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- 'Tiny' Popolov: Recently from Ustalav, this half-orc ranger's moniker is a misnomer, as he's close to seven feet tall.
- 'Blade' Popolov: Tiny's full-human brother, this rogue loves drinkin' and the ladies.
- Ing Shieldbreaker: Cast out from his Ulfen homeland, this cleric of Gorum has found a reason to stick around the town of Sandpoint.
- Keisos Ambrugal: Running from a past in Cheliax, this half-elf paladin is wondering which god he truly follows.
- Kiorte: A human fighter with a sharp blade and a sturdy shield looking for some extra cash hunting goblins.
- Paza Kifu: Always ready with a spell, this human sorcerer keeps her clawed hands hidden...most of the time.
Bright multicolored lights have been seen over Brinestump Marsh, and after hearing the generous bounty for goblin ears (or the head of Chief Gutwad of the Licktoad tribe) from Sheriff Belor Hemlock, the party decides to team up and head into the swamp. After some advice from Shalelu Andosana, they seek out Walthus Proudstump, the self-proclaimed "warden" of Brinestump. Tiny and Ing discover a trail leading into Brinestump, as well as a smoking, partially burnt goblin body with its head missing. Despite excellent tracking by Tiny, the three-toed tracks by the headless goblin body turns up nothing.
After encountering three giant leeches at a bridge crossing, the party finds the warden's shack, but something very curious is going on. Walthus does not appear to want visitors, which might be normal for a hermit, but there's something distinctly off about him. While Keisos, Ing, and Paza talk with the halfling, Blade decides to scout around back and enter in a window, only to find that he's entered into a literal snake pit. When Keisos, Ing, and Paza see Walthus's features ripple, Keisos grabs the halfling, but "Walthus" changes into a horrible creature with a long, rasping tongue. While Blade fights off the enormous snakes, the party engages "Walthus" in combat. Several snake bites and tongue gouges later, the party defeats "Walthus." Hidden in a nearby room, the real Walthus stumbles out, in bad shape but in good humor. He invites them to all stay overnight in his shack and enjoy a hot meal (it's the least he could do) while he compiles some information on how where the goblins live in Brinestump marsh.
XP earned: 400 each
Enemies encountered: giant leech, swamp viper, faceless stalker
NPCs met: Shalelu Andosana, Walthus Proudstump
Treasure found: cloak of resistance +1 (Kiorte), 3 antitoxin
Quote of the night: "He had his head {censored} off by a demon." —'Blade' Popolov, after finding a headless goblin corpse
Plot Twist: Hidden Asset (Keisos)
Plot Twist Flashback: Phobia (Tiny), Pivotal Moment (Blade)
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Plot Twist cards are given when a character advances the campaign in some fashion.
Flashback cards are given when a character builds up their character's backstory.
Each player can get one of each card, and can use them at any time as a free action.
After resting overnight at Warden Proudstump's shack, the party was still suffering from the poison damage wrought by vipers, with Kiorte out for the count. Even after Walthus gave them all of the curative potions he had, they still weren't recovered from their ordeal. Walthus informed him that he was attacked several months ago by a hideous fanged, three-toed monster that savaged him and took away the goods he had just acquired from Sandpoint Cathedral, mostly in the form of antitoxins and more potions to aid in his hobby of raising snakes. With skillful tracking by Tiny, the party was able to find where the monster lived—unfortunately they found out there was more than one. Tiny managed to spot them before they could get a surprise attack off, but the others weren't able to find them in the thick plant growth, and Blade ran right into the waiting jaws of one of the creatures, its bite inflicting lustful thoughts. Magic-resistant, fast, and stealthy, these creatures were able to deal a vicious blow to the party (nearly killing Blade) before fortunes turned against them. Exploiting a deep fear of arrows in one of the monsters, Tiny was able to drive away one of the creatures with well-placed shots, with Ing trying to chase the creature down (which got away). Frustrated with the way her spells were bouncing off of the creatures, Paza switched tactics and exploited a fear of fire in the creatures, chasing off one while allowing Keisos to finish off one of the creatures. Running from the fire-wielding sorceress, the creature ran right into Ing, who was chasing the creature down and killing in the name of Gorum. The arrow-fearing creature ran right into the hammer of Orthak, who found himself in the swamps hunting goblin ears (much like the party themselves).
Returning to Walthus's shack after digging through the monsters' lair, they inquired more about what was going on in the swamp and what the Licktoad goblins were up to. Walthus is certain that the strange lights seen over the swamp are not magical, but might have something to do with some of the wrecked ships that have washed up over the years. Rather than trudging through the swamp without a clear direction, and not willing to go directly into a village full of hostile goblins without some reconnaissance, the party decides to head out to the Lost Coast Road in search of an old trail Tiny heard about called Witch's Walk. When they find it, though, it's overgrown and hasn't been used in at least a year. Despite that, they journey on, trying to use the Witch's Walk trail to find one of the wrecked ships. After crossing a rickety old bridge (and Tiny and Orthak going into the muck), they run across the home of the infamous swamp with known as Old Megus.
XP earned: 300 each
Enemies encountered: Soggy River monster
NPCs encountered: Walthus Proudstump
Characters met: Orthak Forung
Treasure found: 4 potions of lesser restoration, light wooden shield, quarterstaff, 27 pp with ancient markings on them
Quote of the night: "I need no shirt! My nipples are mighty!" —Ing Shieldbreaker
Plot Twist: Way With Words (Ing)
Plot Twist Flashback: Collective Memory (Orthak),
Critical Fumbles: Better to Give (Keisos against Soggy River monster), Wide Open (Keisos against a tree)
Initally on alert when approaching the ramshackle huts, the party relaxed for a moment when the rustling noises from the bushes turned out to be a pig. Scarred and filthy, but friendly and hungry, the party fed it while they continued to investigate. One of the shacks contained a nest of enormous rats that didn't appear to be hostile. Tittering laughter and the offer to come in for tea made the party immediately suspicious, but Keisos and Ing went in anyway, only to find a rat with a disconcerting human face. Insisting that they drink the "tea," Keisos tried to pry out information from the strange creature, including the location of the "mistress" the creature mentioned, but the creature was evasive. The creature was livid when Tiny tried to befriend the large rats, screeching that Tiny was trying to steal his friends, and the creature chattered something, causing the rats to become hostile and attack the party. After they were defeated, the party searched the shack, finding decaying and deformed corpse of what they assume was Megus, along with a small stash of valuables and gold.
Continuing their search for shipwrecks, they find the wreck of the Kaijitsu Blossom, devoid of loot except for its corroding nameplate. Recognizing the name of Kaijitsu as the same as the proprietor of Sandpoint's Rusty Dragon Tavern, the party decides to take it with them. Filled with a sense of general unease, Tiny finds a goblin corpse, killed by some unknown means, and uncovers a goblin trail. The trail leads back deep into the swamp, directly into the home of the Licktoad tribe. Among the many goblin tracks are skeletal feet, but the skeletal feet only go in one direction—toward the village.
Scouting out the village and killing the goblins they find, the party runs across Chief Gutwad, who tries to bargain for an escape. Breaking down his pitifully locked throne room doors, Ing allows Paza to ignite the inhabitants and the furniture with her sorcerous fire. Unfortunately for Chief Gutwad, this also ignites the many fireworks that he's hoarded for himself, nearly killing him when they detonate. Fleeing, Chief Gutwad leaves his last bodyguard, Reta Bigbad, to deal with the longshanks but she falls to Ing's greatsword. Chasing down Chief Gutwad, the party manages to pry information out of him and one other goblin before they kill the chief for Sheriff Hemlock's bounty.
After acquiring the "skycandles" from a hated foe named Vorka and looting the old wrecked ship she had taken over, Chief Gutwad told his heroes to find other ships with the skycandles. While they did find a great cache of them (along with other treasures), "bone men" followed the goblins back, attacking the Licktoads. Many goblins were killed before the goblins could destroy the bone men, and all that are left of the Licktoad are the few that fled into the swamp. Chief Gutwad said that he tried to give the treasure back to the bone men, and said that some came from a cave. The crude map depicted on the back of the fancy fan in Gutwad's possession notes some locations in the swamp, and with a bit of study, the party might be able to figure out where these locations match within Brinestump Marsh.
XP earned: 685 each (level up to 2nd)
Enemies encountered: Dire rat, rat-like creature with human hands and head, goblin
NPCs encountered: "Pig", Chief Gutwad (killed), Reta Bigbad (killed)
Treasure found: 5 unidentified magical arrows, masterwork dagger with steel scabbard (Blade), unidentified scroll (DC 21 Spellcraft to identify), 2 unidentified scrolls (DC 22 Spellcraft to identify), scroll of water walk (CL 7th), 2 unidentified potions, muck-encrusted chest (6 masterwork shuriken, long hairpin with a red pearl, gold-and-ivory fan depicting a gecko among cherry blossoms with a crude map on the reverse), 177 gp, 329 sp
Quote of the night: "Ing is just going to stand over there and flex his pecs at the door and it's going to explode." —Keisos Ambrugal, on relative strength
Plot Twist: Broken (Tiny)
Plot Twist Flashback: Cliffhanger (Paza),
Critical Fumbles: Slipped (Kiorte against half-eaten slugs), This Sword is Heavy (Tiny against his greatclub), Too Much Stuff (Goblin warrior against his gear)
Critical Hits: Bicep Wound (Tiny against dire rat), Delayed Wound (Keisos against goblin warrior)
After a night of careful studying (and the counting of goblin ears), Tiny was able to decipher the crude map that was scrawled on the back of the elaborate fan found in the possession of the goblin Chief Gutwad, his Mighty Girthness (now his Mighty Headless). With the position of a second shipwreck indicated on the map (along with a variety of rude graffiti near it), the party slogged their way through the swamp to discover the hulk of the Kaijitsu Star. Converted into a home and surrounded by a fence that was recently destroyed, the party set out to discover what clues could be found there, only to find that three skeletons were waiting for them. Ing, ever the studious disciple of Gorum, informed his party that blades and arrows were useless against such foes.
Armed with such information, the party quickly dispatched the undead creatures. Dressed in strange armor and with unusual (though broken) weapons in their hands, the skeletons seemed quite out of place. After assembling the bits of armor from the skeletons into one suit, Tiny was able to determine that the armor must have come from the far-off lands of Tian Xia (as well as the fact that the armor had the same "maker's mark"). With the Kaijitsu Star's nameplate in their possession, as well as the Kaijitsu Blossom, the party made a note to check in with the innkeeper Ameiko Kaijitsu regarding the ships (as the Kaijitsu family had been in Sandpoint for many years).
The skeletal tracks, much like the ones at Licktoad Village, only came from one direction. Worrying that the goblins might have awakened a threat that could affect the farms surrounding Sandpoint, or Sandpoint itself, the party followed the tracks to a cavern previously unknown of.
Though filled with muck and slick moss, the party navigated their way safely through the cavern, encountering more skeletons attired in the same fashion as the ones at the Kaijitsu Star. Unreactive to the party's arrival in the cavern, the skeletons seem to have been in a meditative repose, until the Gorumite charged in to attack the nearest one. Shuffling to life at the intrusion, the party faced off against six skeletal warriors, but with the knowledge that Ing imparted earlier, they were easily dispatched. Exploring deeper into the caverns, the party encountered one final skeletal warrior guarding a chest, dressed in worn chainmail with a magnificent blade at his side. Recklessly, Ing charged in to strike the warrior, only to have his weapon blocked by the arm of the skeletal warrior. Uttering in an unknown language, the skeletal warrior pointed his blade at Ing, while the rest of the party moved in to engage. With a final crushing smite from the paladin Keisos, the warrior fell and the party was able to discover the treasure that he was guarding.
Unlocking the chest with the key found on the warrior, they found it filled with riches, but Tiny spotted that the hilt on the warrior's blade was loose, and inside, tucked in a mithral tube, was a note written in the same language on the ship nameplates. Very faintly on the paper was a watermark with an image of a castle with the name "Brinewall" beneath in the Common tongue, which Blade knows is a deserted settlement to the north. With a sack full of goblin ears, the head of Licktoad Tribe chief, treasure, magic items to identify, and questions about what they found in the swamp, the party heads back to Sandpoint--but not before encountering a giant spider and an oozing creature before leaving the cavern.
Turning in their goblin ear trophies to Sheriff Hemlock earns the party 450 gold pieces, and the head of Chief Gutwad is displayed on a pike outside the barracks.
This marks the end of Part 1-1.
XP earned: 402 each
Enemies encountered: Tien human skeletons, Tien skeletal warrior, giant spider, acid ooze creature
Treasure found: Whispering Shrike (mithral scroll tube in hilt with note), ring of climbing, wand of identify (14 charges), 5 potions of cure light wounds, 2 potions of cure moderate wounds, masterwork chain shirt, masterwork cold iron wakizashi, 11 fireworks, 4 fireworks, slightly soiled entertainer's outfit, 421 gp, 3820 sp, fine jewelry worth 560 gp
Quote of the Night: "No, mother said *I* was the stealthy one!" —'Blade' Popolov, after being upstaged by his brother
Plot Twist: Black Mark (Blade)
Plot Twist Flashback: Childhood Lessons (Blade)
Critical Fumbles: Strain (Tiny against his greatclub), Critical Mistake (Blade against his blade), Spinning Swing (Orthak against his warhammer), I Told You It Was Sharp (Blade against his blade), Jam a Pseudopod (acid ooze creature against Tiny)
Returning to the town of Sandpoint, the party revels in their treasure and enjoys the good will of the townsfolk, enjoying a few beers on the house at the Rusty Dragon Tavern. While the rest of the party buys new gear, Blade and Keisos ask tavern-owner Ameiko Kaijitsu about the ships or the strange letter. Not having a good relationship with her father, she knew nothing about the ships bearing her family's name, but as she translated Rokuro Kaijitsu's letter to her father, she became interested in traveling to the ancient site of Brinewall, perhaps to discover the secrets that her grandfather entombed there.
Speaking with caravan owner Sandru, Blade convinced him on behalf of Ameiko to journey towards the ill-fated Brinewall. Since both Blade and Tiny had worked for Sandru before as caravan guards, Sandru trusted their recommendation of their fellow party members as additional caravan guards and hired them. After a quick restocking of supplies, the caravan heads out.
As they make an uneventful journey through the roads of Varisia, Blade becomes ill, overcome with fever and stiff joints. Ing determines that Blade must have received an infected bite from some creature, probably from rats in Brinestump Marsh. Blade's health suffers.
A summer squall blew down several trees, blocking the road to Windsong Abbey. The caravan was able to clear it without any issues.
Widespread debris from the windstorm continues to disrupt the caravan's travel north, but the seasoned travelers in the party were able to clear the roads easily.
Under Ing's expert care, Blade finally recovers from filth fever.
Sandru's caravan encounters another caravan heading south. After a brief exchange of information and trade goods, caravan master Adela Ungur warns the party about several hazards on the road between Ravenmoor and Roderic's cove.
Half a day away from Brinewall, Ameiko collapses from her horse and begins to utter strange sayings such as "Grandfather waits in the dark. He knows not who he is." Unwilling to move his old friend without determining the cause of her sudden illness, Sandru calls a halt to the caravan, asking that the party go ahead to the castle and find what they seek. Initial examinations of Ameiko tell that she is in a catatonic state, brought on by the possession of an entity (though not an evil one, as Keisos attempted to determine).
Traveling through the thick overgrown path and brush, the party approaches the village from the south, unnerved by the flocks of crows that perch on the empty rooftops and in the trees. The brothers Popolov sneak through the woods after spotting bird-like creatures in the gatehouse of the castle. As they trudged through the woods, Tiny spots a concealed entrance, hidden under dead leaves and rotting wooden planks. Gathering the party, the brothers Popolov lead them through the underbrush to the tunnel.
As they descend through the twisting tunnel, the party enters into a cavern covered with strange, unsettling paintings of four-winged humanoids. Motes of nauseating blue light fills the multi-leveled cavern. As the party moves to the south, a fearsome tentacled creature crawls out of the shadows, reaching out with barbed tentacles at Ing.
Using every weapon at their disposal, flanking and smiting against this fiendish opponent, or waiting until the crawling, flying horror came back into reach. Keisos got up close and personal with the creature as it attempted to crush him in his armor, but a lucky final strike by Paza with her crossbow caused it to crumple and release its tentacled grip.
After they finished off the creature, a quick search of its lair resulted in a fair pile of treasure, but they've only just begun exploring these caverns.
XP earned: 400 each
Enemies encountered: tentacled horror
NPCs encountered: Adela Ungur, Ameiko Kaijitsu, Koya Mvashti, Sandru Vhiski
Treasure found: +1 light fortification light steel shield (Keisos), unidentified starknife, ring of the ram (10 charges), wand of scorching ray (30 charges; Paza), circlet of persuasion (Paza), unidentified pearl, wayfinder, 1320 gp, 800 gp in jewelry and gems
Quote of the Night: Ameiko: "I have a proposal—" 'Blade' Popolov: "Yes, I will marry you!"
Plot Twist: Unwelcome Arrival (Paza)
Plot Twist Flashback: Cherished Gift (Keisos)
Critical Fumbles: Broken Haft (Blade), Double Miss (Tiny against tentacled horror when *not* attempting Rapid Shot)
Critial Hits: Tenacious Wound (Tentacled horror against Ing), Tentacle Wound (Blade against tentacled horror), Organ Scramble (Paza against tentacled horror)
Carefully prowling through the caverns, the PCs make their way up and over old funerary alcoves, wrenching apart an iron screen when they couldn't bypass the lock on the door. Creeping down the hallway, Tiny heard the sounds of heavy breathing beyond a wooden door. Casting a simple cantrip on a rock, Orthak tossed the stone down the hallway past the door, which explodes out as an ogre broke it apart with a club (more an uprooted sapling than a proper weapon). Surprised that his expected foes were not there, the party manages to get the drop on the ogre, but on the first volley, luck was not on their side. Nearly hitting Ing, Tiny is still adjusting to the new bow he purchased in Sandpoint. Ing summoned the might of Gorum to aid in his strike against the foul-smelling ogre, successfully so, and in the tight tunnels, managed to avoid the ogre's enormous club, but his luck ran out. With an incredible blow, Ing dropped to the ground, collapsed by the brutal blow. Charging forward with his warhammer, Orthak delivered a mighty strike to the ogre, caving the brute's chest in and snapping its thick spine.
After rummaging through the ogre's smelly belongings, they found a magical gem, its purpose not yet identified, as well as keys to the cells the ogre was guarding. Within, they find an Ulfen, half-naked and gazing at them curiously. A brief interchange in the Skald tongue between Ing and the prisoner, and after unlocking her cell and retrieving her gear that the ogre has absconded with, she introduces herself as Kelda Oxgutter and joins the party.
Creeping through the tunnels and old abandoned dungeon, the party runs across troglodytes lurking in the darkness. Five of them attacked the party, two sneaking from the rear, and once again, luck was not with the party. Tiny again had problems with his new bow, unable to strike his target or nearly breaking his weapon in trying to aid his allies, while Keisos accidentally slit his wrist open while drawing his scimitar, but lucky blows by Kelda helped make up for the tactical errors. After dispatching the trogs, Tiny listens at one of the doorways out of the room, hearing the sound of shuffling scaled feet. Kicking down the door, Orthak is immediately attacked by a troglodyte that lay in wait, who fell back to allow a brutish troglodyte to move forward. Stymied by the tight quarters, the party used all of their ranged weapons at their disposal to whittle away at the trogs, with Orthak deflecting the blows from the lead troglodyte.
Killing all of the troglodytes left them low on resources, so the party rested in a room that had been used as a gladitorial pit, and found an armory with unused weapons and gear. After a night of rest and healing, the party continued to explore the dungeon, finding a room with another exit to the surface, as well as a room filled with every variety of fungus and mold. As soon as they broke open the door, however, one batch of the fungus shuffled to motility, moving towards Orthak.
The overly humid and fungus-filled room proved to hamper the party, as they slipped and slid trying to get themselves into a position to attack the acid-spitting fungal creature. Paza, utilizing her new-found wand, attempted numerous times to strike the creature, only to have the magic backfire not once, but twice—the first strike seemed to bulk up the creature, its tendrils thickening, while the second momentarily caused Paza to lose grasp of her own spells.
Finally striking the plant creature down, the party has stopped for a moment to assess their situation before going beyond the door they haven't explored beyond.
XP earned: 772 xp each
Enemies encountered: Acid-spitting fungal creature, ogre, troglodyte
NPCs encountered: Kelda Oxgutter
Treasure found: +1 cold iron morningstar, unidentified rock (DC 26 Spellcraft), 2 potions of cure light wounds, masterwork dagger, masterwork heavy steel shield, half-plate armor, four heavy crossbows, 40 crossbow bolts, 10 flasks alchemist's fire, 77 gp
Quote of the Night: "Hey y'all, somebody heal Ing. I think I'm standing on his liver." —Orthak, after Ing's encounter with the ogre
Plot Twist: Pride (Orthak)
Plot Twist Flashback: Buried Secret (Ing)
Critical Fumbles: Don't Hit Me! (Tiny with his new bow), Broken (Tiny against his new bow), This is Bad (Keisos when drawing his scimitar), Wrong End (Orthak), Recoil (Tiny against his new bow), Aim Carefully next Time (Kelda with her javelin), You Made Him Stronger (Paza with wand of scorching ray against fungal creature), Magic Fatigue (Paza)
Critical Hits: Backbreaker (Orthak against ogre), Shield Cleave (Kelda against troglodyte), Weapon Strike (Kelda against troglodyte)
Knowing that the dungeon level below was clear, the party decided to carefully ply their way through the secret passage they found. Traveling upwards, they found themselves on the western side of the castle, right near the shoreline, which was being lashed by a terrible storm. Avoiding the weather, the party retreated back into the dungeon and headed upstairs to find three troglodytes sleeping from a meal. Though Blade attempted to silence them, they woke up and two more troglodytes attacked them from another room. Despite the noise of battle, the party did not alert anyone beyond their room (in which they found some interesting notes), though they did manage to run across some very nasty and temperamental moulting lizards the troglodytes were keeping. Not quite ready to go into the room beyond, the party instead opted to sneak further upstairs, stashing the corpses in the lizard den, and discovered a room with many pile of paperwork with strange scribblings in Tien.
Hearing a child's voice, Keisos and Ing carefully venture out into the hallway to determine its source, only to find the bird-headed creatures sleeping by a the remains of a meal. With the sound of the child begging them to save them, the party once again tries to eliminate the bird creatures quietly. Sadly, they weren't able to do so before others were alerted to their presence, and the party found themselves dealing with not one, but four of the bird-headed creatures. Despite the odds of others hearing them, the party manages to survive as well as not alert more enemies to their presence.
Finally turning their attention to the child's voice, they open the door to where the child appears to have been held, only to be confronted with a child-sized figure, with the head of a wolf, pleading with them to stay and play. Stealing away the Gorumite's voice, the child was pleased to have somebody to play with--forever. Barely able to strike at the creature over the sound of constant sobbing that surrounded it, it cried as the party attempted to stop its suffering. After a final vicious blow from Kelda Oxgutter, it collapsed into a pile of cobwebs.
Searching the room, Blade finds a child's skeleton, under a pile of firewood and an iron brazier. Nearby, drawings that a child would make seem to give additional clues as to what befell Brinewall Castle—and Ameiko's grandfather.
XP earned: 860 xp each (level up to 3rd)
Enemies encountered: Bird-headed creature, monitor lizard, skeletal child, troglodytes
Quote of the Night: "I need to learn how to do that." —Paza, after seeing her opponent be consumed by fire and reality distortion
Critical Fumbles: Not the Weak Point (Troglodyte against Ing), Who Was That? (Orthak against troglodyte), Aching Back (Tiny against his bow), Tiring Attack (Monitor lizard against Keisos)
Critical Hits: Broad Swipe (Kiorte against troglodyte), Overreaction (Monitor lizard against Blade), Clean Through (Monitor lizard against Blade), Planar Rift (Paza against bird-headed creature), Gut Slash (Kelda against skeletal child)
After a night of rest filled with disturbing dreams of black-clad figures in the night, the party creeps out the small room where they had holed up. Searching the surrounding floors but not finding much, they make their way to a set of double doors to the south, but not before a sudden burst of sound caught them by surprise. Caught by a cleric of some demon lord, the party was ensnared by her spells, first a cloak of darkness, then the trickery of illusory images that hid her true location. After pinning her, they managed to stop her, but not before she called out to her god, sending a out wave of negative energy.
Searching the wing, they found bedrooms turned into nests by the bird creatures, along with a more well-appointed room. With a head full of Tien words taught by Ameiko, Blade wasn't able to decipher the numerous writings (other than the author was unhinged), but the party kept them for further examination. The paladin's ire was raised when they found a shrine to Desna, desecrated and warped to serve some other foul deity. Despite being befouled with bloody paintings, the shrine must have been well tended, and the party manage to find a cache of magic items hidden by a previous keeper of the shrine.
The exit to the shrine was locked, but with the set of skeleton keys at the end of their legs, they broke open the door to find a bird-headed creature waiting for them. With the guards on the ramparts alerted to their presence, the party fights off the creatures. Tiny noticed three ogrekin in the courtyard below, and while Keisos's first attempt to attack them by bow failed and caused them to look curiously upwards, the taunting by Tiny certainly riled them up. Running upstairs to fight the intruders, the ogrekin were quickly taken down by the skilled party.
Unfortunately for the party, they also attracted the attention of another ogrekin, one considerably more well-armed. With a love for elf-flesh, this ogrekin made a bee-line directly for the half-elf Keisos, striking against him with glee, showing off her elf-ear necklace as she sniffed him out. Blade attempted to maneuver himself behind the hideous dog-legged ogrekin, but a strike from her flail stunned him before he could use his daggers against her. With two warriors, a paladin, a cleric of the Lord in Iron, and a keen-eyed archer, the ogrekin female dropped quickly.
The day has just begun, and with the castle on alert to their presence, the party may just have their hands full.
XP earned: 685 xp each
Enemies encountered: Bird-headed creatures, ogrekin
Treasure found: +1 flail, 2 scrolls of cure moderate wounds, unidentified scroll, unidentified wand, mwk longsword, silver holy symbol (demon lord), spiked gauntlet
Quote of the Night: "Oh my god, it's so ugly, get it away from me!" —Keisos, after facing an ogrekin with a taste for elf
Critical Fumbles: Cutter (Bird-headed cleric vs. Orthak), Torn Tendon (Tiny vs. bird-headed cleric), Better to Give (Orthak vs. bird-headed cleric), Backswing (Keisos vs. bird-headed creature), Bruised Ego (ogrekin vs. Keisos), This SwordMace is Heavy (Keisos vs. elf-loving ogrekin)
Critical Hits: Penetrating Wound (Blade vs. bird-headed creature), Muscle Severed (ogrekin vs. Ing), Forearm Piercing (Tiny vs. ogrekin), Where Am I? (elf-loving ogreking vs. Blade)
Standing their ground in the disgusting feast hall, the party tries to finish investigating the floor that they're on. One bedroom was filled with various shades of fungus. Tiny quickly backed away after their experience in the bowels of the dungeon, but Keisos's elven heritage helped him spot skeletal remains beneath the fungal shroud—every one of them headless. The smell of blood creeping from underneath a door puts everybody on edge, but entering into the chamber reveals nothing, only old, blood-stained walls with deep gouges in them. As the party enters in, the walls weep fresh blood and screaming faces appear in the rivulets. Orthak, Blade, and Tiny are able to keep their cool with the calming presence of the paladin Keisos, but Ing and Paza flee from the room, only able to come back after a few moments away from the blood. Blade finds a secret passage leading out to the eastern parapets as well as piles of notes and memos. From the secret door, Blade was able to see a huge insect in the courtyard below, scrounging for food among the skeletal remains of some humanoid.
Standing out in the feast hall, Tiny alerts his party to the lurking figure of one of the bird creatures, and they engage the creature and his allies. One of the creatures manages to latch into Blade, scratching into him with jagged claws. Another creature, flying above them, of sounder mind than the wingless bird creature, cursed and swore at them for ruining his play. Releasing a mobat from the old solarium, the winged bird creature mocked them, flying up out of reach to fill Tiny's head with mocking laughter. When Tiny was able to shake off the effects, the winged creature became infuriated, firing off a more powerful spell. Fire and heat struck Tiny, scorching his armor and burning his flesh. Kiorte, Orthak, Keisos, and Blade were able to finish off the mobat before it could take flight.
Unable to reach the winged creature by melee attacks, the party adjusted their tactics, retreating to the ballroom's circular balcony and firing from the narrow windows. Kelda Oxgutter, the Ulfen barbarian whom they freed from the castle's dungeons, and Kiorte blocked the retreat while Ing distracted with a summoned eagle and Blade fired at it with a crossbow. Paza managed to bypass the creature's magical defenses with a blast from her wand, burning away its regenerative abilities. Kelda managed a lucky strike against the winged creature, infuriating it, who retaliated with a burst of the scorching fire used against Tiny. Undaunted, Kelda shouted in fury, throwing javelins at it as she withdrew. Identifying it as a creature not of this realm, Ing told Tiny this, who used the new arrows he had acquired from the befouled shrine of Desna. Turning into white-hot arrows that burned through the creature's flesh as if it were paper, the bird creature shrieked in agony, cursing Desna's name. Combining their ranged weapons and using cover against the winged creature, they were finally able to drop it, with Kelda giving a satisfying final blow.
Unable to reach the winged creature with their melee weapons, Orthak, Ing, and Keisos guarded the ballroom staircase. Hearing the wingless bird creatures below, they readied themselves with what they had at hand. One of the creatures charged up right into a flask of oil from Keisos and a well-placed Desnan candle from Paza. With three of the bird creatures caught on the stairwell, and penned in by a combination of Orthak, Ing, and Keisos, with Tiny and Blade sniping, the creatures did not stand a chance. Keisos, in full plate, managed to leap across the stairwell's railing and slam into one of the creatures, pinning it. Managing to break free of its metal cage, the creature reached up under Keisos's gorget, sinking its filthy nails into his throat. Grabbing and tearing, Keisos's throat was ripped open, choking on his own blood.
With a quick prayer to Gorum, the cleric sealed Keisos's grievous injury as Orthak finished off neck-rending bird creature. Healing spent, and breathing heavily from the battle, the party only hopes that the danger is over.
XP earned: 843 each
Enemies encountered: Bird-headed creatures, winged bird creature, Large insect, mobat
Treasure found: Dancing Wasp, potion of hide from undead, masterwork longsword, composite longbow (+2 Str), gnome hooked hammer, heavy pick, orc double axe, leather armor, light wooden shield, 20 arrows, small leather pouch (6 vials ink, 5 pearls), crowbar, fishing net, glass bottle, iron pot, saddle, saddlebags, 2 darkwood-and-silver discs, 76 gp worth of gems & jewels, 1 pp, 19 gp, 80 sp, 200 cp
Quote of the Night: Keisos's player: "Can I do something stupid?" Me: "I love when players do stupid things!"
Plot Twist: Rock and a Hard Place (Kiorte)
Plot Twist Flashback:
Critical Fumbles: Lowered Guard (Kelda vs. winged bird creature), Insecure (Tiny vs. winged bird creature)
Critical Hits: Cheek Pierced (Tiny vs. bird-headed creature), We've Got a Bleeder (Kelda vs. bird-headed creature), Fingertipped (Bird-headed creature vs. Blade), Nicked an Artery (Kelda vs. winged bird creature), Throat Slash (Bird-headed creature vs. Keisos)
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I like your campaign write-up style! How do you keep track of the details? Does someone keep an ongoing journal and you take it from that or are you writing mostly from memory?
Also, just curious if your other players are also Paizo employees? I've got it stuck in my head that just because someone works at Paizo, they automatically know the plot and every detail of every AP volume. I'm sure this isn't true.
Thanks and keep it up!
I take a lot of notes, and I make a writeup of the game session immediately after it's done so I don't forget any details. All of the players in my group (7!!!) are fellow Paizo employees, and on the off-chance that they might have read the AP volumes, I add extra material in.
Breathing heavily from their fight with the mad winged bird creature, the party continued to explore the castle, now quiet and free of the raucous cries of the bird creatures. At the limits of their resources, the party finds the lair of the ogrekin who wanted to taste Keisos's flesh, a small washroom, and the parlor, now occupied by well-crafted taxidermies of various forest animals, bugs, and the twisted shapes of several humanoids. Sneaking into the trophy room, Blade is suddenly attacked by a swiftly moving figure, who cackled with glee as she stabbed him.
Dancing around the battlefield, the figure stabbed with her needle-like sword, its toxic coating afflicting both Ing and Blade. Smashing her jaw with a well-placed hit, Blade was able to shut up her taunting, but she gave as good as she got, pinning him to the wall like one of her taxidermied creations with her poisoned pin. With his brother unable to break free on his own, Tiny goes to his aid, the weapon splintering out of the stone wall. Able to take even the mightiest blows of the fighters, the woman finally fell to Paza's magic. Finally feeling secure enough, the party rests in the creature's room, healing from the many wounds they've received in exploring the castle. Searching the nearby rooms reveals a cache of arrows, including an arrow wrapped in red silk and painted with swirls of ruby dust. During his morning prayers to Gorum, Ing was able to identify one of the scrolls that had previously discovered, the magic contained within able to remove certain magics.
Avoiding the scavenging water bug in the courtyard off the parlor, the party moves out into the main courtyard, finding little in the way of live foes, but plenty in the way of dead mysteries. Much like the ballroom in which they had fought bitterly earlier that same day, the guard towers of the castle's outer wall held signs that the defenders had fought a fierce battle--one they lost. With only bloodstains, broken bows, and useless arrows to guide them, the party continued on.
Hearing the sounds of movement behind the stable doors, Orthak kicks it down, only to be enveloped in a cloud of sticky white fibers. Screeching at them to go away, a man-spider scurries out of reach of Orthak's hammer, but in the pursuit of treasure, the party presses on. Defeating the man-spider and its two giant spider allies, the party thoroughly searches the pens of the stables. Buried under the refuse of the man-spider's nest, Paza managed to find a magical ring. Embossed with thin slivers of opal arranged like a fan, Paza wore the ring immediately after identifying it as something she had longed for since childhood: a ring to protect against falling!
With only the mystery of the main castle ahead, the party has begun to put together the final pieces of what happened at Brinewall Castle—but they have yet to find what happened to Ameiko's grandfather.
XP earned: 700 each (level up to 4th)
Enemies encountered: Bug-antennaed woman, giant hunting spiders, giant water bug, man-spider
Treasure found: Ring of feather falling (Paza), +1 flaming burst arrow, 20 masterwork cold iron arrows, 4 doses of venom
Quote of the Night: "In old country, we would take that devil bow of yours and burn it at midnight. And piss on its ashes." —'Blade' Popolov to his brother, 'Tiny' Popolov, on his aim (or lack thereof)
Plot Twist: Broken (Tiny)
Plot Twist Flashback: Opportunity Lost (Tiny)
Critical Fumbles: On the Receiving End (Keisos vs. bug-antennaed woman)
Critical Hits: Shattered Jaw (Blade vs. bug-antennaed woman), Nailed in Place (Bug-antennaed woman vs. Blade), Earth Rumble (Orthak vs. man-spider)
With the castle quiet and empty, the party resumes exploration of the castle, trying to pry the last of its secrets from its stone walls. Only the animated hulk of a long-dead Ulfen man opposed them, and even then only after approaching too close to the place where it fell. Armed with a magical sword, and wearing an Ulfen-styled dragon helm and talisman, the tight quarters offered it no room to maneuver. The party was able to quickly dispatch it, Blade tearing through its armor like paper after Ing summoned the might of Gorum to destroy it.
Searching the rooms where the undead man kept guard, Orthak finds several papers that had been hastily written, detailing an night attack on the castle. With two levels to explore, the party chose to go downstairs, finding an iron portcullis blocking their way. Two well-hidden depressions matched the darkwood disks that the party had in their possession and they were able to open the portcullis to a vault downstairs.
The vault had been looted at some point, but as they explored the room, Orthak spied a very well hidden secret door. Before they could open it, a chill overcame the vault and the thick layers of dust moved by unseen winds. A spirit form coalesced, forming the shape of a Tian man, holding a blade defensively. With the study of the Tian letters in the castle, along with exchanges of the language with Ameiko, Blade addressed the spirit by calling out its family name—Kaijitsu!
Speaking haltingly in common, the spirit commanded them to take the Seal back to his heir and to safety before disappearing back into the dust and stone. Behind the secret door were three chests, two locked but easily disabled with Blade's skill. No lockpick could undo the third one, though Blade tried and tried. As they discussed alternate means of opening the chest, the lock suddenly clicked open, revealing an ornate lacquered red box decorated with dragons. Within the box was a heavy jade seal, an imprint on its bottom face and carved to resemble a serpentine, wingless dragon. As the seal was removed, the entire party was overcome by an overwhelming series of visions. A horde of terrible fiends with burning skins attacking the innocent, a murderous betrayal, a Tian man selling a magnificent sword to an Ulfen man, the image of Ameiko dressed not as an innkeeper but an empress—all of these visions passed in the span of a few heartbeats, but with it came knowledge.
The land being invaded is the land of Minkai, far away in the realm of Tian Xia. Murdered at the hands of the warrior in jade was Shigure, Emperor of Minkai. The Tian man selling the sword was Rokuro Kaijitsu, whose true name is Amatatsu Tsutoku, one of the royal heirs to the throne of Minkai.
With this knowledge fresh in their mind, the party returns to the caravan, and coming to the immediate conclusion that traveling north to Kalsgard to recover the sword Suishen is the first step. With the weight of destiny on their shoulders, the party girds themselves for the long journey.
This marks the end of part 1-3, and the end of the first volume, "The Brinewall Legacy."
XP earned: 1186 each
Enemies encountered: Mostly skeletal man, spirit of Rokuro Kaijitsu
Treasure found: Amatatsu Seal, warding box, +1 longsword (Kiorte), +1 full plate (Orthak), +1 mithral chain shirt (Blade), amulet of natural armor +1 (Ing), cloak of the Dark Tapestry (Keisos), efficient quiver (Tiny), +1 bastard sword (Kiorte), Ulfen dragon helm, 10 Tian gold trade bars, 10 Ulfen gold trade bars
Quote of the Night: "Step aside brother, you *smell* loud!" —Blade to Tiny, on the fine art of moving quietly
Haunted by dreams and the voices of the ancestral sword Suishen urging them to move on, the party gathers together to determine the quickest way to Kalsgard, and what might lie ahead. After a planning session with Sandru, the party decides to spend two days gathering provisions for the trip across the Nolands. While hunting, Tiny spots week-old goblin tracks heading up the Steam River.
Crossing the sturdy bridge of the Steam River, the caravan runs into an ambush. Eight goblin warriors started attacking the party with arrows, Ing wading into the middle with nary a scratch on him. Declaring that Gorum was with him that day, Ing did not back down as an ogre burst through the trees to pound him into the dirt. The party quickly mobilized to fight back the goblins, with Paza once again calling down arcane energies to smite her foes into oblivion, while Kiorte neatly bisected a goblin with a cut from his enchanted blade. Orthak strode into a pair of goblins, pounding them into the dirt and leaving little more than crushed flesh and bone. Collecting what few treasures that the ragtag group had acquired previously, the party continued on through the sparse forests into the open plains of the Nolands.
Circling overhead and eyeing the caravan were three hippogriffs. Attempting to draw them away with an elk haunch that Tiny had caught the day before, Keisos manages to grab the attention of two. Tiny attempted to soothe one of them, initially succeeding as the hippogriff got used to his scent. While the third hippogriff circled overhead, Keisos found himself trying to be pried open as the hippogriff tried to find more elk meat. Too hungry to pass up the delicious caravan horses, the third hippogriff dove in and started to attack the horse, and Tiny made a wrong move against the hippogriff he had attemped to earn the trust of.
Diving in to save the horses from the hippogriff attack, Paza and Ing quickly dispatched one hippogriff, and Tiny found himself facing an angry hippogriff. Orthak and Kiorte came to his aid, while Keisos attempted to tie up and subdue the third one, which he had successfully distracted with another elk haunch. Tiny finds out that the three hippogriffs are a mated pair and its young, and the party decides to tie up the female and the young male, while the third is cut up for provisions.
This marks the beginning of part 2-1 of "Night of Frozen Shadows."
XP earned: 526 each
Enemies encountered: Goblin warriors, hippogriff, ogre
Treasure found: Potion of animate rope, potion of enlarge person, potion of invisibility (CL 3rd), exotic military saddle, climber's kit, numerous gems, 2 pp, 42 gp, 160 cp, 600 cp
Quote of the Night: "I bad touch horsey birds!" —Tiny, after failing to persuade the hippogriffs to not attack them
Critical Fumbles: Caught Your Attack (hippogriff vs. Tiny), Awkward Attack (hippogriff vs. Kiorte)
Critical Hits: Arcane Blast (Paza vs. goblin), Gory (goblin vs. Ing), Overhand Chop (Kiorte vs. goblin), Ruptured Spleen (Orthak vs. goblin), Solid Blow (Orthak vs. Goblin)
Tiny's Critical Fumble effect, Insecure, wears off.
After capturing the hippogriffs, the party continued moving on through the Nolands. As Tiny and Blade were keeping watch one night, Tiny spotted a goblin sneaking through the underbrush of the riverside that they had camped by. More skilled than a normal goblin, Tiny and Blade tried to yell out a warning, but Ing, Keisos, and Paza did not stir quickly. As Tiny held off the goblins that came crawling out of the underbrush, Blade woke up the rest of the group. With no time to don their armor, Keisos and Ing picked up their weapons and started swinging. Paza lept into action herself, pausing only to shield herself in magical armor as she summoned up a ball of fire that she directed from opponent to opponent.
The small raiding party of goblins were no pushovers. Led by a cleric of Lamashtu, the goblins excelled at sneaking up to the party while attempting to take the unarmored foes out. They nearly succeeded, almost killing Tiny with exploding arrows before Ing could get close enough to heal. Blade managed to get lured away and found himself facing off against two goblin rogues—with very sharp daggers.
As Blade tumbled away from the danger, he found himself at the feet of a fourteen-foot tall woman with long, blonde braids reaching to the ground. With black eyes that reflected no light, she lifted up a pair of golden shears, uttering something in Ulfen as she snipped the blades together. The goblins that was going to stab Blade suddenly exploded from the inside, rent asunder by some unknown force. Unable to determine what she was thinking, or her purpose, Blade stepped back again to finish off the other goblin rogue. With Paza's flaming sphere, Tiny's arrows, and Ing and Keisos's blades, the party finished off the goblin raiding party.
Approaching Ing, the woman issued a warning to avoid the city of Jol and go north through the Grungir Forest. What reasons she had for issuing the warning, the party does not yet know—they were warned that only death waits in Jol, and to beware of the raven with bloody wings.
The journey north continues uninterrupted.
XP earned: 943 each
Enemies encountered: Goblin warband leader, goblin assassin, goblin rogue
NPCs encountered: "Fateweaver"
Treasure found: Small +1 chain shirt, unidentified cloak, unidentified wand, 2 Small masterwork kukri, 5 Small studded leather armor, Small composite longbow [+2 Str], 5 Small daggers, Small light crossbow, 4 Small longbows, 30 explosive arrows, 10 poisoned bolts, 110 arrows, onyx unholy symbol of Lamashtu
Quote of the Night: "You need to earn your spurs boy! Come to Ustalav, where the real paladins are from." —Tiny to Keisos, on discussing the finer points of being a useful paladin
Plot Twist: Gluttony (Tiny)
Critical Fumbles: All or Nothing (Blade vs. goblin rogue), Backswing (goblin rogue vs. Blade), No Way (Ing vs. goblin rogue)
Critical Hits: Infection (goblin assassin vs. Tiny), Shoulder Wound (Tiny vs. goblin warband leader), Ventilated (goblin rogue vs. Keisos), Javelin Catcher (goblin rogue vs. Tiny)
Finally reaching into the Lands of the Linnorm Kings proper, the party had spent the last several days discussing what to do once the city of Jol was in sight. Despite the advice from Koya that prophetic creatures like the norn all went mad when Aroden died, the warning from the norn weighed heavy on the party's mind. Learning that the norn had given advice to take the north road directly through Grungir Forest, Sandru and Koya both were incredulous that they would listen to such a creature, and when Ing told them that the norn told them to beware of the blood-feathered ravens, they made signs to ward off evil, for such creatures were known to bring ill luck with them. With the more practical concerns of restocking provisions on their mind (and getting rid of the treasure that was weighing down the caravan), the party determined that approaching Jol would be the best course of action. As they approached, several ravens lurked in the trees nearby, including two huge ones that were oversized, possesing lurid red eyes.
Crossing one of the many rivers in the Lands, the party was approached by an Ulfen warrior. Greeting him in Common, Ing approached his kinsmen in friendship. With a few questions about where they hailed from, the Ulfen warrior seemed no more than a common patrol...but when the party was asked if Ameiko Kaijitsu traveled with them, the party became immediately suspicious. All but asking for a fight, the party engaged the Ulfen warrior, whose allies poured out of the surrounding scrub trees and brush.
Trained warriors are different opponents from the madness-ridden bird creatures of Brinewall, or even the desperate attacks of goblins. The Ulfen warriors, armed with axe and shield, quickly closed in on the party, attacking them with savage blows. Tiny moved to the northern side of the bridge, sniping at the opponents he saw, while Blade snuck around the southern side. With the evil-eyed ravens calling out the positions of the Brothers Popolov, Paza attempted to take out the unnatural ravens. A savage battle ensued, with the party attempting to break through the battle-ready Ulfen, but a surprise strike from a charging Ulfen warrior brought Blade to his knees, and then the ground. Paza cried out to Tiny, letting him know his brother had fallen, while Ing summoned up the might of Gorum to heal all that surrounded him--friend and foe alike. While Blade staggered back to his feet, Keisos and Tiny tried to break through the Ulfen, while Ing hovered protectively over Blade, but to no avail. Incensed that his foe had dared stand back up again, the Ulfen warrior that had savaged Blade once again turned his axe against the Ustalavic rogue. Smacking the rogue aside with a sickeningly wet sound, Blade crumpled, the echoing words of the untranslated words the norn spoke to him not four days before his final thoughts. Crying out in rage, Tiny tosses aside his beloved bow, his heart filled with the anger his heritage was known for, and turned to the efficient brutality of his greatclub to avenge his brother.
Chasing down the last Ulfen that Paza had filled with terror, Ing and Keisos bring the Ulfen back to the bridge, along with another survivor that was barely clinging to life. With sadness in their hearts, they watched Tiny wrap the body of his brother. Answers were required--Paza had salvaged a set of papers with their likenesses on them (along with a note written in Skald) from one of the ravens that had pulled the tied bundle of papers from the Ulfen leader. Who wanted them dead?
XP earned: 343 xp each
Enemies encountered: Ulfen warrior, unnatural red-eyed raven
Characters died: 'Blade' Popolov
Treasure found: 6 chain shirts, 6 light wooden shields, 6 battleaxes, 12 throwing axes, 6 cold weather outfits, 6 golden arm rings, 6 amulets with bird figures
Quote of the Night: Paza: "I collect the bodies of the dead to feed to the hippogriffs."
Keisos: "And this is why I drink."
Plot Twist Flashback:
Critical Fumbles: Punt (Keisos vs. Ulfen warrior), Pinch in Parts (Tiny vs. Ulfen warrior), Off Balance (Ulfen warrior vs. Ing)
Critical Hits: Armor Damage (Ulfen warrior vs. Keisos), Bad Parry (Ulfen warrior vs. Ing), Rupture Abdominal Cavity (Ulfen warrior vs. Blade), Brow to Chin (Ulfen warrior vs. Ing), Stand Aside (Ulfen warrior vs. Blade)
Thank you for this. I recently started running a Jade Regent campaign and doing after game write-ups on facebook. Your write-ups inspire me to take more notes myself during gameplay. BRAVO!
The death of Blade hangs heavy over the party as they question the lone survivor of the mercenaries that attacked them. Filled with rage at his brother's death, Tiny can barely hold back as Paza and Ing try to question their bound captive and translate the note that was found on the leader's body. The warrior told them that his thane often spoke to himself alone in his room--only the sound of flapping wings alerted the warrior that something was off. He informed the PCs that his thane favored a tavern called The Sorcerer and the Devil, not too far from the Skirim River in the Oakbridge district of Jol, a place he often met the "Z" mentioned in the note.
Leery of the warning that the norn gave them to not enter Jol, but desiring to take revenge against those that sought their deaths, the party decides to stay outside the walls of Jol and head around the northern edge of Jol. Commanding the captured Ulfen warrior to carry his thane's dead body through the squalid shanties outside of Jol, the party encounted two more of the unusually colored ravens—and they weren't going to let them get away. Both Paza and Tiny opened fire, slinging magic and arrows to stop the winged spies from getting away. Their captive warrior shouted a warning that they would bring bad luck on themselves by attacking the birds, but tried to protect the party against the thugs that attacked them. Tiny's rage would not allow him to see reason, and he attacked the party's captive, though he was bound, as well as any of the thugs that were nearby.
Kiorte, Tiny, and Paza managed to kill both of the unusual ravens quickly, but figures wearing strange masks stepped out of the nearby alleyways, wielding lightning and attempting to paralyze Kiorte. Kiorte succumbs to their spell, held fast in place, but manages to quickly break free and bring the fight to the thugs and cultists. Despite his protestations that he's aiding, Tiny doesn't trust their captive, and makes sure to end his life.
Nearby, the gnome known as Fizzlebangdonkel Glottystall, astride his riding dog, spots a cloaked figure moving across the rooftop of the inn. Wondering what sort of trouble could possibly be going on, the gnome follows the figure, heading over to where the party is engaged in a duel against thugs and masked cultists. With precision and brutality, the cloaked figure on the roof nails Kiorte with several arrows. Tiny also receives several arrows, piercing his calf and slowing him down. With cultists bearing down on them and a powerful new opponent, the party hopes that the fire-wielding gnome is on their side.
Character Introduction: Fizzlebangdonkel Glottystall
Enemies encountered: Cloaked bird figure, street thug, Ulfen cultist, unnatural-eyed raven
Critical Fumble: Pin Prick (Short Timer vs. street thug), Wild Magic (cultist vs. Tiny)
Critical Hits: Deep Hurting (Kiorte vs. unusually colored raven), Penetrating Wound (street thug vs. Ing), Across the Eyes (Ing vs. street thug), We've Got A Bleeder (street thug vs. Tiny), Blown Back (Zaiobe vs. Kiorte), Appendicitis (Zaiobe vs. Kiorte), Calf Hole (Zaiobe vs. Tiny)
Coming in from the caravan further away (which had been attacked by a smaller group of cultists), Orthak and Keisos find the party under siege from the cultists and the bird woman. The bird woman managed to get to Paza, telling her telepathically to hand over the Amatatsu Seal or die, but Paza was not easily swayed, attacking with her vicious claws against the bird woman. Moving in quickly with aid of healing from Keisos's touch and Orthak's hammer, the party manages to polish off the last of the cultists as well as the bird woman, who fell with the rays from the gnomish caster.
Before she fell unconscious, the bird woman inadvertently imparted a series of mental images to Paza, who learned that the bird woman was the mercenary leader's lover, as well as the lover of the screeching bird creature from Brinewall Castle. The bird woman was under the impression that the party had stolen her voice, and came to get it back. Paza also learned that some sort of deal had been struck with the bird woman, a deal brokered by the same red-eyed, black-clad figures that appeared in the vision imparted by the Amatatsu Seal.
Looming over the bird woman, Tiny told the paladin to ask any questions of her first, because he would be asking second, and he would get his answers. The bird woman had caused the death of his brother Blade, and he would make sure she paid for that.
Despite the knowledge that they would not get as good a deal outside the city of Jol, the party gathers up and sells the treasure they've gathered so far.
XP earned: 975 each (level up to 5th)
Enemies encountered: Bird woman, Ulfen cultists
Treasure found: +1 composite longbow [+1 Str], 3 unidentified arrows, 2 potions of cure moderate wounds, 3 masterwork studded leather, chain shirt, 4 chainmail, 4 light steel shields, 4 masterwork sickles, 3 daggers, 3 saps, 10 arrows, 16 darts, 4 silver holy symbols (demon lord), 8 vials of unholy water, 4 doses of bloodroot poison
Quote of the Night: "You get first questions...I get second. *grins widely to show tusks*" —Tiny, to Keisos
Critical Hits: In a Row (Zaiobe vs. Tiny), Skull Crush (Orthak vs. Zaiobe), Armor Dent (Orthak vs. Zaiobe)
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The pathways of the Grungir are ancient and overgrown. Sent to scout ahead for a likely path through the heart of the old forest, the party encounters the stripped bones of a horse, but with no clear signs of an attacker. With a signpost pointing towards Jol, Sojourner's Rest, and Kalsgard, the party turned north to Kalsgard, but Paza saw movement up ahead--the slinking, scurrying motions of giant centipedes along the forest floor. Paza encouraged Tiny to move ahead, and Tiny's trained eyes note the presence of not just centipedes, but the barely perceptible signs of assassin vines!
Quickly closing in, the party was able to eliminate the assassin vines and the centipedes, but some of the centipedes got away, fleeing into a nearby split in the forest floor. Casting a spell to illuminate the body of one of the centipedes, Paza was able to see a smooth floor at the bottom of the crevice—along with the glitter of gold. Jumping down, Tiny was able to see that the cavern split off in two directions, but that's not all he saw. Scurrying centipedes came out of the shadows, including ones that could swallow even Tiny whole, and with his darkvision, he even saw the snarling reptilian faces of forest drakes off on the eastern side of the cavern. Startled by the sudden appearance of all these new foes, Tiny tries to scramble back up the rope, but fails, leaving himself at the mercy of the creatures in the caverns below. Jumping down to pick up Tiny, Paza gets Orthak and Keisos to haul on the rope, yanking them back up.
But Tiny's presence had attracted the attention of the gigantic whiptail centipedes, who squeezed through the tunnel to the surface in pursuit. Biting viciously at Paza, Tiny, and Keisos, the centipedes filled the the paladin and sorcerer's blood with poison, but Tiny's half-orc blood proved to be strong and saved him from the joint-searing agony of the centipede venom. Smashing into them with everything they had, the party crushed the enormous centipedes.
Unbeknownst to the party, the forest drakes had left the cavern as well, to the hidden southern entrance to their lair, taking wing. Tiny's sharp eyes once again saved the party, alerting them to the aerial threat, though the party couldn't do much against the drakes' acidic breath. Sharing the magical Desnan starknife they had found in Brinewall Castle, Keisos and Orthak attacked the flying creatures, with Orthak's magically enhanced strength and throwing arm finally taking down one of the creatures, while the other succumbed to Tiny's brutally efficient throwing axes.
Calling upon the cleansing power of fire, Fizzy healed his party members, while Keisos's faith rid Tiny of his anger-induced fatigue and Paza's painfully swollen joints. Exploring the cavern below, the party finds that it is a barrow, the burial mound of a long-dead Ulfen noble, with several of his treasures still intact.
XP earned: 1229 each
Enemies encountered: Giant centipedes, assassin vines, giant whiptail centipedes, forest drakes
Treasure found: Unidentified ring (Spellcraft DC 20), unidentified rope (Spellcraft DC 18), bag of holding type I, potion of cat's grace (CL 3rd), masterwork yew harp inlaid with ivory and brown diamonds, suit of gold-chased full plate armor, 2 vials of Desnan holy water, 3 gold wire-wrapped bottles of fine mead stoppered with gold lion's heads, silver ewer, platinum chalice inlaid with black pearls, signet ring (raven-headed griffon), Pathfinder Chronicles (Lands of the Linnorm Kings), 5 lbs. assassin vine fruits, flayleaf, 3 slightly blood-stained riding saddles, 500 gp, 400 sp
Critical Fumble: We Have a Weiner (giant centipede vs Tiny)
Critical Hits: Brained (Orthak vs. assassin vine), Flat Foot (Orthak vs. assassin vine), Pinned Arm (giant centipede vs. Paza)
Quote of the Night: "I am *not* fond of the fact that these creatures are resistant to fire." —Paza, pyro sorcerer
"Not so much for me either..." —Fizzy, pyro oracle
After a grueling battle the previous day, the party once again settled in the depths of the Grungir on their journey north to Kalsgard. Noticing signs of unfamiliar tracks during his morning watch, Tiny alerted the party of unwanted company, but not before being heard by their foes. Familiar cultists in ragged gray and black cloaks attacked them as they had in Jol, but this time they were aided by forest drakes. These drakes, with blood red eyes and blood dripping from their eyes and nostrils, attacked the party without hesitation. This time, the party received aid from an unknown source, a source that could call down lightning from the sky and summon the power of the earth and rivers. Bringing down their foes with fire, arrow, and steel, the party was victorious. They learned that the drakes were under some sort of compulsion that drove them to attack beyond their territory and serve at the beck and call of the cultists. The owl that had aided them was their new ally, Astrid, and between her and the surviving cultist, they learned that a leprechaun with unusual powers over the drakes might be responsible for the latest string of attacks on merchants in the area. Normally, these fey are relatively harmless, with their pranks only serving to embarass, but Thindlefwist's pranks have turned deadly. With a lair deeper in the forest's heart, near the resting place of the legendary linnorm Fafnheir, Thindlefwist is confident that none are brave enough to go down paths riddled with the bones of would-be supplicants to Fafnheir, allowing him to continue his reign of terror before the linnorm awakes for his winter feast.
XP earned: 686 each
Character Introduction: Astrid Wintersblood
Enemies encountered: Cultists of Pazuzu, forest drakes
Treasure found: 4 masterwork sickles, 16 darts, 4 chainmail, 4 light steel shield, 4 silver holy symbols of Pazuzu, 8 unholy water flasks, 4 vials bloodroot poison, 15 sp, 30 cp
Critical Hits: Lights Out (Tiny vs. cultist)
Plot Twist Flashback:
Can't wait to run Jade Empire and am inspired by your posts. I love that you're putting in the use of various card decks. I'd also be interested in a note on how long each game session runs.
As the party decides what to do after the morning's fight, the ground beneath the old watchtower collapses, revealing a long-hidden tomb. Almost immediately, undead warriors began to pour out of the stone halls, bent on the party's destruction for disturbing their slumber. As they dropped into the pit, the party were swarmed by long-dead warriors bearing greataxes, two appearing for every one they dropped. Fizzy noticed that several seals of binding had been broken when the ceiling collapsed. Standing ground and resolving to not let any of them pass, Orthak took out one of their leaders, while Tiny, Keisos, Kiorte, and Fizzy smashed, stabbed, and burnt their way through the relentless horde. Finally, they stopped, and they were able to take in their surroundings.
Painted upon the walls of the tomb were many frescoes telling a story, some of which Tiny was able to piece together. The warriors they had fought were not their enemy—they had committed ritual suicide to stand guard for all time against a greater threat, bound somewhere in the depths of the tomb. The room containing the frescoes of the ritual also held two stone chests, full of treasure, as well as an old stone throne. Sitting upon the throne was a dessicated orb, an orb that fell off the throne, seemingly of its own will. With a voice whispering in Fizzy's ear, and the orb spinning itself around to reveal a reptilian eye that narrowed its gaze, Tiny and Fizzy decided it was best to leave the tomb quickly. Posting a guard to watch the tomb, the party departed to recover their spells and rest, while Kiorte, Orthak, and Keisos escorted Ing to view the additional frescoes in the guard room Kiorte found. On the frescoes were images of a Ulfen hold, with children stolen from their beds and cradles by a cloaked figure. Hateful runes around the figure were able to put a name to it: Ishkiol, the Kin-Thief.
XP earned: 1528 xp each
Enemies encountered: Draugr, draugr captain
Treasure found: Harkat's Caber (Tiny), Festhall Tankard of Plenty (Orthak), Eskjurd's Eye-Coat (Kiorte), ring of minor fire resistance, belt of giant's strength +2 (Kiorte), 2 unidentified arcane scrolls, 2 unidentified divine scrolls, unidentified flat iron bar, a string of small red-brown spinel, adamantine mug with fire opal inlays, carved harp of maple with ivory inlay and rich purple corundum gems, carved ivory statuette, electrum dragon comb with sardonyx eye, embroidered and bejeweled red glove, eyepatch with mock eye of lapis lazuli and violet garnet, platinum comb with gray pearl, silver chalice with crown of silver gems
Critical Fumble: Twisted (Draugr vs. Kiorte)
Critical Hits: Lean Into the Blow (Draugr vs. Kiorte), Hack and Slash (Draugr vs. Keisos)
Quote of the Night:
"WHAT THE NINE HELLS, TINY?!" —Keisos, of the elven ears
Quote of the Night, the 2nd: Fizzy: "...That thing is magical."
Tiny: "Oh really? The glowing from the inside, self-moving eye is magical?"
With arcane power freshly renewed and injuries healed, the party descends again into the crypt to try and learn more about its secrets. First seeking out the strange dessicated eye that they had found earlier, the party was unsure how to approach it, for it had moved itself from the floor where they had left it and sat once again on the throne. Tiny, unafraid, picked up the eye, and could immediately see the glow of auras surrounding the party's magical items, as well as hints of the party's moral leanings. Paza and Fizzy both could hear the eye's laughter in their heads (Paza was able to carry on conversations with whatever entity the eye encased), though Tiny and Keisos could hear nothing.
Hearing scraping noises from beyond the southern door, the party readies itself for battle, once again facing off against the draugr guardians of the crypt. The eye hinted that the draugr's weakness was their throats and necks to Paza, a point that the party used to their advantage. While not truly their enemies, the party had to defend themselves against the draugr, and this time, the power of Gorum was not on their side. Gorum's might flowed through the female draugr prophet, who called upon the Lord in Iron's aid as she fought against the paladin Keisos, and utilized the armory that served as her resting place against the party. The prophet activated an unknown trap, causing the weaponry on the walls to glow blood red and point towards Keisos, who moved quickly out of the room before whatever the draugr prophet wrought could activate. With one of the prophet's guards opening the portcullis to the next room, the party had its hands full as draugr poured out of the crypt, with murder on their minds.
Much to Paza's surprise, the draugr corpse she beheaded with her claws reconstituted itself into a flesh-and-blood human—unconscious but very much alive. Surprised by this turn of events, but unable to do anything about it until the fight was over, the party managed to hold their own against the prophet and other draugr. When Tiny pulled the eye out of his bag of holding, the draugr still upright let out a screech and charged towards him, their undead flesh knitting itself back together. Striking out against the paladin in an attempt to get to Tiny and the eye, the prophet lopped off Keisos's ear. Orthak finally finished off the prophet and her last guard with his warhammer, but as with the first draugr, when Tiny lopped off their heads with the prophet's adamantine greatsword, their bodies reformed into what they were before their ritual suicide.
To add to the mystery, the eye offered to assist the party against Thindlefwist—all they had to do was retrieve his body parts that were ensconced in the tomb. With the party speculating about what the eye really was, all the eye offered as an answer was a low chuckle, as "the answer is in the tomb, and I'm not going to answer an obvious question," and "are we only what we were born, or are we what we want to become?"
Further study of the tomb's revealed paintings that a thane named Torlief Einarr, called the Iron Brand for his hatred of the fey and his ruthless campaign against them, tracked down the Kin-Thief. Thane Einarr was not a young man, and his children had all succumbed to the Kin-Thief, leaving him bereft of both child and mate, as his wife Maaike had died against the Kin-Thief. But for all of his skill with blade and bow, Thane Einarr had to turn to his ancient foes to ensnare the Kin-Thief, for only their magic could stop one of their own...
XP earned: 914 xp
Enemies encountered: Draugr, draugr prophet
Treasure found: Incantation of Eternal Resolve, cloak of resistance +1 (Paza), ring of ferocious action, breastplate, adamantine greatsword, 15 masterwork greatswords, 5 masterwork longswords, 7 greataxes
Critical Fumbles: Wait! What? (draugr vs. Keisos), Vibration (Orthak vs. draugr prophet)
Critical Hits: Swing Through (draugr vs. fiendish dire rat), Combustion (Fizzy vs. draugr), Missing Ear (draugr prophet vs. Keisos)
Quote of the Night: Fizzy: "Hey Keis—" Keisos: "I'm sorry, I can't hear you, AS THE GODSDAMN B+#@@ JUST TOOK MY EAR OFF."
Further peeling away the layers of secrets surrounding Ishkiol's tomb, the party learns more about what the tomb holds--besides a swarm of undead who wanted to spill their guts on the floor. Delving deeper into the tomb, the party ran across two scimitar-wielding draugr guarding a fragment of some great creature's clawed nail. Tiny's life very nearly ended as one of the draugr neatly split the half-orc's abdomen open, but not even this close call could keep the half-orc down. Coming to as his body was stitching itself back together under Fizzy's healing magic, Tiny managed to come to his feet and land two arrows in the draugr's chest. Fizzy was busy keeping the paladin alive after the draugr slashed his throat, and Keisos called on the aid of Desna to keep himself alive as Orthak smashed into the dead bodies of the relentless draugr.
Blocking the party from further progress deeper into the dungeon were immense bronze doors. With multiple locks, including a large, oddly-shaped keyhole as well as the fanged, cupped mouths of linnorms and dried encrustations upon its surfaces, the party opted to explore another area of the dungeon that they had not yet. Before they left, they recovered a blade that appeared to be nothing more than the sharpened claw of some enormous beast, whose inner edge cut through cloth as if it were nothing. With a whisper from the eye, Paza told the party that they could protect themselves through cold iron or magical armor, and suggested that they search the rest of the tomb for the door's key (as well as recover the body parts entombed within).
Further in the tomb, the party found a room with wooden pillars, each made of a different wood and etched with Ulfen symbols. The wall paintings of the room showed additional tales of the evil that Ishkiol had wrought, not the least of which was murdering Thane Einarr's brothers and sisters. In a nearby room, they found biers--barren of the honored dead that would normally lay at rest upon them--and a curved rib bone, as if from the body of an immense beast.
The final room of the tomb was a glittering expanse of gold--coins were haphazardly tossed around, all guarded by a fierce statue wielding a ceremonial greatsword and holding a dried mass of flesh in the other. Niched alcoves were empty, and when Keisos stepped in to examine them through Tiny's urging, he triggered a magical trap that caused the niches to erupt in flame. Triggering the trap also caused another problem. The cool air coalesced and condensed into the form of an ice elemental--a problem quickly dispatched by Paza's mastery of fire. Orthak's inspection of the sword revealed that the "key" they were looking for was the sword, and dry leathery lump in the statue's hand was the dried heart of something.
Finally, only one thing remained: the great bronze door. Beyond it, they knew that the leader of the draugr waited for them, so they decided to rest before entering and challenging him. Refreshed, they approached the bronze door, arming themselves with the body parts at the urging of the eye, despite the hesitation of Keisos. The wickedly sharp curved blade, the protective rib bone and heart, even the eye--all could aid them against the draugr leader. Prepared for the battle, the party went into the final room, awakening the draugr leader and filling it with fury at the sight of Ishkiol's remains gathered together.
Striking against the draugr, the party managed to pin the undead creature down, despite the divine power that it brought to bear against it. With both Orthak and Keisos crashing into its undead body, with an enlarged Tiny firing enormous arrows at it and Fizzy using chains made of force to keep it in place, the party dispatched the draugr. Tiny discovered that the draugr's sarcophagus sat above a hidden passage. When they uncovered it, a waft of stale air assaulted them and they descended down the natural stone passage.
At the end of the passageway was a pool of brackish water, the bones of an immense creature half-submerged in its murky depths. Every party member that carried a body part felt an immense urge to come closer to the pool, and Keisos was suspicious of what might lurk within, as Tiny had told them that the skeleton appeared to have multiple necks. Attempting to flee with the two body parts that he carried, Keisos made to go to the exit, but Paza was able to convince him otherwise. Tossing the body parts into the water, the party backed slowly away from it, unsure of what to expect. Frothing and bubbling in a hellish stew, the muscles and sinew reformed around the skeleton, and it reared up, gasping for breath as its lungs once again reformed. In sinuous motion, it moved its heads towards the party, and the party saw that the hydra (for that was its true form) did not have only reptilian heads, but human heads as well. Despite its unusual form and method of resurrection, the creature was not evil (despite Keisos's initial belief). Introducing himself as "Ishkiol, once known as the Kin-Thief," he thanked the party for his unusual rebirth and gave them several gifts. The coins that the party had recovered earlier in the key room bore the markings of Thindlefwist, and Ishkiol crafted these coins as tokens against the leprechaun's illusions. Warning that the coin's power was limited in duration, Ishkiol wished them the best of luck against Thindlefwist, presenting them with a leather satchel filled with ancient treasures before fading into the stone cavern.
XP earned: 2,414 xp (level up to 6th)
NPCs encountered: Ishkiol
Enemies encountered: Draugr captain, ice elemental, draugr thane
Treasure found: 7 coins of the unglamoured eye, unidentified greatsword, unidentified warhammer, unidentified wooden armor, unidentified amulet, unidentified helm, unidentified potion, unidentified potion, masterwork cold iron greatsword, 2 masterwork scimitars, 2 leather armor, 1993 gp, a bushel of apples
Critical Fumbles: Spinning Swing (Orthak vs. draugr captain)
Critical Hits: Disembowel (draugr captain vs. Tiny), Throat Slash (draugr captain vs. Keisos), Gut Slash (draugr thane vs. Keisos)
Plot Twist: Rock and a Hard Place (Kiorte)
Quote of the Night: Keisos: "Paza, are you possessed?" Paza: "What? No..."
Following Ishkiol's advice, the party heads out into the Grungir Forest to search out Thindlefwist's favorite haunts, leading into a small clearing of cleared trees and thick mossy carpeting. Hearing the approaching sounds of plant creatures known as shambling mounds, Tiny alerted his party, who prepared themselves for battle against the creatures.
Wielding the mighty warhammer gifted by Ishkiol, Orthak easily dispatched one of the mounds, ending its attempts to crush Keisos with its viny tendrils. Tiny found himself facing one of the plant creatures by himself, and as he wielded his mammoth-tusk club against it, the leaves that held up its form melted away like ice in a winter thaw. It was not a shambling mound that Tiny faced, but a thick-jawed reptilian creature known as a hodag, who rent into Tiny's flesh like soft butter. Only Tiny's anger kept him alive, and even then not for long as the creature continued to tear into him. Keisos, freed from the grasp of the shambling mound by Orthak's hammer, called upon his goddess's aid to heal him and keep him from dying. Just as Paza's flames burned the hodag to death, the party spotted a dragon flying overhead, swooping down to investigate the smell of fresh blood.
The party retreated to cover, wondering what they would be facing: friend, foe, or indifferent ego. Paza and Tiny's recollection of dragons, though, told them that no self-respecting dragon would dig around in the dirt like a pig, or be unresponsive to attempted communications in Draconic. Using one of Ishkiol's magical coins, Paza flung it into the air, abolishing the illusion cloaked around the dragon—revealing it to be another hodag. The party sprung into action, dispatching the second hodag quickly before it could tear apart another party member, but they didn't see or hear the veiled form of another creature—a real dragon.
Though hardly bigger than a horse, the young dragon was able to catch most of the party in a mighty exhalation, coating them in flesh-searing acid. No match for three well-armed combatants and a skilled arcanist, the dragon stood no match against the party. Patching their wounds and using what healing magics they had brought with them, they cautiously watched the surrounding woods for more foes.
Only the sound of delighted laughter filled the forest clearing.
XP earned: 1,371 xp each
Enemies encountered: Green dragon, hodag, shambling mound
Quote of the Night: "Just don't do anything strenuous...like think." —Orthak to Tiny, after learning about the finer points between raging, standing, and dying
"I disbelieve the baby dragon!" —Keisos, regarding illusions
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The sounds of laughter still echoing in their ears, the party readies themselves for another fight—and they have it. Charging out from the undergrowth, a mound of plants moves towards them, but a blow from Tiny's arrows dispelled the illusion cloaking one of the fierce hodags that infest this region of the forest. Knowing that the hodags held no resistance against the arcane fire in her veins, Paza unleashed fireball after fireball against the party's foe, while Tiny used his keen senses to track down the nearly invisible Thindlefwist.
Despite causing Orthak to collapse into helpless laughter, paralyzing Tiny with a gesture, blinding Keisos, or summoning the image of a large dinosaur to distract the party, Thindlefwist fell to Tiny's axes. With the threat of the murderous leprechaun abated, the party searched for his lair, finding all of the valuable trade goods stolen from the merchants traveling the Grungir Forest road, as well as the leprechaun's spellbook.
XP earned: 1,428 XP each
Enemies encountered: Thindlefwist, hodag
Treasure found: +1 human bane obsidian dagger, scroll of hallucinatory terrain, scroll of widened color spray, unidentified bracers, 2 unidentified scrolls, Thindlefwist's spellbook
Critical Fumbles: You'll Shoot Your Eye Out (Tiny vs. Thindlefwist)
Quote of the Night: "HOLY S+!@, IT'S A T-REX! FIREBALL IT!" —Paza, on sudden appearances
"I walk up to James Jacobs and attempt to engage him in a discussion about dinosaurs." —Keisos, on metagaming and re-using images