Help coming up with a side quest


Rise of the Runelords


I want to give one of my players a sidequest during some downtime and I'm having a hard time coming up with something.
The PC is an 11th level Ulfen shapeahifting ranger who worships Erastril.
Many of the obvious options aren't currently available. Jubrayl is currently lying low, for example.
Tsuto is still out there somewhere, after Ironbriar (who is Tsuto's real father in my campaign) orchestrated his escape. So I guess that's a possibility.
Anyway, any brainstorming is greatly appreciated.


What chapter are they on?


It really depends in which book you are


They stopped the raid on Sandpoint and have a bit if time before heading to Jorgenfist.


Is it supposed to be a solo adventure, or an adventure for the party just focusing on him?

There is a pair of black dragons in Dragon's Punchbowl near Sandpoint (Black Fang, a male young adult, and his sister Scarhorn, a female old). The published strory says that they usually hunt far away from Sandpoint, to not give away their hiding place, but after a conflict between them Black Fang was wounded and expelled, had to find a new lair, and started making attacks in Sandpoint area. Hunting him down would fit thematically for a ranger of Erastil, although if he'd be facing him solo, you'd probably need to nerf the dragon (in my game, when I used him, I gave him -4 penalty to Str Dex and Con and -2 to AC to reflect his wounds from his battle from his sister).

There's also the Sandpoint Devil, I don't know if you had used him before. There are also other nasties living in The Pit in the middle of Devil's Platter.

There's a witch in Brinestump Marsh called Old Megus that is obsessed with transformations of living beings; if she has heard about the PC she cood have cooked up some plan to either capture him to study or make him voluntarily agree to help her in her research.

You can also send the PC to check what's going on in Gruber's Hermitage. A published story says there's a mothman cleric of Pazuzu that has subjugated the village, but you may figure out something else.

Depending on the party's route to Jorgenfist, they may visit Wolf's Ear. This is a settlement that was once a home for many natural werewolves who lived in peace with humans. But after it got annexed by Magnimar in 4671 AR, the church of Erastil moved in, and started hunting the werewolves down, forcing them into hiding their nature. At the moment, the church is convinced they have eradicated the lycantropy in town, even though the locals know that it's not true. Recently though a rebelious group of young werewolves started planning a retaliation, and wants to chase all non-werewolves out of town. (see Clasic Horrors Revisited p. 61)


I agree that if you haven't used the Sandpoint Devil yet, that's probably the most obvious sidequest for a Ranger.
If you want more social sidequests, since Jorgenfist might be very combat heavy anyway, tracking down a group of kids from Turandarok that ran from the raid into the hinterlands could be an option (easily combineable with the Sandpoint Devil or one of the Goblin tribes if you want to spice things up) or helping Hannah Velerin find some herbs in the woods.

If there are any Sandpoint citizens you haven't had a chance to flesh out for your group, pick one of them, let him or her show interest in the Ranger and maybe send them on a mission to help those people. Daviren Hosk may be reminded of his younger self and is eager for one last round of Goblin hunting, the meat market needs fresh supplies nowthat the raid is ended and Chod Bevok asks the Ranger to hunt fresh deer to feed the hungry, Arika Avertin wants to leave Sandpoint for good and asks the Ranger to give her self defense lessons, now that she finally decided to see the world and have adventures...

Basically every sidequest that also stregthens the connections to Sandpoint, even this late in the game, is the best option you can go for.


I created an NPC that ended up not being encountered, but might work for you.

He/she is a Druid of Gozreh, who lives on a rocky outcrop over the ocean between Sandpoint and Magnimar. The location is hard to get to, with forest between it and the road between the city and town. I had him/her living in the ruins of an old lighthouse, called 'The Bloodwreck lighthouse', which is another of Azlanist's towers, although totally ruined in my version of Varisia.

I would suggest something like this as a baseline:

- From the raid on Sandpoint it's clear that the Giants came to steal some stones from the old light.

- Brodert Quink can admit that the 'why' of this is beyond his knowledge. But he could mention the lighthouse and the druid, and that perhaps the druid has a way to read the stones (stone tell spell themed) to help uncover why the attacked.

- The PC(s) make their way to the lighthouse, encountering some dangerous forest / fey beasts.

- As they get near the lighthouse, a great storm is brewing.

- The Druid is revelling in the storm, as a druid of Gozreh would. The PCs realise that the 'person' they are dealing with is truly wild, as much storm and wind and wave as person.

- By their creative means, they have to win over the Druid and get his/her help. Being a shapeshifting ulfen ranger could come in useful here, they have some of the same concerns and spirit. It could justify why that particular PC is the right one to seek advice from the Druid, for example.

- Perhaps the Druid needs help with something. A cursed part of the forest, or a creature that is causing problems. Insert micro-quest here if needed, depending on how long you want this side quest to run.

- The Druid reveals a few clues that explain the ancient energy of the stones, and why Mokmurian must be stopped.

I mapped this area also, might come in handy for some side-quest inspiration. No idea if it will fit with your telling of Varisia but perhaps it will.

Here's a link to the map:
Map of South West Varisia


This would be a solo mission.

The party has already encountered the Sandpoint devil.

I've already played through Runner's Hermitage. My party's witch is trying to get the favor of Paxuzu, so I played through that there was a Lamashtu cults on the island and she cleared them out and the island was given to the mothman.

The witch in Brinestump sounds promising. Is there anyplace I can learn more about her?

Thankbuou SO much to all who are postinf. You're giving me great ideas.


Sorry for all the errors. Thumb typing on my phone...

Yossarion, I really like the sound of that NOV. It would be easy to get some questing out of that.


You can learn a bit about Old Megus from The Brinewall Legacy p. 18-19, which is the first part of the Jade Regent AP.

Spoiler:
Unfortunately, she's already dead in there, and as such, not stated.

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