"Fade to black" huge update 02/03/03

[Stone Angel]

I call this fade to black because the PC's have yet to come up with a company name. This is set in a homebrew campaign with the greyhawk deities. There homeland is the Kingdom of Artaurus. The setting is in the capitol city, Paridon. I let the players start at 3rd level if they made really good backgrounds.

So we have:
Fulrik Assante: Hu Ftr2/Rng1
Mason Demitri: 1/2 orc Clr 3(St. Cuthbert)
Stoli van Drago: Dw. Sor 3
Charles McDougal: Hu Wiz 3
Caber Blackhand: Elven Mo2/Rog1
Lucas Stormcrowe: 1/2 elfBard 3

The pc's are all of noble birth or someway associated with the royal government. All the characters have a contact and ally(usually there mentor) and a dwelling place. Fulrik has a small villa overlooking the royal gardens. Mason has a tower attatched to the temple of St. Cuthbert. Stoli has a second floor room on the outer gate of the castle wall. Charles has a basement apartment in the noble district. Caber has a room above his martial arts school. Lucas owns a pub known as "The Crowes Nest". Sometime in the near future they will enter Ravenloft. Where they will eventually either save Strahd and release him or be destroyed by him.

 

[Stone Angel]

Now for the Pc's

Fulrik Assante is born of a noble house. He is the fourth son of Earl Borus Assante. Though his older brothers recieve most of the power, prestige, and inheritance, Fulrik cares little for the life indulgence. When Fulrik was an early teen the Atlantis wars(An invasion of a viking like society known as Atlantis) started. At seventeen Fulrik was drafted into the alliances navy(Artaurus and its coastal neighbors). After his consignment was over, he was recruited into King Uthrim's(King of Artaurus) rangers.

Fulrik uses a kingsword. A magical double sword that can incorporate any longsword that it meets, but never more than two at any given time. This is the symbol of the Kings personal guard and his rangers.

 

[Stone Angel]

Mason Demitri's father was an ugly human and his mother was pretty for an orc. Needless to say he is not a lot to look at. His mothers people cast him out for being a half breed, so his mother took him to his father. His father was then hanged for progenating(?) something un-natural. So he was raised by his Grandparents after they moved out of town. His grandfather was a pious man in church of an un-named passive god. Mason however adopted the "take action" brotherhood of the cudgel. Mason tends to be silent and then erupt when things don't go as they should. His faith in St. Cuthbert is unshakable. (Sometimes I even think the player has a little faith in the man with the mace which will be explained later). He entered into royal service at the age of 19 when he was asked to investigate a ritualistic serial killer, with another character Lucas Stormcrowe.

Stoli van Drago is 65 years old and is a dwarf who was cast out for being a "witch" and kicked out of the empire of Golebus(A nation next to Artaurus) for being a dwarf. When he first came to Artaurus he was hired to be a court magician. He didn't exactly like doing card tricks and making objects float but the drinks were free and you had a good selection of drunk servant girls after parties. The sage Atax speculated on where his "gifts" came from. One day an assassin tried to kill a nobleman at party, and Stoli smote him with blasts of eldritch energy. Atax then took him in taught him to harness his powers. Atax speculates that Stoli's bloodline stems from one known as "The Titan of Stone".

Charles McDougal is a middle aged character who sounds like a cross between the croc hunter and a british guard. And looks like someone straight out of a Kipling novel. He was part of the adventuring group known as The Dragoon Regime. He was recruited to go on the same adv. as the other PC's but the rest of his party was annihilated in the Temple of the Overseers.

Caber Blackhand is a member of a Secret Orginization known as The Hands of Her Majesty. His front is a self defense school which he teaches basic hand to hand combat to merchants, militia, and noblemen/women. The queen has an intrest in the PC's quest so she saw that Caber accompianied them.

Lucas Stormcrowe has a knack for getting into trouble. He often involves himself in investigations when he shouldn't. His childhood best friend is a senior detective in the watch, and recently his friend secured him a position as a bounty hounter in order to "legally" keep him out of prosecution. He saw this adventure as a way to spread his good name.

 

[Stone Angel]

Warriors of the Fade

The group is summoned by the royal spy master, where they introduce themselves and tell each other the merits they have earned(my players did a bangup job on this really good, espicially since this is our first RP heavy campaign). After everyone had shared a little something Romero the spaymaster told them a tale of eight children and there quest to find them. This group hereby dubbed the Warriors of the Fade, would take four and another adventuring group known as the Descendants of Dawn(wich is led by St. Kain a Pal. of Pelor who will be a pivitol character).

Romero says through scrying and such they have determined that the first child(earth) was located in a relvery house dedicated to a Buddha like deity that hosted a weekly festival. Basically a dressed up whore house with a little music, dancing and food before. He gives them there "aquired" invatations and tells them to dress to impress.

The Pc's decide that they will go in seperately the first to enter:
Fulrik goes in as himself a noble of the house of Assante
Mason Demetri enters under the assumed guise as a Steward from the neighboring kingdom of Alos.
Stoli enters as the court magician
Finally Lucas arrives as a Viscount from Veralle(a large city to the north of the Capitol of Artaurus) with his servant(Caber the monk).
Once they enter they are asked to check there Cloaks and staffs caps and any large weapns they were carrying.

They are seated seperately. The PC's also know that not everyone does not get invited to the after party. So the PC's try to muck it up with the best of them. They all did very well with the exception of Stoli who is being played by a 17 year old moron.
Anyway the Bard(Lucas) ends up meeting the a Dutchess, and the heads of the craft guilds. Somehow Lucas manages to get onstage and play. First he roles a 6, but he recovers and tells the crowd it needs to be tuned. When finishes he rolls another perfrom check this time: nat. 20. So we decided he played Devil went down to Georgia just for grins.
Fulrik is recognized by the Captain of the Watch(the captain however is incredibly drunk). Fulrik and Caber both notice that there are three women walking around casing the place. The women are pointing out people that are being asked to leave. Mason is seated next to the owner of the building. He explains that he leases this place to the temple for a reasonable fee and he gets some special treatment at the end. Fulrik then meets the 3 ladies the lead one introduces herself as Kassandra. She claims it is her job to ask the bigger men to leave, so they don't drunk and cause a scene. She then asks Fulrik how much he has had to drink ect.. Mason notices him getting the inquisition and asks the owner what the deal is. He explains to Mason that she asked all the "unwelcome" guests to leave. Only those of prestige and station may stay for the after party. Mason then starts to mutter something about recognizing him. Mason stands up and shouts "thats him". "Thats the one who saved me from the thugs who would have stolen my carriage along with my families heirlooms" "He was gone in the crowd however before I could reward him with my thanks and gratitude, surely madame you were not asking him to leave, he is a hero!" The owner then speaks(his name is Balkan by the way) "Yes Kassandra show this man to my table, please"
This whole time Stoli has been getting looks from a servant girl a magistrates wife. The wife notices this and gets upset stating that he must leave. Kassandra arives and asks what the problem is and the Magistrates wife explains. Kassandra then asks if these accusations are true and Stoli proclaims"I am just a squirrel trying to get a nut" Now everyone(out of Character) starts laughing including myself. I ask him what he really wants to say and he is adamant that thats what he wanted to say. I tried to convince him otherwise but still he would not budge. So Kassandra states that "Filth will not be tolerated" and he is "escorted" to the door.

 

[Stone Angel]

After Stoli makes his grand exit he decides that he will find a window and watch. As the festivities wind down the party notices that only men are left. Soon the lights dim and girls come out and escort the men to the back one by one.

"Would you like to accompany me to a private room" a raven haired beauty asked Lucas. "It would be my pleasure" the bard replied. She itroduced herself as Miranda. The two waited in line each of the couples before them waiting there turn. Some of the men who had too much wine and ale could not wait to get to the back and were groping at their escorts. Lucas and Miranda made small talk. Lucas found her quite pleasant and intelligent, she knew many things about the city and it's citizens. Miranda explained that there were many rooms but everyone must recieve a blessing before entering a private room. It didn't take long and it was time for Lucas and his "date" to go back.
The sturdy wooden door opened up to a small antechamber that had doors on each of the four walls. As Lucas entered the chamber he noticed that on the flanking walls were statues of a fat man with four arms drinking wine, eating, and playing a lyre the man looked happy. "This must be the festival god" Lucas thought to himself. After Lucas received the blessing, he was anxious to be alone with the fascinating woman known as Miranda. "Are you not a gentleman" Miranda said that ended in a sarcastic giggle. "Will you not open the door for a lady" she said with a sly smile. "Patience, patience" Lucas replied calmly with a little wink. As Lucas grabbed the door handle he felt a weird sensation. The room started to spin, almost as if he was going to faint. He turned to look at Miranda noticing that the rooms lighting had changed to an almost sinister red, where the happy fat deities were now stood forms of half demon boars. Now he was sure he was going to pass out as he fell into darkness.

Caber and Fulrik suffered the same fate.
Mason however declined his invitation to the back. He was content to get extremely drunk with the owner. He decides it is time to go back to the inn and harass Stoli. The owner begs that they share one lass pint together. Mason accepts. When it is brought out he takes a huge gulp and that is the last thing he remembers.

All of the PC's come to around the same time. Looking around they can see each other a long with a few of the noblemen from the party. They are all in individual small cages. All of there equipment is gone. Caber and Fulrik try furiously to break the locks on there cage. Caber breaks one of the buckles on his boot straps. Using that he picks his lock. He runs over and unlocks the cage occupied by Mason. Lucas say"I can here voices" in a harsh whisper. Caber returns to his cage acting like nothing has occured. The room is then bathed in a dim light. The room is has two levels the second level being a small overhang that looks over the rest room. They are on a sandy floor the room almost looks like an indoor arena. "Our champion" shouts a voice from the upper level. "It's Kassandra" shouts Fulrik, "and the owner" adds Mason. "Release us you devils and we shall spare your lives". "It is your lives I would be worried about" the female Kassandra says with an icy tone. An iron gate swings open. A large bugbear emrges. He is carrying a large barbed sword, coated with dried blood.

more later........

 

[Stone Angel]

A small goblin with a ring of keys and a short spear scurries out behind the intmidating bugbear. The goblin goes to the cage of the nobleman on the left of Caber, opens the lock then prods him towards the bugbear. With a wicked grin and blood thirsty eyes the bugbear screams "Come to me". The nobleman is clearly terrified with fright only moving forward when the goblin prods him. The bugbear tires of this and charges impaling the nobleman in a single blow. The bugbear jerks the wicked sword out bringing bits of bone as well as a spew of blood with it. "Next" he says to the goblin. The goblin goes to Cabers cell as the key gets closer to the lock, Caber gives the gate a strong straight kick smacking the goblin dead in the face rendering it unconscious. The bugbear remains unimpressed, this has probably happened before. Caber grabs the key ring and tosses them in the direction of Mason's cage. "Stop them" Kassandra commands the bugbear. The bugbear charges towards Mason. Caber cuts the bugbear off half way, landing a square punch to the bugbears thick neck. The bugbear stares unable to move for a moment then shrugs it off with a snarl and a vicious back swing. Caber suprised that the bugbear was unaffected by his strike designed to render a man immobile, barely avoided the swords edge, then again this was no man. Mason quickly unlocked Lucas then gave him the key ring, he was going to see about helping the noble man. The bugbear led with a horizontal slice that grazed Cabers back. Caber retalliated with a pain filled uppercut but missed, however the bugbear did not see the inside roundhouse that followed it. Mason knelt over the nobleman and said a healing prayer, however it was evident that this one had slipped to far into the realm of spirits to be brought back. Lucas unlocked Fulriks cage. Fulrik ran towards the downed goblin's spear. Stoli through sheer force of will summoned two bolts of energy that slammed into the bugbear. The bugbear reeling from the kick and the unknown force that struck his backside shot out a thrust, it glanced off Cabers shoulder drawing blood. Caber unblinking dug deep with two hooks to the bugbears midsection. Another two bolts of force slammed into the bugbear. Caber lept into the air spinning, then landing a foot to the chin. Lucas started on the remaining noblemans cages. Mason started to go to the second level but noticed that the ledge was empty. The bugbear recovering from the blow to his face slashed at Caber's midsection. His terrible sword sunk in and tore off pieces of flesh, drawing dark blood, and as Caber collapsed the bugbear thought "Finally this guy hit like a stone pillar". The bugbear screamed his death cry as turned to see Fulrik, the man who impaled him with a spear. The bugbear felt his breath grow wet with blood as he floated to meet his god's embrace. Mason hurried over to Caber pale form asking St. Cuthbert to heal this honorable warrior. Masons hands begin to glow with a healing light as Cabers wound closed up instantly though still bearing traces that more healing would be needed before he was at full health.

More later......

 

[Stone Angel]

"Quick search the bodies and free the rest of the noblemen" Fulrik barked. "Should we go after Kassandra and the others, how are you Caber that was a vicious blow" asked Fulrik. "What about the noblemen we should probalby get them out. Look at them they are terrified" stated the bard. "Yes, help us please we can reward you" a nobleman stammered. "I agree besides hopefully our equipment is that way, where we left it" Mason said. "I doubt we could find them anyway, you have not asked me how I ended up here" Stoli said. "Thats right how did you get down here" asked Caber. "I was so caught up in the battle, I... "It's sort of wierd. I had climbed onto the roof of a neighbor building, to see through a window. I saw one of the city watch going down the alley in between the two buildings. Soon I heard a muffled cry, then some terrible popping and tearing sound. I dare to think of what it was. I can remember everything right up untill I turn the corner....Then nothing. It must have been a spell, my head doesn't hurt or anything." Stoli's rant was ended by another noble's supplication. "Please I just want to go home" Yes let us leave this place, we can find Kassandra another day" As they collected their equipment and left the complex they were met by a large mass of the city watch. Apparently a noble had escaped and led them here. After answering the watches questions there were free to go. The Nobles agreed to come by the Crowe's Nest tommorrow evening where they would discuss payment and reward.

I shall return......

 

[Stone Angel]

Note to readers: Charles Mcdougal has not joined us yet. Also the original player of Stoli has been replaced. I asked him if he wanted to play some other character but he was fine. So if you see a change in his behavior that is why. Enjoy my friends

 

[Stone Angel]

The noble arrived promptly when the said they would. The nobles presented the hero's with a lump some of 200 gold crowns, and the promise of a favor if they ever needed one. Among the nobles was the physician and phillosopher Hector Le Vay, two brother and partners that owned a loan office. Sir Raoul and Guul Shevitza. A top ranking official of the merchant guild, Gaelyn Allen. And the district magistrates right hand, Pierre Vas'Frank. As they thanked the hero's a message boy burst in asking for the owner of the establishment. "Tis I" said Lucas.
He perused over the document and gave the messenger a couple crowns for his trouble. "Gentlemen if you would excuse us" Lucas said to the Nobles. After they had found there way out, Lucas gave them a run down of the letters contents "Romero has summoned us, at first light we are to meet in the prominade, though I know why not. It seems that we are destined to work together." "Mayhaps that is not a bad thing" said Caber. "In the morning then" said Stoli as he exited the pub. "Yes we should all get some sleep" Fulrik replied before leaving.

As the sky grew pale with the suns first light the adventurers walked towards the meeting place. Greeting them was Romero he was surrounded by robed men. These robes gave niether rank nor station away. "Does anyone recognize those men" asked Fulrik. "I was thinking the same thing" Masom replied. "Hurry" said Fulrik as he quickened pace. "Wait, relax Romero appears in no immediate danger, besides best to disguise that we think something is amiss" Lucas stated.
As they neared Romero hailed them. "Ah beautiful day is it not, come we have much to discuss"

I will return....

 

[LostSoul]

Sounds like a pretty cool adventure. I like it!