Caliphas, capital of the Immortal Principality of Ustalav, is a place of great promise and danger.  Wealth flows in and out of the capital in great amounts, carried by the winds of trade, and the taxes of empire, yet the corrupt ruling class has little interest in using that wealth to keep it's people safe.  In the back alleys and dark buildings of the teeming metropolis, criminals and darker things prey on the unwary, while just beyond the city limits lies a countryside riddled with undead monstrosities, savage raiders from the nearby Hold of Belkzen, and the bestial threat of more "natural" predators lying in wait.

An adventurer skilled in sword or sorcery can do a lot of good in a place like this, and make a lot of coin doing it.  If they pick their jobs right, they can even avoid the most miserable parts of the adventuring life like long trips through the wilderness, politics, and emotional growth.

At least, that was your reasoning, when you set out for Caliphas to make your name and/or fortune.  Then, you all meet in a bar...
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 22:26, Fri 03 June 2022.

A haggard-looking woodsman from the Hungry Mountains recently started putting up flyers and asking around the seedier parts of town looking for skilled fighters.  Something or someone has been picking off members of his small trapping community in the woods.  And it wasn't the work of wild animals: The remains of one local were found, and the bones weren't merely chewed, they had been cooked first.  The village had taken up a collection to pay anyone who could rid their land of these savage marauders.

MAP NOTES:

Trap runes on D13, E12, F13, G12.  Touching the ground in affected squares triggers a blast doing 1d8+4  fire damage, with a DC 16 reflex save for half.

It is currently late afternoon and sunny.  Lighting is "bright" outside, and "normal" within the cave.  The cave roof is 30' high once past the entrance tunnel.

The fire at JK 18-19 is lit, but not particularly intense.  Anyone entering the fire will take 1d6 fire damage and must make a DC 15 reflex save or catch on fire, taking another 1d6 damage and requiring another save next round.  The fire pit counts as difficult terrain.

The large rocks on the map are about 3 ft high, and flat enough to stand on without penalty.  Climbing on/over them costs 10ft of movement with a DC10 acrobatics check, or a full move action (that provokes attacks of opportunity) without a check.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:32, Fri 06 May 2022.

The priests in charge of a remote shrine to Erastil known as Estig's Point had always tried to stay on the good side of the local forest-dwellers.  This is why it came as a surprise when they found themselves invaded one morning by a trio of strange creatures:  a horned man with goatlike legs, a flying lion with a human face and a tail covered in rattling spines, and a massive spider that seemed to move in and out of reality at a whim (which also had a human face).  Through a combination of mind control and physical threats, this strange trio forced the priests to pack up and leave with whatever they could carry, before tearing down every structure in the location.  As the priests stumbled away from their ruined holy place, the "forest guardians" warned them that they wouldn't see such mercy a second time: anyone who dared return to Estig's Point would be killed.

A year later, the church of Erastil has decided to rebuild their shrine, but first they need someone to deal with these belligerent locals.  Now, it's nearly impossible to track down a satyr, a manticore, or a phase spider in their own territory, but the party doesn't need to.  All they have to do is come back to Estig's Point, light a campfire to draw attention to themselves and wait for the Satyr and his companions to show up and make good on their promise.

Easy money: the party knows what they're fighting, and they know where to find them.  What could possibly go wrong?

OOC: Your intel may not necessarily be 100% accurate after a year of in-game time.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:36, Fri 13 May 2022.

"What I'm asking you to do is technically illegal."

The party was speaking to the same priest of Pharasma that had cured Koyrai's blindness and later treated results of his poisoning.  But while those meetings had taken place in the grand temple in the middle of the city, this one was happening in secret, in a run down bar by the docks.

"Okay, forget about the "technically" part, it's just illegal.  But if you can find the evidence I need, nobody's going to ask too many questions about where it came from.  Have any of you heard of the Olinescu family?  They're minor nobility with some land to the east of here, and plenty of nasty rumors about them.  Stories about them killing their serfs on a whim, of worshiping evil gods, cannibalism.  That sort of thing.  Now, the church can't formally investigate a lord based on nothing but rumours, but I just happened to be in the area recently and...well, I figured I'd take a peek at the old family crypt and make sure all the dead were still laying down like the Lady of Graves wants them to."

"They weren't.  I barely got the door open a crack before I could tell things were horribly wrong.  The air reeked of carrion, much worse than any normal crypt, and there was an unnatural chill coming from behind that door.  I didn't even risk looking inside:  I closed that door as quietly as I could, then chained it shut and blocked it off with whatever debris was at hand."

"As a priest of Pharasma, I know there are undead down there, but...well, a bad smell and some goosebumps don't exactly make compelling evidence for a layperson, especially since I was trespassing.  The mausoleum is on a remote part of their land, and the lord of the manner is out of the country right now.  If you can go there quietly and bring back hard evidence that the Olinescu family has been consorting with dark powers, nobody's going to care about a little trespassing charge."
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:27, Fri 03 June 2022.

In the name of Prince Aduard Ordranti III,

You are hereby ordered to appear before the High Inquisitor of Pharasma and testify in regards to the accusations of Demon-Worship, Necromancy, Murder, Conspiracy, and Treason directed towards the Olinescu family.  You are to meet representatives of the inquisition at the crossroads where the King's Road meets Vauntil's Way on the fourth day of Lamashtan. You will be lead to a secret location to give your testimony.

Due to the sensitive nature of the charges, this is to be a secret tribunal.  Destroy this letter after reading it, and tell no-one of your destination.  Come armed, as further services may be required of your party following the meeting.

Failure to respond to this subpeona in a timely manner will be construed as treason.

The letter had been delivered to the party headquarters by a courier, and lacked any identifying marks aside from a seal that signified it as official communication on behalf of the church of Pharasma.  The crossroads the party has been ordered to meet the inquisitors at is a full day's ride from the city, or several days on foot.  The king's road is lightly travelled and often beset with bandits, though it is far from the most hazardous route in Ustalav.

OOC: Prep spells will be limited to effects of 1 hour or more. 

While the Inquisition puts young Lord Olinescu to the question, the party is approached by a representative of one of Ustalav's major mining concerns.  Apparently, one of their newer mines hit a bit of a snag: while digging out a new tunnel underground, the miners encountered an old man in animal skins, inexplicably waiting for them deep beneath the earth.  The stranger declared the miners would be punished for "violating the sacred earth" with their greed, before calling down powerful magic and terrible beasts to slaughter the workers.  Survivors of the attack claim "the cave itself came alive", tearing into the workers' legs with teeth of stone.

The company is willing to pay a fair price to avenge their people and (more importantly) open the mine up for operations once again.

OOC: Before combat, you will be able to activate prep spells or effects with a duration of 20 mins or longer.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:49, Tue 18 July 2023.

The party is approached quietly by Victor Bose, one of Caliphas' most distinguished conjurors and a "fellow traveler" to the party's cleric Erisen.  A number of the wizard's assistants have recently disappeared, along with a rare book on the rituals necessary to call outsiders into the material plane.  Whatever "foolishness" the journeyman mages may be up to, Bose wants things taken care of quietly before they can cause him any further embarrassment.  He suspects the wizards may be at an ancient ruin in the deep woods, where he had lead similar rituals in the past.

OOC: You will be able to start the encounter with spells and effects lasting 1 hour or more.

The party spots a now familiar sight: a haggard-looking woodsman from the Hungry Mountains recently started putting up flyers and asking around the seedier parts of town looking for skilled fighters.  The inhabitants of the craggy hinterland have once again begun to go missing, only to turn up cooked and eaten.  This time, however, the tracks found around the victim's homes suggest something bigger than mere kobolds.  Much bigger.

Several of the nearby villages have taken up a collection to pay anyone who can keep them out of the monsters' stewpot.

OOC: You will be able to start the encounter with effects lasting 1 hour or more.

A long-simmering rivalry between our heroes and another adventuring party has finally reached it's breaking point.  The rival company, a band of adventurers calling themselves the "Heroes of Combat", have begun leveling serious and very public allegations against the party:  To hear them tell it, Erisen is a demon-worshipping cult leader; Audrey is a grave robbing necromancer, Patagogi a savage pillager behind a number of unsolved murders and robberies; and Rik Feyleaf is a spy sent on behalf of the subterranean dark elf empire.  They apparently couldn't think up a proper slander for Delfrydydd, but have been heard publically mocking the magus' name.

This spree of accusations has come with a challenge: One great duel, party vs party.  The losers, should they survive, must leave Caliphas and never return.  It may be the only way to clear the party's reputation, and prove once and for all who are the better adventurers.

OOC: As a duel, only effects with a duration of 24h or longer will be permitted before the duel. Each party will two rounds worth of "prep time" immediately before combat begins.

The Heroes of Battle have a lot of turnover, so you're not clear on their current roster.  But you can expect a balanced party of adventurers, with equal numbers to yourself.
This message was last updated by the GM at 22:16, Tue 07 Nov 2023.

With their reputation cleared and their rivals chased out of town, the party is handed an opportunity from an unlikely source.  Pan the Hunter, still a bit scuffed up from the recent duel, offers to sell the party a map.  "A friendly spirit told me where a big green dragon lays it's head.  Calls itself Vercingetorix, lord of the forest.  But don't worry, it's not THAT big.  I was trying to convince the others to go pay it a visit, but now it looks like we're going the other way.  I'll hand it over for a few hundred gold, whaddya say?  That's a small investment for the chance to take in a dragon's hoard!"

As shady as it's origins may seem, some research suggests that the map is genuine.  And taking down a true dragon would be a great boost to the party's reputation, not to mention it's coffers.  That is, as long as the hunters don't become the hunted.

OOC: The party can expect time to freely buff themselves before entering the cave, assuming the dragon doesn't find them first.