Caislen Campaign Notes

The Crompse Causal Loop is a series of events in this campaign where you can't pinpoint what started the paradoxical cycle, but has many impacts on the greater plot and some key characters over time.

Skip is the infamous drunk of Goldvale. He was introduced into the game as a Dark Elf local who's hit just about rock bottom because he's become separated from his wife Ema when they fail to conceive children. In short this is ruining his life, he's blaming others, even taking up with a cult. This is Skip's core personality and drama for many game sessions. It pits him in a love triangle drama that has its own series of events and consequences. Skip has many interactions with the party, for better or worse, and becomes somewhat of a recurring nuisance and plot vehicle for many shenanigans.

Jules is a player character Wood Elf ranger. She was born on another continent in the city of Havenspass and notably has two moms. A Wood Elf birth mom by the name of Nix, and a Tiefling step mom by the name of Kess.

Wyrd Uncle Lugo is a demon far back in the bloodline of Jules' step mom. Tieflings basically trace their ancestry to some infernal bloodline, and this is his connection. He hasn't been known to appear to anyone in his Tiefling bloodline for many generations, but suddenly he appears and introduces himself to Jules, who is only even in his family by default of a second marriage since she's an elf type and not a tiefling. Jules finds her life has the oddity of Lugo appearing whenever he sees fit and doesn't really know why he's chosen now to appear or even why he'd appear to her.

The Party visited the cloud island of Mustardia on a random quest. While there they discovered an exhibit about Ancient Crompse, a town historically located to the west of Goldvale, even back before Goldvale was founded. In the exhibit a painting was discovered showing 4 smiling bandits posing with a dead ringer for Jules wearing noble clothes, standing in what appears to be a library. This painting made no sense and was considered impossible since it was from a time long before Jules ever even existed. She took the painting with her as a mystery to solve later.

Skip finally loses his damn mind when not only can he not conceive with Ema, nor have her in his life, but finds out that she's gone to Phil, the other part of the love triangle, for a fertility potion. The Party including Jules was involved in this, and basically everyone around Skip seems to have been involved in things he perceives as wrecking his life and rubbing salt in his wounds. To that end he uses knowledge he has from being a minor lackey for The Cult Of Alden. The knowledge in question is where he can find the scrolls of demon summoning left by “The Three” from the Toc Clan Coal Mine Event. He heads to a tiny dungeon hidden under the graveyard near the Shrine Of Hayte to get the scrolls and summon a demon to start vanquishing his perceived enemies, which consist of most of Goldvale and of course The Party. The Party tries to stop him, but he reaches the scrolls and summons a demon.

Skip's scroll actually summons the closest demon of any real value geographically to him that has to generically obey him, but gives some leeway as to how. Since Jule's “Wyrd Uncle Lugo” has been prowling about the Goldvale area keeping tabs on her, he is essentially grabbed by the summoning spell and bound to Skip. Lugo, happening to have an amulet that allows for some limited time travel, is told by Skip to take them “back in time before everything went wrong with Ema” so he can try to fix the relationship. Lugo being a very sly kind of dude takes them back in time but widely interprets the terms of that request to not be what Skip really wants and they arrive in Ancient Crompse, somewhere between 4800−6400 years (aka 6-8 elf lifetimes) before present times.¹⁾ This isn't what Skip intended but falls within Lugo's right to do even while bound.²⁾

Both Skip & Lugo like to gamble and with tensions high and finding themselves at odds in the distant past, bound to each other, they made a bet while sitting in a tavern.

• IF Skip won the bet then Lugo would take them forward in time to exactly where he wanted and be his loyal servant forever.
• IF Lugo won the bet then Skip would forfeit all rights and bonds to Lugo and related services.

The actual bet, as both of these guys are very familiar with Jules, is to see if she can re/create The Painting (noted above) of herself, in Ancient Crompse, with 4 smiling bandits, while wearing noble clothes. As the painting already exists in the future and Jules has it, it is a known ancient item. A very improbable one. Lugo bet on her ability to re/create the painting.

Lugo returns to Goldvale chronologically a day after him and Skip vanished off to Ancient Crompse. The Party is wandering about enjoying a generic game session getting caught up on random quests, and Lugo tells someone he knows they will speak with that he's going to be over in the Rusty Cave. A very changed Skip is present in the future, wandering around apologizing to those he's wronged, but there's no interaction between him & Lugo for the moment in the present. Lugo goes to the Rusty Cave knowing Jules will lead The Party there out of curiosity about all things Wyrd Uncle Lugo related. Sure enough she does. Lugo informs the party that he's made a bet with Skip and that he can't give them any details per the terms of the bet, but that they can “paint their own picture” of what's going on for themselves. He says he'll “leave Jules alone for a little while” & agrees to deliver a letter to her adopted mother, if they help.³⁾ He transports them directly into the past of Ancient Crompse.

The Party doesn't know where they are at first, or even that there's been a time change. It certainly isn't their familiar Goldvale. It isn't even the same time of year since it is snowing outside as they arrive unceremoniously in a horse stable and there was no cold weather for them moments before standing in the Rusty Cave.

They quickly realize they are immersed in an ancient town dominated by the minions of a Bandit Queen, start spotting some of the bandits that are shown with Jules in the painting, and realize they are in fact in the past. This is further made official by encountering both Skip & Lugo at the Gin Giant Tavern. Skip isn't portrayed as the guy who's trying to make apologies and amends though, he's pointedly cranky and hostile about everyone. Lugo can't give any hints about the bet at this time either. So the party starts exploring Ancient Crompse, trying to find the people in the painting and some noble clothes for Jules, as well as a painter to execute the thing. Armed with paranoia about changing history accidentally, and needing certain bandits alive, they navigate many situations to try to round them all up.

Lugo keeps Skip liquored up and getting him into all sorts of shenanigans with the loose wenches of the Gin Giant Tavern. Bandit towns are great for that. Skip, the Dark Elf, drunkenly has sex with a Wood Elf who's name he wouldn't even catch, but it was “Mynt”. Lugo set that up.

Skip has spent much time in his recent life (in the present, not the past) fretting over Ema, fertility, and becoming the drunkard since it all seems out of his grasp to fix. He's blamed just about anyone for his woes. Lugo, frustrated that he's been bound to Skip, gets Skip really drunk and a little high on some euphoric stew served at the Gin Giant Tavern. He convinces Skip to go see the local fortune teller who happens to be a Hag. Maybe she can shed some light on what it'll take for him to have a child with Ema in the future? A drunk Skip naturally manages to make the hag mad while they're there, and she curses him that after his first child, he shall never have another.

The catch? Skip has already unknowingly knocked up the Wood Elf “Mynt” from the tavern. Chronologically this happens before Ema even exists. So the curse has been the actual reason he could never breed with Ema! Therefor with all the blame out there, it was Lugo who actually set in motion that which ruined Skip's life. DO NOT FUCK WITH A DEMON!

The Party, after various little dramas in the past to get the painting made, which included rounding up the painter, getting them to paint all four bandits in separately and then add in Jules and the background, are then transported back to the Present. Skip obviously lost the bet since the improbable painting was created, and arrives earlier than the party, which for him was just after he left with Lugo originally. His new goal is to be the apologetic guy making amends. Which The Party had already had a chance to see before they got sucked into the whole causal loop. The painting was left behind to be found by cloud giants. Lugo was freed from his bond to Skip. Loop complete.

Lugo over the years in setting this all up took some actions, which included:

1. Eventually guiding his own tiefling descendant into the love life of Jule's mother.
   1. This was to completely and overwhelmingly link him and Skip's interests for the duration of the bet.
2. Guiding the offspring of Skip's drunken hookup toward being in the blood line of Jules.
   1. It was determined that Jules is 1% Dark Elf (via Skip's DNA) and real world science would declare that it would take 6 to 8 generations for that to happen as the DNA was watered down.
   2. Given an elvish lifespan averages 800 years and a variable of 6 to 8 generations was in play, this is how we reverse engineer the time frame of Ancient Crompse.
   3. More amusingly it means Skip & Jules are related.