PDA

View Full Version : Yukitsu's Campaign Journal



Yukitsu
2010-01-10, 01:12 AM
Eldariel was asking if I'd do one, and after giving it a little bit of thought, figured I would. The game I'm in has been a lot of fun, mostly RP and heavily houseruled, so when I get to something that entices you to say "One small nitpick about the rules" I would like to ask you right now if you would kindly stuff it. :smallwink:

As background, the campaign takes place on a world called Nordenfjord, which is a fragment of the planet earth, though with more readily available dieties, and of course, the presense of magic. The campaign takes place almost completely on a small outcropping of land sticking out into the north. The winter fey are the primary supernatural power around here, with the Nordic jarls a disparit and poorly led lot by contrast, only really holding their kingdoms thanks to a lack of desire for them from other peoples.

The majority of us started as students of the academy of Svening in Metfjord, which was a fairly useless place academically.

The Union will be referred to in some posts. It's the creation of one of my previous characters, and is basically a spreading Tippyverse created by an immortal baelnorn (good aligned liche.) They were created to oppose Ga'rhuk and the Mercane commercial empires, the latter of whom have not creeped into this world.

Ga'rhuk is a spreading viral like being who mind seeded people into becoming him for a semblence of immortality, and was a freind's PC in a past campaign. While the most infectious of the Ga'rhuk varieties were stymied at the border by the Union, allowing in only strains of Ga'rhukiness that were not infectious. The only current type is the Urk, which is like a mix between a troll and a warhammer 40K ork. They spore off when they are in fertile soil, letting them populate lands quickly.

Cast:
In this game, the players for the most part took titles, rather than names, which is odd for our group. As such, I will be refering to other characters by title, but my own character by name, since people don't usually adress themselves by title.

The Necromancers Three:

Fyhrtu Brachia (The necromancer of torment) CE: This is my character. A young girl inspired in part by Alma Wade, Yuki Nagato and any other stoic young girl (Note, I hadn't played FEAR 2 at the time, so not like adult Alma.) A focused specialist in necromancy, working on spells that debillitate and cause pain, rather than kill or raise undead. Having taken the feat "Eidactic memory", I am the party's knowledge monkey, but with massive charisma penalties, I RPed her as completely quiet.

Fyhrtu Brachia crashed into the planet from far away, losing her memories in the process. Despite her appearances as a child, she's really over 400 years old, and before repeated deaths and resurrections, was once a powerful lord of terror.

The Necromancer of Life LG: A middle aged man from Italy, who as well had lost his memories, moving up north to escape what he assumes was a troubled past. He has great difficulty letting harm befall others, but understands that to help some, it is necessary to harm others. He focuses on the life force aspects of necromancy, either taking it away, or augmenting it.

He was designed to be a sort of priest, but one who had no faith in any god in particular, prefering instead to preserve his ability to always heal while maintaining his free will. Not that he's actually good at healing, but we make due.

The Necromancer of Undeath NN: A young, wild woman of the Fjords, and a preistess of the goddess Hel, the necromancer of undeath is played as a somewhat wild card. Of course, focused specialized in creating and augmenting undead, this character uses waves of extremely tough minions to get the job done.

All three have skeletal minions as an alternate class feature instead of familiars.

Their guard:

The Angel of Duty LN: An angelic outsider and officer of the law in the city of Metfjord, tasked by the local municipality in "insuring the safety of the necromancers three" by which they meant making sure we weren't causing any trouble. Despite the title, is lawful neutral, and is more akin to something from Mechanis than anything else.

Sir William LN: A talking awakened duck, who believes himself to be and/or is a knight. Often sits with Fyhrtu for no discernable reason. He arrived later, fighting with a sharpened leak, and a significant amount of bravado.

The Union Adventurer LG: An Atheistic paladin of the Union, and a member of the adventurers guild. Is on a mission from them to retrieve the Trifoile (or something like that) to save the city of Metfjord. He is played by a new player, and only appears in the latter half.

The Brute CG: A rather one dimensional character, a barbarian who is played by someone who refuses to not use in character thinking, and who has not read the rule books. Largely ignored by the group.

The little Urk CN: A character that recently stopped being playable. Very, very one dimensional due to an int of 5, but well played otherwise. Due to regeneration and a brutish strength, was often tossed into the thick of combat.

The Red Hood CN: A young woman who hated wolves. Was retired early on without contributing all too much.

Several others: Party deaths are fairly common within our group, and as such, there have been several characters who were not actually relevant to the progression of what occurred. The DM has noted this and tends to move the plot hooks towards the players who reliable survive any given situation, often without any requirement of effort on his part to keep them, and thus their plot hooks alive.

cohorts:

Hofflich Talhoffer: A squire of a mage in the union. A paladin and a research assistant.

Grimal: A cat, who later on comes under the ownership of Fyrhtu. Constantly fights with Talhoffer.

The children: The souls of the tortured and deceased slave children who haunt Fyrhtu's puppet collection.

Chapter 1, part 1: Green All Around

I awoke in the morn, tugging the straw from my hair. It was a brisk morning as winter was coming on, but it mattered little to me. I pulled another gown over myself and veiled my clothes into place before drinking down my herbs. They steadied my nerves, and stopped the nightmares. I took off, once again skipping breakfast, trudging slowly to the academy, clenching my weightless, unreal spell book to my chest.

There, I met my two companions, the one of life, and the other of death. They told me that the dean wished to see us.

We marched ourselves into his office, where a motly assortment of what could only be described as thugs awaited us, along with the dean. He stated that we had an assignment which would benefit of our collective expertise. In his words, "There have been a rash of disappearances of villagers in the farmlands north of here, and we suspect that magical agents may be the cause. We wish for you, as well as your bodyguards here, to go out to the countryside to investigate these disappearances, and where possible, to find and recover those who were taken."

The Necromancer of Life seemed eager to take on this mission, but the others were relatively indifferent. It seemed to me however, strange that we should be the ones sent, and not diviners, though I did recall that the Necromancer of life was one who dabbled in divinations, much as I dabble in illusions.

I lay an assortment of blankets and cushions into my wheelbarrow, and coerced my skeletal warrior into a loping walk towards the townhouse. I myself, curled up in the cart and fell into a sleep, restless as I once again wandered through the path of nightmares. When I awoke, I was with my companions in a bit of a forest glade, where I knew there should be none. The others were talking with a young boy, who appeared to be about my age. His house, his parents and the animals all had disappeared, literally over night. The shaken young boy recounted what he could, but with his stressed state of mind, we decided not to press him too hard.

We confirmed with his uncle and aunt who were attending to him that he indeed was who he claimed, that his home had disappeared literally over night, and that his parents were missing. Using directions they had given us, we marched our way over to the site of his missing home.

The land there was overgrown, dense trees, where once a house may have been. Scrounging through the ground, I found scraps of old tin kitchenware, but nothing else. My colleague shifted his sight to a more magical bent, scanning the grounds and found a confluence of druidic magics. I closed my eyes to recall the map, which was etched perfectly in the recesses of my mind. The nearest grove would be some distance north of us, and I set off on the trail.

By now, the herbal tea which I had consumed that morning to steady my nerves had nearly worn off. I took another dose, and lay back in my wheelbarrow to rest. It was always a challenge, taking enough to keep the terror and panic attacks at bay, but not so much that I would slip into a catatonic slumber. Rest helped.

When I awoke, the rest had reached the druid grove as I had indicated. The others were tired and slightly battered, having run into some spirit of vengeance of sorts. It seems they fended it off with some difficulty, and it was a bit of a shame that I could not help them for my catatonic slumber.

The druids were highly evasive, but made it clear that myself, my colleagues, and even the farmers were invaders into their lands. They stated after some persuasion that the farmers had been taken to appreciate nature, and to respect the lands. We mentioned that they had left their son at their previous abode, and they said that they were sure his parents would be delighted to have him back. It did not take a genius to determine that there was much malicious intent behind both those words and what they had likely done, and though it didn't show on my face, it made my blood boil.

When back at his aunt's homestead, I took a set of the young boy's clothes, had my hair cut short and set off with the others, posing as the young child. convincing the druids would likely be easy, but convincing the family much less so. I packed the boy's rucksack with small vials. Some for me, and others for the denizens of the forest. I also loaded the bottom down with small iron pot lids, with leather straps upon them.

With the others, I returned to the druid grove, ready to be recieved as yet another prisoner. The others were to be right behind me, tailing us to help me when I finally did find the young child's family.

I was taken over several days to a few druidic enclosures, where I saw a great number of wild beasts milling about. They kept their distance from me, almost as though they were afraid.

Eventually, we reached a live wooden pallisade, with a strong gate. Inside, dozens of unhappy women and children toiled planting trees under the watchful eyes of at least a dozen sentinals. They led me to my family, who were at first perplexed at my appearance, but after a while, got what was going on. I mouthed to my "sister" that I was planning an escape for them. However, she, being a bit dim, blurted out "rescue us?" I quickly responded by feigning ignorance, saying "someone is coming to rescue us? The guards eyed me wearily, but I suppose they did not suspect that much trouble could come from a child such as I.

Day by day, we cleared the rocks from the soil such that they would be out of the way for the young trees. I began collecting a great many of them in my shirt, depositing them at the front of the log house designed to house the many prisoners. Every morning and evening, as I left the house, I bent over them, pouring out a few vials onto the rocks. The guards felt uncomfortable near me, and so left me alone as I worked on these stones.

After three days of toil, I began to suspect that problems had occurred for my colleagues, and that they would not arrive in time. Nearly catatonic from my medicines, and lacking in the sleep needed to recover from them, I knew I would need to break out the next day, with or without them.

Setting to work, when the morning came, I used some minor magics to light the straw bedding of our sleeping hall alight, just as the rest of the inmates had finished shuffling out. The smoke and panic brought out the guard, and just as they came, I heaved one of my prepared stones at him.

Caught by surprise, the guard brought his arm up to block the blow. It only gave him a scratch, but the herbs did their work as his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the ground with a thud.

The commoners and guard stared at him for a moment before the young boys got the picture and started to hurl a great many rocks at their captors. I ordered the women and girls to work on opening the gates as I strode before them, readying my terrible arcane powers.

Their leader I hexed with a personal spell. A minor curse that could give only philias or phobias, such that he would have a great love of wearing metal shields, dropping a pot lid and strap at my feet. I knew at least the quarter master was a druid, and with this, I had effectively stripped him of his powers. The collective druids and assembled warriors were torn between fighting the fire which threatened a vast swathe of their precious forests, and fending off the vicious and desperate attack from their slaves. The guards were slowly being beaten back, for an arrow could fell a slave, the tables had turned some what, with a mere scratch of a thrown rock bringing about oblivion. The ringmaster, without his power, and desperately clinging to his iron ran ordered forth his animal companion, a mighty bear.

Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, I assessed my options. The door was cracked open. I could probably leap through the gap with my magic, but I could not yet bring others with me, and so I devised a quick plan. I slipped through the cracks, and, leering through it I muttered, "If I can't have them, then neither may you." and with that, I put a great illusion of fire and choking smoke over the farmers. Startled, they started to scream in panic, before falling into confused silence. I bid them to quickly open the door, before the ruse was up, and to gain some ground before the druids started after us.

A trio of young boys had died from this little raid, and I could not get into the men's camp to help get them out, but I would come back later, assuming they survived the retribution payed out to them.

We started the long walk back to the river, which we followed to the nearest village. The many villagers waited for the next riverboat, for none wished to live so near to the forest any more. I returned home, technically a success, but it had left a sour taste in my mouth.

When I met my comrades, they told me that while wandering aimlessly and directionlessly through the forest, they were ambushed by lancers made of snow and ice, who melted when slain. It had killed one of our bodyguards who was otherwise of little note, and a progressive series of battles had led them astray.

I snuck away in the night, as a phantom to the place of their old camp. As I expected, nothing was left of it, but the scent of death lingered. I would have my revenge, but I would take my time. Time to weave the web, and time to play with them after they've been ensnared.

Sir Giacomo
2010-01-10, 04:46 AM
This is absolutely excellent stuff. Looking forward to read more.

- Giacomo

Yukitsu
2010-01-10, 01:51 PM
Why thanks. :smallbiggrin:

Chapter 1, part 2: The vengeful shall themselves face vengeance

Over the weeks as the frost began to creep over the land, I gathered up what plants I still could, purifying them, and seperating the doses into ones that were toxic or medicinal. I had figured that in the dead of winter, the druids would be waning in their powers, and it would be then that I would strike. However, they did not allow me this luxury, with declarations of war coming from all sides I knew my best chance would be now.

At first, we were sent to attempt negotiations, but I honestly had no interest in them. Of course, the necromancer of life did his best, but too many people were out for blood, myself included.

The angel of duty managed to rouse a great mob of malcontent peasants to march on the druids. I had not much in the way of faith in them, but did help by poisoning their arrows, and cast stones and farming tools. My skeleton I bid bring my table for studies, being both sturdy wood yet fairly light, since it was a child sized desk.

I had purchased a pair of winter blankets with my pay for rescuing the farmers, but even so, I felt the bite of an unnatural winter. The villager mob was even less well off. After some time, we hollowed out some felled trees, dressing the hollow with deadfall and kindling and we put it all alight, and with that managed to stay warm. And early snow fell upon us as we marched, and the great conflagorations not only helped the people stay warm and dry, but also served as a beacon to keep them together.

My companions had recalled seeing a great dome of brambles in our last foray into the woods, and we surmised that this was a likely place to encounter the druids, though I didn't particularly fancy beseiging a shrub. However, upon arriving at it, we were thwarted by the thick vines, and massive iron hard thorns. After pondering over it for some time, the Necromancer of Undeath began to use a dispelling of magic, over and over again, getting a tiny crack in their walls. I slipped through it quickly with my skeleton, table top pointed inward as an improvised pavise. The rest of my companions were not so swift, and were soon slowed by an endless tangle of thorny brambles, though these vines were not so thick as the others, and they did their best to forge their way through them.

From behind my tiny fortification, I flung out many distracting or debillitating spells. From time to time, a wild cat or three would leap over my impromtu barricade. My skeletal warrior was waiting for them, and with a quick slash of a poisoned dagger, the beasts would drop, and were shortly finished off.

One eventually got close to me, and bit deeply into my left arm. I cried out in pain, even though my flesh had mostly knitted itself back together in the isntant. However, the taste of my tainted blood brought panic into the mountain lion, who quickly fled from me.

I was nearly out of spells by now, having expended most of them in weakening the enemy for my allies. Looking over my barricade, I could see their leader flinging missiles of ice and snow at the necromancer of life, who was keeping himself alive as best he could. A few stray arrows had slipped through the cracks, their poison doing their work on the weakened enemies, who lay a dozen strong in the snow. It would not be long before we were upon them, but even then, we'd not be able to defeat them, at the rate we were going. We were simply taking too many hits as we pushed in through the hedge.

I had one last contingent that I felt confident in. I strode out from behind my barrier into the midst of the enemy, blood streaming from my wounded arm, and with an intonation, a spiral of colours and light twirled around me, drawing the remaining foes eyes towards me. They stood entranced, unable to move of their own accord. The necromancers of life and undeath soon pushed through along with the others, and the druids were rounded up one by one, poisoned, overwhelmed and unconcious or rent to pieces by undead.

I took the druids with me, telling my freinds that they would be properly talked to. I had them carted off, shields upon their arms to an abandoned farm house. I do not wish to discuss in great detail what occurred in those walls for the two weeks that I had them, but I can say with some honesty, that none of them left in the same manner that they arrived. I was however, rather proud that not one of them died whilst in my care.