Yet Another Campaign Journal...


Rise of the Runelords


because they're fun.

Also, 5e rules, Pathfinder fluff.

The Cast:

Bastion Sorrow
Tiefling Warlock (Infernal Pact)
STR 8 DEX 15 CON 14
INT 13 WIS 10 CHA 16

Spoiler:
Lived a life in solitude in Cheliax until his studies and the urging of his patron suggested that Thassilonian magic may help him alleviate the condition of his fellow tieflings.
TRAIT: Everything that happens is part of the cosmic plan.
IDEAL: Logic. Emotion is for fools.
BOND: Your belief that the Thassilonian rulers could be revived is over most people’s heads…and for those it isn’t, it could be dangerous.
FLAW: There’s nothing you wouldn’t risk to know more.

Azmades of Erastil
Half-Orc Paladin
STR 16 DEX 10 CON 14
INT 8 WIS 12 CHA 15

Spoiler:
Raised by the town jailor, Vachedi, and welcomed in to the town despite his heritage, Azmades is one of Sandpoint’s best and brightest. Serving with the guard has been rewarding, but the pull of adventure and Erastil’s call interest the young man in moving on.
TRAIT: Eager. Somehow nothing in your hard life to date has been able to dampen your cheer, exuberance and optimism.
IDEAL: Glory. In honorable battle is where one’s legacy is made.
BOND: Your life is devoted to a simple notion…you will stamp out every evil you find.
FLAW: Violence is too often your answer to life’s many problems.

Nyrin
Halfling Monk
STR 8 DEX 17 CON 14
INT 10 WIS 14 CHA 12

Spoiler:
Taken in by the caretaker of a Riddleport-based Shrine to Irori, you grew up dedicated to the path of enlightenment. However, when your caretaker passed, you realized to achieve said enlightenment, you would have to venture into the world to test your abilities and steel your resolve.
TRAIT: There is no enemy you cannot find common ground with. Empathy is your most subtle weapon.
IDEAL: You always help those in need. No Matter the Cost.
BOND: You believe enlightenment means putting others before you. You will always protect the ‘little’ guy.
FLAW: You place to much faith in those who share your or similar faiths.

Daergar Agatebeard
Dwarven Cleric of Abadar
STR 14 DEX 8 CON 15
INT 10 WIS 16 CHA 12

Spoiler:
Sent as an emissary of Janderhoff’s religious elite, Daergar arrived in Sandpoint seeking to establish a relationship with the newly raised cathedral. But, as a merchant-cleric, he is very keenly aware other opportunities might present themselves.
TRAIT: Perfectionist. You demand the most from yourself and others.
IDEAL: It is the duty of the civilized to strengthen the bonds of community and security.
BOND: You aim to prove to everyone that you are world’s greatest jeweler.
FLAW: You are greedy. You don’t part with money easily, and you haggle over everything.

William Robert Alvertin
Human Fighter
STR 16 DEX 9 CON 15
INT 13 WIS 11 CHA 14

Spoiler:
Son of the Alvertin family who owns Sandpoint’s finest bakery and brother to Casp Alvertin, an unfortunate casualty of the Late Unpleasantness, BillyBob is a dedicated young member of the guard. He joined, in part, to make sure what happened to his brother never happened to anyone again…especially him.
TRAIT: You can stare down a hell hound without flinching.
IDEAL: People who just follow orders blindly may as well be embracing tyranny.
BOND: You fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.
FLAW: You’d rather eat your armor than admit when you are wrong.

SESSION 1
Rova 1, 4707

If you are familiar in the least with this campaign, you know how things go down. Speeches. Games. Swallowtail Release. Good Eats…

I made sure to sneak in some background here and there…the speeches directly mention Nualia (amongst other deceased), the Late Unpleasantness, etc.

As for the PCs, during the festivities things were pretty copacetic…the ½ Orc Paladin and Human Fighter, the two local boys, are played by 13-year old boys (they’re dads are the Warlock and Cleric). It was the first time for them, and the first time for our group to have such young players. It was a blast…made us remember how enthused and un-jaded we used to be.

Highlights of the festivities:
* Daergar taking a break from making nice with Zantus and Naffer Vosk, to fleece some local merchants out of items he knows he can sell for a profit back in Janderhoff. He also takes a loan from BillyBob with a letter of credit (but pays him back during the goblin fight via healing…)
*Azmades interrogates Bastion for looking suspicious…the irony of which is lost on the half-orc.

Highlights of the fight:
* Team worked pretty well together. Warlock’s lay down a lot of ranged punishment and the Paladin and Fighter worked up very little sweat swatting goblins around.
* Everyone got a kick out of the one goblin who kept trying to light a wagon of fireworks on fire. Right after they put it out, the Dwarven cleric burned the goblin to death with Sacred Flame…accidentally catching the wagon back on fire. Fortunately, Azmades picked up the goblin and used him to beat the flames out before too much damage was done.
* The fight with the goblin dog and commando was a little hairier because the PCs didn’t really focus fire. While the dog went down quickly, the commando held his own against BillyBob before being cut down.
*The poor halfling monk spent the night sprinting from one enemy to the next but having them downed right after he got there by an ally. (He had to double move due to unfortunate positioning and a big town map).
* As the fight wound down, Azmades made it very clear they needed to keep a survivor standing…which they kind of did after cutting off the foot of a fleeing goblin.

Aftermath:
* From the survivor they learn that a ‘longshank’ organized this raid.
* From the dead goblins around town, they learn this is more than a single tribe.
* Despite a few injuries and a solitary death during the raid, the townsfolk look back on the raid with a bit of black humor. And while toasts are made to the injured and fallen, many more stories are told about the goblin who got killed by horse, the one who drowned in a barrel of beer, etc.
* For having killed nearly half of the raiders, the town hails the heroes as the “Wolves of Sandpoint” and celebrates them long into the evening.

GM Plans:
* I want to introduce the Sihedron and Nualia earlier.
* For the former, I am going to reveal most of the goblin bodies have been branded with the mark as well as many of the posts on the town’s wall.
* For the latter, I am thinking about reworking Master of the Broken Tower to cover up the Old Light instead. Inside Lyrie and some goblin ‘bodyguards’ attempt to uncover some Thassilonian relics. If she escapes, then she becomes reoccurring villain at Thistletop. If not, she can point them in that direction and directly reference Nualia. (Which Tsuto will confirm as well eventually).

Anyways, a lot of fun…I’ll keep this going. For my own sake if nothing else.


PREAMBLE:
I’ll probably start a blog. It makes organizing my thoughts a bit easier, and I can post my monster conversions, session prep, and other alterations I make to RotRL more easily. I will still cross post the journal parts here.

Also, the thing I failed to mention about last session was Aldern Foxglove’s obsession… He is all in on BillyBob Avertin. He’s taken to calling him the “next sheriff of Sandpoint.”

Ok…onwards

SESSION 2 (Friday, July 15, 2016)
Rova 2, 4707

Bastion, Daergar, & Nyrin are all staying at the Rusty Dragon. After a night of celebration, all three would-be heroes find themselves served a sumptuous breakfast by Bethana and seated together. They’ve little in common despite being 3 of the 5 so-called “Wolves of Sandpoint”…after all, they barely know each other.

As they eat their semi-awkward breakfast together, Ven Vinder sidles up to the trio and heartily thanks them, telling them he would like to offer them 10% off anything at the Sandpoint General Store. There is, of course, a catch… he turns their heads back to his own table where is beautiful daughters are dining before solemnly eyeing each hero and warning them, “They’d best not think about charming his girls with their heroic exploits and what not.” The group gets his drift, although the Daergar Agatebeard scoffs openly at the notion he’d even be attracted to such dainty human girls.

DM ROGUE’S NOTES:

Spoiler:
So 2 things about my reworking of this encounter.
1. I downplayed Shayliss’s overt sexuality and seduction attempt because I have at my table two 12-year old boys and their fathers…while I’m sure even as written it could stay PG-13, I just didn’t want to even mess with the potential awkwardness.

2. Having Ven be the speaker/actor in this scene allowed some foreshadowing—he was able to stick in a few lines about how he wasn’t trying to pin the heroes as unfit suitors like that lumber mill boy who’s been dallying with his eldest, Katrine. This hopefully registers when the Skinsaw Murders kicks off properly.

Monster in the Closet
Meanwhile, the two local boys—BillyBob & Amerdin—report for their normal guard duty. The ‘big heroes’ get a mix of hearty congratulations and good-natured ribbing from their peers before starting their rounds. On their morning rounds, they are the toast of the town. Free Coffee. Applause. High-Fives.

At one point, they are stopped by an eager little boy named Aerin Bennet who claims a goblin from the raid is hiding in his closet. His mother quickly comes over and shoos him away. She apologizes and says her boy is just worked up from yesterday’s hectic events and that he is partaking in a bit of hero worship. However, young Aerin is adamant much to his mother’s increasing chagrin. BillyBob & Amerdin agree to look into it. After quickly searching his room they uncover and dispatch the single remaining goblin with ease. Aerin’s hero worship level’s up, and the mom is uber-grateful.

DM ROGUE’S NOTES:

Spoiler:
I cribbed the idea of having Aerin approach the party sooner and his mother trying to play off the boy’s warnings as simple overactive imagination. The idea being, if the party does investigate early enough they can stave off the death of Aerin’s father. I’m also making a point of having this family figure in narratively later as a reward for the team’s proactiveness here.

Invitations, Meetings, and Healings
As the non-native PCs breakfast wraps up they are approached by one Rogors Craesby on behalf of his lordship, Aldern Foxglove. He wishes to invite the PCs to join his master for an all-day boar hunt tomorrow. He informs the party that Aldern will purchase fine horses for them, and that he’s already made arrangements with Ameiko to host a feast of boar tomorrow evening in the PCs honor.

The PCs accept…mainly motivated by free horses and the possibility of a rich benefactor. Then they split up. Nyrin and Daergar go off to help Father Zantus & Naffer Vosk deal with the wounded at Sandpoint Cathedral, and Bastion follows up on his pre-existing reason for traveling to Sandpoint—to discuss Thasillonian lore with one Brodert Quink.

Quink seems unphased by the presence of a tiefling once Bastion starts praising the scholar’s writings on the subject of Thassilon. While Bastion doesn’t share much of his own work on the subject, not that the long-winded Quink gave him much chance, the two do bond over tea, books, and a brief tour of the Old Light (where Quink expounds on his belief it was never a lighthouse but actually an old arcane weapon). Quink then shows Bastion a secret hatch he found on the ground floor and enters “Quest-Giving” mode… he’s too old, the town’s to dismissive of his concerns, etc., but he’d pay 100gp to Bastion if he’d check out the lower levels, return any Thassilonian artifacts and also map the lower levels.

Bastion, of course, accepts. And, not a moment too soon, as a minor cathedral functionary shows up with a summons to the graveyard.

DM ROGUE’S NOTES:

Spoiler:
I am adapting Wayfinder #9’s Gateway to Nar-Voth by Mark Garringer for this. In reality, I am just using the map and descriptions. There is no evil wizard or drow waiting down there for them…just millennia old and untouched Thassilonian ruins. I am also changing to be more appropriate for a 2nd-level party. It is mostly a red herring, although it could become a base of operations for them as well as foreshadowing more of ancient Thassilon.

Also, regarding Rogors Craesby…anytime I can foreshadow, I do. This is a perfect chance to meet a guy over the course of the boar hunt, see his relationship to Foxglove (as well as see him worry about his master’s health—early stages of some ghoul fever), before becoming an enemy in the Skinsaw Murders.

The Desecrated Vault
During Nyrin & Daergar’s tending to the wounded, they overhear Naffer Vosk approach Father Zantus with some disturbing news…a tomb vault of the previous priest and his daughter has been found ajar. A magical robe of bones was left crumpled on the ground outside the vault. Finding the robe deterred Vosk from entering any further. Like good D&D players, the PCs offer to check things out and Daergar sends for the rest of the group to meet him at the vault.

Good thing too, since after he budges the vault fully open and enters, he is beset and dropped by a handful of skeletons. 4 skeletons. I rolled hot and dropped him with a critical. Fortunately, Amerdin was able to lay on hands, and with the tiefling providing magical blast support, the frontline was able to make short work of the skeletons.

A thorough inspection turned up the following:
1. Evidence of goblin and larger, booted humanoid presence.
2. The robe of bones.
3. Father Tobyn’s remains were missing.
4. And, most alarming, there wasn’t even a place for Nualia’s remains.

This last fact triggered alarm bells for the PCs, BillyBob especially. He immediately began questioning Zantus about this, and the priest acknowledged they never found enough remains to justify the creation of another sarcophagi. But, Billybob didn’t stop there --- he immediately suspected Nualia, who he knew, as not the culprit of the goblin raid but the arson of the church those 5 years ago. His theories ranged from demonic possession to black magic to revenge against Father Tobyn for something…he was so worked up by the possibilities, the group had to calm him down and remind him they had no evidence yet as to what happened.

DM ROGUE’S NOTES:

Spoiler:
BillyBob is played by 12-year old in his first D&D campaign. He was rapid-fire spitballing ideas in a super-enthusiastic manner only to be told that his theories might be right…learned a bit about how the game goes. There is no shortcut to the end…even if you think you’ve got the solution, D&D demands you put said theory in play.

Beneath Old Light
Bastion tells the group he’d like to follow up on a lead and investigate Old Light, and, after dinner, the party agrees to follow him. Unfortunately, upon arriving, and before descending into the ‘dungeon’ proper, the group disturbs a nest of baby giant spiders and their angry mother.

Nyrin the Halfling monk takes the worst of it, but no one drops before they dispatch the deadly beasts.

As we ended our session, the group was standing in the moonlit ruins of Old Light staring down a shaft of which they couldn’t see the bottom and debating if they had time to go down and get out before meeting their benefactor for an all-day boar hunt.

3 Fun/Cool Things wrote:


1. BillyBob's character going on just an epic rundown of theories on what might have actually happened to the church those 5 years ago. Cool in-character because of his willingness to implicate Nualia coupled with his unwillingness to think she did it freely. Cool out-of-character because it was a kid's 2nd session of D&D ever and that level of enthusiasm warms a jaded gamer's heart and overexuberance beats out disinterested phone-scrolling any day of the week.

2. BillyBob's above free thinking led him to repeatedly offending the tiefling Bastion. After all, BillyBob was sure demonic or devilish possession had something to do with it and, Bastion is, after all a demon. This insinuations were called out, in-character, by Amerdin the 1/2 Orc Paladin who said sharply, "That's racism."

3. 5e rolls pretty fast a the table. 2 tough combats. A bunch of roleplay and investigation all in 2 hours max was pretty good.

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