Heroes of Falcon's Hollow [Part 1]

The screaming stopped about a half an hour ago. The woods open to a small, circular glade the sounds of the forest become suddenly distant. There is the faint sound of sobbing by a grown man. At the glade’s center towers a gnarled ancient dead oak. Two lumberjacks are crucified on opposite sides high among the enormous oaks branches. One seems to be uncontrollably sobbing while the other is catatonic with an expressionless face.

Suddenly, the tree seems to vomit out the disemboweled remains of a Halfling from one of it’s many hollows. The body hits the ground with a splat and its bones snap like twigs. Then the creature emerges from its lair in the tree. It’s as large as a human. It has the legs and wings of a vulture but the head and torso of a wild naked old woman, her mouth still dripping with gore.

The harpy belches and begins to cackle, “Now that the appetizer is spent…” Her gaze falls on one of the lumberjacks, “Your next weepy!” She hops from branch to branch closing with the crying helpless human. “Don’t fret deary, you’re not going to die today. I’m only going to have a nibble.”

So preoccupied with her captives, the Harpy does not notice a small band of townsfolk from Falcon’s Hollow have braved the Darkmoon Wood to rescue their neighbors. Just beyond the southern tree line stands one of the sheriff’s deputies, Surinder Murali, the shop girl from the general store, Tanayia Clayborne, an accountant, Eilo Buckram, two of the brothers from the temple, Bjorn Hammerstein & Kern Domen, the clerk from the court, Sangilak Ekchua, and one of the local fishermen, Drake Cranston planning a daring rescue.

Meanwhile on the far side of the clearing, hidden from both the harpy and the townsfolk perched high in a lofty pine is a mysteriously cloaked figure.

Eilo and Sangilak fire crossbow bolts at the Harpy. Eilo’s dart sticks into her feathery wing while Sangilak’s lands deep in the beast’s thigh! Eilo grabs hold of his rapier and begins his charge but that clearing is wider then it looks. Kern speeds across the clearing, grabs a low hanging branch, swings up into the tree and whirls wildly at the Harpy. This distracts her but his fists fail to connect. Tanayia gets underneath the creature and stabs it in the side while it is distracted by the blots and Kern’s courageous charge.

Surinder shouts at the harpy, "Stop in the name of the law! As a sheriff’s deputy of Falcon's Hollow. I have orders to bring you in, dead or alive! Now, come here and come peacefully!" He continues, "The rest of us are also deputies! Now, surrender!" which the Harpy ignores entirely.
Bjorn steps up and speaks with a deep guttural voice of command while brandishing his holy symbol, "Thou BEAST of eternal damnation! You will answer for your treacherous deeds and acts upon the living. In the name of IOMADE and all that is good and just, I will see delivered back to the Hell Pit from which you came!" then walks as close as he can get to the Harpy. Drake stands his ground next to Surinder and Sangilak. He is seems to be plotting something clever and daring! The cloaked figure is still undetected but shifts its stance to a readied stance.

The Harpy is surrounded! The Halfling swings his rapier, the monk swings his fists, and the deputy swings his short sword, none of which connect. The Harpy flies straight up to the next highest branch about five feet above them. Her head bobs, feathers ruffle, and wings rapidly expand and contract with frustration. She screeches at the townsfolk, “Fools! Mighty warriors have tried to destroy Elgaurda! Tired and died! I will not be chased from my eyries and cheated out of my meal by a mob of Falcon’s Hollow’s peasantry!” She turns her face towards the sky and begins to belt out a bird call.

The call is extremely melodic and begins to entrance the townsfolk! In the minds of her victims, the Harpy begins to transform! Her wild ratty mess of dull gray hair because a mane of brownish red locks. Her ashy wrinkled skin becomes firm and youthful. Her crimson stained muzzle, is replaced with a succulent rose colored lips. Her black vulture feathers change their color as if leaves in autumn. In contrast to the man-eating monster, now sits a radiant bird woman that sings an enchanting song of lust and contentment. They begin to feel their legs moving towards her with out their consent.

The Harpy’s song enthralls Surinder, Bjorn, Sangilak & Eilo into a trance and they walk ever closer to the singing monster. Brother Kern of the Temple of Iomadae shakes his head clear of the illusion and realigns his body into his fighting stance.

Suddenly the creature’s song changes to a cry of anguish as a spear explodes through her side! The Harpy spins around frantically trying to dislodge the protruding pole arm from her body. Behind her is a ferocious female raptoran warrior that had sailed down from the lofty pine at the far side of the clearing to rescue the townsfolk. It appears she too has succumbed to the Harpy’s ballade and is helpless to defend herself.

The raptoran’s spear comes lose and it falls to the ground. The Harpy looks seriously wounded and she seems more terrifying then every before. With a snarl, the Harpy limps over to pluck the eye balls out of the damn raptoran. Spitting blood you can almost hear her begin speaking to the raptoran in a hushed voice, “To the pain’ means the first thing you’ll lose will be your…“ The Harpy is interrupted again, this time by the splash of an acid ball. She flutters about to try to get the jelly like weapon off of her before it burns through her feathers. Drake yells, "Your mind tricks don't work on me!" As he holds his ground and prepares for another attack.

The Harpy painfully cackles as she watches the young monk fall out of the tree and catches a branch under his jaw before belly flopping onto the ground. She peers over her shoulder at the stocky man on the edge of the clearing. “That was a nasty incantation for a fisherman? It appears your comrades will be joining these lumberjacks as my wind chimes. But you, I will not even devour!” The harpy spreads her vulture wings and soars down from her roost wildly screaming, talons outstretched. Drake ducks and weaves and his studded leather armor is enough to prevent The Harpy from braking skin.

"Shows what you know! I'm a whole new breed!” Drake yells back. His hand begins to glow a blue color and he attempts to bat the harpy down. Failing that he swaps his spear into his main hand.

The others begin shaking off the Harpy’s song and are again aware of their surroundings. They hear shouting and see the Harpy hovering over Drake Cranston, local fisherman. Her ferocious talons swipe wildly at him but he is doing well to avoid them. He mutters something in an arcanic language and you see his free hand suddenly glows with blue energy. He reaches his icy hand up towards the Harpy but she moves her leg just in time. The Harpy looks badly beaten from the wounds she has already sustained but her fight has only become more determined. You realize it has to end now and these lumberjacks need immediate attention if they are to live.

Kern charges The Harpy! As she dives at Drake again with her talons, Kern lands a solid punch and shouts, "Die!” The cracking of her ribs is audible. She gasps for air and hops along the ground trying to take to flight. She begins to get airborne and appears to be retreating to the forest. Surinder charges toward the harpy and yells out to the dwarven cleric, "Tend to the wounded!!" The Harpy looks back to see if she is being pursued, she can barely conceive how the situation got so out of hand. There is a glint of terror in the monster’s eyes when she sees Surinder barreling down on her. Before she can let out a cry, with a mighty sweep of his sword Surinder decapitates the vile beast.

Game On!

Ok the holiday season is officially over and that means all my Play by Post games are moving forward again. Some of you play in these two games but many more just enjoy reading them.

DarkMoon Vale is my D&D 3.5 campaign that takes place in an obscure location in the Pathfinder setting by Pazio Publishing. The heroes have volunteered to plunge into the dark foreboding woods to rescue local lumberjacks that have been ensnared by a Harpy. After a frustrating battle two of the three victims are saved when the Harpy loses her head. The heroes decide not to brave a return trip to town in the middle of the night with two wounded men.

During the night a motley band of goblinoids arrive to slay the already dead Harpy. By the time the monsters realize the Harpy is no more the battle between them and the heroes is already raging. The orcs in this encounter provoke a bit of a twist. The orcs inform the heroes that they are in fact slaves. And if the heroes swear to help the orcs liberate their people, they will turn upon their Goblin and Hobgoblin companions. With the help of the orcs the heroes win the battle even after unexpected Bugbear taskmasters enter the fray.

We have just ended another climatic cinematic battle and the heroes are now faced with what to do with the rescued but injured lumberjacks and the party’s new orc allies.

Justifiers is my sci-fi adventure which we use the D20 Modern (and its expansion D20 Future) game engine for breathe new life into this famous cult classic setting. “Justifiers” is a set in a gritty future where the heroes are space explorers that have to survey uncharted new worlds for possible colonization. At this point the party has landed on a beautiful planet perfect for colonization but they soon learn that the planet has mechanized residents that don’t take kindly to strangers.

The party has split into three teams, two away teams and one group has remained behind in base camp. The first team traveled several hundred miles by helicopter only to crash and barely survives. The second team has been attacked by large multi-armed gorillia-like creatures that have obviously suffered from some nuclear fallout. Last, the team left behind to “hold down the fort” has encountered their first sentient alien and it mysteriously knows of the Justifiers and says it has come to help them.

If you are playing then the wait is over! If you would like to read the PBP games you can find the D&D thread here http://rpgbomb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=133&t=761 and the Justifiers thread here http://rpgbomb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=121&t=604

Enjoy and tell me what you think of the stories so far!

Interview by Andrew Barkley of The Orlando Gaming Federation, Orlando, FL.

Andy: I’m sitting here with Mitch Brock, resident of central Florida and avid Play by Post gamer. Mitch, what is it like being the GM of the two most popular play by post games on RPGBomb.com?

Mitch: I haven’t thought of it that way. I have some great players to game with and the staff over at RPGbomb.com makes everyone feel right at home. It is a winning combination.

Andy: Tell us about play by post games, how are they different from gaming around the table?

Mitch: Well… They are much slower. My sci-fi game, Justifiers, is the longer running of the two. It was started over a month ago on September 7th currently it has somewhere around 130 posts on the thread. I would say if I was able to sit down with my players at a table, where we are in the story would have been reached in a few of hours of play.

Andy: Wow! Over a month and you are only a few hours into the game? Why even play PBP games?

Mitch: That’s simple, convenience. The game takes longer but I am able to play with people from all over the world. They can take their turn at any time day or night.

Andy: Ok but is it as fun as playing around the table?

Mitch: That depends on your idea of fun in RPGs. Most of us love the camaraderie and the goofing off, like making Monty Python references, which is all part of the fun. However, the game nights we talk about years later are the nights where everyone was really “in character”, being creative in the description of their actions, and focusing on the mission at hand. Those things that make a game session great are all staples of any Play by Post session.

Andy: So you are saying with PBP’s you lose some of that out of game table chatter but you gain a much more focused game experience?

Mitch: Absolutely. Plus I love going back long after the PBP game is over and getting to read all the fun we had.

Andy: You mentioned you have a scifi game, Justifiers. Some of our readers may not be familiar with that “cult classic”, could you tell us about it?

Mitch: Yes, it is an awesome setting and I am using the D20 Modern game engine to make this cult classic more accessible to a wider group of players. “Justifiers” is a scifi game set in a gritty future where you play space explorers that have to survey uncharted new worlds for possible colonization.

Andy: How about your Fantasy PBP game?

Mitch: Actually, my Fantasy game is Dungeons & Dragons 3.5. I’m sure your readers have heard of that one.

Andy: If they are reading this, they should have. Dungeons & Dragons doesn’t need an explanation but what makes your game unique?

Mitch: I am using an obscure location in the Pathfinder setting by Paizo Publishing. Also all the adventurers are residents of this backwater town and have regular jobs. It is a lot like fantasy meets superheroes since the adventurers have mundane day jobs.

Andy: How does giving adventurers “day jobs” change the game dynamic?

Mitch: I find that the adventurers are less likely to act like drunken marines in some third-world country’s small port town and more like a band of heroes who genuinely want to help the people of the area. Part of the role of GM is to set the tone for the game and I like my games to be about real heroism.

Andy: Any new PBP games in the works?

Mitch: Not to GM, two is demanding enough. However, I am hoping to start playing in a Star Wars PBP ran by my friend SoloDM and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle PBP ran by my friend Rogue-z.

Andy: There you have it. PBP games they take forever but the best things come to those who wait. If you have the inclination please visit RPGbomb.com forums and check Mitch and the other play by post gamers, as Mitch points out, “any time day or night.”

Hollow’s Last Hope (pt. 3) The Witch's Hut

The sounds of the forest become suddenly distant as the trees part, opening into a small, almost perfectly circular glade. The nearest stands of pine, eyln, and darkwood—all typically sturdy woods—twist away from the clearing, as if bent by some impossibly strong wind or seemingly in an attempt to flee despite their paralyzed roots. At the glade’s center squats an ugly cottage, little more than a pile of twigs, shoots, and ivy stacked upon mud walls. From the thatched roof dangle bundles of gnarled roots, old dried beast carcasses, and knucklebone bangles, all clattering together like gruesome wind chimes. A dozen small thatched fetishes—each shaped like a tiny man, imp, or rearing serpent—stand propped in the yard, keeping guard before a rickety plank door.


The heroes approach the small hut cautiously. Immediately, Surinder kicks down one of the small thatched fetishes to reassure his companions there is nothing to fear. There is an uneasy pause as everyone waits with dread that something horrible will happen. As their approach receives no resistance, Surinder again kicks, this time the rotting hut door shatters open.


Inside, the cottage is dank, reeking, and filled with shadows. Haphazardly hung shelves line the walls, covered in all manner of clay jugs, clouded bottles, strangely cut rocks, rotted bunches of herbs, and a museum of other crude curios and remnants of a bone grinder’s artifice. A rusted iron cauldron, with a mouth nearly 5 feet wide and a depth of at least 3 feet, dominates the hut’s single room, its ash-covered surface shaped with a relief of capering fiends and leering devils. Across from the door, against the far walls, stands a high-backed chair made of wicker, the gigantic curved tusks of some monstrous beast, and thousands of human teeth. In the chair sits what looks like a corpse wrapped in filthy burial linens, its form padded with pungent herbs and sprouting patches of thick white mold.


Surinder boldly marches inside and goes left while Br. Bjorn cautiously goes right. Eja is fixated by the figure in the chair opposite the door; she aims her bow at the figure and nervously waits for whatever horror haunts this cursed grove. Eilo stands behind Eja outside of the hut facing the forest. The crafty rogue fears an attack from behind as they are focused on the hut.


Eja reminds Surinder and Br. Bjorn to look for the jar of pickled root called rat's tail. Br. Bjorn peers at the shelves on his side of the hut being very careful not to disturb anything, suddenly everyone is startled by Surinder ransacking his shelves nosily. Directly following Surinder’s clatter, the hut is filled with sound of iron bending as if by a great wind. The heroes look in all directions but there attention returns to Surinder when screams in shock and pain. To everyone’s amazement the rusted iron cauldron has come to life and is attacking Surinder. The “mouth” of the cauldron has become a sinister toothless maw that snaps open and shut.


Eilo rushes to Surinder’s aid and attempts to restrain the cauldron. Eilo, in his heroic zeal, accidentally places his hand too close to the cauldron’s mouth. The cauldron bites Eilo’s arm, flips him into the air, catches the hobbit in it’s open mouth, and swallows him whole! The others gasp as the cauldron continues it’s biting attacks, they can hear Eilo’s cry’s for help coming from inside the cauldron. Br. Bjorn rushes over and begins hammering the beastly cauldron with his war hammer. Surinder catches the jaws of the cauldron and with all his strength holds it open just wide enough for Eilo to leap free. Other then some bumps and bruises Eilo appears unharmed. Surinder screams unintelligibly in rage then madly hacks at the cauldron with his long sword. Eilo and Br Bjorn beat on the cauldron. Eja fires an arrow and it reflects off the rounded iron.


The cauldron is being dented by the heroes vicious attack but it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Eja realizes this thing is some kind of guardian and runs over to the shelf to finish the search for the rat's tail root. A few moments of heated combat pass and Eja finds the jar. She quickly throws it and a couple of other items on the same shelf into her pack. Eja shouts over the clanging of battle, “I’ve found the shit we came for! Let’s just get the hell out of here!” Eja bounds for the door. Eilo and Br Bjorn rush out after Eja. Surinder backs up to the door and continues to slash away at the cauldron with mindless fury. Eja calls out to him, “What are you doing? Let’s go!” Surinder shouts something back about destroying it. Eja is confused by Surinder’s obsession and implores him, “We have a long way to go! Every moment we waste more people die, perhaps our loved ones! That thing is not even alive, let’s just go!” Surinder comes to his senses when he thinks of Maggie, the voluptuous barmaid he swore to save from the black scour taint. He gives the cauldron a final knock with his sword and races after the others who are almost to the tree line. They hear a crash as the cauldron breaks through the narrow door way in pursuit of the heroes. Terrified that the fight is not winnable, the heroes flee to the trees! Soon as they crossed the threshold of the glen, the cauldron stops it’s pursuit and lazily waddles back into the hut.


The heroes rest after placing a comfortable distance between them and old witches hut. Other than the rat’s tail root, Eja grabbed several items on the same shelf in her hurry. Inside her pack is a disgusting, shrunken head on a necklace size string, a pouch filled with tiny statuettes and rare stones and another pouch containing essential salts. After pondering over their hard earned oddities they decide to press on to the ancient ruins of the dwarven monastery.

Hollow’s Last Hope (pt. 2) Into the DarkMoon Vale

The heroes leave straight away into the dark forest. They know they have a long way ahead and every moment counts to save the people of Falcon’s Hollow. They go as fast as they can through the thick dark forest.

Not even a couple hours in the come upon a set of deep, goat-like tracks. Eja determines that whatever made these depressions walks upright, and she can easily follow them. The tracks only persist for approximately 50 feet before mysteriously disappearing. The heroes are concerned but are pressed for time and continue heading for the river.

Still traveling, a couple of hours later the happen upon several large rocks deep in the forest whose undersides are covered in rare, glowing mold. Bjorn informs everyone if they harvest enough of the mold without destroying it can serve as a light source. Once removed from the rock, the mold continues to glow with the brightness of a torch for about three days. Eilo Buckram, the hobbit, strips and rubs the mold over the parts of his body that can be concealed by clothing so he could illuminate their way by simple opening his shirt.

Almost to the river, the Heroes happen upon a dead tree streaked with multicolored fairy blood. Three sprite-like creatures, known as keld piskies, are pinned here, their exsanguinated bodies turned to gnarled wood. Bjorn recalls dubious stories about fairy blood being used to turn lead into gold.

Finally the heroes reach the edge of the river at twilight. Not far from the edge of the forest-shrouded river, a fox with large ears and bright orange fur lies bleeding, its hindquarters caught fully in the jaws of a crude iron trap. The heroes rush to its aid. Eja uses her natural animal empathy to calm the distraught fox. Surinder mightily pulls apart the trap. Bjorn calls out to Iomedae to heal the small woodland creature. As the Bjorn begins his praying two very large rooks with distinctive, jagged beaks and unkempt, oily black feathers, known as Razorcrows swoop down on the other heroes. Both birds take a slash at Surinder as they fly by. When the others are distracted by the birds, an arrow whizzes past Bjorn’s head from further down the riverbank. Bjorn runs for the cover of the tree line, shouting for the others to take cover. Surinder places himself between the unseen archer and Eja. Eja looks over Surinder’s shoulder and with her sharp hunter’s eyes she spots their assailant, a grayskinned hobgoblin with a prodigious cleft palate, lurks in the nearby tree line. Eja swings her mighty longbow from her shoulder, cocks her truest arrow, pulls back with all her strength, aims carefully, and releases. The others watch as the shape of the hobgoblin falls from his hiding place onto the shore about 80 ft away with Eja’s arrow deeply imbedded in his forehead.

The heroes know that time is of the essence but have traveled so far in such a short amount of time. They know they will become exhausted and the forest is dangerous enough during the day, they reluctantly agree to sleep for the night. Despite their strenuous day, their worry for their sick loved ones keeps them up a few moments longer.

Hollow’s Last Hope (part 1)

The Characters I introduced in my previous blog have finished the adventure and have saved dozens of people from the plague. It was a wild ride and below are the highlights of the game. Enjoy!

Perched at the edge of civilized lands, the small town of Falcon’s Hollow has always had to rely on itself to solve its problems. Meanwhile, the uncaring lumber barons squeeze the common folk for every last copper, deaf to their pleas. Now the hacking coughs of the sick are heard throughout town. The plague has come to Falcon’s Hollow and the town’s leaders can’t be bothered to stop it. Several dozen people in Falcon’s Hollow have contracted a fungal disease called blackscour taint. While the malady is not exceptionally deadly, poor conditions and a general lack of supplies mean that many of the sick—especially the elderly and young—face mortal consequences. Slowly deteriorating, most of the afflicted can hang on for several more days, but already the weakest have succumbed, with their number growing daily. Blackscour taint is an ingested disease with an incubation period of 1 to 3 days. Those who are infected develop a hacking cough that quickly turns bloody if the disease is allowed to progress. But not all the people of Falcon’s Hollow are helpless labors. Among the residents are a handful of locals that are more then what they seem and find themselves compelled to help their friends and neighbors no matter the danger.

The heroes each have a friend, family member or neighbor that has come down with this painfully lethal disease. Eja Clayborne has learned that a little girl and her mom, who shop at the general store Eja works at, have both gotten sick with Blackscour. Br. Bjorn "Ghostsbane" Hammerstein’s mentor and close friend Lady Cirthana, the priestess of Iomedae has also fallen deathly ill. Eilo Buckram’s Father has come down with Blackscour and he has been bedridden. Surinder Murali has always been sweet on one of the waitress at the Sitting Duck tavern, she has contracted the sickness too.

The heroes visit the local herbalist, Laurel to help find a cure. She tells them of a strange medicine she has never made before, but she has tried everything else and nothing is helping. She has most of the ingredients but lack the three major ones that would possible cure the 40 people that are dieing of the Blackscour.

“Some rare roots and concentrations, most of which I have here, but there’s three I don’t. Elderwood moss, which I’ve never heard of, but granny says the stuff only grows on the oldest tree in a forest. A specially pickled root called rat’s tail, again, sounds like hoojoo to me. And seven ironbloom mushrooms, stunty little things that only grow in dark places thick with metal, a favorite among dwarves, or so I hear.”

She gave some suggestions as to where to find the ingredients. “Well, for the elderwood mold, there’s gotta be an oldest tree in the vale. Damned if I know where it is, though. The rat’s tail and mushrooms are even longer shots. Way north, toward the mountains, people say there used to live a bunch of dwarves. They’re not there anymore, but I’d bet their forges are. If you can find ironbloom anywhere around here, that’d be your best bet. “As for the rat’s tail, who knows? Well. Actually. Ulizmila, the witch that lives deep in the woods might. She’s a crafty, mean thing that knows all sorts of strangeness. She might even have one. I don’t know what she might want for it, but I doubt it’d come cheap. My grandmother traded her sight to the old crone for a few pages of what she knew, and that was years and years back, and I don’t know a soul who got any nicer as they got older.”

The heroes seek out Br. Bjorn Hammerstein’s father who works for the lumber consortium in hope that he may know the location of the oldest tree in the forest. He doesn’t but refers them to Milon Rhoddam, the most experienced woodsman in the Lumber Consortium.
The heroes gather their supplies and head out of Falcon’s Hallow. There first stop is at one of the cut yards a few hours out of town near the edge of the great forest, Darkmoon Vale. After intimidating the pompous camp foreman, Jarlben Trookshavits, they meet with Milon Rhoddam. Milon Rhoddam a blunt, quiet man, is one of the most experienced wanderers and woodsmen in the region. His nephew has taken ill with blackscour taint when the heroes explain they’re trying to find reagents to brew a cure, he gladly sketches them a rough map of the forest, marking the location of where he believes Ulizmila’s hut, the oldest tree in the forest, the dwarven ruins stand and advises them of a short cut across the river that could save them days of travel. The heroes examine the map and decide to head to the river and than to Ulizmila’s hut first.







Stay tuned for the next exciting installment!!!

Heroes of Falcon’s Hollow.

I made 5 characters for the Pathfinder adventure modules D0: Hollow’s Last Hope and D1: Crown of the Kobold King. I hope to run the modules in the next couple of weeks and post the results of the adventures. The backgrounds for these characters were meant to weave the heroes into the community of Falcon’s Hollow and/or explain how they came to choosing their class.

Eja Clayborne is close with the Eavewalker Family. Idris was an old friend of her father and became like a father figure to her. Idris taught her the skills of a ranger. They even saved the townsfolk from a menacing owlbear once. Idris knew the lumber barons would see any heroics as a possible threat. He warned Eja to always help the town in a clandestine way.

Idris left two years ago with a group of adventurers and has not been heard from since. Eja has remained a close friend of Idris’ wife Kitani and his daughter Kimi who calls her “Auntie Eja”.

Eja works at Goose’n’Gander, Falcon’s Hollow’s general store. She works for the only civilized gnome in the region, Brickasnurd Hildrinsocks. He is an honest but frugal business man. Asia has worked for him since before her family went back east. The gnome considers her family and worries about her moonlighting as Falcon’s Hollow’s resident defender from the wilds. (Human Ranger 1st level)

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Bjorn was born to proud parents Wolfried and Hildegard Hammerstein. Bjorn worked along side his father in the lumber yards most of his adolescents. The little dwarf family scraped out a living under the oppressive Lumber Consortium.

Than one day a missionary from the Church of Light brought news of Iomadae, the goddess of valor and justice. Bjorn heard the preaching of the human cleric. She spoke of a deity that blessed the courageous, who gave gifts to her faithful to defend the weak, free the oppressed, and champion for justice. The missionary told the people if they gave worship to Iomadae then the town would flourish and its people would be filled with the grace. For the large part, the people of Falcon’s Hollow rejected the missionary and her goddess. The Hammerstein’s, like most in Falcon’s Hollow, wanted nothing to do with organized religion. They were happy to live life however they felt fit and be able to change with the situation instead of being restricted a set morality. However, there were a handful of people that wanted to hear more. And no one wanted to hear more then young Bjorn, who deep in his soul longed for justice.

It was not long after the small group of worshippers pooled their time, talent, and treasures together and built the Temple of Iomadae. Wolfried was furious the day Bjorn quit the lumber yards to join the Order of the Sons of Iomadae and become a cleric. After a few years Bjorn reconciled with his father and even rid the lumber yard of a terrible poltergeist, which had claimed the lives of several workers, by invoking the intercession of Iomadae. Many of the lumber workers turned to worshipping the powerful goddess who had saved them through her servant know to all as Bjorn “Ghostsbane” Hammerstein. (Dwarf Cleric 1st level)

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Sangilak Ek-Chua made his way to Falcon’s Hollow over 20 years ago. Described by many as a quiet man known for his love of books. Few know he is a half-elf and none know of his pursuit of arcane knowledge. He hides his passion for the mystical. Magic-users not in the direct employ of the Lumber Consortium are viewed as highly potential threats and are usually run out of town.

For years he has worked as a records clerk at Hollows Tribunal, the local court house. Sangilak has been a silent confidante of Magistrate Varmos Harg for many years. Sangilak is one of the few people that know the magistrate’s shame, loneliness, and thirst for true justice.

Other then himself, the only resident student of the arcane that he knows of is Sharvaras Vade. Sangilak suspects Vade to be a dark wizard perhaps dabbling in necromancy. To complicate matters Sangilak befriended Savram, Vade’s son, hoping he can gently influence the boy to explore more benevolent magical disciplines.

Sangilak knows that only through live application of his spells will he excel in his craft. He waits patiently for an opportunity to help the community with his mystical powers.


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Eilo Buckram was raised by his widowed father. It was hard working long hours at the paper mill and trying to look after a young motherless Halfling son.

Eilo was never accepted by the other neighborhood children. He was ridiculed for being small and often picked on and bullied. It started as a game when the “bigger kids”, mostly humans, teased him saying he was “too small” to go with them. He would quietly follow them and every time they caught him he just got better the next time.

As adolescence came, the kids began getting into petty crime. Eilo was disgusted by them hurting the elderly, vandalizing property, and stealing from people. He started staking them to foil their plans, making noise to give them away when they were sneaking, steal back whatever they stole and give it to it’s rightful owner, etc. He learned to fight because he wasn’t always sneaky enough but he got tough, fast, and smart.

As they grown into young adults, his once playful rivals aspired to join the Redrock Guild, an organized crim syndicate. Eilo spent so much time sabotaging the plots of the Redrock Guild that his father had become convinced that Eilo was now a member of the gang. He couldn’t make his father believe he was actually fighting the real criminals.

Out of concern for his father’s anxiety, Eilo obtained a job as a bookkeeper. The work was honest enough for his father to believe his son was no longer a criminal. Also his work spared him physically so that at night he could pursue the task of keeping Falcon’s Hollow safe.

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Surinder Murali’s father left when he was young. Why? He could never be sure; the story would change with his mother’s sobriety. The questions concerning his father stopped to matters as much when the Goblin Wars begun. He was of age at the time and was carted off with nothing more then a pitchfork to fight wild goblin warriors. Soon he was assigned to a particular soldier who treated him fairly decent.

Among the trees the soldier that accompanied him was taken down by a single crossbow bolt. The seasoned goblin warrior thought he would “play” with the human youngling before killing it. Unbeknownst to the goblin, or anyone including the young peasant boy, was the rage that had swelled inside him. From the abandonment by his father, the apathy of his mother, and shame of his inescapable poverty, fueled a boy of twelve to erupt and stab his pitchfork deep into the laughing goblin warrior. With his soldier dead, Surinder donned the fallen man’s helmet, picked up his short sword and trek further into the woods.

By dawn the sergeant had thought the soldier and his boy dead or had deserted until he saw the boy emerge from the forest. Surinder dropped the fifteen goblin scalps at the feet of the sergeant and sat by the fire without a word. Four years later the war was over and the boy was returned to Falcon’s Hollow like discarded military equipment. His mother had died while he was gone and years of fighting had left him without a purpose or hope. He began to drink.

His drunken brawls eventually landed him in the town jail. In the morning his throbbing headache was interrupted by Sheriff Deldrin Baleson giving him a sermon about a “purpose filled life”, “the greater good”, and “direction for his anger”. Somewhere between the coffee and the early afternoon Surinder began to listen to the Sheriff. By that night he had given up drinking and after a month of training with Sheriff he was deputized.