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.

outer reaches rumors: greymarsh

While away from the others, Kragh has been in the nearby town of Greymarsh, hoping to discover some clues about the goblin illness, as well as to consult other healers in the town about possible remedies. 

Though he was unable to turn up information of much use to that situation, he was made aware of the encroachment of the swamp to the east of town.  It has been expanding for years, perhaps by a few yards, but the last two years especially have shown rapid growth of the swamp's borders, and those within the town have begun to worry.  Several parties of scouts, along with a few knowledgeable trackers and herbalists, have been sent to investigate--each time, however, they are turned away by aggressive swarms of bees before they are able to penetrate the swamp's borders.

There are rumors of a local druid, the Keeper of Bees, and some blame him for the swamp's expansion.  Others claim that danger lurks within the swamp, and that only he is able to keep it at bay--the bees are to protect those who would otherwise be in danger, by keeping them out of the swamp.

In any case, no one has been able to contact the Keeper of Bees for several months, and many have begun to worry.  At the current rate of expansion, it could be as soon as two or three years before the swamp overtakes the road, and begins to eat away at Greymarsh!

outer reaches rumors: sylvan tomb

Once the group returns to Riverside, they gather Kanaen and discuss their findings in the Spiderwood, and begin to plan a second trip to investigate the forest tomb.

Kanaen, while absent, had actually encountered another dwarf, who is visiting Riverside from the dwarf kingdoms in the mountains far to the north along the Whitewater River.  The dwarf is an elder of the merchant caste, and is named Olin.  He listens attentively as you share the details of the tomb, and shares his knowledge on the matter.

"Dwarves did not always toil beneath the ground--at least, not all of them.  Several clans lived on the surface, farmers and shepherds, same as those folk who call Riverside home today.  Our race has declined, and now shuns the surface, but this land once rang with dwarven hammers and speech.

The elves also inhabited this land long before humans came, and built their treehouses atop dwarven ruins, long since claimed by the forest.  Not all of these ruins have faded with time, however, and some were repurposed by the elves, serving as homes, temples, that sort of thing, before the elves themselves were driven away.  It sounds like you may have stumbled upon such a ruin, and one of significance!  I would be interested in seeing this ruin myself, if you've a mind to have me along!  My arms may be too old to wield an axe with much skill, but my legs still work, as do my eyes!"

outer reaches rumors: the master of songbirds

At the Gilded Goblet, in Riverside, after their venture into the Spiderwood...

Having sent her hawk, Huck, with instructions to seek out the Master of Songbirds, Granny waits anxiously for a response from the druid.  Though they've never actually met, there's a mystical kinship between the two--it's almost as if the wilderness around Riverside has been shaped by the druid's presence, or perhaps is a reflection of it.  All of these feelings lead Granny to believe him to be a warm, caring person.

Many of Riverside's folks have met him--he breezes through town on occasion, usually to consecrate the earth when a new farm is started, or to attend a local festival.  And all tales of the Master of Songbirds tell of his namesake companions, a loyal flock of songbirds that fill the air with harmonies day and night when the Master is about.

The silence of the chill night air, after imagining the pleasant background noise of songbirds, is foreboding, and Granny can't help but fear for the safety of Huck.  So it's not altogether surprising when the night's silence is disrupted by the awkward flapping of heavy wings, announcing Huck's return--and in an injured state.

Rushing immediately to examine the hawk, it's apparent that one of his wings has been pierced by a bolt, or perhaps an arrow.  It's not a grave wound, and should heal in time, but explains the hawk's ungainly flight.  Nestled gently in the hawk's talons is a tiny songbird, alive but weakened as with some malady, as well as a small bunch of purple flowers. 

Granny recognizes the flowers immediately, having stumbled upon them in her wanderings with Kragh.  The flowers are not native to the region, thriving instead in the wetlands further south, but the pair encountered several patches of them in the woods north and west of Riverside, perhaps a half-day's walk from the town.

The full context of the message, however--as clearly both the songbird and flowers were meant to serve as a message from the Master of Songbirds--remains a mystery.

outer reaches #2: rewards!

Here's a breakdown of the XP rewards from the second session.  It was a short session, and there wasn't a lot of combat, though the group did cover a lot of ground and accomplished a fair bit.

Goblins: 81 XP total
Award for averting the lumbermen's attack on Magnolia & Petunia: 200 XP
Award for discovering the source of the goblin malediction: 750 XP
Bonuses: 250 XP

Total:  1,281 XP

Divided by four players at the session, result is 321 XP per player, plus any applicable bonuses due to ability scores.

No loot to divide, this time!