This is part two of a short recap of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign through which Elderhearth came to be.
After a series of odd jobs, working for Golden Mask - the boys have managed to become owners of a quite popular tavern - which they re-named into The Royal Den.
From there, they realized that it would be good for them to expand their influence a little. Since they were operating on the Common Level, a very fruitful ground for various shady businesses - they began planning their expansion.
But - before they could do anything, on their opening day, they were visited by a certain individual. Linus Ta'em. He was the owner of Common Level Banks, and was the person who basically had almost every single business of Common Level in his pocket, pulling the strings, taking provisions and the like.
Uther and the gang didn't like that. They openly defied one of the most powerful people in Elderhearth and basically told him to get lost. He didn't like that, but he was polite enough to leave the premises of the newly opened Royal Den.
That night, Uther, Jack, Ash and Eph paid a visit to every tavern in the neighborhood and managed to convince them that from this point on - they are loyal to Uther and not to Linus.
Having support gave them new vigor in facing Linus in the coming days - which came to almost immediately when they received an invitation from Linus to come as his personal guests to an annual banquet he likes to throw for all the rich people in the Common Level, as well as inviting more notable guests from higher Levels.
As for the events happening in the City:
- The City Guard receives a reinforcement to their ranks, as soldier-guards clad in black full-plate armors appear in almost every level with jurisdiction to act as special police who are called Blackthorns.
- The Common Level gets its fair share of Blackthorns, led by one of the Blackthorn Commanders, Vigaarde.
- Aetherus fights a political war with the Nobles in his Council, since more than half of them have colluded with Aggron during the Treason.
- The Osakyo ghetto becomes an even worse place to live, now that Nobles with ulterior motives start to increase their "Visits" to the Ghetto Level, where they gather up Osakyoans and take them away to work camps, forcing them into a life worse than poverty - slavery without pay or chance of escape.
- The problem with this is that the majority of the Elderhearthian population knows just about nothing regarding the existence of working camps and that the Osakyoans are receiving such horrid, inhumane treatment.
- Spies from other Kingdoms, most notably from the Konquestian Khanate, are caught more frequently by Akuma "The Grey Demon" and his Inqusitors.
- A friend of Uther, Jack, Ash and Eph, and Uther's mentor and Master Blacksmith - Kandor Ta'em, with his band of small-time thieves carries out raids on the City Guards who he knows are involved in the Osakyoan trafficking. He is a sort of a robin hood-esque figure, as he fights for the good of the common man. He is well known in the Common Level, a war hero, a blacksmith and a Crystalimb Engineer who does replacement work on those who need it for free.
- Crystalimbs (for context): artificial limbs or limb parts created using a combination of steel and a special metal called Crystallum which has the ability to resonate with Crystals who are basically batteries filled with magical energy - in turn giving people without limbs their limbs back. Very upgradeable and very expensive. Kandor himself, for example, has a gigantic Crystalimb right arm. The thing about Crystalimbs is that, if a mage gets one - they lose the ability to channel magic due to the Crystal disrupting the flow of magic in their bodies. So it's always a dillema on: have a limb back or be able to do magic for mages who do that.
Before they go to Linus's party, they receive a letter from Golden Mask, instructing them to assassinate another minor noble who will be present at the event. This is problematic due to the guys being under investigation and suspicion by Vigaarde himself. But, them being foolhardy, they decide that they will give it a go.
Comments
Post a Comment