Sedgewick's page

None of the PCs in my Age of Worms grew up in Diamond Lake, but they all have a good reason to be there And I figure by the end of the next adventure they'll have good reason to get out. My players don't know very much about Greyhawk, but I was able to take there core character concepts and tie them into the setting.

One player wanted to play an elf in a way counter to the typical haughty and arrogant attitude of that race. This made the character a great fit to be from the kingdom of Celene, but has done her best to get away. Unfortunately, her only option to leave was to become a retainer of her cousin Ellival Moonmeadow.

Another player wanted to explore a heroic character that wasn't an orphan like so many other heroes in myth and literature. He was also interested in having some explanation for the Rogue's skill in finding and disabling traps. I suggested that he be the son of a trapsmith in the city of Greyhawk. He decided from that foundation that his father used him to "test" his traps in a pretty sadistic manner, that his father had recently died along with the secrets to bypass much of his handiwork. This dismayed Greyhawk's Thieve's Guild which seized the PCs inheritance and threatened his family. That character took his mother and sister and fled the city, settling his family with kindly gnomes in Grosselgrottel, and himself in Diamond Lake where he struggles to make coin to support his loved ones.

Another player wanted a good reason to play a mountain dwarf, one of those dwarves that would never even leave his underground home unless he was forced. He came up with a tragic background where exiled from his clan he allies with two other outcast dwarves in the Underdark. They survive together for many months becoming brothers-in-arms, until they are all attacked by creatures (perhaps Drow, we are leaving it open to tie it into the campaign maybe later) which poison them all. The only cure is sunlight. They race towards the surface becoming weaker and weaker until they break into the lowest depth of one of Smenk's mines. Smenk refuses to let them exit the mine without paying a huge toll, a toll that only one of the dwarves can pay by pooling their gold. The PC is chosen because he lead them to the mine. He makes it to the surface and lives, but his friends die. Now the PC is seeking revenge, in the meantime he has a good reason to stay drunk in a tavern.

My last player wanted to play a firebrand of a priest from some religion that was both martial and somehow community-minded. His auburned hair cleric of Mayaheine has caused quite a stir in Diamond Lake, earning the ire of both St. Cuthbert's church for seeing though their demogogues and Heironeous's faith for telling them they've mistaken vainglory for valor.

The PCs have a bunch of conflicts that can play out in Diamond Lake and later when they try to leave... the efforts to stop the Age of Worms are just going to further complicate their lives :)

My players each had strong motivations for their characters which I tried to weave into the Diamond Lake backdrop. There is:

The gray elf wizard that resents his race for their isolationism and neutrality (which comes from the Greyhawk setting of Celene). She is a cousin to Ellival Moonmeadow who brought her to Diamond Lake as a retainer. He sponsered her at the Free City's magical university. She has also become an apprentice to Allustan, but has to try to hide it. She is willing to adventure to try to pay her way out of Moonmeadow's household.

The mountain dwarf fighter once trained to be a forge mage in his mountain hold, but let the fire out! And he was banished for his crime. He survived in the underdark with two other outcasts for a number of years, but in an ambush they were poisoned. The only cure sunlight. They found their way into one of Smenk's Diamond Lake mines. The mining foreman there on Smenk's orders would not let them come to the surface without paying a fine, a tax, and a toll. His companions gave all they had to him so he could pay the full amount. He was brought to the surface, but before he could return with the coin to save his brothers-in-arms, they perished. Torn with guilt and seeking revenge he drinks and brawls incessantly along the Vein. He still carries his companions' weapons as a memento mori... they are his only possessions.

The human rogue, friend to the dwarf, and the one that bails him out, was the son of a famous trapsmith in the Free City. The rogue came by his skills the hard way, by testing his father's diabolic devices from childhood. His father passed and the secrets to bypass his traps with him. The Free City's thieves' guild was not pleased and began to harass and blackmail the rogue's family (a sister and a mother). The guild also seized the character's estate and inheritance. He had no choice but to flee with his family. His mother and younger sister are secreted away with the gnomes of Grosselgrottel. He is on his own in Diamond Lake trying to make coin to send back to his family.

A human cleric has wandered into town, sent away from her own church because she is such a firebrand. In Diamond Lake she has made quick enemies of just about everyone, while crusading to end the injustice done the miners and their families. If she is to have any chance at success she needs greater resources. It would also be a good idea to get away from the town and lay low for a while, though she would never accept that.

The rogue has been key to getting the party on the path to the Whispering Cairn, he has overheard Khellek in Lazare's and recognizes the Seeker symbol. He also learned from some 'friends' he has at the Midnight Salute that Khellek is using some old Seeker documents to track a missing expedition (Ulavant's). These documents both list some of the items the expedition was carrying (like the magical short sword which now deserves to be named...) and misnotes the direction they went. Thus, Khellek and his party have gone to Stirgenest following a map that was upside-down.

Allustan is also useful in coloring what they'll find in the Whispering Cairn. He can explain the dimensions of the place "...sized for men who were not men in an age where out stature was not so small." and something about the geography "...the Cairn and the hollowed-out tor it occupies is part of a massive collection of caves, tunnels, and mines. This land is wormed-out beneath through-and-through."

The rogue got the party together simply because he thought they'd divide the loot fairly (they didn't know enough about one another to want to deceive each other). This rogue is already out 10% of his share for the finder's fee he owes a certain mistress at the Midnight Salute.