Player: Jeffery "TrumpSC"Class: Cleric / Paladin Dual ClassLevel: TBDStart Date: TBDPlay Date/Time: TBDSystem: AD&D 2.neal
Premise
Our hero has been a cleric in the capital of Mistrya for some time when he is called by a deity to serve their cause: Go to the Sylvan Forest and cleanse it from its great evil.
Before the campaign starts, some important events will happen. First, our hero under the guidance of their deity goes to King Imrik McGary of Mistrya to inform the king that he is stepping down from his clerical duties and taking up the mantle of Paladin. The king offers him his pick of the many aquired magical maces from old adventures past (Tombs of Scoria). To the king's great surprise, the newly minted Paladin is drawn to a specific one that when grasped shines with light and magic hitherto unknown - it is a +5 Holy Avenger Mace.
King McGary, seeing that this Paladin is destined for greatness, further invests in him by gifting him a magical Shield Wall emblazoned with the sigil of the long gone royal family of Akuba.
Such a momentous event is this, that King McGary offers to take the Paladin to Empress Wikk.
First, a note about the role Paladins play in the social structure.
In Arcadia, like in Europe of old, there are two parallel social hierarchies - the State and the Church. Unlike in old Europe, the Church is a decentralized system where each individual church / temple / shrine / holy site is its own order beholden to no other. A High Cleric is simply the highest ranking cleric in their local order, or a cleric that serves as council to a head of state.
Paladins are extremely rare and sit outside and above this two system approach. They are imbued with divine right and extra-judicial power over all people, regardless of rank. They have no authority to change laws, field armies, or even redecorate a temple, but they have power to see justice done at any cost.
To top off the confusion, while the office of Paladin sits outside the social order, the person who is the Paladin still owes their normal aligences, taxes, and social responsibilities to their betters. They must still obey the laws of the land, which include following orders from their king or empress, as long as those orders do not seek to make use of the divine office. A king could not order a Paladin to smite the king's foes, but he could order the Paladin to provide the standard 2 weeks of manual labor that all people owe.
This creates a tenuous and tense relationship between Paladins and people of authority in their path. It is a dangerous thing to incur the ire of a Paladin, and so nobles and clerics alike go out of their way to win them over with gifts and assistance so that they might go dispense justice elsewhere. At the same time, one does not want to give the impression that this newcomer is actually in charge of anything or should be listened to.
Back to the premise.
News arrives before the Paladin does, and the Empress is awaiting him with gifts: Any non-magical armor and equipment he may desire, and a bag of holding that contains the following
Potion of Gaseous Form x1
Potion of Healing x7
Vial of Holy Water x30
Scroll of 7 speak with dead spells
Rope of Climbing
The Paladin tells the Empress of his orders, to "Free the Sylvan Forest from its curse". The Empress tells the Paladin that with the disappearance of the elves, the forests belong to the Empire of Drekis, but that they are indeed cursed. During the War for Arcadia, there was a font between the evil dragon Scoria and the Elves that was poorly understood at the time. Drekis won the war, Scoria was vanquished, and then confusingly the elves suddenly abandoned their ancestral homeland. Only in the years since has the reason for this become apparent. The forests have been cursed and diseased by a haunting evil. This evil is not only still alive, but it continues to grow. The Empress commands the Paladin to "go forth and cleanse the forest of its curse, and return our lands to our rightful control".
The Empire of Drekis is at war with the Army of Voraci, a vast empire more than fifty times larger than itself, but located east, far across the sea, on the continent of Solum. If the tiny Arcadia is going to stand against the juggernaut of Solum, it will finest fleet the world has seen, and the very finest lumber in the known universe is located in the heart of the abandoned elven woods. These timbers are strong, light, flexible, fire resistant, rot resistant, and insulating. These trees were abandoned by the elves. They belong to Drekis. The Paladin's divine quest is a sign that the Paladin's deity (TBD) is on our side.
Before setting off with his new gear, King McGary offers the Paladin a basecamp in the city of Vale, as well as a small ship should the Paladin need it to navigate the Western Canal. Also, should the Paladin come across any lost elven relics, magics, spellbooks, scrolls, or really tomes of any kind, King McGary who gifted the Paladin his +5 Holy Avenger mace, Magic Shield, ship, equipment, and base of operations, would very much like to help translate, identify, codify, and research these things to better serve their people. Afterall, King McGary is still the Paladin's lord and needs all the resources he can get to put Mistrya back on its feet after its terrible history. Oh, and if he can find any whiskers of an Elven Cat, those are hard to come by these days.
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As always, plans are subject to change, and what I've given you here is just the setup. There are sure to be more fun things along the way.
gl hfNeal / Koibu