Quartz 5

The Merry Bunch

Properties2
tagsorganization, adventuring-party
aliasesMerry Bunch

4 min read

The Merry Bunch

The Merry Bunch are an adventuring party drawn together from chance meetings on the road, bound by deep personal ties and the shared, quiet creed that life is just life - so live it for yourself. At their heart lies a search for immortality - and a prophecy none of them asked for.

Kios Status

Reason for being thereThey seek the Panacea as the foundation of a way to live forever. Boti would also be glad to try to meet Gazu-Shirak, whom the group considers another possible path, although they know the dragon may have no desire to help them.
How they reached the cityThey teleported to the Juggernaut Three.
FoodFilli and Boti provide food through magic.
Diseases and cursesFilli and Boti use magic to treat them.
ObjectiveFind the Panacea, which they assume is in the palace. Alternatively, meet Gazu-Shirak.
ObstacleThe defenses on the way to the palace, and Mithradaitis VI.

The Company

  • Aldor Thaned - the de facto leader and a level 14 Steel Hawk; a human raised by tengu after banderhobbs devoured his mother, born under the Rising Phoenix; serious, protective, and secretly in love with Nessa.
  • Tikal - a level 13 Way of the Astral Self monk; Aldor’s adoptive tengu brother, who manifested the Talons of Gagana; warm and joking, sworn to be his brother’s steel shield.
  • Nessa Gorin - a level 13 Spellfire Sorcerer; a once-wealthy woman whose estate was destroyed by a red storm; proud and guarded, in love with Aldor, and a formidable caster after years apprenticed away.
  • Filantrophia (Filli) - a level 13 Light Cleric of the Three Charities, raised to give endlessly to others and now learning to want things for herself.
  • Boti - a level 13 College of Creation bard; a goblin called the Timeless Bard, kept ageless by a blessing from the dragon Ko Arto; the grandmother of the group.

How the Group Came to Be

The brothers Aldor and Tikal set out seeking the secret of immortality and were drawn to the legend of the Timeless Bard, Boti, who joined them on a whim. In the Holy Theocracy they met Filli, who for the first time was asked what she wanted; later they were found by Nessa, lost and only just discovering her powers. The name came from a grateful mayor’s question after they saved his village - Boti declared them “the Merry Bunch,” and the name stuck.

Nessa’s Departure and Return

In 1537, Nessa left the group in the middle of the night with only a letter. She believed that her magical knowledge and ability were inadequate and that she was holding her companions back, though leaving brought her into conflict with Aldor and Filli. During the next two years, she apprenticed under Talna of the Juggernaut Three. Nessa returned in 1539 during the Battle of Three Pillars and saved the Merry Bunch’s lives. They welcomed her back, although Aldor remains somewhat hurt by how she left.

The Rising Phoenix Prophecy

Seeking a deathless phoenix atop a northern peak, the group instead found Ziz, queen of the Feathered Pantheon, who named Aldor the Rising Phoenix and foretold that he must “travel through, across, and under… drink the fire and eat the stone… gain all that you wished for, and lose all that mattered.” Aldor read its ending as a death sentence for Tikal, and now flees the prophecy - warding himself even from dreams.

Appendix

See Also

Notes

  • Reorganized from the former NPC-The Merry Bunch entry; each member now has their own page.

Sources & Attribution

  • Primary lore: content/NPC/The Merry Bunch.md (moved to content/private/_originals/NPC/), author TrueMichato.
  • Kios status: content/private/_originals/dik-and-the-gang/מסמך עלילה.md, author TrueMichato.

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