Winter Coats the Mountain Trees - Bookish and introverted in her youth, she spent a lot of her time studying botany and how magic/arcane energy affected plant-life. This would lead to her seeking out a cursed flower called an Onryo, which grieviously wounded her and would have killed her had a woman seeking the flower to purify it not found it at the same time. This woman taught Winter (at Winter's insistence) everything she knew about the Onryo, taking her under he wing as an apprentice.
Songmaw - A fey spirit conjured into the form of a horse-sized Wolf to aid Winter. He was a loyal mount, a comfort to Winter's adopted daughter, a terror to bad guys, and also quietly made fun of Winter relentlessly. A very lovable curmudgeonly uncle type figure.
Party Members
Jade Quickclaw - Winter's excitable, adventure-seeking, partying younger cousin. A badass martial artist and pragmatic soul, the two grew much closer over the adventure. She also has a habit of taking trophies from foes she considered significant, so there is a room in her dojo full of weapons showing her various feats (including Winter's Sunblade when the adventure concluded and they had a time of peace)
Axys - A young tiefling who picked up a worn and simple old blade from a bargain bin sale. Little did he know, he'd found destiny in a garage sale. The sword had an old deity sealed within, who invested Axys with power under the pact that Axys grow in strength enough to release him from the blade.
Folding Boat - Axys's folding boat! Winter bench pressed it! We spent quite a few eventful journies on this vessel: hunting tasty-krakens, transporting a captured (then)villain to prison, fleeing ambushes since we didn't need ports to get out to sea, and eventually a climactic duel to rescue our kidnapped children from the Greycloaks. (Amusing to me, the Axys card has to garner renown before he can drive it, just like in the campaign!)
Filibrand - An eccentric Gnome Wizard who's first passion and the one that trumps all else for him was the pursuit of arcane lore and power. While he also loved cheese, comfy chairs, and napping his need for knowledge would eventually lead him to betray us when he realized the Greycloak leadership included a ancient Elven wizard with vast arcane knowledge.
Mirik - A lizardfolk bard, Mirik never understood metaphors, or symbolism, or puns, or anything of the sort (which must have made bardery difficult). He was a loyal friend who was patient and helped reform a cursed antagonist, eventually starting a bakery with him.
Mirik's Bag of Tricks - Thick badgers, chonkers bears, and other woodland creatures came to our aid numerous times.
Mirik's Figurines of Wonderous Power - Okay, by the end of the campaign, Mirik was quietly like a pokemon master type character @_@
Bardic Pastries - Mirik's bardic inspiration pastries help tip the scales for a lot of clutch rolls.
Nythris - A naga wild magic Sorcerer, Nythris was with us early on as we accidentally stopped an intrusion at the Mage's College, which turned out to be an assassination attempt by the Greycloaks against a secret leader of the order trying to oppose them. Nythris was killed in the night as revenge and as a warning for interfering. We would eventually get justice for his loss, but her inability to keep him safe weighed on Winter for a long time.
Family
Lionel - A member of a pirate crew heavy with trained druids, Lionel was a cocky, charming, quick-witted fellow who was a huge softie underneath. After a few initial skirmishes between the pirate crew and the party, they moved past their hostility and the groups were sorta friendly with each other. Later, when Winter sought aid in a wild scheme to do some good, she wrote to them among others, and Lionel showed up without question. They eventually dated and married.
Amphibious Druid Lionel - Seals, Killer Whales, etc. Turns out wild shape is useful for piracy and amphibious ops.
Sara - Winter's adopted daughter, originally sent by the greycloaks as a mole (metaphorical, not creature), they became real family.
Sara's Squirrel - At the encouragement of her Aunt Jade, Sara started secretly taking care of a pet squirrel. Winter kept it while Sara was taken, eventually reuniting the two. When asked, the creature had no name to give for itself, and we never named it, but Sara's squirrel was a beloved family pet (who probably regretted all Sara's half-catperson siblings)
Danclaw - Her 2nd magical steed, after Songmaw was eventually entrusted to her adopted daughter to keep her safe and happy.
Other NPCs
Vola - The second in command to the captain of Lionel's crew, she was gruff and short-spoken, but secretly in love with the captain and fiercely loyal to her friends.
Berrian's Crew - A crew of Druidic pirates self-styled as Robin Hood like figures. While we were friendly with them and did a lot together, we married one of their members (Lionel) away, convinced two of its members to retire and start a Bar with an Elephant the crew summoned as a mascot, and hired them for a lot of dangerous missions well above their pay grade. So maybe meeting us was more bad luck than good? X-D
Soltice - A tabaxi kidnapped from his home by Preston to be sold into the Tabaxi fur trade (it was messed up). We rescued him and then Winter did her best meddling to set him and Jade up on a series of dates. It worked! They eventually married. He is kind, caring, and DENSE.
Daebron and Sword
- Daebron was the in-world god of Assassinations, with a running theme of backing underdogs and the downtrodden, allowing them to assassinate their way to radical change and shifting their fate. He would be imprisoned by a trap laid out by his (then) high priest Porthus who had a whole "jilted lover" vibe going on there. The trap took effect the next time Daebron blessed a sword for a downtrodden individual, trapping the whole god inside instead of just temporarily investing a small bit of his power in it. The sword and god would be lost for centuries until Axys eventually found it and (over the course of the adventure) grow strong enough to fully release Daebron from the blade.
Antonia - A knowledge domain cleric taken from her home in her youth by the Greycloaks and raised to be unquestioningly loyal to them in a kinda culty way. She first met us as an antagonist we defeated, but Axys saved her, eventually showing her how messed up the Greycloaks were and convincing her to turn double-agent. They ended up marrying. It was her who managed to realize that Axys's blade was the Daebron sword everyone was after, and her cleric powers would eventually bring us the full story of how Porthus put Daebron there before we confronted him.
Iago, who makes an Esteban token - A trader we met early on being roughed up by Preston (no idea at the time about any of the cloak stuff going on). We saved him and he gave us a ride to the mage's college in reward. We ended up hiring him many times, and rescuing him after a corrupt head of state kidnapped him to try and pry information from him. He and his boyfriend Esteban were always good friends of Winter's. Esteban also gave her the intial training for her Barbarian class! (Esteban is not a monkey, but a nautical creature that makes another named creature token was too flavorfly on point to not use for the pair)
Hector
- The summoned pacifist elephant who became a seaside tavern's mascot.
Winter's Equipment, Abilities, Etc
Paladin Class - Winter's an Oath of the Ancients Paladin
Barbarian Class - Also a Path of the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian
Winter's first Battleaxe - Her first trusty battleaxe; the bane of foe, floor, and fauna.
Sunblade - Taken after Ayxs's duel from Stal, one of Porthus's lieutenants, when they had kidnapped our kids.
+1 Shield - Gotten in a stash of loot after our initial clash with Lionel's crew.
Mythril Half-Plate+1 - Commissioned when we declared "war" on the Greycloaks, it was made intentionally over and attention drawing to act as a metaphorical statement against the covert Greycloak order. Despite its visible "loudness", it was made whisper quiet, and covered in a cloak for pragmatic reasons when physical stealth was needed.
Nipple-Ring of Growth - After a defeat left the party bereft of their gear and imprisoned on a ship, Winter had the desire to get some tools she could keep with her if such a scenario ever occured again. Between this, her claws, and her eventual barbarian training to fight unarmored, she was a force to be reckoned with even when caught metaphorically naked. It lets her cast enlarge on herself once per day.
Bag of Holding - Winter had one of these too! (and like half the party eventually)
Cloak of Elvenkind - A cloak that shifts colors to blend the user into their surroundings, it aids Winters cultural knowledge of how to move unseen and dexterous build to make her a Ghost when she wants to move unseen.
Mirror of Life Trapping - Its where she keeps all the bad guys we capture.... and sometimes our allies to cheat more people into a teleport. Taken from Katrigosa's treasure horde. Within the mirror are 12 extradimensional jail cells.
Lay on Hands - Or sometimes Lay on Hugs
Deflection Fighting Style - A trick she learned from her Monk cousin, Winter lashes out with Claws or Shield to deflect blows aimed at people around her.
Divine Smite! - She literally never crit with it. Not even once in a 1-15 campaign ;_;
Channel Divinity: Nature's Wrath
Aura of Warding - Making it easier for her to dodge or endure spells, as well as dampening their effects on her, Winter was a nightmare for magic savvy foes.
Spirit Shield - A wave of spirits surge forth to stymie attempts by bosses to harm Winter's friends.
Moonbeam - Winter's semi-signature spell early, that she would eventually get a unique upgrade on as the spirits she'd helped find peace augmented her magic.
Enlarge - Her earliest and trustiest buff spell. Suddenly doubling in height to climb onto a roof with a shocked archer will always be a fond memory
Cure Wounds - Listen, there's a lot of people she cares about, and they all take way too much damage!
Ensnaring Strike
Plant Growth
Revivify - There will always be one diamond intended for this, that was never used....
Rehabilited Spirits - Winter has a bit of a necromantic subtheme, with her calming spirits, carrying spirits, and eventually manifesting them during her rage and magic.
The ritual to calm the Onryo spirits - They'd experienced a lot of loss, and needed to be remined of the things they loved to steer them away from an eternal vengeful grudge.
Her Burgeoning Mercenary Company - Winter has a bit of a merc-leader facet that developed across the campaign. She started out hiring some and having interacted/clashing with them in her wanderings. As she used them more and more she started to become someone they respected and she eventually brought a bunch of them together becoming her own mercenary leader.
The Onryo - Winter's flower full of ghosts, along with the eventual peace she led them to (and them kicking ass)
Tattoos for the Path of the Ancestral Guardian - All down her left side like leopard spots. They become animated and blow like a blizzard when she rages.
Her thesis paper - Winter's eternally in the works thesis
Locations
Dophin Island - Named for its shape rather than its populace. Where all the catpeople live! Winter's hometown is a cozy little village tucked in at the base of the central mountain on the island.
The Gnome populace of Dolphin Isle - Winter's hometown and home island is a mixed population of cat-people and gnomes living together. And Winter speaks Gnomish
The Mage's College
The Mage College's Secret Scroll Vault - Intended as an ark for magical knowledge, to guarantee it was passed on to future generations. We are very sorry about the accidental break-in. It was important, we swear!
Ruins of the Daebron Temple
The Unnamed Desert - The desert country we helped refugees of and eventually liberated from a dragon
Our little beach safehouse - Just a little beach house to feel safe for a time and start some families
Peren's Abandoned Monastery - Up north on the big island, blood markings will lead one to an almost abandoned monastery. Don't worry though, the lone resident just thinks blood is a suitable ink for no reason, and it's probably animal blood anyway.....
The Northern Ruins - Our first job as adventurers. Also, it involved shrinking a gnome to half-size so he could ride on Winter's head rather than swim himself! Also we fought an ancient automata.
Katrigosa's Lair
Porthus's Lair - I think I'll alter some dungeon tokens to have more flavorful titles and "rooms" to match our escapades.
The Northern Region including Kronia
Tialah's Fortress - An ancient dwarven fortress built to defend from giants. It was restored by the greycloaks and used as the Warden's dungeon.
The much older Daebron Ruins in the island's western jungle
The Graycloak's Secret Temple - The star chart (STAR CHART!) leading us to it was one from one of their captured members with an offer of genuine human kindness. It turns out it was full of lies and thralls. Super ominous though.
The island had a giant population - We never met them, but their historical impact was felt several times.
Notable Events and Moments
How the campaign began and ended....
The extensive public teleportation circle network
The Magically Good Mail System - The world's extensive, magical, seemingly infallible mail system
Greycloaks and Greencloaks, and their covert war - Winter was a simple lady, not really built for subterfuge. Which must have sucked for the shady, covert organization trying to keep their doors closed when she came knocking.
Riding through the Desert Region - Riding through the desert on rolls dice ooof, 2 less horses. Bard horse lived though, the insane dreamer.
As Antonia approached the Daebron ruins, expecting a report, she instead found a rock-fall trap courtesy of Winter
Sending Mercenaries agaisnt myriad Greycloak storehouses - Winter's op to send Mercenaries to liberate various places from Preston, starting her working relationship with various Mercenaries.
Meeting Lionel over a Campfire - He'd come all the way across the country on a job request from an unpredictable catwoman, and it still took his coworker pointing out his interest for Winter to realize it. She is dense at times okay.....
The Palwithian Wedding
- We got invited to Adamaris's wedding! Also to the giant kidnapping attempt fiasco that happened during the reception.
Finding the cursed staff Malus - Filibrand's staff Malus! Options are in reverse order, but they are nicely "let filibrand have it", "cast remove curse", and "smash it or seal it away"
Filibrand's Betrayal
- Filibrand's treachery at the prospect of tasty magics.
Operation Dino Drop - In return for some intel gathering, we agreed to raid one of the Greycloak headquarters and retrieve a valuable object from Arling. Having been harassed by them throughout the campaign, this marked the turning point of actively pushing back against the. Their base was well defended though, so we opted for an audible and turned one of our teammates into a colossal dinosaur; then doubled him in size; while he was hundreds of feet in the air; so he fell and crushed the upper two floors of the building. They were not pleased X-D
Storming Katrigosa's Lair - Technically Mel went their first, but the party went there last and decisively! Also like, the whole party "mood."
Katrigosa, Desert Tyrant dragon - Wrong color dragon, but Katrigosa the Blue Dragon we deposed after they conquered a desert country
Katrigosa's Treasure Horde - We got one!
Investigating a small fishing town for hidden documents about the Greycloaks - Winter's trip on Mel's behalf to the small northern fishing town! Also nicely fits the flavor of how we found Porthus's lair
The duel to get our kidnapped children back - Axys's duel on the boat to get our kids back
Rescuing prisoners from the Tialah's, the Warden, stronghold - We found some in the Warden's place. Options become "put them in the mirror" or "put them in the hospital"
Winter was briefly pulled across worlds to a different campaign!- Some gods had a job for her. She made it back though
So at the end of the campaign, babies were had - The surge of X babies that cropped up in the ending. Can also pull duty making various cat-family tokens X-D
Axys converting Porthus's lair into his own base
- Eventually an extradimensional base!
