How to view images

I have just noticed that in order to view images in this blog at the office you will need to add the following to the temporary whitelist:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com
http://2.bp.blogspot.com
http://3.bp.blogspot.com
http://4.bp.blogspot.com

And possibly also http://bp[n].blogger.com for future images.

NPC gallery

This isn't all that much like I imagined most of these NPCs, but they're better than I could have drawn myself!

Current state of Castle Granis

Castle Granis, as of 26 Rhaan

Inhabitants
Grim, Verschoyle, Zumm and Ug
Valdash, orc Fighter 5
Zurga, goblin Wizard 1
Merred Nastor, human Cleric 1
4 ogres
Skardash, goblin Ranger 2
Thurzar, goblin Rogue 2
18 goblin trainees (most have reached 2nd-level Warrior)
20 goblin 1st-level Warriors
10 goblin 1st-level Warriors captured from Jalahand's tribute-collection forces
2 Worgs being trained to carry riders
3 ogres from Jalahand's tribute-collection party being held prisoner
60 goblin non-combatant women and children
1 battle-wagon with 4 heavy horses

The trench
The four ogres, and most of the able-bodied goblins who are not being trained, are digging a 20ft-wide and 20ft-deep trench in front of the castle. As of 26 Rhaan it is nearly finished, having reached its full width and length but only 15ft deep. The bridge is 10-ft wide and built of heavy tree trunks. The ends of the trench have slopes so that the workers can get in and out easily. Valdash wants to know what you want done with all the earth that has been excavated: at the moment they're piling it in a mound beside the castle out of the way, but they could just as easily build it into a berm or a rampart.

The well
Progress on the well is slow even with magical assistance from Ug. A team of five goblins are working on it, one of them digging at the bottom of the pit and the other four taking bucketloads of rocks outside the castle. No one knows how deep the water table is and therefore how long the well will take to dig.

The prison
The ten goblins who came with the tribute collection party have been put to work on the trench, but the three ogres are kept in the second room of the vault behind a makeshift wooden barrier. The workers on the well also act as guards and will raise the alarm if they try to escape.

Castle rooms
Valdash has taken the liberty of having some goblins make very simple furniture for the castle (tables, chairs and beds), but there are still no internal doors.

I have marked the castle plan with various characters' room, assuming that all the player characters want rooms to themselves. Naturally you can specify a different arrangement if you like.

Look what I've found

An RPG character portrait construction thing! There go any plans I may have had of doing something useful or constructive this afternoon.

Timeline update

...

Rhaan 19	Zumm, a goblin monk of the Mockery, arrives and suggests he join forces with the party as they share a quarrel with Jalahand.
Rhaan 20	Zumm and two hand-picked goblin spies set out to reconnoitre Jalahand's village and size up his forces.
Rhaan 21	Verschoyle finishes translating the tomb inscriptions and sets off back to Castle Granis.
Rhaan 23	Verschoyle arrives back at Castle Granis. Zumm, along with two goblins called Skardash and Thurzar, arrive at Jalahand's village. They cause short-lived chaos and manage to kill the village's seer, a goblin bat-rider, and two ogres. They also free Merred Nastor, a human Silver Flame missionary.
Rhaan 25	Zumm, Skardash, Thurzar and Merred Nastor arrive back at Castle Granis.
Sypheros 3 (estimated)	The last of Valdash's 20 initial trainees reach Warrior level 2
Sypheros 5 (estimated)	Grim completes work on the first light ballista. The Worgs are ready to take riders.

The estimates for the completion of the training and the ballista assume that Valdash and Grim continue working on them rather than going on adventures.

Note that in Eberron all months have 28 days.

Pricing of goblin females

I hadn't intended to go into this too deeply, but Grim seems to be concocting some kind of scheme involving defeating Jalahand by buying all the females from his village or something, so here goes.

Marriage

While the institution of marraige among the Droaam goblins does involve people changing hands for money, they do not think of it as slavery but as marraige. Therefore the women do not exactly have fixed prices, but rather the marraige custom involves an exchange of goods which reflects the buyer and seller's relationships with each other as much as the value of the female.

The price that a goblin female might change hands for in marraige is modified by the following factors:

• How attractive she is. (This is difficult for a non-goblin to judge.)
  
• Whether she is a virgin.
  
• Her age.
  
• The social status of her father or current husband.
  
• Whether she has any particular skills (e.g. whether she is a good cook).
  
• How well the prospective buyer knows her father or current husband.
  
• How well the seller expects the buyer to treat her.
  
• Whether she is changing hands within one community or between two different ones.
  
• How generally well-off the community in which she is changes hands is. (As a rule of thumb, the same marraige may involve twice as much money in a well-of community such as Stoneskull compared with an ordinary one such as Castle Granis.)
  

Among rural communities such as Castle Granis, a plain, middle-aged, several-times-married female with no particular skills might change hands for only a token sum of a couple of goats, whereas the beautiful virgin daughter of a chieftain being married to a goblin from a different tribe might warrant a bride-price of fifty goats (or other goods worth 50gp).

The financial transaction is only one element of the arrangement of a marriage, which is likely to involve much negotiation and bonding between the buyer and seller, with many possibilities for offense to be taken.

Slavery

Slavery as a formal institution is not common in rural Droaam, but the cities such as Graywall contain slave markets which deal in male and female slaves of many different races. The prices of slaves tend to be higher than the prices for which women may be exchanged in marriage, but the process of buying one involves none of the tricky negotiations.

According to Valdash, who has visited Graywall and seen the slave market, a female orc who was being sold as a concubine and who was not exceptionally desirable or exotic might go for about 100 gold pieces. He reckons that goblins would probably be cheaper, though, but he didn't happen to look at any of them when he was there.

A rural community might sell its women (or its low-status men) as slaves, but only if it is severely hard-pressed for cash.

Alignment note

I am sure it is not too controversial for me to rule that dealing in forced marriages or slavery is an Evil act.

Recon mission

For Matt, who wasn't there, and for the record, this is what happened in on Thursday's session.

Zumm, the goblin monk, selected Skardash and Thurzar from Castle Granis's goblins and went to scout out Jalahand's village. They managed to bluff their way past the ogre guards and temporarily threw the whole village into chaos searching for a non-existant Silver Flame agent.

Zumm managed to sneak in to a guarded hut in which an ancient crone, apparently the object of some reverence among the village, was muttering in her sleep. She muttered something about the guardian having been killed and a great evil rising from below the earth, and "you must take them alive as she'll pay good money for them," before Zumm slit her throat.

In the chaos, Zumm also got in to Jalahand's throne room and found a kind of hangar cave where ten dire bats lived, along with a rack of ten exotic riding saddles. One of the bat-riders was there, and Zumm just managed to kill him before he could raise the alarm.  He also sabotaged the bat saddles.

Meanwhile, Skardash managed to sneak into Jalahand's prison and free a Silver Flame missionary who had been captured by one of Jalahand's tribute collection parties and whom Jalahand was planning to hold for ransom. The missionary, Merred Nastor, had entered Droaam after he had heard that some people from Breland had taken over a castle and were trying to civilize the goblins there.

When the death of the crone was discovered, Jalahand locked down the village and searched it for the culprit, but Zumm managed to escape detection in the village. Skardash and Thurzar were both outside the village, and headed back to Castle Granis with the missionary. Jalahand punished the ogres who had been guarding the crone's hut by freezing them to death. During the night, Zumm managed to escape and make his own way back to Castle Granis.

The party is allowing Merred Nastor to stay in Castle Granis and has ordered him to start training an apprentice healer. Meanwhile, the party is planning a campaign of geurrilla warfare against the villages under Jalahand's control.

According to what Zumm, Skardash and Thurzar saw, Jalahand's forces consist of:

• Jalahand, ogre mage
  
• At least two elite ogres: one with a greataxe similar to the one who tried to demand tribute (probably a fighter), and with a warhammer in the shape of a fist (probably a barbarian).
• About a dozen other ogres.
• Ten dire bats, and nine bat-riders (assuming there were ten before Zumm killed one).
• About 180 goblin warriors (200, minus the bat-riders and the 10 who are now at Castle Granis).
• One goblin who is able to brew potions (when you saw her she was brewing a potion of mage armour).

Exact numbers are unknown, since it is likely that some of the inhabitants were away from the village on tribute-collecting or trading missions.

The village itself is in a valley and built against a cliff.  A river emerges from the cliff and leaves the village through a gap in the wall, and Jalahand's throne room and the bat hangar are built into the cliff.  On top of the cliff is a small wooden watch-tower normally manned by three goblins, and connected to the village by a crude ogre-powered lift.

Goblin culture

Goblins, according to the Monster Manual, are usually neutral evil, and the goblins of Droaam are no exception. The neutral evil alignment is not inherent, but a cultural tendency: their culture tends to produce neutral evil goblins, who will in turn maintain a neutral evil culture, and so on. In Eberron, there are goblins who live alongside humans and help make up the underclass of human cities; these 'humanized' goblins are more likely to be neutral. The goblins of the wilderness of Droaam, however, follow the traditional D&D goblin alignment.

Goblins do not have a codified set of laws, but they do have a set of more-or-less clearly defined traditions, deviation from which results in social censure or worse. Disputes are settled either by violence, or by appealing to the chieftain to make a decision. (The goblins of Castle Granis have increasingly used the latter method since Valdash became their ruler, since he is harsh but will always think a case through before making a decision, and will also crack down on any goblins he finds fighting amongst themselves when they ought to be working.)

Men and women have clearly defined social roles. The men are the only ones who are trained to fight, although the women do their share of the manual work, and sometimes a lot more than their share. All women and all children up to the age of eight are considered more as property than as people. (Goblins mature more quickly than humans, so a 10-year-old goblin at the same stage of development as a 15-year-old human.)

All marriages are arranged and many are forced. In the marriage ceremony, goblins traditionally invoke the Mockery to punish the bride if she is unfaithful, and the Shadow to make her bear many children. However, the religious element of marriage is quite small, and it is essentially a business transaction: a goblin will sell his daughter once she reaches puberty, typically for the sum of a few goats. Goblin husbands quite often sell their wives on to other goblins, and a goblin woman will often change hands up to half a dozen times throughout her life. Goblin men may own any number of wives, although in practice only the chieftains tend to own more than one at a time. Pre- and extra-marital sex is frowned-upon only because it is unauthorized use of another man's property; the punishment is a fine (generally in goats) paid to the woman's owner, and in the case of pre-marital sex the man is usually forced to pay the full bride-price and take the woman as his wife. No distinction is made between consensual sex and rape.

Since arguments are often settled by violence, the weaker goblins tend not to live long. Goblins who are physically or mentally handicapped are given no support and will also tend to die. Babies who are particularly sickly or who display severe deformities are usually left to die in the wilderness (this could be how Delilah came to be found by elves). Adults who display signs of mental disabilities or deviant behaviour, including homosexuals, are also often killed.

So: goblins are sexist and homophobic. They would probably be racist too, but for the fact that all other races they encounter are stronger than them. They therefore treat members of other races, not as the same as them, but not as inferior either.

A lot of property is owned by the community as a whole rather than a particular goblin. When property does belong to someone in particular, though, theft is a very serious offence, usually punishable by death. The most valuable items a goblin owns are his goats.

Goblins in Droaam never rule themselves, instead being dominated by small groups of orcs or ogres, or occasionally other races. The goblins expect these rulers to be harsh, and the best they can hope for is that they are also fair.

Goblin backstories

For reference, here are the backstories Greg and Matt sent me for their temporary goblin characters. These goblins, assuming they survive, will return as NPC goblins in the Castle Granis population (they are some of the first goblins Valdash trained up).

Skardash, NE ranger. He's pretty sharp with a crossbow or ranged weapon (especially when facing giant creatures), but will avoid melee combat as if his life depends on it (which indeed it does - he has only 3 hitpoints).

Life has not been good to Skardash, he was the smallest (and weakest) goblin of his age group in the village (the runt of the litter) and as such was bullied, not only by the ogres who ruled, but also by the other goblins. In order to escape the constant beatings and physical punishment, Skardash would spend long periods in the bush, tending the goats. During this time he learnt to track and practiced constantly with his crossbow as a means of self-defence. He favours flight over fighting, but will make a stand as long as he can attack at range. His small size has meant that in order to survive the rough life of a goblin runt he has had to rely heavily on stealth and has developed quite good skills at sneaking around and hiding. He is only interested in himself and will do whatever he thinks he can get away with that will give him an advantage over any others he may be forced to work with. That said, he does recognise that there is safety in numbers and so is happy to co-operate with the party as they are going into a dangerous situation. The only reason he has agreed to go on such a dangerous mission is that he has realised that by impressing the villages new rulers early on he might be able to get promoted to sergeant (or even higher) and thus be put in charge of goblins who have bullied and heckled him his entire life. Revenge will be sweet!

Delilah was, sadly for her, brought up by elves (thus her unfortunate name) and expected to follow their happy frolicsome ways. They also removed a good number of her teeth, in order to make her less bestial, which hasn't improved her looks at all. She spent most of her formative years trying to avoid any contact with her 'brothers and sisters' in the elven community, gradually becoming more and more sneaky. Eventually she made good her escape, was captured by goblins whom she thought to be friends and ended up in the castle by a series of exchanges with other communities. Her wandering and preferred hermit-like existence has led her to become totally unknowing of the niceties of conversation, so she generally cringes when faced with any direct social contact.

She is happiest on her own, especially when sneaking up behind defenceless folk and dispatching them to whatever the afterlife has to offer them. She is nimble and cunning despite her lack of social graces, making her more dangerous than her appearance would suggest. Her priorities are generally being unpleasant to elves, being unpleasant to other enemies and being unpleasant to anyone else.

Ring of Insignificance

For reference, these are the rules for the new item that Imre has requested for his character.

Ring of Insignificance
This gold ring sparkles with light and is decorated with fine patterns, but as soon as it is worn the patterns fade and it appears lustreless and tarnished. The ring makes the wearer appear less important to casual observers.

It grants:

* A +5 competence bonus to Hide checks used to blend in to crowds.
* A +5 competence bonus to Disguise checks used to appear as an ordinary member of the wearer's race.
* A +5 competence bonus to Bluff checks used to convince someone that the wearer is unimportant or not worth bothering with.

Faint illusion; CL 1st; Forge Ring, disguise self; Price 3,000gp.

Balancing notes

There are already several items in the core rules that grant a +5 bonus to checks in a single skill (e.g. the ring of jumping or the cloak of elvenkind). This one grants bonuses to three different skills but only in certain situations, so I reckon it's about as powerful. In case it's more powerful I've increased the price a bit (from 2,500 to 3,000).

Campaign setting notes

In Eberron, the ring was most likely created by House Phiarlan or House Thurrani, the elven dragonmarked houses whose business is espionage. How it came into Imre's character's hands is a story for another day, although it is quite possible that it belonged to an elven spy when Droaam was part of Breland, and was then left in Droaam when the Brelish forces withdrew.

Campaign timeline

What better way to start than with the story so far? Until recently it didn't really matter how much time passed between adventures, and I didn't keep track of it, but now that the party is in charge of a castle and things are happening that will take a certain number of days to happen, I need to be more organized.

894YK	Last War begins.
938	Dvun born in the Mror Holds.
976	Verschoyle born in Breland. Icthilian born in Aundair
977	Mavik Hilford born in Karrnath.
978	Dvun serves as a guard in the Mror holds throughout the Last War but never sees action.
980	Ug born in the Shadow Marches.
986	Grim created in Cyre.
Early 994	Faithful is created in Cyre. He is assigned to the Grim's company and the two become friends.
Late 994	Cyre is destroyed.
997	Verschoyle sees action during the Siege of Ardev. He helps capture an enemy battering ram and is decorated for valour.
996	The Treaty of Thronehold is signed, ending the Last War. Grim and Faithful are part of the honour guard outside the palace where the treaty is signed. Grim and Faithful are released from military service, in Thrane. Grim moves between odd jobs while Faithful trains as a Silver Flame cleric.
997	Grim decides to go to the Shadow Marches to prospect for gold. Faithful goes with him
998 YK
Spring	Grim and Faithful meet Dvun, Icthilian and Mavik in the Shadow Marches. The group travels through Droaam to Breland.
Mid-summer	The group encounters and defeats a lone Dragon Below cultist in a refugee camp on the border between Droaam and Breland.
Late summer	Hired by an agent of the Brelish government, the group to defeats out a Dragon Below cult that had taken over the Orcbone merchants' guild. Faithful is recalled by the church to serve under the Archbishop of Wroat. Ug joins the party. The party encounters E.K. The party meets Audhild Dankil, Orcbone's finest artificer.
Barrakas [August]	Mavik leaves the party. In the Eldeen Reaches, the party defeats an orcish Dragon Below cult that was attempting to destroy a Gatekeeper seal. The cult had a small shrine devoted to E.K. The party kills the evil ranger Frizzit Darn, who was being inhabited by a flesh-wearing abberation working for E.K. The party defeats a tribe of grimlocks who had been preying on travellers in the mountains. The surviving grimlocks swear loyalty to the party. Ug is killed and reincarnated as a female dwarf. Verschoyle joins the party.
Barrakas 20	A demon kidnaps Audhild Dankil and takes her to Garduk in order to entice the party into a trap. The demon kills Kardash and Valdash's father.
Barrakas 21	Kardash sets himself up as ruler of Garduk. Valdash claims that their father chose him as his successor.
Barrakas 25	Party defeats the demon and returns to Orcbone.
Barrakas 27	In Orcbone, the party is hired by Heroz Mikthani to retrieve a magical cup from Castle Granis.
Barrakas 28	Party stays at Garduk en route to Castle Granis. Valdash, still bitter at not being chieftain, agrees to travel with the party.
Rhaan [September] 1	Party defeats ogre rulers of Granis village and installs Valdash as warlord.
Rhaan 2	Party defeats the vampire of Castle Granis. Grim sets Valdash to training goblin warriors. Verschoyle takes on Zurga as an apprentice
Rhaan 3	Party leaves for Orcbone to hand in the Cup of Mikthani, leaving Valdash in charge of Castle Granis
Rhaan 5	Party confronts Heroz Mikthani in Orcbone and returns the cup to him
Rhaan 8	Party leaves Orcbone for the dungeon Zurga told them about.
Rhaan 10	Party explores Zurga's dungeon and defeats an ancient Dhakaani swordwraith. Party then returns to Castle Granis.
Rhaan 12	Party arrives back at Castle Granis. Grim begins setting in motion the plans for defences that he had been working on during his time away. At this point, six of the goblin trainees have shown an improvement. Verschoyle sets off back to Zurga's dungeon, taking Zurga and two goblin guards in the battle wagon.
Rhaan 14	Verschoyle arrives at Zurga's dungeon and begins translating the tomb inscriptions.
Rhaan 17	Grug, one of Jalahand's ogres, arrives to collect tribute. Grim kills him and captures the three ogres and ten goblins that accompanied him.
Rhaan 19	[Imre's new character], a goblin monk of the Mockery, arrives and suggests he join forces with the party as they share a quarrel with Jalahand.
Rhaan 20 or date of the players' choice	[Imre's new character] and a team of hand-picked goblin spies set out to reconnoitre Jalahand's village and size up his forces.
Rhaan 21	Verschoyle finishes translating the tomb inscriptions and sets off back to Castle Granis.
Rhaan 23	Verschoyle arrives back at Castle Granis. Travelling on foot, the goblin scout team reaches Jalahand's village...

Welcome to Castle Granis

This blog is meant to facilitate the Dungeons and Dragons campaign I'm running with some people from work. For the last couple of weeks I'd been e-mailing the group with background information about the campaign and with details of the party's assets -- which are getting complicated now that the party is in charge of a castle and 100 or so goblin minions. I've decided to start this blog as an alternative to those e-mails, so that I can post the information as I write it and the players can read it outside of work. I will still e-mail the players whenever I update it with something big or important.

The information in this blog is not meant to be essential reading for the players. It represents what your characters know, and it's stuff I would prepare (or at least ought to prepare) anyway in order to answer your questions during game sessions. But I know that some of you have eagerly devoured the information I sent out and like to send me your plans for the awesome defenses you're going to erect in your castle, so I'm posting stuff here so that you can read it between sessions if you want to.