So last time the raid on Greenest ended in utter and complete disaster when my party of 4 heroes was wiped at the mill. This is the second time the party is defeated. The first time only one of them actually died but this time half of the party perished, leaving only two of the original adventurers alive: Ignomini the tiefling with the prophetic fate and Pypui the cult escapee with a price on her head.
This second defeat happened in a location far from the keep. According to the adventure it will take reinforcements ten minutes to get there, which means that the chances for rescue are next to non-existent. The options we have now are either to start a total new group of adventurers or find a way to continue the story of Ignomini and Pypui. The way I see it there are two possibilities for this:
- Pypui and Ignomini are brought to the keep to be ransomed by Cyanwrath for a duel.
- Pypui and Ignomini are brought to the cult's camp as slaves.
There are clear problems with both of these arches. The problem with the ransom is that there would need to be a way for Pypui to be brought to the keep without Frulam Mondath actually recognizing her. This could be done by having her face smeared with grime.
The problem with the second option is that almost nothing has been written about the camp's inner workings. I would need to homebrew an entire section of the adventure and as daunting as this may be I think that I will go with the second option. Because there is no way of Pypui and Ignomini being able to face Cyanwrath in a duel this means that Sergeant Markguth is fighting him (and dying valiantly).
Then the two adventurers will need to recuperate a bit, which the castellan will gladly facilitate after all they've done. What I need is a reason to ask them to go on to the next stage of the adventure. So we'll empty the inventory of both adventurers of anything of value and introduce two new characters to stand up and bring them to their feet and into the action. Let's again make two new characters.
As always I'm using the tables for 'This is your life' provided by Xanathar's Guide to Everything:
🎲Race: (85) Halfelf
🎲Class: (44) Fighter (again...)
🎲Occupation: (94) Sailor
🎲Gender: Homebrew Table: [d10: 1-4 male, 5-8 female, 9 nonbinary, 10 DM's choice]:(7) female
🎲Name Origin: [d6: 1-3 elvish, 4-6 human] (4) human
🎲Name Origin 2: (10) Japanese
🎲Name: (61) Maiko
New Character 1: Maiko, the human fighter with the Sailor background
🎲Parents: (29) Maiko knows who her parents are or were.
🎲Half-Elf Parents: (6) One parent was a human and the other was a half-elf
🎲Birthplace: (10) Home
🎲Number of Siblings: (10) (7) 10
🎲Birth Order: (5, 6, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 11, 11, 11) Maiko is the third of eleven children
🎲Family: (7) Guardian
🎲Absent Parents: (1, 2) One of Maiko's Parents died, the other was enslaved, imprisoned or otherwise taken away. (4) This is her father.
🎲Mother's Death: (9) Maiko's mother was torn apart by a monster or natural disaster.
🎲Guardian: (2, 89, 12, 12, 7, 6) Maiko's Guardian is a male Half-Orc artisan of neutral alignment. Maiko had a friendly relationship with him. He is now doing poorly due to (1) injury.
🎲Fate of siblings: (7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 11, 11, 11, 12, 17) Two are alive but doing poorly, seven are alive and well and one is alive and infamous.
🎲Family lifestyle: (8) Poor
🎲Childhood Home: (60) Small House
🎲Maiko became a Sailor because (6) she had few prospects where she was living, so she left to find her fortune elsewhere.
🎲Maiko became a fighter because (2) she squired for a knight who taught her how to fight, care for a steed, and conduct herself with honor. She decided to take up that path for herself.
🎲Age: (25) 25 years
🎲Life events: (2)
- 🎲 (2) Maiko suffered a tragedy
- 🎲(7) A lover disappeared without a trace. Maiko has been looking for that person ever since.
- 🎲 Lover Fate: (8) Maiko's lover is alive but doing poorly due to injury, financial trouble or relationship difficulties
- 🎲 Lover Identity: (9, 93, 82, 11) Maiko's lover is a nonbinary tiefling bureaucrat of neutral alignment
- 🎲(78) Maiko went on an adventure
- 🎲Adventure: (28) Maiko was wounded but recovered fully in time.
🎲Plot Hook: (4) Ontharr Frume, a crusading warrior and champion of good, is Maiko's friend and mentor. He has asked her to travel to Greenest in search of rumors of increasing dragon activity.
Maiko comes from an enormously productive family. She lived with her family in the city of Neverwinter. When the mount Hotenow erupted her mother died and both her father and two of her siblings were injured in the collapsing house. From one day upon the next Maiko had to take care of her younger siblings and she did so as well as she could. Her father turned to drink and then to crime to support his habits. Eventually he fell in with criminal folk and was arrested for his crimes. Maiko's siblings were distributed amongst several charitable folks who wanted to raise them. Maiko herself was assigned as a squire the Ontharr Frume, a boisterous paladin who for the longest time thought her to be a boy.
Frume took her with him to Elturel where she learned from him how to fight. She didn't share his religious convictions but that didn't stop him from turning her into a decent fighter. When she had outgrown her squireship Ontharr let her go into the world to - as he said - forge a name for herself. Maiko went to work on the river ships that sailed the length of the Chionthar.
After proving herself Maiko were assigned as a bodyguard to a traveling bureaucrat with whom she eventually fell in love. Frume had taught her how to fight but Muse taught her how to love. They traveled for quite a while before one day they were set upon a dragon. Both were critically wounded and the dragon flew away with their horses. While staggering along they met a group of robed figures on horseback who offered their help. They lifted the two wounded people onto the horses where Maiko lost her senses.
When she woke up she was back in Elturel, under the care of Ontharr's order. He told her that he didn't know the wereabouts of Muse. It took a long time for Maiko's body to heal but her soul never fully recovered. She undertook several trips to find Muse but has so far been unsuccessful. Recently Ontharr has heard rumors of dragon activity in the Greenfields and to distract Maiko from her sorrows he has sent her to Greenest.
From her Background Maiko gains proficiency in Athletics and Perception as well the use of navigator's tools and water vehicles. Maiko's background leads me to the following characteristics:
Personality Traits: My friends know they can rely on me, no matter what. I work hard so that I can play hard when the work is done.
Ideal: Fairness: We all do the work so we all share in the reward.
Bond: I'm loyal to Ontharr Frume, he gave me a new life and I cannot thank him enough.
Flaw: Once I start drinking it's hard for me to stop.
🎲 Rolled Stats: 13, 14, 15, 15, 16, 16
Racial Bonuses: Charisma +2, Two others +1
STRENGTH: 16 (+3) | DEXTERITY: 16 (+3) | CONSTITUTION: 16 (+3)
INTELLIGENCE: 14 (+2) | WISDOM: 15 (+2) | CHARISMA: 16 (+3)
Maiko has amazing stats. She is the full package. No wonder that both Ontharr Frume and Muse were smitten by her. She is both strong and agile, smart and wise, healthy and charismatic and enjoys a good drink. With these attributes she is true leader material and will therefore take the Battlemaster subclass. As a halfelf she also gets proficiency in two more skills. I'll take persuasion and insight, because Maiko is a true people person. The third language she speaks besides Common and Elvish will of course be Infernal because of Muse.
🎲HP: (10+3)+(2+3)= 13+5 = 18
Fighting Style: Defense for extra AC
Class Skills: History, Animal Handling
🎲Starting Wealth: 110g Spent: 110g
💰Starting Equipment: Studded Leather, Katana (Greatsword), Wakizashi (Shortsword), 10 shurikans (darts), Bag (Backpack), Blanket, Bedroll, Waterskin, Common Clothes, Mess kit, Whetstone, Soap, 7 Candles
🎲Race: (23) Human
🎲Class: (70) Ranger
🎲Occupation: (98) Soldier
🎲Gender: (5) female
🎲Name Origin: (14) Polynesian
🎲Name: (84) Tasi
New Character: Tasi, the human Ranger with the Soldier background
🎲Parents: (5) Tasi knows who her parents are or wer
🎲Birthplace:(72) Field
🎲Number of Siblings: (4-2) 2 siblings
🎲Birth Order: (7, 9) Tasi is the middle child of three children
🎲Family: (47) Single mother or stepmother
🎲Absent Parent: (2) Tasi's father was imprisoned, enslaved or otherwise taken away
🎲Family Lifestyle: (6) Poor
🎲Childhood Home: (77) Large house
🎲Tasi became a soldier because (5) she wanted fame and fortune. She joined a mercenary company, selling her sword to the highest bidder.
🎲Tasi became a ranger because (2) she always had a way with animals, able to calm them with a soothing word and a touch.
🎲Age: (82) 42 years
🎲Life Events: (1)
- 🎲(9) Tasi suffered a tragedy
- 🎲(1) A family member or a close friend died.
- 🎲Cause of Death: (12) Bizarre event, such as being hit by a meteorite, struck down by an angry god, or killed by a hatching slaad egg.
🎲Plothook: (7) On his deathbed, Tasi's father confessed that he had become involved witha group called the Cult of the Dragon. They paid him to smuggle goods across the Sword Coast. Wracked by guilt, he begged her to investigate the cult and undo the evil he may have helped foster. He urged her to begin her search in a town called Greenest.
It is unclear if Tasi's father was just very unlucky or if he angered the Gods so much they decided to take him down personally. Fact is that Tasi was pulled from her company and rushed back to Waterdeep where she found her father on his deathbed, looked after by her mother. He had returned from wherever he had been only to climb the roof of the large house they still occupied despite the lack of funds and get struck by a stone the size of a melon that fell from the sky.
On his deathbed he told Tasi about how he had fallen in with a Cult that had promised him coin. He had wanted to take care of his family, but instead got himself imprisoned for smuggling for many years. When he left prison, the cult was waiting for him and for many more years he had to smuggle goods along the Swoardcoast. He begged Tasi to undo the evil he may have caused. Then he died.
The next day Tasi left her routinous life behind and, accompanied by her faithful companion she left Waterdeep to head south, to Greenest.
Despite being in her 40s Tasi hasn't had a very eventful life, although she has learned to fight. She has little going on to distract her from her current task and not much to go back to besides her aging mother and siblings who must have a life of their own.
🎲Speciality: (6) Quartermaster
Personality Trait: I can stare down a hell hound without flinching and I face problems head-on. A simple, direct solution is the best path to success.
Ideal: Responsibility. I must do what I must and obey just authority.
Bond: My honor is my life.
Flaw: I obey the law, even if the law causes misery.
🎲 Rolled Stats: 7, 8, 11, 13, 13, 14
Racial Bonuses:+1 to all attributes
STRENGTH: 12 (+1) | DEXTERITY: 15 (+2) | CONSTITUTION: 14 (+2)
INTELLIGENCE: 8 (-1) | WISDOM: 14 (+2) | CHARISMA: 9 (-1)
Now where Maiko excells at everything, Tasi has somewhat underwhelming statts. She is adequat at what she does but not too bright. A simple woman with a simple task she usually goes for the direct approach if not adviced or ordered differently. She too has a mercenary background so that is probably where she knows Maiko from.
Background Proficiencies: Athletics, Intimidation, Gaming Set (Dice), Land Vehicles
🎲 Second Language: (5) Gnomish
🎲HP: (10+2)+(2+2) = 16
Class Skills: Animal Handling, Survival
Favored Enemy: Monstrosities
Favored Terrain: Grassland
Fighting Style: Archery
Spells: Cure Wounds, Hunter's Mark
🎲Starting Gold: 120g | Spent: 119g 4s 6c
💰Starting Equipment: Studded Leather, Heavy Crossbow, 20 Bolts Shortsword, Dagger, Travelers Clothes, Waterskin, Whetstone, Mess Kit, Tinderbox, Backpack, Bedroll, Blanket, 5 Torches, 8 rations, 50ft of Hempen Rope
Now that we have both Maiko and Tasi, it's easy enough to connect their backstories. Tasi served in the same mercenary group as Maiko, probably became her right hand due to her ability to follow orders without thinking too much. The two developed a strange relationship. Maiko is much more skilled but relies on Tasi for a her structure. Tasi is not so much a servant as an older sister who takes care of Maiko with a selfless attitude. Both of them have things to do in Greenest so they travel together, arriving the day after the raid.
Light fell in bright beams into the small room and dust particles danced in it. For a moment Pypui just lay still. Then she realized that everything hurt. But she was alive. Alive and being prodded.
A hand lay on her shoulder and a low alto voice spoke with the broad accent of the Isles.
"Wake up, lass. You're alive and well, and we need you at the table."
Table? Pypui slowly rolled onto her back, feeling the thick cloth of bandages around her middle, her arms and her neck. She opened her eyes and looked into a dark-skinned face surrounded by a tangle of curly black hair that was already greying at the temples. The woman standing beside her bed was unfamiliar, wearing some sort of old, patched uniform with a big crossbow slung over her shoulder.
Pypui tried to form words, or at least clean thoughts but the woman grabbed her by the wrist and, supporting her other arm pulled her to her feet. The sharp stings of pain made Pypui flinch but the woman looked satisfied.
"Good, you don't collapse as soon as I put you upright. That's promising. My name's Tasi and me and miss Maiko are here to help. I know you lost friends and a lot of blood but time if of the essence. Come on, can you walk?"
Muttering feeble protests Pypui allowed Tasi to help her dress. While doing so the woman informed her that she and her travel companion - whom she referred to as Miss Maiko - had come from Waterdeep by order of an important knight.
"Are the raiders...", began Pypui as they hobbled through a hallway.
"All gone before daybreak I hear. It's early afternoon now and we need to form a plan. Your red-skinned friend will also be there."
So Ignomini lived. How about Kashi and the dwarf woman they had met. But Tasi shook her head. "Sorry, lass. They didn't make it. They'll be buried with all honors I hear. Now, here we are."
Moving through a door they reached a comfortable audience hall dominated by a large table. Sitting on high chairs around it were the governor, Escobert, Ignomini and two unknown faces. Both the governor and the tiefling were bandaged heavily. The two others were a man in traveling garb and a shaved head sitting next to Ignomini and a woman of Eastern descent with a pale face, dark hair and very well kept armor. A large, curved sword hung from the back of her chair.
Ignomini, who had been in conversation with the traveler rises and pulls up a chair on his other side. "Pypui, I am glad to see you on your feet.", he says. As she sits down a choking fear rises in the back of her throat, making it impossible to answer. What if this is her trial? What if they found out, she thinks. But would they have nursed her back to health and guide her here gently if that were the case. That cannot be.
Apparently her fears are unfounded, because the governor welcomes her and introduces Maiko, a knight from Elturel and the friar Nessim from Berdusk. Nessim, just as Ignomini is a friend of the traveling scholar Leosin Erlanthar and Maiko has come with her companion to Greenest on order of Ontharr Frume, a paladin of the order of the gauntlet.
The governor recounts the events of the past night and Pypui learns that both she and Ignomini had been brought to the keep by the raiders. A blue scaled monstrosity calling himself Langdedrosa Cyanwrath had demanded a duel in return for their lives and had killed a captain of the guard in combat. But at least the monster had honored the agreement and let them live to be collected by the survivors.
Ignomini tells of what had happened at the mill, that they had been ambushed and the castellan confirms that there had been an ambush. Apparently the raiders had been annoyed by the party's success at the temple and decided to spring a trap on them, as Cyanwrath had boasted.
It is here that Maiko speaks up for the first time: "I know you have been injured and defeated in the end, but the governor and the people of Greenest have also told us how valiantly you fought tonight. I know that Ignomini here has connections with master Erlanthar and he already agreed to help us rescue him. How about you? What are your motivations here?"
Asked straightforwardly like this Pypui needs a moment to come up with an answer. "I am just traveling through and got caught up in all of this. I just did what I could to help."
She doesn't believe it herself but maybe it is enough to fool the strangers and the governor. A moment of silence falls but the governor picks up the conversation.
"I've learned from both Ignomini and Nessim that master Erlanthar is a very valuable asset to any cause. We've heard from the villagers that he was captured by the raiders during the first wave of attack."
"Which must mean that they are either much more powerful than anticipated or something went very, very wrong.", pipes up Nessim. "Master Erlanthar is not one to be easily caught."
"Anyways", the governor picks up "These bastards stole a lot of gold and carried away several of my people into captivity. Their alliance with a dragon - how brittle that monsters loyalty may be - is worrisome. We must find out what their organization is all about and what their goals are. It is of imperative importance to find their hideout so that once we are able to we can send in reinforcements to wipe them out."
Miss Maiko speaks next: "I have already offered by aid, me and Tasi shall travel into the Greenfields to try and locate their camp and gather information. Ignomini will join us and I hope that you too shall consider lending your aid."
At some time during the talk a servant must have put down a goblet of mulled wine in front of Pypui because she now cradling the silver cup, feeling the heat through the metal. Her thoughts race. A chance for revenge, but also a very good chance of being discovered for what she was. In front of her inner eye image pass of her parents, slaughtered. But after tonight...they had been defeated twice, barely survived. Three lives of people fighting beside her had been lost. How could she willingly walk into the same danger again.
Her silence weighs heavily on the room. Ignomini puts a hand on her arm. "What say you, Pypui? A chance to make them pay for what they did? To act against whatever these bandits are up to?"
Should she come clean? Tell them with whom they were dealing? Tell them how big and powerful the organization was that they were planning to infiltrate with four random adventurers off the street? Should she tell them of the horrors she had seen Frulam Mondath perform? The cruelty of Bog Luck? The cunning and conniving spirit of Rezmir?
Once again she saw her mother, cut open, eyes wide in an expression of surprise. It happened so fast, they never saw it coming. No one ever saw it coming....
"I'll help", she simply said.
The following morning the band of well-rested adventurers departs from Greenest with a task at hand. They need to find out where the raiders have gone to and what their goals are. They also need - and in Ignomini's case - desperately want to save Leosin Erlanthar from captivity. The path to take is easy enough to determine: the raiders have trampled a wide swath of grass that has only partially restored itself by now. Leaving Greenest behind, the four adventurers head into the Greenfields.
None of them feel particularly talkative and so their conversation is restricted to exchanging information about the trail and their quarry. And already after a few miles it seems their expedition is successful as ahead they see a thin column of smoke rise to the sky.
"It's not a big band, that's only a small cooking fire", says Tasi.
"We should try to sneak up on whoever is there, maybe we can surprise them.", suggests Maiko and the party agrees with the idea. Slowly they advance until they are near the smoke that rises from a low spot. Bent low the party manages to reach the rim of the indentation and get a view of the source of the smoke.
Four humans are cooking some prairie foal over the flames of a clumsily assembled campfire while a band of eight kobolds looks on hungrily. It is clear that these are indeed raiders, identified easily by their smoke stained coats and the sack of candlesticks and cutlery leaning against a large boulder.
Ignomini and Maiko make eye contact. The woman points at the raiders and pulls a four-pointed throwing star from her pocket. Ignomini nods and readies a javelin. The others too prepare and when Maiko shouts: "Now!", they all attack.
Despite the clear advantage of the surprise, only one of the kobolds falls, hit by Pypui's arrow Ignomini at least manages to injure another. With a groan of frustration Maiko and Tasi grab new projectiles.
"You're not enlisting for the hand of mercy any time soon, are you?", asks Tasi dryly but Pypui does not deem her worthy of a reply and instead wipes her blade on the grass.
The adventurers wait a while to see if the kobolds will try to make a counterattack but the little dragonoids appear to have fled to save their lives - probably a wise decision. Amongst the raider's possessions there is little of worth except for a few pieces of silver that are shared amongst the members of the party. The sack of stolen goods is hidden beneath a thick bush near the road to be picked up on the way back.
"We'll need to be careful from now on.", says Tasi. "If these stragglers stayed behind it's entirely possible that there are more rearguards waiting for us. We don't want to walk into an ambush."
Carefully the four adventurers continue their journey. The terrain slowly becomes rougher and more rocky. In the afternoon they reach a spot where a narrow gap leads in between two outcrops. The trail leads there and the party discusses whether or not they should try and take their chances with the gully or loose hours trying to find a way around. Eventually they decide to go through, weapons drawn and at the ready for an ambush.
But however careful they are, keeping their eyes on the rocks above to see if someone might aim arrows at them, they are not prepared when suddenly a rough command is shouted and the very stones above them tumble down from two sides in a clattering of falling rock.
"Back! Back!", shouts Ignomini and the party attempts to flee.
Spears clatter down, chipping stone and ripping flesh. Running as fast as they can the adventurers try to get out of the ambush. It seems too late. Tasi falls, a spear in her back and as two voices call out "Stay!" from above, Ignomini's body freezes and he stops in his tracks. Projectiles rain down on the party but eventually the tiefling turns and puts a hand on Tasi, pulling the spear out of her body and herself upright. Pypui already is out of sight, having fled the ravine entirely. But as the remaining heroes stagger onwards, more and more of their blood is drawn. One by one they collapse under the force of the oppressor's attacks.
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