The land of Rathbone has a long and varied history. At present it is ruled by a council of Wizards located in the city of Persimé. Most of the towns and cities have mixed populations, with the exception of the dark city of Hallenmare which is ruled by a goblin warlord named Grarg Jolstmazer. The last Great War was started by a very evil zombie master named Voth who was destroyed by the famous champions of who managed to convince the oldest dragons to come and destroy this formidable foe. Ever since those times dragons have acted a little peculiar, and some seem caught in between dragon and human form – the first dragon borns. Towns and cities rebuilt, although occasionally zombies rise up to harass the people, Voth seems to have been completely vanquished. The heroes are long since gone and the land has been relatively peaceful. But sure as the rain will return, new threats are sure to fall upon the land of Rathbone. For this reason, the great Faerie Queen Jordan, has prepared her own champions. In every generation there are now those who have been marked by the faeries, given special gifts and a solemn charge to protect the land of the Faeries from any evil that might try to get in. Because there are several special places where the distance between the lands of Rathbone and the world of Faeries is thin – the Faerie champions have always lived in and protected Rathbone. Each of you has known about the champions, as each of you has a special gift. Some of you might fly with gossamer wings, others use the dust of pixies to cause mischief, and even a few of you can take on a special form. Over your lives you have met with and talked to the faeries, pixies and sprites, who told you that one day you will be called on to be the next champions. Sometimes when you would sleep you would awaken in the Faerie world, where your dreams seemed real and filled with laughter and dance. Always you would awake from those dreams in special places called faerie groves. It seems that while you were sleeping your friends the faeries visited you all again and whisked you away to this place. As you slept, the pixies and sprites whispered in your ears, “it is time to make ready, a great evil is coming to the land, you must become the champions you were born to be.” When you awake it is in a faerie grove, deep in a forest you are unsure if you recognize. Certainly you do not recognize all of your companions either. [LIST THEM] Off in the trees you hear the giggles of the little people, but it seems that this time you are meant to get to know each other so that together you might become the Faerie Champions of Rathbone.
Activities: Have the characters come up with a bit of a story about themselves that includes their name, where they come from, and what their specialty is. To recognize the forest as Chorley Woods requires a DC 20 nature check and up to two people can assist. A DC 25 nature check will also let the character know which direction it is to get to the Halfling village in Chorley Woods. But the faeries will also give them directions once they have defeated the pesky spiders that lurk just outside the grove.
Spiders in the Trees
When the party decides to leave the grove they will be attacked by spiders. A DC 15 perception check, before leaving, will notice webbing in the trees. The big spider will be hiding, the little ones will be out of sight.
If the spider is attacked from the grove it will retreat into the forest where it can have its babies swarm the attackers. As long as the fire spider is alive 1d4 spiderlings will appear and attack the party. There will never be more than 10 spiderlings visible at any one time. Hidden spiderlings are not targetable as they hide in nooks and crannies. When the fire spider is killed the remaining spiderlings will attack one last time and try to flee.
When the spiders have been dispatched two sprites will come to talk with the party. Sprites
Thoma and Gilles are usually happy little sprites. They will dance around re-enacting the battle with the fire spider. They will be quite proud of the champions and once they have calmed down will point the party towards the town of Dylia (Halfling). They don’t know much else, except that Jordan, queen of the Faeries, had asked them to welcome the champions and point them towards their first challenge.
Dylia
Dylia is not used to non-halflings arriving, but are usually hospitable. They will be especially hospitable if they find out they are entertaining faerie champions. The chieftess is Hilda Highboots, and yes she wears high boots (for a Halfling). She will invite the party to a meal. She will be eager to enlist the party’s help in dealing with a ‘small’ spider problem they have been having.
She will tell the party that to the west of the town there is a cave with a very nasty spider in it. If they can bring back the head of this spider she will reward them handsomely, she might even let them have one of her pairs of high boots!
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