Return of the Tyrant


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The Characters

DM: (Played by Sir Brennen)

Angrimir: (played by Kid Charlemagne)
Angrimir is a student of the Magical Arts, sent by the Quarnvae, House of the Grey Elves. He's a scholar and diplomat, with a penchant for conjuring and enchantment. Tall and slender, his blond hair is worn long, and his clothes are always well-tailored. He is accompanied by his pet "miniature hairless dire wolf," Pepe.


Remilles: (played by Knid Vermicious or Sqwonk)
Fresh off the boat after months at sea, Remilles still has the swagger of a lifetime sailor of the Isles of the Serpent's Teeth. Of average build and average height, Remilles' onlydistinguishing features are his bald skull and bright orange beard. Friendly and approachable, Remilles has no trouble fitting in any situation. A keen eye and a limitless memory make Remilles a dangerous man to cross. He never forgets an enemy or a good tale.

Zenthilus: (played by Bealzubobo) A striking figure even for an Ice Elf, Zenthilus is the epitome of a paladin. His personal and unshakable belief in his faith guides him blindly through an unfriendly and faithless world. Now his god Horan has given him signs to leave his brotherhood, the Vigilants of the Shadowgate and venture to the south-east from House Elesher.


Larinia: (played by Reanna) Orphaned as a baby, she was taken in by her fraternal aunt and uncle. At the age of 13, she ran away and ended up on the streets of Siddar. She was caught inside a Temple of Saro while performing a job for the local thieves guild. Given a choice of working for the church or given over to the authorities she chose the former. This is her first mission as a Priestess of Saro.

Marcus: (played by Sqwonk)
Having just reached adulthood, Marcus has begun his journey into the lands across the great river Onniva. One of the finest warriors to come from the White Stage Pentar he has set out in search of glory and gold. Standing in at 8-½ feet tall 425 lbs with dark red hair and red/white striped pants - Marcus is hard to miss. That is if your gaze can get by his 7-½-foot Greatsword.
“Not half giant – All Ulykos."
 
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The meeting

The Osterhaus
(An Inn located in the Lipin Valley a very rural section of The Kingdom of Virak in the southern 100 Kingdoms.)


A well dressed man is talking to Yaro, the innkeeper. “I will need several beds, probably five. I have some more associates coming.” He pauses when he spots the armored pale elf entering the inn. Ice elves are quite rare this far south.

“ Hello, I am Udo Fuvash. Are you here to meet with me?” At the elf’s puzzled look, “You must be. Please have a seat. You must be parched and hungry from your trip."

“ I am Zenthilus.” Zenthilus has never heard of Fuvash, but the red-crested hawk led him to the inn. It just feels right. Horan has never led him astray. He tells Fuvash about his trip as he starts to eat.

A few minutes later, a pale blond Grey elf enters the inn, looks around and introduces himself to Fuvash as Angrimir of House Quarnavae. As Angrimir starts to swap travel stories, Fuvash waves over to the 2 travelers who have just entered the inn. They introduce themselves to the table as Larinia from the Temple of Saro and Remilees a adventurer and storyteller.

“Is that a dog?” Remilees asks incredulously.

As Angrimir puts some meat scraps onto a dish, “ Yes, this is Pepe. The Grey elves tried to bring back dogs into the world, and Pepe is the result.”

Note: In Tian, dogs are creatures of legend. Most stories are about their fierce loyalty and large size.

Remilees sits down, not sure if the legends are a farce or the Grey elves are losing their magical touch.

Angrimir says “By the way did anyone notice the red-headed hawk perched on the corner of the inn?”

As the party nods, Zenthilus, proudly states “Yes, that is Horan. Were you not all led here by him?”

“No, I mean a real hawk- not some metaphysical bird sign.” replies Angrimir.

“Horan is real. The beautiful hawk is a manifestation of his power and caring.”

Angrimir bites back his sarcastic reply as he spots Zenthilus’ fierce look of conviction.

After a pregnant pause, Fuvash says, “ As some of you are aware, we are to assist in establishing a new trade route with the Iron Kingdoms. We are attempting to use the remaining gates of the Great Road to do this.”

The Great Road (now called the Sundered Road) was a series of 12 magical gates around the continent. There are currently only 4 working – some only sporadically.

“Also, you were called for descriptively by divinations of the Sisterhood of Hope. When the last of you – “

The conversation is interrupted by a loud deep voice at the front desk/bar.
“I am looking for Pudoh Foolish.” The group turns to see a huge man towering over the dwarf who points towards their table.

Fuvash winces and lets out a quite laugh as he turns and spots the large man. “They did tell me he was a fire giant.”

“Please come join us for dinner and discussion my large friend.”

“Are you the employer?”

“Yes, I am Udo Fuvash.”

“Well in that case, Marcus would like a chicken with a large side of potatoes- don’t skimp on the butter. And 2 pints of ale with some bread.”

Yaro, the dwarf, rushes off before Marcus decides that dwarves might taste like chicken.

Fuvash gathers the party together again around the table. As several of the others stare and Pepe hides under the chair, Marcus blurts out “What? You never seen a Ulykos before?”

“Actually no, but good to have you on board.” replies Angrimir eying up Marcus’
7-foot sword.

After everyone settles, Fuvash continues. “ As some of you know, the Church of the Reborn is backing this excursion because there is much more to this than a new trade agreement. The Sisterhood of Hope also have ordained a prophecy about this group.”

The return of the Tyrant will be witnessed by the Wanderer, Blacksmith, Burning Man
and the Tragic Twins.

“They do not know who of you is which- but you are they.”
 
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Killer Shields and Eyeless attackers

“The Tyrant is obviously Phad Karazon defeated only 20 years ago. In what manner you are to “bear witness” the Sisterhood could not ordain. But if Karazon is somehow returning – all measures must be taken to stop him.”

The group falls into discussions about the horrors of the Phad, the prophecy and their roles. Yaro starts to clear the table of dishes and chicken bones.
Marcus asks where he came by the excellent shield hung above the fireplace.

“That was left here by the dwarf Winterbok. He and his band had defeated the Fire Bandit several years back. His mage had imprisoned them in their cave hideout. He returned, alone, several months later to go into the hideout and collect the loot. The night before he was going to go to the cave he dropped dead in his soup. Sitting right over there.

Remilless snickers “Great story Yaro.” As he gets up to give the shield a closer look.
It is very well made – shiney black with a fiery design along the top.

Marcus groans trying to remember if he had soup with his dinner.

Yaro interrupts “ Its cursed you know. After Winterbok passed on. I had one of the stableboys put the shield up over there for posterity. He died 2 days later. No one has touched it since.”

Angrimir concentrates – “It is magical, but I don’t know which type.”

After some more speculations on the shield, the prophecy , and a few more glasses of wine and beer the party retires to their rooms.

In the dead of night, they are awakend by the sound of a woman screaming and a scuffle from the innkeeper's room.

Marcus and Zenthilus are the first down the stairs and spot Yaro fighting 2 short man-like creatures with long greasy back hair and axes.
As the rest of the party rushes down the stairs, Marcus and Zenthilus move in to help Yaro.
Marcus skewers one of the creatures with his Greatsword. Zenthilus’ first swing sends his sword backwards back down the stairs.
Yaro turns and shouts “There is more coming in the window.”

Angrimir and Remilles rush outside to spot several more creatures climbing from the stable roof into the bedroom window.

The creatures are no match for the party’s magic and blades. After a few seconds all lay dead. Upon examination, they find that the creatures have no eyes.

Yaro is very grateful. His human wife, Maggie, is still shaking. “They wanted this”- holding up a large blue crystal “They found it when they were looking through our dresser.”
“ It was also left here by Winterbok.”

Angrimir examines the crystal. “I think it is a sort of key. You said Winterbok imprisoned the bandits? Was there a mage in his band?”

“What the hell were those things? Marcus interrupts. “No eyes!”

Yaro explains, “Yes he had a mage. Maybe 2. The Fire Lord and his bandits were a tough bunch. It is said they had inhuman slaves.”

Zenthilus looks toward the Udo. “I know our mission is important, but if we do not find out where these things came from they may come back once we are gone. I don’t think the dwarf and his lovely wife could protect themselves.’

“Plus the cartfulls of gold” Marcus interjects.

“What?”

“The bandits treasure. Before the curse of the shield killed him, he was going to recover the bandit’s treasure. I am thinking cartfuls of gold at least.”

The Udo steps in, “I don’t know about treasure, but Zen is right. You must get to the heart of matter to protect Yaro and Maggie. Zaro, do you know where the bandits hideout is?”

‘Of course everyone knows where is is. It is an cave several miles south of here, But is is sealed up by some sort of magical crystal.”

‘Well these things must of found a way out.” Zenthilus answers

Angrimir’s eyes light up. “Pepe should be able to follow the scent back to their lair. If we hurry.”

“Who is Pepe?” Marcus asks the elf.

Angrimir hold up his dog and gets him to sniff the dead creatures. ‘Go get em Pepe, go on!”
Pepe sniffs and runs in circles a few times then scampers off into the trees with the rest of the group following.

Marcus, trying not to step on the the little dog, “This can’t be good.”
 
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As DM of this campaign, I just want to thank Sqwonk for doing this story hour for the group.

As real life cuts into my gaming time, I also rely on published adventures quite a bit for this campaign. Readers beware: this story hour will eventually contain spoilers for the Witchfire adventures, set in the Iron kingdoms.

Thanks again, Sqwonk.
 

Good start to the SH. Good thing ya'll have a blue tick Grimlock tracker hound!

Let me just add Sir Brennen your campaign website is very cool.
 

pogre said:
Good start to the SH. Good thing ya'll have a blue tick Grimlock tracker hound!

That was a totally unexpected benefit of Pepe's skills... I sat there, thinking "Gee, if any of us were rangers, we could probably track them to their lair..."

Then I looked at Pepe's stats, and saw Survival +1* (+4 when tracking by scent).

Eureka!
 


So this hairless dog...are we talking short hair like a doberman, or truly hairless like one of those ugly-ass cats? Or a naked mole rat?

For some reason I've got Bruiser, the chihuaha from "Legally Blonde" flashing in my brain.
 

KnidVermicious said:
For some reason I've got Bruiser, the chihuaha from "Legally Blonde" flashing in my brain.

You've got the right image, then. I was thinking more along the lines of the Taco Bell dog, but Bruiser works, too.

I can't wait till he can talk to people... :)
 

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