Player Character: Drust

Player character from the Angharad Campaign (2012).

Warning - Player Character detail pages may contain spoiler information not known to other players.

Drust's History

Drust is one of eight children of a poor farmer named Caellach. Caellach's farmstead lies near the borderlands under frequent threat from goblins. When Drust was 15, his eldest brother heeded the call for men to help fight a surge in goblin raids. Thirsting for glory and an escape from the monotony of farm life, Drust convinces his three younger brothers to join him and run off in the night to follow their brother to war. Drust and his brothers are reluctantly allowed to join the fight as the goblin attacks become increasingly ferocious. Over the next year of fighting, Drust watched his brothers fall in battle one by one until only he remained. When a large goblin force manages to break his unit, Drust panics and runs. Drust fled to the only place he knew to go: home. In it's place, he found a burned out hull and a pile of long dead corpses. Crushed and alone, Drust picked a direction at random and began to wander.

After many months, Drust finds himself in Ceirin. He decides to settle down there, earning just enough coin to get by from odd jobs and telling stories of valor he learned from the soldiers on the border at the Four Winds tavern. He refuses to say much about his past, and has earned a reputation for bravery or recklessness depending on who you talk to. Behind his devil-may-care attitude, he blames himself for the death of his family. He sees winning himself a place amongst the Fionna as a step towards redeeming himself.

A package was left for me while we were making our trip around the mountain, probably forgotten till the morning after we return. Bound inside a familiar cloak is an heirloom that I immediately recognize as having belonged to my elder brother. The attached note says:
NEVER FORGET
NEVER FORGIVE

Behind the scenes, my eldest sister Kylan is my only surviving family. She blames me for everything. However, she respects my eldest brother more than she hates me, and the simple will he had hidden on his person when he died left the heirloom to me. My sister probably killed a lot of goblins to get it back.

Development Entry #1

You pass a week or so of July where not much occurs. During these quiet times, you spend time on the following activities. You spend time with the other party members in Ceirin and at the Four Winds, socializing and seeking bardic training.

Commoners and guardsmen like Drust because he is from commoner blood, his growing reputation as a warrior, and they enjoy his storytelling. Now after winning the Fianna Competition, when going about the Rhan you are occasionally greeted by name by some well wisher and people will make sure your mug is filled at the tavern. You meet with Maera several times at the Four Winds (including one spectacular meal featuring the meat from the Cave Fisher claw) and at her future Wizard's lab where you help her fix up the place. She has already spent most of her winnings from the competition on equipment and supplies, and can now create common potions. You also attend to your martial training, sparring occasionally with the other party members, and in particular Nemsey. Some of your sparring can be quite flashy and attracts attention due to the flashes and sparks given off by his scimitar.

You find out that there is a resident bard at the Red Roof Inn named Velan. Velan is half-elven and favors wearing black suede with a bright crimson tunic, embroidered with elvish script. He has been employed at the Red Roof for several years. Velan plays a lute and his passion is writing music and songs, and some of his music is known in the region. After seeking out Velan, you fall into an easy relationship and he assists you with your training and practicing your craft. One day Rowan jumped up and did some impromptu acrobatics and dance while Velan was performing a lively song and since then she has joined in some of your training. The two of you with assistance from Velan have worked out a brief performance where you chant a story and she dances and does some tumbling as part of the storytelling. Aed has also joined you on occasions in the evenings at the Red Roof after working on his researches in Ceirin.

One day after a telling a story about your times fighting goblins, one of those listening approaches you for a conversation. His name is Keayr and it turns out that he has also served at Crosswatch where you served for a time (Crosswatch is a small fortress which guards one of the passes down from the mountains and is manned by various Angharad from the region on a co-op basis). Keayr himself does some work at another tavern in town called the Laughing Wench. Most people call it the Naked Harlot (or just The Harlot) because the sign is of a nude woman, and the tavern is the local gambling and prostitution hub.

The two of you chat for a while comparing stories and the conversation turns to family, which causes your mood to sour and you seek to change the subject. Then you hear something curious when he asks "don't you have a couple of sisters?" You ask him some additional questions, but all he knows is that someone matching your elder sister Kylan's description was seen in Cerdwigg (not that far from your old family farm) with a younger woman of similar appearance and there was some kind of altercation and someone was killed. He, and he was curious if you knew what had become of them and where they might be. Sensing your discomfort over the topic, he changes topics and the conversation returns to Crosswatch. He mentions a cousin he has serving there and says you should look him up if you ever get out that way.

Development Entry #2

Forging a weapon of Power

One of the god Lugh’s Domains is Artifice. Many of the best smith’s in the land are also priests of Lugh. The Sun Temple of Lugh is also the source of Foundry Stones, which are stored sources of earth and fire elemental energy which are burned in place of wood/charcoal/coal as a ‘clean energy’ source. The Foundry Stones themselves are created by rituals and incantations at the great stone circle built by the Ancients at the Sun Temple of Lugh.

The smith commissioned to create Drust’s masterwork glaive is located directly across from the Temple of Lugh in Ceirin and the master smith Kithier frequently works with the priests of Lugh when crafting any unique items. Upon receiving a report from Aed and being approached by the smith Kithier for an additional Foundry Stone, Deacon Gllucan began sending over novices to the smithy to add the blessings of Lugh to the project (repeated castings of 0-level Guidance). With the assistance of apprentice smiths (Aid Another) and the blessings of Lugh (Guidance), the masterwork glaive was completed successfully (but no ‘critical success’ as rolled by Kelly). The blade itself is the masterwork component and it is decorated with a beautiful never-ending spiral decoration of the type favored by the Angharad, and has a stout ash wood haft.

Next, Drust requested Maera perform the research into the incantation which would be used to activate the Lesser Powerstone and enchant the masterwork weapon. Powerstones are artifacts left by the Ancients, created out of a green glass like stone (similar to obsidian) called Laen which is harder than steel. Upon hearing the details of the forging of the weapon, Maera created an incantation incorporating Aed (as a priest of Lugh) into the enchantment process. Maera performed the incantation at her lab and upon completion the Powerstone melded into the blade, filling in the spiral patter of the blade with green Laen.

Also at the culmination of the incantion, Aed’s eyes rolled back into his head and he began speaking in the old tongue (ancient Ang)… Aed himself is most familiar with the language (being related to his studies at the Sun Temple and on the Ancients), but he does not remember what he spoke. When he came back to himself those present tried to repeat what he had spoken, but only a little could be figured out (and the whole episode has taken on a dream like quality and is difficult for those present to remember).

Some of the words that could be remembered and translated might include “giant killer” or “giant killed”. It was also hard to determine if the phrase was referring to the wielder or the weapon itself. The one clear thing that is that the weapon bears a name, which is Faoiseamh (which I think is pronounced something like ‘fau-swee’) in the old tongue, which means “Respite” (as in breathing space).

Subsequent study using spellcraft and identify shows that there is some unidentifiable conjuration/evocation magic within the weapon in addition to the standard transmutation magic associated with magical enhancement.