|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'm looking to recruit six characters to run through the Total Party Kill adventure, The Reaping Stone. This is an adventure that begins at level 2 and should end at level 5.
Three years ago, Azrenar, a half-elf cleric devoted to the goddess Maramaga, met with King Thurzen XVI of Maerh-Varza to request the king’s royal blessing to build a public temple. King Thurzen, well-versed in ancient history and religion, knew the truth behind the ancient worship of Maramaga and declined the cleric’s request with great vehemence. The learned king had read tales of mass human sacrifice of the old and the infirm, and of the proliferation of rot and disease, all in Scythe Mother’s name.
Azrenar’s request filled King Thurzen with dread, revulsion, and anger. So strong was the king’s fury that several days after ejecting Azrenar from the royal court, he ordered his assassins to seize the cleric, put his followers to the sword, and hang their bodies in full view of the road into Maerh-Varza as a warning to others. The king’s orders were carried out, but his assassins failed to capture Azrenar. Instead, Azrenar lost his wife, three children, and a dozen loyal followers when the king’s men laid siege to the cult’s temporary encampment just outside the city walls. Azrenar was away at the time, and when he returned he was driven mad with rage and despair at the sight of his slaughtered family hanging limp and bloody alongside his loyal followers. He swore a blood oath to Maramaga that he would have his revenge.
Azrenar had originally chosen Maer-Varza as the site of his temple because a lifelong series of mystical dream-visions led him to believe that an ancient holy site sacred to Maramaga existed somewhere in the deep catacombs beneath the city. So, after burying his family and gathering his few remaining followers, Azrenar slipped into the city and secretly began months of painstaking subterranean exploration. Finally, after many setbacks and lives lost, Azrenar and his cult discovered the great vaulted cavern of Hrazhad-Kul and the ancient and profane Temple of Maramaga.
Azrenar’s exploration of the ancient temple soon revealed the site was originally constructed by an evil sect of dwarves devoted to Maramaga centuries before the city of Maerh-Varza even existed. These dwarves were led by a wizard-priest of great and terrible power called the Midnight King. The Midnight King oversaw the creation of the Reaping Stone, a profane artifact rumored to be a divine fragment of the goddess Maramaga herself. When Azrenar finally breached the doors leading into the temple’s inner sanctum and laid eyes upon the Reaping Stone, his already unstable mind was immediately inundated with visions of pestilence, blood, and horror that coalesced into a cruel and twisted plot for vengeance.
Now, three years after his fateful meeting with King Thurzen, Azrenar is finally putting his mad plan of revenge into motion. Having tapped into the power of the Reaping Stone, Azrenar has created a supernatural disease he has dubbed the reaping sickness. Though terrible for its ability to slay those it afflicts and then animate their corpses as ravenous plaguecarrying zombies, the reaping sickness is even more
devastating because Azrenar controls the only cure.
Azrenar’s goal is to unleash the reaping sickness on Maerh-Varza in a series of coordinated attacks. He then plans to spread word that he holds the only cure, which he promises to those who pledge themselves to Maramaga and join his crusade to overthrow King Thurzen. If his plan fails and the king is not overthrown, Azrenar is content to let the reaping sickness slay every living creature in Maerh-Varza, and turn the city into a great zombie-infested necropolis.
Now that you've read the synopsis, a disclaimer. Having read this adventure, it has the distinct possibility to seriously hammer the party involved, likely causing some character deaths. If you are applying for the game, you are accepting this fact.
Character Creation
Level: 2
Point Buy: 25 points
Races: Any Paizo-created race. For sake of simplicity, I'm not going to permit custom races from the ARG, or third-party races.
Classes: Any Paizo-created class, with the exception of the Gunslinger. Again, for the ease of simplicity, no third-party classes.
Archetypes: The only archetype excluded is the Synthesist Summoner.
Wealth: 1,000 gp plus average for your class.
Alignment: Any non-evil.
Background: This is yours to create, but the common link is that you're all members of a mercenary group, The Shining Blade. You've been employed by The Guild of Streetsweepers and Lamplighters to combat an otyugh in the sewers of Maer-Varza. Your first night at The Stirge and Hammer Inn has already been paid for by The Shining Blade.
Submissions
I expect to see the crunch, although this can be in a spoiler rather than a profile, a background suitable for a second level character along with a short physical description and your character's personality.
Any questions, feel free to ask below.
Applications close Friday the 25th of October, with the game looking to start on Monday the 28th.
