Hi Folks,
This is a short-term campaign designed to help me playtest a new set of rules (but we can continue playing if everyone's into it). Please message me via Inbox if you're interested in joining. We're playing a couple of times a month on Saturday afternoons. Here's the description:
In the land of Marya, where the evil Elven Empire rules, humans are a downtrodden, disrespected, and frequently enslaved race. The few free humans have it best in the Free Lands, what others disdainfully refer to as the Kaa, the "Wastelands", because that's all they see when they first enter this relatively inaccessible valley. Further in, however, humans have been able to build thriving communities in towns and villages, out of sight from the eyes of the empire which considers this remote location not worth bothering with. Elsewhere, even when successful, human villages risk predation by goblin bandits, orc slavers, or fear coming under the eye of Imperial enforcers, not to mention wildlife such as dragons. Worse, a new terror has arisen: while the corrupt elves play the fiddle and their slaves toil to provide them with luxuries, strange beings - seemingly neither living nor dead - emerge from hollows within the earth to prey upon the unwary. Few survive encounters with these horrors, and even fewer survive unscathed.
But now, a new power in the Free Lands has emerged: a brave band of humans and hobbits, emboldened by their rediscovery of magical arts and by their forgotten history, have begun organizing. Only as an organized force can the Free Peoples truly survive, and recruiters for this new "League of the Free Lands" have been going from village to village exhorting and teaching, and the bravest of them venture into the hollows themselves to discover their secrets. The League has been making some progress, finding treasure in the hollows, and some have found tantalizing hints in old texts that the ancient Kings had a means to restrain the living dead. But the dark horrors continue to emerge at an ever increasing rate. Will the League uncover the secrets of the hollows in time to save their people, and perhaps even all of Marya, from destruction?
Here's where we are right now:
Our first session took place in the vicinity of the village of Meroceld in the Kaa valley. A village meeting was called to discuss what to do about a missing caravan from the village of Waysreach, and the threat of the goblin gangs united under a new leader, Ogruk. After some discussion, a villager arrived on the scene with the frightening news that a cohort of hobgoblin Imperial enforcers were heading their way. Terrified, the village began to evacuate. Meroceld's elders appointed a scouting party of Kjolr (the warrior/plant mage), Gwillbo (the hobbit fire mage), and Shale (the monk/thief) to learn what they could of what the hobgoblins were up to. Hiding as best they could in the hills above the hobgoblins, our heroes observed that they had captured the two league recruiters who'd recently visited their village, Gregory and Anor. Gwillbo distracted the hobgoblin troops by setting fire to their food supplies and Kjolr attacked the guards holding the two captives, while Shale snuck around behind them to free the captives. Our heroes successfully freed the recruiters and escaped, although Gwillbo took a wound during the fight. Leaving Shale behind to spy on the hobgoblins, the others interviewed the former captives. Anor was badly hurt and couldn't talk much, but Gregory told them a harrowing tale of exploring a hollow and finding fabulous magical items, only to be attacked by the living dead and having to run for their lives. He was able to recover a pair of magic mirrors, which he gave to the heroes as thanks.
To be continued next session!
