Aethral: Coming of the End [Archive] - Wizards Community

Aethral: Coming of the End [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
skio
03-30-07, 09:31 AM This is the journal of my second DM attempt, a campaign based on my homebrew world of Aethral, a medieval fantasy setting. The system we play is DnD 3.5, but using homebrew variations of the standard races.

A few worlds on the setting: The world is inhabited by a number of animal-like races that mingle freely with humans and are considered their equals. 'Classic' races such as orcs, elves and dwarves also exist.
The world has been ripped appart by a war between two churches, leaving most kingdoms powerless and the wilderness areas unprotected. To cope with the problem, commoners got organized into 13 world-spanning guilds that effectively rule many aspects of everyday life and economy, receiving the grudge of kings and nobles that see their power waning.
A primitive steam and gunpowder technology exists, but is completely unreliable. The dwarves are the main users of such conrtaptions.

The party:

- Maurpeth Aquilem, Human Bard 5: A wandering merchant of adventuring equipment

- Sartory, Raka (feline-like) Sorcerer 5: left as an infant to be raised in a village, after the murder of his parents

- Wingor, Ornix (a flightless bird-like race) Wizard 1/Druid 4, with a hawk and wolf animal companions: exiled from his clan, living in the fringes of the magical forest of Shimmerwood

- Boo, Ettin Barbarian 4, Monk 1/Shaman 3. (this is actually two players each playing one head of the ettin): hailing from the eastern Ogre Baronies, exiled for being mutated
skio
03-30-07, 09:32 AM ACT I, Episode 1
Session 1. 3/24/07

The party find themselves on a ship to Thorval, a powerful trade post of the West. The lighthouse of the city, guarded by a dragon, is unlit and the dragon gone for weeks. People in the city find this a bad omen.

It is election period in the city. The ruling Council of Merchants is selecting its new members among the most successful merchants of the city, although rumour has it that one of the new members is Sil'sera, a serpentman book trader of low income. A conspiracy is suspected.

The city is also preyed upon by a mysterious serial killer, that has already murdered three people, slitting their throats and wrists and leaving them to die from bloodloss. The third victim was Hemisal, a half-elf fruit merchant, and the Guild of Trade assigns Maulpeth (also a merchant) and the rest of the party to find the killer with the help of Sir Baltus, a minotaur paladin sent by his Order to solve the mystery.

The party settles in the 'Rusty Dagger' inn, owned by Tholdiss, an elf, neighbour of Maurpeth. They also meet Aena, the new barmaid, a drow.

The party decides to investigate the first murder, a prostitute named Oma. Talking to her friends reveals she was working for Bakona, a Raka Sorcerer and local crime lord. Wingor and Sartory find the girl's house. Maulpeth befriends a prostitute and learns about another girl that found the body, now hosted in the local temple to recover from the shock.

When the party goes to inquire, Boo grows impatient and leaves, returning to Bakona and asking for a job. He assignes him with the task to stop the rival alcohol smugglers, some orcs living outside the city. The orc chieftain pretends to know nothing and Boo leaves threatening to return with soldiers.

Meanwhile, the girl in the temple reveals that the crime scene was reeking with a smell of sewage and that Oma was keeping a diary. They decide to go and search her house, but while picking the lock they are attacked by 6 thugs (Fighters 3) that force them to retreat. To cover the retreat, Wingor throws a pouch of coins in the air, but when the thugs try to take it, his hawk companion grabs it and flies away.
The party hides and follows the thugs in a tavern. Maurpeth approaches them and offers them a decoy job, to protect him during closing a smuggling deal in the local amphitheater.
Wingor and Sartory return to the girl's house and find the diary missing, but no marks of robbery or intrusion.

Boo decides to use his Spirit Sight to look for the ghosts of the victims. In the scene of the 2nd murder finds the spirit of the murdered halfling, who they follow into the amphitheater and question. He finally shows them the door to a storeroom and vanishes. In the room resides an old serpentman beggar with the power to see spirits. He says that one night he saw two black-clad men talking about a murder in the theater, the one being Jorn Korrathi, member of one the most powerful merchant families of the city...

The others come to the amphitheater, attack and kill the thugs being eventually interrupted by the intervention of sir Baltus. Then the party returns to sleep.

Next day they decide to revisit the orcish encampment. The find the chieftain taken hostage by the smuggler orcs, and the tribe allies with the party to rescue their leader. As a reward, the party receives the crates of liquor that the smugglers possessed, delivering them to Bakona and receiving payment.
skio
04-22-07, 04:25 PM ACT I, Episode 1
Session 2. 4/22/07

Later in the evening, the party decides to investigate the crime scene of the third murder. Hemisal, a half-elf fruit merchant, was murdered in his store just after the opening. There are signs of struggle in the store but no marks of forced entry or robbery. Papers in Hemisal's desk reveal large sums of money received for no apparent reason about a month ago.

The body is positioned pointing on his belly with his indexes. Wingor searches the body and discovers a tatoo on his shoulder reading 'glory' in elvish. They decide to tear the body's belly open, to discover a half-torn letter written from Hemisal himself to a friend, mentioning the Merchant Council, the power plays between the merchant families and a mysterious 'device.'

Near the body two bloody footmarks are visible, stopping abruptly. Similar bloddy stains can be found on the ceiling, leading the party to deduct the killer possesses some kind of spider climb ability. They start to suspect a vampire.

Maurpeth decides to ask around for gossip on the merchant while the rest return to the 'Red Horse' to plan their next move. A suspicious man enters after a while a gives a parcel to Bakona. Wingor and Sartory follow the man out, to no avail. Boo tries to find a new job but there is nothing.

Meanwhile, Maurpeth visits his sister and learns that Sil'sera has indeed been elected in the Council, supported by the Olsians, a powerful serpentfolk merchant family. He visits his bookstore to find that Sil'sera is away on business and due to arrive the next day.

Returning to the 'Red Horse,' he suggests to search Hemisal's house. Boo joins him and together find some money and a few bank receipts. Maurpeth forges a fake will that makes him the only heir to Hemisal's house.

Wingor and Sartory return to the 'Red Horse' and try to steal the strange parcel from Bakona's desk, Sartory becoming invisible and Wingor trying to distract Bakona by summoning a bear in the inn. The plan is foiled by an alarm spell that protects the desk.

He then joins Boo to a search in the graveyard, looking for unresting spirits that may have information. Wingor and Sartory join them also after a while. They find the ghost of an old lady that has witnessed a black-clad man wandering in the cemetery. She points them to a fake open grave, actually an entrance to a small cave. Ghouls infest the cave that the party dispathces easily, save for the bard being paralyzed and contracting the ghoul fever. At the end of the passage find a heavy metal door that eventually leads to the city's sewers.

They find a small room that seems to be used frequently. Four ghouls are inside, quickly dispatched. The party finds strange letters written in an unknown language and two corpses. A ladder leads upwards...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
skio 03-30-07, 09:31 AM	This is the journal of my second DM attempt, a campaign based on my homebrew world of Aethral, a medieval fantasy setting. The system we play is DnD 3.5, but using homebrew variations of the standard races. A few worlds on the setting: The world is inhabited by a number of animal-like races that mingle freely with humans and are considered their equals. 'Classic' races such as orcs, elves and dwarves also exist. The world has been ripped appart by a war between two churches, leaving most kingdoms powerless and the wilderness areas unprotected. To cope with the problem, commoners got organized into 13 world-spanning guilds that effectively rule many aspects of everyday life and economy, receiving the grudge of kings and nobles that see their power waning. A primitive steam and gunpowder technology exists, but is completely unreliable. The dwarves are the main users of such conrtaptions. The party: - Maurpeth Aquilem, Human Bard 5: A wandering merchant of adventuring equipment - Sartory, Raka (feline-like) Sorcerer 5: left as an infant to be raised in a village, after the murder of his parents - Wingor, Ornix (a flightless bird-like race) Wizard 1/Druid 4, with a hawk and wolf animal companions: exiled from his clan, living in the fringes of the magical forest of Shimmerwood - Boo, Ettin Barbarian 4, Monk 1/Shaman 3. (this is actually two players each playing one head of the ettin): hailing from the eastern Ogre Baronies, exiled for being mutated
skio 03-30-07, 09:32 AM	ACT I, Episode 1 Session 1. 3/24/07 The party find themselves on a ship to Thorval, a powerful trade post of the West. The lighthouse of the city, guarded by a dragon, is unlit and the dragon gone for weeks. People in the city find this a bad omen. It is election period in the city. The ruling Council of Merchants is selecting its new members among the most successful merchants of the city, although rumour has it that one of the new members is Sil'sera, a serpentman book trader of low income. A conspiracy is suspected. The city is also preyed upon by a mysterious serial killer, that has already murdered three people, slitting their throats and wrists and leaving them to die from bloodloss. The third victim was Hemisal, a half-elf fruit merchant, and the Guild of Trade assigns Maulpeth (also a merchant) and the rest of the party to find the killer with the help of Sir Baltus, a minotaur paladin sent by his Order to solve the mystery. The party settles in the 'Rusty Dagger' inn, owned by Tholdiss, an elf, neighbour of Maurpeth. They also meet Aena, the new barmaid, a drow. The party decides to investigate the first murder, a prostitute named Oma. Talking to her friends reveals she was working for Bakona, a Raka Sorcerer and local crime lord. Wingor and Sartory find the girl's house. Maulpeth befriends a prostitute and learns about another girl that found the body, now hosted in the local temple to recover from the shock. When the party goes to inquire, Boo grows impatient and leaves, returning to Bakona and asking for a job. He assignes him with the task to stop the rival alcohol smugglers, some orcs living outside the city. The orc chieftain pretends to know nothing and Boo leaves threatening to return with soldiers. Meanwhile, the girl in the temple reveals that the crime scene was reeking with a smell of sewage and that Oma was keeping a diary. They decide to go and search her house, but while picking the lock they are attacked by 6 thugs (Fighters 3) that force them to retreat. To cover the retreat, Wingor throws a pouch of coins in the air, but when the thugs try to take it, his hawk companion grabs it and flies away. The party hides and follows the thugs in a tavern. Maurpeth approaches them and offers them a decoy job, to protect him during closing a smuggling deal in the local amphitheater. Wingor and Sartory return to the girl's house and find the diary missing, but no marks of robbery or intrusion. Boo decides to use his Spirit Sight to look for the ghosts of the victims. In the scene of the 2nd murder finds the spirit of the murdered halfling, who they follow into the amphitheater and question. He finally shows them the door to a storeroom and vanishes. In the room resides an old serpentman beggar with the power to see spirits. He says that one night he saw two black-clad men talking about a murder in the theater, the one being Jorn Korrathi, member of one the most powerful merchant families of the city... The others come to the amphitheater, attack and kill the thugs being eventually interrupted by the intervention of sir Baltus. Then the party returns to sleep. Next day they decide to revisit the orcish encampment. The find the chieftain taken hostage by the smuggler orcs, and the tribe allies with the party to rescue their leader. As a reward, the party receives the crates of liquor that the smugglers possessed, delivering them to Bakona and receiving payment.
skio 04-22-07, 04:25 PM	ACT I, Episode 1 Session 2. 4/22/07 Later in the evening, the party decides to investigate the crime scene of the third murder. Hemisal, a half-elf fruit merchant, was murdered in his store just after the opening. There are signs of struggle in the store but no marks of forced entry or robbery. Papers in Hemisal's desk reveal large sums of money received for no apparent reason about a month ago. The body is positioned pointing on his belly with his indexes. Wingor searches the body and discovers a tatoo on his shoulder reading 'glory' in elvish. They decide to tear the body's belly open, to discover a half-torn letter written from Hemisal himself to a friend, mentioning the Merchant Council, the power plays between the merchant families and a mysterious 'device.' Near the body two bloody footmarks are visible, stopping abruptly. Similar bloddy stains can be found on the ceiling, leading the party to deduct the killer possesses some kind of spider climb ability. They start to suspect a vampire. Maurpeth decides to ask around for gossip on the merchant while the rest return to the 'Red Horse' to plan their next move. A suspicious man enters after a while a gives a parcel to Bakona. Wingor and Sartory follow the man out, to no avail. Boo tries to find a new job but there is nothing. Meanwhile, Maurpeth visits his sister and learns that Sil'sera has indeed been elected in the Council, supported by the Olsians, a powerful serpentfolk merchant family. He visits his bookstore to find that Sil'sera is away on business and due to arrive the next day. Returning to the 'Red Horse,' he suggests to search Hemisal's house. Boo joins him and together find some money and a few bank receipts. Maurpeth forges a fake will that makes him the only heir to Hemisal's house. Wingor and Sartory return to the 'Red Horse' and try to steal the strange parcel from Bakona's desk, Sartory becoming invisible and Wingor trying to distract Bakona by summoning a bear in the inn. The plan is foiled by an alarm spell that protects the desk. He then joins Boo to a search in the graveyard, looking for unresting spirits that may have information. Wingor and Sartory join them also after a while. They find the ghost of an old lady that has witnessed a black-clad man wandering in the cemetery. She points them to a fake open grave, actually an entrance to a small cave. Ghouls infest the cave that the party dispathces easily, save for the bard being paralyzed and contracting the ghoul fever. At the end of the passage find a heavy metal door that eventually leads to the city's sewers. They find a small room that seems to be used frequently. Four ghouls are inside, quickly dispatched. The party finds strange letters written in an unknown language and two corpses. A ladder leads upwards...