Omens Better Left Lost: An Age of Worms Campaign

Game Master Kobold Catgirl

Current Date: 16th of Arodus (August), 4706

Start of The Whispering Cairn: 13th of Arodus (August), 4706
Party meets up, fights wolves/beetles, Passage of the Face, Shimye-Magalla statue

XP Tracker: 4300/6000
XP Trackers: 200 wolves + 300 Hall of the Face + 250 Green Elevator + 200 beetle family + 200 beetle dad + 150 false elevator + 150 poison gas trap + 150 brown mold + 200 the Thing in the Shaft + 200 elemental diplomacies + 250 Uluvant + 200 grick + 400 owlbear + 800 barfight + 250 skeletons + 400 Filgefight + 250 Caith burial + 100 Jasidian solution + 600 wind warriors + 400 tomb complete

Rosella Breban wrote:

"... It's much easier to just ignore things you don't want to deal with."

GM Notes

[dice=Perc (Broc;Briar;Ed;Rose;Kat;Alais)]1d20+1;1d20;1d20+6;1d20+5;1d20+6;1d20+1[/dice] Any buffs to these?
[dice=Inits (Broc;Briar;Ed;Rose;Kat;Alais)]1d20+3;1d20+2;1d20+2;1d20+4;1d20+2;1d20+2[/dice] Any buffs to these? If a tie matters between PCs, whoever posts first acts first. Otherwise, highest Initiative always acts first.

Misc Setting Notes:

Locations of note:
Diamond Lake
Mushfens/Mistmarsh
Magnimar
Sandpoint
The Sodden Lands
Xopatl
Riddleport
The Lurkwood
The Eye of Abendego
The Rift Canyon

A very rough concept map.

Lastwall is a city-state in southeastern Varisia.

Ustalav can basically be considered merged with Geb for all intents and purposes.

Cheliax and Taldor probably exist, or once existed, they're just... over there. Y'know. That way. *waves hand* This campaign will not make much of a distinction, as to the people of Garund, Arcadia and Varisia, there is no difference of consequence. One conqueror gone to dust, the other gone to ash. Who cares?

The River Kingdoms, the Mwangi Expanse, and Varisia cover much wider "territories", though obviously with no central governments.

Absalom still exists, on that one island. I forgot to mark it, is all.

Katapesh is the trade capital of the region and can basically be considered the birthplace of capitalism for this world. Osirion is in its decline, though still mighty.

What happened to the other nations not shown on the map? Either they still exist, but as minor city-states, or they're somewhere off the map. For instance, if you're attached to your PC coming from Andoran, maybe it's a prominent city-state in the Mwangi expanse or Varisia, or maybe it's still a full nation, but somewhere to the distant east or west. You're free to embellish that.

NPCs:

Allies

Enemies

Minor Allies

Minor Enemies

Deceased
Caith
The Widow Coszma
Sunshade House Owner
First Raven Man

Misc/Undefined
Allustan Neff
Lanod Neff
Zalamandra
Auric's Warband
Ilthane the Black
Balabar Smenk
Nogwier
Roselle's Brother
Roselle's Barbarian Lady
Uncle Edrukk
Ellival Moonmeadow
Kullen/Kullen's Gang

On Drow:

Dark elves are biologically identical to other elves (though we can still have some elves be blue-skinned if anyone really wants them). "Drow" is more a counterpart of "Forlorn", and refers to someone who's committed unforgivable crimes against the elven people or the world around them. It's sort of the Chaotic Good equivalent of being blacklisted. Many dark elves originate from the elves who chose to stay behind after Starfall, but not all those elves are considered drow, and not all drow are from that time.
Of course, elves generally being Chaotic Good, they aren't generally inclined to try to "police" or otherwise investigate who is and isn't a dark elf, or who's on the Registry of Bad Persons. The best tell for if someone's a drow, short of hearing it from someone else, is if they're a jerk. If a surface elf is a jerk, they're a drow. If a drow is a nice person, clearly they're not much of a drow.

Elves don't really view "drow" as a race/ancestry, or even a caste, so much as an alignment, a way of thinking, or even a "vibe" you get off someone. You could compare it to, say, calling someone a "skinhead" or a "punk".

Not all dark elves are outright evil. Neutral and even Lawful Good elves can be declared "dark elves" depending on circumstances. That said, they do tend to take a lot less joy in the happiness of others. Evil elves tend to view the natural world as a weapon, which is why poisons appeal so well to them, and why the aesthetics of spiders have become so popular.

On Goblins:

The goblins of the Cairn Hills have been there longer than... well, just about anybody. This isn't to say they're an especially wise or informed people, or indeed, that they consider themselves native. Goblins are a bit too ugly-minded to care much for history. Goblin religion revolves around the Old Faith, particularly Obad-Hai, Beory and Nerull, and they view the world mainly through a concept of cycles. Goblins aren't innately evil, per se, but they do carry a close-to-innate disregard for living things. They are deeply imbued with the Winter King's message that death is a necessary part of life, but take this to mean that killing is a necessary part of staying alive yourself.

There are neutral goblins, and even good goblins, but very few escape some aspect of neutrality in their alignment. A Lawful Evil or Chaotic Evil goblin is about as rare as a Neutral Good goblin. Some form of apathy is baked into the cultural mindset of goblins even deeper than cruelty.

Are goblins as whacky as they are in traditional Pathfinder? Do they have funny big heads and huge mouths? Well, sure. Many goblins embrace this nihilism and just go to town with it. Lamashtu is arguably a positive influence on goblins in many ways, encouraging them to be less passive, take more joy in things. Unfortunately, goblins that follow Lamashtu are under the thumb of the Barghest Heroes as well, who lead the goblins by examples of brutality and carnage.

There are three goblin "towns" of note around Diamond Lake: The Murkhollow, the Cinderhill, and the Crown Cairn, each named for their base of choice. These towns have established agreements with the Bronzewood Lodge over the years, and so leave the town, the Garrison, and the Lodge alone. Some come into town for work, but mostly, goblins care little for the "cliff people", as they call humans, dwarves, and indeed, most non-goblins.

The Murkhollow are fairly friendly, and many Murkhollow goblins are members of the Lodge. This doesn't make them any more pleasant to be around. Friendly goblins are, in a way, almost worse than unfriendly goblins. Goblins tend to make incredibly toxic friends, and people with anxiety or depression are urged to steer clear of them.

Are goblins happy? What a question. Maybe. Sort of. Evil people generally aren't very meaningfully happy. Goblins who adjust to being decent people are... well, at least they realize they're unhappy. Does it help? Maybe. Sort of. It's complicated.