White Plume Mountain Part II

Hivemind!

Far in the North, there lies a fort upon a hill. It is a fort on the frontier, where the wild caresses the face of civilaized life, that we find the Chimera Bastard, Shamar Gash. The fort’s name, Chimera Mount, after the marshal himself. But he is not alone. Wispers of a mysterious figure slither through the Moonwood not far off. Sightings of a phantasmal figure, wrapped as a lepper circulate amongst the men of Chimera Mount, but little to they know, Lusa the White Snake is a personal friend to Shamar; Druid Regent, and chosen of the Godess. Dark clouds hang over the fate of the North, and Lusa has come to warn Chimera Mount of the pending fate!

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Art this podcast: Vek Landscape by Rene-w

Opening: “The Swordmaker” 13th Warrior - Jerry Goldsmith

Closing: “Mystic’s Dream” Loreena McKennitt - The Mask and the Mirror

I recall when Dan and I first spoke about continuing the tragedy of the Tomb of Horrors. It was about a week after wrapping up the adventure, we where still high off the excitement, and Dan had decided he was going to run through the ’S’ series to build up the next round of adventures to face the demi-lich.

As I recall, it was an afternoon when I got the traditional afternoon call. Full of excitement, we started to conceptualize characters, and this is really where the story is written. Little did we know it would take us here. We began at the first place almost all stories start, the iconic hero, the cavalier. I expressed some hesitance, simply because I had such a stagnant idea of what a cavalier stood for. I wanted a class I had never played.

The idea was a ranger, and Dan having explained the background of the area beforehand, I proposed he be half-orc. With that, he would experience the inner battle of both bloodlines, but not only that, but in his faith as well. And after an hour long conversation about alignment, Shamar was decided.

During that conversation, Dan suggested perhaps a druid, and I didn’t like it. Then somehow, Drow came into the picture, and the two where quickly added. I didn’t like it much better. But then, a spark of inspiration hit, I could deal with it if this character was truly unique, something more than the hordes of Drow characters created who have a change of heart and leave en masse. Could she be… albino? That was the skeleton idea, an albino Drow who became a druid on the surface. But then the character took another leap forward when Alexis was brought on board, reworking the idea into a full concept, into a character.