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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ajanders" data-source="post: 7825459" data-attributes="member: 3271">Shivering TreePaper TrailHaunted MaulIllusory StormFuture Ruins.A century ago, the followers of the Covenant left the east and sailed to Albion. There they built a city and temples to the Convenanted gods,  But there were in Albion others opposed the covenant. One of these was Alberich, the Lord of Storms, a sorceror.Alberich resisted the Covenant and the Law until the paladin Prudence Carpenter met him in battle, her great maul against his lightnings and thunders, until sheslew him. With his dying breath, Alberich swore that as long as the wind blew the trees, he would endure, and would cast the cities of the Covenant into Ruin.Prudence met his oath with her own, swearing by her hammer that as long as he endured she would meet him in battle. Then, fearing he would rise from his grave t, she buried him  and planted an oak in his grave, binding his body to the earth.When Prudence Carpenter died, she was buried with her weapons and armor in the Church of the Convenant. The priests of the Covenant were alarmed to find she did not pass on into the afterlife, but remained in the world as a ghost, keeping her oath. They did not exorcise her, but her casket is secured deep in the catacombs under the church, lest she cause alarm among the faithful.Today the Covenant has spread across the land of Albion, There is, however, a dark place in the land. The Stormwood is a place of chaos and evil, with the Shivering Tree at its heart.No matter how bright or clear the day outside, inside the StormWoods the sky is always filled with black clouds. The Stormwoods are also haunted by a flying black shadow who rides on the wings of the wind, leaving death and destrucntion in its wake.The Stormshadow isundead version of  Alberich. It is a legendary wraith with the spells, spell slots, and metamagic of a 10th level sorceror, and a spell list focused on storm related spells in. addition, the Stormshadow cannot be defeated until the tree planted in Alberich's grave is felled....if the Stormshadow is destroyed by turning or reduced to 0 hit points, it reforms over Alberich's grave within the hour.Hooks<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The StormShadow and the Stormwood are legendary: . Adventurers are constantly challenged to measure themselves against it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Characters who fought the StormShadow before may want to permanently kill the thing.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Criminals hide in the fringes of the Stormwood. One such person is the pirate Red Morrisy. There's a great bounty on his head, assuming you can get to him before the StormShadow does.</li> </ul>The adventure here revolves not so much around fighting the Stormshadow, but around figuring out how to defeat it permanently. The adventurers might gather the following information:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The story of how Alberich and Prudence fought, along with the oaths they exchanged and details of Alberichs burial. This can be found by using the Sage background or a moderate history check. Adventurers who have the Acolyte background or who are clerics have advantage on this check.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The fact that planting a tree in a person's grave might bind them to the grave and not let their soul disperse: A moderate arcana check or a hard religion check.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">That the StormShadow is the undead form of Alberich: Getting a good description of Alberich requires a Sage background or a hard history check. Once this is done, realizing this is automatic for anyone who has seen the Stormshadow and can get the description. Red Morrisy has seen the Stormshadow, and can match it to the description.</li> </ul>Once the PC's realize that the StormShadow is Alberich and that Prudence's maul may be key to stopping it, they must go to the Cathedral of the Covenant and make a case that they should be given the maul to use against Alberich. They must make the following points: - That the maul may have special powers against Alberich: Three checks, ideally using Persuasion. Bluff may be used, but any failure in a bluff check forfeits the challenge. Intimidation may be used, but if it is, then all rolls in the challenge to prove they are worthy to have the maul are at disadvantage. Religion may be used to assist any test in this challenge. One success is granted for each bit of information in the previous paragraph the characters have gained.That the party is worthy to wield the maul:- The party must make three checks, ideally using Persuasion. Bluff may be used, but any failure ends the challenge.History may be used to assist here, as the party recounts their heroic deeds.If the party fails, they can steal the hammer. This leaves them with an angry paladin ghost dogging their heels into the Stormwood.The maul has the speacial power defeat the storm shadow. It can kill it permanently.</blockquote>

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