I am currently looking to bolster the ranks of a pre-existing campaign currently being run on these very forums - The Call of Strahd. The campaign has been running since October 2020 and PCs are currently at level 4. I am currently looking to recruit 2-3 new players.
Please read below if you are interested and thank you for your time.
The Story to Date
Our intrepid party has found themselves whisked away from their daily lives and to the mist-filled plane of Barovia (Ravenloft). 6 days have passed since that event and a lot has happened. The party has found that it by no accident that they were brought to Barovia, but rather by the whims of one Strahd Von Zarovich; the self-stylised ‘Count’ and ruler of Barovia.
Strahd toys with the party at every turn, sending his minions to wreak havoc wherever they may go. But all is not lost, the party has met a number of allies along the way; ranging from the beautiful Ireena Kolyana and her brother Ismark Kolyanovich (children of the recently deceased Burgomaster of the Village of Barovia) to the all-seeing seeress Madam Eva and her Vistani companions.
Madam Eva has revealed a great many things to the party, including how they might deal with the devil Strahd and escape the plane they find themselves trapped in. She informed them that there are three treasures, one of which has already been located, which may aid them in their quest.
Now, they find themselves in the heart of the Town of Vallaki searching for answers. After saving the town’s orphanage from an evil scheme, perpetrated by a Maurezhi, they now play the role of detectives as they desperately search for the perpetrator of a number of local murders. However, all is not as it seems, as Izek Strazni, a local thug in the employ of the town’s Baron Vargas, has mustered a mob to ‘deal’ with the person he believes responsible for the killings.
Will the party be able to intervene before innocent blood is spilt? Can they speak Izek down or will they choose to forcefully deal with the town bully? Well, I am not sure… that’s where the campaign is at the moment!
Current Party Members
In alphabetical order:
Dormark - Warforged Cleric
Galqarin - Bugbear Monk
Sandu - Human Warlock
Valerie - Aasimar Paladin
The ‘Type’ of Campaign
The Call of Strahd is a campaign run that is heavily, but not exclusively, based on the Curse of Strahd (CoS). It is a heavily ‘fleshed out’ CoS, which utilises a number of different third party sources (chiefly CoS: Reloaded from the CoS subreddit) as well as borrowing from other places including my own homebrewed lore for certain locations.
That being said, if people are familiar with CoS it very much follows its storyline and might not feel ‘new’ to players that have already run the module.
Above all, the campaign is sandbox themed, with minimal prompts when necessary. It is RP heavy with a few battles (something which can be hard to run by PbP), traps and the occasional mystery - well I try my best at least!
Lastly, CoS is a darker campaign setting. I try and steer clear from anything perceived as being too disturbing, keeping things effectively 'off screen', that being said there may well be references to topics including torture, pain, death (including child), rituals, etc. As such, please be aware that these topics may arise and I shall attempt to write in a way that is respectful and not too graphic.
Where you fit in
‘The Hook’
Your character finds themselves in a desperate situation, where every second counts. If only there was an ‘out’, an escape, if only you could be taken out of harm's way.
It is then that you notice it. A small pamphlet flies through the air, as though by magic, and lands at your feet. Picking it up you see swirling text and imagery; it depicts your character’s deepest desires - riches? power? position? The imagery changes and in large letters CARNIVAL is written upon the pamphlet.
It is an invitation - will you leave your predicament behind and answer the call of the Carnival?
What is required:
Level 4 character - no homebrew, please, unless agreed beforehand
Please complete the Character Application listed below
Player Experience: All players are welcome, regardless of experience - in fact, it might help if you have not played CoS before.
Post Frequency: Please be able to post regularly (weekends are generally quieter and a post every other day I have found is about right)
Campaign Thread will predominantly be In Character (IC), PMs will generally be Out of Character (OOC)
No-UA
Roll for Stats: Re-roll any 1’s, Point Buy if unhappy with stat block (just let me know!)
Recruitment will run until Sunday, 9th January 2022 - invites will be sent via PM.
My Time Zone is GMT / BST; players from all time zones welcome, just a heads up that most of my forum activity will be within GMT hours
What happens next?
A mini pre-campaign coming together of selected players will be undertaken within a separate thread. This will introduce/establish the following:
The nature of the Carnival
How the Carnival fits within the mists/Ravenloft
Links between the selected PCs
A more natural, narrative way of introducing you into a larger campaign; rather than just stating, “Blam! You’re in Barovia!”
Application
Name:
Character Sheet:
Race:
Class:
Background:
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section):
If there is any further information I can clarify, please ask below.
Race: CENTAUR Class: Bard (College of Creation) Background: Faceless Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section):
Dadeveth grew up in a cult that worshipped an ancient being of evil. (I am leaving this vague as I would like it to be something useful for the story and not something I just make up.) She followed all of the cult's tenants, performed the evil acts required of all of its members, and even reveled in some of those things. As she got older though she found that, though her parents fanatically followed the edicts of the cult, she herself did not believe as they did. She started to understand that the things she had grown up with, things she had taken for just how things were, were actually evil and that she could not continue on in this way. She waited, planned, then escaped. They came after her, as she had expected, but she had planned for that, and had made sure they would be seeking her everywhere but where she would actually be. They did not find her, and she managed to lose herself among the crowds of city after city, putting together a new identity for herself, becoming someone new, becoming someone those she left behind would never be looking for.
She, who is known as Dadeveth now, stood, shifting from hoof to hoof in worry. She had thought she had left all of this behind, had walked away from the life and found a new purpose for herself. She knew now that they had not let her go, as she had hoped they would. They had sought her out, tracked her, somehow, and were even now seeking through this city in search of her. Would they recognize her if they saw her or would her disguise thwart even their keen sight. She was nervous, a centaur was a big thing to hide, and were not so common in these lands regardless. After a moment of thought Dadeveth clip clopped down the street a few more paces, then froze. She saw him then, and he saw her. Their eyes met and she knew. They had found her at last. Turning, she drove into an alley, rushing to get away, to find escape. She would have to start over, to make a new identity. She simply would not return to that life, not for any price. The sound of hoofs were behind her, both centaur and horses she knew, he had called for others to join in the chase. Running blindly, Dadeveth turned down more streets, galloped through alley after alley, then she made the wrong choice. She came to a dead end. As she turned, terror filling her, she noticed a small pamplet swirl in the air and land near her hoof. Even in the moment of her greatest fear, she couldn't help but look at it. Picking it up she looked at it, seeing open grasslands, music, and freedom. "If only I could have that..." She comments in a musical voice, soft and sultry.
Backstory: nicknack always drew the short straw, from being the runt in his family, to being the youngest to come of age. He really was too young to be sent out into the under dark alone, told only to return when he had made his adulthood killing… but tradition is tradition.
he came back with a large rat after 6 days, to the laughter of the whole village. Given no responsibilities and expected nothing of him, he did however have time to wander, and wander he did. Wandering the caves of his home, and returning home to draw them out. He knew maps and tunnels better than words and feelings, knew molds and rocks better than facial expressions and the warmth of another gnome beside him.
one day a raiding party seemingly out of nowhere came and ravaged his home and family while he was away. He wiped his tears and followed the tracks for days, twisting into tunnels he’d never been down before. The tracks came to a dead end, literally walking into the wall it seemed. He stay in this cavern and focused, awaiting something, anything. After his rations ran low and he slept more and more each day, he fell asleep and didn’t wake for quite a time. He only remembered shivering, before the carnival pamphlet floated in front of him, through the wall.
a portal to somewhere, he knew not the way to open, except the unknowing. He closed his eyes and wished for something better than this, no matter the trials that would be face him along the way. He was done with sitting in caves while loathing his own sadness.
No family or home to return to, only the life ahead of him to worry for, when his eyes opened, he awoke in another world…
Who doesn’t love a good creepy carnival ;) active RPer who’s never played CoS.
(Open to changing as needed to fit the party and group, as well as DM’s story.)
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section):
Shavaris killed her sister. Whoa, when you say it like that, it really brings it to life, doesn't it? Odd, how talking about killing brings something to life. She knows she killed her, whether or not it was something she did on purpose is an entirely different matter. One she tries not to weigh in on if she can help it.
How did it happen you ask? Well, that's all a bit fuzzy. Shavaris was on the job. She was good at the job, she lived for it. So did her sister and they enjoyed sharing this in common, though they worked for different companies. Honestly they made each other better at the job, always sharing things they had learned and competing against each other. This particular mission was to steal a moonstone the size of an ogre's head from one the local Houses, as they liked to be called. Apparently, Shavaris's team wasn't the only team brought in for the mission and well, things went South. They also didn't succeed.
Sharvaris decided to take a break from that life. But it was too late, people started to talk. She didn't think anyone knew it was she that killed her sister! She tried to stay out of taverns and such, honestly any place that held people, she just wanted the rumors to stop. But they didn't, then they reached her parents. She needed to get out.
Background: (not decided yet, but Entertainer for the moment)
Backstory: Mimic cannot talk on his own. He can only communicate through written word and by singing words from a known tune. He has traveled far and wide and has used his Enthralling Performance skill to get favors from people of power. Now it is coming back to bite him (quite literally). He tricked a Leonin Princess into giving him a treasured gem from the family vault. Now her brother, the prince, is hot on his tail feathers to serve justice to him.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ability scores: 161412111212
Name: Nicholas Everard
Character Sheet: work in progress
Race: Halfling
Class: Bard (Eloquence)
Background: Criminal
Backstory: I was born into a family of criminals. My father ran a small thieves guild, and me and my three brothers were raised swindling on the streets. I had a clever wit and a natural affinity for magic, which my father exploited in any way he could. When I was 15, he started having me run point on cons and missions. It stayed that way for years, and I got pretty good at it. The business steadily grew and after while we were one of the more prominent crime rings in the city. This attracted a lot of attention, and soon police started investigating our cases a lot closer. We slowed down, were more cautious, but it didn't help. One of my father's chief advisors flipped and told the police everything, and the headquarters was soon stormed by the city's enforcement. My father and two of my brothers were caught and put in jail, but I used my magical ability to narrowly escape. Now on the run, I have very little money and even fewer options. All I need right now is a place to lay low and make a decent wage. That's when I happen upon a flyer that catches my fancy.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
(Completing work in progress from above... I have no experience with CoS but have always wanted to play it. Tons of 5e experience. Fairly recent to PBP but am part of 2 PBP campaigns currently. I post frequently so any posting schedule is fine with me. Pacific time zone.)
Born the youngest daughter of a well-known high elf family near Silverymoon, Nikita was nearly an afterthrought and other than a good education, was left to her own devices. Which suited her fine. She needed to get out. Anywhere. Too haughty and stuffy these sun elves she had always thought, chafing under aristocratic expectations and spending much more time with merchants, travelers and urchins, who tolerated her for the most part. This mixed background helped her develop a sense of the complexities of the world, though it didn't entirely prepare her for what was to come. Her wanderlust led her, during young adulthood, into the High Forest south of Silverymoon where a chance encounter led her to befriend an ancient wood elf. A master of the ancient elven art of Bladesinging. Here was a pursuit Nikita could pour herself into, body and soul, learning diligently and eagerly from the master, once he agreed to teach her. Losing herself in the rhythm and the magic as she danced with her blade.
After over 2 years of training, her master revealed to her that he had retired from a secret organization on the Sword Coast dedicated to combating tyranny and helping the less powerful - the Harpers. He sent her on to Waterdeep at the request for help from one of his old colleagues, deeming her "not ready, but as ready as you're likely to be anytime soon." Once in Waterdeep, the Harpers immediately immersed Nikita in a web of intrigue within the city and eventually thrust her into a mission that made her realize quickly how little she knew of the darkness in the world.
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section): Warning: spoilers related to Waterdeep Dragon Heist.
Weeks of buildup had led to this. An infiltration of the Cassalanter villa in Waterdeep.
The Cassalanters were a rich and respected aristocratic family in Waterdeep with powerful allies in the city. And even more powerful allies outside it. The Harpers had discovered the Cassalanters' devotion to the Arch-Devil Asmodeus, arising (as always with devils) from an ill-fated bargain they had struck. Harper agents had discovered the devil and devil-spawn "servants" on their grounds, and the human sacrifices the Cassalanter family were conducting in the catacombs under the mansion and villa. Tonight was the night the Harpers would bring them down. Infiltrate the villa and expose them to the light of day.
But as always, things had not gone as planned. Nikita had been a scout and spotter on the outskirts of the villa grounds. She had taken out the imps disguised as ravens who roamed the trees as sentries for the Cassalanters. But she soon discovered that the main incursion group had been betrayed. Killed or captured. Now they were after the rest of them. All of them. Nikita knew that making a bargain with Devils as the Cassalanters had was bad, but perhaps earning the true enmity of Devils, and of the powerful Cassalanter family, was worse. Her Harper hideouts and safehouses compromised and her allies dead or gone to ground like her, Nikita was on the run. And they were after her, to be certain. Just after she had managed to exit the city under an improvised disguise, she had noticed men (or devils in disguise?) in Cassalanter livery speaking with the gate guards behind her.
They were coming. Wherever she ran. Why had she ever left home in Silverymoon again? No time to worry about that. She needed a way out.
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section): In a village very far south in the steamy jungle full of colorful dinosaurs, Faila was the youngest child in a large family of hunters and farmers. They would sell trophies and skins and grow exotic crops for traveling merchants. One day when Faila was about 8 years old the family was traveling back from a market and was stalked and ambushed by a pack of dinosaurs. Faila was the only one who survived because she was small enough to squeeze into a space between some rocks under a falling stream where the animals couldn't get to her. She didn't dare to come out, but a pair of druids found her and took them along with her as they traveled north. They taught her their ways but she felt certain that, with their communion with nature, they had arranged the attack on her family and she wanted only to escape from them. One night she wild shaped and fled away north into the mountains where she found some caves and tunnels and found herself in the Harkenwold. Traveling through the cities and surviving in the streets she found of all the people there she liked best the dwarves, they were nothing like what she'd grown up with but they seemed solid and dependable to her with their lawful slow ways. As she grew up she was not exactly welcomed by them but sought to work for them when she could. While she does not study under anyone now and dreads running into any other druids, her druid powers are very much in control of her because of her need for survival and her use of anger and independence to meet this need. Although deep down she longs to be free both of the druids and of the violence of nature that took her family from her.
Now, it happened again. She tried to live a normal life, and then she got hungry. As always when she couldn't quite understand or cope with civilized life anymore, she had no one to turn to. The last handful of gold she'd earned using her powers to help a party of adventures had been spent on a pair of ewes so that she could try to eke out a normal existence, providing for herself, being part of the community. Now the sheep were in pieces and the town had had enough. The watch ran her out, telling her to go back to her own kind. The last thing she wanted was to go back to those savages! .... but she was one...
The flyer catches her attention and she picks it up. A peaceful, idyllic little ranch home, with a healthy flock of sheep grazing, and a happy, hard-working family in the fields. Tears well into her eyes. Isn't there some way this could be possible? Why is she reduced to her fate as a wild beast? Maybe this Carnival has an answer---there's no place to run to anymore, even if another town gave her refuge, the same thing would eventually happen... wouldn't it?
Backstory: When Rain was small, she was given up for adoption. Right away the other kids knew her to be different. Her features such as her hair and skin change depending on her mood. She often mocked those in class with her as a mirror to them. She was fortunally (or rather unfortunally) adopted into strict parents that expected a lot from her, because of her unique talents. She was expected to look like the perfect child, whichever version of perfection they chose that day. When she got older they made her con other people by pretending to be someone big and important. If her performance wasn’t good enough in thier eyes she would get scolded and forced into her room without a meal. She breaks down from the stress and decides to run away from them, to find freedom and her own path. Mostly she wants away from the responsibility put upon her.
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section): Dallid was a scientist of the Simic Combine in a place unfamiliar to many: Ravnica. Promising, talented, and beginning what many hoped to be a long and successful life of research into the adaptation of life to a planet that no longer supported its natural inhabitants.
Dallid had a friend, Ferelyon, who was responsible for securing and protecting knowledge. Dallid was diametrically opposed to this idea, and the two often engaged in a friendly rivalry of Ferelyon coming up with locks, and traps while Dallid tried to bypass them. As opposed as they were, they could not help but admire the tenacity and twisting lanes of thought the other took.
So when Dallid accidentally interrupted an experiment and caused the catastrophic transformation of his friend into a beast - and one that was BARELY any different from an unevolved one at that- he was truly distraught while writing his notes on the process. When Dallid learned that it had involved illicit cytoplasms -a substance that caused forced transformation of even unwilling subjects- he knew he had to get away with his friend, lest both of them suffer the consequences. And he better put Ferelyon to use, too. Seems wasteful not to find out if there was any benefit to be had from this devolution.
Thats when he saw the flyer for the carnival… frivolous nonsense, but… well, it looked so enticing, what with its ads for freaks and unique beasts, and all the sorts of genetic mutations that a good Scientist of the combine could hope. And if it allowed him to maintain a low profile til the whole business with the cytoplast blew over, all the better!
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section):
Ptolomy is on the run. AWOL from his assignment in the labs. For years he was conscripted to create weapons to kill enemies he’d never know or see. Then one day he found that his inventions had been used to slaughter the majority of his village. Rioters, they called them. Terrorists. Who were they kidding? These were simple folk. Did any of his family survive? Could anyone be expected to forgive him for the blood that was on his hands? There was no going home. Surely the brass would be laying in wait for him.
Several months have past but the stress of being caught is growing exponentially. A once confident “scientist” is being reduced to a timid, shell shocked refugee, sleeping in barns and alleyways and always always on the move.
Then, what’s this? CARNIVAL! A chance to hide amongst others. An opportunity to keep moving. A chance to be adopted into a new family, where everyone’s ghosts stay firmly in their closets.
Backstory: Zylna was wandering the forest one day, without any sort of destination in mind, when she found herself captured in some sort of trap set by hunters, where she was stuck intil the hunters came to check the trap. After some bickering amongst themselves about what to do with this goblin in their trap, they decide to sell her off as a slave to at least make some profit off of her. The one she was sold to was a crime boss of a city, who used her small size and natural sneakiness in the form of a personal assassin. Over the couple of years she was in his servitude, she learned to be in the background, out of notice of people who seem important, as well as to be generally more well behaved than other members of her race. Secretly, in her mind, she dreamed of the day she could escape, spending every moment she could to attempt to devise a plan to leave the town with as little notice as possible. This, however, was nearly impossible, since the crime boss took a liking to her and constantly kept her at his side. After a particularly long day of doing his various bidding, Zylna saw it was useless to make a plan to leave without notice, so the moment she was alone with the boss, and he was distracted on his chair at his little desk, she used the assassin training she was given to quickly slice his throat and attempt her getaway. She would rather die than live one more day doing the needs and wants of people that weren't her. Miraculously, she was able to sneak through the building the boss kept as his headquarters, hiding in closets and shadows from his other underlings as they searched for her. When she got out, escaping into the dark woods nearby, she sat down at the base of a tree, taking a moment to breath, when suddenly, a poster of some sort blew into her lap. After reading the poster, seeing the offer of freedom, protection, and work that she wanted to do, she decided to check out this 'Carnival'. It was the only thing she could currently do, after all.
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Want a place to roleplay in your spare time? Here:Lord'sRestInn
Please don't hide your imperfections, if one part is beautiful, it all is.
I'll apply with Cerio, a human rogue (phantom) haunted by the spirit of his twin brother. Fresh from the scene of his brother's grim demise, Cerio sees the Carnival as a way to escape from the horrors he's encountered, and from those who believe he may now know just a little too much...
Ability Scores: 121014121011 (I will use point buy).
Edrick and I’s born the night of tha gibbous moon. Under what wise men call tha sign o’ tha seven witchstars. Was never sure 'xactly what that mighta meant. All we knew’s it caused us a lot o’ trouble.
Born’n a hillbilly backwater town you ain't never heard of. Never knew our momma. Daddy done run off when we’s still in diapers. Edrick and me, we got shuffled this way’n that, ‘til finally we landed in that godforsaken hellhole, what they call an institution. That’s just puttin’ fresh paint on an outhouse, ya ask me, what for how we got treated. We grew up hard. Learned ta never trust nobody, ‘cept ourselves. People’s cruel, ya see. I don’t think they mean t’be, but cruel they is, and a couple of lost kittens like us, not a pot to piss in, not a pinch ‘tween us, didn’t nobody care.
But we kept on, best we could. Learned ta fish, that kept us fed. Learned ta beg, too. Not that that took us very far. But then we learned to steal. And that, that was livin’. Such as folks don’t wanna give, they hate losin’ even more. But Edrick and I learned early on that we’s a good team. We could, we could speak without speakin’, ya see. Talk inside our heads and nobody’d stand a chance o’ hearin’. We could hear ‘em, though. A person’s own head should be a secret place, shouldn’t it? Nothin’s safer’n the secrets in your own heart, innit? People liked ta think so, and we used that for our gain. At first it was just pocket-pickin’ coin purses, then money drawers. We got bolder. Some fancy piece o’ art here, a magic amulet or book there, a little bit o’ blackmail. Yea, we got bolder, then we got known. We got chased out'ta town.
And so we went, Edrick’n me, wandering that endless swamp. That country was a wart on the back o’ the world, and us a couple’a fleas just a’scurryin’. But the witchstars, they followed us, cuz ill fortune just stuck ta us like grease, it seemed.
In Neverwinter we...we done made a mistake. We lost ourselves, forgot where we come from, what we was runnin’ from. Maybe we never knew. But it found us. The Lady Mordlaine and her weird books, her funny runes and symbols. She was nice to look at, but none could stand the sight of 'er. ‘Twas like lookin’ at a crooked reflection of yerself. And she knew it, too, knew how ta twist 'er tongue and lie to ya, feedin' ya your own soul, but make it taste like honey.
An easy job, she said. I shoulda known better, ‘specially when I could see the witchstars behind her eyes.
A statue. Locked in a safe. Bein’ taken by ship to a nearby dock. Steal the statue, bring it to 'er. Earn some coin. Easy, right? We’s fools. I’s a fool. Edrick even tried ta say no. But ya just couldn’t say no ta that woman. I couldn’t fight tha witchstars.
Gettin’ aboard’s was easy enough. Gettin’ down below’s even easier. The safe, though, it was huge, easy big enough to fit five grown men. Listened inta people’s heads til we found the key. Unlocked tha safe. And there it was, the statue. That statue. Gods, was it awful. I can’t barely remember it now. All claws and tentacles and, and evil. It shone blacker'n brighter'n any stars I’d ever knowed. I told Edrick, don’t touch it! Don’t even look at it! But he, ‘twas like he couldn’t hear me! First time in my life I couldn’t get through t’him. He just stared at it, crawled right int'tha safe reachin’ fer it.
Then the fire was on us. Edrick just starin’ at that statue, me screamin’ at him to come, to leave it and jump ship, but he couldn’t hear. Then the ship started ta sink. It keeled to the side. The safe door, I can see it now, the weight of it causin the door to slip closed as it slid down toward the water that was pourin’ into the hold. Edrick’s eyes found mine, then, just a moment ‘fore that door closed. And the look in his eyes...His eyes… Horrors, they whispered.
The door slammed shut. The safe slid into the river, sank right to the bottom. Edrick locked in tha dark. Locked inside with that, that thing.
I could hear him in my head, hear him screamin’ tha whole time, right til he run outta air.
How’s a fire start on a ship, anyway? Why’d a fire start that night, of all nights? And how’d it spread so quick? A feller’d never sleep if he asked those questions too often. And me, I ain’t slept in a while.
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section):
Boyd's a 40-something year old human with a mountainman's beard and a chest like a dockworker. He doesn't exactly look the picture of a professional thief, which is exactly why he's able to get away with his heists - the shopkeepers never suspect is was big old jovial Boyd who cased and robbed their store. It also helps that Boyd lives out in the forest and usually only comes to town to sell his leather wares.
But there are smarter criminals than Boyd; and an organized crime syndicate known as "the guild" eventually found out about his small time thievery gig and made him an offer he couldn't refuse. As an "independent" thief, he was making it hard for the guild to operate, so he was either going to join them or wind up face down in a ditch somewhere. He joined.
He was always a bit of an outsider to the guild, but he made good money for them so he was largely left alone. He'd just get a note at a drop point, tell him to go steal a jewel, leave it at another drop point, and a week later he'd find payment at a third drop point. Easy for Boyd, easy for the guild. Ah, but one day he received a mission outside of his forte - he was supposed to infiltrate a count's manor in the next city over, steal some jewelry, and return to the guild not a drop point; not something he'd ever done before.
He infiltrated the manor by climbing the stone walls into the third story bedroom window - even if someone spotted Boyd somewhere around the castle, they'd never believe he could climb that wall. He entered the attached treasure room as instructed, popped the lock of the small golden jewelry box, and grabbed the black iron necklace inside. This wasn't regular jewelry, this was something different. It was magical, he knew at once, and black magics, too. Starting to panic, he stuffed the loot into the compartment in the heel of his boot and made his way out, but on his way out he slipped up and passed a patrolling guard. The guard got a good look at Boyd's face in the lamplight before Boyd ran to his horse and made his escape.
When he returned to the guild and delivered the necklace, he realized it was a trap. The guild was going to kill Boyd and pin the burglary on him. When they found him in a ditch somewhere with no necklace, the count would have no leads and the guild would get away clean. Realizing this, Boyd made a run for it, pushing his way out of the guild's hideout and into the city. He fled out on the only road out of town, but that road led to the count's manor and they'd be looking for him.
He was trapped and desperate when a flyer slapped him in the face; it read CARNIVAL. It was currently in a small town nearby. If he could get a job there as a tightrope walker or trapeze person, no one would be able to see his face from the audience. It was that or try his luck in the wilds, so Boyd turned his horse toward the small town and hoped he could make it out of this alive. Once he got away from this county he could ditch the carnival and start a new life... he hoped.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Name: Meresaa Character Sheet: https://ddb.ac/characters/65140150/138vCE Race: Vedalken Class: Artificer (Artillerist) Background: Clan Crafter Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section): Incoming. Wanted to get the character sheet thrown together (and roll stats) and the application in. It's all up here... *taps forehead* Just need to type it up real quick.
Ability scores:141214141513
EDIT: Feeling on customizing origins to rework racial bonuses? Would just move the +1 Wis to Con is all. EDIT #2: Those are still the original rolls (18, 16, 15, 12, 12, 9), it just didn't like that I hit enter in my edit... But I'm happy to re-roll if you'd prefer. EDIT #3: See backstory below.
As a journeyman of the Izzet League, I've survived at least as many catastrophes as I've caused. Danger and adventure are the ambition of fools and children. However... *ahem* they do tend to be the precipitate in most of my solutions. If I'm being honest, I have a feeling it was my tendency not to shy away from such things which earned me a relatively peaceful place to work in Nivix, the guildhall, away from pesky things like regulations and public safety concerns. I'd much prefer it to have been my work on the nature of spontaneous combustion but, ultimately, none of that matters. All that is merely the vain concessions of old men worried about legacy. My concerns are with continued progress!
Lately I've been researching the seemingly unpredictable polar reactions of uncontrolled planar gate creation. Really quite fascinating stuff! But the most extraordinary thing happened that I still haven't been able to explain... I was all but finished setting up the next experiment when, from under the flap of the bag of holding I was working with, a colorful piece of parchment fluttered to the floor! Red and white stripes with filigreed letters. I was so enchanted by the exquisite artifact that I needed to recheck the bag to make certain it was, in fact, empty before destroying it.
'Twas my haste which brought me here. But all misfortune is opportunity! Into the unknown such that it can be made known!
A huge thank you for all the applications to date. As stated in my original post, the application process will run through until Sunday. I will then go through each application and select PCs based on the best fit for the campaign.
Clarifications
Feeling on customizing origins to rework racial bonuses?
Absolutely fine.
Those are still the original rolls (18, 16, 15, 12, 12, 9), it just didn't like that I hit enter in my edit... But I'm happy to re-roll if you'd prefer.
Stats don't seem to be too wild! I am happy for you to use those listed.
Greetings Adventurers,
I am currently looking to bolster the ranks of a pre-existing campaign currently being run on these very forums - The Call of Strahd. The campaign has been running since October 2020 and PCs are currently at level 4. I am currently looking to recruit 2-3 new players.
Please read below if you are interested and thank you for your time.
The Story to Date
Our intrepid party has found themselves whisked away from their daily lives and to the mist-filled plane of Barovia (Ravenloft). 6 days have passed since that event and a lot has happened. The party has found that it by no accident that they were brought to Barovia, but rather by the whims of one Strahd Von Zarovich; the self-stylised ‘Count’ and ruler of Barovia.
Strahd toys with the party at every turn, sending his minions to wreak havoc wherever they may go. But all is not lost, the party has met a number of allies along the way; ranging from the beautiful Ireena Kolyana and her brother Ismark Kolyanovich (children of the recently deceased Burgomaster of the Village of Barovia) to the all-seeing seeress Madam Eva and her Vistani companions.
Madam Eva has revealed a great many things to the party, including how they might deal with the devil Strahd and escape the plane they find themselves trapped in. She informed them that there are three treasures, one of which has already been located, which may aid them in their quest.
Now, they find themselves in the heart of the Town of Vallaki searching for answers. After saving the town’s orphanage from an evil scheme, perpetrated by a Maurezhi, they now play the role of detectives as they desperately search for the perpetrator of a number of local murders. However, all is not as it seems, as Izek Strazni, a local thug in the employ of the town’s Baron Vargas, has mustered a mob to ‘deal’ with the person he believes responsible for the killings.
Will the party be able to intervene before innocent blood is spilt? Can they speak Izek down or will they choose to forcefully deal with the town bully? Well, I am not sure… that’s where the campaign is at the moment!
Current Party Members
In alphabetical order:
The ‘Type’ of Campaign
The Call of Strahd is a campaign run that is heavily, but not exclusively, based on the Curse of Strahd (CoS). It is a heavily ‘fleshed out’ CoS, which utilises a number of different third party sources (chiefly CoS: Reloaded from the CoS subreddit) as well as borrowing from other places including my own homebrewed lore for certain locations.
That being said, if people are familiar with CoS it very much follows its storyline and might not feel ‘new’ to players that have already run the module.
Above all, the campaign is sandbox themed, with minimal prompts when necessary. It is RP heavy with a few battles (something which can be hard to run by PbP), traps and the occasional mystery - well I try my best at least!
Lastly, CoS is a darker campaign setting. I try and steer clear from anything perceived as being too disturbing, keeping things effectively 'off screen', that being said there may well be references to topics including torture, pain, death (including child), rituals, etc. As such, please be aware that these topics may arise and I shall attempt to write in a way that is respectful and not too graphic.
Where you fit in
‘The Hook’
What is required:
Level 4 character - no homebrew, please, unless agreed beforehand
Please complete the Character Application listed below
Player Experience: All players are welcome, regardless of experience - in fact, it might help if you have not played CoS before.
Post Frequency: Please be able to post regularly (weekends are generally quieter and a post every other day I have found is about right)
Campaign Thread will predominantly be In Character (IC), PMs will generally be Out of Character (OOC)
No-UA
Roll for Stats: Re-roll any 1’s, Point Buy if unhappy with stat block (just let me know!)
Recruitment will run until Sunday, 9th January 2022 - invites will be sent via PM.
My Time Zone is GMT / BST; players from all time zones welcome, just a heads up that most of my forum activity will be within GMT hours
What happens next?
A mini pre-campaign coming together of selected players will be undertaken within a separate thread. This will introduce/establish the following:
The nature of the Carnival
How the Carnival fits within the mists/Ravenloft
Links between the selected PCs
A more natural, narrative way of introducing you into a larger campaign; rather than just stating, “Blam! You’re in Barovia!”
If there is any further information I can clarify, please ask below.
DM - The Call of Strahd (CoS); Feyrealm Campaign, Chapter 0 - Bleak Prospect (BP), Chapter 1 - Destination Unknown (DU)
Ability scores: 14 13 12 13 14 9
Name: Dadeveth Sungroomer
Character Sheet:
Character Sheet
Race: CENTAUR
Class: Bard (College of Creation)
Background: Faceless
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section):
Dadeveth grew up in a cult that worshipped an ancient being of evil. (I am leaving this vague as I would like it to be something useful for the story and not something I just make up.) She followed all of the cult's tenants, performed the evil acts required of all of its members, and even reveled in some of those things. As she got older though she found that, though her parents fanatically followed the edicts of the cult, she herself did not believe as they did. She started to understand that the things she had grown up with, things she had taken for just how things were, were actually evil and that she could not continue on in this way. She waited, planned, then escaped. They came after her, as she had expected, but she had planned for that, and had made sure they would be seeking her everywhere but where she would actually be. They did not find her, and she managed to lose herself among the crowds of city after city, putting together a new identity for herself, becoming someone new, becoming someone those she left behind would never be looking for.
She, who is known as Dadeveth now, stood, shifting from hoof to hoof in worry. She had thought she had left all of this behind, had walked away from the life and found a new purpose for herself. She knew now that they had not let her go, as she had hoped they would. They had sought her out, tracked her, somehow, and were even now seeking through this city in search of her. Would they recognize her if they saw her or would her disguise thwart even their keen sight. She was nervous, a centaur was a big thing to hide, and were not so common in these lands regardless.
After a moment of thought Dadeveth clip clopped down the street a few more paces, then froze. She saw him then, and he saw her. Their eyes met and she knew. They had found her at last. Turning, she drove into an alley, rushing to get away, to find escape. She would have to start over, to make a new identity. She simply would not return to that life, not for any price.
The sound of hoofs were behind her, both centaur and horses she knew, he had called for others to join in the chase. Running blindly, Dadeveth turned down more streets, galloped through alley after alley, then she made the wrong choice. She came to a dead end. As she turned, terror filling her, she noticed a small pamplet swirl in the air and land near her hoof. Even in the moment of her greatest fear, she couldn't help but look at it. Picking it up she looked at it, seeing open grasslands, music, and freedom. "If only I could have that..." She comments in a musical voice, soft and sultry.
Ability scores: 13 14 15 16 13 15
Name: Nick Nackle
Character Sheet: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/EyePaddle/characters/65103691
Race: deep gnome
Class: ranger (gloomstalker) (lvl4 crossbow expert)
Background: (underdark lostboy - acrobatics & stealth)
Backstory: nicknack always drew the short straw, from being the runt in his family, to being the youngest to come of age. He really was too young to be sent out into the under dark alone, told only to return when he had made his adulthood killing… but tradition is tradition.
he came back with a large rat after 6 days, to the laughter of the whole village. Given no responsibilities and expected nothing of him, he did however have time to wander, and wander he did. Wandering the caves of his home, and returning home to draw them out. He knew maps and tunnels better than words and feelings, knew molds and rocks better than facial expressions and the warmth of another gnome beside him.
one day a raiding party seemingly out of nowhere came and ravaged his home and family while he was away. He wiped his tears and followed the tracks for days, twisting into tunnels he’d never been down before. The tracks came to a dead end, literally walking into the wall it seemed. He stay in this cavern and focused, awaiting something, anything. After his rations ran low and he slept more and more each day, he fell asleep and didn’t wake for quite a time. He only remembered shivering, before the carnival pamphlet floated in front of him, through the wall.
a portal to somewhere, he knew not the way to open, except the unknowing. He closed his eyes and wished for something better than this, no matter the trials that would be face him along the way. He was done with sitting in caves while loathing his own sadness.
No family or home to return to, only the life ahead of him to worry for, when his eyes opened, he awoke in another world…
Who doesn’t love a good creepy carnival ;) active RPer who’s never played CoS.
(Open to changing as needed to fit the party and group, as well as DM’s story.)
Ability scores: 15 16 13 14 14 11
(work in progress - see below).
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Withdrawn
InkedBee (Undead_Analyst)
Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts - Jenviel Tsumara: Fallen Aasimar- Monk|Crimson Sands of Time - Navarra Iltazyara: Human- Druid/Warlock| Bleak Prospect - Ermasnietsz: Reborn- Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
Ooh, very enticing!!
Ability scores: 17 13 13 15 12 10
Application
Name: Shavaris Arnuanna
Character Sheet: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/kqstark/characters/64601562
Race: Wood Elf
Class: Rogue (phantom)
Background: Haunted One
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section):
Shavaris killed her sister. Whoa, when you say it like that, it really brings it to life, doesn't it? Odd, how talking about killing brings something to life. She knows she killed her, whether or not it was something she did on purpose is an entirely different matter. One she tries not to weigh in on if she can help it.
How did it happen you ask? Well, that's all a bit fuzzy. Shavaris was on the job. She was good at the job, she lived for it. So did her sister and they enjoyed sharing this in common, though they worked for different companies. Honestly they made each other better at the job, always sharing things they had learned and competing against each other. This particular mission was to steal a moonstone the size of an ogre's head from one the local Houses, as they liked to be called. Apparently, Shavaris's team wasn't the only team brought in for the mission and well, things went South. They also didn't succeed.
Sharvaris decided to take a break from that life. But it was too late, people started to talk. She didn't think anyone knew it was she that killed her sister! She tried to stay out of taverns and such, honestly any place that held people, she just wanted the rumors to stop. But they didn't, then they reached her parents. She needed to get out.
Name: Mimic
Character Sheet: https://ddb.ac/characters/65103915/mia4Ud
Race: Kenku
Class: Bard (Glamour)
Background: (not decided yet, but Entertainer for the moment)
Backstory: Mimic cannot talk on his own. He can only communicate through written word and by singing words from a known tune. He has traveled far and wide and has used his Enthralling Performance skill to get favors from people of power. Now it is coming back to bite him (quite literally). He tricked a Leonin Princess into giving him a treasured gem from the family vault. Now her brother, the prince, is hot on his tail feathers to serve justice to him.
Ability scores: 15 15 16 16 14 8
D&D since 1984
Ability scores: 16 14 12 11 12 12
Name: Nicholas Everard
Character Sheet: work in progress
Race: Halfling
Class: Bard (Eloquence)
Background: Criminal
Backstory: I was born into a family of criminals. My father ran a small thieves guild, and me and my three brothers were raised swindling on the streets. I had a clever wit and a natural affinity for magic, which my father exploited in any way he could. When I was 15, he started having me run point on cons and missions. It stayed that way for years, and I got pretty good at it. The business steadily grew and after while we were one of the more prominent crime rings in the city. This attracted a lot of attention, and soon police started investigating our cases a lot closer. We slowed down, were more cautious, but it didn't help. One of my father's chief advisors flipped and told the police everything, and the headquarters was soon stormed by the city's enforcement. My father and two of my brothers were caught and put in jail, but I used my magical ability to narrowly escape. Now on the run, I have very little money and even fewer options. All I need right now is a place to lay low and make a decent wage. That's when I happen upon a flyer that catches my fancy.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
- Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert
(Completing work in progress from above... I have no experience with CoS but have always wanted to play it. Tons of 5e experience. Fairly recent to PBP but am part of 2 PBP campaigns currently. I post frequently so any posting schedule is fine with me. Pacific time zone.)
Name: Nikita Tantsora
Character Sheet: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/Tybard/characters/64289202
Race: High (Sun) Elf
Class: Wizard (Bladesinger)
Background: (Faction Agent - see below)
Born the youngest daughter of a well-known high elf family near Silverymoon, Nikita was nearly an afterthrought and other than a good education, was left to her own devices. Which suited her fine. She needed to get out. Anywhere. Too haughty and stuffy these sun elves she had always thought, chafing under aristocratic expectations and spending much more time with merchants, travelers and urchins, who tolerated her for the most part. This mixed background helped her develop a sense of the complexities of the world, though it didn't entirely prepare her for what was to come. Her wanderlust led her, during young adulthood, into the High Forest south of Silverymoon where a chance encounter led her to befriend an ancient wood elf. A master of the ancient elven art of Bladesinging. Here was a pursuit Nikita could pour herself into, body and soul, learning diligently and eagerly from the master, once he agreed to teach her. Losing herself in the rhythm and the magic as she danced with her blade.
After over 2 years of training, her master revealed to her that he had retired from a secret organization on the Sword Coast dedicated to combating tyranny and helping the less powerful - the Harpers. He sent her on to Waterdeep at the request for help from one of his old colleagues, deeming her "not ready, but as ready as you're likely to be anytime soon." Once in Waterdeep, the Harpers immediately immersed Nikita in a web of intrigue within the city and eventually thrust her into a mission that made her realize quickly how little she knew of the darkness in the world.
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section): Warning: spoilers related to Waterdeep Dragon Heist.
Weeks of buildup had led to this. An infiltration of the Cassalanter villa in Waterdeep.
The Cassalanters were a rich and respected aristocratic family in Waterdeep with powerful allies in the city. And even more powerful allies outside it. The Harpers had discovered the Cassalanters' devotion to the Arch-Devil Asmodeus, arising (as always with devils) from an ill-fated bargain they had struck. Harper agents had discovered the devil and devil-spawn "servants" on their grounds, and the human sacrifices the Cassalanter family were conducting in the catacombs under the mansion and villa. Tonight was the night the Harpers would bring them down. Infiltrate the villa and expose them to the light of day.
But as always, things had not gone as planned. Nikita had been a scout and spotter on the outskirts of the villa grounds. She had taken out the imps disguised as ravens who roamed the trees as sentries for the Cassalanters. But she soon discovered that the main incursion group had been betrayed. Killed or captured. Now they were after the rest of them. All of them. Nikita knew that making a bargain with Devils as the Cassalanters had was bad, but perhaps earning the true enmity of Devils, and of the powerful Cassalanter family, was worse. Her Harper hideouts and safehouses compromised and her allies dead or gone to ground like her, Nikita was on the run. And they were after her, to be certain. Just after she had managed to exit the city under an improvised disguise, she had noticed men (or devils in disguise?) in Cassalanter livery speaking with the gate guards behind her.
They were coming. Wherever she ran. Why had she ever left home in Silverymoon again? No time to worry about that. She needed a way out.
Any way out.
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Ability Scores: Ability scores: 13 13 10 12 16 16
Name: Faila
Character Sheet: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/ConstancePhokas/characters/33488752
Race: Human
Class: Druid, Circle of the Moon
Background: Urchin
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section): In a village very far south in the steamy jungle full of colorful dinosaurs, Faila was the youngest child in a large family of hunters and farmers. They would sell trophies and skins and grow exotic crops for traveling merchants. One day when Faila was about 8 years old the family was traveling back from a market and was stalked and ambushed by a pack of dinosaurs. Faila was the only one who survived because she was small enough to squeeze into a space between some rocks under a falling stream where the animals couldn't get to her. She didn't dare to come out, but a pair of druids found her and took them along with her as they traveled north. They taught her their ways but she felt certain that, with their communion with nature, they had arranged the attack on her family and she wanted only to escape from them. One night she wild shaped and fled away north into the mountains where she found some caves and tunnels and found herself in the Harkenwold. Traveling through the cities and surviving in the streets she found of all the people there she liked best the dwarves, they were nothing like what she'd grown up with but they seemed solid and dependable to her with their lawful slow ways. As she grew up she was not exactly welcomed by them but sought to work for them when she could. While she does not study under anyone now and dreads running into any other druids, her druid powers are very much in control of her because of her need for survival and her use of anger and independence to meet this need. Although deep down she longs to be free both of the druids and of the violence of nature that took her family from her.
Now, it happened again. She tried to live a normal life, and then she got hungry. As always when she couldn't quite understand or cope with civilized life anymore, she had no one to turn to. The last handful of gold she'd earned using her powers to help a party of adventures had been spent on a pair of ewes so that she could try to eke out a normal existence, providing for herself, being part of the community. Now the sheep were in pieces and the town had had enough. The watch ran her out, telling her to go back to her own kind. The last thing she wanted was to go back to those savages! .... but she was one...
The flyer catches her attention and she picks it up. A peaceful, idyllic little ranch home, with a healthy flock of sheep grazing, and a happy, hard-working family in the fields. Tears well into her eyes. Isn't there some way this could be possible? Why is she reduced to her fate as a wild beast? Maybe this Carnival has an answer---there's no place to run to anymore, even if another town gave her refuge, the same thing would eventually happen... wouldn't it?
Ability scores: 14 13 11 17 12 12
Name: Rain Deeki
Character Sheet: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/DeadOnes/characters/65127883
Race: changling
Class: rogue
Background: criminal
Backstory: When Rain was small, she was given up for adoption. Right away the other kids knew her to be different. Her features such as her hair and skin change depending on her mood. She often mocked those in class with her as a mirror to them. She was fortunally (or rather unfortunally) adopted into strict parents that expected a lot from her, because of her unique talents. She was expected to look like the perfect child, whichever version of perfection they chose that day. When she got older they made her con other people by pretending to be someone big and important. If her performance wasn’t good enough in thier eyes she would get scolded and forced into her room without a meal. She breaks down from the stress and decides to run away from them, to find freedom and her own path. Mostly she wants away from the responsibility put upon her.
question: are there going to be firearms?
Application
Ability scores: 15 14 14 14 17 16
Name: Dallid
Character Sheet: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/nschrock/characters/65147773
Race: Vedalken
Class: Ranger - beast master
Background: Simic scientist
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section): Dallid was a scientist of the Simic Combine in a place unfamiliar to many: Ravnica. Promising, talented, and beginning what many hoped to be a long and successful life of research into the adaptation of life to a planet that no longer supported its natural inhabitants.
Dallid had a friend, Ferelyon, who was responsible for securing and protecting knowledge. Dallid was diametrically opposed to this idea, and the two often engaged in a friendly rivalry of Ferelyon coming up with locks, and traps while Dallid tried to bypass them. As opposed as they were, they could not help but admire the tenacity and twisting lanes of thought the other took.
So when Dallid accidentally interrupted an experiment and caused the catastrophic transformation of his friend into a beast - and one that was BARELY any different from an unevolved one at that- he was truly distraught while writing his notes on the process. When Dallid learned that it had involved illicit cytoplasms -a substance that caused forced transformation of even unwilling subjects- he knew he had to get away with his friend, lest both of them suffer the consequences. And he better put Ferelyon to use, too. Seems wasteful not to find out if there was any benefit to be had from this devolution.
Thats when he saw the flyer for the carnival… frivolous nonsense, but… well, it looked so enticing, what with its ads for freaks and unique beasts, and all the sorts of genetic mutations that a good Scientist of the combine could hope. And if it allowed him to maintain a low profile til the whole business with the cytoplast blew over, all the better!
Paladin - warforged - orange
Ability scores: 14 17 16 16 13 9
Name: Ptolemy Bunion
Character Sheet: https://ddb.ac/characters/65149958/VTZUmv
Race: Halfling (Lightfoot)
Class: Artificer (Battlesmith)
Background: Soldier (sort of)
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section):
Ptolomy is on the run. AWOL from his assignment in the labs. For years he was conscripted to create weapons to kill enemies he’d never know or see. Then one day he found that his inventions had been used to slaughter the majority of his village. Rioters, they called them. Terrorists. Who were they kidding? These were simple folk. Did any of his family survive? Could anyone be expected to forgive him for the blood that was on his hands? There was no going home. Surely the brass would be laying in wait for him.
Several months have past but the stress of being caught is growing exponentially. A once confident “scientist” is being reduced to a timid, shell shocked refugee, sleeping in barns and alleyways and always always on the move.
Then, what’s this? CARNIVAL! A chance to hide amongst others. An opportunity to keep moving. A chance to be adopted into a new family, where everyone’s ghosts stay firmly in their closets.
Mana - Verdan Bard - Dragon Heist
”I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” - Douglas Adams
”I’ve suffered a great many catastrophes in my life. Most of them never happened.” - Mark Twain
Ability scores: I used point buy
Name: Zylna
Sheet: Boop
Race: Goblin
Class: Rogue (Assassin)
Background: Criminal/Spy
Backstory: Zylna was wandering the forest one day, without any sort of destination in mind, when she found herself captured in some sort of trap set by hunters, where she was stuck intil the hunters came to check the trap. After some bickering amongst themselves about what to do with this goblin in their trap, they decide to sell her off as a slave to at least make some profit off of her. The one she was sold to was a crime boss of a city, who used her small size and natural sneakiness in the form of a personal assassin. Over the couple of years she was in his servitude, she learned to be in the background, out of notice of people who seem important, as well as to be generally more well behaved than other members of her race. Secretly, in her mind, she dreamed of the day she could escape, spending every moment she could to attempt to devise a plan to leave the town with as little notice as possible. This, however, was nearly impossible, since the crime boss took a liking to her and constantly kept her at his side. After a particularly long day of doing his various bidding, Zylna saw it was useless to make a plan to leave without notice, so the moment she was alone with the boss, and he was distracted on his chair at his little desk, she used the assassin training she was given to quickly slice his throat and attempt her getaway. She would rather die than live one more day doing the needs and wants of people that weren't her. Miraculously, she was able to sneak through the building the boss kept as his headquarters, hiding in closets and shadows from his other underlings as they searched for her. When she got out, escaping into the dark woods nearby, she sat down at the base of a tree, taking a moment to breath, when suddenly, a poster of some sort blew into her lap. After reading the poster, seeing the offer of freedom, protection, and work that she wanted to do, she decided to check out this 'Carnival'. It was the only thing she could currently do, after all.
Want a place to roleplay in your spare time? Here: Lord's Rest Inn
Please don't hide your imperfections, if one part is beautiful, it all is.
I don't like rp-heavy games, I LOVE them.
I'll apply with Cerio, a human rogue (phantom) haunted by the spirit of his twin brother. Fresh from the scene of his brother's grim demise, Cerio sees the Carnival as a way to escape from the horrors he's encountered, and from those who believe he may now know just a little too much...
Ability Scores: 12 10 14 12 10 11 (I will use point buy).
Name: Cerio Dreswitch
Character Sheet: https://ddb.ac/characters/65171719/fCZDWP
Race: Variant Human (Telepathic feat)
Class: Rogue (Phantom)
Background: Haunted One
Backstory:
"Cast the bones…”
They say it’s a sin.
”His name, write it in the blood…”
A man like that, he ain’t a man at all. He ain’t even human.
”Cut out the tongue and eyes. Fill his mouth with ash…“
Could you kill another man in cold blood?
”Bind the fingers, ‘afore they reach back past the veil.”
Could you kill your own brother?
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Edrick and I’s born the night of tha gibbous moon. Under what wise men call tha sign o’ tha seven witchstars. Was never sure 'xactly what that mighta meant. All we knew’s it caused us a lot o’ trouble.
Born’n a hillbilly backwater town you ain't never heard of. Never knew our momma. Daddy done run off when we’s still in diapers. Edrick and me, we got shuffled this way’n that, ‘til finally we landed in that godforsaken hellhole, what they call an institution. That’s just puttin’ fresh paint on an outhouse, ya ask me, what for how we got treated. We grew up hard. Learned ta never trust nobody, ‘cept ourselves. People’s cruel, ya see. I don’t think they mean t’be, but cruel they is, and a couple of lost kittens like us, not a pot to piss in, not a pinch ‘tween us, didn’t nobody care.
But we kept on, best we could. Learned ta fish, that kept us fed. Learned ta beg, too. Not that that took us very far. But then we learned to steal. And that, that was livin’. Such as folks don’t wanna give, they hate losin’ even more. But Edrick and I learned early on that we’s a good team. We could, we could speak without speakin’, ya see. Talk inside our heads and nobody’d stand a chance o’ hearin’. We could hear ‘em, though. A person’s own head should be a secret place, shouldn’t it? Nothin’s safer’n the secrets in your own heart, innit? People liked ta think so, and we used that for our gain. At first it was just pocket-pickin’ coin purses, then money drawers. We got bolder. Some fancy piece o’ art here, a magic amulet or book there, a little bit o’ blackmail. Yea, we got bolder, then we got known. We got chased out'ta town.
And so we went, Edrick’n me, wandering that endless swamp. That country was a wart on the back o’ the world, and us a couple’a fleas just a’scurryin’. But the witchstars, they followed us, cuz ill fortune just stuck ta us like grease, it seemed.
In Neverwinter we...we done made a mistake. We lost ourselves, forgot where we come from, what we was runnin’ from. Maybe we never knew. But it found us. The Lady Mordlaine and her weird books, her funny runes and symbols. She was nice to look at, but none could stand the sight of 'er. ‘Twas like lookin’ at a crooked reflection of yerself. And she knew it, too, knew how ta twist 'er tongue and lie to ya, feedin' ya your own soul, but make it taste like honey.
An easy job, she said. I shoulda known better, ‘specially when I could see the witchstars behind her eyes.
A statue. Locked in a safe. Bein’ taken by ship to a nearby dock. Steal the statue, bring it to 'er. Earn some coin. Easy, right? We’s fools. I’s a fool. Edrick even tried ta say no. But ya just couldn’t say no ta that woman. I couldn’t fight tha witchstars.
Gettin’ aboard’s was easy enough. Gettin’ down below’s even easier. The safe, though, it was huge, easy big enough to fit five grown men. Listened inta people’s heads til we found the key. Unlocked tha safe. And there it was, the statue. That statue. Gods, was it awful. I can’t barely remember it now. All claws and tentacles and, and evil. It shone blacker'n brighter'n any stars I’d ever knowed. I told Edrick, don’t touch it! Don’t even look at it! But he, ‘twas like he couldn’t hear me! First time in my life I couldn’t get through t’him. He just stared at it, crawled right int'tha safe reachin’ fer it.
Then the fire was on us. Edrick just starin’ at that statue, me screamin’ at him to come, to leave it and jump ship, but he couldn’t hear. Then the ship started ta sink. It keeled to the side. The safe door, I can see it now, the weight of it causin the door to slip closed as it slid down toward the water that was pourin’ into the hold. Edrick’s eyes found mine, then, just a moment ‘fore that door closed. And the look in his eyes...His eyes… Horrors, they whispered.
The door slammed shut. The safe slid into the river, sank right to the bottom. Edrick locked in tha dark. Locked inside with that, that thing.
I could hear him in my head, hear him screamin’ tha whole time, right til he run outta air.
How’s a fire start on a ship, anyway? Why’d a fire start that night, of all nights? And how’d it spread so quick? A feller’d never sleep if he asked those questions too often. And me, I ain’t slept in a while.
Ability scores: 17 18 17 10 17 17
Application
Ability scores: 15 14 11 12 16 12
Name: Boyd Nilsson
Character Sheet: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/Rockchewer/characters/65173983
Race: Human (Variant)
Class: Rogue/Thief
Background: Guild Artisan / Guild Merchant
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section):
Boyd's a 40-something year old human with a mountainman's beard and a chest like a dockworker. He doesn't exactly look the picture of a professional thief, which is exactly why he's able to get away with his heists - the shopkeepers never suspect is was big old jovial Boyd who cased and robbed their store. It also helps that Boyd lives out in the forest and usually only comes to town to sell his leather wares.
But there are smarter criminals than Boyd; and an organized crime syndicate known as "the guild" eventually found out about his small time thievery gig and made him an offer he couldn't refuse. As an "independent" thief, he was making it hard for the guild to operate, so he was either going to join them or wind up face down in a ditch somewhere. He joined.
He was always a bit of an outsider to the guild, but he made good money for them so he was largely left alone. He'd just get a note at a drop point, tell him to go steal a jewel, leave it at another drop point, and a week later he'd find payment at a third drop point. Easy for Boyd, easy for the guild. Ah, but one day he received a mission outside of his forte - he was supposed to infiltrate a count's manor in the next city over, steal some jewelry, and return to the guild not a drop point; not something he'd ever done before.
He infiltrated the manor by climbing the stone walls into the third story bedroom window - even if someone spotted Boyd somewhere around the castle, they'd never believe he could climb that wall. He entered the attached treasure room as instructed, popped the lock of the small golden jewelry box, and grabbed the black iron necklace inside. This wasn't regular jewelry, this was something different. It was magical, he knew at once, and black magics, too. Starting to panic, he stuffed the loot into the compartment in the heel of his boot and made his way out, but on his way out he slipped up and passed a patrolling guard. The guard got a good look at Boyd's face in the lamplight before Boyd ran to his horse and made his escape.
When he returned to the guild and delivered the necklace, he realized it was a trap. The guild was going to kill Boyd and pin the burglary on him. When they found him in a ditch somewhere with no necklace, the count would have no leads and the guild would get away clean. Realizing this, Boyd made a run for it, pushing his way out of the guild's hideout and into the city. He fled out on the only road out of town, but that road led to the count's manor and they'd be looking for him.
He was trapped and desperate when a flyer slapped him in the face; it read CARNIVAL. It was currently in a small town nearby. If he could get a job there as a tightrope walker or trapeze person, no one would be able to see his face from the audience. It was that or try his luck in the wilds, so Boyd turned his horse toward the small town and hoped he could make it out of this alive. Once he got away from this county he could ditch the carnival and start a new life... he hoped.
Character Sheet: https://ddb.ac/characters/65140150/138vCE
Race: Vedalken
Class: Artificer (Artillerist)
Background: Clan Crafter
Backstory (including the event you are attempting to flee from referenced within ‘The Hook’ section): Incoming. Wanted to get the character sheet thrown together (and roll stats) and the application in. It's all up here... *taps forehead* Just need to type it up real quick.
EDIT #2: Those are still the original rolls (18, 16, 15, 12, 12, 9), it just didn't like that I hit enter in my edit... But I'm happy to re-roll if you'd prefer.
EDIT #3: See backstory below.
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
Meresaa
As a journeyman of the Izzet League, I've survived at least as many catastrophes as I've caused. Danger and adventure are the ambition of fools and children. However... *ahem* they do tend to be the precipitate in most of my solutions. If I'm being honest, I have a feeling it was my tendency not to shy away from such things which earned me a relatively peaceful place to work in Nivix, the guildhall, away from pesky things like regulations and public safety concerns. I'd much prefer it to have been my work on the nature of spontaneous combustion but, ultimately, none of that matters. All that is merely the vain concessions of old men worried about legacy. My concerns are with continued progress!
Lately I've been researching the seemingly unpredictable polar reactions of uncontrolled planar gate creation. Really quite fascinating stuff! But the most extraordinary thing happened that I still haven't been able to explain... I was all but finished setting up the next experiment when, from under the flap of the bag of holding I was working with, a colorful piece of parchment fluttered to the floor! Red and white stripes with filigreed letters. I was so enchanted by the exquisite artifact that I needed to recheck the bag to make certain it was, in fact, empty before destroying it.
'Twas my haste which brought me here. But all misfortune is opportunity! Into the unknown such that it can be made known!
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
Thanks!
A huge thank you for all the applications to date. As stated in my original post, the application process will run through until Sunday. I will then go through each application and select PCs based on the best fit for the campaign.
Clarifications
Absolutely fine.
Stats don't seem to be too wild! I am happy for you to use those listed.
DM - The Call of Strahd (CoS); Feyrealm Campaign, Chapter 0 - Bleak Prospect (BP), Chapter 1 - Destination Unknown (DU)