Mark's Campaign
This website is a place where friends and strangers can browse the ancient and current RPG campaigns that I have created over the past 40 years. Rather than simply shredding my creations from past decades, I will hopefully engrave them in the dubious permanence of the internet. Enjoy the gallery!
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If you are following this website, the most recent changes/additions have been highlighted in red text.
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Finally, the party (and players) find out the details of their 'employment' and the end goal of their patron. All the pieces are in place, but the party will have a huge challenge ahead of them as they travel through space and time to retrieve one of the most powerful artifacts in the universe. But with an object of such power, there are always those who are tasked to guard it and prevent its misuse...
Personal note: When I designed this chapter of the campaign arc, Paizo had hardly published ANY references to Xin-Edasseril, Belamarius or the exact location of the ancient city. The only reference to Xin Edasseril hinted that the ruins lay on Chakakoth Isle in the Ironbound Archipelago. The time-travel aspect of the adventure was completely from my own imagination and I had come up with the idea in 2015 as I was working on The Collector.
When we were concluding this part of the campaign arc and the party had used the device to travel back in time, a random internet search came back with a load of new information! I had not even heard of the Return of the Runelords adventure path and the volume called "The City Outside of Time" literally involved travelling back in time to Xin-Edasseril !!
It should be noted that this module was published in 2018 and the Word document I created that details my adventure is creation-date stamped 8/21/2017 (the outline was created in 2015). So I claim the idea first, so there. What say you, Paizo designers?
The Ancient Empire
When the father of Khemet III died in a freak summoning accident, he learned of the insidious infernal pact that one of his more foolish and greedy ancestors had inflicted upon his family line. Khemet became obsessed with trying to rid himself of his ‘curse’. He spent the last 8 years searching for a way to circumvent, dispel or nullify the contract – all to no avail. A small circle of his most trusted advisors know that he has opened up exploration of the ancient tombs of Osirion to foreign adventurers in order to covertly glean any information of old magic that may help him with his condition. There are not many people who know the truth of his pact, but many of those close to him have attributed his strange behavior to a ‘wasting disease’ that he is searching for a cure.
About two years ago, he finally received information that appeared very promising. An obscure manuscript, transcribed into Osiriani from the original that dated back to before the First Age of Osiron, referred to a spell of ancient Thassilonian origin referred to as ‘Multum Ruptor’ or Deal Breaker in Thassilonian. The spell was the creation of a Runelord named Belimarius, one of the most powerful Abjurists to ever live. The spell, if the writings were true, would essentially free a mortal soul from the binding pact of any infernal contract. (The unfortunate side effect is that the spell actually swaps the bound soul of the target for the soul of the caster, which would then be sacrificed as part of this evil spell). Furthermore, it was rumored that Belimarius had created a scroll with the Deal Breaker spell stored among her most prized possessions, as a line of defense in her paranoid dealings with the infernal lords.
Belimarius ruled the ancient Thassilonian kingdom known as Edasseril, which after the cataclysm, mostly sank below what is now the Steaming Sea. The only land masses that still exist above sea level are the string of islands to the northwest of Varisia and part of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings called the Ironbound Archipelago. The ruins of the ancient city of Belimarius’ power, Xin-Edasseril lie on the mostly abandoned island of Chakikoth. The old writings describe that the archmage kept the majority of her most prized creations in a place called the Temple of Desna’s First Dream, which disappeared completely after the cataclysm.
Khemet had planned to send an expedition to the ruins of Xin-Edasseril to search the area for the missing Temple, but when he recently learned of the strange time-traveling Numerian artifact, a better plan formed in his mind. He would gain the alien item, learn its secrets and then send his new champions back to the time of Edasseril’s power and retrieve the powerful Scroll.
The New Guard Rises
The Ruby Prince Khemet III has decided that the time has come for his group of recruits to meet their mysterious benefactor and propose an offer of helping them attain ascension to Mythic status. If the group is intact when they finish their Darklands adventure, they will find The Rising Sun docked in Korvosa, awaiting their return. Abel will give the group a chance to report in and impart their stories and finally disclose that they are leaving soon (no more than one week) to meet their benefactor on the southern continent of Garund (the captain and Abel will keep the final destination a secret to all until they arrive). The trip will take about two weeks, using magical and mundane means but will not be stopping at any ports if it can be helped so as to not give away the Rising Sun’s capabilities. The actual distance is about 2400 miles from Korvosa to Sothis.
If Suramber is with the group, the crew will be very interested in meeting her, especially if she shows some knowledge of technology. She and Po will spend most of the trip in the cabins studying the new item and making translations. By the time they reach Osirion, they will have a fundamental idea of what the item does and how it works. But they will not disclose this information until Khemet has been briefed.
Lords of Elemental Time
Ever vigilant, the Time Elemental Lords (Royals) maintain a fundamental aspect of the nature of existence. They are the protectors and cultivators of the time stream of the multiverse. Usually one Elemental Time Lord is assigned to a particular plane, but if a serious enough emergency arises, other Lords can be summoned to assist. The Elemental Lord of the Prime Material where the Androffan ship crashed long ago has been alert to the existence of a device that has the potential of vast amounts of timeline destruction or alteration. This Lord’s primary objective is to take possession of the device and bring it back to the Plane of Time for further study.
Yeetugh acquired the Chronosphere on a personal exploration of a ruin in Numeria, so the Technic League is currently unaware of the item’s existence. However, after its recovery, Yeetugh was the target of several unexplained and unexpected attacks whenever he was openly studying the device. When the orb was housed in the cloth sack in which he originally found it (the previous owner was long dead so Yeetugh became the new keyed owner), the spontaneous attacks ceased. He can safely study the device only when he is shielded from the powerful Discern Location spell that the Time Elementals use or in an anti-magic zone, but knows that this is not a foolproof defense.
If the Chronosphere is removed from the Bag of Concealment, there is a 10% cumulative chance per hour that the Elemental Lord will attempt to locate it. If located, the Elemental Lord will send ever increasingly powerful proxies to recover it.
The Journey
Once the Rising Sun sets sail, Captain Moody will tell the party that he is going to avoid any ports along the way to keep their travels secret for now. He will not reveal his ultimate destination, but will let them know that they will be at sea for about 2 weeks.
Po and Suramber spend a lot of time downstairs examining the item and taking notes. About 4 days into the voyage, he will approach the group:
“I think our friend is playing coy with us. She has a lot of knowledge about the writing on the Orb and seems to be feeding me the information little by little. I have no doubt that she has good intentions, but she is also very distrustful. Just thought you should know.”
The First Attack
About a week into their journey, the Elemental Lord will use a Scry then a Discern Location on Suramber and find the place where she is currently. Fortunately, she is also moving, so the Lord will make contact with a powerful entity in the Inner Sea called Ooshami-ghol, a highly intelligent Element-Infused Kraken. Ooshami will be asked to recruit a small group of Galvos to retrieve the Orb while Ooshami does battle with the ship. If the Kraken can sink the ship, all the better. The Galvos will use stealth to sneak aboard the ship on the opposite side that the Kraken is attacking and will split up to take different decks and areas.
About a week into your journey, late in the afternoon, you will hear some commotion on deck and crew members saying something about fog. When you investigate, you indeed see that the ship has entered a dense bank of fog and has slowed down a bit. The captain is conferring with the purple-haired gnome, Lina who is saying “This is not natural, it is magical.”
Abel stands nearby and says “Be on your toes, something doesn’t seem right.”
Get everyone’s intended location and actions, then continue.
One of the sailors standing on a crossbeam yells “Hoy, the water is getting lighter!” When you look overboard, you can see that the normally deep blue has become a lighter shade of dark green and is getting even lighter as you watch. Suddenly, and surprisingly quickly, a number of long, thick tentacles thrust up through the water and lash at various people, railings and masts. In addition, two arms that end in 3-fingered hands wrap around the bow of the ship stopping it dead in the water. Between the arms a head rises 20 feet from the surface with glaring red eyes and toothy maw that could easily swallow a grown man.
The two arms are holding the ship in place while the 8 tentacles begin attacking/grappling random people on deck (4 on each side). The mouth will attempt to bite anyone foolish enough to be near the rail near the bow.
On the second round, the Galvos will climb out of the water with a 25 stealth roll (DC25 Per to notice) and begin to work their way through the ship. Eventually, they will narrow down the location of Suramber and attack her, attempting to pull her overboard.
Captain Moody and his 10 crew will assist where they can. Moody will order the crew to mount 4 harpoon cannons on the ship (two fore, two aft) and either the party or the crew can take up to 6 shots.
Harpoon Launcher, 3d8, 19-20 ×3 crit, 20 ft. range incr, P no grappling, ranged attack to hit, 1 round reload
If Ooshami goes below 90 HP or Suramber is captured, he will break off the attack and Jet away.
6 GALVOS CR9
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Element-Infused (water) KRAKEN CR 19