Handout

Setting

Ethurun is a continent on the plane of Lindel. It is the main landmass, although there are the islands of Ihir to the north and Shallorin to the south. The year is 792 King's Era, 792 years after King Oren united the Westlands under one banner. Since then, the Westlands has seen much history and conflict, but the Crown remains as the central authority. To the east lies Oren's Knife, or Majere in their native tongue. For as long as anyone has known, there has been hostility between Majere and the Westlands. It is only since KE743 that there has been a period of non-conflict lasting longer than a few months. Today relations are tense but cooling, slowly, as trade has opened up for goods to traverse the border. As a general rule, Westlanders do not enter into Majere, and Majerians do not enter the Westlands. To the north are the islands of Ihir, the home of the Ethalin. Great storms buffet their islands, and a very skilled hand is required to navigate their waters. Trade between Ihir and Ethurun is sparse, on account of the dangerous conditions, and for the most part both parties have been content to leave each other alone.

In KE758, King Argos went missing. A magically induced explosion rocked the royal court, and in the chaos he turned up missing. In an effort to avoid the chaos of a succession war, as King Argos had left no heirs, his right hand man took charge as regent. Lord Crow controlled Tenet and acted in the king's stead, until last year.

In August of KE791, a small army of Ethalin warriors, led by then-uncrowned Mordred, landed on the northern shore of Ethurun. Mordred claimed to be the son of King Argos, accidentally transported to Ihir by the machinations of Crow. He came to claim his crown. Plento was captured by their forces in September of the same year, and then they continued down the River Ainsworth. Hiring adventurers and mercenaries with the promise of reward, Mordred's army expanded as he traveled southward. Eventually, they reached the capital, and on March 22nd, Mordred secured Tenet. It was a bloodless capture, with not a single sword drawn. Crow had disappeared in the lead-up to the capture, and remains missing still. Since then, Mordred has been crowned and established the Chain, an adventurer's guild, to assist businessmen, commoners, and any other citizens who ask for help.

On September 24th 792KE, several locations on Lindel were attacked simultaneously. Tenet, the Majerian archive of Carth, The Ethalin city of Fel Morn, and the island of Shallorin all suffered losses. The attackers came from another plane of existence, and have been named the Ashen. They came to destroy all sources and traces of civilization. In response, several military actions have begun, as the continent of Ethurun and the wider world of Lindel prepare for war.

The Party

The party will be a group of adventurers in the company of Vrethan, the Novel Dawn and leader of Shallorin. They will accompany him to the island of Ithal, in a military expedition to reclaim it from the enemy. Characters should have a reasonable motivation for doing so, such as the pursuit of glory or a personal grudge against the Ashen. Optionally, characters may be members of the Coldsea Guard, Vrethan's personal militia. Coldsea Guards were death-row criminals before being accepted by Vrethan, and backstories ought to reflect this.

Guidelines for making characters

Any content from the player's handbook is acceptable. Any content from a published work (Tasha's, Xanathar's, etc) may be permitted, but check with DM. Homebrew not accepted.
Characters from the party should have some familiarity with each other before session 1. Could have been brothers for 200 years, or just met yesterday. Anywhere within that range is fine.
For stats, point buy or standard array are fine. Don't roll for stats. HP for level ups may be rolled for.
Start at 5th level.
Feats are accepted.

Magic items

Players may choose a selection of magic items. Choose from this list. Players have 10 "points". Each item on the list costs points according to their tier. Common items are worth 1 point, and each increasing tier costs one more point. For example, players can choose ten common items or two legendary items. Disregard the "artifact" tier.

Info for specific classes

Druids are part of a guild dedicated to communicating and negotiating with the Fae. Player characters may or may not be members in that guild, but familiarity with them is assumed.
Paladins and Clerics follow Saints instead of Gods.
Sorcerers and Wizards usually have or had mentors, as magic is typically taught through direct apprenticeship.

Noodly rules

For traveling, one player rolls a d12. An 11 is an easy encounter, a 12 is a hard encounter. Any other numbers and the voyage passes uneventfully.
Travel through the wilderness is one hex per day. Travel along a road is 2 hexes per day. Traveling by sea is 4 hexes per day. Each hex is approximately 24 miles.
Critical hits roll double the damage dice.
A long rest is at least 8 hours. A short rest is at least 10 minutes.

Note taking

I strongly encourage note taking. If you decide to take notes, I'll take them and host them here on the website. Other groups are also running, and you'll be able to see their notes if they decide to take them. You can consider their notes to be analogous to rumors that your characters have heard. They may be imperfect or wrong, or they may be just the thing you need.

Back to index