Flowing out from Haddock Mirk, the breeze picks up the stench of death and decay, and carries it along its course. Breezing through the farmlands of southern Cairhein, peasents stop and wrinkle their face at the sodden smell. Whispering a prayer to the Creator, they bend over and continue their tasks, sowing the fields and tending livestock.
Gliding across the ground, the wind changes directions, as if it is avoiding the city of cairhein itself. The long tail prairie grasses bend under the breeze, startling ground critters near and far.
North and west it travels, flowing over small villages and towns, causing hung laundry to flap and flail, some even unclip and fall onto the dry, dusty earth. Cows and pigs snort and bellow at this sickly scented wind.
North and west. As if driven by someones hand, the wind holds true. It flows across more land, until finally it flows through a spot that seems to have recently known death on a grand scale. The wind circles the perimeter, dead mens shirts and banners wave in the breeze. Over bodies, men and women, whose glazed eyes stare up at the sky. Flowing inward, it passes over a more horrific scene of war, a war conducted with the one power. A large circle, 10 feet high, and 12 strides deep, stands as a testement to this use of power. This wall is of death, for mutilated bodies form it. The circle makes a large perimeter surrounding the remnants of a camp. Wagons, once burning, are now extingushed and smoulder. Graves are being dug for people of importance.
The breeze now blows through this large encampment, and men in black jackets, some with pins in their colars, snort as the smell assails their noses. The wind moves past women kneeling, all dressed in fine clothing, all looking shocked at something that had just happened. The smell of death doesnt register with them, for they are dealing with something far worse...
...they are shielded by the men in black jackets.
Into this camp walks a strange group. 5 figures, 2 men in the black jackets with pins in the colar, a woman wearing fine clothing with an outraged look to her face, a swordsman following the woman whose eyes dart between the two men in the black jackets, and a rarity; an Ogier, walking with a large staff in hand. Onlookers can clearly see that the two men in black, those Asha'man, are escorting the three others.
The spoiler i wrote is the introduction that i used to set the scene for the players in my campaign. Since this campaign is taking place in the wheel of time setting, it was only fitting for it to have an intro similar to the WOT books.
how it came to be.
Last year at this time, I started playing in a WOT campaign that was DMed by DMjonasty, where i played an asha'man who had undergone training at the black tower.
After a month of play, i got an itch to DM my own campaign, so i did the leg work and was able to get some people to play.
The cast of characters
DM jonasty's crew.
Alathea: female initiate, accepted in white tower
Fiallian: female wilder/maiden of the spear/wise one apprentice
Jasper: Asha'man initiate
Pace: asha'man wilder/armsman
Jasmine: Female Initiate, accepted in white tower.
Jed: armsman, blademaster, Warder to jasmine
Litheene: Female initiate/wilder, accepted in white tower
Ryland: woodsman/armsman
DM Rizzenmagnus crew
Amorial: Ogier noble
Tesliin: female initiate/aes sedai
amar: armsman/warder to tesliin
Rhoekk: Aiel Algai’d’siswai, red shield
Jolial: asha'man wilder (played by dm jonasty)
Marten: asha'man initiate
DM jonasty led his group from Andor, to Taraboron, Amadica, Salidar, Caemlyn, Cairhein, up to Dumai Wells, and back to Cairhein. This time period covered book 6 and the start of book 7. The group was in Cairhein to find a missing "eyes and ears" of the Amrylin seat, egwene.
For myself, I started my campaign right after the battle of Dumai Wells. And then the group moved to Cairhein. The adventure started off with the Dragon asking them to look into a creature called the gray man, in relation to the green man instead of the assassins for the dark one.
the takeover
a few months back, Jonasty was unable to keep up with the demands of this game, along with real life, so he stepped back, allowing anyone to take over. after a few days thought, i decided to pick it up again, because i liked the game, the group we had, and my character Jasper.
the losses
Due to life itself, both groups have suffered from the effects of real life.
With jonasty's group, Jasmine, jed, and Pace all had to step away from the game.
With My game, Marten had to step away.
the current situation
RIght now, both groups are working together (in the same post thread) to over come a difficult foe.
For jonasty's group, the target of their search is being held by either a darkfriend or a seanchan.
For my group, their investigation of gray men attempting to assassinate a noble has led them to discover that the new noble is a Seanchan, and may even be a darkfriend. They seek to investigate this line of thought, and to also discover if one contact within the household is truely a der'sul'dam