Adventure Prelude…

Adventure prelude for Wyrd of the Wild Wood….

Honor and grace. Those two words once defined Jasmind’s life, but there was little place for them in the dark prison cell in Darkskye where she found herself now. Once she had been a noble paladin rising in the ranks of the Elven Court and even dispatched by the Elf Queen herself to be a warden of the Wild Wood, but that was gone now. Gone ever since agents of the Emperor caught her embezzling money from the crystal dust trade. At first it seemed so simple. The crystal dust trade in Shadow Port was a commodity and some elves in the Court of Stars wanted in. By the time the shady figure approached her in the Wild Wood with the proposition she was buried in debt and desperate to earn some quick gold. Perhaps if she had the foresight back then to know accepting his offer would land her in prison she might have had more care in figuring out who he was first. That did not matter anymore. The only thing that mattered to her now was getting out of prison so she could regain her honor. The agents of the Emperor had given her an offer. Find out who controlled the smuggling operations on Darkskye and her prison sentence would be reduced. The fighter that was in the cell next to her was the key. His name was Tycho, a foul halfling with an even fouler taste for Troll Bile. The Emperor suspected he had connections in the smuggling operations and she had been strategically placed as a new recruit in his gang to figure out how deep his connections went.

Kzzmet tipped his cup back and enjoyed a nice healthy swig of ale. Life was so much more splendid when a mug of ale was in his hand. Well, except perhaps for the time he was caught dancing naked in a drunken stupor in the Dwarf King’s throne room. His actions had been forgiven, he was the bastard brother of the Dwarf King after-all and blood was blood, but their relationship had been complicated ever since. Shortly after that…. incident… the dwarf ranger had taken his leave of Forge and started a new life as a bounty hunter. Ale once again had gotten the better of him and one of his fellow bounty hunter companions had turned him into authorities for being stupidly drunk on a job. Now he found himself as a prisoner on Darkskye. At first it seemed that ale here was a luxury that was not permitted to prisoners, but he had found a halfling fighter with connections to get him what he needed. He might be a prisoner, but the gods still looked after drunken fools. The dwarf smiled, leaned back into a chair in the prison recreation room and listened to a high elf bard sing some silly song about great heroes who overcame a troubled past. The bard, Billups, was one of those fancy high elves that was visiting the prison on a mission to convince the corrupt here to lead better lives. Kzzmet might be a drunken fool, but that bard was simply a fool.

Vaelen was having a good day. As he stepped off the Darkskye teleporter with not just one, but two bounties in tow he couldn’t help but feel satisfied with his career path. When he was a young boy he had shown a talent for the divine arts so he has been brought to the Cathedral for a traditional upbringing as a holy cleric. As he grew into manhood though he became dissatisfied with his life in the Cathedral. The empire was rotting away with corruption and while he respected the Priestess’s place in the world he viewed her actions as too soft. The wicked deserved punishment and for that he left the Priestess’s service to join the ranks of the Crusader. Apprenticing under the Crusader was tough, but rewarded him with physical strengths he had never known before in his life. It was not until the Crusader had ordered him to kill an innocent he suspected of being tainted by demons that Vaelen had realized this was also not the path he wanted in life. So he created his own path. He became a bounty hunter, offering his services to the Emperor when the price was right. Recently that life was well rewarding. Not two nights ago he had succeeded in tracking down one of his marks, a nasty half-orc demon worshiper named Turrock. The only surprise was that he found Turrock engaged in a fight with a half elf sorcerer. When Turrock was subdued he was about to let the sorcerer go when he recognized her face. The sorcerer was Gillian and also had a bounty on her head for setting the Archmage academy ablaze. What luck. A well placed blow with his warhammer had brought her to her knees. Now here he was on Darkskye, leading them both past the guard checkpoints, eager to collect his well earned gold.

None of them had any clue that their world was about to go spinning out of control…

Meet the party for our Wyrd of the Wild Wood adventure!

VAELEN

Human Cleric

One Unique Thing

The blood of a light god and dark god flow through him.

Icon Relationships

Complicated 1 with the Priestess.  Respects her role in the world, but views her as too soft.

Complicated 1 with the Crusader. Respects his efforts to fight demons, but does not agree with his methods.

Positive 1 with the Emperor.  Serves the Emperor as a bounty hunter to bring criminals to justice.

Backgrounds

+2 Holy studies.  Received training in the Cathedral in the traditional upbringing of a holy cleric, but abandoned the Priestess to bring a sterner justice to the empire.

+2 Battle hardened.  Apprenticed under the Crusader, but left his service after the Crusader ordered him to slaughter innocent people he viewed as tainted by demons.

+4 Bounty hunter.  Now walks his own path in life, a wrathful cleric that will bring the guilty to justice…. if the price is right.
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GILLIAN

Half-Elf Sorcerer

One Unique Thing

Prized creation of the Diabolist, gone rogue.

Icon Relationships

Negative 2 with the Diabolist.  Gilliam was created by the Diabolist and the Diabolist wants her back.

Conflicted 1 with the Archmage.  Rescued by the Archmage, but treated as an experiment.

Backgrounds

+ 4 Raised by demons in the hellmarsh

+ 4 Studied Arcana under the skeptical watch of the Archmage

+2 Repeated escapee of several prisons.  Imprisoned for setting a Horizon academy on fire.  Now being transported to Darkskye.

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TYCHO

Halfling Rogue

One Unique Thing

Loves him some Troll Bile (see reference here).  It makes him stronger.

Icon Relationships

Positive 1 with the Crusader.  Fought alongside him to get revenge.

Positive 1 with the Orc Lord.  Wishes to become stronger.  Believes in social Darwinism.

Negative 1 with the Emperor.  Imprisoned for serving the Orc Lord.

Backgrounds

+2 Battle hardened.  Fought demonic scourge with the Crusader.

+3 First halfling to be a Captain in the Orc Lord’s army, which as a result landed him in prison.

+3 Smuggling boss.  Took control of the smuggling operations on Darkskye.  Does not care about the crystal dust so long as regular shipments of troll bile keep coming in.
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JASMIND

Wood Elf Paladin

One Unique Thing

Warden of the Wild Wood

Icon Relationships

Conflicted 1 with the Emperor for embezzling the profits from the crystal trade.

Positive 1 with the Great Gold Wyrm for serving under one of his paladin orders.

Positive 1 with the Elf Queen for being a guardian in the Court of Elven Stars.

Backgrounds

+ 4 Soldier of Selune, a god of the moon, stars, navigation and wanderers.  Received training in one of the great paladin orders before greed got the better of her.

+2  Smuggling operative.  Pure paladin at heart, but good deeds did not pay her debts.  Imprisoned for embezzling profits from the crystal dust trade.  She is now trying to ease her sentence by ratting out the people that illegal send crystal powder shipments off Darkskye.

+ 2 Warrior in the Court of Stars.  Has connections in the royal elven court and elves in the Wild Wood.  Some of these connections were her previous crystal dust “clients”.

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KZZMET

Dwarf Ranger

One Unique Thing

Drunken Bastard Brother of the Dwarf King

Icon Relationships

Complicated 1 to the Dwarf King. Shares a blood line, but the Dwarf King is still struggling to forgive him for dancing drunk in the throne room.

Positive 1 with the Diabolist.  Done a few shady jobs for the Diabolist.

Positive 1 with the Archmage.  Done a few respectable jobs for the Archmage.

Backgrounds

+5 The gods take care of the drunks and fools.

+3 Bounty hunter.  At least he was, until he foolishly mistreated his marks while in a drunken stupor.  Now serving time.

+5 Tracking.  Tracking background.
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BILLUPS

High Elf Bard

One Unique Thing

Pan linguistic

Icon Relationships

Positive 1 with High Druid.  Welcome guest in the Wild Woods.

Positive 1 with the Archmage.  The Archmage guards that help keep Darkskye afloat are cheered by his music.

Complicated 1 with the Crusader.

Backgrounds

+4 Linguistic finesse. Often praised as a translator which gets him in places that others cannot.

+2 Hypnotic charm.   People love his charm and music.  When he sings at a tavern he rarely has to pay for room and board.

+2 Well traveled.  Travels frequently and knows a lot of the sights.  Is currently visiting Darkskye to convince prisoners to turn their lives around by singing songs about great heroes who overcame a troubled past.
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The Ties That Bind… 

Unbeknownst to Jasmind, Tycho is the ringleader of the smuggler trade that she was ordered to uncover to reduce her prison sentence.

Kzzmet and Vaelan used to be drinking buddies and work together as bounty hunters, until Vaelan turned Kizzmet in to authorities for mistreating his marks.

Gillian had a bounty on her head after setting the Archmage academy on fire.  Vaelan is turning her in to collect on it.

Tycho has connections to smuggle the good stuff into prison.  He and Kzzmet occasionally enjoy drinks together.

Both Vaelen and Tycho served under the Crusader at one point in time.

Billups and Jasmind are both welcome guests in the Wild Wood.
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