Something is killing people in Palebank Village, and if you don’t stop it, you might be next! “Frozen Sick” is an adventure that takes characters from 1st to 2nd level and introduces us to the continent’s Biting North region—the bleak arctic realms of the Greying Wildlands and Eiselcross.
...Because what better way to stave off the freezing temperatures of winter and usher in the fresh new life of springtime than with a hideous plague?
I am an experienced GM, but new to 5e and looking to practice with a low level adventure. Mistakes will be made. We will persevere.
Level 1, milestone xp
Ability scores: Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest, or point buy
Provide a short background. We begin at the funeral of one Dwarven explorer named Urgon Wenth. Perhaps you knew him. Characters should fit the frozen north, although you could choose to be a traveler from a warmer clime.
Maps will appear in Roll20.
Gameplay will occur here, but Discord will be used for out of character discussion.
Recruitment will run through the weekend. I'll select five players. I'll make my selections Monday and start the game by Tuesday.
Let's start with stats: Ability scores: 121616171316
Name: Velhala "Hala" Kroft
Race/class: Tiefling/ranger
Back story: A denizen of Palebank Village and admirer of Urgon Wenth, who was her father's former adventuring partner, Hala herself became an adventurer. A cartographer by trade. She now seeks to discover the reason for the death of the famous adventurer as well as to end the sickness spreading in her homeland.
“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman...You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Keeping it nice and simple, since I've never played one before...
Meet Daelnar, a barbarian of the Northlands. Similarly to Rider, I've kept the backstory brief and generic, happy to tailor it to work with anyone else.
Daelnar has spent his life in the Biting North, born from blood lines tied back the Tribe of the Elk. He has always hoped to tread in the footsteps of his distant kinsman, Wulfgar, and dreamed of glory. Most would say that he was a solid and capable enough youth, even if he did spend a little too much time caught up in his daydreams and his slightly inflated opinion of himself kept him distanced from his peers and childhood companions.
News recently reached him of the death of Urgon Wenth, a friend of Daelnar's family that had recently offered the young barbarian a spot in his latest expedition. Seeing no glory in the dwarf's proposal Daelnar had declined the offer. He has now travelled to the funeral of Urgon, to pay his respects and try to sate the guilt he hardbours for not accompanying the dwarf when he had the chance.
Hans is an Earth Genasi who left his homeland of Xhorhas to broaden his knowledge of the world and train his body for the trials to come. He fiercely opposed the evil acts he saw taking place in the Kryn Dynasty and fled north to the wastelands. He met the dwarf Urgon Wenth on his travels, and when he learnt of his death he swore to discover the truth behind his strange demise.
He is calm and holds back his emotions, which run strong in him. Furthermore, he makes friends quickly, but it takes him a while to be certain of other's feelings towards him - a betrayal in the past left him unsure of his ability to read others.
He will probably multiclass into monk at 2nd level (hence the shortswords).
Raadox is clothed in deep green forest garb, covered with woven leaf patterns. Yet he is clearly not a wood elf, rather a high elf. He is average height and build for an elf, wearing no armour and carrying a pair of elven blades.
Raadox is a high elf from the warm southlands. A bit of a likeable rogue and scoundrel, he won a valuable amulet in a game of dice (okay, so perhaps the dice weren't entirely clean, but no one noticed, so it never happened, right?). Unfortunately, as is his way, he bragged about his winnings to the wrong people, only to be robbed at sword point by a fur-clad giant barbarian from the northlands. With nothing left to his name but a few coins and his travelling gear, Raadox set out on the trail of the barbarian. Unhappily it led due north into cold and inhospitable lands. Now he finds himself at the funeral of an unknown dwarf. He's just stumbled into this service, figuring there might be some experienced wanderers in the congregation who could give him a lead on the seven-foot-tall barbarian he's chasing - a giant of a man who called himself Ahnold...
STR 8, DEX 17, CON 14, INT 14, WIS 12, CHA 9 (point buy)
Backstory: Child: ⁃ Had somewhat of an abusive childhood. Though she was rarely beaten, her parents seemed to be emotionally distant, and she had twelve other siblings who stole the attention away from her.
Teenager: ⁃ Got into the habit of sneaking into people’s homes when they weren’t there and stealing what she could. Getting cocky, she snuck into the house of someone that she knew to be a thief (a human man by the name of Belan Harobo), as she knew he would probably have some expensive goods, and she was caught by him. ⁃ Instead of turning her into the guards, he decided the train her so she could be more professional and refined with her trade. He taught her thieves’ cant, he helped her refine her ability to sneak around, and he provided her a moral compass where her parents couldn’t, teaching her that it’s better to steal from those that don’t really need it, than to steal from poor peasants. ⁃ Eventually, when he felt she was ready to move on without direct guidance, he provided her the information of a local thieves group lead by a high elf named Luthias Roberos. She met up with him and began doing basic jobs fit for an amateur rogue
Adulthood: ⁃ After about a year of work Xanra was tasked to steal a magical weapon from the town armory. Despite being a dangerous task, she managed to pull it off, and the group celebrated her success with a party. During this party, Luthias provided her a drink, and once she downed the entire thing, he revealed to her that she consumed something that would end her life within a year, and that he would provide her the antidote of the retrieved a powerful artifact for them. During this reveal, the rest of the thieves’ guild seemed to be watching them intently, ready to draw their weapons, so she assumed they were in on it. She attempted to kill Luthias, but the remainder of the thieves’ guild were able to restrain her and throw her out.
⁃ Xanra spent a few weeks traveling around trying to locate someone that could dispel the poison inside of her, and even a local priest that knew how to dispel poison were still unable to get rid of it. The priest told her of a human named Farley Savern, as well as a brief description of him, and he said the Farley came by recently with a very similar problem, and advised that locating him may help her in some way.
-Urgon Wenth was rumored to know something about Xanra's condition, but with his untimely death happening just before her reaching the city, she has very few remaining leads.
Name:Red Chanter Race: Tabaxi (snow leopard coloring) Class: Bard Background: Grinner Backstory: Red is a traveling minstrel seeking out all that's good in life: good people, good music, and good coin (which she uses to buy everything else that's good). As an agent of the Golden Grin, she's been tasked with investigating rumors in the Greying Wildlands of a strange and threatening plague sweeping the region to determine whether it poses a threat to the lands beyond.
alrighty then, I present Alauza, short sheet here: x
Ability scores: 1415711147
Alauza is a Xhorsian drow, raised among the faithful of Rosohna in the light of the Luxon. Her parents were recent converts, and have raised her with an innate appreciation for the balance of light and dark. She is a new soul, and seeks to prove herself worthy of consecution, and be welcomed into a den. A cleric by trade, she trained in the Firmaments to manipulate darkness and light, to see further in the darkness, and she hopes perhaps to use this tool someday to help other drow, like her parents, still under the sway of Lolth. But she is not too powerful yet, and volunteered for a Xhorhasian mission into the frozen north as support for those adventuring therein, to help guide their path and tend to their wounds.
Harley “The Beartrapper” Atheonaikie is a rare sight – a lone goliath. Frustrated with the strict regulations of the herd, telling her what she could and couldn’t do, Harley struck out on her own to find freedom. Whether this was brave or foolish is yet to be determined. Since then, Harley has roamed the islands of Eiselcross, protecting fellow lone travellers who wander across the land and delighting in the occasional discovery of an Aeorian artifact. She considers the safety of lost souls a personal responsibility, so she was saddened to hear about the passing of Urgon Wenth, a friendly acquaintance.
Like Rider and PolarBear, I'm totally open to working more information into the backstory later.
Backstory: Blight was born and raised in a crummy town. She lived in a rundown apartment with her mother and her five siblings, her father was taken away before she was a teenager. She was very bright for her age and was excelling in school, but was forced to leave after her family was swindled out of coin by a charlatan and could not pay for school. So she turned to living the life of a charlatan to keep from being swindled again, and to provide for her family. She also self taught herself in the ways of the arcane arts.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ability scores: 91411151712
Name:Shagar
Race: Orc of Exandria
Class: Ranger
Backstory: Shagar was born in the far northern mountains of the Flotket Alps. Her tribe was constantly hunted by the Glassblades of Uthodurn. Her tribe eventually made their way across the mountain range, losing a large number to the land and beasts, settling in the lower mountains near the village of Palebank. Over a few years the villagers came to understand that the tribe nearly wanted to survive and began to trade with them, the hunters of the tribe were superb. Shagar was an exceptional student and learned to track animals at a very young age. During one very harsh winter she singlehandedly kept her tribe from starving to death. When she came of age she took a job as a hunter/tracker with a dwarf named Urgon Wenth. He had traded with her tribe for many years and offered her a job when his current hunter was lost during and expedition in the far north. She was with her tribe for her mothers death rites during Urgon's last mission and feels guilt over not having been there to protect him, even tho she was told he succumbed to some strange disease.
Pa kissed Ma on the way out to the stump line one morning in early winter, and hasn't been seen since.
Ma died 6 months later in the bloody bed with their 2nd.
Mekhi had just started walking when this happened, so he doesn't remember that awful night, or anything else of his parents for that matter. Scratching a living on the Northern Frontier with a bit farming and hunting and trapping losing a parent at some point happens to most people, but both? And just barely able to walk...And so, after much sober 2nd thought and discussion totaling half a dozen words over a mug Mekhi's neighbours delivered the toddler to the monastery nearby and divided the young families betwixt themselves.
Any updates or pointers for applicants about party selection?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman...You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
When Xylys Trazin was younger he was carousing in a Ten Towns tavern, tied one on with Urgon Wenth and went hunting Snow Snakes together. No such creatures exist, but they didn't know that at the time; well, really they didn't care - to sloshed. Ever since they had kept in touch casually but their friendship was enough that, when Xylys heard the fate of Urgon, he felt obligated to make an appearance to toast his friend off through the Dark Gate to where ever he was bound.
Something is killing people in Palebank Village, and if you don’t stop it, you might be next! “Frozen Sick” is an adventure that takes characters from 1st to 2nd level and introduces us to the continent’s Biting North region—the bleak arctic realms of the Greying Wildlands and Eiselcross.
...Because what better way to stave off the freezing temperatures of winter and usher in the fresh new life of springtime than with a hideous plague?
I am an experienced GM, but new to 5e and looking to practice with a low level adventure. Mistakes will be made. We will persevere.
Hi! I'd love to join a Crit Role based adventure!
Let's start with stats: Ability scores: 12 16 16 17 13 16
Name: Velhala "Hala" Kroft
Race/class: Tiefling/ranger
Back story: A denizen of Palebank Village and admirer of Urgon Wenth, who was her father's former adventuring partner, Hala herself became an adventurer. A cartographer by trade. She now seeks to discover the reason for the death of the famous adventurer as well as to end the sickness spreading in her homeland.
Character link: https://ddb.ac/characters/43737401/UeprDv
I am willing to work in more back story but find leaving it vague and concise helps build better in the vein of the game when more info is given.
“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman...You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Yeah, I'd be up for a quick 2 level sortie.
Ability scores: 15 13 8 10 16 8
Keeping it nice and simple, since I've never played one before...
Meet Daelnar, a barbarian of the Northlands. Similarly to Rider, I've kept the backstory brief and generic, happy to tailor it to work with anyone else.
Name: Daelnar
Class: Barbarian
Character Sheet: https://ddb.ac/characters/9199686/3lHAJu
Backstory:
Daelnar has spent his life in the Biting North, born from blood lines tied back the Tribe of the Elk. He has always hoped to tread in the footsteps of his distant kinsman, Wulfgar, and dreamed of glory. Most would say that he was a solid and capable enough youth, even if he did spend a little too much time caught up in his daydreams and his slightly inflated opinion of himself kept him distanced from his peers and childhood companions.
News recently reached him of the death of Urgon Wenth, a friend of Daelnar's family that had recently offered the young barbarian a spot in his latest expedition. Seeing no glory in the dwarf's proposal Daelnar had declined the offer. He has now travelled to the funeral of Urgon, to pay his respects and try to sate the guilt he hardbours for not accompanying the dwarf when he had the chance.
Bring out your inner chatacter class...
I would enjoy this too if you'll have me.
10 12 17 14 20 17
Drop lowest gets:
9, 11, 16, 14, 16, 16
Beardy druid.
Very beardy druid. With a cap.
Just to clarify, the gameplay will occur in this forum. Discord will only be used for out of character chat and questions.
Thanks for clearing that up. I should probably mention that I don't have Discord.
My character (Hans).
Hans is an Earth Genasi who left his homeland of Xhorhas to broaden his knowledge of the world and train his body for the trials to come. He fiercely opposed the evil acts he saw taking place in the Kryn Dynasty and fled north to the wastelands. He met the dwarf Urgon Wenth on his travels, and when he learnt of his death he swore to discover the truth behind his strange demise.
He is calm and holds back his emotions, which run strong in him. Furthermore, he makes friends quickly, but it takes him a while to be certain of other's feelings towards him - a betrayal in the past left him unsure of his ability to read others.
He will probably multiclass into monk at 2nd level (hence the shortswords).
Beardy druid.
Very beardy druid. With a cap.
Raadox the Green
My Homebrew World: The World of Rodinia
Novels Published: Reynard's Fate, Kita's Honour and Callindrill
Name: Xanra Lesara
Race: Lightfoot Halfling
Class: Rogue
STR 8, DEX 17, CON 14, INT 14, WIS 12, CHA 9 (point buy)
Backstory:
Child:
⁃ Had somewhat of an abusive childhood. Though she was rarely beaten, her parents seemed to be emotionally distant, and she had twelve other siblings who stole the attention away from her.
Teenager:
⁃ Got into the habit of sneaking into people’s homes when they weren’t there and stealing what she could. Getting cocky, she snuck into the house of someone that she knew to be a thief (a human man by the name of Belan Harobo), as she knew he would probably have some expensive goods, and she was caught by him.
⁃ Instead of turning her into the guards, he decided the train her so she could be more professional and refined with her trade. He taught her thieves’ cant, he helped her refine her ability to sneak around, and he provided her a moral compass where her parents couldn’t, teaching her that it’s better to steal from those that don’t really need it, than to steal from poor peasants.
⁃ Eventually, when he felt she was ready to move on without direct guidance, he provided her the information of a local thieves group lead by a high elf named Luthias Roberos. She met up with him and began doing basic jobs fit for an amateur rogue
Adulthood:
⁃ After about a year of work Xanra was tasked to steal a magical weapon from the town armory. Despite being a dangerous task, she managed to pull it off, and the group celebrated her success with a party. During this party, Luthias provided her a drink, and once she downed the entire thing, he revealed to her that she consumed something that would end her life within a year, and that he would provide her the antidote of the retrieved a powerful artifact for them. During this reveal, the rest of the thieves’ guild seemed to be watching them intently, ready to draw their weapons, so she assumed they were in on it. She attempted to kill Luthias, but the remainder of the thieves’ guild were able to restrain her and throw her out.
⁃ Xanra spent a few weeks traveling around trying to locate someone that could dispel the poison inside of her, and even a local priest that knew how to dispel poison were still unable to get rid of it. The priest told her of a human named Farley Savern, as well as a brief description of him, and he said the Farley came by recently with a very similar problem, and advised that locating him may help her in some way.
- Urgon Wenth was rumored to know something about Xanra's condition, but with his untimely death happening just before her reaching the city, she has very few remaining leads.
Oh yeah let me get in on this action!
Ability scores: 14 12 10 10 15 14
Name: Red Chanter
Race: Tabaxi (snow leopard coloring)
Class: Bard
Background: Grinner
Backstory: Red is a traveling minstrel seeking out all that's good in life: good people, good music, and good coin (which she uses to buy everything else that's good). As an agent of the Golden Grin, she's been tasked with investigating rumors in the Greying Wildlands of a strange and threatening plague sweeping the region to determine whether it poses a threat to the lands beyond.
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Mis'tuv (Halfling Fathomless Warlock) - The Voyage of the Fallen Star
Meresaa (Vedalken Artillerist Artificer) - Destination Unknown
Hutton Crowcreek (Human Fighter) - Curse of the Crimson Throne
alrighty then, I present Alauza, short sheet here: x
Ability scores: 14 15 7 11 14 7
Alauza is a Xhorsian drow, raised among the faithful of Rosohna in the light of the Luxon. Her parents were recent converts, and have raised her with an innate appreciation for the balance of light and dark. She is a new soul, and seeks to prove herself worthy of consecution, and be welcomed into a den. A cleric by trade, she trained in the Firmaments to manipulate darkness and light, to see further in the darkness, and she hopes perhaps to use this tool someday to help other drow, like her parents, still under the sway of Lolth. But she is not too powerful yet, and volunteered for a Xhorhasian mission into the frozen north as support for those adventuring therein, to help guide their path and tend to their wounds.
Eilish Alani Gennady, High Elf Draconic Lineage Sorcerer 5
Constance "Connie" Qenan, Tiefling Inquisitive Rogue 5, Archfey Warlock 2
Name: Harley Atheonaikie
Race/Class: Goliath Barbarian
Backstory:
Harley “The Beartrapper” Atheonaikie is a rare sight – a lone goliath. Frustrated with the strict regulations of the herd, telling her what she could and couldn’t do, Harley struck out on her own to find freedom. Whether this was brave or foolish is yet to be determined. Since then, Harley has roamed the islands of Eiselcross, protecting fellow lone travellers who wander across the land and delighting in the occasional discovery of an Aeorian artifact. She considers the safety of lost souls a personal responsibility, so she was saddened to hear about the passing of Urgon Wenth, a friendly acquaintance.
Like Rider and PolarBear, I'm totally open to working more information into the backstory later.
Ability Scores: Point buy
https://ddb.ac/characters/43809735/njHXy5
A completed pbp forum game:
Harley Atheonaikie in Frozen Sick
-
Current pbp forum games:
Delilah Rose in Rivulestice
Tragedy Whispers (Previously: A Deep & Creeping Darkness & Waterdeep: Dragon Heist)
Roll: Ability scores: 17 15 11 10 15 16 (Place Holder)
Name: Blight
Race: Fire Genasi
Class: Wizard
Background: Charlatan
Backstory: Blight was born and raised in a crummy town. She lived in a rundown apartment with her mother and her five siblings, her father was taken away before she was a teenager. She was very bright for her age and was excelling in school, but was forced to leave after her family was swindled out of coin by a charlatan and could not pay for school. So she turned to living the life of a charlatan to keep from being swindled again, and to provide for her family. She also self taught herself in the ways of the arcane arts.
Ability scores: 9 14 11 15 17 12
Name:Shagar
Race: Orc of Exandria
Class: Ranger
Backstory: Shagar was born in the far northern mountains of the Flotket Alps. Her tribe was constantly hunted by the Glassblades of Uthodurn. Her tribe eventually made their way across the mountain range, losing a large number to the land and beasts, settling in the lower mountains near the village of Palebank. Over a few years the villagers came to understand that the tribe nearly wanted to survive and began to trade with them, the hunters of the tribe were superb. Shagar was an exceptional student and learned to track animals at a very young age. During one very harsh winter she singlehandedly kept her tribe from starving to death. When she came of age she took a job as a hunter/tracker with a dwarf named Urgon Wenth. He had traded with her tribe for many years and offered her a job when his current hunter was lost during and expedition in the far north. She was with her tribe for her mothers death rites during Urgon's last mission and feels guilt over not having been there to protect him, even tho she was told he succumbed to some strange disease.
https://ddb.ac/characters/43875887/w92T2i
(@%#$^* Not sure what happened but went to add my char sheet link and it all the sudden rerolled my stats and flagged for potential manipulation
Gonna start taking friggin screenshots of that shit)
Stats first Ability scores: 9 4 16 9 12 14
Ability scores: 14 11 16 13 13 13
17 5
Pa kissed Ma on the way out to the stump line one morning in early winter, and hasn't been seen since.
Ma died 6 months later in the bloody bed with their 2nd.
Any updates or pointers for applicants about party selection?
“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman...You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Is a centaur an acceptable race?
Recruitment ends tonight. First thing tomorrow I'll select the team, send DM's, and post an announcement here.
Other than keeping track of classes, I haven't read any submissions. I want to approach them on equal footing when i do sit down tomorrow morning.
Centaur is allowed as long as you can justify your presence in a frozen climate.
Ability scores: 13 7 14 11 17 11
Xylys Trazin Human Sorcerer
https://ddb.ac/characters/23784746/FPUOVS
When Xylys Trazin was younger he was carousing in a Ten Towns tavern, tied one on with Urgon Wenth and went hunting Snow Snakes together. No such creatures exist, but they didn't know that at the time; well, really they didn't care - to sloshed. Ever since they had kept in touch casually but their friendship was enough that, when Xylys heard the fate of Urgon, he felt obligated to make an appearance to toast his friend off through the Dark Gate to where ever he was bound.
Panic is a mechanism that strengthens the gene pool.