James Andachi

In early fall of my fourteenth year my mother decided it was time to inform me, James Andachi, the truth. She sat with me on the cold stone floor and she revealed to me that all of life has been decided, we are merely characters in a book discovering what has already been written.  I refused to believe in such things and despite my anger she remained steadfast and calm. Seemingly out of nowhere she asked me to get something from the shed and handed me a necklace. I remembered she said it would help me find my way, which at the time I didn't understand her meaning.  When I reached the barn I happened to glance over at the window and noticed an intense set of illuminated blue eyes in the house beside my mother. Before I could even react a forceful beam of light emanated from my home consuming it in flames. Nothing remained. All I had to remember her by was this necklace.  Later a wandering priest would identify it as a necklace of Pharasma (six mirror rectangles forming a hexagon on the outside, but when looking into the middle from the top or bottom one will see the spiral of Pharasma).

“The Crooked Kin—Ustalav’s Greatest Traveling Cabinet of Curiosities!”

Hap Tarvin, the Flea Man, A short, hunched man with a distorted appearance, Hap performs with his flea circus, the Magnificent Carnival of Miniature Wonders.

Kaleb Hesse, the Ringmaster, An albino man with red eyes and long, white hair that hangs below his knees, Kaleb wears a tall red top hat, a long red coat with gold buckles, and striped trousers. He is the de facto leader of the Crooked Kin.

Lidia Gerod, the Bearded Lady Standing nearly 7 feet tall and possessedof a fine beard down to her waist, Lidia acts as a sort of “mother hen” to the other members of the troupe.

The Pinheads: Aleece,Lettie, and Poppy are sisters, all of whom have microcephaly. Aleece recently wandered away from the caravan and has gone missing.

Prince Zar, the Human Caterpillar, This Mwangi man has no arms or legs. Prince Zar was once enslaved in a Chelish sideshow, but earned enough money to buy his freedom. He joined the Crooked
Kin, where he is billed as an exiled prince of the “Lost Cities of Darkest Garund.”    

        S’jeer, the Vudrani Princess, Born with four arms, S’jeer dresses in exotic silks and speaks with a thick accent.        

    The Swarm of Clowns: These two men and one woman, Gerik, Josef, and Tam each have an extra limb (Josef has three legs, the others have three arms).  Besides their skill in clowning, they are also accomplished acrobats and jugglers.    

      Trollblood, the Giant Man, A shockingly ugly Ulfen man nearly 8 feet tall, Trollblood entertains the crowds with fire-breathing and his featsof strength.          

    The Wolf Child, Supposedly raised by wolves in the Shudderwood, this 10-year-old boy is covered in hair. The three pinhead sisters treat him like a younger brother.

              In addition, the show also includes a pair of goblin dogs, a morlock, and a giant frog.  

                                    

           

An Inquirer visits Ravengro

The carriage train that arrives at Ravengro, sent by the Council of Canterwall and the church of Pharasma, is  lead by 1st. Inquirer LeVey of the Palatine Council of Canterwall. He will conduct a private meeting with the party in Ravengro's church. After listening to your stories he promotes Neophyte James Andachi to the rank of Journeyman in the church and gives him the church's blessings to travel with this new "band of brothers". LeVey will be staying in Ravengro as temporary priest until a new one is sent from the capitol.

As part of his time spent in Ravengro Inquirer LeVey will interview the group privately, and separately.The last week of the "band"s time in Ravengro, LeVey will have the 2 alchemists, the smith, and the owners of The Silken Purse busy gathering, and making the ingredients for a 5 day ritual held inside the church's basements.

Dr. Henric will have a shiny new tattoo when this ritual is over, as well as a new purpose and reasons to travel to Lepidstadt.. The pentacle and circle of power, together known as a Pentagram, will be the first of 3 separate sigils proscribed by Inquirer LeVey. The second is known as the Elder Sign and the third the Sign of the Watchers. When completed this occult emblem will provide its bearer some protection from possessing spirits.

LeVey's final request of the group is that they travel a small bit out of there way to Clover's Crossing to check in on the village. A man known as Dr. Emrer Evets, who is traveling with LeVey as his "guest" has told tales of the outlying villages fallen into sinkholes and barrens fields where towns once stood. 

M

 

Lepidstadt

Lepidstadt: Small city


Qualities: academic, prosperous, rumor mongering citizens, tourist attraction

Demographics:  Government council

Population 9,780 (9,600 humans, 80 dwarves, 50 elves, 30 gnomes, 20 other)

Notable NPC's:  Alpon Caromarc , The Beast of Lepidstadt, Acciani Viacarri

Marketplace: Base Value 6,000 gp; Purchase Limit 37,500gp

Moldering hinterlands and the remnants of a bloodthirsty religion seem like an unlikely setting for a scholarly revolution, yet on the Lesser Moutray brazenly flourishes just such a renaissance. Under the auspices of the nation’s greatest university, egalitarian philosophies and radical sciences clash with popular superstitions and forgotten secrets, clenching the city of Lepidstadt in a war between a past that refuses to rest quietly and a reckless future.

The community of Lepidstadt rose upon the Lesser Moutray over 700 years ago, little more than an outpost of farmers and woodsmen who trusted in the murk of the Dipplemere to keep roving bands of orcs and Kellids at bay. They of course knew of the ancient “witchstones” that dotted the lands, monuments to strange entities worshiped by ancient Kellid shamans, but all with sense knew to give the pale rocks a wide berth. The Treyes brothers changed that, as their audacious exploration of the Spiral Cromlech revealed treasures of a mysterious past, their value in gold and mystery outstripping the threat of ancient curses. Soon an army of scholars and adventure-seekers made the city their garrison, besieging the ruins of the ancient land. As discoveries and doldrums caused the land’s novelty to ebb and flow, Lepidstadt became the permanent home of numerous academics, whose works and families promoted the growth of the local university and, over time, elevated it to the vaunted center of scholarship it’s known as today.

Within the past 40 years, much of Lepidstadt has been renovated, with centuries-old hovels replaced by freshly imported wood and marble. Yet only the city’s elite preoccupy themselves with idyllic aspirations, and as one wanders away from the central plazas, old stone homes and repurposed mills show through the modern veneer, their residents living as they have for centuries, rolling their eyes at every new convolution of the city’s higher society.

Counties of Ustalav: Vieland

Between the orc-stalked Tusk Mountains and the bogs of the Shudderwood lies a prophecy of ruin. Across the secluded northwestern corner of Ustalav called Vieland, the ancient Kellids raised monuments to strange powers of the deep earth and distant stars. Today, these idols of misshapen gods go unheeded, overlooked as rustic curiosities or repurposed as bedrock for an age of arrogant reason. From the hills rises a bastion of science and new truths, haughtily ignorant of the past’s mute warnings.

The county of Vieland is a rugged country, Vieland’s hills and dales pitch from the western mountains, breaking in stony waves that gradually mire down in dense swamps and woodlands. The dusty knolls scattered below the Tusk Mountains scatter across land that might otherwise make fine farmland, their boulders and precipitous slopes making the land better suited to herding than most other forms of agriculture. Aside from the trolls and marsh giants said to hunt the region, tales abound of territorial plant creatures and ancient swamp lords with the power to command the rotting mounds.

The Talbots

The Talbots live on a small livestock farm under the eaves of the Shudderwood. Their farm consisting mainly of horses and hogs although a few head of dairy cattle are in the mix as well.

The Talbots had 10 children of which Remy is number 7.

Stefan, the firstborn, died at age7. He drowned in a rain swollen stream after falling in by accident.

Kristof, now 33, is married to his bride of 13 years and has a small hog farm of his own. He has 3 children and is now 33 years old.

Viktoria and Emelia are 27 year old twins. Viktoria is married to Denis, a horsetrader the Talbots frequently trade with. She is expecting her second child. Emilia lives at home and is betrothed to Arpad, the main help on the Talbot farm.

Tibor, known as "Strongbow", is a ranger of the Shudderwood. Famous for his hard hitting long bow. He is 23.

Remus disappeared in the Shudderwood over 2 years ago. No trace has ever been found.

Remy, 19, another ranger of Shudderwood.

Anca, 17, called Star of Desna. Believed to be the most beautiful woman in Ustalav.

Ileana, 14, already showing a gift for weaving.

Vili, 9, this one was a happy accident and is beloved by everyone.

Another nightmare filled night. I woke this morning feeling worse than when i fell into slumber. I cannot wait 'til we are quit of this town.

        Remy Talbot, ranger

Minor Magic

The various learned arcanists in the group have no trouble figuring out the stone of alarm.

STONE OF ALARM
Aura faint abjuration; CL 3rd
Slot none; Price 2,700 gp; Weight 2 lbs.
DESCRIPTION
This stone cube, when given the command word, affixes itself to any object. If that object is touched thereafter by anyone who does not first speak that same command word, the stone emits a piercing screech for 1 hour that can be heard up to a quarter-mile away (assuming no intervening barriers).

CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, alarm; Cost 1,350 gp

M.

Dossier: Remy Talbot

Cover sheet:

Summary Page:

Desmond Kote is wise to have me start with the youth known as Remy Talbot. Like many Ustalavian’s the Talbots took the last name of the most successful side of their family. The name Talbot brings to mind skilled woodsmen and rangers, as would another name they descend from, however this name would bring a gasp even to an inquisitor’s lips. Remy Talbot is the direct descendant of Mathus Mordrinacht! 

The supporting documents will show Remy to be a seventh generation descendant of Mathus and if legends are true, destined to become a Dark Hunter. I have tasked Quinley Basdel with searching The Quarterfaux Archives for more precise information regarding these Dark Hunters.

Unfortunately records are not well kept in the Shudderwood but young Remy believes he killed his father, also accursed with his silvered sword, Desna’s Remorse. If he is truly a hunter born, as I believe he is, then he merely doomed his father to the curse to which their line is born, activating or awakening his weapon in their blood. There are only 4 known “hunter” weapons, one is lost or hidden, one I believe in the possession of Remy Talbot with the remaining two safely locked away in our Master’s collection. Inquistor Kote divinations will come true should the 7th son fulfill his birthright, his path will intersect with all of us.

Thirty pages follow detailing and supporting summary.

Anyone else think it odd that Fredrick the bard keeps pushing us back to the prison? And always at night? Am i just being paranoid? Hmmm.... I think i shall ask him.

Ok, now that was some weird shit! Covered mirrors, ears in a box, an evil warding symbol guarding the aforementioned box. If that old man ain't guilty, someone went to alot of trouble to implicate him. The sheriff needs to see this before it disappears.
                                                Remy Talbot, ranger at large

Kendra's Research

Kendra will approach the group with this information after the party has rested from their last trip into the ruined prison.

Haunt Siphon

Aura: faint necromancy
CL: 3rd
Slot: None
Price: 400 gp
Weight:1 lb

DESCRIPTION
These glass vials are held within stylized cold-iron casings etched with strange runes, necromantic designs, or other eldritch markings. Within the vial roils a small wisp of white vapor, churning as if caught in a miniature vortex of air. To capture a haunt's energies within a Haunt Siphon, you need only twist the metal casing to open the vial in the same round that the haunt manifests (a standard action) -this can be before or after the haunt has acted. You must be within the haunt's area of influence to use a Haunt Siphon. When you activate a Haunt Siphon, it deals 3d6 points of positive energy damage to a single haunt. If it deals enough damage to the haunt to reduce the haunt's hit points to 0, the mist inside the Haunt Siphon glows -if it does not reduce the haunt to 0 hit points, the Haunt Siphon is still expended and becomes nonmagical. It may take multiple Haunt Siphons to destroy powerful haunts. A haunt that is neutralized by a Haunt Siphon takes a -5 penalty on its caster level check to manifest again after its reset time passes.

A Haunt Siphon that neutralizes a haunt can no longer be used to harm haunts, but it can be used as a grenadelike splash weapon that deals 3d6 points of negative energy damage with a direct hit. Every creature within 5 feet of the point where the Haunt Siphon hits takes 3 points of negative energy damage from the splash.

CONSTRUCTION
Requirements: Craft Wondrous Item, Cure Moderate Wounds, Gentle Repose
Cost: 200 gp

Spirit Planchette

Aura: Moderate Divination
CL: 9th
Slot: None
Price: 4000 gp (Brass Planchette), 10,000 gp (Cold Iron Planchette), 18,000 gp (Silver Planchette)
Weight: 5 lbs

DESCRIPTION
A Spirit Planchette is typically found in a wooden case along with a thin wooden board printed with numerous letters and numbers. Nonmagical versions of these divination tools can be purchased in curiousity shops (typically costing 25 gp); while these items can be used as alternative components for augury spells, only magical Spirit Planchettes allow users to communicate with the other side. Three types of Spirit Planchettes exist -brass, cold iron, and silver. Each in turn allows an increasingly potent form of divination effect to be utilized. A Spirit Planchette requires a board to move upon, but this"board" can be made up of letters scribed upon any smooth surface -it need not be a prepared board for a Spirit Planchette
to work.

To use a Spirit Planchette, you must rest your fingers lightly upon the planchette's surface and then concentrate on theplanchette (as if maintaining a spell with a duration of concentration) for 2d6 rounds while the planchette attunes itself to the ambient spirits of the area. After this time, the planchette begins to slowly slide in random patterns across the board -at this point, questions may be asked of the spirits by any of the individuals involved in the seance. The consequences of each question asked of the spirits depends upon what type of planchette is used for the divination, as summarized on the table below. The spirits reply in a language understood by the character who asked the question, but resent such contact and give only brief answers to the questions. All questions are answered with "Yes", "no", or "maybe", or by spelling out a single word from the letters arranged on the board. The spirits answer each question either in the same round the question is asked (in the case of a yes, no, or maybe answer) or at a rate of one letter per round (in the case of a single word being spelled out). A Spirit Plancette may be used once per day -the maximum number of questions you can ask with it depends on the type of planchette being used .

Communication with the spirits can be a dangerous task, for many spirits are jealous or hateful of the living. Every time a Spirit Planchette is used, the user must succeed on a Will save to avoid being temporarily possessed and harmed by the angry spirits.In some areas where the spirits are particularly violent or hateful this Will save takes a -2 penalty. The DC of this save depends on the type of Spirit Planchette being used.  The spirits in the area are not omniscient -the GM should decide whether or not the spirits would actually know the answer to the question asked, and if they do not, the answer granted is automatically "maybe".

CONSTRUCTION
Requirements: Craft Wondorous Item, Contact Other Plane, Speak with Dead
Cost: 2,000 gp (Brass Spirit Planchette), 5,000 gp (Cold Iron Planchette), 9,000 gp (Silver Spirit Planchette)


M.

Man, i don't know about the rest of you guys, but i need a couple days away from that damned prison! We still need to talk to the sheriff and look over those papers from the office. Also, i'd like to look into this trouble maker we keep running into. Is he just a bigoted old man or is that just his cover? I'm thinking of a little after hours recon. Anyone care to join?

Detective Viorec's Dossier

At the time of the fire in Harrowstone, the number of particularly violent and dangerous criminals imprisoned in the dungeons was at an all-time high. The five most notorious prisoners in Harrowstone at the time were Father Charlatan, the Lopper, the Mosswater Marauder, the Piper of Illmarsh, and The Splatter Man.

Sefick Corvin : AKA Father Charlatan,  Friar Mead,  High Priest Greenleaf, Bishop Twoton,  Archbanker Gold, Dr'tea Master of the North Wind, Moonseerer Pale, Journeyman Smith. Of the five Sefick was not technically a killer, although he was responsible for the deaths several families in Clover's Crossing. His crimes were so blasphemous that several churches demanded he be punished to the fullest extent of Ustalavic law.

Vance Saetressle: AKA The Lopper. The Lopper was known for stalking his prey, hiding in the most unlikely places, waiting for the right time to strike. The Lopper would spring out to savagely behead his victim with a handaxe.At the time of his trial it was not known how many be-headings he was responsible for.

Ispin Onyxcudgel: AKA The Mosswater Marauder. Ispin Onyxcudgle was a small-time loan shark. When he found out about his wife's infidelity he flew into a rage and ashed her head in with the mace he used on his delinquent customers, shattering her skull and his sanity with one murderous blow. Ispin became convinced that if he could rebuild his wife's skull she would come back to life. Over the course of several weeks he stalked and killed nearly 20 people while searching for the correct pieces. He was captured after killing the daughter of a visiting nobleman  from Varno, and was carted to Harrowstone that night.

The Piper of Illmarsh: Real name unknown. Before killing his victims, the Piper would taunt them with a mournful dirge played on his flute. He would paralyze lone victims with lich dust and call his pet sturges to drink the victims dry of blood.Nothing else is known about this prisoner.

Hean Feramin: AKA The Splatter Man .Profeser Feramin was a celebrated scholar of Anthroponomastics at Quartefax Archives in Caliphas. In his trial he was exposed as a diabolist and had made pacts with a succubus. Feramin had become obsessed with the power of a name and how he could use it to terrify and control. Soon he developed an uncontrollable obsession with an imaginary link between a person's name and what happens to that name when a person dies. Every few days he would secretly arrange for his victim to find a letter from her name written in blood, or spelled out carefully with entrails. Once he had spelled out the victims name, he would come for them, killing them in a gory mess using a complex trap or series of rigged events meant to look like an accident.

ghost in the infirmary

M.

The Skipping Song

A song the children of Ravengro skip rope and sing...

"Put her body on the bed 

take a knife and lop her head

Watch the blood come out the pipe 

feeds the bugs, so nice and ripe

Drops of red so sparkly bright

splatters her name just right

With a hammer killed his wife

now he wants to claim your life

Tricksy father tells a lie

listen close or you will die."

M.

Experience Points

According to my notes, after 3 game sessions the group has accumulated 1,320 xp. That puts the party 680 points from 2nd level. We should level this coming Sunday, when the party returns from their prison adventure.

M

The Will

“I, Petros Lorrimor, being of sound mind, do hereby commit to this parchment my last will and testament. Let it be known that, with the exception of the specific details below, I leave my home and personal belongings entire to my daughter Kendra. Use them or sell them as you see fit, my child. “Yet beyond the bequeathing of my personal effects, this document must serve other needs. I have arranged for the reading of this document to be delayed until all principals can be in attendance, for I have more than mere inheritance to apportion. I have two final favors to ask. “To my old friends, I hate to impose upon you all, but there are few others who are capable of appreciating the true significance of what it is I have to ask. As some of you know, I have devoted many of my studies to all manner of evil, that I might know the enemy and inform those better positioned to stand against it. For knowledge of one’s enemy is the surest path to victory over its plans. “And so, over the course of my lifetime, I have seen fit to acquire a significant collection of valuable but dangerous tomes, any one of which in the wrong circumstances could have led to an awkward legal situation. While the majority of these tomes remain safe under lock and key at the Lepidstadt University, I fear that a few I have borrowed remain in a trunk in my Ravengro home. While invaluable for my work in life, in death, I would prefer not to burden my daughter with the darker side of my profession, or worse still, the danger of possessing these tomes herself. As such, I am entrusting my chest of tomes to you, posthumously. I ask that you please deliver the collection to my colleagues at the University of Lepidstadt, who will put them to good use for the betterment of the cause.
“Yet before you leave for Lepidstadt, there is the matter of another favor—please delay your journey one month and spend that period of time here in Ravengro to ensure that my daughter is safe and sound. She has no one to count on now that I am gone, and if you would aid her in setting things in order for whatever she
desires over the course of this month, you would have my eternal gratitude. From my savings, I have also willed to each of you a sum of one hundred platinum coins. For safekeeping, I have left these funds with Embreth Daramid, one of my most trusted friends in Lepidstadt—she has been instructed to issue this payment upon the safe delivery of the borrowed tomes no sooner than one month after the date of the reading of this will. “I, Petros Lorrimor, hereby sign this will in Ravengro on this first day of Calistril, in the year _____.”

Detective Viorec's Dossier

Jorfa Nevoroh - Blacksmith of Ravengro and one of the towns dark secrets. Jorfa was brought to Ravengro in 4628 when her mother was moved from the high security prison in Ardis to Harrowstone. She refuses to say much on the matter save that her father was a bad man and her mother was innocent. On the subject of Harrowstone she recalls the events leading up to the tragedy in 4661.
According to her, the town was not informed of the fire until it was too late to save the prisoners and guards.Town officials gathered as many as they could and started a water brigade up to the prison. It would be too late for any of the prisoners underground and the few guards fighting the fire would later die from smoke inhalation. In total all 25 guards, the warden and his wife( Jorfa still does not know how or why the wardens wife died in Harrowstone), and around 65 prisoners died in the fire.The reason for the fire never came to light until several months later, it's believed that a guard was somehow controlled to drop a barrel of lamp oil down the prisons elevator shaft. It is believed that the guard was controlled by the killer known as the Splatter Man  On the subject of 2 of the more notorious prisoners being held there. The Splatter Man, a serial killer, and someone called Father Charlatan. Both where scheduled for execution later that week. Several officials and dignitaries who had come to see the 2 executed had to be lodged at the Outward Inn and the Laughing Demon.
Jorfa went on to ask for a favor of sorts, if her mothers silver hair pins could be retrieved form the prisons safe she would work with the group to supply them with the tools they need to continue exploring the ruined prison.

The Splatter Man- A serial killer held in Harrowstone at the time of the fire. Several rumors surround this person, some say he can read minds and can gain control over a person through magic. He was known for his horrific killings using complex traps or a series of rigged events meant to look like an accident.

Father Charlatan- While technically not a murderer, his crimes were so blasphemous that several high priests from most of the "good" religions demanded his death once he and his Sczarni band had been captured.

A few months ago...

Florian Lamorath was truly surprised by his master’s summons, not that his master would call for him, but that he would tell him to come to the Cathedral. The Cathedral meant that the Inquisitor Desmond Kote was involved. Florian so disliked the logic free demands of the church. Wondering what task his master would have for him, Florian entered the Cathedral chamber. While the smaller side rooms had only 10-foot-high ceilings, the central cathedral chamber’s ceiling was easily 20 feet high. The small shrine stood in the middle of this large chamber, centered on Duke Zaebos’ statue. Beyond the shrine, sitting at two long tables in elaborately carved darkwood chairs were the Inquisitor and Florian’s master. “Welcome Florian!” his master’s deep voice echoed in the chamber, “Come and hear what Desmond‘s scrying has revealed to us. We of noble blood do not wait on time but prepare for it!”


The inquisitor stood from his seat at the table and approached Florian. The bard’s skin crawled as he awaited the inquisitor’s spell infused touch. While the Inquisitor was a loyal noble who served his master well, he was quite slovenly and could spend weeks lost in his faith, unaware of his filth. As soon as Desmond Kote touched Florian his mind was filled with an array of visions, revealing several young faces and one old. As each face entered his mind’s eye Desmond would state the person’s name obviously aware of everything the bard was seeing. When the spell was over Florian found himself sitting at the table, his Master next to him, “I want you to find out everything you can about these men, prepare dossiers on all of them.” Florian nodded his mind still in a fog, “As yet we don’t know if they are enemies revealed or simply cogs in the wheel but Desmond is sure that our fates will meet.” Staring back at his master, Florian asked, “Who would like me to start with?” It was Desmond Kote that answered from over Florian’s shoulder, “The cursed one; start with Talbot.”

The Saffron House and The Starving Spectre

This information is found among the Professor's Belongings

Visions of Harrowstone

A few pics of the ruined prison.

couldn't sleep at first. i mean, who could? some guy i've never met in the flesh wants me to take care of his daughter for a month and then take some books to another guy in a different town and i'll get 100 PLATINUM?? i'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. something is wrong here. now i find out the girl is a mage. well in a month i can get my platinum and go west. lots of opportunity for a young man out west and that money should help for a long time.

Ravengro

Ravengro NG small town Corruption +0; Crime –1; Economy +0; Law +1; Lore +0;

Society +0 Danger +0

Qualities insular, rumormongering citizens

Disadvantages cursed (haunted, –4 Society)

Demographics Government council

Population 311 (281 humans, 12 halflings, 8 elves, 7 dwarves, 3 half-elves)

Detective Viorec's Dossier

Council of Ravengro:

Councilman Vashan Hearthmount- Retired military. He was granted his position in Ravengro by the Palatine of Canterwall for outstanding service. Vashan is the head of Ravengro's council.

Councilman Mirta Straelock- Native of Ravengro. Former owner of the Outward Inn. The voice of the common man in the town.

Councilman Shanda Faravan -A former royal accuser for the courts of Caliphas. She was disgraced and removed from the courts for allowing a guilty man go free.

Councilman Gharon Muricar- Another ex-military officer under Hearthmount's command. He has ties in Tamrivna and Lepidstadt. A gossip and a "mostly harmless" rake.

Sheriff Benjan Caeller- An honest man and a native to Ravengro. He may have some military scout training. He has an odd fascination with the alchemist Jominda Fallenbridge.

Professor Alendru Ghoroven - Teacher and scribe from Tamrivena, he teaches a small class of local children. he worked closley with Prof. Lorrimor in decoding texts.

Father Vauren Grimburrow- A typical Pharasmin Penitence priest, he has several acoltes to do his day to day affairs. He has also been known to drink far too much.


Ravengro at a Glance
Ravengro was founded in 4594 ar to support Harrowstone, a prison built to answer the growing need for a centralized repository for criminals in the county of Tamrivena (now known as Canterwall). Count Eigen Lorres, one of the last counts to rule Tamrivena before the county switched to its current government, was not a well-liked ruler. In an attempt both to bolster his failing reputation and  bring money into Tamrivena’s coffers, he announced the construction of Harrowstone, a prison that would not only house all of the county’s prisoners (thus removing them from being incarcerated locally), but that for a price, would house dangerous prisoners from all over Ustalav. Count Lorres’s plan worked perfectly—not only was the transfer of criminals out of local jails seen as a boon throughout the county, but other counties also responded well to the invitation, se nding caravans of payments to Tamrivena and caravans of prisoners to Ravengro. The town of Ravengro itself was always intended to be little more than support for the prison. Not only would Ravengro provide a place for the prison’s employees to live, but it would also provide all of the supplies needed by the prison—food, water, tools, weapons for the guards, and anything else necessary.

Historians often point to Harrowstone’s unfortunate destruction in the fire of 4661 as one of the trigger
events that eventually led to the entire region’s bloodless uprising in 4670—the prison’s loss, combined with the government’s inability to rebuild the site (or, more likely, its lack of interest in doing so), certainly disenfranchised the citizens of Ravengro, who by the time the region was ready to abandon hereditary rule were all too eager to accept the new democracy. Since that time, while Harrowstone has remained a constant reminder of darker times, the town of Ravengro has recovered remarkably. Today, the town is a quite healthy farming community blessed with fertile fields and orchards. The town’s chief products are wheat, barley, and corn. Because the town is close to the shore of Lake Lias (“The Great Blue Dot”), Ravengrians can supplement their food stores with fish, but fishing is not sustainable as a commercial enterprise.

Despite their success, Ravengro’s citizens are the town’s greatest hindrances to expansion. Insular, they take some time to warm to strangers and often damage new opportunities for trade with their standoffish attitudes. Yet as hesitant as the townsfolk are to talk to strangers, they are all too eager to talk about them. Rumormongering and gossiping are traditional pastimes among the townsfolk, especially when it comes to strangers. Without a steady supply of unusual visitors to town, they’d be limited to whispers about illicit affairs, unwanted pregnancies, and speculations upon their neighbors’ prosperity—the arrival of strangers in town puts folk in an awkward state, in which their desire to avoid contact with possible troublemakers comes into direct conf lict with their curiosity about new faces. As a result, visitors who make plain their intention to stay in town for more than a day typically receive the bulk of Ravengro’s hesitant curiosity.

Ustalav Overview

The Immortal Principality of Ustalav lies on the northern shore of Lake Encarthan, a grim bastion of civilization amid the barbarian north, where a harsh landscape and a history rich in tragedies inspire a wary population with skepticism, religious devotion, and superstition. A conglomeration of loosely affiliated counties, each run by feuding nobles vying for power and inf luence, Ustalav is a pitiful shell of its former glory, before it was subjugated to centuries of slavery at the hands of the Whispering Tyrant’s undead armies. While the nation’s upper classes struggle to compete with the very nations that abandoned them to fend for themselves after the Whispering Tyrant’s defeat, the average Ustalavic citizen has it much worse.


Hundreds of years of subjugation and the residual horrors that plague the countryside have left the people of Ustalav suspicious of magic, religion, foreigners, and their fellow citizens. Beyond their eccentric and insular qualities, Ustalavs often have a dour worldview. They resign themselves to lives of suffering, seeing nothing in their people’s history to suggest there is any hope for a better life. Despite the physical and psychological strains upon its populace, Ustalav nevertheless fosters extremely hardy and tenacious stock: men and women who firmly believe that no matter how bad it gets, history shows it could always be worse.

Although Ustalav has little to offer its rural peasants, inhabitants of its many metropolitan cities fare somewhat better, and the centers of learning and culture they provide draw trade and travelers from throughout the Inner Sea region. The capital, Caliphas, stands on the banks of Lake Encarthan, and its fog-shrouded streets host some of the nation’s most esteemed centers of trade and academia. In the north, the city of Karcau boasts a thriving culture of music, theater, and other fine arts, and its opulent architecture rivals the excess of even the most exotic Taldan palace. Meanwhile, Ustalav’s northwestern counties have broken from aristocratic rule and formed their own local, democratic government without nobles, calling themselves the Palatinates and providing a glimmer of hope for the downtrodden people of provincial Ustalav.

Ustalav Superstitions

Fog- Spirits and undead travel in deep fogs, most devout Pharasmins will not leave their homes without special holy symbols to ward off the spirits. In remote areas of the Shudderwood it is thought that fogs carry traveling portals to the 1st, or fairy, realm.

Bats- Not only creatures of disease, they are associated with the religion of Urgathoa, goddess of gluttony, undeath and disease. A common hedge witch's remedy for some diseases is to eat the hair of the bat who bit the patient.

Cabinets of Curiosities- Most families have at least one of the cabinets. Most hold a handful of exotic or unusual items. The wiser families use these cabinets to work around the Silver Standard, buying and selling these ... curiosities.

Mirrors- Mirrors in general are believed to reveal some undead as their true form and so are put on walls opposite doorways, such as in entry halls and bedroom windows. It is believed that these undead cannot stand to see their true selves and will not cross the threshold.

Plague Masks- After the Bleak Breath nearly wiped out the city of Kavapesta in 4249 these masks, and the men that wear them, have spread panic and chaos in any city they are sighted in.

Rat Kings of Calaphas- The movement of Ustalav's capitol from Ardis to Caliphas taxed the limits of an already cramped port city. The overcrowding brought crime and death to the poorer districts. Soon stories of grotesque menaces known only as Rat Kings.

Whippoorwills - Common legends use whippoorwills as messengers of the goddess Pharasma. They are said to snap up spirits like small bugs and are found lingering near the dying or fated.

Coins for the Boatman- If a person is rich or powerful enough to have a tomb or crypt to be interred in, coins are placed on the eye sockets of the body and then the face is covered with some type of cloth. These are believed to be payment to the Boatman of the river Styx.

Elves-Many Ustalavs fear any elf who takes up residence in or around human cities. This fear comes from the long life spans of elves, causing some to believe they are vampires in disguise.

Contagion-With so many real monsters and threats and so little real knowledge as to their cause, many people believe that any disadvantageous condition is contagious. Thus conditions such as insanity might be infectious, bad luck can rub off on others, dark fates threaten those around them, and efforts to work against the dark powers invite trouble and retribution. Many people incorrectly believe that Ustalavs are untrustworthy of outsiders; the truth is they are untrustworthy of everyone. Even death is viewed by Ustalavs as dangerous to be around for it is believed spirits and powers vie for the escaping soul…if the creature still had one.

“A Test of Blood”-The different regions of Ustalav all have their own regional test, but almost every county has some version of this “test”. Many locals firmly believe that these tests affirm if someone is or isn’t under some form of magical spell or compulsion. Some counties have additional superstitions and home remedies that indicate if someone is diseased or cursed. Depending on how well received a traveler to these counties is determines the difficulty of said tests. “If she floats like a duck…”

Animals-Most animal superstitions have to do with bad luck, such as cats being able to see one’s sins or foxes being red because the first fox was born amid the flames of hell. Thus it is typically considered unlucky to cross paths with or bring harm to such creatures. Many animals are also said to be allies of the dead, with crow eyes being a windows through which the dead can peer and whippoorwills heralding a coming death (finding a dead whippoorwill can be especially bad luck). Dogs, hawks, and horses, however, are the focus of many good superstitions, as their keen sense of smell, sight, or bestial intuition can alert their owners to evil before it strikes. Forge works and the craft of civilization are also said to combat the base savagery of beasts, and so silver and cold-forged iron are used in making many weapons and talismans that gird those forced to travel the wilds.

Fortune Telling- Although most dismiss casting bones, reading tealeaves, and interpreting storm patterns as the diversions of charlatans and the unbalanced, Ustalavs treat spirit boards and Harrow cards with a respectful suspicion. Most believe in these tools’ ability to commune with spirits or divine hints of the future, but also know fearful stories of dreadful powers unleashed by inexpert users. Thus, the common folk tend to avoid such divinations-and magic in general-except for in times of most dire need.

Graves-Just because something’s dead doesn’t mean it’s gone. Ustalavs hold great respect for the dead, and fear their return. Graves, crypts, mausoleums, and headstones are treated as the homes of those interred, and those who defile such places garner the ire of those within. Potter’s fields and grave shrines are often situated at crossroads, so that unquiet spirits become lost on the road rather than terrorizing their home communities. It’s also common for the corpses of the wicked or those who died mysteriously to be wrapped in chains, laden with rocks, or planted vertically or upside down, all to deter the dead from returning. The poor of Ustalav also commonly cremate their dead, and it’s said that a pinch of a loved one’s ashes sprinkled across a threshold or mixed into clay or mortar protects a place from wandering spirits.

Legacy Item III

The Black Sheep's Hilt- Not much is known about the Black Sheep. His name is whispered in dark places, and most law abiding people don't even believe he is real. Any item related to the Black Sheep has carried bad luck for it's owner. The current item is now on loan to House Galdana.

 

Legacy Items II

 The Key to the Minds Eye

Dr. Timothy's Pipe 

 Desna's Remorse

Black Tom's Top Hat

Legacy items

The Key to the Mind"s Eye- An old iron skeleton key hung on a leather thong. While it has no magical aura its owners have never parted with it ... willingly.
Dr. Timothy's Pipe- A long slim wooden pipe, made in the far, far east and used to smoke a mixture of exotic spices and incense. It's mouthpiece is made from worked silver, and the pipe itself is carved from a dark fragrant wood.
Desna's Remorse- A family heirloom past from father to son. A silvered gladius suspected of magical properties. It's pommel is wrapped in a fine black silk and is capped with a moonstone.
Black Tom's Top Hat- A ragged black top hat worn by the notorious Black Tom. Most noted for never falling off his head ... until his head was removed .

Cast of Characters

Detective (tod)
Inspector (don)
Alchemist (travis)
Infiltrator (tony)
Magus (troy/marc)