TEXT: 1
  Vathak
  Times
  Vol. 1 Issue:4 Shadows over Vathak - Octombrie 14th, 2012
  Published by Fat Goblin Games: Jason Stoffa and Rick Hershey
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  Vathak Weather
  This week expect a cold chill in 
  the air with a high chance of rain. 
  Harvest season is coming to an 
  end, looks to be a hard winter 
  around the corner.
  From the Front Lines
  Referring to recent efforts by clerics in Ina’oth and 
  Khrota, came a surprise message delivered late last week. 
  Read aloud by the personal scribes of the High Bishops 
  themselves, the letter both condemns the selfish and 
  cowardly actions of those within Vathak who refuse to take 
  up arms, and praises the faithful duty of the troops fighting 
  the horrors within the field of battle. Messages issuing from 
  the very steps of Heaven’s Tower (the great church fortress 
  located in Darmstadt) have become increasingly rare, and 
  many have criticized the Church’s lack of transparency 
  during the war as a reason to both question the faith and the 
  High Bishop’s true involvement in the conflict. This latest 
  proclamation has lead many to claim that the bishops are 
  acting out of a “concern for the church.” Others believe that 
  these statements are nothing more than another call to the 
  faithful to subjugate the already weakened nation of Ina’oth. 
  Within 48 hours of the reading,    several dozen documented 
  occurrences of racially motivated violence against both 
  bhriota and romni citizens have been reported.  
  The powerful contents of the High Bishops message was 
  one of the strongest — and most direct — speeches heard 
  by the people of Vathak, breaking the reign of a seven-
  month silence. It has also shown the favoring of a more 
  strict control of the smaller churches. Clearly referring 
  to an new renegade druid group called the ‘Hands of the 
  Transcendence’, the doctrine has also extended the enacted 
  bounty to any one who would abandon their duty to God and 
  King. Listed below is an excerpt from the massive document 
  which took more than six hours to read aloud: 
     
  “It has been remarked by some that the fighting 
  spirit possessed by the people of the Grigorian nation has 
  been delivered to a dark and dreadful state. It is true, the 
  sorrows and trials of our bleak years of battle have scared 
  our hearts and noble intended minds. Yet, the horrors which 
  have risen from our great lands have yielded something 
  greater than bloodshed and slaughter. It is from these 
  trials, these mighty tests of our faith and fortitude, we now 
  sift the souls of our people into an earnest love of faith and 
  country. 
  It now stands clear to all. Easily recognizable are those 
  who stand to defend our lands. It is evident in their actions. 
  It is through their rejection of those who are undeserving of 
  peace or unfit to rule. Death is their reward, a bounty paid 
  in the blood of those unfaithful to the cause. I place names 
  upon the fearful cowards and disloyal men to the Kings 
  Army. With the refusal to take up arms they have been 
  separated from the purely loyal as chaff from the wheat. I 
  pray those who now fight for our liberation hear my praise, 
  for they alone stand between us and the wave of madness 
  which the dark creatures assault us.
   Forever blessed be the men who rally to the call of battle! 
  Honest men and soldiers can now look to one another 
  with their unshaken faith and undiminished efforts, and 
  shoulder to shoulder face their common enemy. To hesitate 
  in supporting our cause now, would be to cruelly dishonor 
  and abandon our soldiers in the field. With time, and many 
  a hard-fought battle, we will carve our way to the heart of 
  this rising shadow — To hesitate now would be to dishonor 
  the graves of those who have fallen in defiance of a growing 
  evil. An evil which threatens to consume us all.” 
  
  2
  CALL  TO  SERVE
  Only three days have passed since the King last issued a 
  proclamation calling for five thousand more troops, to fill and keep 
  up our armies in the field. In accordance with a doctrine issued by 
  the Grand Church,  he is allowing fifty days for the various regions 
  within Vathak to meet its respective quotas by volunteering. Any 
  deficiency will be made up by an enforced draft for one year. 
  Volunteers will be received for either one, three, or lifetime 
  enlistments. The same law issues an enlistment  bonus of 100 gp, 
  300gp, and 1000gp respectively, according to the term of the 
  doctrine. Under this call it is presumed the might of the military 
  will be largely reinforced within the next sixty days.
  To whom honor is due...
  by Montgomery Vale
  There are times when a single individual, they being in 
  possession of a brave heart and resolute will, may successfully 
  turn the tide of a battle or conflict and lay quite those who 
  threaten our lands and lives. It is through his precision of 
  action alone that they can  bring order out of chaos. Not a 
  single troop, no matter their rank or true participation in 
  the conflicts of the war we now face, cannot point to some 
  instance in which the fortunes of the day were saved by the 
  leadership and skill of some single person. Perhaps it be by 
  chance or skill, but the placement of such individual at the 
  right time, and through his ability to convert the elements of 
  confusion into a power that decides the day.  
  This degree of excitement has prevailed in all of our 
  leaders at one time or another, each instance raising other 
  men to heights of glory otherwise unattainable to them. Men 
  such as these are sought in abundance and at this critical 
  juncture of the war time efforts we pray for their appearance. 
  In naming such heroes the kingdom would suffer to forget 
  the services of Major General Alnur Westthrone, the High 
  Commander of the Third Troop of Ina’oth, under whose 
  direction the forces were organized for the defense of 
  Moorhaven’s western flank and southern lines, and to whose 
  skill and energy we are indebted. The people of such a place 
  evermore so for the continued preservation of their capital.
  Ambitious Leader (General) 
  Prerequisites: Cha 13, Leadership
  Benefit: When a character selects this feat, he selects either 
  the cohort option or the follower option. Any followers or cohorts 
  gained through this feat are cumulative with those gained for 
  Leadership, this feat, or other feats that grant followers or cohorts.
  If you select the cohort option, you gain two cohorts. One has 
  a maximum level as determined by your Leadership score. The 
  second cohort has a maximum level two experience levels lower.
  If you select the follower option, you gain 1½ times the 
  number of followers specified by your Leadership score.
  Special: A character may gain this feat multiple times, and the 
  effects are cumulative.
  The Gregorian 
  Engineer Corps
  A correspondent of the Vathak Times, in the Army of 
  the Fifth Standing of the Kings Throne, writes :
   “ The Gregorian Engineer Department, though not 
  attracting so much attention perhaps as other branches 
  of the King’s service, is truly deserving of credit as any. 
  The best graduates from the Gunsmith Academies, the 
  best talent of artillery, wherever it can be obtained in 
  Vathak, is employed in the Engineer Department.
   “In the present campaign against the evil spawn 
  of the unnamed horrors they have, with each shell 
  assembled and new gun manufactured, done a prodigious 
  amount of work. All these defenses are of course located 
  as they direct, and constructed under their supervision. 
  They build roads and bridges, lay the foundations of the 
  massive guns and cannons in which they employ, and 
  draw up the positions and movements of our troops.   
  “ Wherever we go, a number of engineers are in the 
  advance, who get the topography, roads —all the materials 
  for a complete and accurate map of the country. The 
  draftsman soon have this produced on special papers, 
  ready for the cartographer, who by the transfer process, 
  as it is called, can supply every general officer in the army 
  with a copy in the course of but a single day. 
  “ Everything is done systematically and speedily. It is 
  seldom that delays are caused by any fault of theirs. Their 
  discipline, drill and commitment to the battle exceeds to 
  notion of excellent.”
  Hospital Report for the Week 
  Ending Octoborie 16th
  No. of beds  
   
   
   
   
  671
  Admitted during the week   
   
  110
  Returned to active duty 
   
   
  81
  Discharged due to injury  
   
  20  
  Deserted  
   
   
   
   
  17 
  Deceased  
   
   
   
   
  28
  
  3
  Sir Timothy Charles’s Emporium
  Sir Timothy Charles has just arrived to the shores of Vathak from distant lands, the No.1 importer and exporter of exotic 
  goods, premium artifacts, and amazing wares is now located in the city of Hunstanvania, the Colonies!!! Stop by for all the 
  latest fashion, arms, periodicals, and curiosities from lands afar! This weeks sales are:
  Sweet Meat Murderer
  A string of murders and disappearances have taken 
  place in the Moorhavan region of Vathak since early last 
  year, the latest victims involving six city children in the city 
  of  Taurvania.  Authorities have stressed that there’s no 
  evidence yet of a link to any cultist group in the “Sweet Meat 
  Murderer” killings, but Stroven Hitmain, chief captain of 
  the Taurvania City Guard, told Vathak Times that he fears 
  a serial killer might be behind them, and that “maximum 
  resources” would be used to find the perpetrator. 
  Authorities are still trying to establish whether just one 
  person is behind the killings. A traveling Moorhaven butcher 
  who used his covered wagon as a traveling torture chamber 
  has escaped capture and eluded Taurvania officials for more 
  than a week’s time.   The escaped madman Berathin Deian, a 
  vindarian male butcher, came under heavy scrutiny last week 
  after the disappearance of five children. The children were 
  last seen taking cooked sausages from the traveling butcher 
  hours before they each failed to arrive home that evening. 
  Now under suspicion for the murder and disappearance of 
  more than 135 individuals, Deain was among the first to be 
  questioned by authorities in the disappearances. Evidence 
  found in a secret compartment of his mobile butchers wagon 
  leave little question as to his involvement in the murders. 
  “There’s this compartment that’s hidden completely 
  from view other than between the seats,” said Stroven 
  Hitmain, chief captain of the Taurvania City Guard. The 
  dungeon-like hidden compartment was described as a 
  nightmarish torture chamber by one of the witnesses present 
  at the time of discovery. The interior of the traveling wagon 
  was equipped with bloodstained handcuffs attached to the 
  ceiling, large serrated saw-like blades, bottles of acid and 
  even an assortment of “specimens”  which enabled Deian to 
  incapacitate his victims so that he could torture them before 
  killing them.Judges of The One True God believe Deian may 
  have put as many as 135 other victims  through the cycle of 
  “kidnap, torture, and kill,” but an official statement by local 
  officials have said they do not know how many innocents he 
  may have hurt, since he traveled so much.
   
  “That was the problem with him,” Stroven said. 
  “He was on Vathak’s roads for most of the year. Tracking 
  down each of his victims will be a huge task.  
  A string of murders involving the same weapon have 
  raised concerns that a serial killer may be on the loose in a 
  Paris suburb, as France is still reeling from a wave of terror-
  related shooting in its south.
  Dark Torturer (General)
  You know how to use various implements to extract delicious 
  pain from captives. Your methods are purely evil and bring about a 
  morbid sense of achievement and power. 
  Prerequisites: Non-good alignment, intimidate skill
  Benefit: Using a selected weapon in which you are proficient 
  with , you may use your intimidate skill to extract pain and an 
  unnatural sense of  power from an unwilling captive. For every 
  hour you spend working on a captive, he sustains 1d10 points 
  of damage and you  gain a +1 to your weapon damage rolls for a 
  number of hours equal to 1/4 the victim’s hit dice (minimum 1 
  hour). After each hour of torture you must make an Intimidate skill 
  check with a +4 bonus to the roll. The victim must then make a 
  Will saving throw ( DC equal to your Intimidate skill check) or 
  lapse into a terror induced unconscious. For every hour of torture 
  beyond the first, the victim sustains a - 2 circumstance penalty to 
  his save.
  Vellum of Tracing 
   
  This finely crafted vellum is so thin as to be almost transparent, and it comes in 1-foot square sheets. Scholars, Students, 
  and troops alike use this paper to copy maps and other important documents.
  When placed over a map, book, or other writing, a sheet of this paper allows the user to trace the image with great 
  precision. The time required for tracing varies, but it usually takes 1 minute for a simple image, 10 minutes for an image 
  of moderate complexity, and 1 hour for a complicated drawing. 
  Tracing Vellum grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Linguistics checks made to reproduce text, maps, or pictures. 
   
  The price of Vellum of Tracing reflects the difficulty inherent in creating such thin, fine sheets. 
  Price 10 gp; Weight -
  
  4
  BERAThin    DEAin
  XP 1,200 
  Male human ranger (urban ranger) 5 CN Medium humanoid 
  Init +6; Senses Perception +11
  DEFEnSE
  AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor, +4 Dex)
   hp 44 (5d10+10) 
  Fort +5, Ref +8, Will +2
  OFFEnSE
  Speed 30 ft. 
  Melee +1 Bone Saw +9 (2d4+4/19–20 plus poison), or 
  Butchers Axe (Masterwork Handaxe) +7/+2 (1d6+3/×3 
  plus poison) 
  Special Attacks favored enemy (Vindari (Humans) +4, 
  Romni (humans) +2) 
  Ranger Spells Prepared (CL 2nd; concentration +3)
  1st—Long Strider, Pass without Trace
  STATiSTiCS
  Str 14, Dex 18, Con 12, int 8, Wis 13, Cha 10 
  Base Atk +5; CMB +7; CMD 21 
  Feats Combat Reflexes, Double Slice, Step Up, Two-
  Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus(Bone Saw) 
  Skills Climb +8, Disable Device +9, Heal +5, Knowledge 
  (dungeoneering) +5, Knowledge (local) +7, Perception 
  +11 Sense Motive +2, Stealth +12 Survival +11, Swim +5 
  Languages Common
  SQ favored community (Moorhaven +2), track +2, 
  trapfinding, wild empathy +5 
  Combat Gear potion of cure light wounds, giant wasp 
  poison (2), Black Adler poison (4); 
  Other Gear +1 chain shirt, +1 Bone Saw, master work 
  butchers axe( treat as throwing axes) (3), grappling hook, 
  manacles (good quality), silk rope, thieves’ tools
  Berathin Deian was born as a seemingly normal child 
  in Arkos. Berathin’s father, Garath Deian, was both a 
  butcher and a handy man holding several jobs as a carpenter 
  and tanner. He was a stern man who enjoyed too much of 
  the drink. A frequent abuser of alcohol and other illicit 
  substances throughout his childhood, he became extremely 
  violent towards Berathin and his mother.  Garath Deian died 
  from a heart attack late into Berathin’s childhood, forcing 
  the youth to take over the work to support his mother.  His 
  mother, Allith, was forced to become a dominant parent 
  and was extremely religious. Until his mothers death seven 
  Berathin Deian
  years later, each day for Berathin consisted of twelve hour 
  days spent locked into the basement of the small butchers 
  shop, his hand stained with the blood and gore of each piece 
  of meat he carved with his butchers axe. After his mothers 
  death, the young man continued to maintain the shop until 
  it was destroyed in one of the many bhriota raids of Arkos. 
  Watching the shop burn to the ground, he summoned up 
  the shattered remains of his meager wealth, he purchased 
  a covered wagon and struck out onto the roads of Vathak’s 
  eastern coast as a mobile tanner and butcher for hire.  
      
  At the age of 29, Berathin Deian started his life 
  alone and on the roads in search of work.  In his solitude, 
  Berathin began to withdraw from society and reality. Only 
  dealing with the occasional person in need of an animal 
  butchered or skin tanned, he began to drift farther away 
  from reality. At his lowest point, Berathin was left penniless 
  and starving and was desperate for work. Two years ago, the 
  simple butcher was hired by a well paying cult and his life 
  took a bizarre twist. The job was to butcher the remains of 
  three victims of the cult’s ritual sacrifice, each of the bodies 
  to be made into a pasted meat to be salted and stored for 
  consumption later. No questions were asked about the 
  assignment prior to accepting the job, and Berathin excelled 
  in his work. While the meat from the bodies were used to 
  fulfill his steadily increasing orders from the various clients, 
  he was given the skin and bones of the victims to do with as 
  he pleased.     
  Berathin would experiment with these remains, 
  constructing objects from the skin and bones and storing 
  the unusable organs in large clay jars, salting them and 
  sealing them with wax for later meals. He also became 
  fascinated with the oiled skins which he kept as blankets 
  in his wagon. His work with the cult came to an abrupt 
  end when the ring of evil doers were brought to justice by 
  a group of inquisitors during a raid. Berathin fled from the 
  city , keeping his foul collection and dark obsession with the 
  dead a closely guarded secret.
  
  5
  Compatibility with the Pathfinder® Roleplaying Game requires the Pathfinder® Roleplaying 
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  the Pathfinder® Roleplaying Game. Paizo, Publishing, LLC does not guarantee compatibility, and 
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  Vathak Times, Shadows over Vathak and all other Fat Goblin Games product names and their respective logos are trade-
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  15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
  Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
  System Reference Document. Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; 
  Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on material by E. 
  Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
  Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; 
  Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and 
  Skip Williams.
  The Book of Experimental Might. Copyright 2008, Monte J. Cook. All 
  rights reserved.
  Tome of Horrors. Copyright 2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.; Authors: 
  Scott Greene, with Clark Peterson, Erica Balsley, Kevin Baase, Casey 
  Christofferson, Lance Hawvermale,Travis Hawvermale, Patrick Lawinger, and 
  Bill Webb; Based on original content from TSR.
  Shadows over Vathak, Copyright 2012, Fat Goblin Games. Rick Hershey 
  and Jason Stoffa.
  Vathak Times issue 4. Copyright 2012, Fat Goblin Games. Rick Hershey, 
  Jason Stoffa.
  
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