The Far Shore was a five-game mini-campaign in the city of Hollin. Drawn in by a kidnapping, the party was quickly caught up in an escalating war between Hollin's hidden factions.
Thanks to the players - Carrie, James, Keith, and Wendy!
The party included the bard Beale the Goldenpiper, the warlock Casca, the rogue-turned-cleric Hughe Lane, and the rogue Rowan Hashin.
All four jumped in at the start of the story, when Luna Hollinshed was kidnapped at the beginning of Game 1. We discovered in Game 5 that the party were foodies, eagerly pausing the action for wine and cheese or cake pops.
Beale was the party's bard and pan flute virtuoso. He had a bard's colorful personality, carousing and dressing flamboyantly.
Beale loved history and recreating the stories of the graves in the City of the Dead, where he grew up as an urchin. Later the story of the harpooner Ulm and Ulm's Monument in the City became his driving inspiration. In Game 5, Beale boldly bargained with the lich Ishild to study the ancient Hollin Grimoire after the campaign, and Ishild asked Beale to chronicle his own story.
Cankerblossom challenged Beale to a performance competition at the Black Cabaret in Game 2. Beale roundly beat him and as a reward, Cankerblossom exposed the Duchesses of the Wake to him. In the ensuing fight, Cankerblossom learned Fairie Fire by watching Beale, and taught Beale his own Counterpoint spell in return. Later in Game 5, Beale used Counterpoint to drive off harpy attackers, as the party rescued the changelings from the harpy Eyrie.
Beale and Rowan were the party's scouts, and Beale turned them invisible in Game 5 to scout the Great Council Palace and find the Lady of the Coven Astrid.
Beale carried a golden pan flute. He named it Huhner after the immortal whale that Ulm harpooned, because his music pierced to the truth, even if ugly. He also carried the Girdle of the Cool Appraising Stare, which he took from Ursula, the second harpy Duchess of the Wake, and the Death Spiral spell tome, taken from the Coven spell lab in Game 3.
James played Beale. Here is his final character sheet.
Casca woke up in Lofton Forest a few days before Game 1, and couldn't remember who she was. She had unexplained powers and suspected she might be a fairy, and set out to learn her background. Her search played out in Games 3 and 5.
Casca was an aggressive detective. She recognized in Game 1 that "Luna" and "Flora" were nature names, the first suggestion that the kidnapped babies were fairy changelings. She also suggested the insightful (although not borne out) hypotheses that Rowan was the fairy witch Laurel, and that she herself was the fairy Ivy, Ishild's former captive.
She also had an itchy trigger finger. She unilaterally attacked Gregor the Naturalist outside the Volsteads' home, Admiralty lumberjacks in Lofton Castle, and the Duchesses of the Wake at the Black Cabaret. Casca was also secretive. In the Coven catacombs, she was alarmed to discover that the cypher word for encrypting spell tomes was "casca," but didn't tell the party. Similarly, she didn't tell the party about her suspicious observations of Rowan there.
After the campaign, she planned to spend a few hundred years working on a Fey Extinction counterspell, should Fey Extinction Event ever surface again. She discovered that "Casca" was not actually her name in Games 3 and 5, and adopted the name "Cascade" after the campaign.
She took the Ring of Greater Pulchritude from Golnaz, the first harpy Duchess of the Wake, and used its Charm to great effect. She also carried the Talisman of Ajana, which she took from the witch Annabelle in the Coven catacombs.
Wendy played Casca. Here is her character sheet.
Hughe Lane was the party's rogue-turned-cleric. Hughe grew up as a street urchin in Braddock and sometimes ran with the Hobnails. Later a monument to Ajana took him in, and he became a cleric and the monument's keeper. But Hughe the urchin also lived on, sometimes lifting coppers for the monument or carousing at the Black Cabaret.
As a former street urchin, Hughe knew every shortcut in Hollin and led the party around town between encounters. He also sympathized with children. He helped the urchins Gertie and Thelonious escape the seventeen-year silvermote brood in Game 2. Later in Game 4, Hughe pressed the party to keep searching for the changeling children even though harpies had probably already eaten them.
As a cleric, Hughe called on Ajana in battle, and he helped the party escape Admiralty marines with his illusion and quick thinking.
As a rogue, Hughe rescued the party from the harpy Wake in Game 5, using his Pass Without Trace to help them disappear into the forest on Durning Hill. Hughe and Rowan Hashin often worked together in combat, moving together to enable each other's rogue Sneak Attacks.
Hughe's mentor at the monument was Martin, and Hughe's original background mentions that Martin died. But in Game 1 Keith said instead that Martin had "moved on" and might still be alive, suggesting a loose end for the future.
Hughe carried the Shank of Banishment, which he took from the Coven forge in Game 3. He was himself Banished to an unknown demiplane by Coven witches, but returned to report that it was "featureless with a gray fog was floating in." Hughe also carried the Ward of Ajana, which he took from the witch Beatrice in the Coven catacombs.
Keith played Hughe. His character sheet (level 3, level 5) explores his background more.
Rowan was the bastard daughter of Hollin nobles, and became a thief to exploit her connections. She sometimes worked for the Hollin Coven, lifting spell materials from rich families.
In Game 3, the party noticed that Rowan had deja vu in the Coven catacombs. After the party fought the witches Annabelle, Beatrice, and Clementine there, Beale pointed out that the witches never attacked Rowan, which aroused the party's suspicions further. Soon after, the party tracked down Rowan's Coven contact Harbin. Harbin quickly succumbed to Casca's Charm, throwing Rowan under the bus and laying her Coven background bare. But, the party and Rowan stayed together.
Rowan was the party's scout. Invisible, she searched the harpy Eyrie ahead of the party to find Hecate, the third Duchess of the Wake. Still invisible, she snuck up behind Hecate with Hughe's Shank of Banishment, hitting her and sending her to the restful plane Hereward. Later, Rowan and Beale scouted the Great Council Palace to find Astrid, the Lady of the Coven.
Rowan carried the Blade of Inflict Wounds, which she took from the Coven forge in Game 3, and her dual Sneak Attack was the party's deadliest attack.
Carrie played Rowan, and her character sheet is here (level 3, level 5). The deja vu that Rowan felt in the catacombs was originally a puzzle, with the answer that the catacombs cause paranoia. But, Carrie added the Coven to Rowan's backstory after Game 3.
Beale the Goldenpiper, Casca, Hughe Lane, and Rowan Hashin discover two babies have been kidnapped in Dunham, and they stop harpies from stealing a third. Gregor the Naturalist and Barley tell them that all three babies are fairy changelings. Investigating the theft of the Penance Stone at the Chapel of Ajana, they’re attacked by a conspicuously beautiful woman - one of three - who turns out to be a harpy disguised by the Ring of Greater Pulchritude.
The party finds the fairy Circle in Lofton Castle, and the fairy king Aurelian and queen Aurora tell them the harpies are working for the Hollin Coven. Aurelian and Aurora say that one Coven witch, Laurel, is a fairy changeling but doesn’t know it. The party goes to Cankerblossom’s Black Cabaret to find Laurel, and Beale beats Cankerblossom in a performance competition. Instead of finding Laurel, they find the surviving Duchesses of the Wake, the harpies Hecate and Ursula. Casca throws down on the Duchesses and the party kills Ursula after a chaotic fight.
Still looking for Laurel, the party discovers Coven catacombs underneath Ulm’s Monument. They find the encoded spell tomes Detect Fey and Fey Extinction Event there, and kill the witches Annabelle, Beatrice, and Clementine. The party wonders about Rowan when she has deja vu in the catacombs and the witches don’t attack her. They find Laurel, and Detect Fey shows that Laurel and Casca are fairies. Laurel tells them that a Lady of the Coven, Astrid, is planning to kill all of Hollin’s fairies with Fey Extinction Event and the Penance Stone.
The Admiralty lumberjacks that Casca attacked at Lofton Castle spot the party outside Ulm’s monument, but the party escapes with Hughe’s magic. Rowan gets helpful news from her fellow thief Harbin, but when she relays it to the party, Casca uncovers Rowan’s history of stealing for the Coven. The party goes to the harpies’ Eyrie where they find sharp-dressed devils wooing the last Duchess, Hercate. Rowan exiles Hercate to the restful plane Hereward with the Shank of Banishment, and they rescue the kidnapped changelings Luna and Flora and their friends Gertie and Thelonious.
Laurel tells the party that Astrid is also the Company Board’s Advocate, Lena, and they corner her at the Great Council Palace. Astrid lures Laurel back to her side, but the party kills Astrid and recovers the Penance Stone. They find the lich Ishild and convince him to bury Fey Extinction Event in exchange for Word Without Warning, the Circle’s assassination spell. Ishild reveals that Casca was his fairy test subject, and that “casca” is his cypher word for encoding spells, not her name.
The archive includes some campaign notes, game writeups drafts, and maps.