Graylands: Alternate Campaign

Sorry for the irregular posts.  I know "News from the Graylands" hasn't happened for a while but I did have a good reason!  Finals have been particularly difficult this year.  On top of that, we have begun to run the Graylands game quite differently.

Recently, we have begun alternate characters for when the whole original cast is not available.  These new characters are:

Tora, Noble Daughter turned Drunken Thief: She's not much for talking, but she can swing a greatsword and down a pint!  Tora responded to some rumbling in the hills by Midlough (Our new spelling for Middleof in the Valley of Nowhere) and nearly rode her horse into an army of animated clay soldiers marching from an ancient tome.  After nearly dying (but for the grace of her magnanimous GM) she managed to help the party put an end to the deadly remnants of an ancient warlord.  She discovered a magic greatsword in the depths of a magitech tree-spaceship and was bestowed a magical bow by the spirits of dwarven smith-monks.  She is also the only one to own a horse and is quite proud of it.

Astrophel, Mysterious Wizard of Goblin Racial Slurs: This wizard, draped in an exotic looking carpet, has some errand that he must perform that no one knows but him.  When he was but a shaman, he nearly died on an adventure to a tomb in the hills bestowed by alien creatures to a barbarian-sorcerer king of old.  He helped an alien dryad held against her will by her own sentient tree-spaceship to transfer her consciousness to a brain encased in amber.  He looks to the day when he can create a body for her to once again walk amongst the living.  Amongst the ruins of a dwarven settlement where they kept the mighty Oracle Forge, he discovered a magic ring that allows him to make tiny golems that take on personalities akin to the materials they are made from.  They have been pretty cute so far, but we shall see what happens when he tries to make one from Phaidecian garbage.

Dick, the Curious Beadle: A friendly traveling preacher or scholar, he is very interested in people with stories to tell.  He learned how to turn the magical technology of the aliens that bestowed their power on the barbarian king against the tome's guardians.  He managed to crush a clay soldier beneath a great stone that he pushed down a hill.  He is really just an inquisitive guy that wants to see how this story goes.

Nightshade, Feral Child of the Forest: This elf was raised by wolves in the hilly forest of the Eldwood.  She has fairly rudimentary language skills and a whole lot of pluck.  She mainly was just scoping out civilization, getting a pretty poor introduction from Midlough, when she thought it would be a good idea to go on an adventure suggested by the first person she had ever met, an elven herbalist who she had seen gathering herbs in her forest.  This elf, Albert, unfortunately, perished in the tomb of the barbarian king. She has grown up some and become a fearsome warrior.  She may look cute but if you step between her and her pack, beware, for her bite is worse than her bark.

Harold Flint: This dwarf stonemason went into adventuring because stone masonry is not hugely profitable in Midlough and he has an ailing mother who needs to be taken care of.  He was drawn into adventure with the exploration of the dryad's tree but was mysteriously sucked away into a world of dark insanity before shortly being spat back out.  He found his people's ancient enemy, goblins, in the Oracle Forge settlement, and stole from them a suit of armor and a superior blade of dwarven craftsmanship.  This blade was reforged by the spirits of dwarven smith-monks, devoted to the Seer Lord of Creation, Choranus and Daenthar, the Mountain Lord of Industry, to give him the ability to channel the powers of his ancestors.  Let goblins beware, for this son of the Iron People will not fade into the ashes of the past without a fight!

Titanus/Janus, the Great, Terrible, and Short: this halfling beggar was swept up into adventure from his begging spot in Phaidecia.  He survived many mad horrors from the other world but managed to return alive blessed with the King of Shadows with a new name: Janus, all while talking to his coonskin cap like it was a living creature.  This insane little man claims to be Toro's brother, though this would seem to be physiologically impossible, considering Toro is a human.  He also claims to have some grudge against the human thief, though the whole story has yet to be revealed.  He is quick to point out how things made for tall people are racist and quick to anger.  May the big people tremble before the might of Titanus!

The adventure of the Alternate characters started with "The Portal Beneath the Stars," the adventure that comes with the DCC Core Rulebook.  In that aventure, the party finds the treasure room along with a message from alien beings who have meddled with the fate of mankind in the past.  The odd goatlike creature offered the PCs power if they could only find the second half of the Rod of Rulership.  The first half was there in the tomb.  They had to burn the bark of a dryad's tree with a living flame in a brazier provided in the tomb to uncover the second half's location.

They did so revealing the second half deep in a great pit in the earth, lying in the hoard of a slumbering dragon.  The next season for the Alternate character will be called "The Pit of the Dreaming Dragon" as they brave the Chaos Wastes to get to the pit and then delve into the ancient dungeon to steal their treasure from a dragon, the first dragon the Graylands has seen.

This means that our Alternate campaign will be going down the path of a classic quest.  This will make it different, as we shall soon see, than the main campaign.  The next post on this blog will be regarding the season finale of the main Graylands campaign.

Comments

Popular Posts