The Haunting of Chopper's Isle

Player Characters

Important NPCs

• Kendra Deverin, mayor of Borderpoint.
• Iron Spine the Sheriff of Borderpoint, sheriff of Borderpoint.
• Shalelu Shem Andosana, Hinterland ranger.
• Kaijitsu Ameiko, owner of the Rusty Wyvern.
• Hannah Isha Velerin, elven healer and Cleric of Emerald.

Locations

• Borderpoint, a town on Battle Coast between the Onyx Cryptocracy and the Scapolite Theocracy.
  • Town Hall, seat of government for Borderpoint.
  • Chopper's Isle, a tidal island near Borderpoint.

Enemies

• Haunt of Chopper's Isle, a Haunt that forces one to relive the last moments of Jervis Stoot's life.

Adventurer's Log

7th day of Diamond, year 54 of the Age of the Great Invasion

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• The party wakes to find a note left with Ameiko. They've been asked to come to town hall as soon as they are able. While they pause first for breakfast, the party gears up and heads for Borderpoint's town hall.

Shalelu Shem Andosana

• At the town hall, the party join a meeting already in progress. Already in attendance are Mayor Kendra Deverin and Sheriff Iron Spine as well as a new face, an elf named Shalelu Shem Andosana. Shalelu is introduced as an unofficial member of the town militia who roams the Hinterlands and helps keep the five goblin tribes in check. She is in Borderpoint to give a report on recent goblin activity on the Battle Coast. The five goblin tribes are all more active now. Shalelu just saved a farm family from a goblin attack, though she could not save the farm itself. Moreover, after examining the bodies left from the goblin raid on Borderpoint, she is convinced that the five tribes worked together to attack the town. Goblin tribes are notorious for squabbling. For them to be working together means that someone or something is powerful enough to overcome the tribal desire to feud and unite.
• Sheriff Iron Spine informs the party that he'll be taking a small group of guardsmen and traveling to Vesicule. He intends to petition the Imperial Legion for reinforcements to deal with the growing goblin menace. Mayor Deverin asks the party to remain in Borderpoint until the sheriff returns, hoping that their visible presence will be of comfort to the townsfolk and help keep the peace. The party agrees and the meeting ends. Shalelu asks the group to meet her for dinner at the Rusty Wyvern.
• The party splits up to pursue different avenues of investigation.
  • Zyindra spends the morning with Hannah, asking about the Nualia and her baby. Hannah tells Zyindra the tale of that birth. About how the baby was born Corrupted, with cracked skin and needle teeth and claws and acid for breath. When Hannah is asked about what happened to the baby, she explains that the child was killed and then cremated. The ashes were doused with holy water and then scattered in three different locations out at sea.
  • Lucius spends the morning with Ameiko and tests her new dish, Jadenese meatballs with lime sesame dipping sauce. They discuss Ameiko's family. Her younger sister runs the family business in Vesicule. She has a half-brother, Tsuto. He was the result of an affair between Ameiko's mother and an unknown elf and, as a result, he grew up in the Sovrano Academy instead of at home. He left Borderpoint years ago and Ameiko hasn't seen him since. As far as Ameiko knows, her mother's death was the result of the Chopper's spree. Ameiko herself wasn't in town then. She was off adventuring. When asked about Nualia, Ameiko explains that she only knew the girl to look at her but she believes her brother had a crush on her.
  • Midge examines the sites of several grain mill fires. She determines that the fires were caused by arson using alchemist's fire and a fuse or timing device. She takes samples so she can match the exact formula of alchemist's fire to the residue at the arson scenes if she gets a chance.
  • Shiphrah and Maayan ask around town about Nualia. They learn that girl was treated poorly by some. Among the boys her age, Banny Harker was horrible at making sexual suggestions. Among the girls, Shayliss Vindernini led a gaggle that tormented and played tricks on her.
• The party meets after lunch and borrow a boat in order to explore Chopper's Isle. A quick trip to the Borderpoint General Store, where they get some odd looks from Vin Vindernini, nets them pitons, a hammer and additional rope. They row out to the isle and Maayan free climbs the cliffs in order to set pitons and rope for the others.
• On the isle they hear the wild cry of birds and the pounding of the tide as it laps against the rocks below. The surface there is rocky with scraps of grass and a random assortment of old oaks, some alive, some dying and some dead. The oaks are heavy with an odd combination of sea foam and peat moss. Nearly every tree is covered in beautiful, if worn, carvings of birds. Seagulls, hawks, sparrows, doves, eagles, vultures, sandpipers and more. As if someone spent hours and hours carving until there was no surface left to carve.
• On one end of the isle the group finds the remains of Jervis Stoot's burned cottage. Near the cottage Maayan finds tracks of cloven hoofprints. The tracks start in one location, travel for several feet and then end. The hoofprints seem to have been left by a bipedal creature around nine feet in height. Lucius speculates that the Borderpoint Devil might be responsible for the tracks.

Jervis Stoot before his death

• Sabbath and Lucius search the wreckage of the cottage. They find a hole in the stone floor that leads down into the basement. Using her prehensile hair, Zyindra moves timbers so Lucius can leap down into the hole. With the help of one of Midge's sunrods he can see a small basement with a collapsed entrance that leads to storm doors on the other side of the cottage. Bottles are scattered around the room, some broken and others whole and containing preserved tongues and eyes. At the far end of the room is a display case that has collapsed on top of a body.
• As Maayan and Shiphrah leap down into the hole, Lucius moves closer to the body, activating a Haunt. Maayan has the will to resist the Haunt but Lucius and Shiphrah both fall prey to the visions it delivers, experiencing the last moments of Jervis Stout, the Chopper, as he carved out his own tongue and plucked out his own eyes.
  • They've found you. They know who you are. It was only a matter of time. You needed to make the offerings and so many had wronged you. So many needed to be punished. So many made you SO angry! You spent years carving your birds and none of them truly appreciated the beauty and freedom they represented but they're free now. Oh, yes. Free now. Soon you'll be free, too. Soon you'll end this. Soon you'll be rewarded. But first, one more sacrifice One more set of eyes with which to see and tongues with which to speak. One more set before the town comes to destroy your grand work... one more set...
• Maayan and Midge haul Shiphrah out of the basement while Zyindra determine the nature of the emergency. She leaps down and, before the Haunt can affect her, uses her magic to radiate positive healing energy. The haunt is dissolved into nothingness.

TO BE CONTINUED