Coconut House - D&D campaign

This is the layout, plan, and encounters for the D&D campaign in the Coconut House.

The Plot

You are an unsettled person (you can choose your race and class), disasstisfied with life in the Empire. Life has taken you to the vagabond settlement of Apertorie, where you've heard rumors of a meeting of an underground resistance. You're debating attending it ...

The Society

The society of this world is highly tiered. Elves form an aristocratic ruling class, comprised of an Emperor, a senate, university and schooling staff, and property owning minor nobles. All rechtelven, or true elves, own property. Troublesome family members can be ostracized from their family, and are no longer regarded by greater society as truly elves until they win their way back into their family graces or get property. They call these exiled elves the ur-drow.

The dwarves make up the second tier of society. The highest echelons of dwarven society bleeds into the lower ranks of elven societies as a form of "merchant princes". Elves and dwarves are on very good relations, as the dwarves build the infrastructure, equipment, and riches of the Elven empire, and the elves pay handsomely for this craftsmanship. The dwarves are way more mobile in social standing, where your status is judged by an informal combination of your most prestigious client, the quality of your best work, and your own personal wealth; so, there can be poor artists who design beautiful works that are still highly regarded. Dwarves are very matriarchal and are typically well versed in their matriarchal lineage back at least five generations, so have a very good idea of at least one half of their relations. Their paternal side is ignored or embraced depending on their status. Their maternal status, on the flip side, is generally embellished and this should be accounted for in negotiations with the dwarves. Being well versed in a particular dwarves' family is a good way to earn a discount; insulting the matriarchy is a good way to be psuedo-blackballed and see far higher bills from *all* dwarves.

Humans, on the other hand, are regarded as little more than peasants, and are typically quite poor. They are tightly nit, however, and communities stand or fall together. They are typically strongly distrustful of elves, and tend to be regard dwarves as extortionists, though a necessary evil.

Humans live side-by-side with halflings, in a community where the differences between the races is considered merely cosmetic. There are many apocryphal tales suggesting that halflings are really just a family of humans cursed by an ancient elven mage to be forever stunted, and is often used by both sides to justify their tight bond. The bond among these communities is underscored by their names; all halflings and humans born into these communities are granted a first name, identifying themself, and their last name is the name of their community. Humans and halflings that move communities are expected to change their last name, and are often called "strikers" in their old communities. It is a mark of deep shame to have no last name among humans, for this means you were exiled by your community.

Outside the main cities of the empire, much of the surrounding grassland and redwood forests are broken into mini-empires dominated by orc clans. The orcs are fiercely loyal, and goodwill earned by an outsider can persist for several generations. The inter-clan warfare, while sporadic, ensures that orcs can never mount a unified defense to the forced labor they are subjected to.

There are occassional smaller settlements sprinkled around outskirts, where various races, including more exotic fare, mingle. These "vagabond settlements" are the remnents of gnome towns that existed before a plague struck the gnomic towns and decimated their race. Thus, here lie the last vestiges of the gnomes, who are often the property owners in of the more successful establishments. It is here that ur-drow elves tend to reside until they regain their rechtelf status, where dwarves go searching for inspiration for their next work, and where humans and halflings go to increase the fortunes of themselves or their communities ...

The Politics

The Elven emperor, Da'saan, is in the third century of his reign. His agressivley militaristic policies have lead to the great expansion of the Retani empire. He has effectivley lead to what elves regard as a golden age of the Retani empire. He is well loved by his family, even his son, Ret'saan, who is prone to the wanderlust and will periodically disappear for years at at time.

What is not well known is that on Ret'saan's last wandering, he came back somewhat addled. After a month or so he returned to normal, but his behavior is sometimes curious. El'las, the consort of Da'saan, is also rumored to be the power behind the throne, and the true military genius.

Da'saan's military conquests, however, have been won at the expense of many halfling and human lives. Halfing and humans have been used as infantry (as part of a 2-year forced conscription - with only a 20% survival rate), with orc tribes forced into early attack waves, while elvish officers hang behind. This has generated much ill sentiment among the lower tiers of society, but while in the military the aqualines, or high elvish mages, keep discipline in check. The first two instances of disobedience results in magical torture, and the third, death.

This means that the military forces will even quash a rebellion in their hometown. The last time that happened was 150 years ago in the settlement of Raisa. Three people in the settlement of 1,000 tried to defect. All that lived there — men, women, and children — were killed. Their property was then razed, the land salted, then cursed. Nothing grows or lives there, and "Raisa's Fall" is a common phrase uttered when a human or halfling is shocked.

The efficiency of these brutal armies have lead to most of the surrounding territories to have tenuous peace treaties with Retani, but the Republic of Horon has been delaying ...

Setting

The campaign begins in one of the vagabond settlements, Apertorie. Each character should have their own backstory, including but not limited to why they are at Apertorie. Better backstories that explain more of a characters motivations, skill sets, etc, will get more plot XP as it is revealed.

Character Creation

As a character, you should know your character's history, motivations, etc. You'll be starting at level 4, and if in a natural fashion you can weave in your own backstory to your fellow adventurers you will get an experience boost. Do not tell anyone but Philip your backstory before the game begins. During the game, as a matter of course, you may of course tell anyone. This is to ensure that Philip can tailor any character-specific plot points properly, but as in life, your characters don't know everything about every other character.

Your character will start with 5000 gp of gold value in any combination of equipment you desire. You will have to select before the first session. All players will start with free clothes if you don't purchase magical ones, bedroll, canteen, and two weeks of field rations. The rates at the local inns are 5cp/night for the run-down one, and 3sp/night for the nicer one. (1pp=10gp=100sp=10,000cp; platinum, gold, silver, copper).

Synopsis

The PCs (Aerie, Sloshy, and Grolsch) made their way to the crypt. They chose the correct crypt on the first try, after which they took the leftmost path, saw water, and took the center path. They defeated the hellhounds with some difficulty, solved the Sphinx's riddle, then walked down the passageway to the dragon.

Unable to convince the dragon to part with the chest, they traded the gloves, pink pearl, and red spinel for a gold, silver, and copper peice, respectivley (the dragon valued variety in addition to value). A Detect Magic by Grolsch saw the Sphinx had some hidden treasure, but they got overzealous with the dragon and attempted to fight him. Quickly realizing they were outmatched in this weakened state, they ran back out, triggered the Acid Arrow trap, and took their (then) leftmost path, seeing (but not fighting) the Black Pudding. They returned to the center path and ran out to rest.

After completing their "proving grounds" dungeon (killing the dragon, and having a bad encounter with an Ooze), the PCs brought the chest of items back to Apertorie, palming the pink pearl, the gloves, and the diamond. Upon arriving, the Mouth sent them on a mission of redemption, along with a half-elf named Loki.

Before stopping by the dragon caves, the PCs went to Reylan and in the process, got lost and were arrested. They escaped, courtesy Soften Stone and Badger!Badger!Badger!, and ran to the dragon caves.

At the caves, they are escorted to the eyrie of the Great Wyrm Gold Dragon, who informs them of the soul capture and her own entrapment in her crystal cave. She gates them to Yutan, where they buy a scroll of raise dead, buy Aeire some armor, and steal a scroll of [Time Stop/Summon Monster IX/Bibgy's Crushing Hand/]. They're informed of the 4000gp cost of Disjunction, and go searching for a sidequest to gain some money ...

zip file of character sheets (Excel 2007+)