| History
of the RoachKings Campaign |
Notes
from the GM |
Lia
Date |
Adventure
/ Event |
Real
Date |
| 11339-'349 |
|
1983-'84 |
| 11350-'359 |
|
1985-'86 |
| 11359-'369 |
|
1989-'99 |
| 11369-'374 |
|
1999-
2002 |
| 11374 |
|
2003
- '07 |
| 11374 |
|
2007 |
| 11374 |
|
2007-'08 |
| 11374 |
|
10/2008
- 05/2009 |
| 11374 |
Chapter
9: The Fountain of Lamneth > > |
5/2009
- present |
Notes
from the GM
In
the long narrative below, real dates are shown in blue
and game-world dates are in red.
This allows you to scan through the text for a particular
year, either for the players
or for the characters. Only
the first entry for each Lian year is highlighted. An
"R" next to a real date means the adventure
was played "retroactively" to a previous time
period of the characters'.
Much
of this
is still a work in progress, so there may be incomplete
sections or parts that are in the wrong place chronologically.
This has been distilled from my own 2-inch-thick stack
of notes, as well as dozens of pages from Devo, but it's
not perfect. If you have notes of your own, or clearer
recollections than I, please send them to me
so I can make this history as complete & accurate
as possible.
---
Charlie |
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| [11359-'369] |
Ragnarok
& a Hard Place |
[1989-'99] |
Bögenhafen
spring
11359 - The RoachKings celebrated
their 20th year as an adventuring fellowship.
summer
11359 - After training for 3 years, Raal passed the obstacle
course and defeated 4 other ninjas to become a Rank 8 Ninja.
He then went to the Celestian Temple hoping to go back to the
Federation with Shady & By-Tor, but he was too late. He
did, however, catch up with Shady soon afterward, however, when
he popped home during his vacation before his senior year at
Starfleet Academy.
They
traveled to the jousting tourneys in Altdorf & Bögenhafen
(Terin Konor) with Blitz and the "Valkyrie Babes on Tour
- A Rock & Roll Revival Show," which was an RK Production.
Shady was in disguise as Sunntarian Solann and he entered the
jousting tourney & won the first 3 rounds; Raal had a contract
on one of the knights in the tourney. As a diversion, Raal took
on the "Brainless Brawler" to win the 1,000 gp for
staying in the fight for 5 minutes. Sunntarian jousted against
Raal's target, Baron Knight Zemmel Von Zenc, aiding in the ruse
that lead to his death by poison from a dart. In the semi-finals
the following day, Sunntarian was unseated.
[04/12/90R]
When Draken arrived at CK, Kendril had heard of the other RKs'
exploits in Bogenhafen, so they headed there, too. Once there,
the RKs (Draken, Shady, Kendril & Raal, with Grady) got
involved in a rivalry between Frehr Bolz, a merchant of fine
alchemical powders, and his competition, La Vianna. Draken donated
his payment of 50,000 gp to the poor folk of Bogenhafen, making
him something of a celebrity there. The rivalry between the
2 merchants ended when the golden dragon brought La Vianna to
Bolz in its teeth.
During
his stay in Bogenhafen, Raal "found god" - or at least
a god. He learned of a deity called Wen Chung and he
began to believe this religion may be to his liking.
[04/24/90]
From Bogenhafen, Raal headed to southern Llofal and then into
Hoki & Paldui. He prayed for weeks, offering to build a
temple to Wen Chung and asking for the speed of lightning. Eventually,
he received a message from a minion of the god, who told him
to build his temple in New Antoros (Lord Bartholemew Trillium's
lands.) He travelled to New Antoros, built for weeks (into summer
11359) and completed the temple. While standing atop the temple,
praying and offering tribute, Raal was hit by lightning and
gained the speed of lightning he had asked for in prayer.
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"Ragnarok
& Roll"
Recruited
by Thor
It
was during his commission in Starfleet, just after the Ronis
I incident (Sept 11363 Lian date,)
that Amblinon was called to service by his god, Thor, and he
joined in the battle of "Ragnarok & Roll." Of
course, the RKs went along with him, taking leave from Starfleet
just as they neared completion of their Cadet Cruise. They were
transported by Thor to Asgard and tasked with finding the 3
pieces of Galactus that had been scattered to separate outer
dimensions by a cosmic cube. The resultant chaos in the universe
was bringing about the Ragnarok battle on the Rainbow bridge
before its time. The RKs & Amblinon travelled to various
dimensions, including Hades, and recombined the 3 pieces of
Galactus, for which he granted them each a great cosmic gift.
[It
was at this time that the RKs got the "Magic Bus,"
which travels astrally. (By-Tor got superhuman strength?)]
Galactus,
however, was immediately taken by Death and imprisoned on her
plane, with Tiamat & her entourage guarding the cage. All
RKs, et al, were returned to Asgard by Thor.
[05/28/89]
Draken, seeking to scrye the Draornbre Forest & Pasadena
Island in his Crystal of VIsion, saw a tornado but no PI, and
became worried. Thor then sent all the Lians back to PI on Lia
(By-Tor, Shady & Amblinon could have been sent to the Federation,
but opted to "pop" home shortly first.) "The
Tellarite officer" (Sak Tunder?) went home to the UFP.
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The
Aftermath
The
Lians found their world to be chaotic. The Braish Empire was
divided into small kingdoms at war with giants, orc/hobgoblin
armies & dragons. Volcanoes had sprung up in the northern
region of Bankor, where the new Fuhren was warring on New Antoros
in the south. Elves had sealed the High Elven forests once again.
Llofal was divided & warring internally & with the dragons.
The south had not been heard from much, but the word was that
"evil grows once more" there. The RoachKings only
then realized that they could have asked Galactus to restore
all the effects caused by the chaos, but they had chosen selfish
power instead.
Technology
above the level of a crossbow would not function; the mechs
were fused. By-Tor asked Kendril to enchant a mace with density
alteration (making it weigh a ton) & Ozone put a rune on
it.
Pasadena
Island had been moved to the mountains near Kar Tola. Quandrony's
family had cut off communications "because of security
concerns."
With
Castle Kendril once again claimed by a dragon, the RoachKings
headed there to take it back, again. At first, they found it
to be a golden palace, ruled by a gold dragon. This turned out
to be the illusion of a black dragon, which the RKs killed,
but not before it called 2 others to its aid. In the course
of the battle, DZ, Ozone & Draken fought the 2 black dragons
while Kendril (in the form of a gold dragon) & By-Tor took
on a troop of hobgoblins approaching from the south. The RKs
finally reclaimed the castle when DZ turned a large black dragon
into a giant tomato.
[07/30/89-09/24/89-09/30/89-10/29/89]
While at PI near Kel Ket, By-Tor heard that his father, Red
Beard the Pirate, was up north, near Newport (nay, "Scrape!")
He also heard that there were fire giants on red dragons in
the area and they didn't attack Scrape. Shady, Kendril, By-Tor,
Ozone, DZ & Draken all shadow-walked to Scrape and investigated.
They dealt with some of the local humans who were in cahoots
with some of Krad's ilk. They also destroyed a temple to Tiamat
and took over the town, flying the RK flag over Yorin's palace.
When they went after the red dragon Vessicant in its cavern
below the temple, they encountered some gnolls. By-Tor's head
was severed in the ensuing battle, but Ozone fused it back on
quickly afterward. Later, By-Tor & Draken made the killing
blow on the red dragon together. The RKs then drank of its blood
before Kendril skinned it with his runeblade Varinor. The RKs
then spent a year & a half training in & around Scrape
(By-Tor gained rank 9 Navigator with Red Beard.)
[11/19/89]
From Scrape, the RoachKings joined Red Beard and sailed north
through the Great Icy Ocean to the permanent ices, where they
investigated a huge metallic object jutting out from the ice.
The RKs encountered a tentacled sea monster, which some of them
believed was just another big monster. However, By-Tor's star
readings lead him to believe they had stopped an alien invasion.
22-23
En Mön 11363 - (After returning from Ragnarok & Roll
and before returning to the Federation to complete his Starfleet
duty,) Amblinon flew on dragons with Rorq to Ker Thom (the "Roots
of Thaumaturgy") & released Tahi in her own abode.
Return
to Starfleet
The
RKs then decided to sail for the Celestian Temple in the Twilite
Zone. They sailed for 2 weeks to reach By-Tor's old home port
of Palatin.
[12/03/89]
When the RKs set sail from Palatin, Kendril, By-Tor & Draken
(with Blitz) encountered Lord Swinwar Slitherwind & some
of his people (merfolk) & had some dealings with them before
sailing on to Safeport, then into the Twilite Zone to Trile
& the Temple of Celestian. The Priests asked the RoachKings
to become a team of interstellar troubleshooters, but the RKs
declined. Kendril traded 20 Arrows of Banishment & 3 collected
magic rings for a rune amulet of Plane Shift & a rune staff
of Death's Door & Cure Crit. Draken trained with unarmed
combat. Shady & By-Tor starbridged back to Delta Vega to
complete their Starfleet service.
spring
11364 - the RoachKings celebrated
their 25th year as an adventuring fellowship [nearly 7 years
as players.]
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To
Free Galactus From Tiamat
May
11365 - While on leave between
his Cadet Cruise & his first assignment, Shady joined Ozone
& Raal (with some Valkyries along as cheerleaders) and used
the Magic Bus to travel back to the first level of the 9 Hells
to free Galactus. The battle was wild, with Tiamat firing several
breath weapons every few seconds, Raal making huge, sweeping
flying kicks on Tiamat's red dragon head, Shady firing an RK313
machine gun into the entourage of 5 chromatic dragons, and Ozone
sneaking up to plant a teleport runestick next to Galactus,
allowing him to escape his cage. Galactus then helped the RKs
kill Tiamat & the rest of her 5-dragon entourage.
[01/21/90]
Sometime after the release of Galactus (11365,) Draken probability-travelled
(?) to the astral plane, sensed the agony of several nearby
astral bodies and, following them, found Galactus. He told Galactus
that he wanted to be a herald. Galactus said that Draken, as
an elf, should serve for 25 years & Draken agreed. Galactus
said, "You've obviously given this much thought. Your thoughts
are you..." and he touched his head. "Behold, the
'Golden Rider.'" Having just fed, Galactus told the Golden
Rider that he would call on him when the pangs of hunger began.
Draken returned to the Draornbre & telepathcally contacted
Kendril, teleported him there & told him of his deal.
In early 11366, Draken would leave
Lia again for many years to search his galaxy for suitable planets
for Galactus to consume.
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Completing
Starfleet Duty
For
the remainder of their Starfleet Cadet Cruise, Shady & By-Tor
served on the USS Niwen, along with Amblinon. During
this time, the Lians were involved in the investigation of a
secret Romulan base that had been abandoned. By-Tor & Amblinon
were then promoted to Lieutenant (Junior Grade) and all 3 were
assigned to serve aboard the USS LaFayette under Cpt.
Sak Tunder for the remainder of their Starfleet service.
Amblinon
resigned his Starfleet commission & returned to Lia in the
fall of 2281 (Aug. 11366 Lia date,)
By-Tor in June of 2282 (May 11367.)
Shady remained in Starfleet one year longer than By-Tor or Amblinon
and he resigned as a full Lieutenant, while the 2 humans had
attained the rank of Lt., Junior Grade, at the time of their
departure. By-Tor returned for Shady in the Magic Bus in June
of 2283 (May 11368.) They used
the bus to search the Astral Plane & find the Earth of an
alternate universe that Thor had told them about - home to many
superhuman heroes [Marvel Universe.]
Here, they sought out ways to irradiate By-Tor with gamma radiation,
but they gave up on the idea when it became evident that it
would take a long time to get the info they needed.
In
the spring of 11369, the RoachKings
threw a massive week-long party & festival on Pasadena Island
to celebrate their 30th year as an adventuring fellowship [16
years as players.]
