Cragkin

Ayda Vorshin's page

26 posts. Alias of vayelan.




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Greetings, brave and ambitious souls!

We are looking for 2 players to join our game, which is an Ustalav-based kingdom building game.
We are especially in need of a divine character who can serve as High Priest for our land.

Our current party:
Valeska Talanova, Human (Varisian) Rogue/Summoner/Swashbuckler, Kingdom Role: Ruler
Arden Kain Brandt, Human Cavalier, Kingdom Role: General
Shontar Hadove, Elven Gunslinger (Bolt Ace), Kingdom Role: Spymaster
Chao, Human Monk, Kingdom Role: Marshal

The Story Thus Far:
Whilst attending the Burning Festival in the Ustalavic town of Ravengro, the party drove back a large orc raid from Belkzen. Not only did they earn the admiration of the locals, but they also gained the attention of Prince Aduard Ordranti III, the ruler of Ustalav.

In a political move, the prince decreed that the county would be split in two, with Tamrivena remaining under the control of the Palatinate and the new southern county being given over to Valeska, who now rules as the Countess of Canterwall.

Prompted by a visit by famed author Ailson Kindler, the party is currently embarked on an expedition into the Hold of Belkzen in hopes of forging alliances - or at least truces - with the orc tribes.

Character Creation Details:

Material Allowed: Paizo only. No 3rd party material.
Starting Level: 5
Races: All Core and Featured Races allowed
Classes: All Paizo classes will be considered
Alignment: Good characters are preferred. Neutral characters will be considered, but Evil character are a No-No
Skills: Background Skill rules are in play
Feats: All feats from Paizo material are allowed. "Feat Tax" rules are in play
Traits: Choose 2 traits.
Ability Scores: 20 point buy, no ability beyond 18 none below 9 before racial modifiers. (Don't forget to add the ability increase for level 4).
Starting Wealth: 8,000gp

Feel free to ask questions for clarification. I'm sure I've probably forgotten some key detail.

Recruitment will remain open until 7pm EST on Friday, October 30th.

Thank you kindly!


The annual Burning Festival is one of the few events that distinguishes Ravengro from the many other small towns that dot the fog-shrouded landscape of Ustalav, and it provides an even rarer draw for outsiders to visit the farming town. In a fallow field overlooking the large creek that runs through town, and within view of a moss-covered stone statue, the locals have constructed a hut made of wicker and reeds.

Once dusk has fallen, a procession will carry an effigy into the wicker house and set it alight. For now, however, it sits empty except for a fat crow that refuses to stay away, no matter how many times one of the local farmers chases him away.

Knowledge (History or Local) DC 10:
The Burning Festival commemorates what is arguably the most notable event in Ravengro’s history: the destruction of neighboring Harrowstone Prison in a deadly fire nearly sixty years ago. For the superstitious Ustalavic folk, the festival also serves as a ritual to ward off the spirits of the murderers and madmen who perished in the blaze.

Knowledge (Nobility) DC 15:
One of the last noble rulers of Canterwall was the unpopular Count Eigen Lorres. Despite the economic boom brought to the county when Lorres founded Harrowstone Prison, around which Ravengro grew, the prison’s destruction is seen as one of the catalysts that led to Canterwall, along with neighboring counties of Lozeri and Vieland, to throw off autocratic rule and reinvent themselves as the democratic Palatinates. Nevertheless, these three counties still remain loyal to the Ustalavic crown, currently worn by Prince Aduard Ordranti III.

Knowledge (Geography) DC 15:
Ravengro is a farming settlement of roughly 300 residents. The town sits between Lake Lias to the north and the Redwool River to the south, with Ravengro Creek running through the middle of town. Although these waterways do not support a very healthy fishing industry, the local farms remain bountiful. In fact, Canterwall is known as “the breadbasket of Ustalav,” and this agricultural importance lends the county some measure of political clout.


This is a discussion for the players and characters selected for this campaign in development.

We will still be starting at Level 4, but go ahead and take a little time to tweak your characters' background as needed based upon the change in setting, since this game will focus on Ustalav and the Hold of Belkzen.

Besides background, if you want to swap out any traits, please feel free to do so.


Brandt:
You arrived in Restov too late. By the time you reached the city, the gateway south into the Stolen Lands, you learned that the heroes who defeated the bandit king of the Greenbelt had already come and gone. They were the subject of many boiling rumors, but there was little definite information. However, you also discovered that another group of adventurers was being chartered by the Lord Mayor, and you could not pass up your own chance for fortune and glory.

Bydar:
The Eternal Rose has never been deeply embraced by the Brevic people. The farmers and craftspeople who owe fealty (and taxes) to the various nobles and lordlings of the land instead feel stronger bonds with Pharasma, Abadar, and Gorum. Nevertheless, where beauty is found, it will attract admirers.

The town of Silverhall, cradling House Lebeda’s ancestral castle, is thankfully one such place. Upon the shores of Lake Reykal stands the House of the Lake Rose, the temple of Shelyn (well, a large shrine, really). Often derisively called an “overgrown gazebo,” the shrine is made of marble from the Golushkin Mountains, a bygone gesture of goodwill from House Garess and their dwarven allies.

”Something’s troubling you, my boy,” Lady Tulla said to you one day in the shade of the shrine. The usually soft wrinkles upon the old priestess’ face became as well-defined as the scrollwork upon the shrine’s marble. Seemingly so long ago, when your family deposited you near the Abadaran temple, hoping you would find faith with the Master of the First Vault, it was the sound of Lady Tulla’s violin that initially led you towards Shelyn.

Since then, the priestess has learned to easily read you, her only acolyte. Of course, she also know when not to pry too deeply, such as with the inner conflict that now torments you. Thus, instead of turning this conversation into one of introspection, she simply offers a new path: the invitation from the Lord Mayor of Restov.

Christian:
You never dared to hope that a throne of your own could await in the future. Even hinting at your birthright has hitherto been an exceptionally dangerous prospect. Thus, it was quite the surprise when Jasrella brought this opportunity to your attention. The Lord Mayor of Restov was chartering groups to settle the Stolen Lands. Having been cast out from your own home and spending many years wandering, this was the chance to carve out something real for yourself.

Haane:
You crossed the breadth of Brevoy, from Port Ice to Restov, yet during that time you could never tease forth the meaning of Mister Black’s cryptic words. The raven spoke only in riddles up until you stepped under the eaves of the Lord Mayor’s manor. The superstitious guards took your arrival as an omen and admitted you without hassle when you spoke of an “awaiting kingdom.” Mister Black alighted from your shoulder and perched upon the steeply pitched roof, leaving you to enter alone.

Orlog:
In Brunderton, an overwhelming proportion of the 1,100 residents are dwarves, making the mining town an oddity in Brevoy. Of course, that is also why the Lord Mayor of Restov sent a courier north to Brunderton.

”If they’re going to settle the wilds, they would be foolish not to court our craftsmen for the task,” your old master said with a smile when he passed along the invitation that fateful dawn at the shop.

Vera:
Such was your family’s embarrassment that they sacrificed an uncanny opportunity simply to be rid of you again. They passed along the invitation from the Lord Mayor of Restov, regarding a charter for settlement, with the hollow suggestion that you would be serving as the family’s representative.

Lord Mayor Ioseph Sellemius' office is dominated by a long table of polished walnut. Tall windows look down upon the pitched roofs of Restov stretching out below the upper floor of his hall. The walls are lined with many tapestries, maps, and woodcuts. The table before you is bare, except for a silver tray bearing eight cups and a silver pitcher of water.

The Lord Mayor is an aging paragon of the Rostlandic spirit. He wears a sharply tailored suit beneath his frock coat, yet carries a dueling sword at his hip and thick brass rings upon his fingers. His head is topped by wispy white hair, reminiscent of a young sheep, but his goatee and mustache remain as sharply manicured as a trio of daggers. A small sheaf of papers, dense with calligraphic script, sit neatly piled beside his folded hands.

"I will skip the preamble and strike straight at the heart of the matter, if you don't mind," Sellemius declares. "Rostland, on behalf of the Dragonscale Throne, is prepared to issue a charter for the founding of a new nation south of our borders. This charter comes with a generous stipend of funding to ensure the success and prosperity of this endeavor.

"As you can imagine, this is an unparalleled opportunity that many would fight and die for. Each of you have been selected not just for the diverse skills you offer but also the strength of your character, which will be all too necessary here."


Welcome to our intrepid heroes.


Because so many adventurous souls want to carve out their own nation, it's time for another Kingmaker campaign!

We will be starting with Book 2 of the Adventure Path. The bandits have already been defeated, and the Greenbelt has been mapped. Although this work has been completed by other chartered adventurers, Brevoy has deigned to grant a charter of rulership upon another, newly assembled party.

As you may have guessed, there will be a few twists on the traditional Kingmaker AP in this game. After all, I want to keep things interesting for both you and me.

We will assemble a party of 5-6 players for this game.

Character Creation Details:

Material Allowed: Paizo only. No 3rd party material.
Races: All Core and Featured Races allowed
Classes: All Paizo classes will be considered
Alignment: Good characters are preferred. Neutral characters will be considered, but Evil character are a No-No
Feats: All Core Books
Traits: Choose 2 traits.
Ability Scores: 20 point buy, no ability beyond 18 none below 9 before racial modifiers. (Don't forget to add the ability increase for level 4).
Starting Wealth: 6,000gp (standard for level 4)

Although many of you already have your character submissions ready from our last round, I want there to be time for folks to make revisions, new players to develop their builds, and for yours truly to lay out some prep work for this new campaign.
Therefore, I will keep the recruitment open until 8pm (EST) on Sunday, June 16.

Thank you kindly!


Since a few of our players have had to bow out, we are looking for a couple new recruits for our Falcon's Hollow campaign.

Campaign Premise:

A dark stain blights the Birthplace of Freedom!

In the north of Andoran, within the beast and fey-haunted Darkmoon Vale, the town of Falcon's Hollow languishes beneath the heel of the Lumber Consortium.
The Consortium's gavels bleed the town's residents for every copper just as surely as their loggers harvest the forest's darkwood trees.

Along the streets of Almas, the docks of Augustana, the halls of the Eagle Knights, and the sawdust-strewn streets of Falcon's Hollow itself, many souls cry out for an end to this mercantile tyranny and oppression.

Who will answer this call, and how can they liberate Falcon's Hollow?

Current Party:
Wulf, Human Fighter (Quarterstaff Master)
Boggel Samm, Grippli Warpriest (Sacred Fist)
Helgrim Ironstar, Dwarf Barbarian

Character Creation:

Starting Level: Level 2
Alignment: Non-evil
Ability Scores: 20-point buy
HP: Max at first level. Take average or roll at each future level.

Traits: Two Traits. May take a drawback for a third. Beware! The Consortium may exploit your vulnerabilities.

Starting Wealth: 750gp. A bit lower than normal for 2nd level, but this is an economic struggle, after all.

Material Allowed: Paizo material only.
Miscellaneous: Background Skills will be used.

Deadline: Wednesday, January 23 at 7:00pm (EST)

We will be recruiting at least 2 characters, and perhaps 3 if the submissions are suitably impressive.

Please feel free to ask questions about potential character concepts, the campaign events so far, or other details you are curious about.
Thank you kindly!


Your very long journey begins in a bare, rocky expanse south of the Kantele River.

Then again, perhaps it is more fitting to say the journey began in Tregan, Halvon, Woodsedge, Azurestone, and the other few relatively safe corners of Galt. It was in these hamlets and havens for enemies of the Revolution that you met with Viscount Aristide about this secret expedition eastward, beyond Avistan.

Only when your trustworthiness and value were established did the one-time Galtan noble offer directions to the rendezvous - seemingly in the middle of nowhere, at the foot of the Fog Peaks. You found the Viscount’s agents waiting for you, but rather than directing you eastward to Stavintower or even Edme, the path turned south - into the mountains themselves.

A seemingly trackless path through the rugged foothills brings you to a small cave, barely a hole in the raw rock of the mountains’ base. Within, however, the tunnel widens, and your guide’s lantern reveals great stone doors sculpted with the likeness of dwarf lords of old.

Beyond, you are welcomed into a dwarven hold you had no idea existed.

Among the stoutfolk you find the other men and women recruited for the expedition, working together to load supplies onto the caravan of wagons assembled.
Carefully stacked piles of lumber and bricks. Coils of rope and packs of nails. Bundles of clothing and rolls of canvas. Sacks of grain and vegetables. Jars of preserved fruit and bundles of salted meat. It all gets hefted onto the wagons by men and dwarves.

In one of the adjoining stone plazas, you even see beleaguered herders attempting to keep some goats and sheep in line as a crowd of dwarves look on. Tiny dwarf children struggle against their mothers’ grasp to rush forward and pet the animals while the mothers shake their heads dismissively at the livestock dirtying their hold.

As a cacophony of sounds echo off the great stone arches supporting the mountain’s weight above the underground highway, you can feel that something truly ambitious is unfolding before you.


Welcome to the edge of Galt, and say your farewells to Avistan.


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Opportunity! Freedom! Adventure!

Are you seeking a fresh start? A chance to reap the fruits of your labor? Or are you simply looking to escape the oblivion of the Final Blades?

An expedition is being assembled to journey eastward from Galt, downriver into the Whistling Plains of Casmaron, beyond the World’s Edge Mountains, and towards the Castrovin Sea.

There, a new and independent settlement will be founded, and this bold frontier needs settlers!

These are the promises that have passed around Galt, and fliers have spread the call across neighboring Taldor, the River Kingdoms, Andoran, Kyonin, and Absalom.

Inquiring further, you discover that one of the innumerable nobles displaced by the endless revolutions and anarchy in Galt, is funding this endeavor - secretly gathering settlers and materials to travel east, beyond Avistan, and he looks to find other adventurous souls to join his exodus.

The noble especially needs strong and canny people to guard the expedition down the river and protect the fledgling settlement once it is founded.

Do you dare roll down the river to the Frontier, and help found a town?
-DM Quoth

.....

Here are the character creation guidelines. Please note, some of these have changed from the original campaign post.

Rules Set: Pathfinder
Material Allowed: Paizo Products only
Class Restrictions: Summoners must use Unchained rules
Race Restrictions: No Uncommon races

Starting Level: 2
Ability Scores: 15 point buy

Alignments: All alignments allowed, but don't play them stupidly.
Don’t use CE as an excuse for blindly attacking everyone around you; don’t use LG as an excuse for attacking every non-human creature you see, even if it hasn't done anything.

HP: Maximum for first 2 levels. Future levels, gain average for new HD.
Traits: Two traits. One drawback is allowed for one additional trait.
Background skills will be used.
Starting Gold: 1000gp

Those who want to set up a business in the founded town should invest in skills that reflect their plans.

.....

With your submission, also please answer these questions:

1. Why is your character fleeing Galt? Are they from a neighboring nation? What attracts them to this expedition? Be specific!
2. In character, write your pitch to the noble as to why your character should be taken along. The rendezvous point is a secret, so you must convince the noble that your character is trustworthy.
3. Long term, what role does your character hope to play in the fledgling community? Start a business? Range outside the town to scout for threats? Serve in or lead the militia? Found a temple to their deity? Establish a thieves' guild? Dream as big as you like!

.....

I will be co-running this campaign with GM Cyrioul
Special thanks to DM Quoth for the original campaign drive.

We’ll be recruiting 6 players for this game.
The deadline will be 10pm EST on Sunday, March 18th.


Falcon’s Hollow is a logging town, through and through. Most buildings have log walls, or are finished with wooden siding. The roofs are covered in wooden shingles.

The town is rough-looking for the most part, but some homes feature lovingly wrought ornamentation that shows their owners’ pride: decorative molding, carved cornices, window mullions, and delicate inlays on furniture.
At least, that was how they were, once upon a time. Years of use and being passed down through families leave much of this craftsmanship dinged, dented, and worn - tragically, yet another mirror of their owners.

Sawmills and lumberyards are the main evidence of the town’s industry, along with dusty, exhausted cutyards filled with stumps.
Sawdust invades nearly every home, bed, and meal in the community, like sand in a beach town.
Around Falcon’s Hollow, the forest flourishes, dark and impenetrable, seemingly eager to claim the lives of those who endlessly assault its borders.

The town huddles upon the banks of the River Foam, where the mechanical whine of the sawmill fills the air day and night.
Logs float through the river like a herd of petrified beasts, and sawdust coats the water like brown algae.

...

Jack:
The road north from Oregent was surprisingly dull until you reached Olfden. The overgrown farming town offered a pleasing diversion, with a side trip to visit the bronze-cast Five Falcons Fountain sitting before the town hall and a meal at the Thrumming Birch restaurant - you suspected Master Chef Thrum’s trademark boiled grick was a gamble, but thankfully it paid off with delicious dividends.

As the road climbed the Elberwick Rise and crossed the Darkmoon Plain, the monotony of terrain was broken by spectacular eruptions of mud pot geysers visible a mile from the road.

Despite all the cautionary tales you heard about Andoran’s northern frontier, there were no packs of werewolves or fey ambushes awaiting you - just the unwashed, spitting caravaneers and guards in the Consortium’s employ. You found them very reticent as you plied them for information about their corporate masters, earning little more than wary glances from the weathered men.

One oddity among the caravan, however, is the catman. He gave his name as Rrruh, as best as you could understand the sound. How he found himself accompanying a Consortium caravan presents a bizarre, tantalizing mystery.

At last, the road dead ends against the River Foam. As you wait for the ferry crossing, you have an opportunity to take your first, long look at the infamous logging town, seemingly perched at the wild end of the world.

Randu:
Today is First Cut, marking the start of spring - not that it means much beyond the ceremonial. Gavel Thuldrin Kreed had long since moved the start of the cutting season forward into the bitter cold of winter months. Some of that chill remains in the air as life stirs in the camp even though sunrise yet lingers just beyond the eastern horizon.

The loggers in the cutyard bunkhouse rise, hefting their axes and kicking up plumes of sawdust with even the slightest step. A few of the men let out the last of their lingering coughs, and you imagine many Valers back in town are waking the same way. As if the leprosy outbreak a few years back wasn’t bad enough, Falcon’s Hollow is only just recovering from an outbreak of Blackscour Taint. Somehow Brookman’s Well, just beyond the town palisade, became contaminated with the fungus, infecting many of the residents who depended on it for water.

Laurel Gebre, the harried Garundi woman who owns Roots and Remedies, had even conscripted you to aid her in mixing a curative from rare ingredients retrieved by some of the more experienced local woodsmen. It was not the first time you found yourself unexpectedly apprenticing to her, but over time you have learned much about herbs and folk medicine from her and her grandmother’s old book. Not to mention that this most recent stint earned you enough silvers to pay off your debts to the Store.

After doling out the men’s meager breakfast, the idea strikes you to make the short hike back to town and check on Laurel and see if she’s actually gotten any sleep in the past 48 hours.

Crogge:
As you rise and stare out the mouth of your cave, you reflect - neither for the first or the last time - that a century ago, your view would have been blocked by thick stands of hardwood and darkwood trees. Instead, as you survey your home in the Wolfrun Hills, you find only stump and shrub-covered highlands scarred by many clefts and caves left torn open by ancient earthquakes.

From here, you can see the town of Falcon’s Hollow to the west, upon the River Foam where it floods the water with logs and sawdust. Despite ire the sight may inspire, the thought occurs to you to visit town to buy some supplies that you cannot hunt or scrounge for yourself.

Sweat Pea:
One more step will take you further than you’ve ever been before, beyond the edge of the forest. The old hermit had told you many stories about what lies beyond: the rangers and druids of the Fangwatch, the Silverblooded Werewolves, and a town called Falcon’s Hollow.

Did it slow your steps or hasten them to think about how, soon, fairy tales would soon become a reality? A few more steps will take you from out the embrace of the pine, elm, oak, and darkwood trees and out into the sun-blanched wide open world.

Flint:
Today is First Cut, marking the start of spring - not that it means much beyond the ceremonial. Gavel Thuldrin Kreed had long since moved the start of the cutting season forward into the bitter cold of winter months. Some of that chill remains in the air, pricking up your fur, as life stirs in the camp even though sunrise yet lingers just beyond the eastern horizon.

The loggers in the cutyard bunkhouse rise, hefting their axes and kicking up plumes of sawdust with even the slightest step. Some of them cough. You remember hearing that some manner of disease had stricken the town, and you remain thankful that it passed you over.

The camp’s cook, the halfling Randu, is already serving breakfast. You also remember hearing that he had played some part in working up the cure for the disease.

Rrruh:
When at last you had your family’s blessing to explore, you also took their advice and journeyed to Andoran. Your uncle had told you that the strange nation - a place of councils, elections, and liberty - would be more welcoming to you than other destinations. After wandering the docks and streets of the port city Augustana - you had never seen so much of everything - you began a trek through the country.

Your wanderings took you first along the coastal plateau to the capital, Almas. Although you regretted leaving such a splendid city behind, you feared that staying would leave you to enamored to ever leave and thus spoil the rest of your exploration. From there, you traveled northward along a mighty river to a town called Riverford and then a smaller city called Oregent.

Oregent was dirty and reeked of smoke, so you were glad to leave. A caravan was forming to travel north, carrying supplies for some company called the Lumber Consortium. You offered to journey with them and provide protection. They scoffed until they saw you fend off the three men who tried to rob you as your started to leave. The caravan master changed his mind after that.

As the caravan traveled north, bound for a town called Falcon’s Hollow, you discovered another outsider traveling with them - some stripe of nobleman, no less - named Jack. He was full of questions, but the other caravaneers offered few answers.

...

Knowledge (History) DC 10:
Falcon’s Hollow is a young town, only about 140 years old. However, it is only the latest in a line of logging towns settled to exploit the northern forests of Andoran. Before Falcon’s Hollow came Falconridge and Northsap, both of which remain only as ghost towns to the south.

Knowledge (Local) DC 10 or Falcon’s Hollow resident:
The Lumber Consortium owns nearly everything in Falcon’s Hollow - and most would argue that this includes the residents.

Thuldrin Kreed runs the town as the local gavel, a foreman who oversees operations on behalf of the board of directors. He descends from a long line of lumber barons, and he is a cruel man just like his late father, Thalsin.
Kreed’s right-hand man and lickspittle is Boss Payden Teedum, known as “Pay Day” thanks to the way he doles out painful “due” to anyone who fails to follow commands quickly enough.

One of the few people willing to stand up to these two men is Sheriff Deldrin Baleson, who maintains some semblance of justice in the town with the help of a handful of deputies drawn from local loggers and retired adventurers.

Knowledge (Nature) DC 10:
Although many varieties of hardwood grow throughout the forest, it is the precious Darkwood Trees that make logging especially profitable around Falcon’s Hollow.

Darkmoon Woods are home to many animals, but the most dangerous denizens are giant mosquitos, moorsnakes, and especially wolves, known to be particularly aggressive here on the frontier.

Knowledge (Geography) DC 10:
Hundreds of years ago, a seismic event known as the Rending rocked the region around the Five Kings Mountains, and lingering effects continue today. The Darkmoon Plains, south of Falcon’s Hollow, are rife with geysers, hotsprings, and mudpots, all of which make straying from the main road very dangerous.

The River Foam, upon which the town sits, runs down from the Five Kings Mountains and splits the Vale into Darkmoon Woods and the Darkmoon Plains. South of Falcon’s Hollow, the river cuts through the Wolfrun Hills before pouring into the Andoshen River.


Falcon’s Hollow is a logging town, through and through. Most buildings have log walls, or are finished with wooden siding. The roofs are covered in wooden shingles.

The town is rough-looking for the most part, but some homes feature lovingly wrought ornamentation that shows their owners’ pride: decorative molding, carved cornices, window mullions, and delicate inlays on furniture.
At least, that was how they were, once upon a time. Years of use and being passed down through families leave much of this craftsmanship dinged, dented, and worn - tragically, yet another mirror of their owners.

Sawmills and lumberyards are the main evidence of the town’s industry, along with dusty, exhausted cutyards filled with stumps.
Sawdust invades nearly every home, bed, and meal in the community, like sand in a beach town.
Around Falcon’s Hollow, the forest flourishes, dark and impenetrable, seemingly eager to claim the lives of those who endlessly assault its borders.

The town huddles upon the banks of the River Foam, where the mechanical whine of the sawmill fills the air day and night.
Logs float through the river like a herd of petrified beasts, and sawdust coats the water like brown algae.

Naomi:
The rumors you heard of Falcon’s Hollow pale in comparison to the reality.

Sawdust chokes the town like a fog, clinging to everything and everyone like a brand. Most residents are restricted to shopping at the “Low Market,” only able to buy the leftovers passed down from the “High Market” atop the Perch, the hill overlooking the town proper.

Yesterday, you watched the most powerful man in town, Gavel Thuldrin Kreed, hold his monthly lottery to grant a handful of employees passes to visit the High Market for up to 3 days. Their prize was the privilege of buying produce that hadn’t spoiled and meat that hadn’t begun to rot.

Today was supposed to be First Cut, a festival marking the return of spring. However, the logging season had never really ended around Falcon’s Hollow. As Brickasnurd told you, whilst he dusted the petrified pseudodragon sitting upon the shop counter, Gavel Kreed had long since mandated that the logging crews had to work even through the bitter winter months.

”No one’s got time to celebrate,” the gnome said wistfully. ”Everyone’s only ever got time to work.”

The latest blow to the town was Blackscour Taint. Some sort of contamination in the local well, demonstrating that the locals couldn’t even trust their water. Painful, hacking coughs had become part of the town’s background sounds, as much as the birds, river, and the sawmill running day and night.

The local herbalist, Laurel Gebre, had announced she was now offering a cure. While that is certainly a solution to one pressing problem, it seems unlikely that, on the whole, life in Falcon’s Hollow will much improve for its downtrodden residents.

Liam:
What was it that compelled you to spare the town from its own blight?

As the Consortium’s loggers hack away at the forest, their “civilization” consumes more of the wild each day. Thus it felt like due justice when a disease fell upon them. You recognized the effects of Blackscour, an invasive fungus that causes terrible health problems when it contaminates drinking water.

On your trips into the town, under the guise of a simple woodsman, you often trade with the local herbalist, Laurel. Owner of Roots and Remedies, she frequently depended on you to keep her shop stocked, especially with some rarer, more unusual ingredients. Although the snake-oils and aphrodisiacs that form the bulk of her business left you with an initially poor opinion of her talents, you soon learned that she was also knowledgeable of particularly esoteric and effective curatives gleaned from her grandmother’s old book.

Among those recipes was one to treat Blackscour Taint, and during one of your visits, Laurel again asked your help as she sought the necessary ingredients. It was no simple task, as she sought Elderwood Moss, which of course only grows on the oldest, tallest tree in the forest. In exchange for braving a site known to be a haunt for fearsome tatzlwyrms, she offered to share with you a secret you had long been curious about: the source of her grandmother’s knowledge.

When you returned with the moss and begrudgingly saved the town, Laurel revealed that her grandmother had been an apprentice to Ulizmila, the legendary witch of Darkmoon Vale, and supposedly had even traded her eyesight to the witch for some of the secrets inscribed in the old book Laurel now possessed.

Timothy:
Your search for others who would oppose the Consortium was put aside as a new, more pressing crisis struck the town. A terrible disease called Blackscour struck the town, leaving many residents shutting themselves away lest they contract the hacking, tearing cough. Gavel Kreed had even sent you to press the local herbalist, Laurel Gebre, and learn if she had a cure.

She didn’t, but she would have one soon.

Laurel had contacted some of her sources to secure the rare ingredients needed to concoct a cure. This should have been good news for the town, but you knew better.

Although Laurel was one of the few residents of Falcon’s Hollow who was not a direct Consortium employee, she still paid a hefty series of taxes and fees to extortionists working for Kreed or the allied Redrock Guild. Almost as an extension of that, Gavel Kreed intended to confiscate the cure and “properly distribute it” to afflicted employees.

This, of course, means he would sell it to employees at an inflated price.

”That shop and every plant she harvests sits on Consortium property,” Kreed insisted with a pounded fist, ”So that cure is automatically company property.”

Word has reached you that Laurel had begun mixing the cure, and now you worry what will happen when Kreed sends his men to take it right out from under the sick and dying residents of Falcon’s Hollow.

Helgrim:
You were lured to Falcon’s Hollow by stories of the remnants of fallen dwarven kingdoms in the neighboring Five Kings Mountain. Crippled by the cataclysm known as the Rending almost 800 years ago, eruptions and earthquakes laid waste to the hold of Jernashall and its sister city, Raseri Kanton, and broke the spirit of the dwarven people in a way that centuries of war could not. Nevertheless, the works of ancient masters of engineering lie buried within Droskar’s Crag and the other peaks, you’re sure of it.

Before you could cajole any rumors and stories from the reticent locals, a disease struck the town. Although you were not infected, something called Blackscour Taint left many locals with terrible hacking coughs as their bodies tore themselves up from within. A local herbalist named Laurel put out a call for ingredients to concoct a cure. One of them, Ironbloom Mushrooms, was very familiar to you.

A staple of dwarven cuisine and medicine, the mushrooms grow in dark places rich in metal, and you had brought some among your traveling provisions. As the other ingredients were gathered, you found yourself an unexpected hero for the town. Hopefully now the local Valers will be more apt to aid your study of the local ruins - or at least let you have a look at the sawmill mechanisms.

Boggel:
Living in a small, sodden fen where the River Foam cuts through the Wolfrun Hills, you certainly had not expected to become a local hero for the Valers.

When you first arrived in Falcon’s Hollow, some of the loggers fearfully chased you into the river, mistaking you for a fey druid. Unable to travel further north to the Darkmoon Woods as you would have liked, you made do living among the copses of pine and fir that grew along eastern hills. Eventually you began eking out an existence on the fringe of this logging town, and one of the locals even took to trading with you.

Called Laurel, she is the town herbalist, and she has often traded with you to keep her shop stocked. Thus, when a deadly disease - Blackscour Taint - fell upon the town, she immediately sought you out to help locate the unusual ingredients needed for a cure. Much to both of your surprise, you had one of the ingredients already: a very salty marsh root known as Rat’s Tail. Not only had you brought some with you from Verduran Forest, but you had taken to cultivating some around your new home.

Laurel must have given you due credit among her customers, as one day a small band of local children wandered downriver to meet the “frog who helped save the town.”

Wulf:
The Blackscour Taint was just the latest kick in the teeth for Falcon’s Hollow. You were still serving in the army when leprosy struck the town, but you were here for this latest outbreak. On trips to town from your farm, you heard the pained, wracking coughs blending with the other ambient sounds of the river and the sawmill.

You talked to Laurel Gebre, the herbalist who runs Roots and Remedies. She was working on a cure and had asked come contacts to collect the rare ingredients she needed. You asked if you could help, but you’d never heard of Elderwood Moss or Ironbloom Mushrooms. Laurel could get impatient and would often take an attitude when stressed, but she was a good woman. If anyone could cure this disease, it would be her.

She said that the disease had been traced to a fungus that contaminated Brookman’s Well. With the well now closed off to stop the spread, most of the folks in town had to either drink the sawdust-laced river water or buy water from the Consortium’s rain barrels. Seeing something you could do to help, you began offering clean water from your farm’s well to your neighbors in town.

Too bad that didn’t sit well with some people. You weren’t sure if they were Kabran Bloodeye’s men from the Redrock Guild or Boss Teedum’s own enforcers, but they made it clear that you were to stop offering free water. Of course, you and your quarterstaff made it clear that they couldn’t stop you.

Today is First Cut, traditionally marking the return of spring and the start of the logging season. Although most Valers don’t celebrate it much anymore, since the Consortium works them even through the winter months, at least the day brings a bit of good news: Kane and Sindi have come running home, shouting how “Miss Laurel had worked up a cure for the sick folks.”

The thought strikes you to stop by Laurel’s shop. While no one in your family came down with Blackscour, a rare blessing in your life, you can’t help but worry about your neighbors.

...

Knowledge (History) DC 10:
Falcon’s Hollow is a young town, only about 140 years old. However, it is only the latest in a line of logging towns settled to exploit the northern forests of Andoran. Before Falcon’s Hollow came Falconridge and Northsap, both of which remain only as ghost towns to the south.

Knowledge (Local) DC 10 or Falcon’s Hollow resident:
The Lumber Consortium owns nearly everything in Falcon’s Hollow - and most would argue that this includes the residents.

Thuldrin Kreed runs the town as the local gavel, a foreman who oversees operations on behalf of the board of directors. He descends from a long line of lumber barons, and he is a cruel man just like his late father, Thalsin.
Kreed’s right-hand man and lickspittle is Boss Payden Teedum, known as “Pay Day” thanks to the way he doles out painful “due” to anyone who fails to follow commands quickly enough.

One of the few people willing to stand up to these two men is Sheriff Deldrin Baleson, who maintains some semblance of justice in the town with the help of a handful of deputies drawn from local loggers and retired adventurers.

Knowledge (Nature) DC 10:
Although many varieties of hardwood grow throughout the forest, it is the precious Darkwood Trees that make logging especially profitable around Falcon’s Hollow.

Darkmoon Woods are home to many animals, but the most dangerous denizens are giant mosquitos, moorsnakes, and especially wolves, known to be particularly aggressive here on the frontier.

Knowledge (Geography) DC 10:
Hundreds of years ago, a seismic event known as the Rending rocked the region around the Five Kings Mountains, and lingering effects continue today. The Darkmoon Plains, south of Falcon’s Hollow, are rife with geysers, hotsprings, and mudpots, all of which make straying from the main road very dangerous.

The River Foam, upon which the town sits, runs down from the Five Kings Mountains and splits the Vale into Darkmoon Woods and the Darkmoon Plains. South of Falcon’s Hollow, the river cuts through the Wolfrun Hills before pouring into the Andoshen River.


Welcome to a town drowning in sawdust and corruption.


Welcome to a town drowning in sawdust and corruption.


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A dark stain blights the Birthplace of Freedom!

In the north of Andoran, within the beast and fey haunted Darkmoon Vale, the town of Falcon's Hollow languishes beneath the heel of the Lumber Consortium.
The Consortium's gavels bleed the town's residents for every copper just as surely as their loggers harvest the forest's darkwood trees.

Along the streets of Almas, the docks of Augustana, the halls of the Eagle Knights, and the sawdust-strewn streets of Falcon's Hollow itself, many souls cry out for an end to this mercantile tyranny and oppression.
Who will answer this call, and how can they liberate Falcon's Hollow?

.....

Starting Level: Level 1

Alignment: Non-evil

Ability Scores: 4d6, drop the lowest.

HP: Max at first level. Take average or roll at each future level.

Traits: Two Traits. May take a drawback for a third. Beware! The Consortium may exploit your vulnerabilities.

Starting Wealth: Roll for wealth by class. This is an economic struggle, after all!

Material Allowed: Everything on the PRD. Other options will be considered by request on a case-by-case basis.

Miscellaneous: Background Skills will be used.

Deadline: Recruitment will be open until 10:00pm EST on Saturday, March 3, although this may be extended.

Feel free to ask questions or seek clarification.


Welcome to the discussion.
Please dot and take the opportunity to discuss your ties to the community and, possibly, each other.


Welcome to Darkmoon Vale


A forum to continue the adventures of a group who met because of a goose.