A crush of warhounds rage forward, backed by mastiffs with halfling riders. One flank is guarded towering Goliaths. That northern front is circled by eagles, hawks, ravens with a lower mega flock of smaller birds. The south is already falling back. There a tribe riding bison and elk is crushing the Kingdom of Azsel, but other tribes with their horse and sheep are fleeing. The Confederation of Crinth will lose more land and another tribe to the slavers, unless something changes.
One of the largest Goliaths ever known wades through the mess of bodies of both beast and man. He is Jerald. It is not his tribe that will fall today, but the tribe of his wife. Normally peaceful, he is enraged. His flightless axebeak is surrounded by pestering terriers. He cries out to Belsem as Tellanor falls. A greenish cloud of rot breaks forth from his hands and the little dogs perish. Several of the Halflings are in agony. Another cry and another cloud, more Azselites fall. Those not nearby see this cloud of poison spray and back away. Both sides retreat stunned, for this is new. A legend is born that day. The myths of magic awakened.
Campaign Premise
The World of the Everflow is an episodic campaign designed for drop-in play that will most often join a regular group, but that can also play independent sessions, while exploring a world where every thinking person has an animal companion that is both tool and beloved.
Background
Twenty-one years ago the land of Kin (the people of love) had no magic. Then the Awakening happened. Borders changed as Kingdoms applied these new powers. Quests to discover how it happened, why it happened and what could be done to stop it or further it started. Adventurers young and old left their homes hopeful that they could apply these new, small spells and make names for themselves.
Kin is different now. Still bonded with beasts the people meet strangers with suspicion of odd powers. No one knows what else to expect. What more will happen to the world? Are more legends real?
Grand Conflicts
The Scholars are a secret society of empowered spell-casters who seem to have kept Kin from reaching its full potential. Who are they? Should they have this level of control?
Azsel continues on its expansionistic policy. They are fighting with the Crinth Confederation and threatened Kirtin enough that the century-long conflict with Daoud is put aside.
Two legendary peoples are invading the Western Wildes. The Kon are entering Sheljar in large numbers, leaving some behind. Over at the Cliffs of Galinor and at the Glass Tower the Ken are doing something. Why are the Ken and Kon returning to Kin?
Can you keep the Lorebook(s?) from getting into the wrong hands?
Facets
All thinking peoples have an animal companion
Low magic (Divine casters and arcane casters limited in different ways)
Sand Box play
Player agency helps create the world’s history.
Variant Rules
Mundane versions of partial casters. No Wizards or Warlocks. Cantrip for all.
Gritty realism – long rests require a place of sanctuary and 24 hours of light activity. A short rest is a typical night’s sleep.
One thing that I’ve found as a middle-age man with other hobbies and real-life concerns is that finding a regular group to play every single week is much more difficult than it was in my heyday of 1st edition AD&D during high school, college and the Army. The path I’ve chosen instead is an epic multi-path sandbox inspired campaign. There are multiple storylines being chased, characters that drop in and out of sessions and off-table action run via email, chat and twitter.
Altogether this results in a campaign that is similar to epic fiction (Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings). The party forms, breaks apart, reforms, expands, contracts as they attempt to make friends, make enemies, solve problems and help to create the world and story in which they play.
A selection of the characters participating in the Everflow campaign.
This is the tracking chart that I use to help track the various PCs. Experience points and gold are tracked by me until they are on the player’s own sheet. Once that happens I make the column blank, because I will not need that information while I create the next encounters and new paths for them to follow.
As I stated when first discussing this large group, episodic campaign, calendaring is also important. The group of three that are in Sheljar are two weeks “ahead” of the group that is at the caravansaray. Maurice is 3 days “behind” the group at the caravansaray. Mansaray and Shonie are semi-retired for real-life reasons. Shonie is now an NPC that group can use to help get intel, etc from Telse. Mansaray will either re-enter the campaign as a PC or an NPC reconnecting a current plot line that’s been abandoned.
Doing something like this creates more off-table work. Not only does the DM/GM need to create encounters, adventures and campaigns they need to use some kind of tracking sheet and calendar, and understand that the non-linear nature of the campaign means that players will forget things. Reminding them should be a bit more involved than a typical 5-10 minutes “in last session” verbal recap.
Provide the players with a digital recap, maps, images and other things that maintain a connection to the story that you are all telling together. Recognize that not every PC will be involved in every plot line. Maybe the hook doesn’t catch with them for either player or character reasons. Allow those players to know what plot line will be the focus of a session and they can either show or not. If they don’t show for story reasons (I haven’t encountered this yet) help them advance the plot hooks that they do like.
Don’t try to run a table session with more than 5 or 6 PCs. All the standard concerns about table time and organization return with that. Feel free to run a mini-session with just 2-3 PCs. They could be scouting an area, or doing a social tier with a local authority. These advance the story, but more importantly let your players know that you value their time. Those characters get rewarded with xp, gp, treasure. The players get rewarded with the entertainment of role-playing.
Be prepared for variable level encounters. With bounded accuracy this should not be as much of an issue as it would be in earlier editions of the game. Establish from the outset what the rules are about death, drop-in character creation, etc and work with your players to make certain that they are having fun with the system as it exists at your table both real-life and via digital communications. Feel free to grant xp for actions taken when the character acts in off-table activities.
By combining story xp and encounter xp you increase the level advancement as well as help social and exploration tier PCs advance. The more players that you include, the more likely you are to interact with PCs that emphasize the different tiers.
Finally, you should probably already understand this, such a campaign requires more organization and isn’t right for casual play. But the payoff is the creation of a story that mimics multi-novel stories, and that’s a lot of fun.
It’s been eight days judging by the cycle of Feylf. Somehow Teegan and Rohan aren’t at Kirtin-in-the-Sky. They also aren’t on the road they expected to be on, some kind of rockfall blocked it and somehow Rohan convinced her that they should go on a path a bit to the west and across a valley. Prior to that rockfall they’d picked up a glassblower also on her way to Kirtin-in-the-Sky for the same service.
Now, they’d missed their reporting date. Runoffs power raging streams and rivers as they try to pick their way north. Little Estrella’s pigeon could get a message back to either her tiny village, EVEN SMALLER THAN KORLOTT, or to Kirtin-in-the-Sky, but the glassblower is scared. They aren’t along known routes, no pigeons or coursehounds have been seen in days.
Teegan isn’t willing to admit that she’s lost. Rohan insists that he knows if they “just find headwaters of Crinth they’ll be fine.” She doesn’t know to believe that he actually knows or if he’s adopted a war story as truth. The River Crinth divides the Confederation from Azsel. It rips through the edge of the Keltann Slope. If he’s right, and over that ridge or the next one, or the next one? they could catch up to the rest of their Year and Serve.
She doesn’t have any ideas. That pigeon, Chechu, will not be leaving Estrella’s shoulder. Ha-Lim is a better scout in this terrain than stupid little Alleway. Being 11 months older than these two is turning into a curse. Young enough she serves in the same year, but old enough she’s “in charge” of a glassblower and a goatherd.
Rough rocks and scrub pine are their other companions. Food continues to run low. They find some berries once-in-a-while, but something has to happen.
Now there are dark clouds in the sky and they’ll be three to the one leaky tent. It’s been a miserable trip and why would she listen to Rohan again, about anything?
Another cold damp night, but she has Ha-Lim. He is warm, even while wet. She lays against him, because his soul is warm. She needs the comfort of a partner, rather than dependents.
In the morning they have plenty of water, but little food.
Trudging through the mud will not be fun. They crest a ridge and see the River Crinth, the whole valley. They also see a sky of green and hail with winds and some sickening funnel cloud down on the plains of Crinth.
There are sparks and lights flying across the river. It’s bewildering.
A pack of dogs circle a hut. These are warhounds, not service dogs. Getting a count is improbable. There are also three halflings with them, again around the hut. The idiots aren’t going in, and there is a hail, in Summer. This isn’t a storm for anything but hunkering down.
“Hey, can we get in there?,” Rohan shouts, “It’s chilly and we can all share.”
A sharp whistle and two of those huge hounds flank a grizzly old halfling, probably the leader.
“The hut and everything in it is ours. Go away children. Go away, now.”
Teegan snickers. This old halfling is trying to boss Rohan and that’s never worked. Except the man hears the laugh, and a different sharp whistle sends those two dogs towards Teegan. Ha-Lim prepares to charge them.
“Are you blind? We’ll die out here in this crazy weather,” Rohan is livid. “There’s lightning and hail and a tornado. We need shelter.”
A dazzling spray of light showers from Rohan’s hands. The dogs stop moving, bewildered and unable to see. Their companion is also blinded.
“Kill them, or capture. I don’t care. Get Piyu too,” the leader shouts with his hands rubbing his eyes.
Ha-Lim rams right through one of those warhounds. It is knocked cold.
As the other dogs and halflings turn to face the kids the door to the hut collapses. A large boot sticking out into it for a moment. A club smashes down onto an unfortunate hound. A grey dog bursts out from the door as well. It pounces onto one of the black and brown beasts.
Estrella ducks behind some scrub. This is exactly why she didn’t want to go to war.
Three of the six opposing dogs are down and out. Two more are blinded. One of the halflings is blind as well. The other two point their drawn short swords at the three children of Kirtin.
“Do you surrender?” Master Kellamon Scoques Lady Harsop steps from the hut. A whip and Bastos at his side. That whip disarms one of the hunters.
Estrella shouts yes. The leader of these hunters screams “No.”
A bit drunk on this unknown power Rohan screams “then die.” Three missiles of light and force shoot from his hands. The blinded dogs both take one, the leader the other. Rohan’s pike is lying on the ground now. This arcane power shooting forth is intoxicating. And the human child disappears.
Piyu clubs one of those swordsman with that board from the floor of the hut. It splits in half over the woman’s head. Rohan throws her hammer at a dog trying to take out Ha-Lim. The children, the escaped slave and the Master are dominant.
“Now?” Master Scoques asks.
“Yes.” Two swords drop, with a soft whistle that calls the remaining dog back to the hunters.
“Then leave. Leave forever. Piyu is free. Tell the Ranch that you never found us. Because if I return and point out that you were trying to take me, you are dead. You have no shelter from the storm. You do not deserve it.”
As they walk away Piyu calls to his heron, who swoops down and plucks the eyes from the leader. Piyu follows that up with a giant rock into the little halfling’s back. That leader is crushed under the weight of a stone that a nine-plus foot mammoth of a kin can hurl.
The other sprints off towards a tornado and a war fought between things that can control fire and lightning, kind of like what Rohan just did. Rohan is still gone.
Master Scoques takes charge. “Find that boy.” He points to Teegan. “Behind the bush, get over here so we know everyone is safe. And Piyu, you’ve just made our future. It’s not one I wanted, but it’s one I’m willing to take.”
Teegan is confused. How can she find Rohan. He did that thing and poof. Stupid little Alleway is sitting, as he does when he wants a treat. But the terrier looks up and then sniffs in circles, and then looks up at the same spot and then circles. This act is repeated a few more times.
“Alleway come!” He does not. He stares at a space about 5 feet up in the air, and then leaps up. Rohan pops into sight, right there, with his damn dog in his hands.
Raucous laughter comes from the teen. “I did that! I did that! I think I can do it again!”
“Boy, you will not. We’re all in quite a bit of trouble now,” Kellamon is used to leadership. “As soon as this storm passes we need to go. Two hunters died at our hands. I won’t be accepted in Crinth. Piyu cannot go back to Azsel and our Ranch. You three are clearly not where you are supposed to be, so you’re coming.”
This slaver’s speech is correct, yet disturbing. While Kirtin and Azsel are at war, there is little that can help the three teens away from their society. Rohan is partially to blame, and if Azsel demands him there are those in Kirtin that would turn him over rather than start a hot war.
“We shall, but where,” she decides for all three.
At the same time Rohan chuckles, “I go where I want.”
Estrella is calm, cowardly and absolutely fascinated by what Rohan has done. It is beyond the powers she’s seen in her little village. This thing can be used to hold the Slope, or free slaves, or whatever. She’ll follow Rohan, because he has power, if not authority.
“If you come with us, boy, you will be a free man. If not, you will be at the whim of those hunters’ family. We’re going to Sheljar. It does not allow recapture. Piyu will be free. You will be free. The girls will be free. And I’ll be able tell my family I’m alive, but gone.”
“How far?”
“Young lady, it should be about two weeks journey through these mountains to the west. Fani and Piyu can find us fish. It will be hard, but we’ll live.”
Piyu nods his head and enters the shed. “Come, come. This storm will be over soon.” A small cloud above his head disappears and three of the moons appear in their phases. The Dragon is hinted by a dark splotch.
When the teens enter the hut, it is quite crowded. A ram, a terrier, a pigeon, a heron, a warhound, a goliath, a halfling and the human teens isn’t much space in this outbuilding. But it is warm. Kellamon has food. There are introductions broken up by thunder and the scream of fierce winds, maybe even screams from the battle down along Crinth. It doesn’t stop with the storm, but accelerates and worsens.
Session Notes: The Shield of Kirtin (Paladin) player is out for this session on no notice. As is practice the only way that PC would perish is through an absurd TPK. There’s a near-zero chance of that. Present were the Goliath Commoner (Tinker) and the Human Mundane Ranger from coastal Daoud. Both are 1st time table-top role-players.
The Three last were in the ruins of a farmhouse in the Stench of Sheljar. At night they’d faced a few skeletons and zombies that rose from a bog and into the crumbling home where the Three took refuge. It was on the edge of these Sheljar lands. In the morning they work their way into a city that has been destroyed.
Abandoned homes and shops line the improved roads. There are pits of acid, pockmarks from various bolts, fire damage throughout. Few skeletons are about and everything stinks. The bog land and little islands have bridges connecting paths and larger spots of firm ground tend to have docks and piers.
Caution takes the group as they wander through this abandoned place. They know there may be skeletons and zombies. As they follow a main path they start to here a loud noise. It is a chink-chink-chink KACHUNK thing, clearly mechanical. Not knowing where to look they try to get closer to this, winding through large paths and small roads from stable ground to stable ground.
Reaching a structure with a kind of permanence in this forsaken place they investigate. The ground floor is former in, with tables in disrepair, but some level of cleanliness that is surprising here. The Shield stays in this space with his faithful horse. The other two checkout the kitch…
Everyone but the animal companions are on their asses. The Tinker rushes to a window with a view to that part of the world and sees a volcanic eruption. A huge cloud is forming with its rain of rocks and ash to come. The chink-chink-chink KACHUNK noise stops.
The Ranger gets a view towards the noise and there is a fire beyond a building across the way, and then streaming out of a passage are a set of humanoids setting up a bucket brigade. They are of varied sizes, with the largest making her Goliath friend seem a bit small. Their bucket brigade slows downs every time the smaller humanoids get one of these huge barrels of water. Eventually they leave and a couple more of the immense, tusked creatures can enter the line.
The sky falls dark and towards one of the branches of the river there is a waterfall like noise. One of the large creatures gets swept away, the Three move to the second floor. They can’t see the other group now. The slush grey river is a horizontal water fall, but that fire is out.
An hour later, as the river dies down to a rapids rather than horizontal waterfall, the chink-chink-chink KACHUNK sound returns. Beyond the building they start to see a bladder-like structure appear. It is ribbed. It continues to rise with a rib filling at every KACHUNK. Twelve times that KACHUNK sounds and then a huge ship hangs underneath the ribbed bladder. Dozens of those various humanoids board.
A ladder is thrown down to three of the largest types with two climbing up to the safety of their vessel. The last falls when two rungs fail. He is left behind.
The Three are cautious with the river and it is late in the evening. They settle in, keeping watch towards that lost soul. A few times in the evening they hear a clash of weapons. After those moments they see brighter fires.
In the morning the Tinker and Ranger cross the river to investigate, leaving the horse and Shield behind, in safety. Crossing this river, since the bridge was washed away, is difficult enough without armor.
They sneak around the warehouse-like structure that blocked the view. A Large frightened creature with a repeating heavy crossbow as large as a siege engine opens fire on the group. They weren’t sneaky enough. The Ranger orders her panther to attack as she tries to use piles of rubble for some cover. The Goliath takes cover and tries to fire back.
Session note: this was a couple weeks ago, so the pbp of the battle is impossible to recreate. Here’s the quick version.
They survive, but cannot take this creature alive, because the panther’s last command was to attack. It makes a killing blow on a critical. There will be no interrogation. They make it back to the Shield and let him know that they saw a couple other of those vessels leave. They also have a nicer map than the one they scrounged earlier. Those vessels they see seem to be leaving from spots marked on the map.
The statue in the harbor looks like the smallest of the creatures they saw. The Tinker thinks that those creatures, and that stature, all look like what the god Nok is reputed to look like.
Leading up to Summer Festival Mayor Kellamon is notified that annual special ale from The Ferments did not arrive in its customary window (generally a week before the festival). Since it would take a large quantity of ale about a week to get to Telse this is their last opportunity to check on the status of the ale. A few messenger pigeons were sent, but none return. Saffron, Barkley and Samul are sent to check on the ale while Aamar continues to study the Lorebook. Maurice is tailing Piyu. Behn gets an invite to visit Esmenet Fallaugher second of House Graysterm, the trade house of Qin that manages the South River and River Kirtin trade.
Session 10.5 Notes: Saffron and Samul’s players are present. None of the other players are present. Maurice and Behn’s characters were sent emails filling in their couple days in Telse. Some of those tales are relayed to the group in Session 11.
Saffron and Samul do find the ale. On the way Saffron finds a crown of forgetfulness at a waystation along the road. This crown is a simple band of a silvery metal and reminds them that Cortez bragged about wiping the minds of the unworthy who visited him.
A trail leads them off of the road along a path through a light forest to one of the untamed geysers. Along the way they rescue a dog that had been with the cart originally. This mastiff is loyal to them, but not a companion. There is no trace of the other mastiffs. A group of mephits, impish elementals fly up out of various geysers and pools. A quick fight with these creatures of smoke, steam and mud results in the rescued mastiff passing. There is no obvious leadership for these odd creatures. Nothing can explain why they’ve stolen the ale. The Ferments were already an odd place, and this theft makes it more strange. Something with access to a crown of forgetfulness and able to control elements is active in this land of liquors and geysers.
Samul and Saffron do manage to get the ale to Telse, but only in time for the Eclipse of Feylf on Summer 2 rather than Summer Festival on Summer 1. The party is ongoing, but Samul and Saffron discover some issues upon talking to their friends. At least one of Qin’s tradehouses know that they have the Lorebook in the Church of Quar. From Mo they learn that Piyu has a base outside the inner wall where he is operating his recovery operations. The Azsel ambassador also wants the Lorebook from The Five, who he hates.
That puts the list of people that may be alive and probably want the Lorebook at Chorl, Piyu, at least one tradehouse in Qin and maybe Cortez or maybe he’s just insane.
A decision is made. They cannot defend themselves while in Telse and with the Lorebook. The tailend of the two-day celebration of Summer Festival is the perfect time to leave. The Five will split. Aamar, Maurice and Saffron will go down river towards Mira, where there may be some clues to find other Lorebooks and/or Scholars. They will do this with a fake Lorebook, leaving with some of the Telse militia on a routine barge going downriver along the North River to Fort Ooshar.
Samul and Behn will have the real Lorebook with them and sneak out at night. The Five will meet in six days at the crossroads on Sheljar Road and the road from Fort Ooshar into the Sheljar Fields. Together they will hide in the Stench of Sheljar since a vast majority of the Kin will never go into those swamps after the empire fell.
Session 11 notes: Samul and Behn’s players are present. The others will either play out their journey via Slack or at the table prior to a full session.
On the night of Summer 2 trying to sneak through the inner city Behn the Sorcerer with Mitzie and Samul the Barbarian are trying to sneak through the crowds. Behn is concentrating on sneaking rather than partying. This is unusual. Eventually he and his companions disappear through invisibility. They get through the inner wall and the ghetto of people who survived the destruction of Sheljar rather uneventfully. But now again visible in the morning they work towards the West Gate where Obsconites control the fringe of Telse. One of Obscon’s patrols meets them on the edge of a forest. The poor cultists die. Samul and Behn destroy the holy symbol of the faith and tie the bodies to the trees. Samul wants western Telse to be free of these types of people that ended the Empire of Sheljar.
The two and their Companions travel just off the Sheljar road, avoiding a caravan and the sparse homesteads. On Summer 6 they are nearly at the crossroads. That morning, finally back on a standard nightly sleep schedule they encounter a pile of burned skeletons. A few of the skulls have large tusks, a few others with tiny little mouths and huge foreheads. There are hands as small as a halfing’s hands but with longer fingers as well as femurs that are nearly as large a goliath’s thighs.
At the crossroads, with a caravansary, a ranch house and a house managing an orchard it’s the largest homestead they’ve seen in days. They take refuge in the caravansary overpaying for use of a stable-room and promising to help patrol the area that evening.
Samul and Behn join two humans on the patrol, both have dogs. As they walk the fenceline a crossbow bolt rips into one of the men from the ranch. He perishes and his retriever immediately collapses as well. Using one of his crafty little cantrips Behn gets light towards where the shot originated. The skirmish is quick. The large opponents are creatures not even from legend. They are unheard of and use huge crossbows that don’t need to be reloaded. Behn, Samul and one ranchhand survive. None of the opponents do.
Summer 7 is one day before the rest of The Five are to arrive. All of the caravansary are on high alert. These strange creatures are unknowns and in daylight are unrecognizable. They are one day from the Stench of Sheljar, three days from the city proper.
This adventuring group started at the same time as The Five. It begins with three characters and will be The Three. It is also designed for some drop-in session and semi-permanent from the core. They are also searching for a Lorebook, but their direction is not to the West, but to the North and Sheljar. Their journey is darker.
The Three consist of;
Human, Paladin, Oath of Shield. This is a Paladin that does not have spellcasting, but does have some divine power. He carries a tower shield and is one of the protectors of Kirtin. Their companion is a draft horse.
Human, Mundane Ranger, path unknown. Her companion is a panther. She is originally from Daoud.
Goliath, Commoner (Tinker). He is from the outskirts of Telse, towards Bell’an’fair. This worshipper of Nok wants to learn why thinks work.
This is a group with a bit more fighting weight behind it. Though the Goliath doesn’t hit often, when he does he crushes. Seeing this Piyu and Allison send them off towards the Stench of Sheljar. They were at the same speech about trying to find the Lorebook, as well as Telse’s place in a post-Awakening Kin.
At the urging of Allison they head north through the fields and orchards towards Sheljar. The small group continues though a land that loses civilization quickly. After a few days they meet a family of minor nobles that escaped the stench of Sheljar. Not yet in the bogs and fogs of the fallen empire they learn that even these former leaders no longer tread north on the road. One of their sons left once. He is forever gone. All trade is to the south and the family heavily armed.
A couple days later the group avoids the road now. There are others on the horizon, conflict isn’t desired. This is a scouting trip more than anything else, for now. Off in these woods there is a pile of mostly bones. Their forms are not human, goliath or halfling. There are heavy brows. One has large tusks. The tiny one has a misapportioned mouth and a huge forehead. Each has a crossbow, with the largest of these being usable, with some work. The goliath tinker fixes it. It’s nearly the size of a balista. For him it is just a heavy crossbow. There are only a couple of bolts available. There is also a tiny map of the Sheljar area.
And two days later they enter the bogs and marshes of Sheljar. Their necks wrapped in perfumed kerchiefs so they don’t endure the physical smell their is still a sense of foreboding. On the edge of the settled lands of the dead kingdom they make camp for the night. The small house they found has some rotting hay. It is mostly a ruin, with some soft land to the east that settles into some sort of pond or stagnant water. There is a paddock to the south.
In the late hours the animal companions come aware. They sense something outside of reality nearby. The panther growls waking the group. Skeletal shadows walk towards the nearly sleeping bodies. Only the goliath can see, but the ranger thinks quickly and throws a little flame towards the advancing undead. The party can see 2 skeletons and 3 zombies.
The battle is fast, fierce. Being unfamiliar with combat the tinker struggles to stay involved. Without the panther and the healing abilities of the Shield all would be lost. But they tough it out. All remain living. When the combat is over they sleep a little closer to each other; their companions a little uneasy; their hearts beating faster.
After the last session The Five had finished their original goals. They’d found a Lorebook, and discovered it does not have the answers to “What caused the Awakening?” They did discover a cause, within a clandestine group of Scholars, that Chorl had something to do with the release of the minor magic. There was the discovery that the Obsunites captured the New West Gate. More close to their hearts was the conflict with Parun. The human that is hunting Mansaray.
This session had the following attendees: Behn, Saffron and Samul. Maurice and Aamar have small roles as DM run PCs. Mansaray is still out in the Wildes, maybe. Shonie returned to her family in Telse.
It is now Spring 75, just three days before Summer.
Bishop Ollium has offered the non-Telsians (Behn, Saffron and Samul) a place to stay as there are no visiting priests in the House of Quar at this time. They eat down in the tavern that the Quarites run while Aamar is in the temple library trying to learn more from the Lorebook. As those three and Mo dine Piyu enters the room, he has a single one of his guard with him. He is massive, but does not fill the room. The temple is built for goliaths, as is most of Telse.
“Hello, I will need to see you in my office when you are done with your morning meal. We will discuss the incident yesterday with Parun. He is waiting for us.”
Behn asks, “Should we hurry?”
“No. There isn’t a need. He can wait.”
The group take a reasonable amount of time to finish their meal and leave Aamar in the library. Their canine companions stay in the stable and yard connected to the House of Quar. Bernier, the bear cub, stays with Aamar.
When they enter Piyu’s office Parun is waiting, visibly frustrated at the delay. He has two dogs with him, a reminder that three of his dogs passed in the battle. Piyu’s heron is standing on the desk behind him. As the door closes it unfurls its extensive wings.
Telse, Mira, Qin and the other cities near the Everflow and its two rivers.
“We are here to discuss the incident,” Piyu starts. He describes how Parun is the new ambassador from Azsel. Being new to Telse, he did not understand the laws as regards to slaves. He has now been informed and though he is an ambassador, with all of those rights, he pay a fine to the city for the violence he laid on the local heroes. His netthrower will no longer be allowed inside the inner wall of Telse, nor at Fort Ooshar. Lastly, he will be followed when in Telse. Piyu asks Maurice to lead this effort. Maurice, having a certain hatred for Parun’s profession, agrees.
“But you, you five, damaged that netthrower and killed five dogs from the embassy. Though in self-defense, these sorts of crimes are not welcome in Telse.”
Behn argues that it was really just accidental magic. Piyu points out that it was a fire bolt that set the netthrower on fire. Behn is humbled, but not for long.
“So how much is the fine?” all four ask at nearly the same time.
“150”
“What?!” Behn, eager to pay back since he was the one that caused the damage was about to pay out of his pocket, but now needs help.
“There may be another solution if you do not have these funds readily available.” Parun tries to interrupt and is told to hold his voice. “Telse needs help. Half the Guard and a third of the Militia is monitoring the West Gate and the neighborhoods near where the Obsunites gained control. But there are many other issues you’ve brought forth to the Mayor. Will you help us?”
Parun again interrupts. “These, four? They committed crimes.”
“Leave, now. Mo will follow you,” Piyu commands. “If you help your fine to the city will be on probation.”
“What should we do?”
“What ever is needed.”
It’s open ended. They do not have instructions, unless they choose to address the silly apocalyptic cult blocking the New West Gate and the refugee ghettos on that side of town. But they are connected to the city, a bit more.
Samul goes to a mailer to send a pigeon to a friend back in Gate. That friend will then need to get a note to his betrothed. It should take about two days for that message to get to her ears. Saffron sends a pigeon to Kirtin-in-the-Sky to then get the note carried to Korlot where her older friend Teegan lives.
There’s also some shopping. Most of it is administrative. Behn replaces his missing bolts and buys more, and then buys a pack and harness for his dog Mitzie. Samul requests a dagger-glove for his off hand. (The mechanics for this are just that he always has a dagger ready on that hand, he already did a d4 damage). It will be done in a couple days.
The three then return to Aamar. The priest tell them that he’s learned a few things from his study.
There’s more than one Lorebook
They are likely where more Scholars are
Within the Lorebook are the type of spells that could remove the Stench of Sheljar
The Stench of Sheljar is because the former empire fell to pieces when the Awakening happened. Many people perished as those with powers of violence acted. The area rapidly fell to ruins. Some fled to Brodton, many more came to the northern parts of Telse, but most died. There is now a general uneasiness in the air, the odor of decay and a light fog. A number barely larger than zero enter those lands.
Now the group splits up. They’re learning about the area and have some clues to follow.
Samul heads out to the dockside. He’s worked the sea before and knows he’ll find some info among those that work the river. His target is a group of sailors from Daoud. He discovers that their ship is in Qin and they’ll be taking several barrels of the Everflow and other goods down river soon. Asking about areas they know he learns;
Qin has something like cannon guarding the harbor
In general the sailors think that Qin is a bizarre, but huge city
Kirtin-on-the-Lake has a huge library
Behn and Saffron head to the embassy for Mira, approaching the ambassador there. The idea is that since Mira was a fringe, semi-independent part of Sheljar they may learn more about the Stench and Sheljar.
Brodton is a no man’s land
Mira’s merchants avoid the roads rather than risk going through the town
Even the river traders up their alertness when on river, though it is several miles from the town
The government of Mira avoids the Stench of Sheljar
Session 10 was heavy social session, with a tiny bit of exploration, as the players started to fill out spaces within the town with the mailer and the dockside tavern.
Depending on the hooks they are looking to chase they can pursue heading off to Kirtin-on-the-Lake’s library (Lorebooks?), to the exotic city of Qin (Scholars?), to Brodton (Sheljar), or back out west to investigate Chorl/Cortez.
It was our first session in about two months. Planned as a short session that wrapped up the Quest for the Lorebook. The intent was for a primarily social session that introduced some new hooks for further adventures and established some downtime activities. As they say, “the best laid plans.”
After leaving Mayor Kellamon’s house/office most of The Five headed towards the House of Quar, the temple/storefront of Telse’s largest faith. Sitting on the Font of Two Paths the House of Quar bottles and barrels the holy water. Its waters can heal wounds, cure diseases and prolong life. It has two prices, for the faithful (a small donation) and for others (50 gold).
Being in Telse, which is the homeland of three members of the party, they are confident. Shonie heads off to her home. Ten less minutes talking to priests is fine. They got their payment, what more does she need to do?
So the Five, but not the original Five, cross the market. It is bustling with dogs, birds, ponies and other companions. Shops are hawking goods, sometimes hawks.
And then a huge net falls on top of Aamar, Bernie and Mansaray’s falcon. It came from the direction of the Fair Market, where gemstones, jewelry and blown glass are sold. Behn immediately spins in that direction and unloads a bolt into a halfling manning a cart with a large netthrower on it. In front of the cart are two mastiffs. There are five other warhounds with the group opposing The Five. Another halfing is alongside the cart. A slight human stands in front of the group.
“Give me Mansaray’s falcon,” the human demands.
Here the party could do many thing. Though in conflict no lethal action was taken. And, it stays that way for just a moment longer.
Behn wins initiative. He’s just a sorcerer, and still learning his spell powers since the Five have had a Lorebook for a couple days. He casts Fog Cloud to obscure The Five. Mo is next. The quick thinking rogue cuts through the netting to release Aamar and the two bonded companions then uses Cunning Action to Dash towards the House’s door. He yells for Samul and Saffron to follow (those two characters are unplayered in this session).
The two halfings at the cart start loading a new net.
“These need not go further, just give me the bird,” as he whips the bird. Dropping it to the ground unconscious.
Aamar, now free of the net, casts Hold Person. It doesn’t take, as the mental power of the subject was too strong. That man whips Behn. It’s a relatively minor wound, but magically saps his strength as well. Behn’s pissed. The man is rather frustrated.
This next round is when things escalate.
Behn casts Thunderwave. Luckily every single possible subject makes its save. Luckily because it includes several of his friends. But five of the opposition’s dogs are in range and they all fall. Both halfings are wounded both from the wave of thunder and their psychic bond. Aamar is wounded two ways. Bernie is wounded. The man with the whip is wounded two ways. The rest of The Five are inside the House. Maurice is dashing for the Bishop sensing that his friends are outmatched.
One other issue takes place. Behn’s a wild sorcerer. All arcane casters in Kin are wild. There are not yet the schools teaching those that channel magic to understand what it is they do. He surges. To Behn’s good fortune he gets to teleport to a place within 60 feet and he’s now inside the bell tower looking down into the fog.
Everyone in the market and most inside Telse hear the boom of thunder. What was once a quiet, non-lethal attempt to capture became a deafening battle with lives on the line. The Guard is alert.
The man with the whip strikes Aamar twice. He isn’t seeking a killing blow, but one that disables the Cleric of Quar. It works. Aamar is down. Bernie is enraged and rakes his claws across the slaver. Samul rushes out to find Aamar in the fog. One of the halfings shoots at Behn in the tower. The other has the netthrower readied.
Behn’s fog is still stable. Bernie and this slaver are inside the thick cloud and can’t make out the details from the rest of the conflict. The two dogs that didn’t get caught in the thunderwave flee. It’s rushed. There is chaos. Behn’s bicep is oozing blood with a dark mist around the whip wound.
The man drops his whip. Pulls a bow and shoots at the man of Mehmd, again hitting. Behn is about to go down as well. Mo gets Samul’s help, rushing out to pull Aamar into the church as the fog clears. Bishop Ollium stands at the entry too.
Bernie claws the slaver again.
Piyu and a few members of the Guard are nearby. Behn blasts the netthrowing cart with a Firebolt. The halflings try to put that fire out.
Captain Piyu shouts out, “Parun, drop your bow. Everyone, stop.” He has numbers, and health on his side. One of the Guard casts friends on Bernie, the bear cub.
That event requires some quick rules invention. Bonded Companions are somewhat like people, but not their own agents. The check for control is opposed by Aamar’s Charisma. Luckily for Aamar and the Five the role fails and Bernie stops attacking, for a moment.
Behn runs down the ladder-stair from the bell tower into the temple’s chamber of worship. He snags a flask of the Everflow and quaffs it. The necrosis on this arm stops. Saffron shoves different vial of water down Aamar’s throat.
“Piyu, I’m here on Azsel business and just need that falcon. Mansaray escaped and we are able to recover.”
“I do not see a Mansaray. I see six heroes of Telse. I don’t even see the falcon.” The poor falcon is at the top of the bell tower. “Azsel’s authority here is at Kellamon’s will. He most certainly will not will you to recapture an escapee within town.”
Piyu is a goliath, like Mansaray. Half his guard is as well.
“Come with me Parun. We will talk with the Mayor about this,” the old goliath commands. “You others, go with the Bishop. Figure out what to do with the Lorebook.”
Pointing at one of Parun’s halfling companions with a crossbow bolt in his thigh Behn asks, “Can I have that back?” That halfling casts Acid Splash back to answer in the negative.
Bishop Ollium steps between the two. “You, go! You, come!”
They are saved, but heavily wounded. The road between the General Market and Fair Market is covered in the violence. Another priest of Quar comes out to look after the wounded dogs. Some may be saved.
“You, Mehmd man, fifty gold for that flask.”
“What flask?” Behn tries to play it off.
“The one that you tossed aside at the base of the stairs.”
“OK, that flask.” Behn scrapes together the coinage, barely. The Five have yet to cash the cheques that Mayor Kellamon instructed them to take to the money changer.
“Son,” the Bishop looks at Aamar, “does the Book have answers?”
“It does not,” the independent priest answers. “It has some history and lessons of magic. Over these days I think I’m learning more and we of Quar can learn more.”
“May I have the book?”
Aamar respectfully declines. “I will study it here, but I’m attuned to what it does and can help us all learn.”
After a first adventure The Five went out into the Western Wildes. They learned that a group called The Scholars are keeping Kin ignorant of magic. Cortez’ student Chorl is responsible for the Awakening, violating the trust of the Scholars. When Cortez set the volcano off he may have eliminated Chorl and the Cult of Nak’s power. While they were away the West Gate was taken over by Oun/Obsconites who are trying to hasten the fall of Kin. This group is preventing all goods from coming to Telse along the Western Road that connects Dakan Thaeeb and the Cliffs of Gallinor to Telse. Lastly, they met Parun, an agent of Azsel who is collecting escaped slaves to bring them back to the halfling slave kingdom.
Their adventures are not over. They’ve collected a few goods, gained some power and know that Kin continues to feel the effects of the Awakening.
I’ve had the great pleasure of playing with the alpha test of Fantastic Maps#HexAllTheThings. If you want to break the tool sign up here. The first thing I did to break it was make a larger than expected map of the Western Wildes, or those cities and towns that are primarily influenced by The Everflow.
Telse, Mira, Qin and the other cities near the Everflow and its two rivers.
This image doesn’t include the Fog of War functions, nor the ability to see descriptions as part of the labels as the web version does. Thankfully for me, the region is temperate and mostly green trees. So the earliest of releases looks like what I want the area to look like.
You can see the North River and South River coming out from the Font of Two Paths. There is also the devastation at the Ruins of Sheljar. That city didn’t handle the Awakening well. Though it’s only been 21 years the influx of cantrips into this city in the swamps lead to fighting and destruction. The area has been abandoned as many of the bridges, dikes and other bulwarks were destroyed. There are also now massive waves pounding the shores of Sheljar Bay.
Those that followed the story of The Five will see the Glass Tower and the encampment where the Cult of Nak took residence. I used regional shading there to show areas that were effected by the volcano that Scholar Cortez set off. Along the road is the West Gate where Obsondites took over. There is regional shading there as well.
Mira and Qin get some attention, but since their outlying communities are not common knowledge to the people of Telse they get no labels. Three of The Five are from Telse and its environs. Shonee grew up in the town itself. Aamar spent some time in the uplands discovering his faith. Mo hails from Fort Ooshar, a former Sheljar tax collecting town that Telse now controls so that their goods can get to Mira unmolested.
Qin is defined by it’s massive harbor, the lighthouse and the Cannons of Qin. Those two towers at the mouth of the bay prevent attack from the sea. The road through the uplands is hard travel, and many will take the South River upstream on pole and paddle.
Mira has more outlying towns and towers. With it being much closer to the River Crinth it has to use more of its might to prevent invasion and refugees from the Crinth/Azsel wars. There’s also an odd peninsula that I made just to test out how the automatic shorelines worked.
These are fairly simple maps at this point. I used a scale of 24 miles across, because I wanted a moderate day of travel per hex. The scale change and actual gaming forced changes from my first hand drawn map. I’ve now started working on two other regions where other characters originate. Gate (Samul, Behn) is nearly done. The lakes along Crinth where Mansaray is from are still being developed, and may need to wait for more features.
You do everything in your power to free the kept. These rogues operate outside of the rules of society and follow their own path to freedom for themselves and others. They combine the artful skills of a thief with the directed violence of a blade. As the Liberator gains power they are able to sense who needs their help. You are able to aid in their defense, grant them freedom from captivating and punish the captors.
Within the World of the Everflow the people of Azsel place a higher price on Liberators than they do on escaped slaves.
3rd level – Hard to Contain – The Liberator’s desire and expertise at freeing others is grants the Liberator advantage on checks against Grappling and breaking out of a net. When whipped a Liberator can ignore the pull effect.
3rd level – Fast Hands – The Liberator gains Fast Hands per page 97 in the PHB.
9th level – Defend the Defenseless – As a bonus action you can aid in the defense of one ally who is not attacking. They may take other actions, but not spell attacks. Until your next turn that ally is attacked with disadvantage as long as the Liberator and ally are within reach (5′, or 10′ with a reach weapon). This ability can be used to defend an attacking ally but then requires the use of an action rather than bonus action.
9th level – Free the Oppressed – the Liberator gains an Extra Attack and the choice of Dueling or Defense Fighting Styles. Sneak Attack now also applies to any enemy that the Liberator learns has taken or kept a slave within the past 24 hours.
13th level – Hand of Freedom – The Liberator learns Mage Hand or Prestidigitation if Mage Hand is already known. They can use this cantrip as an Arcane Trickster of same level would. If the Liberator has a bonded companion they can use the cantrip through the companion as long as the companion is within sight. A bonded companion is similar to a Ranger Companion. The rule structure is unique to the World of the Everflow. If the Liberator has a Familiar or Companion per standard rules this ability can still be used.
13th Level – Remove Brand – The Liberator learns Minor Illusion and can cast a version of this cantrip so that a branding or other ownership mark is hidden until your next long rest. No concentration is required. It can be discovered through an Investigation check per the Minor Illusion rules. This brands and other ownership marks can be on people of kin, bonded companions, domestic animals or identifying ownership crests on vehicles. It can be cast per the standard cantrip rules per the setting. A Liberator generally uses this so that hired slavers and others can not identify the freed peoples, though some use it to steal cattle or hide the fact that their bond is bonded.
17th level – Blade of Freedom – the Liberator gains a second Extra Attack and the other of Dueling or Defense Fighting Styles.
17th level – Find the Oppressed – You gain advantage on Investigation and Intimidation. You gain proficiency in either skill if unknown. If already known you gain expertise in those skills. The Liberator can detect the direction and travel time towards the nearest place where more three intelligent creatures are held captive, under influence of fear or charm or a slave market. This only works for the closest of those scenarios and has a range of 2 times the combined total of Wisdom score and level miles. The ability recharges with either a short or long rest.
Full Moon Storytelling 
