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I've found myself in the enviable position of starting a new group of 8 players, and while I'm weighing up what I want to run, I have an itch of an idea but I need some assistance. I'm looking to run a "West Marches" style game in
Background: A few years ago I was running the Giantslayer Adventure Path, we finished books 1 and 2, and I realised that I was more interested in the fate of the orcs than I was in whatever the Giantslayer story was about.
Weirdly there is no mention of the events of Giantslayer in the timeline of the Eye of Dread in the Lost Omens world-guide. My assumption is that the setting assumes those events happened, but since defeating Volstus has no long-lasting repercussions they are barely a historic footnote (if they did occur it would have been in 4715 AR).
So my players took Redlake Fort as a keep, and decided to start a free territory called "The Patchlands", an independent territory with Trunau, Freedom Town and Arwyll Stead choosing to take up the banner of the Patchlands, and encompassing a region once called "the Conquered Lands", and some parts of the Northern Mindspin Mountains.
At this point the campaign sadly fell apart. However extrapolating from my plans at the time:
Recent History of the Patchlands and The Eye of Dread
With Redlake Fort as a capital and hub, the Patchlands from 4715 to 4719 became a Neutral territory that could act as an intermediary between Lastwall, the Orcs of Belkzen, and Nirmathas. Lord-Chief Vex Blackened Blade, son of Halgra Blackened Blade, a half-orc Eldritch Knight unites the remnants of the Broken Spine and the Skittering Ravagers and crushes the Bloody Gauntlet when they refuse peaceful negotiation. Vex forges a treaty with Grask Uldeth of Belkzen in 4716, days prior to his assassination. Vex and the Company of The Blackened Blade escape with their lives, and with the backing of two orc tribes and in no position to retake the territory while consolodating his rule Grask honours the treaty so long as it is convenient.
In 4716 Vex also signs an alliance with Lastwall, to act as intermediaries and negotiators with the Orc tribes and mutual defense if the Northern tribes unite to invade.
In 4717 the hobgoblin Iron Fang Invasion occurs in Nirmathas, some refugees of that war find themselves heading north and are welcomed to Trunau and the Patchlands, some choose to return to Nirmathas at the end of the war, others choose to settle in the Patchlands as tribes of orcs might prove a valuable deterrent from future hobgoblin aggression.
4718 - The Council of the Blackened-Blade has signed a 3 year peace pact with the newly formed nation of Oprak, and an alliance with Nirmathas to the South.
In 4719 everything pops off! The Whispering Tyrant escapes his prison, destroys the nation of Lastwall. The Tyrant demands the orcs return to his service and Ardax White-Hair leads a coalition of Orcs to repel the Tyrant at the battle of 9 broken skulls, with the assistance of the forces of the Patchlands.
Now:
Now waves of refugees fleeing Lastwall have found their way to the Patchlands, one of the few havens of safety in the hostile Eye of Dread, and Lord-Chief Vex and the Council of the Blackened-Blade are in need of adventurers, with regular raids of the dead, and no peaceful border to the East, the Patchlands have lost much of what they have won through blade and diplomacy.
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South of Belkzen and North of Nirmathas there is an unclaimed area of the map!
That is completely awesome for a West Marches (I guess technically South Marches in this sense) The Patchlands are the section of Belkzen previously known as the Conquered Lands, so south of that is a bit of a blank slate (I'm currently calling "The Lost Dells".
What I would love is some ideas on locations, encounters and environs to find in those valleys and region of the Mindspin mountains.
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So far my players in the Patchlands have:
Rescued a grippli merchant prince from Boggard cultists.
Cured a great tree in Ghostlight Marsh of a Cyth V'Sug spore infestation.
Liberated an old Harchist Line fort from a Whispering Way necromancer and his undead minions. They want to build this fort up as a base of operations.
Recovered the Nargrymkin map from Orc and Ogre bandits.
Defeated some Tatzlwyrms in order to collect their eggs for delivery to Trunau.
Found the entrance to the Emerald Spire Superdungeon. (In my Golarion campaign there's more than 1 emerald spire!)
Found the entrance to Thornkeep (I've never run it before so I just moved it).
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So far my players in the Patchlands have:
Rescued a grippli merchant prince from Boggard cultists.
Cured a great tree in Ghostlight Marsh of a Cyth V'Sug spore infestation.
Liberated an old Harchist Line fort from a Whispering Way necromancer and his undead minions. They want to build this fort up as a base of operations.
Recovered the Nargrymkin map from Orc and Ogre bandits.
Defeated some Tatzlwyrms in order to collect their eggs for delivery to Trunau.
Found the entrance to the Emerald Spire Superdungeon. (In my Golarion campaign there's more than 1 emerald spire!)
Found the entrance to Thornkeep (I've never run it before so I just moved it).
Negotiated with the local troll population to help build a road between Trunau and Redlake Fort, in exchange for reasonable bridge tolls over the rivers.
Began negotiations for Troll Tollkeepers Union, in order to ensure fair treatment and wages for Trolls in the Patchlands.
Discovered a troublemaking hag by the false name Thorn has been stirring up trouble in the region.
Pinpointed the location of Steelhand's Tomb.
Freed a great Tortoise Spirit from being corrupted by a boggard cult in the Ghostlight Marsh.
Worked with local tribes of Orc Amazons and Orc Bears to start a spa/relaxation business.
Negotiated with some of the Ghostlight Marsh elemental wisps (the spirits of the Druids) so they can go to the Vault of Thorns to collect their rewards from some of their previous adventures.