Day of The Dragon King

4.Villainous pair of outlaws looking to escape persecution. but not rogues we already have a rogue. think that sounds the most appetizing to my(our) pallets

The Brothers Brine

Three years ago to the day.  That's how long ago Lambert, Linus and Lincoln took on Gallows' big job.  That's how long ago that the Brine brothers held riches beyond their wildest dreams in the palm of their hands and how long its been since their fall from grace.  They had been the top team within The Gallows Boys: Lambert The Headsman, Linus The Judge, and Lincoln the Jury.  They once called the Brine Brothers The Foul Court, now they call them traitors and murderers.  Three years ago they'd stolen The Wyrm's Leash.

They claimed that The Wyrm's Leash held the power to subjugate any dragon of any color, the ultimate equalizer between the mighty Dragonkind and the lesser races.  Legend said that the Last Dragon Emperor gave the item to the king of Nirmi for safekeeping in exchange for the king's promise that he would never use it.  Legend says that the royals of Nirmi held the artifact for four centuries and prospered greatly.  It was during the rise of The Dragon King that Nirmi fell to a horrible pestilence that left the kingdom uninhabitable and its riches open to any fool willing to risk The Blighted Lands.

When Gallows gave the task to The Foul Court it was The Judge that risked the guild leader's wrath by refusing.  The Judge knew that a trip into The Blighted Lands was too dangerous for his family and was not willing to risk them on an expedition that could fail.  The argument that ensued was one that would live on as legend among The Gallows Boys.  Just when it seemed that Gallows would have the Brine brothers head's an underling shared some valuable news.  It seemed that a fence turned away a stranger attempted to sell the fabled item.  Gallows gave an order and The Foul Court obeyed.  They fell upon Filth Acres like a black wind searching for any sign of the stranger.  Sought after as such there was no way for him to hide but he was not alone.  He was accompanied by four mighty warriors in rusted but functional platemail.

"Old man, for the sake of your little girlfriends here you should hand over all ya goods" ordered Lambert.  The Headsman, was rearing for a fight but hated spilling blood without a drink in his belly.

"Fuck off, you vagrants.  You have no idea who you're talking too."  declared one of the warriors, clearly not a woman and agree at being called such.

"Fuck off?" The Headsman looked to his brothers.  "We'd better get drinks after this."  He smiled and drew his greatsword.  Two of the guards were dead within the minute, one to Lambert and the other to Judge and Jury.  The old man called the armistice.  He removed his hood and revealed a worn yet regal face.  One eyes was blind but the other burned with a noble dignity.

"I am Feros Hosterling of Nirmi. I do not wish any more bloodshed but what I carry can not be handed over." said the once king of Nirmi.

"If you do not wish to die, hand it over... your highness." suggested The Jury.

"You leave me no choice."  The king drew his longsword and locked blades with Lambert.  

None of The Foul Court will recount the events that followed but neither Feros Hosterling nor The Wyrm's Leash were ever brought to Gallows, only a severely wounded Brothers Brine and nearly three dozen city guard.  This was not what Gallows expected but he dealt with it in style.  He offered the guards nearly six times their wages to deal with the brothers and retired for the night.  This could have been the end of the story and for The Headsman it is but Judge and Jury were destined for darker diatribes.

The city of Filth Acres was up in arms 36 guards dead and almost twice as many common citizens.  Not many knew that the dead were almost all members of the former Gallows Boys but those that did feared for their lives.  The Foul Court had turned on their former allies and embarked on a series of murders and assassinations the likes of which very few had seen.  Gallows had fled the region by the time night set on the third day of their rampage, and The Brothers Brine were hot on his trail.  one hundred and fourteen bodies were attributed to their massacre though most believe that only half was their work and the rest was the city guard putting an end to the dastardly guild.  Lincoln and Linus buried their brother in an unmarked grave and vowed to return to him for a proper ritual once they had Gallows head.

Bloody, tired and burning for vengeance they search for the man that betrayed them while avoiding bounty hunters that seek to make them pay for the Butchering of Filth Acres.  The bards wonder if they'll every be caught... who's to judge, the jury is still out.

Ms. Dragon Lady can i create my own deity?

Yes rottenapples, of course!

To the dynamic duo: first I will try to answer ur questions above Lem and then I'm a little while ill put my backstory reactions/questions/comments ok? I read it I just need a little bit to pick through it and get my facts straight!!! You've got quite the imagination, as i recalled u did. I especially enjoyed ur ending

So now ill finally attempt to address ur questions:
1) gold pieces are most common I guess,
2) 3 most common races: human, elf, and I'm a bit confused on the third one. Depending where you are it is either dragons, or where we are going in the storyline it will be orcs. Dragons and dragon kin, or anyone who supports (jewelry etc) dragons are not taken kindly to in most of the poorer towns but this is common knowledge so dragons hide and dragon supporters general try to hide their feeling towards the race...
3) 1- dragon king's secession, and poverty of nearby towns getting worse if u count those as two things. A third might be, the general movement of dragon folk towards the outskirts and into hiding so that they will be less maltreated. There haven't been any all-out wars because no one has been able to face the real enemy...
4) magic is very common
5) religion in general is a popular pastime more than an actual following. Those persons who actually pray and take time out of their day to worship the (mostly good and neutral) big names such as fharlhagahn (sp?) are thought to be quite devout, even when they aren't lol. The god of sun, god of valor, some of the main positive gods are known well of, and some ppl claim to be their followers. In orctown, elf forest, tradersville, halfling caves, etc... There are more gods prevalent based on the races especially of the ppl in those towns... That make sense?
6) adventurer types who travel to help causes or for fame have not been a thing, especially in the area u will be going during the campaign. You guys will be among the first there and you were almost tricked into going there...

Hope this helped...

Ps u guys can be tieflings or w/e and don't worry about being stuck at lvl 2, I'm going to give a lot of role playing xp out so by the time we get to the dungeon most likely u will be lvl 3!

I put a "what happened last week" topic up.

If you missed "Day of the Dragon King" and you're curious what went on, check it out.

Also for those that were there, I can't thank you enough for making my trip so worthwhile and please feel free to comment on the other post what you enjoyed and thought about our session, yesterday.

I am thinking of starting a local campaign (local to me) and any DMing advice would be helpful but I'm sure this is mostly a matter of practice makes perfect (or a little smoother at least).

Peace!
-Em

Prep alot and be ready to throw it all out the window as soon as a player opens thier pie hole.

deathmvp wrote:Prep alot and be ready to throw it all out the window as soon as a player opens thier pie hole.

I agree with DeathMVP because for me that is the most time consuming task, planning the contingencies. I have learned that most encounters and scenarios will never stand up to their first engagement with the enemy(pronounced Player Characters). I plan a story and I let the players tell me how it happens. I write the beginning and the end, the rest is up in the air.