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[IronyOwl]

The scroll doesn't look like much. Coarse reed-paper, ragged around the edges, bound with a simple blue string rather than a wax seal.

The contents are... portentious, however.

A friend of yours has apparently acquired a position of some importance on a planar expedition, and he wants you to join him. You're not normally a fan of suicide missions, but you are a fan of eating. You've only recently acquired the qualifications for your chosen profession, and opportunities have been thin. Which makes you wonder why he'd ask for you by name in the first place.

You do have a few ideas, however.

The first would be your race. Major races all have talents and quirks that make them well suited to certain roles. It's not uncommon to want an elf on hand to handle agriculture, or a snakeman to manage a shrine. As for you...

A. Elf. You're beautiful and adept at controlling living things. Your flesh can be mended, mutated, or reverted without issue.
B. Dwarf. You're sturdy and hardworking. You can enhance or repair items as if crafting them from scratch.
C. Salamander. You're ambitious and cunning. You're immune to heat and flame.
D. Snakeman. You're ruthless and sinister. You can use social skills on otherworldy powers and divine skills on mortals.
E. Human. You're loyal and work well with others. You can trade hits or ailments between allies.
F. Orc. You're brutal and opportunistic. You can force foes to trade blows with you.
G. Other. Many races inhabit the land, some more capable than others.


The other obvious draw would be your recently acquired profession. You'd be lying if you said you made up for inexperience with talent, but at least he knows what you're capable of. Speaking of which...

H. Warrior. Your business is war, or at least looking tough just in case.
H1. Heavy Reaver. Armed with a two-handed sword and heavy armor, you focus on wading into battle and cleaving through multiple foes at once.
H2. Adaptable Warrior. Armed with a mace and medium armor, you focus on withstanding and grinding down whatever you come up against.
H3. Spear Dervish. Armed with a spear and light armor, you focus on getting in, hitting deep, and getting out.
H4. Battle Archer. Armed with a bow and light armor, you focus on keeping foes at range while whittling them down.
H5. Fire Battlemage. Armed with fire magic and medium armor, you focus on burning foes at close range.
H6. Frost Witch. Armed with frost magic and light armor, you focus on debilitating foes and utility options.
H7. Artillery Mage. Armed with lightning magic and fancy robes, you focus on decimating groups of foes from afar.
H8. Other Warrior. There's a lot of ways to fight and a lot of things to be good at fighting.

I. Specialist. Your business is being useful to people with exotic problems, or maybe just a lot of money.
I1. Biomancer. You can mutate and control living things.
I2. Necromancer. You can raise and empower the dead.
I3. Enchanter. You can imbue objects with magical properties.
I4. Alchemist. You can infuse or refine magical effects into or from materials.
I5. Golemancer. You can animate minions from base materials.
I6. Summoner. You can conjure and bind otherworldly creatures and forces.
I7. Priest. You can channel and bargain with otherwordly powers.
I8. Other Specialist. There are many magical or artisinal skills and many paths to leveraging those skills.


As to whether that combination would be handy to have on a planar expedition... well, yes, but that doesn't mean you'd survive it. Planar expeditions are notoriously dangerous; you're dealing with an entirely different reality functioning on entirely different rules. Most of them follow the same pattern- arrive, do alright, encounter something wild even by the local standards, and implode entirely. You don't envy your chances rolling those particular dice.

That said, the reason they're so dangerous is also why they're potentially so valuable. Anything from exotic monsters to precious stones might (or might not) be found in a given realm, and if you can survive long enough to exploit them- and again, that is a VERY big if- you can strike it rich in no time.

...come to think of it, you don't recall your friend being especially greedy. Ambitious, yes, and willing to take enough risks that he got him kicked out of where he was originally serving. But you suddenly wonder if he's up to something.

The only other things that comes to mind would be where you studied or where you're from originally. You don't see what either would have to do with anything, but you suppose that's what makes it a scheme rather than a plan. In any case...

(Choose twice, duplicates allowed)
J. The Elven Kingdom of Highblossom. Large, prosperous, and perpetually nervous about the western defenses holding back the magical hellstorms that threaten to sweep in and bring abject ruin in one fell swoop. Gain benefits related to commerce, mana harvesting, and elven pursuits.
K. The Dwarven Kingdom of Grimtallow. Positioned along a mountain range dividing Highblossom from a fetid undead marsh, the current king is known for being quite a bit more imperialistic than most dwarves. Gain benefits related to conquest, undead, and dwarven pursuits.
L. The Orcish Stronghold of Saltmarrow. Positioned at a desolate pass and over a chasm infested with crustacean hive horrors, Saltmarrow serves as a vital trading point for those who can bribe or fight their way through the orcs. Gain benefits related to endless carnage, trade, and orcish pursuits.
M. The Salamander City-States of Mount Doom. Ringing a volcano south of Grimtallow's range and east of Saltmarrow's pass, Mount Doom is surrounded by bickering city-states seeking to one-up each other through military might and ostentatious megaprojects. Gain benefits related to volcanic activity, megaprojects, and salamander pursuits.
N. Other Location. There are many lands further afield or simply more obscure than the above four, which are generally regarded as the extent of civilization locally.


Options exhausted regarding just what your friend is after, you turn to what YOU want. You're the kind of person who...

(Choose three, duplicates allowed)
O. Aggressive. You solve problems directly and without hesitation.
P. Tenacious. You don't give up easily.
Q. Flexible. You're good at going around problems rather than through them.
R. Analytical. You ponder what's under the surface.
S. Corrupt. Your boss is the highest bidder at any given moment.
T. Ruthless. You go hard when you go at all.
U. Diplomatic. You're good at working with others.

[King Zultan]

B
I1
K, M
O, P, T

[crazyabe]

^+1

[chubby2man]

A
H1
J,L
O,P,U

Elvish War Reaver, though I think a snake man artillery mage would be fun too.

[Crystalizedmire]

C
H5
JM
OTP

[IronyOwl]

Mid-Autumn, 31st Year of the Reign of King Reld Firepike of Clan Boneshield of the Kingdom of Grimtallow


You are, of course, a dwarf. Dwarves are the greatest race by a wide margin, especially renowned for their tenacity and stonework. Physically they're short but broad, generally fair-skinned and given to a variety of warm or dark eye and hair colors.

[----++] Mining
[----++] Masonry
[----++] Enchanting


Their specialty is fine craftsdwarfship. Lesser races are too crude to meaningfully improve an item once it's been completed, so they tend to rely on simple adornments or completely breaking down and reforging anything in order to make it better. Even novice dwarves can read materials and structure well enough to properly enhance or repair something indefinitely, and are willing to work hard enough to actually do so.

[Stone Soul]: You can repair or improve items as though making them from scratch.


Dwarven sexes are roughly the same size and shape, but males are heavier built and sport an often grandiose beard. Dwarven men are usually stronger and expected to serve as grim frontliners and specialists, while dwarven women usually have more stamina and serve as ruthless defenders and laborers. As for you...

A. Male. You ventured outside to do what needed to be done. Gain a bonus to your Foraging, Carpentry, and Maces skills.
B. Female. You stayed close to home to do what needed to be done. Gain a bonus to your Farming, Cooking, and Nets skills.


Unlike elves, dwarves don't put much stock in coloration. Charcoal black or bright yellow, a dwarf's forgework has nothing to do with his beard.

C. Hair Color (Write-In)
D. Eye Color (Write-In)


Like most dwarves, you have mild experience working with stone and a standard education in the theories behind infusing mana into things. Unlike most dwarves, you grew up in a forward homestead among the eastern foothills of Grimtallow, gathering and growing swamp resources and withdrawing when the dead grew too perilous. Plucking weeds and evacuating your home aren't the dwarfiest of professions, but refusing to be (permanently) pushed out of where you belong and defending what's yours against undead horrors certainly is.

The disturbingly vibrant ecosystem of an undead swamp also gave you an uncommon interest in warping life to your own ends, so after a typical foundation in stonework and a local education in herbcraft, you left to pursue an apprenticeship. Rather than visit the nearby elven biomancy specialists in Highblossom, you packed up several swamp crawlies as tribute and made the long journey to the salamander city-state of Kuren Tha. There you apprenticed under the famed biomancer Duras Tun, aiding in his efforts to overwhelm nearby rivals with tides of monsters and exciting arena battles.

This proved neither easy nor cheap, and you accrued various debts related to rare materials and healing services. Note to self: Anything that'd be great in battle against the enemy is great against you. Nonetheless, by the time you returned to Grimtallow you had a lot more going for you than you did.


As a biomancer, you can mutate or fuse living things into new and exciting forms. Like all magic, this requires mana to pull off, which can be expensive. Raw materials can also be tricky to acquire or store, as living things tend to require particular foods and environmental conditions to stay that way, and are often very proactive in doing things you don't want your merchandise doing. Finished products are sometimes better, since ease of control and maintenance are frequent goals in improving life, but there's no guarantees.

Your specialty in this field is...

[Distribute 6 points]
E. Floramancy. Mutating plants can be handy for plant monsters, but is more often used to create specialized crops or wood.
F. Faunamancy. Mutating animals can produce anything from livestock to ravening bioweapons, though controlling such creations is a greater issue than most realize.
G. Mycomancy. Mutating fungi can produce specialized crops, and fungal monsters tend to be faster-moving and more vicious than floral ones. It's mainly elven pedantry that insists on declaring this a separate field and not just a subset of floramancy.
H. Meditation. All creatures generate and use mana innately, but channeling that into a useable product requires practice and appropriate surroundings. Producing your own mana isn't glamorous, but it saves on costs or infrastructure, or equivalently allows you to perform more of your primary work.


In addition, you've been trained in supporting skills, including...

[Distribute 6 points]
I. Meditation. All creatures generate and use mana innately, but channeling that into a useable product requires practice and appropriate surroundings. Producing your own mana isn't glamorous, but it saves on costs or infrastructure, or equivalently allows you to perform more of your primary work.
J. Foraging. Going into the wilderness and scooping up whatever you find is a time-honored method of acquiring herbs and crawlies.
K. Trapping. Small animals tend to be more numerous and less dangerous than large ones, so figuring out how to catch them is a good way to get a mix of materials.
L. Farming. Growing your own plants is a cornerstone of civilization, producing a wide range of essential products so long as nothing harms the fields.
M. Herding. Keeping large animals alive and productive isn't as easy as one might think, but it is true that the herds do most of the work.
N. Cooking. Combining and processing materials into food is an essential skill for making the most of what you've got.
O. Brewing. Processing materials into drinks is profitable and fun, but also important for refining organic properties.


You also have a crowning achievement to prove your status as a journeyman. In your case...

P. Dread Cotton. Swamp cotton grows readily in the undead bog, and is widely suspected to be a heavily domesticated cultivar that went wild. Its affinity for undeath mana gives it some interesting properties, which you have managed to enhance and refine into cloth that instills dread in those who gaze upon it. This also affects anyone wearing said cloth, but it's nothing you can't endure and acclimate to.
Q. Enchanter's Vine. Soulvine glows softly and makes for delicious (also glowing) pastries or wine. You were able to intensify and cleanse this magical affinity to produce a crop that collects, processes, and stores enough mana to be useful as an enchanting reagent.
R. Lancepede. Pale skitters are fat, footlong centipedes with a nasty bite and nastier venom. You've managed to grow them to the size of a large dog and give them a pointed venomous spike on their heads, for recklessly charging the enemy and savaging them.
S. Pack Toad. Mudfrogs are an interesting breed, in that they start the size of a thumb and then just keep growing until something eats them. You've managed to hijack this endless growth to produce a bulky brown amphibian the size of a donkey, capable of hauling goods or a rider willing to bounce a lot. They also possess twice the expected number of limbs, as you weren't quite able to figure out how to make their existing limbs thick enough.
T. Ember Rot. Lichcrown are robust red-and-black mushrooms that grow spikes and become more poisonous as they get older, eventually rotting themselves from the inside out. Aside from obviously being cursed, this makes them handy for brewing nasty poisons, which you've mixed with some local volcanic species to create something that slowly burns victims alive.
U. Meadcap. Humcaps are delicate orange mushrooms that are tasty when brewed or cooked. You managed to retain this delightful flavor while bulking them out into a much meatier staple crop and causing them to self-ferment, giving you an amply supply of a sweet alcholic foodstuff or brewable.
V. Omnimander. Elves sometimes create "elven chimaeras," which are monsters with elven faces or upper torsos. You managed to do something similar with a salamander criminal. You wouldn't say he's happy about it, but between being a nautilus with several identical salamander's heads for tentacles and being in prison... well, you don't think he had much choice in the matter.
W. The Beast. At some point it becomes difficult to properly describe the lineage of an organism, so you just call this abomination The Beast. Its general shape is bulky and belly-crawling, with a torso that looks like a spiky tortoise shell, scaly clawed pillar-like legs running along its side, a heavy tail tipped with a spiked club, and a long fleshy neck ending in a pointed head composed almost entirely of six radial jaw segments. These hide several long bladed tongues it uses to shred and pull in prey. It's a bit expensive to feed.


Grimtallow is known for its imperalistic expansion, undead affinity, and being a dwarven kingdom in general. It's situated along a mountain chain running largely north-to-south. The capital (also called Grimtallow) sits in a fertile mountain valley and penetrates into lush caverns below, allowing it to be the largest and most prosperous settlement by far, but underground tunnels connect it to other strongholds of various sizes and fortunes.

Most of its territorial gains take place among savage beastmen to the rugged south, with a handful of footholds in the undead eastern swamps and tenuous holdings in the magically active north. The swamps to the east provide a good deal of experience fighting undead, and dwarven necromancers are much more common here than they are elsewhere.

As a citizen of Grimtallow, you've acquired a few advantages.

The first is a beastman servant. Dwarves look down on slavery, so your minion is simply indebted to you. Deeply indebted. Civilization doesn't come cheap.

The second is a finely wrought bronze mace and bronze chain net. You may not be a warrior, but you are a dwarf.

The third is some experience with necromancy. You're not technically a necromancer, but you know enough to perform and understand simple rituals or concepts.

Spoiler: "Bubbles" Klukuluk (click to show/hide)

A small pale blue humanoid with a hunched posture and fishy features.
-
[----++] Trapping
[----++] Spears
[----++] Painting
-
[Indentured]: Captured by a foul one.
[Rotspine Clan]: +1 Skill when acting against Gnawfat, Smashreed, Slimestone, or Bonelure Clans.
[Amphibious]: Can breathe and move normally on moist land or shallow water.
-
[Capybara Leather Loincloth]: A loincloth made with unnaturally clean lines and exotic leather.
[Capybara Leather Cloak]: A fine hiding-hide made by the foul ones.
[Copper Spear]: +1 to Spear Skill. A fine weapon made from mysterious shiny rock.

[Masterwork Bronze Mace]: [---+++] Maces. Penetrates armor.
[Masterwork Bronze Net]: [---+++] Nets. Inhibits rather than damaging.

[----++] Necromancy


Living in a city-state around Mount Doom likewise had some advantages.

The first are three sealed ceramic jugs containing mutagenic goo. Even as a biomancer you're not entirely sure what it is or how it was made, but a sprawling contraption known as The Cauldron produces it out of various secret ingredients. Its effects are highly unpredictable, but heavily mutate anything it touches into wildly different forms. Your best guess is that it's a mix of highly concentrated life mana and some kind of catalyst, but that's just a guess. What you do know is that its promises to create monsters is reliable and the implied "to serve you" bit is a lie.

The second is a cage of Iron Snails. These fist-sized molluscs digest iron out of food and stone to build themselves iron shells out of. They need warm conditions and volcanic feed to thrive, but are of obvious interest to anyone with an interest in iron or splicing iron into other living things.

The last, and arguably most precious, is a set of fine sorcerer's robes. The boots are sturdy military-looking affairs layered with bark, the robes are fine emerald in a flowing style, capped with leaflike shoulders and a fur collar, and a frill of ribs with skin stretched across them rises as a rear collar. The gloves are likewise leaflike but rugged, and a necklace of beast teeth completes the life motif. A silver chain wraps around your waist, bearing an amulet emblazoned with a flaming squid and marking you as a pupil to the great sorcerer-king (he's not the king) Duras Tun. Salamanders have many virtues and many flaws, but their vanity is definitely both.

Not that you're wearing that now. It's a little ostentatious to apply for a mining expedition out of a forward outpost that gets abandoned and rebuilt every few months. Maybe when you meet with your good friend to discuss his proposal.

X. Absolutely.
Y. Absolutely not.


x3 [Mutagenic Jar]: Stoneware jug glazed with ash and sealed with wax. Contents can be used to induce overwhelming and random mutations in a living thing.
[Bronze Cage of Volcano Snails]: Large bronze mesh cage with a latching panel on one end. Contains Iron Snails, fist-sized molluscs that filter iron from their food to grow shells out of.
[Sorcerer of Life's Robes]: [-----+] Biomancy Skills. [----++] Appropriate Diplomacy Skills. Fancy green glowing robes bearing plant and animal motifs. Commanding presence.


Finally, there's you. If you had to describe yourself, it'd be aggressive, tenacious, and ruthless. You've got more edge than most even by swamp dwarf standards, and most of those you've dealt with abroad have seemed buttery soft in comparison. You get things done, you don't back down, and you're not squeamish. As far as you can tell that's everything you need to stand out up here.

...though now you're wondering if that's why you're having trouble finding anyone to take you on.


The trip north is fun. You're too broke to buy into a runner caravan, one that tries to break past the orcs with speed. In practice this usually means baiting their warg riders into a jolly skirmish, so you get there fast and have some fun doing it.

Instead, you get a herd caravan, one that's too big to harass lightly. And has some ablative wagons on account of being so big. This doesn't cost anything unless you need to transport cargo and eat food, which you do, but your roadmates are happy to have a dwarf with a cruel laugh and an insistence that he knows how to handle orcs.

It takes about a week to prove it. The pass is largely ragged saltstone, presumably related to a dried out sea or what have you. The orcish stronghold of Saltmarrow is technically composed of numerous individual strongholds perched onto and dug into the cliffs, but the primary edifice bristles atop an exotic stone mesa in the center of the flats. It's quite striking in the distance, black spikes atop a red bluff.

Numerous smaller fortifications and shanty camps dot the place, and numerous smaller bands of orcs occasionally wander near the caravan to challenge, trade, extort, investigate, or simply see what happens. Whoever's nearby presumably handles these, because nothing noticeable comes of them. Until a stubby dwarf named Krem Lyebucket jogs up to inform you that you're needed.

You take a few minutes to change out of your traveling clothes and into your fancy ones, and then swagger in the direction of the trouble. You find an orcish warband of a dozen vermin posturing with barbed weapons and rusty armor, and an elf and salamander trying to placate them. The elf with raised hands because she's food, the salamander with a scimitar because he knows how orcs work.

"What do you bastard swine want now?" you bellow with contempt.

"An' what we got here?" the lead one asks, pale yellow and wiry, clad in what you assume represents abstract art pieces he tripped into.

"Doom."

He cracks a ragged smile, and the pack cackles like hyenas. He leans in a finger's length from your face.

"And what's 'doom' want with me?"

You return the smile.

"An upgrade."

A few moments later, you're seated on a crude stool across a small table from a leering orc. You slam a stone cup filled with bone dice onto the wooden table, tilt it up to glance underneath, and make your bid. The orc does the same, makes a bid, and just barely lets slip that he's reaching by one through sheer bloodlust. You call immediately, both raise your cups, and see that his pair of twos are the only ones on the table. He swipes the table clean in fury, brings his face against yours, and snarls trying to figure out how you did that. You give a stony dwarven stare back, and his expression turns to one of dawning respect.

"I like you, dwarf. Have Gibs, he's useless."

With that, the orcs take their leave to find someone smaller to bully. Except for Gibs, a runt of an orc bearing the saddest excuse for a crossbow you have ever seen, who immediately tries to assert dominance over your fishman. She snarls in response and scurries under a wagon.

"How did you know you were going to win?" the elf asks, wringing her hands and looking with concern at the fishwoman you wagered against the orcs.

You just laugh.

Spoiler: Gibs, Orcish Runt (click to show/hide)

A mottled green humanoid, smaller than most.
-
[----++] Daggers
[----++] Crossbows
[----++] Light Armor
-
[Crude Crossbow]: [-----+] Crossbows. Grant free attack to enemies you roll 1 against.
[Salvaged Leather Scrap]: [-----+] Light Armor. Destroyed on enemy rolling a 6.
[Crableg Necklace]: Demonstrates your cruelty and strength.
-
[Brutal Vow]: You can force an enemy within range to trade blows with you.

[crazyabe]

A.

C; Blue
D; Red

E: 1
F: 2
G: 1
H: 2

I: 2
J: 1
K: 1
L: 1
M: 1
N: 0
O: 0

S.

X.

[chubby2man]

A.

C; Blue
D; Red

E: 1
F: 2
G: 1
H: 2

I: 2
J: 1
K: 1
L: 1
M: 1
N: 0
O: 0

S.

X.

+1

[King Zultan]

A.

C; Blue
D; Red

E: 1
F: 2
G: 1
H: 2

I: 2
J: 1
K: 1
L: 1
M: 1
N: 0
O: 0

S.

X.

+1

+1

[IronyOwl]

Late Autumn, 31st Year of the Reign of King Reld Firepike of Clan Boneshield of the Kingdom of Grimtallow

Spoiler: Nameless Dwarven Biomancer (click to show/hide)

A sturdy creature, fond of drink and industry.
-
[----++] Faunamancy
[-----+] Floramancy
[-----+] Mycomancy
[----++] Necromancy
[----++] Enchanting
[--++++] Meditation
-
[----++] Masonry
[----++] Carpentry
-
[---+++] Foraging
[-----+] Trapping
[-----+] Farming
[-----+] Herding
[----++] Mining
-
[----++] Maces
-
[Stone Soul]: You can repair or improve items as though making them from scratch.
-
[Sorcerer of Life's Robes]: [-----+] Biomancy Skills. [----++] Appropriate Diplomacy Skills. Fancy green glowing robes bearing plant and animal motifs. Commanding presence.
[Masterwork Bronze Mace]: [---+++] Maces. Penetrates armor.
[Masterwork Bronze Net]: [---+++] Nets. Inhibits rather than damaging.
x3 [Mutagenic Jar]: Stoneware jug glazed with ash and sealed with wax. Contents can be used to induce overwhelming and random mutations in a living thing.
[Bronze Cage of Volcano Snails]: Large bronze mesh cage with a latching panel on one end. Contains Iron Snails, fist-sized molluscs that filter iron from their food to grow shells out of.
x6 [Mudtoads]: Brown, donkey-sized, eight-legged toads suitable for hauling goods or riders.


"Bubbles" Klukuluk, Indentured Fishwoman Servant
A small pale blue humanoid with a hunched posture and fishy features.
-
[----++] Trapping
[----++] Spears
[----++] Painting
-
[Indentured]: Captured by a foul one.
[Rotspine Clan]: +1 Skill when acting against Gnawfat, Smashreed, Slimestone, or Bonelure Clans.
[Amphibious]: Can breathe and move normally on moist land or shallow water.
-
[Capybara Leather Loincloth]: A loincloth made with unnaturally clean lines and exotic leather.
[Capybara Leather Cloak]: A fine hiding-hide made by the foul ones.
[Copper Spear]: +1 to Spear Skill. A fine weapon made from mysterious shiny rock. Tastes like crunch goo.


Gibs, Orcish Runt
-
[----++] Daggers
[----++] Crossbows
[----++] Light Armor
-
[Crude Crossbow]: [-----+] Crossbows. Grant free attack to enemies you roll 1 against.
[Salvaged Leather Scrap]: [-----+] Light Armor. Destroyed on enemy rolling a 6.
[Crableg Necklace]: Demonstrates your cruelty and strength.
-
[Brutal Vow]: You can force an enemy within range to trade blows with you.

You're a male dwarf, which means you have a vibrant blue beard. This is considered fairly cursed among dwarves, presumably related to corruption involving souls or raw magic. Most of your kin are much more traditionally colored, but your paternal grandfather, Kald Gravegold, and a cousin named Dor Barkjar both have similarly blue hair. Most thought you'd become a necromancer like your grandfather, but biomancy was in some ways even more depraved. On that note, Dor is the most timid dwarf you know and loves making fruit preserves, so apparently there's more to wielding foul sorceries than the right beard.

Your eyes are bright red, which is a much more natural, forge-happy color.

[----++] Foraging
[----++] Carpentry
[----++] Maces


Speaking of names, dwarven ones are somewhat complex. Unlike elves, which favor self-important songs, dwarven first names are usually short and plain. Yours...

A. Dak
B. Tulm
C. Korst
D. Rathak
E. Other. Exotic names aren't common among dwarves, but become moreso the stranger and more isolated one is.


Like elves, dwarven names thereafter are somewhat complicated, tracking lineage or personal accomplishments as the situation favors. The same dwarf might be known as Kald Gravegold, Kald Hammerfell, Kald Stillbronze, or Kald Blackbelch depending on whether one was speaking of his personal nature, past accomplishments, family and home, or originating clan. Other, more exotic uses likewise exist, and the line between each of them is more poetry than math.

As for yourself...

F. Blackbelch. You're officially of the Blackbelch Clan, though that refers more to the mountain fortress of Paleboulder than the smaller holds further out or their satellite homesteads.
G. Tornspear. Your mother is from the mercenary-inclined Tornspear Clan, though she's more interested in feeding and caring for soldiers than being one. As a wanderer yourself, you've got something in common with them beyond lineage.
H. Bendcloak. The nearest fortress of any proper size is called Bendcloak, which serves as a second home and familiar shopping station. Bearing this name marks you as a swamp dwarf.
I. Stillbronze. Your homestead is named Stillbronze, and consists of a cluster of families and anywhere from twenty to a hundred dwarves depending on season and circumstance.
J. Gravegold. You're the spitting image of your grandfather in some ways, so you might be referred to as Gravegold as an emerging clan or affinity name.
K. Bonesoul. Your unholy coloration and skill with biomancy gives you a fairly exotic affinity name.
L. Toadlord. At Mount Doom your specialty was amphibians, which are fairly malleable for higher life forms. The salamanders applied their usual sense of grandiosity to your feats.
M. Other. Dwarves can have just about any name for some circumstance or another.


Highblossom is as garishly vibrant as ever. Elves don't go halfway with their lands; they leverage life itself to the fullest effect, and that means their holdings are absolutely teeming with life of some variety or another. Their fields are bursting, their cities are made of trees, even their roads are often some kind of tough vegetation. Animals skitter everywhere, whether finely dressed or not. It's genuinely overwhelming.

The good news is that it's not hard to find speedier transportation. Elven lands are also fairly sprawling, which can make getting across them obnoxious, but they've got the beasts of burden to compensate for this. You're able to hire a few wagons pulled by neon pink flightless birds to run you and your cargo from the front gates to some other sprawling tree-city, where you can hire a giant caterpillar to shuffle you to another node, and then a team of the elves' signature land-bats to haul broad sleds to their major portal staging point. Three days from the southern end of the kingdom to more or less the northwestern corner.


The Gateway, as this place is known, is actually pretty cool. The outskirts are creepy, completely exposed to the outside world and all its horror, but deeper in it becomes dense enough to forget that. And it reaches both up and down, relying on organic glows to light the inside of deep tunnels and wide chambers. You end up relaxing in a tavern deep and isolated enough to be in a dwarven fortress, with only a modest throng milling in and out. Not all of them are elves, either.

Wandering words tell you that this is the right place: Several other patrons openly discuss the upcoming expedition, usually in terms that suggest they're part of it or some kind of support staff. You spend a good few hours just unwinding from the weeks of travel, then flop to sleep in the stable you're keeping your toads and minions. Elves make a firm distinction between elves and not-elves, but less so between various other forms of life, so it's pretty cozy in there.


The next day, you take stock of your situation. Donning your opulent sorcerer's robes, you examine your pack toads.

These brown frogs are about the size of a donkey, making them big enough to ride or haul cargo. They have less of a hopping motion than smaller varieties, but still tend towards it if they can, so they're not great for delicate cargo. They are good at making their way over rough terrain, but being belly-crawlers are prone to getting scraped up on rough stone. As expected, they need relatively damp conditions, at least to lair in, but it's not like you need to dump barrels of water over them.

You have six of them, three of each sex, so you can continue producing them should they prove useful. Their eggs are unfortunately not worth much, but the toads themselves are largely herbivorous, requiring a bit of protein in a diet of vegetables, so they're relatively cheap to feed.


Your other major accomplishment is your own skillset. You specialized in meditating your own mana, which is fairly common for initiates and apprentices. More than a few mages complain that their mentor didn't actually teach them any magic, but it's a rare pupil indeed who feels cheated of an education in producing raw power.

Otherwise, you're a bit of a dabbler, experimenting with every skill a biomancer might need.

[--++++] Meditation
[----++] Faunamancy
[-----+] Floramancy
[-----+] Mycomancy
[-----+] Foraging
[-----+] Trapping
[-----+] Farming
[-----+] Herding


You and your two slaves- elves are incredibly blunt about the moral and legal permissibility of owning living things- hop your way around the city on a trio of pack toads. Normally a blue-bearded dwarven sorcerer with two savage thralls all mounted on toads would qualify as exotic, but this is an elven city. You find yourself routinely entranced by bizarre people, creatures, and everything in between.

There is, however, an undertone of singular purpose. Supplies are being ferried everywhere, a lot of traffic seems to be running very specific errands, and large groups are common. This is an expedition, alright.

You break your plan to find your old friend into two parts. First, parade around the city getting a good grasp on things, and see if he takes notice. Second, ask around. The first succeeds fairly quickly.

Your first pass takes you through some kind of change of guard, with tired green-uniformed spearelves staggering in one direction and fresh ones hurrying from another. A female elf in ragged bark armor intercepts you at a full sprint, skidding to a halt as you do.

"You the snake's biomancer?" she demands sullenly.

The first thing that catches your eye is the scar over hers. Elves don't scar; "a scarred elf" is a dwarven idiom meaning someone who's in a bad situation because he wants to be. Regardless of whether that's a genuine war-wound or not, it's a very deliberate decoration now.

The second is that her gear is heavy but not good. Elves can make surprisingly potent materials out of plants and animals, but the kind of stuff that can hold up to dwarven steel looks like it. This is just tough wood, possibly better than copper but definitely worse than iron. She's also holding a warhammer, which is a decidedly unusual weapon for a slender elf, and it's likewise not something you'd arm a child with if you could help it.

The last item on the list is her coloration. Red hair pulled into a ponytail, solid purple eyes. Elven colors are supposed to represent their nature, but you admit you don't actually know what they mean.

"I might be," you answer in a dwarven attempt at subtlety, waving a leaf-glove from atop your magic frog.

Surprisingly directly for an elf, she reaches into her breastplate and fishes out a wood chip.

"He's always at The Scattered Eel. Tonight. No slaves, dress nice."

You take and examine the slip. It's a very thin pane of wood, maybe the size of two fingers, with a name and googly-eyed mascot burned into one side, and some kind of organic sprawl on the other.

Well. That was easy.

"Talaniss Bellbreak, at your service," she adds pointedly before running off. You suppose she'll be wanting a favor or somesuch.

...just what is your friend up to and how many people are involved?


Your efforts to map out the rest of the settlement are greatly complicated by the fact that it's designed, built, and run by pointy-eared bastards. Your fancy yourself a biomancer, but the elves see life the way dwarves do stone, and that means everything they do carries that drumbeat within it. This whole place is alive, but that means it's a chaotic mess, more ecosystem than city. You're inside a living thing, literally and figuratively.

"Hey boss, when are we gonna get some grub?" your orc asks, glancing at the locals.

"Foul place, foul place," your fishwoman mutters.


You reconsider your strategy over a lunch of vegetable-studded gruel. Elves produce an obscene amount of food, but they also produce an obscene amount of elves, so most of what they eat is relatively bland staples supplemented by fruit wines and occasional treats. The ale is slightly off, but there's plenty of it so you can't really complain.

Your minions are much more carnivorous, but also accustomed to starvation, so they're fine gnawing on grilled forearm-length bugs. You do have to repeatedly stop them from stealing from each other, though.

As for getting around, you quickly realize that this place was built for living things. Being a living thing yourself, albeit one with more similarity to a block of granite than most, you should be able to navigate these damned elf-mazes simply by wandering around with the right idea in mind, and stumble across more or less the right thing via natural organic motions.

Failing that, the toads can lead.

It's a little before noon now, so you've probably got time for three good sight-seeings before it's time to join your host for dinner. What do you look for?

[Pick 3, duplicates allowed]
N. Warriors and warbeasts. Learn more about the expedition's military capabilities, get a chance to acquire pets or bodyguards.
O. Weapons and armor. Learn more about the expedition's military capabilities, get a chance to acquire equipment or training.
P. Livestock and slaves. Learn more about the expedition's economic capabilities, get a chance to acquire pets or laborers.
Q. Tools and materials. Learn more about the expedition's economic capabilities, get a chance to acquire equipment or resources.
R. Mages and alchemists. Learn more about the expedition's research capabilities, get a chance to acquire knowledge or skilled labor.
S. Exotic goods and rare materials. Learn more about the expedition's research capabilities, get a chance to acquire special equipment or special resources.


You can't make heads or tails of the scribbles on the back of your card, so you grab an elf- literally- and ask him where to find The Scattered Eel. He obliges, because elves are soft and cooperative, though the directions are... imprecise. It takes a bit of exploring to find your way.

Your destination occupies a circular layer in a treelike construction, above a tailor and below a spa, overlooking a lake well above ground level. The ambience is to your liking- the interior is dark wood sheltered from exterior light and only dimly lit by a turquoise glow. The eelman at the front is expecting you, and leads you to your hosts.

There you find three figures seated around a table. All are peculiar.

The easiest to describe would be your good friend, a snakeman ranger named Salkassin. He's basically a snake with arms, dull green in color, and that classic sinister gaze that makes you feel like you've got something he wants. His outfit is new, some kind of fancy red and black uniform with a silver cloak clasp. You don't recognize the symbol it carries, but you can tell it's supposed to be a tree stylized into lightning or vice versa. Last you saw him he was bearing a heavily beaten helmet and rusty scale armor, so this is quite the upgrade.

To his left sits a small humanoid. At first you think it might be a child, but the proportions are off. Its skin is the blood-tinged tan you might expect on a dwarf or human, but its head is too big for its body and its eyes, ears, and nose are all far too big for even that. The ears possess a fairly distinctive frilled edge which reminds you of tree leaves. You think it's female, and wearing some kind of fancy too-white robes and a gold circlet studded with a badly cut garnet.

To his right is a tall, athletic squidman with red skin and a mantle of tentacles for a lower half. There's something off about it, but you can't quite place it. Lots of little details that seem askew. Its outfit is what you think is a monk's robe.

Salkassin is the first to speak, beaming with sinister joy.

"My dear friend! How long has it been, mmmm?"

"Year or two," you respond gruffly, thinking back to his sorties near the volcano. The salamanders always needed outriders to handle various tasks, and he'd been banished from Grimtallow for being a treacherous bastard by then. You hadn't cared at the time, but he's making you nervous now.

"Too long, too long," he insists, shaking his head sadly. "Come, sit! Only the finest for my good friend!"

You reluctantly take a seat in a high-backed chair of dark wood. It matches your outfit, at least.

Up close, your assessment of those assembled doesn't change much. The small thing stares at you inquisitively but you think dismissively, while the bigger one seems to have an alert but comfortable posture, like you might expect on a bodyguard. Your good friend, meanwhile, beams at you like you're the tastiest thing he's seen all day.

"I understand you have a business proposition," you say, returning his stare.

"Business? Why the rush! We should catch up on old times first. Good times. How have you been, my good friend?"

He's still staring at you like you're food.

"Nobody's hiring," you finally respond.

"How tragic! What injustice, for a dwarf of your talent and vision to lie fallow! Oh, I am truly sorry to hear that."

You glance at his companions, but they're just staring at you. You're not sure what the point of this charade is, but your good friend isn't poetic just for the sake of it. He's a hardened ranger; if he's taking the scenic route, there's probably a reason for it.

"Seeking to change that?" you ask bluntly.

He smiles just a bit more.

"I was thinking," he says conversationally, leaning back with a smug smile, "about a change in... the way things are done."

You raise an eyebrow, hoping he's not just planning another coup but with more backing.

"Don't you think? This place... it's not quite to our liking," he continues. You note the royal 'our'. "It could be made moreso, don't you think?"

You glance around the room, knowing he's not actually talking about the restaurant.

"Seems fine to me."

"Fine isn't the same as finished, dwarf."

There's a little bit of edge in there. Appealing to your dwarven sense of perfection with regards to treason or political aspirations is a bold move, you'll grant him that.

"Well, I'm a biomancer," you counter, waving a hand dismissively. "Sometimes you work with what you've got."

His intensity deepens. You are not following this conversation at all.

"Well said," he almost whispers. "And when a suitable opportunity presents itself?"

You give him a long, hard look. He's up to something, and you're not sure how much sense he's got in that snake brain of his. But he's definitely got his eyes on something very specific, and he's managed to convince several other people to go along with it. And either one of them is high up enough to give him a fancy uniform, or he's managed to convince two different groups of people of two different things.

"For a suitable opportunity, you strike."

He breaks into a fully fanged smile, and he and his companions all seem to relax into their chairs.

"I'm glad we're in agreement, good friend. So please... order anything you like. The possibilities are without limit."

You still have no idea what's going on, but it's time to move anyway. What do you order?

T. A feast fit for a king. The opportunity has presented itself, after all.
U. Something to your liking. The point of an opportunity is to get what you want.
V. Enough to fill you up. Strange food is best eaten to necessity and no more.
W. Something humble. You'll accept hospitality, but you're neither beggar nor debtor.
X. Nothing. You'll eat when you see the food, not before.
Y. Leave. You'll have no part in this madness.

[IncompetentFortressMaker]

C.
K.

N.
O.
S.
(not choosing any duplicates, and given that we were informed right from the start that planar expeditions tend toward being dangerous, knowing our military capabilities sounds important.)

U.
(no one else here seems to be behaving all that modestly, especially our snakeman friend, so we should go on the slightly indulgent end.)

[crazyabe]

E. Urist
L. Toadlord

N. Warriors and warbeasts.
O. Weapons and armor.
Q. Tools and materials.

U. Something to your liking.

[MrThrowaway]

C

L

N

P

S

U

We're a biomancer so getting pets and doing terrible magicks to them is really our bread and butter so lets focus on that and of course take the SPECIAL option.

[ZBridges]

C.
K.

N.
O.
S.
(not choosing any duplicates, and given that we were informed right from the start that planar expeditions tend toward being dangerous, knowing our military capabilities sounds important.)

U.
(no one else here seems to be behaving all that modestly, especially our snakeman friend, so we should go on the slightly indulgent end.)

+1

[King Zultan]

E. Urist
L. Toadlord

N. Warriors and warbeasts.
O. Weapons and armor.
Q. Tools and materials.

U. Something to your liking.

+1