For the Fallen; Campaign Journal

[AtlasSniperman]

Hey everybody.
This is the campaign journal for a campaign I am going to call "For the Fallen" for now. A Solo urban campaign focused around fighting a growing undead threat and facing ones own fear of paranoia and psychosis. Though this last part seems mostly imposed by the poor player herself, but what the heck, I'll run with any fuel she gives me!

This campaign is half my desperation to actually give this player a proper full campaign, and half my desire to see this story play out.
I'll be adding to this journal the day after each session(1/week) with the first two sessions coming tomorrow as it's very late at the time of posting this.

I met someone while waiting outside an exam hall for the exam to start at the beginning of university. She was real cool and was interested in joining DnD and I was looking for players. Yay!

Fast forward 4 years, and she is still to be able to enjoy a full campaign. Every game we've done in the time we've known each other has petered out with attendence, or just lost players so quick as to be pointless.

This time I managed to scrounge up two players other than her. First session rolls around aaaaand; they cancel last minute. So of course, I say "Screw it. You're playing a full campaign even if you do it solo. That cool?". She seemed super eager, though she's always eager. And so here we are; a Solo Campaign following my general plan for it before the others cancelled.

Terminos! My own Homebrew setting. Lots of differences to earth and regular D&D settings. I'll post little "World Flavour" notes about things if anything is particularly different. This player has helped me make(i.e. been a sounding board) quite a lot of the campaign setting, so many things she'll know implicitely but I'll have to make note of here for you readers.


Athene Zora - LG Urban Ranger 3. Athene is a very nervous but upright character. As this is a Solo campaign, I doubt I'll need to include much here as a lot of it will become clear during the progression of the game. The player is an amazing roleplayer, and I am definitely a step below her, so character development is certain to come.

What I asked of the Player to start off:
Since she built her character well before we started(and before the other two dropped out) and because of the plot of this campaign and some things I had in mind, I asked the three players to design a 1000 year Patriarchal lineage for their characters. I know this isn't what made the other two quit because 1 was my brother and the other told me "I slept through the reminder. If the game's at 11AM, I can't join".

So the player gave me this for the lineage. I didn't ask for much detail and she tried to add in some fun implications but for the most part didn't bother to emotionally develop any of them for herself(yeee, freedom for me)
Quillan Zora – Musician/bard
Umbriel Zora – Infamous thief and assassin
Khurin Zora – Blacksmith
Ferris Zora – Blacksmith
Fiir Zora – Blacksmith
Wolt Zora – Hunter
Canas Zora – Scholar/wizard
Khurin Zora II – Knight
Bern Zora – Knight
Revo Zora – City Guard
Omura Zora – Librarian
Quillan Zora II – Librarian
Khurin Zora III – Scholar
Cezary Zora – Adventurer
Leo Zora – Lazy rich guy
Rothe Zora – Less lazy rich guy
Coro Zora – Librarian
Revo Zora II – Criminal (arson, murder and jaywalking)
Yulyana Zora – Necromancer
Wilhelm Zora – Adventurer
Cezary Zora II – City Guard
Quillan Zora III – Tactician
Visil Zora – Scientist
Quillan Zora IV – Fisherman
Ike Zora – Fisherman
Taka Zora – Hunter
Altair Zora – Farmer
Zelyn Zora – City Guard
Yew Zora – City Guard
Dorcas Zora – Mercenary
Hector Zora – City Guard
Ray Zora – PI
Arin Zora – Captain of the Guard, Athene’s father

So, this section is here as a DM note, and as such I am warning my player, if she's reading this, to close this section immediately and move on.

She gone?
Okay.
So the reason I wanted lineages was to give each character a family heirloom that would develop abilities based on their ancestors as the game progressed. Similar to the Pathfinder "Scaling Magic Items" rule. This was kind of screwed up when I was reduced to one PC, so I've attempted to make the most of it.
"The Zora Case: A ratty and worn case, with straps for wearing like a backpack. Close inspection shows no serious damage, no holes and no fraying of any kind."
To determine the abilities this thing would get, I gave each of her ancestors a ranking from 1 to 10 as to how important they are to its powers. These ratings also make it easier for me to give them levels if need be( and I will likely need to ;) ).
So, in the order listed above, here are the ranks; 5,10,4,2,2,6,9,6,5,4,7,8,6,3,1,1,3,7,2,8,3,3,8,7,4 ,5,4,4,4,3,7,7,10.
A couple of these I set the number myself, for all the others I rolled 3d4-2. I then marked everyone with a 7 or higher as important. To make Visil and Quillan's importance make sense I rolled on a big list of alternatives(secret professions) for them and got Planeswalker and Priest respectfully.
And so the case gets these abilities(so far, I need to come up with more at this point, but shhhh):
Unopenable- Umbriel. The case can only be opened by someone of the direct family line from Umbriel Zora all the way to Athene. Not particularly overpowered and so it's the basic ability available at 1HD
Called- Canas. The case is always within reach of the current rightful owner whenever they desire it, even across planes. This will likely come in super handy, but for now means she can't lose her coinpurse, food, or character journal. This ability becomes available at 3HD
Case of Holding- Wilhelm. The case's internal dimensions do not match its external dimensions, and its weight stays constant no matter what's put in it. The case's internal dimensions increase based on HD, and it gains this ability when the owner reaches 5HD.
Foreign Soul- Quillan II. The case is actually the Phylactery of Quillan Zora II, who shows up as a Lich Librarian early in the story. The case can give gentle guidance, usually only when the current owner is fleeing from something or chasing something. The case will apply a slight psychological force, assisting in "steering" them. This ability is very very weak and occurs from 1HD.
Gate- Visil. 1/day the case can be opened when sitting on the floor and any ancestor can be called for aid. Each ancestor can only be called once and only stick around for an hour before the case draws them back in and returns them to their own time. This ability doesn't come into play until at least 13HD.

The other 'relic' she gets is much more a flavour thing, a strange letter that is at first unreadable, but eventually more and more is discovered about its origin and purpose. THIS I will leave for when it actually comes up :D

Let me know after each session if there is any Lore I forget to explain, or if you want some more info on a particular NPC or plot point :)
We're both really enjoying the campaign, and I hope you folks do too.

[AtlasSniperman]

These first two sessions were so huge, and I haven't had much time to write of them. So here is part 1 of 3 of Session 1:

Session 1 - Part 1
Save/Meet Windstrad
With several hours before the funeral, and knowing no-one in the city, Athene resolves herself to wandering about to familiarise herself with the city she is now sealed in. It doesn't take long for her to reach what the locals call "the edge", the side of the city bordering directly onto a cliffface with a drop at least 800ft down. Far below she can barely make out something that may be too gruesome to be true, and shakes the image from her mind. Wandering along this cliff, the sounds of an arguement draw her attention and she races around a couple buildings to find whats going on. Around the fifth building, bringing her back to the cliff, she finds four people; two humans, an elf, and a kenku. The Kenku has his back to the cliff and seems to be 'losing the arguement'. In an attempt to save the man, Athene shouts at the three to give him some room, only for one of the humans and the elf to turn and advance on her, drawing their weapons as they do so. Reacting quickly, Athene was able to disperse the three, two chased off by her weapons and one knocked off balance and off the cliff by an expert shot of her longbow. Thanking her for her help, the Kenku man introduced himself as Winstrad and told her that if she was ever over his side of town, she should look him up.
Recieve Letter
Further wandering through the town, undecided if she should report the incident to the guard, Athene reached into her pocket and drew out an envelope she did not remember placing there. It was addressed to her, and even included the address of the man she'd been staying with for the last couple days. Opening it she found a single page, written in a strange language she didn't recognise. Finally deciding, she hurried to the nearest garrisson to report the assault before searching for someone who might be able to read the letter. At the garrison however, when recounting her story to the guard on duty, Athene was informed the moment she mentioned the name "Winstrad" that this was not a matter that he or any other guard has the juristiction to handle. However he seemed quite willing to pass on her report to the council guards.
Translator
In a city of this size, finding someone to translate the letter seemed unlikely to be much of a challenge. Athene headed straight from the Garrison to the nearest Academy of magic and asked around the library if anyone knew and was willing to translate the language of this strange letter for her. One man, sketching a crow, was quite happy to have a look. However he was more puzzled than Athene had been to find the letter in the first place. As far as he could tell, the language was Celestial, though was nothing but a list of nouns. Yes it was structured like a letter but was nothing but a list of nouns. The only thing he could make out that made any sense was "To Athene Zora" at the top. And "From Umbriel Zora" at the bottom. The second name was familiar, though raised more questions. As Umbriel Zora was Athene's Great Great- to the 31st Great, Grandfather. Only known to her as the black mark in her otherwise honourable family line.
Funeral/ Meet Hansel
Little-to no time to spare, Athene quickly hurried to the funeral. It was a small affair with only herself, three of the man's family, the priest, and the priests two aids. Having attended a couple funerals before, something struck Athene as off about the religious chant the priest gave, though given she was not certain of the religious practises here, decided not to interrupt the proceedings. That was until the coffin lid burst open and the apparently dead man flung himself out onto one of the aids and began feasting on the poor mans throat. In a moment the family, priest, and remaining aid had fled, leaving Athene to do what she knew was right and attack this vile creature to prevent it potentially taking more lives.
It didn't take long to become clear to Athene however that this was possibly not the best course of action as the creature began to gain the upper hand in the fight. Severely wounded, the young woman began backing away toward the street, screaming for help as she fought this undead monster back as best she could. Her heart broke when the only person to rush to her aid was a sickly gaunt, young homeless boy. The boy wore plenty of warm clothes and brandished a dinner knife. With him distracting the creature however, Athene was more easily able to strike it, and while she was experienced fighting the undead; she did no-where near the amount of damage to the creature as the boy's dinner knife seemed to.
See cops
With haste, and forgetting to ask her saviours name, Athene rushes to the nearest Guardpost to report what had occurred, and was faced with ridicule. The guards claimed, interestingly, that no only was there magic on both graveyards that prevented any undead. But the city itself was infused with a kind of magic called "a ward" that also prevented undead from being created there.
Runes in coffin
Confused and taking it upon herself to find out why this kind hearted man returned to unlife, Athene went back to the graveyard. The helpful homeless lad was still there, investigating the coffin when she arrived. When asked if he found anything, he pointed to a series of runes carved around the inside of the coffin lid. Taking a quick rubbing of a couple; using the back of her letter, and the charcoal from a burnt out Incendiary arrow, Athene and this boy talked about what could possibly cause this given the magic against it.
Translator
Returning to the Academy to visit the man who had tried translating her letter, Athene found him continuing his sketch, and asked of him the meaning of the words she'd managed to rub. The only translation he was able to come up with was from the same language as he read her letter; Celestial. The only word he could make out in Celestial was "Meat", which was repeated periodically in the runes. She thanked him, paid him for his time, and upon catching herself leaving, asked if he could do facial sketches from a description. The man admitted he'd try but wasn't certain of his skill, and Athene left him with a description of the priest and his assistant, hoping sketches of them may aid the guard's investigation.


I may make the following updates less detailed due to the huge amount of stuff XD