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Tue Apr 28, 2020 5:13 pm My Spinecastle Campaign 579cy

Everything here and that follows is based on the incredible work

SPINECASTLE: CITY OF THE FALLEN
CITY OF ADVENTURE
By Gary Holian and Stephen S. Greer

NPC - Glipkerio Kistomerces of Spinecastle - Necromancer

Spinecastle is a city of the dead. Today it has a population of monsters and slaves but the dead far outnumber the living. Ghosts and ghouls haunt the ruined buildings and the dried and desiccated corpses of the unhallowed slain lie beneath the broken stone and collapsed buildings through-out the city. Perhaps no better place exists in the Flanaess for a Necromancer to practice their art or to begin a school dedicated to this unsavory dweomencraft.

Glipkerio Kistomerces is truly of the haggard corpse that is Spinecastle. His past and his origins are unknown. His face, slowly rotting from his body, is not even his own but he is recognized as a force and a power within the city.

He has settled in the ruins of a bastion tower along the cities east wall and from the nearby collapsed barracks of the city guard has raised a plenitude of servants and subjects both human and monstrous.

With two journeymen and five apprentices Glipkerio has formed a rudimentary necromantic school of sorts and his reputation in his dark field of study is continually growing.

Thu Apr 30, 2020 3:15 pm

NPC - Elakera the Necromancer's Apprentice - Spinecastle

Elakera is the senior apprentice of the necromancer Glipkerio Kistomerces. Soon she will show her knowledge of the necromantic arts and begin her travels as a journeyman for seasoning in the outerworld before returning for more instruction. As an apprentice she traveled with a journeyman during one of their many trips and expeditions to aid Glipkerio. Soon she will be taking one of the apprentices and joining a small band of mercenaries in the employ of a half-orc warchief with plans to raid human lands to the south.

She has shown great talent and has been a favorite of Glipkerio. He has gifted her with an enchanted staff that provides immunity to the paralyzation abilities of some undead as well as allowing her to paralyze most humans, demi-humans and humanoids thrice per day.

She is very fond of creating potions and has a recipe for animating fresh corpses as zombies. She normally carries several bottles and will animate such dead to serve her at the first opportunity. She currently ha 6 fresh zombies ready to defend her and carry her luggage.

Sun May 03, 2020 9:29 am

NPC - The Journeyman Necromancer - Nemia Snarve - Spinecastle

Nemia is the younger but more accomplished of Glipkerio's journeymen. He assists in the research of new magical spells and the crafting of the more complex magical items. He lost his left arm during his time as Glipkerio's apprentice and now wears a prosthetic which the master necromancer discovered in a vast dungeon complex within the Rift Canyon.

The Bone Arm is an animated skeletal arm. It can meld to either lost limb or become a third limb if attached to someone who already possess's two. The Arm functions as a normal arm but allows the wielder to control undead in the way that an evil cleric appears to be able to control or repel them.

Nemia is grateful and loyal to Glipkerio and in many ways is the shadow of his master with his own personality subsumed by the stronger will.

Mon May 04, 2020 3:43 pm

NPC - Urlik Skarsol - Priest of Nerull - Spinecastle

There is no Temple of Nerull inside Spinecastle but the priest Urlik Skarsol wanders the land with his following of undead and haunts the devastated city on a regular basis. There is an ancient shrine to Nerull somewhere near but it is hidden, ancient and forgotten.

He bears a powerful holy item, The Black Hand of Nerull which can pull the skeleton of human, humanoid or demi-human through its flesh to stand bend before Skarsol and serve him in the name of Nerull. Other robed human-sized figures have been seen to accompany Skarsol, underlings, acolytes, lesser priests, but just as often he appears with only a retinue of undead.

Urlik has a strong dislike for the necromancer Glipkerio Kistomercies but so far the two have avoided each other. His real animosity is saved for the clergy of Incabulos and the Cult of Orcus. The Orcus cult especially which is seeking to establish itself in Spinecastle.

Thu May 14, 2020 1:03 pm

NPC - Foultooth Packleader Black Moon Gnolls - Spinecastle

Foultooth was only a pup when Spinecastle was taken and he has been raised in the ruins of the city. He is a rising leader as he is overly large and extraordinarily viscous even for a gnoll. The older gnolls hate the stonehouses and streets of the city and hate, fear and obey the Flinds of the Howling Night pack. but Foultooth and most of the gnolls raised and the city do not.

Within the Blood Moon pack are the Young Bloods. Foultooth is a leader among them and they wait for the day when they can seize control of the city and kill the flinds or drive them from the walls. Already Foultooth has made alliance with the necromancer Glipkerio and through him the Bugbears, Goblins and Ogres. The Ogres and the necromancer being key allies. Already the necromancer has been aiding in the ambush of Bloody Eye orcs, whose bodies go to the undead army that the necromancer has been building.

Fri May 15, 2020 2:33 pm

NPC - Bloodkiller (Rat Licker) PackLeader Shattered Skull Gnolls - Spinecastle

The Shattered Skull Gnolls took a heavy beating during the assault upon Spinecastle and never recovered. The flinds who were directing the gnoll forces used them up with as little concern as the goblin tribes. They still number over 75 warriors but it is a fragment compared to the nearly thousand strong pack which descended upon Spinecastle more than a decade ago.

Most of the Shattered Skull of today were mere younglings when Spinecastle fell and Bloodkiller (named Rat Licker by the packleaders of the Black Moon Gnolls) had just attained maturity at that time. Now he is one of the oldest survivors.

The Shattered Skulls have become feral in the intervening years. Maltreatment by their kindred of the Black Moon and general dislike by the other humanoids have turned them in a viscous and wild pack of beasts. They consume anything, even other gnolls and live a precarious life within the city. They have literally been driven underground lairing in the old sewer tunnels beneath the city and only coming out at night to hunt.

Foultooth has sought them out and made promises to bring them into the Young Bloods when the time is right and they overthrow the flinds and the packleaders of the Black Moon.

Sat May 16, 2020 2:10 pm

NPC - Old Fang - Cleric of Yeenoghu - Spinecastle

The Black Moon gnolls packleaders have fallen under the sway of Erythnul but the Young Bloods have returned to the old ways and the secret worship of Yeenoghu. The necromancer, though a worshiper of no gods but power, has encouraged this and shelters Old Fang within his tower.

The cult leader assists the necromancer with his experiments with ghouls. The power of Yeenoghu over these undead seems limitless and he has given Old Fang a small retinue of ghouls to serve him without questions. Already several of the Young Bloods are acolytes and bear the markings of the cult.

Old Fang desires to see the gnolls return to dominance within the ruined city and establish Yeenoghu as sole deity worshiped by gnolls across the Flanaess. He is dangerously insane, even for a gnoll, and believes he is Yeenoghu's avatar upon Oerth, Unfortunately he is tremendously old for a gnoll having lived past his 50th year already and only his indomitable will keeps him going.

Sat May 16, 2020 6:50 pm

Sat May 16, 2020 7:45 pm

Sun May 17, 2020 3:06 pm

NPC - Five Head Ogre Boss of the Thundering Club - Spinecastle

The Ogres of Spinecastle keep busy breaking down things and hauling large and ponderous items from one place to another as well as keeping a crew handy to open and close the massive gates to Spinekeep. They keep themselves amused by squashing anything smaller than themselves. Every so often a group will take off for some fun and plunder or an individual or three will hire themselves out to a tribe or group or person of enough power to impress them just enough from eating them. The Ogres know they are on to a good thing in Spinecastle.

Thundering Club isnt a typical tribe and Ogres come and go within its ranks. death being the most common form of departure. Still the Ogre ranks have been steadily growing though not enough to worry the Orcs who currently run things in Spinecastle.

Five Heads is the most recent leader due to his size, strength and, surprisingly, intelligence, although this last attribute he keeps well hidden.He is massive for an Ogre, the size of a Hill Giant with strength to match. He has had a suit of armor made equivalent to chainmail, and bears an enchanted two-handed sword that he wields with one hand. He keeps a bag of stones at his side which he will throw during combat and they have a punch like a small catapult.

Secretly Five Heads has been planning on over throwing the orcs through an alliance with the Young Blood gnolls and the necromancer (who he is secretly afraid of). He can summon a large force of forty-fifty Ogres from outside Spinecastle and large group of Ogrillons from within the city. Five Heads has secretly promised the Ogrillons membership in Thundering Club if they prove themselves.

Mon May 18, 2020 1:50 pm

NPC - Vilmos - Viridian Guild - Spinecastle

Vilmos was once a Wolf Nomad or the Setjare Fark as they call themselves, but he had to flee for his evil acts upon members of his own tribe. Like many of his ilk in the north he has gravitated to Spinecastle and has found a home.

Currently he is a member of the Viridian Guild and acts as an outrider and guard to the merchant wagons and caravans that bring an endless procession of goods, slaves and meat animals (the slaves are too often just another meal to the cities inhabitants) to the city.

When not guardian merchants Vilmos will be out with a group of hunters that capture wild and exotic animals for the Pits. Vilmos himself loves the gladiatorial games and has even competed several times showing off his amazing skill with the bow and lasso.

Tue May 19, 2020 7:16 am

NPC - Miklos Feltch of Tenh - Merchant - Spinecastle

Miklos is a beast in human form. He buys and sells anything . His deity is coin and he is a devoted worshiper. He has been driven from Tenh and has settled in Spinecastle and has found the city very much to his liking.

He is a prominent member of the Viridian guild and his shop is always bustling with trade. Next to his shop is a large pen for animals and slaves, Miklos does not differentiate between the two. A pen full of pigs can be found next to an overfull cage of halflings.

Almost anything can be found in his shop or in the large warehouse around the back. Finer quality items are found on the second floor which is open only by invitation to select buyers.

Miklos prefers to have half-orc guards who are connected to the Bloody Eye orcs and maintains about a dozen. He has many hirelings who clean and do work around the place, all human, but he keeps no slave servants for himself as he does not trust them.

Goods and treasure brought to him will be haggled down in price but he is competitive with the other merchants and sellers can usual get a reasonable price. Buyers can find bargains as Miklos prefers to keep his goods in motion and not gather dust.

Wed May 20, 2020 11:20 am

Spinecastle Encounters

12 Encounters for the streets of Spinecastle

1. A pack of gnolls is 'patrolling' the street, but mainly looking for trouble. Before they get close a group of goblins comes around a corner right in front of them. Both parties pause only for a moment before a pitched battle to the death ensues. The losers will immediately be looted and devoured on the street by the winning side.

2. Five ogres are demolishing a ramshakle house. Suddenly the ghost of a small human child steps from the ruin. She is crying and reaches out her hands to the nearest ogre. The monster laughs and aims a kick at the translucent figure. The ghost lets loose a bonechilling scream, becomes the size of a giant with rotting skin and visible bones sticking through the unreal flesh and reaches again for the ogre. This time all five ogres recoil in terror and run down the street in panic. Mayhem ensues.

3. A merchant wagon loaded with barrels hits a deep rut and with a loud crack an axle breaks. The wagon lurches to one side, a rope snaps and a barrel smashes to the street. Inside is a disheveled human, stunned. The driver and assistant look wildly around to see if anyone has noticed.

4. A half-orc thief cuts a large pouch from an orcs belt but it comes open in his hands as he attempts to make off with it. Dozens of severed gnoll ears spill onto the street.

5. A long line of slaves bound for The Pits is being led down the street by red-cloaked orcs. One of the chained slaves looks familiar.

6. Two hill giants, Wlhelm and Tomas, are sitting in the street with a huge barrel of ale. TheyAQ keep dipping drinking horns into it and make passerbys drink before they can move beyond their reach.

7. A cadaverous human in a red-robe stands in front of a collapsed building. His hands are raised and he is shouting some chant in ancient Eastern Flan. A feeling like lightning is in the air and the taste of copper. The skeletons of those long dead pull themselves from the rubble.

8. A group of red-cloaked orcs is moving down the street collecting an impromptu tax on anyone nearby.

9. Twelve wagons roll down the street. Each holds a large cage. Inside each cage is a different kind of dangerous beast or monster. One cage holds perhaps the biggest owl bear ever seen. A red-cloaked orc pokes at it with a spear as it passes him and is pulled against the bars and has his forearm snipped off by a massive beak. He collapses streaming blood and much laughter and merriment is had by his companions. Orc Humor.

10. The sky grows dark overhead then shot with red streaks. Everyone begins to run for shelter. The sky pours down with blood till the walls of buildings are red and the street thick with it. It begins to pool in the middle of the street drawing from the roofs and walls till it is a circular pool leaving no other traces behind. If anything is put in the pool of blood it is drawn in like quicksand. The pool disappears after ten minutes.

11. Same as 10 but the blood becomes a column 12 feet tall and five feet wide. After a few minutes it turns into a naked human formed of blood. This blood form rampages for a time killing any humanoid monster it comes across.

12. A patrol of humans on horseback turns the corner. They are dressed in the colors of the old Spinecastle guard if anyone recognizes it. As they get closer the flesh drops from horses and guardsmen before they crumble into dust in the street.

Thu May 21, 2020 10:43 am A Tale of Spine Castle

As told by Aoric "The Chanter of Spirits"

North of the treacherous waters, of the Tessar Torrent
Nestled between the Rakers, and the coast of Solnor
Is a land where humanity once thrived
Now orcs, gnolls, and ogres has invaded this place
And even when these are not encountered, one is subjected to the whims of bandit chiefs.
The once proud human descendants, survivors, and nomadic bandits-now prey on one and all.
Only the small autonomous County of Knurl has yet to fall.
Further north past the long lost strongholds of the gnomes, of Blemu Hills
Lies a place so foul and treacherous, Even the orcs that frequent it tend to be cautious
While large hulking ogres in this place they reside.
It’s the gnoll warbands wanting to rip you open, pulling out your entrails and eating your insides that sends shivers down any man's spine.
Perhaps that's where this place gets its nomenclature, but the architecture mimic’s it’s namesake all the same.
But that’s just it’s city which lies in partial ruins.
There’s the Castle of Spine, Known as Spine Castle
Where the real horrors reside
Only the dead truly know what lies inside.
Rumors of it’s lord, reminisce of a Knight of the Sun.
Now fallen and a devout follower of Demogorgon.
For now that’s all that I can reveil.
To speak of these things can cause my demise.
Tis a fate I wish to avoid.

Fri May 22, 2020 4:33 pm

NPC - Vassliss Priestess of Iuz - Spinecastle

During the Siege of Spinecastle a secret cabal worked against the cities defenders. Unbeknownst to the great and good within the city a cult of Iuz worshipers festered amid their ranks. What their ultimate plans had been none can say. Deep in the sub-basement of a manor in the High Ward the cult had its shrine and when the High Ward fell at last the manor had been destroyed and all within slain.

Years later Vassliss, secret priestess of Iuz, entered Spinecastle with a powerful retinue disguised as merchants supplying the always voracious inhabitants with meat and slaves. Few of the Iuzian cultists had survived and those few were slaves to the Bloody Eye orcs. Vassliss purchased those she could and slew all those she could not to silence tongues possibly loosened in their bestial servitude.

In the intervening years she has found the hidden shrine, reconsecrated in the service of her master, and reformed the cult. She has not found out who betrayed the cult, but she suspects the hand of another evil at odds with her own.

Sat May 23, 2020 4:49 pm

NPC - Hoghead - Butcher -- Spinecastle

Even more active than The Pit where the gladiatorial games are run is The Slaughterhouse where the food is divided among the humanoid tribes of the city.

All of the tribes in Spinecastle except the ogre's Thundering Club maintain groups of hunters who scour the surrounding land for food. After sixteen years these hunters go far afield and the food brought into the city by merchants has become critical.

Food and hunger, it is an underlying force within Spinecastle. Almost it has forced an abandonment of the city when the tribes grew greater than could be fed. Certainly it caused much strife and a change of power from the flinds and gnolls whose over population nearly stripped the city bare three winter's past. Now the orcs run the city and through The Slaughterhouse keep a tight leash around the belly of the gnolls and other humanoids (except the ogres who are kept well-fed and happy or they just start eating anyone within reach).

An old flind, Quer'enz, manages The Slaughterhouse, but Hoghead is the chief of butchers and handles the actually slaughtering, butchering and dividing of the meat. He is a vicious old orc from an ancient tribe said to have sailed to the Flanaess from some eastern island and plagued the coastal lands.

Hoghead has plans to add Quer'enz to the stewpot one day and if approached with an offer to rid him of the old flind he is very amendable.

Mon May 25, 2020 10:03 pm

NPC - Oldbone - Chief Weeping Dark Goblins - Spinecastle

The 300 or so goblins of the Weeping Dark are a small fraction of the thousands used as sword-fodder during the taking of the city. Since that time many have left the city and many have been eaten by their larger and stronger monstrous allies.

Now they lair in the sewer system of the High Ward and act as servants to the Bloody Eye orcs. Oldbone was a goblin warrior when the city fell and now he is the oldest survivor of the vast clan of goblins who swarmed over the walls during the siege. His resentment of the gnolls and orcs knows no bounds and he is a willing ally of the hobgoblins who ruled the city during the first few years after its fall.

He is aware of the many factions within the city, including the Young Blood gnolls but unknown to any he is in touch with several large goblin clans who dwell beneath the Rakers and seeks to raise another vast goblin army to betray all his masters and allies.

Thu May 28, 2020 11:20 pm

NPC - Huntmaster - Leader Howling Night Flinds - Spinecastle

Two hundred flinds. Anywhere but Spinecastle that might be a number to strike horror into the hearts of their enemies, but Spinecastle is a nexus of horror, a metropolis of evil, and the heart of a growing kingdom of humanoids not seen since the days of the Suel Imperium.

That these flinds should be the driving hand behind a force of over a thousand gnolls should come as no surprise. To most outsiders, human, demi-huuman, or humanoid these flinds are lost among the Black Moon gnolls, though to other gnolls flinds stand out larger, stronger, statelier, with a commanding bearing.

Huntmaster is larger and stronger than most flinds, instantly vicious with a consuming rage only his titanic will can keep in check. He is unfortunately not the smartest of flinds, and many of his tribe think he has been among the gnolls too long, or worse, that he is a throwback to their gnollish heritage.

While he is not blamed for the gnolls loss of power after the famine of 576cy, that flind was deposed and eaten after the council of chiefs awarded leadership of Spinecastle back to the orcs, Huntmaster is near to losing control of the Howling Night. Under his leadership the gnolls have seen a faction of rebels appear in their ranks, the Young Blood gnolls, and they truly have only a small fraction of the aging warriors of the original Black Moon pack as loyal followers.

The grandiose and impractical plans to seize power from Bloody Eye orcs become more untenable every moon while the day approaches when either Huntmaster's fellow flinds will depose him or the Young Blood pack, with a growing network of allies, will seize control and devour Howling Night and Black Moon alike.

Thu Jun 04, 2020 12:51 pm

NPC - Redface - Chieftain Scalded Hand Orcs - Spinecastle

The Scalded Hand orcs refuse to live inside the walls of Spinecastle and instead have a permanent camp on the Parlous Plain. They are perhaps the most dangerous of the humanoid forces on the Plain but camp toward its edge near a large barrow formed from a charnel pit used to bury Fruztii dead from the old Battle of Shamblefield.

The orcs have dug into this barrow, which now houses a temple to Gruumsh, and the bones have been used to frame the tent-dwellings of the Scalded Hand. Only around 400 orcs dwell here, but that number changes continually as the Scalded Hand uses Spinecastle as a gathering places for their allied tribes to meet and plan before launching raids and attacks on humans, demi-humans and humanoids alike.

They only go into Spinecastle to sell loot or visit the Pit, which is immensely popular and look down their noses at the Bloody Eye orcs who they feel have been tainted by the human city.

Redface is an old Orc and participated in the Siege of Spinecastle. He shares the views of the Black Moon gnoll elders and would like to raze the city and finish the slaughter but is not in alliance with the gnolls.

Tue Oct 26, 2021 10:36 am

NPC - Kres Orcbane Hobgoblin Captain of Ferendar Keep

When Spincastle fell three fortresses that protected the southern approaches to the city were eventually captured by Hobgoblins. Two fell to siege and starvation as the defenders vainly awaited rescue and the Hobgoblin forces won the third and largest, Ferendar Keep, through treachery. Today the Hobgoblins of the Bone March hold several of these small keeps and fortifications but they have been driven from the half-ruined, monster infested, precincts of Spinecastle.

Kres Orcbane is a sub-chief among the Shining Spear but he is defacto ruler of the Hobgoblins of the Bone March as much of the Shining Spear tribe returned to the mountains including its ageing chieftain. He dwells in Ferendar Keep but directly commands the two nearest forts and has an alliance with the five other forts and outposts held by the lesser Gleaming Sword and Blazing Shield Hobgoblins.

Kres has a deep hatred for Orcs as his father was slain by Bloody Eye warriors in an ambush that led to the Hobgoblin expulsion from the city. He receives support and advice from agents of the Horned Society but is also in talks with the Broken Hammer Bugbears to bring their cousins the Nail Biters from their warrens in the Eastern Rakers.

The Hobgoblins are far more open to dealing with humans and their keeps and outposts all have sizable human populations as well as a large amount of Spinebred, mainly mixed Hobgoblin heritage, but as they are not accepted by the Hobgoblin tribes they have formed a society of outcasts and only those of Orcish heritage are unwelcome among the forts and keeps.

The Spinebred within the city form the main source of spys and informants for Kres.