The Memoirs of Olivia Bluethorn

An in character Blog of her adventures in a pathfinder campaign. Experience the adventure through the Stormford with Olivia Bluethorn!

[oliviabluethorn]

Meet the Party

Ai’til Mossthorn 

Place of Origin: Whisperwoods, Kingdom of Faraam

Date of Birth: Lamashan 21, 4E227

Species: Stormsoul

Gender: Male

Height: 5’8

Weight: 129 lbs

Hair: Black with streaks of powder blue & white

Skin: Blue/Gray

Eye Color: White/Grey

Affiliation: n/a

Notable Physical Features: n.a

Aliases/Titles: ‘Atlas’

Born the youngest of three children, Ai’til grew up in between a village tucked in the forest and a city miles away. The city shaped him into an adventure-seeking kid while the forest brought wonder and mystery to his mind. After discovering the white willow from his grandfather’s tales, he now holds an unknown gift in his body and around his neck. While he looks for adventure, he needs to know more about this “gift” he’s been given.

Elena Martel

Place of Origin: Tethe’al, Norende Province, Valerion

Date of Birth: Abadius 25, 4E228

Species: Human

Gender: Female

Height: 5’2

Weight: 122 lbs

Hair: Auburn

Skin: Fair

Eye Color: Green

Affiliation: n/aNotable 

Physical Features: n/a

Born into a family centered on the values of faith and skill, Elena is a natural adventurer. Intuitive and curious, Elena displays an affinity for the sylvan world, valuing her time with the creatures of the forest more so than her interactions with other humanoids. Elena is a native of coastal Tethe’al in the kingdom of Valerion, but “home” is with her grandparents in Luin Hollow in Amarinthia, from whom she learned everything she knows. Elena aspires to find and join the ranks of the Kings’ Rangers, an organization focused on integrating the civilized world with the world as Melora intended it. Despite her substantial knowledge of survival and knack for exploration, she’s not quite there yet.

Faust Patera 

Place of Origin: Diobel, Free City of Absalom, Jeweled Isles 

Date of Birth: 16th Sarenith 4E230

Species: Human

Gender: Nonbinary

Height: 5’5

Weight: 115 lbs.

Hair: Blue, Pink, Orange or Green (dyed, changes regularly)

Skin: Pale, freckled

Eye Color: Blue-Grey

Affiliation: n/a

Notable Features: Multiple tattoos on arms and chest

Aliases/Titles: n/a

Faust was raised in Absalom by Vala and Carina Patera. The two adopted him after he arrived by trading ship, alone and afraid. No one is sure where he came from and Faust couldn’t care less. His mothers raised him lovingly in their home just above their bakery. They taught him the baking trade and encouraged him to learn everything he could from the travelers that came through the city. Now that he’s older he wants to learn more about the cities he’s heard so much about.

Lizan Bolgenestra (CE Goblin Knife Master 1)

Player: Ryan

Place of Origin: Lick-Toad Marshes, Wolfwood Forest, Valerion

Date of Birth: Rova 24 4E234

Species: Goblin (Knife-Head Variation)

Gender: Male

Height: 3’1

Weight: 35 lbs

Hair: None

Skin: Olive Green

Eye Color: Crimson Red

Affiliations: Walkers of the Abyss (previously)Notable Physical Features: Burn marks/scars on hands, pointed white goatee

Titles/Aliases: the “Killing Joke”

Lizan’s birth was not very memorable. It was in the stump of one of the many trees in the Lick-Toad Marshes. He was abandoned shortly after his birth, and grew up only knowing his own voice. Solitude taught Lizan one thing, “If no one else cares about him, he must do whatever it takes to survive.”

Yarrow Drundanae

Place of Origin: The Stensian Farbog, Stensian Province, Valerion

Date of Birth: Lamashan 13, 4E234

Species: Half-Drow

Gender: Male

Height: 5’4″

Weight: 130 pounds

Hair: Light Gray, Shaggy (Clearly self-cut)

Skin: Porcelain WhiteEye Color: Very Dark Brown

Affiliation: Fatebound, Wanted by various Valeric & Staglandic lawmakers

Notable Physical Features: A hex resembling a cane branded between his scapulae, rope burn marks on his wrists and ankles.Aliases/Titles: Bastard, Pumpkin Patch

Raised by only his Mother and the spirits she conjured, Yarrow has learned a great deal in the ways of the witch from both. Almost a year ago he watched in horror as cruel witch hunters stormed into his home and burned his Mother at the stake. He now lives only to amass power in all forms to enact a horrid vengeance, as well as build meaningful relationships which they long for.

(picture sources riot games https://www.artstation.com/kripp  https://www.deviantart.com/aaronflorento/art/Goblin-471579100 https://www.artstation.com/aoiogata

[oliviabluethorn]

Olivia’s Diary

Desnus, 27th 4E250 

     It's five days hence the journey to the Stormford. I’m finding it harder and harder to care about my training. I fail to see the point of putting in the effort in if I am just to leave to conquer the Stormford. My family honor no longer hinges on becoming a knight. My “honorful duty” and “dutiful honor” will be fulfilled and I need not pick up my blade for anyone other than it’s wielder. They never took my training to heart anyway.

     Sieren informs me my father going to be in meetings for a while, finalizing some plans for the expansion. So I probably won't see him until he sees me off. How many of these just regress to me being alone in this empty estate. An estate for one. I'm sure there is a poem there somewhere, a space too big for four, occupied by only one.

I'm just bored.

Desnus, 28th 4E250

twenty-two rooms all but twenty one used

A prison so big it can only leaves me so small.

A light pouring through the stained glass.

The warmth of the sun crashing down like a thunderstorm.

The sound but in my head and the rain but in my heart

A stillness creep on me.

Death?

I scream in my echo chamber. Mayhaps only because no one can hear.

The scream comes back off the barriers, but it's not me that screams back

Who screams back?

Who?

     I need to come up with a title for this. Sieren heard me scream thought I was being murdered. I had to disappointed us both and tell her I was fine.

Desnus, 29th 4E250

     I arose early today to watch Sieren pray. She just looks so peaceful and happy kneeling opposed the shrine. She so still, like a statue of an Angel and if I listen hard enough i can hear her soft breaths. It's mostly just impressive. I would be lying if I said I didn't long for something to be that devoted to. I don't think I can be a woman of bahamut like her. I haven't felt the “calling” that she speaks of, not that I would even know what that would feel like.

     I took Silver rose to lord Berethor’s blacksmith. Now she's sharp as a wit Sieren tells me i have, but if all goes well it will just be a nice decoration. Father is highering 6 or 7 battle tested adventures to aid my journey. I’m a better diplomat than warrior anyway. Which is my apparent  role; to quell the “barbaric” tribes roaming about the Stormford. With how poetic  my father puts it, im almost excited to be disappointed. Alas, writing in this journal is the most fun I have any more. Sieren is making me sweet cakes for my last day here which is actually exciting. Makes me almost feel melancholy.

Desnus, 30th 4E250

♪ Oh little nightingale stuck in it's cage,

Suffocating, strangled, from all the space.

A heart full of sadness or is it rage?

As long as it's gilded with pose and grace.

Oh little nightingale goes tweet tweet tweet,

Alas, no one can hear it's cries for help,

A thought of death rings out as Sickly sweet.

To fall into silence with but a yelp.

Oh little nightingale stiff as a rock,

Oh Beauty and youth killed by a lock.♫

A stanza short of a sonnet but I think that makes it more fitting.

Desnus 31st 250

     After some teasing and begging, Sieren let me spar with her. It was magnificent! I didn't even knew she knew how to use a rapier but she bested me rather easily. Her seven years in the war probably don't hurt her sword-hand. She let me win a couple of matches, to make me feel better no doubt but, It’s the happiest i've been all week. I had no idea fighting could be this exhilarating. It was almost like I was a child again like the first time she made me sweet cakes.

     morrow is the “big day”. I get to be escorted by mercenaries into the wilderness. Sieren finished packing my things in time as always. I'm really going to miss her for these 2 years i'll be… colonizing I suppose? Me thinks i'll need to buy a mule tomorrow to carry my necessaries. Gods know I shant trust a sellsword to do so.

     Suddenly i dread the adventure all together. I know I must but at it's precipice a married life suddenly seems sweet by compair Not to anyone my father would marry me to anyway. I know this is something i must do and yet i’ve never felt so unwilling. I will get to sleep early, less time to think myself out of it.  

[oliviabluethorn]

Wistgrad

Picture source: The Witcher 3 

The city of Wistgrad began as a collection of scattered trading posts at the intersection of a major road and a popular game trail. Travelers, pilgrims, and mercenaries walking along the path would find themselves stopping to trade for supplies and furs, eventually building inns and homes as individuals and families decided to plant their roots along the path. As the independent city-states of what would eventually become Faraam began to unify through trade and a shared desire for allies, travel and trade along the then small town of Wistgrad caused a swell in population and wealth. When the disorganized cities of Faraam needed a neutral zone to host diplomatic gatherings, Wistgrad was chosen thanks to it’s geographic isolation from other cities and position along a major trade route.  The later discovery of a notable adamant (a strong but brittle component in adamantine creation) deposit and several salt deposits within the city’s territory grew the city’s wealth further, and drew in an even greater influx of eventual citizens. This influx of cultures in the city introduced foreign arts like Kinoéan silk ribbon dancing and Drachman satire plays. Though isolation from the other city states allowed for Wistgrad to flourish in its own independence, the limited representation in multi-city negotiations would stymie the Wistgrad’s chances at even greater expansion. Rumors indicate that Wistgrad intends to make a power grab in the near future, but through what means as of yet remains unclear. Still, Wistgrad remains a notable exporter of adamant, salt rare furs, and lumber to it’s neighbors. 

- Chronicler Barret Magnimer II, Journeyman Evoker

[oliviabluethorn]

The Stormford

Crowns of Iron takes place on the continent of Arenden. More specifically, it takes place in a small territory known as the Stormford, a rain-soaked river valley region within the Southwestern quarter of the Staglands.

Numerous kingdoms have risen and fallen in this region (so often that a common saying of the Stormford goes, “every hill a king”), with even the most ambitious would-be ruler finding the monsters, bandits, and fey beyond anything their small nation could have ever hoped to manage. This fact has had little impact on the number of attempts made by the bold and the foolhardy. Attempts to tame this wilderness for personal gain are made regularly, often funded by lords seeking to stymie bandit activity in their domain or merchant groups hoping to fund the building of trading posts along major trade routes.

The geography of the Stormford varies greatly, with the highlands of the Kelish Plateau overlooking the rain-soaked Blue Basin and Fela Hills below. The Grey Widow’s River, a major tributary of the larger Selim River, divides the region along its midline and nurtures the sizable temperate Whisperwoods enclosed around its banks. The snow-capped Wital Mountain Range towers over the region’s southern border, draped in evergreen forests and pockmarked with deep caverns and caves ripe for exploration.

The climate is the Stormford is miserable to say the least. Torrential rain drowns the valley 4 months of the year before high snowfall freezes them for another three. Yet as fleeting as they may be, the late summer months are a perfect time for farming in the valley, and yield bountiful harvest when tended.

The weather, as in the rest of southern Arenden, is relatively predictable, with temperatures rarely exceeding 95º F at its hottest, and dropping to around 20º F in the deep winter. Clouds usually dominate the sky, with periodic drizzles not uncommon throughout the average day. Long stretches of sunshine in the Stormford are rare, and most who live there appreciate them while they last.

The lands of the Stormford are untamed and dangerous, filled with feral beasts, ruthless brigands, and mystical fey creatures all hoping to prey on those foolish enough to wander unprotected. Though travel through the lands is not uncommon (trading posts and hunting lodges exist, though they are few and far between), traders have learned to travel quickly through the land, keeping one hand on their cold iron sword and the other on their purse. - Chronicler Barret Magnimer II, Journeyman Evoker

[oliviabluethorn]

Lady Olivia of House Bluethorn

Source

(Imperfect character representation) Place of Orgin: Buckhorn Hill, Wistgrad, Faraam

Date of Birth: Abadius 13, 4E234

Species: Human

Gender: Female

Height: 5’7, Weight: 140 lbs

Hair: Light Brown (dyed blue), often tied in a ponytail

Eyes: Green, Affiliation: House Bluethorn (Wistgrad Nobility)

Notable Physical Features: Vine Tattoo crawling up back,

Alias/Titles: Marquess of Wistgrad  Olivia was born to a noble house during time of war. Following the death of her mother, she declined all plans for betrothal and took on her father’s mocking challenge of being trained in the art of swordplay. What she lacks in physical strength, she makes up with in speed, precision, wit, and charm. Olivia travels into The Stormford to bring honor to her family name so she can be free from its burden.