Age of Strife 1: Episode 3

## Cast

Neal Pass Erickson - Dungeon Master

Bradley - Jonathon Ramsey

Jennifer Latham - Amy Amberfall

Jeff - Toran Amberfall

## Recap

200 Exp to Toran Amberfall for the on-show Recap.

### Thursday, 2nd October, 56 AoS

The Amberfalls are in attendance of Uncle Radric's Funeral. It is being held in the crypt in the middle of the river in Waadsworth. Typically a funeral like this would have representatives from the other noble families in attendance, but none have come. Radric is interred in his armor.

After the funeral they travel back to their estate. As they walk past the Town Wall near their estate, there is some graffiti of a displacer beast and lion begging for money, the Amberfall family crest. Toran smudges the wet paint, and has a servant clean it off. No one points it out to the blinded Lady Danny Amberfall, who is being escorted by Grandfather Henry.

The family, now inside their Estate and have a meeting held by the PC's mother, Lady Danny Amberfall. The family has to raise 415 gold by the end of October. Lady Danny brings up the Gill Gang as a lead. Amy and Jonathan volunteer to infiltrate the Gill Gang.

 ***The Gill Gang:** A group of broken men (6-10) that stalk the Lazit River by long boat. Their leader is a woman in her 30s named Fiona who wears a carp shaped helm. The gang is all from Wassulwurf and are remnants from the army that marched to take back Nixon in 46AS (10 years ago).*
Toran speaks with Grandfather Henry about getting maps from before 46 years ago to find leads and information. Jonathan suggests to his Grandfather about inviting the Merchants who run the brewery over for a party, in order to gain access to ale to supply the centaurs. The Grandfather will get a party organised, once they have the funds for it, but the party won't be expensive since the merchants are still considered commoners.

Toran heads to the Sheriff's Station. Amy, dressed as a commoner, heads to the East Docks with Jonathon shadowing. Amy talks with a fisherman, Jacob, who talks about being robbed by the Gill Gang. They stole tools, fish and gold. There is a rumor that the Gill Gang threw someone being uncooperative into the Giant Piranhas filled Lazit River, but mostly don't kill.

Toran talks with Sheriff Bruce first about getting Town Crier to spread word about the Longclaw Gang, but this has already been done. Then Toran asks about the Gill Gang and the locations of the previous few attacks. Sheriff Bruce says that the attacks occur on the 10 miles of Lazit River between Waadsworth and Thornwatch Keep. Sheriff Bruce says he as searched the village of Wassulwurf a few times, and interrogated the gang's family members to point of death, so that can't be the Gill Gang's base of operations. Sheriff Bruce confirms that Fiona is the leader, and he would like if she was captured alive, so she can be publicly executed.

Amy and Jonathan head to the west docks of the Fish Market. As Amy is questioning fishermen, Jonathan is long around the nearby warehouses for the Longclaw Gang. Amy asks the fishermen about her and her brothers being a deckhands, but the fishing boats only need 1 deckhand each. Amy gets Jonathan, and he throws around his noble rank to try to strongarm the fisherman into take all 3 of them, and that they will leave in 3 hours.

3 hours later the 3 siblings get to the boat. Toran explains to the fisherman their mission to take on the Gill Gang, and the fisherman stays behind. Jonathan isn't happy that they are leaving the fisherman behind, but helps row the boat down river with Toran.

During the trip they come across 4 fishermen on a boat. The party pull their boat on shore and talk with the 4 fishermen from shore. The 4 fishermen appear nervous of the highly armed family, and go to leave, but Toran shoots some warning shots with his cross bow to get them to stop. After confirming the fishermen are real fishermen and not part of the Gill Gang, they are allowed to leave.

The party goes down river again on the boat. Later in the day 4 thieves men stand from some shrubbery holding shortbows, who demand the party come to shore. As the Amberfalls pull to shore, the 4 archer thieves comes to shore to meet with the party, with 3 more thieves appearing holding spears, including Fiona in her trademark carp shaped helm. It is the Gill Gang.

Bradly is the first to step out of the boat, revealing his armor under the cloak. The Gill Gang open fire on Jonathan, knocking him out. Toran charges the 4 archer thieves, killing one right away. 2 spearmen thieves hold Amy at spearpoint. Fiona goes in to attack Toran with her spear, and one of the Archer Thieves pulls out a dagger to attack Toran as well. The 2 other archers thieves try to pull back, but one of the pair is dead and the other is badly wounded and falls to the ground.

Amy asks permission from the 2 spearmen thieves to patch up Jonathan, and she is allowed, with a spearmen, Rick, keeping an eye on her, the other spearman going to attack Toran, but getting killed by Toran right away. Amy is able to patch up Jonathan's wounds at -6. Toran attacks the archer thief with the knife, killing him. All that is left is Rick and Fiona.

Fiona starts to withdrawal backwards, ordering Rick the Spearman to forget about Amy and focus on Toran. Amy picks up Jonathan's loaded crossbow and fires at Fiona, hitting her in the back. Fiona slumps to the ground. Only Rick is left. Rick tries to stab Toran with his spear but misses badly. Toran kills him.

All of the Gill Gang lie dead on the ground. Toran goes over and stabilises Fiona from bleeding out, down at -7 HP. Toran then stabilises another of the thieves at -5. The other members of the Gill Gang thrown into the river, forgetting to search them. The giant carp, nicknamed piranha, start eating the bodies. After the feeding frenzy, there is no evidence of the bodies at all, just a red mist in the water.

Amy and Toran put their prisoners in the boat, as well as Jonathan. Amy and Toran managed to loot 4 shortbows & quivers, 60 broadhead arrows, 3 spears, 6 daggers, 1 carp helmet. Fiona has a bag of 20 silver, the other thief has a bag of 10 silver.

Toran rows them back towards Waadsworth fast to get Jonathan to Aunt Susan for healing.

*Bonus 100 exp for remembering Fiona's HP*
They make it back to portcullis at the Waadsworth city wall. The Fisherman whose boat they are using raises the portcullis for them. Amy shows off the Carp Helmet, which makes the fisherman excited. Amy starts rowing, as Toran holds up the helm high as they pass the East Docks to the cheers of the other Fishermen.

They row all the way back to the Western Docks at the Fish Market. A crowd as gathered. Toran publicly shakes the hand of the Fisherman who they had borrowed the rowboat. Members of the crowd help carry the bodies back to their estate. Toran asks for a peasant to collect Sheriff Bruce.

Amy reports the good news to her mother, Lady Danny Amberfall. Dr Susan gets to work on her nephew Toran's wounds and the unconscious people.

After being patched up, Toran heads to the Town Hall. As Toran is walking to the Town Hall, it starts to rain, meaning the crops are saved and there will be no starvation this winter. Once at the Town Hall, Toran talks with the Town Crier, giving him a full description of the battle with the Gill Gang, playing up his own heroics.

Over the next few days, Amy sells the bows & arrows they looted on the black market to other thieves, making 77 gold 6 silver.

The Sheriff takes the unconscious thieves to be held in the jail cells, with Dr Susan visiting the jail to keep them healing.

### Wednesday, 8th October, 56 AoS

Jonathan wakes up. Fiona is still unconscious. Amy and Toran share the good news with Jonathan, showing him the Carp Helmet.

The three of them head to the Sheriff's Office. The unnamed bandits, Geordie, has woken up. Sheriff Bruce is in a good mood, but Jonathan is bitter and is rude to the Sheriff about Bluebeard still being at large. Jonathan beats Geordie, breaking a few ribs. Toran tries to play good cop, and gets Geordie to tell him his story.

Geordie says after the failed attack on Nixon, they headed back home and tried to go back to being farmers. When they returned to the village of Wassulwurf, they found fields ruined and many people in the village had been killed. Resentment to the nobility rose, using them as cannon fodder while letting their village die like this. The gang was formed and they turned to banditry, claiming to be better than the nobles since they didn't kill people unless they had to.

Jonathan threatens to find and hurt Geordie's family if he doesn't give up the location of the Gill Gang's wealth. He is told their hideout is outside the village of Stratburn in a ruined barn. The Sheriff tells the family that Countess Lorwind will be coming to Waadsworth to oversee the executions herself, so the party have time to head out before that happens.

The party leave the Sheriff's station. Amy goes speak with her friends Jack and Jessica to look into who is doing the graffiti against their family. Toran hires some people to deal with it.

The Stratburn is 26 miles away. The Amberfalls set out, intending to rest in the village of Keyvar along the way. It is a village ruled by the Lithman Noble family.

Keyvar is a village of 200 people, one of the smallest villages in the Meadowlands. They go up to the Lithman House, which is a stone building in the middle of the village, and impose themselves to stay. Kel Penelope Lithman, the noble who owns the town, hosts the family and holds a dinner with them, remaining civil despite the imposition. Jonathon excuses himself from attending because of his lack of tact, but Toran claims Jonathan is resting after his injuries from fighting the Gill Gang.

### Thursday, 9th October, 56 AoS

The Amberfalls arrive in the village of Stratburn, population 500. It is run by Kel Elisa, who isn't a noble, but just a landed knight. The party go meet with Kel Elisa. Bradley explains they are on her land because the Gill Gang's hideout is in an abandoned barn. Kel Elisa says the barn is a half mine into the Blackthrone Forest, and leads the way to it.

During the trip Jonathan and Kel Elisa speak about the gods. The soon arrive at the woods and enter. Half a mile later they to arrive at some buildings, including a old barn. Jonathon politely gives Kel Elisa leave to depart.

The Amberfalls start searching the barn, and under a collapsed wall they find a dug-out tunnel. The tunnel is very small and you would have to crawl to get inside. Toran tosses a torch inside and all they see is an empty dirt chamber beyond. Amy craws in and finds a man-made room with dirt walls, held up with wooden posts. As she goes into the room, she is pulled out of the tunnel into the chamber by 2 survivors of the Gill Gang. Amy screams out in alarm, which Jonathan hears outside.

Toran dives down the hole and climbs to save Amy. One of the gang members throw a torch at Toran down the hole and miss. Amy reaches for her dagger and throws it at one of the thieves, but he stabs Amy, knocking her out and she starts bleeding out. Toran reaches the chamber and kills one of the thieves. Jonathan starts down the tunnel and also gets into the room. The last thief holds Amy as a hostage.

The thief demands to be allowed to escape in exchange for Amy's life. Toran and Jonathan say they agree and stand in a far corner of the chamber. When the thief goes to flee down the hole, Jonathan goes to grab him, but the thief pulls free and manages to escape. Toran stabilises Amy's wounds at -4.

Toran and Jonathan then search the Gill Gang's Lair. Jonathan finds a chest filled of silver and cooper coins, with a few golds coins scattered about. Jonathan collects weapons and puts them in the chest as well. Jonathan finds behind one of the beds, he finds a secret compartment with jewellery & gold coins.

### Tuesday, 14th October, 56 AoS

The Amberfalls gets back to Waadsworth. The treasure is properly counted:

* 3 rings (worth 10 gp each) & 1 necklace (worth 15 gp)
* 45 gold coins
* 760 silver coins
* 1150 copper coins

## Experience

736 experience each

* Jonathon Ramsey reaches level 3
	+ +6 HP (Total Max HP = 13)
* Amy Amberfall reaches level 3
	+ +5 HP (Total Max HP = 12)

## Journal of Jonathon Ramsey of House Amberfall

Shame, fear, anger, rebellion, broken

We gathered around Dear Uncle's coffin. Typically all the nobles attend another nobles funeral. No one came to honor my uncle though. No one came to support my family. I have brought shame on my house.

Returning from the funeral painted on the city walls a displacer beast and lion begging for money. I have brought shame on my house. Shame in whose eyes though? Noble pricks that insult a family in the midst of tragedy. Shame is still shame though and it came at my hands for doing what is right.

As I walked in shame, thoughts flooded my head as I prepared myself for mother's scolding. I am a man. I am tired of being treated like a child. I was sure she was going to lay into me. I was prepared to lash out and say no more. I was prepared to claim rule of Amberfall if she was to accuse me.

At home they all went their own way preparing for mother's called meeting. I went and just waited. Mother came, they all came. There was no scolding. Why was there no scoldings. Why was there no shaming for bringing shame?

Instead talks of going after the Gilgang. Brother wants to bring them to justice. I seen them as a chance to join and grow. One can not tame the world with their own hands. To tame the world, hands must acquire hands. I have no desire to acquire noble hands. Instead black hands. Brother of course resisted these thoughts.

We traveled down river and finally came across the Gilgang. Shockingly brother let me lead and gave me way to speak. As I approached though, my plans backfired. A score of arrows were unleashed. I thought for sure I was good as dead.

Days later I awoke after being out for what seemed like years. My plans backfired. I should have been dead. Brother though rose to the occasion and single-handedly slaughtered the entire Gilgang. Brother and sister single-handedly returned to the city with several Gilang members and myself as I was unconscious. Brother and Sister were received as heroes. I however was a vessel of shame, again.

Brother is a hero. I am shame. Why was I born first. Why has voraci spared me twice. I am a man who aspires for greatest but in my aspiration there is nothing great.

Awaking brother and sister wanted to chat. I wanted the world to be silent. I joined brother and sister as they went to question a Gilgang member. We went to the sheriff's office. I do not know what came over me. I actually rather enjoy Sheriff Bruce but I was angry and he became the source of my frustrations as I just hammered into him, belittling him and shaming him. Why am I not a good man?

My darkness arose even more as I beat the gang member with my cane and kicked him again and again until I heard ribs cracking. We wanted information as to where they were staying. He would not break though. So I threatened him. How can you threaten a dead man though? Easy by threatening the things he loves that will be left over. I threatened his family. I threatened his children. I watched my threats break him and he spoke up. How much I enjoyed the treatment of this man scares me.

We got the information we wanted. Outside the furthest of villages in an old run down barn, which is the location of the Gilgang hideout. It was over a day's journey. On the journey we made refuge in another village at a noble estate. It turned my stomach to stay there. We stayed with the filth that would not pay homage to our dear uncle. It took everything for me not to strike the entire family as they slept. I knew I could not be around these people so when dinner came, I refused. I would have loved to of been at that table but I knew I could not. I am sure brother made friends though. Why Martha allowed me to be the first born I will not understand. Maybe she lost a bet with Malkis.

Our journey moved forward. The next morning we were at our destination. As we arrived in Stratburn, Kel Elissa the overseer of the land approached. Knights and nobles I have grown to hate but there was something different about her. Her heart. It was not the black I have seen in the rest of the world. It was good. She spoke of praying. She spoke of protecting. She spoke of the people. I have grown to see good only as my brothers naiveness. Maybe there is actually good in the world. This Kel Elissa resonates with me. I want to know her more. I want to know if she is good or if what I saw was fake. If there is good, can I be good? Or am I eternally cursed by voraci?

As I wrestled with the notion of being good, I was reminded I am not good. We found the hideout of the Gilgang. Sister was ambushed and brother, the hero dove in to save her. There was this moment were I considered running or even hiding while brother did all the work. As I wrestled with this the thought came, what if brother and sister died. To be honest, I didn't care. It was not the fear of losing them that made me rush in. It was the fear of brother looking at me with shame if I did not. However, as I joined the fray sister went down as she was stabbed by a short sword. In that moment adrenaline took over and Amy was all i cared about.

We conquered. Or well Toran conquered. We now find ourselves on our way home. I look to tired Toran. I look to unconscious Amy. I want to do right by them. I want to be a hero. I want to be a good man. I want to be a man that my family will love. I want to be a man my mother is proud of.

I am a man that does what is wrong. I am no hero, instead I am the monster children fear. My heart is black and if my family seen it's vile for what it really is, they would surely disown me. I am nothing to be proud of. Instead I am a shameful plague. I want to believe what I seen in Kel Elissa is real. Even if it is real, I know it is nowhere inside of me. Maybe Amberfall would be better without Jonathan Ramsey.