Age of Strife 1: Episode 1

## Cast

Neal Pass Erickson - Dungeon Master

Bradley - Jonathon Ramsey

Jennifer Latham - Amy Amberfall

Jeff - Toran Amberfall

Patrick - Radric Amberfall

## Recap

### Prologue

*It is the day that King Orwyn Ironwyrm of the Kingdom of Kalia's coronation. His father, the late King Arvest Ironwyrm (aged 88), had ruled for 59 years, ever since the 2nd year of the war.*

*Ever since the end of the war, Kalia has been splitting in two.*

*The Western Duchy (overseen by King Orwin's younger brother, Duke Maldris Ironwyrm) has been experiencing drought, famine, a creeping desert, and the raiding of villages and the sacking of towns. With failing resources and intimate treat, they have been desperately in need of help from the east.*

*However the Easterns have had problems of their own, an expensive war against a pirate fleet, a town levelled by elves, and the sighting of a red dragon, have prevented the Eastern Lords from supporting their countrymen.*

*Even as King Orwyn Ironwyrm takes the throne, tensions once soothed by the aged and wise King begin to flare. Brewers on everyone's lips are of Civil War. Talk of this kind only adds fuel to the fire and drives the Kingdom closer to diversion.*

*It is hoped these two brothers might be able to hold the Kingdom together, as King Orwyn Ironwyrm takes the throne.*

### Saturday, 18th September, 56 AoS

It starts as a typical day for the Amberfall family in Waadsworth. Jonathon Ramsey, Radric Amberfall and Amy Amberfall are working around the family estate. Toran Amberfall is working at the blacksmiths.

The front door kicks open and the sound of shouting is heard. Jonathon, Radric and Amy rush to find Lady Danny Amberfall, Radric's sister and Amy & Jonathon's mother, blinded & injured, being escorted into the house by a couple of solders.

Aunt Susan, a Doctor, helps Lady Danny as Grandfather Henry takes charge of the situation. The solders tell Henry what happened. Danny came in the front gate to Waadsworth. After a while the guards heard some cries. The solders investigated the sound and found Danny being beaten by a group of people. As the guards approached, the brigands ran way down an allyway. Some guards gave chase, and these 2 took Danny Amberfall back to her estate. Grandfather Henry dismisses the guards, and they rejoin the hunt.

Jonathon & Amy helps Dr Susan get Danny to her own room. Jonathon is then told by Grandfather Henry to go collect Toran from his job at the Blacksmiths and bring him back to the estate. Given the circumstances, Jonathon puts on his armor, which he normally doesn't do around town. Jonathon and Amy head off to collect their sibling Toran. Uncle Radric remains home and drunk.

Jonathon & Amy cross the bridge and head to Smith Street, easily finding Toran. They explain the situation to Toran on the way back to the house.

Back at the house, Dr Susan reports to the family that Danny will recover from her wounds, but her blindness is magical in nature. Dr Susan will let the family into the room if they remain calm. The family agree.

After some greetings, Danny tells her children what happened. After she came into the city gates she saw a man with a long blue beard in an allyway who had his eyes closed and arms crossed. Then Danny was attacked from behind and stomped by a group of people. She had a bag of treasure taken from her before the guards arrived. The treasure was from the ruined town of Nixon, from an abandoned Noble's house. Danny was unable to take all the treasure she found, so she buried it in the backyard of the abandoned estate and put a rock over it as a marker. Among the treasure was a strange locked book, red leather with golden clasps on the edges. She spend the night in Kel Ruxpin Greendall's home yesterday, and arrived back in Waadsworth today.

The family wonder how they can stop a wizard, a craft that has been outlawed. Drunken Uncle Radric takes charge of the group.

The group talk with Grandfather Henry. He talks of the history of wizards and sorcerers that the others are too young to know, and how back in those days everyone actually accepted magic. But magic proved to dangerous as a single spell caster could level a city.

Toran gets into his armor. Amy has contacts in the darker part of town, and goes to gather information there with Jonathon. Toran and Radric goes off to talk with some guards about what they have learned at the Sheriff's Station.

Toran and Radric arrive at the Sheriff's Station, both heavily armed. They talk with Sheriff Bruce, who explains they chased the thieves north of the temple before they lost them. He only has 12 men under his command. Radric explains about Lady Danny Amberfall's blindness being caused by Witchcraft, but make sure not to reveal that Danny was carrying a magic book at the time she was mugged. The Sheriff sends a messenger to Countess Lorwin to apprise her of the vile warlock in town, but the Countess is out of town, attending the coronation of King Orwyn Ironwyrm in Highport. Sheriff Bruce says the town is currently already on lock-down, the warlock however may have magics that allow them to bypass the closed gates. Sheriff Bruce has a plan. Leave the town closed for a few days. Then open the gates and see if someone with a blue beard leaves though either of the gates.

Amy & Jonathon, with Jonathon over-dressed, head to the shady part of town. Amy meets up with Jack and Jessica, a pair of thieves she is friends with. They say there is a new gang in town, with someone with a Blue Beard, but they aren't in this part of town. Amy & Jonathon then head to the Swampwash tavern separately to find out about this new gang. Jonathon sticks out in the tavern with his nice clothes, and is overcharged for his drink. Amy goes to speak with Bell, the owner and bartender, about the new gang. However Bell isn't going to give up the information without payment. Amy pretends to steal from Bradley, then goes pay Bell. Bell confirms they aren't on the north side of town, but going after this new gang is trouble. Jonathon asks Jack and Jessica about finding out more about the Gang.

Toran and Radric head to "The Blind Cat" tavern in the "Middle Class" part of town to try to get information. The bar goes silent to look at the highly armed nobles entering the room. None in the establishment claim any knowledge of the muggers. Radric gives a reward for information, and a fisherman has information about a man with a blue beard. The fisherman says the man with the blue beard arrives a few days ago by the river with a woman on the west dock, arriving though the east portcullis. The man with the blue beard's name starts with a Z. The woman was pretty, black hair and had sharp eyes.

At sunset everyone meets back up at the Amberfall Estate. The 4 decide to head to the "Drowned Rat" in a Poorer part of town. Amy & Jonathon go in first with Radric coming in afterwards separately. Toran waits outside since he is too recognisable.

Inside, using Thieves Cant, Amy asks the bartender about the new gang and Blue Beard, but the bartender rushes away to help someone else. After a while the party spot Blue Beard walking out of the Tavern's kitchen and towards the privy. As the Amy and Jonathon talk about what they are going to do, Blue Beard sets 6 heavy set men against them, pointing directly at Amy and Jonathon. Amy and Jonathon retreat out of the bar and join Toran and updated him on the situation. Toran asks Amy to head to the Sheriff's Station to get guards, since they found the culprits.

Inside Radric is still watching, and sees the heavy set men, Blue Beard, and a hooded person, head to the into the kitchen area. Radric asks about mercenary work, and the bartender recommends the noble estates, since they are the ones who afford it. At the Sheriff's station, Amy talks with Sheriff Bruce, and the Sheriff comes right over to the Drowned Rat with Amy.

Sheriff Bruce leads the way into the tavern, with the Amberfall Family backing him up. They go into the kitchen and see no one except the kitchen staff inside. The chef says they went out the back door. The Sheriff then interrogates the bartender. The bartender claims that Blue Beard and his thugs, The Longclaw Gang, intimidated her into letting them use her establishment, and she claims to be a victim of them. The bartender explains the woman, Rhea, is the leader of The Longclaw Gang, not Blue Beard (whose name is actually Zane), and they have 6 thugs in total.

Bradley wants the bartender punished, so Sheriff Bruce manacles her and drags her out of the tavern. The bartender says on the way to the Sheriff's Station that Rhea, the Leader of the The Longclaw Gang, met with a woman last night wearing a grey wool cloak, black pants, fantastic brown boots and blonde hair. She also says Rhea and Zane (Blue Beard) are in a relationship. The family agree to let her go after the additional information.

Radric announces to the crowd around, asking for information about Zane, which will be rewarded. A urchin tells Radric that he saw Zane over in the slums, just north of the section of town that suffered a fire a few years back. The urchin leads the Sheriff and the party to the building in the slums. He points to a shack at the end of a street in the slumbs.

Sheriff Bruce kicks the door in. Inside isn't the Longclaw Gang but a single dead body on the floor. A man in his 30s who has been dead a day or two, unknown cause of death, no sign of a beating or stab wounds. There is no sign of anything stored or any reason for the place to be used.

The party split up and start searching the slums for The Longclaw Gang. Amy & Toran in one group, Jonathon & Radric in one group, and Sheriff Bruce on his own. The locals they question are terrified of the party, but admit the The Longclaw Gang has been extracting protection money once a week. Rhea has also been spotted in the Fish Market.

The party regroup and head to the Fish Market. It is nighttime and the market is deserted.

Jonathon looks to the starts and reads his mother's fortune. Within the next 30 days a great change is coming for her.

## Journal of Jonathon Ramsey of House Amberfall

This day began as many others. As I awoke I dwelled studying math, engineering, stars and gods. As my family celebrates a new king I struggle with questioning why Malkis and Voraci have no children. All the other possible male, female partners between the main gods have children, except Felumbra. Do Malkis and Voraci hate each other? That can't be because they slew all the winter stars together, so they have some type of relationship. Were the winter stars their children? How would that heighten their evilness and chaos if they killed their own offspring? Could they be afraid of what a child between them would do? I don't know. As I wrestled with this thought, my world was shattered.

Guards came into the house with mother. She was attacked and blinded by presumably a warlock with a blue beard and several thugs. Her pack was stolen that was filled with loot from Nixon. She specified that Kel Ruxpin Greendall knew of what was in the pack. I question if the Knight could be behind the matter, she quickly shot this down. I am not so quick to toss this notion aside.

At first I was ready to go and bring these thugs to justice but in her pain, mother left Uncle Radric in charge. Felt like my heart was ripped out. Why doesn't mother believe in me? She turns to her drunk brother over her air, over her eldest son. Why? I do not understand.

As we went to gather info, Amy and I headed towards the northern bad parts of town as Uncle and my little brother headed towards the scene of the crime. Sister and I hit a tavern with little to be gained. However Amy's friends Jack and Jess proved to be of value as they told us of a new gang in town with a member with a blue beard. Amy and I commissioned Jack and Jess to be our eyes and ears and from there we went back to meet up with Uncle and Little Brother.

All of our investigation lead us to the Drowned Rat. Amy and I went in first. Inside we ran into the man with the blue beard. We exited before anything could be done to get Little Brother. Little Brother send Amy to fetch the Sheriff. By the time they arrived the Man with the Blue Beard had run.

I think this may be a slow process. We should have slaughtered the blue bearded man when we seen him. Instead we took Little Brothers way of relying on the authority. Maybe I should do things my way and burn down some houses.

As the night was wrapping up I looked to the stars to gauge the future of my mother. The stars screamed that change was coming in her future. Sharing this with my sister, dear uncle and little brother they scoffed saying it has already come. They do not understand though. The stars weren't speaking of today but the future. Little Brother was concerned more about financial needs. I could care less of the financial needs, for I know in the end, Waadsworth will eat from the hands of Amberfall.