From the Vault: E-Dawn 10

E-Dawn 9 focused on the Session Zero aspects of the new Earthdawn Campaign and this is the true beginning of it.  

E-Dawn Volume 10: October 2004

Campaign Introduction Edition

           

PC RECAP

The Unsealing of Kaer Cellesis.

                I wish I could go out on fantastic adventures. But I am a sage; I live my life of adventure by reading the tales of yesterday and hearing the tales of today. I’ve read almost everything this small library has to offer, but a new story started before my very eyes, and a new chapter in the history of our Kaer.

                The death of the wise leaders and the eldest of our Kaer was sudden and swift, happening on Strassa 17^th 1518 TH or 10/3 1075 TE. Their sudden deaths were followed by two weeks of mourning, and then the question. Should the Kaer be unsealed? The sudden deaths of the eldest among us, including the entire council made Sather and most of Theran descent believed it was time to investigate outside of the Kaer. Gron’s faction of mostly Ustrect descent thought unsealing the Kaer would be a bad idea considering the loss of the elders. Thus the argument period that led to all-out war as tensions flared after opinions clashed.

                Gron and Sather’s war had torn the Kaer apart. Ruffians and guards clashed in the common room, as well as the merchant and residential districts. The war was over whether we should unseal the Kaer. The trolls kept a strict watch on the Kaer entrance ostensibly to stop Sather from unsealing the Kaer, we found out the truth of why they really did later. Sather was a personable Theran elf Air Sailor charging into battle with his men and was quite reckless, but was beloved by his men for fighting alongside them in the thick of the fray. Gron was a troll Warrior of Ustrect descent who had holed himself up in the Council Chamber, coolly calculating his next move. Gron’s men didn’t particularly like him that much, but they had even less love for those of Theran descent, but had they known the truth, they may have turned on him just the same.

                Meanwhile, the people of the Kaer suffered. The smell of death, of decay, and blood saturated the Kaer. Food and water rationing became even tighter with the trolls keeping it for themselves, and giving a select few food and water vouchers with which to get food in the common room. Of course, waiting in line in the common room had its own dangers, as many fights between Sather and Gron’s forces broke out there, sometimes spilling into the line of civilians. Someone had to put a stop to this madness.

                Some trolls of Ustrect descent had felt the shame of Gron’s betrayal of the promises made in the kaers charter to those of Theran descent. One of these Trolls was Merken Gaech. He had looked at Valjere’s grimoire and had found the spell that would unseal the obsidimen in the Obsidiman Chamber. Using their great strength, they could break through the barrier at the Kaer entrance and push their way to the gate, where he and his apprentice Naffisgal could break the seal and open the Kaer. With the Kaer opened, the reason for the war would be gone, and the fighting would have to end.

                He tasked his other apprentice; Rastalos Deftwing with finding a group of adventurers to aid him in this task, for he and Naffisgal would be vulnerable when they cast the spells to dispel the wards on the gate. Rastalos recommended his friend Ni’Bawn, and gathered the three friends of Kirk, Spock, and Scotty, and was followed by the elf Swordmaster Gallway.  

                Merken Gaech told the group of adventurers his plan and asked for their help to unseal the Kaer and stop the war. When they agreed, the troll Elementalist gathered his supplies and they left to their destination, the Obsidiman Chamber.

                As they traveled through the residential district, they heard a woman scream. They ran over to investigate. Five ruffians had grabbed Marissa, and were attempting to rape her.  Mareth, her brother, screamed and charged at them. The ruffians laughed and four came up to attack Mareth. The ruffians stopped laughing when the adventurers intervened. The ruffians were knocked unconscious and soundly defeated, and Marissa was saved. The adventurers told Mareth about their situation. In gratitude, Mareth promised to distract the guards in the merchant district and common room, and abet them in getting to the Obsidiman Chamber quickly.

                Once they got to the Obsidiman Chamber they needed to distract the guards long enough for Merken to enter the chamber and awaken the two obsidimen. The elf Swordmaster, Gallway, taunted two of the guards and then resisted arrest, and was taken off to jail. He later freed himself by making bail. The other two guards were angered when Kirk mooned them. Kirk unfortunately went the wrong way as they chased him, and was beaten to within an inch of his life by six troll guards. Meanwhile, Merken cast the spell in Valjere’s grimoire, causing a rumbling throughout the cave. A dome over the obsidiman chamber opened up allowing the sun to shine through, and snowflakes to fall into the Kaer for the first time. Brax and Slate Greystone, two Obsidiman rock brothers woke up at an accelerated rate due to Valjere’s spell. They were up within an hour, and by this point the elf Swordmaster, Gallway, had wandered back to the party. The two troll guards who had brought him to the prison had been diverted by a huge battle in the common room. Sather had decided the rumblings in the Kaer were a sign from the Passions that the Kaer must be unsealed and thus started a new battle to reach Gron and end the war permanently.

                Meanwhile, the party continued north to the stone barricade, where they saw the elemental water pool and elemental earth ball. Rastalos noticed right away that the magic level had dropped since the last time he was here. The trolls had been keeping this information from the populace of the Kaer with all the guards in this corridor. Six troll guards then attacked the party at the boulder barricade. The fighting was fierce and Scotty was killed, and Spock severely injured, but Merken gave the party a Last Chance Salve, saving Scotty, as well as potions to treat their injuries.

                With the troll guards defeated, the Brax, Slate, and Scotty used their superior strength to break through the boulder barricade. The adventurers then traveled to the Kaer gate. Merken and Naffisgal placed an Icy Surface spell behind the group to slow down any guards who were alerted to them by the loud sound of the boulders moving. They then started the ritual spell to dispel the gate’s magic. The party handily defeated 6 troll guards who attempted to stop the magicians, aided greatly by the Icy Surface spell, and their ability to Air Dance over it. The gate was unsealed and the adventurers stared out into an icy wonderland with a bright sun and a few snowflakes, the first to view the outside world in half a millennia.

                After this they entered the common room and told Sather and the troll guards of the unsealing of the Kaer. Sather haughtily declared victory. Meanwhile, the party moved on to Council Chamber, which was locked by Gron. Mareth unlocked the door, allowing the party to enter and tell Gron of the unsealing of the Kaer and pointlessness of continuing the war. After finally convincing him, the adventurers had done it, unsealed the Kaer and brought us peace.

Written by Ray Toujours, dwarf Sage of the Cellesis Library—Doddul 1^st, 1518 TH/ 67/1 1075 TE.

Spoiler Alert: This journal contains spoilers for the “Wanderer’s Rest: Chronicles of Barsaive: Twilight Peaks”.

               

First Expedition Results

                After resting they decided to leave to explore the outside world. I told them I would pay for any information they brought back. I was hoping for more of a journal from them, but I did manage to get some information from them.

                A town was found at the mountain’s nadir about two days down the mountain from Kaer Cellesis. The name of this town is Crossacre. Perhaps Cellesis can cooperate with this town in the future and possibly expand outside the Twilight Peaks into the Ustrect lowland.

                The adventurers managed to become honorary members of a trollmoot called the Stonehearts. The Stonehearts are one of the ten trollmoots of the Stoneclaws, a powerful clan of Troll Sky Raiders. This moot was about four days southwest of Crossacre, so six days away from Cellesis.

                Further southwest about four days travel are the Ironmongers trollmoot. This makes them ten days away from Cellesis. This is a sky raider clan that desires precious metals. They will be an enemy of ours, if we wish to have any presence outside the Kaer for certain.

                To the northeast of the Ironmongers after about four days travel is the Blood Circle trollmoot. It would take a fortnight to reach there from Cellesis. The Blood Circle is one of the eight trollmoots of the Bloodlores, another one of our enemies. The adventurers foiled the Blood Circle’s kidnapping attempt of the Stonehearts’ chief, probably for ransom. As these are the ancient enemies of the Stonehearts, it makes them the adventurer’s enemies. Bloodlores also hate Thera with a passion, making them an enemy of Cellesis as well probably, due to our many Theran descendents.

                I paid them a total of 60 silvers each for the information they gave me.  

Written by Ray Toujours, dwarf Sage of the Cellesis Library—Strassa 6^th, 1519 TH/ 9/4 1076 TE.

Kidnapped!

                While the adventurers were gone, a string of kidnappings was taking place. I sheltered Marissa with me, hoping that would keep her safe. Still many kidnappings have occurred recently. Most notable was the kidnapping of the excellent Theran descended Air Sailor James T. Kirk, and his wife Kimberly. The note left on their door seems to suggest the ork Sky Raider Khan is responsible and is headed to the Liaj Jungle with young Kirk Jr.'s parents. The newly reformed council with so far Sather and Merken as the council leaders until elections later on in the New Year, immediately put out an exile notice on Khan and anyone caught working with him or trying to kidnap Kaer residents. What baffles most people, myself included, is why is Khan doing this?

Written by Ray Toujours, dwarf Sage of the Cellesis Library—Strassa 6^th, 1519 TH/ 9/4 1076 TE.

NEW CHARACTER BIOS: PART 2

SLATE GREYSTONE (ZIGGY)

Obsidiman Warrior First Circle

Liferock: Hammerhills

Discipline Teacher: Long dead Human Warrior at the Theran War College.

Rockbrother: Brax Greystone

Long-term goals: Travel/Exploration

Ancestry notes: Of Theran descent

RASTALOS DEFTWING (DAN)

Windling Elementalist First Circle

Nickname: Rast

Father: Mithalon, Fifth Circle Wizard

Mother: Arden

Sister: Ardic

Friends: Recently befriended Ni’Bawn

Fellow Apprentice: Naffisgal, Third Circle Troll Elementalist

Discipline Teacher: Merken Gaech, Sixth Circle Troll Elementalist

Long-term goals: Learn new Disciplines and spells. Obtain book knowledge at the greatest libraries in the world.

Ancestry notes: Of Theran descent

NI’BAWN (JULIE)

Female T’skrang Warrior First Circle

Father: Tralphis

Mother: Krita

Friends: Recently befriended Rastalos Deftwing.

Discipline Teacher: Gron, Seventh Circle Troll Warrior.

Long-term goals: To become the protector of her people.

Ancestry notes: Of Theran descent.

CHARACTER GRAVEYARD

Scotty Unsitr. Bitten and clawed to death by Mountain Lions.

ON WEAPONSMITHING AND GEAR RANT

First of all, the new gear and rules, as well as the new weaponsmithing talent knacks can create some interesting weapons. But lets look at some of the rules thus far first.

Best Quality weapons. 2 x normal price. +1 to weapon damage result of all one-handed weapons, +2 to weapon damage result of melee two-handed weapons of Size 5-7. An excellent bow and excellent arrows stack to give an overall weapon damage result +2 bonus. 

Attack speed on weapons. These initiative bonuses only add in when the weapon is being actively used in an Action: Yes manner including Melee Weapons, Surprise Strike, Acrobatic Strike, Unarmed Combat, Disarm, Called Shot tests, etc. If a character is using Fireblood or another non-weapon related action, he doesn’t get the initiative bonus. If a character changes action in the round he declares he is using an initiative increasing weapon, and then changes his action to say Fireblood, the initiative bonus of the weapon will be subtracted from his initiative result. So if I have a Rapier and I was going to do an attack, but got hit extremely hard and wanted to do Fireblood instead, I’d subtract the 1 from my initiative so my 7 would become a 6 instead for example.

The climbing TK can be used on claws and daggers (Ala Sinbad and Bane), mostly weapons of size 2 or lower.

Spears add +1 step to Charge damage, and Lances add +3 steps to Charge damage ala Living Room Games’ mounted combat rules.

Now that we have that outta the way, lets look at one of the new weapons in closer detail, the rapier.

First of all, it’s a relatively weak weapon, with only STR +3. It has some benefits though, including +1 to attack speed, +1 to riposte step, and + 5 disarm DN. If we have say a Weaponsmith with Forge Blade 9 and can afford five forgings, let’s see what we can do with it.

Rapier STR +6 /+2 attack speed /+2 riposte step/+5 disarm DN for a high damage approach to offense.  

Rapier STR +3/+1 attack speed/+1 riposte step/+10 disarm DN for a high degree of disarm resistance. With a PDV of 10, that is a disarm DN of 20, which would take an average Swordmaster with a Step 7 Dexterity and Step 4 Karma, 9 ranks in Disarm to remove 50% of the time.

Rapier STR +4/+2 attack speed/+4 riposte step/+5 disarm DN for a high riposte step.

Rapier STR +4/+4 attack speed/+2 riposte step/+5 disarm DNs for a high attack speed.

These same principles could be applied to a broadsword or other melee weapon as well. Basically this adds an extra degree of customization to most weapons, which many players should appreciate.

UNUSUAL RACE/DISCIPLINE COMBINATIONS 7

T’skrang Nethermancer

Advantages: +1 dexterity and + 1 toughness make for a better melee range survivability. +1 charisma helps when negotiating with ally spirits. Karma is fairly cheap compared to most characters. 

Disadvantages: No strength, perception, or willpower bonuses. Strength can be very helpful to a Nethermancer who wants to carry around large sacks filled with bones to create bone circles and undead. With perception and willpower being the core stats of the Nethermancer, having no bonuses hurts, especially with purchase points.

Attributes (66 purchase points):

DEX: 12+1= (13): 6/D10

STR: (10): 5/D8

TOU: 13+1=(14): 6/D10

PER: (16): 7/D12

WIL: (16): 7/D12

CHA: 10+1=(11): 5/D8

Commentary: This character is an odd choice due to it being a Nethermancer from a culture known to cremate their dead and send them down the Serpent River. Thus no bodies left to work with. This means the character is almost automatically outcast from his home culture, increasing his isolation.

                Statistically, this character needs a +1 in dexterity for an 8 physical defense value,  and then should start improving perception and willpower. For skills, consider Wound Balance and Break Bonds, since Step 5 strength is a major weakness for a close melee combatant. Or you could rely on Spirit Dart, but its still half the strength of Spirit Grip. Still most of the Nethermancer’s best spells are close range stuff like Pain, Foul Vapors, and Constrict Heart, so you want to be in the thick of things to be an effective Nethermancer.

This is also one of the reasons troll and obsidiman Nethermancers are so effective, their higher toughness and strength tend to allow them to survive the melee style of this discipline easier. At any rate, t’skrang make great Elementalists due to their physical attribute bonuses and charisma to negotiate with elementals. They are natural water specialists as well. They also make superb Illusionists, as dexterity and charisma are core secondary stats for the Illusionist discipline. T’skrang Wizards can be decent because of the toughness add, but dexterity and charisma aren’t as important for them as they tend to stay out of combat and they have few charisma based abilities. T’skrang Shaman are great because of the physical bonuses. Consider the t’skrang magician, even though it’s an odd choice, it can be effective.