[Would you all simply post your characters to the thread. Once that is done i will put the introductory post up]

Name:  Yared the Lesser
Race:  Human
Alignment:  Lawful Neutral
Classes:  Cleric 3
Experience:  3000

===  Ability Scores  ===

STR: 12
DEX: 10
CON: 9
INT: 10
WIS: 14
CHA: 10

===  Combat Statistics  ===

Hit Points:  16
Armor Class:  7 *cries*
THAC0: 20
Weapon Proficiencies : Morning star, heavy war hammer, and staff

===  Saving Throws  ===

[14] - Rod, Staff, Wand
[16] - Breath Weapons
[10] - Death, Paralysis, Poison
[13] - Petrifaction, Polymorph
[15] - Spells

Memorized Spells:  

First Level: Command, Cure Light Wounds (x2) and Light
Second Level: Resist Fire

===  Hirelings and Animals  ===
Melat the Groom (paid 2 gp for the month) STR: 10 DEX: 10 CON: 8 INT: 13 WIS: 15 CHA: 11 HP: 3
Eyab the Cook  (paid 2 gp for the month) STR: 11 DEX: 12 CON: 15 INT: 6 WIS: 12 CHA: 4 HP: 4
Hirdan the Servant (paid 5 for the month) STR: 8 DEX: 13 CON: 9 INT: 3 WIS: 10 CHA: 8 HP: 4
All are equipped with leather armor, a sling and a dozen bullets.
One mule
One pony
One ox
Total cost of hiring, buying and equipping them: 73 gp 5 sp

===  Equipment  ===

Equipment carried by animals:
One barrel with 30 pints of lamp oil (carried by donkey).
Barrel filled with to the brim with water (carried by the ox).
20 days standard rations (carried by the pony).

Total cost of stuff carried by animals: 47

Personal equipment:
Studded Leather Armor
Morning Star
Holy symbol, wooden
Pint of honey
Pint of firewater
Staff (am paying 6 sp for it to have it be nice-looking and carved)
Sistrum (am paying 1 gp for it)
Flint and steel
Remaining money: 2 gp

===  Encumbrance  ===

47 pounds, can move 90 ft/round

===  Height & Weight  ===

Normal; 5'6" tall; 212-lbs.
Age:  22-yrs.

===  Money  ===
Starting Gold:  150
Current Gold:  2


===  Appearance  ===

A tubby black man with a cherubic face, Yared the Lesser is usually seen in a spotlessly clean but plain black cassock with his hair covered by a tight-fitting hood. However, while performing religious ceremonies he removed his cassock and displays his that has been eyed a brilliant sun-yellow and trimmed neatly into a solar halo.

Yared's holy symbol is an eyeless lion head surrounded by a solar halo.

===  Deity  ===

Yared the Lesser serves the King in Splendor, a lion-headed solar deity whose priests claim will one day slay Night forever so that the world is bathed in eternal summer:

The Lion in Splendor went down through the gates of darkness and the arteries of the earth. He saw the black water of the Sunless Sea, rise up, bubbling and boiling. But he commanded the Woman’s hound to lap at the water and the Lion walked on with dry feet and the hound laps still, his bitch crying in darkness for its mate. But as the Lion passed the hound’s teeth tore away his mane.

The Lion in Splendor went down through the gates of fire and their burning glow. Enter it and you die, see it and you burn. But he seized the Woman’s dragon and cast her contorted to the ground and she gnawed at the rock of the underworld and the Lion walked on with head unbowed and the dragon gnaws still and breathes flames no more. But as the Lion passed the dragon’s claws tore away his hide.

The Lion in Splendor went down through the gates of smoke and heard the chants and calls of witchcraft. Who taught the frightening ugliness of these lies? But he called the Woman’s iron bull and its snorts cast away the mists and vapors and the Lion walked on free of sorcery and the iron bull snorts still and treads upon the wicked. But as the Lion passed the bull’s horns pieced his eyes.

Then the Lion in Splendor was without mane, hide or eyes and all that was left of him was a blind man lost in the place of darkness and consuming fire. The terrible Woman locked his hands with manacles and placed every temptation before him but he was a king still, the King in Splendor, and denied them all. And, as morning came, he tore his chains and took up the slaver’s whip and the Woman tore clumps of hair from her head as he ascended into the sky, the Lion in Splendor once more.

Darkness cannot be measured by light. The consuming fires do not light the house of gloom and the waters of the Sunless Sea have no sparkle. In darkness creatures grow and form and harbor malice in their minds. The children of darkness are nothing, but the children of light stay. The house of evil is nothing and its consuming fires die. Its sorceries die and end and have no place in the eternity of light. They come to nothing. The generations of light will stay forever. The words of light will rise and illuminate the world in everlasting light.

Priests of the King in Splendor are famous for schisms and factional disputes and their temples are lighthouses, even the ones located far from the sea.

In statues (especially on the top of said lighthouses) the King is depicted either as: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Lion-faced_deity.jpg/150px-Lion-faced_deity.jpg or as a well-muscled human male with a blind lion's head with broken manacles in one hand and a slaver's whip in the other.

===  Background  ===

Not so long ago a heresy began spreading through the Golden Realm, as they so often do. Some priests decided that the traditional rubies should be removed from statues of the King in Splendor as providing eyes to the blind god was a mockery and because do you know how much rubies cost?

One of the leaders of this heresy was a priest named Yared who stirred up the common folk and brought the cataphracts of the inquisition down on their heads. Yared's nephew, an overfed youth known as Yared the Lesser, was one of the few who made it out of the country alive.

Since then Yared the Lesser has been wandering these lands spreading the blinding light of the sun to all those who live in darkness and telling all to make sure that no rubies are ever placed in the eyes of statues as that was the great cause that his noble uncle died for.

Name:  Miron Earbeard
Race:  Half-Elf
Alignment:  Neutral
Classes:  Fighter 1/ Magic-User 1/ Thief 1
Experience:  1000/ 1000/ 1000

===  Ability Scores  ===

[15] - STR
[16] - DEX
[15] - CON
[13] - INT
[13] - WIS
[09] - CHA

===  Combat Statistics  ===

[08] - Hit Points (23 with familiar bonus)
[06] - Armor Class (leather + Dex bonus)
[20] - THAC0
Weapon Proficiencies (4 slots; -2 penalty):  Longsword (double-specialized), short bow.

===  Half-Elf  ===

• 30% resistance to sleep and charm spells
• Searching 2/6 for secret door, 3/6 concealed.  Pass concealed door 1/6.
• Languages:  Common, elven, gnoll, gnome, goblin, halfling, hobgoblin, orcish.
• Infravision: 60-ft.
• Movement Rate:  120-ft.

===  Saving Throws  ===

[11] - Rod, Staff, Wand
[15] - Breath Weapons
[13] - Death, Paralysis, Poison
[12] - Petrifaction, Polymorph
[12] - Spells

===  Thief Abilities  ===

Backstab (+4 to hit; x2 damage)
Thieves' Cant
[80%] - Climb Walls
[25%] - Find Traps
[10%] - Hear Noise
[25%] - Hide in Shadows
[20%] - Move Quietly
[35%] - Open Locks
[45%] - Pick Pockets
[01%] - Read Languages


===  Spell Book  ===

1st Level (4):  Detect Magic, Find Familiar, Read Magic, Sleep

Memorized Spells:  Sleep

===  Familiar  ===

Name:  Tinenwor
Pseudo-Dragon (p. 303)
Hit Points: 15
Size:  Small (18 inches)
Move:  60-ft; 240-ft. flying (AA:V)
Armor Class:  2
Hit Dice:  2
Attacks: 1
Damage:  1d3
Special Attacks:  Poison Sting
Special Defenses:  Chameleon power
Magic Resistance:  35%
Intelligence:  Average
Alignment:  Neutral good

===  Equipment  ===

Shirt, pants, loincloth, boots.
Longsword (1d8/1d12; Enc 7; 15 GP)
Leather armor (AC -2; 15 lbs; Move 120-ft; 5 GP)

===  Encumbrance  ===

Carried:  27 lbs.
Weight Adjustment:  20 lbs.
Maximum Movement:  120-ft.
Surprise:  +1 (for armor lighter than chain mail only)

===  Height & Weight  ===

Normal; 5'8" tall; 142-lbs.
Age:  30-yrs.

===  Money  ===
Starting Gold:  200

Gold:  0
Silver:  0
Copper:  0

Debit: Owe Iowain 22 or 24 GP

===  Background  ===

Miron Earbeard had found himself in Pratts Landing after his last major adventure.  He had become with friends of some of the locals and was flush with coin from the job.  It was in Pratts Landing where he summoned his familiar, Tinenwor, a pseudo-dragon.  It had been nearly a year to the day since he first attempt to summon a familiar failed, and this time luck was with him and he was able to call a special familiar instead of the usual animals that answered a wizard's summons.  Miron had become a fixture in the Enchanted Centaur Tavern since his arrival to Pratts Landing, and good friends with the owner, Oraithlo Dreall.  

It was Oraithlo who introduced Miron to the beautiful courtesan, Bourli Couller.  It was probably the fact that Miron never used her services that endeared him to her, and they often shared meals and conversations in the Enchanted Centaur Tavern.  Miron was never particularly devout to any of the gods, but, like most people in Pratts Landing, both Oraithlo and Bourli were members of the church of Poseideo.  Although he casually knew that there were three open factions of the church operating in Pratts Landing, Miron never really took the time to get involved with the church nor its politics.  

However, when his friends both came to him with a serious job, Miron listened to them and took on the job.  Currently, the three factions of the church of Poseidon were peaceful and neutral toward each other.  This state of status-quo was held in place by an ancient treaty negotiated by the leaders of the church of Poseidon.  Bourli learned through one of her more talkative clients in the church of Poseidon that the ancient treaty that held the factions in check from open conflict was about to be sabotaged purposefully by one of the factions as a power play.  The client bragged about how he helped pen the plan for his church elder, and how he spelled it all out for his superior in a document.  

Bourli brought this information to Oraithlo since he was a respected citizen and layman in the church of Poseidon.  She knew that she could not do anything meaningful with the information herself, but as a devote church member felt a responsibility to do something about the plot that was about to unfold.  They came to Miron to obtain the document from the offices of the priest at the second largest cathedral in town.  Miron's saving were dwindling fast staying the Enchanted Centaur Tavern and so he took the job.

Miron was able to obtain the document with the help of Tinenwor, but was seen by the church Templars as he fled the cathedral with it.  Luckily, Tinenwor's magical resistance aided Miron against the Templars' spells as he escaped into the streets of Pratts Landing.  Miron brought the document to Oraithlo, and then hastily packed his few belongings.  After a quick and quiet farewell to his friends, Miron made a hasty exit from Pratts Landing while looking over his shoulder for Poseidonite Templars.  He was nearly caught on the docks in the crapper, but after a harrowing chase, mad dash, and incredible jump onto the deck of the moving boat, he was able to effect his escape from Pratts Landing with nothing but the clothes on his back.

Kazmak, male half-orc, 3rd-level Bounty Hunter (modified Assassin)

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

AC: 5 (studded leather + Dex bonus)

HP: 13 (Invisible Castle roll)

Str 14, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 6.

Special abilities:

• Backstab (+4 to hit and x2 damage from behind)
• Capture or incapacitate foe (on a surprise attack; base 65%, -5% for every two levels/HD of the target)
• Disguise
• Tracking (90% in the wilderness, 65% in cities or dungeons)
• Thief abilities (CW 80%, FT 25%, HN 10%, HiS 20%, MS 20%, OL 30%, PP 35%, RL 1%)

Gear:

• Studded leather armor
• Daggers (2)
• Longsword
• Light crossbow
• Belt quiver with 24 bolts
• Backpack
• Bedroll
• Waterskin
• 7 days of standard rations
• 2 sets of manacles
• 100' of hemp rope
• Thieves' tools
• Cloak
• Gloves
• Heavy boots
• Flint & steel
• Hooded lantern
• 3 pints of oil

Money: 18gp and 5sp (from 170gp starting funds; IC roll)

Kazmak was raised amongst a particularly unsavory clan of slavers and kidnappers, which was eventually slaughtered in a gang war the rocked his home city's underworld. As one of the few, if not the sole survivor, he put his people-taking skills to a slightly more wholesome use by moving from frontier town to frontier town collecting bounties on everything from petty criminals to dangerous monsters. He usually follows contracts to the letter, and all else being equal, prefers to deliver his marks alive; he'll kill if he has to, but he views assassination with distaste.

When not disguised, he's a short, squat half-orc with a proeminent jaw, slightly jutting canines and a broken nose. He keeps his hair very short and bears a small scar over his left eye. He's not the most sociable member of a notoriously unsociable trade, but he's easygoing enough when among trusted comrades (a rarity these days) and a bit too fond of his ale.

He was tracking down a mark in Pratt's Landing when he mistakenly broke into the house of a priest of Poseidon (who knows which faction) and hastily threw his lot in with the current outfit to leave town ASAP.

Name:  Iowain, the sickly novitiate
Race:  Human Alignment:  Neutral Good Classes:  Cleric 1 Experience:  ?

===  Descriptors  ===

Age: 17 Height: 5' 7" Weight: 132 lbs. Hair: dirty blond Eyes: dark brown
Notes: sickly; favors warm clothes, smells of liniment.

===  Ability Scores  ===

STR: 9
DEX: 4    -2 Surprise Bonus; -2 Missile to hit; +3 AC adjustment
CON: 5    -1 HP per HD; 50% Rez/Raise Dead; 45% System Shock
INT: 6
WIS: 9     15% Spell Fail
CHA: 12

===  Combat Statistics  ===

Hit Points:  7  Armor Class:  10  THAC0: 20
Weapon Proficiencies club, sling, staff.

===  Saving Throws  ===

[14] - Rod, Staff, Wand
[16] - Breath Weapons
[10] - Death, Paralysis, Poison
[13] - Petrifaction, Polymorph
[15] - Spells

===  Spells  ===

Slots: 1/
Memorized: Protect from Heat/Cold

===  NWP  ===

art: knit, etiquette, herbs, read/write.

===  Equipment  ===

$13.30 - A Donkey! (I call him Francis). Saddle Bags large. Saddle Blanket. Rope hemp.

$0.05 - Club. Sling. Stones x5. Staff.

$12.50 - Liniment jars. Tallow box. Mortal & Pestle. Herb Purse (various, low on rare old home herbs, lots of unknown new home herbs). Backpack.
($0.50 iron pot x5. $2.00 large iron pot. $5.0 block & tackle. $1.00 large belt pouch. $2.00 backpack.)

$7.42 - Knitting Satchel (needles, yarn, etc.). Novitiate robes x2. Undergarments x2. Personal sweater, scarf, knit cap, socks, & fingerless gloves set.
($0.20 large sack. $5.0 block & tackle. $0.00 supplied uniform x2. $0.80 Tunic x2. {$0.80 good cloth cloak, $0.20 sash, $0.10 cap, $1.00 shoes, $1.00 gloves = $3.10. Only 20% cost for materials because handmade = $0.62.})

$0.33 - SALE Spare scarfs x3, spare caps x4, spare tea cozies & cravats x8.
($0.20 sash x3, $0.10 caps x4, $0.08 coarse toga x8 = $1.64. Handmade, thus only 20% = $0.33)

$10.01 - $7.00 Small Tent. $0.10 Winter Blanket x5. $0.20 Wineskins x3. $0.50 Iron Pot. $0.10 Flour x3. $0.10 Rice. $0.20 Raisins. $0.10 Salt. $0.06 Oil x2. $0.05 Herbs x2. $0.10 Bucket. $0.20 Large Sack x2. $0.05 Small Sack x4.

$22.00 - Diary. "Customs Among the Heathens" guidebook. "Proselytize Graciously" KoS essays. KoS Holiday Calendar. "A Warmth Surrounding" KoS Hymnal. Radiant Lion Head Holy Symbol.
($2.00 hand-sewn diary, 1 paper folded trigesimo-segundo, 32 leaves, 64 pages. $10.00 buy guidebook. $10.00 maybe buy essays. calendar, hymnal, & holy symbol assumed given)

OHT, determine starting novitiate gear costs as you please. I assume novitiate robes and a few books will be provided upon joining.

===  Encumbrance  ===

Carried:  just clothes & knitting satchel at starting inn.
Weight Adjustment: +0 adj.?
Maximum Movement: 12 Mv?
Surprise: -2

===  Money  ===
Starting Gold:  (3d6x10) roll= 5,5,3.    130 gp so far. Current expenses = -$65.61 Remain = $64.39
I don't include the +50 gp because I'm 1st lvl.

Gold:  30
Silver:  40
Copper:  39
Favors/Credit:  30 (OHT decides whenever convenient; maybe church friends, port captains/caravan leaders, Cadsandria locals, etc.)
Miron - credited 20 gp. terms: +2 gp upon repayment, + 2 gp if over 1 mo.

===  Background  ===

Fell deathly ill from pleurisy progressing into pneumonia as a child. The fever nearly killed him, but also ended up saving his life. The warmth and radiance of the sun figured heavily on Iowain's fevered delusions, and thus a sense of calling towards the church, celebrating the King of Splendor, conqueror of cold and winter.

Stunted from the traumatic illness, and chased by repeated pleuritic bouts, his childhood seemed to end early. Living cautiously with a sense of joyous martyrdom Iowain joined the King of Splendor seminary just before massive persecution. It all makes sense to him, like the fall into winter before the triumph of the sun. He does not expect to see the glorious return bodily, but among the church triumphant. Meanwhile he seeks to shelter and comfort those exposed from the coming cold for as long as his borrowed time grants.

Having decided to explore the possibility of helping find the Duke of Craghold a suitable bride you enter the low building of the crier that nestles next to the notices pillar.

Reclining behind a desk stacked high with rolled parchments and crusty bread is a corpulent man in a red crushed velvet doublet - his slippered feet crushing the top layer of documents atop the table.

On your entrance the man shuffles to his feet (scattering sheafs of parchment hither and thither) and bows low, "Kelvin the Red at your service gentlemen."

On hearing of your interest in the Dule of Craghold's dilemma, he scratches at his whiskery chin before retaking his seat. He motions to a low bench along one wall and once you are seated speaks in a rich, rolling voice.

"Hmm, yes, Craghold. Well, if you are interested in helping with their problems it is but a short journey to the south. There's a merchant's trail from here. Wends through some of the low foothills of the Viceroy Mountains - nothing too tricky. About 6-8 hours by foot, ride hard and it's probably 4 or 5. It's an old place, older than here, that's for sure. Some say the Justini Dukes have ruled there for 800 years. Like any dynasty, tradition seems to become entrenched over the centuries. Well, one of the traditions of Craghold is the new Dukes marry into one of the three nobles families of the Duchy."

"Trouble is that only the Uvio family has a daughter of marriageable age, what with the Duke being only ten years old! Lost his father last year to the Ghost Wind and Craghold has been ruled since then by the Regent, Zavus."

"You'll need to seek out Zavus for more details, but given the tense political situation the loss of the previous Duke has caused, i believe he wants to break with tradition and at least seek out alternative brides for the young Duke. Might keep the other families happy, i guess. Then again it might backfire spectacularly!"

"Oh, a word of warning gentlemen, the Owen mines are currently closed because of problems with new-found caverns, and strange goings on. The Owens are one of the other noble families of Craghold and Lord Owen seems to lay the blame for recent events in his mines on Lady Uvio. How he thinks she placed new caves in his mines in order to get her daughter married to the Duke is anyones guess! But tough times rob even the intelligent of their wits at times."

"Can i help you with anything else?"

Miron smiles and says, "thank you, Kelvin the Red."

He pauses a moment before asking with an interested tone, "I am not a native of this country and I know not what the 'Ghost Wind' is.  What exactly is the Ghost Wind, if you please?"

Yared's head is spinning a bit trying to keep track of the goings on. He was used his uncle's tales of church politics but those generally didn't involve marriage. Except for that one example of the debate about whether it was heretical for that one monk's vows to be suspended long enough to conceive a child and what do to about the poor girl afterwards, but he didn't think that was especially relevant to the problem at hand.

Yared paused in thought and whispered to his companions, "if they're going to break with tradition to get a wife from outside their inbred knot, she'd have to be someone special. Not sure if we know how to get a woman like that around these parts. I haven't seen a single one with properly sculpted hair."

Quote from: Drohem;718751Miron smiles and says, "thank you, Kelvin the Red."

He pauses a moment before asking with an interested tone, "I am not a native of this country and I know not what the 'Ghost Wind' is.  What exactly is the Ghost Wind, if you please?"

"You may well ask, good Sir. 'Tis an unholy phenomena - one that luckily afflicts climes north of here around Ladenhollow. 'Twas just happenstance that the good Duke was in the region when that ill-wind blew."

"Two or three times a year, a fell wind blows across the Viceroy mountains from the east, carrying with it phantoms that haunt the living. They say that these phantoms lure their victims away into the mountains. Then, when the wind next blows, the phantoms are none other than the last victims! Hideous isn't it?"

The half-elf appears horrified as he says, "indeed.  I'll make it a point not to spend too much time in the north then, I suspect."

"Pardon me, Kelvin the Red, but when you say the Craghold Duchy habitually marries into one of three families, how does this work? Is this a matter about marrying into a certain tier of titled vassals, marrying into the landed nobility upon their duchy, or more dependent upon marrying into these three longstanding families regardless of their status?" Iowain maintains demure eye contact while quietly ticking off stitches.

"Knowing the Justini's reason for such tradition would shorten our search to equivalent peers throughout the kingdom versus regional nobility within the duchy versus any distant relations to those three families." Starting up the next row Iowain continues, "Sorry to be so prying, but it will help us from pursuing leads that may offend; as guests to a new land I wish us to be conscientious."

Leaning in and whispering, but still loud enough for companions to hear, "And if you have the time afterwards, I have questions about the history lectures and silk for sale notices."

Yared the Lesser gave this whole manner careful thought. Perhaps in his salutary enthusiasm to burn things in fire he had made a mistake. His purse was bear and had only enough food to feed his hirelings for a few days, unless of course he butchered Sunbeam the ox, he didn't think even an especially large fire would be enough to convince these barbarians to set aside their squabbling and marry each other like civilized people.

Perhaps there was a solution. Him and his companions could go and investigate these caves. That would win the gratitude of the Owens, clear the name of the Uvios and give them an opportunity to get that Uvio girl married to the Duke. Then everyone would be happy and could be invited to a proper barbecue.

Of course these new caves were probably full of Children of Darkness. Well, that was what that big barrel of oil he had bought was for. He'd burn the lot of them.

OOC: assume that Yared shares his thoughts with the other PCs as soon as they finish asking Kelvin questions. Yared is lost in thought and not interacting much with Kelvin...

"This Lord Owen, he thinks Lady Uvio cooked up trouble in the mines ta marry off her daughter?" Kazmak's eyes glint with greed. "I smell a bounty there. Red man, what do you say of this? What happens at the mines?"

Quote from: Opaopajr;718859"Pardon me, Kelvin the Red, but when you say the Craghold Duchy habitually marries into one of three families, how does this work? Is this a matter about marrying into a certain tier of titled vassals, marrying into the landed nobility upon their duchy, or more dependent upon marrying into these three longstanding families regardless of their status?" Iowain maintains demure eye contact while quietly ticking off stitches.

"Knowing the Justini's reason for such tradition would shorten our search to equivalent peers throughout the kingdom versus regional nobility within the duchy versus any distant relations to those three families." Starting up the next row Iowain continues, "Sorry to be so prying, but it will help us from pursuing leads that may offend; as guests to a new land I wish us to be conscientious."

"I'm afraid that neither rhyme nor reason is mine to relate, good Sir. Craghall is an old-fashioned place with many strange customs that snag at a visitors credulity! Regent Zavus is the man to answer your specific questions."

QuoteLeaning in and whispering, but still loud enough for companions to hear, "And if you have the time afterwards, I have questions about the history lectures and silk for sale notices."

"Of course! I'd be more than happy to."

Kelvin then looks at Kazmak tentatively, "Well, the mines are known hereabouts - not in Craghall, as the slurry pits. The hills around the stronghold are soft limestone and they mine the lime. Of-times, heavy rains turn the interior of the mines to a chalky mess. Thus slurry-pits!"

"As to what is occuring, the notice came with a merchant this morning. I believe that the foreman of the mine has gone missing and that mining equipment has been spoiled. Something else that Lord Owen blames Lady Uvio for. However, the man who relayed the message seems to think they've unearthed some deep delvings and that something dwells there."

"Chills the blood, it does." Kelvin shudders delicately.

"Perhaps we should investigate the occurrences at the mines, " Miron muses out loud offhandedly, "it could help our cause with Regent Zavus in the long run."