The Sands Ever-Shifting Campaign

[[DM] Grinning Death]

This thread is to document the event series that will be taking place for the PC's involved, and to note several key lore or statistics for the campaign.

The Silver Mist

Avanthyr Small Longship:
A design popular for its seaworthiness and stability, the longship averages 60 feet in length and 20 feet in width. Typically carrying a crew of 25 while providing space for an additional 20 passengers, a longship’s only flaw is that it does not boast a large cargo area; it can hold only 10 tons. Making use of oars, sails, and sleek lines, longships are favored for long overseas voyages or coastal raiding.

Hull size: Large
Hull Cost: 700 gp
Hull Hardness value: 5
Thickness: 3 inches
Hit Points: 30
Speed: 0 bonus
Propulsion Slots: 25
Weapon Slots: 12 (+10 from War Dog)
Cargo Hold: 8 tons
Crew: 23

Propulsion

Large Sail
Slots Taken: 15
Hardness: 1
Hit Points: 2
Speed: 40 feet/round

Medium Sail
Slots Taken: 10
Hardness: 1
Hit Points: 2
Speed: 13 feet/round

Oars x2 (optional, in case of sail failure)
Slots Taken: 10
Hardness: 10
Hit Points: 60
Speed: 20 feet/round

Total Speed: 53 feet/round (+10 with Wave Rider), with oar option

Ship Qualities

Oceanworthy:
The ship is streamlined and built to withstand the elements during long journeys.
Prerequisite: The vessel must have a Large, Huge, Gargantuan, or Colossal hull.
Benefit: The ship is well suited for long journeys.
Add a +4 circumstance bonus to any saves, skill checks, etc., that involve the operation of the vessel in poor weather.

War Dog:
The ship is designed to carry additional artillery.
Prerequisite: The vessel must have a Large, Huge, Gargantuan, or Colossal hull.
Benefit: The ship is designed to make use of more artillery than other ships of its design. Add 10 to the ship’s maximum artillery slots.

Wave Rider:
This ship can ride the waves faster than other large vessels.
Prerequisite: The vessel must have a Large, Huge, Gargantuan, or Colossal hull.
Benefit: The vessel’s speed is increased by 10 feet.

Weaponry

Cannon x1:
Forged of thick iron and powered by gunpowder, cannons are devastating weapons of war capable of reducing ships to splinters. A cannon deals 6d6 points of damage to anyone within its 20-foot blast radius. Characters caught in the blast area may make a Reflex save (DC 20) for half damage. A cannon requires four full rounds to reload. A cannon requires four full rounds to reload and fire.

Cost: 5,000 gp
Hardness: 10
Hit Points: 280
Slot Cost: 8
Damage: 6d6
Critical: -
Range: 300/100 ft.

Ballista x2:
The ballista is essentially a very large crossbow. It makes attacks with a straight attack roll (1d20) with no modifications (no character base attack bonuses, ability modifiers, etc.) except for range. Loading and cocking a ballista is 3 full-round actions.

Cost: 500 gp
Hardness: 10
Hit Points: 150
Slot Cost: 12
Damage: 3d6 (x2)
Critical: x3
Range: 120 ft.

Repeating Crossbow (x2):This weapon is usually mounted on a castle or bulwark.

Cost: 250 gp
Hardness: 5
Hit Points: 10
Slot Cost: 2
Damage: 1d8
Critical: x2
Range: 80 ft.

[[DM] Grinning Death]

Tethyr Lore:

"Tethyrian society was once open and trusting, but the turmoil of the past century has marred that quality. The excesses of the last Tethyrian kings and the chaos of the Interregnum turned a compassionate people into folk ever wary of treachery and deceit. Many of the abuses of previous regimes have been publicly denounced and banned by the current monarch. The folk of Darromar, Zazesspur, and the northern lands of Tethyr have witnessed firsthand these changes and are filled with optimism for the future, but southern farmers and eastern highlanders are skeptical of the high promises made by the new nobility.

Social customs in Tethyr are greatly affected by class status and land ownership. Land is of the greatest importance to Tethyrians, and a person's connection to it establishes his status in society far more strongly than his wealth alone. Landowners are accorded the most respect, but status-conscious nobles earn great regard from their people if they take good care of their lands. Many nobles fell during the Ten Black Days of Eleint for abusing the privileges of land ownership, harming or neglecting their lands and the people tending them.

Tethyrians of all races show their respect for the land by surrounding themselves with growing plants. In the cities of
Tethyr, window boxes of flowers and courtyard gardens are the norm. Queen Zaranda has asked all of the cities and towns of Tethyr to each set aside an area for use as a public park, an idea which all have embraced with vigor. It is now a matter of civic status to have the largest or best-maintained park, though few can match the splendor of the great flower-filled Garden of Rhinda, planted in honor of King Haedrak's mother, that embraces the hill beneath Faemtarn in Darromar.

With the reestablishment of social order and new nobility in place, new social customs are slowly taking shape. Just as they always were, the peasants and laborers of Tethyr are ruled by counts, and the counts are answerable to dukes. The royalty and the monarch hold dukes accountable. However, Queen Zaranda publicly proclaimed that just as the gods depend on their worshipers, the nobility needs the support of its people: i.e. A noble does not rule simply by decree or by law, but by the sufferance of those ruled. A noble puts the well-being of the people before her own, or else she is unfit to rule. With this proclamation, the queen put the social order in the hands of the commoners, much to the dismay of older, landed nobles. However, rather than falling into anarchy as was feared, the war-worn people have accepted the queen's appointed rulers as fair and just. The people believe their taxes and impounded goods should keep their counts, dukes, and queen in a manner that reflects each province's wealth or social importance.

A few people actively dislike the new social order of Tethyr. The worst point of contention among some in the mercantile class and certain lesser nobles ousted during the Interregnum or Reclamation is the integration of nonnative persons into the nobility of Tethyr. While most so ruled have accepted these new nobles, thanks either to their aid in the Reclamation or their munificence since then, still others (especially among the elder nobility) treat these new nobles as usurpers. Another divisive issue among the elder population, commoner and noble alike is the sudden elevation of elves and halflings to royal posts. An oft-predicted backlash against humans has, however, failed to occur (and is in fact unlikely to ever happen). Old attitudes and prejudices still run deep among the mostly human urban population, though the peace resulting from cooperation between races is causing many human citizens to change long-held negative beliefs about demihumans. The queen was ingenious when she restored many old names and tides from the Queens' Dynasty of five centuries gone. The simple act of renaming Ithmong as Darromar, tying it to the early Tethyrian Dynasties, helped heal the wounds of past decades and put the despots of Ithmongls in memory only. Eliminating certain new titles, such as earl and baron, as well as restoring certain old fiefs, helped many common folk forget the abuses they had suffered under Interregnum tyrants. The Duchy of Dusk and those smaller counties where the greatest transgressions were committed against Tethyr's well-being are now as much dust as their tyrannical rulers.

The Curse of Five: The unlucky nature of the number five is a social belief found only in Tethyr. Superstitious folk go out of their way to avoid using five of anything; many rural folk have families of four children and do not risk having a cursed fifth child. Some of these superstitions are long founded and can be seen easily, such as no official building in Shoonach or any other building with five lone steps, always more or less, or no more than four windows (or less than seven) on any particular wall. Many fears about the number five are linked with royalty: L King Coram IV died of five stab wounds; his captain of the guard was paid with five bars of platinum to do the evil deed. L King Teremir, the first monarch after the Queen's era, was a fifth son; his kingdom was tom by strife within 25 months of his ascension. King Coram II was also a fifth son, and he was killed by King Teremir II in a coup after five years on the throne."

[[DM] Grinning Death]

Suggested Soundtracks: Here
And Here
And Here, too

[[DM] Grinning Death]

Travel Log

Travel log of the Silver Mist.

Nelanther Pirates

Nelanther, a chain of nearly a thousand islands lies scattered across the Sea of swords from Amn, past Velen and Tethyr to the border of Calimsha. The hundreds of islands that support life are fought over by humanoid and monstrous pirates who targets the busy Asavir's Channel.

Nelanther's pirates are predominantly humans, as well as monsterous races. The various races and factions of Nelanther pirates war on each other as often as they war on outsiders.

Asavir's Channel is the sea lane between the Nelanther and the northwest coast of the Velen Peninsula. Every merchant ship that must travel between Amn (and points north) and Tethyr and Calimshan (and points south) must use this channel. This heavy traffic and the close proximity to the Nelanther, a notorious haven for pirates, adds up to one thing. Between the merchant ships, the pirates, the armed merchant escorts, the scout ships, and the scavengers and profiteers, Asavir's Channel is the most crowded sea lane in all of Toril. But despite all the bustle, the idea of safety in numbers definitely does not apply here.

Pirate activity is very heavy, and it is a remarkable day on the channel when the tell-tale plume of smoke from a burning ship can't be seen somewhere. Merchants still use the channel because, even with the risk of loss to the pirates, it is cheaper to move goods by sea than over land. Or, as many merchants are fond of saying, "On land, anything can happen. At least here, we know where the pirates are." Another attraction to Asavir's Channel is the reasonably calm seas (the Nelanther tend to break up storms before they reach the channel).

Ley Lines

Ley lines are supposed arcane ways that travel across the face of Toril. While they are usually connected at various 'nexus' point intersections across the land, there is such a web of lines that it is impossible sometimes to tell if one has found a mjaor, or minor, line and if it will connect you to the nexus point a mile away as opposed to the one five hundred miles away.

Seemingly without any predictability, those who have studied the arcane arts are well aware of the benefit made available by ley lines and nexus points.

Nexus points are often the sites of strange and powerful natural magical effects. In some cases, the energy infuses the land and makes it particularly fertile or makes it more likely to favor a specific energy type. In other cases, the plants and creatures who live nearby exhibit unusual properties such as innate magical abilities or supernatural qualities.

Historically, it seems most ancient cultures were able to sense nexus points. Many old ruins are situated on or very near these points. Most old cities that have been built on even older ruins have a nexus point within their walls. Even some ancient wizard towers are directly situated above nexus points.

Ley lines seem to be a more recent discovery (as in, beyond the fall of Netheril). Only since the fall of the Empire have mages been finding and using these lines as a source of raw Weave (in which most cases, the mage is turned insane or burnt to a crisp). Sages speculate that Mystra herself built these lines as a web or 'net' around Toril, although the purpose behind it is still unclear.

[Nwilmen]

LOG BOOK
of the
Avanthyr Longship "The Silver Mist"
Unrated Sloop-of-war,
of One Gun


COMMANDED BY
Commander, Captain Evelyn Meriadoc
Commencing Kythorn 1, 1372
at Port Avanthyr, Sundren Valley
and ending at Arnrock, Lake of Steam


LIST OF OFFICERS
Attached to and on board of "The Silver Mist", Unrated of One Gun, commanded by Captain Evelyn Meriadoc at the time of leaving anchorage at Port Avanthyr, the 1st day of Kythorn, 1372.

Evelyn Meriadoc - Commander
J. Goldflock - Lt. Commander
Kitcham Walker - Chief Engineer
Geoff Kellogg - Boatswain
Robt Reid - Carpenter
Wm. Dran - Asst. Surgeon
Samuel Tiggs - Paymaster

COMPLEMENT of Petty Officers, Seamen, and Landsmen on board at first commissioning.

Boatswains Mates - 2
Gunners - 1
Quarter Masters - 2
Carpenter Mate - 1
Sailmaker Mate - 2
Ships Cook - 1
Cooper - 1
Apothecary - 1
Seamen - 8
Boys - 6

Landsmen Attachments:
House Meriadoc, Master at Arms - 1, Sgt. Alain Yates
" , Enforcers - 5
Blackwood Mercenary Company - 2, Maishtar and Wyrmborn

Passengers:
Duchess Natasha Lyonesse, Tethyr
Gnahord Havelock, Steward to Duchess Lyonesse
Jonathan Ironson, human
Minael, elf
Rescued humans - 12


44 Souls on day of Departure, 9:21AM this 1st day of Kythorn, 1372.