Gromnar's page

Nasperiah the Blood Hag and her followers set up the soulbound lift, under the disguise of gravekeepers of Kintargo's cemetary. After the cultists built the shrine around the soul anchor in in 4382 AR, Nasperiah set into motion a plan to keep the above-ground portion of the soulbound lift protected and observed by her followers.

Abducting a strong male speciment from Kintargo, Nasperiah birthed the first changeling for the purpose of looking after the soulbound lift on the surface. Raising that child as a priestess like herself, she sent her back to Kintargo when she was in her early twenties, tasking her with taking over as her agent in the city in the role of a gravekeeper to watch over the lift, in a similar manner as the original cultists did. With her, she gave a missive stone for communication and sent several ageless constructs to directly protect the entrance while the changeling was to be her eyes and ears. Realizing that the best defense of the soulbound lift would to prevent its existance from being revealable knowledge, she wiped her first daughter's memory of the lift and the soul anchor itself; the changeling only knew the location in the cemetary was important her mother's name was Nasperiah and she would receieve instructions which she would follow. To keep this defence ongoing, Nasperiah instructed her daughter to keep a low profile and avoid attracting attention to herself, simply keeping her aprised of activties in the city. If an event within Kintargo seemed worthy of expoliting, Nasperiah would instruct her daughter to undertake whatever steps were necessary. The changeling was allowed to recruit human servants to assist in the day-to-day events in the graveyard and more clanderstine cult activities, however they were to be kept even more in the dark than she was. Eventually, Nasperiah would have her daughter kidnap suitable male subjects to be brought to her via the Font of Visions portal she would place. The man would be brought to the soul anchor for breeding and the changeling baby would be sent back to the surface through same portal, to be raised by the older changeling as her replacement as age took her. Those changelings that served well were rewarded by being able to return to the soul anchor and transitioning into a full blood hag under Nasperiah's control. And so for two centuries, the daughter's of Nasperiah have tended the soulbound lift in Kintargo without knowing what they were actually protecting.

The latest in the long line of cultists is Luculla Gens. It is during her time that the status quo has been disrupted. Not long after her "mother" (the previous changeling guardian) departed for the soul anchor, the Church of Asmodeus removed the "Gens" family (and their human cultist-employees) from their long-standing tradition of tending the graves in the cemetary. Unknown to Nasperiah, this was a calculated move of Barzillai Thrune once he learned of its existance (several months before he arrived as the new lord-mayor), as he wanted direct control over the site before his arrival. Forced out of her direct role in protecting the soulbound lift at the source, Lucella used cult funds to buy the closest unoccupied property near the graveyard, which happened to be an empty part of the Tooth and Nail tavern. She turned it into a confectionary to help create an innocent-looking cover story as she planned her next moves.

Only slightly concerned with the development on the surface due to her constant drug-infused haze, Nasperiah took her time in replying to Luculla's concerned missives. She instructed Luculla to begin creating a tunnel from the Tooth and Nail to the soulbound lift to bypass the defenses of the now unwelcome cemetary. Knowing she needed to rid the shared building of Setrona Sabinus but rightly fearing her connection to her protective Hellknight cousin, Luculla used her magic to call a gambling devil from Mahathallah's court to begin a scheme to "buy" Setrona out of the building. The devil took on the persona of a fat moneylender named "Fat Anto" and convinced Setrona to allow him to run games of chance in her establishment for a large sum. She agreed (in part due to the devil's reckless aura ability), and Fat Anto had her sign a contract for his service. A crafty devil, Fat Anto followed Luculla's plan to increase his "offputting" presence in the establishment to lower her business and drive her to sell...in which "sweet, friendly" Luculla would step in to help. She would buy the Tooth and Nail portion and kick Setrona out and begin the tunnel construction, with her cousin being unable to help, given the purchase was done lawfully.

Plot that specifically happened in my Hell's rebels

Her plan almost worked, even when a new group of people (the PCs) befriended Setrona and tried to remove Fat Anto for her. Reading the contract, they correctly deduced the primary way out of it for Setrona; if she sold her place to someone else, the contract with Fat Anto was void. Both the PCs and Luculla offered to buy the place, but fate seemed to intervene on Luculla's side. As Setrona gave herself a few days to think about both offers, the PCs made the mistake of attacking a Dottari investigator in Old Kintargo without disguises. The local Dottari went on a two-week long manhunt for those responsible, which forced them out of Old Kintargo for a short time. Setrona heard of the attack and decided to go with Luculla's help (given the poor judgment of the PCs).

Continued Plot Change

Yet just as fate seemed to help Luculla, it turned around and has made things more difficult. She informed Nasperiah of her success, and the blood hag sent several caliban's through the Font of Visions to the basement of the Tooth and Nail to help with the tunnel excavation. While Luculla decided on the best way of removing Setrona from the Tooth and Nail without angering her new friends (whom she knows are the Silver Ravens), Barzillai Thrune made his move to enter the soulbound lift with his minions. Luculla was not able to warn Nasperiah (given her further distance from the graveyard and her attention on the tunnel) and shortly after the Turn of the Torrent begins, the cult in the shrine has been slaughtered. Luculla doesn't know this, she only knows Nasperiah has gone silent and the construct guardians in the graveyard have been destroyed.

Someone lost without Nasperiah's instructions, Luculla has slowed the tunnel construction, keeping the caliban's in hiding below the Tooth and Nail's basement. She has also decided to keep Setrona in her establishment for now, hoping that the woman's inquisitive nature and the resourcefulness of the Silver Ravens can possibly help her find out who has silenced her mother. Once she learns it was Barzillai, she sees both Setrona and the Silver Ravens as potential allies for revenge against Thrune.​

Reasoning/Additional Thoughts

I like how this keeps Luculla and her cult more in line with their whore-queen's dogma and the story of the soul anchor in general. She is also changed into an important NPC, either a foil or an aid depending on how she views the PCs and whether or not they detect her evil nature.

- Hei-Fen is not a wererat, but instead a werespider. This helps to create more a theme when it comes to the Gray Spiders and the Jorgoumo's she tends to employ.

Hei-Fen keeps many "ears", her agents, in settlements throughout Cheliax and beyond, and Kintargo is no exception. However, her "ear" in Kintargo is none other than her own daughter Kiem-Fen. A natural werespider like herself, Hei-Fen trained her daughter to return to Kintargo in an attempt to break through the Order of the Torrent wards in the remains of the Lucky Bones to retrieve the treasures there.

Kiem-Fen had instructions to be extremely discreet and to create a small criminal empire through the lax Kintargo Dottari, by taking control of existing criminal elements that had come into play since the Gray Spiders were defeated. Using forged papers and an assumed identity, Kiem-Fen arrived in Kintargo and immediately joined the Dottari in her social identity. Meanwhile, she set up her criminal persona, simply known as "The Lady." Kiem-Fen also entered the Lucky Bones with the information provided by her mother, finding it deserted. When she visited the shrine of Norgober, four of the long-dead thieves that died protecting the site were reanimated as dread skeletons. Showing them her proof of allegience to the god (and Hei-Fen's daughter no less), the skeletons designed to serve her for the chance at being a part of the "new" Gray Spiders. These skeletons became her agents, having the unique ability to look like their living selves during the day before they returned to their undead form at night. She also used her entrothropic empathy ability to attract spiders as additional guards and spies.

During the day, Kiem-Fen used her investigative skills and her hidden inquisitor magic to work for the Dottari, proving herself quite the capable officer. She began to rise through the ranks with astonishing speed, also thanks to her criminal persona; as "The Lady", she would recruit desperate criminal elements with the promise of wealth only to arrest them shortly after in her Dottari identity. Indeed, within a year she became a lieutenant in the Old Kintargo Dottari and a Captain six months later. Due to the generally lax Dottari in Kintargo, her deception was never detected, let alone investigated by her fellows.

After two years of this game, Kiem-Fen became the Durotas (or rank-warden) of Old Kintargo and controlled all the guardsmen of that district. Although she never revealed her identity as the rumored "Lady", she was able to identify those within the ranks that would be suseptable to bribary, corruption and "looking the other way." While she had sights on becoming the Duxotar of the entire city, her attentions were placed on another target; Vezio Delronge, a young man from one of Kintargo's noble families that became quite infatuated with her. Sensing an immediate opportunity for more power and influence, she played into his feelings but surprisingly found herself able to genuinely care for the man. A year after their introduction, Kiem-Fen was married into the Delronge family, which immediately bolstered the power she wielded. Her mother, Hei-Fen, was quite pleased.

Meanwhile, in her criminal endevours as the Lady, she had transitioned from using her persona to recruit and then immediately arrest hapless criminals to becoming a "protector" of Old Kintargo's illegal elements. She offered the criminal gangs that were arising a certain degree of protection and immunity to the Dottari in her district, in exchange for wealth or favors. By this point, "The Lady" was a hushed whisper among criminals in Old Kintargo...to see her or one of her agents meant they were rising in influence, but to refuse her meant certain doom, as the Dottari would soon find and eliminate them.

She used these methods of intimidation and blackmail on Old Kintargo's current gangs. For the Flowershop Crew, she desired information on choice individuals for later blackmail. The Logrunner's she was especially interested in their drug-trade and demanded a high percentage of their profits. When both of these gangs began a fued with one another, The Lady allowed it, finding the concept rather amusing. For the Jollytime Girls, she allowed their random beatings to continue in return for causing harm to a woman whom had caused her husband to do a "double take" of her. The Black Eyes, on the other hand, were not approached by the Lady. More mercenaries than a protection racket (as the Black Eyes simply demanded heavy coin for protecting people from other gangs, not actually instigating the attacks themselves), she allowed them to operate as a third-party "check and balance" to the gangs she did control. Finally, the Spellcrafters, being a unique, fluid adventuring group, she has seen the use a bunch of young arcanists could have, especially in her currently fruitless efforts to open the Order of the Torrent's seal. As almost all these criminals agreed to The Lady's terms, crime began to arise in Old Kintargo and the district's once steller-record for stopping it changed almost overnight, becoming the most "lax" of the Dottari in the city.

When Lord-Mayor Barzillai Thrune took over Kintargo, and did a scouring of the Dottari, Kiem Delronge was ready to abandoned her post entirely, however her marriage with the Delronge family saved her from being removed as Durotas like the other rank-warden's were, as Thrune saw the political wisdom in keeping one of his few supportive noble families happy. Secure in the knowledge she is safe in her posting (for now), Kiem Delronge is nonetheless stepping up her Dottari's duties so Thrune has no reason to change his mind.​

Reasoning/Additional Thoughts

In the Lucky Bones itself, it is a new, smaller cult of Norgorber rather than those of Mahathallah. Kiem Delronge, as I've built her, is a LN/NE Female Human werespider Vigilante (Zealot) of Norgorber 7 (CR 7). She has four Dread Skeleton Rogues and several giant spiders as guardians. I've not yet finished changing the encounters in the Lucky Bones around, but I've decided to keep Luculla's tactics for Kiem in the shrine area; the PCs would see the leader of the Dottari about to be sacrificed and may decide to "help her out". If the PCs don't fall for it and manage to defeat her, they can expose the corrupt Dottari of Old Kintargo and earn more fame and recognition for the end of the Turn of the Torrent.

For the Lucky Bones itself, I'm removing the secret passage that leads past the Order of the Torrent seal, as Hei-Fen would have known of it and simply sent her daughter through long ago. I'll keep the skum encounters as written, and I also like the previous idea of making Baccus and undead creature instead of skeleton laying against a wall.

Giveni Henge (CG Bard 3) of the Three-Legged Devil is a known supporter of rebels (as per the Kintargo write up). I've had him turn his dance hall into a place where the Chelish Citzens' Group and Dottari use as their favorite off-duty place to go. Laria tells the PCs to check him out, as they were former friends and to see if he's using the authorities for rebel causes or if he's thrown his lot in with Thrune.

I've made Henge a Calistrian, and the PCs met him in the back of his establishment. Using innuendo, he basically told them he'd like to see the CCG and Dottari punished in a public, but non-violent display. If the PCs would do that, he'd throw his lot in with them.

Unsure of his motivations, the PCs decided to take the risk and I used the Unsanctioned Excruication where the PCs had to publically rescue Zea from the CCG without killing them. They succeeded and found Henge was as good as his word.

I made a custom team and ally for them:

​Devil's Harlots: This group of prostitutes from the Three-Legged Devil act as a group of rumormongers, which grant the Gather Information and Spread Disinformation rebellion actions.​

​Giveni Henge: The Calistrian bard of the Three-Legged Devil has agreed to lend you a group of his harlots as a bonus team. In addition, Giveni's cordial relationship with the Kintargo Dottari can also be leverged by the Silver Ravens. As long as Giveni remains an ally, the Silver Ravens can use the Covert Action rebellion action, but only in regards to an event regarding the Kintargo Dottari or the Chelish Citizens' Group.​

Giveni suggests that to gain more supporters for the Silver Ravens, the PCs should paint the side of Thrune or abandoned buildings in key locations to rally the populace and let the city know the ravens are out there. He has suggested doing this at night, avoiding Kintargo Dottari patrols, however the exact timing and details are up to the Silver Ravens themselves.

So the PCs look for 3 locations to paint with graffiti. Mechanically, it will take all of their rebellion actions (3), and they'll need to use their two freedom fighter teams as the other two groups to target other locations. This requires two of their three actions, while the third will be to gather supporters at the end of it.

The two first checks are typical reduce danger checks, however instead of lowering the city's danger rating, it successfully completes the mission. Completing it raises notority by 1d4 points each. If they fail the DC 15 security check, not only does the notority score increase by 1d6 by the team is considered disabled. A natural 1 on the check indicates the team has gone missing.

The third check is the recruit supporter check, which gains an additional 1d6 supporters for each successful freedom fighter team or if the PCs themselves are successful.

So essentially 2 freedom fighter teams put graffiti up, and then the PCs do it themselves in a small little event.

A masked vigilantie has been attacking the Chelish Citizens' Group over the last month, with each attack becoming more deadly. Laria and Rexus suggest the Silver Ravens find out who this person is and either recruit them into the Silver Ravens or end their violent assaults before they seriously threaten the future of Kintargo.​

The masked vigilante is simply called "The Mask". The Mask is actually a former paladin of Kintargo's hidden shrine of Sarenrae who survived the fire at the Silver Star during the Night of Ashes, however he was horribly burned in the process; Chelish Citizens' Group thugs were outside the building and prevented many from escaping, forcing them back into the fire.

When he awoke in Songbird Hall, the temple of Shelyn, where the few surviving priests went tor Asylum, he was angry. He refused to stay idle in the church and left as soon as he was healed, stealing some of the church funds to start his own crusade to take the dawnflower's light to smite the evil he's witnessed. He used those stolen funds and acquired a new set of full plate and a greatsword to take the fight to the Citizens Group and help any Kintargans that they were abusing. At first, he remained righteous, using nonlethal methods to punish them, but as his skill grew in combat he's resorted to more lethal and brutal methods, including intimidation. He's already lost most of his paladin abilities for stealing and the actions he's committed thus far, but has managed to hang onto Sarenera's favor. However, if he continues his current course, the Mask is destined to loose his goddess' grace and decend into darkness.​

Stat wise, the paladin is a LN Paladin (Gray Paladin) 3/Vigilantie 3 (Faceless Enforcer).

The PCs have not yet done this in my game.

AA devil-tongued priest of Asmodeus is using peaceful conversation and rallies to increase support for the Church of Asmodeus and House Thrune, which is also reducing the influence of the Silver Ravens. Rexus Victocora suggests beating the priest at his own game by interjecting rhetoric into his speeches using non-violent methods.​

This LN Cleric (Appeaser) of Asmodeus is a disliked member of the church, for he looks at Asmodeus' non-evil parts. Thrune uses him specifically to rally support and the characters need to use the verbal duel rules to discredit him without causing violence or upsetting their own support.