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The past decade has not been kind to the city-state of Bard's Gate or the Stoneheart Valley as a whole--and many of the troubles of these recent years appear to have something in common: they occur or originate in the Valley of the Shrines to the north.
This coincidence has not gone unnoticed by the powers that be in Bard's Gate, and so at their behest the fading Church of Muir has commissioned a small band of adventurers to investigate what evil (if any) has taken ruin in the Valley of the Shrines. What will you find there, in the foothills of the mighty Stoneheart Mountains, where unknown dangers and the faded glories of noble gods yet rest?
5 points:
Two goals:
Find out what happened to the hunters from her clan who were lost and find/save them if she can.
Figure out who the god is that is talking to her/why they picked her.
Two secrets:
Kept from Sidra:: That she was dropped off by humans. On the anniversary of her discovery, the clan’s Shaman made a journey to where she found Sidra. A human woman was there, old and gray, asking for forgiveness for what she had done. Enid told Zuhra on her deathbed, but Zuhra has kept it from Sidra, believing that while she may not have spontaneously generated from the orcish gods, it was still a sign from them that Enid found the baby in that moment.
Sidra keeps from everyone else: That she is on this quest at the behest of a god giving her visions.
Peoples::
Zuhra, the Daughter of the shaman who found Sidra (Enid). Zuhra was born after the clan discovered Sidra, and went through all her life stages before Sidra reached adulthood. Now Sidra is an adult and Zuhra is old AF. She grew up alongside Sidra, and when her mother died, had to pretty much adopt her. She is the clan’s current Shaman.
Isla, Sidra’s partner. They were with the disappeared hunting party but they were scouting and then they returned the party was gone, campsite abandoned.
Zuhra’s daughter, Wren, who is training to become the next Shaman and who Sidra is fiercely protective of. She has been like a sister to Sidra.
Mazen Vorso, who Sidra MAY have threatened with violence and mayhem during a negotiation for room and board at his inn. Once Sidra was arrested, he demanded to the priestess lady that Sidra be executed as a dangerous demonspawn who threatened the security of the city, but the priestess, recognizing her Orcish… accent? Decided it might cause a stir with local orcs, and sent her with Ascian instead.
Cashel, the Chieftain's son who is jealous of the power/influence Sidra has in the Clan/over his father (Orson).
Bonus: Enid, her dead shaman mom she's sad about.
Three key memories:
The dream/vision she had about the hunting party disappearing in the valley. She tried to warn her clan that the valley was a threat and they wouldn’t listen. She feels responsible for what happened to them and is determined to make it right.
The fire that gave her her oracle powers. She was out exploring as an adolescent and she got caught in a forest fire. She was panicked, feeling trapped, and as the fire engulfed her she realized… This isn’t doing anything. This was the moment that she was cursed as an oracle. She thinks back on the destruction the fire caused and feels an amount of glee at being able to wield such powerful forces to achieve her ends.
The first time Sidra remembers her mom telling her that she loves her, is proud of her, and that she is the key to the success of the Blacktusk clan. It reminds her that this isn't just an adventure, this is a calling.
Fear:
Water/drowning
I don’t...swim.
Chiara background, with test formatting
- Two goals:
[list] - To spar with Barahil the Faithful, who is one of her greatest role models for both swordfighting and piety, and win.
- To be part of a restoration of Muir's temple. She believes that with the decline of Muir's following, social classes and expectations are stratifying, but if more people learn and follow Muir's tenets, society will become kinder, fairer, and with fewer barriers.
- Secret that Chiara keeps to herself:Chiara is terrified of not doing the right thing. Her faith and trust in Muir is unwavering, but she sometimes doubts that her actions are just, or truly reflect Muir's will. She knows mortals make mistakes, and she's afraid that she will someday make a mistake that will cause her to fall from Muir's grace.
- Secret that Chiara doesn't know:Chiara's father had an affair with one of his apprentices, who quit working for him once he got her pregnant and refused to acknowledge his son. The child, Keldaire Trebonne, is roughly Chiara's age, grew up even poorer than Chiara, and is deeply hurt and resentful of Chiara and her family. Though he grew up a city boy, he is learning to love the outdoors with the help of his new pet, an enormous spider that he calls Fluffy.
- Lissete Gilund recruited Chiara to Muir's temple, and Chiara desperately wants to prove herself to Lissete and make her proud.
- Her parents Neela Suri and Caro Tobea are a stonemason and a blacksmith, respectively. Never very wealthy, they were financially ruined when Neela was injured by a magical trap while working on a wizard's house, and Caro mortgaged his smithy to pay for the healing. They expect to be paying back the debt for the rest of their lives, even with any extra income Chiara can give them.
- Timur Namarr, the son of proud but impoverished nobility, grew up two houses down from Chiara. They were inseparable as children, but as they grew up, Chiara and Timur fought about whether bloodlines and family really defined someone's destiny. Timur eventually married into a wealthy family and stopped associating with Chiara or anyone else from their lower-class neighborhood. Chiara feels that Timur's buy-in to the aristocratic system is a betrayal of their neighbors and her family, and though Chiara won't admit to any enmity or bad feeling, she is bitter that her oldest friend would leave her behind just to climb the social ladder.
- It's complicated with Aurelie Ng. Aurelie joined Muir's temple a year before Chiara; also Lissete's pupil, she and Chiara were not-so-friendly rivals as well as occasional lovers. Eventually their drama became a distraction to others in the community, leading Lissete to send Aurelie out on a different mission a few months before the exploration of the Stoneheart Valley. Chiara misses her terribly.
- During one of Barahil's visits to Muir's temple, he took the time to spar with all of the new recruits. He thrashed Chiara thoroughly, but told her afterwards that if she would just learn to fight dirty, she could be great someday. Since then---and goaded by competition with Aurelie---she has been inspired to become the best virtuous bravo the temple has ever seen.
- Chiara grew up in a rough area, and saw firsthand the casual cruelty of the rich towards the poor, including how blithely ignorant the wealthy are towards their own power. She is angry that rich men rarely if ever face consequences when their actions harm others, and in particular that the wizard whose carelessness nearly killed her mother died of old age, never having been brought to justice.
- Chiara's parents both worry about Chiara's decision to become a paladin, but just before she joined the church, Chiara received a vision from Muir which caused her to join despite her parents' objections. Though she has not been granted another vision from the goddess since pledging herself, she has never forgotten the sense of grace and purpose.
I don't scare too easily, but I admit I'm not a big fan of spiders.
[/list]
1) Main points
Impulsive
Abrasive
Power-seeking
High-minded
Obsessive
Curious
Quick-witted
Compassionate
2) Two goals that you'd like the character to accomplish in-game.
- 1. Learn the history of her tiefling curse: what deal did her ancestor make, with who, and why?
- 2. Become as powerful as she can be, so she can protect others who have been mistreated and abandoned like she was.
3) Two secrets
4) 3-5 people that are tied to your PC by blood, love, rivalry, honor, etc.
Andram Dizlaabblo - Gnome wizard who found her abandoned in the woods and raised her. Andram is the one who taught Ascian magic and the rudiments of fencing.
Essex Kendal - An official of Bard’s Gate, none too pleased to see a magic wielding tiefling wandering his city. With Ascian arrested following an altercation at an inn, Essex was preparing to have her imprisoned when the Church of Muir stepped in to conscript her for a suicide mission.
Kerged Omdam - Andram’s other student. Much younger than Ascian, of course, but no less obsessed with learning more about devils. They often consult with one another and share their research.
5) Three key memories that define your character as the person they are at the time of submission.
1. Being turned out of her home, sick and afraid, and not understanding why. That feeling of powerlessness and fear stays with her for the rest of her life.
2. The first time Ascian flung lightning from her hands. Realizing that she could exert her will upon the world and make it so no one had to go through what she had.
3. Realizing that there was some truth to people calling her a devilspawn, that one of her ancestors had unknowingly or uncaringly inflicted this on her. Ascian carries this unearned guilt with her everywhere.
6) Ascian’s fear: being powerless. She still has nightmares of being small and weak and afraid. She’ll do almost anything to never feel that way again.
"Wut? Y'nevva seen a knight b'fore? Or iz it 'cuz Imma gobbo?" Fruggig demands indignantly, tugging his left gauntlet gauntlet off. "I izn't gonna take dat insult!"
Dis is what it looks like when I'm tinkin' the small green lancer thinks to himself, then blinks in confusion at the strange thought.
Climbing up onto a box so he can reach the human's face, Fruggig winds up and smacks him in the mouth with his gauntlet. "We'z gonna have a duel, you an' me!" the goblin shouts.
"Nobody makes fun o' gobz when Fruggig Dogslayer is around!"
1) I'd like 5 points that capture the concept and story of the character. More are welcome, but no less than five.
Curious - Pyrite’s memories and understanding of the world are very shallow, and with their understanding of alchemy they’re always down for subversive, inventive solutions to problems. Their lawful neutral status makes them fairly immoral in the way that they have no sense of right or wrong, only “are you trying to kill me and mine” so they’re slow to judge or be aggressive against new acquaintances.
Lonely - Being abandoned by their creator and spending an unknown amount of time as a slumbering object has made Pyrite very sympathetic towards others isolated or marginalized, and also very loyal to their new friends. Part of this is likely due to some sort of spell in the initial creation process that would have bound them to their maker.
Vengeful - In relation to the above loneliness, whatever loyalty spell might have been tied to Pyrite’s creator has been reversed into an overwhelming, seething hatred for the vague concept of their creator. This could have been due to the creation spell backfiring, or a result of Pyrite gaining/reclaiming sentience after being discovered by Chiara.
Vain - Pyrite is a gold plated suit of armor who was tithed to a church due to their high value. And they know it. Pyrite doesn’t mind taking health damage in fights as it doesn’t cause them much pain, but after the adrenaline is over they regret their dings and scratches. Also, the healing done by party members isn’t probably making the armor damage any better, so Pyrite may start collecting shiny things in order to offset the loss of their gold plating.
Unsettling - Pyrite is an almost seven foot tall animated suit of golden armor whose chest is filled with bees and whose voice is an echoing monotone and it gets worse once you know how they were made. It's extremely hard to tell if they mean to be as Upsetting to interact with as they can be.
2) Two goals that you'd like the character to accomplish in-game.
1 - meet their maker and 2 - free themselves of the lingering Loyal Automaton programming that makes them so blindly friendly towards everyone in their party and start having wants and needs/be able to repair themselves with their alchemy skills. (One is actually gameplay related, the other two story focused, lol)
3) Two secrets, one the PC keeps to himself, and one kept from the PC. I'll come up with a third that both the character and player aren't aware of, in hopes of shocking surprises within the storytelling.
Secret I’m keeping from Pyrite:
Secret Pyrite keeps from everyone else doesn’t really exist, they’re too “young” to have ulterior motives and don’t remember their own past.
4) 3-5 people that are tied to your PC by blood, love, rivalry, honor, etc. I'd like at least one enemy in a set of three or four, with no more than two for a set of five. PLEASE consider the players reference guide for ideas.
Chiara: As she found them, and therefore more or less activated the Loyalty protocol Pyrite is determined to assist in any way possible.
Maker: Pyrite's memory of this person are extremely vague, but they do not think they care for said person and have not given much thought as to what they will do if they ever find their maker.
Sorry that it's currently.... two.....
5) Three key memories that define your character as the person they are at the time of submission.
“Oh, s%~@.” - Maker
“It’s beautiful.” - Head Priestess of Muir
“Hey, are you… alive?” - Chiara
6) Finally, I'd like you to include with your submission a fear or paranoia that causes your character to shiver, cower, or panic.
Probably soul-binding magic OR anything that would made them less shiny (inks, paints, anything that would strip off the thin gold plating) The former would (subconsciously) remind Pyrite how they were made, and the latter because of their vanity.
Pyrite states, not sounding very pleased at the question wrote:
I like being pretty.
Helen, I think we found out all we could. Maybe? Right Tony?
wait, we all could what? I'm confused..
Well the Detect Magic from Ascian had revealed at least two Glyphs of Warding that you hadn't detonated yet, but otherwise you hadn't discovered anything in addition to those three rooms beneath the sliding statue.
Right, many Perception checks were rolled and stuff was found. I was noting that aside from the three hidden rooms full of weapons/armor/cots beneath the statue you didn't find anything on top of that.
I think we're on the same page now? Onward to the other temple?
Also, these threads are able to read by anyone who wants to troll through the PBP campaign threads, I would refrain from using IRL names for that reason. Probably not a big deal but no need to run the risk.