John Galt runs "Scales of War"

From RPGnet
Jump to: navigation, search

Scales of War

This is the Wiki page for John Galt's D&D 4e game of the "Scales of War" adventure path played in the Play-by-Post forums of RPGnet.


The Player Characters

History

The valley cut by the Elsir River and bounded by the Giantshield, Wyrmsmoke, and Wyvernwatch Mountains is quiet and unassuming -- that is, until one peels back the layers of history.

Fifty years ago, a horde of ravening goblins under the banner of the Red Hand streamed out of the Wyrmsmoke and into the vale. Let by the fanatical Azarr Kul and fighting in the name of dreaded Tiamat, the mighty host ravaged the countryside.

Those few survivors in the outlying farms and hamlets fled behind Brindol's solid walls, but to little avail. The Red Hand laid siege to the town, and the deaths caused by both war and starvation were atrocious. When all seemed lost, though, the disparate tribes that made up the horde suddenly fell to vicious infighting. A party of renowned adventurers had managed to infiltrate Azarr Kul's mighty fortress and assassinate the great general. Without his supernatural ability to unite and command, the Red Hand fell in upon itself. The stalwart farmers, guardsmen, and militia of the Elsir Vale took advantage of the chaos and routed the goblins from the field.

The people of Brindol and the Elsir Vale returned to their homes, picking up their lives and grieving for their dead. Farmland was sown anew, town walls were repaired, but now only the very old remember those horrible days.

Dennovar, lying on the shores of Lake Ern on the eastern end of the Vale, escaped most of the destruction that was meted out on Brindol and the heart of the Vale. Lying astride the Dawn Way, it is a major trading center for Ern fish and exotic goods coming through from the lands east of the Golden Plains.

It was here that you met each other. A shifter with a holy light in his feral eyes came down from barren lands far to the north. He had met a fellow traveler on the road, a strangely clothed and marked woman hailing from lands far to the east. After some time in Dennovar, they heard rumors of impending war to the west. Facts were impossible to verify, but it seemed a call to arms had been issued by the steadfast dwarves of Overlook. All willing souls were called to make the journey along the Dawn Way to defend the ancient fortress-city from some newly-risen evil.

But Dennovar's citizens remained placid and uncaring. They had not faced the half-century old horrors of the Red Hand, and most had never even heard of Overlook. Asheth and Riyah scoured the town looking for worthy traveling companions. They found three: Felaim, a wild-haired elf who had long been a member of the Dennovar Town Guard, yearning to apply himself to a worthy cause; Caleb, a notorious political subversive; and Dross, a drug-addled tiefling who seemed to really want to get out of town.

The motley band headed west out of the poorly-upkept gates of Dennovar, trekking steadily west along the Dawn Way. Though each harbored dark secrets, fortune and glory awaited them. Their first waypoint would be the very town where the Red Hand had met its doom: Brindol.

Maps

Elsir Vale

Brindol

Threads

Recruitment

IC

OOC

Resources

Invisible Castle (dice roller)