E-Dawn Volume 20: September 2005 Edition
“Dude, looks like you got
Ninheim-ed!” -Ethan Horrorsbane turning Ninheim’s name into a verb.
Spoiler
Alert: This journal contains spoilers for the Legend of Earthdawn Volume
1 quest: The Heart of Heroes.
PC RECAP
Pugsli’s Spy Report 7. Curses.
Mawag 26
Boss,
A
group of orks on thundra beasts from the Riders of the Scorched Plain charged
us. They seemed to want our loot from Parlainth. At any rate, we defeated them
after a long battle and captured four of their thundra beasts. We decided to
head back to Haven to sell the thundra beasts. Late that night, one of the thundra beasts was cooked alive and eaten by a huge dragon. Could it have been
Charcoalgrin?
-P
Mawag 27 Haven
Boss,
We
sold the thundra beasts and gear from the ork scorchers. We headed back out
towards Tansiarda the next day.
-P
Gahmil 2 Old Theran Road
Boss,
A
group of crystal gnashers attacked us. Unlike normal gnashers, they seemed to
be covered in living crystal, similar to the crystal jehuthras of the horror we
had fought at Arrakal. I think there might be a crystal entity lairing
somewhere in the Caucavik Mountains.
-P
Gahmil 5 Old Theran Road
Boss,
A
group of savage raiders ambushed us. They hit Granite with a boulder, and then
they demanded tribute of 350 silver pieces to get through their territory or
else we be crushed by falling boulders. We paid them off rather than fight
them.
-P
Gahmil 7
Tansiarda
Boss,
Sch’ella
arranged passage aboard T’lek’s riverboat at a rate of ten silver pieces a day
per person or mount. Expensive, but otherwise we would be forced to arrange
passage via a dwarf barge instead.
-P
Gahmil 10 Floating City
Boss,
We
stayed at the Floating City for four days. Ethan learned the Item History
talent, which should allow us to start learning the Key Knowledges of the
racial keys.
-P
Gahmil 16 Lake Pyros
Boss,
We
observed a K’tenshin pirate raid on a V’strimon ship. The K’tenshin ship was
flying the flag of the House of Nine Diamonds, but all of its crew had custom
black hooded masks covering their heads. What kind of t’skrang hides their
crest in that way?
-P
Gahmil 21 Daiche
Boss,
We arrived in Daiche, and in the middle of the
night t’skrang thieves attempted to kill Ninheim. We fought them off, but
Ninheim has a lot of enemies here in Daiche. I wish we could avoid Daiche, but
as the main port of the Tylon River, that’s probably not going to happen.
-P
Gahmil 28 Cellesis
Boss,
We
finally made it to Cellesis. At the Traveler’s Lodge, we found KS and Yind
Jones. Yind Jones was laying on his deathbed. He explained to us that he
thought the Whip of Dis and his weak ork blood (a sixteenth he said!) would
protect him from the strange phenomenon in Cara Fahd. He was wrong. Every step
in Cara Fahd was difficult, and it drained the energy from him trying to battle
the growing sphere of stillness. The absolute order of Dis. KS found him after
he had made it to Cara Fahd and acquired the Horse Key and brought him to
Cellesis. Yind Jones asked to see the Sword of Seeking, and confirmed that was
what we had found in Parlainth. He told us that the sword we be a great help
soon. Yind Jones gave us the Whip of Dis and Horse Key and asked us to bury him
next to his son before dying. As I looked at the Whip of Dis, I thought it
looked different than the last time I had seen it. It had once looked old and
weathered, but now looked almost new and unused. I have no idea what this
portends, but I don’t like it one bit. We gave the Horse Key to Oviare and
headed off to Arrakal to bury Yind Jones. KS decided to come with us to help
save Cara Fahd from the curse.
-P
Response to Gahmil 28 dated Raquas 15
P,
I
want you to keep a close eye on KS. He reports all his findings directly to
Drudge, and ignores the spymasters. Who knows what his true aims are for
joining your quest.
-R
Holiday 1 Arrakal
Boss,
At
Arrakal, we buried Yind Jones next to Thunder Jones. A whole family dead
because of our cursed quest.
-P
Holiday 4-5 Cellesis
Boss,
We
returned to Cellesis and rejoined with the rest of the party who went to the
Kaer to do some research. Ninheim didn’t really find out much of use at the
small Kaer Cellesis library though. We stayed at Cellesis until the end of the
Holiday.
-P
Raquas 1 Cellesis
Boss,
We
left for Kaer Namdroth in the Delaris Mountains. We hoped to find out about
what was happening in Cara Fahd there.
-P
Raquas 6 Three Rivers
Boss,
Blood
Circle Sky Raiders attacked us. They said they were allied with Khan and
charged us with their shields and battle-axes. They specifically wanted to kill
Oviare. It was a tough fight, but their battle shouts were no match for my
taunts. We then crossed a bridge into the Delaris Mountains.
-P
Raquas 7 Delaris Mountains
Boss,
A
gigantic bird captured KS. We followed the bird to a high mountain bird’s nest.
We climbed, flew, and jumped up the mountain cliffs as the gigantic bird threw
rocks down at us. Meanwhile the bird’s babies were attacking KS, who found him
to be a tough meal to try and swallow.
We managed to finally get up to the bird’s nest and defeat the huge bird
and its babies and save KS.
-P
Raquas 8-10 Kaer Namdroth
Boss,
We
finally got to Kaer Namdroth. We were allowed to enter the Kaer itself. It
almost seemed like they were expecting us really. They took us to their leader,
an elder ork named Yelad Diamond-Fist. Yelad talked in riddles about the
Mahuta, some sort of ork word for Passion. They offered Oviare Freespirit a
chance to escape the Curse of the Passions. Because of the Namdroth’s unique
beliefs in Mahuta, he could leave the party and live in Kaer Namdroth without
being drawn back to the Citadel of Tirthon. Oviare accepted, leaving us with KS
as our ork. Yelad told us that if we seek the Obsidiman Key, we should visit
the nearby Rockhorn moot. We stayed three days, allowing Granite to train to
become a Sixth Circle Warrior under the tutelage of the Namdroth.
-P
Raquas 12 Rockhorn Moot
Boss,
At
the Rockhorn Moot, the trolls treated Granite like royalty. The Rockhorn’s
trollmoot was built right next to the Greenstone Liferock, a jade-like
outcropping of rocks deep in the Delaris Mountains. We met with the leader of
the Greenstone Liferock, Feld’a’sar, and he expressed anger and frustration at
the death of so many obsidiman at Ayodhya. Cern Stonefriend Rockhorn, the
chieftain of the trollmoot, told us that he would aid Feld’a’sar if he should
choose to do something about the Theran Behemoth at Ayodhya. Granite told him
about his quest to recreate the Liferock Rebellion. Cern and Feld’a’sar
promised to join the new Liferock Rebellion if he succeeded. They both didn’t
know anything about the Obsidiman Key. Cern suggested we go look for the
Skyseeker trollmoot…on the other side of the Delaris Mountains.
-P
Raquas 19 Delaris Mountains
Boss,
As
we traveled west towards the Skyseeker moot, we encountered a group of nine elf
Theran scouts. We decided to spy on them rather than attack outright for once.
Of course, Oviare not being here any more helps in this regard. I see it; I
charge it! Anyway, the Therans were in
the Delaris Mountains searching for the monastery where Elianar Messias
originally found the Books of Harrow. They wanted to avoid a group of
Nethermancers called the Fellowship of Night, and especially their leader, Tana
Lunnar, a Thirteenth Circle Nethermancer. They decided to go to the Skyseeker
moot to rest, re-supply, and see if they knew anything about the monastery. We
decided to follow them using KS’s and Sch’ella’s tracking skills.
-P
Raquas 22 Skyseeker moot
Boss,
We
tried to enter the trollmoot but they wouldn’t let us in. They apparently had
known the elves were Therans and let them in anyway. They didn’t really go for
the whole let us kill the Theran spies approach either. Apparently, the
Skyseekers were one of the few trollmoots that actually tolerated the Therans.
KS attempted to infiltrate the trollmoot, but was found out and thrown out of
the moot. We weren’t getting in at all now, unless we were willing to fight a
whole trollmoot. Then we saw an old human female hag with two lumbering
obsidiman. On closer inspection, these were cadaver men. Obsidiman cadaver men!
I wasn’t aware this was even possible. Sure there are the dust men, but I’ve
never seen an animated obsidiman cadaver before. We talked to her before she
entered the trollmoot. She had heard about the Therans scouts and had come over
to “investigate.” When she exited, Ninheim asked her how she animated obsidiman
cadavers. She said that the Fellowship of Night had found a dead Liferock and
learned how to revive it. That of course got Granite interested enough to not
just charge her with his poleaxe. Granite wanted to know how he could revive
Ayodhya. Tana said she would not give away that secret unless we had the Chain
of Skulls. She told us the last person to supposedly have information about the
Chain of Skulls was Omasu, but he never made it to his meeting with the
Skyseeker moots. If she had Omasu’s body or one of his pattern items, she could
summon his spirit and ask him about the Chain of Skulls. Demetrius then told
her about his survey of the Tylon River and the wreckage of the Battle of House
T’Kambras. He knew where to find Omasu’s body. So Tana agreed to tranport us to
the Spiral Towers and back to the Skyseeker moot in exchange for finding
Omasu’s body. She needed two days to prepare the spell though. She suggested we
stay away from the Skyseeker moot. We
asked what was up with them and the Therans. She told us that they had actually
traded with the Therans in the past and were not involved in fighting them
during the Orichalcum Wars. But they had a terrible secret; they had been
cursed to never find what they seek for looting the monastery of Elianar
Messias and killing the questors of Mynbruje there. The only way to end the
curse was to find the lost monastery of Elianar Messias and rebuild it. But
since they were cursed to never find what they seek, they cannot break the
curse themselves. She suggested that if we could break the curse, we could
probably reconcile with the Skyseekers. This may be the only way to find the
Obsidiman Key. Hmmm. But I suppose helping the Fellowship of Night, a Skyseeker
moot ally, might help the situation as well.
-P
Raquas 24 Servos Jungle
Boss,
We
were transported to the Servos Jungle near the Spiral Towers. We walked to the
Spiral Towers and were allowed to enter because of KS. We asked Thyrnn Valori
about how we could recover Omasu’s body. He wanted to know why we needed
Omasu’s body. We told him about the Obsidiman Key and our need to save Ayodhya. He gave us a bunch of Swimming Charms and
told us to go see Nemokla Vitaille, Captain of the Floranuus’ Spirit at Daiche
about dredging the ships.
-P
Raquas 25 Daiche
Boss,
Just
can’t seem to avoid this town. Sch’ella talked to Nemokla about our needs. For
4,500 silver pieces and a week of time to get the proper equipment, he could
help us out. We agreed and set said for the Spiral Towers.
-P
Raquas 26 Spiral Towers
Boss,
Nemokla
started to prepare his ship for our next mission as the party stayed at the
Spiral Towers. I decided to head to Kratas to train to Fifth Circle as a Thief.
When I return, we should be ready to head out dredging.
-P
RUMORS
Floating City
There are rumors of an elite team of
K’tenshin pirates called the Black Ospreys. They seem to be responsible for
many of the bakshevas lately near House V’strimon.
“NEW” CHARACTER BIOS 9
Concepts by the Players and Edited by Steven
James Black. Note that Keth Swiftblade is an old character from the last
campaign. Since the party is around Fifth/Sixth Circle now, I decided he can
play his old character.
KETH SWIFTBLADE (ERIC)
Race: Ork
Discipline: Swordmaster/Scout
Circle: Fifth/Fifth
Homeland: Cara Fahd
Passion: Floranuus
Character Background: Born in Cara Fahd, he became impressed with
Drudge and the Slayers after they saved Cara Fahd from Betrayer and had a hand
in forming the new Ork Nation of Cara Fahd and decided that he wanted to become
a Slayer. After proving himself a worthy candidate by helping to stop the
assassination and attempted coup on King Neden, he was accepted into the
Slayers organization. After Drudge made Rahl spymaster, he refused to report to
him and reported all of his findings to Drudge directly. This going over Rahl’s
head and authority has caused some conflicts between him and Keth in the past.
Many of the spies in Rahl’s organization see Keth as a loose cannon and treat
him as such, including Pugsli. Drudge sent Keth on many caravan trade missions
to Cara Fahd and spy missions in Cara Fahd. After learning the truth about what
is happening in Cara Fahd with the help of Yind Jones, he decides to help the
party save the Passions and hopes to save his homeland in the process.
Long-term Goals: Save Cara Fahd
from the influence of Dis.
CHARACTER Retirement Home 3
Oviare decides to accept the Kaer Namdroth
offer of sanctuary in exchange for teaching Namdroth Warriors the Way of the
Cavalryman.
Proper Character Integration into an Existing Party
Unlike the beginning of a campaign, where it
seems most of the time a group of disparate adventurers join together for a
common cause and bond together, in a well established group it is sometimes
much hard to integrate a new character into the party. This section is meant to
explain how to manage this sometimes difficult task.
First, a character should have a character
history and not come from a vacuum. Usually it helps if the character is from
the same area, such as Barsaivians in a campaign centered on Barsaive. Trying
to play an unusual Theran race, or unusual Discipline from a different culture
is very difficult, as most characters in Barsaive tend to be paranoid of alien
cultures. That’s not to say its impossible, but you must come up with a viable
reason for why they are in Barsaive as well as why the people of Barsaive
should accept them for who they are. Playing a character who is an escaped
Theran slave is one thing and gives you a reason to be in Barsaive, but adding
a zealotry for helping others to become free of slavery gives you a long-term
goal that many Barsaivians have respect for and a reason to stay in Barsaive.
Playing a Theran exile is one thing and gives you a reason to be in Barsaive,
but wanting to exile the Theran military from Barsaive in revenge for this
insult gives you a long-term goal that many Barsaivians have respect for and a
reason to stay in Barsaive. In other words, if you are playing a character from
a foreign land, you require a reason to go to Barsaive in the first place, and
a reason to stay in the province once you get there.
Second, the character should have a
short-term goal that somehow meshes with the goal of the current party. In the
current quest, the party is trying to find the nine Heart of Heroes and Keys in
order to restore the passions, which requires one of each of the nine
Name-giver races. The first step to getting into the party is to make sure that
if a Name-giver race is not represented, to make a character of that race. The
second step is to examine the character’s religious beliefs. He should believe
in the passions at a minimum, and probably be strongly connected to at least
one of them, which gives the character a reason to adventure to restore their
favored passion. The third step is to
examine the character’s political or national beliefs. The party also has
several members from various groups and factions in Barsaive, including the
Slayers. The character could want to become a Slayer, but first wants to prove
himself worthy by helping with this quest. The character could be a spy for
many of the city-states of Barsaive or even Thera investigating what Drudge’s
Slayers are up to. (Of course, a discovered spy from Thera will be a
short-lived character in the current party.)
Third, the character should also have a
long-term goal to strive for. A character’s long-term goal often becomes the
short-term goal of the entire party later on. Once a character’s goals are
completed, they must make up new ones, or retire, since a character without a
purpose often becomes increasingly uninteresting to play.
Following these rules it should be easy to
integrate a new character into a long-duration existing party.
UNUSUAL RACE/DISCIPLINE COMBINATIONS 17
The shaman is almost never played IMB. I
have played a few human shamans in other quests, and this seems to be the most
common choice. It would also be a common Discipline choice for any Name-giver
race that organizes as clans or tribes in the jungles or forests of Barsaive
such as orks, elves, t’skrangs, and windlings. This leaves dwarfs, trolls, and
obsidiman. Since dwarfs and trolls can commonly be Shadowrun shamans as well,
this makes them a bit more common choice in Earthdawn games than the obsidiman
shaman. Thus this month’s odd race/discipline combination is obsidiman shaman.
Obsidiman Shaman
Advantages: The obsidiman’s high
strength assists with carrying all of the fetishes he will create, and helps
with Damage and Knockdown Tests. The +4 Toughness Attribute bonus will help the
character survive despite the Discipline’s weak (4/3). The +3 Natural Armor and
+3 Wound Threshold Bonuses also help the character’s survivability.
Disadvantages: The character’s –2 Dexterity
Attribute penalty is a huge disadvantage, reducing the character’s Avoid Blow,
Cat’s Paw, and Melee Weapons talent steps. Combined with the Movement as
Dexterity –3 penalty, it also makes the shaman extremely slow. The character’s
–1 Perception Attribute penalty is a major disadvantage, reducing many of the
character’s talent steps. The character lacks a Willpower Attribute bonus,
which is key to the shaman’s Effect Tests and is a disadvantage.
Neutral: The character’s –1 Charisma
Attribute penalty is not really a disadvantage, since the shaman’s key talents
are not linked to this Attribute, nor do shamans tend to do well in social
situations. This attribute is only important if you plan on the character
taking an animal companion angle using skills, something an obsidiman character
should not do, as they have no connection to beasts.
Attributes (66 purchase points):
DEX: 11-2=(9): 4/D6
STR: 15+6=(21): 8/2D6
TOU: 10+4=(14): 6/D10
PER: 17-1=(16): 7/D12
WIL: 14=(14): 6/D10
CHA: 10-1=(9): 4/D6
Commentary: I would start with an
obsidiman Liferock somewhere in the Badlands for this character. After
awakening, survival became most important, driving most of the obsidimen to
become elementalists or shaman. The struggle to survive was harsh, and some of
the obsidimen decided to seek Jaspree’s help with their cause. The young shaman
they send out to seek Jaspree’s help is this character. The character’s
long-term goal may be to cleanse the Badlands later on as well.
Statistically,
increasing the character’s Willpower Attribute by 2 points increases his
Willpower to step 7. Increasing the character’s Toughness Attribute by 2 points
increases Toughness step to 7. Increasing the character’s Strength by 1 point
increases Strength step to 9. After this, increasing Dexterity or Charisma by 2
points increases that Attribute by one step and +1 to the linked Defense of
that attribute. Following this makes the character’s Attributes look like this
at Sixth Circle:
Attributes (Sixth Circle):
DEX: 11-2=(9): 4/D6
STR: 15+6[+1]=(22): 9/D8+D6
TOU: 10+4[+2]=(16): 7/D12
PER: 17-1=(16): 7/D12
WIL: 14[+2]=(16): 7/D12
CHA: 10-1=(9): 4/D6
For skills, the obsidiman shaman should
focus on wilderness survival skills. A whole slew of wilderness skills help in
the Badlands including Climbing, Great Leap, Wilderness Survival, Horror Lore,
Tracking, and Creature Lore. Badlands-based Knowledge skills like History;
Badlands, Travar, Fallam, and Scourge may also be useful. I do not really see
this character as a multi-Discipline one, although Purifier or Horror Stalker
may appeal to the character if purifying the Badlands becomes a long-term goal.
This is the last of these columns, as the
remaining Disciplines made by FASA are racially specific. (Hard to have an
unusual race/Discipline combination when there is only one choice!) In
addition, any other Discipline that has been created should be infrequent in
its own right. I hope you have all enjoyed this column as much as I have.
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