Reflecting on TTRPGs as Therapy: How GMing Subverts Traditional Client-Practitioner Dynamics

     Okay so I don't know that I've ever mentioned it on this blog but I am currently working on getting a master's of social work while I also work full time. My full-time gig is at a high school, and one of the things I do at work is run a TTRPG group once each week as a type of social skills group. After doing some homework, I started thinking about how I've known some of the members of this group for the entire time they've been in high school, and how I have a much closer relationship with the students in this group than any other students. This wasn't a sudden realization or anything, but as I continue to progress through my classes, I am more and more seeing the traditional boundaries of professionalism that I am kind of forced to ignore in order to maintain one of my personal rules of GMing, which is to run a game that I enjoy prepping for and would want to participate in as a player. While I currently have no licenses that would truly let me take on the role of a therapist running a game for clients, the game I run at work is fairly close to that, so this post is going to be my ruminations on all of that and what it might mean for the emerging practice of using TTRPGs for more explicit therapy goals. This isn't meant to be any kind of formal paper or anything, I just find that putting things into essay format really helps me to organize my own thoughts on something.

    Before I get into it, some context might be useful in case anyone who isn't me ever reads this. The TTRPG group that I will be referring to throughout this essay, and using as an experiential stand-in for a true therapy group using TTRPGs as a tool, is formally considered a social skills group. Lacking any significant backing from the literature, the assumption I and the school social worker operate this group under is that the students participating in the game would struggle to make friends and learn social skills without a structure like TTRPGs, along with the fact that the very nature of TTRPGs involves social interaction with a small group. Other benefits that participants have noted include an ability to practice coping with stress related to social interactions without any real-world consequences, and gaining an inherently social hobby that they can participate in beyond high school. At the time of writing, the group consists of 4 students, an adult player who also helps the students out with game mechanics, and myself as the GM. One of the students also co-GMs with me right now so they can get more practice running the game. While this isn't really the point of this post, I'd have to say that this group has been fairly successful and shows that TTRPGs can be used for many goals beyond having fun with your friends, although I'd be lying if I said this group wasn't focused on having fun over any explicit therapeutic goals. Regardless, that's the situation which has inspired the main point of this post, which is that the role I have with this group has many parallels to being a social worker running a small therapy group while subverting other expectations normally associated with such a role. 

    Without giving myself too much credit, I think a lot of my experience with this gaming group can be used to inform on what it would be like to run a more formal TTRPG therapy group, the main difference being that I currently lack the experience, qualifications, and authority to have therapeutic goals as much more than a passive benefit of group participation. Situations arise where things I'm learning in my classes are useful, however, and as a school employee there are professional boundaries I am expected to maintain. These factors combine to help me feel like a practitioner running a therapy group regardless of what the actual labels are. With this in mind, the fact that I am doing things on the edge of traditional professionalism isn't that big of a deal. I am beholden to no code of ethics beyond what my bosses find acceptable and I have no licensure to lose if anyone takes exception to what I'm doing. Even so, I'd like to think that some of the subversion I'm experiencing would be good if it became a bit more normalized. I think the biggest professional no-no that I'm in the grey on is the way that I communicate with some of the players. 

    Before I worked at the school where I run this group, I was running the group as a volunteer, so I wasn't available to answer questions about the game and discuss character decisions without taking up valuable game time. The solution was to give the players my phone number so they could text me their questions and ideas. This was deemed acceptable so long as everyone involved was comfortable and texts were limited to things about the game. Now, a therapist making themself available to a client outside of formal therapy sessions isn't weird, but what is weird is using that connection for discussing anything other than mental health business. Now obviously getting texts from teenagers at midnight about secret plans for their character isn't the same as providing support to clients over the phone, but if I were running a TTRPG therapy group as the therapist, I would have to be prepared for both. Providing mental health support and game discussion is an expansion of the normally accepted topics for clients and practitioners to text about, which may raise concerns of increased risks for dual relationships. While I am sympathetic to such concerns, I would say that having something other than mental health crises to discuss over text would also help to build rapport which helps gaming sessions get the best results for clients. 

    Another aspect of GMing that goes against conventional guidelines of professionalism is the fact that the GM must necessarily share a lot of their thoughts and imaginations with the players, even when running prewritten adventures and campaigns. In a therapy setting, this would require the practitioner (who I assume is the GM) to spend a lot more time talking and sharing their thoughts than is normal for a group therapy session. When I run, I feel as if I am talking one third to one half of the session, which is more than I would want to be talking and sharing as the practitioner in a traditional therapy setting. In TTRPG therapy, it could be said that the GM being a player who share's much of themselves with the rest of the group forces the therapist GM to be more of a peer who is open to the clients than is traditionally accepted. Perhaps this is just because I run a homebrew setting, but I can't imagine running a game where I don't make myself vulnerable to the players by sharing my thought processes and the products of my creativity. To do so while maintaining the role of therapist could be powerful for building rapport, showing clients that their therapist is a deeply nuanced, creative person in a way that I do not think is possible in a traditional therapy setting. It forces the therapist into a partial peer role as they become a person playing a game along with their clients, but maintains a power dynamic as the therapist GM has final say on many aspects of the game, including what actually happens when players attempt to do things. I find it interesting how the role of GM both reduces and entrenches the authority of the therapy practitioner. As a GM I try to give the players a lot of information and to be generous with how I interpret their actions in the game world, reducing the power gap between GM and player, but as a therapist GM this would also be reducing the power gap between the practitioner and client in a unique way. On the other hand, it would be possible to take measures to increase the power gap between GM and player, thus also increasing the power gap between client and practitioner. I can't say that either approach would be better for a TTRPG therapy group, however my gut reaction is always to reduce hierarchy and power gaps, so perhaps this ability of TTRPG therapy to reduce power gaps is useful for my goals. Particularly in working with students who aren't yet adults, I think it is important to humanize oneself for others and help them see you for the nuanced, complicated being that you are. It helps others to empathize with you when they can see your humanity, and sharing the fantastical things that reside in one's imagination is very humanizing.

    I don't think I really have anything else to say on this matter, so there you go. While there are a lot of benefits to TTRPG therapy, there are also a lot of strange implications for what it means to maintain professional boundaries, build rapport with clients, and be vulnerable. Even if the clients and their therapist GM never even see each other by accident outside of sessions, the process of playing TTRPGs with each other breaks down some of the norms of group therapy. Maybe not everyone would agree with me, but I think it is good that TTRPG therapy could have the potential to subvert the norm in this way. Current norms in western social work can often make it seem like practitioners should be judicious with how much of themselves they share with their clients, and a form of therapy where the therapist can share an entire fantasy world of their own creation with clients bucks that trend. I feel like western society currently struggles to make space for creativity and the vulnerability that is tied to it, but TTRPGs provide that space. Maybe none of this makes sense, maybe this was all just the late-night ramblings of a person who thinks way too highly of their favorite hobby. I just hope that all of this has been coherent enough to accurately communicate my feelings on this matter.

Cultural Profiles: Angco Republic

 Introduction: Unbeknownst to all outsiders, especially the humans of Estram, the Angco Republic is populated solely by Snake People. To keep up appearances, it is actually a law that citizens of the republic must maintain a human form whenever they leave the territory of Angco as well as any time outsiders are allowed to come into their lands, although such directives are limited to the immediate areas the outsiders will be visiting. These laws are all proposed, debated, and either approved or disapproved by small councils of elected representatives, each town council acting as a miniature version of the Angco Council which governs the entire nation, each town sending a single councilor to represent their interests on a national level. The snake people of Angco have maintained this method of governance since their ancestors, refugees from the fall of an ancient snake person kingdom in the bog lands of Squee, came to Fizsaire almost 1,500 years ago. The refugees, seeing the errors made by their forebears who tried and failed many times to establish themselves as rulers. Snake people of Angco and the rest of the Island of Fizsaire are aware of the crimes of their ancestors and the ongoing distrust and hatred that is directed at their kind, so they are often more than willing to go to great lengths to preserve not only their secrets, but the peaceful way of life they have attained after many generations of failed conquest. To ensure this peace lasts as long as it can, the Angco Council has embedded many agents in the government of King Edgard, to ensure that they are prepared for any potential invasions and that the plans for such invasions meet difficulties at every turn. 

Magic and Technology: Over the years, the snake people of Angco have developed a strong connection to the Slithering Rainforest and the spirits which inhabit it. Through this connection, they have developed a form of channeling in which those who always use their natural powers of disguise to mimic plants and animals are able to take on the abilities of those plants and animals themselves, something that is not normally possible for snake people. About half of the snake people in Angco live this way, using the many abilities present in such a diverse environment to assist their communities. At the same time, a small school of spellcasting and enchanting is present in Angcopolis, however it has few students and cannot boast of an impressive faculty either. This, along with the secrecy of the true nature of the residents of Angco, has led to perceptions from outside of the republic that the people there are bad at magic. This is not true in the slightest, they are just skilled at a different form of it.

Society: The snake people of Angco value secrecy, harmony, and respect above pretty much anything else. This shows in the system of elected councils that govern each town and the nation as a whole. Other than that, towns tend to be fairly autonomous, maintaining their own policies and ways of doing things that work best for their unique contexts. With this system, the snake people are able to live successful, happy lives. They manage and use the rainforest around their towns to forage and produce pretty much all of the resources that people need. Communities work together to ensure that everyone is able to do something that benefits the town and that everyone receives water, food, shelter, and care. The structures of town councils can vary between locations, but they all consist of some number of snake people elected from among the residents of that town. Every two years, coinciding with the elections for the Angco Council, all seats on a given town’s council are up for re-election. This mirrors the Angco Council which functions identically to a town council save that it is made up of one councilor from each town and meets in Angcopolis, the capital of the Angco Republic. The Angco Council also governs the city with the goal of it being neutral ground in which snake people from anywhere can live and be prosperous. All of these facts are highly guarded secrets to whoever the snake people of Angco consider outsiders, of course. In general, the snake people of Angco believe that one of the most important factors allowing them to live the harmonious lives they live is the fact that no one outside Angco really knows about them, let alone that the citizens of the nation are anything other than human. This habit of secrecy is not normally a problem for snake people who stick to their hometowns and places that are friendly to them, but issues can arise when they come to a place full of strangers. Without any pre-existing connections that might make them part of an in-group, it is normal for strangers and communities they visit to share so little information with each other that distrust and even violence can arise. Passing laws to ease the inherent distrust and conflict of a secretive society is one of the main duties of the Angco Council, as well as maintaining a facade of humanness to people from abroad. Generally, desires for peace and harmony and respect for the interests of all snake people have allowed the Angco Republic to stick to its stated goals and ideals, although not always. At times, distrust and secrecy win out, leading to periods of unrest and danger, although these periods are relatively rare in Angco history.

Religion: While the Angco Republic has no official religion, all religious snake people of the nation worship the dragon who lives in an extinct volcano in the Curtaneous Mountains, Rosaline. The Lady of Steel, one of the many titles worshipers have given to Rosaline, is understood to be quite ancient, but has maintained the secret of what she hoards for her entire existence. This dedication to secrecy is what inspires worship of the dragon, a practice which mostly involves pondering and debating what it is that Rosaline collects. It is believed that anyone who is able to figure it out and provide an addition to the collection will be told the secret to spiritual enlightenment in return. Whether or not this is true is unclear because Rosaline has never accepted any gift offered to her. This religious tradition is decentralized, with each cult maintaining its own secret shrine where they meet to worship and make offerings at an effigy of Rosaline. Most cults also maintain their own library and history of unaccepted gifts, information sources which each group keeps secret from each other. In smaller towns, it is normal for everyone to be a part of the same cult, however larger towns are known to have multiple competing cults, and Angcopolis itself is said to have hundreds of individual cults to Rosaline, although the true numbers are understandably hard to figure out. The secrecy and competition between cults to be the first to figure out the secret of their deity’s collection encourages inter-cult espionage as well, although it is understood that this state of affairs is never to include violence. It is even said that at times, Rosaline herself will take the form of a snake person and spend time touring the many cults, checking in on the progress of her followers. Not everyone believes this, but it is actually true, although unknown to the cult members, the true purpose of these excursions is to see if any of the groups have come up with new things to call the object of their worship, unwittingly giving Rosaline the exact thing she wants.

Angcopolis: Angcopolis is the capital city of the Angco Republic, governed directly by the Angco Council which meets in an open-air coliseum once each week. Most of the city is built on and around the massive trees of the rainforest, however a large area has been cleared for the coliseum to ensure that all who wish to watch the meetings of the Angco Council have room. Because each councilor is from a different village, Angcopolis is considered neutral ground for all snake people of the republic. This makes the city the go-to place for solving conflicts between towns, as well as the only place where strangers are able to feel a certain level of trust with each other. No outside nations maintain embassies in Angco, but diplomatic visits are always hosted in Angcopolis, where residents are used to taking human guise to accommodate such events. At the same time, it is more accurate to think of the city as a gigantic village more than a traditional city. Residents of the city are organized based on profession, with each profession forming a union with an elected leadership council. Each union council is responsible for setting policies and rules that ensure the smooth and efficient operation of their unions and associated professions. Like in towns, no one on Angcopolis is paid a wage, every resident is assumed to be doing their fair share of work through their union and is in turn provided with food, water, shelter, and care. Although this is difficult to conceive of for a city with a population around 500,000, each union is able to provide their services to all who need them. There is enough surplus of supplies that visitors are able to be given these things with nothing given on their part.

Towns: There are many small towns scattered around the Angco Republic, and while each is expected to follow the laws set by the Angco Council, these laws are relatively few and mostly have no impact on small towns that never receive visitors. As such, each town is mostly left to its own devices regarding how they organize and what they do to survive. Each town has a council, elected from among the residents by the residents in a vote every two years. Town councils are expected to create and maintain policies that allow everyone in the town to live the life they want, provided that life includes working for the greater good of the town and not harming others. Although all towns are within the Slithering Rainforest, the ways that have been found to survive and maintain self-sufficiency are highly varied. Some towns are truly self-sufficient, with farmers and foragers working together to provide everything that the tradesfolk need to build structures and tools. Other towns seem to specialize in producing one thing, working with several other towns in the area and pooling resources to produce more than enough for everyone to share. The only real constant is that outsiders with no connection to a given town are likely to be mistrusted and spied on while many residents openly question their goals and intentions with their visit. This dichotomy of treatment between the trusted ingroup and the mistrusted outgroup is often shocking to the rare visitors to these towns, however they often find that if they can prove themselves trustworthy, they find the town to immediately become a warmer, more welcoming place.

Cultural Profile: The Kingdom of Estram

 Introduction: Controlling everything west of the Curtaneous Mountains is the Kingdom of Estram. This kingdom of humans, currently ruled by King Edgard I, traces its history back to before the formation of the First Empire. Once but one small village among many in the jungle, the first king of Estram, King Ed the Ambitious, took inspiration from the newly-formed First Empire, earning his kingship through the conquest of surrounding villages. King Ed funneled the wealth of the villages to the then-village of Estram, allowing the tiny settlement to grow into the City of Estram that stands between the ocean and the jungle today. The kingdom has spent the last millennium in the precarious position of the First Empire’s closest ally, providing a stalwart trading and political partner despite the risk of becoming the next nation to join the larger, more powerful empire. In choosing to support the First Empire in all things, Estram precludes the need for invasion and annexation, allowing the Estramic monarchy to exercise absolute power on their island. Whatever the value the First Emperor actually sees in allowing the Kingdom of Estram to maintain independence, the fact remains that the First Emperor’s influence is strongly felt in Estramic culture and politics. Good relations with the Angco Republic to the east have always been forced by the Curtaneous Mountains between them and the difficulties posed by an amphibious invasion. The kings of Estram would conquer Angco in a heartbeat if they could figure out how to do it. The regular citizens of Estram are mostly supportive of some kind of absolute monarchy, although a sizable portion would rather it be the actual First Emperor and not one of his wannabes, and another sizable portion would rather be ruled by Rosaline, the ancient dragon who lives on Fizsaire. King Edgard expends considerable resources to prevent these cults from gaining too much power, although it is a constant battle.

Magic and Technology: The Kingdom of Estram has benefited greatly from its close ties to the First Empire, or at least the wealthy people of the capital city have. Pretty much anything that could be found for sale in the First Empire can also be found in Estramic markets, although for a much higher price to account for the journey across the ocean. This has created a similar, albeit more extreme, version of the dynamic present in the First Empire where magic items and services are easily acquired by the wealthy while the working classes are left with a quality of life no better than medieval peasants from the real world. Most citizens of Estram would love to be able to afford to have more magic in their lives but cannot afford such luxuries. Anyone who wishes to learn magic in the kingdom must either learn what they can from folk traditions or travel to the capital city of the kingdom to attend the only school of magic in the kingdom, the Royal Academy of Magic. All socially acceptable forms of spellcasting and enchanting are taught at the Academy, although anyone wishing to practice channeling or mastering their inherent magical abilities must do so without the support of the academy. Despite perceptions of the entire country being an inferior wannabe of the First Empire, the quality of magical education at the Royal Academy is on par with, if not better than, the top First Imperial schools of magic. 

Society: Much like the First Empire, the culture and government of the Kingdom of Estram has been built around a single person with absolute power, the Estramites have simply chosen to center a royal line, lacking the immortal ruler the First Empire has. Other than this one key difference, it is fair to say that most citizens of the kingdom believe that they live in an egalitarian, meritocratic society where anyone can be anything (save for the king) if they are competent and ambitious enough. While this may be true in theory, those who are born into wealthy families tend to have a much easier time achieving their goals than common citizens. In apparent contrast to their values of equality and meritocracy, the people of Estram have a generally positive view on the monarchy and the work it has done to keep the kingdom independent for so long. Because of this, most are willing to accept a higher than normal amount of policing and paranoia about cults over the past few years. As long as a majority of people are able to live successful, peaceful lives, the imperfections of the Kingdom of Estram will be overlooked.

Religion: In yet another move inspired by the First Empire, the Estramic religion is one that deifies the nation's leader, making all laws religious laws and lawbreaking akin to heresy. To enforce this, each village is expected to maintain a temple to the monarchy in its center where the mayor and 3-5 priests can organize tax collection and criminal courts. Low-ranking members of the clergy, deacons, act as police officers and guards until such a time that they prove themselves ready for the full priesthood. The deacons and priests are also expected to maintain a royal effigy inside the temple where taxes are left and which prayers are directed to. Unlike the First Empire, the Estramic Monarchs are not thought of as universal avatars of all divine will, but rather they are considered to be the absolute rulers of all things on Fizsaire, plants, animals, and spirits. When a king or queen dies, they join the pantheon of past monarchs which are said to watch over and guide their island from beyond the grave. Over time, it has also been the responsibility of the Estramic priests and mayors to investigate and root out any religious practices other than the worship of the monarchs, an issue that has ebbed and flowed over the last thousand years.

City of Estram: The capital city of the Kingdom of Estram is also called Estram, it being the original seat of the Estramic monarchy and the place to which all of the spoils of conquest were funneled to. Today it is a massive, wealthy city that is also the only true city in the kingdom. Being on the coast, the City of Estram is also the only tradeport that the kingdom maintains. All of this wealth and trade has given the upper classes access to every luxury they could want, along with the ability to buy it. Meanwhile, a middle class has formed in the city that provides a certain buffer between the upper and lower classes. The middle class of the city lives in relative comfort in exchange for working the management and professionalized jobs that upper class folks don't want to do and lower class folks lack the education to do. This system has remained fairly stable through the years, save for the occasional religious revolt by heretics and cultists. While the city is home to the Royal Mausoleum, the largest temple to the monarchy in the kingdom, as well as the royal palace, Edhome, this is also where the largest number of followers of the First Imperial Cult reside, thanks in part to the large presence of First Imperial merchants and diplomats in the city. Proving the diversity of the city, it is also the only place on the island known to have a branch of the Gnome Mafia in active operation. Overall, it is impressive that such a large, diverse city functions as well as it does.

Villages: While the City of Estram is massive, the majority of the kingdom's subjects live in small villages scattered throughout the jungle. Each village is administered by a mayor and his team of priests to the monarchy, although there is a lot of variability in how strictly different leaders enforce laws and collect taxes. Mayors are personally appointed by the sitting monarch and priests are usually promoted from the ranks of local deacons when a position opens up. This is the only real form of social mobility in the villages, as most people are expected to do work harvesting resources from the jungle to send to the capital for export. They are paid wages which comfortably cover their housing and food needs, but deacons, priests, and mayors all earn enough from their positions to pay for magic items and luxuries from off the island. Apparently, most people are satisfied with their more traditional, simpler lives so long as taxes aren't too high and the law doesn't give them too much trouble, so this system has worked well for over 1,000 years.

The Island of Fizsaire Setting Details

 Introduction: The largest island off the eastern coast of the First Empire is a tropical island with a long history of settlement, trade, and cultural exchange with the mainland. It is called the Island of Fizsaire. Currently, there are two nations on the island. These states have never warred with each other, although they have never been allies either. They are separated by the Curtaneous Mountains on the eastern side of the island, the main obstacle to greater contact between the two. The Kingdom of Estram occupies the larger, flatter area west of the Curtaneous Mountains, the Fizsairian Jungle, while the Angco Republic occupies the narrow Slithering Rainforest of the East coast. Both nations, however, exist in the shadow of the nearby First Empire, a fact that hangs over the heads of all who value the independence of the island.

Geographic History: Fizsaire, unlike most islands, has not always been an island. At times when more of Tero’s water was locked up in glaciers and ice caps, sea levels would be low enough to expose the land between the island and the mainland which is currently under an abnormally shallow stretch of ocean water. During these periods, plants and animals were able to migrate to Fizsaire without any obstacles, resulting in environments that are fairly similar to those on the mainland. That said, it has been several thousand years since the last ice age on Tero, so there has been some divergence from mainland species, just not much. The Fizsairian Jungle and Slithering Rainforest are both highly diverse areas home to thousands, if not millions, of species of plants and animals. The wetter rainforest is home to highly diverse populations of birds, snakes, amphibians, and insects, along with several larger species. The larger, drier jungles aren't quite as diverse, making up for this in the sheer numbers of things that are present. Many species are able to survive in both environments, but both also have species that live in one environment but not the other. Separating the two areas are the Curtaneous Mountains, the highest ranges of an otherwise underwater mountain range with many active volcanoes, some of which are on the island itself. These volcanoes provide plenty of nutrients to the environments on either side of them, contributing to the high diversity of the area. Not only that, but the tall mountain range forces warm, humid air from the East up into the atmosphere most days, cooling the air and producing near-constant rain for the Slither Rainforest. The western portion of the island, however, still receives plenty of rain, particularly in the northern parts, although the southernmost reaches devolve into meadows and scrublands at times.

In the face of such diversity and density of species, people on the Island of Fizsaire have developed a deep relationship with the life around them. It is said that for every ailment, there is a plant or animal in the Fizsairian forests which can be used to create a cure. Most of this knowledge has never left the island, however, so much of the world doesn’t benefit from these useful species. Some of the more common plants, cultivated on all parts of Fizsaire, include snakebark trees, vine apples, whiteleaf, and the ferroflower. There are of course many other plants that are well-known by Fizsairians, but these four provide much of the lumber, food, spices, and iron used on the island. As far as animals go, there is a long history of domesticated livestock on the island, as well as a large number of wild species that locals try to be aware of. The most feared of the wild beasts is the invisible tiger, a species of tiger with fur that renders the animal invisible, leaving only their eyes, noses, and open mouths visible to the naked eye. Invisible tigers use their invisibility to hunt nearly anything that moves, including people, however some animals, like the blind gazelles, have developed ways to detect the apex predators. Blind gazelles lack eyes, but this doesn't matter because their horns, shaped like concave dishes on spikes, are able to detect the quietest of sounds, allowing the gazelles to echolocate and detect creatures that are otherwise invisible. Tree armadillos are able to scurry out of reach of any ground-based predators at the first sign of danger, and if caught unawares, they are able to curl up into an armored ball. One creature that has been made the subject of many folk tales is the winged monkey that can be found on all parts of the island. These monkeys with bat-like wings are intelligent, mischievous, and able to get pretty much anywhere they want with ease. Many more flora and fauna can be found on the Island of Fizsaire, however the exact number has never been known, with some saying that there are more species than can be counted.

The Kingdom of Estram: Controlling everything west of the Curtaneous Mountains is the Kingdom of Estram. This kingdom of humans, currently ruled by King Edgard I, traces its history back to before the formation of the First Empire. Once but one small village among many in the jungle, the first king of Estram, King Ed the Ambitious, took inspiration from the newly-formed First Empire, earning his kingship through the conquest of surrounding villages. King Ed funneled the wealth of the villages to the then-village of Estram, allowing the tiny settlement to grow into the City of Estram that stands between the ocean and the jungle today. The kingdom has spent the last millennium in the precarious position of the First Empire’s closest ally, providing a stalwart trading and political partner despite the risk of becoming the next nation to join the larger, more powerful empire. In choosing to support the First Empire in all things, Estram precludes the need for invasion and annexation, allowing the Estramic monarchy to exercise absolute power on their island. Whatever the value the First Emperor actually sees in allowing the Kingdom of Estram to maintain independence, the fact remains that the First Emperor’s influence is strongly felt in Estramic culture and politics. Good relations with the Angco Republic to the east have always been forced by the Curtaneous Mountains between them and the difficulties posed by an amphibious invasion. The kings of Estram would conquer Angco in a heartbeat if they could figure out how to do it. The regular citizens of Estram are mostly supportive of some kind of absolute monarchy, although a sizable portion would rather it be the actual First Emperor and not one of his wannabes, and another sizable portion would rather be ruled by Rosaline, the ancient dragon who lives on Fizsaire. King Edgard expends considerable resources to prevent these cults from gaining too much power, although it is a constant battle.

The Angco Republic: Unbeknownst to all outsiders, especially the humans of Estram, the Angco Republic is populated solely by Snake People. To keep up appearances, it is actually a law that citizens of the republic must maintain a human form whenever they leave the territory of Angco as well as any time outsiders are allowed to come into their lands, although such directives are limited to the immediate areas the outsiders will be visiting. These laws are all proposed, debated, and either approved or disapproved by small councils of elected representatives, each town council acting as a miniature version of the Angco Council which governs the entire nation, each town sending a single councilor to represent their interests on a national level. The snake people of Angco have maintained this method of governance since their ancestors, refugees from the fall of an ancient snake person kingdom in the bog lands of Squee, came to Fizsaire almost 1,500 years ago. The refugees, seeing the errors made by their forebears who tried and failed many times to establish themselves as rulers. Snake people of Angco and the rest of the Island of Fizsaire are aware of the crimes of their ancestors and the ongoing distrust and hatred that is directed at their kind, so they are often more than willing to go to great lengths to preserve not only their secrets, but the peaceful way of life they have attained after many generations of failed conquest. To ensure this peace lasts as long as it can, the Angco Council has embedded many agents in the government of King Edgard, to ensure that they are prepared for any potential invasions and that the plans for such invasions meet difficulties at every turn. 

Rough Timeline

• 25,000 years ago- Rosaline the dragon establishes her lair in an active volcano (now dormant)

• 20,000 years ago- Taking advantage of the land connection that existed at the time, humans first settle the land that would become the Island of Fizsaire

• 1,500 years ago- Snake people first colonize the Slithering Rainforest, pushing out the sparsely-populated humans of the area by being better adapted for such a hot, humid environment

• 1,200 years ago- The village of Estram is founded by a man known as Founder Eulogene

• 1,000 years ago- The First Empire is formed by the First Emperor, inspiring Mayor Ed of Estram to conquer neighboring villages and name himself King Ed the Ambitious

• 500 years ago- The Kingdom of Estram establishes its current borders

• 200 years ago- A near-exposure event during an Estramite diplomatic visit prompts a wave of paranoia and the current state of Angco’s secrecy policies

• 199 years ago- The Angco Republic recalls all but its most senior diplomat and otherwise cuts off diplomatic ties with the Kingdom of Estram, maintaining the bare minimum of trade and polite communications to avoid angering their neighbors

• 50 years ago- Queen Edwina the Crone puts down an uprising of First Emperor cultists by agreeing to accept an unprecedented number of First Imperial diplomats and merchants into their territory, an attempt to bring Estramic culture even more in line with First Imperial norms and expectations

• 23 years ago- King Edgard’s father, King Edwar, enacts several policies meant to cut down on the worship of anyone except for the Estramic monarchs, empowering village mayors to investigate and expel other cults with little to no oversight

• 13 years ago- King Edgar takes the Estramic throne, although there is little difference between his rule and his father’s

• 1 year ago- The Angco Republic sends 5 more diplomats to work under and assist Timantha Smoothskin, previously the sole ambassador to the Kingdom of Estram, while at the same time reports of increased cult activity spread through Estram, leading to suspicions that the increased friendliness from Angco is related to the rise in cultish behavior

Major Factions

King Edgard's Government- King Edgar has been in power for 13 years and has proven himself to be a competent ruler, worthy of the worship he receives as a member of the Estramic monarchy. Edgard has surrounded himself with some of the most competent and accomplished advisors the Island of Fizsaire could provide, resulting in a stable, smoothly-run government. Edgar does his best to stay out of the way of his advisors, preferring to focus on his own area of expertise, propaganda and public relations. As the absolute ruler of his kingdom and the object of worship for his more religious subjects, Edgard spends most of his time planning public appearances, outfits, and speeches to maintain enough public adoration to keep his people united and complicit in Edgard’s dictatorship. The largest concerns of people in this government are Edgard’s propaganda campaigns, maintaining good relations with the First Empire, and eliminating the various cults and political dissident groups that operate in the background of Estramic society.

The Angco Council- The elected council which governs the Republic of Angco. Citizens of Angco are generally happy with the decisions their representatives make, and with elections happening every two years, unpopular representatives rarely stick around for long. With each councilor representing their home village, decisions of the Angco Council usually do a good job of representing the wills of their constituents. With the main goal of maintaining safety and prosperity for their people, the council has recently decided to pursue closer ties to the Kingdom of Estram, hoping to develop a friendship that will tamp down future plans of invasion from the West.

The Angco Diplomatic Team- Led by a snake woman named Timantha Smoothskin, this team of 6 is tasked with being the face of the Angco Republic in the government of King Edgard. Their orders are to maintain peaceful relations with Edgard at all costs. The members of this team double as spies for the Angco Council, using their natural shape-shifting abilities to gather information and prevent harm to Angco within the court of King Edgard.

The Fizsarian Naturalist’s Guild- An organization almost as old as the Kingdom of Estram, the Naturalist’s Guild is dedicated to documenting the extreme biodiversity of  Fizsaire. The guild maintains a library and museum in the City of Estram where they train up new members and organize regular expeditions to collect, monitor, and discover the living things of the island. The Fizsairian Naturalist’s Guild claims to have been founded by an enigmatic figure known as Z, the Immortal Naturalist, a being they claim still stops by every couple of centuries to see what new discoveries have been made and join a few expeditions. No one outside of the guild believes that Z exists, however members are known to be walking encyclopedias of useful information so most people are willing to put up with what they believe to be the fantasies of people who have spent too much time staring at tree bark. Members of the guild are some of the few outsiders who are regularly granted access to the Angco Republic (on the condition that they only every study the wildlife and plants, never the people), leading to some degree of distrust and investigation from King Edgard’s government, but members of the guild have never been found to be anything other than loyal citizens of Estram.

First Empire Merchants- The First Empire is the largest trading partner of the Kingdom of Estram, and that trade is facilitated by the many First Imperial merchants who seem to be a constant presence in the harbor of the City of Estram. Although they can drive a hard bargain, most residents of Fizsaire view their prices as fair, and even if they didn’t, the much lower numbers of traders from other places would make it difficult to get all of the imports that people have grown accustomed to. In exchange for the fruits of First Imperial factories and artisans, the people of Estram trade lumber, dried herbs and spices, and invisible tiger pelts to the visiting merchants.Although this relationship has always been fairly stable, some people in Estram have never been able to shake a sense of unease with the First Empire’s merchants.

First Empire Diplomatic Corps- So many ambassadors, diplomats, and staff members from the First Empire are present in the Kingdom of Estram that they needed to have a large embassy built in the City of Estram. The imposing building is meant to be a reminder of the strong bonds of friendship between the two nations, but those who are less inclined to trust the First Emperor tend to see it as a reminder of the influence the First Empire holds over them. The mission of the First Imperial diplomats in Estram is somewhat different than it is in less friendly locales. Rather than build up good will and connections to ease a future invasion, the First Emperor has ordered the Estram branch of the Diplomatic Corps to maintain friendly, supportive relations without taking any steps to soften the country to First Imperial invasion. It seems that being so supportive of the First Empire really has granted the Kingdom of Estram the privilege of being the last people to be conquered.

Estramic Monarchy Worshipers- King Ed the Ambitious’ inspiration from the First Empire didn’t end at conquering neighbors, he also made sure to establish a tradition of worship based on the veneration of him and his descendants. Today, this worship takes the form of paying taxes and following royal decrees and laws without question. Each village maintains a Royal Temple in the center of the settlement, staffed by 3-5 priests of the monarchy who also act as tax collectors and enforcers of royal policies under the leadership of their village’s mayor. King Edgard has been a good ruler for the most part so while religiosity may be on the decline, no one seems to have any serious issues with the priests of the monarchy that they are willing to air out in public.

Snake People of Estram- Unknown to most except perhaps the snake people of Angco, there are many snake people living among the humans of Estram without notice. While some maintain loyalties to the Angco Republic and act as spies on the council’s behalf, most of these snake people are descended from snake people who were living in the Fizsairian Jungle before the Kingdom of Estram expanded. Rather than leave, these snake people stayed and integrated themselves with the humans who moved in, taking human forms to avoid discrimination and maintaining their secrecy until such a time as the political landscape allows for it. Save for the spies, snake people in Estram are just normal people trying to get by, although they do tend to maintain certain snake person religious and cultural practices in secret.

Estramic Cult of the First Emperor- There is a small but influential subset of Estram citizens who recognize the worship of King Edgard and his ancestors as propaganda, but have come to the conclusion that the worship of the First Emperor in the First Empire is the true religion that they should be following. Following this logic, these worshipers believe that the best way for them to do the will of the First Emperor would be to join his empire and become subject to his laws and policies. Even with the continued persecution and efforts to disrupt meetings, the followers of the First Emperor have grown to sizable numbers that have even been able to threaten the Estramite rulers at times.

Cult of Rosaline- Most snake people on Fizsaire as well as a decent number of humans worship Rosaline the Dragon as their goddess, believing that while she may not provide much to her followers, anyone who is able to make an offering to Rosaline that she accepts into her hoard will be told the secret to spiritual enlightenment. The cult keeps secret, ad-hoc shrines, where followers can focus on the mystery of what Rosaline collects for her hoard. The dragon has never shared what she collects with a single mortal soul, and rarely leaves her lair, leading to much debate over what one might need to bring for her and how one might even find Rosaline’s lair in the first place. For her part, Rosaline is unaware that any of this is going on, and the only reason she won’t tell mortals what she collects is that she believes the additions to her collection are more valuable if they are given without knowing the meaning they hold for her. While popular with snake people all around Fizsaire, there is a growing population of human devotees to Rosaline as those who see the cracks in Estramic religion and First Imperial religion find comfort in the exploration of uncertainty and impossible tasks that worship of the ancient dragon invites.

Rosaline the Dragon- Rosaline is a 25,000 year old dragon with steel-gray scales. Rosaline doesn’t really care to be worshiped, however as a dragon who hoards titles and qualifications, Rosaline will always welcome whatever epithets and nicknames that come her way. Rosaline keeps a list of all of her titles and honors on the walls of her lair in an extinct volcano in the Curtaneous Mountains. Rosaline doesn’t understand that she is an object of worship by a cult, but she does appreciate some of the good titles and epithets that have been given to her over the years as a result. Unfortunately, no one except for Rosaline knows that each new title a worshiper gives her is an addition to her hoard. When she isn’t in her lair, reading through her list of titles over and over again, she is disguised as a mortal, taking classes and collecting qualifications at the universities and academies of the world.

Gnome Mafia- A small group of gnomes have set up residence in the City of Estram as members of the gnome mafia. Like in most places where the gnome mafia gets set up, the main trade of these gnomes is glitter, banned everywhere except for Gnome Country, and rabbits for illegal rabbit pageants. While they need to do a lot of work to stay under the radar of the authorities, the gnome mafia has managed to set up a lucrative business, even if it is limited to the City of Estram.

Mountain Mole Person Outposts- The Curtaneous Mountains are rugged and difficult to cross, let alone inhabit, from the surface. From underground, however, they pose little challenge if one is able to avoid the more active volcanic areas. The mole people, as masters of the subterranean environment, have had no issue establishing outposts within several of the largest mountains on the Island of Fizsaire. The purpose of these outposts is to act as observation posts where the mole people can observe the populations of surface dwellers on the island as their leaders plan their elaborate invasion of the surface. The mole people posted to the Fizsairian outposts have nothing to do with this planning and had no say in being assigned to what are technically alpine locations. Most of what the mole people do at these outposts is use powerful telescopes to observe whatever communities are closest to them. These are considered some of the most boring places to be deployed to by mole person society, but the lack of supervision has allowed that boredom to be put towards some truly bizarre projects. Each of the outposts has independently been running their own series of dangerous, unethical experiments in secret, something enabled by the more academic and espionage-focused personnel who are sent to the observation outposts.

Otherworldly Incursions- The Curtaneous Mountains are not only rugged and difficult to cross, but they are also host to a number of strange, otherworldly hazards. Most of these are known to the people of Fizsaire only through the incoherent tales of the few people who claim to have witnessed these things and survived. Each of these incursions seems to have a completely different effect and reason for being dangerous. Otherworldly creatures, fairy courts, and incomprehensible horrors have all been spoken of, but none of these stories have ever been verified by other people, so no one is ever really sure what to make of them. Most people write them off as the ramblings of people who ran out of supplies in the mountains and hallucinated whatever they rave about.

The Lonely Island: Map, Key Points, Random Encounters

 

Key Points

Symbol	Name	Description
F1	Farport	A large city of roughly 100,000 humans, founded about 130 years ago. The streets are paved with bricks and stones and the buildings are made out of single, magically produced pieces of wood that can be furnished and decorated as the residents see fit.
E2	Rusted Plains Town	The elf town of the Rusted Plains, the buildings are all constructed inside of artificial hills which are covered in irongrass with patches of bushes hiding the entrances.
E3	Bluesalt Marsh Town	The elf town of Bluesalt Marsh, the buildings are all disguised as thick patches of reeds, shrubs, and trees on drier portions of land surrounded by the moss, mud, and salty crust of the marsh proper.
E4	Crusty Mountains Town	The elf town of the Crusty Mountains, the buildings here are all either disguised as massive pine trees or built into natural caves in the immediate area.
E5	Bronze Woods Town	The elf town of the Bronze Woods, the buildings here are all disguised as massive bronzeleaf trees.
D6	Fleance the Dragon's Lair	A series of carefully excavated and decorated caves inside the peak of the tallest mountain on the Lonely Island, Mt. Fleance. Inside, not only does Fleance the dragon make his home, but he also keeps his massive collection of live medicinal plants and the many medicines he's made from them. Fleance is unwilling to share these wonders with anyone except fellow dragons, however, so anyone who wants some better be good at disguises.
B7	The Shovel Tusker's Meadow	The location where the Shoveltusker goes to sleep every night. The bronzeleaf trees surrounding this meadow are covered in deep gouges from the beast's teeth. These gouges are encrusted with dried bronzeleaf sap, a highly desirable ingredient in perfumes and incenses.
B8	The Terror of Farport's Nest	The nest where the Terror of Farport prefers to sleep. Aside from being well hidden in the reeds, this nest is full of the magical ropes the Terror of Farport makes out of bird feathers.
W9	Walled Garden Facility: Marine Research Station	A place where the mages of the Walled Garden were performing experiments on sea creatures, presumably to aid in an amphibious assault of the First Empire.
W10	Walled Garden Facility: Deadly Disease Nursery	Here, Walled Garden mages were attempting to manufacture contagious diseases with all sorts of terrible effects, all of which would ultimately end in death. Most of the labs and containers are still sealed off, however no one has checked for leaks in centuries.
W11	Walled Garden Facility: South Entrance to the Crusty Tunnel	The southern entrance to a tunnel which goes in a straight line from one side of the Crusty Mountains to the other in order to help the mages of the Walled Garden get around the Lonely Island more easily.
W12	Walled Garden Facility: North Entrance to the Crusty Tunnel	The northern entrance to a tunnel which goes in a straight line from one side of the Crusty Mountains to the other in order to help the mages of the Walled Garden get around the Lonely Island more easily.
W13	Walled Garden Facility: Weather Control Station	A facility at the top of a mountain where Walled Garden mages used the high altitude to aid in experiments with controlling the weather.
W14	Walled Garden Facility: Experimental Artillery Range	Here, mages of the Walled Garden not only fired experimental magic artillery, but built the shells. Today, the range is still a minefield of not only valuable materials but hazardous magical effects.
W15	Walled Garden Facility: Enchanted Sword Factory	The Walled Garden intended to manufacture weapons for their invasions here. While their vision never happened, the factory built a considerable stockpile of enchanted weapons before the elves revolted.
W16	Walled Garden Facility: Undetectable Poisons Lab	A lab where Walled Garden mages worked on poisons and chemical weapons that would be completely undetectable to all but the most sensitive magical tests. There are many valuable artifacts in here, it's just that one never knows when they're about to walk into something lethal.
S17	Magical Scar: Eternal Avalanche	A roiling, boiling mass of snow, ice, rocks, and debris that takes up an entire mountainside. The avalanche that started hundreds of years ago appears to still be moving with all the force of the day it began, yet never seems to move any further downhill. To enter the area is incredibly dangerous as the whirling masses of snow maintain all of their force, instantly pulling in whatever touches it and pummeling it to bits. However, it is said that one can get the occasional glimpse of an old Walled Garden facility in the middle of the avalanche, untouched and probably brimming with magical artifacts.
S18	Magical Scar: Giant Glowing Skeleton	The massive skeleton of what appears to have been a gigantic lizard. The bones glow a haunting green which is visible for miles at night. Getting close to the skeleton, living things begin to get sick, losing their hair and coughing up blood before death takes them. A small group of smaller glowing lizards lives among the bones and attacks anyone who gets too close, adding another reason not to get too close. In the center of the massive ribcage, however, sits a pristine, shining sword that any human could wield with ease.
S19	Magical Scar: Massive Iron Cube	A massive iron cube that takes up a cubic mile of volume. From the outside, the cube seems to be made of solid iron save for a single door in the center of each of the cube's faces. If one is strong enough to open one of these doors, they will discover that the cube is actually hollow and home to a replica of the surrounding environment made of pure iron. Plants and animals inside of the cube are also made of pure iron, however they seem to otherwise act like normal, albeit highly violent, versions of whatever they are shaped as. Floating in the exact center of the cube is a wand which apparently has the ability to produce this effect.
S20	Magical Scar: Lake of Molten Glass	A lake full of red-hot, molten glass in the middle of the plains. The source of the heat that keeps the glass melted is unclear, but there is an island in the middle of the perfectly circular lake with what seems to be a lit bonfire in its center. The bonfire never seems to go out, but no one has ever been able to survive the trip to the center of the lake to figure out what is going on.
S21	Magical Scar: Invisible Cloud of Poison Gas	A large area near the Undetectable Poisons Lab which contains an unmoving cloud of invisible, unscented, and flavorless gas which is instantly lethal to anything that breathes in the cloud. No matter how windy it is, the cloud stays put, however this does not prevent unwitting animals from walking into the cloud every day. Their bodies mark the edges of the cloud. As far as anyone is able to tell, the gas is being contained by some magical device inside the cloud, however no one is able to get far enough into the cloud to verify this.
S22	Magical Scar: Paused Explosion	A gigantic ball of purple energy that appears to be lodged in the side of a mountain. The energy ball does not move, change shape, or fluctuate in any way, however anything that touches it is vaporized on contact. This is the explosion which destroyed the Walled Garden facility that used to be in its center, however some magical effect seems to have stopped it before it could destroy much of the Lonely Island. No one knows how big the explosion would get before it ended if the magic pausing it were to be removed, so no one is too interested in messing with it.
S23	Magical Scar: Bottomless Pit	A pit in the ground which seems to go on forever, despite the fact that the planet Tero is roughly spherical and any such hole would logically punch through the other side after a certain point. This has not happened, for some reason, and nothing that has ever been sent into the pit has ever returned. According to elvish history, many highly valuable items and magical weapons ended up in here during their revolt, so anyone who figures out how to get those items back out would instantly become wealthy and powerful.
S24	Magical Scar: Place Where People Can Only Feel Fear	A region where the only emotion anyone is able to feel is fear. People tend to avoid this area as much as possible, but there are some who seem to think that is emotional field is hiding something.
S25	Magical Scar: Animate Tree That Attacks Everything	A large bronzeleaf tree which is able to whip its limbs around and attack any living thing that gets within range. It is said that the cause of this state is buried underneath the tree itself, and anyone who can obtain that item will not only be protected from the tree, but be able to make other trees like it.
L26	Ancient Lizard Folk Ruins: Statue of Lizardry	A massive bronze statue of a lizard person which is 200 feet tall and overlooks the ocean in the direction of the nearest land. The statue is clothed in a robe and seems to be holding a book in one arm and holding up a torch with the other. Within the hollow statue is a complex network of rooms, passages, stairs, and ladders which a band of pirates has taken up residence in. These pirates hide their boats on the shore nearby and opportunistically target lone merchant ships around the Lonely Island.
L27	Ancient Lizard Folk Ruins: Fish Market	An old fish market that the ancient lizard folk used to use. Some of the stalls even still have the remains of fish and butchering tools. Although the fish remains may not be very appealing, ancient lizard folk butchering tools can still be functional and highly valuable.
L28	Ancient Lizard Folk Ruins: Rusted City	The remains of an ancient lizardfolk city that was built entirely out of iron, and which is now mostly rust. Despite this, there are still many valuable items to be found in the ruins, although exploring the rusty, decaying ruins can be incredibly dangerous thanks to the corroded metal structures.
L29	Ancient Lizard Folk Ruins: Shrine to Fleance	An old shrine surrounded by a small temple where ancient lizard folk would leave offerings to Fleance the dragon. This shrine has not been maintained for a very long time, however, and only Fleance himself seems to visit it with any regularity. Fleance mostly just tidies up, but it seems like he has left many of the old offerings untouched. Although these have sentimental value to Fleance, explorers might be tempted by the wide array of valuables and enchanted items that were gifted to the dragon of the Lonely Island thousands of years ago.
L30	Ancient Lizard Folk Ruins: Last Holdout Village	The ruins of the last village of free lizard folk to hold out against the Arcane Order of the Walled Garden and their heinous experiments on the lizard folk of the Lonely Island. Within these old stone buildings, one can find a complete history of the Lonely Island lizard folk, written in ancient lizardfolk script and language, as well as several ancient lizard folk artifacts that had been hidden here under the assumption that the holdout lizardfolk would be able to escape the Walled Garden and reclaim their heirlooms.

Random Encounter Tables

roll 2d6	Farport	The Rusted Plains	Bluesalt Marsh	Crusty Mountains	Bronze Woods	Big Bay
2	An angry mob has an alleged snake person and are performing "tests" to see if the person is actually a reptilian shape shifter, most of which involve causing harm to their victim to force them to shift to their natural form, assuming they actually are a snake person (50/50 chance)	The Armored Behemoth, grazing and ignoring everything around it	The Terror of Farport, chasing down a bird so it can pluck it and make rope from its feathers	The Elephant Bird, inhaling all vegetation in sight and plucking trees clean with its trunk	The Shovel Tusker, using its tusks to dig up bronzeleaf roots and eat them	Shepherd Jim, tending his herd of cold water manatees
3	One of the 5 priestly orders of the Church of the Island is holding a festival which completely blocks off the main roads in the city, people must use side streets to get around	A fresh trail of short-cropped irongrass which was left by the Armored Behemoth in the last day	A recently plucked bird shivering in the open marsh with tracks from the Terror leading back to its nest	A trail of bare trees left by the Elephant Bird within the last day	A trench dug by the Shovel Tusker within the last day	A recently killed and partially butchered cold water manatee from Shepherd Jim's flock on the nearest bit of shoreline
4	Someone in the party overhears someone talking about the most recent news of pirates on the west coast of the island	A giant plains chameleon tries to nab a random member of the party with its tongue	A large nesting ground which will take some time to walk around, but walking through risks angering the thousands of birds with eggs and chicks in the area	A resin possum chatters at the party and will fire resin bullets from its tube-like snout if anyone gets too close to its tree	A battery of artillery possums is bombarding a large hollow bronzeleaf tree where a pack of sabertooth ferrets is hiding after a failed hunt against the possums	The floating corpse of a shark bearing the signs of attack by Shepherd Jim, probably in response to the shark going after a manatee
5	A rat scurries into an alley	A stilted rat runs into a nearby thicket of bushes	A large stork gets spooked and flies away	A mountain rat runs and hides in a nearby bush	A pistol possum runs up a tree trunk and hides in the branches	A lone cold water manatee swims back to it's herd as fast as it can
6	A construction project blocks a single key instersection	A patch of wild rustroot, about 1/4 are ready to be harvested	A huge flock of birds flies overhead and briefly blocks out the sun	Some songbirds fly through the trees and chirp at the party	A bronze-billed woodpecker starts pecking at a tree, making a sustained metallic clanging noise	Seagulls fly overhead
7	nothing	nothing	nothing	nothing	nothing	nothing
8	Someone finds a gold coin on the ground	A pack of sabertooth ferrets about 100 feet away, they will attack the party if they get too close	A solitary sabertooth ferret about 100 feet away, it will run away if it spots anyone else	A pack of sabertooth ferrets about 100 feet away, they will attack the party if they get too close	A pack of sabertooth ferrets about 100 feet away, they will attack the party if they get too close	A pack of sabertooth ferrets can be seen on shore, watching the party
9	A recruiter for the Academy of Arcane Casting is shouting about the school from a soapbox on a street corner	A herd of metallic kangaroos hops past at maximum speed	A solitary sabertooth ferret about to raid a bird nest on the ground about 50 feet away	A pack of sabertooth ferrets chases a small group of mountain rats through the woods	A family of pistol possums is firing at a pack of sabertooth ferrets from the branches of a bronzeleaf tree to try to make the larger predators go away	A stilted rat swimming in the water
10	Fleance the dragon can be seen flying in the distance	Fleance the dragon can be seen flying in the distance	Fleance the dragon can be seen flying in the distance	Fleance the dragon can be seen flying in the distance	Fleance the dragon can be seen flying in the distance	Fleance the dragon can be seen flying in the distance
11	A pushy merchant, Janet of Many Blades, decides to follow the party and convince them to come visit her shop, she will go away if the party is firm with her, but if they follow, she will take them to a shop with every weapon anyone has ever heard of and lots of high quality armor	A group of farporters on expedition to gain a greater understanding of the Lonely Island and what it has to offer (1/10 chance of being members of the Thieves in the Garden, 1/100 chance of having recently encountered one of the unique creatures, an elf, or one of the magical scars)	A group of farporters on expedition to gain a greater understanding of the Lonely Island and what it has to offer (1/10 chance of being members of the Thieves in the Garden, 1/100 chance of having recently encountered one of the unique creatures, an elf, or one of the magical scars)	A group of farporters on expedition to gain a greater understanding of the Lonely Island and what it has to offer (1/10 chance of being members of the Thieves in the Garden, 1/100 chance of having recently encountered one of the unique creatures, an elf, or one of the magical scars)	A group of farporters on expedition to gain a greater understanding of the Lonely Island and what it has to offer (1/10 chance of being members of the Thieves in the Garden, 1/100 chance of having recently encountered one of the unique creatures, an elf, or one of the magical scars)	A group of farporters on expedition to gain a greater understanding of the Lonely Island and what it has to offer (1/10 chance of being members of the Thieves in the Garden, 1/100 chance of having recently encountered one of the unique creatures, an elf, or one of the magical scars)
12	The Duck Man, sitting at a market stall in a random alley somewhere with Mary Lou and his magic wagon directly behind him	An elf who runs away as soon as they notice the party	An elf who runs away as soon as they notice the party	An elf who runs away as soon as they notice the party	An elf who runs away as soon as they notice the party	The Duck Man riding on the driver's seat of his wagon as it floats on the water and is pulled along by Mary Lou, who is swimming