Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Wing Three
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 6065893" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 41 - TRIBE OF THE BLOODY HAND</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Cal Trop, human cleric of Kord</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Feron Dru, half-elf druid</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Galrich Slayer, half-orc barbarian</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Telgrane, human conjurer</p><p></p><p>The map and poem that Rale found in the previous adventure was the plot hook to "Ex Keraptis Cum Amore," a <em>Dungeon</em> adventure that I wanted to run. However, I wanted to do a series of adventures in a row with the same cast of characters, and I also wanted to run my players' PCs through another standalone adventure from Goodman Games' "Dungeon Crawl Classics" line, "The Vault of the Iron Overlord." So I thought I'd send the group on a map quest to the mountains to the north for the former adventure, and then have them hit the latter adventure on the way back. I didn't want them to just "bink" back after the first adventure was over, so I found a way to ensure they'd need to stop in the town where the latter adventure took place, so that was all set. (Piddilink Dundernoggin had a cousin who ran a potion shop in the capital city of Kordovia, and asked the PCs if they'd drop him off some supplies on the way to their adventure and pick up some potions from him on the way back.) But while I was at it, I wanted to do some filling in of Slayer's background.</p><p></p><p>We had already determined that Slayer was born into an orc tribe and was now an adventurer, but there was very little else in his history to explain anything about him. Again, this wasn't unusual, given that this whole campaign hadn't started as much more than a series of unconnected dungeon crawls with little in the way of character history or development. I thought now would be a good time to try to change this a bit.</p><p></p><p>By this time, we had been playing this campaign for about three years, which would put Jacob at around 11 years old. He was already regretting naming his character "Slayer," and asked if he could rename him "<strong>Galrich</strong>." I said sure, and suggested that "Galrich" (pronounced "GAL-rick," not "GAL-ritch," by the way) was the Orcish word for "Slayer," and that his human mother had died while giving birth to him, hence the name. So Jacob's half-orc barbarian was renamed Galrich Slayer, and he answered to either name.</p><p></p><p>I told Jacob that I was working on an adventure or two that would feature some elements from Galrich's history, and asked him to come up with the following: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The name of the orc tribe Galrich had been born into.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The name of an orcish bully who had always tormented Galrich when they were growing up together.</li> </ul><p>Jacob did exceptionally well, coming up not only with "The Tribe of the Bloody Hand" for the former and "<strong>Brogek</strong>" for the latter, but also a plausible explanation for why the tribe got that name: they leave the bloody hand prints of elven victims on trees to mark the bounds of their territory, and nail severed elven hands to trees to mark the locations of their campsites.</p><p></p><p>So I created a little backstory for Galrich and emailed it to Jacob for his approval. I suggested that Galrich had been picked on during his whole life in the tribe for bearing the "taint" of human blood from his mother. The others called him "Half Human" and constantly ganged up on him, beating him to a bloody pulp in six-to-one fights, since he grew to be so much bigger and stronger than the others that they didn't dare fight him fairly, one against one.</p><p></p><p>There was a manhood ritual in the tribe, wherein the teenaged orc candidates were sent out alone into the forest to survive on their own for a week. Those that returned alive were welcomed back into the tribe as full adults, and those who returned with the heads of elf victims were afforded great status as brave warriors. When it came time for the manhood ritual of Galrich, Brogek, and their peers, Galrich headed off in one direction by himself and never returned. Screw the manhood ritual; this was his chance to escape the tribe and see the world for himself. He discovered a human city, met up with a human named Cal Trop who accepted him as an equal, and they started adventuring together.</p><p></p><p>Jacob approved of Galrich's new history, so I informed him that the map Rale had found led to a mountain chain to the north, and that to get there they'd have to pass through the Vesve Forest, where the seminomadic Tribe of the Bloody Hand had lived when Slayer had grown up amongst their number. If Feron was going to be going on this adventure and they met up with Galrich's old tribe, her life would be in serious danger. That was all it took; Jacob decided he'd be running Galrich Slayer through "Ex Keraptis Cum Amore," so he'd be in the group when I sprung a little mini-adventure on them while they were traveling to their adventure site.</p><p></p><p>I won't write this up as a bit of fiction, since it's really just a single combat encounter on a forest road (using the foldout map from "Fields of Ruin" that I've mentioned I'm so fond of), and I have no recollection as to who specifically was fighting who. (If you've noticed, I'm usually pretty generic in my combat descriptions of adventures that I write up many years after I ran them.) But the gist of it is this: the group is traveling by horseback through the Vesve Forest when Galrich, on point, spots first a bloody hand print on a rock by the side of the trail, indicating they're in Bloody Hand territory, then the severed hand of an elf nailed to a tree, indicating that there's a Bloody Hand campsite nearby, hopefully of just a hunting party and not the whole tribe, which numbered around 80 orcs back in Galrich's day. As they round a bend in the trail, several arrows come streaking their way - it's an ambush by a Bloody Hand hunting party, led by none other than Brogek astride a dire boar. Four other orcs are with him, riding horses. When Brogek recognizes Galrich, he calls out to him disdainfully, belittling him for failing his manhood test, whereas Brogek has risen to importance within the tribe. He believes the boar to be his totem animal and demonstrates his powers by assuming a half-orc, half-boar shape. (Years ago he was bitten by a wereboar and survived; it's this affinity with boars that allows him to ride a dire boar as a willing mount.)</p><p></p><p>The other orcs continue shooting arrows at the group until the spells start flying, at which point they decide to close with the party. (Several of them call "Dibs!" on Feron once they see her elven heritage.) The PCs fight them off successfully, and Slayer kills not only Brogek but his dire boar as well, his silver greatsword aiding him greatly in the former endeavor. Then the PCs loot the bodies, leave them contemptuously where they fell, and continue on to the north, following Rale's map to the mountains.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 6065893, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 41 - TRIBE OF THE BLOODY HAND[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cal Trop, human cleric of Kord Feron Dru, half-elf druid Galrich Slayer, half-orc barbarian Telgrane, human conjurer[/INDENT] The map and poem that Rale found in the previous adventure was the plot hook to "Ex Keraptis Cum Amore," a [i]Dungeon[/i] adventure that I wanted to run. However, I wanted to do a series of adventures in a row with the same cast of characters, and I also wanted to run my players' PCs through another standalone adventure from Goodman Games' "Dungeon Crawl Classics" line, "The Vault of the Iron Overlord." So I thought I'd send the group on a map quest to the mountains to the north for the former adventure, and then have them hit the latter adventure on the way back. I didn't want them to just "bink" back after the first adventure was over, so I found a way to ensure they'd need to stop in the town where the latter adventure took place, so that was all set. (Piddilink Dundernoggin had a cousin who ran a potion shop in the capital city of Kordovia, and asked the PCs if they'd drop him off some supplies on the way to their adventure and pick up some potions from him on the way back.) But while I was at it, I wanted to do some filling in of Slayer's background. We had already determined that Slayer was born into an orc tribe and was now an adventurer, but there was very little else in his history to explain anything about him. Again, this wasn't unusual, given that this whole campaign hadn't started as much more than a series of unconnected dungeon crawls with little in the way of character history or development. I thought now would be a good time to try to change this a bit. By this time, we had been playing this campaign for about three years, which would put Jacob at around 11 years old. He was already regretting naming his character "Slayer," and asked if he could rename him "[b]Galrich[/b]." I said sure, and suggested that "Galrich" (pronounced "GAL-rick," not "GAL-ritch," by the way) was the Orcish word for "Slayer," and that his human mother had died while giving birth to him, hence the name. So Jacob's half-orc barbarian was renamed Galrich Slayer, and he answered to either name. I told Jacob that I was working on an adventure or two that would feature some elements from Galrich's history, and asked him to come up with the following:[LIST][*]The name of the orc tribe Galrich had been born into. [*]The name of an orcish bully who had always tormented Galrich when they were growing up together.[/LIST] Jacob did exceptionally well, coming up not only with "The Tribe of the Bloody Hand" for the former and "[b]Brogek[/b]" for the latter, but also a plausible explanation for why the tribe got that name: they leave the bloody hand prints of elven victims on trees to mark the bounds of their territory, and nail severed elven hands to trees to mark the locations of their campsites. So I created a little backstory for Galrich and emailed it to Jacob for his approval. I suggested that Galrich had been picked on during his whole life in the tribe for bearing the "taint" of human blood from his mother. The others called him "Half Human" and constantly ganged up on him, beating him to a bloody pulp in six-to-one fights, since he grew to be so much bigger and stronger than the others that they didn't dare fight him fairly, one against one. There was a manhood ritual in the tribe, wherein the teenaged orc candidates were sent out alone into the forest to survive on their own for a week. Those that returned alive were welcomed back into the tribe as full adults, and those who returned with the heads of elf victims were afforded great status as brave warriors. When it came time for the manhood ritual of Galrich, Brogek, and their peers, Galrich headed off in one direction by himself and never returned. Screw the manhood ritual; this was his chance to escape the tribe and see the world for himself. He discovered a human city, met up with a human named Cal Trop who accepted him as an equal, and they started adventuring together. Jacob approved of Galrich's new history, so I informed him that the map Rale had found led to a mountain chain to the north, and that to get there they'd have to pass through the Vesve Forest, where the seminomadic Tribe of the Bloody Hand had lived when Slayer had grown up amongst their number. If Feron was going to be going on this adventure and they met up with Galrich's old tribe, her life would be in serious danger. That was all it took; Jacob decided he'd be running Galrich Slayer through "Ex Keraptis Cum Amore," so he'd be in the group when I sprung a little mini-adventure on them while they were traveling to their adventure site. I won't write this up as a bit of fiction, since it's really just a single combat encounter on a forest road (using the foldout map from "Fields of Ruin" that I've mentioned I'm so fond of), and I have no recollection as to who specifically was fighting who. (If you've noticed, I'm usually pretty generic in my combat descriptions of adventures that I write up many years after I ran them.) But the gist of it is this: the group is traveling by horseback through the Vesve Forest when Galrich, on point, spots first a bloody hand print on a rock by the side of the trail, indicating they're in Bloody Hand territory, then the severed hand of an elf nailed to a tree, indicating that there's a Bloody Hand campsite nearby, hopefully of just a hunting party and not the whole tribe, which numbered around 80 orcs back in Galrich's day. As they round a bend in the trail, several arrows come streaking their way - it's an ambush by a Bloody Hand hunting party, led by none other than Brogek astride a dire boar. Four other orcs are with him, riding horses. When Brogek recognizes Galrich, he calls out to him disdainfully, belittling him for failing his manhood test, whereas Brogek has risen to importance within the tribe. He believes the boar to be his totem animal and demonstrates his powers by assuming a half-orc, half-boar shape. (Years ago he was bitten by a wereboar and survived; it's this affinity with boars that allows him to ride a dire boar as a willing mount.) The other orcs continue shooting arrows at the group until the spells start flying, at which point they decide to close with the party. (Several of them call "Dibs!" on Feron once they see her elven heritage.) The PCs fight them off successfully, and Slayer kills not only Brogek but his dire boar as well, his silver greatsword aiding him greatly in the former endeavor. Then the PCs loot the bodies, leave them contemptuously where they fell, and continue on to the north, following Rale's map to the mountains. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Wing Three
Top