Varisia Campaign

Forgefiends are extraplanar earth outsiders. An outsider is at least partially composed of the essence (but not necessarily the material) of some plane other than the Material Plane. Some creatures start out as some other type and become outsiders when they attain a higher (or lower) state of spiritual existence. Outsiders have darkvision. Unlike most living creatures, an outsider does not have a dual nature – its soul and body form one unit. When an outsider is slain, no soul is set loose. Spells that restore souls to their bodies, such as raise dead, reincarnate, and resurrection, don’t work on an outsider. It takes a different magical effect, such as limited wish, wish, miracle, or true resurrection to restore it to life. An outsider native to the Material Plane can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected just as other living creatures can be. Outsiders breathe, but do not need to eat or sleep (although they can do so if they wish). Outsiders native to the Material Plane breat...

All the heroes ended up reduced in size to the next smaller size category down from their actual size. One of the guardians of this complex was a creature called a forgefiend - known also as a scanderig. This subtle and tricky creature could move through the stone surrounding the library like a fish swam through water. The forgefiend was highly mobile and was on the move through the walls of the entire complex. It preferred to wait to make its first attack against the heroes just after they'd finished battles with other creatures, fighting for mere seconds before slipping back into the walls. The Cauldron of Giantkind. Runes were carved in bands along the walls of this chamber, which was unnervingly lit by a reddish glow from the slowly burning flames in a shallow firepit in the center of the room. An immense iron cauldron, its side emblazoned with an etching of a seven-pointed star, stood above these flames. Smoke rose from the cauldron's unseen bubbling contents, and a halo o...

The ageless monuments and awesome cities of Thassilon rose upon the backs of countless slaves, but none bore the sin-poisoned civilization’s burden more than the giants. Able to perform the work of dozens of human slaves, Thassilon’s titanic servants – hill giants, stone giants, taiga giants, and others – crafted marvels nigh unparalleled in any era before or since, and shaped the face of what is now modern Varisia. Yet as viciously as the runelords worked their slaves and for all they demanded, the giant-crafted marvels were not enough. And thus, working the corrupt rune magic that was theirs alone, the runelords manufactured a damning curse and laid it over their most tireless and effective workers, and in so doing created a new breed of servant: the runeslave. The symbols etched upon a runeslave’s body put great stress on its physical form, choking its mind and ultimately killing the giant in time. Each runeslave has a predominant Thassilonian rune associated with one school of ma...

The heroes continued their exploration, after they convinced the freed prisoners to guard the exit to the small tunnels. Tannery. This room reeked of vinegar, rotting hair, and worse. A single large stone basin sat in the middle of the room, about ten-feet square and filled with foul-looking fluid upon which floated patches of wet fur. Around the basin stood a dozen wooden frames over which leather and hides were stretched. At the far end of the cave, a stinking mound of hides and furs awaited tanning. The wet fur belonged to bear hides being tanned; additional hides were stretched on racks. The liquid in the vat was particularly foul. A trio of ogres fighters toiled here. They took part in a fight with the heroes with great guffaws and chortles. The heroes killed them. Pit Guardian Barracks. The tunnel widened into a gallery, the walls of which were streaked with glittering veins of mica. To the north, four large mounds of furs had been arranged - a nimbus of bones and bits of half-ea...

The heroes continued their exploration below Jorgenfist. The Elder's Entryway.  The ramp ended here at a cave entrance that led underground, while the bone-strewn floor of the pit sprawled before it. A smoldering brazier sat in an alcove just to the right of the entrance. This entrance at first seemed empty, but in fact the stone giant elder Conna waited to intercept the heroes here, hidden in the side cave near the brazier. Conna was an old, angular giant. She wore heavy bearskins over her shoulders, and a spear rested by her side. When she spotted the heroes, she stepped out of hiding and held out her hands to them, palms up. Conna had heard about the raid on Sandpoint, and since the heroes were known to be approaching Jorgenfist, she awaited their arrival. When she saw the heroes, she furtively attempted to contact them, speaking in Giant. When the heroes agreed to hear what she had to say, she was quick and to the point. "I don't have much time, but know that if you ar...

Kobolds are reptilian humanoids. Humanoids usually have two arms, two legs, and one head, or a human-like torso, arms, and a head. Humanoids have few or no supernatural or extraordinary abilities, but most can speak and usually have well-developed societies. They are usually Small or Medium (with the exception of giants). Humanoids breathe, eat, and sleep. Reptilian creatures are scaly and usually cold-blooded. The reptilian subtype only applies to humanoid races, not all animals and monsters that are true reptiles. Kobolds are creatures of the dark, found most commonly in enormous underground warrens or the dark corners of the forest where the sun is unable to reach. Due to their physical similarities, kobolds loudly proclaim themselves the scions of dragonkind, destined to rule the earth beneath the wings of their great god-cousins, but most dragons have little use for the obnoxious pests. While they may speak loudly of divine right and manifest destiny, kobolds are keenly aw...

The heroes emerged from the small caverns into larger ones, and started exploring them. The Pit. A pit served as the primary entrance into the underground portions of the stone giants' fortress. The ramp leading down into the pit wound down to the caverns below Jorgenfist. The pit itself was 80 feet deep. The pit floor was a tangle of bones and broken bodies, a combination of humanoid, giant, and even four dragon corpses (three blues and a red, all Large). Flocks of crows, buzzards, and other scavenging birds swarmed over the bodies, picking at the flesh until only bones remained. An investigation of the uneaten carcasses revealed that they all had the Sihedron Rune carved crudely on their torsos in the case of the humanoids and dragons, or branded on the small of the back in the case of giants. These caves were used primarily for barracks. The caves themselves had high ceilings, averaging 20 feet in height in the tunnels, while in the caverns they generally arched to heights of 40...