Dave One Shot, Buffalo Group
World Preview: The year is 3096 on a planet known as Tanaris. The old school folk called it Tanaheim, but that was before the last Shatter Fall Event changed everything. On this planet there is an event that occurs every thousand years or so. In the night sky you see two moons. One is a gray moon of inert rock that always appears about the same size in the sky. The other moon appears pinkish purple, but moves slowly closer or farther away in the night sky depending on it's place on it's elliptical orbit. Currently it is moving away from the planet becoming smaller and smaller in the night sky every year. This pinkish-purple moon that is currently in retreat interacts with the world's atmosphere about every 1,000 years. Your characters are well aware of this event since it is the stuff of legend. You also know that the last Shatter Fall Event happened just about 80 years ago. The Shattering happens when the pink/purple moon's orbit intersects with the Tanaris' atmosphere. The surface of the Shatter moon heats up and explodes with a magical crystalline substance that rains down. The heat of the atmosphere makes the crystal surface of the Shatter moon glow and pop. "Moon Crystal" then explodes across the land below it. It's a beautiful, yet dangerous event since these shards fire down like bullets from the sky and appear like pink and purple fireworks. People risk their lives to watch it since it is so rare. This crystal mineral from the moon seems to be infused with the magic of the Weave itself. Of course this means that shatter rock is finite until the next "Shatter Fall Event" which could be another 1,000 years. This fact of course, also means it's a very valuable resource that many think is granted to us by the Gods.
Cormac the Cleric was raised in the Copper Precinct. He has always known prosperity. The Copper Precinct is a city of innovation, and cultural blending. It was near the last Shatter Fall, and they had great luck mining this magical resource. The world's first skyscraper was built here, and the city is presided over by an actual Solar (A type of angel). Her name is The Aarindghast. She has dark bronze skin, gold bands circle her arms, white eyes, and huge silver-white wings. She is approachable, and happy to listen to all the issues of the citizens of her city. Her voice calms emotions instantly, and makes people tell the truth, which has the effect of resolving issues peacefully most of the time. She was told that the people here are her protectorate and the God that sent her gave her little instructions besides "protect".
JON: Cormac is an ever vigilant Paladin of Penthos. After years of training, he and a small group of clerics/paladins were sent as emissaries from the Copper Precinct to try to spread the good word in the Heights. The Heights is a town built into a cliffside of an Island in the middle of the ocean. The buildings on the outskirts of this vertical cliff-face hewn city float on the ocean. There are bars, tailors, even a blacksmith in these floating pavilions. It is also known as a place run by criminals and pirates. On Cormac's way to the heights his boat was attacked. After a cannon ball duel with a hostile boat, his boat sank. As the only survivor, Cormac spent the next few days floating on the ocean clinging to some planks of wood. He awoke to a healing tune that filled the air around him with unfamiliar healing magic. He looked up to see a female pirate playing a small a lute. A Tiefling woman named Lilith smiled down as she kicked a rope ladder off the stern. It unfurls and splashes into the ocean before him.
MONICA: Lilith grew up in the port city called the Shards. It's a rough city of exploitative industry, trade, and travelers from far and wide. As she grew up she understood that it was getting more and more dangerous. At a relatively young age she got a bartending job. During the course of this job she knew the difference between riff raff, and dangerous criminals. She also realized that her best option to get out of town was to volunteer on a navy trading vessel, or become a pirate. Going north was not an option, the roads through the forests were treacherous and full of bandits. The ocean just seemed... safer. The choice was easy, she thought "Well, of course, might as well be a pirate". She snuck into a crate of booze being hauled onto a well known pirate ship called "The Refuge" and waited for the ship to set sail. A few days into this journey she was starving and drunk, and spilled out of the crate begging for water. The captain of the ship, an Air Genasi woman known as "The Brine Wind" laughed, and took pity on the stow away allowing her to roam free on the ship as long as she spent at least 4 hours a day helping the crew. While sitting around on the pirate ship for months and learning every aspect of sailing at sea, she stumbled upon a trove of stolen books below decks. These books were stolen from a wizard's library and had many spells in them. With study and meditation and listening to a chorus of ocean waves everyday, Lilith soon became attuned to the wavelength of the Weave, The magical radio wave transmitting from the cosmos. She became so good at weaving her magic around people's minds and charming normal folk that she eventually cheated a different captain out of his ship over a game of 3's. The Brine Wind was proud, yet sad to see Lilith take off on her own. Lilith quickly assembled a crew at the Heights, and on her first trip alone as the captain of a ship she found a floating cleric in the Wyvern Sea. He owed his life, yet he was supposed to go to the Heights. He decided the debt needed to be repaid before he could go on as a missionary of Penthos. Also, Lilith knew she just charmed someone out of an entire ship, so she help convince Cormac to put that task on hold. He obliged, assuming he could do good works as the ship's cleric, and help steer the crew to righteous behavior.
ASHISH AND SARAH: Boshish: Originally from The Iron Precinct you grew up with no mother, but your father was a very successful rogue. At a young age, with no baby sitter or anyone that could watch you, your father brought you everywhere. Robbing a bank? He had you strapped to his back, meeting at a thieves guild? He had you quietly tucked under a cloak. From infancy you knew the importance of stealth and silence. You two became a team. Working together on scams and heists. Until one day, you snuck ahead of him in a dungeon that he failed to give you all the details about, and you unlocked a door that should not have been unlocked. You thought you'd make him proud. You thought you were doing what he would have done. But he saw you just a moment too late and leapt to stop you. As the door opened a lich walked out. The last thing you remember is him yelling for you to run as a dark cloud of negative energy surrounded him and dissolved him into a pile of ash. The Lich smiled at you as if to thank you for your error when a Drow woman grabbed your shoulder and teleported you both away. Suddenly the sun was bright in the sky, and the vast ocean was 50 feet below you. The Drow woman and you both plummeted to the sea. She explained that she is a sorcerer or sorts and she hunts lich's. As you two float in the salty sea she explains: "I was turned to ash once, long ago. I don't know how I got back to my body, but ever since I've been hunting lich's to learn how they work, and how to kill them. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I rushed a teleport spell, which obviously backfired". Boshish feels confused, but more than that the sadness of losing his father and adventuring buddy washes over him like the salty waves of the ocean stinging this fresh wound. Just then you guys see a ship on the horizon. A Tiefling woman barks orders and a ladder is dropped for you to grab. Climbing aboard you see a crew of pirates, the Tiefling whose words soothe you, and a cleric of Penthos that tends to wounds as well. You both think about how an unlucky drop lead to this kind of lucky situation.
TIM: Tim's Air Genasi Rogue (Valkier Sten) is the brother of the Brine Wind. He grew up sneaking around cities with her, and wandering the long passes between, robbing coaches and carriages. One day they found a large treasure in the basement of a wizards house. While pillaging it, stealing gold, spell books, and potions, the wizard came home. They tried to make a quick escape but the wizard's magic banished him to another realm. He didn't know what happened to his sister (She escaped and became the Brine Wind, those books they stole are the very same that Lilith learned her magic from). Being a Genasi, he was banished to the air elemental realm. Left to wander the winds, it took him years to return to Tanaris. When he did he tried to track his sister by using a "Locate Object" spell scroll, and focused it on the wizard's spell books. This lead him to Lilith and her pirate ship. With all this said Lilith didn't know the location of Valkier's sister, but she offered him a place on her ship until she would be found.
Yeah Brine Wind is your air Genasi sister, real name is Vadra. You can come up with how you got back if you want? When Monica's character explained that your sister is the one that took her in, she also explained that Vadra and her crew/ship disappeared in the Wyvern sea over a year ago. As far as you know Vadra is gone. This crew is your family now. But you always hope that some day tooling around the ocean, you'll find her. Years go by and the group becomes a close knit adventuring party. Great at espionage and tasks given by the Silent Hands Thieves organization, they become a group of pirates to be feared and admired. They are known as a group that can get things done.
Cormac the Cleric was raised in the Copper Precinct. He has always known prosperity. The Copper Precinct is a city of innovation, and cultural blending. It was near the last Shatter Fall, and they had great luck mining this magical resource. The world's first skyscraper was built here, and the city is presided over by an actual Solar (A type of angel). Her name is The Aarindghast. She has dark bronze skin, gold bands circle her arms, white eyes, and huge silver-white wings. She is approachable, and happy to listen to all the issues of the citizens of her city. Her voice calms emotions instantly, and makes people tell the truth, which has the effect of resolving issues peacefully most of the time. She was told that the people here are her protectorate and the God that sent her gave her little instructions besides "protect".
JON: Cormac is an ever vigilant Paladin of Penthos. After years of training, he and a small group of clerics/paladins were sent as emissaries from the Copper Precinct to try to spread the good word in the Heights. The Heights is a town built into a cliffside of an Island in the middle of the ocean. The buildings on the outskirts of this vertical cliff-face hewn city float on the ocean. There are bars, tailors, even a blacksmith in these floating pavilions. It is also known as a place run by criminals and pirates. On Cormac's way to the heights his boat was attacked. After a cannon ball duel with a hostile boat, his boat sank. As the only survivor, Cormac spent the next few days floating on the ocean clinging to some planks of wood. He awoke to a healing tune that filled the air around him with unfamiliar healing magic. He looked up to see a female pirate playing a small a lute. A Tiefling woman named Lilith smiled down as she kicked a rope ladder off the stern. It unfurls and splashes into the ocean before him.
MONICA: Lilith grew up in the port city called the Shards. It's a rough city of exploitative industry, trade, and travelers from far and wide. As she grew up she understood that it was getting more and more dangerous. At a relatively young age she got a bartending job. During the course of this job she knew the difference between riff raff, and dangerous criminals. She also realized that her best option to get out of town was to volunteer on a navy trading vessel, or become a pirate. Going north was not an option, the roads through the forests were treacherous and full of bandits. The ocean just seemed... safer. The choice was easy, she thought "Well, of course, might as well be a pirate". She snuck into a crate of booze being hauled onto a well known pirate ship called "The Refuge" and waited for the ship to set sail. A few days into this journey she was starving and drunk, and spilled out of the crate begging for water. The captain of the ship, an Air Genasi woman known as "The Brine Wind" laughed, and took pity on the stow away allowing her to roam free on the ship as long as she spent at least 4 hours a day helping the crew. While sitting around on the pirate ship for months and learning every aspect of sailing at sea, she stumbled upon a trove of stolen books below decks. These books were stolen from a wizard's library and had many spells in them. With study and meditation and listening to a chorus of ocean waves everyday, Lilith soon became attuned to the wavelength of the Weave, The magical radio wave transmitting from the cosmos. She became so good at weaving her magic around people's minds and charming normal folk that she eventually cheated a different captain out of his ship over a game of 3's. The Brine Wind was proud, yet sad to see Lilith take off on her own. Lilith quickly assembled a crew at the Heights, and on her first trip alone as the captain of a ship she found a floating cleric in the Wyvern Sea. He owed his life, yet he was supposed to go to the Heights. He decided the debt needed to be repaid before he could go on as a missionary of Penthos. Also, Lilith knew she just charmed someone out of an entire ship, so she help convince Cormac to put that task on hold. He obliged, assuming he could do good works as the ship's cleric, and help steer the crew to righteous behavior.
ASHISH AND SARAH: Boshish: Originally from The Iron Precinct you grew up with no mother, but your father was a very successful rogue. At a young age, with no baby sitter or anyone that could watch you, your father brought you everywhere. Robbing a bank? He had you strapped to his back, meeting at a thieves guild? He had you quietly tucked under a cloak. From infancy you knew the importance of stealth and silence. You two became a team. Working together on scams and heists. Until one day, you snuck ahead of him in a dungeon that he failed to give you all the details about, and you unlocked a door that should not have been unlocked. You thought you'd make him proud. You thought you were doing what he would have done. But he saw you just a moment too late and leapt to stop you. As the door opened a lich walked out. The last thing you remember is him yelling for you to run as a dark cloud of negative energy surrounded him and dissolved him into a pile of ash. The Lich smiled at you as if to thank you for your error when a Drow woman grabbed your shoulder and teleported you both away. Suddenly the sun was bright in the sky, and the vast ocean was 50 feet below you. The Drow woman and you both plummeted to the sea. She explained that she is a sorcerer or sorts and she hunts lich's. As you two float in the salty sea she explains: "I was turned to ash once, long ago. I don't know how I got back to my body, but ever since I've been hunting lich's to learn how they work, and how to kill them. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I rushed a teleport spell, which obviously backfired". Boshish feels confused, but more than that the sadness of losing his father and adventuring buddy washes over him like the salty waves of the ocean stinging this fresh wound. Just then you guys see a ship on the horizon. A Tiefling woman barks orders and a ladder is dropped for you to grab. Climbing aboard you see a crew of pirates, the Tiefling whose words soothe you, and a cleric of Penthos that tends to wounds as well. You both think about how an unlucky drop lead to this kind of lucky situation.
TIM: Tim's Air Genasi Rogue (Valkier Sten) is the brother of the Brine Wind. He grew up sneaking around cities with her, and wandering the long passes between, robbing coaches and carriages. One day they found a large treasure in the basement of a wizards house. While pillaging it, stealing gold, spell books, and potions, the wizard came home. They tried to make a quick escape but the wizard's magic banished him to another realm. He didn't know what happened to his sister (She escaped and became the Brine Wind, those books they stole are the very same that Lilith learned her magic from). Being a Genasi, he was banished to the air elemental realm. Left to wander the winds, it took him years to return to Tanaris. When he did he tried to track his sister by using a "Locate Object" spell scroll, and focused it on the wizard's spell books. This lead him to Lilith and her pirate ship. With all this said Lilith didn't know the location of Valkier's sister, but she offered him a place on her ship until she would be found.
Yeah Brine Wind is your air Genasi sister, real name is Vadra. You can come up with how you got back if you want? When Monica's character explained that your sister is the one that took her in, she also explained that Vadra and her crew/ship disappeared in the Wyvern sea over a year ago. As far as you know Vadra is gone. This crew is your family now. But you always hope that some day tooling around the ocean, you'll find her. Years go by and the group becomes a close knit adventuring party. Great at espionage and tasks given by the Silent Hands Thieves organization, they become a group of pirates to be feared and admired. They are known as a group that can get things done.
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