The Gau’Sharan Games

D&D Information

Campaign Details

• Type: Mini-Campaign (4-5 sessions max)
• # of Players: 4 (James, Chase, Alex & Nick)
• Player Character Level: 10

Characters

Protagonists/PCs

• James: An Aaraduckra Rogue-Ranger
• Chase: A Duckling Gnome Bardlock
• Alex: A Phoenicokra Paladin-Sorcerer
• Nick: ???

Antagonists/Monsters

• Gau’Sharan’s Egg, which manifests its primal will into a dragon-plant chimera/hybrid monster
• Raptis Overmin, CEO & Majority Shareholder of Centranest
• The Fallen Champions: Aaracokra-plant blight zombies, who lay dormant under the thicket of Gau’Sharan’s Grove. If the party defeats the Egg, Raptis Overmin will congratulate them via pre-recorded message from a bird drone, but stating that for the competition to last and grant endless tradition to Ornethian society (and revenue to Centranest), their only reward can be to join their fallen brethren (summons the Fallen Champions).
• Fungal-Abberant Sci-Fi Horror Monsters in the inner rim of the jungle (ex. Variant of the Blood Mantis, Variant of the Blood Behemoth, Fungal Displacement Beasts, Alien-like Blights & Dryads, Fungal Drakes/Wyverns)
• Rivaling Myconid & Bug People Tribes in the outer rim of the jungle

NPCs

• ???: Windspeaker of the Church of Eveikna
• ???: High Marshall of the Ornethian Skyforce
• ???: Grand Arcanist of the College of Avios
• Leaders of the other factions/members of the Ornethian Ruling Council
• Lizardfolk competitors from Balcazar’s colony who wish to cultivate rare funga from the jungle
• Frog people from the neighboring swamplands who want to eat the Egg for it’s power
• Snakefolk from a Zorn-worshipping city who covet the Egg as treasure

Setting

The Legend of Gau’Sharan’s Egg

In ancient times, either shortly before or after The New Apotheosis, a powerful archdruid named Gau’sharan

acquired an egg from the nest of a slain Forest or Reaper Dragon. He took this egg to a fungal jungle deep in central Thatonis (now known as the Cordybog Jungle), close enough to a volcanic region to benefit from the darkness & ground nutrients delivered via ashstorms. Gau’Sharan imbued the egg with long-lost Druidic (and possibly Garonis Gaioforce) magicks & rites, designed to draw upon the divine power of nature to mutate the egg into a creature of unknown magical power. The rites were also designed to prevent the egg from hatching until Gau’Sharan ended the spells. Before his work was complete, Gau’Sharan was attacked by the local myconid tribes who refused to allow the archdruid’s magic to corrupt & drain their home any longer. In his dying moments, Gau’Sharan wrapped his body around the egg & unleashed a final blast of Druidic magic across the battlefield, killing all the myconids along with himself. This blast also corrupted the magicks maintaining the egg, mutating its magical effects while maintaining its core function: do not let the egg hatch.

According to legend, Gau’Sharan’s corpse remains cocooned around the egg, transformed into draconic-fungal vines. With Gau’Sharan’s Egg buried by overgrowth, the Cordybog Jungle was mostly forgotten to time, allowing the central region to survive the divine destruction of The OmniWar . However, the egg’s altered magicks warped the funga and fauna of the jungle into aberrant Draconic-plant hybrid monsters, with similar effects on the myconids that live there. These myconids have been mutated to the point where their druids can draw power from the egg, giving them incentive to protect & worship it as their god.

Ornethia & The Gau’Sharan Games

In the early years of the Mortal Age, many extraplanar entities and societies scouted the post apocalyptic material realm, seeking power & advantages in the new world without direct divine influence. Ornethia, an aaracokra (bird-people) city-state from Hytheria, was one such society. At some point during their various scouting missions, the Sky Scouts discovered the Cordybog Jungle & ancient Tha’karran texts discussing its history, including the Legend of Gau’Sharan’s Egg. This led to several expeditions & conflicts in the jungle with several factions & forces:

Locals

• the Draconic-plant-abberant fauna & funga of the Cordybog Jungle
• Myconid (Fungi-People) Tribes of the Cordybog Jungle, who view the Egg as the Mother Spore that creates, destroys & recycles all life in the jungle. Each tribe is led by a Myconid Sovereign, who draws druidic magic from the Egg with an emphasis on funga. The Myconids feed off the constant violence between the Arthrokin & Cordyfrogs
• Arthrokin (Bug-People) Tribes of the Cordybog Jungle, who view the Egg as the Hivemother that rules the jungle & everything in it. Each tribe is led by a Chieftan, who draws druidic magic from the Egg with an emphasis on bugs. The Arthokin live
• Bullowog (Frog-People) Tribes of the Cordybog, who view the Egg as the Bogheart, the sacred source of all life within the jungle. Each tribe is led by a Riblord, who draws Druidic magic from the Egg with an emphasis on water.
• All three humanoid types are believed to be descendants of the jungle's first humanoid invaders, whose died in their various quests through the Cordybog. Their bodies would be consumed by the fungal floor and transformed into new humanoids, those which resembled the frogs & amphibious creatures who dominated the swamps. Between their original purpose of seeking the Egg & their new purpose of being one with the Egg, the Cordyfrogs view the Egg as a sacred relic that must be proteced from the "primitive" abuse of the Arthrokin. The Cordyfrog Tribes live in the middle rim & have tamed a few of its horrible species to fight alongside them against the savage arthrokin.

Competitor Cities

• Kranalok, a Lizardfolk society from Vulsemar or Eastern Thatonis (Balcazar’s hometown) with a specialized industry for fungal cultivation & alchemy
• A Zorn-worshipping snakefolk city-state from Vulsemar or Eastern Thatonis who covets the Egg as treasure

As these conflicts continued, the Ornethian Government realized that the treasure was not worth the cost in lives & resources. However, in a deadlock with the other animoid societies over control of the jungle’s exterior border, the Ornethians negotiated a treaty that would benefit them all. They would turn this expedition into a contest amongst their lower-class citizens (bird minorities, such as aaracokran subraces or bird-based animoids) & those of the other societies. With the early iteration of Centranest becoming the primary sponsor for the contest, this evolved into a 10 year tradition known as the Gau’Sharan Games, where champions (selected from Ornethian volunteers with desperation for legal clemency or absolution of debt) could compete against the champions of other animoid cities to retrieve the Egg from this hostile fungal jungle. Over the centuries, however, rumors festered by the people of each society perpetrate a sinister & corrupted truth behind the competition. These have mostly been dismissed by wider society as conspiracy theories, though they have gained prominence as tensions bewtween bird minorities and "True Ornethians" (standard aaracokrans) escalate in Ornethia.

Session 0

Characters

James: Aaradockra, Ranger Rogue or a Ranger Druid. Ornethian Merchant/Trader or Alchemist/Poisoner who searches for rare earth, plants & poison materials from the Celestic Mountains. Search for a fungal sample could lead him to the quest, maybe curing a disease.

Chase: Duckling Gnome subrace, Bardlock with a musical beak. Also considered a Rogue. Ornethian Jester for a lower tier birdocrat/lord (maybe a retired adventure) who wants to prove himself and move up the ranks. Maybe he was a jester for a high level adventuring party who got unjustly fired, and works for a lord/birdocrat who cares not for his jester. Maybe trying to prove himself

Alex: Skylark, Paladin sorcerer, Phoenicokra. Ornethian Royal Guard. Also considered a myconid cleric. Got kicked out of the Church of Eveknia & College of Avios because he lied about his religious connections. Also trying to prove himself. Grew up a shoddy rich to birdocrat parents.

Nick: Kennifer, Owlacokra druid & hermit in the Greater Ornethian Territories. Came into the Gau'Sharan Games to study a reality-shaking discovery from his exile, related to funga & the cycle of life & death.

James Ability Scores: 16, 11, 10, 12, 9, 15

Chase Ability Scores: 10, 12, 17, 13, 15, 14

Alex Ability Scores: 17, 13, 14, 14, 16, 11

Nick Abilty Scores: rolled over Discord

2 uncommon magic items & 1 rare, or 2 rares

Ground rules

1. No party splits
2. No SA
3. No PVP
4. Characters that can’t work with a party
5. Hard start time at 9-9:30PM EST (D&D hard start by 9:30 PM) 6-6:30 PT. Hard stop at midnight EST (9pm PT)