Years ago, as a young padawan DM, I tried to build a world. Much like Atlas, I realized trying to prop a world up on your shoulders is no easy task. However, it also was exciting, fun, and made me some really good friends. (And lose one as well.) My world is called "Ridgecrest." It is a large Island split up into a few small areas and kingdoms.
The largest, the land of Sunridge. Ruled by the great King Roth.
The next biggest and the peace keeper between the three, the Kingdom of King Silverkin.
The last, and the smallest, Shadow Haven.. Ruled by a greedy Price, controlled by and evil wizard.
The middle grounds were home to all races that had no uniform king and lived apart from the human kingdoms.
The badlands housed vicious dragons, large dwarven mines, and evil humanoids.
The very north was controlled by several tribes of nomadic and barbaric Orcs and Goblinoids.
There is nothing special about said "Ridgecrest" other than that is the name of the generic island my players started out on years ago. Since then I made it part of the Realms of the coast of Waterdeep and advanced our current story line about 80 years after the events in their first game. Nevertheless, we had a lot of good NPCs and villains established that would be fun to bring back.
And the story goes.....
They PCs came together at a small inn, with a even smaller pub, named "The Blue Cross inn"." (Yes Luis, we are going to start the game at an inn, again.) The Blue Cross Inn was owned and ran by a dwarf amputee name Hraf. The adventure started out as simple quest of finding a spell book hidden deep below the home of the famous wizard called, Alamozes, and bringing it to the middlelands. There the Royal Red Army of Sunridge awaited them and prepared for an emerging war with Shadow Haven, the small kingdom to the north..
And ended with the PCs battling Malak, the most powerful and evil wizard that Ridgecrest, or the Realms, for that matter, had ever seen, along with the death of a dear friend and true hero.
Along the way the PCs:
Met their future wives, built homes, battled evil Pirates, killed a sea serpent by summoning a whale and dropping it on the sea monster, and killed a white dragon and took his diamonds and gold, only to have them turn to coal once they removed them from his cave.
They watched a friend cut the eyes off a beholder, they watched a friend turn from a sinister warlock to an evil warlock, they had a friend betray them and join the "other side", they helped a friend find out who he really is and where he came from, and watched a friend make a choice of saving himself or the world.
Meet our adventurers:
Run the Half Orc Barbarian;
He started out naive, selfish, hostile, and brash, but after he met his soon to be friends, Minick the Sorcerer, Aust the Elven ranger, Raven the Cleric, Trayken the fighter, and Qade Quickstep the halfling, he became much more and eventually made the ultimate sacrifice to save the world. He is the forgotten mighty one of the last battle and the wielder of one big axe.
Minick the Human Sorcerer and the lost Prince of Silverkin:
Young Minick was mighty powerful for his age and much like the half orc, he could be quick tempered and had a thirst for power. However, with the help of his friends and seeing how power can corrupt even the most powerful wizards he learned to control his lust of power and eventually lead his kingdom victory during a very dark time. His story begins not knowing who he is or where he came from. His only memories are discovering his powers at the orphanage of Sunridge. Unknown to him, or at least not yet, he is the heir of the peace keeping world of Silverkin and his father is the missing King Silverkin.
Aust The Elven Ranger, and slayer of Dragons: Aust was the wise and oldest of his group and never really had a family. His small tribe of Elves had a custom of cutting ties with the young males and forcing them to make their own way in the world before they can return home to settle down and marry. His adventure begins with the group when the good Elven King Phaedrus convinced Aust to travel with this rag tag group of adventurers. He found the half orc rough and loud, he saw the halfling as silly and a crook, and the rest of the party as power hungry humans. However, learning to set his Elven arrogance aside, he found a true family.
Raven Beuwolf, the follower of the rules and silent leader: The quite one is the best way to describe Raven. His skills proved very important when the party either needed an extra blade, a quick heal, or somebody to figure out a good plan of a attack that didn't include charging in head first, despite Run's protest. Raven's contributions to the party also included helping the party grow into adults and teach them how to follow rules.
Qade Quickstep, the holder of your things: No one really remembers when Qade first joined the party. No one really noticed until their things started to go missing. Of course if you asked Qade why he had your magical ring of protection or your bag of gold he would reply, "I wanted to hold it for you because you never know when a thief could sneak by and grap it from you."
Trayken the bringer of Juggernauts and destroyer of Elf Kings: Trayken started as a good friend to the party. He was the guy that would crack a joke during that tense moment and cause everyone to laugh. Armed with a might longsword and always looking for the perfect mount, and wearing his armor the wrong way, he was a valuable addition to the group. However, some people are not always what them seem. After the battles between Sunridge and Shadow Haven began he lost focus with the group and started to empathize with his friends enemies. Eventually betraying the group to the evil wizard Malak, Trayken was fed to Malak's purple dragon Cyrus.
Boken the warlock of Gemk: Boken was never truly part of the gang. Despite being friends with Minick he could never find a place he fit into. He growing angst lead him to embrace the darker side of magic and turn on his friends during their raid on the castle of the wizard Vallencore.
These heroes saved the world, but could never speak of what they to anyone outside the group. Each one of them went their own way and lived long and happy lives putting adventuring in the past. But they all shared a whirlwind adventure that all started in a small tavern, with an even smaller pub.....
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