Character Sheets

Never been a big fan of what Wizards has put out there for character sheets, so I'm working on my own. So far I feel these are a bit more intuitive and better organized.

I can't link to it directly, but PDFs of these files can be found on Enworld, under character sheets, 5th edition. 

Chronology of Narr

I'm (slowly) working on the cyclopedia of the world. I still can't figure out if I can post PDFs on here, but for now, here's the campaign world's timeline.

There be a Kobold Hole

June 12–14, 3430, Age of Kings

After realizing that the map had gotten away with that mysterious thief in Adler's home, our hapless adventurers decided to retreat back home to avoid any further suspicion from the estate's guards. Boots slipped away into the night mysteriously (and his player was leaving for work for the next month).

Grabby, despite his novice level at being a thief, realized that the thief who beat them to the map may be a member of the local thieves' guild, operating out of The Burnt Bugbear Tavern. Their options limited, they decided to head to the tavern to see if they could get any information.

Not wanting to draw any unwanted attention, Grabby burst through the front door of the tavern to declare, "I'm buying a round for everyone!" This was met by some minor enthusiasm from the patrons (it was already after 1:30 AM). Grabby then decided to to get some information out of the bar keep, Lars, who seemed uninterested in talking. After Ander tried to get some info out of Lars, he noticed him talking with a patron while making occasional glances over to the party.

Eventually Lars suggested they speak with the stranger he was speaking with earlier. The group sat down with the stranger and asked about information on the valuable map they were sent to retrieve. The stranger told them he could arrange a meeting with someone who could help them, and they agreed. After leaving briefly to a back room, the stranger came back and led them downstairs through a secret door (after they left their weapons with Lars).

After walking through some subterranean halls they came to a room with some unsavoury characters, one of which was a weaselly-looking man with bad teeth and a crooked grin with his feet up on a table, tapping an arrow in his hand—one of Anders's arrows.

After questioning him about the map, the man informed the party that he did indeed have the map and could part with map for no less than 300 shillings, as he had other interested buyers. Not having the money on them, the group agreed to the thief's conditions and hurried back with the money. They checked the map for its legitimacy, and after seeing the markings on it (some illegible notes, and sketches of the moon and a dwarf statue) the transaction was made, and the party returned to their common room for some much needed rest.

In the morning, the party consulted the map and determined it was about a two days journey north towards the Orespire Mountains. So they set out on their journey.

* * *

After two days march they arrived in the area marked on the map late in the day, and found nothing. After the moon had risen they were ready to set up camp, but then spotted dwarvish ruins in a clearing—a clearing that was empty earlier. As they approached the ruins under cover of dark, they heard yipping, barking speech. Soon, a group of kobolds emerged from somewhere in the ground, one of which was riding a horribly disfigured and diseased giant rat.

Still in the cover of the forest, the party watched the kobolds split into groups of two and spread out, while one of them and the mounted one held back. In hopes of getting the drop on them, the party decided to remain hidden and use the cover of the forest to outflank the creatures. At this point Grabby moved off to the left flank, Anders climbed a nearby tree while his war dog, Blu, waited near the base of the tree. Broak and Audrey stayed hidden, waiting for the kobolds to move closer.

Once the kobolds were in range, Broak let a hand axe fly, splitting the skull of a kobold in half. At this point Ander loosed an arrow on another, striking it squarely between the eyes. With the element of surprise, Grabby launched a sling stone at a nearby kobold, crushing one side of its skull. Audrey rushed out from cover, cleaving another kobold in half.

At this point the other kobolds were aware of the party's presence and moved in to see what was going on. Only being able to see Broak in the clearing, four kobolds flung sling stones at him. The first stone landed on Broak's skull with a loud *CRACK!*, stunning the dwarf (House Rule: when a critical hit is rolled, in addition to rolling two dice for damage, different weapons have different effects. In this instance, bludgeoning damage stuns the target until the end of their next turn—a helmet provides a saving throw, Broak did not have a helmet). With Broak dazed from the first stone, two more whipped in, striking him on the head, knocking him unconscious (dropping him to exactly 0 hit points). The rat mounted kobold charged in towards Audrey. The kobold missed her with his spear, but the rat managed to clamp its jaws down on her thigh.

The remaining kolbolds ran for cover to hide from the assault of arrows and sling stones. After delivering a blow to the rat with her Halberd, Audrey chased after the rat and its rider and managed to strike a killing blow to the rat, which caused the rider to tumble off. From here, Ander was able to kill the rat-rider with a single, well placed arrow.

With many of their allies dead, the remaining kobolds scurried off through a wooden hatch in the ground, leaving one by itself. Ander called Blu after the last kobold. The war dog managed to catch up and clamp its jaws down on the helpless creature and shook it like a rag doll. Still alive and screeching in agony, the kobold was flung to the ground by the war dog. Audrey moved over to the kobold and drove her halberd through the helpless creature's chest. 

Once all was quiet, they party revived Broak, looted the corpses, and prepared to enter into the subterranean passage after the remaining kobolds...

Thieves (and fake drunks) in the Night

June 11–12, 3430, Age of Kings

The party brought their hard fought spoils to Adler's home to collect their reward and when he saw the masterful work done skinning the one owlbear pelt he threw in an additional 50 shillings. During the transaction, of course, Grabby was taking note of the various valuables that were in the noble's home.

Silver in hand, the party returned to their dormitory at Albrecht's estate for some rest. Boots and Broak head to a nearby tavern to busk and drink, respectively. Soon after, Fulton Ardane (an estate guard friendly to the group) informed Ander, Grabby and Audrey that Albrecht wanted to speak to the party in his quarters right away.

When they arrive, Albrecht informs them that over a week ago a group of three of his miners set out for the Orespire Mountains to find new ore veins. Three days earlier only one returned, a miner by the name of Oddo Hillwood. Oddo was covered in cuts and scrapes and mentioned that they found what looked like dwarven ruins in the foothills, and they were attacked in the night by “screeching, barking creatures” that he never saw, he only heard them—and the screams of his fellow miners, Brim Odger and Alard Clifton—as they were dragged away in the dark.

From the description of the site—such as moss-covered statues of dwarves in robes—and its location, Albrecht, with the brothers Ert and Grommor Ironhil (two of his dwarf engineers) from the local mountains, discerned that it might be the site of the ancient dwarvish mine Arak-Ildun. It’s thought that it is the home of a powerful dwarvish forging hammer, that may still be in the depths of the mine, as it’s whereabouts are unknown.

Albrecht informs the players that he heard rumours that Oddo got drunk in a local tavern—The Red Tankard—and was telling other patrons about his experience: including the location of where the mine might be. Some of the patrons happened to work for a rival noble of the mining guild: Kinnard Adler. Oddo even pointed the location out to the rival miners on a map, which Kinnard now has in his possession.

Telling the party that he needs to lay claim to this mine before his rival, Albrecht says they need to either locate Oddo and get the information (which could prove difficult as his whereabouts are currently unknown) or steal the map from Kinnard. He also figures that other members of the guild have caught wind, and may dispatching men of their own to do the same thing, so they need to act quickly.

Once the party was together in full they made their way over to The Red Tankard in hopes of finding Oddo. The barkeep informed them that he usually comes in every other night, and hasn't seen him since the night before. Not knowing where Oddo was staying, they decided the more direct approach of stealing the map from Adler's home.

Waiting for cover of dark, they returned to Adler's home after midnight. The sounds of drinking and gambling were starting to wind down in the guard house as the party arrived. In an attempt to get the two patrolling guards close enough for Boots to cast a charm person spell on one of them, Broak acted like a drunkard stumbling through the street... and began to relieve himself on the fence. As this was happening Boots walked down the street playing his flute in an attempt to charm a guard, which failed, but the guard was unaware at the attempt.

After being asked to move along, and not wanting to draw any more attention, the two moved down the street, past the view of the guards. Once the guards had their back's turned while patrolling, Ander and Grabby made a run for the manor's ground level side door. Trying the door, Grabby was surprised to find the door unlocked, so he and Ander entered and closed the door behind them.

They found themselves in Adler's larder, stocked with barrels of wine, wheels of cheese, and various cured meats. The trap door leading to the next floor was open, so they quietly ascended. Looking around the room, lit only by the street lamps outside, Grabby noticed all of the valuable items (silver goblets and platters, and various other baubles) were no longer there from their day lit visit here. Through the open trap door leading to the top level, they could hear the sound of heavy snoring. Not finding anywhere on this floor where the map could be, Grabby carefully climbed the steep stairs and peered inside the dark room where Adler slept. As he looked around, he heard a floor board creek, he quickly turned his attention to the sound and saw a cloaked figure crouching by a desk helping himself anything of value. Unnoticed Grabby climbed back down to tell Ander.

Figuring this to be someone Albrecht had warned them about, the two headed down to where they had entered to catch the thief on his way out. Ander hid in the shadows near the door, while Grabby ran outside and around to the back in hopes of cutting off an escape route. During this time Boots hid in an alley way across from the manor while avoiding the guards.

Eventually the thief made his way to the door where Ander was waiting nearby, but as the thief poked his head out to see where the guards were, he managed to notice Boots across the street, and ducked back inside. Moments later, from down the street, Audrey could see a second story window being opened and the cloaked figure slipping out, and climb up to the roof. At this point she ran out to the street and—as a concerned citizen—warned the two guards that there was a thief climbing out of their lord's manor's window. The guards backed up in the yard to spot the culprit, and one ran to the rear of the manor to raise an alarm bell. With this distraction Ander was able to safely leave the manor and—as a concerned elf citizen—ran towards the guard saying he could assist them.

Not knowing which way the thief would go, Audrey began running down Fletcher's Way to cut off a possible escape route. At this point, Ander let an arrow loose, striking the thief, to which they could hear his response, "Oh, c'mon!" Grabby was able to position himself in the narrow back alley just in time to see the thief leap from the Manor's roof to a nearby building and disappear into the night.

Tales From the Bounty Board

 June 10, 3430, Age of Kings

It's been a month since the party returned from slaying the goblin shaman Skragg. In that time they've been joined by Broak and Audrey, Ander purchased two war hounds, and they've spent their time doing odd jobs for Albrecht—usually overseeing shipments of ore and making sure they safely reach their destinations.

With some free time on their hands they made their way to Mercenary Square in town to check the postings on the bounty board. They found two that interested them: the city watch had posted a bounty for goblin ears (3 shillings per left ear) to cull some of the goblin activity in the area, and a local nobleman—and rival mining guilder to Albrecht—named Kinnard Adler was looking for two owlbear pelts (150 shillings each). Deciding to use Ander's tracking skill and knowledge of goblin tactics, they decided to travel to a nearby area where the sightings were frequent.

They set out later in the morning with Ander's war hound Ornj, leaving Audrey behind to nurse a wicked mead hangover.

As evening closed in Ander found a trail that was fair teeming (yeah, I went there) with goblin tracks. They concocted a plan to have Grabby act as bait: a clueless halfling traveler, alone in the shadow of the Orespire Mountains. After Ander had brought back some game for a quick meal, they set up Grabby's camp site.

Broak waited nearby in some bushes, while Ander and Boots both took up vantage points in nearby trees, while Grabby sat next to his camp fire and bedroll with Ornj and sang a jaunty tune about how he was all alone and was carry too much gold.

Just as the sun was setting, Ornj perked up, and the sound of something coming towards the clearing could be heard. From their positions, Broak and Grabby couldn't see it, but an owlbear began lumbering out of the forest, drawn by the scent of food and Grabby's song. As it drew closer to the camp site Grabby tried to get some distance and use his sling while Ornj stayed between them. Then, from the trees above, Ander launched arrows at the beast, and Boots fired his crossbow. With the initial ranged attacks done, Broak ran from cover and dove into battle with the owlbear.

Moments later, a second owlbear emerged from the woods to join the melee. During the fray, Ornj was slain by the first owlbear, as Broak pummeled the creature with his warhammer. The warlock managed to strike both owlbears several times with his crossbow as he perched precariously high in a tree, meanwhile the renowned archer Ander missed with arrow after arrow. During the battle Broak was slammed to the ground and knocked unconcious, bleeding badly. But Ander finished the first owlbear off with a well placed shot.

While attempting to balance on a branch and load his crossbow, Boots lost his footing and crashed down through the branches, catching himself halfway down the tree. At this point Grabby, not wanting to go toe-to-toe with the other owlbear, clambered up a nearby tree. As arrows and bolts pelted the beast it continued its attack, violently shaking the tree Boots was in. Once again Boots was falling from his perch, this time landing hard on the ground, where he played dead in hopes that the owlbear would continue his attack against the two remaining threats—and it worked.

 Just as things were looking up for the group (aside from the dying dwarf) Ander lost his footing in his tree and landed on a rocky outcrop, and rolled to the ground, spilling his arrows everywhere (critical fails are a bitch). Now tied to the trunk of the tree, Grabby threw daggers at the owlbear, which eventually drove it off into the woods. Not wanting to let it get away so they could claim the reward for two pelts, Ander had only one arrow he could grab and shoot in time before the beast disappeared into the foliage—which he landed, killing it in its tracks.

After helping Broak recover from his injuries Ander set about skinning and cleaning the owlbear pelts with some help from Broak (giving him advantage on his rolls). They spent several hours through the night skinning the two. The first was done well enough, and the second one...

...was done exceptionally well. Once the task was completed, they set off for Leedshire to claim their reward...

What Has Gone Before...

April 3 to May 10, 3430, Age of Kings

The party formed when they all took jobs with the mining guilder and nobleman Albrecht Schimmel. At the time the party consisted of Boots, Grabby and Funz—er—Ander. In addition they were accompanied by a stranger from the far east, past the Barrier Mountains, named Raum. Working for Albrecht they acted as troubleshooters and personal muscle, and dealt with anything that he didn't trust his garrison of drunkards and failed soldiers to.

Word reached Albrecht that some miners of his in the Orespire Mountain stumbled upon an ancient underground labyrinth of carved tunnels infested with goblins, led by a goblin shaman named Skragg Boneshaker. Albrecht sent the party to clear the tunnels out for a small reward.

Before setting out the party hired a small group of men-at-arms, Gerhardt (a young pack-handler and linkboy) and a cleric of the Church of St. Eliah, Brother Cuthbert. After a week of travel they arrived at the mine and delved into the darkness.

During the course of their adventure they battled many goblins, attempted to set a room on fire, and lost a man-at-arms. There was also an awkward moment when Boots discovered a potion, which he quickly shouted, "POISON!" then smashed the vial against the floor (it was a healing potion). This caused the hired help to be less than confident in their employers. In addition, they also encounterd a watery cavern infested with giant leeches which they managed to slay with Grabby's quick thinking, covering them with dried spices.

Eventually they did battle with Skragg, defeating him and collecting his head to claim their reward. During the final battle Brother Cuthbert was slain, and Raum, severely wounded, died from his injuries days later. After the battle, Grabby managed to find a +1 dagger, named... "Mr. Shiney".

The party arrived back at Albrecht's estate and collected their reward. Soon after, they were joined by a human barbarian, and a local dwarf warrior...

Graberhill "Grabby" McSnagems: Halfling Thief

Like much of life in general, Grabby’s background remains foggy and confusing (if not downright embarrassing) to him.

Grabby is now a strapping little lad of seventeen, but his earliest memories are running wild about the port town of Dunshire as an orphan child. Now Dunshire is as rough and tumble as any port town you’ve ever been in. In fact, I’d say it’s even rougher, and even tumbler than any of the towns you’ve ever visited.

Grabby never had a mother or father, and doesn’t even know where he was born. As a baby, Grabby was taken in by Mimsey Muffletimes McSnagems—the madame of the best-loved brothel in town: Mimsey Muffletimes Manor House (her last name of McSnagems proved not so good for business). Mimsey cared enough for Grabby, but mostly he was left to run wild amonsgt the ladies of the night and the town at large. He didn’t even come with a name, but soon enough Mimsey’s ladies started calling him ‘Grabby’… for reasons I’ll leave you to imagine for yourselves.

Now Grabby became quite good at general thievery and shennanegains. His small size served him well for sneaking and stealing about. In fact, as the other street urchin children grew, Grabby did not. It seemed that only his feet grew! The other boys started growing hair on their faces. Grabby could only grow hair on his... feet. He was teased and tormented. Weird little Grabby McSnagems.

Eventually Grabby understood that he was not a regular boy. In fact, he might not even be a human boy at all! One day, a patron at the brothel yelled out to Grabby, “Yer a Halfling, yeh DOLT!” Armed with this startleing revalation, at the age of sixteen and a half Grabby resolved to forge out on his own to find where he was born, and find his real mother and father.

Grabby stowed away in a barrel of cheap wine on the merchant ship ‘Offlecast’. It may have been going in the wrong direction (it was), but he didn’t care. He was soon found out, but the sailors took a shine to him. He would sing and he would dance, and he came with an uncanny ability to eat almost anything. He was easy to keep. The sailors taught Grabby to fight. And Grabby honed his thievery in each port town they landed in.

Eventually the ship docked on Leeds Island and Grabby decided to part ways with the Offlecast to continue his search for halflings and his true home.

Ander Waer: Wood Elf Ranger

Hailing from the elven kingdom of Loreth-Ilan, Ander was a scout and ranger for the elf-lords of his kingdom, patrolling the wilds of the borders between Aradan and Erredor. There he honed his skills in archery and survival, combating goblins from the White Vale Mountains and occasionally brazen packs of gnolls from the Black Spine Clan traveling too far north.

Usually operating in small bands of two or three scouts, Ander preferred a more solitary life in the wild, free from the rule of the lords of Loreth-Ilan. One night, while on a solitary patrol, he made the decision to simply walk away and start the life of a solitary ranger in the wilds of the world, being bound to no one, deity or lord.

He set out north, through Nokshire Forest and eventually came to Larncaster to resupply. While in the Boar's Head Tavern, Ander met a merchant claiming to have fine long bow of elven craft, which he claimed was used during the War of the Fiend. Fortunately, the merchant, Klaus Reimhald, would only sell the bow to a "son or daughter of Corellon." The two made arrangements to meet at his shop later in the evening to conduct the transaction.

When he arrived at the merchant's shop, he was greeted by five thugs—Klaus's henchman. Thinking him to be a mere wandering elf with not much sense, the thugs attacked him, but were eventually dispatched after a brief melee in the shop. Once the five lay dead at his feet, Ander found the bow, only to discover it was an obvious forgery. He grabbed some supplies for his troubles, and quickly left Larncaster, heading west.

Klaus immediately put a bounty on his head, and after thee day's journey, a bounty hunter by the name of Flint Osterwald accompanied by three of the city's watch found him. Once Ander realized the four men were uninterested in his side of the events and only wanted to collect their bounty, Ander managed to escape by wounding them with a few well placed arrows.

Being a wanted elf in the area, he headed west to Dunshire to take a ship to Leeds Island, far from the grasp of the local authorities and bounty hunters. There he could he could simply live off the land in peace and find occasional work as a tracker or game warden to the nobles.

Broak Mountainback: Mountain Dwarf Fighter

A captain in the army of the dwarven city of Kerak-Runn, Broak was a well respected leader among his brothers-in-arms.

Broak led a small patrol deep under the Orespire Mountains, hoping to find a nest of troglodytes that had been raiding mining encampments in the area. What Broak and the other dwrves did not know, that the trogs were the thralls of a powerful beholder deep in the bowels of the mountains.

When his war party discovered an ancient subterranean city where the troglodytes were encamped, they launched an attack that quickly destroyed the stinking creatures. When the dust had settled, the beholder Arammorkul made his presence known and attacked the dwarves with a terrible ferocity. During the battle, Broak was rendered paralyzed by the beholder's magic, and lay on the ground helpless as he watched his allies being torn limb from limb, obliterated by magic, and their bodies dashed across the great stone walls of the city.

When Broak shook the spell's effects off, there were just a handful of dwarven soldiers left, but he bravely charged at Arammorkul as he watched the last of his allies fall, leaving only him and his lover, Dain Balderk—who had just joined the military days earlier—left alive. Moments later Broak was charmed by the magic of one of the beholder's eyes, and he was forced to turn on Dain. Broak slammed his warhammer down on Dain, knocking him to the ground. As Dain was stunned, Broak stood over him and let his hammer fall, crushing Dain's head.

When the charm had dissipated, Broak found himself standing over Dain's lifeless form, holding the hammer covered in his lover's blood. The beholder simply floated away, leaving Broak to his misery and shame.

When Broak eventually made his way back to Kerak-Runn weeks later, he was a broken, shell of a dwarf. He took drinking and fighting amongst the other dwarves in his company, and was quickly relieved of duty. Withdrawing further from society he began drinking even more and became a public nuisance. He was eventually exiled from Kerak-Runn in shame, and left his mountain home for the first time.

He eventually made his way to Leedshire where he began to clean himself up, and hire himself out as a mercenary and guard for local nobles and guilders.

Audrey (Whyndan) Southborn: Human Barbarian

Audrey Whyndan is a firstborn noble daughter of the Lord Gray Whyndan, a minor nobleman of Erredor. She was born and raised to assume his lands and titles once she came of age, tutored in the finer points of being a Lady and noble politics, none of which actually interested her. A troublemaker from the time she could crawl, as she grew she became more unruly preferring the company of her Lord Father’s men at arms and the feel of the sword rather than the pen. The more her father tried to control her the more she rebelled (as such things go with parents and children) until her father could bear it no more. Stripping her of her name and claim to his lands, he cast her out at the age of 14 and told the kingdom she had died of unnatural causes, granting her rightful inheritance to her younger sister Deanna.

Audrey made her way North for many weeks, and stole passage to Norgoth in a crate of supplies being loaded into a baggage caravan. Escaping out in the wilderness of Norgoth she managed to keep herself alive for weeks before being descended upon by a hunting pack of gnolls in Gnoll Blight. Despite managing to kill two of the creatures in her weakened state, she was seriously wounded but continued to fight on. Just when all hope seemed lost, a hunting party of Norgothcan hunters came across the fight, and quickly dispatched the gnolls.

She told the men of her origin and her intent to raise an army to storm south to retake her lands and condemn her father to a fate worse than he had hoped for her. Whether it was the promise of riches or the ferocity of her hatred of her father that convinced them, she still isn’t sure, but the clansmen took her in and raised her as their own.

She was taken in by the family of Bromm Hordecrusher, who already had two sons, Uln and Dron which she now considers her new family. Because of her heritage, Audrey was given the surname Southborn. She continued to train in warfare in her new home of Hosfell.

Never truly feeling like Norgoth was her home, she set out on her own to gain worldly experience, leaving for Krowhaven, and eventually ending up on Leeds Island.

 

Boots McGee: High Elf Warlock

Not much is known about the flute playing, colourfully dressed Boots McGee. All that his allies know is that he is a high elf who left Elrin-Ilan under circumstances he wishes not to discuss, and that he seems to have traveled across much of Erredor—from the Lich Kingdoms in the east, to Kings’ Bay in the west. They don’t even know his true elvish name, only that he studies ancient documents and maps whenever he can.

The World

This is the map to the campaign world. I'd like to also post the history and house rules, but blogger doesn't seem to make that a readily available feature (or at least it's not a very obvious/intuitive feature).

Soon I'll be posting the cast of characters and the first adventure...

Welcome

This will be an online journal for the D&D (5e) campaign that I run on Sunday nights. It's primary use is for the players in the campaign to keep track of what's happened, and for anyone else who might be interested.