D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Ashen Muster: A Lord's Desperation

# Intrigue# Wilderness

The eastern borderlands are a powder keg. A massive orc horde, displaced from their ancestral highlands by a volcanic eruption, is mustering for a desperate, final push into human lands. Opposing them is the Duchy of Greymere, ruled by the once-noble, now-perfidious Lord Valerius. He has raised an army, but his methods are monstrous. Veterans, your choices will determine not just victory, but the price of peace. Will you uphold a flawed but established order, or empower a displaced people seeking survival at any cost? The grey ash of the volcano blankets both sides.

Chronicle Prelude

The fortified border town of Ashenford, a tense hub of soldiers, refugees, and spies. Smoke from distant burning farms hangs in the air, and Lord Valerius's decrees are posted on every wall, offering harsh bounties and threatening conscription.

Environmental Traits

The Duchy of Greymere faces annihilation. The orc horde, the Ashen Fist, seeks to conquer fertile valleys for their starving clans. Lord Valerius will use any tactic—scorched earth, dark pacts, or sacrificing his own people—to stop them. The region is a hellscape of moral compromise.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Lord Valerius, Duke of Greymere
A gaunt man in his late forties with hollow eyes that burn with a fanatical light. He wears a military greatcoat over fine but stained armor. His left hand is gloved in black leather to hide a faint, shadowy corruption creeping up his arm—a mark of his pact.
Kraga the Scarred, War Chief
A towering orc woman with a physique hardened by a lifetime of battle. A jagged scar runs from her forehead, across a milky blind eye, to her jaw. She wears armor cobbled from beast hide and scavenged metal, and carries a massive, notched greataxe. Her expression is one of grim, weary resolve.
Sergeant Harlan Hardwin
A stocky, middle-aged soldier with a meticulously trimmed mustache and the weary eyes of a man who has seen too much. His armor is standard Greymere issue, but his face is drawn with moral exhaustion. He often stands guard at the Iron Cordon, his posture rigid with duty but his gaze distant.
Shaman Gulrath
An ancient orc whose greenish skin is faded and wrinkled like old parchment. He is draped in feathers, bone charms, and robes stained with soot and herb paste. He moves with a slow, deliberate grace, his eyes holding a deep, sorrowful wisdom.
Lysra the Shadowbroker
A human woman of indeterminate age, dressed in layered, muted greys and browns that allow her to blend into the fen's mists. Her face is sharp and intelligent, and her eyes constantly scan her surroundings. She carries no visible weapons, but pouches and scrolls are slung all over her person.
Elite Shadow Hound
A massive, wolf-like beast wrought from solidified shadow and dark magic. Its form is indistinct at the edges, constantly shifting like smoke. Its eyes are points of smoldering crimson, and its jaws drip with corrosive, dark energy. It is bound to guard the ritual wards of the Sundered Pass.
Council Lord Aldric Marten
A portly nobleman with a neatly trimmed beard and expensive, though slightly ostentatious, robes. He carries an air of practiced authority and shrewd calculation. He is often found in Ashenford's council chambers, surrounded by scrolls and ledgers.
Orc Raider Boss 'Tusk'
A particularly brutish orc with a prominent, filed lower tusk jutting from his jaw. He wears a necklace of human ears and his armor is crudely decorated with red war paint. He leads a pack of raiders who favor terror tactics over strategy.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Goblin Plight of Rivervale and the Cryptic Mine

The Lost Workshop: Heart of a Raging Core