round 1 entry
Round 1: lightful vs. nemmerle
Constraints:
NPC Levels: 3, 7, 11, 15
NPC Race: Small Size, LA +0
Ingredients:
- Avenging Azer(s)
- Blibdoolpoolp's Icon
- Chains of Carceri
- Duel of Honor
- Elven Enchantress
- Flaming Falchion
Once most of Eastern Hawarsae was covered by deep forests. There the elves lived, and gave little thought to the movements of men in the plains and across the barren hills. The forges of the dwarves in the Greybar Mountains were yet young and the elves did not begrudge them the wood they needed to light their fires. But ever so slowly, as such things are wont to happen – the circumstances changed.
A trapper would fell some logs for his winter cottage, and some more to warm himself by, a dwarven thane would declare war on the orcish vermin infesting the treacherous badlands beyond the halls of the bearded ones and a great swath of trees would be cut down to stoke the fires turning out weapons, or some human noble would raise a pallisade to protect his folk against the terrors of the wild until finally, after centuries or millenia, the once great forest was reduced to a handful of isolated pockets.
Thriving communities grew and expanded, trading along the rivers flowing from the mountains or along the roads carved from one center to another. These roads were built by the humans and dwarves, although it was the wandering halflings who used them most. The elves had become wary and mistrusted the growth and industry of the humans and dwarves, occaisonally sniping at travellers, making journeys a hazardous matter. The little folk, the halflings, were the only ones who could tread upon the roads with impunity – in them the elves saw kindred spirits; ones which had sprung from nature and still venerated it, unlike others which had soiled it and enslaved it.
Among these halflings, to a family of no greater or lesser stature than any other, was born a son – Chuckburrow Goodbody. He slept, ate and played with the children of the troupe, growing strong and hale and in all ways leading an exemplary wandering life till the day he was ensnared by mischievous pixie magic. He entered the forest and was an unwitting and unwilling plaything of the faeries for two whole weeks before they tired of him and released him. Hungry and tired he found himself lost and friendless in a dark wood.
Things would have gone ill with Chuck had he not been taken in by a hermit. This elderly human lived apart from others of his kind. In his youth he had been something of an emmisary, a messenger, striving to keep the peace between the various races. He had walked through wood and dale, befriending humans, elves, dwarves and animals alike, but now found himself at time’s mercy and needing a successor. Chuckburrow Goodbody seemed to be an ideal choice.
For a year and a half Chuck stayed by the kindly old man’s side learning much from him and becoming wise to the ways of nature and people. Finally the time came, and his mentor passed peacefully in his sleep. Chuckburrow Goodbody buried him and said a few friendly words over his grave so that the birds and beasts might hear him and took it upon himself to be the peacekeeper and mediator the old man taught him to be.
Chuckburrow Goodbody, male halfling Dru2/Rng1: CR 3; ECL 3 Size: S Type Humanoid; HD 3d8+6; hp 23; Init +0 (+0 Dex, +0 Misc); Spd Walk 20'; AC 14 (+3 armor, +1 size), Quarterstaff +5 melee/D (1d6+3, 20/x2), Shortbow +2 ranged/D (d6, 20/x3); SQ: Nature Sense, Woodland Stride, Wild Empathy, save +2 vs fear, +2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump, Move Silently and Listen checks; AL: NG; SV: Fort +9, Ref +4, Will +7; Str 14, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 14
Skills and Feats: Climb +5, Concentration +3, Craft (woodworking) +3, Diplomacy +3, Listen +5, Knowledge (geography) +6, Knowledge (local history) +3, Knowledge (nature) +3, Move Silently +4, Spot +3, Survival +4, Speak Language +2, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Track
Languages: Common, Elven, Dwarven
Spells Prepared: Saving Throw 12 + spell level
(4/3) 0th – know direction, purify food and water,detect poison, guidance 1st –speak with animals, entangle, obscuring mist
Possessions: +1 Cloak of Resistance, +1 Leather armor, Quarterstaff, Short bow, quiver w./ 34 arrows, 3 daggers, winter blanket, waterskin, sack, flint and steel, bedroll, map case, potion of cure light wounds x3, potion of alter self.
Travelling through the Hawarsae Chuckburrow Goodbody crossed paths with various people, friend and foe alike, always trying to build bridges and cement good relations. Others were not so accomodating.
The Greybar Halls were spreading and a family of large and intelligent badgers had claimed a nearby hillside. These dwarves had grown great and vain, forgetting that at one time these animals had been their allies against the orcs (now almost eradicated). Demands for the territory were put forth and refused. They tried to force the beasts out, but the badgers were a stubborn lot. Finally, a battle was fought, by dwarven standards minor at best, but ultimately fatal for the animals.
Chuck arrived late at the scene of the carnage. He wept as he searched for survivors, rejoicing all the more when he was able to save one of the noble animals. The badger was slowly nursed back to health and gave his name as BrightClaw. Being bereft of his own people he took to wandering the world with the halfling – even carrying him on his back when there was a need for speed; making light of the burden and eating up the miles with his tireless gait.
Goodbody found the badger to be a dour, grim, but fiercely loyal companion. His fury carried the day on more than one occasion when Chuck’s pleadings could not budge the stony hearts of others. Oftentimes, those who would harm the apparently defenseless halfling thought better of it on seeing BrightClaw snarl.
So it came to be that almost two years passed since BrightClaw had been rescued and word came to the pair that on the morrow an elven witch would be burned in the courtyard of a nearby castle. Chuck’s first thought was that this could lead to war – but BrightClaw pointed out that the news would reach the nearest elves only as distant rumor for they were travelling through an area thick with human settlements. Relieved, Chuckburrow Goodbody decided to pay the castle a visit to see what could be done and if it was absolutely necessary that the elf be burned.
Sneaking into the castle’s courtyard was laughably easy for the pair and they queitly made their way to the dungeon where the prisoner was surely being kept. Calling softly in the elven toungue he had learned at his late mentor’s side and refined during his travels, Chuck counted on the keen ears of elves to hear him. He was rewarded by a few muffled grunts coming from below. BrightClaw’s strong paws made short work of the packed earth and soon he and Chuck stood before the bound and gagged form of an elven woman.
Chuckburrow Goodbody tended her wounds and removed her gag so that she could tell him her story: Laequinna Asphanmor was an elven enchantress intent on preserving the last havens of her people. However, she deplored the violent deeds done in that name and always sought a solution which would keep the bloodshed to a minimum. Thus she embarked on a career of subtle guile and innuendo, always disguised, working her magic on this merchant or that noble so that they would avoid harming the forest in any manner. Her luck ran out when she attempted to charm the local duke, an avid hunter. Her magic took hold, but the duke’s son saw through her duplicity. She was captured and sentenced, in the name of the human God of Justice, to burn at the stake. Just two hours ago the duke’s heir had visited her cell and intimated that, should she choose to take him as a lover, he could save her from her fate. She spurned his advances with loathing and prepared to embrace her end.
Chuckburrow was moved by her story and resolved to spare her. He and BrightClaw pitched camp in the courtyard nigh the great pile of pitch and wood prepared for tommorow’s event. When the sun came up the disheveled halfling and his growling badger politely asked for an audience with the duke. When the guards ushered them in front of the noble, the druid asked if the prisoner could be released to his care.
The old duke looked shocked, yet amused, and may have given in had his niggardly son not pressed upon him the weight of the judgement he had sworn to uphold. The only way that wench could be saved, the duke’s son slowly drawled, would be if someone could best him in a duel of honour fought till one of the combatants cried for mercy. A wide smile spread across the face of Chuckburrow Goodbody.
With the elven maid bound to a post atop the heaped kindling and the local villagers and townsfolk in attendence, Chuckburrow Goodbody climbed upon BrightClaw armed with but a simple staff and a length of hemp rope along with his resolve to topple the haughty princling encased in plate armor perched upon his snorting steed.
The high priest of the Justice God’s temple gave the signal for the melee to begin. BrightClaw kept his rider away from their adversary’s iron shod hooves and wickedly gleaming lance until Chuck managed to lasso the rider from his horse. He then proceeded to thrash him with his cudgel until the knave begged for mercy while BrightClaw bared his teeth at the hot-tempered horse. Laequinna was freed and accompanied Chuckburrow Goodbody from the courtyard.
Chuckburrow Goodbody, male halfling Dru4/Rng3: CR 7; Size: S Type Humanoid; HD 7d8+14; hp 50; Init +0 (+0 Dex, +0 Misc); Spd Walk 20'; AC 17 (+4 armor, +1 deflection, +1 Dex, +1 size), Quarterstaff +9 melee (full +9/+5)/D (1d6+3, 20/x2), Shortbow +6 ranged (full +6/+1)/D (d6, 20/x3); SQ: Nature Sense, Woodland Stride, Wild Empathy, Trackless Step, Resist Nature's Lure, save +2 vs fear, +2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump, Move Silently and Listen checks; AL: NG; SV: Fort +11, Ref +6, Will +9; Str 14, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 14
Skills and Feats: Climb +7, Concentration +6, Craft (woodworking) +4, Diplomacy +6, Listen +7, Knowledge (geography) +9, Knowledge (local history) +4, Knowledge (nature) +7, Move Silently +8, Ride +3, Spot +6, Survival +7, Speak Language +2, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Track, Two Weapon Fighting, Endurance, Mounted Combat, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (lasso)
Languages: Common, Elven, Dwarven
Spells Prepared: Saving Throw 12 + spell level
(5/4/3) 0th – know direction, purify food and water,rsistance, detect poison, guidance. 1st –speak with animals, entangle, obscuring mist, detect snares & pits. 2nd- cat's grace, warp wood, bull's strength
Possessions: +1 Cloak of Resistance, +1 Protection Ring, +2 Leather armor, Quarterstaff, Short bow, quiver w./ 28 arrows, lasso, 3 daggers, winter blanket, waterskin, sack, flint and steel, bedroll, map case, potion of cure light wounds x3, potion of alter self.
BrightClaw, male dire badger animal companion: CR-; Medium Animal; HD 3d8+12; hp 25, Init +3 (Dex); Spd 30 ft, burrow 10 ft..; AC 16 (+3 Dex, +3 natural); AtK 2 claws +4 melee (1d4+2), bite –1 melee (1d6+1); SQ scent, rage, link, evasion, share spells, ; AL TN; SV Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +4; Str 14, Dex 17, Con 19, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 10.
Skills Listen +6, Move Silently +8, Spot +6.
Languages: Common
The young elf-woman was an altogether merrier and friendlier companion than BrightClaw, and Chuck greatly enjoyed her company – especially after the great badger’s jealousy waned. Eventually the enchantress won over the noble beast as well and the three of them travelled far and wide, doing good deeds and helping the deserving; always striving to make peace as best as possible. Theirs was a humble life of giving and basking in the light of good deeds done.
Not so the dwarves – for their halls had become great and their proudest son was Bakar Durmeghor. This worthy craftsman had mastered the greatest secrets of the forges easily and had gone on to achieve smithing feats which were the stuff of legends below the mountains. The past four years he had spent in seclusion creating a single perfect blade, wickedly curved – The Flaming Falchion for the lord of the azer.
Such was the beauty of this weapon that the dwarven thanes decided to showcase the work in a great ceremony before the gates to their hall. Invitations were sent out far and wide to great persons – human and dwarf both. Such was the pride of the dwarves that they laid aside their contempt for the halflings and mistrust of the elves bidding them to come and gaze in wonder upon the greatest creation a child of Hawarsae had ever achieved.
Word of this event came to Chuckburrow Goodbody and his companions. They too decided too attend, if only too keep tempers low and intervene should violence break out. Once the day came, the halfling and elf migled with the assorted dignitaries, while BrightClaw remained aloof and distant on a grassy outcropping a mile away. He could not yet trust himself to keep his temper among dwarves and Chuck had asked him to stay behind.
So it came to be that BrightClaw had the best view of the very mountain parting to form a fiery gate from whence issued a host of azer led by their lord. Resplendent in bronze armour he strode towards the pedestal erected for The Flaming Flachion. Before he could step towards it and take it Bakar Durmeghor blocked his path.
“Stand back smith,” the azer spoke.
“You will not take this thing,” answered the dwarf. “It is mine to keep though you commisioned it, for all the lore of my people has gone into crafting it.”
“Stand back I say !” bellowed the lord with a great gout of fire.
The smith shielded his eyes from the blast, but would not relent: “We will keep this treasure and house it in our halls so that all our children and their children to come may look in wonder upon it.”
The lord of the azer swung a heavy hand, toppling the smith, and strode to the weapon. He took it by the pommel and brandished it at the sky, upon which a great shout of joy broke from his company.”
Rising to one knee, his beard still smoldering from the azer’s fiery touch Bakar spoke in a strong voice: “The people of Hawarsae will not be denied ! You will not keep my life’s work, the greatest treasure of the land !”
All was quite as the great azer lord looked upon the proud dwarf. The outsiders eyed gleamed as molten magma making this decree:” You have grown forgetful bearded one. You pay no mind to us who taught you your craft. I had thought to pardon your insolence looking upon the true artistry of this weapon, but now I deem that you and all your people need a lesson.” With those words he hefted the falchion and a great roiling flame issued therefrom. His followers did likewise, spreading out and burning all they could.
Caught among the conflagration only Chuckburrow Goodbody kept his head and gathered all those he could, driving them to the safety of the dwarven halls where the stone would not catch fire. There they all stood, shocked and dismayed, as the world burned.
Goodbody tried to rally them, to press them for a solution, a way to douse the raging flames, but for the longest time no one spoke. There was not enough water in all of the land to beat back the fires ! It seemed that all was lost until an elderly dwarven matron mentioned the subterranean sea far beneath the deepest dwellings of the dwarves and the fish-men which abide by it’s shores.
Chuckburrow Goodbody at once took it upon himself to journey there with Laequinna so that they might enlist the aid of these people. Bakar, the smith, vowed to travel with them and undo what had been caused by his patron. The three desceded to the deepest shafts of the dwarves and from there began their hurried journey to the legendary shores of the subterranean sea.
The trio endured many harrowing trials before they reached this great underground lake. There they greeted the fish-men kindly and were met with blank, wide-eyed stares in return. They tried to impress the urgency of their peril upon the priest-king of the kuo-tua, as they were called, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. Finally, desperate, Chuckburrow agreed that Laequinna should charm the leader. She wove her magic, gaining his trust and, accessing his innermost thoughts, found that the key to the inland sea lay in Bilbdoolpoolp’s Icon secreted away in his bedchamber.They retrieved the sacred object and teleported to the surface with the king-priest.
The fish-man shuffled forward to the threshold of the dwarven gates and looked with lidless eyes upon a landscaped scoured by still raging fires. Setting his webbed feet and raising the icon above his head, he cried in an alien toungue a prayer to his lobster-goddess. She must have answered for the heavens opened and a great deluge fell from a cloudless sky.
Running out into the pounding rain Chuckburrow Goodbody rejoiced for the world he had helped save. Then he fell to his knees in the ashen mud and mourned BrightClaw, the friend he had lost.
Chuckburrow Goodbody, male halfling Dru4/Rng3/Horizon Walker 4: CR 11; Size: S Type Humanoid; HD 11d8+22; hp 80; Init +0 (+0 Dex, +0 Misc); Spd Walk 20'; AC 18 (+4 armor, +2 deflection, +1 Dex, +1 size), Quarterstaff +14 melee (full +14/+10)/D (1d6+4, 20/x2), Shortbow +10 ranged (full +10/+5)/D (d6, 20/x3); SQ: Nature Sense, Woodland Stride, Wild Empathy, Trackless Step, Resist Nature's Lure, Terrain Mastery (forest, hills, plains, underground) save +2 vs fear, +2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump, Move Silently and Listen checks; AL: NG; SV: Fort +15, Ref +7, Will +11; Str 14, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 14
Skills and Feats: Climb +7, Concentration +6, Craft (woodworking) +4, Diplomacy +12, Listen +11, Knowledge (geography) +10, Knowledge (local history) +4, Knowledge (nature) +7, Move Silently +11, Ride +2, Spot +10, Survival +11, Speak Language +2, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Track, Two Weapon Fighting, Endurance, Mounted Combat, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (lasso), Skill Focus (diplomacy)
Languages: Common, Elven, Dwarven
Spells Prepared: Saving Throw 13 + spell level
(5/4/3) 0th – know direction, purify food and water,rsistance, detect poison, guidance. 1st –speak with animals, entangle, obscuring mist, detect snares & pits. 2nd- cat's grace, warp wood, bull's strength
Possessions: +1 Cloak of Resistance, +2 Protection Ring, +2 Leather armor, +1/+1 Defending Quarterstaff, Short bow, quiver w./ 43 arrows, lasso, 3 daggers, winter blanket, waterskin, sack, flint and steel, bedroll, map case, potion of cure light wounds x3, potion of alter self.
The dwarven thanes held a council which, allowing for Bakar’s great skill, still blamed him for the incident. That he helped repair the damage he had caused, was in his favor, but not enough to spare him their judgement. He was exiled – forever forbidden from returning to the Grey Halls under pain of death.
So it was that he left the mountains and fell in with Chuckburrow and Laequinna as they descended with heavy hearts towards the burnt out valleys and forests. Chuckburrow Goodbody used this tragedy to help him forget his grief. He travelled far and wide with his companions, always ready to help those hurt by The Burning (as it came to be known) and to stand fast before ruffians who would profit from the misfortunes of others. There was always work to be done and these three worked hard to heal their scarred world.
As noble as their intentions were, they were often stymied by the local ruler; the duke’s son emberassed by Chuck. Since assuming the position on his father’s death, the mean-spirited rascal was doing everything in his power to waylay and harm the halfling and his companions. An outright attack was out of the question: Too many people held Chuckburrow Goodbody in high regard. The new duke needed to find another way to rid himself of the meddling do-gooder.
For months he brooded on a suitable revenge, until the day his court wizard approached him with a plan. This mage had been researching The Burning and the extra-planar entities associated with it. He had even journeyed to the realm of the azer. He proposed that the duke put forth the story of Chuckburrow Goodbodys heroics so that the azer might hear of it and wreak their vengeance on him. The duke was overjoyed and gladly paid great sums of gold to the lands greatest, yet most ethically questionable bards so that they might sing the praises of Chuckburrow – and even claim in his name that he had reversed the will of the Lord of the Azer.
The halfling and his companions heard these songs as they wandered from village to town, but paid them no great attention, modestly accepting the accolades. They thought nothing of it until their camp was attacked on consecutive nights by avenging azer, spreading fire and destruction.
More attacks occurred, and on more then one occasion Bakar and Laequinna recued their friend from death’s door. Yet the vengeful strikes were not only aimed at Cuckburrow, the azer spread fire and destruction wherever they showed up, often hurting or killing innocents and bystanders. The weeks passed until one day when the companions were pelted by rotten vegetables before the town gates. They were unwelcome, they carried with then the fire-lords curse and would surely bring sorroe upon the place.
Chuckburrow Goodbody was devestated. He resolved at once to leave the region so that no more harm might come to any of it’s plant’s animals or people and asked Laequinna if she could take him to one of those “strange outer realms” she on occaision spoke of. So it came to be that the halfling peacemaker, exiled dwarven smith and elven mage left the lands of Hawarsae behind and embarked upon a new stage in their travels.
The outer and inner planes were a new experience for the horizon walker; countless endless realms for him to traverse, but at the same time he was struck by the similiarities. All of these places shared many of the same troubles as his home albeit on a greater scale. The wars of fiends and the schemes of planar trade consortiums needed his peacekeeping skills as much as his home. Once again, faced with the loss of the home he had given his life to improve for all, Chuckburrow Goodbody bent to the task of bringing joy and happiness to allthose who shared the world with him – even if they appeared as boxes on legs or towering sentient squirrels.
He and his fellow travellers faced many perils and enjoyed some measure of success, but the ire of the azer was as hot as their inner flame and followed the halfling across a dozen different planes. Finally, despairing of making an end of the meddlesome halfling, the Lord of the Azer contracted a group of yugoloth merceneries that they might bind him to the prison plane of Carceri.
These fiends had done such dark deeds before and their experience showed. They lured the halfling away from his companions to Carceri and then performed the binding ritual. Gathered about their unwitting victim they spoke foul and vengeful words that the unseen chains of Carceri might hold him fast till he gained more power than the one he had wronged – the Lord of the Azer.
Chuckburrow Goodbody found himself unable to leave the twisted prison realm. He travelled back and forth among it’s tainted orbs to no avail – seeking advice from travelers and natives alike till he finally discovered the key to his salvation. Recognizing this truth, Chuck resigned himself to a life among the bitter inhabitants of Carceri, always struggling to bring hope to the hopeless. Meanwhile, his friends, Laequinna and Bakar both, continue to search for him maong the endless expanses of the multiverse.
Chuckburrow Goodbody, male halfling Dru4/Rng3/Horizon Walker 8: CR 15; Size: S Type Humanoid; HD 15d8+30; hp 100; Init +0 (+0 Dex, +0 Misc); Spd Walk 20'; AC 20 (+6 armor, +2 deflection, +1 Dex, +1 size), Quarterstaff +19 melee (full +19/+14/+9) /D (1d6+4, 20/x2), Shortbow +14 ranged (full +14/+9/+4)/D (d6+2, 20/x3); SQ: Nature Sense, Woodland Stride, Wild Empathy, Trackless Step, Resist Nature's Lure, Terrain Mastery (forest, hills, plains, underground, burnt scrub), Planar Terrain Mastery (astral, fire, shifting) save +2 vs fear, +2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump, Move Silently and Listen checks; AL: NG; SV: Fort +19, Ref +12, Will +14; Str 14, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 14
Skills and Feats: Climb +10, Concentration +6, Craft (woodworking) +4, Diplomacy +15, Listen +14, Knowledge (geography) +13, Knowledge (local history) +4, Knowledge (nature) +7, Move Silently +14, Ride +2, Spot +13, Survival +17, Speak Language +2, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Track, Two Weapon Fighting, Endurance, Mounted Combat, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (lasso), Skill Focus (diplomacy), Diehard, Lightning Reflexes
Languages: Common, Elven, Dwarven
Spells Prepared: Saving Throw 13 + spell level
(5/4/3) 0th – know direction, purify food and water,rsistance, detect poison, guidance. 1st –speak with animals, entangle, obscuring mist, detect snares & pits. 2nd- cat's grace, warp wood, bull's strength
Possessions: +3 Cloak of Resistance, +2 Protection Ring, +4 Leather armor, +2/+2 Defending Quarterstaff, Short bow, quiver w./50 +2 arrows, lasso, 3 daggers, winter blanket, waterskin, sack, flint and steel, bedroll, map case, potion of cure light wounds x3, potion of alter self.
They were working really well when I started the sign-up a week ago... grrrr... 
