The Sounds of War
Game Master Arcmagik

A labyrinthine political landscape plagues the nation of Brevoy; secret alliance, provincial loyalties, and nefarious plots abound. Brevoy is being pushed closer and closer to civil war by the continued machinations of the increasingly autocratic House Surtova. In the south, the Swordlords of Rostland who have long been enemies of House Surtova, fear such a war because their armies are fewer, their rolling hills and grasslands offer very little in the war of natural defenses, and their southern border lies along a stretch of wilderness infested with bandits and monsters. If Brevoy were to fall into a civil war, then it wouldn't be long at all before the violent, opportunistic vultures to the south move to take advantage of Rostland's problems. As the tension rises some of the Swordlords have begun to set in motions various political schemes...

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Chapter 1: A Swordlord's Gambit
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Spoiler:

On the 22nd day of Calistril, the Free City of Restov welcomes visitors from all over Brevoy to celebrate the monumental event that will unite northern and southern Brevoy for the first time in centuries. The betrothal of Ioseph Sellemius, Lord Mayor of Restov, and Lady Alexis Orlovsky, daughter of Poul Orlovsky, one of the Issian Lords.

Start Date: Calistril 22nd, 4709
Current Date: Calistril 26th, 4709
Party Location: Derelict border keep on the edge of the Greenbelt.

Current or Potential Plot-Points

• What happened to Auchs?
• Kressle's Bandit Camp
• Gaedran Lamm
• The Stag Lord
• Attack on the Wedding
• Lord Regent's poisoning.
  

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Player Characters
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Spoiler:

[list]
Grendolynn:

• Hit Points 13/13
• Armor Class 19
• Hero Points 2
• XP: 1425/3000

Teyran Rilskel:

• Hit Points 12/12
• Armor Class 16
• Hero Points 2
• XP: 1425/3000

Antha Scapegrace:

• Hit Points 6/6
• Armor Class 13
• Hero Points 2
• XP: 1425/3000

Arasmes Vors:

• Hit Points 9/9
• Armor Class 19
• Hero Points 3
• XP: 1425/3000

Valeska Talanova:

• Hit Points 12/12
• Armor Class 20
• Hero Points 2
• XP: 1250/3000

Thadeusz 'Tad' Orlovsky:

• Hit Points 14/14
• Armor Class 15
• Hero Points 2
• XP: 1250/3000

Morley Worgendale:

• Hit Points 12/12
• Armor Class 18
• Hero Points 2
• XP: 1250/3000

LoTae Zhao:

• Hit Points 8/8
• Armor Class 15
• Hero Points 2
• XP: 900/3000

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Non-Player Characters
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Spoiler:

Ioseph Sellemius

• The current Lord Mayor of Restov and a Rostlandic Swordlord. He has defied House Surtova at every turn since Noleski begun to call himself “king” but Ioseph knows that he does not have long before Noleski turns the armies of Issian against him. It appears that he has chosen to tie himself to a northern Lord much to the dismay of his fellow Swordlords. He found an ally in Alexis though the two have not married since the interrupted wedding.

Alexis Orlovsky

• The daughter of Lord Orlovsky. Alexis was shot during the wedding by an unknown bandit but saved by Arasmes. She has shown some moments of courage though she typically appears young and timid. Even with their marriage interrupted she has chosen to join her fate to Ioseph.

Poul Orlovsky

• One of the Issian Lords. He refuses to acknowledge Noleski Surtova as anything other than Lord Regent in the absense of King Urzen or a true Rogarvian heir, but it is becoming increasingly clear which way the political winds are shifting. He will soon be forced to either declare for the man he considers an usurper and opportunist, or seek to overthrow him.

Noleski Surtova

• House Surtova were renowned as crafty schemers and had ingratiated themselves with the ruling house of Rogarvia and Noleski Surtova, Duke of House Surtova, took advantage of the misfortune of House Rogarvia by quickly establishing a “regency” in the absence of King Urzen. He has only maintained this by allying with former enemies and using fear of the return of Rogarvia as a tool to unite Brevoy and its seven noble families.

  Noleski Surtova's “regency” has quickly become a succession and now he sits upon the Dragonscale Throne and demands that Brevoy recognize him as King. Some of the Brevic noble houses, such as House Orlovsky, only acknowledge Noleski as reigning Lord Regent and diplomatic relations are growing tense. Increasingly, it appears that Brevoy is on the verge of collapsing back into two separate nations.
  

• Noleski appeared more as the “Warrior-King” then a crafty schemer and he quickly fell to poison of some-type and is now in the care of his sister.
  

Natala Surtova

• The sister of Noleski and unofficial "queen" of Brevoy. Rumors say that she enjoys her role (and her influence over her brother) far too much to embrace the idea of a proper sister-in-law. She has refused help from Restov for her brother.
  
• She accuses them of being the poisoner and will not allow their healers close enough to finish the job. She has called for the King's healer in New Stetven and sent a message onto her uncle in Port Ice asking him to march to her aid.

Bingo Guessford

• The proprietor of the Gnarly Hobbit Inn. He is also the family patriarch of the modest family of halflings that run the place. It is a shame that halflings are viewed as no better then rogues or else the Gnarly Hobbit could compete with some of the bigger inns in Restov for service.

Kesten Garess

• The exiled son of Evan Garess, cousin to Garess family patriarch Lord Howlan. Quite recently became a Swordlord of Restov, the Exiled Blade.
  
• Kesten has been put in charge of the expedition into the Stolen Lands and has taken up residence in the derelict border keep on the edge of the Greenbelt.

Master Janus

• The Lord Mayor's attendant and the man that keeps the day to day operations of the city running smoothly while the Lord Mayor focuses on foreign policies.

Auchs

• A bandit of the Stag Lord that participated in the attack on the wedding of the Lord Mayor and was captured by Grendolynn. Questioned by the Lord Mayor then turned over to Poul Orlovsky for punishment since the bandits had nearly killed Lord Orlovsky's daughter.
  
• Current fate is unknown and Alexis promised to look into it.

Oleg Leveton

• A merchant from Restov that accepted a commission to supply the Greenbelt expedition as well as act as the quartermaster for the keep under Kesten's command.

  Happs
  [list]

• A “would-be” bandit lord who was quickly taken out. His men fled the border keep as soon as he fell. Revealed some information about the bandit activities in the Greenbelt.
  
• Beheaded by Grendolynn and buried in the border keep.

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Campaign Atlas
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The Greenbelt:

With the tangled woodlands of the Narlmarches to the west and the rugged hills of the Kamelands to the east, the Greenbelt is a haven for bandits. The lack of dangerous inhabitants other than indigenous tribes of kobolds makes this the safest of the four regions for "freelance banditry," although recent rumors hold that a particularly powerful individual known as the Stag Lord has risen to unite and the region's brigands. To the south, tribes of trolls and more dangerous creatures provide a quite effective buffer between Brevoy and Mivon.

The Greenbelt

Hex Color Key

• Black = Unexplored
• White = Explored
• Blue = Claimed by Brevoy

Exploring the Stolen Lands:

Traveling (Time to cross 1 hex)
Party Speed / Plains / All Other Terrains
15 feet / 11 hours / 16 hours
20 feet / 8 hours / 12 hours
30 feet / 5 hours / 8 hours
40 feet / 4 hours / 6 hours
50 feet / 3 hours / 5 hours

[spoiler=Exploring the Stolen Lands]
Traveling (Time to cross 1 hex)
Party Speed / Plains / All Other Terrains
15 feet / 11 hours / 16 hours
20 feet / 8 hours / 12 hours
30 feet / 5 hours / 8 hours
40 feet / 4 hours / 6 hours
50 feet / 3 hours / 5 hours

Exploring (Time to fully explore 1 hex)
Party Speed / Plains / Forest or Hill / Mountain or Swamp
15 feet / 3 days / 4 days / 5 days
20 feet / 2 days / 3 days / 5 days
30 feet / 1 day / 2 days / 3 days
40 feet / 1 day / 1 day / 2 days
50 feet / 1 day / 1 day / 1 day

There's a 5% chance of an encounter occurring each time the PCs enter a hex, and a 15% chance per day or night spent exploring or camping in a hex.

With each hex of terrain fully explored, the party earns 200 experience points (25 XP per character).

Encounter Sites
There are many set encounter locations in the Stolen Lands; these fixed encounter sites are categorized into one of three categories: landmark, standard, and hidden.

Landmark Site: The site is a large structure or sizable landmark that is automatically discovered as soon as the PCs enter the hex. It can be avoided or explored according to the PCs' whims.

Standard Site: A site that is not particularly obvious, and unless the PCs are traveling specifically to that site, they do not encounter the site until they explore the hex, in which case they automatically locate the site.

Hidden Site: Near identical to a standard site, save that if the PCs don't already know about the site's location, they must make a specific skill check (according the type of site) to locate it during that hex's exploration.

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Table Rules in Play
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Spoiler:

Hero Points
E6
Firearms Rules
Critical Fumble/Hits: I own the Pathfinder GameMastery Critical Hit and Critical Fumble decks, and will be using them in game. Fumbles use implementation option #1 (if you roll a natural 1, you follow it with a confirmation roll at your highest attack bonus, if that misses, you will receive a random yet appropriate effect from the deck). Confirmed Critical Hits replace 1x of your critical multiplier with a random card. Regular rules for stacking multiple multipliers apply.

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Dice Marcos
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Spoiler:

Initiative:
Grendolynn: [dice]1d20+3[/dice]
Teyran Rilskel: [dice]1d20+1[/dice]
Erostil Vramir: [dice]1d20+4[/dice]
Antha Scapegrace: [dice]1d20+3[/dice]
Arasmes Vors: [dice]1d20+3[/dice]
Valeska Talanova: [dice]1d20+6[/dice]
Thadeusz 'Tad' Orlovsky: [dice]1d20+2[/dice]
Morley Worgendale: [dice]1d20+3[/dice]