# Forgotten Realms: Of Rats and Men



## Greymane (Oct 6, 2003)

Hello, folks.  I've begun DMing a seemingly generic FR campaign in the shiny new 3.5 edition rules here at my college.  This here story hour is going to be my telling of the events.  As I go along I intend to provide side-posts involving information about particularly relevant NPCs, items, etc.  I also plan to, on occasion, make a note of the relative power of the characters, so you can get a feel for how it was playing out in game terms.  But first... player character introductions.

Kella Landmunde - female human monk (lawful neutral)
Background - Kella is an almost astoundingly tall woman, reaching an impressive 6 feet in height.  Brown haired, brown eyed, and quite sullen, her dour demeanor hangs about her shoulders like a corpse from a beam.  Her precise past is unclear, but when questioned she simply says that she was raised among a group of travelling monks.  The rest of the party met her aboard the vessel bound for Sembia when their adventure started.
My comments - Kella's player is new to D&D, though from a broader perspective she's a fairly experienced roleplayer.  A long-time L5R player, she didn't have much of a feel to incorporate a kung-fu movie hero into a medieval setting.  I don't blame her - monks are hard to create a background story for.  Supposedly it will get more in depth as the plot continues, but we'll see.

Wata Chisotonuto - male human samurai (lawful neutral)
Background - Wata is a highly conscientous man, and a servant of a prominent Daimyo in far-off Kara Tur.  After a shipment of strange healing potions began to infect people across his lands, the Daimyo sent Wata and a young ninja to investigate.  Taking his family sword and a modicum of travel expenses, Wata set off to track the potions, eventually making his way to the trade vessel bound for Sembia, where he met the rest of the party.
My comments - Despite the name, Wata has proven to be one of the best roleplayed characters, which is more a testament of the player than the character.  Not a compelling back-story, but it suffices.

Dria Serenax - female human cleric of Chauntea (neutral good)
Background - Dria has been travelling to spread the joy of Chauntea for years, and is easily one of the oldest members of the party.  Her travels have been less than successful of late, however, and she has begun to return to her home temple in Vilhon Reach.  Her return is, of course, interrupted.
My comments - Dria's probably the character that has kept the party alive through the first three sessions we've had.  It's not too often her player decides to interfere with the other party members' decisions, but when she does, they listen.

Magnus Derrimoor - male human half-elven sorceror (lawful evil)
Background - Magnus was once a very powerful sorceror, whose name was once feared in the region of Thesk.  A rival wizard, however, concocted a means of draining him of the greater extent of his power, and managed to steal Magnus's power.  The wizard, a fellow named Valmar, proceeded to relocate his base of operations to Turmish, while Magnus recovered from his near-death ordeal.  After recovering his health, but little of his power, Magnus swore and angry oath to track Valmar down, and exact the bloodiest kind of vengeance he could come up with.  To that end, he began following the trail of Valmar, leading him to the trade vessel on which the party meets.
My comments - Magnus is played by the only fellow in the group at all interested in playing evil characters.  Though he is not a master of the practice, he's by no means bad at it either, so he makes for a nice change from the rest of the party.  Not the best conversationalist, though.

Berthold Stantley Johnson - male goblin rogue/wizard (chaotic good)
Background - As a very young child, Berthold was a goblin among a tribe inhabiting some cave off on the Swordcoast.  When a group of heroes arrived and began to slaughter the entirety of his tribe, he quite sensibly cowered beneath a table.  The wizard of the party found him, and, taking an odd liking to the child goblin, took Berthold along.  The wizard taught Berthold how to read and write, and found a surprisingly apt student in the goblin.  Berthold's talents also extended to things mechanical, and was quickly ingratiating himself to the party of adventurers by fixing their tools and weapons, and generally proving to be a helpful little bugger.  The party eventually retired, however, and Berthold found himself without a master, a home, or a job.  Setting off on the road, he picked up a practical education in seige weapons, working his way through militias and armies, until eventually ending up in Sembia.  He found work on a trade vessel which oddly transported siege weapons among other goods.
My comments - Berthold's player has an odd fondness for monsters-turned-heroes.  His last character was a full orc fighter who stayed in his armor at all times to keep from scaring the humans.  It adds quite a bit of spice to the game, and can make for some funny interactions.  Otherwise, Berthold's player is the single most experienced player of the bunch, and coincedentally has very good sense when it comes to the challenges I toss around.  This doesn't mean he manages to escape 'em all, just some of them.

Yes indeeeed.  There you have the original party of this adventure.  My next post - amazingly - will be the actual story beginning.


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