TOPIC: Tales of the Mud Road discussion

World Building time!

This is a world in three parts; the realm of Gods, the realm of Men and the realm of Demons.

Thousands of years ago, the demon king Mingrollath sought to expand his empire and sent the armies of Hell to conquer the realm of Men. The gods could not stand idly by while Mingrollath strove to upset the delicate balance between the three realms and the Council of Heaven decreed that the demon king must die. However, the gods soon discovered that to kill a king of demons is a task easier said than done.

Joraeth and Jyrast, the gods of the dwarves forged a spear that would pierce the demon king’s armour and Edarr, god of men and fiercest warrior among the gods carried the weapon into battle. Castine, the goddess of elves and Edarr's lover, enchanted the weapon to slay anyone whose heart it pierced.

But Mingrollath had anticipated the gods would intervene and laid his plans accordingly. The demon king removed his own beating heart from his chest and split it into seven parts. Some he gave to his most powerful minions to protect, others he hid in the darkest corners of the world.

The dragons abstained from battle, refusing to take sides, a decision they ultimately came to regret.

In the great Battle of the Three Realms, Edarr sought out the demon king and gave challenge. The two fought and Edarr drove his spear through Mingrollath’s breast, impaling the demon king and ending his wicked ambitions once and for all – or so the gods believed. Feigning death, Mingrollath waited until his opponent turned away - then attacked with The Drop and stabbed the spear into Edarr's back and through his heart!

Edarr, the god of men was killed that day. The death of her lover drove Castine insane and she fled the battlefield, taking with her Edarr's body and the spear. Although Mingrollath could not be killed without first reuniting the fractured pieces of his heart, the demon king was weakened by his wounds. Joraeth and Jyrast bound the demon king and sealed him in a prison of ice to the frozen north.

Mingrollath the demon king was defeated, his army scattered, yet the price of victory was steep. Edarr, god of men was slain and Castine, goddess of the elves driven mad with grief. Joraeth blamed the dragons and turned his efforts to their destruction, causing a rift between himself and his brother Jyrast.

RACES

HUMANS
Following the death of their god, humans have had to adapt to life without divine oversight. As per the SWADE rules, humans start with one free edge that they meet the requirements for.
Humans cannot take the Arcane Background (Miracles) edge, because their god is dead. Their shrines are untended and the warrior priests of Edarr are reduced to mercenaries calling themselves the Mourning Men, hiring their sword arms out to the highest bidder. Recently, the Cult of the Icosahedron has been gaining followers among humans desperate to believe in something.
King Cardell rules the lands of men from the city of Pallcliff.

Adaptable (start with one free edge).

ELVES
With the death of her lover, Castine was driven mad and her personality split. When petitioning the goddess of the elves, her clerics can never be sure if her mood will be kind, capricious or self-destructive. To reflect the schism in their faith, the elves themselves are similarly divided. Yan elves (also called sun elves) are the bright sentinels of the forest. Yin elves (shadow elves) are the skulking wretches that malinger in shaded groves. The ancestral forest of El’y’medorei is bitterly contested between the two peoples and it is rarely a good idea for strangers to get involved in their quarrel. The city of the sun elves is called Ellm Serin. The sister city of the shadow elves is called Nyth Serin.

Yin/Shadow Elves: Agile, All Thumbs, Frail, Low Light Vision, Racial Enemy: Yan/Sun Elves, Stealthy (+2 Stealth rolls).

Yan/Sun Elves: Agile, All Thumbs, Charismatic, Code of Honour, Fast Healer, Racial Enemy: Yin/Shadow Elves.

DWARVES
Beneath the lava spewing peak of Mount Krammerlug lies the kingdom of Khar. Scowling faces carved into the sides of the mountain face cast their stony gaze upon all who would enter the fortified city of the dwarves.
Few of the bearded folk travel beyond their darkened halls and although they can see without light, their eyesight is generally poor.
The noble caste are called Gold Dwarves, for the golden bands that braid their long, bushy beards. Poorer, working class folk are called Copper Dwarves, for the inferior rings that adorn their less impressive facial hair. Guards & civil servants are Silver Dwarves and the beggars & thieves beneath the notice of society are called the Ringless.

Bad Eyes (minor), Hardy, Low Light Vision, racial Enemy (Wyrmkin), Reduced Pace, Tough.

HALFLINGS

Luck, Reduced Pace, Size-1, Spirited.

GNOMES
While the dwarves still stoke their massive furnaces with prodigious quantities of wood and coal, the diminutive gnomes have unlocked the secrets of electricity. As versatile as it is dangerous, the discovery is driving a technological revolution in the underwater city of Jubil. The gnomes trawl the seabed in their submersible ships, gathering the priceless joltpearls that are driving the rapid advancement of their society.

Size-1, Curious, Calculating, McGyver, Handy (start with d4 Repair).

ORCS
The orcs live in the frozen wastes to the north and are a hardy, warlike folk who defend their icy territories with great ferocity. They are fat and blubbery, to better survive the cold and traverse the ice fields on war sleds pulled by packs of large, white wolves. Even the orcs know to avoid the Black Glacier, where demon king Mingrollath is bound within the ice, for unspeakable horrors roam that bitter plain.
Unlike goblins, who are generally reviled, orcs are grudgingly accepted by the other races, although their aggressive nature often triggers arguments.
The orcs are nomadic by nature, but have one semi-permanent trade post called Morstrand, a busy tent city atop an iceberg.

Blubber (as per Obese), Outsider (-2 Persuasion), Thin-skinned (-2 to resist Taunt), Environmental Resistance (+4 to resist cold effects/trappings), Infravision, Strong (start with d6 Strength), Tusks (Strength+d4).

WYRMKIN
Descended from the ancient bloodlines of the extinct race of dragons, the wyrmkin bear little more than a passing resemblance to the winged titans that once ruled the skies. Now, the wyrmkin govern only Parashahr, the desert continent to the south. The wyrmkin revere the dragons as though they were gods. Dwarves and wyrmkin are mortal foes, as Joraeth designed and built the weapons that annihilated the last of the dragons. The wyrmkin have developed a technique for creating dragonglass weapons and armour.
Parashahr is also called the Dragonsand. The capital city of the dragonborn is called Al-Ghalla and is built around a giant dragon graveyard.

Bite (Strength+d4), Fiery Breath (Gifted, Burst power only), Flight (6"), Scaly Hide (AV2), Draconic Heritage (Arrogant, Greedy & Racial Enemy: Dwarves).

MORE!

Some edits made to above post.

More on religion!

The wyrmkin/dragonborn have no gods. They revere the restless/vengeful spirits of the ancient dragons hunted to extinction by the dwarves.

The dwarven gods Joraeth and Jyrast did not agree on the fate of the dragons. Joraeth was set on slaughter, but his gentle brother Jyrast sought peace. The two brothers argued and went their separate ways. Joraeth remained patron of the insular/agressive dwarves, while the followers of Jyrast became the first gnomes.

The orcs worship Oggha (giant walrus) and Mor (giant seal).

Goblin trickster god called Puk.

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Please start thinking about character concepts and posting them below so we can integrate them into the setting.

One point of Conviction (see p.136 of SWADE) to each player who has their character sheet ready to go at the start of week one.

Tales from the Mud Road #1

Davernoch: Mysterious human wizard, his face is hidden behind a featureless, porcelain mask.

Xiao Song: Graceful warrior princess fleeing an arranged marriage on another continent.

Dravis: Silver Dwarf weird scientist, constantly tinkering with his father’s rifle. Bushy red beard and steely eyes.

Dane Longshore VI: Rugged smuggler, brandishes a brace of antique blackpowder pistols.

Elfie the Elf: Quite possibly the hairiest elf in the storied history of hairy elves.

A gnomish official has gone missing in the Gnarlroot Marsh whilst collecting the King’s taxes. Sheriff Truman of Knightsbridge posts a reward for the safe return of the missing bureaucrat and a motley group of heroes answer the call.

Sheriff Truman suggests the heroes book passage aboard a trade vessel captained by sun elf privateer Jonik Faehorn. However, through his smuggling connections, Dane has access to his own skiff. Whilst preparations are under way, Dravis and Elfie sink several pints along the waterfront and pick up on rumours regarding a group of swamp pirates preying on traffic along the Mud Road.

On the second day out of Knightsbridge, the heroes are ambushed by the Muddy River Marauders, who fell trees to fall across the deck of Dane's vessel. Armed ruffians flood across the makeshift bridges, whilst yet more take pot shots from the tangled banks. Dane is grievously injured and slumps over the gunwale, blood slick hands clasping the tiller. Despite his wounds, the smuggler manages to steer the skiff away from the hidden snipers, whilst the rest of the party repel boarders into the murky water.

A giant toad rises from the depths and hops into the boat! Elfie slashes the beast open and tips it over the side before the acidic slime in its stomach eats through the deck.

The party reach Eaymor’s Trading Post and disembark. A drunken yokel mistakes Xiao for a whore and grabs at her ass, the resultant slap sends him reeling. Elfie intervenes before the situation escalates, smoothing any ruffled feathers with a round of free drinks. Dane takes advantage of the distraction to renew his acquaintance with Eya, the barman’s half-goblin daughter.

The heroes learn that the missing official - a tiresome gnome called Algernon Nibbs - passed through seven days previously on his way to the village of Fourstumps. Two halfling brothers from Fourstumps are drinking at the bar and the heroes have words. Bertin Noakes is friendly enough, but his brother Halfred glares at the party with open hostility. Bertin asks the group to forgive his sibling’s conduct; he’s not been right in the head ever since a childhood accident. Dane decides that rather than forgive the hafling’s unsettling behaviour, he will instead cut their boat loose an leave them stranded in the marsh.

The next morning, the party leave the Mud Road and brave the trackless swamp in search of the route to Fourstumps. Dane magnanimously offers the Noakes brothers a ride home.

Fourstumps is a sprawling shanty town built around the severed stumps of four enormous, dead trees. The water between the stumps is thick with small fishing vessels and ramshackle huts cling to the rotting trunks like wooden fungi. The Noakes brothers depart and the heroes go to see the Mayor. The Mayor of Fourstumps is an affable, curly haired fellow called Luke Placid. He confirms that Nibbs reached Fourstumps safely and left with the taxes collected from the fisher folk, but expresses concern that the official's southward journey took him perilously close to the village of the Badwater goblins. The party arrange for Bertin Noakes to guide them to the goblin nest the next morning and spend the night resting in the Mute Crow.

Ensconced away from prying eyes, Davernoch removes his mask and reveals that he is in fact a skeletal creature animated by foulest necromancy. The rest of the heroes take this revelation in stride and are particularly impressed when the undying wizard demonstrates how his skull can be detached - yet still control the actions of its body. Davernoch parts his robe and reveals a pulsing red crystal floating within his ribcage, he explains how the stone feeds upon the soul energy of those slain by the party to hold his bones together.

Emboldened by the wizard’s confession, Xiao describes her desperate flight from the semi-mythical land of Fazia, where she was unwillingly arranged to marry a cruel warlord called Hong Lee. She joined the expedition to the Gnarlroot Marsh to avoid the agents her would-be husband has sent to track her down.

The party rest and the next morning, Bertin guides them to the village of the Badwater goblins. A ring of crude hovels encircle a sulphuric spring that stinks of rotten eggs. Every five/ten minutes, a howling geyser showers the tribe with scalding water. The party survey the village from afar. They observe that the goblins are cohabiting with an ogre, but there is no sign of Nibbs or the missing guards. The heroes decide to wait until dark before attempting to infiltrate the goblin village….

TBC

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Quest Log

PRIMARY

Find & Rescue missing gnome official in the Gnarlroot Marsh.
> Reward: Increase to Wealth die.

SECONDARY

Find & Rescue guards Owun & Davis, escorting the gnome official.
> Reward: Box of fine elvish cigars (Boost Trait: Shooting).

Defeat Captain Billy Wugg of the Muddy River Marauders and deliver his hat to Eaymor in Eaymor's Trading Post.
> Reward: TBC.

Gather two barrels of dragon snail slime and deliver to Darwen Maybrech in Knightsbridge.
> Reward: TBC.

Tales from the Mud Road #2

Yi-Tar: Human Monk raised by half-elves on the secluded island of Moonreach. There was no immersive way to introduce a new character at the point where we left the story, so we simply ret-conned that Yi-Tar had been with the group the whole time.

Darkness settles over the Gnarlroot Swamp and the heroes continue to stake out the goblin village. A pen on the outskirts of the settlement contains a half dozen bloated milk snails. The sexually aggressive bull snail is kept apart from its smaller, female counterparts. A pair of goblin sentries patrol the ring of huts, muttering among themselves in a guttural language that only Davernoch comprehends. Elfie and Yi-Tar slip into the deeper shadows beneath the stilt village. The rotten boards groan with the patter of goblin feet overhead.

Yi-Tar waits for the guards to pass, then climbs onto the raised catwalk surrounding the steaming pool in the centre of the village. He slips inside the nearest hut and finds himself in an empty storeroom. The tribe’s food stores are bare, only a basket of mouldy fungi and a few slabs of snail butter to feed the village.

Meanwhile, Elfie creeps toward the grandest of the six hovels, hoping it belongs to the village chief. Instead, he finds it occupied by the ogre. The ogre is complaining loudly that unless the goblins bring him something to eat soon, he will start eating the goblins instead. Several villagers hurry over to the storeroom…. Yi-Tar hears them approaching and quickly hides. The goblins are pre-occupied with pleasing the ogre and fail to notice him skulking in the gloom.

Back in the bushes, Dane grows concerned and whistles to signal the rest of the party. The goblins hear him and move to investigate the strange, whistling bush. Dane springs up and buries his axe in the nearest goblin’s skull. The surviving guard cries out in alarm, rousing the rest of the Badwater tribe.

Forgetting its hunger, the ogre lumbers to the defence of the village. An inch closer and the first swing of its massive club would have shattered Davernoch into a macabre jigsaw. Then Dane lops its ugly head off and that’s the end of that. Davernoch hurls spears of flame from his bony hands, setting one half of the village aflame.

Three screeching goblins charge toward Dravis. He lobs a geode at their feet. As it shatters, his surprised attackers are encased in a block of glowing crystal. Suddenly, the goblin chieftain charges out of the smoke and drives a short spear into the dwarf’s gut! Dravis is mortally wounded and starts bleeding out into the dark mud.

Speaking in goblin, Davernoch negotiates for the dwarf’s life. The goblins want to know why the party attacked their village and deny abducting the missing official. Chieftain Gesus claims that the halflings from Fourstumps have been preying on his tribe for weeks, whisking those they snatch away to a sunken cave deep in the swamp. The goblins hired the ogre to defend them from the halfing cult, but it turned out to be a violent bully. Davernoch is inclined to believe the goblin chief and persuades to rest of the party end the slaughter. Dane and Yi-Tar don’t get the memo, as they continue to throw helpless prisoners into the pen of the randy bull snail. When the party look to Bertin Noakes for answers, they find the fresh-faced halfling fisherman has disappeared. Coincidentally, so has Dane’s boat.

Chief Gesus leads the heroes to the lair of the halfling cult. Afoot, the route is long and treacherous, but fortuitously uneventful. Stalagmites and stalactites give the cave entrance the appearance of a gaping maw. A deep, swift flowing stream rushes from between the stony fangs. Yi-Tar and Elfie lash themselves together and swim into the cave. They see several short, humanoids wearing crocodile masks bustling around a makeshift jetty, to which the missing Mudlark is moored. Although the halfling’s face’s are hidden, Elfie recognises Bertin’s voice. Yi-Tar ties a rope around the dock supports to help the rest of the party against the current. Their combined weight damages the support, causing the jetty to collapse. Dane surges out of the water, raises his flintlock towards the nearest cultist and pulls the trigger. Nothing happens! His powder is wet! The rest of the cultists realise they are under attack! Elfie swings his sword at Bertin, misses and severs the rope mooring the Mudlark to the dock. The current carries the skiff out of the cave, striking Dravis on route and leaving him bumped and bruised. With the athletic grace of a dancer, Xiao uses the moving deck as a bridge to reach the jetty, landing in the midst of the cultists.

The battle is short-lived. Many of the halflings are slain, but several escape into the swamp. One of the bodies is unmasked as Halfred Noakes, but his brother got away. Davernoch hears distant chanting and the dolorous singing of a bell from deeper within the cave. The party investigate.

The tunnel terminates on the edge of a large underground lake, fed by a rushing waterfall in the far wall. A cultist strikes a large bell inscribed with arcane script, whilst more of his masked fellows secure a bedraggled gnome to a squat stone altar. His blood boiling with battle lust, Yi-Tar charges into the fight, slips on the wet rock and falls into the lake. The strong current carries him back out to the cave entrance. Xiao and Elfie take greater care as the edge toward the blood-stained altar, intent on rescuing the struggling sacrifice. The cult leader holds up a leather talisman and summons a large crocodile to keep the heroes at bay.

“I will handle this, Elfie-san!” Xiao cried, driving the scaly beast back at the point of her spear, “Save the gnome!”

The cult leader moves to stop Elfie reaching the altar, drawing a knife from his belt and flinging away his mask. It was Luke Placid, Mayor of Fourstumps! Cursing the heroes, Mayor Placid lunged forward, slashing at the Sun Elf warrior before him. The cut was shallow, but the blade was befouled with a sickly, demonic energy that poisoned Elfie’s golden flesh. Crying out in alarm as the corruption spread, Elfie drove his own blade through the cult leader’s heart.

Suddenly, the waterfall parted and a long, serpentine head snaked out to investigate Another four heads followed, each of which was attached to a large, lumpen body that splashed into the lake.

“Hydra!” Dane yelped in horror, “Someone silence that fucking bell!”

A quick glance around the cave confirms the rest of the party are busy with the cult. Dane realises he’ll have to do it himself. Loading his pistol with dry powder, the smuggler takes careful aim and fires. The shot ricochets off the side of the bell and into the bell-ringer’s skull, killing him instantly. One of the hydra’s five heads turns toward the sound of the gunshot and exhales a cone of flame over the smuggler. Dane suffers superficial burns.

The party turn their attention to the scaly monster splashing in the lake. Yi-Tar returns and launches a flurry of stunning blows at the beast. Dravis hurls a geode, entangling three of its five heads together in a single block of crystal. Dane unloads both pistols in a hailstorm of lead. Xiao hurls her spear and Davernoch summons fire to stop the creature regenerating. Elfie sits this own out. Unable to withstand the first level fury of five novice heroes, the hydra is defeated!

TBC

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Quest Log

PRIMARY

Find & Rescue missing gnome official in the Gnarlroot Marsh.
> Reward: Increase to Wealth die.

SECONDARY

Find a cure to the demonic poison in Elfie's arm.
> Reward: Elfie doesn't die!

Investigate the waterfall.
> Reward: ???

Find & Rescue guards Owun & Davis, escorting the gnome official.
> Reward: Box of fine elvish cigars (Boost Trait: Shooting).

Defeat Captain Billy Wugg of the Muddy River Marauders and deliver his hat to Eaymor in Eaymor's Trading Post.
> Reward: TBC.

Gather two barrels of dragon snail slime and deliver to Darwen Maybrech in Knightsbridge.
> Reward: TBC.

So I raised question about MAP, Two Fisted & and three attacks over on the Pinnacle forums and the consensus is you would have -2 on all 3 attacks.

www.pegforum.com/forum/savage-worlds/sav...8-map-and-two-fisted

& Luke: There is also this, I suppose.

www.pegforum.com/forum/savage-worlds/sav...r-and-ranged-weapons