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| Fable D20 Story Hour [message #21299] |
Thu, 05 July 2007 00:17  |
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Keshire
Messages: 1266
Registered: July 2005
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Since Lionhead screwed up the formatting when they moved to the new forums. I'm moving the story here...
This is a D&D campaign I run every 2 weeks written into story form. I originally was going to run it on the #fable irc channel, but that fell through. The guys I play with loved the ruleset though so rolled up new characters.
| Prologue |
Prologue
A new era has dawned in Albion. The Legend, simply known as 'The Hero', has faded from public view. Several guild members have disappeared. Of the known hero's only Thunder remains, now the new ruler of Bowerstone due to Lady Grey's untimely demise. Many are calling it the fall of the time of Hero's. Many regions have changed at quite an alarming rate with the loss of hero's.
Bowerstone has fallen from splendor. While still the capital, corruption is plaguing it. Lady Grey's killer remains unknown; her body found laying outside the Griffin Tavern's cellar. Thunder is ineffective as a leader and ruler, but needed to maintain the anti-magic field around the city. His sister Whisper remains missing, adding to his ineffectiveness. The people talk of making Oakvale the new capital.
Oakvale has seen it's influence spread greatly with immigration. It is now a metropolis. The Bandit camp is no more. The ruling Bandits with pressure from the ruling class of Oakvale have converted the area into a bazaar of black market goods. Anything can be found or purchased for a price. Assuming you are allowed to keep your money or your life. Barrowfield has become the agricultural area of Oakvale. Farmlands spread all the way up to Darkwood. Lack of invading monsters leads some to believe that the farmers have a dark pact with the denizens of Darkwood, but this is only rumor. Oakvale is now ruled by complete democracy, while Freedom of religion reigns. Chapels of every god real or fictional have been built in and around. An Arena is being built, and partially functional. It is rumored to host the bloodiest battles since the Old Kingdom was around.
The Darkwoods have expanded greatly. All attempts to clear the forested area have met with failure. The haunted house, a former tourist attraction, has been swallowed up by the dark forest. The chapel of Skorm has since been abandoned a new one having been built in Oakvale proper, and safe from creatures of the forest.
Knothole Glade has become the bastion of rangers and druids. The original village demolished and rebuilt to better breathe with the expanding Witchwood. It has been divided into 3 areas. The tree houses, the the village proper, and the underground dens. Each area doubles as a wildlife retreat and trading post. The Former Knothole Glade Arena is now properly owned by Bowerstone. A large section of forest around it has been cleared for an archway to teleport people back and forth.
With the discovery that Old Kingdom blood still flows within the populace, Witchwood has come alive. Not with just people, either. The forest has expanded to encompass the entire region. The temple of Avo was swallowed and destroyed. Ruins have since been unearthed by the shifting of the ground. All the decorative runes found have started to give off an unsettling glow. Magical beasts not seen in centuries are rumored to be roaming the great forest.
Hookcoast hasn't seen much growth as far as population. It has become rich off of metal goods that are sold to the other expanding cities. It is also a stopping point for those wishing to travel to the Northern Wastes in search of treasure. A statue and grave mark the spot of Maze's death at the now functioning Lighthouse door
Not much is known of the Wastelands. The books written by Albions can hardly be used as reference material. Traveling to the Wastelands is dangerous at best and often fatal. The land is without any recognizable sources of magic, yet undead roam it as freely as humanoid races roam Albion, and are just as plentiful. Undead hunters, called Rangers of the Wastelands, have been unsuccessful at penetrating far into the wastelands. It is rumored though that a great City of the Dead exists deep within the wastelands with untold riches.
The study of magic has taken a great leap forward among the main populace. As such, All magic hails from the age of the Old Kingdom. Invented and embedded into the land for its people. In essence the magic is alive. Those who draw magic from their Old Kingdom blood are known as Sorcerers. Psionicists have learned to harness this magic by tuning their bodies to emulate those of Old Kingdom blood. They have tricked the magic into working for them. This trickery can be felt, but is generally considered harmless and partly natural. Wizardry, though, is new to Albion. It was invented soon after the outlying islands began immigrating into Albion. It forces, pulls and bends the magic. The effect is so unsettling to other magic users that it can be felt even if not seen. This magic is considered an abomination, and some suspect that it will lead to the destruction of Albion.
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Apathy Cannot Inspire.
Ambivalence cannot lead.
Loved me. Feared me.
Changed me. Killed me.
Anything would be something.
But nothing is worst of all.
[Updated on: Fri, 24 August 2007 01:35] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: Fable D20 Story Hour [message #24934 is a reply to message #21299] |
Fri, 24 August 2007 01:39  |
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Keshire
Messages: 1266
Registered: July 2005
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| A Gathering |
The fireplace crackled in the small Tavern located on the fringe of Oakvale. Music was played by a bard looking for handouts. It was a lovely melody, and many people were dancing to it. The ale was sloshing out of mugs onto the floor. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Two large and muscled bouncers stood near the door watching the gathering of people, and checking in the weapons from those who carried them. It was quite obvious that this was an active tavern despite being outside the main city. Sitting at a table, empty mugs everywhere were Johan and Nestler. Both looked to rival the bouncers in strength, but that was the only similar thing about the two. Johan wore simple traveling clothes, and a glove meant for archery. Nestler wore loose fitting and quite colorful clothing that is popular among entertainers in arenas. Despite the obvious differences, they were friends.
Johan finished off his latest mug of Ale, "Why did I let you talk me into this?" His normally serious face turned sour, "You know I hate cities."
"Relax, J. We're not in the city proper," Nestler leaned back, leaving only two legs of the chair on the floor, "Besides, I heard they had great ale here," his voice then dropped to a whisper, "and rumors of balvs." Johan perked up at this news. He had spent many years tracking and hunting the magical creatures. So any information gathered was important to him. Nestler tried to whistle for the wench but the strong ale was making it impossible. He waved for her instead. She noticeably rolled her eyes and made her way over to the table. Despite the drunkenness he was in the mood for business talk. "So what is a balverine anyway?" He managed to say with only a slight slurring. Johan leaned forward about to say something but the wench, still poring ale beat him to it.
"It's a magical mix between a Human and a Wolverine," she said matter of factly. Johan and Nestler both looked at her. "What? Surprised a mere serving wench would know that," she asked sarcastically as she finished filling Nestler's mug.
"Yes, I am surprised," Johan said. "How does a mere serving wench get information about magic? I don't think that's taught in serving wench school." Nestler simply went back to drinking.
"It's a secret," she winked at him as she moved on to a new table and disappeared into the crowd. Johan looked back at Nestler, who was happily drinking himself into a stupor.
"I'm heading outside," Johan stated. "The crowd is making me uncomfortable." Nestler nodded, obviously not listening. Johan sighed and went outside.
It was quiet outside. Johan sighed again. It was a sigh of relief. He was meant to be outdoors. He was more comfortable outdoors. His back was to a wall. The Entrance to the tavern was on one side, a window on the other. He felt someone brush past him. He also felt that someone reach into his back pocket and grab the gold he was keeping there. His reflexes and awareness were much better than the person reaching into his pocket. He grabbed the person's wrist before even looking at him. "I'd like to keep what little money I have," Johan said as he turned to look at the now struggling man. The man was thin and wiry. He also had a pencil thin mustache, but Johan noticed the flash of the dagger in the man's opposite hand first. Fighter instincts took over Johan and he immediately pulled the man off balance and threw him forward. There was an audible grunt as the pick-pocket crashed through the window into the Tavern. The man rolled over a table and into the crowd, that was dancing, taking all the ale with him in a spectacular crash. He lay sprawled there in front of Nestler who was visibly angered. Nestler looked at the overturned table, then at the man, and then at the window. You could almost see the gears turning in his head as he put it all together. Then the fight started. Nestler picked up the shaken pick-pocket by his shirt front, "Not often someone gets thrown through a window into a Tavern," and he punched the pick-pocket sending him into the crowd. The pick-pocket bumped into one man who turned around and slugged the person closest to him. This started a chain reaction and soon the entire Tavern was engaged in an all out brawl. The bouncers picked their way through the crowd of people their visible presence calming most of the brawl. Nestler caught up with the pick-pocket who was trying to scramble out of the tavern on hands and feet. "I don't think so," and Nestler hoisted him up by the back of his shirt collar and flung him on the bar counter. Johan had entered through the window he opened and pocketed the strewn dagger. He was in the process of making his way to bar where Nestler was leveling elbow after elbow into the pick-pocket's sternum. One elbow for every ale that was spilt sounded good to him, but the bouncers had made their way to him and were in the process of grappling with him. They weren't successful. And as Nestler banged their heads together sending them into unconsciousness, Johan made it to him. The serving wench also appeared by his side.
"He's had enough," Johan and the wench said almost simultaneously. Johan grabbed the arm of Nestler's shirt. Nestler reactively grabbed Johan in return then looked at the wench who was speaking to him. He couldn't make out the words. She was speaking gibberish.
"I think I've had too much to drin..." The words trailed off as Nestler hit the ground, asleep.
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| The Night Gets Longer |
Only about fifteen minutes passed as Nestler woke up. He was laying on the ground in back of the Tavern. Johan was talking with the tavern wench.
"Ya, he has the constitution of a bear. I doubt he'll be asleep long," Johan stated. They both looked towards Nestler. "Speak of the devil. Nestler, this is Sandra. She has some interesting abilities," Johan said flatly. Nestler stood up dusting himself off. The rest had completely sobered him.
"Peachy," he said sarcastically. "Weird that I passed out like that. I should be able to hold more liquor than that."
"My fault. I cast a sleep spell on you. You were interfering with my mission," Sandra said. "I work for the Veiled Alliance. I'm a wizard hunter. When you two started the fight the man I was watching slipped out. So I needed to neutralize you quickly. I'm also a Sorcerer." With the last statement Nestler eyed her up and down. "Don't even think about it," she said.
Nestler peered at her, "So your a dyke?"
"I like men, just not you," she stated coldly. Johan stifled a chuckle. Nestler and Sandra stared each other down.
"She's more manly than you are Nestler, staring her down will just prove she's more dominant," Johan poked at him. Their dominance contest didn't last long as a man came running up the street. He was in a hurray, and had a look of fear in his eyes. As he ran he shouted, "Hobbes are attacking! Hobbes are attacking!"
"Looks like we're needed," Johan said, staring at Nestler.
"I'm coming too," Sandra stated, following up with, "The wizard might make an appearance."
"You'd think Oakvale would be patrolling their border a bit better," Nestler said, but he joined Johan and Sandra as they jogged in the direction the crier came from.
It didn't take them long to reach the hobbes. There were a group of five of them. "The little sisters of the goblin kingdom," Nestler quipped.
"This isn't good," Johan pointed out. Indeed it wasn't. Tied by the arms with two hobbes on each side was an earth troll. It was dingy with chunks of grass and moss growing off it. Sandra pointed to the lone hobbe, "Leader," she stated simply. Johan and Nestler nodded agreement. Several other villagers trotted up behind them. They were armed simply with large pieces of wood, pitchforks, and torches. Johan eyed the two bouncers from the tavern. "Here's the plan," Johan started. "We take out the hobbes. The two big guys over there take the ropes and hold the troll. Understood?"
"Nope," Nestler said, and followed up with running straight for the troll. Seeing him coming the four hobbes let the troll loose. Maintaining the same speed, Nestler started tumbling and flipping, and competely evaded the hobbes. He then ran up the spine of the troll flipped over its head, and was grabbed out of mid-air and promptly slammed to the ground.
"That was expected," Johan said. "All flash, no substance. He didn't even get his weapon out." Johan pulled his bow out and knocked and arrow.
Sandra nodded agreement, "That sleep spell was wasted on him. I wish I had it back right now." She cast another sleep spell, taking out the four hobbes that were previously restraining the troll. The remaining lone hobbe turned and ran. Five of the villagers charged in the kill the sleeping hobbes. Nestler, fortunately, rolled away from the attacking troll. A wave of nausea rolled across the area killing several plants, followed by a fireball centered between the villagers and the sleeping hobbes. Both attackers and defenders were all killed. The troll was also caught in the blast, but survived. Bits of grass still burned as it moaned with anger mixed with pain. "There's my wizard," Sandra said pointedly.
"Well this sucks," Nestler stated. "This night just keeps getting longer and longer," and he drew his long sword.
"Yep," Johan agreed. "Time to fight serious, Nestler," and he loosed an arrow at the troll, firmly embedding it in the creature's hide.
"You two take the troll. I'll find the wizard," Sandra stated, and she cast a detect magic spell. The wizard become plainly visible as he glowed brightly. "That was easy," she said, as she orientated on the hidden wizard. The wizard answered back with three black bolts of energy to the chest, nearly dropping the woman to unconsciousness. "He's strong," she stammered out. Nestler, his face a mask of seriousness, tumbled into the troll's range. His long sword gouged out pieces of dirt and grass, loosing it's shiny gleam. Johan followed up with another arrow. The troll was in bad shape. Most of the damage being done by the fireball, but the ranger and fighter were now posing a serious threat. It decided to make its retreat and collapsed into the ground. The two men were now free to orient on the wizard. Sandra launched her own magical missiles into the wizard. He disappeared. "Dammit," She yelled. "He used an illusion!" she then surveyed the damage. "Wizard, gone. Troll, gone. Hobbes, dead. Villagers, dead. Well this was a pretty sucky night."
"It reeked of a trap," Johan said simply.
"Ya, I doubt the hobbes tamed that troll without help," Nestler added.
"There must be something here that they want if they went to that much trouble. Looks like my mission just got kicked up a notch in danger," she smiled at the thought.
"We have nothing better to do," Johan stated. "Nestler, you get a room for the night for us. I'm sure Sandra already has arrangements. We'll decide where to go from here in the morning. I'll also inform whoever is in charge of this part of the city about these bodies." with that, they separated.
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Notes: I missed some things in my notes, I know at one point Johan got called a tree hugger by Nestler's player when asked what class he was. Overall though it was a great session. The Nestler character is a fighter front loaded with acrobatic feats and skills. But missed badly the first time he tried it. This is a pretty common occurrence with this player. When he's successful it's great. When it's unsuccessful it's great as well. The Sandra character is also played by a buddy of mine. He's playing the character to prove how good a role player he is. The guy playing Johan is always a ranger. But this time he added the twist of being a Balverine hunter. I also give bonus experience for great in-character one liners. Not much. But enough to encourage it.
| Where to go from Here? |
Sandra was dreaming. The dreamscape expanded in front of her for as far as the eye could see. She was aware she was dreaming, yet couldn't escape it. A door appeared behind her. As if to strengthen that fact there also came a knock. She opened it without a thought.
"How many times to I have to tell you not to just willingly open your mind like that?" Alix said with a sad look on his face. Alix was her correspondent with the Veiled Alliance, and a Psionicist. He let himself in. He was now fully in control of her mind. Had he malicious intent, he would have been able to erase her memories or dominate her completely. So was the way of mind benders. Their way of using and accessing magic was alien to her and most other people. Even the feel of it was different. Not necessarily evil, as was wizardry, but different none-the-less. Alix was a tall man. He had the look of a monk, older, balding, yet muscular in a lean way. He also had a chiseled serious face which he orientated on her. "It's been awhile hasn't it?" he asked, looking her dead in the eye. "Three months in fact since we stationed you here to intercept that wizard," his face turned sour at the mention of wizard. "Anyways," he trailed off.
"You firing me!?" Sandra cut in.
"Well I wouldn't call if a firing per se. I'd call it a forced vacation. And besides, it's not my decision. This has been handed down from on high," Alix said with a hurt look on his face. "I really had no input in it at all. I'd have let you hunt the guy down and kill him after his attack last night." Sandra squinted at him. "I read it from your mind as I entered. I am a mind reader after all," he winked at her. She didn't press the fact.
"So then what am I to do?" she said coldly.
"Why should I care?" he answered back. "Just don't go chasing after the wizard. I don't want to worry about your safety."
"Safety from the wizard or the Alliance?"
"That hurts Sandra. It really does. Anyways, I must be going," He said not answering the question. "And there are other Alliance members in the area I need to attend to," he threw in on his way out of the dream.
Sandra woke up immediately after the dream. It was morning. She was sleeping in the attic of the tavern where she worked as she had been for three months. This would be her last morning. She wandered the village gathering whatever information she could before going to meet with the fighter and ranger from the night before. It was an uneventful night for Nestler and Johan. They didn't recieve the wounds that Sandra did, but Nestler wanted a little revenge for the fireball that was casually tossed his way.
"So?" Nestler asked simply.
"Well where do you want me to start? The part where I was removed from the Veiled Alliance, or the fact that nobody knows that about 10 villagers died from a fireball last night?" she asked sarcastically.
"I informed the local authorities and they removed the bodies," Johan said, "but your saying they covered it up?"
"Yes." She answered.
"Well I'm confused," Nestler said. "Why would they cover up an attack on their own city?"
"I wouldn't really call this area a part of the city. It's always been isolated," Sandra replied. "Oakvale let's this area as well as several others act independently of the main city. I think it's due to how close they are to darkwood, and far away from the main city."
"So then where do we go from here?" Nestler asked.
"Easy," Johan spoke up after thinking about the information. "I track down the wizard. We beat some information out of him."
"Sounds good, I'm following you two. I never liked the Alliance anyway, but I was subtly threatened if I chased after the guy." Sandra said.
Nestler looked bemused. "So cover up from village off the main city, cover up from people that hunt wizards, and a wizard that is working with hobbes," Nestler cracked a smile. "Sounds like fun."
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Apathy Cannot Inspire.
Ambivalence cannot lead.
Loved me. Feared me.
Changed me. Killed me.
Anything would be something.
But nothing is worst of all.
[Updated on: Fri, 24 August 2007 01:49] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: Fable D20 Story Hour [message #24966 is a reply to message #21299] |
Fri, 24 August 2007 18:30 |
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Satan
Messages: 1033
Registered: September 2005
Location: Hades
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Plus you'd more than likely break the keyboard if you typed too long and it'd take 6 months to get a replacement. 
There is nothing in the Void.
There is no point to it's being.
I wish there was a reason.
There is nothing in the Void,
But what we put there.
[Updated on: Fri, 24 August 2007 18:30] Report message to a moderator |
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Only criticism I could give would be to change Hero's such as in "many areas had suffered from the loss of hero's" to heroes 
well it is a laptop...