The GIANTKILLERS (until a better name turns up).
The Adventurers.
DCI Bawg.
Custom Lineage Rogue Level 11 (City Watch Investigator)
Str 8 Dex 20 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 14 Cha 10
Around 20 cycles ago, a grizzled detective was captured by the Illithid, undergoing vile, eldritch experimentation.
This man promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the underground of Faerun.
Today, still wanted by the Overmind, he survives as a soldier of fortune.
If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire: DCI BAWG
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Phreakalus Nevrospastos.
Human Artificer Level 11 (Courtier)
Str 8 Dex 12 Con 16 Int 20 Wis 8 Cha 13
I am Phreakalus Nevrospastos, former court inventor to king Hubrios. I built many wonders in his service, though I may be more remembered in court for the entertainment I wrought with puppetry. Unfortunately, I never had the personal power or wealth to refuse a request from even the lowest of royals, and one such request..
upset his majesty. He was angered by a commission that I took from a member of his family, and stripped me of my rank, cast my son and I into the vast dungeon beneath the castle.
Escape from a prison that you designed is not so difficult, but escaping from a cliffside, on an island kingdom, with no aid, proved more challenging. In desperation, I created some of my greatest marvels: flying devices. One each for me, and my son. That night, we leaped into empty air from our cave hidden high in the sea-cliff, just beneath the walls of the fortress.
We had to stay low, so that our shadows would be hidden amongst the tossing waves, that we should not be revealed as silhouette against the stars; but my son was too young. The wonder of flying free of the earth made him forget my cautions, he soared and danced, and rose, until he was spotted against the moon. The guard cut him down with arrow and spell, his body was dead before he hit the waves, but I learned
much that night: the fear and pain and loss
galvanised my mind, I saw the last flickers of a once living soul, this condensation of life that I came to call Anima, could be gathered, contained,
USED.
With this knowledge I have built myself a new son. He is a good boy. Always listens. Always does as he is told. Such a good boy, and yet... incomplete.
The change in me that night, that surge of creativity and understanding, it faded too soon. All my research to regain that power has resulted in an understanding of the state, but not how to truly reach it. Even using the Anima I gather, I can only experience it again for a few seconds, and that inconsistently.
I believe the difference to be in circumstance, in the imbalance of mind caused by fear, and pain, and need. In extremis I found genius, TRANSCENDED genius; in extremis, I shall seek it again. Until my son truly lives, as a thinking, independent being. Embodying the perfection of my art.
Piniccarus, Phreakalus' new 'son'. Yep, as creepy as you are thinking, if not more so.
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Thrunorus 'Thugg' Garn.
Half-Orc Barbarian Zealot of Bradlust Level 8 & Fighter Level 3 (Mercenary Veteran)
Str 20 Dex 14 Con 16 Int 8 Wis 8 Cha 10
Standing over 7ft tall and weighing in at over 300lbs of muscle, Thugg is a mountain of a ‘man’. His manner and language are crude, but his great-axe is sharp and swung with a might few can match. Wearing his scars as decorations Thugg seeks battle once more…
Chapter 1: Thugg Life
Hunched over, disheveled and worn you wonder what brought this man here. He looks old and battle weary.
Thugg wears a tatty brown leather duster, well-travelled riding boots and shorts. From what you can see of his chest it is a mess of scars that may just have once been a tattoo of a Bradlust symbol. He carries an adventuring pack, several javelins and a huge greataxe that surely, he could never wield. Thugg’s hair is crafted in to long black dreadlocks adorned with various trinkets. The scars on his face show that once he must have been blinded in at least one eye.
The Orc blood which made him must have been tainted by that ogres or giants, explaining his unusually large stature and a strange raised ridge pattern on his forehead. Thugg is probably the largest half-orc you have ever seen but carries himself hunched and broken, however those with an eye for combat sense that there may be something more lurking inside this shell.
Green-skin Bastard
Thugg was born to a mother (Arwen Garn) held captive within a green-skin stronghold. No doubt being used as a concubine to their leadership. Both were rescued by the Army of None, one of the groups which would later go on to form the Morvian Army. The Army of None had a reputation for the fastidiousness with which they would route out greenskins and their taint while they fought to establish a new territory for mankind.
Captured by the Zakka Clan during a raid on the village of Tansnook, Arwen bargained hard for the life of her bastard son when the Army of None vanquished the Orc clan and rescued her. Fortunately, her beauty and carnal skill swayed the mind of the Army's Captain Emet Romald.
Tansnook had once been a prosperous frontier town but the war with the green-skins has taken its toll and Thugg’s life there was hard. Populated by mostly humans with a smattering of dwarves Thugg was the sole orc-taint which had been tolerated. As part of the bargain for his life Thugg was forbidden from attending the schools and temples of Tansnook, he grew up in the warrior’s guild as a kicking boy for men in need of training. As a consequence of these repeated beatings Thugg learned a thing or two about martial combat.
Years later Tansnook once again found itself victim to a green-skin raid. With the majority of their forces far away the Army of None hired a mercenary group known as the Furious Fists to bolster their numbers. The town was successfully defended, and the Fists asked Thugg to join their number.
Keen to leave Tansnook he accepted.
Furious Fists
For decades Thugg travelled the world with the Furious Fists as they participated in many battles, fighting for whoever was in need of turning their gold into the blood of their enemies.
At first, he fought for coin, to be used in the taverns and pleasure houses nearby, then he fought for his friends and companions within the Fists who kept falling all around him, but eventually Thugg fought because he enjoyed it, he was good at it and he knew nothing else.
Thugg was addicted to the simplicity of the battlefield, it was kill or be killed and he killed by the score. Orcs, Dwarves, Humans and Elves fell to his blade. Demons, Witches and all kinds of undead fiends met their end at his feet. He fought them all with a ferocity matched only in legend.
Throughout these many battle Thugg came to see and notice other veteran mercenaries on the fields of battle with him, sometimes on his side and sometimes set against him. In time they began to recognize each other and unspoken code was formed. It was one thing to win the war for their paymasters but that didn’t mean they had to slay each other - a foe in one battle could easily be your saviour in the next.
Eventually Thugg recruited many of these warrior peers into the Furious Fists, he was their leader now by fact of his survival. Together they grew in strength and notoriety.
In his own mind it became clear to Thugg that he was blessed by Bradlust himself, to have survived so may battles where his constantly changing roster of allies had fallen only proved it further. He grew bold, perhaps reckless, as did the Furious Fists with him.
Hubris
The Furious Fists had been recruited once again by the Army of None to root out yet another green-skin scourge deep within the mountains.
Nor for the first time, Thugg had underestimated their foe. The green-skin clan had laid a trap for them and they had taken the bait. Trapped in a sheer sided valley after four days of retreat what was left of the Furious Fists found themselves outnumbered and outmaneuvered.
Sneering in contempt an Orc Shaman stood before them, fielding terrible magics against Thugg and his allies. The shaman’s champion, a huge Ogre tore into Thugg’s friends with a great-club as gutless goblinscum hurled rocks and arrows down on the from the mountain side.
The Fists fought well but they had no chance and eventually only Thugg remained.
He faced down the shaman shouting out that that if he was going down then they damn-well where too. Thugg deepened his battle-rage, feeling the fury of Bradlust rise within as he charged forward and cleaved the ogre’s head from its body before leaping upon the shaman and beating him to death with it.
Broken and bloodied Thugg fell to the floor, one arm withered, a belly full of arrows and his very being wracked by terrible magics. As his eyes closed, he saw reinforcements from the Army of None enter the valley and finished off the remaining green-skins as they fled once their leaders had fallen.
Becoming an Adventurer
In return for his service The Army of None transported the gravely wounded Thugg back to the fortified town of Strongholme and did what they could to restore his health. He did not know how long he had lain in the temple, tended to by their healers but eventually Thugg could stand and was cast-out. He was after all tainted by that which the army would destroy.
Weakened by these events, but ready to fight once more, Thugg set out towards a town by the name of Greenest hearing that there was a cause there which would lead him back onto the battlefield…
Chapter 2: Thugg the Undying
It was glorious, the relief that Thugg felt as the greatsword of that half-dragon bastard pushed deep into his chest. After seeing countless allies die by his side, in battles scattered thought the lands Thugg would finally be welcomed at Bradlust’s table, in the Warriors Hall. He had served his time and would now live out eternity with much mead, swapping tales of battle with his brothers in arms. Thugg embraced the darkness and died.
Little did Thugg know that Bradlust had other plans for him…
In the blackness who knew how much time did passed? The next thing Thugg heard was the sound of battle; He opened his eyes to an unfamiliar location, Thugg found himself buried beneath a pile of bodies. Clawing his way out of the pile, Thugg stood tall and surveyed the battlefield – There was no dragonbastard here, no cave and not even any green-skins here nor Army of None.
By the chill in the night air Thugg could feel that he was in the north and before him he saw a hoard of undead being faced down an army of men, elves and dwarves. Seeing the mortals were losing Thugg hefted a weapon from the fallen and joined the attack.
Countless abominations fell by his hand, skeletons, zombies and more… Buoyed by the might of this unknown warrior the mortal armies rallied and pushed their formation deep in to the hoard.
By the eldritch aura of its woe begotten magic Thugg spotted the necromancer whose thrall had dragged these poor bones from their slumber and in a flash, he knew why he was here.
Thugg forced his way through the minions as the necromancer rode high above its hoard on the back of a monstrous rotting oliphant.
Surveying the landscape Thugg picked his moment and leapt from a rocky precipice, assaulting the necromancer on the back of its behemoth creation.
“What good will this accomplish, stupid orc? It matters nought, your flesh will soon serve me!” shrieked the necromancer.
Thugg did not reply, taking his enemies boasts as time to gather his breath.
Summoning the might of Bradlust’s rage within him, Thugg unleashed his anger upon it. Blow after blow he struck down as the necromancer lashed out with its withering claws and wicked magic tearing chunks from Thugg’s body – but yet he fought on.
The aberration fell back under the fury of blows in disbelief that a mortal so wounded could still stand, let alone fight!
In mere moments the necromancers magic was spent, but Thugg’s steel was still sharp and soon the necromancer fell under the relentless barrage.
As he shattered the skull of his foe with one final blow Thugg fell to his knees, his rage satiated by the death of his foe. Suddenly his wounds took their toll and Thugg fell from the back of the collapsing oliphant as the undead army began to unravel.
Falling through the air the bliss of death once again crept over him…
In the blackness who knew how much time did passed? The next thing Thugg heard was the sound of battle…
Over the hundreds of years between HotDQ and The Event Thugg has been repeatedly reincarnated in the heat of countless battles when Bradlust needed a champion. Appearing in the times of the direst need he always had someone to kill, each time hoping that this one final victory would lead him to the Warriors Hall.
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Yen Stonefinger.
Stout Halfling Monk Level 11 (Hermit)
Str 10 Dex 20 Con 12 Int 10 Wis 16 Cha 10
I am Yen Stonefinger, born of the Littlefinger Clan, trained in the Way of the Stonehand, and I have a destiny. There was no alignment of planets or falling stars when I was born, no mystic pronounced words of wisdom and wonder to either my parents or myself, nor did The Master of Stonehand see it in me when I first entered the temple in the days of my youth. Yet I know, without doubt, down to the depths of my soul, that a great destiny awaits.
Until that moment comes, I walk this world, continue to practice the Way of the Stonehand, and take up the challenges before me. I have taken up with an odd group of mostly uninteresting fellows. I care little for these fellows, after all, they are ultimately irrelevant. But I walk my path with patience and humility, awaiting the day my destiny and I meet face-to-face.
Character Creation.
D&D 5e Legacy (or whatever we're calling it now) and pretty much by the book(s), the book(s) being the PHB and the DMG. Except- the players have free reign to play any cockamamie bawked and broken hat-stand of a character/race/background/sub-class/sherbet dib-dab/etc., from any source, and with any stupid feat or... well, whatever. Only it has to be in one of the official books- preferably the legacy stuff, but... go free children of the corn.
Some of the players saw this as a challenge- they dove deep into the bawkwaters.
Money and magic items as per the DMG (for 11th level PCs) only prices as per the Sensible Magic Items Price List, or whatever it's called. I'll find it if anyone asks.
XP as normal.
One IP dished out at the end of every (proper) fight- the PCs vote to see who gets it.
Err... I think that's about it.
Onwards and downwards.
