As I join the game, the party are in Sandpoint, an area where I played and DMed a few years ago. And home to one of my favourite characters of all time, Sir Gagak deKassen .
His adventuring group (The Kassen Kompany) invested some of their in a business that helped establish all of them in society and made them wealthy for life. Gagak set up his home in Skids Landing, a small (almost wilderness) settlement on the very edges of Sandpoint's hinterlands.
Raven grew up in a village called Skids Landing, one of the most distant settlements that look towards Sandpoint for leadership. Set deep in the forest, Skids Landing supports a logging base, a quarry, a small military academy and a few hunter trappers - it is a bit of a 'wild west' place that is home to strong independent, outdoors, people. His father is, in effect, the village squire - as he owns a business and quite a few of the cottages in the village, he is also both strong-minded and a well respected ex-adventurer, which adds to his influence in the village. His large, and somewhat unusual family, lives in a a small manor house, called The Kassen Compound, on the village outskirts.
His early education, revolved around 'country' skills, although his vocation was always for music and song, rather than the outdoor life. Later he was sent to Magnimar for a formal education, although he found it difficult to adapt to city life and regular classes, so he left school and moved to Sandpoint, the largest town that he knew well.
Raven enjoyed living in Sandpoint. There was more to do than in Skids, its i less constrained than Magnimar – there is space to stretch his legs and his brain – and enough to keep him occupied. He has made a living for himself, playing (occasionally) in the orchestra at the theatre, and up on the stages at both The Rusty Dragon and Cracktooth’s Inn. He also earned a bit of extra cash doing casual day-work for the herbalist - not much, just a bit of assistance when they have a lot of work on … Just a jobbing entertainer.
The came the problems with the Goblins, and he decided to attach himself to the group of adventurers who were dealing with it, and write their stories up in song. That is how it all started.
How Raven sees life - This turned out to be a bit longer than I expected - hence its own page!
Songs and Poems - the poetic output of Raven the Bard, bigging up the party! Or possible bringing his enemies down :)
Thistletop Development - The first 'job' was helping to clear out a goblin warren at Thistletop, which we soon discovered housed a group of evil cultists. Oncer that had been achieved, we had the problem of what to do with the fort that the goblins had built, if we left it empty, some other tribe would soon colonize it and become a threat to Sandpoint. So we decided to take it over as a base for party operations. Perhaps because of his background at Skids, Raven took over the planning for the build.
Business?
The Kassen Klan - An overview of the family.
The Kassen Compound - The family home.
Skids Landing - Our home village.