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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rybaer" data-source="post: 84826" data-attributes="member: 118">A brief summary of Aftermath – the setting, where the characters have gone and where things stand now…The Aftermath game is set on a home-brew world.  The land or continent upon which they live is known as Myrial.  The pantheon is largely based upon the standard provided in the PHB, though the players are starting to learn that it’s a bit bigger than that.  The world is fairly magic-heavy, and the abundance of magic items and treasure can largely be attributed to the war and the toll it took on the population of Myrial.The war, known by many names but most commonly as the War of the Black Hand, is the most influential event in the recent history of Myrial.  Beginning a bit over two decades prior to the beginning of the game, the five wizards known collectively as the Black Hand united vast armies of evil humanoids (goblins, orcs, ogres, trolls, giants, and others) in the Northlands and invaded the more civilized lands in the central and southern parts of the continent.  No one knows why the war started or what its objectives really were.  For the evil races involved in the war, killing and plunder were probably sufficient reasons to invade.  For the wizards of the Black Hand, though, such simple motives were unlikely.  Some have surmised that it might have been merely a revenge move for their banishment to the Northlands due to questionable practices while they were students at the mage academy at Sancross together.  Those who knew them, though, fear that their motives were probably much more grand and devious.  The war lasted nearly five years until the combined armies of the southern city-states finally repelled them.  At about this time, the wizards of the Black Hand disappeared.  Rumors of one or more of their deaths have floated about but are unsubstantiated.  Some worry about where they might have gone and what they might be up to, but most have put them out of mind now…some twenty years after the war.The players hail from New Selmar, a town built near the ruins of Selmar in the center of the continent.  They were refugees and former slaves to a large band of orcs who had ruled over the region after the war.  As local tribes of the evil humanoids fought with and weakened one another, the slaves were able to revolt and reclaim some of their lands.  They still struggle against the wild lands and orc tribes, but are slowly returning to normalcy.  New Selmar has finally grown to the point where they can afford to send out parties to seek other cities and learn what happened during and after the war.  Our heroes represent the first of these groups. New Selmar borders between a vast grassland and a region of gentle rolling hills dotted with small forests.  Its winters are harsh but summers are pleasant and well suited to growing crops.  To the north and south are vast forests.  To the east, grassy hill lands.  To the west, flat grasslands that eventually lead to a small mountain range.Our heroes from New Selmar began as a group of five:  Amblin the human monk, Nigel the elvish ranger, Boaz the half-orc fighter, Rurik the dwarven cleric, and Zalman the human conjurer.  They were urged to seek other cities and establish trade contacts with them.  Additionally, information of the war and after effects as well as knowledge on any other topics were to be sought out.Their journeys took them first in search of the gnomish wizard Shadykin who had operated a school a little over a hundred miles from Selmar prior to the war.  Along the way, they met Kisty Goodbread who hailed from Water Break, a port city of some 20,000 people about six weeks journey to the east.  To repay their rescue of her from goblins, she agreed to lead them back to her hometown.They found Shadykin’s school mostly abandoned.  Eventually, they rescued Shadykin from a stasis bubble that was conjured by one Gils Dralon, a member of the Black Hand, in a mage duel during the early part of the war.  To Shadykin, the passage of the last twenty years had passed in the blink of an eye.  The group rescued a very small nearby village from a group of URGs (undead ranger gnolls) and brought them back to Shadykin’s school where they helped to rebuild the facility in return for his protection.  Boaz died during the battle with the URGs.From here, the group ventured another week east to a small elvish village.  Here they ventured into a small dwarven mine now inhabited by kobolds in search of a cure from an artifact that transforms bodies.  The cure and culprit turned out to be a half amethyst dragon, half elf named Thrindlemond who had a keen hobby in studying prophecy.  He told them that they were believed by (a secret organization) to be a part of a prophecy that also involved the Black Hand.  While he didn’t tell them everything, he did teleport them off to High Hill, just a couple days away from Water Break, where they could meet a man who would tell them more of this prophecy.The man, Brother Sal, told them of the Prophecy of the Half Moon and how it named two groups of five individuals and how their actions would unfold in an epic struggle.  Or something like that.  He read the prophecy to them and explained how it was so vague and difficult to interpret.  He explained that his organization was looking for those others mentioned in the prophecy, but that there were lots of groups that fit the profile and they were just one of many.  More or less, he encouraged them not to worry about it and they, more or less, agreed.From here, the group split with Kisty and traveled to Water Break.  Here, Zalman was duped by Kisty’s twin sister and head of the Thieves’ Guild into giving up Kisty’s location.  This brings us up to the last session’s notes above…The session notes include about 80% of the game as played thus far.  The cast, at this point, is approximately:  Amblin (monk 6-7), Nigel (ranger 6, arcane archer 1), Rurik (cleric 7) and Zalman (wiz 6). -Rybaer</blockquote>

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