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 - Carissa, Karen, Nick, Rob, and Scott!
The party included the warlocks Faile and Modalye Grellen, the young paladin Gwynneth, the private detective Roland Gray, and the cleric-turned-medic Vesper Cotton.
Roland Gray first joined the adventure when Merrick, the keeper of the Chapel of Ajana, summoned him to look for the stolen Penance Stone. The others joined when Mia Hollinshed's baby Luna was kidnapped.
Bryce Calanthe was raised in Braddock until she was six, when the Hollin firestorm destroyed Braddock and the Admiralty shipyards. Bryce's parents died, but the fairies Hetalia and Weedl rescued Bryce and raised her as Faile ("Fa-yeel"). As Faile grew, she became fixated on finding Braddock's attacker and her human parents' fate. To help in her search, Faile became the servant of the fairy queen Aurora, who granted her a warlock's powers.
In Game 2, Aurora ordered Faile to rescue the fairy changelings from the harpy Eyrie. Faile and the party did rescue them, and Aurora rewarded Faile with the extra eldtritch invocation Agonizing Blast, and her first lead in finding the attacker.
Faile's search for the attacker played out in Games 4 and 5. The rogue trader Kasskar told her that the lich Aeris was the attacker in Game 4. Kasskar insisted Aeris was dead, but the party eventually found Aeris alive in Lofton Forest, and killed him and his spirit animal Isaf the Black Worm there. But Faile found revenge empty, and still wanted to find her parents' fate and Aeris's lich mentor.
Faile brought down the witch Clementine at the Chapel of Ajana, and defeated the Duchess of the Wake Golnaz at the Eyrie, with Roland. During the fight at Lena's house in Game 4, Faile's Sleep and Fey Presence sidelined most of Lena's allies, and Faile and Roland destroyed the Penance Stone.
As the party's high-Charisma characters, Faile and Gwynneth worked together on Persuasion, convincing the electrum jeweller Hodges and the fairy witch Laurel to help them.
Faile carried the Ward of Ajana, taken from the witch Beatrice at the Chapel of Ajana, and the Necklace of the Cool Appraising Stare, taken from the harpy Duchess of the Wake, Hecate. She traveled with a sprite familiar Aardist, a friend from her childhood in Lofton, and Aardist was the party's invisible scout at the harpy Eyrie and the Coven catacombs.
Carissa played Faile. Here is Faile's character sheet. The character sheet and Carissa's additional notes describe Faile's background.
Gwynneth was the oldest of nine children born to a poor family in Braddock. When she was old enough, she took odd jobs at the Winter Wolf weapon shop to help her family out. But the owners Carric and Pale Moon gave Gwynneth a sword and taught her basic fighting, and she quickly became a dangerous fighter.
Gwynneth dealt alarming damage. She killed three harpies during the Eyrie attack on Braddock, and finished off the Coven Maven Astrid, the lich Aeris, and Isaf the Black Worm. Isaf's death was particularly spectacular, with Karen described Gwynneth "seeing the opening in its jaw, go through the break in its jaw, straight to the brain.”
Gwynneth and Vesper were natural allies. Together they beat Cankerblossom in a Performance competition at the Black Cabaret, with Gwynneth accompanying Vesper's singing on the flute. As a reward, Cankerblossom taught them Counterpoint, which Gwynneth used against the harpy Ursula at the Cabaret, and which Gwynneth and Vesper used against the Eyrie attack on Braddock. Gwynneth and Vesper went together to deliver a Winter Wolf ceremonial dagger to Vesper's brother Christopher, which spurred Vesper's fight for control of Cotton House.
Gwynneth carried the Ring of Greater Pulchritude, taken from the harpy Golnaz at the Volstead House, and the Demonium Breastplate, taken from the Coven catacomb forge. In Game 3 she discovered that her Winter Wolf sword had necrotic powers, which fired up again in the fight with Lena and the Eyrie attack on Braddock. The seven strange women told her the sword's name was Nadim, "the drinker," and Pale Moon told her it was a Hereward portal guardian sword.
Karen described Gwynneth as a "spunky kid" and she was often raring to fight, saying she "liked the sound" of just killing Coven witches and "we got to assault this place" at Lena's house in Game 4. Gwynneth's performance at the Black Cabaret was "a little flirty but lively, a little raunchy, a little teasing" and she whipped up the crowd there with bawdy talk.
Gwynneth always wanted to get out of Hollin and sail away to grand adventure. Karen said that she would do that after the campaign, maybe on a Cotton House ship, or maybe become an Anhault Charter Company gun for hire.
Karen played Gwynneth. Here are Gwynneth's character sheets (level 3, level 5) and here are Karen's notes on Gwynneth's background.
Modalye ("Mod-a-lie") Grellen grew up pickpocketing and swindling strangers in Braddock. When a Company merchant caught him passing off a dowel as a magic wand, the watch chased him to the Gramercy Bookstore, a front for the secret Hollin Grimoire. There, the lich Ishild coerced Modalye into his service by hiding him from the watch, and gave him a warlock's powers.
Modalye had the personality trait "I lie about everything, even when there's no good reason to" and the flaw "I enjoy the thrill of deception and will make my ruse ever more complex." For example, he presented himself as a ranger from Lofton Forest to avoid detection as Ishild's servant. In Game 2, he lied to the lumberjacks at Lofton Castle by telling them that Circle fairies would hunt them, and he told Roland that the Company had driven his family out of the docks long ago.
Some of his lies and arguments pushed Ishild's agenda. For instance, he argued not to kill Astrid/Lena at the end of Game 4, and not to bombard the Eyrie, saying these would upset the balance of power in Hollin. But Modalye felt that his service to Ishild was a Sword of Damocles over his head, and their relationship took an alarming turn in Game 5.
Modalye's magic often finished fights without killing. For instance, he paralyzed the witch Annabelle at the Chapel of Ajana, letting the party capture and interrogate her. He ended a pitched fight between dryads and Admiralty lumberjacks in Lofton Castle, by Mending the tree the lumberjacks were cutting down. He used Minor Illusion to give Gwynneth flames during a fight in the Coven catacombs, helping her Intimidate the witches into submission.
Modalye carried the Talisman of Ajana, taken from witches at the Chapel of Ajana, and demonium crossbow bolts, taken from the Coven catacomb forge. Gregor the Naturalist fixed on Modalye as a fellow naturalist, and gave him the Naturalis Historia, Abridged and the Piece of Fulgurite.
He travelled with an owl familiar, Greg. Greg sabotaged Captain Burns's ship Dervish with the Piece of Fulgurite, before the Eyrie bombardment. Greg escaped to a pocket dimension with Lena's backpack during the fight at Lena's house, then returned with it at the Board meeting to implicate Lena with the Fey Extinction Event scroll inside.
Nick played Modalye. Here is Modalye's character sheet. Modalye's background is discussed here and here.
Roland was born poor in the City of the Dead. He got by stealing or working odd jobs, until the kindly wizard Tiberius Gray took him in and taught him some basic lore and spells. When Tiberius passed on, Roland took Gray as his last name and hung out a shingle as a private detective, working out of a rickety building on Market Street.
Roland was pulled into the adventure to find the Chapel of Ajana's missing Penance Stone and the kidnapped changeling Luna Hollinshed, and his detective skills were perfectly matched to the investigations. His Observant detective's eye found the harpy feather at the Hollinsheds', noticed the electrum relic containers at the Chapel of Ajana, and noticed the conspicuous entertainers who led to the Black Cabaret's secret venue, the Whipsaw. His investigator's paraphernalia - manacles and a disguise kit - also came in handy.
He often used the magic Tiberius had taught him. His Invisible Mage Hand exposed one harpy Duchess of the Wake, Ursula, at the Black Cabaret. His Featherfall helped the party escape the Eyrie, and his Minor Illusion helped the party ambush the witches in the Coven catacombs spell lab.
Roland killed Hecate, a second harpy Duchess of the Wake, in the Eyrie throne room. With Faile, he also killed the third Duchess, Golnaz, and destroyed the Penance Stone in the fight with Astrid/Lena.
Roland carried the Quite Flattering Broach, taken from Ursula at the Black Cabaret. Mia Hollinshed gave him Hollinshed House's new Coca Powder, which Scott called "the Sherlock," to sharpen his powers of deduction. Gregor the Naturalist also gave Roland two volumes of his Naturalis Historia: Ruminants and Ungulates of Northern Anhault, and the Domestication Thereof and Edible and Inedible Fungi of the Tolland Wood.
Roland travelled with an owl familiar, Oz, who discovered the Eyrie's location by tracking the harpy Golnaz after Game 1. Coven witches including the fairy witch Laurel seemed to know and hate Roland, for reasons still unknown. We discovered that Roland was acutely grossed out by bugs in Game 2.
Scott played Roland. Here are Roland's character sheets (level 3, level 5) and backstory. Here are Scott's notes from the campaign.
Vesper was the second son of the Cotton noble family and trading house. Deprived of prospects as a second son, he made his own way as a cleric and then a navy medic. But he was ambitious to enhance his standing, possibly by supplanting his older brother Christopher.
His opportunity came soon enough. While delivering a ceremonial dagger to Christopher in Game 2, Vesper and Gwynneth found Christopher alone with his maid, and the seven strange women repeatedly urged Vesper to use Christopher's indiscretion against him. Vesper soon started to openly accuse Christopher of witchcraft, for instance, after the fight with Astrid/Lena. Vesper's struggle against Christopher reached a climax in Game 5, at the Company Board.
After the party discovered the harpy Eyrie and its gate to Pandemonium in Game 2, Vesper argued they were a "clear and present danger" that the Admiralty should bombard. Vesper convinced Captain Burns to fire the Umbrage and Sea Bat's cannons on the Eyrie, and the party helped beat the harpy counterattack on the Braddock docks in Game 5.
One of Rob's original goals for Vesper was "to eventually have an excuse to sing a sea shanty during a play session." Vesper did sing in Game 3, when Cankerblossom challenged Vesper and Gwynneth to a Performance contest at the Black Cabaret. Rob described Vesper's song as "a naval song about sailing the open seas and a naval song about Burns's ship of the line," "glory to the Hollin navy," and "spreading our culture far and wide." For winning the contest, Cankerblossom taught Vesper and Gwynneth the Counterpoint spell, which they used against harpies at the Cabaret and later the Braddock docks.
Vesper's Tempest Domain attacks could be brutal. He killed the witch Beatrice at the Chapel of Ajana with Shatter and Destructive Wrath, and Rob described the attack as, "You see some visual distortion behind them, then she's thrown forward and slams down right in front of Gwynneth's feet. She basically bounces once on the ground and crumples in a ball, and Vesper repeats: 'No fighting in church.'" Later he killed a witch in the Coven catacombs in similarly spectacular fashion.
Vesper carried the Amulet of Ajana's Asylum, on loan from Merrick at the Chapel of Ajana, and the Wand of Herblore, from Gregor the Naturalist.
Vesper could be surprisingly sinister for a lawful neutral character. From the beginning he was open to falsely accusing Christopher of crimes or to Christopher "disappearing." In Game 5, Vesper suggested the party use the genocidal Fey Extinction Event to blackmail the fairy Circle, and that the party might become "a new Coven" if "they did things right."
Rob played Vesper. Here are Vesper's background and appearance.
Faile, Gwynneth, Modalye Grellen, Roland Gray, and Vesper Cotton discover two babies have been kidnapped in Dunham. They save a third baby from a strange woman who's actually a harpy disguised by the Ring of Greater Pulchritude, and who's working for “Astrid.” Investigating the theft of the Penance Stone at the Chapel of Ajana, they’re attacked by three wire-fu-fighting women who disparage Roland as Tiberius Gray's “brat.” The party defeats the women, and one says she’s also working for Astrid.
The fairy changeling Barley tells the party the kidnapped babies are changelings. In Lofton Forest, the party outruns the seventeen-year silvermote brood and Modalye saves Admiralty lumberjacks from angry dryads. At the fairy Circle, Aurora orders Faile to rescue the babies from the harpy Eyrie, and describes the Hollin Coven, the Drussilan Maven Astrid, and Laurel, a Coven witch who doesn’t know she's a fairy. At the Eyrie, the party rescues the babies from a woman - another disguised harpy - and devils wooing her.
Seven strange women appear to the party to make insinuations about Vesper and his brother Christopher. The party returns the changelings to their parents, and Aurora rewards Faile by telling her that Pale Moon and Kasskar can help her. Gwynneth and Vesper outperform Cankerblossom onstage at the Black Cabaret. Roland exposes the harpy Ursula there, and Gwynneth’s sword unleashes an unexpected necrotic power when she kills Ursula. The electrum jeweler Hodges tells the party that he delivers items to Laurel at Ulm’s Monument, where they discover Coven catacombs.
The party captures Laurel in the catacombs. Laurel says that Astrid will kill Hollin’s fairies using the Penance Stone in three days, and that Astrid is also the Company Board Advocate, Lena. Roland discovers that "ishild" is the Coven’s codeword. Kasskar tells Faile that his old friend Aeris burned Braddock, and that Aeris is dead, but the seven strange women tell Faile that her target is in Hollin now. The party assaults Astrid/Lena’s house and destroys the Penance Stone there. Modalye argues that they should spare Astrid, but Gwynneth kills Astrid with her necrotic sword Nadim.
The party reports Astrid/Lena’s death to the Board, where Vesper also takes control of Cotton House by accusing his brother Christopher of colluding with the Coven. Vesper and Burns destroy the Eyrie with cannon fire, and the party helps beat the harpy counterattack. Modalye exposes Aeris to Faile and the party kills him in Lofton Forest, with Gwynneth finishing both Aeris and Isaf the Black Worm. Modalye goes to the Hollin Grimoire alone to kill his patron, the lich Ishild, but Ishild captures Modalye to use in his grim experiments.
The archive includes Scott's notes, treasure by game, and the initial game recaps.