There's not much for you to work with here, regarding your first month. So you can make something up or tie yourself into one of the other PCs stories.
Additionally, you need to purchase your Lifestyle. Page 100 if you have the book. Otherwise, your options are:
Destitute (free)
Poor (2 cp)
Getting By (1 ss)
Comfortable (2 ss)
Wealthy (1 gc)
Rich (2+ gc)
If you pick anything other than Getting By, roll a d20 and a d6.
Charlemange spent the weeks following their deadly encounter with the Laughing demon in contemplation.
If you want to upgrade, you may pay the standard cost on page 100. There are potential benefits to a higher lifestyle. If you don't have the book, then open Charles's spoiler for the costs and dice rolls.
From there, you're pretty open to writing your story for the past month. You can write in what happened for yourself, or join in on someone else's story.
Gronder spends much of his time training to hone his skills. He wears his new armor as often as possible, to get used to the weight.
I learned a lot down there, now it's just a matter of putting the pieces together. Work the axe and the shield together. Keep an eye out for the others. Footwork. Timing. Distance and interval.
When possible, he'll watch Tess and Drot, and offer to spar with either of them if they'd like. He will also approach whomever seems to be in charge in the town and mention his background as a militiaman and warrior, offering to work with the militia, if they have one, or just to help if any emergencies arise. He also seeks out anyone who might have more experience, or any books he can find, to learn more about combatives.
It's Saturday. A cloudless day with a bright blue sky. The sun brightens the morning as the townsfolk take the day off.
The sounds of children laughing and squealing can be heard with barking dogs.
Tesswyn strolls through the forest outside of town, enjoying the early morning sunshine. She collects a few berries and acorns, putting them in her pouch. She digs her bare feet into the soil, feeling connected to the plants all around.
The days after the excursion into the well and the destruction of the Laugher found Charles to be in mixed spirits as he saw the others. He was glad for the matter to be over and he realized his efforts had been lacking due to his unpreparedness. He was also troubled as he had succumbed to his curiosity at the end and let his guard down. He had tried to harm his companions. It seemed that once his fervor was drained, he was no different than any other man.
I need to be more vigilant and aware. I have to be more prepared for anything. he thought to himself. Those words echoed through his mind in the coming days. So he continued his studying of the religion. He continued his observations, and teachings.
The rains came and brought an end to the drought and with it temporary relief. But they seemingly never stopped. Soon it became a flood and they were all forced out of Asylum. As plans were made and lives went different directions, the inevitable parting of ways came. Despite what they'd all went through, Charlemange found himself feeling alone as the two he'd gotten to know the best left for their own path.
As he had found himself among the center of attention as a member of the foray, he came upon a good deal of coin and goodwill. He was offered to travel with the caravan heading to the mountain village of one entrepreneurial spirit saw fit to give him a potion of healing. Although he was now able to call upon the aid of the New God and do so himself, he realized it was not enough. If Tesswyn had not raided the dubious magic shop of items and found those potions, things likely would not have gone so well after all.
Though it was a small thing, Charles decided that in order to be more prepared in the future, he would have to grasp the possibilities for himself. When he arrived with the caravan, he immediately set out to use his coin and find himself a decent place to live. He immediately professed himself as a follower of the New God and believer of the Martyr.
Drot spends a lot of his time inside his shack tinkering with his magic and contraptions. Today he needed to work and found himself fixing a cart wheel for a local shop. He's taken on the role of handyman and mechanic as of late and finds a lot of satisfaction in this.
Gronder was taking an early morning constitutional stroll, enjoying the fresh air and pleasant temperatures that morning. He smiled, hearing the children laugh and play. This is what it's all for. The pain, the fear... we take it on ourselves so that they don't have to.
During his time in Tomoal, Charles bad found that the majority of the town were used to and preferred the old faith. Despite his attempts to establish himself as a new source of healing he found the amount of people who came to him were more out of convenience than actual necessity. They listened to his teachings with polite patience but ultimately very few were swayed by his words. Ultimately he found himself with only a steady but small stream of regulars. He'd made a special to case to a supply merchant to be their personal healer in exchange for a private room.
He found himself sleeping late on Saturday. He was in his large rented out room close to the center of town. His travel things were largely put away in a closed, but not locked, chest at the foot of his bed. He now kept a wooden holy symbol of his faith, a snake eating it's own tail, hanging above his bedpost. His staff lay against a wall. A majority of his clothes and robe hung in a wardrobe, the rest were on the floor. A sword, the one from under the well, lay under his bed along with some a small kit of cleaning oils. Next to the bed was a small wooden table with a mostly full candle and a strike set as well as a pitcher full of water and some bread from the night before.
A quick succession of bangs from behind startled you, but it's quickly revealed that it's someone pounding on your inn door.
Father Charles! Father Charles! Quick! We must hurry!
The sounds of screams grates upon your eardrums even as you witness the rising cloud of smoke coming from the nearest mountain peak. Glowing red fluid is sizzling out the top.
You see people running to gather children, others are headed to their homes or the inn.
It's a two minute run back to your shack.
Screams invade your ears, and your first instinct is to look for the tear in the veil that you know must be there.
Gronder! a voice calls out. Gronder! The volcano!
It takes a moment for the words to sink in, and as they register you visibly relax. It's not a tear, you hear yourself thinking. But then the new reality adjusts itself as you see the smoke rising from the nearest mountain peak, quickly following by a spluttering of bright red liquid.
Gronder! The Volcano! We must run! Quickly! Now! To the inn! We only have a few minutes!
It's only a short run back to your home.
Looking around, you see smoke rising from the nearest mountain peak. Bright red liquid starts to spurt out from the top.
Screams filter out of the town as people start running.
Tesswyn. Tesswyn, listen to me, the words invade your mind. You recognize the voice as the leader of the druidic circle. Get to the inn. There is a cellar leading to an underground passage which will lead to safety.
You look about and, true to the words, the majority of folk seem to be running to the inn.
From here, it's a run to get to the inn, but a full on sprint to get back to your home.
"F#!$ me!" Tesswyn shouts as she sees the volcano erupt. The high druid's voice urges her to get to the inn. She knows she has to move quickly, so she casts her shillelagh spell. Gripping her enchanted staff, she races home at top speed!
Charles awoke from his sleep blearily and raised his head at the shaking and bolted upright when the screaming began. He felt unsure as to what was occurring as he had not been made aware of anything as he had been on the day the rift had opened.
It can't be demons, could it?
He then picked up his breeches and threw on his boots from the day previous. He'd only just begun making his way to open the shuttered window when the pounding started.
He turned, grabbing his holy symbol from his bed post and made his way across the room to the door before throwing it open.
"What's the matter?! What's happening?!"
Smoke and rock start to blacken the sky as you spam into your door, breaking it open before you even have the chance to turn the handle.
Agility Challenge Roll.
Grab 1 item: no Banes. (Ex: Boots or Armor)
Grab 2 items: 1 Bane. (Ex: backpack + boots)
For each additional item, add one bane. (Backpack + stuffing a bunch of stuff in it)
Taking the time to put on any clothing: +1 Bane for each item
Taking the time to put on armor: Add a second Agility Challenge Roll with 3 banes.
Father Charles! He Volcano has erupted! We must get to the cellar! Quickly! There's a passage that leads deep into the mountain and away from here.
Tesswyn knew she didn't have much time. She couldn't afford to get bogged down by her armor--she could always buy another set. Her pack, with her coins, tools, potions, and mirror, was much more valuable. She quickly snags it and races out of the house, running barefoot to the inn!
No one has voluntarily informed you of this, mostly because they don't like you.
Drot sees the pattern of people running to the inn and he knows what's happening upon the mountain...
He remembers the souls of the Redcaps whispering into his mind about all the things the townsfolk wished upon him, trying to drive him mad. Buried in lava one such fate and the existence of the tunnels were subsequently revealed to him...
He makes his way toward the inn as well but as he does so he watches for anyone who may need assistance getting there, such as people too young or too old to run quickly enough. He also keeps an eye out for his Demon Hunting group.
This is rather unexpected... I hope those tunnels were properly maintained!
Charles eyes widened as he took in the gravity of the situation.
"Your warning is appreciated but this place is likely to flood with people soon. I promised I would see your family safe. So go, grab as many people as you can to help you take any supplies that can be moved from here. Quickly!"
He left the door to his room open as he himself turned back to the window. Throwing open the window shutters allowed himself a moment to take in the chaotic scene before him. Many people were swarming to the inn but some were running in different directions. Most forgoing practicality and simply coming with the clothes on their back as they favored immediate survival over any sort of long term planning.
That'll work in the immediate time but not for any sort of long term. he took a deep breath, somehow ignoring the smoke rising in the sky. He was new to the town and he didn't know whether everyone had a plan of what to do or simply had been told but never expected it to happen.
he bellowed out from the window. He supposed that the only reason he was able to remain as calm as he was being a shirtless man yelling out a window was because of his previous experiences of nearly dying.
Unsure if his words would have any sort of effect, he turned from the window and began grabbing his things. He wondered if perhaps sleeping in had been a small sign of favor from the New God or if he'd just been lucky.
He grabbed a clean shirt, his cloak, and the lantern from the wardrobe. His backpack from under the bed along with the longsword. He threw open his foot trunk and began packing in as many things that would easily fit into this pack, cursing himself for not having everything ready to go. Once he had hurriedly done so he grabbed his staff, an inferior weapon he supposed to his sword but a keepsake he'd had for a long while now. Grabbing the striker set from the table he turned and headed downstairs to see if there was more he could do.
Even: Gronder goes home to grab gear. Odd, he rushes to the inn.
Gronder quickly grabs his axe, shield, and backpack, hoping he'll have enough time to get back to the inn.
He successfully grabs his gear and makes it to the inn.
Outside, rocks and boulders are starting to rain down upon the down. Smoke billows skyward from the peak as lava pours out over the lip.
At the inn, people are rushing into the basement, pushing and pulling on each other as they try to get to the underground tunnels.
Charles stands at the top of the stairs, trying to get as many to get down as he can before the lava flow hits the village. Eventually the time comes when he, too, must abandon his post or be consumed by the heat.
The passages are man made, but not stone work. They look like old mining tunnels, braced with thick lumber. As you travel deeper, fumes spurt out of cracks int he walls as the other volcanic activity seems to pressurize the entire mountainside.
Hours of hard travel pass with the large group. It's slow, but many are with you. It seems a large portion of the town have made it to the inn for safety. Some of the older men seem to know where they're going. There's an exit half a day's walk - for a younger man at least - but it will take longer with this group. Between the children and the eldery, you're slowed down.
Suddenly, a loud BOOM shutters through the entire mountain. The tunnel starts to collapse in on itself. The crowd surges forward, trampling some underfoot as they rush to move ahead, only to come to a dead end. The way is blocked.
When the shaking stops, you find yourself trapped. The path both forward and behind are clogged with rock and rubble.
Miners! To me! calls out a voice, and half the men get up and start moving rocks. But not long into the work, you notice something is off.
Fumes start fill the air, causing people to start choking. Within minutes, the oxygen is gone from the room and everyone has passed out. Darkness envelops your vision as you, too, succumb to the fumes.
An indeterminate time later, you wake up. It's not a sudden wake, but a slow lazy wake as you eventually find yourself able to breath fresh air. Well, not fresh, but breathable. Survivable. There is an acrid smell, making your tongue feel like someone used it as an ashtray.
You feel an immense thirst and hunger, similar to what you felt when you faced the Demon of Dessolation. Either she's back (unlikely) or you've been unconscious for more than a day.
For most everyone here, it's dark. So dark you cannot see your hand in front of your face. The torches have all burnt out.
Mommy, I'm thirsty, you hear a tiny voice call out in the darkness. Mommy?
Gronder can see a little girl, not more than four years old, trying to wake a woman next to her. Presumably her mother, but the woman is perfectly still.
Tesswyn maintained a stoic facade as they journeyed down the tunnels, but she cursed loudly when the rockfall trapped them. She tried her best to aid the miners in digging them out, but it was all for naught, and soon she succumbed to the fumes.
She hacks and gasps for air when she finally awakens. She fumbles in the dark for her waterskin, greedily gulping down the precious liquid. Then she gropes for her tinderbox to light a torch and illuminate the scene.
She looks impassively over the still forms around her. She's seen a lot of death lately, and it's starting to numb her. There's a twinge of sadness, sure, but she's always been a girl concerned more with her own well-being and that of her close friends. So she moves first to check on Charles, Drot, and Gronder to make sure that they are alright.
As Drot ushers people toward the inn he gets the sense that some of the people are confused as to why or how he knows to do this but he is not phased. The towns folk who need help are more then happy to get it in any form they can. As the time draws to enter the tunnels Drot heads the back of the group, making sure the stragglers don't fall behind.
As the walls shake and the tunnels cave Drot uses his massive size to cover as many people as he can from the dust and rocks that are subsequently hurled toward the group. After the initial bustle he hears the call for workers and attempts to make his way to the front, though the mass of people is so dense that he doesn't get very far before he can feel the air slowly become harder to breath. He finds the side of the tunnel in preparation for the inevitable.
After some time he begins to wake to a feeling he's nearly familiar to. His mind flashes back to his time on the slave ship where he'd been forced to go days without food or water regularly. He jolts awake in fear for his life, this quickly turned into fear his allies.
"Tess! *cough, cough* Grondor! Charles! *cough*."
He slowly gets up and attempts to move without crushing anyone, feeling his way through the darkness. He looks around for the little girls voice while he moves to the front of the cave. He sees the light from Tesswyn's torch;
"Put that out! We may only have so much air down here, the fire will eat it away too quickly."
Tesswyn extinguishes the torch at Drot's urging. "What are we supposed to do, then? We need to get out of here!"
"Give me a moment to think..."
Drot continues to slowly make his way toward Tess' location.
"Grondor! Can you be our eyes? Do you see anyway of getting out of here? We may need to continue to move the rubble out of the way, dig ourselves free!"
The tunnel was disconcerting for Charles as it reminded him of the time in the well. He moved along near the end of the pack, making to to keep everyone moving. After several hours he was beginning to wonder where exactly this would take them and after several people began wondering his thoughts aloud, he said he would find out and began moving up the crowd.
That was when the tunnel began the shaking and people began to panic. He tried to the maintain order but his voice was drowned out and he watched in shock as several children and older folk were knocked down and trampled upon, several of which seemed to be crushed by the falling debris.
He felt anger at the people who had pushed forward so heedlessly and almost felt justified when they came to the dead end... but ultimately he realized it was the helplessness he felt at their situation. The people were scared and everyone was trying to get out alive. Even he had been given in and been forced to move ahead instead of going back to try and help those who had been buried under rubble.
Normally there was a tangible reason; The mad cultists... the demon underneath Asylum... My own fath-, no! He wouldn't think that. Normally, there was something to be righteous against. But this, this is just a natural disaster. He let out a deep sigh. He was feeling drained.
He helped when the miners began working to clear the tunnel but he was feeling numb from the experience and gave only a paltry effort at moving rocks out of the way to clear things for others. When he began to grow weary he barely recognized it for what it was until he lost consciousness.
When his consciousness slowly returned later, his throat dry unable to see, the uneasiness quickly returned. He wanted to do nothing more than lay there but he could not ignore the sounds of the little girl. He began to unsteadily push himself up off the ground, feeling the bodies of others nearby. But once he heard the familiar sounds of Tesswyn and Drot'ook, he began to calm down.
He heard them calling for Grondor to see and licked his dry lips.
"Tesswyn... Drot'ook... I think I... I think I can help with that." he rasped, fumbling for his holy symbol.
"May the heavens... give us a light against the darkness." after a moment there was a bright flash of shining white light which began to emanate from around him.
The light brightens most of the area. Bodies litter the ground, some crushed under rock, others laying there but breathing.
As you take count, there are twenty-five people alive, including the four of you.
What's going on? a male.voice asks. It's coming from a rotund man.
One of the miners says, There's air flow. I can feel it. There's a breeze. Must be why we didn't die from the fumes. Look, it's here. I bet if we dig through these rocks, we can get out.
Good idea, a woman says. And we'll need stock of food and water. How much do we have?
Everyone drops what food and water they have in a communal pile. In total, there's enough to feed the entire group for five days, but only enough water for two days.
We'll have to ration this out, the same woman says.
The miner says, And we'll need to start digging. Every able bodied person needs to help.
Not me, says the rotund man, I'm not built for physical labor.
Tesswyn keeps her water to herself. She uses her staff as a lever to help move the rocks, working to clear the path ahead.
Drot didn't have his rations or water skin on him while he was working so he won't have any extra.
He could use his magic dart spell(s) to blast away some of the bigger rocks.
The party starts digging through the rubble, and with the help of most it only takes a day to get through.
But even still, people argue and fight. Some are worried that there won't be enough water or food. Others feel it's all pointless to even try. Others still are going manic with the fear of being trapped alive.
But you manage to break through. You break into something made by sentients - man or dwarf or someone. It's an underground structure that seems to he very well built as it's able to withstand the heat and the lava. Yes, lava. You can see it visibly, moving slowly like a meandering slug. It worms its way out of a wall to drip down to the floor, pooling up before sliming over to a hole in the ground where it disappears.
Parts of the walls are red hot where lava is bring it.
You also see the occasional vent that billows out black fumes.
You break into a room that has a few beds; they're ancient but sturdy, being built of metal. The fabrics and bedding are long since gone.
The room has one exit other than the one you just forced into it; it's a hallway that leads to a cross road. People start pouring out of the room to try and escape.
What do you do?
Gronder coughs and sputters as he comes to. Still groggy, he slowly sits up, looking around. The memory of what happened comes back to him. "What in all of the hells... Drot! Tess! Charles! Are you alright?"
He stands, wobbling a bit. As he looks around, seeing the bodies, and the injured people, he shakes his head as if to clear it. "Right. What can I do?" he calls out.
"Gronder!" Despite herself, Tesswyn can't resist throwing her arms around the dwarf when he finally awakens. "Thank the World Mother, you're alive!"
She explains the situation to him. "The lava is still flowing down here. We need to keep moving."
When they get to the room, she shouts at the people trying to run on ahead. "Hey, wait! Don't go running about willy-nilly like that, unless you want to get killed! Let us go first to make sure the way is safe!"
She gives the room a quick once-over before cautiously making her way to the crossroads, checking for traps.
Gronder returns the hug. "Yeah, you too. Are the others okay? What can I do? Help dig, or... what?" He looks around. "Welcome to my world. Now let's see if we can get everyone back out of it."
At the crossroads - there is a room to the left, a long tunnel to the right and forward.
Tesswyn peeks into the room to the left.
Gronder follows Tesswyn, axe and shield in hand, as much for comfort as anything else. When they reach the crossroads, he looks off to the left room first, but he doesn't see anything unusual.
Drot studies the rooms and architecture looking for any marks he might recognize. He follows along to the crossroads then heads right, slowly moving along looking to see if there are any other doors.
This place is fascinating!
An even quieter whimper accompanies the voice.
Shut up. Shut. Up. Not a word out of either of you, or I'll... You don't deserve this anyways. The kid is as good as dead. The food should go to someone who might actually make it out of this place. Someone like me. But if you tell anyone, any one at all, I'll slap the mouth right off you, you understand?
Y...yes. says a faint female voice.
Tesswyn holds her hand up to indicate the others should stay silent. She quietly creeps forward towards the voices, trying to get a better look at what's going on.
Tesswyn motions for everyone to be quiet as she starts to sneak ahead.
Tesswyn's expression darkens. She steps out of concealment, gripping her staff tightly. "Hey! I think you've had more than your fair share already, Kenneth. You'll give it back to them if you know what's good for you."
Seeing her words have an effect, Tesswyn tries to press the advantage. "I carry this big stick for a reason. Don't make me use it."
Seeing g the resolve in Tesswyn's eyes, the Rotund man backs down. Alright, alright. No need to get tissy over it, he says, giving back the food.
The passage opposite goes down a ways before it just stops. A dead end.
Moving forward, you come go another crossroads. You year a scream and a cry for help coming from the passage to the right.
You can go left, right, or forward. Map updated.