Skip to content

Icewind Dale narrative play through - The Chosen of Auril

alice_ashpoolalice_ashpool Member Posts: 261
Icewind Dale EE – The Chosen of Auril

This is a thread for my narrative gaming rambling because I like that sort of thing. The Chosen of Auril is a narrative play through of a group of unlikely and unsavory companions, thrown together by chance.

Run info:
Theme: Priestess of Auril Protagonist – Evil Play-though
No reload -> Minimal Reload (meaning if I die I will continue but will play "no-reload" style)
Mods: A Frosty Journey the Icewind Dale Kitpack
Difficulty: Core
Self-imposed Rules: Narrative, minimal rest, no resting outside of Inns/NPC offers, “1 rest per dungeon level” or thereabouts.


Lysara
Lysara pushed open the doors to the tavern, the pleasure of Auril’s kiss giving way to soft warmth, decadent and weak. She didn’t close the door. There was little question of what she was. The six-pointed snowflake on her shield. The clothes all of ice blue. No one but a priestess of the Frostmaiden would dress as such. The patrons in the bar studiously kept their eyes on their drinks. She looked around, seeing more armed individuals than one would expect. Not seeing her quarry, she and her companion, Galatea, took an empty seat at an almost empty table.

F9NVifR.png

Lysara is a Neutral Evil Cleric of Auril – She serves the Cold Goddess out of a mixture of true belief, fear, respect, and a desire for power. She has been tasked to hunt down a fellow Neophyte Priestess of Auril who has betrayed their goddess, the completion of which will see her raised to full priestess. The traitorous Lysan was last seen in Easthaven.

Mace +
Sling +


Galatea
Galatea entered the open doors of the tavern, one step behind the stuck-up almost priestess she was charged with guarding. This was to be her last task before the Aurilian Flamehunters would see her a full member – it could not come soon enough. She shifted her bow and sat down at the table with Lysara, hoping she wouldn’t be on the receiving end of another theological lecture.

iTuK7Gn.png

Galatea is a Lawful Evil Wizard Slayer, the half-elf daughter of a priestess of Auril. Her father was apparently a snow elf from the High Ice, though she never knew him. She has trained hard to join the Flamehunters, a group of Aurilites dedicated to hunting down fire-wielding mages.

Longbow ++
Katana +
Single Weapon style +


Aisling
Aisling groaned inwardly as the latest group of patrons didn’t close the door. Cold wind did not mix with the clothes she was wearing. Whose bright idea was it to come north? Make your fortune in the north then return to Luskan famous and rich? Ha, great plan Aisling, like that was ever going to happen. Singing to these peasants and mercenaries was so below her it wasn’t even funny. She made a snap decision, if there was no improvement within the week she was going back to Luskan and actual civilized people. Satisfied, she returned to her lute.

VfqtcWQ.png

Aisling is a Neutral Evil Bard. She came to the ten-towns due to the difficulty in finding work in Luskan and the rather naïve thought that she could “get rich and famous” on the bleak frontier. She is self-centered, greedy, and highly intelligent, but mostly she wants to be famous by any means necessary.

Shortbow +
Dagger +


Copperfingers
Copperfingers’ eyes darted to the door. Blasted Aurelites. He had taken up position near the kitchen door, with a good view of the main door and his back to a wall. He could load his crossbow in just a second, fire, and be away before anyone would know what happened. The last lot of bounty hunters had found that out the hard way. Hopefully now, with all these damn “adventurers” showing up he could blend in for a while, relax and unwind, so to speak.

RdJkQa4.png

Copperfingers is a Chaotic Evil Halfling Bountyhunter. He has fled to the Ten-towns after being falsely accused of doing heinous crimes which he definitely and one hundred percent did not do. He is highly skilled in making elaborate and very painful traps which he will assure you is purely an academic interest with no nefarious use what-so-ever.

Crossbow +
Shortsword +


Kaddim
Kaddim growled as the two women sat down at his table, hand shifting to his hammer, then relaxing as he noticed the six-pointed snowflake. Aurilites. He’d be stupid to cross the ice-witches. Instead he concentrated on his drink, nothing for a half-orc to do in this town but drink bad beer and eat bad fish.

A0pOuB7.png

Kaddim is a Neutral Evil Half-orc Berserker. He survives as a caravan guard-for-hire, doing the journey between the Ten-towns and Luskan. There haven’t been any caravans through recently though, and without work and nothing to do but drink he is running out of money fast.

Hammer ++
Two weapon style ++


Kraepelin
Kraepelin kicked open the tavern doors in his mind, and everyone inside began to clap. Now that’s an entrance! Unfortunately, the doors were already open, so he simply stepped inside. He scanned the crowd of depressing faces, lighting on an armored Half-orc. “You, orc-man! You look like you are in need of work, and I am an equal opportunity employer of some repute who pays 5% more than the going rate. I require muscle as I have been commissioned to solve various issues, problems and vexations and so on in this delightful village.” He gestures vaguely.

cojQGZS.png

Kraepelin is a Chaotic Evil Sorceror. His ego and delusions are much bigger than his actual ability. His mediocre sorcery is granted by some distant blood of a less than impressive White Dragon. He is highly volatile and is mostly in the Ten-towns to practice turning people into ice-sculptures, which he can then blame on the weather; all while masquerading as a problem solver. A fool proof plan.

Spells: Shield, Grease
Dagger +


Lysara and Galatea, not finding Lysan, booked a room in the Snowdrift Inn, opening all the windows. They planed to move up the mountains in the morning; one of the villagers here claimed to have seen a priestess dressed similarly to Lysara, heading east.

Aisling wandered around the town finding a man singing a strange song. New songs could fetch good money in Luskan so she attempted to learn what was going on. Some back and forth between a Nymph and the man turned up some new music. She felt pleased – lots gained for nothing offered. But still, she had to get out of this town.

Copperfingers stole everything not bolted down and shared a bottle with an old drunk in the hope there would be something to steal once he passed out.

Kaddim accompanied Kraepelin to the “problem,” a wolf in a storeroom. He dispatched it in exchange for half the reward while Kraepelin waited outside. Kraepelin grumbled about having to share so much, but did not attempt to turn him into an ice-statue just yet. Instead he offered him another “job” – the mayor of the town was offering money for chasing down a missing caravan shipment and Kraepelin was looking to “put together” a “team” of “specialists.” Resigned, Kaddim began to look for anyone else willing to go after the caravan for some cold hard gold.

--

The cold outside was refreshing, crisp and filled with Auril’s wisdom. Galatea was by her side as they walked out of the village following their only lead. Ahead a strange group – a half-orc, a halfling, a bard of some sort and an overdressed man in furs. They had clearly been beset by gobins if the cooling corpses were anything to go by.

“Hello Hello welcome ladies, apologies and greetings. A priestess of Auril? What auspicious day indeed, blessings of the Frostmaiden on you. My group of recently hired yet eminently competent retainers have been ourselves commissioned by the de-facto local lord, one Hrothgar, to trace a missing shipment, up into the pass to the east. Do say that you are also traveling in that direction and we might have your company?” Kraepelin goes on like this for some time.

Lysara looked at each in turn – No band of fearful peasants, these could be useful, and their leader at least showed proper respect to the Cold Goddess. After some negotiation the two set off with the four up into the peaks above Easthaven.

The cave they were looking for did not contain Lysan, but there were signs that she had been here, along with many Orcs, and the missing shipment the others searched for. They were forced to fight. Galatea was impressed with the competence of their temporary companions – except for Kraepelin who did nothing but stand around and give orders. She could smell the taint of magic in him, but cold. There were no flames within him. She felt she could work with this.

Her thoughts were confirmed when, as they faced off against an ogre, he conjured a protective shield around himself before hiding behind everyone. The surprise was Aisling. Galatea had written her off as a narcissistic arrowslinger, too pretty and full of herself to be worth her time. Until she unleashed a Sleep spell that is. Galatea almost put an arrow in her back then and there, but Lysara held her back, this wasn’t what they were here for.

Nm9ttU6.png

Returning to Easthaven Lysara changed plans. An expedition was traveling to Kuldahar, news had reached Easthaven about some troubles – and where there was trouble in the north there would be Auril.

--

Kaddim gestured for beer. If he was reduced to killing orcs to get by, he was going to spend the pay on something worthwhile: getting drunk. But it was not to be, there was some sort of “rodent infestation” in the cellar and no beer to be had. Growling he took the stairs two at a time and smashed the rodents - beetles actually, and poured himself a mug of ale. Kraepelin, the insufferable mage, wanted to hire him to join up with the expedition to Kuldahar. There was something off about him, but pay was pay. He finished his ale and poured another. Looks like it was time to leave this town.

Galatea sat on the snow, unstrung bow across her lap, looking out across the lake. Where Lysara went, so did she, until this quest was complete and she gained the appointment she craved.

Copperfingers put the finishing touches on a very unpleasant trap – whoever sprung this one would get quite the surprise. Time to move on he thought, there was an expedition setting off for Kuldahar tomorrow and there was security in numbers for someone like him.

Aisling took up her usual place in the Winter’s Cradle, but singing for a few coppers now felt passe after their journey into the orc cave. And the pay – she made more from that than she had in weeks of playing and singing. The others had been strange. A priestess of a Goddess she had been taught to fear, and the bow wielding killer who traveled with her. A halfling who gave her the creeps just to look at. A jaded half-orc who unleashed a savage rage without enjoyment. She looked over and saw him drinking alone. And the sorcerer of some sort – with considerable effort she could use a bit of magic herself, picked it up on the road, but he was the real thing, an innate channeler – and an asshole. It was decided, she was going to Kuldahar with this expedition. An opportunity like this only comes around once in a lifetime, and she was going to take it, and drink it dry.


energisedcamelSelerelAdam_en_tiumIseweinStummvonBordwehrAerakarArviaXDarkStrikerXZaghoul

Comments

  • energisedcamelenergisedcamel Member Posts: 110
    I'm a sucker for narrative playthroughs, so I'm looking forward to this! I really like the theme of the group, and as a serial goody-two-shoes, I'm intrigued to see how you'll resolve the whole Aurilites vs. Kuldahar thing.
    Adam_en_tiumIseweinalice_ashpoolZaghoul
  • AndreSirkoAndreSirko Member Posts: 2
    Will this be continued?
Sign In or Register to comment.