Age of Strife 2: Episode 02

## Cast

Neal Pass Erickson - Dungeon Master

Bradley - Tybarodite

Jennifer Latham - Marcella 'Ginger' Thorne

Jeff - Stefan Thorne

Patrick - Luther Thorne

## Recap

*From the ashes of the old world. From the shadows of the last Great War. The world was shattered by magic. Plains become deserts. Mountains crumbled into the sea. Witches and heretics are burned in the street, Lines with oath breakers hung by their necks. Were was once law and order and empire, now only hardship and savagery remains.*
*To the east in Highport, a werey king rules an ungrateful people. To the west his brother keeps swords sheathed and words of rebellion at bay. To the North and South savage elves and cowardly dwarves openly practice arcane arts shrouded by leaf and stone.*
*In a time when a man's worth is measured by his words, when might makes right and a quick death is a mercy. Only those more foolish than brave venture far from home. The age of peace and prosperity is ended. In its place, only strife.*
*In the midst of the strife and the grief one man rose to the occasion. This man was born with no wealth and no name, however against all odds forged a name for himself and his family. His path directed by the goddess Reluna saw him land a Knighthood and it also saw him ascend from nothing and into nobility. This man is Lord William Thorne.*
*Even as an old man Kel William was a provider for his family. The prize of his heart, His sons Luther and Stefan, his daughter Ginger and adopted son Tybarodite. For this prize his ascension was meaningful. However the strife of the world has a way of catching even the most elusive targets. Our story begins with the fall of one of these elusive targets, the fall of Lord William Thorne.*
### Sunday, 23rd October, 56 AoS

The family are in the Thorne Family Estate, as usual. Then the front door kicks open and the sound of shouting is heard. Thorns rush to find Lord William Thorne, the father of the Player Character, blinded & injured, being escorted into the house by a couple of solders.

The solders says happened. Lord Thorne came in the front gate to Waadsworth. After a while the guards heard his cries. The solders investigated the sound and found Lord Thorne being beaten by a group of people. As the guards approached, the brigands ran way down an alleyway. Some guards gave chase, and these 2 took Lord Thorne back to his estate along with the Gate Guard. The Gate Guard then leaves to return to the city gate. Lord Thorne is magically blinded and says the culprit is a man with a Blue Beard.

Stefan Thorne, Luther Thorne, Ginger, & Ty grab their weapons, then join the guards on the hunt for Bluebeard and the other thugs to attacked their father. Ginger and Ty go to the allyway the thugs were last seen, Luther & Stefan goes to the Lorwin Estate to jump over their back fence to try to cut the thugs off. Ty isn't keeping up with Ginger, Stefan isn't keeping up with Luther.

Ginger arrives at the allyway where there are a bunch of witnesses. They say the thugs ran away down the allyway. Ginger and Ty head down the allyway, with Ginger further ahead.

Luther jump the wall and are further down the alleyway. Stefan goes to jump the fence, but is stopped by a cousin of Baroness Lorwin, Bryant Lorwind. Stefan greets Bryant, then jumps the fence after his brother. Luther gets directions further down the alleyway after the chase, Stefan follows after.

Ginger and Ty get to the end of the alleyway and head to central market and asks a guard if they saw anyone with a Bluebeard. The guard says he saw Bluebeard running past with a group, they headed over the bridge to the north side of town. Ty calls his horn to summon the rest of the family, then tells the guard to instruct the rest of his family where he went.

Ty runs down the bridge with Ginger behind. Stefan & Luther get to the central market and are directed across the bridge.

At the Northern Market, Ty calls out to the crowd where Bluebeard went, and is ignored. He slams a man against a wall and demands an answer. Ginger asks a bread merchant about Bluebeard, and he went North-West from the Northern Market. Ginger runs off without telling Ty. Stefan & Luther catches up to Ty, who hasn't found any information. The 3 brothers finally get directed down the North West laneway off the Northern Market, with Ginger ahead of them.

Ginger arrives at a 4-way intersection. As Ginger is asking the people in the intersection, her brothers catch up. The family are directed towards the South-West, but are told Bluebeard is walking now, not running. The whole family together go to the next intersection, but find anyone who has seen Bluebeard. Ginger and Ty go left, Stefan & Luther go right. Stefan & Luther are told no one has seen Bluebeard in that direction, so head back.

Ginger and Ty head south at the new intersection and head south towards Swampwash tavern & Brewery. Stefan & Luther head north from the new intersection towards the brothel & Champion Hall.

Ginger and Ty go inside the Swampwash tavern, and they spot Bluebeard. They draw their weapons as the rest of the bar back away except Bluebeard's group of 8, armed with clubs and no clubs. Ty calls out he will pay 100 gold for whoever brings him Bluebeard's head, but none of Bluebeard's men budge. Tycharges forward, with Amber following after. Ty & Ginger gets clubbed unconscious right away.

Stefan & Luther see people fleeing out of the Swampwash, so they head in that direction and head inside. Inside they see the thugs standing over Ty & Ginger. Luther throws daggers at the thugs, killing one. Stefan jumps on the bar and kills a thug with one of his two swords. Bluebeard whistles, and he and the thugs thugs scatter. Bluebeard and 3 thugs go out the back, 2 thugs go out a window. Luther stabilises Ty. Stefan chases after Bluebeard's group, who have fled outside-by the kitchen door.

Bluebeard's group splits in 2 and go separate ways. Stefan gives chase, and sees they run past the brothel, all the way to the city wall. The two spot Stefan, so they spit up, one goes east, ones goes west. Stefan goes west.

Back in the swampwash, Luther stabilises one of the thugs as well, so he doesn't die. He then locks the doors to the tavern and ties up the bartender/owner, Bell, to a chair.

The thug running west escapes Stefan after several minutes. Stefan starts back towards the Swampwash.

Luther heads across the road to the Brewhouse and meets with his father-in-law and asks to borrow 2 beds, and his father-in-law agrees. Stefan arrives and helps Luther carry Ginger and Ty over to rest in beds.

Stefan reports most of the thugs went west. Luther says he stabilised one of the thugs, and has the Bell the Bartender tied up, for questioning. The two brothers return to the tavern, locks the door and put up the closed sign. They start to question Bell. Bell says Bluebeard has been a patron for years, but claims to know nothing about him personally. He had only recently dyed his beard a month ago, with the natural color being brown like his hair. Bell has also seen Bluebeard with a woman. Bell is worried about saying more, since she fears she'll be dead by tomorrow.

Ginger wakes up and finds Ty being tended to by Luther's Father-In-Law. Ginger tries to get up, but feels weak, so lies back down and rests.

Stefan heads to the Sheriff's Station while Luther stays in Swampwash with Bell and the unconscious thug & dead thug. Stefan finds Sheriff Bruce inside interrogating 2 civilians. Stefan fills in the Sheriff, and they head back together. While alone, Luther searches the Swampwash for evidence and valuables. Luther finds no evidence, but finds the tavern's lockbox and steals the coins from it, as well as some coins from the 2 thugs in the room.

Stefan and Sheriff Bruce arrive back at the Swampwash. Bell still won't talk, even under thread of being burnt at the stake as a Warlock collaborator, so the Sheriff escorts Bell and the unconscious thug back to the Sheriff's station with Luther & Stefan's help.

By evening, Stefan and Luther are done with the Sheriff, the head back to the Thorne Estate. Ginger & Ty have been carried over to the Thorne Estate.

### Monday, 24th October, 56 AoS

Ginger and Luther get to work healing everyone up. Luther makes 2 healing poultices.

### Tuesday, 25th October, 56 AoS

The family have a Family Meeting with their father. Lord William Thorne looks like his spirit has been broken. He recounts the ambush on him. The thugs jumped him from behind while Bluebeard cast his spell. Lord Thorne explains he had found a great haul out of Nixon, but that was taken from him. Gold and silver treasure objects along with a strange locked book, red leather with golden clasps on the edges. He left some of it behind in Nixon however.

The family make plans to gather more information today around town. Lord Thorn brings up the fact that he can longer run the family accounts in his current state, and asks Luther to take over, an ensure they can pay their monthly taxes.

Stefan goes to the Luxuries Market to see if any of the stolen goods are there. He asks the merchants there to keep an eye our for the items.

Ty talks with his cousin, Maximilian Thorn the Engineer. Ty talks about making 2 hook hands, but instead of a hook, have 1 with a blade, the other with a shield. Ty then asks them to be sized for a smaller creature. Max gets very suspicious of Ty, and asks for Luthor's input. Luther explains it is to arm a goblin. Ty intends to capture and break a goblin and remove it's hands.

Ginger heads to The Giant's Drink tavern, looking for strong people her age. She walks up to the bartender and claims she is looking for a sparing partner. Her requests with met with silence. As Giner waits around, the tavern population starts to thin out. Ginger sadly gives up and returns to the Estate and meets with her Uncle Joseph Thorne the Historian. She does some spear training with her uncle instead. Max is outraged how monstrous and evil this idea is., but Luther promotes to keep Ty in line.

Ty meets with Jethro, the Smith who trained him. Ty sadly tells Jethro that his apprenticeship has to end since he will be needed to help his family. Jethro gives permission for Ty to use the smith at night.

Luther, Ginger, and Ty go visit the Sheriff's Station. The thug, Brad, is awake now. Sheriff Bruce says neither Bell or Brad have spoken yet, and bruises can be seen on the prisoners's faces. Ty asks if he can get to work, and the Sheriff nods, and leaves the station. The family are left alone with the prisoners in their cells.

Ty goes into Brad's cell as Luther goes outside the Station to guard the door. Ginger stays inside, ready to give medical attention. Ty starts his interrogation with Brad terrified before Ty even starts.

Brad reveals Bluebeard's name is Zayne, and he is the second in command of the Longclaw Gang. Zayne has a few hideouts. The leader of the gang is named Rhea. Brad denies that either Zayne or Rhea are warlocks, and claims no knowledge of how Lord Thorne became blind. Brad reveals the locations of the hideouts:

* One South of the Fish Market
* One to the west of the fish market, an apartment in one of the slum houses.
* A shack built just north of the Ruined Champions's Hall
* One a little north of The Puddlemaker, against the city wall

Ty asks what leverage he can get over Zayne and Rhea, but the two don't care about anything other than each-other, and even then Brad thinks Rhea would sell Zayne out for the right price. There are 5 thugs left alive, and Brad. The whole gang is local except Zayne who is originally from Highport. 2 of the thugs are from Wishwell.

Rhea had found out some key information, and ordered Zayne and thugs to attack Lord Thorne. Ty tells Brad that Brad will lead them to each of the hideouts, and they will kill the rest of the gang. If Brad pleases him, Brad will be allowed to go live as Ty's slave. Ty adds however if there is a witch in the gang, Brad will be killed. Ty goes to the Sheriff and a arranges for him to come along to the places with 5 guards tonight. The Sheriff is polite to Ty and shakes his hand.

Meanwhile, Luther disguises himself as a commoner and goes to scout out the 4 safehouses, starting with the safehouse to the west of the Fish Market. The place's windows are boarded up. After an hour he moves to stake out the safehouse near the Ruined Champion's Hall. He walks past the building and sees no activity. Next he walks past the safehouse north of The Puddlemaker. He sees no activity. He then goes to the safehouse south of the fishmarket. Luther stands a distance away and hires a street urchin to knock on the door and run away. No one comes to answer the door. Luther takes the street urchin to the other safe house nearby, but that has no result either.

Ginger & Ty finds Stefan at a tavern, and Ginger fills him in on what they found out at the Sheriff's Station. After a meal they head out.

The Family meet up. Luther has geared up, but is moving at half speed. The Sheriff and his men arrive the estate. The Sheriff ignores Ty and talks directly wit the family heir, Luther. With Brad's help, they decide on hitting the safehouse north of the Puddlemaker first. Sheriff Bruce asks to take lead on the raid, so this isn't a vigilante situation, and Luther agrees.

Everyone arrives at the safe house. They surround the building, and there appears to be only one entrance and one boarded up window. Sheriff Bruce kicks open the door. The safe house is empty, even after a solid search.

The group heads next to the safehouse near the Ruined Champions's Hall. The building is again surrounded. The Sheriff goes to kick open the door, but the door opens as he is moving and he stumbles inside as the thugs attack. The party charge in. Ty smashes into a wall of the building and breaks some boards. Ginger and Stefan are behind their shields march up and support the Sheriff. Luther throws his daggers, dropping one of the thugs. Sheriff Bruce knocks out one of the thugs. Luther takes out another thug with a thrown dagger. Sheriff Bruce knocks out the last thug.

Ginger gets Sheriff Bruce out of the house, with him having been clubbed a few times by the thugs. The guards comes into the shack and search, and discover a trap door with a ladder leading down. Ty volunteers to go down first, with the Sheriff and the rest the family following after. Ty jumps down the hole first, trying to prove himself to the Sheriff, with shield out, as he gets attacked by Zayne and Rhea. Behind Zayne and Rhea is a thug loading a crossbow.

Luther & Stefan jumps down the hole as well. There is no room for the Sheriff and Ginger to go down. The crossbow bolt hits the shield-wall Luther & Ty have formed. Ty breaks from the shield wall and charges Rhea, but misses. Ginger jumps down and takes Ty's place in the shield wall and hits Zayne with a spear throw. Ty keeps attacking Rhea, knocking her out and bleeding out. Stefan charges the thug, killing him. Luther attacks Zayne, taking him down.

Ginger goes over to stabilise Rhea, but she had bled to death. Stefan is able to stabilise Zayne aka Bluebeard. The family then loot the room. There is no sign of the items taken from Lord Thorne. 10 gold, 31 silver, 136 copper. There is also stolen merchandise worth 30 gold. As well as several bottles of booze.

Sheriff Bruce climbs down. While the booze is free to "liberate", the stolen merchandise really does have to go back to their owners, which Luther agrees. Ty speaks up, and the sheriff disrespects him, and reminds him he isn't a noble and is only a ward, not a true Thorne. Ty shoulder checks the Sheriff on the way out of the room, so the sheriff clubs Ty in the back of the knee. Ty draws his sword, but Stefan pushes Ty against the wall before he can do anything. Ty just leaves, mad about the situation.

Ginger helps take Zayne to the Sheriff's Station, afterwards asking if he would help spar with her. Luther takes Ty aside and says to ignore people like the Sheriff, and that he considers him his brother.

## Stats

**Damage Taken**

* Ginger took 8
* Tybarodite took 5

**Damage Dealt**

* Luther 12 total (4,3,5)
* Ginger 10 total (1, 2, 7)
* Stefan 26 total [Toran lives on(16, 4, 6)
* Tybarodite 15 total (5, 10)

**Number of Nat 20s**

* Ginger 3
* Stefan 1

**Number of Nat 1s**

* Stefan 1
* Tybarodite 1

**Times Knocked out**

* Ginger 1
* Tybarodite 1

**Number of Last Hits**

* Luther 3
* Ginger 1
* Stefan 2
* Tybarodite 1

## Treasury

* 292.4.8 Gold in Treasury
* Monthly cost of living is 231 gp (First month only owe 1/4 of that)