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Tiana Moonglade

Background:
The Moonglade name has a historied but tragic story. When she was a young elfling, her family's ancestral estates became threatened by increased goblin raids. The family clan was divided. Her father argued withdrawal but her grandfather -- an esteemed elven soldier -- argued for fortifying the estate lands further. Splitting from the clan, her father packed what he could and hired a coach to safer lands. Her father's prescience paid off, as they left their home shortly before a small goblin army besieged then torched the estate. After settling in at (?), her father set up a small but respected shopkeeping business buying and reselling historical documents.

Youngest of three daughters, Tiana was well-loved but as funds were short, she did not have the same education opportunities as her older sisters. Her family was not able to afford a military education, and even her arcane education was meager and oft self-taught. After being caught numerous times reading books far beyond her expected ability, her parents began using her to copy books into the family's personal library.

Recently, she was offered a job by the Mages' Guild: provided she came back with a map of Boldenwald and new knowledge of the ancient races, she would be apprenticed and able to formally learn the arcane arts.

Kilian Stonemettle

Background:
Kilian was raised in a mining hamlet far from dwarven homelands. He learned young to avoid the dangers of living on the frontier, and had a fairly uneventful life. Realizing that life as a miner was equally dull and unexciting, he enthusiastically enlisted into the dwarven army.

There, his aptitude with mathematics, engineering, and mechanics shunted him into the elite dwarven sappers. He quickly picked up fortifications, siege weapons, and a basic understanding of tactics. When the goblin king declared war on the dwarves, Kilian was at the forefront. His unit saw a decent amount of action, but the worst night of Kilian's night was when his unit was sent to help retake the dwarven fortress of Greyforge. Another one of the sappers unluckily discharged his munitions in the wrong place, causing a good part of the outer wall to collapse on the besieging army. Greyforge was eventually retaken but at great cost to the dwarven army. Due to a weakened army and poor fortifications to protect them, the dwarven king chose to sue for peace. Prisoners were exchanged, new borders were formed, and Kilian resigned his commission in grief and disgust.

Kilian did not have an easy life after the army. He took to drinking heavily and could not keep a job. He was quick to anger and quick to grief. One night when camping in the countryside, a few goblins came across a smashed Kilian. He was so inebriated he could not even wield his axe to defend himself. Half conscious and still drunk, Kilian was trussed up by the goblins. He expected to be slaughtered as well, but still remembers enough of the night to know how he survived.

The first goblin died suddenly, with an elven arrow protruding from his eye. After a few more arrows, the second goblin went down. One of the goblins moved to finish off Kilian, and an elven scout jumped out of nowhere and protected Kilian, wielding a shortsword in one hand and using her bow to block in the other. He passed out shortly after, with his last memories being Freya fighting ferociously with the goblin.

When he woke up the next day, all signs of the fight were gone. The corpses had been removed, the arrows reclaimed, and even his wounds bandaged. Had it not been for the young elf watching over him while stoking the campfire with some warm mead, he'd believe it all to be a bad dream.

Since then, he's trying to pull his life together. He's successfully avoided getting stone-drunk and working on his temperament. He owes Freya a life debt, something he's still working out himself.

Talin (of Red Oak)

Background:
Talin was orphaned as a babe by a goblin raid. He was found in the smoldering ruins by a Red Oak ranger, who had lost her family in a similar raid. She raised him best she could. She died when he was a young teenager, and the rest of the Red Oak rangers took him in until he was old enough to care for himself. Red Oak rangers are the only family he's ever known.

Talin lives at the Red Oak barracks with his dog Fido. He's popular at the local bars but beyond the rangers, he doesn't have a lot of ties to the local area. He's looking for something more exciting than tracking goblins and the occasional skirmish. When the opportunity came up to guide an elven cartographer into Boldenwald, Talin didn't hesitate long before volunteering.

Freya Tigersong

Background:
Freya is the daughter of an elven merchant. Her father is not known for his honesty, which greatly affected the jobs he was offered as well as the profit margins. Freya vowed to be trustworthy and strive to a better set of ethics. As soon as she was of age, she attempted to enlist in the elven army -- and was rejected due to her father's reputation. She then tried the Mages' Guild but again rejected, this time both for being too poor and too unsavory. She finally enlisted as an elven scout.

She's had a few exciting missions -- rescue a kidnapped child, scout ahead of elven army units, and even track movements of goblin raiding parties. Recently, she was asked to escort a cartographer through Boldenwald. Eager to see more of the world beyond the elven kingdom, she happily accepted.

When it comes to the life debt between her and Kilian, she doesn't acknowledge it. She doesn't even think she understands it. The closest she'll get to speaking of the night she saved his life is about how she was still sober at the end of the night and he wasn't. She knows that Kilian doesn't want that night to be common knowledge, and she's fine with that.

This is a pretty big map file with new information given to you by the corporal.

"New Town" is the start of a new settlement with a pallisade. Most of the 40 soldiers base here, 5 rangers, and about 20 civilians. There are more soldiers coming from Nore - - maybe.

"Watchtower" is the old lookout tower which has now been conquered. That's the only with the wizard locked door underneath. A few soldiers there at any time.

"Laketown" was the former skull goblin settlement on the edge of the lake you always avoided. People do not like going here, partly because they have believed the lie you told them about lake monsters.

The white and orange oaths are goblin trails.
Brown dotted lines are remains of ancient roads.

The stirges are still active and have killed 1 person and injured 3 more. An extermination might be a good idea.

"Old Goblin Caves" is a rather neat series of natural caves the goblins were using as a base, now conquered. The rangers camp here sometimes.

"Ruined Town" is the actual remains of a fair sized town from the olden days. The corporal says there are about 40 building foundations there. One of these had a cellar area which contained a stash of money, some old texts, and a helmet covered in runes. There may still be more exploration to be done here.

"Ruined Lookout tower" is rather high up on a lone mountain. From here, to the north-east, a low range of hills can be seen, and then beyond that is a huge river with grassy floodplains to either side.

Tiana thinks this river is almost certainly the Serverin, which was one of the main geographical features that separates Boldenwald from the New Kingdoms.

Tiana also notes that the Mundina range is rather weak and patchy in this area and getting through to the great river would probably be quite easy. But once you were there, you'd have to deal with many miles of marshy lagoons and grassland and then a huge river.