Victoria and Second Chances
atcDave
Member Posts: 2,386
I’m back with another crew getting ready to adventure in the frozen North. I’ll have a little more in an endnote, so let’s meet the team!
*****
This story starts with Victoria d’Lance. She was born to a Baron from outside of Waterdeep. As the second born, Victoria always knew she’d never be heir to anything. So she drove herself hard to prove her worth as a Warrior and bring honor to her family name. To prove worthy of an important job in her father’s, and someday her sister’s, military. Just before turning 20 she traveled to the city (Waterdeep) to complete her training as a Paladin of Tyr. She quickly developed a talent and a passion for battling and destroying Undead of all sorts. She was also proving to be a good leader of troops and had won much respect in just a few short years.
But then tragedy struck. She received word from home that raiders had struck her dad’s castle killing her parents and older sister; and that per her younger brother’s order she was banished from home. Victoria’s world was broken. What happened? Banished? What for? She retreated into seclusion within the Temple of Tyr. After a few years she tried to return to her duties and public life, when further word came that the d’Lance family holding had been over-run by Orcish hordes and her brother slain… there was no longer any home at all. And there would never be answers. Victoria almost disappeared forever. Even within the Temple, she was so rarely seen, she was jokingly referred to as “the Ghost”. Occasionally Victoria would show up unannounced and spend an afternoon helping train new warriors on the Temple grounds or at the nearby Garrison. But she was hardly her old self; looking thin and pale and devoid of humor. Then she would be overcome by grief and disappear again for weeks. This continued for over a decade.
About 5 years ago the “Ghost sightings” became more frequent. Victoria took up regular service jobs within the Temple, doing the work of new acolytes. And she not only returned to training new warriors but resumed her own work out regimen. She began to look healthier, and to everyone’s shock she became friendlier. There were occasional hints of a smile. And once she laughed, “the Ghost” was never mentioned again.
As Victoria re-engaged with life, those who remembered her from 20 years ago noticed a dramatic change. She was not as driven or competitive as the old Victoria, but she was more at peace with herself and those around her. She was leaner too, less overpowering but more graceful… in several senses of those words. Where the old Victoria earned respect, the new Victoria made friends.
The biggest change came two years ago when she was assigned to help a City security expert prepare for some diplomatic shindig, she became personally involved with the security man. The man was known as Hastings and he had made a career of keeping the officials of Waterdeep and their guests safe. And for the first time in her life, Victoria was smitten.
From there, Victoria’s circle of friends grew quickly and deeply. She became close friends with a city guardsman who was taking clerical training at the Temple of Tyr, a Dwarf blacksmith who decided he wanted to train as a Warrior, and a halfling who wanted to make a difference in Faerun. And she became very close to Hastings’ daughter Julya who wanted to become a cleric of Lathander. Victoria could at least help with the martial part of her training…
A month ago, one of the Deacons of the Temple came to Victoria with a vision he’d had. An old warrior in the faith named Hrothgar had been praying for help with what seemed to be trouble brewing in Icewind Dale. Could Victoria find a team to send up north? Better than that, Victoria and Hastings agreed, it was time for them to undertake a big adventure together. So they gathered their friends and family… and pledged their lives to each other. Then asked for volunteers to join them for a mission to the unknown.
Victoria, level 4 LG Undead Hunter.
18/05 – 18 – 16 – 10 – 15 – 18
Victoria comes from serious wealth and will start the game with a suit of full plate armor and a single +1 long sword.
John Hastings was born into extreme poverty 45 years ago, raised by a single Dad after his mom died in childbirth. His dad worked hard as a laborer, which meant he was not around much and made very little. So from a young age Hastings took to thieving to get what he wanted. He became reasonably good at it, but this was in strong conflict with what his Dad was teaching him. Or trying to teach him. The value of honest work, hard earned gain, pride in your integrity. His Dad was killed in a work accident when Hastings was barely 20. And that’s when the Thieves Guild came calling. For the first time in his young life, Hastings had to face the consequences of his life decisions. He would be a slave to the Guild demands and keep little of what he took. The brutal revelation that his Dad had always been right forced him to reevaluate his entire life in a matter of minutes. And young Hastings marched himself over to the nearest Garrison building and offered his services as a security expert.
The guards initially laughed. But he was given some tasks, a few thefts to investigate and some procedures to improve. And Hastings proved to be very good at those tasks. Brilliantly good even, he had a knack for solving problems and finding holes in security systems. Within five years his life was better than he ever imagined. He had a wife, an adorable little girl and was earning decent money in a respectable career. He became “the Man” for tough security problems within Waterdeep. About a decade ago his wife died after a brief illness. Hastings was devastated, but with a young daughter at home there was no time to grieve. This may have been a blessing, certainly the daughter, Julya was a blessing in his life. And she drove him to continue working and earning, grief or not.
Over the years of his career, Hastings had developed a certain interest in the complexities and challenges that magic brought to his work. The more he studied all the issues of magic in security, the more broadly he learned about all sorts of magic. And he developed a particular interest in all things Arcane.
Two years ago several major changes shook his life. It started with Victoria. They met when their jobs brought them together. She was like water to a parched soul. It became obvious she understood deep grief, and she was wise about knowing what to say and when to just keep quiet. She helped Hastings enjoy life again. She bonded with Julya too, and Hastings loved her all the more for that.
Julya was now of the age where she was making her own career decisions, and with Victoria’s help she embraced her faith, in Lathander and chose to become a cleric. This big change led to Hastings making his own decision, he’d been successful enough he could afford school for both Julya and himself. So Hastings started training as a magic-user.
The former thief was now a mage. His daughter was a Dawnbringer of Lathander. And he was married to a Paladin. Life is full of unexpected blessings.
Hastings, long retired NG level 4 thief. Newly trained level 1 mage.
11 – 18 – 15 – 18 – 11 – 13
Pyrite Steelsmith comes from a family of smiths. No duh, right? Its literally true. Smithing is in his blood. And Pyrite has made quite a name for himself (!). People expect great things from a Dwarven blacksmith anyway; so Pyrite, like his father before him has always taken great pride in his ability to make iron do what he wants it to. He came to Waterdeep years ago to capitalize on the wealthy City’s demand for premium metal work. And it has made him wealthy, beyond what he ever dreamed of.
Which all suits him well enough. Pyrite has a taste for the finer things in life. Although perhaps he’s not so greedy like some of his kind are thought to be. He appreciates quality, and a clean home, a soft bed, a warm bath and fine clothes. He’s also made many friends in Waterdeep whom he treasures even more. Being in demand professionally may help, but he faces life with good humor and a jovial heart.
But Pyrite has kept quiet about a very personal desire. He fears others will think it juvenile or vapid. Pyrite wants to be a great hero and a great warrior. He’s long dreamed of using the many beautiful weapons he’s crafted, but keeps quiet about it. A friend has helped motivate him to put his dreams into action. Going back nearly a decade now, Pyrite’s shop has had occasional visitations from the “Ghost” from the nearby Temple of Tyr. Back then, Victoria was so pale. Not exactly frail looking, but always tired and worn… down hearted in the most profound way imaginable. But she was drawn to his shop by her love of fine weaponry. She loved handling knives, hammers and axes. Although as a warrior, Victoria was a woman of swords. Pyrite was always worried for the well being of his occasional visitor, but he struck up a friendship with her over the weapons.
About five years ago Victoria started looking healthier. More energy, more color in her face, even an occasional smile. And she mentioned she was training again at the Temple; in both senses, as a student and as a drill master. Of course two years ago Victoria really changed; it was like Pyrite had witnessed a load of raw ore transformed into a glorious weapon of power and purpose.
Pyrite knew he needed to make this change too. It was time to follow his dream. He wanted to train as a proper Dwarf, so he enrolled at a Dwarven Heritage school right in the city. He was pleased to qualify for the toughest program they offered, that for the “Dwarven Defender”. A challenging course! But Pyrite loved it as he loved his weapons. And he made a point of joining open sparring over at the garrison whenever he saw Victoria was training there.
Surprising now, over the last few years, Pyrite has found much of his growing social circle has come from the one-time “Ghost”. He even befriended that old guardsman Werner Smyth. The man is as famous for his honesty and integrity as he is for his complete lack of humor. But Pyrite is up for the challenge! And he has a theory, that if he repeats the “no relation” gag enough times, Werner will eventually HAVE to laugh!
For now though, Victoria and her man have thrown down a challenge. Some sort of trouble is brewing in the far North and they mean to take a team up there to investigate. Pyrite is ready! Although he thinks he heard Werner grumble something about “the Dwarf will quit first night he misses his bath…” Hah! I’ll show ‘em all!
Pyrite Steelsmith. LG Level 1 Dwarven Defender.
18/00 – 15 – 18 – 11 – 13 – 13
Werner Smyth has always been a guardsman. Most observers would say he was clearly made for the job. Starting with a strong desire to see peace and order in his home community. He truly wants life to go well for all those around him. And he feels a burning anger towards those who would take advantage, or harm one of his neighbors in any way. In short, Werner makes an excellent neighbor and the best sort of city guardsman. For the last decade or so he’s been the local area Guard Captain; that’s the part of town with the Temple of Tyr, a Dwarven fighting school, a large local garrison, the Blacksmithy of Pyrite Steelsmith and Geoffry’s General Store.
But deep down Werner is a little disappointed with himself. All his life, Werner has loved studying tactics, military operations and the history of Faerun’s Grand Military Campaigns. As a young man, he choose the Guard over the military because it seemed like a faster way to get into uniform and have some impact on keeping the peace. But he’s come to strongly feel that was a mistake. The thing about the City Guard is, its all oriented towards avoiding trouble and conflict. No doubt, Werner sees this as a noble end, which is why he’s done it and been good at it. But it has not satisfied his strong desire to be a part of something more important. To defeat some great evil, or be a part of an Army marching out. Something to really show his willingness to live, and give his life for his faith and his people.
A couple years ago, there was a violent gang that tried to exert control over several neighborhoods in his jurisdiction. It shamed Werner to have to get help from outside the Guard, but truly that’s not what they’re trained for. The Temple of Tyr provided a small body of troops that made all the difference in putting down these troublemakers. And Werner was a little dazzled by one of the Sergeants. Victoria is a spectacular and forceful woman resplendent in richly blued plate armor. Wow. He also found she was easy to befriend, and a thoroughly capable professional. And this inspired him, motivated him to devote himself completely to his faith. Werner started training as a Cleric of Tyr.
To his mild surprise, this has also led to meeting a much higher ranking Guard officer. A top specialist named Hastings whom he’d heard of but never met, who is apparently very close to Victoria. Werner supposes this means he’s moved his life into a much higher orbit.
This has been his best decision, even if it has come late in life. Werner knows he’s seen as cold and inflexible. He thinks he’s not really that, but he is comfortable with order and discipline. And that has made life in this church ideal for him. To his surprise, its also led to more friendships. The Paladin Victoria is more relaxed and easy going than he ever expected from her kind. He’s also found himself making friends with Pyrite and Geoffry who seem to be in her circle. Although if that Dwarf tells his “no relation” joke one more time he may have to smack him.
Werner has been honored, that now with his training complete, Victoria sought him out to be a part of a team she is forming to journey north and seek out danger in Icewind Dale. It would seem he will get to be a part of something big after all! Cleric training was his best decision ever.
Werner Smyth. LG level 2 Fighter. Level 1 Cleric of Tyr.
17 – 11 – 17 – 13 – 18 – 12
Geoffry Broketoes is a professional merchant. He grew up with many Halflings in a village not too far from Waterdeep, but as a young man chose to move to the big city and strike it rich. That was so long ago… Geoffry worked hard learning the retail business and nearly 50 years ago opened his own shop, a General Store not too far from the Temple of Tyr. He was married and had three children, a highlight of his life. But a few years back his wife left him a widower. And their kids are all grown and have moved into their careers, none are even here in Waterdeep anymore. For almost a decade now Geoffry has run his shop by himself. He feels the years. His knees hurt all the time. Other aches and pains are less, some are more. In his youth he’d dreamed of being a great hero among his people. He’s not even sure who his people are anymore. And at 80 years old its obvious that’s passed him by.
He’s been in Waterdeep a long time and there aren’t a lot of Halflings around. A few, but not really friends. He’s friendly with his customers, but few of them know him well. A lot of his most regular customers come from the Temple. And one of the Paladins, Victoria has become a good friend these last couple years. She’s has a lot of her own grief and is a good listener.
A little over a year ago he’d gotten word that his parents had passed away, within a few days of each other. Geoffry traveled back to the little Halfling village to settle their affairs. Cleaning out their home and disposing of their bare belongings was a profoundly melancholy job. But in their bedroom he found something strange; a small, well made chest. With a lock. Finding a key didn’t take long, there wasn’t much left unturned at that point. He opened it to find five securely packed glass vials labeled “Longevity”. ? Huh. These are expensive. Really, very expensive. Geoffry couldn’t afford them, maybe one if he got a good price. What were his parents thinking? Were they going to use them themselves? Then why were there an odd number? Obviously work was done for the day, he’d need to think on this.
The next day, it really wasn’t that hard of a decision, Geoffry drank all five. Arthritis was gone! His hair browned up! Still a little chubby. Geoffry would be a warrior and a great hero!
Geoffry hurried home to talk to his friend Victoria about how to proceed. It took some time to convince her he was Geoffry. And she responded cautiously to his request. He would need to get back in shape (he appreciated the generous assumption he’d ever been in shape). She could help him with that part, she was pretty good at conditioning and physical drill. But she was pretty sure he would want to fight in a way very different from what she was trained in. Most Halflings used slings? Geoffry didn’t care about that, and he accepted that he would not go toe to toe with a big warrior like her. Maybe he could learn a bow?
So that was what he did. He focused on Short Bow, and a Short Sword because it was explained to him that sometimes a warrior has to fight up close. He lost some weight too. Geoffry knows he’s now lighter and stronger than he’s ever been as an adult. Which is how he became a part of Victoria’s little trip to Icewind Dale. But he’s pretty sure Werner still doesn’t believe that he’s really Geoffry.
Geoffry. NG Halfling level 1 Fighter.
13 – 17 – 17 – 13 – 11 – 12
Julya Hastings is the only child of John Hastings. Her mother passed when she was 10, so much of her formative years were just her and her father. She dealt with more grief than a child ought to, although her father always made sure she knew she was wanted and loved. But it was still difficult, especially since he worked so much. Julya understood it was necessary pretty early on, everything costs money. And she lived in a nice home, wore good clothes, ate well and went to a good school. Even so, she was often lonely. Perhaps it was because of her grief, or perhaps a headstrong nature, but Julya often struggled with friendships. This maybe made things harder than they needed to be.
About two years ago Father started bringing a “work associate” around. He really introduced her that way! It wasn’t hard to see he had feelings for the tall blonde woman. In some ways the timing couldn’t have been better. Julya was only just at the point she could accept her father “moving on”. And they were so shy and awkward together at first it was hard not to laugh. And that became the other part that worked out well. Julya found she could relate to this older, sometimes awkward woman in certain ways. It also helped that Victoria had so much of her own grief. Julya found they could connect to each other over that.
In other ways, that proved important, the new woman was the opposite of awkward. She helped Julya put her thoughts into words about what she wanted and how to proceed. That ultimately led to cleric training at the Temple of Lathander, but Victoria was a huge help every step of the way in getting there.
Training proved to be a huge challenge for Julya. Not the studies, she was always a good student. And Victoria helped with some of her martial training, really helped her meet all the physical demands. But fitting in with classmates and deferring to her superiors did not come easily at all. Julya is always sure of what *she* should be doing, it just doesn’t always match with what she’s been told. After two years of training she was sure she didn’t have a single friend or the support of any of her teachers. Her father and Victoria were always there for her though. She really feared she was about to be kicked from the program several times, but she did graduate a couple weeks ago! One of her instructors made a strange comment about her being someone else’s problem now. Just after that, her father and Victoria married, and announced an expedition to check up on trouble in the far North. Julya was informed she was coming along because they needed a healer. She suspects her instructor already knew that.
A part of Julya wanted to resent their meddling in her adult life! But she was happy to feel wanted somewhere. Both personally and professionally. This should be a good thing!
Julya. Level 1 LG Cleric of Lathander.
11 – 12 – 15 – 13 – 17 – 14
*****
A few comments before I get going.
It is consistent for this themed party that three of the characters already have some class experience. Easy enough to do with EEKeeper. Victoria has the most experience at 12000, we’ll say she was reasonably active for a few years as a young Paladin. And even has a little more experience after coming out of her funk. And of course her background pretty much ensures she has some decent equipment.
Hastings’ thief experience mostly comes from before he was 20, although he maybe gained a little more in his security position. Now he’s starting as a true 1st level mage. That does mean we won’t have a thief until he makes 5th level in Mage, and we’ll never have a very good thief on this team! Call it an intentional handicap. Also, I find it annoying that the game insists on using the Rogue avatar for him. Well, thanks to EEKeeper I can insist on the Mage avatar.
Werner may be 50, but as a Guardsman he wasn’t really in an active combat job. Further, the PnP way of things would have most guardsmen as 0-level; 2-7 hit points, 20 Thac0 and no weapon specialization. To me, that’s what I call normal. Werner was extra dedicated to his job and attained 2nd level fighter. That makes him a Sergeant type character, which for no particular reason I titled “Guard Captain”. That’s consistent with observing most of the World’s police forces do not actually follow military ranking (nor are they consistent with each other! You simply cannot compare law enforcement ranks to military ranks; or really, anybody’s ranks to anybody else’s, they rarely mean the same thing). Obviously as a Cleric of Tyr he’ll unlock those fighter levels very quickly. But with Deities of Faerun mod installed he should gain attack brackets like a fighter anyway. All he really gains for his time as a fighter is a few hit points (actually I believe he’ll have d10 hit dice a Cleric of Tyr, so he’ll gain exactly TWO hit points from his constitution bonus!) and some extra weapon proficiencies. Its one of those things that will matter more for story and role playing than it will in game mechanics.
I’ll also mention that although Victoria is a designed character, the other five were all rolled. I did point shift to make them all competent in their jobs! But I did not add a single point to any of their totals. Pyrite came out VERY well (18/00 Strength!) while Geoffry and Julya are pretty mediocre.
This is mostly the same game build I used on my previous playthrough (see “Isabelle and the Questionable School“) except I have now added Deities of Faerun. I didn’t fix the glitch I encountered previously but I did figure out how to live with it. The problem was a recommended adjacent mod, “Dual into Kit”. That is exactly what makes a character like Werner possible. But it was causing an odd glitch that crashed that crashed the game when creating a multi-class F/M/T. Only in Icewind Dale, it did not effect Baldur’s Gate. Very strange. But the work around is just to keep a nerfed sort of build on my drive too, that doesn’t include the “Dual into Kit” mod. I can create characters with the nerfed build, then play with the full build. Problem solved. A little embarrassing how long it took me to sort all that out!
And we’re off!
*****
This story starts with Victoria d’Lance. She was born to a Baron from outside of Waterdeep. As the second born, Victoria always knew she’d never be heir to anything. So she drove herself hard to prove her worth as a Warrior and bring honor to her family name. To prove worthy of an important job in her father’s, and someday her sister’s, military. Just before turning 20 she traveled to the city (Waterdeep) to complete her training as a Paladin of Tyr. She quickly developed a talent and a passion for battling and destroying Undead of all sorts. She was also proving to be a good leader of troops and had won much respect in just a few short years.
But then tragedy struck. She received word from home that raiders had struck her dad’s castle killing her parents and older sister; and that per her younger brother’s order she was banished from home. Victoria’s world was broken. What happened? Banished? What for? She retreated into seclusion within the Temple of Tyr. After a few years she tried to return to her duties and public life, when further word came that the d’Lance family holding had been over-run by Orcish hordes and her brother slain… there was no longer any home at all. And there would never be answers. Victoria almost disappeared forever. Even within the Temple, she was so rarely seen, she was jokingly referred to as “the Ghost”. Occasionally Victoria would show up unannounced and spend an afternoon helping train new warriors on the Temple grounds or at the nearby Garrison. But she was hardly her old self; looking thin and pale and devoid of humor. Then she would be overcome by grief and disappear again for weeks. This continued for over a decade.
About 5 years ago the “Ghost sightings” became more frequent. Victoria took up regular service jobs within the Temple, doing the work of new acolytes. And she not only returned to training new warriors but resumed her own work out regimen. She began to look healthier, and to everyone’s shock she became friendlier. There were occasional hints of a smile. And once she laughed, “the Ghost” was never mentioned again.
As Victoria re-engaged with life, those who remembered her from 20 years ago noticed a dramatic change. She was not as driven or competitive as the old Victoria, but she was more at peace with herself and those around her. She was leaner too, less overpowering but more graceful… in several senses of those words. Where the old Victoria earned respect, the new Victoria made friends.
The biggest change came two years ago when she was assigned to help a City security expert prepare for some diplomatic shindig, she became personally involved with the security man. The man was known as Hastings and he had made a career of keeping the officials of Waterdeep and their guests safe. And for the first time in her life, Victoria was smitten.
From there, Victoria’s circle of friends grew quickly and deeply. She became close friends with a city guardsman who was taking clerical training at the Temple of Tyr, a Dwarf blacksmith who decided he wanted to train as a Warrior, and a halfling who wanted to make a difference in Faerun. And she became very close to Hastings’ daughter Julya who wanted to become a cleric of Lathander. Victoria could at least help with the martial part of her training…
A month ago, one of the Deacons of the Temple came to Victoria with a vision he’d had. An old warrior in the faith named Hrothgar had been praying for help with what seemed to be trouble brewing in Icewind Dale. Could Victoria find a team to send up north? Better than that, Victoria and Hastings agreed, it was time for them to undertake a big adventure together. So they gathered their friends and family… and pledged their lives to each other. Then asked for volunteers to join them for a mission to the unknown.
Victoria, level 4 LG Undead Hunter.
18/05 – 18 – 16 – 10 – 15 – 18
Victoria comes from serious wealth and will start the game with a suit of full plate armor and a single +1 long sword.
John Hastings was born into extreme poverty 45 years ago, raised by a single Dad after his mom died in childbirth. His dad worked hard as a laborer, which meant he was not around much and made very little. So from a young age Hastings took to thieving to get what he wanted. He became reasonably good at it, but this was in strong conflict with what his Dad was teaching him. Or trying to teach him. The value of honest work, hard earned gain, pride in your integrity. His Dad was killed in a work accident when Hastings was barely 20. And that’s when the Thieves Guild came calling. For the first time in his young life, Hastings had to face the consequences of his life decisions. He would be a slave to the Guild demands and keep little of what he took. The brutal revelation that his Dad had always been right forced him to reevaluate his entire life in a matter of minutes. And young Hastings marched himself over to the nearest Garrison building and offered his services as a security expert.
The guards initially laughed. But he was given some tasks, a few thefts to investigate and some procedures to improve. And Hastings proved to be very good at those tasks. Brilliantly good even, he had a knack for solving problems and finding holes in security systems. Within five years his life was better than he ever imagined. He had a wife, an adorable little girl and was earning decent money in a respectable career. He became “the Man” for tough security problems within Waterdeep. About a decade ago his wife died after a brief illness. Hastings was devastated, but with a young daughter at home there was no time to grieve. This may have been a blessing, certainly the daughter, Julya was a blessing in his life. And she drove him to continue working and earning, grief or not.
Over the years of his career, Hastings had developed a certain interest in the complexities and challenges that magic brought to his work. The more he studied all the issues of magic in security, the more broadly he learned about all sorts of magic. And he developed a particular interest in all things Arcane.
Two years ago several major changes shook his life. It started with Victoria. They met when their jobs brought them together. She was like water to a parched soul. It became obvious she understood deep grief, and she was wise about knowing what to say and when to just keep quiet. She helped Hastings enjoy life again. She bonded with Julya too, and Hastings loved her all the more for that.
Julya was now of the age where she was making her own career decisions, and with Victoria’s help she embraced her faith, in Lathander and chose to become a cleric. This big change led to Hastings making his own decision, he’d been successful enough he could afford school for both Julya and himself. So Hastings started training as a magic-user.
The former thief was now a mage. His daughter was a Dawnbringer of Lathander. And he was married to a Paladin. Life is full of unexpected blessings.
Hastings, long retired NG level 4 thief. Newly trained level 1 mage.
11 – 18 – 15 – 18 – 11 – 13
Pyrite Steelsmith comes from a family of smiths. No duh, right? Its literally true. Smithing is in his blood. And Pyrite has made quite a name for himself (!). People expect great things from a Dwarven blacksmith anyway; so Pyrite, like his father before him has always taken great pride in his ability to make iron do what he wants it to. He came to Waterdeep years ago to capitalize on the wealthy City’s demand for premium metal work. And it has made him wealthy, beyond what he ever dreamed of.
Which all suits him well enough. Pyrite has a taste for the finer things in life. Although perhaps he’s not so greedy like some of his kind are thought to be. He appreciates quality, and a clean home, a soft bed, a warm bath and fine clothes. He’s also made many friends in Waterdeep whom he treasures even more. Being in demand professionally may help, but he faces life with good humor and a jovial heart.
But Pyrite has kept quiet about a very personal desire. He fears others will think it juvenile or vapid. Pyrite wants to be a great hero and a great warrior. He’s long dreamed of using the many beautiful weapons he’s crafted, but keeps quiet about it. A friend has helped motivate him to put his dreams into action. Going back nearly a decade now, Pyrite’s shop has had occasional visitations from the “Ghost” from the nearby Temple of Tyr. Back then, Victoria was so pale. Not exactly frail looking, but always tired and worn… down hearted in the most profound way imaginable. But she was drawn to his shop by her love of fine weaponry. She loved handling knives, hammers and axes. Although as a warrior, Victoria was a woman of swords. Pyrite was always worried for the well being of his occasional visitor, but he struck up a friendship with her over the weapons.
About five years ago Victoria started looking healthier. More energy, more color in her face, even an occasional smile. And she mentioned she was training again at the Temple; in both senses, as a student and as a drill master. Of course two years ago Victoria really changed; it was like Pyrite had witnessed a load of raw ore transformed into a glorious weapon of power and purpose.
Pyrite knew he needed to make this change too. It was time to follow his dream. He wanted to train as a proper Dwarf, so he enrolled at a Dwarven Heritage school right in the city. He was pleased to qualify for the toughest program they offered, that for the “Dwarven Defender”. A challenging course! But Pyrite loved it as he loved his weapons. And he made a point of joining open sparring over at the garrison whenever he saw Victoria was training there.
Surprising now, over the last few years, Pyrite has found much of his growing social circle has come from the one-time “Ghost”. He even befriended that old guardsman Werner Smyth. The man is as famous for his honesty and integrity as he is for his complete lack of humor. But Pyrite is up for the challenge! And he has a theory, that if he repeats the “no relation” gag enough times, Werner will eventually HAVE to laugh!
For now though, Victoria and her man have thrown down a challenge. Some sort of trouble is brewing in the far North and they mean to take a team up there to investigate. Pyrite is ready! Although he thinks he heard Werner grumble something about “the Dwarf will quit first night he misses his bath…” Hah! I’ll show ‘em all!
Pyrite Steelsmith. LG Level 1 Dwarven Defender.
18/00 – 15 – 18 – 11 – 13 – 13
Werner Smyth has always been a guardsman. Most observers would say he was clearly made for the job. Starting with a strong desire to see peace and order in his home community. He truly wants life to go well for all those around him. And he feels a burning anger towards those who would take advantage, or harm one of his neighbors in any way. In short, Werner makes an excellent neighbor and the best sort of city guardsman. For the last decade or so he’s been the local area Guard Captain; that’s the part of town with the Temple of Tyr, a Dwarven fighting school, a large local garrison, the Blacksmithy of Pyrite Steelsmith and Geoffry’s General Store.
But deep down Werner is a little disappointed with himself. All his life, Werner has loved studying tactics, military operations and the history of Faerun’s Grand Military Campaigns. As a young man, he choose the Guard over the military because it seemed like a faster way to get into uniform and have some impact on keeping the peace. But he’s come to strongly feel that was a mistake. The thing about the City Guard is, its all oriented towards avoiding trouble and conflict. No doubt, Werner sees this as a noble end, which is why he’s done it and been good at it. But it has not satisfied his strong desire to be a part of something more important. To defeat some great evil, or be a part of an Army marching out. Something to really show his willingness to live, and give his life for his faith and his people.
A couple years ago, there was a violent gang that tried to exert control over several neighborhoods in his jurisdiction. It shamed Werner to have to get help from outside the Guard, but truly that’s not what they’re trained for. The Temple of Tyr provided a small body of troops that made all the difference in putting down these troublemakers. And Werner was a little dazzled by one of the Sergeants. Victoria is a spectacular and forceful woman resplendent in richly blued plate armor. Wow. He also found she was easy to befriend, and a thoroughly capable professional. And this inspired him, motivated him to devote himself completely to his faith. Werner started training as a Cleric of Tyr.
To his mild surprise, this has also led to meeting a much higher ranking Guard officer. A top specialist named Hastings whom he’d heard of but never met, who is apparently very close to Victoria. Werner supposes this means he’s moved his life into a much higher orbit.
This has been his best decision, even if it has come late in life. Werner knows he’s seen as cold and inflexible. He thinks he’s not really that, but he is comfortable with order and discipline. And that has made life in this church ideal for him. To his surprise, its also led to more friendships. The Paladin Victoria is more relaxed and easy going than he ever expected from her kind. He’s also found himself making friends with Pyrite and Geoffry who seem to be in her circle. Although if that Dwarf tells his “no relation” joke one more time he may have to smack him.
Werner has been honored, that now with his training complete, Victoria sought him out to be a part of a team she is forming to journey north and seek out danger in Icewind Dale. It would seem he will get to be a part of something big after all! Cleric training was his best decision ever.
Werner Smyth. LG level 2 Fighter. Level 1 Cleric of Tyr.
17 – 11 – 17 – 13 – 18 – 12
Geoffry Broketoes is a professional merchant. He grew up with many Halflings in a village not too far from Waterdeep, but as a young man chose to move to the big city and strike it rich. That was so long ago… Geoffry worked hard learning the retail business and nearly 50 years ago opened his own shop, a General Store not too far from the Temple of Tyr. He was married and had three children, a highlight of his life. But a few years back his wife left him a widower. And their kids are all grown and have moved into their careers, none are even here in Waterdeep anymore. For almost a decade now Geoffry has run his shop by himself. He feels the years. His knees hurt all the time. Other aches and pains are less, some are more. In his youth he’d dreamed of being a great hero among his people. He’s not even sure who his people are anymore. And at 80 years old its obvious that’s passed him by.
He’s been in Waterdeep a long time and there aren’t a lot of Halflings around. A few, but not really friends. He’s friendly with his customers, but few of them know him well. A lot of his most regular customers come from the Temple. And one of the Paladins, Victoria has become a good friend these last couple years. She’s has a lot of her own grief and is a good listener.
A little over a year ago he’d gotten word that his parents had passed away, within a few days of each other. Geoffry traveled back to the little Halfling village to settle their affairs. Cleaning out their home and disposing of their bare belongings was a profoundly melancholy job. But in their bedroom he found something strange; a small, well made chest. With a lock. Finding a key didn’t take long, there wasn’t much left unturned at that point. He opened it to find five securely packed glass vials labeled “Longevity”. ? Huh. These are expensive. Really, very expensive. Geoffry couldn’t afford them, maybe one if he got a good price. What were his parents thinking? Were they going to use them themselves? Then why were there an odd number? Obviously work was done for the day, he’d need to think on this.
The next day, it really wasn’t that hard of a decision, Geoffry drank all five. Arthritis was gone! His hair browned up! Still a little chubby. Geoffry would be a warrior and a great hero!
Geoffry hurried home to talk to his friend Victoria about how to proceed. It took some time to convince her he was Geoffry. And she responded cautiously to his request. He would need to get back in shape (he appreciated the generous assumption he’d ever been in shape). She could help him with that part, she was pretty good at conditioning and physical drill. But she was pretty sure he would want to fight in a way very different from what she was trained in. Most Halflings used slings? Geoffry didn’t care about that, and he accepted that he would not go toe to toe with a big warrior like her. Maybe he could learn a bow?
So that was what he did. He focused on Short Bow, and a Short Sword because it was explained to him that sometimes a warrior has to fight up close. He lost some weight too. Geoffry knows he’s now lighter and stronger than he’s ever been as an adult. Which is how he became a part of Victoria’s little trip to Icewind Dale. But he’s pretty sure Werner still doesn’t believe that he’s really Geoffry.
Geoffry. NG Halfling level 1 Fighter.
13 – 17 – 17 – 13 – 11 – 12
Julya Hastings is the only child of John Hastings. Her mother passed when she was 10, so much of her formative years were just her and her father. She dealt with more grief than a child ought to, although her father always made sure she knew she was wanted and loved. But it was still difficult, especially since he worked so much. Julya understood it was necessary pretty early on, everything costs money. And she lived in a nice home, wore good clothes, ate well and went to a good school. Even so, she was often lonely. Perhaps it was because of her grief, or perhaps a headstrong nature, but Julya often struggled with friendships. This maybe made things harder than they needed to be.
About two years ago Father started bringing a “work associate” around. He really introduced her that way! It wasn’t hard to see he had feelings for the tall blonde woman. In some ways the timing couldn’t have been better. Julya was only just at the point she could accept her father “moving on”. And they were so shy and awkward together at first it was hard not to laugh. And that became the other part that worked out well. Julya found she could relate to this older, sometimes awkward woman in certain ways. It also helped that Victoria had so much of her own grief. Julya found they could connect to each other over that.
In other ways, that proved important, the new woman was the opposite of awkward. She helped Julya put her thoughts into words about what she wanted and how to proceed. That ultimately led to cleric training at the Temple of Lathander, but Victoria was a huge help every step of the way in getting there.
Training proved to be a huge challenge for Julya. Not the studies, she was always a good student. And Victoria helped with some of her martial training, really helped her meet all the physical demands. But fitting in with classmates and deferring to her superiors did not come easily at all. Julya is always sure of what *she* should be doing, it just doesn’t always match with what she’s been told. After two years of training she was sure she didn’t have a single friend or the support of any of her teachers. Her father and Victoria were always there for her though. She really feared she was about to be kicked from the program several times, but she did graduate a couple weeks ago! One of her instructors made a strange comment about her being someone else’s problem now. Just after that, her father and Victoria married, and announced an expedition to check up on trouble in the far North. Julya was informed she was coming along because they needed a healer. She suspects her instructor already knew that.
A part of Julya wanted to resent their meddling in her adult life! But she was happy to feel wanted somewhere. Both personally and professionally. This should be a good thing!
Julya. Level 1 LG Cleric of Lathander.
11 – 12 – 15 – 13 – 17 – 14
*****
A few comments before I get going.
It is consistent for this themed party that three of the characters already have some class experience. Easy enough to do with EEKeeper. Victoria has the most experience at 12000, we’ll say she was reasonably active for a few years as a young Paladin. And even has a little more experience after coming out of her funk. And of course her background pretty much ensures she has some decent equipment.
Hastings’ thief experience mostly comes from before he was 20, although he maybe gained a little more in his security position. Now he’s starting as a true 1st level mage. That does mean we won’t have a thief until he makes 5th level in Mage, and we’ll never have a very good thief on this team! Call it an intentional handicap. Also, I find it annoying that the game insists on using the Rogue avatar for him. Well, thanks to EEKeeper I can insist on the Mage avatar.
Werner may be 50, but as a Guardsman he wasn’t really in an active combat job. Further, the PnP way of things would have most guardsmen as 0-level; 2-7 hit points, 20 Thac0 and no weapon specialization. To me, that’s what I call normal. Werner was extra dedicated to his job and attained 2nd level fighter. That makes him a Sergeant type character, which for no particular reason I titled “Guard Captain”. That’s consistent with observing most of the World’s police forces do not actually follow military ranking (nor are they consistent with each other! You simply cannot compare law enforcement ranks to military ranks; or really, anybody’s ranks to anybody else’s, they rarely mean the same thing). Obviously as a Cleric of Tyr he’ll unlock those fighter levels very quickly. But with Deities of Faerun mod installed he should gain attack brackets like a fighter anyway. All he really gains for his time as a fighter is a few hit points (actually I believe he’ll have d10 hit dice a Cleric of Tyr, so he’ll gain exactly TWO hit points from his constitution bonus!) and some extra weapon proficiencies. Its one of those things that will matter more for story and role playing than it will in game mechanics.
I’ll also mention that although Victoria is a designed character, the other five were all rolled. I did point shift to make them all competent in their jobs! But I did not add a single point to any of their totals. Pyrite came out VERY well (18/00 Strength!) while Geoffry and Julya are pretty mediocre.
This is mostly the same game build I used on my previous playthrough (see “Isabelle and the Questionable School“) except I have now added Deities of Faerun. I didn’t fix the glitch I encountered previously but I did figure out how to live with it. The problem was a recommended adjacent mod, “Dual into Kit”. That is exactly what makes a character like Werner possible. But it was causing an odd glitch that crashed that crashed the game when creating a multi-class F/M/T. Only in Icewind Dale, it did not effect Baldur’s Gate. Very strange. But the work around is just to keep a nerfed sort of build on my drive too, that doesn’t include the “Dual into Kit” mod. I can create characters with the nerfed build, then play with the full build. Problem solved. A little embarrassing how long it took me to sort all that out!
And we’re off!
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But I like this team, I like running older characters. So I'm looking forward to this.
No doubt off to a strong start. But I was playing around with images for a scene I wanted to share. It was on the way to Kuldahar, in the pass over-run by Goblins. In the vicinity of the abandoned farmstead, the large number of Goblins worked around the old farm and came up behind the party's rear. So Julya was forced to melee while her father tried to pull back and use his sling. It really wasn't that tense, Victoria came up behind and finished off those Goblins pretty quick. But it may have led to a dramatic moment...
"Now they're behind us!" "Father! Get... get behind me! I'm...I'm...I'm trained for this!"
Not a tense moment for long. Victoria had seen the Goblins and made quick work of them.
To be fair, it was even less dramatic than the image, Geoffry was there too and when Julya closed to melee Hastings and Geoffry both were picking off Goblins with missile fire. Victoria got a part of the last three. Meanwhile Pyrite and Werner were solid on the front side. This is never a very hard fight, but it did strike me as interesting having a not very capable daughter trying to protect her father; and a very capable, very dangerous and very irate wife and step-mother setting things right.
We've cleared through the first level of Dragoneye, and two of the Lava mods ("Tale of Our Lady Dreamless" and "Skineater"). The mods do add a bit of experience, the clerics and Hastings are all 7th level and the Warriors will all be there early on Level Two of Dragoneye. The big fight here is the room with the Lizardman King, that went easily and Victoria slew the King a round after engaging him. This is one fight where the Deities of Faerun mod absolutely made my party a little better too; Clerics of Lathander get Fireball as a 3rd level spell (because they're casting as divine magic they can wear armor while casting). This is significant because the game is so careful about placing scrolls which determines when you gain access to certain spells regardless of level. The first Fireball scroll usually comes as a reward for the big Lizardman fight. So that meant Julya opened the battle with a Fireball on the King and his two clerics. One of whom was killed. So first round, sort of a preliminary, the lizards have already lost one of their clerics and everyone around the King has been injured. Seriously, this fight has never gone quicker. Although I do think my melee unit is so strong (especially Victoria and Pyrite) this fight would have gone quickly even without the Fireball hello.
Victoria and Werner force the entrance to Dragoneye.
A minute later we see Victoria and Geoffry taking out the trash. I'll say, that strange fully automatic Wand of Missiles the one Lizardman is holding was a disappointment; Identify didn't show any way of recharging it...
Finished up Dragonseye pretty easily, that went very well. The Ziggurat fight was won easily on the first try. I do always think of that as the defining fight of the mid-game. With Julya and Hastings both throwing Fireballs on the first round and Werner adding a Holy Smiting this was all over pretty fast. Funny, I hadn't even been aware at the start that the cleric of Lathander would get Fireball as 3rd spell. Not only do a I use it a lot, but I'd say its made a big difference. Julya did hit 5th level well ahead of the mage getting the spell, so we've now had access to that for a while. Everything else in Dragonseye, including the epic fight against Ixy, went quickly.
From there we did Snowytoes Hamlet, that mod also has a couple potentially difficult fights in the Black Tar sub-quest. But this crew had no problems.
Then on to "The Hand". The early levels of this were actually a little harder. Still not "difficult" per se, but it is much more of a bashing sort of combat and this team is not as strong on pure melee as others I've run. Victoria and Pyrite are plenty tough, but Werner and Julya are the next tier of melee types and that's a big drop off. Don't get me wrong, both are now 8th level clerics and can competently carry their weight (no more cracks about Julya's lack of capability!), but they don't hit hard like the top two do. One of the fights on level three against armored skeletons and such had the whole team involved in melee, Julya can protect Hastings and Geoffry far more ably now than at the start. She even took out two skeletons single handed, even though her only real bonus came from her +2 flail. Of course Hastings and Geoffry are also a lot more dangerous now themselves.
Julya can protect the party's rear now. Maybe not a "mighty" fighter, but can keep things under control when needed.
Julya can deal with Skeletons!
Victoria and Pyrite hit hard at the front!
Pushed through all of the Upper Dorn's Deep caves the last couple days. That all went quickly. The Museum/Aquarium often seems like a hard grind, but not this time, we tore through it pretty fast. And its always fun to rescue a group of slaves. So of course we ran across the ravine and rescued the slaves held by the Frost Giants too.
"The Hall of the Giant King" always seems like a big role playing moment to me as we take down the monsters who triggered the avalanche back at the start of the game.
Werner, Victoria and Hastings face another foe.
Now its off to Lonelywood for a couple weeks. Not quite a vacation...
U should play on HoF difficulty to appreciate how Yxu is strong in melee! 😎
I'm a Core only guy. Long time PnP player, to me its only D&D on Core.
The team has been adventuring in Lonelywood, having just returned from the Barbarian Camp after exposing Wolfdyne as something more sinister. They made a return to Lonelywood from there to do some business, and intercepted an assassination attempt on the Innkeeper. Then failed to stop an assassination on the local tyrant. So a more exciting than expected stopover.
Then an odd conversation with a Halfling led to an unexpected trip to the desert. A little bit of system shock may be involved just from the weather change...
The Hastings spend a relaxing night at the Inn after returning from the Barbarian Camp. The expectation was to run right back and finish that mission, but something unexpected happened...
That was a surprisingly easy bit of AI Art to pull off. My past experience would suggest describing more than two characters gets tricky. If nothing else, you typically run out of room.
Perhaps because there was no real "action" taking place here it came out? Basically I described the setting and the three family members relaxing together. This was from my second set (two sets of four, so I guess that's eight renders resulted in one that was right on the money). This isn't "perfect", but perhaps only because Victoria came a little greyer than I imagine her. Maybe that's her hero disguise? The armor comes off and her hair goes grey...
I tried a few more renders but it seemed to stray further from what I wanted, not closer. Close enough!
I should have mentioned too that Julya is switching to full time melee (when not casting) since she got the Gauntlets of Ogre Power and the Fist of Gloomfrost. I like more people at the front, it spreads out the incoming fire. This team is still uncommon for me with only two highly optimized warriors. But as you suggest, a cleric of Lathander is as good as an Undead Hunter against undead!
Another Icewind Dale run comes to an end. Victoria and her crew won through in record time at a heroic pace. No reloads were required for any of the big battles in the later part of the game or its expansions, making this almost an unintentional no-reload run (A few reloads earlier on, normal sort of stuff especially with a low level party that has fewer resources).
What this means for the team is first of all, a return home to Waterdeep. There were no big parades or celebrations for them, few people even knew anything had happened in the far off North. Of course they were all individually quite powerful now, and had staggering wealth. Even if much of it was invested in rebuilding ruined Easthaven. Pyrite and Geoffry both returned to their businesses. Werner got involved in local politics.
Victoria found a renewed passion for training Warriors from the devout of Tyr. John consulted on security work, but not full time. Julya was somewhat adrift, not fitting in at the temple she would be the most adventurous of the team.
They all did adventure together some, although Geoffry and Werner less often than the others being most committed to home base activities. The Hastings in particular adventured a fair amount, often with Julya exploring and seeking out peril before calling in the gang. The three of them plus Pyrite, and a young man who eventually became Julya's spouse became quite well known as heroes and adventurers. And in time, word did trickle out of how great their adventures in the North had been.
On the one-year anniversary of their return home, Victoria and John received this painting as a gift from grateful citizenry of the Ten Towns, commemorating their entry into Kuldahar Pass. Victoria laughed, "Gee sweetie, you never told me you were an elf..."
For more images from the run, check out the full post "Victoria and Second Chances" at davesgaming.blog