In Fires Deep - Session 0 & 1
Character Creation
Following the principles from Mindstorm's Person-Shaped Hole, we started with the death of the dwarven runepriest Haldor Khadanson, a well-known adventurer and heir to the lost thanedom of Graz Khadan, long since buried beneath the Darkmount and occupied by the sleeping dragon Baletrax the Bilesome.
I gave my players a list of backgrounds to choose from, each with a question relating to their relationship to Haldor Khadanson, a choice of companion, and a choice of two-from-six special items or areas of expertise. We ended up with the following characters:
- Gadius the Green, a human wizard of some repute, knowing much of alchemy, history, and enchantment. A friend of Haldor, having sworn to help his son reclaim the lost Stormcarver axe from Graz Khadan. He is joined by his young bepimpled prentice Ezor.
- Ynod, a dwarven scout, equally at home in nature above the earth and beneath it. He is Haldor's son, but had never met him - having spent his years living amongst the exiled dwarf clans of the Riverlands. He is served loyally by a friendly truffle-pig, Bacon, who has a nose for danger.
- Grog the Not-Tainted, an orcish exile who speaks the secret language of beasts. Haldor saved him from death at the hands of the Moonscar Clan when he refused to swear the Black Oath to their demon gods. His wolf companion, Cruncher, would follow him anywhere - even into the spirit realm.
The Opening
We opened in the taproom of the Bulging Bloom, the tavern at the heart of Caboni Village, celebrating Haldor's wake. This gave our characters the chance to define their relationship with Haldor, to learn about Haldor's other friends in the village, and to commit to the plan to conquer Darkmount and reclaim the Stormcarver. We learned that the door to Graz Khadan would only open as the sun set on the summer solstice - two days hence.
Romano - the innkeeper of the Bulging Bloom - had a letter from Haldor for Ynod, who had brooded gloomily in the corner, full of resentment for his father. The letter was a message of love from his father, but also asked him to free the hold of Graz Khadan from the rulership of the black dragon Baletrax the Bilesome. It also said that Ynod should tell Haldor’s brother that Haldor is sorry if he ever meets him again. This served to reinforce the quest, and open a thread (Haldor's brother, and the feud between them) that we could draw upon in future.
Darkmount itself lay only a few hexes from Caboni Village. The characters hiked their way to a watermill marked on the map, and befriended the millkeeper - a beardless dwarf named Jurgen who forsook his people and took a human wife long ago. Seeking to acquire a means to travel swiftly upriver, and seeing them struggle to bring in the harvest, Gadius made a deal: he enchanted their cart to help carry grain to the mill in exchange for the use of the boat. This was the first time we used the enchantment rules from Rise Up Comus - and it worked perfectly; using up the herbal reagents felt like the wizard was paying a real cost to win over the millkeeper.
The Showdown Beneath Darkmount
The millkeeper's boat let them swiftly travel overnight to the foot of the Darkmount - giving them the chance to camp out beneath the door into Graz Khadan and gather herbs for Gadius's spellbag. I rolled a random encounter from my previously-prepared table - and along came Weslax the White, a scholarly wizard and rival of Gadius who specialised in tome magic.
As a master of tome-lore, Weslax sought to bind and entome (spelling intended) the runic spell that held shut the doors of Graz Khadan. The time to do so was the moment that it was at its weakest - as the sun fell on the summer solstice - but Gadius had no intention of letting Weslax steal the magic of the dwarves. After a brief exchange of words and insults, the two wizards stood across from each other beneath the noon-day sun, each beginning to grip their staff tightly.
The world held its breath to see if the wizards would clash.
But it was Ynod who levelled his crossbow at Weslax's back and ended the standoff. The white wizard may have fancied his odds against Gadius alone - but backed up by an orcish warrior and a heavily-armed dwarf? Weslax chose the better part of valor and fled, leaving our party on the precipice of entering Darkmount and their quest to retrieve the Stormcarver.