Rumours and Local Legends

A collection of rumours and legends from across Golarion.

Goblins
Goblins have lived along the Lost Coast for as long as anyone can remember, but that certainly doesn’t mean they’re welcome. Viewed as pests by most and monsters by all, goblins’ reliance on the garbage of greater societies has ensured their simpering, cavorting proximity to better civilizations since the start. Goblins are naturally craven, gleefully foolish, and ever eager to visit atrocity and pain upon those they encounter, a combination that one might think would have led to their eradication by their betters long ago. But goblins are fecund and stubborn if nothing else. Much to the distress of the rest of us, goblins are here to stay.
 * Goblins can often be heard (though rarely seen) launching raids on junkyards and trashpiles.
 * Dogs and horses are traditionally feared and hated by goblins.

Sandpoint Devil
They say it’s bad luck to see the Sandpoint Devil—that it’s the son of a widow who brokered a deal with a devil to gain a child, and that it stalks children and snatches them from their beds through windows left foolishly open. They say the beast is so hideous that even drawings and pictures of the fiend are prone to bursting into flame. That the Sandpoint Devil actually exists is not debated—it’s been sighted by too many reputable folk, and savaged too many innocent victims to be compeltely a myth. Rumors abound as to its lair and its genesis, but the Devil itself is very much a real creature—flesh and blood and smoke and fire and all.
 * Most often described as a horse-like monster with bat wings
 * Farmer Grump claims that it once flew off with his prize sow.

Chopper
The fading scars of a recent terror still linger, a time most folk refer to as the Late Unpleasantness. Just over five years ago, a madman stalked the streets of Sandpoint, killing dozens. Known as Chopper, the killer’s month long terror ended bloodily when an eccentric local artisan (Jervis Stoot) was revealed as the murderer and killed during his attempted capture. The town guard followed the bloody trail from Chopper's last killing (the late Sheriff Avertin) in what became known as Chopper's Alley. It led to the island just north of the Old Light where Stoot had built his home.

At first, the town guard refused to believe the implications, and feared that Chopper had come to claim poor Jervis Stoot as his 26th victim. Yet what the guards found in the modest home atop the isle, and in the larger complex of rooms that had been carved into the bedrock below, left no room for doubt. The eyes and tongues of all 25 victims were found in a horrific altar to a birdlike demon whose name none dared speak aloud. Stoot himself was found dead at the base of the altar, having plucked his own eyes and tongue loose for a final offering. The guards collapsed the entrance to the chambers, burned Stoot's house, tore down the stairs and did their best to forget. Stoot himself was burned on the beach in a pyre, his ashes then blessed and scattered in an attempt to stave off an unholy return of his evil spirit from beyond the grave. In the months to follow, Sandpoint did its best to forget the terror, although even today children who remember the dark times wake with nightmare visions of Chopper hiding under their beds.

Brinestump Marsh
Located just south of Sandpoint, this marsh is less than five miles in length and little more than a mile wide. However, it is avoided by most locals due to the creatures that call it home; goblin snakes, giant geckos, and Old Megus the Swamp Witch.
 * Goblin tracks can often be found skirting the farmlands of Sandpoint along the marsh's edge.
 * There are a few old fishing trails sometimes used by the braver of Sandpoint's fishermen who swear by the quality of fish in the marsh's fishing holes.
 * Tales of Old Megus have existed in Sandpoint for decades; stories say that she would visit the town for alchemical apperati, strange books from far away cities and peculiar supplies.  These same stories also claim that if you watched closesly you could see strange, rat-like creatures moving within the folds of her robes.
 * For the past 3 years, fishermen and farmers have told stories of a pale monster with legs that bend like a dog’s, that dresses in rags, and that hunts along the shores of the Soggy River. Sightings of the so-called “Soggy River Monster” are most common near Brinestump Marsh, causing most to believe the creature dwells somewhere in the swamp. The creature has been blamed for at least five disappearances over the past year, although Sandpoint’s militia suspects these disappearances are, in fact, simply bored sons and daughters running away from home to seek an exciting life in Magnimar.