Caislen Campaign Notes

Jack (was) a boring seeming human male who runs The Card House in Goldvale as the tavern keeper. Originally players just knew him as the generic bartender who THEY got to name¹⁾. However they met him again during the Toc Clan Coal Mine Event set in the past and discovered there (is) more to him, specifically that the Zerk Goblins referred to him as “That Obnoxious Hero”. For he is in reality, a high level very charismatic²⁾ type with a pretty fun magical kazoo³⁾.

Jack hates goblins for what they did to a Toc Clan dwarven friend of his in the past during the event, and by default hates Alden, The Cult Of Alden and all things related. Arriving via a portal through time in the Goldvale area just 5 years before the party interacted with him, he bought The Card House from the prior owner and settled into the role of being a watcher. The tavern is the perfect place to get all the gossip and see what agents of Alden and other potential problematic types come and go.

Jack knows many things that the player characters have not yet discovered. While they have made contact with him to confirm they all know about the past, they do not know how Goldvale itself works. But Jack does know and has given them hints. He is also aware that the party had the Shovel Of Alden for awhile.

One foggy day⁴⁾ in Goldvale The Party came into The Card House. Jack silently determined that the fog was actually an omen and gave them a pouch with 3 Magic Beans. Prior to this point the party bought the Mirror House from Jack via giving him a cow they acquired from Ema. Long story short, Jack has tangled with selling cows and magic beans in his time as a hero long ago. The Party has been tangled up with Jack and cows already, and basically the whole setup leads to Jack being this game world's Jack & The Beanstalk guy. It can be assumed he has a past history with likely either Giants in general or specifically Mustardia. In any case, he passes that torch to the PCs. He makes a reference to being “nimble & quick” while at it, so it is assumed there's more fairy tale and nursery rhyme drama in his backstory, whatever it is.

The Goldvale area has no official mayor or leadership, but everyone goes to The Card House. So Jack has in a very short span of a few years become sort of the de facto Mayor. If anyone needs to buy or sell homes, or has some issue that locals should solve⁵⁾ then they see Jack first. An example of this is when Eyrun & Jules bought their house. Or later when they returned with Urist and tried to get Jack to weigh in on what to do about a deceased Ginger.

• Jack is an old acquaintance of Patrick, the guy who just wants some peace and quiet but unfortunately moved to the Hylund Forest to try to find it.
• Patrick knows that Jack has a Half Star Portal Stone and sent the AAP to Jack, with a letter, requesting that Jack send them through a portal on a “quest” so that Patrick might get some peace and quiet for awhile.
• Jack is aware of much of The Cult Of Alden's ongoing activities, and allowed Milo to portal away with the Shovel Of Alden, which he figures at least places it far away from Goldvale for awhile. The deal is if Milo ever makes it back to Jack, then Milo has to justify what to do with the shovel next.
• DM's Note: Jack has been directly involved or affiliated with so many major events spanning time and continents in this campaign setting, which makes him a very important NPC.