SESSION ZERO – Character Creation & Introduction
Zedd : Human Sorcerer | Nigel : Gnome Bard | Malius : Half Orc Barbarian
It is evening when Zedd, a human, enters Westgate in Faerun. It is long past diner time and his stomach reminds him that he skipped that meal. His feet tired, he heads for the city center where most inns are located. He chooses one randomly and pulls on the metal ring to open the front door. Once inside, he looks around and finds a place to rest quite easily since half the tables aren’t occupied. Once sitting, a woman passes by and tells him she’ll be with him in just a moment. Zedd stretches and looks around the room at the other patrons. At the bar, a gnome is attempting to the bartender and judging by her reaction, Zedd cannot determine whether the gnome is successful or not. In the corner near the stairs, a large half-orc is sitting alone, drinking from a large pint quietly. After making arrangements to stay the night and eating his meal, Zedd leans back in his chair and pulls a smoking pipe from his pocket. He snaps his fingers over the pipe and the weeds within turn glowing red. Taking a long drag, he exhales a puff of smoke and relaxes while watching the streets through the window by his chair. Outside, a man is walking down the street and behind him; two shady looking individuals limp towards the man. Zedd chokes on the pipe smoke when he sees what happens next. The first shady looking character jumps on the man walking and the other… bites him.
Zedd stands up abruptly and lets out a shout but at the same time, the inn door bursts open and in comes half a dozen undead humanoids. One jumps on a table but is promptly knocked back violently by a chair. Zedd turns to see the half-orc and for a moment, he swore he could see that the creature was part angry and part enjoying the interruption. Another undead creature jumps at the bar but the gnome quick on his feet, rolls backward and draws a sword. Before the hostile creature could react, the gnome brought his sword down decapitating it in one swooping motion. Still, through the door, undead poured into the inn. Focusing his vision on his target, Zedd felt the energy focus on his chest and travel through is body to his hand before releasing his spell. A wave of heat travels the room as a flame hits the undead within the doorway. It hit three different targets, which in turn topple onto a table with an oil lamp. Fire spread rapidly but the results were effective, slowing the undead from coming within the inn. “OVER HERE” the voice was rash and authoritative. Zedd turns around the see the half-orc in the stairway holding a table over his head. Zedd rushes past the orc and up the stairs to find the gnome already waiting. They heard the sound of crashing wood and assumed the half-orc blocked the stairwell with the table. Soon after, the trio was standing on the second floor of the inn catching their breath.
“What WAS that?” Began Zedd
“I know what that was, I want to know WHY they’re here?” answered the gnome
“Don’t care. I want to know what to do next!” answered the half-orc. As if in response to his own statement, the large creature rips open one of the windows on the second floor. “On the roof.” He commands to the others. They all climb on the window ledge and up onto the roof. The view was staggering; none had words for what they saw. Undead everywhere, and it was a massacre. The city was overrun.
“We cannot fight this.” The orc states casually.
“YA THINK!” answers the gnome. “Thing is, we cant stay on the roof forever.”
“That’s it!” Zedd continues. “The roof is where we need to be. See, where I’m pointing? We can jump from roof to roof to the docks and make our escape.”
The gnome looks over the edge of the roof. “It’s a long fall buddy, but it’s that or back where we came from.”
The orc jumped first and flawlessly, then the gnome followed with practised ease. Zedd, was not an acrobat, and come his turn he began to be nervous. “ok buddy,” he whispered to himself. “Just run and jump.” With a wavering confidence, Zedd sprinted across the roof. A step before the jump, the tile beneath his feet shifted and threw off the human in his stride. Too late to stop, Zedd jumps but well very early on that he wouldn’t make it. He hit the ledge of the opposing building with his stomach. The wind knocked out of him, he fell backwards to his death if it wasn’t for the half-orc grabbing him at the last moment. After shaking off the shock, they began anew and jumped to six other rooftops before they reached a dead end. The opposing building was too far for anyone without wings to make it. They studied the ground area and found it much less populated with undead, they were behind enemy lines and it seemed concentrated towards the city center. Judging it safe enough, the trio climbed down and began making their way through alleyways. They encountered many stray undead which was defeated with ease until the half-orc stopped dead in his tracks. They were at the docks. They were no longer under the cover of building and alleyways. This wasn’t the worse part, the half-orc pointed to his left and the other two followed his motion and froze.
An undead beholder was patrolling the docks.
“We are NOT fighting this.. thing.” Whispered the concerned gnome. Disappointed, the half-orc added “Then we must get past it. On the boat?” The other two nodded and they made a plan. They waited until the beholder would patrol the other side of the docks before sneaking across the open area to one of the ships. The first to go was the gnome, without a sound he ran under tables and over carts and then dived over a market stall filled with fish and under the tent behind it. Second was the half-orc, without a noise he made it across the docks and with confidence hopped over the same stall. In his confidence, he used the stall to prop himself over and misjudged his weight versus the solidity of the wooden table. It creaked and cracked and crumbled under his weight, sending him crashing into the tent along with four dozen of freshly caught cod fish. Rapidly, the two rolled up and jumped aboard a ship but the damage was done. The beholder heard the commotion and came to investigate. Quiet as a mouse, all three characters waited and hoped but the more time it took, the more risk they ran. Taking a chance, the half-orc grabbed a wooden pulley and while the beholder focused on searching the tent, he chucked it as hard as he could. The pulley arced up and crashed further down the docks, instantly attracting the undead beholder over to this new distraction. Leaving stealth behind, Zedd bolted across the docks and jumped aboard the ship. The trio then approached the opposing side of the ship and lowered a barge into the water. From there, they began rowing away from the shore in the hope of reaching the opposite side of the lake. They watched the city fall to the undead as it grew smaller in the distance. Zedd was the first to break the silence. “Zedd.. my name, it’ Zedd.”
“Nigel” the gnome answered solemnly.
“My name is Malius.” Said the half-orc. “Why is your bag moving?”
The other two looked at each other in confusion but Zedd’s expression suddenly changed. “Your bag, Nigel.. it is moving.”
In panic, Nigel threw his bag on the bottom of the barge and out came a hand. An old, dry hand that moved about like a spider. The barged rocked back and forth as the three tried to stab it until Malius slapped it out of the barge high and far into the water. They kept rowing in silence after that until they reached the opposing shore. A river flowed inland and they hid the barge under the foliage of the forest. Looking at the moon, the group determined that they were only few hours away from sunrise but they also noticed another object in the sky like a second moon but much smaller. None had answers for this phenomenon, so they decided to follow the river upstream until they reached a road or village.
After an hour into the forest, Malius stopped the party and signalled them to be quiet. They quickly hid and just in time to avoid a patrol of hobgoblins with hounds. After they were gone, Nigel dared to speak to the others. “Hobgoblins.. this far south? What is going on?” No one answered, they knew not but Malius urged them to keep moving saying he didn’t feel like having to ask them in person. A few hours later they reached a road just as the sun was beginning to rise. Exhausted, the party crossed the road and when into the forest opposite to the road. Walked about 100 feet in and took out their bedrolls. They would sleep throughout the day and set out again at night under the cover of darkness. They decided to stick together for the time being. Pulling out a map, Nigel suggested they should try to head for Marsember and bring the news to the authorities there, all agreed. After deciding a watch order, they rested until the sun set again.
SESSION ZERO.FIVE – Character Creation & Introduction
Giepetto : Halfling Rogue | Shaudd : Half Orc Fighter
ROLE & ROLL 