Straps of your Boots Campaign Introduction

Breaksky Island

It happened 23 years ago. Everyone has heard the story; the rifts in the sky grew, waned, but inevitable spread until that fateful day in Common Year 876 . On the 12th of Harvest Moon, the rifts extended down over the Golia Islands, and then a tremendous sound and force extended from the site that everybody on the planet heard. When the smoke and fog cleared, the Golia Islands had been replaced by a landmass roughly the size of France, which was promptly termed Breaksky Island.
The stories since then are as numerous as there are storytellers. Daring adventurers, dangerous monsters, the wealth of kings lying about on seemingly-empty beachheads; they’re the sort of tales that make for great tavern songs and bedtime stories alike.
In the last two decades, every major power able to put canvas to the wind has rushed to this land of unfathomable wealth to claim its riches for their own. The death toll has been high, but then again, when has that ever stopped kings and nobles from doing as they pleased?
You are a citizen of the Coitelan Alliance, stationed in Fort Valor. You may have been born here within the last 20 years. You may have been sent over as punishment for the crimes you committed on the mainland, exiled from the home you once knew. You may have been a castaway from another nation, finding yourself at speartip on the beaches of Valor Isle within the Outer Reaches, given the choice between service to the Alliance , or death.
Whatever the reason, you know one thing for certain; wherever you want to go, it isn’t here. There are only two ways out for you; you can find the resources you need to survive, thrive, and buy your way off this cursed island, or you can die trying.

A Tragedy of Worldbreaking Proportions

Everybody knows Roger . He’s friendly. He’s lovable. He wouldn’t speak ill of anybody. He’s one of the most dependable figures on Valor Isle. If you’ve stepped into the Blackhammer Smithery, you can expect to see Roger look up and smile at you from whatever he’s doing the moment you open the door.
Roger is a Jack Russell Terrier.
Dogs on Breaksky Island are exceedingly rare, in general. For whatever unknown reason, the local wildlife prefers to prey on dogs before their accompanying humans or even other kinds of pets. If that weren’t enough, many dogs that have been brought to the island fall sick from eating local food. Many will afterwards refuse to eat until they have been brought off the island.
For all of these reasons, Roger is a local celebrity in Fort Valor. He eats local food without ill effects, and will fearlessly stand up to the island’s wildlife (of rodent-size and larger). Neither harpy nor sea-hag has claimed him in the night.
So when Roger went missing, and his master Grom Blackhammer put up the notice outside the Smithery (“Reward for Roger’s Safe Return, 100gp in Coin, or 200gp in Fine Trade”), you didn’t even consider not taking the job. And so, in the late summer morning of 24th of Honeysuckle Moon, 899 C.Y., you decided to pop into the Blackhammer Smithery to help, for profit and for pup.