ogrespotting

The cavern went dark.

Silently, Raith cursed himself for being ill-prepared. His final torch vanquished, he began uttering a cryptic incantation, then waved his arms in a mystic pass. The torch still in his hand flickered to life again, though not by any form of natural fire.

"We've not long to secure the tunnel," he said, taking up his staff and treading onward. "Let us move quickly."

The halflings that followed him hardly needed the magical light to see, but having a sightless mage at the party's forefront was far from an acceptable liability.

Besides, Raith knew that he would serve as a fine distraction when the hin fanned out to either side upon finding their quarry: the vile ogre responsible for murdering more than a dozen halfling villagers. And likely more by now, had Raith not recently been passing through the low valley that harbored their undersized huts and cottages.

Nevertheless, that he was forced to expend a valuable spell distressed the wizard greatly. Raith and the halflings had burned through a liberal number of torches dealing with a goblin encampment near the cave's entrance, a reckless use of supplies that would see the halflings leading Raith out like a blind beggar if they couldn't end their mission soon.

Raith narrowed his dark eyes and swallowed his anguish. Hitherto, nary a hin had been lost, even seriously injured, and Raith very much intended that his full accompaniment would return to their families safely.

For enough halfling blood had been spilled at the hands of the wretched creature they sought.

outer reaches pbp: expanding horizons

As time passes, so do new catastrophes arise, and sometimes, new heroes arise to meet them. As an expansion to my tabletop game, I am starting a small email-based play-by-post (pbp) game with new players.

While their actions will take place in the same setting and perhaps the same timeframe, they will not necessarily overlap.  The pbp game will take place upriver and across the mountain range from my tabletop group, commencing in the town of Nulrest en route to a militarized keep in the mountains, as well as the nearby village of Cuprum along the Copperflow River.

So if you see new faces and stories on the blog, never fear!  

becoming the hunter

Aditsan was born to poor parents in a small village. What little income the family had came from his parents knowledge of the woods surrounding them. His mother, Aiyana, would collect herbs and fungi from the forest and his father, Chaska, was an expert hunter. Between the two of them, this provided enough to get by.

The couple took turns caring for Aditsan, so he spent his childhood wandering the woods instead of playing with other children. As such, he generally relates better to animals than people. Aditsan is short and thin with a pinched rat like face, yet is incredibly strong despite his outward appearance. After reaching adulthood, he decided to move to the city to experience more of the world. He quickly found that he was able to monetize his knowledge of the woods and has started to build a reputation for tracking and capturing fugitives. Now know by his clients as The Hunter, he enjoys that he gets to spend most of his life out in the woods while making enough money to support his parents back in the village.

When The Hunter is working in the woods, he can always be found with Fang, the Catahoula Leopard Dog that he found as a pup and trained to help him track. Fang knows how to look mean when necessary, but is really a gentle dog who just loves to work. He also is usually found with his horse, Nevarra. He doesn’t ride her often as he tracks better on foot, but she walks behind carrying his equipment and frequently an injured fugitive.

Aditsan is highly skilled with a long sword, however he does not often use it against the fugitives he hunts because they are often required to be returned alive. For that reason, he often uses his extraordinary strength to grapple an opponent into submission before clamping them into the mancles he always carries in his belt pouch.

ithel maccarrick: background and description

Description
Ithel MacCarrick is the youngest son of the Earl of Kierney. He is tall, about 6 feet, with brown eyes, and dark brown hair that he keeps cut short. He can usually be found in an inn drinking, dicing, laughing, and hoping to hear about a chance at treasure and glory.

While he might be drinking with the commoners in the inn, it is quite obvious that he views them as beneath him. He is always quick to accept a free drink, but can rarely be found buying drinks for others.

He always has his trident by his side, and when it is in his hand it is almost like it is an extension of him.

Background
Ithel is the sixth child, fourth son, of the Brion MacCarrick, Earl of Kierney. Due to his noble upbringing, he was trained in weapons from a very early age. He sat in on discussions on running the earldom, even though he knew he would never inherit it. Because of this knowledge, Ithel rarely paid attention, and did little to learn these skills. He would much rather be in the practice yard fighting.

Ithel was trained in all manner of weapons, but did not excel with any of them. He would practice just as hard as anyone else, but just did not become proficient with them. It wasn't until he started to work with pole-arms that his talent began to show. In particular, he loved the trident. He began to work with it exclusively, and soon he was able to master the use of it. He was able to hold his own against three others wielding long swords.

In addition to his formal weapons training, Ithel could be found spending time with the court bard. It was not music or stories that he was interested in though. He discovered that not only was the bard a talented musician, he was quite adept with a dagger. Ithel wished to learn those same skills, as they could be quite useful if he ever found himself without a larger weapon. The bard taught him how to throw a dagger with deadly accuracy.

After mastering the dagger training, Ithel could be found with any number of daggers on him at any point in time. Everyone noticed the dagger at his belt, but only the more perceptive noticed the dagger handle sticking out of his boot sheath. However, anyone that thought those were his only weapons were sorely mistaken. With a flourish of his hand, he could make a deadly dagger appear in his hand. Another flourish and is was gone, back up his sleeve. This was true of both arms. In a flash these could be thrown with, and quite accurately.

As he got older, Ithel became tired of sitting in meetings all day and discussing business of the household. Wheat and hay just did not hold his attention. He decided to join the king's army. His father was proud of him, though saddened to see him leave. Ithel left home and made his way to Specularum. Once there he went to the barracks and inquired about joining the army. He me with some men there, and after a long discussion with them, plus a demonstration of his skills, he was in the army. Due to his noble birth, they made him a corporal.

After a couple of years in the army, and a few successful campaigns, he had attained the rank of captain. He had even been praised by the king for his deeds. His men followed him willingly and without question.

Then one one day, everything changed. His company was out in the countryside practicing, and in general keeping the land clean of brigands. Late one day his men brought a band of brigands before him in his tent. What happened next is a matter of speculation, as everyone involved is either dead or refuses to speak of the incident. The only thing that is known is that there was some yelling, then everything got quiet. When Ithel's Lieutenant and several of his Corporals entered his tent they found Ithel hunched over the dead bodies of the brigands wiping the blade of a dagger clean. When questioned, Ithel refused to say what happened. His Lieutenant, took him into custody, and the company began the long march back to the city.

Ithel was brought before the general, and when he refused to tell what happened, was court-marshaled and told to leave the city. Ithel, found an inn for the night and drowned all of his sorrows in ale. The next morning he struck off into the countryside to find glory and treasure on his own.