Step 1: "Hide? In The World? Why do we have to run? We've been a part of this community for years! We have done nothing wrong! Surely our neighbors, our friends, would not cast us out!"
1) They have taken everything from us. Our homes, our rights...and they would take our lives, if we let them. And all for a few mistakes some misguided ancestors made in centuries past. But the Eladrin have long lives and longer memories, and we were forced to leave.
2) Home, or what had been home, was a small vale known as Valis Tenarii. My husband, my son, myself, and another changeling family led peaceful lives among the kind folk of the vale. To all appearances, we were as they were, and we thought they harbored us no ill-will. We had shared our secret with them, and it seemed they had accepted us. My husband was a scout with the hunters, and I kept the home.
3) And then word reached us that the fabled changeling Enclave in Minas Elendrii had been raided and destroyed. The Wild Hunt began to move out from the Eternal City, hunting for pockets of doppelgangers, or "Fetch" as they like to call us, and calling on all the "right-thinking people" to "dispose of the trash in their midst." They came to Valis Tenarii, and our neighbors, who knew of us and had never voiced any discontent about us, pointed their fingers. We were lucky to escape. The other family was not, and they were burned alive on pyres after being branded with the arcane marks they use to identify our kind.
4) For three years we ran, hiding where we could, but it would never be safe for us as long as we remained in Eladrin lands. But we heard of The Faceless Underground, and it sounded too good to be true. A chance for a fresh start, in human lands, far from the grasp of the Wild Hunt? We managed to get in contact with this "White Fox Society," and crossed The Veil. We passed through St. Clarice, a human city. And then we were betrayed.
5) The attack came without warning. We had stopped outside of Clermont, in order to meet our next contact, when the ambush came. Eladrin appeared out of thin air, as they tend to do, and we were all captured. The humans we had been traveling with were put to the sword right there. My son, little Ael, disappeared in the confusion. We were tied, and then another prisoner, a human the Wild Hunt had mistaken for our kind, was tied up with us. He helped us free, but the Wild hunt heard our escape, and we were beset.
6) I fought, and was injured, and left for dead. My husband, seeing me fall, turned on our captors in rage and grief, and was cut down. The human nobly tired to fend the Wild hunt off, but he, too, was left for dead. When the fight was over, they captured most who had escaped, and left the rest to rot. I helped the human, named Zifer, and we fled back to St. Clarice. He goes to find answers. I go to find justice. I will see the ones who betrayed us dead. I sow vow it.
Step 2: "Where is he? Ael? AEL!? WHERE IS MY SON!?"
Short: Find out who betrayed the caravan to the Wild Hunt and bring justice to them. She has started to train as a paladin to achieve this end. Medium: Find her son, though she suspects he may already be dead. She does not hold much hope in her heart. Long: Destroy the Wild Hunt, or be destroyed in the process.
Step 3: "Enough of this. I am sick of being coddled, and I'm sick of hiding. I will show the world my true face, and if that causes me troubles, well, then fine. My troubles will have troubles with ME."
Known) Jil knows a little about this "White Fox Society," especially with regards to the Faceless Underground. She knows the names of several members, including Angelique DuParis, Marcel DuParis, and Audric Cwellen. She suspects one of them is the one who sold her caravan out.
Unknown) Jil's son, Ael, did indeed survive. He was picked up by a band of halflings plying the river near where the ambush took place. These halflings are smugglers, and they are working on moving some contraband into St. Clarice...a trio of dragon eggs! Ael has taken the form of a Gnome to blend in to the band.
DM Secret) The one who actually contacted the Wild Hunt is the brelani Old Leroux, who has been manipulating the Faceless Underground since its inception. His goal is to lure the changelings into a place where they can be dispatched without fuss. But his agents in The Wild Hunt have come to St. Clarice, putting the operation in danger. They are looking for changelings in the city openly--and searching for a certain eladrin with a crescent-shaped birthmark...
Step 4: "You. Wizard. You do tattoos, yes? I see you recoil from me--I expect nothing less from your race. Well, then, go ahead and brand me. I will wear it in defiance of you, and all your race stands for."
1) Zifer Cwellen is a noble human who tried to help us escape. He is seeking answers, but his commitmants with his adventuring band leave him with little time, and this isn't his affair to begin with. He can help me, but I will not wait for him to get around to it.
2) Angelique, the high priestess, seems friendly enough, even sympathetic. But she was our contact here, and she is one of the few who would have known where our caravan was heading. I like her, but I cannot ever trust her.
3) I trust even less the other changeling who has been seeking me out. He is too eager to get my attention. I heard that the enclave in Minas Elendrii was betrayed from within, by one of our own kind. No, I do not belive I shall put any trust in this persistent pest.
Jil is one of those characters that had more of an impact on the game than I expected.
She was created as a nameless NPC a few sessions ago as part of the party's introduction to The Wild Hunt. She was one of the changelings who had been captured with one of the PCs, who had to engineer an escape. In this fight, I decided to make things interesting for the players who weren't involved by giving them the roles of various NPCs. So three of the players took the role of The Wild Hunt members, while another took on the role of a changeling who had befriended the captured PC. This changeling had been the most talkative, and I'd spun a tale of how he and his wife had been captured, but their son was still missing. The PC and the changelings hatched an escape plan that very nearly worked, but a failed stealth check brought The Wild Hunt to check on them, and the battle ensued.
This was a very interesting battle, because it allowed the players to pit themselves against each other, something that wasn't normal. And it allowed me more time to moderate, instead of having to worry about running a whole mess of NPCs while the other players just watched.
Out of this grew a story. The player who was controlling Si'ari decided to snipe at some of the escaping changelings, but not shoot to kill. One of the changelings she happened to target was the one who I had designated as the wife of the changeling the other Player was controlling. Because of this, he turned from running to attack the Wild Hunt, in order to buy time for the others. The PC who was in the scene also fought, against very long odds. It was likely he would have died (he was fighting Trae'var, who has no mercy in him) but the player playing Spring Cat again decided to intervene, hitting him with an arrow that disabled, rather than killed, him. All in all, a wonderful bit of characterization that helped flesh out the Wild Hunt team dynamics, and I included the attitudes that were developed in that fight into their TMBs.
The story of Jil then became one of a character growing beyond the bounds I'd originally envisioned. I had her help the PC back to his feet, and together they went back to St. Clarice (so he could rejoin the group). I had intended to fade her out after this, but the PCs kept paying attention to her. She gained a name, and some background, and I think this bit of characterization is what made her compelling enough to keep.
Since the players have decided to focus some of their attention on her, I decided that it was time to do some more development with her. I'm sure those of you who've DMed have had similar experiences. This seems to happen a lot in my games--Angelique DuParis was not originally intended to play as large a part in the previous campaign as she wound up being (this time around I allowed for her to have a larger part).
I like Jil. The hunted angle is something that I could use in my own campaign. I could see doppleganger parents switching the children of rich families with their own children after forcing the child to change forms if the parents really can't take care of their own child, and just want to see it grow up healthy (this'd be a reason behind our changeling fables). The doppleganger parents might even shadow the kid, and make sure it is safe, ever watchful for when it begins to learn of its talents (they'd even be hoping that their child never learns what it is, for its own safety).
The hunted angle is something of a major theme in the campaign I run, since two of the PCs are changelings and many of the others have ties to the Feywild. Both Xat and Bee, who've been posted before, are PCs who had the hunted angle in their backstories.
The eladrin empire in my game is an oppressive regime based loosely on pre-war Nazi Germany, so it made sense to cast another race as the oppressed and persecuted minority.
Background "The difference between the people I trust and the people I don't..The ones I do have told me they want me dead." SpoilerShow
1.Aahron is the martial lord of the twin continents. The title grants him recognition as being the greatest fighter of their type, in this case unarmed fighting. Aahron spent a lot of life in a temple of fighting monks in the western mountains; despite the lands, wealth and power the title grants him he still remains a brother of the temple but no longer resides within the temple itself but in one of the surrounding villages.
2.Aahron started life as a foundling, but he wasn't left at the temple, he was infact raised, until his teens, as a guild thief in the large city of Braghun. In his late teens Aahron suddenly left the guild and the city behind.
3.When Aahron left he joined up with a caravan of merchants as a mercenary bodyguard, but this was only a temporary situation for only a few months the caravan was held up in one of the temple villages where Aahron was able to catch a practice between two of the brothers, he was fascinated by their fighting style and when the caravan left he stayed behind to learn from the monks.
4.Despite starting his training in his late teens Aahron picked up the skills with ease, becoming adept at them in a surprisingly quick time; even with his cynical personality traits and untrusting attitude that had been embedded into him that contrasted with the monks philosophies he maintained enough discipline to become a brother at the temple himself.
5.After years living with the monks Aahon became restless with his skills, unable to use them in the outside world. The opportunity to use them finally arose when the martial lord before him died in battle, unable to be succeeded; a competition to find the replacement was held in Braghun, despite his fellow brothers protesting against him competing he went and fought and won. When Aahron returned the brothers did welcome him back, but because he went against their protestations he sensed hesitation amongst them and decided to stay in one of their surrounding villages out of harms way.
Goals "I don't need to be one with the universe, I'm quite happy right where I am." SpoilerShow
1.Aside from his need to keep his skills honed to maintain his title of the martial lord, Aahron fights to keep from being bored, so he likes to be challenged often so that he does not get soft.
2.Aahron is a man of simple needs, and apart from combat tries to stay away from the business of the outside world. So he aims to stay in his village for aslong as he can.
Secrets "I don't trust people who say they don't have secrets, it usually means they have something really bad to hide." SpoilerShow
1.The reason that Aahron left Braghun suddenly was because he was involved in a fight with another thief that resulted in Aahron killing the thief, Aahron knew that no matter the reason he would be hunted down by the guild and killed or worse.
2.Aahron wasn't his real name back Braghun, he changed his name after he joined the merchant's caravan. His name was previously Alexander Loddson, a foundling of the guild.
3.The competition also gave Aahron a reason to go back to Braghun to visit the girl he left behind after he left the city in haste.
Contacts "The elders used to say I am like a rock, I suspect because I am dense and hard-headed." SpoilerShow
1.Elder Sainon; Aahron's mentor while he trained with the monks. Sainon is am old strict elf with a very apparent lack of humour, but he is also a natural teacher and can often get through to the most stubborn students.
2.A fellow previous bodyguard with the caravan of merchants is an assassin named Janine, as quick with her wit as she is with her swords, but she is equally quick to anger so can often get into fights even with odds against her. She also has some skills as a thief which made the two of them better friends; whenever the caravan comes through the western mountain they can often stay up through the night talking about news and old memories despite only traveling together for a few months.
3.Amber is another thief, half-elf in the employ of the Braghun thieves guild, after killing the thief Aahron fled the city leaving behind his love, he had no idea what happened to her until he went back during the competition to fight for his lordship; he found there that she had become involved with a bard who worked in the royal court, however since it had been many years he was not saddened he was relieved that nothing bad had happened to her because of his misdeed.
Memories "Time is money my friend, and you are costing me a lot by asking pointless questions." SpoilerShow
1.Aahron remembers the feel of warm blood on his hands after killing the thief, he realised that he had taken a life and that scared him, it made him swear never to take another life again, but it did not take away his feeling to engage in combat that he considers friendly, this is also one of the reason he fights unarmed.
2.Watching two of the temple monks practicing their art, watching them move quickly and nimbly as they controlled their bodies with apparent ease, this was the first time he was inspired in any real way.
3.Running along the rooftops of Braghun as a thief, relishing in the freedom he had, in the cool night air and the thrill of whatever exploits he was going to do with the nights he had ahead of him.
1.) Snaga was bought by Harek Malk, a worgbreeder, from an auction block owned by an overweight human. 2.) After one of the worgbreeder's slaves nursed Snaga back to health, the bugbear Overseer assigned Snaga to a particularly nasty worg with only an 8-foot length of iron with a red-hot tip for protection. 3.) After a few times where he was nearly killed (with the prod barely keeping the worg from tearing him apart), Snaga accidentally manifested a bolt of wild magic. The worg left him alone after that. 4.) After learning that his best worg had been injured, Harek sent for her keeper (Snaga). He then beat the pitiful slave until Snaga had a foot in the grave. 5.) A week later, a hobgoblin arrived at Harek's front door, saying that she represented the Imperial Corps of Warmages (ICW) and that wards had been triggered by someone in his household using wild magic. Guessing that it had been a slave, the ICW rep has been asking if she could check for magical talent among the slaves. She offered to pay triple what Harek had payed for any slave that showed arcane aptitude. Snaga hopes that his master will agree.
1.) The Overseer: Like most of the slaves, Snaga has tasted the bugbear's whip. However, the Overseer generally treats Snaga better than the other slaves. 2.) (Unfriendly) Harek Malk: Snaga's cruel hobgoblin master.
Snaga was created for a single purpose: to illustrate the slave caste of Kael Rantir. A list of castes, in order from lowest to highest (and the order in which I post exemplars): Slave Caste (goblins, bugbears, criminals; largest caste), Low Caste (freed slaves), Slaveowning Caste (anyone who owns at least one slave; second largest caste; pays taxes of gold or goods), Soldier Caste (hobgoblins who've enlisted or been drafted into the Imperial Army), Ruling Caste [split into Rakarni (nobles), Hakarni, and Karn].
Resident Murderous Psychopath
Our works are short-lived. All we have achieved will be gone in a few thousand years. Our towers will crumble, our homes will rot, and all we strive for will be worthless if none assign it value, while our deeds are forgotten. Nature is eternal. Even if all Earth's life is destroyed, the stones will endure, and they too are part of the wilds. Our works are futile, but nature has always been and will always be.
"HOLD! What be yer business here at the Thornspire?" - an anonymous and suspicious member of the Mithral Guard Background and City InformationShow
1. The Thornspire is a mountain that juts out into the sky from the massive hedge that is the Vale of Thorns. It is the central home of the dwarves in the Vale, and almost every dwarf in the area has been there at least once in their life.
2. The Thornspire was settled by dwarves who wandered into the Vale and couldn't find their way back out. Without their clans and place to call their own, they made their own clans and forged a small community in the only mountainous area available. That community has since grown into a very large delve, that is home to most of the Vale's dwarven population as well as a small ammount of the other races.
3. The Thornspire is also the primary source of unrefined metal and stone for the entire Vale. The dwarves who first settled there were initially concerned that the ore would run out, and they'd be forced to resettle, but for some reason, their mines and quarries never seem to empty. The dwarves are as surprised about this as everyone else, but they've been careful not to take too much of the constantly replenishing materials, making sure to be ready if it ever does run out. They assume magic is responsible, as the Vale is saturated with it.
4. The dwarves are also the best weapon and armor manufacturers in the Vale, and they're rightly proud of it. So proud, in fact, that practically each weapon, shield or suit of armor made by them is unique. They make more money off the raw materials they sell to Firepoint and the other cities than from their smithing work.
5. The Thornspire delve is ruled by the Silverbloom clan, formed from the first settlers of the mountain. Virtually anyone in a position of major power in the delve is a Silverbloom. While other clans exist and sometimes positions of power do go to members of other clans, everyone acknowledges that the Silverblooms are the masters of the Thornspire, and no challenge to their authority has ever succeeded.
"We built here because it's the only right place for a dwarf. Honestly, who'd want to eke out an existance in that briar patch down there?" - Tarish, proprieter of the Bar of Gold GoalsShow
1. I created the Thornspire mainly because I felt I couldn't focus on Firepoint forever, and the Vale of Thorns frankly needs more settlements. It also gives the dwarves a reason to be dwarves there. Because I think dwarves rock. :P
2. The Thornspire is the only mountainous area in the Vale, and thus it's ostensibly the only source of metal and stone in the entire area. You can't build entire city states with just one mountain's worth of materials. I needed a reason why civilization in the Vale can readily produce metal and stone goods when theoretically the supply should have run out a long time ago, and the Thornspire gives me the opportunity to provide that reason.
"There are many mysteries in this place, but we're careful about messing with them. We don't want to delve too greedily or too deep." - Haralda Silverbloom, human, archmage of the Thornspire General Campaign SpoilersShow
1. The reason the metal ore and the stone of the mountain seems to replenish constantly is indeed because of magic, but not the conflicting magic of the Feywild and Shadowfell, like in the rest of the Vale. Back before the Labyrinth sunk beneath the ground and the Vale grew over it, the Thornspire was a massive earthmote hanging in the sky above the city, brought there from the Elemental Chaos itself. When whatever disaster that banished the city beneath the earth occured, the earthmote fell from the sky and crash landed in the city. This is partly why the city was buried. The dust it threw into the air with its impact covered the tops of the tallest towers that still stuck up under the original burying. Because the earthmote had no passages in or out of it when it landed, it's one of the few locations in the Vale that's undead free, since there are no passages leading into the mountain from below, and any other passages to the surface are miles away from the mountain.
2. One of the Silverblooms is not actually a dwarf, but a human. Haralda Silverbloom is the greatest wizard on the mountain, and one of the most powerful in the Vale, despite being young by both human and dwarf standards. She was found as a baby by her adoptive brother, Dardath, when he was a little boy, exploring the mountainside. Dardath brought the baby girl to his parents, who raised her like a dwarf. Haralda is sensitive about the fact that she is a Silverbloom by adoption only, and does everything she can to appear dwarvish. Which is hard to do when you stand a head taller than everyone else in your family.
3. At the heart of the Thornspire, it is said that a powerful weapon resides, placed there when it still hung in the sky, waiting for a time when one worthy of weilding it appears in the Vale. Expeditions have been sent into the mines to try and find this weapon, but all have found nothing but dead ends.
"They say that from the top of the mountain, you can see the whole Vale, and into the World Forest beyond!" - Dardath Silverbloom, dwarf, Lord Marshal of the Borderlands Allies and EnemiesShow
1. Firepoint is obviously the Thornspire's most prominent ally. The dwarves have a prosperous trade agreement with the city, shipping ore and stone to them to be manufactured into fnished goods that are shipped across the Vale. The current king, Berich Silverbloom IV, (Dardath and Haralda's father) is a strong supporter of the new duchess, Ekaterina Lursis. He currently worries that the city's problems will tear it apart, especially since it's governed by an assassin.
2. The newly erected shadar-kai city of Narsopath has been watched very carefully by the dwarves. They know that they are in direct conflict with their longtime ally, Firepoint, but they are loath to get on the newly founded city's bad side. As a result, they have offered trade agreements with the city to help it gets on its feet, at the urging of the Silverblooms advisors, but Berich and his immediate family know that eventually they'll have to choose between the two cities.
3. The elven city of Naissus is another of the Thornspire's allies. Situated in the Grimmendeep forest, an island of trees in the sea of briars, they are the Vale's primary producer of lumber, leather and even ivory. Like the replenishing metal and stone of the Thornspire, Naissus mysteriously never seems to run out of resources. The elves do not suspect magic though, believing that it is through their careful harvesting that the forest is conserved.
"We dwarves have lived on the Thornspire since we first came here. The rocks here are very hard. This mountain's got tough bones!" - Grimbol Greatbeard, ex-mercenary, now captain of the Thornspire Militia Fun Facts about the ThornspireShow
1. The Thornspire is actually made up of two settlements. On the slopes of the mountain lies Tradegate, the commerce district of the community. Ruled by Berich's son Dardath, this is where most of the Thornspire's trade takes place, and where most of the non-dwarf residents live or stay. Tradegate also serves as the way into the city, so the barracks of the Mithral Guard, the Thornspire's standing army, are located here to protect the city quickly. The Delve is the larger part of the city, and only citizens of the Thornspire and people who have business with the clans are allowed inside. Here, the population of non-dwarves takes a nose-dive, but some non-dwarves do live here.
2. Religion in the Thornspire is dominated by the worship of Moradin, and King Berich's brother, Ollamh Gamling Silverbloom, is the religious leader there. There is a small temple to Kord, Lord of Battles, in the Delve, as well as smaller shrines to other gods out in Tradegate.
3. While the Delve's grand entrance in Tradegate is supposed to be the only way in or out of the mountain, a number of smaller entrances can be found where the dwarf mines accidentally breached the surface. None of these tunnels lead to the Labyrinth, and the dwarves don't take kindly to trespassers creeping into the mountain through the mines, but they can be a handy entrance if one is not allowed into the Delve through Tradegate.
Thurche, Orc Invoker Evil Background "I am not evil. I reject your rules! spoilerShow
1) He is a priest of Bane and is utterly devoted to the concept of power through strength of will. To that end he seeks to attract a large group of warriors (he would prefer orcs) to fight at his side and set up a working government in deference to Bane. 2) He is a megalomaniac and is perfectly willing to sacrifice a few lives if it helps him look out for number one. 3) His entire tribe was destroyed save for him when Thurche refused to join the Orc warlord in his conquest of the countryside. The heretical followers of Gruumsh slew his fellow "civlized" orcs and drove him deep into the swamps. 4) Thurche slew a powerful Tiefling warrior who attempted to drive the orcs into attacking their neighbors. He proudly wears part of the warrior's skull as a death mask. 5) Thurche has wandered into civilization and is having some trouble fitting back in. He's looking for a group of manipulable individuals who he will mold into the perfect warband.
Goals "We will crush all of the deceivers, and smash the non-believers!" spoilerShow
Short: Spread the word of Bane! Medium: Regain his honor by defeating the warlord who destroyed his clan. Long: Marshal a massive force of orcs willing to stake a claim for a real nation.
Secrets "I'm deeper than the 'barbarians' you are used to seeing among my kind. spoilerShow
1) Thurche is insulted by the general view of his race as a mass of chaotic warmongers. He'd rather they be seen as a group of organized warmongers who conquer in the name of Bane. In part he feels that the worship of Gruumsh has stunted his people and stigmatized them. 2) One of the members of his clan was actually an Eye of Gruumsh. He did not approve of Thurche's blaspheming against One-Eye and called down the warlord to destroy Thurche. Now he hunts after Thurche, always a step behind him, in order to end the heretics life for good.
Relationships "Another one bites the dust. Heh, do not worry, I'm gonna get you too. spoilerShow
1) Thurche is being hounded by the Eye of Gruumsh from his old clan, the Stonefaces. The shaman is known as Bloodeye and seeks his blood. 2) The orc warlord has a vague interest in destroying Thurche but is too busy raiding and pillaging at the moment to really pay him much mind. 3) What's left of the goblin clan near his old village is friendly enough with Thurche. 4) Thurche has encountered a powerful dragonborn warrior named Torinn who happened to share many of the same views as him. He hasn't seen the dragonborn in a few weeks since he left the small village of Tabn.
Memories "My mind is afire with your doom, heretic! spoilerShow
1) Thurche remembers getting very sick with fever when he was young. He recovered but as a result his eyes have turned a bright yellow color. He was considered partially cursed his clan but he reveled in using this to cow his lessers. 2) Thurche remembers his initiation into the cult of Bane. He tore out the heart of a monstrous lizard and offered it in supplication to the priest. He was annointed in its blood and a symbol of Bane was burned into his right palm. 3) Thurche remembers the face of the warlord who destroyed his clan. His skin was rough and green and his teeth were jagged and numerous. His name is Jokros. Thurche will cut the beating heart from his body.
"
"
