The Soggy River Monster

[EtsuElfRanger]

First of all, let me say that I really enjoyed being back in Sandpoint. I'm running a RotRL campaignrigt now and its really nice to have more material to draw from. The thing that. I'm wondering is about a certain monster in he Brinestump Marsh and how log he's been there.

I remember reading somewhere on the boards that the APs are assumed to take place during the time they are published in, which would make Jade Regent set 4 years after Runelords. This particular creature really shouldn't have come been made after then. The adventure points to sightings only going back 3 years. So, where was it before that? Is it only 3 years old? If so, how? If not, where was it before? I may be sending my players into the Brinestump soon and need to know what's there.

[thebwt]

I'd say the sinspawn is likely a result of the RotRL campaign. perhaps there is a unmentioned lesser runewell somewhere that activated and managed to produce a spawn.

I'd say it probably didn't even exist in the time frame you're playing.

[Tom Qadim]

thebwt wrote:

I'd say the sinspawn is likely a result of the RotRL campaign.

+1. That's the impression I had as well.

[Matthew Morris]

Tom Qadim wrote:

thebwt wrote:

I'd say the sinspawn is likely a result of the RotRL campaign.

+1. That's the impression I had as well.

Here's my thoughts...

Spoiler:

Brinewall Legacy wrote:

The Soggy River Monster is, in fact, a sinspawn that recently escaped from the ancient catacombs below Sandpoint. The monster made its way down the coast, and eventually settled here in Brinestump Marsh.

Burnt Offerings wrote:

Five years ago, the runewell of wrath mysteriously reactivated.

Erylium saw this as a sign, and used the runewell to call forth several
monsters called sinspawn to aid her in the times to come. Soon thereafter, Lamashtu revealed that Erylium’s general was nearly ready, but that it fell to Erylium to recruit her.

I read that as the sin spawn was one of the ones from Erylium's catacombs and it escaped during Burnt offerings and meandered its was to the swamp.

Fortunately I have all my AP PDFs here today.

[cynarion]

Spoilers for RotRL follow...
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Spoiler:

For what it's worth, I disagree--aside from the fact that the adventure itself indicates that the creature "recently escaped from the ancient catacombs beneath Sandpoint" (p11), it's my impression that runewells are meant to be relatively rare, and the only reason there was one in Sandpoint to begin with is because where Sandpoint is currently located marked the disputed border between Shalast and Bakrakhan.

Burnt Offerings wrote:

In most cases, the other runewells were hidden deep underwater, buried far underground, or lost in remote regions, and this sudden flare of ancient magic had little noticeable effect. Yet in the Catacombs of Wrath below the sleepy town of Sandpoint, where Runelord Alaznist kept a minor runewell keyed to the sin of wrath...

(page 9)

Burnt Offerings wrote:

...at each of her most important holdings, [Alaznist] made sure to place a “shrine” to her favored sin in the form of a minor runewell.

(page 30)

Looking at the map showing Bakrakhan on p213 of the Inner Sea World Guide, I can't really imagine that Alaznist had any other 'most important holdings' in the same area as Sandpoint--otherwise I would expect Sinspawn to have turned up like a rash across the Lost Coast by now.

So it makes sense that the sinspawn has to have come from the Catacombs of Wrath.

If Jade Regent is being played as a sequel to an earlier Runelords campaign in which the PCs bled the runewell dry of its animating magic, then I reckon it's easy enough to change the monster's background and say that it was one that escaped Erylium's clutches when the runewell first activated, nine years ago. It could well have been eking out an existence of sorts in the swamp ever since then, and changing the sightings from three years to nine years (and perhaps even relocating its lair so that it doesn't sit so close to New Fish Trail) is easy enough. : )

[edit] Curses, ninja'd. : D

[James Jacobs]

Folks are right. The Soggy River Monster is a very new addition to local folklore; it's been active for only about 4 years.

If you run Jade Regent "before" Rise of the Runelords, it's easy to just explain the Soggy River Monster as having snuck out of the catacombs (or even having snuck all the way here from Hollow Mountain, where they are quite common) before the majority of the sinspawn stuck there got out.

[Purplefixer]

My PCs ran through the swamp and saw the monster no less than 8 times, came across tracks and kills three times, and heard it get into a fight with an aligator deep in the bush off to their right while traveling to the cave.

They never... not one time... ever had a random encounter in the entire first part, and never stumbled on its lair. The Soggy River Monster lives to terrorize Sandpoint! Swamp-Fishers beware!

[Zaranorth]

For giggles, here's my alteration of the monster. Due to us switching from the middle of Burnt Offering in Rise of the Runelords, I decided to switch out the sinspawn for something else. There was already a near riot when they discovered that they'll have to fight goblins. They like them, loved playing them in We Be Goblins, but they're just getting tired of them. If I also threw a sinspawn at them they'd lynch me. And yeah it's kinda long, I was bored one day at lunch and started typing. I also didn't clean the grammar up much. :)

The (new) Soggy River Monster:

For years the dire ape was a captive of a Chelaxian noble. Taken as a baby from the Mwangi Expanse, he was trained to fight in the arenas. His life became that of beatings in the dark and brutal blood sports surrounded by crowds of cheering "legwalkers." With each beating, each fight, his hatred of the legwalker that tormented him grew. First he fought against animals: dogs and wolves to begin with. He quickly progressed to more and more dangerous ones; tigers, lions, and the like. Early on he learned to never charge headlong into battle but to analyze the situation, judge the best way to attack. With each fight his cunning increased, proving that he was more intelligent than apes normally were. As his winnings increased, he was pitted against increasingly deadly foes until there was no animal he couldn't beat. His hated owner moved him on to more intelligent foes. He was "promoted" to the gladiatorial arenas where he fought orcs, goblinoids, and humans. All the while he studied his owner, looking for his opportunity to extract revenge.

Three years ago his owner decided to take him north into the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. He had heard of the battle prowess of the Ulfen, and had even seen one in the gladiatorial pits, but his ape had never fought one. He had intended to head north and find some, by force if necessary. Alas, his plans were never realized. During the seaward leg of the journey curiosity drove a deckhand to open his cage, freeing him. The deckhand had seen the ape in his cage being loaded into the ship's hold and wanted a closer look. Down in the dark hold the ape was cowering in a far corner of his cage; in the darkness was when the beatings always came. The deckhand crept into the hold, a small lantern for his light. The cage was surrounded by stacks of crates with only one side open. It was impossible for the deckhand, with his weak light, to see the ape. Acting rashly, the deckhand forced the lock. Seeing its chance the ape feigned weakness, as he had done many times before in battle, allowing the man to open the door and come inside the cage. As the deckhand turned to pull the door close, he sprung. The deckhand died before he knew what hit him.

The ape then proceeded to go on a rampage throughout the ship, hunting for its owner, murder in its heart. The crew quickly realized the degree of danger they were in. Even threatening it with boarding pikes merely drove it deeper into a rage. It skillfully avoided their attacks, turning their own weapons against them. Upon hearing the commotion below, the nobleman instantly guessed the cause. Panic overcame him and he stole a ship's boat, hoping to make it to the Varisian shore, just visible on the horizon.

The ape made it onto deck, having slaughtered its way up through the ship and saw its tormentor rowing as hard as he could for shore. Without a pause he leapt over the side and gave chase. Since one faces backwards to row, the nobleman saw the leap and his panic redoubled. Shrieking, he rowed as hard as he could, but he was far from being in shape, Varisia was miles away, the tide was running out, and the wind was coming from shore. Panicked, he rowed, watching the ape's powerful strokes bring it closer and closer. As the ape crossed the final few feet, he grabbed one of the oars in both hands and stood sobbing, waiting for it to attack. When a powerfully large, hairy hand grabbed the back of the boat, he began swinging, over and over, as hard as he could. But he had done this countless times before when the ape was chained just out of reach, to toughen it to attacks, to make it ignore the blows. And it did so. With a powerful lunge that nearly capsized the boat, the ape surged into the boat. The nobleman screamed again and turned to leap into the water, but it was too late.

A mile away on the deck of the ship, the crew paused in tending to the wounded and burying the dead at sea to listen to the shrieks of agony and to watch the ape fling pieces of its screaming master far from the boat.

Its weight and the violent actions of rending the nobleman caused the overloaded boat to sink. But its powerful arms and seething rage carried it to shore. After wandering for a few months, it found a home in a small marsh. The trees and vegetation awoke a yearning deep within and it quickly chose built itself a home. As it explored its new home, the ape discovered it wasn't alone. Goblins infested the center of the marsh, but he easily avoided their patrols. The goblins tried to drive him out; but after a few brutal encounters, they quickly learned to avoid his part of the marsh. His wanderings also showed him that the legwalkers regularly passed by the marsh. He mostly tried to avoid them, but occasionally the eternally seething rage deep inside him would well up and he would creep out and travel along the Soggy River, find a legwalker or maybe two, and extract his revenge. Word spread quickly that a monster was hunting along the Soggy River and the Lost Coast Road. Thus the legend of the Soggy River Monster was born.

[Purple Dragon Knight]

What kind of sin-scent does this sinspawn have? thank you!

[Daviot]

Purple Dragon Knight wrote:

What kind of sin-scent does this sinspawn have? thank you!

Given Sandpoint's location on the former border of Bakrakhan and the sinspawn featured in the Catacombs of Wrath in Rise of the Runelords were wrathspawn, I presumed the same for the Soggy River Monster.

I also added a level of barbarian to mine to better adjust it to my group, but that's mostly unrelated to the question at hand. :3

[Purple Dragon Knight]

Cool. So this one will have Scent versus barbarians. Awesome! thank you for your timely assist! (I'm DMing first Chapter of Jade Regent tonight!)

[James Jacobs]

Purple Dragon Knight wrote:

What kind of sin-scent does this sinspawn have? thank you!

Correct; it's a wrathspawn. In fact, the vast majority of sinspawn are wrathspawn—if we don't say otherwise, it's safe to assume wrath.