Hammond Richter
Hammond Richter (a.k.a. Ham)
The whole world will know my name.
Physical Description
Apparel & Accessories
His clothes are well-worn, with more patches than original fabric. His hair is shaggy and seemingly always in need of being cut. But he keeps his harmonica meticulously clean.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Ham was born into a family of traveling actors. Over his childhood he travelled with them over much of the settled lands of Rebullia. He learned many tools of the trade, from acting to music to tailoring for costumes and simple carpentry for set maintenance. Thanks to his attention to detail he was also given the job of tracking their finances, making sure they were taking in enough money for each show to ensure they'd make it to the next one.
Before Ham, the actors would draw straws before a show and whoever drew the short straw was musician for that show. But Ham had a proficiency and love for music not shared by the rest of the actors. Almost as soon as he was tall enough to reach the keys of the piano they cart around, he became the official show musician and rarely took on acting roles. Young Ham was fond of saying that Kamodev spoke to him to teach him how to play any instrument handed to him. His family and friends thought he was being modest, not realizing Ham was describing dreams and sometimes waking conversations he had in his head. The unseen speaker was friendly but never directly identified themselves. Ham decided it must be Kamodev due to their lovely voice and encouragement of his musical talent.
As Ham grew from child into adulthood, his muse remained friendly and encouraging, but began to encourage him to greater ambition: "This continent existed long before humans arrived.", "Opportunities for greatness are there for the taking, but you will not reach them from the well-traveled path.", "You cannot ask to be remembered. You must tell history that you cannot be forgotten.".
The troupe was playing shows for a week in New Aurelia. Drinking in the Naughty Nymph between shows, Ham listened to workers from various trading companies one-up each other with audacious tales of their expeditions into the wilds in search of resources. Ham made up his mind: he would stay in New Aurelia when the troupe moved on and join on with a trading company. That would be his best chance to explore the untamed wilds. His family was sad but understanding, and after a tearful goodbye he watched his family travel over the horizon and out of sight for the first time in his life.
Unfortunately, joining up with an established company was not as easy as Ham imagined it would be. Despite his easy charm, companies just were not looking to hire a small weakling with no survivalist experience. Ham also advertised his accounting skill, but with no local references there were no companies willing to risk a chance on him.
Ever the optimist, Ham has stayed in New Aurelia, keeping his ear out for any new opportunities. It's been a couple years now. He takes on jobs entertaining at various local establishments, most commonly the Naughty Nymph. He's told himself that if he doesn't make any progress before his family next comes through town then he will join back up with them.
Recently his muse has begun urging him to strike off towards the west, on his own if needed. Ham has laughed it off and told it he's eager but not suicidal. More worryingly, his muse which usually talks to him in a soft and soothing voice has begun to sometimes speak in a harsh voice, in a language Ham doesn't understand...
Social
Family Ties
Ham's family is part of an all-halfling traveling actor troupe called The Rebullian Players. They travel north and south the length of the new world, taking advantage of halflings' friendly relations with all ancestries to play shows for human, dwarf, and elf alike. And they pride themselves on being able to tailor their shows to please any audience.
Ham is still on good terms with his family but has not had much contact with them since leaving the troupe. He never knows when he will see them next, or where they are at any given time.
Alignment
Neutral Good
Age
25
Date of Birth
Chac 16
Birthplace
Lefohre
Children
Current Residence
New Aurelia
Gender
Male
The Journal Entry’s title 7
After 6 months of downtime work, we receive letters saying we are invited to Hal Costigan's birthday party. It's on the 7th of Udrun.
We learn at the party that Hal will become the mayor of Gerea (the town across the desert being built). Gerea is a type of desert sunflower. He introduces us to an Elf ambassador named Remy Laurent. Remy would like to speak to us more in a few days.
There was an envoy of fishermen from the human city of Hamlin visiting the Elven city of Raellona. The fishermen have come under attack by some monsterous sea storm, turning the fish against them. The fishermen have gone missing. Could become an international incident. He wants us to discreetly investigate and find the fisherman. We will be paid 200g each.
We take a boat to Raellona. Along the way, we're attacked by a dinosaur crocodile.
Albain Lucroix meets us when we get to Raellona. He thinks this may be some sign from the gods that they should stop trying to work the sea; should go back to working the land. We can stay at the local tavern The Bronze Crab for free. We can talk to the local fisherman that remain tomorrow morning. We have some crab chowder and Elven baguette and bourbon for dinner.
Talk around the tavern: the storms feel unnatural. Lightning seems to strike upwards from the ground. They happen most when fishermen bring back large hauls. Someone saw a face in the clouds. Another saw a giant shark.
The Journal Entry’s title 6.5
I play music at local establishments to pass the time. I get the attention of Bereg Bolge, who runs the Bonnybrew Meadery, which has a popular weekly show. He invites me to to play, and I kill it (crit success on performance earn income). 3g/day.
Hearing gossip about what is happening across the desert:
* Someone from Rebulian Parliment will take over, not sure who yet.
* There is a settlement being built called Gerea.
The Journal Entry’s title 6
We saved the princess! Her mind control is broken. But she still doesn't believe that her husband (Rostya) is a bad guy. We convince her to don the Hat of Disguise and come talk to the coward Rostya with us. She'll see his true character.
We go back to the room Rostya locked himself into, with disguised Marfa in tow, and pretend we need him to join the fight. He doesn't believe that lie. So we say that we need to just leave without the princess. He is very amenable to that, which is enough to break his hold on Marfa. She bonks him and he falls unconscious. We agree to tie him up and bring him back to justice.
We head back with tied up Rostya and bodies of Errol and Don. On the way back we recover the cart we left for ourselves.
We had in all our quests and get the rewards. We have to stop many people from trying to kill Rostya.
We go talk to the head of the Gan Movat village in his log palace. Vancho Povornik is his name. He tells us we must go to the local capital of Vagdhum to turn Rostya in. So we do.
We are led to the palace, and given fancy clothes to dress in. We attend a large fancy dinner, also attended by Pyotr Vagdha (the head of this city) and the princess Marfa. Marfa is Pyotr's cousin. It is a feast! Pyotr thanks us for rescuing Marfa. We receive fancy medals in recognition (worth 500g, but don't sell them here...).
Later after the party, we are visited by a bursur who asks us to return the medals. In return for 500g and a cheap version of the medal. Even this cheap medal will give us good standing among the dwarfs in this continent.
We take a boat back to New Aurelia.
The Journal Entry’s title 5
I missed some stuff!
We're walking down the hallways, continuously taking the left fork.
We end up in a room that is full of dirt and spongy ground, and has some large mushrooms. They are fulgrate mushrooms - they fire lightning at anyone who tries to pick them. We leave them alone.
Later, we stumble into some violent fungus in a hallway. And have a fungus fight. They give us some very powerful hallucinations.
Down the stairs! On the next floor, we encounter a room with a very hot, smoking, not in an attractive way, scorpion.
Forgot to write some more....
We found the princess we were looking for! Guarded by the koboldog, a silver armordillo-man. Killed the koboldog.
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Begin writing your story here...
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Begin writing your story here...
The Journal Entry’s title 4
Very rough notes: We walk towards the Mithral Mountains. There's a blizzard. After a while, the blizzard stops. We find a rocky outcropping with a mystery. There is a dwarf that is dead. Died from a blow to the spine. This dwarf had silvery skin.
We fight a frost giant and get to keep its +1 Striking Greataxe. We pried the runes off, and leave the greataxe by the dead giant.
We try to sleep, but are attacked by giant bats.
The next day, we get closer to the main part of the mountain. We find the corpses of the the guy's sons.
We come to the mountaintop lodge. Inside are some drums - come back to pick those up later. They were used to reveal a secret stone door.
The Journal Entry’s title
One of the prisoners from the previous room was actually a fellow named Wallace. He has pretty good gear, and has volunteered to help us clear out the rest of the cave system (Josh B joins the party).
Down the way we come to a room with some kind of necromancer. We kill him and his zombie friends. He was a champion of Belethar.
Further into the cavern: we save some dwarf smiths toiling in a hot hot room.
Further into the cavern: we encounter a hobgobbo chieftain. Fight to the death.
The Journal Entry’s title
We fight our way through a hobgoblin cave, looking for people to rescue. In the first room we find someone we cannot rescue (cooked, partially eaten dwarf).
We find a room full of hobgoblin women and children. We barricade them in (fire hazard) but otherwise leave them alone.
Next room is full of hobgoblin warriors. Fight to the death.
Eventually we find a room with an ogre boss lady whipping a dwarf. There are a few more prisoners cowering in the back. We fight the ogre (and pet mountain lion).
We save Travis Truesbury. He's the guy who was being whipped. He's wondering if his wife got out. We tell him yes, we met her outside the cave. He's very happy about that. But he curses Rostya's name. Two of the other prisoners are too traumatized to speak of their ordeal. But the third is Trisha. Greta the innkeeper back in Gan Movat was worried about her. In the back of this room is the ogre boss's bedr00m. We steal her stuff.
The Journal Entry’s title
We're up north in the Dwarf area. In the town of Gan Movat. Looking for the lost princess Murfa.
We go to a tavern The Tricky Pick to ask for info. One guys suggests we talk to council member Falgar about the lost expedition. We can probably find him in the Shadow Mountain Inn (a nicer bar in town). So we head there now.
The building is nice, and the patrons are upper class. We ask at the bar and get pointed towards Falgar. He whines about Rostya Volkov for a while, about fleecing him and all the other council members. He sold stakes in the expedition to fund it, and sold over 100% among all the people he sold to.
Falgar says he'll give us a reward if we can at least get his wagons back for him.
The next day, in the street, we are waved down by Graham. He also whines about Rostya. Graham says he knew from the start that Rostya was a conman. But his sons Errol and Don did believe them. He says if we can bring Rostya back dead or alive he'll give us 50g. He thinks is sons might be dead by now, but also asks us to look out for them. They have matching tattoos of a grieving angel on their shoulder.
Along the road towards the mountain, some miners on the way back to town tell us that there are dwarves with mithril skin out there. And three elves with dark red hair that descend from the sky to kill any dwarves they come across.
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