Rel's Faded Glory III: Glory Reborn (FINAL UPDATE 6/22 - SHE'S DONE, BABY!!)

[BSF]

I tend to check if my favorite story hours have had a new post. If they have, then I usually stop in to check it out. Since I check EN World relatively frequently throughout many days, I tend to get a view in between each post.

 

[Rel]

So I've uncovered another tidbit of anecdotal evidence to add to my little probing at the views count. I just came from a sort of mini-game-day where I played in Belen Umeria's rendition of The Burning Plague and he is among my mystery lurkers. He was kind enough to say "Your story hour rocks!"

So everybody wave to Belen Umeria out there in lurker land. *waves at BU*

Just so's you know, I'm on tract to post my latest update sometime mid-day tomorrow. See you then!

 

[BSF]

Hi Belen_Umeria!

New update coming soon eh? Looking forward to it Rel. (Also procing that I tend to look at the thread anytime it gets a post.)

 

[Tony Vargas]

I think I may have posted here once, maybe, I mostly lurk. One thing I've noticed is that, when I try to go to the last post, the system invariably gives me one in the middle, so I probably end up incrementing the view counter twice.

Since you don't put the date of the most recent update in the title, I tend to check when the thread bubbles to the top and the 'last poster' says 'Rel'... yes, I've seen updates late as a result, but EN loads slowly for me, can't seem to take me to the last post, and it's not worth it to read "bump!"

 

[ledded]

Hi Belen_Umeria!

Hey lurkers, pop in and and say hi every now and then. These SH's are a vanity device that works like a cat; feed and pet them and they just purr and hum and jump up on you

Rel, again, you are doing a great job with this one. I don't follow that many D&D Story Hours but this is a nice one for it.

Hey, at least you got to meet your lurkers Rel. I still believe I've got about 6 readers who just view often enough to make me feel better because they are WWII addicts .

And a few not-even-lurkers, like BardStephenFox, who post in threads like Piratecat's to mention you in a nice light then say that they'd read but they "just haven't had time" to (just picking at you BSF )

Since you don't put the date of the most recent update in the title,

Ya know, I do this very thing myself for that reason, but I never knew if anyone ever actually noticed or not.

 

[Rel]

Thanks for all the feedback on the "views issue". I appreciate it. And nice to see you again, Tony Vargas! Glad you're still reading. I may have to adopt the habit of posting a "last updated" date in the Title. Anyway, here's the update I promised and I expect to be able to put up at least one more this week. Probably on Friday.


Across the city, somewhere in the labyrinthine depths of the Imperial War College, Lazarius was admitted to see his one-time mentor, Chancellor Felix. She wore a few more wrinkles than when he was a student but was still hale and carried an aura of authority with her.

“Greetings, Lazarius! It has been too long since you have visited our halls! Come and sit. I am interested to hear of your travels in the Northlands!”

Lazarius bowed at the waist but not so deeply as he might have once. He was no longer her student and had served his time in the Legions. And he was rapidly becoming her equal in power if not status. But she still had his respect and he needed her help.

“I’m afraid that the tales of my adventures in the north will have to wait for a time at least. There are grave matters at hand and I must speak to the entire Chancellery.”

She frowned for she was an excellent reader of people and she read the seriousness in Lazarius now. “I’m afraid that many of them have been deployed with the Legions for now. As you probably know, Flavius has sent several Legions north to capture the western Northlands and expand the Empire. Most of the Chancellors who did not go with them were sent to the eastern border to guard against Sythian treachery. What is so dire that it requires all of our attentions?”

“The Empire is about to come under attack by a large army of Orcs from a direction that is almost entirely undefended. I don’t know how soon they’ll be here but I expect it will be within two weeks.”

“What?!” She was incredulous. “An army of Orcs?!”

“A navy actually. Hundreds of ships are sailing down the Tractless Sea coast. I don’t know their destination but their generals are not stupid and I would guess that they’ll strike at the western coast.”

Felix paled. “But the western coast is almost entirely undefended…the Legions who aren’t in the Northlands have been shifted to bolster the border with Sythia. There are only a few guardsmen and levies to the west! How big did you say this army is?”

“Somewhere upwards of ten thousand. And they also have wizards of their own, mounted on small dragons, as well as the magic of their giant-snake leaders, the Banelar. And these Orcs do not match those of legend. They are well organized and well led. I don’t know how much damage they are capable of doing but they are able to strike where we are weakest.”

Felix shook her head. “I’ll call for the other Chancellors but I believe that only Scapula and Evilada are in the city. They will want further confirmation of this you understand.”

“Of course. You will want to Scry upon a man, well…once he was a man, named Titus Pontius Macer.”

“Very well,” she said and stood to leave her office.

“I’m afraid there is something else, Chancellor.”

“What?” Felix asked with trepidation.

“This army is comprised of the followers of Bane. And the Dead God is about to return. Even as we speak a horde of devils are smashing open his tomb in Hell and we do not know what will happen when he is freed.”

“Bane?! How can this be?! Are you certain?!”

“I am. But I also have a witness. Once you’ve sent for the other Chancellors you are free to question him. There is just the small matter of returning him to flesh…”


An hour later they stood in a laboratory near Chancellor Felix’s office. She held in her hand a well worn tome and scanned down the page. “It has been many years since I had occasion to cast this spell. I hope it works.”

Lazarius stood silently against the wall and waited for her to go over the rotes that she required to cast her magic. His eyes rested upon the statue of his friend, still frozen in that surprised stance where he had been caught by the Watcher. He said a silent prayer but wondered if Marius were not in a better situation now than before.

Lazarius was no fool and he knew plenty about dealings with infernal beings. The way Marius had acted after his night with the she-devil spoke volumes about the trouble he was in. Yet while he was in this stone prison he was held in a sort of stasis. His soul was not yet spoken for and he knew nothing of the world around him. Perhaps this way was better. Marius’ dalliance with the hellish beauty may well have been something he would regret. And they had both stood on the Bridge…

“I think I’ve got it,” Felix said, interrupting his thoughts. “Stand back.” She began her incantations and the subtle movements of her hands and body that would call forth the magic. Finally she rubbed a pinch of blood-soaked earth across the eyes of the statue.

It all took only a few seconds during which Lazarius held his breath. Felix had showed him the details of the spell and he knew that not everyone returned to flesh withstood the shock of the event. The stony hue evaporated from Marius’s skin and the Imperial Explorer stood in the flesh once again. If his soul was damned…

Marius’ knees trembled and he fell to them, his eyes darting around the room. Where was the passageway into the City? Where were his other companions? Who was this woman who stood before him? WHERE was that floating eye-thing?!

He caught himself before he fainted and, finally, breathed. He put that breath to good use. “Lazarius, where in the hell are we?!”

 

[Funeris]

I must admit that I am partially to blame for the bump in viewers. I started reading your thread last week...and caught up today. Its a good read. And just so you know, I'll probably check back in every post too (now that I'm caught up). Looking forward to the friday update.

Keep writing.

 

[Rel]

I must admit that I am partially to blame for the bump in viewers. I started reading your thread last week...and caught up today. Its a good read. And just so you know, I'll probably check back in every post too (now that I'm caught up). Looking forward to the friday update.

Keep writing.

Always thrilled to have new readers! Welcome, Funeris!

Did you go back and read both the earlier threads too? If so, I'm very impressed. I haven't done an exact count recently but I think the total page count for the story hour since the very beginning is somewhere around 450 in Word (granted this is pretty low density text). I think the current thread is in the 130 page neighborhood but I might be wrong about that.

Anyhow, thanks for joining and I hope you will feel free to post any additional comments or questions as our story progresses.

 

[Funeris]

No I haven't read the first two threads...haven't had that much time on hand recently...although things are starting to slow down. So, I might just get around to it.

Wow. you gave me permission to ask questions. Destan probably would've warned you otherwise. But ok...here we go

So, I take it this is a homebrewed world? And am I right in assuming this is Old One's world? I was just wondering how long you've worked on it...or did you take his idea and as you went along tweaked it a bit? Curious because I'm brewing my own world at the moment.

And I can only hope my world turns out....so dynamically cohesive

Thanks.

 

[Rel]

No I haven't read the first two threads...haven't had that much time on hand recently...although things are starting to slow down. So, I might just get around to it.

Wow. you gave me permission to ask questions. Destan probably would've warned you otherwise. But ok...here we go

So, I take it this is a homebrewed world? And am I right in assuming this is Old One's world? I was just wondering how long you've worked on it...or did you take his idea and as you went along tweaked it a bit? Curious because I'm brewing my own world at the moment.

And I can only hope my world turns out....so dynamically cohesive

Thanks.

The first two threads are not absolutely essential reading to understand the events in this thread, just as having played in the first campaign was not essential to enjoying playing in this one. But it does give some additional groundwork for these events and shows you the evolution of Speaks With Stone from the ground up. All the other PC's in the current thread were not part of the original campaign except for Lazarius who made a very brief appearance at the buzzer.

As for how I put together this campaign world, much of it was stolen directly from Old One. Mostly on a macro level though. I loved the basic concept of his world and I used the Faded Glory of the Empire as the backdrop in general and the small town of Glynden as the starting point in particular. I used most if not all of the named NPC's from that area though I made a few minor tweaks to them.

But I think that the direction that I went with the game is a lot less faithful to the intricately Roman feel of Old One's campaign world than I thought it would be when I started out. I found myself striking a balance between the "standard D&D world" and the setting that Old One presents that just oozes Roman Empire from every pore. I think this largely stems from expediency on my part because I love what Old One has achieved with his setting but, despite knowing a fair bit about Roman history, I don't have the innate familiarity with it that he does. He has all the jargon down cold while I found myself having to study up on the aspects that I wanted to highlight most.

None of which is to say that I'm not happy with the results. But I freely admit that a lot of what made these campaigns among the favorites I've ever run had to do with the players. It was really their interest in various aspects of the story and setting that drove the campaign for the most part. And they certainly brought it to life in ways that I could never have predicted.

So, to frame this all in a way that is relevant to the questions that you asked, my thoughts on putting together your homebrew world are like this:

1) First you need to get some kind of concept as to the overall feel of the world and make sure that the rules set and any house rules you want to come up with are in accordance with that feel. For example, I started to have to scramble a lot as this campaign got into the higher levels because the powerful magic that the PC's were starting to be capable of was in stark contrast to the generally austere feel that I had given the campaign world up to that point. If I ever develop another homebrew setting, I'm going to make sure that I account for this in whatever fashion will best suit the feel I'm going for. And make sure that the players are on board with that feel as well.

2) Start small. It is much easier in my opinion to start the PC's off at 1st level when their sphere of knowledge and influence is confined to a narrow slice of the campaign world. Glynden was my fishbowl to start with and even though I immediately sent the PC's forth from it, they were well informed and grounded to this one spot. Old One did an even better job of this because he had his early adventures set immediately around the small town.

3) A few details go a long way. I think it is best to describe the larger world around the PC's in broad brushstrokes and to add in the details where the PC's will actually come into contact with them. It does you relatively little good to figure out all the political machinations within the High Church of Pelor, half a continent away from the PC's. For example, early in the first campaign I knew that the PC's would come into contact with the Fodor tribes. So I wrote down on a single page the names of the different tribes, their totems, their leaders and most important shamen along with a VERY brief description of their general attitudes. From this short document I have woven large amounts of political struggle among the tribes and how they relate to the party. I referred to this sheet very regularly throughout the entirety of both campaigns and it is a prime example about how just a few key details can shape a large chunk of a campaign.

4) Let the PC's shape your story. Never underestimate the divedends that you'll reap by letting the players decide what direction the campaign should take. Once they pick a direction, feel free to write a distinct plot arc that will result from it, but build in some "crossroads" along the way and let the players choose their own direction. The focus of the story in both parts of my Faded Glory campaigns could have been completely different if the players had picked other directions.

Anyhow, there are lots of other good bits of advice floating around these boards about setting up homebrew settings or writing campaigns. Mine are neither the best nor the longest. But these are things that I learned while developing and running these campaigns and I am forever grateful to the Faded Glory campaigns, my players and to Old One for what they've taught me that I'll carry into my games in the future.

 

[Rel]

Oh, one other thing that's been bugging me is an error that I made when writing up the story. I'm not going to go back and correct it now because it is easily explained below:

When the party learned about the Emorian invasion of the Fodor Valley, the number of Legions invading was not two, but SIX. That puts the number of Imperial troops encamped near the mouth of the Fodor at more like 15,000 than 5,000. If this strikes you as overkill compared to the 500ish able bodied warriors among the whole of the Fodor Tribes then you're correct.

But that doesn't mean that Flavius is a fool by any stretch. First remembering that he has absolutely no clue that an army of Orcs is descending upon him then consider:

- He's been building up the military for some time and has the spare troops to mount this invasion and still keep a firm grip on the Sythian border.

- The fierce naval campaign that the Imperial Navy (returned to some of its historical might thanks to his own programs) has waged against the Corsairs of the Crescent Sea has made the trade lanes to the northern continent safer than they've been in a hundred years. Keeping his troops supplied will be easy and he'll be able to quickly ship home large quantities of slaves and raw materials (mostly furs but also high quality timber and medicinal herbs not found in Emor). Thus the invasion will pay for itself fairly quickly.

- His enemy in this invasion is comprised of troops who are highly skilled at living off the land, know it like the back of their hand and are used to using guerilla tactics to good effect. Trying to hold the Northlands with a smaller body of troops is just asking for some small garrison to get masacred by roving bands of barbarians.

- Even after the invasion is complete, he's going to have to withstand years of occupation with partisan attacks on patrols and such. Better to invade with a huge force that can destroy as many potential partisans in the first engagement as possible.

- A sound military victory that brings home lots of slaves with a small cost in the lives of his soldiers will make his confirmation at the next Emperor upon the death of his father a mere formality.

- He is not blind to the dangers of the Blackpeaks. He knows full well that they are rife with evil humanoids and that a thousand-strong army of Orcs invaded the Fodor Valley just last winter. He will need troops on hand to defend the area once it is his.

- Once the invasion is done, he'll want to shift some of these troops to re-occupy the towns of the Lost Northern Provinces (Notably Glynden and Aquae Sulis at this point) to encourage an influx of pioneers. Having the Empire spant the northern continent from the Dragon's Tail to the Blackpeaks puts a VAST amount of raw resources in his hands that will make his reign as Emperor the one where the Glory of the Empire is Reborn.


I will also note that the players widely regarded Flavius as a real bastard for launching this invasion. But that's not how I feel about him. Sure, he's opportunistic and ruthless for hitting the Fodor tribes while they're down. And he is unwittingly playing into the hands of the Banites (who he thinks are all but destroyed). But he is doing what he thinks is best for his people and stands to increase the holdings and security of the Empire by an enormous ammount with little risk (so he thinks). Unfortunately he doesn't have all the facts at hand that the PC's do and his "low risk invasion" is about to turn into a major debacle...

 

[Belen]

I just read the whole thread. I reiterate that the story hour rocks.

Actually, I usually do not hang out in the story hour forums. I have attempted to read this thread since I met Rel at NC Gameday III, but one thing or another always kept me from getting on track.

Although I did post in the thread way back towards the beginning.

Anyway, keep it up. I am thoroughly enjoying it all.

 

[Ziggy]

I'm not going to attempt to badger these folks out of lurkerhood, though I am happy to have them post if they'd like and I'm thrilled that they are readers of mine. But I would be interested in hearing from the "regulars" as to how many times they pop in per day. Do you just check in when there might be an update (i.e. a post by me that shows up in your "Subscribed Threads" list)? Or do you check it each time anybody posts to read their comments? Or do you simply pop in some arbitrary number of times per day, week or month and see if the story has progressed?

I usually pop in when I visit ENWorld (1-2 times a week) if there are new posts in the thread.

.Ziggy

 

[Rel]

Thank you all for your kind words. I really appreciate that you took the time to post them and I certainly hope that you continue to enjoy the story as it unfolds. As always, please feel free to ask any questions or make any comments that crop up. I'm never sure if the story is as clear and cohesive to others as it is in my mind when I'm writing it.

 

[Belen]

Mini-game day

You can't argue with such a great story hour.

As for the mini gameday, it was a blast. I had no idea that Rel would show up and that made for a pleasant surprise. I am hoping to badger the kind ladies at the store to have more like it. I know that a few other GMs wanted to do the same and I think that could really help out their store.

In any event, I have the best party for the game. We have one kid who was playing for the first time and had a phenomenal night with the dice and 3 experienced players who made GMing a joy. It was the perfect amount of both RP and combat and I came out of the game happy with the way things went.

So, big thank you to Rel, who plays a mean halfling rogue.

 

[Rel]

Lazarius and Marius sat in an empty classroom, hunched over a broad desk covered in maps. Both wore grim countenances.

“I don’t see how it can take them longer than a month at the absolute most, barring horrible weather or them stopping somewhere along the way. And that assumes they are striking somewhere along the southern coast where the beaches are the best suited for a large landing. They could easily land at one of the west coast harbors. Those defenses were never strong to begin with and they were the first to be abandoned when things got bad during the Slave Wars.” Marius shook his head and started rolling up his maps, knowing that little more could be gained by staring at them.

“I think you’re right about the west coast. They will likely land there because that would be the furthest from any of the forces that could oppose them. Most of the Legions still in the Empire are either bunched up along the Sythian border or scattered along the north coast in preparation for being sent to the Northlands. That leaves only a couple of under-strength ceremonial Legions here in Emor and whatever Auxiliaries are quartered in the south coast garrisons keeping watch for pirates.” Lazarius was no more optimistic than the Imperial Explorer.

“Well if that’s where they’re headed then I’d say they will be there in under three weeks. How quickly can the Legions move to get there?” asked Marius

“They can march fairly quickly within the Empire. The roads and existing forts with stocks of supplies see to that. The real problem is going to get them moving in the first place. That will all depend on how convinced the Senate is of the dangerous nature of the situation.”

As if on cue, the door swung open and a young student addressed Lazarius with a quavering voice, “The Chancellors will see you now, Master Lazarius.”

The two Imperials looked at each other and Marius broke into a smile, “Better get going, Master Lazarius. I need to get on the street and see what I can find out for myself. I’ll meet you back here by morning.” He stuffed the last of the map cases into his Haversack and exited the room as Lazarius headed for his meeting with his former mentors.

They were seated in the Chancellors Audience Chamber, a room designed with great formality in mind. But Felix dispelled any notion that etiquette and procedure would reign when she abruptly addressed Lazarius without any formal introduction. “Sit down, Lazarius. I know you’re tired and we may be here for a while. I’ve already told the others the basics of your story but why don’t you run through it again so they have all the facts.”

Lazarius let out a sigh and recapped all he had learned about the City of Endless Summer, the Banites, the armada of ships and, of course, Bane being broken out of his prison in Hell. Both Evilada and Scapula sat quietly, not interrupting as he revealed this information as though they either didn’t quite believe it or couldn’t figure out what questions to ask.

As Lazarius finished, Scapula nodded. “Well that explains something else. I was at the Capital when I got the message to return here at once. As I was departing, I had just heard that High Priest Novanus of the Church of St. Cuthbert had called for an emergency session of the Senate this afternoon, that he may address as many of the Senators as were in town. That is probably going on right now.”

Evilada squinted his narrow eyes, “We must gather as much information on this fleet of ships as we can. Tonight, or tomorrow morning at the latest, the Senate is going to be howling about why we didn’t know this sooner. I’d best get to the Scry Crystals and see what I can find. Titus Pontius Macer you said his name was?”

“That’s correct,” replied Lazarius. He continued, “We’ve got to get word to the Wizards among the Legions and tell them to get those men moving! If they intend to land along the western coast then we haven’t much time!”

Scapula replied, “Lazarius, you know as well as we do that the War Wizards answer to the Generals, not the other way round. And since we have no idea as to where they are going then it makes no sense to start mobilizing those troops anyway. The last thing we want is to leave the Border vulnerable without a plan for guarding it as we pull out those troops. And the Orcs must march and eat too. The Auxiliaries will hold them until we can get the troops there. If this army is no larger than you say then they can’t hope to win against us. They just don’t have the numbers.”

Lazarius stood and started to exit the chamber in barely contained frustration. He turned back as he got to the thick, rune-covered door, “What scares me is that they are smart enough to realize that.”

 

[Rel]

In any event, I have the best party for the game. We have one kid who was playing for the first time and had a phenomenal night with the dice and 3 experienced players who made GMing a joy. It was the perfect amount of both RP and combat and I came out of the game happy with the way things went.

So, big thank you to Rel, who plays a mean halfling rogue.

That kid's dice were really on fire. It ALWAYS happens to the newbies, and a good thing too. I liked at the end when somebody asked him, "So, are you hooked?" and he said, "Oh yeah!" with a big grin on his face. Good stuff.

And I'll note that my Halfling Rogue for that game was not nearly as mean as the last couple I've played. I didn't stab anybody in their sleep or kill off any other party members.

 

[Darklone]

And I'll note that my Halfling Rogue for that game was not nearly as mean as the last couple I've played. I didn't stab anybody in their sleep or kill off any other party members.

Getting old and soft, eh ?

 

[Rel]

Getting old and soft, eh ?

Nah. Pregen character who was Chaotic Good.

 

[Darklone]

Lol!