The Winter Solstice in Sandpoint (roleplay ideas)

[Askar Avari]

Hey there everyone. As my players are currently in an extended session of downtime during Sandpoint's flooding season (Kuthona), I realized several holidays would be passing that potentially relate to Sandpoint, and I'd like to spend a session fleshing them out. I have some ideas for them, but I would really like to see if anyone else has done similar sessions in the past or if you have any creative ideas for how to approach it.

These holidays are:

Winterbloom (Kuthona 15):

- A holiday in commemoration of Naderi's (tragic) ascension to godhood. While this at best might be seen as a day of mourning in Sandpoint, Naderi's connection to lovers' suicides and claim of suicide locations might make Hag's Plummet an interesting location on Winterbloom. I plan on having Shayliss Vinder bring a PC here because she feels something calling her down the cliff (a member of her hag mother's coven - long story).

Candlemark (Winter Solstice):

- A Sarenrean holiday of forgiveness, and a celebration of longer days coming. I'm interpreting this in Sandpoint as being a day in which there is worship at dawn, followed by a day of both gifts and the cancellation of debts. I can't find much more about this holiday, so that's all I have so far (especially because few of my NPCs hold Sarenrae as a patron).

Crystalhue (Winter Solstice):

- A Shelynite holiday in celebration of art and romantic relationships, especially marriage ceremonies and the start of new relationships. There's a lot about this one on the Pathfinder Wiki, so I won't go deep into the details, but given that Ameiko Kaijitsu's patron is Shelyn, I think it would be fun to have her play matchmaker with some of the PCs and NPCs for this. The hair dyeing and creation of melaros just seems like a lot of fun as small details, and it would be a good opportunity to show lighter sides to a lot of Sandpoint's NPCs (Aneka and Arika Avertin come to mind, as well as rougher folks like Belor Hemlock).

Ritual of Stardust (Winter Solstice):

- A Desnan holiday starting at dusk on the winter solstice, during which celebrants share stories and sing songs through the night. A giant bonfire is central to this, making me think I'll set this even at the Pyre - the one celebration that has refused to relocate to Sandpoint even after the cathedral has been rebuilt. In addition, as the fire burns low, sand mixed with star gems is thrown over the embers to smother them (as the run rises, I imagine). "At this point it is common to make proclamations of love and friendship and of promised journeys to come" (PathfinderWiki). Considering the overlap with Crystalhue, I'm imagining this moment might be a big deal, especially for younger folks.

My Party:

- My party is hitting level 7 early, and it is during this event that I'm allowing them to take Cohorts if they take Leadership - the Ritual of Stardust in particular makes a very appropriate time for the start of relationships and the formation of partnerships.

- Lonjiku Kaijitsu and Tsuto are currently haunting the Glassworks, causing Ameiko to shut it down. I plan on having her visit them in the Boneyard on or before the Solstice . . . but then potentially get too angry to truly forgive them, and instead go and smash the Glassworks to pieces, giving up on the business until she can come to terms with her loss and put the haunts to rest.

- Shaylis started a feud with a PC a while ago by stealing hundreds of pages of research notes from them in order to figure out what the Sidhedron and the Runewell of Wrath were. I think I'll have her try and make amends as well.

- One of my PCs is foreign to Varisia, as well as raised by elves. However, he does worship Desna, so I want to get him involved in Varisian customs. This is especially important b/c he was Aldern's target and was largely ostracized by the Sandpoint community on the belief he was somehow causing the killings - several of the PCs friends have been trying to repair his reputation since, though he's mostly taken to brooding and going on wilderness treks with Shalelu.

Any other ideas, either general or specific to campaigns you've done / would like to do would be very welcome. I just find this triple-holiday day a very interesting thing in a small town like Sandpoint.

[Fair Strides]

Sorry for not responding when you posted this originally.

I'm really liking where you're going with this, so I'm grateful for you posting this. When I read through this the first time, I opened up my campaign log and checked my dates. It's currently Kuthona 11 by my reckoning, so I'm hoping to spring some of this stuff on the group the session after next. :)

In my case, the group has killed the boss of Chapter 4 and the Black Monk (and opened his case and found the password), so they're in a good spot. I know they want to cast Teleport and go sell loot in Magnimar, but I reckon they'll return to explore the big area in the lowest level of Chapter 4, so I can make that an entire session.

My Party::

- The party mainly went to Jorgenfist to rescue Shalelu (I kid you not, they're attached to her and were livid when I took her away), and the other villagers too, I guess. I might not have her continue with the party currently do to group size, but that can be RPed either way. I plan to use the Crystalhue holiday as a chance for one of the party to encourage Ameiko to make a move on Shalelu. Ameiko was rather distraught when Shalelu was missing, and quite thankful and willing to help with supplies when the group went to leave.

- What started out as a joke between the Dragon Disciple player and me has turned into me getting the idea to have Ameiko play Match-maker with each of the PCs. She's going to try real hard to set the Dragon Disciple up with Brodert Quink. Backstory-wise, the Disciple is a Thassilon scholar and Quink's pupil. Ameiko's main ammo is the suggestion of what a fine match Brodert would be for the Disciple if he agreed to a Reincarnate spell. Not to mention, the Disciple is probably going to want to drag Quink to the big area next to the Chapter 4 boss room, and boy would that ever be a "wife her!" moment for the old man.

- Believe it or not, Nualia is a alive and well in my game. She's a warpriest of Desna, though she's learning to be softer (very slowly). She went through a redemption arc and lost her arm (but Desna re-grew it later), and went to Sandpoint at the start of Chapter 4 to apologize to the town. Instead, she volunteered in disguise to defend the town against the giants, but her cover was blown when she was healing Belor Hemlock. She was surrounded and held at sword-point, but the Paladin of Iomedae held the Sherriff at sword-point and basically took up responsibility for Nualia's actions and her life.

I plan to have Nualia go to the Sandpoint Boneyard for a bit of regret and contemplation, spilling a bit of her backstory to any of the party that comes to find her; this works because no one has asked her much about her past or why she became good, and none of the original party members are in the party (but one of them is alive).

- I'm going to play up a lot of the lesser-used NPCs as well, with a dance performance by Kaye's girls, some ceremonies by Zantus's acolytes, and a bit of an art competition sponsored by the local tradespeople in Sandpoint. Hell, I can probably get one or two of the party members to sit in as judges if they feel like it.

[Askar Avari]

Hey there Fair, thanks for responding!

My group is preparing to head to Magnimar, but I slowed things down thanks to unfavorable weather conditions - they're spending the whole month of Kuthona in Sandpoint in order to make sure the ghoul plague is all cleared up (and preserving dozens of documents they found on necromancy in Foxglove Manor - they want to reverse-engineer Vorel's phylactery to learn how to destroy it).

Cute detail:

One of my players, the witch, wanted to take the Ashiftah archetype but we couldn't figure out how to reflavor it to a Vudrani character in Varisia. However, they were very taken with Iesha Foxglove and decided to restore her scarf and infuse it with magic, qualifying it as the 'veil' of the Ashiftah archetype. The reflavor is focused on necromancy effects similar to what the party experienced in Foxglove Manor.

Ameiko & Shalelu:

I'm delighted to hear about Ameiko x Shalelu in your game! Before the events of RotR in my game, Ameiko was dating both Shalelu and Savah, but things have been sliding downhill between them since Ameiko's family died and she took over the role of Head of the Kaijitsu family. When Shalelu travels to Turtleback Ferry with the party, she'll admit that they broke up a week before and she wanted the excuse to spend some time away from Sandpoint. I don't know what I have in store for them beyond that, but our party considers Shalelu and Ameiko their 'moms' (the PCs are largely very young - a 15 year old dhampir, a 23 year old half-elf, and a 13 year old Grippli among them) and I know they'll jump at a chance to meddle.

Winterbloom Ideas:

Winterbloom to me seems like an excellent chance to share the tale of Bevanaka, who was granted eternal youth so long as she did not fall in love. It makes Hag's Plummet an eerie place with heavy implications for both love and suicide, and on an aesthetic level I love this little spot. In addition, in my version of Sandpoint, many of Risa's tales tell of a hag who lives near Sandpoint who breeds all sorts of ironic tragedies - and who is the victim of one herself. In addition, there are at least 4 changelings in or around Sandpoint who provide support to the potential legitimacy of these tales. As such, the Hag of Hag's Plummet - Peg o' Ness - feels very much like a part of the history of the hinterlands. Deplorable and cruel, certainly, but also cunning in a way some of my PCs may respect. Shayliss Vinder is one of the changelings of Sandpoint, and although Peggy isn't her mother, she's taken an interest in shaping her into someone of great importance. Winterbloom provides a wonderful element to the setting - a two-fold background of romantic tragedies, as well as pushing Shayliss and a PC closer at the site of one of these tragedies.

On a more specific level, Peg o' Ness in my setting is a servant of Lamashtu who was never aligned with Nualia - for many reasons, but chief among them disagreeing with the destruction of Sandpoint. Instead, Peg o' Ness hopes to protect it - and with it, the Runewell - from giants, Pazuzu's agents, and, ultimately, Karzoug.

I plan on having Peggy make her first appearance on Winterbloom, disguised as Bevanaka to make her more palatable for the PC to work with (auras of disgust can make it hard to work with someone).

Candlemark Ideas:

As mentioned before, Candlemark I feel pretty set on just a few things. If Ven Vinder were still alive in my game, I might prod my PCs to make amends with him (they really hated him), but instead I plan on using it to build on stuff with Shayliss and Ameiko (separately) and Titus Scarnetti. Specifically, I was thinking of including a scene in which Titus is asked to forgive a debt indentured servants of his owe him. In reply, he'll scoff that a successful man doesn't let the traditions of the masses undermine him or some such. The party hates Titus deeply, and I want to emphasize his greed before the Skinsaw cult kills him.

Crystalhue Ideas:

There's a lot of potential in Crystalhue! My first idea is that Ameiko's stewardess and groundskeeper (engaged lesbians) will mention that they're waiting to get married on Crystalhue for when tensions settle in Sandpoint (AKA when Scarnetti pressure lessens against people like Cydrak and Kaye). Cydrak will contact the party about creating an opera about them (specifically our merfolk bloodrager) and Nualia. A kid from Turandurok will ask for our student PC's help on who and how to ask someone out tonight at the bonfire. A local dryad will decorate her tree with the help of some of the city's outcasts.

Ritual of Stardust ideas:

The main thing I know I'll be doing for the Ritual of Stardust is Aneka Avertin recognizing that there's a bigger threat than the Skinsaw Man out there (she knows about Xanesha and the cult) and teaming up with the PCs (thanks to Leadership) to see it through. This partnership will be finalized at the end of the night. Ameiko will play some songs for everyone, and Risa will pull out some of her rarer tales - I've had a few saved up for such an occasion. Shayliss may make a move on our merfolk PC depending on how the Winterbloom session goes. Lastly, I think the PCs might finally get the title Heroes of Sandpoint or Champions of Sandpoint bestowed on them by the city council, if for no other reason than to actually introduce the city council. Titus Scarnetti will be conspicuously absent, potentially because he may be murdered at this time.

I think that's all I've really got outlined so far - I'm going to start actually writing the session details at the end of this coming week, most likely.

[Fair Strides]

@Askvar Avari: Well, my party didn't get to Sandpoint this session, but we'll get there next week! We still had an... eventful session though, thanks to introing a new party member, a dhampir skald with a rich dad.

So, the player's character is a female Dhampir Skald named Rinka Magalor, daughter of the Vampire Lord Magalor (and one of his slaves). She heard tales of the exploits of the party's Paladin, Sabinna Ronnova (the one who soloed both Mokmurian and the Black Monk), and wanted to invite Sabinna and her associates to a masquerade ball in the Naos District of Magnimar. Rinka even gave a blank check to go to Rinka's tailor.

So, the party got new outfits.

Shalelu got this one.

And Nualia got this one (but without the extra sheathes. She wields a bastard sword).

The masquerade went off to a great start with Sabinna, Nualia, the new Samurai Roshi, and the Dragon Disciple Kisara going off to the bar. Much to the staff's horror, they started a heavy drinking contest.

I should say now that I usually use simple rules for Drinking:

Drinking Rules:

• -Depending on the drinks, the Fort Save DC starts at 10, 15, or 20.
• -For each drink you've had, the DC goes up by 1.
• -If you fail 3 Fort Saves, you are considered Drunk and have the Sickened Condition. Normally, this is the point where one would stop drinking.
• -Once you're sickened, the DC increases by 5 immediately (a one-time thing) and the next failed Fort Save makes you Nauseated.
• -If you fail another Fort Save when you're Nauseated, then you go Unconscious.

The rest of the story, in spoiler due to length:

The party made it through 14 drinks before Roshi, Kisara, and Nualia were considered drunk (Nualia only had a +10 to Fort, so she was done in round 8 or so) and stopped. Rinka presented Sabinna with a one-time use special elixir that required rolling 2 d6s that corresponded to your stats (STR=1, and then go down the list). For the next 5 rounds, the first d6's stat becomes 1 and the second d6's stat becomes 30. Sabinna drank the elixir immediately and rolled DEX and then CON...

When Sabinna said she felt like she could run a mile, Nualia commented that "I doubt you could run a mile, Sabinna. I'm not even sure you could dance right now." Sabinna wanted to prove her wrong, so she dragged Nualia to the dance floor and tried to lead. She didn't do well (I took her CHA and DEX away from her Perform[Dance] 'cause we agreed DEX would make more sense for the skill and she had a DEX of 1 at the time, plus being basically drunk), so Nualia led the dance.

When the elixir's effects ended, Sabinna re-took the lead in the dance, which surprised Nualia and threw her off-balance. Rinka saw an opportunity and used the spell Eagle's Splendour to improve Nualia's ability (which was flavored as making her heart race). The group saw the writing on the wall as Nualia's heart raced while dancing with Sabinna. Rinka then cast Unnatural Lust on Nualia, selecting Sabinna as the target. Nualia only failes the save because she was drunk, but she pulled Sabinna closer and caressed her back. Sabinna just thought Nualia was stumbling and supported her, so she was surprised when Nualia then kissed her. Sabinna responded and Shalelu quickly hustled them off the dance floor as they started making out, exiling them to a nearby balcony for some privacy.

OOC, this was all hilarious and with a healthy amount of ribbing and teasing, but there's actually a good dose of psychology to it on Nualia's end. Sabinna and Nualia were both drunk, but Sabinna used Angelic Aspect, Greater and flew Nualia around Magnimar on a "proper" date night. We didn't RP all of it yet, but the two of them watched the stars up on a hill and fell asleep together (we don't know yet in what state they were in when they actually went to sleep).

Shalelu and Kisara gave them both smug grins when they walked into the inn for breakfast, but haven't messed with them yet...

[Fair Strides]

I've written up some short speeches that I'd be saying before the celebrations begin (it's still two more days till the celebrations*):

Mayor Deverin's:

"Welcome, citizens of Sandpoint, travelers, and adventurers of all calibers! We gather here today to celebrate and rejoice, for Sandpoint is safe again and I've received news that our loved ones are even now on their way back to us, escorted personally by dwarves freed by our illustrious heroes.

We've seen many trying times since we entered into Autumn, from the terror of Goblin Day to a return of the Late Unpleasantness, and we've only just begun to rebuild from the stone giants' attacks. Still, we have endured. This is Varisia, the land of the untamed and ancient, and any who survive here do so on the merit of their hard work. Today, we celebrate our own hard work and recognize the fact that we are still here. Now, I will let Father Zantus speak. Thank you for your time."

Father Zantus's:

"People of Sandpoint! Welcome and rejoice! We are here today to witness the end of the year and the birth of a new one. Sarenraens call this day 'Candlemark' and a day of forgiveness, both of debts and old slights. And how we have been slighted this year! Attacked by goblins, betrayed by our own, murders in the street, a traitor's return when Giants attacked and raided our homes! But we've survived that, and now we're here, on the longest night of the year. Tonight, we will light the way into the new times with Sarenrae's candles, Shelyn's crystals showing the way, and Desna's star dust lighting up the heavens. Tomorrow we near the end of the year and we will walk towards it with lighter hearts, as the goddesses will it. Before we celebrate, a few words from our Sherriff."

Sherriff Hemlock's:

"Alright, I'm going to keep this short now that the others have said their piece. Tonight's a new night, so everyone be safe, listen to my boys when they patrol, and have fun! Just watch the drinking, eh?"

Though, I think I'll start Chapter 5's opener during the celebrations on the Solstice, at evening. So I'm altering some of the details of the beginning to make it work with the party already being in Sandpoint.

*: So... I'm curious. I've never been the greatest with days and night-time (finding out when "Midnight on Oathday" was for Chapter 2 was a pain).

If you have the Candlemark holiday that lasts through the night and the Stardust Ritual that happens at evening, do these happen on the 21st itself, or on the 20th going into the 21st?

[Askar Avari]

Hey there Fairstrides! I'm going to be typing up how my session went tomorrow (so you'll have a chance to pick up any ideas you might like), but right now I'll just address your question.

If the shortest day of the year is the 21, my expectation is that Crystalhue would take place on the 21, the Ritual of Stardust would take place starting at dusk on the 21 and end at dawn of the 22, and Candlemark would take place on the 22nd, as it is the dawn following the longest night. While that doesn't perfectly fit how it's recorded in the Wiki, I think it makes by far the most sense from a symbolic standpoint.

That being said, I ran it as Candlemark -> Crystalhue -> Ritual of Stardust so that the citizens of Sandpoint would only be staying up for 24 hours if they celebrated all of them (as Ameiko does in my game).

[Askar Avari]

Alright. My Solstice session was a bit weird, and some players definitely liked it more than others, but I'd still call it a success. Here's how things went:

Intro:

The session opened to a conversation between Ameiko and a Glassworks employee from Magnimar who had recently found out about 'The Skinsaw Man'. She reported that she'd heard of Magnimar's 'Star Killer', but was surprised to hear that he'd been apprehended - or that he'd been Aldern Foxglove to begin with! Ameiko, aware of the Norgorber cult thanks to the party sharing information, realized how active the killings were, and brought the party into a meeting to work out a plan.

Once the party had been properly signposted towards Aldern's townhouse, Ameiko recommended they stay for the Solstice celebrations and set off after that.

Candlemark:

Candlemark began with our Hunter, Ithil, running into Valerie and Anyaia, fiancees and Ameiko's only remaining servants. They informed him that Ameiko went to the Boneyard to see her family, so he set off to see a dryad he's become friends with in the time since the Skinsaw murders began. Then there was a monologue scene for Ameiko I'll attach below, based on Ameiko's description in the Sandpoint Campaign Setting Guide.

Then I threw in a short story about Courrin Whesterwill and his family's indentured servitude to Titus Scarnetti. This section was included just to emphasize Titus's greed, which would be relevant very soon.

Lastly, a PC showed up at the General Store and rushed/shouted out their forgiveness to Shayliss Vinder, who replied by yelling her forgiveness over them and they both shoved gifts into each others' hands. They'd been hostile to each other since Katrine died but hopefully that'll be the end of their feud.

Crystalhue:

This was a really busy section. Our half-elf who had been suspected of the Skinsaw murders was brought back into the community symbolically by being invited to melaros sewing at Sandpoint cathedral. Ameiko and a bunch of NPCs hung out on the steps of the cathedral and got their hair dyed while the merfolk bloodrager was lavished with trinkets from kids who styled their hair in appreciation of their scales. Turandurok students and several PCs spent time among the art stalls at the co-op marketplace.

Our hunter also hung out with three NPC OCs - Skaadi, the elf/changeling witch; Daisy, the teenage dryad; and Delilah, the feral child werewolf. They all worked together to decorate Daisy's tree for Crystalhue and the party started shipping Skaadi and Daisy. I think they just like the doofy/good-natured and cynical brat dynamic.

Ritual of Stardust:

This section was basically just storytelling - whatever suggestions people had for NPCs we basically went with. And when the night was over, people paired off with their favorite NPCs to talk about the stuff that had happened over the past few months and what was coming next.

Aneka Avertin joined the party. A Turandurok student (Hope Summer, a summoner magical girl) watched her two crushes get together before her very eyes, then ended up asking to join the party to get away from them. Shayliss Vinder accepted a PCs apology for not stopping the skinsaw man fast enough to save her dad but was clearly very depressed. Shalelu refused to relax for the entire night. The entire first half of Book 2 got wrapped up nicely right before the trip to Magnimar.

Then, as soon as people woke up after resting in the morning, they found out that Titus Scarnetti was found with the Sidhedron Rune carved into his body. Ameiko advised them to skip town before suspicion could be aimed at them, and they were gone immediately along with their two new party members (making a party of 8! yikes Leadership).

Some other tidbits: I converted a BUNCH of materials the party has come across into 'Libraries' according to the Ultimate Intrigue research rules, and the party discovered the method of destruction for both the Runewell of Wrath and Vorel Foxglove's lingering infection. Additionally, they found out the exact date that the Runewell of Wrath re-activated, which they currently find interesting but largely irrelevant. However, as more and more of the timeline of the villains begins to match with it, I think that will make a fun detail.