Our first session of the campaign was a “Session 0” for creating characters and to start to learn who they are. All four players attended and rolled up their characters. We have a half-elf bard, a human ranger, a human fighter, and a dwarven paladin. They all arrived in the Borderlands and the town of Bridgeport and they all met in a tavern. đŸ˜‰
Details on the PCs and our first session below the break.
Here are the player characters:
- Aja is a half-elf bard played by Savannah. She is from Fairchild, the capital city of the Kingdom of Darnesh. As an entertainer for one of the noble families in the capital, she had access to the various movers and shakers of the capital, including the royal family. Aja had some dalliances with a couple of members of nobility, including the Queen. The King learned of this particular tryst and Aja is now on the run with a price on her head. Various allies in the capital helped her get out of the city and she came to the Borderlands to find a man named Varos who she has been told could help her out. Savannah rolled Wanted as Aja’s background and (literally) ran with it.
- Ellery is a human ranger played by Rachel. Her parents were members of a group, a cult as they later learned, and Ellery was raised in this environment. Over time, Ellery and her parents realized that this cult was not so good for them. Ellery’s parents were able to get her out of the cult but, in the process, Ellery’s father was killed. Her mother remains with the cult. Ellery has come to the Borderlands because she learned about a ruined abbey of the Shining Lords of Light. Common knowledge holds that the abbey was destroyed about a century ago and nothing remains. The cult, however, has secret information that there were chambers and passages beneath the abbey, chambers said to hold treasure and one or more items of dark magic. Ellery has come to the Borderlands to find these items before the cult does. Rachel rolled Cult Initiate as Ellery’s background and worked in one of the plot hooks regarding the Borderlands into that background.
- Morgan is a human fighter played by Jen. Morgan’s father is a healer and he wants Morgan to continue the family business. Unfortunately for her father, Morgan is not interested in following in his footsteps. She has come to the Borderlands to carve her own path and to get away from her father. Jen rolled Chirurgeon as Morgan’s background and decided she’s more interested in dealing damage than healing it.
- Norfek Ironpike is a dwarven paladin devoted to St. Tilly, the patron saint of justice, played by RJ. He has come to the Borderlands to seek out new experiences and to spread justice. RJ rolled Thieves’ Guild as Norfek’s background. It is unclear at this time if Norfek’s focus on justice is due to guilt regarding his own checkered past or a true belief in justice.
That’s the party and they’ve all arrived in one fashion or another in the Borderlands. It is definitely a physical combat type of group, lacking a cleric and a wizard type. I asked if they just wanted to meet in a tavern and they all wanted to do that.
I haven’t fleshed things out beyond the setting information that I’ve previously posted and so it was a group activity to start doing some of that. Since Aja is from the capital city of Darnesh, we needed a name for the capital and got Fairchild. At some point, we’ll need to determine how that name came about. Since Norfek is a paladin and the Shining Lords of Light are not directly worshipped and have saints as intermediaries, we needed a saint for the paladin. RJ decided that “justice” would be the primary aspect for this saint and the name of St. Tilly.
We also needed a tavern/inn in Bridgeford in which the players would meet. I basically started going the group asking questions to flesh out this inn. First off, the inn is named the Spider’s Bite Inn. It is currently owned and run by a man named Harold. He is middle-aged, thinning gray hair, going a bit soft around the middle, and is an ex-adventurer. Harold purchased the inn–with monies accumulated during his adventuring–after the prior owner passed away from old age about five years ago. This previous owner, Agatha, was said to be a witch and did not have the best of social skills, rather off-putting, and the business at the inn suffered as a result.
Agatha’s grandmother, Tuppence, had established the inn. Both Tuppence and her daughter, Miranda, were seen more as wise women than as witches, respected and liked by the community. Local legend holds that Tuppence was bit by a spider and this led to two things: 1) Tuppence felt that her mystic powers were enhanced by the bite; and, 2) Tuppence started the inn in celebration of this bite.
The Spider’s Bite Inn is frequented primarily by travelers and the members of the community not serving in the King’s Corps (i.e., the military). The specialty drink is an ale called Spider’s Tonic…rumored to be brewed with spider legs for its unique flavor. Although this drink was created by the prior owners, Harold has continued brewing this ale and continues the rumors regarding the key ingredient with both a wink and smile.
(During this process, we also established that there is at least one other tavern that serves the King’s Corps. This tavern is the Wolf’s Stag Tavern. This tavern was founded by an ex-commander of the Corps, nicknamed the Wolf, who had a pet stag. We established some other details I’ll share if and when this tavern becomes more relevant to the game)
With these basics established we got into it.
- The characters all arrived at the Spider’s Bite one by one starting with Aja (who flirted with most everyone). Eventually, they sat together and chatted about what brought each of them to the Borderlands. How much was shared varied from character to character, perhaps the most pertinent discussions centered on two things: 1) Aja is here to meet with someone and she has to wait until she does; and, 2) Ellery might have a good adventuring location (the ruins of the Valvur Abbey) that might have treasure and a dangerous item that shouldn’t fall into the wrong hands.
- The group started to ask Harold if he knew anything about the abbey. He’s heard of it but not a whole lot more. The abbey fell a century ago and, by now, most folks just know of it, that it is in ruins, it has nothing of value or interest and that’s pretty much it. He suggested a couple of pieces of advice. First, since it was an abbey, maybe checking with the local church might lead to some additional information about the abbey and/or its location. Second, he recommended that the group not be so free with asking such questions. Some adventuring types, he shared, would have no qualms about using such freely shared information to find the place themselves or just follow the group and try to rob them after they explore it.
- The group spent the evening in the common room as Aja played music, earning free drinks and room and board for herself along with a small amount of tips for her efforts. The next morning, they headed out to the Bridgeford Church. With Norfek (the only religious one in the bunch) insisting that he stay outside, they went in. A priest was busy cleaning and when he noticed the characters, grumpily shouted, “What do you want?” We called it a night there with, as Rachel put it, our curmudgeonly cliff-hanger.
I probably missed a bunch of specifics, but I think that hits the high points.
