| KenderKin |
Like I said I am going to post some things on a trial basis and delete them after looking for coding errors.
This thread is just for me. Unless you DM play-by-posts and want to check your coding, then by all means! (just shoot me a private message first)....
Nothing is more embarassing for a DM than posting an error filled post in an ongoing game thread, and not being able to edit it.
| KenderKin |
Speaker in Dreams test 0-12.....
Error in 7B DM notes area....
Error in 9B DM Notes section....
Street: 7 commoners, 3 grimlocks
DM Notes
| KenderKin |
Looks like if I post only up to normal post breaks the test should function correctly.
The Demonskar Legacy
Summary
The local merchant Maavu involuntarily starts a tax riot and needs help by the adventurers to escape the turmoil. When the dust settles, it becomes a matter of importance to find Alek Tercival who went missing some weeks ago. The party trails after Tercival and, after a brief intermission at Redgorge, finds his traces at Vaprak’s Voice and has to fight through a number of potent opponents before entering the Starry Mirror, solving the puzzle and fighting Nabtathoron, an exiled demon, who seeks revenge.
tested through....corrections made.
Act 1 Scene 3 Maavu’s Invitation
| KenderKin |
Making this post series better.....?
Here you find a well sealed steel door.
Perception DC 25
DC 30
Disable device DC 30
Tiny bits of flint and steel flash into the air, as the door pops open, sending fragments of metal spitting out in sparks, igniting a pressurized pocket of flammable gases!
The flashover of fire 10d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 6, 5, 1, 1, 3, 2, 1, 6) = 34 Reflex save DC 18 for half
| KenderKin |
| KenderKin |
Asylum
Summary
Flow: Before the party can relax to enjoy their new status as living legends, old buddy “Orbius” returns from the grave to menace them once again! This time, he has a disturbing smoking eye which should be very familiar if the party acquired a certain useful template in Chapter Six. The PCs thus discover that even without his minions, Adimarchus is still trying to manipulate events so that he is freed. The PCs will thus come to the perfectly logical conclusion that the only thing to be done is to… get this… spring Adimarchus from Graz’zt’s Psych Ward Gulag and then kill him, or else Adimarchus will continue to send smoking eye goons after them and kill lots of innocents in the process. He’s a dick like that. The Party goes plane-hopping once again, fights a number of cool villains, and finally springs Big A for the final battle.
Backstory: See, the whole Cagewright Thing was just a massive Xanatos Gambit by Adimarchus to provoke the PCs into smashing up Graz’zt’s prison and freeing him themselves. Sound crazy? Well, he IS the Demon Prince of Madness. Assuming the party is victorious, anyone with the shiny template from Chapter Six will find themselves the winners of… A BRANDNEWPLANE! As epic characters, they should be powerful enough to either control it as part of the Abyss, gradually shepherd it back to the upper planes, or to separate it from both. But that is beyond the scope of the campaign.
Act 1
Scene 1
New Vhalantru Attacks
A 16 diameter bloated sphere of red pulsating leathery flesh covered with tiny spines and dull chitinous plates. The central eye is replaced by a ball of flame, plumes of acridic smoke leak upward from the burning, smoking eye socket.
Development
attacks buildings and people while screaming the PC’s names!
Uses charm to find out where the PC’s are!
PCs can attack, buff, or wait…..
Act 1
Scene 2
Final Enemy Revealed
-Adimarchus is the true enemy-the driving force behind the Cagewrights. His name had been hidden from magic and divination for the past 50 years, but the defeat of his favored minions (the Cagewrights) has weakened these restraints.
-Adimarchus is imprisoned in skullrot, a mighty asylum hidden somewhere on the first layer of Carceri (Orthrys). The exact location of this asylum remains hidden from magic.
-The defeat of the Cagewrights has driven Adimarchus’s insanity to new levels of power; his madness can now ‘leak’ out of his asylum to be funneled into his one time lair of Occipitus (the 507th layer of the abyss). Given enough time, these ‘insanity leaks’ can engineer a method of releasing him.
-Vhalantru’s resurrection is a direct result of Adimarchus’s insanity working on the malleable features of Occipitus. As long as Adimarchus exists, his insanity can infinitely re-create the beholder (and possibly other enemies) from the raw stuff of Occipitus.
-Although Skullrot’s location can not be divined by magic, it can be learned through physical means. Unfortunately those few who know the way to Skullrot are imprisoned on Orthys already. To discover Skullrot’s location one must travel to Orthrys and learn the way from one of those imprisoned there.
Act 1
Scene 3
Unexpected Assistance
Depends upon the PC’s (party composition) Evil or good
-Good
Nidrama the Movanic Deva
(might go along!) Might be a PC if a PC has had soul taken….
Nidrama appears her perfect white skin and stern, sparkling silver eyes appears before you. “Greetings hereos, I am truely sorry for my delay in deciding to aid you. I was bound by ancient and outdated strictures and rules governing celestial interventions in the affairs of mortals. Even my first time in aiding you brought great displeasure to my superiors.”
She pulls out a flaming greatsword…
“Now I am here to help! I have abandoned my place in the Celestial hierarchy.”
-Evil
Aushanna the erinyes guardian of the shrine to the sea mother….
Knowledge the planes
DC 20 fair amount
Orthrys is a realm of vast bogs and quicksand. The river Styx runs freely through the layer, saturating the ground with its’ magic. Fetid swamps thrive where the river does not flow, and though patches of dry ground do exist, they are rare and usually climb swiftly to rugged mountains. The perpetual crimson sky paints the jagged mountains and stinking bogs on Orthrys in a hellish light, and swarms of deformed insects feast upon travelers indiscriminately.
DC 30 likely sources of information in Orthrys in the prison skullrot
-The Bastion of Lost Hope is an outpost for anarchists and marketplace for all sorts of goods, including the purchase of information.
—Harrowfell a terrible tower said to contain a gemstone that grants mindblank to those who touch it, ruled by a strange marilith demon with a smoking left eye.
Random encounters to get to either location in Orthrys
1. Demodand squad
2. Demon hunters
3. Hunting Slaadi
4. Stygian marauders
The Bastion of lost hope
A fortress made of black igneous rock squats in a mountain range. The ambient, reddish light of Orthrys lends the place a brooding air of menace. Only one entrance offers itself, a portal that one can’t help but notice strongly resembles the maw of a massive demonic toad.
Gather information/diplomacy DC 20 cost 2,000 gold
DC 30
Openly asking about “skullrot”
”Never heard of that.”
”Is that a drink?”
Sense motive DC 17
Act 1
Scene 4
HARROWFELL
A sixty-foot-tall, twenty-foot-diameter tower stands atop a rocky crag, surrounded on all sides by bone-strewn battlefields and fetid quagmires. A fence of skull-capped spears follows a twenty-foot long rough-hewn staircase leading from the bog up to the tower’s entrance, which stands agape. The tower itself is made of broken weapons, armor, and bones, held together by terrible magic.
….This appalling tower is built around the top of the rocky crag. The tower is hollow, and sprouting from the crags peak is a 9-foot-tall black crystal vaguely resembling a great black blade split down the middle.
Development…If A PC has the smoking eye template, Byakala assumes the character has assumed lordship of Occipitus…
“What brings the new ruler of Occipitus to the Tarterian depths and Harrowfell?”
Bluff check DC
“We have to report that a vast army of trapped fiends recently dispersed throughout Orthrys, having failed in it’s last bid to escape the plane.”
-PCs announce intention to kill Adimarchus
“Let me tell you how to get to Skullrot.”
Act 1
Scene 5
Journey to skullrot
That journey is 300 miles through murky, stench-ridden bogs, extending for miles in every direction. Swarms of large black mosquitoes, more annoying than dangerous, hound your every step and nearly fill your eyes, ears and throats.
Within 5 miles of skullrot (teleport/other means)
In this area nearly all the reeds and growth is trampled down in criss-crossing patterns with some sort of large and indiscriminate tracks.
You stumble across a bloated, maggot-ridden fungus encrusted corpses of slaughter fiends….
Something DC 30
THEHOWLINGHALLS OF SKULLROT
A bare black rock rises above the fetid quagmire, and upon it stands a towering white edifice over two hundred feet high. Frightful screams and howls fill the air around the structure. Dozens of iron cages hang from bone spurs along the outside walls of the upper floors, each one holding a humanoid skeleton or corpse. Four massive, horned skulls surmount the structure. The ground surrounding the tower has been trampled flat by a horde of fiends – a horde that now lies slaughtered to the last. Strange leprous fungi and other fruiting bodies grow from the field of carrion with hideous, almost visible speed. Rooting through the horrific mess are dozens of lumbering scavenger beasts the size of elephants. These six-legged creatures look vaguely like tusked hippopotami with long, flat tails, and the thunderous sound of their bellows and open-mouth fungus chewing fills the air with a rumbling accompaniment to the howls and shrieks from the tower itself. One creature in particular is truly massive in size, its ridged back nearly as tall as the tower itself – the others give this cantankerous-looking bull a wide berth as it roots through its horrid dinner near the tower.
Skullrot
The beasts outside
The outside guards
Textblocks
1. BALCONY
A balcony made entirely of skulls, rises 30 feet above the swamps. Tall iron doors bar entry into the structure from without.
2. DEMODANDGUARDS (10 invisible Farastu Demodands)
Mournful howls resonate within this dark chamber. The walls of leering skulls bring no comfort, and the floor is covered in sticky tar.
Moving across the floor -Reflex save DC 17 or be stuck, save move at half speed
DC 17 strength check to free ones self.
Farastu, invisible, prepared action fear and ray of enfeeblement.
Hexavog interferes (summon more farastus, 1d4 60% chance of success.
Fills area 2 with acid fog, acid arrow, ray of enfeeblement
3. HEXAVOG
The fiendish howls are loudest here, in the asylum’s heart. This room sits at the base of a twenty-foot-diameter shaft that soars up into darkness. Balconies with iron railings line the walls at higher levels.
ascended the stairs that provided the sole exit from the entry chamber. The steely adventurers heard the volume of the fiendish howling increase from above, in the very heart of the Asylum. As he crested the top step, he could see the room sat at the base of a wide shaft that soared up into the darkness. Balconies with iron railings were visible above, lining the walls of the upper levels.
The room was occupied by a singular creature, though his girth struck an imposing figure in the gloom. The bloated bipedal creature appeared for all the worlds like a six-armed kelubar, and they heard a discordant contralto voice emanating from the mad fiend. As the others came up from behind Deg, they all took in the strange sight, sound, and horrid stench of the demodand waddling around the room apparently trying to quell the screams of the incarcerated fiends trapped within Skullrot with his Abyssal song.
“What madness is this?
What madness indeed!
Endless torment, dark despair,
Caged in bone, can’t be freed!
All the tales end the same:
See you screaming,
Twisting, dreaming,
Dreaming you never came!
Despite its apparent distraction, the six-armed fiend was all too aware of the adventurers, and as they leapt into action, it cast a vicious spell with which they were all too familiar: acid fog.
4. GOLEMLAB
This hideous laboratory holds six glass vats, each one four feet tall, four feet wide, and filled with red fluid. The vats hold naked human corpses, their faces peeled off. Human brains and vital organs float in glass canisters on bone shelves above the vats. A table consisting of patchwork flesh canvas stretched over a bone frame dominates the middle of the room. Bone flanges fitted with hooks protrude from the table, and stretched between the hooks are six peeled-off human faces.
5. DARK MYRAKUL’S STUDY
The middle of this room holds three tables made of hardened black resin. They vaguely resemble flat-topped mushrooms. Two are covered with fat tomes, flasks, candles, and scrolls. The third holds a metal apparatus shaped like a pair of claws, one holding an iron flask inlaid with silver runes, and the other suspended above the flask, its talons hooked into the flask’s brass stopper. A fat iron chest shaped like a crouching, demonic toad rests in one corner.
6. SLOUVA’S BEDCHAMBER
A ten-foot-long bed made of lashed bones dominates this room. The blankets covering the bed are of stitched flesh and fur. The room is otherwise bare.
7. HOWLINGFIENDS
These hallways contain three iron doors on each side, iron bars rest within the doors at eye-level, you hear haowls of pain and distress from every room.
Each cell contains a creature bound in spiked chains, many of the creatures have iron masks with narrow mouth slots for feeding, the chains run from the creatures to the floor, walls, and ceilings.
Prisoner generator (appearance calm or aggitated)
1-10 Fallen Angel: astral deva (1-6) planetar (7-10)
11-20 Fallen Archon: hound (1-6) Trumpet (7-10)
21-30 Berserk advanced flesh golem
31-40 Demodand: Farastu Kelubar Shator
41-50 Demon: Balor Hezrou Succubus Vrock
51-60 Devil: Hamatula Erinyes Cornugon Pit Fiend
61-70 Fallen Guardian: Avoral Leonal
71-90 Slaad: Red Blue Green Death
91-100 Yugoloth: Mezzaloth Nycaloth Ultraloth
8. BALCONIES
Each of these balconies has a four-foot high spiked iron railing strung with chains. Some of the spikes have skulls impaled on them.
9. CELLS
These cells contain humans and humanoids, rather than chains these prisoners are bound into straight jackets made from stitched demon hide…..
Development Cagewright escaped from Shatterhorn maybe found here.
Prisoner generator
01-10 Barbarian 1d10+10
11-20 Bard 2d6+8
21-30 Cleric 2d6+8
31-40 Fighter 1d10+10
41-50 Monk 1d10+10
51-60 Fallen Paladin 1d10+10
61-70 Ranger 1d10+10
71-80 Rogue 1d10+10
81-90 Sorcerer 2d6+8
91-100 Wizard 2d6+8
Substitution list from GMGNPC gallery
1-
2-
3-
4-
5-
6-
7-
8-
9-
10-
10. ADIMARCHUS’S PRISON
The staircases lead up to this twenty-foot high chamber. The floor gives way to a forty-foot-wide shaft in the middle of the room. A large iron cage is suspended over the shaft, its base level with the floor of the room. The cage itself is shaped like a coffin made of metallic bones, the bars studded with spikes and cruel hooks. No door seems to be apparent on the cage, as if it were built to never be opened. Slumped on the floor of the cage is an angelic figure with purple skin, golden tattoo-like patterns crisscrossing its body, and wings of metallic gold feathers. It covers its face with its hands and appears to be sobbing. As you approach closer the central shaft is about 150 feet deep. A thick iron chain connects the hemispherical cage to a heavy winch bolted to the floor.
(PC with smoking eye)
The cage appears rusty, fragile, and feeble, something that can be bashed apart with a single blow.
Opening the cage
1-PC with smoking eye
2-Good outsider (aka Nidrama)
3-Attacked by both a LG and CE characters (or CG and LE)
4-Creature with smoking eye (first get to there, second get to attack cage)
| KenderKin |
The standing stone test post(s)
Scene 11:The Warlord’s Tomb
The hill (or mound) before you has a diameter of over 500 feet and rises some 100 feet. As far as you can tell, there’s only one entrance, on the west side. A dark tunnel bracketed by two standing stones, a lintel stone between them linking the three into an inset trilithon.
The entry way
A short inscription is carved deeply into the lintel stone…..
Druidic
Just inside the doorway within a small chamber is an altar, spiral carvings decorate the walls, floor and roof, across the way work runic script has four lines on the far wall.
Druidic
If someone read it…..bardic knowledge check (DC 25) Knowledge (history/ local) (DC 30)..
On the floor lies the battered remains of a skeleton in mangled chainmail.
Perception DC 14
DC 25
The Circle Maze
The stairwell leads not into a chamber, but into a maze of passages….
Simplified
Wight
| KenderKin |
(second post)
A group of young lads is busy handing out papers to business owners and tacking up public notices.
You recognize the all too familiar Cauldron tax increase!
Tax Notice
“Nothing exists that is sure but the Dark Angel and the Revenue Collector.”
What about the seasonal taxes? What are they? Indeed, they are probably the backbone of our taxation system. They yield the greatest revenue, and the most regular.
In the spring, every hearth is taxed, from the meanest cottager’s hovel to the greatest lord’s castle. Then in summer, the Land Tax is due. Every acre of the kingdom is assessed: a tribute to my staffs perspicacity and enterprise! We also collect the Nobility Tax at that time. Each family displaying tokens of nobility, such as crests, coats-of-arms, household uniforms, and the like, pays 5 golds for the privilege. It is a mere trifle, yet as I said before, it adds up.
In autumn the temples and shrines collect the Tithe: one silver in the gold on all produce, rents, and profits from the land. Sad that it is so steep, and none of it goes into His Majesty’s coffers. The churches collect the Tithe, and we collect the Income Tax at the same time. Isn’t that quite a lot at one time? No, I think not. The Tithe covers mostly profits from land, while the Royal Income Tax is mostly assessed against merchants and such. There is very little overlap. And the tax on incomes is a mere copper in the gold.
Winter is the very season of taxes. There is the Poll Tax assessed on every head in the Kingdom, the Magic Tax on all magical items, the Sword Tax on every edged weapon, and the Henchmen Tax on all who have retainers.
What we fail to get in the warmer seasons, we recoup in winter. Hiding and running away are far more difficult in the depth of this frigid season, and so taxes are far easier to collect. Pay or freeze, Master Scribe! Oh, yes, that is the choice! Pay or freeze! Oh, yes. Quite.
Poll Tax: Adult, 2 c; child or marketable beast, l c; riding horse, l s.
Magic Tax: Potion, l c; scroll, l s; book, 3 s; ring, 5 s; wand, 10 s; miscellaneous item, 12 s; weapon, 1 gold; artifact or relic, 20 golds.
Sword Tax (on all edged weapons 9 or more inches long): 1 c for every 2 inches of edge plus 1 c for each pound of weight.
Henchmen Tax: every henchmen, 2 s; every hireling, l s.
Hearth Tax: simple dwelling, 1 c; simple dwelling in town, 2 c; simple dwelling in walled town, 6 c; large dwelling, l s; large dwelling in walled town, 3 s; inn, 10 s; manor, 1 gold; castle, 10 gold.
Land Tax: per acre under cultivation, l c; per acre lying fallow, ½ c; per acre of woodland, ¾ c; per acre of barren land, 1 gold; per acre of pond or lake, ½ c; per acre of town-land, 6 c; per acre of fortified land, l silver.
A strong sword and a full moneybag – these maketh a kingdom to prosper.
Her Excellency, Terri Stanheort, Chancellor of the Exchequer, serving Lord Mayor Severen Navalant of Cauldron.
The barkeep adds, ”The merchants are already holding a demonstration near the town center tomorrow morning!”
Act 1 Scene 2 The demonstration
As you are relaxing at the Tipped Tankard enjoying your breakfast, a large and angry mob passes by. You hear them shouting ”Taxes!” and ”Thugs!” ”We have rights!”…”Taxed Enough Already!” One of the mob seems to recognize you and comes into the tavern…”Are you going to the demonstration?”
You recall that the merchants of Cauldron have organized a demonstration at city hall this morning in protest of the ever increasing taxes in Cauldron…Roleplaying, going or staying put?
As soon as the tax collectors disappear behind closed doors, prominent local businessman Maavu Arlintal climbs up onto a dais, raising his hand for silence. As the crowd slowly settles down, the tall and handsome 50-something man speaks, with firm resolution in his voice;
Maavu
Speech!
“Fellow citizens, hear me! Hear my voice, and repeat my words tenfold so that those who have turned their backs on us are forced to hear! Hear me, for I speak for all of us!”
”My name is Maavu Arlintal, and I am one of you! I call Cauldron my home! I live and I do business here, and have for many years! Many of you know me, and I know you… We are all hard-working, trustworthy people!”
”Hard times have fallen upon this land! The road grows ever more dangerous, and threatens to cut us off from our neighbors and partners in trade! An inn full of people – one of them the high priest of one of our own temples – were all senselessly murdered not a day’s ride from here! In recent days, dragons – yes, dragons – have threatened the skies and the passes! Stories of creatures unthinkable lurk in the fringes of the wild.”
”But we are a tough people, and have weathered tough times before! Heroes and brave citizens like yourself have answered the challenges of protecting us and our lands, though others have been charged with that duty…
”But the troubles have also found us at home… We have suffered in recent months, as our sons and daughters were stolen away from us by evil lurking beneath our streets! We have suffered as the rains came and flooded our dear city, and threatened to erode the very foundations of our livelihoods! A vile umber hulk from the darkened tunnels of the Abyss itself has torn through our homes and businesses in broad daylight – I know, for I suffered a great loss that day, though I came away with my life, and consider myself fortunate, and mourn those who perished.”
”But again we have not lain down, for we know how to get through hard times. Again, we have been blessed by the actions of brave citizens who have put their lives on the line to defend the defenseless. And again, others who should have answered that call have done nothing!”
”Alas, I misspeak, for actions have been taken. The leaders of Cauldron have spoken through the voice of the tax collectors! They offer promises with each outstretched palm, with each cut they take! For the good of Cauldron, they say! To repair the damage, they claim! To help those in need, they promise.”
”But what have they done with your hard earned coin? Nothing! Where are the repairs to the buildings damaged by the flood? They haven’t done any! Warehouses stand abandoned, about to fall into the lake! Where are the repairs to the street and the structures attacked by the hulk? They have not been done! And I was not the only one to lose business and property that day… There are many who have received nothing but empty words for their suffering!”
”As I said, many of you know me, and you know me as a man of action. I am not one to complain without a plan of recourse! I am here to say that Cauldron needs new leadership, a new protector who is not corrupt on power or gold. I am here to tell you that a challenge has been issued for the removal of Terseon Skellerang as Captain of the Town Guard.”
”I have here in my hand the formal written challenge, which has been presented to Skellerang and the Lord Mayor. This challenge invokes one of Cauldron’s oldest laws, the Law of Peers. Under this law, the five founding families of Cauldron have the right to challenge the office of the Captain of the Town Guard if one of them should feel that he unworthy, immoral, or incapable of seeing to his duties, which is the protection of the people. This law, laid down with the founding stones of our city, has never been needed – until now.”
”By the Law of Peers, any one of the five founding noble families has the right to challenge the Captain of the Guard. This does not leave much hope that one with the interests of the common citizen – of you and I – will be represented. But I am here to tell you that the one who has issued the challenge is such a person. They herald from one of the founding lineages, but their life has not been one of pampered luxury. They know what it means to suffer, as you do, and to rise above it, as you have before. The challenger is indeed one of the brave, heroic citizens who I have spoken of, who is willing to risk death to protect and help our city.”
”I am speaking of Alek Tercival.”
”Sir Tercival, Cauldron’s only paladin, has issued this challenge in accordance with the old ways, and the Laws of our city. But so far no response has been made. By law, the issued challenge should be made public by the Lord Mayor, but Fatty Navalant hopes to protect his puppet Skellerang by keeping the challenge secret! No doubt that he hopes to send his new army of half-orc thugs – an army feeding off of your bread! – to deal with the upstart challenger with a crossbow bolt in the back! By the Law…”
”But look, citizens! Another puppet of corruption, with his thugs to protect him! Sent, no doubt, to silence the will of the people!"
Sergeant Krewis and patrol including half-orcs enter the square….
Sgt Krewis
The crowd roars to life at Maavu’s words. His oratory is manner skillful, and full of sincerity. It does not sound rehearsed; it seems a passionate and intelligent appeal of common sense from a man who is educated in the field on which he speaks.
“Captain Skellerang, once our so-called defender, and keeper of the peace, and now bully and enforcer of the crippling extortions handed down by our governing officials, has been challenged to a duel of valor by none other than Sir Alek Tercival! "
The crowd roars once again, many with loud approval, some with slanderous comments aimed at Captain Skellerang, but others merely seem to be adding indiscriminately to the noise.
Maavu continues to speak, further inciting the passion of the crowd with his bold oratory, as he carries on about the injustice which is being committed against the good of the city, the crowd grows angrier and angrier.
“Certainly many of you are aware, that the laws of the city mandate that an issuance of the Old Law of the Peers MUST be publicized by the city council, why then has our governing body been silent? Why then have they tried to keep this matter from the attention of the public? Their omission is illegal, and proof of the ill will the lord mayor’s advisors bear Cauldron’s good citizens.”
The words of the fervor-filled merchant continue to imbue the citizens with a mounting rage. The people’s anger culminates when Maavu points out the fact that a group of armed half-orcs is already harassing the town: “Skellerang is feeding a band of filthy half-orc thugs a large share of our bread!” he screams.
Then, wading in the crowd of people, a human watch sergeant escorted by several half-orc mercenaries approaches the dais to arrest the merchant: “In the name of Terseon Skellerang, Captain of the Town Guard, I must arrest you!” he declares, addressing Maavu.
Suddenly, from within the angered crowd an unassuming youth draws a dagger from underneath his robe, and screams out, “Let’s kill these half-orc brigands!” As his voice is drowned out by the roar of a hundred other people, the lad lunges at the nearest half-orc. In seconds, the mob erupts into a full-fledged riot.
Riot scene
Please ignore the bottom half of the picture
| KenderKin |
The initial shock wears off of your kobold allies...
Chief Sootscale: "Form hup, three ranks!"
The kobold point their spears at the Eidilon and form three wedges...
One leaps to the defense of Chief Sootscale...
A second group defends Markov after he took a heavy hit...
The third group presses in to attack...
1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 71d6 ⇒ 2
1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 51d6 ⇒ 1
1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 131d6 ⇒ 1
1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 111d6 ⇒ 1
1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 191d6 ⇒ 6
1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 201d6 ⇒ 2
The Edilon counters hoping to make certain attacks....
Bite @ Nedyr
1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 301d6 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8
Claw @ Alexander
1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 301d4 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Claw @ Nedyr
1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 201d6 ⇒ 6
Chief Sootscale:"Defend the humans!"
The kobolds shifting fully to defense; imposing themselves to protect Markov, Alexander and Nedyr....
You are up!
| KenderKin |
Redgorge –
The Village of Regorge
This old village sits in a narrow strip of flat ground between a cliff and an immense quarry of red pebble gravel. West of the village, a prodigious line of fortifications, huge walls of red basalt, draped with vines, towers over the village itself.
Sections of this village are visibly abandoned, with buildings lying empty and in ruin. The rest of the town is inhabited by farmers and miners.
Noise filters out from a two-story building, which looms ahead. Over the door hangs a dirty sign; “The Redhead Miner’s”
Inside a big smiling man with long red hair tied back in a ponytail, puts out dozens of delicious looking snacks on the bar; calling out to the few haggard and tipsy patrons that occupy the large common room; “Come on over beggars! You won’t starve as long as Mikimax lives!”
In a corner of the large common room, a handsome man in his mid-thirties quietly plucks the strings of a lute. This man, dark-haired and rather short, wears a fine blue robe and polished knee-high boots.
“What can bind with water, sand, and lime?”
This isolated chamber is quiet and cozy, with a great oak table sitting in the middle of the room. On the walls, beautiful frescoes depict the glorious moments of Surabar Spellmason’s life;
- Surabar’s arrival at the foot of a dormant volcano, recognizable as Cauldron.
- An encounter between Surabar and a sword-wielding angel, in which the angel gives Surabar a glowing quarterstaff. Knowledge (history/local) DC 25
- The foundation of Redgorge.
- Surabar’s magical construction of the Basalt Bastions.
- The battle of Redgorge against the demonic denizens of the Demonskar; Surabar leads Redgorge’s forces and a towering hyena-headed glabrezu leads the Demonskar forces.
- The transformation of Surabar into a mountain, symbolizing his death.
Sitting at the head of the table is a tall man, dressed in brown, with gray hair and a short, well-trimmed goatee.
The Meeting -
The tall man nods to everyone entering the room, before pressing his hand to his chest; “I am Oliron Masht. Thank you for coming. Can I get you some wine while we wait for the others? We have a lovely vintage here;” he gestures to an old oak cask supported by a young wood stand in the corner.
(idle chit chat – until the others arrive)
The speech -
“The Chisel today is not what its founders meant it to be. It is not only our duty to support artisans and craftsmen, but to protect the region as well. We cannot afford to sit idly by while forces work to destroy that which we have built.”
“I do not speak simply of politicians and power brokers, no. Those of you who have looked at the foundation have seen the shift in balance. There is a great force of chaos and evil at work, of that I have no doubt. The divinations have been cast, the oracles have been visited, all indicate some great disaster on the horizon. Our greatest prophet, the earth weird, is silent, and cannot be raised. Surely this does not bode well!”
“Maavu, I must speak to you of your actions recently. I know your intent was pure, but you may have done more harm than good. I fear the Chisel is becoming a scapegoat for Cauldron’s nobles, and considering current trouble, there may very well be action taken against us! Drastic action at that!”
Maavu responds; “I only meant to organize a peaceful demonstration, for if we remain silent, what then? Some villain stirred up the riot to discredit any opposition. I wouldn’t put it past Skellerang himself to be involved!”
Honest Minstrel; “Sucker! It was the Last laugh if it was anyone! They tricked you, nothing else!”
Maavu and Honest Minstrel soon break out into a squabble, and the talk dissolves into an exchange of insults.
Maavu; “Better dead than slaves! A wandering strummer like you should know!”
Honest Minstrel; “Peddler! You count lives like money! No difference to you, eh?”
The foreman scowls at this exchange and puts his arms up in the air; “Silence! We cannot break down like this!”
Honest Minstrel; “Well, you may not like what I have to say, but hear it nonetheless, for there is more indeed! My informants in Cauldron tell me Skellerang plans to invade and search Redgorge, with his army of half-orc thugs!”
Foreman; "A problem indeed. I think the Hall of Carvings would withstand such an assault, but if the villagers stood up to that bully, there would be a lot of blood spilled. I think it would be best if Skellerang was persuaded to renounce such a course of action. I think if we could convince Alek to renounce his challenge that would do the trick, unfortunately, nobody has seen him in a good while."
“In fact, I’m more worried about Alek’s absence than anything else…”
((pitch for heroes help))
Short Walk -
As the meeting is concluded, the Foreman dismisses the other members, and then turns to his guests; “I would be honored if you would all join me for a short walk.” He turns and leads the way out across the town to a small path which leads along the basalt bastions.
He looks intently toward the west at one point….toward the Demonskar. He sighs, then says philosophically; “Surabar’s spells raised this wall in seven days, but his guidance has failed to build a righteous society in as many centuries.”
“I’d recommend you try Jenya Urikas. She and Alek have long been friends. If anyone knows his whereabouts, it would be Jenya. I do know that Alek had been spending a great deal of time exploring the jungles near Redgorge, he often used a rowboat to enter the jungle via the Red River.”
============
“Here is a map of the area to help you in your journey.”
Area map
Ignore Vaprak’s voice for now
The Journey to Demonskar –
(thick overgrown jungles, teeming with animal life)
Red River -
The boat slowly follows the current along….a four hour trip into unsettled and wilder lands….
The Headless Demon -
A large beach runs along the northern bank of the Red River here. A badly weathered stone statue of some sort of humanoid creature stands at the edge of the jungle, overlooking the beach. The statue’s neck ends in a stump, and its expressive canine head lies in the sand a few feet away. Patches of mold and moss grow on the statue, but the vegetation around it seems to have been cleared away recently. A narrow trail winds off to the northwest and into the jungle just beyond the statue.
Closer look Perception DC 16
Knowledge planes DC 16
Gnoll Ranger ambush!
The Old Ogre’s Home -
The path continually threatens to vanish completely in the thick leafy arms of the countless plants that press ever inward, only to reopen and widen enough to allow passage without much interference. Brambles and stinging spiny leaves are frequent, sticking to fabrics, and scraping armor, they bite exposed flesh with stinging needles and hooked thorns.
The path gradually eases out of the thick leafy growth, climbing up the side of a low hill. Bushes and plants become less common, and the ground becomes less muddy, offering a thick carpet of moss to walk on. Trees dot the hillside, their own trunks covered with fungus, and branches strewn with hanging moss.
Alongside the path is a clearly visible cave, in the side of the hill. A horrible odor of decay emanates from the interior.
Forest Sloth
In the far recesses of the cave you find the Ogres skeleton and multiple baboon carcasses that have been fed upon. Perception DC 25 [spoiler] You locate a spent wand of CMW which is clearly marked with the symbol of a religious organization
The Hunting Trail -
The trail is well trodden, the foliage continually thins out as the trail climbs, only to thicken as
| KenderKin |
Closer look Perception DC 16
Knowledge planes DC 16
Gnoll Ranger ambush!
Gnoll Hunter NE Gnoll ranger 3
Medium humanoid CR 4
Initiative 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20 Perception 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (20) + 12 = 32 Darkvision 60
AC 18 Touch 13 Flat Footed 15
HP 45
Immunities None
Resistances None
Weaknesses None
Saves 1d20 ⇒ 14 Fort +9 Ref +6 Will +2
Speed 30
Melee masterwork spear 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 161d8 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Ranged masterwork longbow 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 251d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Poison Fort save DC 16 fail? [spoiler] take 2d4 Con
Attack Options Favored enemy (animal 2), Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Poison (DC 11, 1d6 Con/1d6 Con)
BAB +4 Grapple +7
Str 17 Dex 16 Con 16 Int 8 Wis 12 Cha 6
SQ Wild empathy +1
Feats Endurance, Skill Focus(Hide), Track
Stealth 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (1) + 14 = 15, Swim +6
Possessions Masterwork longbow (3 str), 5 arrows poisoned with black adder venom, 15 arrows, masterwork spear, masterwork studded leather armor, 3 doses Venom 2d4 con damage
The Old Ogre’s Home -
The path continually threatens to vanish completely in the thick leafy arms of the countless plants that press ever inward, only to reopen and widen enough to allow passage without much interference. Brambles and stinging spiny leaves are frequent, sticking to fabrics, and scraping armor, they bite exposed flesh with stinging needles and hooked thorns.
The path gradually eases out of the thick leafy growth, climbing up the side of a low hill. Bushes and plants become less common, and the ground becomes less muddy, offering a thick carpet of moss to walk on. Trees dot the hillside, their own trunks covered with fungus, and branches strewn with hanging moss.
Alongside the path is a clearly visible cave, in the side of the hill. A horrible odor of decay emanates from the interior.
Forest Sloth
In the far recesses of the cave you find the Ogres skeleton and multiple baboon carcasses that have been fed upon. Perception DC 25
Forest Sloth N Large animal(space 10/reach 10) CR 11
Initiative +5 Senses Perception +14 Darkvision 60, low light, scent
AC 21 Touch 14 Flat Footed 16
HP 160)
Immunities Poison
Resistances None
Weaknesses None
Saves 1d20 ⇒ 15 Fort 12 Ref +12 Will +4
Speed 40, climb 60
Melee @ Bite 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 262d8 + 3 ⇒ (8, 5) + 3 = 16
Claw #1 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 342d4 ⇒ (3, 3) = 6
Claw #2 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 312d4 ⇒ (2, 2) = 4
Attack Options Improved Grab (start free grapple with med or smaller on 2 claw hits, auto bite, swallow next round), Swallow Whole (swallow up to small, 2d4+7 plus 1d8 acid per round, gullet AC 13, 25 damage to escape), Improved Bullrush, Improved Overrun, Power Attack
BAB +8 Grapple +19
Str 25 Dex 20 Con 21 Int 2 Wis 12 Cha 9
Feats Alertness, Track
Skills Climb +15, Move Silently +10
The Hunting Trail -
The trail is well trodden, the foliage continually thins out as the trail climbs, only to thicken as the trail drops in elevation once again. Various signs indicate that this is a hunting trail, used both by human-sized biped hunters, and larger carnivores.
Knowledge geography/Survival DC 13
hunting trail
Hunting trail encounters
1. Six Gnolls (two are rangers, stats in appendix) and 4 are just gnolls
2. Herd (4 dire boars)
3. Dire tiger (stalking)
4. Pair of mega-raptors
5. Three gambols drop down and attack last character (in marching order)
6. A band of three bar-Igura demons attempt to capture and take to the demonskar
7. 6 hill baboons, two werebaboons feeding on the bodies of gnoll hunters
8. You find two large and different dinosaur tracks in the soft mud of the trail.
Wings of Justice -
The sounds of wildlife are rich and plentiful. Small insects maintain a constant chorus, while toads croak intermittently, presumably between snacks. Various chirpings, and twittering can be heard from the tree tops, while the distance carries barks, and cries, and sounds of much larger things.
Instantly, the entire cacophony drops silent. There is a sudden flapping of large, powerful wings; Moments later, a beautiful woman emerges from the dense foliage. She has perfectly white skin and stern, sparkling eyes of silver. A pair of feathered wings spread out behind the woman’s back and she raises a flaming sword, which emits a myriad of flickering beams of light.
Though immensely foreign, something about her is somehow familiar; It takes a moment, and then the pictures from the Redhead Miner’s Inn, the frescoes depicting Surabar Spellmason standing next to a movanic deva so many centuries ago.
Nidrama
“I am Nidrama, and your actions do not go unnoticed!”
(discussion leads to monologue)
“Powerful forces of chaos and evil are afoot. I dare not remain here long lest my presence attract the attention of those forces. Yet I could not sit by and watch you march into danger without warning you. The Lord of the Demonskar knows of your approach, and even now his minions prepare for your arrival. They shall use deceit and treachery against you, just as they have done with Alek Tercival before you. You must remain absolute; Alek Tercival must be saved.”
“I have no aid to offer you but knowledge. In ages past, I provided to Surabar Spellmason a powerful weapon to assist him in his conflict with the Lord of the Demonskar. This was Alakast, a quarterstaff infused with an undying hatred of the fiends of the outer rifts. Unfortunately, Alakast was stolen centuries ago, ripped from Spellmason’s tomb by a grave robber. Yet do not despair, for it is fated that Alakast should be wielded again against the Lord of the Demonskar. It has found its way to you, and all that needs be done is for you to claim it. Seek Alakast in the lair of my false sisters, beyond the watchful eyes of the north.”.
“That is all I can offer my friends…..I wish you well in your travails, heroes, and never lose sight of your goals.”
The Round Cavern -
The hunting trail ends abruptly here and the trees thin out considerably to the north, granting a clear view of the sky. To the north, rolling yellow and brown clouds billow above a jagged, barren horizon. You can just make out the jagged line of the Demonskar’s rim brooding at the base of these clouds. The ground itself between here and the rim is strewn with razor-sharp ridges of volcanic glass and jagged stones. Ruined strips of what can only be the metal framework of ancient structures protrude from the ground like broken fingers from a shallow grave. One particularly large structure juts from the ground only 20 feet from the end of the trail. The ruin appears like nothing more than a massive pipe protruding from the ground, its 20-foot-wide, 2-foot-thick frame sloping down into the tortured ground at a gentle slope.
Not exactly, but close enough
===========
| KenderKin |
Rivers Run Red
Adventure Background
The Stolen Lands are not a stagnant place. Even as the PCs gain their first footholds in the unsettled region known as the Greenbelt, plans beyond their borders and outside their knowledge have already been set into motion. The dangerous mad nymph-queen Nyrissa already considers the Stolen Lands her own, and her response to the sudden invasion of these lands ranges from subtle to blatant.
Fortunately for the PCs, her current interests lie closer to home. The aid she grants to the bandit kingdom of Pitax in destroying and subverting the adventurers and colonists Restov sends into the southwest is swift and decisive. Yet she does not ignore the insults that lie to the east, and as the PCs push farther into the Greenbelt and establish a fledgling kingdom of their own, they are destined to clash with two groups sent by the nymph to keep the Greenbelt free from meddling heroes.
The first group is a violent band of trolls led by a fearsome troll named Hargulka. Even before Brevoy took an official interest in the lands to the south, lone hunters, trappers, and loggers made their presence felt in the forests of the Stolen Lands. Worse, the land’s indigenous residents, including kobolds, lizardfolk, and a handful of good-aligned (and thus untrustworthy) fey were far too ndependent for Nyrissa’s liking. She visited Hargulka in a dream, planting in his mind ideas of territorial expansion and aggression and tricking him into thinking he wanted to claim more power.
Hargulka and his crew have abandoned their original single-cave den and moved into an abandoned dwarven guard post in the southern Stolen Lands, using it as a base to stage raids against the intelligent denizens of the area.
As this adventure progresses, Hargulka’s trolls and other denizens of the southern Greenbelt grow increasingly violent, attacking travelers and settlers and terrorizing locals. By manipulating the trolls into destabilizing the region, Nyrissa hopes to make the lands easier to claim when the time comes.
Nyrissa’s second group was a large group of bandits who had spent many months in the swamplands of Hooktongue Slough, focusing their mayhem on a group of more civilized bandits (allies of Pitax who rule a fortified domain called Fort Drelev; see Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #34 for details). These bandits, led by a ruthless ranger named Eirikk, made extensive use of trained and not-so-trained (but mostly loyal) wild animals and monsters in their frequent attacks on Fort Drelev’s holdings, a tactic made possible in most part due to a gift Nyrissa gave Eirikk—a ring of bestial friendship made from a lock of her hair (a ring that, unknown to Eirikk, bore an unfortunate curse).
Like the Stag Lord before him, Eirikk considered Nyrissa a “secret benefactor” and hoped someday to upgrade her to “secret lover.” When she told him about a particularly violent mated pair of gigantic owlbears dwelling in the southern Narlmarches and about the up-and-coming new nation of merchants to prey on that was expanding quickly in the Greenbelt, Eirikk saw this as an excellent chance to impress the nymph. If he could gain the allegiance of these enormous owlbears and conquer this new kingdom, how could his secret benefactor resist his charms? Certainly, the prospect of switching his predation to a nascent kingdom pleased him, as Fort Drelev’s defenses had grown ever more skilled at repulsing his men and trained beasts.
And so Eirikk had a suit of barding made, sized for an enormous owlbear, then led his men west into the Narlmarches. He found the owlbear den with little problem and, using the ring of bestial friendship, managed to calm the beast and outfit it with the barding he’d brought with him. But the ring was cursed—when the owlbear’s mate returned, she sensed the enchantment and flew into a frenzy. Eirikk and his men were forced to kill the owlbear’s mate, which enabled the massive beast to throw off the maddened at the loss of its mate and the wounds it suffered, the enormous owlbear has flown into a rampage, and the PCs’ new kingdom and capital city lie right in its path. If these forces are not dealt with, the rivers of the Stolen Lands will run red with the blood of the latest doomed attempt to civilize them!
Adventure Summary
The PCs receive a shipment of funds, materials, and colonists from Brevoy and beyond, along with instructions to build a town and attract more pioneers to their nascent country.
Having already explored the northern reaches of their new domain, the PCs must now venture into the wilds to bring the rule of law to the south. Wicked fey inhabiting a ruined keep, undead haunting an ancient barrow mound, and others must be defeated to make the region ever more secure. Along the way, the PCs might also have the opportunity to ally themselves with some of the region’s local residents, including the dryad druid Tiressia, her satyr consort Falchos, and a band of gnome explorers called the Narthropple Expedition.
In addition, the PCs will be called upon to mediate between two rival factions in the area: a group of independent loggers and the angry fey sorceress who opposes them. As they explore, evidence that a group of trolls is stirring up trouble in the region becomes apparent.
Meanwhile, the PCs must deal with events within their burgeoning kingdom—a rabble rouser seeks to oust the PCs from their positions of power, the secretive cult of the hag goddess Gyronna has infiltrated the town, and a werewolf is preying on the townsfolk. All of these events build to the adventure’s twin climaxes: the sudden assault on their capital city by an owlbear of unprecedented size and the expansion of Hargulka’s trolls into the north.
Faced with danger on multiple fronts, the PCs must draw upon all of their resources and bravery to become the undisputed rulers of the Greenbelt.
The Varnhold Vanishing
Adventure Background
In the age before Earthfall, the fortunes of Golarion were forged by vast empires like Azlant and Thassilon. Yet other empires existed in these ancient times as well—empires ruled not by humans but by creatures of legend. The cyclopes ruled many such empires, notably one in Garund and another in northwestern Casmaron. Yet as with their contemporaries, Earthfall brought an end to their rule. And unlike Azlant or Thassilon, the cyclops empires have been all but forgotten in the Age of Lost Omens.
Yet while the cyclopes may have been forgotten, they have not vanished from the face of Golarion altogether. Pockets of their kind exist today, although they possess but a shadow of their former glory. Only in remote locations does evidence of the ancient cyclops empires still exist, protected from the march of time by preservative magic akin to that which protected the mightiest of Thassilon’s monuments, or watched over still by ancient spirits and tenacious undead too stubborn to move on.
One such remnant exists deep in the Tors of Levenies in the form of the cyclops lich Vordakai. Although the name has long been lost to history, Vordakai was once a notorious tyrant and necromancer in Casmaron’s ancient cyclops empires. Vordakai himself did not survive the uprising and turmoil that followed Earthfall during the Age of Darkness, yet ironically his name did. The least of his apprentices appropriated Vordakai’s name in the hope of using its power to rebuild an empire; yet in the end, this task would require more than notoriety. This new Vordakai became the last Vordakai when those he was attempting to command rose up against him and, in an ironic turn of events, trapped him in a crypt of his own design, hidden away at the westernmost edge of Casmaron, in a minor mountain range oft overlooked by explorers and colonists.
As the ages wore on and Vordakai’s torpor changed into an ageless slumber, his name persisted in the legends of the region’s centaur tribes. Tribal shamans, inspired by visions, often brought the centaurs to a steppeland called the Dunsward in the region near Vordakai’s tomb, where they tasked their tribes with the sacred duty of guardianship over the Valley of the Dead—the legendary entrance to Vordakai’s tomb. These shamans saw that the ancient cyclops tyrant did not rest easy in his grave, and they foresaw a time when his wickedness and the pent-up evil of the extinct cyclops empire might one day be released by the unwary to plague the lands again.
Yet more recently, the Nomen Centaurs have faced less exotic enemies and fears—Taldor’s expansion into the Stolen Lands led to much warfare between the Nomen and humanity and helped to maintain the Stolen Lands’ reputation for being inhospitable to civilization. Even as the domain of Rostland was established, Taldan colonists ripped through the centaur war herds to the south, pushing them to the fringes of their former rangelands and farther and farther from their guardianship and traditional homeland. With the back of the centaur resistance broken and driven into the hinterlands of their new colony, the Taldan forces focused their efforts elsewhere and the cairn stood once again unguarded and largely forgotten.
So great were the effects of this war that much of the tribe’s lore and identity were lost as well. The original reason for their guardianship was forgotten within a few generations and transformed into a territorial aggression that extended around the eastern fringes of the human lands. When Taldor finally abandoned the Stolen Lands, the Nomen were hesitant to return to the Dunsward out of shame and fear. By the time Choral the Conqueror swept north through what would become the kingdom of Brevoy in 4499 ar, the Nomen centaurs were marginalized and largely forgotten, and the region of the cairn was a remote wilderness area of little to no interest to the new civilization of the area.
This status quo has remained over the intervening years—until now, that is. When the swordlords of Restov sent agents south into the Stolen Lands, a new colony— Varnhold—was established at the edge of the old centaur rangelands, and along with these settlers came an ambitious treasure hunter named Willas Gundarson. Using Varnhold as a base of operations and following an ancient map copied from an even more ancient tablet recovered from deep Casmaron, Willas hoped to find a previously undiscovered hoard of ancient treasure. Unfortunately for Willas, he mistranslated the ancient tablet—and what he had assumed was an indication of vast magical wealth was actually a warning of vast magical danger.
Armed with his mistranslated lore, Willas ranged far and wide while Varnhold was being established, operating under the guise of scouting to determine the lay of the land and identify any potential threats facing the fledgling colony. It was on one of these journeys that he discovered the site of Vordakai’s Tomb and crossed the deep waters of the Little Sellen on a folding boat. On the island, he located wards designed to prevent intrusion and grasped something of their dire nature. He was about to turn back when he glimpsed a cache of treasure just a short way down the corridor leading into the tomb. Greed forced aside common sense, and he crept inside to investigate—but as he did, he felt the ancient warding alarms go off. Pausing only to snatch a single jade bracelet, he f led the tomb and retreated back across the river.
Though all remained quiet as he watched from the far shore, he knew he had triggered the guardian wards and had a bad feeling about what he had done. He hurried back to Varnhold with the bracelet and adjusted his tale to say he had found it on the river bank, hoping to hide his momentary lack of judgment. Unfortunately, Willas’s fears were well founded, for the triggering of the wards awoke Vordakai from his age of slumber.
Faced with a new world of wonder, the undead cyclops began to send his minions (loyal cyclopes who had been sealed in his crypt and now serve as undead thralls) out into the world to explore and bring back word of how the world had changed. Vordakai became particularly obsessed with the audacious human who had freed him, and upon noticing the theft of the jade bracelet, set about tracking the thief back to the settlement of Varnhold. Unleashing ancient cyclops magic, Vordakai emptied the settlement of its inhabitants in a single night of horror. Now, Vordakai studies the lore he has learned from Varnhold’s vanishing and draws his plans to establish a new empire. With his kin gone from theregion, the undead cyclops is confident that this time, his will be a lasting rule.
Adventure Summary
The player characters are contacted by an envoy from Restov and apprised of the loss of contact with the colony of Varnhold. The swordlords request that the PCs look into the situation and salvage the colony if possible, believing political revolutionaries may be involved. Traveling to Varnhold, the PCs find the settlement empty of settlers but eerily intact. Other than a few spriggan squatters and assorted vermin, none of which accounts for the disappearance of the settlement’s population, there are no clues as to the fate of the colonists other than a single word scribbled on a doorjamb—“Nomen.”
A bit of research in the village puts the PCs on the trail of the Nomen centaur tribe of the eastern hills, probably believing that the vanishing was the result of a centaur raid prompted by the theft of a piece of centaur jewelry. Traveling into Nomen-claimed lands, the PCs discover many of the fauna—hostile and otherwise—that are native to the area. During this time, they come under magical surveillance by the lich Vordakai. They run afoul of a small centaur war party and are ambushed by a soul eater, a foul outsider summoned by Vordakai to stop them from meddling in his affairs. This development suggests that something other than a centaur raid is behind the Varnhold vanishing.
Finally, the PCs make peaceful contact with the Nomen tribe and learn the truth of Varnhold’s fate. Following the directions given by the centaurs, the PCs find Vordakai’s Island and must infiltrate past the ancient wards, traps, and undead guardians in order to rescue the Varnhold survivors from the clutches of the foul lich.
Blood for Blood
Adventure Background
Over 40 years ago, when a cabal of Gyronna cultists known as the Black Sisters were humiliated and forced to f lee Brevoy because of its intolerant laws, they foretold the coming of Armag the Twice-Born. According to their prophecy, the Twice-Born would be a child formed from the spirit of the original Armag, a barbarian warlord who terrorized the northern plains during the Age of Destiny. However, because prophecy was no longer a trustworthy source of prognostication after the death of Aroden at the dawn of the Age of Lost Omens, the foretelling of Armag the Twice-Born took shape as little more than a wishful curse uttered against the Black Sisters’ enemies. When no reborn barbarian warlord rose to give flesh and fury to their prediction, they did not remain idle. The Sisters instead vowed to take an active hand in seeing their prediction come true, and retreated into the Stolen Lands where they abducted a baby from the Tiger Lord barbarians. They raised this child in the ways of spite and rage, and gave him the name Armag.
In this way, the mad Sisters convinced the child that the spirit of the original Armag lay within him, and that they would serve as his handmaidens to aid him in setting his ancestral might free. By advising and strengthening Armag, they planned to guide him to his rightful place among the barbarian tribes, uniting them to fulfill their own prophecy and strike back at Brevoy with an army of barbarians eager to please their reincarnated warlord of old. Armag soon embraced these goals as his own, aspiring to lead the Tiger Lord barbarians. Empowered by the mad touch of Gyronna’s faithful, he slew a Tiger Lord chieftain
and assumed the mantle of leadership.
But settlers soon arrived from Brevoy, spreading south into Tiger Lord lands along the East Sellen River—a group of soldiers and diplomats led by a Brevic nobleman, Baron Hannis Drelev. These men not only established a fort on the shore of Lake Hooktongue, but they also sought out and looted several ancient tombs and burial sites sacred to the Tiger Lords. The final insult came when Drelev’s men tried to establish a peaceful alliance with the Tiger Lords.
Armag saw through their trickery and ordered his people to attack, but he underestimated the enemy—he assumed that a people who would open with weak attempts at friendship would not be able to stand in combat. Drelev’s soldiers proved an able match for Armag’s kin, and after three nights of battle the Tiger Lords fell back, driven west toward the bandit hold of Pitax. Not only did Armag see his destiny of raiding Brevoy endangered, but suddenly he and his people were on the defensive, losing land to this expansion! But as he fell back deeper into the hills, he found a new ally from an unexpected source—the realm of Pitax.
Lord Irovetti, the bandit king of Pitax, had already dealt with an unwanted intrusion into his territory by the nation of Brevoy, and when he heard rumors that other Brevic agents were expanding south into more distant borderlands and displacing some of the Tiger Lords (a culture Pitax had often clashed with over borders), his righteous anger saw opportunity. If his forces and the Tiger Lords could work together, they could swiftly defeat these Brevic intruders. And if events could be engineered so that the barbarians were at the front of the battle, the bulk of the losses would be from among their troops, further reducing opposition to Pitax’s northward expansion.
And so Irovetti and his mercenary guards traveled northeast to contact the Tiger Lords and establish a truce. Working together, they descended upon Fort Drelev with a fury and conquered the invaders in a single bloodless wave—for as Hannis Drelev saw the combined forces of Armag’s barbarians eager for revenge and Irovetti’s armies readying their siege engines, he made a choice. Always a realist, he saw immediate surrender as the only option to save his life.
The jaded, craven nobleman sent three riders under a f lag of truce to plead with Armag and Irovetti to spare his region, proposing instead to ally with the bandits and to turn control of Fort Drelev to them. His offer to provide information about the holdings and defenses of his fellow countrymen intrigued Irovetti but frustrated Armag, who had hoped for bloodshed and violent revenge. To force the loyalty—and obeisance—of Drelev’s men, and to help appease the frustrated barbarians, Irovetti accepted the surrender but only on the condition that Drelev’s settlers hand over five of their daughters as hostages until Drelev himself could prove his loyalty through servitude to Pitax.
Over the objections of his own men, Drelev did as Irovetti requested, commanding his senior officers to give their eldest daughters to the barbarian warlord. However, at least one captain—a Lord-Knight named Terrion Numesti—refused. And despite Armag’s promises that the girls would eventually be returned unharmed, Drelev had to make an example of Numesti by throwing him in jail and handing his daughter over to the barbarians as well. Drelev justified this action to his people by assuring everyone it would save their lives.
In truth, Drelev cares little for anyone or anything that doesn’t advance his personal agenda. Jealous of the success garnered by the neighboring kingdoms (particularly that of the PCs), he believes an alliance with the Tiger Lords and Pitax will finally give him the means to take over the entire frontier, uniting all the buffer states under his control.
And with such a large nation under his command, he’ll be able not only to strike back against the Tiger Lords and Pitax, but perhaps even to expand his control further, back into Brevoy. In an attempt to sweeten the alliance, Drelev has returned several of the artifacts and treasures he and his men looted from Tiger Lord burial tombs, something that Armag quite appreciated. When Armag returned to his people with these artifacts, though, the Black Sisters recognized them as ancient relics in the style of the barbarians of the original Armag’s time.
Here was the clue they had been seeking. Rightly assuming the barrow mounds would hold even greater treasures that could legitimize and spread their champion’s influence over the barbarians, the Black Sisters advised the Twice-Born chieftain to claim them as his own. For legends also say a Kellid shaman laid Armag to rest within the same hills along with his famous sword, Ovinrbaane, a weapon blessed by Gorum to win any war. Now, while Armag is distracted with attempts to delve the tombs of his ancestors and Irovetti has returned to Pitax to prepare for his next audacity (an attempt to lure thePCs out of their kingdom so he can attack their homes in secret—a treachery detailed in full in the next Kingmaker adventure, “War of the River Kings”), Lord Drelev has spent much of his time plotting and brooding. He hopes the barbarian will meet a terrible fate in his people’s tombs, but unknown to Drelev, Armag intends to convince the barrow mound’s guardian to give him the ancient weapon Ovinrbaane and Gorum’s blessing to fully raise an undead army to serve him. If left unchecked, a mighty champion of war will walk Golarion again, brushing aside all opposition in the River Kingdoms and beyond.
Adventure Summary
“Blood for Blood” begins with the PCs having returned home from solving the mystery of the Varnhold Vanishing. Shortly after their arrival, they learn that new problems have developed during their absence—there are rumors of an army marching toward their nation!
The PCs race to the village of Tatzlford, where they help defend the village from an attack by a small but earnest force of bandits, barbarians, and several lumbering trolls after being warned in advance by a troubled woman who has fledfrom Fort Drelev to the west. Following the skirmish, she pleads with the PCs to save her father and sister from peril.
From there, the PCs strike out into the swamplands ofthe Slough to the west, exploring new lands and finding opportunities to make new allies and eliminate long-term threats to the region. Their initial goal, though, should be infiltrating Fort Drelev, where they’ll have a chance to confront the traitor Drelev with his crimes and rescue the Fort’s beleaguered settlers. During this time, the PCs learn where Armag’s tribe has been holding the daughters of Drelev’s senior officers hostage.
Arriving at the ancient site, the PCs attack Armag’s barbarian encampment and overcome the sinister powers of the Black Sisters to free the girls. Then, entering the tomb, they face deadly traps, ancient undead horrors from a war-torn age, and the trials of the tomb’s immortal, divine guardian. In the final chamber, the PCs encounter Armag himself, armed with the ancient sword of his namesake.
Quests
The PCs will gather numerous quest opportunities as this adventure unfolds. Eight of these appear on the inside covers of this book, and several more are seeded throughout the rest of the adventure. All of the Slough Quests presented in this book are worth 12,800 XP when they are completed—this is in addition to any experience points the PCs might earn while attempting to complete the quest.