The Northlands Campaign (Homebrew Setting)

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Brad_J

The Northlands Campaign (Homebrew Setting)

Post by Brad_J »

Session 1, Part 1

After many failed games and breaks from gaming, I have finally been able to start up a campaign with a group of consistent and mature players. We are playing Castles & Crusades (with a few houserules) in my homebrew setting.

My setting has been out of commission for a while and I wanted to make some changes. So, I have advanced the timeline of the world 15,000 years. The players who were around for when I used to run games here are starting to see the similarities and figure things out, as things from the long past are resurfacing ever so slowly.

The campaign kicks off in the town of Anavar, the northernmost town of the Kingdom of Valras. Valras is the one true kingdom in the northern lands of the continent of Argotha. As the game begins the players learn that things in Valras have become bleak. Two years ago an early winter wreaked havoc on the harvest. The following year, Valras experiences yet another early and harsh winter. To make matters worse, as the first snow began to blanket the land, a horde of unified hobgoblin tribes descended from the mountains and attacked the starving kingdom. The horde struck quickly, sacking the southern trade city of Nythran and moving west to destroy the town of Drosar.

After the destruction of Drosar, the horde turned northwest to make it's way to the heart of Valras. It was at the great fortress of Calrin's Gate that the horde was broken by the forces of Valras. In defeat, the horde retreated south and east to the ruins of Nythran and the hills surrounding it.

Valras was saved, for now. The danger of a severely depleted grain supply and the hobgoblin horde now controlling the trade road leading east, has many questioning how long the kingdom can continue to survive.

Insert our characters. Will they be heroes, villains, or something in between? Only time will tell.

Our cast of characters!

Brann (CN, Dwarf Male, Cleric/Fighter) - Brann is a follower of Illarwyn, the god of curiosity, exploration, and storytelling. Brann wields a two-handed sword.

Corrin (CG, Human Male, Fighter) - Corrin is a native of Anavar and a follower of Illarwyn. He is your typical fighter, longsword and shield.

Rigby (CG, Half-Elf Male, Ranger) - Rigby is a native of Anavar and another follower of Illarwyn. Rigby is an able-bodied melee combatant but prefers to use his bow.

We begin play in The Drunken Swordsman, a small tavern located on the northern edges of Anavar. Anavar is a farming town of roughly 800 residents. The town is widely spread out, occupying nearly 10 square miles of land. Corrin and Rigby are having a morning meal when they meet Brann. After some discusion, and finding out that Brann is an actual cleric of Illarwyn, Corrin and Rigby welcome the dwarf to their company.

A fair amount of time is spent in the tavern gathering rumors. Corrin and Rigby pass on some local knowledge to Brann regarding a site to the north of town known as Zurath's Peak. Pooling their collected knowledge and gathering some rumors, the group uncovers the following tidbits of information regarding Zurath's Peak:

- Zurath's Peak is the name given to a lone mountain roughly 20 miles north of Anavar.

- The name of the mountain originates from the wizard Zurath, who occupied the lands in the early days of the elven empire of Irrathayn. By Brann's math, that would put Zurath's time on the mountain somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 years ago.

- Zurath crafted an extensive network of tunnels throughout the mountain. Since his departure, many groups have inhabited the tunnels and chambers in the mountain. The most recent inhabitants of the peak are rumored to have been cultists of Mord (Mord is the god corruption, greed, and vengeance), although that claim is largely a rumor.

The next rumor our trio picks up on is the sudden appearance and then disappearance of three black clothed individuals passing through town the previous day. The townsfolk commented that they did interfere or interact with the three as they feared that they were necromancers of evil cultists.

Our band of adventurers have two leads to go on, then they make a third. Mulling over the two options, the group decides to head south and combat some of the hobgoblins that have no doubt occupied the ruined towns of the southern portions of the kingdom.

Our trio of explorers pack up and head south along the trade road. After a hard 8 hours of travel they arrive in the town Imran. Imran is a town with a population that is slightly larger than Anavar. Unlike Anavar, Imaran is more tightly packed town, more resembling a profitable trading community. Coming into town and talking to a few townsfolk, Corrin finds that there is only one true inn in Imran. The group scratches their heads after hearing that and ask themselves, "How does a town this big, only have one inn?"

The make their way there and find out. The arrive at the Black Dagger Tavern, a massive four-story inn. The group enters and are greeted by a doorman. Rigby is a bit hesitant about entering as the doorman takes the money for room and meals up front and demands that their weapons are stowed in a storeroom before they enter. The group complies, pays, and hands their weapons over. Several conversations occur here.

- Corrin and Rigby join a large group at a table. The group they sit with turn out to be a family that owns a large stable outside of town. Corrin and Rigby end up negotiating a discount with the family if they are ever in need of mounts.

- Brann heads over to a side table at the corner of the bar so he can eavesdrop on four people negotiating at a table. Brann is able to hear a fair amount of the conversation. One man is explaining that a woman recently stole 500gp from him. He is offering the three men at the table 10% of it, if they can track her down and return the money. Brann picks up that the man doesn't really care what happens to the woman who stole the money. The three would be bounty hunters get up and walk to the storeroom to retrieve their gear. Things get interesting here, and the group really begins to question how the legitimacy of the Black Dagger Tavern.

To be continued.....

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Post by Breakdaddy »

Nice! Keep up the after action reports.
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Post by Brad_J »

Session 1, Part 2

Brann gets up and follows the three men as they head to the store room to retrieve their belongings. Corrin and Rigby, are still entertaining their new friends. The three men reach the storeroom, and the attendant there refuses to hand over their weapons. A war of words is waged between the room keeper and the man who appears to the be leader of the three. Things get heated and the spokesperson for the three men makes a verbal threat to the room attendant.

Seeing that things are going downhill fast, and not wanting to get involved, Brann stops short of the scuffle and takes post at a nearby table. Corrin and Rigby, with their new friends are watching the scene intently.

As the shouting match continues, the doorman steps in to try and diffuse the situation. The man threatening the store room attendant turns and begins berating the doorman. Much to the surprise of the tavern's patrons, the doorman produces a well concealed dagger and flings it at the brash man grazing him across the shoulder. The man's two friends move to engage the doorman, but stop as they notice their companion is on the floor vomiting and looking well under the weather. The doorman calls for assistance, and several large men from the kitchen come out and "see" the three disturbers of the peace out. The doorman collects their things from the storeroom and throws the gear out into the street. Brann notices the doorman pocketing a coin purse out of one of the packs before he tosses it.

Brann, Corrin, and Rigby move to a private table and discuss the events that just occurred. They believe that there is more to this tavern than meets the eye, but they are wary to press the issue as the doorman was obviously carrying a poisoned blade. Brann elects that they speak with the man who was talking to the three trouble-makers. Corrin and Rigby follow Brann to the man's table, and let Rigby do the talking.

The man introduces himself as Aeron. Aeron hails from the lands west of Valras, and has recently had the displeasure of having a bag containing 500gp stolen from him by a dark clothed woman. The group gives Aeron the description of the three dark clothed people that heard about in Anavar. The woman that stole the money fits the description of one of the three individuals that recently passed through Anavar. The group offers to look into the theft. With that, they call it a night and head to their rooms. Upstairs, the group decides that they will look into the theft and keep the money if they can obtain it.

The next morning, the group speaks with Aeron and he directs them south as that is the last place he saw her heading. With that information, the group heads out of town. On the way out Corrin and Rigby stop by the home of the family they met the night before to window shop for horses and ask about any areas that a person could hide out at south of town. One of the younger men at the stables informs them of a strange old tower located a half day's ride over the hills and at the edge of the forest south of town. Our intrepid adventurers head south to the tower in the woods.

Travel is fast and uneventful. Rigby has a map of the region and he noted the path to the tower from the boy's description.

Shortly after sunset, the group reaches the hills that descend into the sprawling woodlands south of Valras. They see the top of this "strange" tower, and find that strange is the correct word to describe it. The tower is rounded at the top, and appears to have no windows from what they can see. Not only that, but the tower is giving off a faint green glow.

Rigby scouts ahead, moving ever so quietly through the woods. Brann and Corrin trail behind and try to stay quiet. The group closes in and spots a small campsite in a clearing surrounding the strange tower. They are able to identify the woman described by Aeron. She is sitting around a small campfire with two men.

The group launches an ambush on the three. They did not want to waste anytime, as Aeron had told the group that the woman was an enchantress. Brann wades in first, striking a mighty blow against the surprised woman. Corrin comes in next but stumbles, and his blade goes wide of his mark. Rigby holds for the moment, he is surveying the situation from the treeline with his bow in hand. The woman staggers back and holds out a coin purse insisting that they take it and leave. Corrin doesn't hear this, because he stuffed his ears with cotton balls (he took the enchantress thing to heart), and strikes her down. The two men have grabbed weapons by this point and engage Brann and Corrin. The fight was short and brutal, with Brann and Corrin taking very minor wounds and their two attackers lay dead. Brann dropped one with a strike from his sword, and the other was laid low by an arrow from Rigby.

Brann moves in to bind the woman's wounds, and her hands. Corrin and Rigby loot the bodies finding some coin, a couple of gems, a few weapons of mundane quality, and a silver ring (Brann later identified the ring as being magical). Once the looting was completed, Brann uses some of his healing magic to revive the woman, and the group begins to question her.

Her name is Kessara, and she is a priestess of Cyrri (goddess of the moon, chance, secrets, and deception). She explains that the money she was accused of stealing was actually won by her in a card game. She admits that she cheated, but nobody else at the table besides herself and Aeron realized this. She offers to happily hand the money and goods over to the group in exchange for not killing her, which the group accepts. The release Kessara from her bonds and offer that she travels with them for the time being or at least until she sees fit to leave, which she accepts.

The group then decides to do some investigation regarding the glowing tower before them. The tower is made from a smooth stone, and has no windows. The glow is a bit perplexing, but after some thought, Brann explains that the tower is made from Moonstone. Moonstone as a rare form of rock that is not actually native to the world. A further examination by Brann also reveals that this 5-story tower was carved out of one solid piece of Moonstone. Rigby also adds that he has heard of Moonstone being used by various druid circles in the region. Knowing this, the group decides it would be best to rest for the night and explore the inside of the tower in the morning. Before bed, they do question Kessara as to why she was at the tower. She gives very vague responses and ends the conversation with, "It looked like a good place to camp." They question her no further.

The next morning the group wakes up and head into the tower. Once inside, they realize this tower is nothing but one large room. It extends from floor to ceiling for nearly 60 feet, and it is all open space. Even stranger, the tower's ceiling appears to be translucent. The floor is 40 feet in diameter and is covered in vibrant green grass, save for a 10 foot diameter section in the center of the floor. They approach no further, as they fear some kind of druid magic is at work here.

And that is where we called it for the day.

This Sunday is our next session and we'll see where they go from there.

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Post by Omote »

Awesome intro and recaps Brad_J. I'll be reading and hoping ot hear more about Illarwyn (this god just sounds so cool!).

~O
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Post by Go0gleplex »

This is definitely a good read.
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Post by Brad_J »

Omote wrote:
Awesome intro and recaps Brad_J. I'll be reading and hoping ot hear more about Illarwyn (this god just sounds so cool!).

~O

A little background about Illarwyn.

The cult of Illarwyn came into being roughly 400 years before the start of this game.

The story behind the cult's creation revolves around the a half-elven mercenary and musician named Grellan. Grellan was a well known adventurer in the southern lands, and during the middle years of his life he travelled northward to explore new lands. It was during these travels that he was said to have come into contact with the being he would name Illarwyn.

According to the story, Grellan was the sole survivor of a nasty battle between his company of mercenaries and a warband of orogs. Grellan was left on the field of battle, badly wounded and starving. It was there that he heard the faint sound of music and soothing words in an ancient elven dialect that he did not fully understand. Grellan lifted his head to see a bright eight-pointed star in the horizon. He was filled with warmth, and felt that even though his wounds were severe he would muster the courage to go to the light.

He crawled for what seemed like days, when he finally reached the source of the light. There he found a hovel that was home to what appeared to be an elven man, although he was much smaller in height than any elf Grellan had ever seen. This strange little elf was the source of the ethereal music and strange elven speech that Grellan was able to hear from hear from miles away. There, the little elf tended Grellan's wounds and fed him. This lasted for several days.

Once Grellan was healed, the man gifted him with a lute that was covered in a strange elf-like script. Then once the lute was in Grellan's hands, the little elf and the hovel vanished.

Soon after, Grellan would consult with elven sages as to the nature of the inscriptions on the lute. There was only one recognizable name, that of Illarwyn.

For the next several years, Grellan travelled the lands telling his story. He also found during this time that the lute when played had the power to inspire and even heal others. Grellan also found that he was unable to stop travelling. The need to wander, see new places, and learn new things consumed him.

Needless to say, the story of Grellan and even the lute itself have travelled quite a bit in that time.

The cult of Illarwyn is relatively small, and unlike most other cults there are no temples or shrines to the "deity". Clerics wander the land much like Grellan did.

Illarwyn is worshipped as a deity of inspiration, wanderlust, exploration, courage, music, and storytelling.

As far as game mechanics go. Clerics of Illarwyn cannot turn undead. Instead they get a permanent +10' movement enhancement, and they receive a +5 saving throw bonus to paralysis or any movement impairing affect. They must also be of NG, CG, or CN alignments.

I think that covered it all.

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Post by Omote »

Awesome squared. Thank you very much.
~O
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Brad_J

Post by Brad_J »

Session 2 is going to be delayed.

We were supposed to play yesterday, but a sick CK = no game.

Hopefully I will have kicked this sinus infection by then and we can resume this upcoming Sunday!

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Post by Sir Osis of Liver »

Brad_J wrote:
A little background about Illarwyn.

The cult of Illarwyn came into being roughly 400 years before the start of this game.

The story behind the cult's creation revolves around the a half-elven mercenary and musician named Grellan. Grellan was a well known adventurer in the southern lands, and during the middle years of his life he travelled northward to explore new lands. It was during these travels that he was said to have come into contact with the being he would name Illarwyn.

According to the story, Grellan was the sole survivor of a nasty battle between his company of mercenaries and a warband of orogs. Grellan was left on the field of battle, badly wounded and starving. It was there that he heard the faint sound of music and soothing words in an ancient elven dialect that he did not fully understand. Grellan lifted his head to see a bright eight-pointed star in the horizon. He was filled with warmth, and felt that even though his wounds were severe he would muster the courage to go to the light.

He crawled for what seemed like days, when he finally reached the source of the light. There he found a hovel that was home to what appeared to be an elven man, although he was much smaller in height than any elf Grellan had ever seen. This strange little elf was the source of the ethereal music and strange elven speech that Grellan was able to hear from hear from miles away. There, the little elf tended Grellan's wounds and fed him. This lasted for several days.

Once Grellan was healed, the man gifted him with a lute that was covered in a strange elf-like script. Then once the lute was in Grellan's hands, the little elf and the hovel vanished.

Soon after, Grellan would consult with elven sages as to the nature of the inscriptions on the lute. There was only one recognizable name, that of Illarwyn.

For the next several years, Grellan travelled the lands telling his story. He also found during this time that the lute when played had the power to inspire and even heal others. Grellan also found that he was unable to stop travelling. The need to wander, see new places, and learn new things consumed him.

Needless to say, the story of Grellan and even the lute itself have travelled quite a bit in that time.

The cult of Illarwyn is relatively small, and unlike most other cults there are no temples or shrines to the "deity". Clerics wander the land much like Grellan did.

Illarwyn is worshipped as a deity of inspiration, wanderlust, exploration, courage, music, and storytelling.

As far as game mechanics go. Clerics of Illarwyn cannot turn undead. Instead they get a permanent +10' movement enhancement, and they receive a +5 saving throw bonus to paralysis or any movement impairing affect. They must also be of NG, CG, or CN alignments.

I think that covered it all.

This is way cool stuff. I love it. Nice job.

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Post by Go0gleplex »

Waiting patiently for more kick butt goodness
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Post by Breakdaddy »

Nice job dude.
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Brad_J

Post by Brad_J »

Sorry for the delay.

Unfortunately, the game has been put on hiatus. We lost two players, due to work transfers.

I have picked up a couple new guys in the past week, and a player that used to game with us is returning.

I am hoping to have something new up soon.

Brad_J

Post by Brad_J »

Well it has been some time since my last post. I was hoping to have something up earlier, but RL got in the way.

I will be starting up a new game this week. I will be posting recaps and such over at my blog, www.hexcrawl.blogspot.com

I am posting there, as we will be playing Labyrinth Lord and this is a C&C forum.

Hope some of you guys follow our adventures!

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Post by Omote »

Welcome back Brad_J. Good luck on the new campaign!

~O
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