I was expecting that story to be utterly epic... and nice that it didn't disappoint, with the combination of horribly flubbed rolls and epic recoveries. I can't say I have many of those sorts of stories from either side of the table, or at least, not that I can provide a good amount of detail to them.
I'm currently prepping up to take on Campaign Three as a DM once we finish up Tyranny of Dragons as Campaign Two in our current Dungeons and Dragons run. I've been pleasantly surprised with Campaign Two in terms of going deep into the written vignettes for things in my character's background, and me and the DM have a feedback loop going on with ideas I'm throwing into the pile related to that. Our first campaign of this "world" was basically the first campaign of The Adventure Zone (referred to as Balance), and the current is set around 40 years after that, albeit with a reversion back to a more vanilla Forgotten Realms setting. I'm planning on advancing the timeline another 20 years, another of the "yeah, so and so is still around, just not adventuring much" arrangements.
I've run this character before, but we never actually touched on her potential backstory in the GURPS 3e Yrth game, so it's refreshing to have given another try and caught the lightning. I went with the Aragon template when I did her in GURPS, and just went with "Human Fighter" in D&D for the simplicity. Beware, this is pic heavy, I do DAZStudio renders of ALL my characters, regardless if I have a particular actor in mind or not.
![[Image: main.png]](https://gcdn.daz3d.com/gallery/image/1122325/1613137873/main.png)
Lerissa was raised practically from birth by her trainer and master Duncan Wayhammer. At the start of the campaign, she didn't know who her parents were, or anything else about any bloodline. All she knows is that he was killed by what appeared to be bandits, except they were using poisoned weapons (which meant they were going in to kill someone, possibly her), that was complicated by timing (she came back to find them fighting Duncan) and that Duncan was NOT softened much by his time being retired from active adventuring. She moved on to joining a circus as protective muscle, at which point our campaign began. She prefers NOT to fight if she has a choice; she fights to protect others who can't fight for themselves.
![[Image: main.png]](https://gcdn.daz3d.com/gallery/image/1122325/1613133589/main.png)
Right after the first "boss" battle of the campaign... my character barely survived, and picked up the villain's Greatsword (which meant I decided to specialize her into Great Weapon Fighting). I forget what sword I used to represent it. My character also received her first Boon artifact, the Helm of Ameridan (from the Dragon Age games). Because of their new mission to chase after the organization they're fighting, she needed to change her appearance, so she had her armor refurbished into what's turned out to be her Color Scheme going forward of "The Cyan Knight", and she dyes her hair black temporarily.
![[Image: main.png]](https://gcdn.daz3d.com/gallery/image/1122325/1613131948/main.png)
At the middle of the chase, the party has arrived in Waterdeep, with the cover of being in the employ as guards of a traveling merchant... who turned out to be the DM's former PC (this is a sequel campaign, after all). Just before arriving at Waterdeep, there's a serious raid attempt on the caravan, which results in the PCs needing to help their charge and his wife from being overwhelmed. This is the point that the PCs get their second Boon items. In the case of my character, she receives the Sicarius Draconum II, a Greatsword forged from the remains of the original spear from the 1981 movie Dragonslayer. I also upgraded her armor in Waterdeep to Plate. The character model I've been using for the renders here has gained facial scars to represent the times she's gotten banged around. She's dropping much less now, though, although she never reached the Pinnacle Narc that was the GURPS version.
At this point, the stage is set for the second half of the chase, and the eventual climatic confrontation at the end of Hoard of the Dragon Queen.
![[Image: main.jpg]](https://gcdn.daz3d.com/gallery/image/1122325/1613131570/main.jpg)
The first half of the campaign is finished, the ales have been drunk, the booty split, and the the stories are being told. We start into Rise of Tiamat now.
Lerissa struck the killing blow on a fully grown Adult White Dragon that was the final boss of the arc. As part of the character process, she takes a set of Dragon Scale Armor made from the remains of their foe. While occasionally overwhelmed with the path she's on (few Dragonslayers live to even 30, and she's only 24!), she is at least making her efforts. She is earning Epithets as their story spreads (like Cyan Knight and Snow Knight) that she might use in place of her still missing surname, but that idea won't last.
A massive upgrade in appearance. I switch her from Champion to Battlemaster. She cuts the remaining dye from her hair, shortening it, which adds visual age to the character (which makes sense under the circumstances). She looks FAR older now, even though it's not even been a year of game time.
Back at Waterdeep, the characters participate in discussions of what to do about the organization the PCs were chasing earlier. The other two previous PCs come in as advisors to the council.
Recognizing the need for a home base, the characters are provided remit to use the old Keep a half a day's ride from Waterdeep, a place called Wyvernclaw Keep. Our party enlists the aid of the former Fighter, who has a connection to the Keep as he worked for the attached Mercenary company before the first campaign. This turns out to be important; the Lord and Lady are undead and bound to the Keep because of the tragic events that befell their son and the company he led into an ambush that the old PC was present for... and turn out to be not hostile because they sense the presence of what they call "the Wyvern's Mark" within the Keep itself. My character keeps our Mage from blasting them as she recognizes that they're not only not hostile, but she has a hunch around the old, tarnished locket she's always had. She pulls out the locket, and with a touch from the mummified Lord, the locket's dirt and tarnish vanishes, revealing the locket to be the Wyvern's Mark.
The implication is that the lost son is Lerissa's grandfather, who was having a relationship with one of the sergeants under his command when the ambush came. The sergeant was with child at the time. The locket was given to the son by the Lord and Lady, and he in turn gave it to the sergeant as a betrothal gift. The only missing link is what Lerissa's parents were to the two of them. There is also the concern that, while the old PC had tried to put paid to those who has ambushed the son, there is no guarantee that he got them all, and it's possible that people with the blood of Wyvernclaw may still be in danger, given that Lerissa was probably separated from her parents for her protection, so Lerissa chooses to keep the revelations a secret for the time being, outside of the current party and the previous party of Heroes.
And that's where my character basically is right now.
I'm currently prepping up to take on Campaign Three as a DM once we finish up Tyranny of Dragons as Campaign Two in our current Dungeons and Dragons run. I've been pleasantly surprised with Campaign Two in terms of going deep into the written vignettes for things in my character's background, and me and the DM have a feedback loop going on with ideas I'm throwing into the pile related to that. Our first campaign of this "world" was basically the first campaign of The Adventure Zone (referred to as Balance), and the current is set around 40 years after that, albeit with a reversion back to a more vanilla Forgotten Realms setting. I'm planning on advancing the timeline another 20 years, another of the "yeah, so and so is still around, just not adventuring much" arrangements.
I've run this character before, but we never actually touched on her potential backstory in the GURPS 3e Yrth game, so it's refreshing to have given another try and caught the lightning. I went with the Aragon template when I did her in GURPS, and just went with "Human Fighter" in D&D for the simplicity. Beware, this is pic heavy, I do DAZStudio renders of ALL my characters, regardless if I have a particular actor in mind or not.
Lerissa was raised practically from birth by her trainer and master Duncan Wayhammer. At the start of the campaign, she didn't know who her parents were, or anything else about any bloodline. All she knows is that he was killed by what appeared to be bandits, except they were using poisoned weapons (which meant they were going in to kill someone, possibly her), that was complicated by timing (she came back to find them fighting Duncan) and that Duncan was NOT softened much by his time being retired from active adventuring. She moved on to joining a circus as protective muscle, at which point our campaign began. She prefers NOT to fight if she has a choice; she fights to protect others who can't fight for themselves.
Right after the first "boss" battle of the campaign... my character barely survived, and picked up the villain's Greatsword (which meant I decided to specialize her into Great Weapon Fighting). I forget what sword I used to represent it. My character also received her first Boon artifact, the Helm of Ameridan (from the Dragon Age games). Because of their new mission to chase after the organization they're fighting, she needed to change her appearance, so she had her armor refurbished into what's turned out to be her Color Scheme going forward of "The Cyan Knight", and she dyes her hair black temporarily.
At the middle of the chase, the party has arrived in Waterdeep, with the cover of being in the employ as guards of a traveling merchant... who turned out to be the DM's former PC (this is a sequel campaign, after all). Just before arriving at Waterdeep, there's a serious raid attempt on the caravan, which results in the PCs needing to help their charge and his wife from being overwhelmed. This is the point that the PCs get their second Boon items. In the case of my character, she receives the Sicarius Draconum II, a Greatsword forged from the remains of the original spear from the 1981 movie Dragonslayer. I also upgraded her armor in Waterdeep to Plate. The character model I've been using for the renders here has gained facial scars to represent the times she's gotten banged around. She's dropping much less now, though, although she never reached the Pinnacle Narc that was the GURPS version.
At this point, the stage is set for the second half of the chase, and the eventual climatic confrontation at the end of Hoard of the Dragon Queen.
The first half of the campaign is finished, the ales have been drunk, the booty split, and the the stories are being told. We start into Rise of Tiamat now.
Lerissa struck the killing blow on a fully grown Adult White Dragon that was the final boss of the arc. As part of the character process, she takes a set of Dragon Scale Armor made from the remains of their foe. While occasionally overwhelmed with the path she's on (few Dragonslayers live to even 30, and she's only 24!), she is at least making her efforts. She is earning Epithets as their story spreads (like Cyan Knight and Snow Knight) that she might use in place of her still missing surname, but that idea won't last.
A massive upgrade in appearance. I switch her from Champion to Battlemaster. She cuts the remaining dye from her hair, shortening it, which adds visual age to the character (which makes sense under the circumstances). She looks FAR older now, even though it's not even been a year of game time.
Back at Waterdeep, the characters participate in discussions of what to do about the organization the PCs were chasing earlier. The other two previous PCs come in as advisors to the council.
Recognizing the need for a home base, the characters are provided remit to use the old Keep a half a day's ride from Waterdeep, a place called Wyvernclaw Keep. Our party enlists the aid of the former Fighter, who has a connection to the Keep as he worked for the attached Mercenary company before the first campaign. This turns out to be important; the Lord and Lady are undead and bound to the Keep because of the tragic events that befell their son and the company he led into an ambush that the old PC was present for... and turn out to be not hostile because they sense the presence of what they call "the Wyvern's Mark" within the Keep itself. My character keeps our Mage from blasting them as she recognizes that they're not only not hostile, but she has a hunch around the old, tarnished locket she's always had. She pulls out the locket, and with a touch from the mummified Lord, the locket's dirt and tarnish vanishes, revealing the locket to be the Wyvern's Mark.
The implication is that the lost son is Lerissa's grandfather, who was having a relationship with one of the sergeants under his command when the ambush came. The sergeant was with child at the time. The locket was given to the son by the Lord and Lady, and he in turn gave it to the sergeant as a betrothal gift. The only missing link is what Lerissa's parents were to the two of them. There is also the concern that, while the old PC had tried to put paid to those who has ambushed the son, there is no guarantee that he got them all, and it's possible that people with the blood of Wyvernclaw may still be in danger, given that Lerissa was probably separated from her parents for her protection, so Lerissa chooses to keep the revelations a secret for the time being, outside of the current party and the previous party of Heroes.
And that's where my character basically is right now.
"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor