"Shadow in the Sky" Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Blot

While The Blot has grown in size over the weeks before the campaign starts, not much is known by the local academic community, the Cyphermages, who've put many of their resources into determining if the phenomenon is foreboding or otherwise. Long story short, it is, but getting to the bottom of it is another thing entirely. Over the course of this first chapter of the campaign, weird evens will likely occur all over Riddleport as a result of The Blot from a tidal swell forming in the harbour to birds committing suicide in the waters to porous, black rocks falling from the sky. All of these things should point directly to 'bad news'.

Answer: Gold Goblin

The campaign begins when a man by the name of Saul Vancaskerkin purchases and renovates a building in the warehouse district of Riddleport, converting it into a gambling casino called The Gold Goblin. The heroes will likely receive word of a major event occurring for the launch, cutely named 'Cheat the Devil and Take His Gold', and everyone will likely have their reasons for wanting to attend. During the launch however, the casino will be infiltrated by some petty thieves.

Some swift actions against them may very well be the spark that starts the whole thing off.

Answer: A key

The owner of the casino, Saul Vancaskerkin, will take the campaign's heroes in early on as pseudo-partners, having them do the dirty work to bring the Gold Goblin back into working condition if they wish to join in for a stipend. What this means is that they'll need to, likely, hire new staff, hound people about loan payments, and possibly even run the tables on open nights. Saul, however, is not all he seems.

A former mobster, it quickly becomes apparent that he's just playing his new employees, lying while he works for a greater evil.

His one arm, actually a key, unlocks a secret door in the building, and not the casino safe as many would believe.

Answer: Smeed is owed money on a loan

Vancaskerkin ends up sending his new employees to visit Smeed with the intent of not paying back the loan owed to the horrible man, but what they don't know is that there's also something worse at play. If anyone looks into the trash bins behind Smeed's house, they'll end up finding the bones of their co-worker, Larur Feldin, who managed the floor at the Gold Goblin. Larur can't put up too much of a fight in the actual heat of battle, but a surly baboon named Otsk can be found living in his house, of all things.

Answer: Wine

Another task required of the newest additions to the Gold Goblin staff is to obtain some late wine shipments from a ship called the Foamrunner. Unfortunately, the delivery is intercepted by Clegg Zincher and his men, including a former Korvosan guard named Braddikar Faje, who tries his best to sabotage any casks arriving in the harbour. Any battle regarding this instance will take place either on the Foamrunner itself or on the docks of Riddleport.

It's just another ruckus relating to thievery and good-natured "business" in the city.

Answer: Monk

The raid on the casino is somewhat unexpected, especially for Saul, since Zincher and local mob boss Croat seem to be teaming up to put the Gold Goblin out of business, and what follows is a tense stand-off between the casino's staff and a number of thugs of all sorts led by a man named Jasker Grant, a half-orc Zon-Kuthon follower whose main goal is to kill Saul himself. Fortunately, anyone still working in the building will assist in the battle, and while this may not be many people, it should be enough to spread around to the entrances. If Jasker isn't killed, he's likely to be seen again in the campaign's second chapter, 'Children of the Void'.

Answer: Were-rats

While it is also possible for visitors to the Boneyard, the de facto junkyard of Riddleport, and get the jump on the were-rats residing there, the plan is actually for them to get jumped; Zincher actually set them up, fearing that they are too close to finding out the truth behind the casino and its nefarious alternate purpose. One of the were-rats will have a note on its person written in Thieves Cant that will prove Vancaskerkin's allegiance with these creatures.

Answer: Kwava

The visit to the Boneyards is the likely time for Kwava, an Elf mercenary, to make himself known and note that a much bigger plot is unfolding before the heroes, and has been since before they were hired to work at the Gold Goblin. Suffice to say, he'll note that he's a member of the Shin'Rakorath, a group of mercenaries with the goal of being 'a light against the coming darkness'.

He will encourage the heroes to return to the Gold Goblin to get to the bottom of things and, when they do, Saul will be waiting for them.

Answer: Drow

Sure enough, if the heroes fight their way through to Saul in Gold Goblin Casino and figure out the mysteries behind the building, they'll end up finding a trapdoor beneath the sands of the Octahedron in the basement. Beneath that is a long series of tunnels ultimately leading to a spot beneath the Cyphergate, and at that point they'll find a peculiar sight-- a Drow.

Investigation here will lead visitors to determine that the Drow, Depora Azrinae, has been there quite a while, studying the gate and doing something quite fishy and dangerous.

Answer: An island in the sea

The fight with Depora, if it progresses long enough, will lead up a narrow tunnel and progress to the surface next to the Cyphergate in front of Riddleport Harbour. Depora could, potentially, escape, but it won't matter anyways. The damage will be done and, before long, a shooting star will emerge from the shadow in the sky, pass over the city, and crash into Devil's Elbow, an island out at sea.

The resulting collision will result in a tsunami in Riddleport Bay and, while some may consider that a lucrative venture, it actually kicks off a much more dangerous series of events.