Into the Desolation

Game Master Zorblag

Centuries ago Tsar, the great temple-city to Orcus, the Demon Prince of the Undead, stood as a bastion of evil and hate. Eventually, at the behest of the churches of Thyr and Muir, the last overking, Graeltor, called for a mighty crusade to tear down the walls of Tsar and forever end the presense of Orcus worship in the world. The great Army of Light, led by the archmage Zelkor marched to the gates of Tsar and laid siege on the fortress city for more than a year before it suddenly and unexpectedly fell. The forces of Orcus were magically transported outside of Tsar, behind the Army of Light and fled en masse to the South. Leaving the abandoned city behind, Zelkor lead the Army of Light in pursuit, knowing that the forces of Orcus had to be destroyed lest they scatter and sow the seeds of future evil throughout the lands. The Army of Light finally caught up with the legions of evil forces in the Forest of Hope where they had chosen to make their last stand. Both armies disappeared into the forest and neither ever emerged; The Army of Light was lost to a man.

Years later, when a terrible graveyard and thriving dungeon complex devoted to Orcus was discovered in the Forest of Hope it became clear that the Army of Light had failed to destroy it's foe. That dungeon complex is now known as Rappan Athuk, the Dungeon of Graves. Many adventures have lost their sanity and lives exploring it's depths, but that is the setting for another adventure.

In the city of Bards Gate, a cleric of Muir has located in the temple archives a set of orders issued by Zelkor during the Battle of Tsar that somehow survived and were transported back to civilized lands. These orders detail the assignment of the paladin lord Bishu and his company, adherents to the faith of Muir, to hold the city of Tsar and await relief from the Army of Light. Lord Bishu was always thought lost in the Dungeon of Graves like the rest of the Army of Light. The fact that he never returned and the possibility that he or some of his command may have survived for some time at Tsar holding to their duty has ignited the church hierarchy. What did Bishu accomplish during his time in the city? Do his bones, surely now sacred relics of the church, still rest there awaiting repatriation? Could he or any of his knights somehow by the grace of the gods have survived all the intervening span of years and man their posts still awaiting relief? The church cannot afford to send any of its own on a possibly foolhardy mission into unknown danger with only a small hope of success, but adventuring parties are often to known to undertake such assignments ...

Character Build Rules:

For now we're going with the following rules:

Start at Level 7
20 point point buy
Evil Characters are discouraged, but we'll work on a case by case basis for the right stories.
Class: Just about any Paizo class, prestige class and archetype is fair game; check if you think it might be too much.
Race: Core races, goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, orcs, ratfolk, ask about others, but anything not to crazy or powerful is likely fine.
Traits: Two traits, and you can select a (play relevant) drawback to add a third. No campaign traits.
Trait Exception: Trap finder can be selected as combat trait.
Religions: Deities of the Bard's Gate Region of the Lost Lands setting are fair game.
Background Skills are in use.
Elephant in the Room Feat Tax Rules are in use.
Variant Multiclassing is in use.
Fractional Base Bonuses are in use.
Standard Wealth by level (using the Autmoatic Bonus Progression adjustment mentioned below,) so start with 11,750 gp (no more than half spent on any one item.)
HP: Max level 1, For levels beyond the first character level use the following: d6 classes get 4 hp; d8 classes get 5 hp; d10 classes get 7 hp; d12 classes get 9 hp.

Automatic Bonus Progression, Magic Armor and Weapons and Crafting/Buying House Rules:

We will use slightly modified Automatic Bonus Progression rules.

The following changes will apply:

Starting gold will be 11,750, no more than half of which can be spent on any one item.

Items that only provide bonuses to AC, saving throws and statistics longer exist. Items that used to have one of the bonuses listed along with others will have their cost reduced on a case by case basis to remove the cost of whatever part of their description has been removed.

Non-magical armor and weapons can be attuned normally using the ABP system (so you'll start with one +1 piece of armor and one +1 weapon by default at level 7.) For armor and weapons with other properties we'll use the capacity system described in the Unleashing Unchained blog post. When magic weapons or armor are bought, crafted or discovered they'll have a capacity listed.

Characters with animal companions can split the ABP bonuses they receive between themself and their animal companion however they like by default. A +2 resistance bonus, for example, could be use to give the character +2, +1 for each the character and the animal companion, or +2 for the animal companion. This can be set at the start of each day.

Additionally, items that would normally not be allowed under ABP (amulets of mighty fists and the like,) can be purchased (and only work) for animal companions as they would under non-ABP rules, but the cap on bonuses is the same as the bonus that ABP would grant at a given level. E.g. When at level 8 the animal companion could have a +2 AOMF, and when the character hit 14 that could go up to +3. If the Animal companion receives bonuses this way they wouldn't stack with the bonuses from ABP the character might be splitting with them.

When crafting or buying magic items other than weapons and armor custom items are not allowed, including the properties of different magic items from the same slot.

Time and dates in the Lost Lands:

We will use the common calendar (or Calendar of Feore) established by Overking Magnusson of Feore in 2768 I.R. (Imperial Record.) The adventure starts in the year 3517 I.R.

A year consists of 12 months, and each month consist of two fortnights. A Fortnight is two 7 day weeks with a festival day between them, so each month is 30 days long. The High Holy Days of each year (the two Solstices and Equinoxes of each year) are not considered part of the months in which they fall, so each year has a total of 364 days.

The months of the common Calendar and their rough Gregorian equivalents are:

Oeros/January
Foeros/February
Freymond/March
Eostre/April
Tiwemond/May
Daan/June
Haymond/July
Hummidos/August
Mithrond/September
Blotmond/October
Winterfyll/November
Yule/December

The days of each week are:

Solstag: For Solanus, the Goddess of the Sun
Ardsdag: For Arden, the God of Life
Djinsdag: For Da-Jin, the God of Death
Mootsdag: The Day of the Market
Manesdag: The Day of Souls
Sistersdag: For Narrah and Syhil, the Goddesses of the Moons
Thingsdag: The Day of the Government

The four High Holy days in 3517 I.R. are as follows:

The Spring Equiniox falls between Manesdag, the 20th of Freymond and Sistersdag, the 21st of Freymond.

The Summer Solstice falls between Manesdag, the 20th of Daan and Sistersdag, the 21st of Daan.

The Fall Equinox falls between Thingsdag, the 22nd of Mithrond and the 23rd of Mithrond, a Festival day.

The Winter Solstice falls between Sisterdag, the 21st of Yule and Thingsdag, the 22nd of Yule.

Religion in the Bard's Gate region of the Lost Lands

Deaths in the Campaign:

Helgash, Half-Orc Inspired Blade 1/Empiricist 6, Killed by a Rast in the Tomb of the Sleeping Knight in the Ashen Wastes on Eostre 7th, 3517.