, for the better....

4- Lynn (female Gnome/Rogue) - Lynn was the character my girlfrined (yes, she plays with us, and yes, she is pretty) used to play in the campaing, but, somewhere during the 3rd level she decided she wanted to swicth, and started playing a monk. Lynn was a gnome whose life quest was to be famous....somehow, she never managed to get famous, even though she did things that deserved it. I liked her a lot, and she's still an important npc to this very day

5- Catarina of Mantus (female Human Monk) - Catarina is my girlfriend's new character, a monk of majere. She is the religious vein of the group. She was also an orphan (what a lack of creativity guys!) who grew in a monastery. She had never been out until her master assigned her with a very important mission, which eventualy led her to join the rest of the party. I'll not say much abou her right now, for she's not in the party yet.

If you guys enjoy reading it, Ill keep posting, if noboddy reads this..well....I'll accept my insignificance and stop wasting everyone's time (including mine).

Here we go!

ps: Now with some drawings. The first one is Elliot as a 1st level Ranger (This drawing was made by Ronin, Elliot's player, a most talented artist, as I'll see). Interesting to see how he'll change over the campaing. The second one is Dante (pay attention to the sword) and the third one is Sir Hedderick, Dante's Mentor.

 

[Bryon_Soulweaver]

Count me in. *front row seats*

 

[Guilberwood]

Prolog

Prolog


“Well, I guess this is it, this wheel is not taking us nowhere” said Darrien, the priest to the elf that accompanied him on this trip. As a matter of fact, it was more like a thought than the beginning of a dialog. During the whole trip, the elf had said very little. Darrien had already heard that this race was a quiet one, most were very reserved, but that was already too much. After a second thought, this creature didn’t even look like an elf, or at least not like the elves he had known. The clothes he wore made him look more like a barbarian form the north than like an elf. Not even his name made any sense: Lua azul (blue moon in the common language). “What the hell…Kryn has tree moons and none of them is blue! What’s this freaking name supposed to mean?

Anyway , his intuition had been right. It was a good thing he hired the elf. The roads had been a dangerous place in that region, and the elf’s sword could have proved extremely useful at any moment. Thinking of the sword, his thoughts came back to the elf “even his sword is weird” he said to himself. As a matter of fact, the weapon Lua carried was indeed weird. It was a two-bladed sword, held by its middle by the warrior. “I can’t even imagine a scabbard for this thing”. Deep inside, the priest was having fun with the exotic appearance of his traveling buddy.

At that exact moment, they were both stuck in the middle of the road, because one of the wheels from their wagon had just broke. Worse than that, it seemed like there was no way to fix it. “Why did it have to break now, specially when we’re so close to Hillfall” – Darrien was mooring to himself.

The old priest (he was more than fifty years old) had traveled with his old wagon to the city of Ker-vakt, to buy some items for the orphanage he managed, and sell some gifts he had gained from favors and small blessings he had done to the citizens of Hillfall. Darrien regretted having to sell this gifts, but the orphanage he ran was very very poor, and every single steel piece was more than welcome.

On his way form Hillfall to Ker-vakt, the priest had made the poor donkey that carried the wagon suffer, for he didn’t want to risk any kind of encounter along the road. The animal ran like he had never done is it’s life. Sadly, upon arriving at its destination, the animal was half dead already, and would never be able to do the same thing on his way back.

Yet, on the road he heard stories that were less than cheering: as if the road bandits were not problem enough, the goblins had started pillaging caravans too. The rumors, people told him, were that the goblins were an organized crew, led by a new leader called Ragash,, bloody hand, who dwelled in the city of Gulfport.

The priest’s stay in Ker-vakt was as short as possible. He hated to stay away form the orphanage, even if only for a small period of time. “Dante can take care of everything while I am away”, he thought, but, still, it was better not to push his luck.

The problem was that the donkey would never be able to go as fast as it did on his way to Ker-vakt. Besides, the wagon was fully loaded with rations and a new set of pots the priest had bought, and it was entirely impossible to expect more than a few hours of forced march from the animal.

“My way back will take a little longer” and, as he thought about the dangers of the trip a cold feeling ran trough his body. All of the sudden he started to have a very bad feeling about the whole thing. Darrien did not believe in a thing such as luck, nor in chance, his training as a priest and his whole life had always told him that whenever ho felt like that it meant a warning from his God Habbakuk, the blue phoenix, lord of land and see, who always helped him in his times of trouble.

So, the priest decided to save his last steel coins and hire a bodyguard, someone who could protect himself and his precious wagon. It was not without regret that he came to this conclusion “This money could be spent on the orphanage, to buy new beds for the boys. Although, what use are this coins is I don’t come back alive to Hillfall”.


However, unfortunately hiring a scout had become a tougher job than he had first thought. His 20 steel pieces were not nearly enough to hire even the most inexperienced adventurer. As it seemed, that money was not enough to convince anyone to risk their necks at the roads of Northen Ergoth.

He was almost giving up when fate finally smiled at him, “Or was it a curse?” he wondered.

In the small docks of the city, an elf carrying a two-bladed sword looked from one way to the other, seeming utterly lost. This foreigner didn’t look like any of the elves Darrien had seen before. Rustic clothes, blue hair, greenish skin, e, to top it all, he had an enormous scar in his forehead.

Sometime latter, the priest would find out that this was a Kagonesi, wild elves that inhabit the forests of Southern Ergoth.

At that time, Darrien had never heard about this Kagonesi elves. But he realized that the elf had never been to a city before (at least a human one) and, he had certainly never interacted with humans. All the noise and action of the city seemed to deeply bother him.

At least, the elf knew how to speak the common language, even tough he spoke with a huge accent, as if he spoke some kind of ancient form that nobody had used for centuries.

Be as it may, something about that elf called the priests attention (and he took it as another sign form his God) and, without a second thought, Darrien decided to hire the elf as his bodyguard. After all, the elf was strong and carried a massive sword. However, those were only rhetoric arguments he used to convince himself, for the truth is that he was already despaired for help, and the elf was his last hope.

After a few minutes of conversation (mostly gesticulation), the elf agreed to travel with the priest. In the end, Darrien was almost certain that the elf (whose name, now he knew, was Lua Azul) had not understood the conversation very well, specially the payment stuff, for the elf did not know what steel pieces meant.

And so, after three days on the road, they were stuck with a broken wagon, and neither of them knew how to fix the dam wheel.

The last thing the priest wanted was to stay idle on the road, an easy mark for the road robbers…

Something had to be done, they couldn’t just stay there waiting for the worst to happen. Something had to be done, and it had to be done fast

 

[Bryon_Soulweaver]

Trees? Tools in wagon?

 

[Guilberwood]

Trees? Tools in wagon?

?????

I did not understand what you meant....and, by the way, thanks for reading it!

See ya

Guilberwood

 

[DantetheDestroyer]

Please, keep writting

Good writting skills, man!

Hey, how about telling more about the human fighter that seems to be a state-of-the-art character soon to rise as a hero of Kryn?

 

[Guilberwood]

Good writting skills, man!

Hey, how about telling more about the human fighter that seems to be a state-of-the-art character soon to rise as a hero of Kryn?

Oh man, I can't belive you came here just to brag about yourself!

Rest assured, your time will come pretty soon...

See ya

 

[Guilberwood]

Chapter I – The meeting

It was a very hot summer in Northen Ergoth, and not even a single drop of rain had fallen in the last few days, a very unusual fact in that region. The heat punished both man and their roads, which, in times like these, where filled with dust.

That’s why neither the priest nor the elf had any trouble sighting the cloud of dust that appeared on the horizon.

Anyone who traveled trough those roads knew that a cloud like that was caused by running horses. Perhaps a lonely traveler, or perhaps a band a outlaws coming their way, fast.

“The time has come. Certainly we’re the new target of this road robbers”, Darrien thought. Lua, on the other hand, raised his sword and got ready to the conflict that would soon begin.

At each moment the dust cloud got bigger and bigger, approaching the travelers, and soon the image of their adversaries would be visible in the distance. The tension was enormous.

As the image got clearer, the priest and the elf gave a sight of relive. Behind that dust cloud there was no dangerous group of bandits. As a matter of fact, for their surprise, all that noise and all that dust were created by a single horse and his owner, who, as his appearance led to believe, was a traveler too, perhaps even a ranger.

As he saw the miserable state in which those travelers were, the ranger slowed down his horse e got closer, as to have a better understanding of what was happening.

Now that both sides knew they were not in danger, a small talk erupted. To tell the exact truth here, Darrien and Elliot (that was the ranger’s name) chatted, while Lua watched as they spoke. Sometimes, the priest could swear the elf did not understand a word they were saying.

Elliot was a young human, apparently 22 years old, his black hair was long and straight, at the height of his shoulders, he had a keen look in his eyes. Yet, he seemed like a good man, even though his light beard gave him a serious look. He bore a travelers outfit under a chain shirt. In his scabbard, a long sword. In his left hand a wood shield. As if he wasn’t already armed enough, there was a spear in his back. Certainly, they stood in front of someone who knew how to defend himself.

Fortunately, even the first look in his eyes showed that Elliot was not there to rob wagons form a defenseless old priest. Surprisingly, he actually looked like someone who was willing to help them out.

However, for their bad luck, Elliot didn’t have any skills in woodwork and, therefore, had no idea how to fix a broken wheel.

All the joy the priest felt when he saw the ranger had disappeared when he realized that the he could not help them in anyway. After all, ranger or not, the wheel was still broken and they were still stuck in the middle of the road.

But, even tough he could not fix the wheel, Elliot was young and willing to help, with a valuable asset at the time: a fresh horse. So, they decided the ranger would help the priest and his scout in another way.

Darrien took the last piece of parchment he had and wrote a hurried note. After finishing, he handed it to Elliot and said “Take this note to a boy called Dante, in the city of Hillfall. The village is less than 2 days ahead of here. Climb the mountains, you’ll spot the windmills. Look for him in the orphanage, it’s not difficult to find it.”

Moments latter, Elliot left, heading straight to Hillfall, helping out strangers he had never met before in his life, people he just met in the middle of the road.

********************************

“Those red beared man are coming again, I should hide somewhere around here” Said Lyn to herself as she saw the town guards of Hillall headed in her direction. Lately, the gnome was not on speaking terms with them, and avoiding the guards was a good thing at the time. The escape was not without reason: her last experience with them had not been a pleasant one, and she would still remember it for a long time.

Lyn had abandoned her house in Mount Nevermind in search of her lifequest: become famous all over Ansalon. A life quest is something every gnome has, it’s a tradition handed form generation to generation, from father to sun.

Lyn’s father had already tried to become famous for his inventions, just like her grandfather did, and her great grandfather before, but, somehow, for some reason, none of them managed to receive the due credit for their inventions and, just like that, the mission was herded by the future generations.

She was, just like any young gnome, determined to stop this series of failures. According to the legend, if she was successful, she, and all her ancestors, would finally reach paradise and meet their God, Reorx.

Sadly, history was already repeating herself, and the failures from the past already hunted the young gnome. When Lyn was still a teenager (she was forty at the time), she developed her first invention: a crossbow that loaded itself automatically, and could shoot five time before one needed to recharge it. Actually, the gadget was truly amazing. Lyn inserted a clip with 5 bolts next to the trigger, and, as the first one was launched, the second one was already in place for the next shot. Together with all the bells and a thousand other parts, it made a incredible feat of engineering.

She was not yet satisfied, and so she installed a aim to help measure how deep the target was, for distance shots, and, since it’s better to be safe than sorry (and gnomes are very worried about their safety) she also created a spear clip, just in case the first one got stuck right when a goblin was charging ate her .

When it was finally over, Lyn decided to show her masterpiece for the other gnomes, feeling certain that her merit would be recognized, and soon would become famous for this marvelous achievement, honoring her family. Unfortunately, as the gadget went for the inspection of the long-distance-weapons-committee, after been approved by the safety-and-beauty syndicate, the result was not what she had expected.

After a lot of discussion, the counselors decided that the weapon was not a new one, but a variation of an existing weapon, whose creator was a gnome that lived centuries before. So, technically, it was not an new invention, but a recreation of an existing one, and it meant that Lyn would receive no credit at all.

Feeling angry as she had never felt before, she abandoned Mount Nevermind, and decided that she would become famous not because of her inventions, but due to her heroic deeds.

That’s how she ended up in Hillfall, after a few time wondering randomly throughout Northen Ergoth. She was mesmerized by the giant wind and watermills, things she had never seen before, and was eager to understand its functions to, of course, improve it with some gnome technology.

And that’s how she got in trouble with the city guards. One day, she was making her bed at her new home (hidden inside one of the city’s Windmills,) when the guards appeared (attending to the nearby citizens warning that a gnome was stealing the mill) and threw her out. She fell directly at a mud pool, and the guards threw her belongings in the mud too. “They were not very nice”, she thought a few days latter, as she still tried to clean her things, specially her clothes, now stained with mud.

Lyn had every reason not to meet the guards again. She was still snooping around the windmills, and the guards were after her, but this time to throw her out of the city. So, when she saw the guards coming, hiding was the first thing that came to her mind.

She hid behind some barrels outside a house that, by the looks of it, seemed like an artisan’s house. Spread in the backyard were lots of tools and wood items. None of these caught her attention, as it seemed someone was heading to that specific house. “Must be the owner, I’d better get going, or else he’ll scream for the guards” . Strangely, she noticed that the owner (and her daughter) were inside of the house. Curiosity took her over, and she decide to wait for a few more minutes “just to see what happens here”.

********************************

Elliot followed the instructions the priest had given him, and it was not difficult to find the city of Hillfall. Nestled in the mountains of Northen Ergoth, Hillfall was a strategic point, for it barred the passage from the mountains (where goblins, ogres, and other creatures lived) into the plains.

The city was filled with mills, mostly windmills, but there was a watermill too. A small stone wall circled the city, and from the outside he could see the few houses, the numerous farms and a Castle, more like a keep, in the uppermost area of the town. “This city must have no lord” he thought, seeing that the keep was kept in a horrible state.

As he entered the city, he soon found a square with stables to place his horse. Just ass he got out of his mount, a small boy, maybe 10 years old came his way, offering to take care of the horse.

Elliot gave the boy (named Jimmy) a few small coins and asked him where the orphanage was. Luckily, the kid lived in the orphanage and knew Dante, the man Elliot was looking for.

A few minutes latter, Elliot found the building that was supposed to be the orphanage. It was placed in the southernmost, poorest region of the city, and the building itself was very old, and definitively needed lots of repairs.

As he knocked at the door, he heard several children running to answer it, but who opened the door was a tall, young man, in his late adolescence. He had a short brown hair and no beard at all. His expression was a clean one, and he still carried some of his childish features….”this boy still have a lot to grow” people said. Children were all around him, holding his leg.

“I am looking for a man named Dante” Elliot said.
“Well, you’ve just found him, I am Dante” the other replayed.

Quickly, Elliot told Dante everything that happened on the road. “This comes in a terrible time” he said only to himself.

Dante was just waiting the priest’s arrival to tell him that he was leaving…for good. He had no desire to replace Darrien as the orphanage manager. Yes, the priest had helped him a lot. And yes, the priest had raised him, sheltered him, nursed him when he was sick, but that was not the life Dante had chosen to live.

He had heard Sir Hedderick (an exiled knight of Solamnia who lived in the city for a few years) talk about his adventures, the thrill of the combat, the glory of victory, the power to do good and help people. That’s what he wanted, that’s why he asked the knight to train him in secret.

Dante was such a good student that, realizing his potential, when the knight had to leave the city (a tale to be told at another opportunity), he gave the teenager his sword. A massive great sword with a bull’s face as it’s hilt, alongside two horns. In the hurry to escape, the knight had left his horse too, and Dante took care of it.

When the news of the wagon came, Dante was just waiting the priests arrival to tell him of his decision of becoming an adventurer. When Elliot knocked at the door, Dante thought Darrien had arrived, for he was already late.

Given the circumstances, there was not much he could do unless follow the instructions the priest had written in the note. He asked Dante to go to mister Quilches’ house tell him that he was stuck on the road, so he could go there and repair the wagon. Ms. Quilches was the town’s wagon crafter, and things like that used to happen all the time.

So, Elliot and Dante went to look for Ms. Quilches, who usually was found at home with his daughter. As they got closer to the house, they noticed something was strangely amiss: all the windows and doors were shut (even tough it was a hot day) an a creepy silence was all around.

After knocking innumerous times at the door and receiving no answer whatsoever, Dante started screaming, for they knew Ms. Quilches was inside.

Minutes latter, Dante finally realized what that was all about. Lately, Darrien had been a little unpopular among some of Hillfall’s citizens, because he was, as a sort of local leader, taking some aggressive actions against the city lord, Ogrimar Darkcloack, and his actions had enraged the lord, who, in response, had just raised all taxes. That’s why some people where not talking to Darrien or anyone related to him which seemed to be the case.

Realizing that Mr. Quilches would not open the door, they saw that they were in dire trouble, “We need someone to fix the wagon, and our only hope is now lost”, Dante mourned to Elliot, trying to think about what to do next.

“Who needs a wagon fixed?” said a thin childish voice as Lyn, who had been hearing the whole thing, jumped out of her hiding place, putting her small, fragile hands at her waist, in an attempt to create a great entrance. A huge smile in her face.

After the initial confusion caused by the jumping gnome, Dante and Elliot quickly told the gnome their tale. Lyn heard it without the slightest interest in the story. When they were over, she just asked:

“Will there be a lot of danger?” almost in a scared way
“Yes, probably” Elliot replied, sure he was loosing any chance they had of convincing the gnome to help them.
“Than count me in!” the gnome’s answer surprised them both.

Less than an hour latter the trio was heading into the direction the wagon had broken. Elliot and Lyn were on his horse, while Dante rode in Sir. Hedderik’s. Strangely, the gnome had charged no money for her help, all she wanted was that they told everyone of her marvelous deeds.

 

[Catarina of Manthus]

The girlfriend

4- Lyn (female Gnome/Rogue) - Lyn was the character my girlfrined (yes, she plays with us, and yes, she is pretty) used to play in the campaing, but, somewhere during the 3rd level she decided she wanted to swicth, and started playing a monk.

Hi, I´m the sotryteller´s girlfriend. First, some minor corrections concerning my characters´ names: Catarina of Manthus, spelled with a "C", and Lynn with double "n".

Second, isn´t my boyfriend a great DM and an awesome writer?!!

Anyway, let me tell you all reading about our campaign that it´s great: it´s a lot of fun playing it! I´ve been playing RPG and D&D for many years now (long before I started dating "Guilberwood" - no, I didn´t started playing by his influence) and I can assure you all it´s a great campaign.

I´ll let you get back to enjoying this fine story. See ya!

 

[DantetheDestroyer]

Well, folks... I was about to get there but I guess that now is needless to say who is the DMM (Dungeon Master's Master)

"Long live the queen and let us live forever in peace!"

Hahahahaha. I am kidding but whenever our noble Storyteller tries some "smart moves" which put the players into serious danger there is a chance that he gets knocked out by a flurry of blows!

I am probably digging my own grave here but I am addicted to irony, so there isn´t much I can do. I just can´t help myself.

Sorry Guilber, Sorry Cat. Find in your hearts the kindness to forgive DANTE, THE DESTROYER!