Present Party: Aria (Avery), Emori (Amelia), and Steve (Hugo). Recall that all characters have been renamed by their parents, Ike and Jin, (to the names in the parentheses) but I will still be referring to them by their real names.
Setting: Typical medieval fantasy world with various Greek elements, seen mostly in temples. The gods in this world are part of the Greek pantheon. The players are at their home in Blackpool.
Third Bracket, pt. 2: Ages 11 to 14
Upon receiving news of their brother Soren's and his husband Adonis's death in Sinner's Den, the party demanded answers of Jin, considering that Ike was away to deal with the problem. So were Phoebe and Achaeus, their older, primordial siblings.
Jin kept them and the whole family updates. Soren and Adonis were kings. There had been a coup, and several nobles were vying for power now. Their Uncle Conah, Auntie Lex, and Uncle Lyre were also in Sinner's Den. Lex and Lyre were Adonis's older siblings, and they were trying to re-establish some semblance of a power structure.
Ike, Phoebe, and Achaeus didn't return for a month. They didn't have a funeral for Soren and Adonis until after that. Sinner's Den had a new ruling council rather than a king in power. Ike looked really tired for a long time, even though he never slept anyway. It always seemed like he had something really heavy weighing on him.
Emori asked Achaeus during one of their rogue training sessions if the person who did it got what they deserved. He assured her that dad took care of the problem.
~~~~~
The PCs all have proficiency in at least one musical instrument, so they decided, when they were thirteen, to start a band. They called themselves "Panic! at the Ballroom" and their songs were parodies of Panic! at the Disco's, including songs like "Hey Look Ike, I Made It!" and "Blackpool Devotee." Aria played the lute and sang, Emori played the drums, Steve played the bagpipes, and Claudia played the pan flute.
With some successful rolls, the party's debut was actually fairly successful! By the time they were 15, they'd actually garnered themselves some local reputation. They dominated their school's talent show. They'd even been successful enough to perform in other surrounding cities and towns like Westray, Arcton, and Norbury. Their family and friends attended their concerts when they could. Ike, being a supportive father, made them band merchandise and went to every concert to sell it for them. He knew the words to all their songs, and sang them in the back at every show. He was their number one fan, and very proud.
Additionally, during this age bracket, they receiving access to all of their normal class features and spells up to their capabilities as Level 8 characters.
Steve used the spell "Leomund's Secret Chest" for the first time, and produced a chest with something inside it that he'd never seen. It was a red device with buttons on it. There were wires leading to some kind of padded objects coming from it. There was also a small box in it that had a picture of a tiefling man on it, and the word "Venus" on the front of it. This tiefling man looked suspiciously similar to their younger brother, Quest, except for the hair. This man had very dark hair, but their brother's hair was more of a dark brown with tints of copper. After fiddling with the buttons, he realized that this thing played music, but it was music unlike any he'd heard before. He shared this discovery with the other three, and they agreed to keep it a secret.
~~~~~
Each member of the party also received strange dreams. The first dream was one they received by chance. The second ones were the result of successful Wisdom Saving Throws.
- Emori had a dream where she talked to another voice that claimed to be sharing her body. This voice talked to her about happy places, and showed her a classroom with wooden furniture and many plants. Before her was a fire genasi man. She knew that his name was Kiln, but she wasn't sure how she knew that. She also knew that he was a teacher, but she had never had a fire genasi teacher before.
- Emori was shown an image of a tired human man, sitting at some kind of desk. The other areas of the room were hard to make out - they were blurry - but she knew that this room was very messy. She also knew that this man was named Peter Pax. That same voice told her that it thought he was dead. It showed her an image of him being clutched by a spectral, skeletal hand.
(Out of game note: both of these dreams are in reference to the third world that the players visited: "Archidus Academy.")
- Aria had a dream about lying in a field with a halfling woman and an elven man. She knew that they were Sabrina and Merlin, and that they were good friends of hers. She also knew that they were witches. Sabrina called her "Aria," which as far as she knew, was not her name.
- The next dream was more of a nightmare. Aria saw an elven prince, standing in chains. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead, a wound opened in his throat and bled. Then she was suddenly holding him, pushing a knife through his throat. She knew that this man was Jovan, and for some reason, her mind distinguished the fact that this was the real Jovan.
(Out of game note: the first dream references the sixth world, "Counting Sinners Does Not Make a Saint." The second one is from the fifth world, "Two Sides of One Coin." Aria did, in fact, kill Jovan in that world.)
- Steve was sitting in a room almost like a library, with large bookcases and many chairs and tables. Beside him, a young aasimar boy asked for help learning a spell. Steve didn't know why, but he knew that this boy's name was Simon.
- His second dream was of a human man in a dark place. He had brown hair, pulled back into a ponytail. He wore a white coat. When he smiled, his teeth were sharp and bloody. When he spoke, it sounded muffled, like he was underwater. He extended a hand to Steve, and Steve shook it. He knew that this body belonged to Dr. Samuel Daedonis, but that the person wearing it was King.
(Out of game note: the first dream is also from "Archidus Academy." The readers who have followed these summaries since they've gone up will remember King from World 7: "You Have Boarded an Icarus..." Samuel Daedonis was Jack Daedonis's younger brother, the death of whom Steve and Aria actively caused earlier in that world, before I started the blog.)
None of them were quite sure what these dreams meant, or how they all fit together, or why they were having them all on the same night. They decided not to tell Ike or Jin.
~~~~~
One day, during dinner, the family received three peculiar visitors that Ike was not happy to see. They were three men. The first - the apparent leader - wore a long purple toga. He had dark hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and golden eyes. The second also had dark hair, but a much longer beard. He dressed in blue, and had matching eyes: a bright, Carribean blue. The last had no facial hair, but the longest hair, which he kept pulled back, out of his face. His eyes were black, and his skin was pale.
They came asking to speak with Ike and Ike obliged, taking Phoebe and Achaeus with him. The family continued having dinner, and the party asked Jin who they were.
Jin explained, "That's... Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades... and they're not welcome here most days. They don't quite get along with your father, especially recently."
"So is something wrong?" Emori asked. "Is that why they're here?"
"If they needed someone, they'd go to your Uncle Conah first. Or any other Olympian. They wouldn't come here. They know better."
After dinner, the three of them were still gone, still talking. Emori offered to spy on them, and she overheard a conversation through the door.
Never in her life had she heard her father so angry.
"If you make one more vague and veiled threat against my daughter... if you thought what your father did to you was bad, I'll do something worse."
"We cast our father into Tartarus, Ike... If this becomes a problem, we can do it again. In a heartbeat. You may be a titan with two primordials on your side, but... we've dealt with worse."
Emori left, scared of the implications from that conversation. She told Steve and Aria immediately. A bit later, Ike actually came to see them.
Over the years, the characters had expressed a desire to become gods. Ike told them that now, the gods are actually perceiving them as a threat. He reminded them of the old stories, where mortals challenged gods and how every time, the mortal always lost that battle. They brought him up as the example where challenging a god went well. After all, he'd killed Kronos... but he didn't do it out of pride or want. He did it because he had to.
Ike was scared, the characters noticed... and he was scared of what would happen to them.
He told them not to be so loud about their desires for godhood. If they were, they could hurt far more people than just themselves, including their family. He was trying his best to protect them.
~~~~~
As the characters approached age 15, Aria also enlisted Emori to talk to her friend Gavin on her behalf. Aria had been harboring a crush on Gavin for years. She finally wanted to act, but needed to know how he felt.
Emori asked him about Aria, and he admitted that he could definitely like her romantically... but that he felt as though she was out of his league. Additionally, he was afraid of Ike (but most people are.) Emori convinced him to take Aria horseback riding, and to use the horses that they had here on their farm. Gavin agreed.
When Emori asked permission from Ike, however, he immediately started to scheme. It seemed as though this date might be a bit interesting...
~~~~~
Credit to @ijaymendell inspiring this awesome campaign!
Additionally, thank you to my friend @bandcat5313 - the original homebrewer and DM for the world of Eushora. This setting and some NPCs were inspired by hers.
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