Dawn of The Cruel Age
Background
This whole story happens before the Cruel Age, and in the end Lilina should be dead and Gaedon transformed into Abbadon, marking the dawn of the Cruel Age.
Jeles
Jeles is the capital of The Empire of Justice and Mercy, an Theocracy based around the churches of Gaedon (god of mercy) and Naru (god of justice), with significant impact from the churches of the other gods.
The government is supposedly headed by Naru and Gaedon in concert, but in reality the day-to-day business is ran by the Council of Heads, which is composed of the head priests of all the churches in the empire. For this reason, the city houses the central leadership for all Churches.
The Brown District
The Brown District itself is full of well-built stone houses painted mostly white. A lot of the people wear brown, and a lot of Gaedon’s priests live there. At the center of the district stands The Halls of Mercy, the central temple of Gaedon’s church, where he spends most of his time. The Halls of Mercy is also de facto a hospital, with patients seeking the help of the priests.
For the Halls of Mercy, see also Exploring the Temple Scene
Gaedon
Gaedon is the god of mercy- he heals the sick and feeds the poor. In recent times, he has fallen in love with Lilina Trueflame.
Appearance: A handsome man around 27 years old, about 2 meters high, with black hair and blue eyes. Has two white, feathered wings, and a white flaming halo above his head.
Colors: Brown and White.
Symbol: An outstretched hand.
Lilina Trueflame
A young woman aged about 25. She has a blond, almost white hair, and brown eyes with a dark-red tint.
She is known as a very kind girl, and has helped a lot of folk in town- especially those the church has dismissed.
She was an orphan, and her and her brother were taken in by Gaedon’s Church, something she feels gratitude for to this day.
She works in Gaedon’s Temple as a Nurse, tending to wounded and sick in the halls and gardens of his temple. She likes taking her patients to the Gardens.
Dayton Nadam
The Head Priest for the Church of Merciful Gaedon, one of the biggest and most powerful churches in Jeles. He is very worried about the stability of the Empire, and the political game in the Council of Heads.
Apearance: A chubby old man with white hair and beard, he wears a brown tunic with golden stripes at the base and the end of the cuffs.
Opening Scene: Dayton gives a Quest
The party is sitting in a room in a bad part of town. They have all been summoned by Dayton. Dayton enters, with his robes marking him as the high priest of Gaedon.
He explains to the party that the Church of Gaedon needs a certain woman dead. He doesn’t care how or who, so long as the woman is dead, he will pay each PC a 100GP, no questions asked.
His only other stipulation is that no-one must know that the church is involved.
The woman’s name is Lilina Trueflame, and she can usually be found in the Brown District, the city district in which the main temple to Gaedon is located (the temple’s name is The Halls of Mercy).
Intermidiate Scene: Questions about Lilina
Lilina is a very well liked, merciful girl. It is known she is usually at the gardens of The Halls of Mercy during the day, often helping patients. It is also rumored that Gaedon has taken an interest in her.
Stories
Lilina once snuck Shia Ciaong’s (females merchant, about 40) son into the temple, and convinced the priests to cure his cold, despite the fact he was denied earlier since his sickness was not severe. He can be seen at the stall, healthy and smiling.
Fin Vurdon, a young courier, remembers how she talked with the Guards of Justice and convinced to release him, after he was caught stealing expensive fruit out of curiosity.
Exploring the Temple Scene
The temple is quite large, almost a District on its own in terms of size. It is composed of The Outer Hall and The Inner Hall, and gardens which occupy the rest of the space.
Outer Hall
The Outer Hall also serves as the wall of the temple- it surrounds the perimeter of the temple, like a small wall, decorated on the outside with banners of the Outstretched Hand. On the inside, there are large windows throughout the bottom floor that give a view to the outer gardens. On the upper floors there is probably rooms for the priests, as well as facilities such as libraries and offices.
Outer Gardens
The outer gardens occupy the space between the inner and outer halls. They are mostly open space, with grass, some flower beds, and the occasional tree.
Inner Hall
The Inner Hall is structured like the Outer Hall- a large hall surrounding the inner gardens. Between the two there are the outer gardens. The inner hall contains mostly patient’s rooms, and can be though of as a sort of hospital.
Inner Gardens
The inner garden is the garden that is encircled by the inner hall, and is much more segmented than the outer garden- full of large hedge walls, trees, and winding cobble pathways between large flower beds. While the garden as a whole is still large, it is built of smaller “chambers” with walls out of hedges or living fences, and each such chambers feels relatively secluded.
At the very center of the inner garden there is a fountain with a life-sized white marble statue of Gaedon, complete with a floating marble halo. Lilina can be found here- see next scene
Finding Lilina Scene: Lilina Helping a Blind Patient
When the temple is searched, Lilina can be found at a small garden with a patient named Fon Daraz. He has bandages over his eyes, and Lilina talks to him about how nice the birds are and how warm the sun is. If let on, she will also mention how Naru is blind, and so Fon should take example from him.
Fon Daraz himself is also a Combat Encounter. His background is that he is a Paladin for the god of Justice, Naru, who was permanently blinded in combat- he is quite depressed by the notion he will never be able to fight for justice again.
Last Scene: Gaedon’s Rage
After Lilina is killed, Gaedon rushes to her side. When he sees her up close, he falls to his knees in disbelief.
Behind him Dayton Nadam hurries to his side, mumbling about who could have wanted this.
Feathers than begin to fall from his wings, and will continue to fall throughout, revealing black skin underneath.
He then gently closes her eyes before standing up. He will than zone in on a pc with metal armor, and fly at them, grabbing them, lifting them off the ground, and asking them:
Upon receiving an answer, he will throw the PC, tearing away the front of their armor. In his next turn, his halo will flow to the armor and he will use it to melt it to the shape of a sword.
He will than proceed to massacre the PCs, starting with Dayton if relevant.
Dayton will say with his dying breaths:
“She distracted you from our mission… To be with her, you left the sick… You betrayed those who…” and then Gaedon cuts off his head.
Qoutes
“You mortals- you cruel, twisted fiends. You don’t deserve my Mercy.”
“העידן הזה ידע אכזריות מהי.”
“She was the epitome of Mercy. With her removed, what Mercy do you deserve?”
“She distracted me? Then what do you call this distraction? [1]”
Encounters
Moderate Guard squad
120 XP
2 Guards
A Group of Priests
160 XP
Can be encountered in the temple, or outside, whatever fits the bill.
4 Prophets
A Wounded Paladin of Naru
120 XP for normal, non-blind.
160 XP for Elite, non-blind.
You’ll have to figure yourself how to play with the blindness.
1 Blind Anti-Paladin