Setup for the Lanbril Campaign
You have all been written off by the world, whether it was by your tribe, your clan, your family, your overlords or whoever, and so wound up in the Salt Mines of the Big Rubble, where life tends to be nasty, brutish and short. Then something happened; on the last day of the year, someone or something put all of the guards to sleep and opened all of the shackles, gates and the pens holding the riding mules. You and all of the other inmates of the salt mines grabbed what you could and took off, following the older guys who said they were Sartarite patriots. They got your group out of the Griffin Gate without a fight because of a weird fog bank that came down river at sunset and then everyone split up. Your group is composed of young adults who are only now just reaching their 16th year. You need to improve your skills before you can qualify for initiate status in most cults, with one big exception.
Your mounts group together of their own accord and take you to a secluded spot on the banks of the Xola Fel river, where a campfire glows with an oddly steady light. You hear hoof beats and see that some of the other, older escapees from the Salt Mines are leaving the camp site as you arrive; they were in conversation with the shadowy, cloaked figure with the glowing staff who now turns towards you. His appearance and that of the staff change constantly. He speaks and somehow you know that he is more than human and your lives will never be the same.
“Serve me and be rewarded!”
These rewards are not required to serve. The more this man changes you, the more control he will have over your actions, at least at first, but if you choose NOT to be rewarded, he will change only one thing about you: your appearance, so that they Lunars will not recognize you as one of the prisoners who escaped this night. This will give you a control factor of 1 which you can remove simply by accepting Lanbril’s second offer:
“Become an initiate of my cult.”
This costs anyone who accepts 1 point of POW, removes 1 control point and ignores the normal skill requirements for initiate status.
This stranger goes on to tell you some of the ground rules of your service to him. He warns you that the cult of Black Fang is the enemy and anyone who follows him must oppose them if you can. (Black Fang is NOT an allied cult. This is a change from the rules). He warns you of five old men you might hear of or encounter. He warns you not to interact with them in any way, just get out and away and warn him; they are too dangerous for you to tangle with them. Their names are: Curunir, Mithrandir, Radagast, Alatar and Pallando. He warns you specifically to be careful around Radagast (he can sense you coming a mile away) and never to let Pallando touch you.
He offers you the chance to join his (Lanbril’s) cult, even if you don’t meet the initiate requirements. Four of you took him up on the offer. (Correct?) Those four lose a point of POW and are now followers of the Faceless Lord. He tells you that you have a great future ahead of you and that you will aid him greatly in his own tasks; at that instant, there is a shooting star that comes from the West and appears to land on the other side of Pavis, about 5 miles or so east of the Xola Fel river. Lanbril points to the slowly fading strike of light and tells you that it is your choice as to whether you follow that star or not. He tells you that this year, 1616 is the year the World will Change and he bids you farewell.
It is now the first day of Fire Season, 1616 Solara Tempora. You have weapons, armor, food, water and riding mules so you decide to head east and take a look at where that shooting star fell, but first you have to ford the River of Cradles and maybe avoid any Lunar patrols, since while no one will recognize you as escaped convicts, you have no papers as of yet. It occurs to you that since three members of your party are part of the Rhino tribe, it might be a good idea to actually get some rhinos to ride.
The very first luck roll of this new year is quite good and you soon spot the dust cloud common when a small Praxian herd is on the move. It is a clan of the Rhino tribe (the Spotted Bull clan, in fact) and the clan sentries spot you and their mounts identify your rhino rider members as fellow tribesmen by your scent. Your Face … I mean your most eloquent party member (Thad or Dwayne’s guys) speak to the clan chief (a scar faced warrior named Red Axe) who sympathizes with your problem and makes you an offer: promise to give him a hand with a problem he has when you have some experience under your belts and he will give you the opportunity to persuade a rhino to work for you. He has an eye to the future and actually has a few more stock than he anticipated this year.
Your group agrees and each member of the party who is a member of the Rhino tribe goes over to the herd and gives the call that all members of the tribe learn when they are children watching the herds. You guys are apparently coated with Rhino Nip, because you not only got a rhino each, Dwayne’s character Tessa managed to call a young bull of exceptional quality.
That ended the session. Everyone gets a check in their Ride and their Scan. Everyone gets 1% added to your Fast Talk skill. Everyone gets + 25% to their Cult Lore: Lanbril. All members of the cult of Lanbril get a 10% add to their cult skills: Feign Death, Foil Restraints, Shadowing, Streetwise, Thieve’s Argot, Voice Mimicry.
Your Rhinos: (be sure to name them)
Dwayne’s Rhino:
STR 48
CON 24
SIZ 44
INT 3
POW 13
DEX 10
Hit points: 34
7 point skin
Gore: 50%, Bite 30%, Trample 75% devoted to rider
Carl’s Rhino:
STR 44
CON 24
SIZ 44
INT 2
POW 12
DEX 9
Hit points: 34
7 point skin
Gore: 50%, Bite 30%, Trample: 75% fond of rider
Tony’s Rhino:
STR 44
CON 20
SIZ 42
INT 3
POW 11
DEX 12
Hit points: 31
7 point skin
Gore: 50%, Bite 30%, Trample 75% fond of rider