From the Vault: E-Dawn 9

     This E-Dawn marked the start of a new campaign after the end of a ten year campaign. You might notice a theme with the new characters...ahem.

E-Dawn Volume 9: September 2004

Campaign Introduction Edition

HISTORY OF KAER CELLESIS

 

Ustrect refugees (mostly of Troll and Dwarf races) built Kaer Cellesis in the Twilight Peaks Mountains after the Orichalcum Wars had ended. Poor and having little resources, they used backbreaking labor and round-the-clock work to build their Kaer. However, being poor they found out they couldn't afford the Rites of Protection and Passage at the prices Thera was offering. Thinking themselves lost, many left the Kaer searching for other kaers to inhabit in desperation. As the Scourge quickly came upon Barsaive; however, a Theran Vedette having a group of Adepts with the Rites of Protection and Passage crashed after an unexpected storm had run their ship aground. With horror constructs and undead growing in numbers daily, the Therans and Trolls made a deal. The Therans would install the Rites of Protection and Passage, and give up slavery forever, in exchange for safety in the Kaer and promises of protection from those angered by the destruction of their kingdom in the Orichalcum Wars. The Theran vedette had some unexpected races. Beyond the normal human and elves, the ship also had t'skrang, orks, two obsidiman, and some windlings--The Ghareez. Knowing the obsidiman would sleep in the Kaer after its completion, the genius ship Elementalist, the elf Valjere Scybl, came up with an idea on how to wake them. A special chamber was created, with a sky-opening that could only be unlocked through powerful elemental magic, and heavily warded. As an extra protection of the front entrance, the two obsidiman collapsed the entrance of the main tunnel with their superior strength, thus adding a physical obstacle to the magical wards and traps the Therans had created. The Theran Air Sailors were delighted to find a troll drakkar inside the Kaer. Although not sky worthy, it would allow them to keep their disciplines intact throughout the Scourge. Kaer Cellesis remained sealed even as the magic level remained steady. Although several horrors attempted to breach the Kaer’s defenses, only one ever succeeded. This horror had found a weak ward in the area near the troll drakkar and managed to break its way through. The horror known as a rakken did enormous damage to the drakkar and decimated many Air Sailors and Sky Raiders before being put down by Valjere. The drakkar suffered a lot of damage and many doubted whether it would ever fly again. The seals on the area were redoubled, and the horrors never reentered the Kaer again. Valjere did what he could to preserve the ship, but lacking True air kernals in any great quantity, found there was little he could do beyond structural repairs. In more recent history, on Strassa 17^th, 1518 TH, the town's elders were all found dead one morning. The sudden deaths were followed by two weeks of grief and mourning. After this two factions formed, one following Sather, a Theran elf Air Sailor whose faction wanted to reopen the Kaer, and another following Gron, a troll Sky Raider who's faction anted the Kaer to remain sealed. As each side gained followers, tensions grew. Worse, most of Theran descent sided with Sather, and most of Troll descent sided with Gron. Eventually, the conflict was used by petty men to bring up the old Ustrect--Theran feud and bad blood, and going back on the original word of the Kaer's founders. Those trolls who feel that this dishonor is against everything trolls stand for side with Sather. Finally, in recent events, the conflict went from petty skirmishes to full out civil war.

POPULATION OF KAER CELLESIS 

40% Troll

30% Human

15% Elf

7% Dwarf

5% Ork

2 % Windling

1% T'skrang

Two Obsidiman

LAWS OF KAER CELLESIS

 

A dwarf traveler to Ustrect had brought the Book of Tomorrow with them; most of the laws of Kaer Cellesis are based on Throalic rather than Theran law. Slavery is outlawed in Kaer Cellesis. However, many Theran laws weaseled their way in, including some tax code laws. All people not associated with town guards and militia must pay a weapon tax of 1 copper piece per weapon per year, allowing for a weapon permit to be issued per weapon. Legally bought weapons usually have this tax included. Weapons without permits are subject to confiscation by law officials. Unlike Thera, non-weapons that could be used as weapons aren't subject to this tax. In these troubling times of civil war this has been used, as a justification for unprovoked attacks by wandering mobs so be careful.

GOVERNMENT OF KAER CELLESIS

 

Until recently, the government consisted of a ruling council elected for life of eight members that ran the day-to-day affairs of the Kaer. With all of them dead, shock and grief, and then chaos followed. If order could be restored, a new election could take place for the eight open slots. For now, the government is non-existent and anarchy rules during Sather and Gron's Civil War.

SOCIETY AND LAYOUT OF KAER CELLESIS

               

Before the current crisis, the day-to-day affairs ran relatively smoothly. Dwarf farmers tend to the underground mosses and mushrooms used for food, and trolls with their strength pull up the bucket of water from the well and store it in barrels. Stored food and water is brought to the t'skrang chefs, who prepare the food and serve it in the mess hall to guardsman, and then send food and water to the common room for distribution to the common folk in exchange for food and water vouchers. Guardsman are mostly troll, keeping an eye out on the main entrance and boulder pile, as well as the obsidiman chamber, and the drakkar, and normal areas such as the library, merchant district, council, courthouse, food distribution area, and prison. Beyond the common room lies the merchant district where other essential day today items are bought besides food and water, and finally beyond that lies the residential district where families live. The entire Kaer is built for trolls, making it difficult on the smaller Name-Giver races, forced to be small in a world too large for them. The size problem is worst on the dwarves and windlings of the Kaer, who usually have problems fitting into a world not built small enough for them. The dwarves spend their time farming, and building. The Ghareez make an isolated sect living in the upper floors of the library built by the Therans after the main Kaer construction, whose size is still too large but smaller than the rest of the Kaer, mostly focusing on magician disciplines. During the Scourge they used their natural astral sight to examine people of the Kaer and look for corruption. The t'skrang having no underground river to bathe in and water too precious for this purpose, are extremely irritable.  The orks and elves tend to stay near the drakkar practicing the Air Sailor and Sky Raider disciplines along with some humans and trolls. Humans have no true place in the Kaer, ostracized because of their Theran heritage; they are still full of ambition and fulfill many duties admirably.

RELIGION OF KAER CELLESIS

 

Trolls of the cave consider the Obsidiman Chamber to be sacred ground of their Rock Brothers and guard it ferociously. The trolls worship the nine normal Barsaive passions. The Theran descendants also secretly worship Dis.

FIRST SESSION GOALS

 

The party is starting out in the residential district, where the troll Elementalist, Merken Gaech tells them of his plan to unseal the Kaer and stop the civil war.

Avoid killing other Kaer members if at all possible, this will make peace more difficult to obtain.

Use stealth or failing that brute force to get past the wandering mobs in the merchant and residential districts.

Distract the Troll guards to allow Merkens to sneak into the Obsidiman Chamber and free the two Obsidiman.

Defeat the Troll guards at the Kaer entrance and remove the boulder pile to allow access to the Kaer entrance.

Stop the Troll guards from interfering with the disruption of the magic wards on the Kaer main entrance by Merkens and other spellcasters using ritual magic.

With the Kaer unsealed, negotiate peace between the Sather and Gron factions.

NEW CHARACTER BIOS

For these character bios, I was more interested in the character's relationships that had been built in the Kaer, as well as their family history and ancestry.  I guess we’ll wait and see what the rest of the PCs are playing on Sunday, and have them out in E-Dawn 10.

GALLWAY LENNOX (ERIC)

Elf Swordmaster Gallant First Circle

Father: U'sthra Lennox, Fifth Circle Bladesman Swordmaster.

Mother: Ariowan Lennox, Sae'misthra follower. Recently switched to Path of Sages.

Siblings: None

Discipline Teacher: Elf Fifth Circle Gallant Swordmaster, Keefe Swallowswing.

Friends: Childhood sweetheart; Teefa Leevant

Rival: Theran elf Swordmaster named Calhoun Rona Kele

Long-term goals: Find his soulsword. Discover secrets of the family sword currently possessed by his father.

Ancestry notes: Of Theran descent

JAMES T. KIRK JR. (TED)

Human Air Sailor First Circle

Father: James T. Kirk Sr., Fifth Circle Air Sailor. Initiated James Jr. as Air Sailor.

Mother: Kimberly

Friends: Childhood friends of Spock and Scotty

Enemies: Khan, Ork Sky Raider

Long-term goals: Revival of the Kaer's drakkar as the "Enterprise"

Ancestry notes: Of Theran descent

SPOCK (SHAWN)

Ork Scout First Circle

Father: Sarek, Fifth Circle Scout. Initiated Spock as Scout.

Mother: Savaak

Ten brothers and sisters.

Siblings of note: Sister Sarah is a Third Circle Sky Raider.

Friends: Childhood friends of Kirk and Scotty

Long-term goals: Explore Barsaive after Kaer is unsealed

Ancestry notes: Of Theran descent

SCOTTY UNSITR (JOSHUA)

Troll Weaponsmith First Circle

Father: Dan Unsitr, Fifth Circle Weaponsmith. Initiated Scotty as Weaponsmith.

Mother: Seaju Unsitr

Brother: Rheim Unsitr

Sister: Shinjuku Unstir

Friends: Childhood friends of Kirk and Spock

Long-term goals: Become owner of his father's shop; Unsitr's Anvil

Ancestry notes: Of Ustrect descent

 

FATE OF THE CHARACTERS 2

A couple late ones:

Liu (Ted): Human Spiritual Monk who was killed by the Serpent-Ghoul hybrids created by the Sanke Queen Horror (Adventure idea mentioned in Barsaivian Vivane).

Nightslayer (Eric): Windling Archer who retired to the Liaj Jungle, tempted by a Windling Cavalrywoman.

UNUSUAL RACE/DISCIPLINE COMBINATIONS 6

Obsidiman Illusionist

Advantages: Great toughness, armor, and wound threshold bonuses makes up for poor magician durability. Combined with high strength, its unlikely the discipline will take illusionary damage from turnaround attacks such as Wizards with Spell Snatcher. The high strength also makes the discipline suited for melee fighting with Blazing Fists of Rage and other melee illusionist spells.

Disadvantages: Low dexterity makes hitting with melee attacks difficult. The minus to perception hurts a lot. The minus to charisma can also be painful. Fortunately willpower isn’t penalized. The minimum 15 strength is just brutal, really hurting them in purchase point situations, as you are about to see.

Attributes (66 purchase points):

DEX: 13-2=(11): 5/D8

STR: 15+6=(21): 8/2D6

TOU: 11+4=(15): 6/D10

PER: 15-1=(14): 6/D10

WIL: 14=(14): 6/D10

CHA: 10-1=(9): 4/D6

Commentary: This is an unusual combination; even less unusual than the troll Illusionist mentioned last time. People suspect an obsidiman Illusionist even less than a troll one. The race also has some great physical attributes that work great in combination with a melee style illusionist. An obsidiman Illusionist with Blazing Fists of Rage and some Unarmed Combat skill ranks can be a force on the frontlines. Combined with Displace Image, it’s extremely difficult to hit them and they can deal decent damage with Blazing Fists of Rage. And if they disbelieve the spell, obsidiman strength is still sufficient to deal damage. It gets even worse at Second Circle with Monstrous Mantle. The obsidiman Illusionist turned into a jehuthra with Lacerators (Blazing Fists of Rage) can be a powerful foe to deal with. Because of low speed though, ranged spells are a necessity, meaning Ephemeral Bolt is very important. A Flying Carpet with a great Strength attribute can help the speed problem.

Consider also the obsidiman Elementalist for the same reasons mentioned last time for the troll Elementalists. Ice Spear is king for them, due to its range. Metal Wings negates the speed problem. As for obsidiman Nethermancers, Moltaa pretty much shows how it’s done in Infected. Spirit Grip is very good in their hands, and Spirit Dart and Astral Spear are good ranged spells. Astral Mount can help with the speed problem. An obsidiman Wizard can be interesting, but they lack a lot of the more useful melee spells of the Elementalist/Illusionist, although they have a wide variety of defensive spells that can be useful to such a character. They also have a lot of good ranged spells that tend to help out their slow speed, and spells like Solo Flight negate the disadvantage completely.