Session Zero Pt 1 - Meet the Team.

Glijak Tad - Human Barbarian -

Glijak grew up among forest dwelling 'barbarian' tribes in a small valley, his family lived amongst a grove of Angakara Trees which were revered by nearby elvish druids and orcish shamans as holy trees. Angakara trees are broad oaks that sprout many branches and are often covered by a multitude of light green leaves. In previous ages, the tree was favored for the construction of bows, and once thrived in the balley of Glijaks ancesters, now occupied by the foritified city of Drakkendale. However, many of the trees were felled and Glijaks tribe were slain during the construction of the city and it's great oaken walls, and the trees have never grown back. Those few trees that were left have withered and perished, leaving behind ancient reminders of what once was in the form of large, hollowed tree stumps and decaying trunks. Glijak has an extensive criminal record and is seeking allies and strength to retake the land of his ancestors.

Remus Corbin - Human Wizard -

Growing up in the Imperial Capital of Luminaree to two wealthy and adoring parents Remus Corbin was always infatuated with books and learning, something which had him in trouble more often than his parents would like to admit. To put an end to his trouble making they got him an appointment at the imperial library as a minor steward, and the young Remus took to his new position with alarming enthusiasm, all but living in the grand library. Before long Remus stumbled upon some mysterious symbols which slowly led him to uncover a long dead mentor who spoke to him through journals and hidden riddles, a mentor through whom Remus began to learn magic. Not long after he began studying the journals of his new mentor, he was caught in a forbidden basement area of the imperial library and narrowly avoided arrest. Remus realized that his family would be forever hunted so long as he was alive and so he faked his own death to save his parents and is now in hiding, following the breadcrumbs the journal leaves for him. 

Amatsu - Bronze Dragonborn Druid - 

Amatsu worships true dragons, (both Bahamat and Tiamat, as 2 sides of the same coin). The druid has spent much of his time trying in vain to convince the common folk that Dragonkin are no more monstrous than dwarves. His once proud people have been scattered to the winds by the emperor as they were deemed abominations and dangerous to the people around them after the mage uprising 200 years ago. Seeking a way to either become a full dragon or awaken an Ancient Dragon, Amatsu has traveled much and is in Angelspit to investigate reports of Black Dragon Bones unearthed by moonfolk somewhere in the swamp.

Rodrik Light - Human Vengence Paladin -

Son of Thomas Light, last of a fallen house, brother of the fallen Hero of Man. His brother was the last known hero to fight against the Emperor and his legions, but in the fight he was abandoned by his allies, and died, outnumbered and alone. Rodrik is current;y in Angelspit lying low and gathering allies, he has plans to take back his family sword from a Moonfolk general named Kurthak Weis, but needs capable allies before he can challenge the famed warlord. 

Theocrat Hambol - Firbolg Cleric of Light - 

Theocrat is a simple Firbolg who grew up doing odd jobs around Angelspit after he just kinda wandered in from the swamp as a child. Eventually as he came to be appreciated by the surly and mildly insane villagers, his sense of community grew and he became somewhat of a defacto spiritual leader. the small kindnesses the dirt poor villagers could afford had given him life, so he decided to give it back, and threw himself into studies of divine texts and healing. With a tenuous grasp of the basic clerical magics that he could decypher and a love for all life, he just wants to see people safe and happy. He will leave violence as a last resort, but knows how to hold his own when necessary. He is currently worried about the Bilge Shivers epidemic and the missing girl in town.

Carkan - Minotaur Fighter - 

Captured and sold into gladiator slavery, Carkan was abused and treated as a literal monster for several years, fighting in pits and arena's across the empire. Eventually forward thinking caravan merchant bought his freedom and hired Carkan as a bodyguard. Carkan worked for him for a number of years and was with him trying to open a trade agreement with the Lizard King who lives the swamps depths, but their caravan was ill prepared for the swamp, and was attacked at night, the cleric Hambol found the minotaur half dead of disease and blood loss in the swamp and nursed him back to health, that was 3 months ago and Carkan is certain his boss is out there somewhere.

Moonfolk and The Emperor of The Moon

The moonfolk are the de-facto ruling class, and have been for as long as most people can remember. There are few who can remember how it had happened, how the world had fallen beneath the shadow of the moon, how these strange pale folk had risen to power. What we know now is likely little more than propaganda, and should be taken with a grain of salt. We're pretty sure they come from the moon, they claim to have lived there a long time, but we have no idea how they got here, if they can return, or how many of them there really are. We know they are biologically immortal, able to live for thousands of years, and we know that almost all of them are highly capable spell casters. At first, it seems they had individually risen to power within their respective nations as powerful advisers and commanders, wielding their prodigal magics for the benefit of the local king or baron., but when the Moon Emperor revealed himself, they all swore fealty to him, and so each nation weakened by internal strife, fell rapidly under his domain. This last part, is whispered history, passed down in hushed bed time stories while nobody is listening.


Magic has been heavily licensed since the mage rebellion 60 years ago, when a desperate terrorist by the name of Esterdarrei the Black, unleashed a spell which destroyed an entire city, killing half a dozen moonfolk who had gathered for a conference, and hundreds of regular citizens. The entire landscape for a dozen miles in every direction was twisted and scarred by the magical backlash from the spell, and ever since, the law has made it virtually impossible for a commoner to become a licensed magic user.

Those who are reported as magic users tend to simply vanish, those in power having decided that it would be simpler if they just disappeared than to deal with the mess of convicting them. After all, everyone agrees mages are dangerous. Some, in mad, hushed whispers, would tell you of factories filled with mages, all casting spells, repeatedly, until they drop of exhaustion, sometimes even dying on their feet. Some might whisper about some great machine, some massive magical contraption that these imprisoned mages are powering.

But those are the whispered words of malcontents. All of this has been done in the name of safety, in the name of law and order. In the name of peace. Everyone knows mages are dangerous.

D A . R U L E S !

Rules For Players --- 

1. None of the following will be tolerated at my table - Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, etc. I shouldn't have to say it but there it is. In the same vein, please refrain from harassing other players or their characters for any reason, and note that sexual content belongs outside the game.
2. We are all here to play a game together, so while the game is in session please focus on the game and refrain from scrolling facebook or playing other games in the background. We all think we can do both, and many of us probably can, but the truth is, it's still splitting your attention and detracting from your engagement with the people and story around you.
3. Metagaming to a certain extent is expected and even encouraged, the DM will however remind the players that almost none of the monsters they encounter will be identical to printed monsters. Metagaming comes with inherent risks of it's own.
4. Giving tactical advice and communicating with your party will be key to survival, but there is a difference between advice and micro managing. We are all here to have fun, and not everyone's version involves maximized efficiency... I don't give a fuck how good your idea is, let people play their own character not your idea of their character.
5. The group story and group enjoyment supersede any individual characters story, "my character would go against the entire party's interest and derail the whole fucking campaign, so that's what I'm going to do" simply won't fly at this table. Your relationships with the people at the table are more important than your character.

Rules For Characters --- 

1. There will be plenty of racist NPCs but I will ask that players refrain from creating racist or sexist characters. It's a worn out trope and results in unnecessary tension in parties that have enough of that to begin with. No one cares about your "I hate elves" schtick.
2. NO Evil Characters, you don't have to be the most goody goody hero of all time, but no blatantly evil characters, this will be enforced throughout the campaign, not just at character creation. There will be plenty of morally grey moments provided by the nature of the campaigns, no need to go looking for children to scam or nuns to kill.
3. You ARE going to be in a party together, so find a reason your character would want to be here, with these people, or make a new character that wants to join the merry group. This also means no infighting.
4. The edgy silent guy who leans against the tavern wall and only cares about himself, The barbarian who is just here to murder people and has no patience for roleplay, are great examples of characters that you should avoid. d&d isn't a video game and should never be played as such. There's a time and place for playing out power fantasies of steamrolling mindless goons, or being the edgy anti-hero, but that's not the table I'm running; it's Skyrim.
5. The group story and group enjoyment supersede any individual characters story, "my character would go against the entire party's interest and derail the whole fucking campaign, so that's what I'm going to do" simply won't fly at this table. Your relationships with the people at the table are more important than your character.

Rules For Play at the Table --- 

Probably a section for later with shit like... don't fuckin roll until you're supposed to, and pay attention to the turn order, and shit like that. I dunno. 

The Emperors Bio Weapon.

G R E E N . O O Z E - 

From what little history has been passed down in the oral traditions of the Orcs (It is punishable by death for anyone, especially 'barbaric orcs' to whisper of a time before the Emperor) we know that the first use of Green Ooze was deployed against the people of the United Orcish Tribes to crush their spirit and destroy their homes. The United Orcish Tribes were the last vestige of resistance to the Emperors unification, powerful shamans keeping back the emperors' mage fire while their fearless warriors slaughtered rank upon rank of conscripted soldiers. The elders and most of the warriors knew their fight was a losing one, but the power of Orcish defiance should never be underestimated. The emperor became worried he might see his forces unnecessarily weakened by the mad eyes warriors of the orcish tribes, and began to research ways to deal with the great warrior tribes. 

The answer came in the form of an easily weaponized ooze mutation. Green Ooze. Alchemical Oozes are naturally corrosive semi-living creatures and come in a variety of forms and functions, but Green Ooze is singularly dangerous, so much so, that despite the only weaponized deployment of Green Ooze being used by The Emperor, Green Ooze is now considered a class 1 bioweapon by the Emperors decree.

What makes Green Ooze so dangerous? It's a strongly corrosive, self-replicating ooze that converts all organic matter it contacts, from vegetation and wood to flesh and hide into more green ooze. It's said the emperor used as little as 5 flasks of ooze to destroy the Orcish homelands. By the time the Orcs realized the threat they were facing, the oozes had consumed whole forests, each growing to well over 40' in diameter. And as they grew, emergent predatory behavior began to make itself apparent. The Ooze was no longer content to simply roll across the ground, absorbing whatever wandered into it's grasp. It began to lash out, to seek prey.

  

Within a month the UOT surrendered unconditionally to the Emperor, but not before the death toll had risen to the tens of thousands. The emperor personally ended 4 of the Great Oozes with mage fire, but left the last as a testament to the Orcs, a price for defiance, trapping it in a valley basin. There it sits at the bottom of a once fruitful valley, now stripped bare, as if frozen. It is unknown if Oozes experience biological processes such as old age or death in any meaningful sense, but the Orcs believe the Great Ooze to be at least 300 years old, and it still lashes out to snatch the occasional unwary bird from the sky above it. Waiting, the Orcs believe, until it is powerful enough to eat it's way out of it's prison.

The Wolf and the Valley

The World is Dying... 

Different religions recall the feud differently. Some say the gods smote each other in a great war, other believe the capricious gods felt under appreciated, and so, locked themselves away. Still more believe a great trickster, a corruptor that is known by many names, sealed the gods away, accounts vary wildly as to why or how. Still others believe the Gods merely grew bored, and have abandoned our world to seek more interesting realms to play with.

The only thing that all religions can agree on is that the Gods have left us, and that the world is dying because of it. 

It won't die during your generation, and unless you're an elf, your children may well never live to see it, but the world is crumbling. Suffocating, dying a slow cold death as the world of mortal wanes like a plant in winter without divine light. The cancer of entropy eating away at the edges of the system of our reality. 

The key to saving the realm of mortals lies somewhere in The Valley of Ancients, a mist-shrouded valley, dotted with lost and forgotten temples. Some say the Valley of Ancients is the last place in the world where the Gods still walk. Others say the gods were imprisoned somewhere deep within the valley. Still others believe items of great power, catalysts that might spark the light to save mankind, can be found amid these ancient ruins and temples. 

The only thing that every religion agrees on is the Great Wolf Guardian Lycia. 

Some call her a scourge, some believe she was the beloved wife of the Moon God, once there were many who believe she was nothing more than an overgrown dire wolf, grown massive on travelers tales and rumors. 200 years ago, as his kingdom crumbled to famine and ruin around him a great king named Titus sent an army, hundreds of men at arms, a hundred lances of cavalry, to subdue the beast so he could claim the valley and it's secrets for his own. The army was slaughtered to a man, and rumors say the corpse of the fool king Titus lays at the back of Lycias lair to this day, a nameless corpse atop a pile of doomed men. 

The great wolf has staked the entire valley as her territory, and she ruthlessly hunts down and kills any and all trespassers. This makes the valley a death trap, usually. 

Every full moon, Lycia climbs to the summit of one mountains which pen in the great valley, and spends the night, along with most of her children howling in what many scholars and druids have reported to be a call of longing and mourning. No one is sure why Lycia calls to the full moon, but the "safest" time to enter the valley is during these brief windows, while she and most of her children are distracted. (safest, in this case, meaning the only time where the odds of  dismemberment are below 90% and thus effectively the only time a sane man would ever dare venture into the valley)

This is not a fool proof plan however, as the weather must abide Lycias mood, and should the clouds conceal the moon and cut short her calling, she's been known to take her frustrations out on desperate, fleeing adventurers. 

The Desperate and the Daring

The world may be dying, but only the called, the driven, and the desperate care to risk their lives in search of the glory and wealth that lies within the Valley of the Ancients, some call them Adventurers, others might mistake them for Heroes. But those who have survived the valley know there is no room for heroes in the dark ruins of the valley. 

Miniboss - Guantis The Old Bear

Okay so there's a legend of zelda forest temple thing somewhere. It's like this ancient druidic site of power, got conquered blah blah dungeon stuff. In the central hub area of this dungeon lairs Guantis the Old Bear. He guards the key to the main boss room, and probably a small hoard of loot as well. He's generally territorial, and prone to displays of intimidation, but he generally won't attack unless provoked in some way. After all, he's getting old now.

Guantis is over 500 years old and has seen more violence than he cares to recall, his final order, almost 100 years ago, was to guard the place the archdruids sealed away. He is content to be left alone, and is highly territorial, but can be bribed with food so long as no one approaches the center of his lair where the boss key is.

Age and ancient druidic power have made Guantis a very powerful enemy. His claws are imbued with druidic hatred and sunder non-magic shields and armor. The plantlife within his lair even yields to his rage, growing thorny and ensnaring his foes.

Guantis is not an enemy to take lightly.

Guantis the Old Bear 

HP: 130 / AC: 15/18 / Speed: 40 feet

Skills: Insight +5 / Perception +6 

Damage Immunities: Guantis simply ignores any non-magic damage source which deals less than 10 damage. He is also immune to druidic magic below spell level 2. 

Senses: Darkvision 60' / Keen Smell

Legendary Resistance: Once per day when Guantis fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.

Actions - 

• Multiattack - Guantis makes three attacks: one with his bite and two with his claws.
• Bite - Melee  +4 to hit / 2d10+5 Piercing
• Claw - Melee +7 to hit /2d6 + 5 Slashing damage and inflicts Shred
  
• Roar - Guantis will roar loudly if threatened. This increases his AC by 3 (accounted for in stat block) for 1 minute and the pure power of his presence causes any player who can hear him to make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 2d4+1 rounds. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to this effect.  This is a non-magical fear effect.

Lair Actions - (DC14)  

 Grasping Vines 120 foot range / 15 foot radius - The plant life along the floor springs to life, grasping and ensnaring Guantis' enemies. Strength Save or be restrained. Full round action to break free. 

Thorny Growth 80 foot range / 10 x 10 foot cube - Nearby plants grow spines, becoming difficult terrain, and dealing 3d4 piercing damage, Con save for half to anyone who starts their turn in the thorns. 

Tremors of Power The room shakes with ancient power, all enemies within Guantis' lair must Dex save vs falling prone. 

Legendary Actions

• Get back here! Guantis may move his full speed, if moving towards an enemy who has taken the key this is treated as a disengage move.
  
• Fuck you! The beast lashes out and makes a bite attack against an enemy who has dealt damage to him this turn.
  
• Bitch Try Me The beast levels a crippling glare at you. Gaze attack 90 feet that targets one creature, DC 14 Wisdom save or become magically frightened. Can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Wednesday Image Writeup

I decided to start doing a weekly thing where I make my friends fetch what they think could be interesting fantasy art or some such and then I try to do a big write up, and of course credit the original artist of the work. This week my friend Chazz obliged me with this image from Randy Vargas

So the first thing I think here is some kind of halfling druid, but then I see the armor and I'm like mehhh druids don't have metal, but maybe it's wood... I don't know, so instead, here's a list of D6 Halflings on a Wolf

1. The halfling is a shepherd cleric of a benevolent forest god. She has tamed this wolf companion and rides to the aid of lost travelers and injured animals. She hates fire, and loggers whom she calls "Consumers." She leads a band of halfling and half elf followers who protect the forest from loggers while protecting travelers from the darker elements of the forest.
2. The line of Halfling archdruids has been passed to her, though she is young and inexperienced the young halfling knows she must protect the secrets of the Life Tree at the center of her sacred grove. She's willing to lay down her life to protect her families secrets, but a greedy human noble from the nearby area has heard rumors of this tree and set a bounty for it.
3. Run away daughter of a nearby tribe of forest dwelling halfling rangers. Her father, the chief, has decided to goto war with a nearby orcish logging operation after repeated attempts at negotiation. The chief knows this is a suicidal plan, the orcs have dozens of trained soldiers and he has a handful of decent halfling rangers and scouts. The daughter is seeking help for her doomed father, or else, a tool of revenge.
4.  Astride her timberwolf mount the halfling outlander roams the forested foothills of the area, she's willing to trade food and other essentials (has no need for gold) for escort through the forest, maps of the local area, or information about the nearby landmarks and factions.
5. This witty halfling merchant travels the region selling tinctures and tonics derived from rare plants and animal parts. They'll probably have a fetch quest or two if asked and they might even trade a recipe or two if the players prove to be good and interesting folk, after all, even a traveling merchant likes company.
6. This druid isn't what she seems. A DC 14 Knowledge Nature or DC 17 Insight check reveals that this druid is in fact an imposter. She tells very believable lies about a sickened dryad who needs help, begging the PCs to come and investigate. Turns out the local band of halfling thieves have rolled out a new scheme and are waiting in the "Dryads clearing" to ambush the players and take their moneys.