Backstories in Westcrown

1. Vassindio Drovenge is the head of a powerful ancient house of Westcrown. His son, needing a male heir consorts with witches and his son becomes a tiefling demon spawn. Vassindio kills everyone involved except his son Sidonai and his demon grandson Eccarrdian. Eccarrdian and his sister Chammady now plan to kill the aging Vassindio after he has commanded the forced exile of Eccarrdian.

2. Two Pathfinders Donatalus Bisby and his chronicler Ilnerik Sivanshin emerge from a trek into the Mawangi the last of a crew of 40. They come back with an artifact containing interlocking pieces, one of a golden eagle, the other an obsidian bat. As the Pathfinder Donatalus grows in fame in Westcrown, Ilnerik grows bitter, and takes the bat side of the artifact hoping to sell it in Westcrown. The bat head begins to transform him into a vampire. Once his transformation is complete he meets with Eccarrdian and Chammady now working as their night watch with his beasts of the night. He secretly hopes to gain Westcrown himself.

3. Chammady and Eccarrdian know of a pit fiend that is captive in the current mayors Manor of Aberian’s Folly. They plan to release it under the agreement of its aid. For them to get it, the mayor must be distracted with other problems.

4. The group plan to create as much mayhem as possible, financing the Bastards of Erebus, a tiefling bandit crew, to strike in and around Westcrown. Little do they know that a new group of heroes will combat this threat.

Part One: The Westcrown Rebels

Janiven is the second in command of a group of disgruntled Westcrani who would like to see Westcrown returned to its former glory under Aroden’s rule. This group is actively seeking out new members and gathering strength before making themselves public.

Janiven will confront each player individually and convince them to come to a meeting at a Tavern she owns with the leader of the group Arael, a half-elf cleric of Iomedae (inheritor of Aroden).Knowledge checks around town reveal that Janiven owns a tavern and people have nothing bad to say about her. She worked as a guard for merchants and is somewhat hot tempered.

Tavern Meeting: As the PC’s arrive at the Tavern around 4, Janiven will engage in small talk obviously trying to see if the Pc’s are trustworthy. 15 sense motive reveals she is worried about something. PC’s should introduce their character with a description as they come into the Tavern.

If asked about her nervousness, Janiven will place the blame on the “shadowy beasts that roam the streets at night.” She says the beasts were placed there by the house of Thrune to keep the peace while they expand their influence. She explains that some streets are lit and are therefore not dangerous after dark, but many of the streets remain unlit, such as the one the tavern is on. She reassures them that the meeting will be over before dark.

When the time of the meeting comes, she locks the doors and shutters the windows. She begins by saying the meeting will only be about an hour long. And goes into this speech:

“Again, thank you for agreeing to meet with me here. I have chosen each of you for a singular reason—everyone here, myself included, has suffered, whether we realize it or not. I have lived in Westcrown my whole life, and although I love this city, I must admit, as must you, that despite our peace and prosperity, we continue to suffer. Fear should not be an expected part of life, and yet each night brings fear to our doorsteps. Yes, Westcrown has been safe from war and famine for nearly seventy years, and yes, our businesses has prospered—but this safety and prosperity has been bought in the coinage of fear and prayers to Hell. Other lands live free from tyranny. Other cities do not fear the night. Other governments do not cede the streets to monsters of the infernal shadows. Westcrown was once such a place, and she

wants to be such a place again. Westcrown is not only her buildings and canals and docks and history—she is also her people. Westcrown is our friends and neighbors, our mothers and fathers, our siblings and cousins, our sons and daughters! With but a small group of supporters and dedicated brothers and sisters, we can earn the trust and admiration of those people. A Westcrown free of these shadowy beasts that stalk our streets is one step closer to a Westcrown free of the devil that is the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune!”

After the speech, the PCs have a chance to react. One person may bring up the fact that these words are treasonous (everyone knows someone taken by a Hellknight and swiftly executed for saying less.)

After the questions, Janiven will say, “it is important that we not appear as Rebels or rioters to the people, but instead we should work to form our own band of city protectors and win the admiration of the people. We must focus on doing good works so that we can garner more support. We can’t yet show our hand to the House of Thrune and their demons.”

Flight from the Tavern: Soon after the speech an excited pounding on the door sets everyone on edge. Janiven draws her sword and moves towards a window looking outside. She opens the door and a teenager named Morosino stumbles in and says “They’ve got Arael!” before collapsing in a fit of coughing from his hard run. Janiven demands that he explain further. The boy composes himself saying, “The dottari nabbed Arael and the Hellknights are trying to get custody of him. They are on their way here right now! I only just made it here before them!”

At this point, the sounds of marching armor becomes apparent outside. Anyone looking outside sees a column of heavily armored knights converging on the tavern. Janiven apologizes to the PCs for involving them in this.

The knights begin pounding on the door, “By the authority of the House of Thrune open the door and surrender yourselves!”

Janiven tells the PCs to follow her and leads them behind the bar to a large heavy trap door. The Hellknights begin bashing through the door as the PCs drop down. Janiven topples shelves and deploys a tanglefoot bag before she drops into the sewers below.

PCs party gain 1200 exp for following Janiven.

Part Two: Into the Sewers

Janiven drops into the sewers and moves aside a rock, “good they’re still here” there are potions of cure light wounds enough for three a person. Just in case they were ever put in this situation. Janiven explains that Arael and herself had explored the tunnels before placing marks on the intersections that direct them to their safehouse.

Janiven says she is sure the Hellknights will follow shortly, “They might take a few minutes to search in the tavern, but some are going to follow us down here after they grab a lantern or make torches. They might even try to infiltrate the sewers ahead of us if they can guess our route. We need to keep moving.”

Early on in the trek through the sewers, Janiven should leave the party to organize others at the safehouse, she explains the sword markings and leaves down a darkened sewer tunnel saying she will meet them at the safehouse.