The Mines of Malis

Setting

This campaign takes place starting in Serenton Jesster is GM.

Intro

Five years after plagues ravaged the city of Serenton by the sea, killing most of it’s population and laying waste to it’s vast orchards and vineyards, the city thrives. But as is often the case, along with prosperity comes intrigue and struggles for power and wealth. The party will be constructed of individuals in Serenton at the outset of this adventure. Characters need not be from Serenton, but must have a reasonable back-story.

Character Guidelines

For new players, I want only a story, two sentences to two pages...more than that and you’re going too far. I will build your initial character sheet for you, we’ll chat and tweak to keep it simple at the outset. If you enjoy playing, we can dive deeper into the rules and get more technical.

Characters should have diverse but realistic skill sets. That is if you've been a baker's assistant your whole life, you're probably not an expert rider and swordsman, but you may have high manual dexterity, a good cooking skill, some herb lore, and perhaps be strong from lugging around bags of flour and making deliveries or such. In that example you may also be overweight for gorging on your own tasty sweet specialties.

I expect role-playing in this adventure, not just hack'n slash dice rolling. I will be awarding extra character points for playing your character and for good role-playing.

You are likely all young adventurers or perhaps elder citizens who've never risen to heroics previously. You are not likely complete novices. It is possible you are Serentonian Guards, mage apprentices, devout religious followers, wandering tradespeople or mercenaries. I would like interesting back stories perhaps to use to enhance the campaign. It is also altogether possible you have spent the entirety of your life in Serenton or any other city for that matter, coming into Serenton only recently. It's possible you are not an experienced adventurer, but then it would be unlikely that you have a 15 riding skill and a 18 crossbow skill, for example. Your points might be invested into trade skills or "book learning".

Regardless of your origin and past you have to have some reason to be involved in the campaign. That means you have some reason a highfalutin merchant would hire you to help with some errands. Perhaps you are the niece or nephew of some local dignitary or have ran errands (sometimes adventurous) for him in the past.

Check out this page for some ideas, and maybe some tie-ins to the world.

As there are primarily only humans native around Serenton, if you desire to be another race, the following templates may be implemented:

Elf - -5 pt unusual background

Dwarf - -5 pt unusual background

Half-elf - no cost

Half-orc - -2 pt unusual background

Gnome - -5 pt unusual background

Other race - with DM consultation

Character outlines must be presented to the GM by the 22nd of October in order to be in the outset of the campaign (last weekend in Oct or 1st of Nov).

For those interested in building their own character sheets:

Characters will have 100 points to start with and up to -50 points in disadvantages with an optional additional -10 points to be used specifically for Enemies, Reputation or Debt disadvantages, but these must be a tangible part of your back story and your character during role-play.

Characters will be illiterate by default. Being semi-literate (B p24) in the Common tongue will cost 1 pt, literate 2 pts.

Equipment Characters will start with the TL3 starting wealth of $1000.00 which in Gurth recently has been one-thousand silver pieces. This can be modified by choosing the Wealth advantage or disadvantage accordingly. Clothing, weapons, armor and gear should be purchased at base cost in the Characters book from starting wealth. If you have $1000.00, you have nothing and are naked walking the streets of Gurth. A gold piece is ten silver pieces. Specialized adventure gear and magical items from Dungeon Fantasy - Adventurers are fine. Magic items must be purchased with character points, at a cost of 1 point per $1000 cost.

• You may buy power stone(s) by spending 2 character points per power level, with a maximum of 12 power level total in all stones/items. Spending 20 points gets you a single 10 point powerstone, or two 5-point stones, etc.

Characters

Gradik Seatalon played by Brady

Tok played by Antony

Esme Harrington played by Melissa

Doc Briar played by Jordan

What Happened

The group met with Don Lau in the Gilded Stein for lunch and details. The illustrious Mr. Lau had chosen each member for certain qualities. Tok, the swarthy thick-limbed dark mustachioed Mongolian sell-sword for protection, Doc, for his medical skill and crossbow support, Esme for her cartography and other archaeological acquisition skills, and finally Gradik for his seamanship and ability to transport the team to the destination. Don Lau told the party of a mining operation being run by Lord Skreez Malis about a day’s journey north of Serenton on the coast, in what is rumored to be an ancient dragon’s den. It is rumored that the den was collapsed when the injured dragon rested within and Lau was hiring his team to infiltrate and recover said dragon’s bones. He would pay them each $100 sp upon return with some bones (claws and teeth being choice) and they can otherwise keep whatever other bounty they come across. He supplied them a crude map and asked for verification of Malis using slave labor in this mining operation. After lunch and determining a meeting location, the party split up.

Tok gathered weapons and some supplies before spending his evening bullying around the Guilded Stein and being robbed.

Doc, wandered into the slums in seek of a place to stay for the night. Following a small thin man into a dark alley which ended up in a brief confrontation and Doc short the 1 gold coin Don Lau fronted him. He then went to a free clinic/soup kitchen and inquired about the mine and the large furry fellow who helped the small thin man rob him. He traded some first aid for a bed-roll for the night.

Esme went to the library and researched dragons in the surrounding area, learning of a white serpent that often stole from fishing vessels dozens of years ago outside of Serenton. She then went into the slums and gathered what information she could about the mine from street urchin, where she learned of one boy’s older brother Eddie being taken off to the mine, perhaps against his will.

Gradik provisioned his small fishing vessel for the upcoming journey and visited with his contact in the city guard (Sten Oakhearth). Sten told Gradik to be cautious because he’s heard that Malis is an up-and-coming politician who is rumored to use muscle from a tough crowd called the Blood Ghost Syndicate and isn’t afraid of playing dirty. He bid him good luck on his exploration of said mines and asked for a report back. The following morning, Tok searched for the picker of his pockets and tried to rob the proprietor of the Guilded Stein, and Esme purchased some food and sent message to her patrons in Cormire. The next day around lunch, the group all met at the docks and took Gradik’s small boat out to sea to approach the mines from the low-tide cave entrance, rather than the topside of the mining operation. After a brief and brutal mishap in the dark encountering the cliffside, the party found the cave. They rested and ate before rowing in and beaching the boat. An armored man came down from the tunnel above asking their business. Mixed messages about being lost and looking for mine were given. The man retreated back up the tunnel. As the party disembarked and began to follow, the man came back down with an accomplice and they again asked for more info, this time at the point of loaded crossbows. Combat erupted and Tok cleaved through chain-shirt and ribs alike, while Gradik hastily harpooned a man and ripped his guts out. In the aftermath, Tok and Esme looted the bodies while Gradik dealt with the shock of his first kill and the gore.

While the party debated whether to push onward or to fall back to the boat, something approached. Something large. At the crack of a whip, a chained ogre stepped into the light and roared its rage at the party. Tok distracted the beast while Gradik speared it. Doc shot it’s driver, then chased him up the tunnel while Tok finished off the ogre. After the brief melee, the retreating ogre driver blew a horn up the tunnel and the party retreated to the boat and out to sea to rest and regroup. Doc mended Tok’s wounds, Gradik tried to repair his ogre-bent harpoon and Esme questioned the value and sanity of this task.