Blue_C.
2007-12-25, 01:18 AM
Far in the northern seas is a bank of fog that never lifts, and that is a trap for all but the most skilled sailors. There are kraken in those waters, and stranger beings are said to love the stillness of the mists. Avoid it if possible, pray if not.
They say though, that at the center of the fog is a small island, all but untouched by even the gods. An ever living man is said to dwell there, telling all who chance upon his shores that they are on HIS shores. He's got the power to back up that claim, I hear.
Of course, it's all nonsense. I can see a smart man like you would never put faith in those stories. Still, if there was a place, and a man, you can bet he's hiding something. An old gnome, more salt than sinew, told my mother once, and she told me, that even the sand from there is worth more than gold.
Pine Haven, he called it. I wonder sometimes.
PINE HAVEN
Less than three miles in diameter, Pine Haven is all that remains of what was once a thriving archipelago. The other islands have long since vanished beneath the waves, as have nearly all of the former inhabitants.
Only one survivor, and their magic, remains.
Pine Haven is, despite its size, quite rough. The central peak reaches a height of nearly 700 ft above sea level, and there are dozens of small ravines and caves wormed throughout. The main feature is the dense Coastal Pine forest that covers the entire island, except for a thin bank of sand along the isle's east side. The North, West, and Southwest sides of Pine Haven are sheer cliffs. An examination of the Northern cliffs (and a Knowledge (geography) DC 20 check) reveals that the island may have once been larger, but some tectonic disruption in the distant past sundered the land.
The weather is quite gloomy, raining often, and fogged over most days when it isn't raining. Only for a couple weeks in summer does the sky clear. A handful of birds, snakes, and insects populate the island, nothing larger than small size. Except for one creature, who calls Pine Haven his home.
Trephony Unique Elite Nymph Druid 6
Size/Type: Medium Fey
Hit Dice: 6d6+6d8+24 (72 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares).
Armor Class: 22 (+2 armor, +4 Dex, +6 deflection), touch 20, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+7
Attack: Sickle +12 melee (1d6+1/19-20)
Full Attack: Sickle +12/+7 melee (1d6+1/19-20)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Blinding beauty, spells, spell-like abilities, stunning glance
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/cold iron, low-light vision, unearthly grace, surefooted, wild empathy
Saves: Fort +14, Ref +12, Will +19
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 18, Con 15, Int 14, Wis 22, Cha 23
Skills: Balance +12, Concentration +17, Diplomacy +8, Escape Artist +13, Heal +21, Hide +18, Knowledge (Nature) +12, Listen +21, Move Silently +13, Sense Motive +15, Survival +14 (+16 with aboveground environments), Spot +21, Tumble +12, Use Rope +3 (+5 with bindings)
Feats: Combat Casting, Dodge, Weapon Finesse, Priest (see below), Natural Spell
Environment: Cool forests
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 14
Treasure: See below
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Trephony is about the height and weight of an average male elf. He speaks Sylvan, Druidic, and Common.
Combat
Fascinating Beauty (Su) This ability affects all humanoids within 30 feet of a nymph. Those who look directly at Trephony must succeed on a DC 19 Will save or be fascinated. Affected creatures get a new save each round to break free of their fascination. If a creature successfuly saves against Trephony's fascinating beauty, they are immune to Trephony's fascinating beauty for 24 hours. Trephony can suppress or resume this ability as a free action.
The save DC is Charisma-based.
Resist Nature’s Lure (Ex) Trephony gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against the spell-like abilities of fey.
Spell-Like Abilities
1/day—dismissal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/dismissal.htm). Caster level 7th.
Trephony casts divine spells as a 13th-level druid.
Typical Druid Spells Prepared (6/7/7/5/5/4/3/1, save DC 16 + spell level)
0—cure minor wounds, detect magic, flare, guidance, light, resistance; 1st—calm animals, cure light wounds, faerie fire, entangle, longstrider, produce flame, speak with animals; 2nd—barkskin, counter summons, flame blade, heat metal, resist energy, spider climb, tree shape; 3rd— call lightning, cure moderate wounds, meld into stone, speak with plants, protection from energy; 4th—cure serious wounds, dispel magic, flame strike, freedom of movement, scrying; 5th—commune with nature, control winds, cure critical wounds, tree stride; 6th—fire seeds, greater dispel magic, wall of stone; 7th—control weather.
Surefooted Trephony has a +8 racial bonus on tumble and balance checks and can always choose to take 10 on tumble or balance checks, even if rushed or threatened.
Stunning Glance (Su): As a standard action, a wrathful oread can stun a creature within 30 feet with a look. The target creature must succeed on a DC 19 Fortitude save or be stunned for 2d4 rounds. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Trackless Step (Ex) Trephony leaves no trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked. He may choose to leave a trail if so desired.
Unearthly Grace (Su) An oread adds his Charisma modifier as a bonus on all his saving throws, and as a deflection bonus to his Armor Class. (The statistics block already reflects these bonuses).
Wild Empathy (Ex) Trephony has +12 to wild empathy checks.
Wild shape (Su) (2/day) Typically, Trephony only uses aquatic animals as his wildshape forms, as he only vaguely remembers terrestrial animals.
Woodland Stride (Ex) Trephony may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at his normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. However, thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated to impede motion still affect him.
Treasure: Trephony has a set of bracers of armor +2, two bottles of treated Sands of Haven, a cloak of elvenkin, and a +1 sickle.
Trephony calls himself an Oread, and Nymph of mountains, ravines, and valleys. Once they walked freely the craggy cliffs of their archipelago, keeping the secrets and the sanctity of the Elven kingdom that flourished on the islands. Now, however, Trephony believes himself to be the last of his kind. All of his brothers were killed during the same cataclysm that sank all but Pine Haven.
SANDS OF HAVEN
Even an untreated handful of Haven's sands, long walked by Oreads, is anthema to outsiders of every type. It can be used as a focus for the banishment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/banishment.htm) spell no matter what type of outsider is targeted.
A handful of untreated haven sand, weighing one ounce, costs 250gp.
Treated Sands of Haven is much more potent. Though the technique for containing and preserving the sand's properties is difficult and expensive, Trephony has long since mastered the knowledge of its creation, and always has about him a few bottles of the stuff.
A bottle of treated Sands of Haven can be thrown in combat as a splash weapon. On a successful toss, the creature hit and any creatures with the extraplanar subtype in the squares adjacent are affected as if targeted by a banishment spell cast by a 13th level caster. The creature struck by the bottle gets no save (though remains unaffected if on its native plane); the creatures adjacent are allowed DC 24 will saves as normal. This DC includes the +4 modifier for a rare item feared by such creatures.
Market Price 4550 gp.
The Secret History of Pine Haven
In what is now the fog shrouded area surrounding Pine Haven was once a small volcanic archipelago, settled mostly by Arctic Halflings (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/environmentalRacialVariants.htm#arcticHalflings) who early on learned the secrets of sailing and seamanship. They'd come from the frozen north, and saw the heavily forested islands, replete with hot springs and hundreds of species of fish, as a paradise. Each island originally fended for itself, often trading with each other, but eventually the largest island rose to prominence. The island's ruler, Queen Andias, announced to all the islands that she had a mandate to protect the archipelago (which, at that point, had no formal name) from outside influences. As they had little contact with anyone else, and no need to seek it, most wondered if she was serious. Whether or not is only to be guessed at, as she died weeks later, and was succeeded by her druid trained son Cyndur. Charismatic and intelligent, rumored to be the child of Andias by an Oread, Cyndur told his people that Andias when she said outsiders, she meant keeping the lands pure of extraplanar influences. The islands were meant, he taught, for those who had been born to this plane, and none other.
Island by island, he conquered the archipelago, and on the way committed spellbooks (and their wizards) that contained the knowledge of summoning or calling outsiders to the pyre. A few clerics were burned as well, but most saw the way the wind was blowing and adopted, outwardly at least, the new state religion that raised the late Queen Andias as a goddess. In her name, the islands would remain pure forever. Abjurers, raised to prominence under Cyndur, created fantastic artifacts and magics that would make sure of that promise.
Needless to say, the gods and their servants were not amused.
Seven generations later, during which adepts taught the virtues of Andias while clerics kept worshiping older gods in secret, and sorcerers became the repository of forbidden magics, the disfavor of the gods became known. Six plagues visited the islands: disease, vermin infestation, the coming of the fog, the retreat of fish, magical mishaps every time an Andian priest cast a spell, and finally the cooling of the volcanoes beneath the islands. The current queen nearly cracked, nearly allowed what her diviners had advised her, the return of the old gods and ways, but her consort, the Oread Trephony, advised her to remain resolute. "Andias will protect us," he told her, in the fae of all evidence.
The day after she executed the leader of the renegade preists as an answer, the entire Andian Archipelago was destroyed. Only the southern tip of the main island, which had never been heavily settled, remained above water. There were few survivors, and most simply packed themselves onto the few ships that could still sail and headed south. The remnants united under Trephony's leadership, as he was the closest thing to royal the halflings had left. In time, they too died out.
Trephony is, of course, still around, but has grown somewhat insane over the years. He maintains the sanctity of the island out of sheer stuborness, and as a memorial to the Andian people.
PLOT HOOKS
An abjurer seeks a handful of untreated haven sands, and is willing to pay for an expedition to retrieve some.
The Andian culture created artifacts that expressed the pinnacle of countering outsiders. Certain groups would pay well to own them.
A sailing expedition is determined to find the source of the fog surrounding Pine Haven, and destroy it. They are hiring skilled allies to help them achieve that goal.
If the party manages to keep Trephony from killing them on sight, he can be an interesting sponsor. He knows the history of the islands, and while he doesn't need riches, he might pay very well for certain sentimental articles still existing under the seas.
A Mystic Theurge, abjurer and one of the last cleric of Andias, has traced the history of his family to a group of islands in the north. He feels compelled by his goddess to seek the islands, and restore Andias to her former prominence. He may hire the party, or see them as a threat.
They say though, that at the center of the fog is a small island, all but untouched by even the gods. An ever living man is said to dwell there, telling all who chance upon his shores that they are on HIS shores. He's got the power to back up that claim, I hear.
Of course, it's all nonsense. I can see a smart man like you would never put faith in those stories. Still, if there was a place, and a man, you can bet he's hiding something. An old gnome, more salt than sinew, told my mother once, and she told me, that even the sand from there is worth more than gold.
Pine Haven, he called it. I wonder sometimes.
PINE HAVEN
Less than three miles in diameter, Pine Haven is all that remains of what was once a thriving archipelago. The other islands have long since vanished beneath the waves, as have nearly all of the former inhabitants.
Only one survivor, and their magic, remains.
Pine Haven is, despite its size, quite rough. The central peak reaches a height of nearly 700 ft above sea level, and there are dozens of small ravines and caves wormed throughout. The main feature is the dense Coastal Pine forest that covers the entire island, except for a thin bank of sand along the isle's east side. The North, West, and Southwest sides of Pine Haven are sheer cliffs. An examination of the Northern cliffs (and a Knowledge (geography) DC 20 check) reveals that the island may have once been larger, but some tectonic disruption in the distant past sundered the land.
The weather is quite gloomy, raining often, and fogged over most days when it isn't raining. Only for a couple weeks in summer does the sky clear. A handful of birds, snakes, and insects populate the island, nothing larger than small size. Except for one creature, who calls Pine Haven his home.
Trephony Unique Elite Nymph Druid 6
Size/Type: Medium Fey
Hit Dice: 6d6+6d8+24 (72 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares).
Armor Class: 22 (+2 armor, +4 Dex, +6 deflection), touch 20, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+7
Attack: Sickle +12 melee (1d6+1/19-20)
Full Attack: Sickle +12/+7 melee (1d6+1/19-20)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Blinding beauty, spells, spell-like abilities, stunning glance
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/cold iron, low-light vision, unearthly grace, surefooted, wild empathy
Saves: Fort +14, Ref +12, Will +19
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 18, Con 15, Int 14, Wis 22, Cha 23
Skills: Balance +12, Concentration +17, Diplomacy +8, Escape Artist +13, Heal +21, Hide +18, Knowledge (Nature) +12, Listen +21, Move Silently +13, Sense Motive +15, Survival +14 (+16 with aboveground environments), Spot +21, Tumble +12, Use Rope +3 (+5 with bindings)
Feats: Combat Casting, Dodge, Weapon Finesse, Priest (see below), Natural Spell
Environment: Cool forests
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 14
Treasure: See below
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Trephony is about the height and weight of an average male elf. He speaks Sylvan, Druidic, and Common.
Combat
Fascinating Beauty (Su) This ability affects all humanoids within 30 feet of a nymph. Those who look directly at Trephony must succeed on a DC 19 Will save or be fascinated. Affected creatures get a new save each round to break free of their fascination. If a creature successfuly saves against Trephony's fascinating beauty, they are immune to Trephony's fascinating beauty for 24 hours. Trephony can suppress or resume this ability as a free action.
The save DC is Charisma-based.
Resist Nature’s Lure (Ex) Trephony gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against the spell-like abilities of fey.
Spell-Like Abilities
1/day—dismissal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/dismissal.htm). Caster level 7th.
Trephony casts divine spells as a 13th-level druid.
Typical Druid Spells Prepared (6/7/7/5/5/4/3/1, save DC 16 + spell level)
0—cure minor wounds, detect magic, flare, guidance, light, resistance; 1st—calm animals, cure light wounds, faerie fire, entangle, longstrider, produce flame, speak with animals; 2nd—barkskin, counter summons, flame blade, heat metal, resist energy, spider climb, tree shape; 3rd— call lightning, cure moderate wounds, meld into stone, speak with plants, protection from energy; 4th—cure serious wounds, dispel magic, flame strike, freedom of movement, scrying; 5th—commune with nature, control winds, cure critical wounds, tree stride; 6th—fire seeds, greater dispel magic, wall of stone; 7th—control weather.
Surefooted Trephony has a +8 racial bonus on tumble and balance checks and can always choose to take 10 on tumble or balance checks, even if rushed or threatened.
Stunning Glance (Su): As a standard action, a wrathful oread can stun a creature within 30 feet with a look. The target creature must succeed on a DC 19 Fortitude save or be stunned for 2d4 rounds. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Trackless Step (Ex) Trephony leaves no trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked. He may choose to leave a trail if so desired.
Unearthly Grace (Su) An oread adds his Charisma modifier as a bonus on all his saving throws, and as a deflection bonus to his Armor Class. (The statistics block already reflects these bonuses).
Wild Empathy (Ex) Trephony has +12 to wild empathy checks.
Wild shape (Su) (2/day) Typically, Trephony only uses aquatic animals as his wildshape forms, as he only vaguely remembers terrestrial animals.
Woodland Stride (Ex) Trephony may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at his normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. However, thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated to impede motion still affect him.
Treasure: Trephony has a set of bracers of armor +2, two bottles of treated Sands of Haven, a cloak of elvenkin, and a +1 sickle.
Trephony calls himself an Oread, and Nymph of mountains, ravines, and valleys. Once they walked freely the craggy cliffs of their archipelago, keeping the secrets and the sanctity of the Elven kingdom that flourished on the islands. Now, however, Trephony believes himself to be the last of his kind. All of his brothers were killed during the same cataclysm that sank all but Pine Haven.
SANDS OF HAVEN
Even an untreated handful of Haven's sands, long walked by Oreads, is anthema to outsiders of every type. It can be used as a focus for the banishment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/banishment.htm) spell no matter what type of outsider is targeted.
A handful of untreated haven sand, weighing one ounce, costs 250gp.
Treated Sands of Haven is much more potent. Though the technique for containing and preserving the sand's properties is difficult and expensive, Trephony has long since mastered the knowledge of its creation, and always has about him a few bottles of the stuff.
A bottle of treated Sands of Haven can be thrown in combat as a splash weapon. On a successful toss, the creature hit and any creatures with the extraplanar subtype in the squares adjacent are affected as if targeted by a banishment spell cast by a 13th level caster. The creature struck by the bottle gets no save (though remains unaffected if on its native plane); the creatures adjacent are allowed DC 24 will saves as normal. This DC includes the +4 modifier for a rare item feared by such creatures.
Market Price 4550 gp.
The Secret History of Pine Haven
In what is now the fog shrouded area surrounding Pine Haven was once a small volcanic archipelago, settled mostly by Arctic Halflings (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/environmentalRacialVariants.htm#arcticHalflings) who early on learned the secrets of sailing and seamanship. They'd come from the frozen north, and saw the heavily forested islands, replete with hot springs and hundreds of species of fish, as a paradise. Each island originally fended for itself, often trading with each other, but eventually the largest island rose to prominence. The island's ruler, Queen Andias, announced to all the islands that she had a mandate to protect the archipelago (which, at that point, had no formal name) from outside influences. As they had little contact with anyone else, and no need to seek it, most wondered if she was serious. Whether or not is only to be guessed at, as she died weeks later, and was succeeded by her druid trained son Cyndur. Charismatic and intelligent, rumored to be the child of Andias by an Oread, Cyndur told his people that Andias when she said outsiders, she meant keeping the lands pure of extraplanar influences. The islands were meant, he taught, for those who had been born to this plane, and none other.
Island by island, he conquered the archipelago, and on the way committed spellbooks (and their wizards) that contained the knowledge of summoning or calling outsiders to the pyre. A few clerics were burned as well, but most saw the way the wind was blowing and adopted, outwardly at least, the new state religion that raised the late Queen Andias as a goddess. In her name, the islands would remain pure forever. Abjurers, raised to prominence under Cyndur, created fantastic artifacts and magics that would make sure of that promise.
Needless to say, the gods and their servants were not amused.
Seven generations later, during which adepts taught the virtues of Andias while clerics kept worshiping older gods in secret, and sorcerers became the repository of forbidden magics, the disfavor of the gods became known. Six plagues visited the islands: disease, vermin infestation, the coming of the fog, the retreat of fish, magical mishaps every time an Andian priest cast a spell, and finally the cooling of the volcanoes beneath the islands. The current queen nearly cracked, nearly allowed what her diviners had advised her, the return of the old gods and ways, but her consort, the Oread Trephony, advised her to remain resolute. "Andias will protect us," he told her, in the fae of all evidence.
The day after she executed the leader of the renegade preists as an answer, the entire Andian Archipelago was destroyed. Only the southern tip of the main island, which had never been heavily settled, remained above water. There were few survivors, and most simply packed themselves onto the few ships that could still sail and headed south. The remnants united under Trephony's leadership, as he was the closest thing to royal the halflings had left. In time, they too died out.
Trephony is, of course, still around, but has grown somewhat insane over the years. He maintains the sanctity of the island out of sheer stuborness, and as a memorial to the Andian people.
PLOT HOOKS
An abjurer seeks a handful of untreated haven sands, and is willing to pay for an expedition to retrieve some.
The Andian culture created artifacts that expressed the pinnacle of countering outsiders. Certain groups would pay well to own them.
A sailing expedition is determined to find the source of the fog surrounding Pine Haven, and destroy it. They are hiring skilled allies to help them achieve that goal.
If the party manages to keep Trephony from killing them on sight, he can be an interesting sponsor. He knows the history of the islands, and while he doesn't need riches, he might pay very well for certain sentimental articles still existing under the seas.
A Mystic Theurge, abjurer and one of the last cleric of Andias, has traced the history of his family to a group of islands in the north. He feels compelled by his goddess to seek the islands, and restore Andias to her former prominence. He may hire the party, or see them as a threat.