Aubrey's Rise of the Runelords campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

Elisile nods. Despite herself, she is growing to quite like the amicable cleric, and is relieved that she did not need to admonish him to be silent as they entered the graveyard.

She draws her bow, and scans the area with her low light vision for any signs of lurking danger. Spot: 12+6 = 18

Spoiler for Alwyn and Elisile:

Further spoiler for Alwyn and Elisile

Given the opportunity, Lo'j will avail himself of the horizontal hospitality of one of the towns young ladies, otherwise he will remain in the taproom, politely trading war stories with the dwarf and the savage.

"How's your dog doing, Lo'j? Damnable gobbs."

To Lo'J- Hey feller, so how be yer pup? Poor fella was a brave un, hope 'e be doin' alright. What be da pooch's name? I takim fer a pet as ye dinnae look ta be a druid or one o' nature's warrior like meself, ye got too much ore on yer frame fer dat. I be thinkin' on da battle and me thinkin' be dat de gobbos are feared o' dogs. Dey seemed ta be testin' oot der nerves by tryin' to kill all dem what were in town. I heard dat dey hated dogs but me thinkin' be dat fear is the motive.

Aubrey and Elisile:

"Gurney seems well, though scarred. Mayhaps I should be seeking out a druid or some such to finish off his healin."

"He's probably up in my room now, innkeep prefering I don't bring such an animal into the tap room and all. Though his son filches a copper a day to bring Gurney outside a few times."

"As for bein' a pet, I'd say more of a companion. I have had for most of years between leaving the service and today. He'll be gettin old and long of tooth soon, though I truly would be hatin' to see it. He's been my only friend through a lot of tough times and soul searching."

While talking, I glance up the stairs a few times, obviously thinking about the dog.

"Well, heck, the first time I saw the little flea bait, he was fightin' with a butcher over a chain of sausage..."

"So, Lo'j, how long you been around here? You work for them Sandpointers, or allready did, right? Guess we all work for them now."

"So, Lo'j, how long you been around here? You work for them Sandpointers, or allready did, right? Guess we all work for them now."

"I have been here a while, and work for isn't how I would describe it. I volunteer here and there to help out. My experience is more martial than civil, so when it is time to train a militia unit or similar I help out. More often, I help guard this or that, or moderate a dispute. Just enough to keep me eating."

"Well, the other thing," I hesitate a moment, "I am loathe to imply impropriety on the mayor's part, but her and I are cousins. We grew up together in Magnimar. So when the ship I had been traveling on arrived here, I found a place as close to home like as I thought I was going to for a while."

"Rest assured, I haven't gogtten anything but the occaional dinner out of being cousins with the mayor, but it is still not something I flaunt."

"Well, hell! Being cousin to the mayor oughtta be good for something!
(Hudak winks. Just to let Lo'j know he's joking, not funny business, this being Sandpoint and all...;))

Werzat wizard Vethran at? Is he around, or is he at 'is hut? House?

Werzat wizard Vethran at? Is he around, or is he at 'is hut? House?

"I believe, that it is traditional for wizards to live in towers."

Yes, Vethran, being the unsocial soul that he his, has withdrawn to his home. He stated that he could be found there if anyone needed him.

Oh, Aubrey, do I have a full day of downtime to scribble one of these scrolls into my spellbook? If so, I'd like to do that.

"How long'd ago the sun went down? We should crash on into his hut howse tower and and....where's that wizard? Yawanna go over there you guysh?"

Alwyn and Aubrey:

For Aubrey and Elisile:

Alwyn, Aubrey:

For Aubrey and Elisile:

Illes spends the early part of the evening getting acquainted with the house ale and a barmaid who caught his eye early on. By the time Ameiko extends her invitation he's been going on about the fight in the square to her for some time, and couldn't really turn down an invitation to bring this story to the stage. But that might be taking his ego a bit far for tonight, so he makes a quick decision to use the opportunity to mend things with the dwarf who still seemed to be a bit sore about waking up in the temple. Easy enough- dwarves in his experience tended to love any attention to their skill with a blade.

Illes takes the stage with a wave to the crowd and smiles wryly as he launches into a quick introduction. "Now I know you might have heard it one way or the other- but today I give it to you truly. This dwarf over here- no this whirlwind of death, this windmill of destruction" he laughs good-naturedly, and directs the crowds attention to Dravite, "was ripping and shredding goblins in to so many pieces that the rest of us had to bump shoulders just to get any of the action. I hear that's how they do things in Janderhoff, and thank Desna for our luck in having him here when we did. So this one's for you Dravite..."

Illes brings his flute up to play and begins a slow and menacing introduction, which is surely recognizable to some as a dwarven war champion tune. Familiar as it might be... the song is strange and new again paired with a Varisian flute and without the overpowering dawrven percussion it usually gets. Once the tune is established as familiar for the crowd's benefit, the bard begins to play with it speeding it up and lightening the tone to something more like a raucous drinking song. When he is fairly sure the crowd is with him, Illes begins to intersperse the tune with alternating verses and instrumentals.

Deadly wardog without fear
Ramming through the battlefields
Hellspawn rat-lings and goblin kin,
Will be dead by this beast, insane
Skin of stone and bones of steel
Shredded bodies and blood will spill
There are no allies there are no mates
When this demon is out in rage

Black blooded, red eyed and hateful in nature
Dwellers of darkness with lust for blood
Wherever they kill for pleasure without reason
Dravite Schorl will crush them down

As the last note of his flute dies out, Illes carefully watches the crowd response and smiles slightly to himself as he stands to make a mock bow, laughing and directing any applause at Dravite. Doing a quick jump off the stage making his way back to the bar, he can't help but wish Vethran was here. Shame he turned in so early. After the other night this town is ours. No reason he should be sleeping alone tonight.

Perform: Flute - 28 (17 +11)
I'm no lyricist so I tend to swipe bardic lyrics from metal bands. They have miles of dark fantasy lyrics. This band appears to be just straight up d&d lyrics though. So I don't know this band, but credit where it's due: song is Raging Goblin by Battlelore which I changed a fair bit as it was about a goblin champion before.

as the song ends, Dravite smiles slightly, which turns to a light giggle, then to the loudest, deepest gut-laugh that most in town have ever heard. His laughter rumbles through the place for a full minute before he can control himself and start toward the Lyricist.
"Sir, dat be da best music I been hearin' in years! Me pa would think it grand that 'is little boy be gettin' his own tune! By Gorum, I ne'er woulda thunk that a dwarven tune played on a flute would sound so good!" Dravite slaps the skald on the back, in the hearty manner that dwarves do, dislodging anything that might be in his lungs. "Yer own exploits were none to shabby yerself, lad. Ye kept us goin' and gived us focus in de battle, and ye earned me respect wit dat dere whistle. I will be proud ta introduce ye to any dwarves we be meetin' as a dwarf-brother and me own friend! BARKEEP!! A round for dis man-dwarf, 'is throat must be parched!"

My hat off to the Varisian bard, even if he did steal some of it. The key to being an artist is knowing which are the good bits to lift as your own. :-))

The clientele are mightily impressed, both with Dravite and Illes, clapping them on the back and buying drinks for him and his companions. Ameiko and the barmaids both clap and laugh, their smiles and winks being most interesting. The song of the mighty dwarven warrior is destined to be hummed by many in Sandpoint and beyond.

Both Illes and Dravite get the benefit of a Friendly response from the Rusty Dragon crowd.

Spoiler for Alwyn and Elisile:

Spoiler for Vethran:

Aubrey:

For Aubrey and Elisile:

I leave the revelers eventually, the conversation leading me to feel guilty for leaving Gurney alone so long.

I retrieve him from my room, and grabbing my long sword I make my way out to the street. WE spend a good time out walking the streets, ostensibly looking for danger, but mostly just being together.

woof woof, pant pant, woof pant woof pant

Aubrey and Alwyn:

Illes gratefully accepts Dravite's round and heartily returns his back thumping. "Anyone who knows how to work a hook like you deserves their own battlesong." At the first opportunity catches the eye of one of the barmaids and introduces her to Dravite, before launching into a vivid description of how the dwarf broke into a full run and leapt atop a barrel using it as a vaulting point to fly over the Aldern Foxglove and drive his hook through a goblin's skull. His recounting of the story is full of gore and fantastically descriptive, but designed towards two points- getting Dravite some female attention and flirting with Ameiko a bit as he tells it. To test the waters with her he slides close to her during the telling if she is on this side of the bar or leans across the bar toward her if she is on the working side deliberately making as much eye contact as he can. At the end of his retelling, Illes buys another round for himself, Dravite, the barmaid he introduced her to, and Ameiko (even though it is her place, it's about the gesture and persuading her to have one with him). "Ameiko, truly your song was a thing of unearthly beauty. I've traveled through Varisia all my life, but never have I heard anything so haunting...so ethereal.... I was almost embarrassed to follow it with something as crude as I did." Illes pauses and smiles, "But I shouldn't be surprised by the extraordinary beauty of your song. I could describe you in much the same way."

Aubrey:

Vethran spends a quiet evening at home, studying scrolls by candlelight unless someone needs him for something. If not, assume that he finishes the research I mentioned before and goes to bed.

For Alwyn and Elisile:

Spoiler for Illes:

It's getting late in the Rusty Dragon. Larken slunk off early, and Vethran left to study his books, while Alwyn and Elisile went to walk the town perimeter and Lo'j went to walk his dog. Illes has drawn Ameiko into an animated conversation, while Hudak and Dravite engage in a burping contest.

Anyone doing anything else tonight, or shall we move on?

Aubrey:

Much later that night--
Vethran wakes to a loud hammering on his door and a low slurred "Veethhrrannn! Wake up Tallomane! Leemmmee in dammit!" When the door opens, Illes nearly falls in as he was fully leaning on it, but recovers and stumbles in with an open bottle of wine. "Whash you doing up here for? Thissh town is ours [hic] and you're in sleeping through it!" Illes slumps down on the bed takes a swig off the bottle and offers it to Vethran. Then he proceeds to tell him about the angel he met tonight and sings her praises until during a quiet pause Vethran realizes Illes has fallen asleep mid sentence- still sitting up on Vethran's bed.
Let me know how much coins to mark off for a night's heavy drinking including buying drinks fairly liberally and a bottle of wine.

After walking Gurney for about half an hour I return to the tap room and set about finding myself a bed warmer in earnest.

"Hey, Dravite! I can burp your name! *!!!gurrpDRAgurrpVITEnurphff!!!*"

yeah, we're done.

Subjected to his cousin's drunken ramblings, Vethran simply nods along with his story, feigning interest (poorly) until his inebriated relative falls asleep sitting up.

Sighing to himself, Vethran gingerly removes the bottle from Illes' hand after he loses consciousness and places it on a nearby table. He then tosses a blanket over him and moves to the front room to curl up in his reading chair, wrapping himself in his cloak and returning to sleep.

If Vethran wakes up before Illes, which he presumably will since Illes has passed out and Vethran has already gotten a few hours of sleep, Vethran will prepare a pot of "hangover helper" ginger tea and serve it with honey to his cousin when he awakens. He is still Varisian, afterall, and his grandmother would've taught him such recipes. Hell, it probably isn't the first time this has happened. While the tea is brewing, he'll memorize his spells for the day.

Hudak wakes in the morning, happy to be alive. He washes his head and heads downstairs to breakfast with a skip in his gait.
All this made possible by his 16 constipation score.

Updated my spells memorized in the profile. Ready for the next day.

Fin'ly made it down 'ere, eh Hudak?! Been wondrin' when ye be gettin' oot o de pallet. Heh, ye be handlin' yer drink good fer a human! Come on over, de eggs be a bit on de runny side, but de pickled fried pork patties be jus' as good as me own mum made, rest her soul and may Cayden Cailen be guiding her step.

After walking Gurney for about half an hour I return to the tap room and set about finding myself a bed warmer in earnest.

** spoiler omitted **

(You need the Bluff check too, but at least you get a synergy bonus with Diplomacy ranks. Good luck!

Man, this takes me back to my teenage gaming days. I'm surprised no one has asked where the brothel is.)

heh heh....let's play kick the can, Scatman Cruthers.

Lo'j wrote:

After walking Gurney for about half an hour I return to the tap room and set about finding myself a bed warmer in earnest.

(You need the Bluff check too, but at least you get a synergy bonus with Diplomacy ranks. Good luck!

My bluff is a much more manageable +5

15+5=20

(So it's true - if you want to attract girls, get a dog.)

Man, this takes me back to my teenage gaming days. I'm surprised no one has asked where the brothel is.)

It's what D&D is all about ... isn't it?

Aubrey and Alwyn:

Having finished their search of the cemetery, Alwyn and Elisile return to the Rusty Dragon. After a quick snack, Alwyn wanders off to get some sleep.

The next morning, he gets up as the rooster greets the sun, straps himself into his newly acquired suit of mail and lumbers off for a run. "Not only is it good for you, but it is also necessary", he explains to the incredulous onlookers he passes on the streets. "A man must be as one with his armour if he is to be a fully effective warrior." On his return to the inn half an hour later, he's covered in sweat and grime - he spends the next hour obsessively cleaning his mail and weapons before finally allowing himself breakfast. Carryig a big plate of potatoes, steak and eggs, he plops down next to his companions.

"There is a traitor on the loose in this town - someone unlocked the north gate as the festival began, allowing the goblins uncontested entry. Some of 'em went right for the priest's corpse, which was in the boneyard right next to the northern gate, while the rest carried out a diversion by trying to torch the cathedral. All those goblins we killed were in effect sacrificed to obtain the dead body, so our traitor is not only a meticulous planner, but also completely ruthless. Only the gods know what his next move will be, so stay on your toes. Expect more fighting." With that, he digs into his meal. "Also, we need to see that elven ranger again. Anyone know if she's still in town?"

Shalelu Andosana is still staying at the Rusty Dragon, as Ameiko can attest, though she tends not to visit the common room much. She is probably buying supplies in the town, and it should be fairly easy to track her down - there are only two elf chicks in town.

Elisile nods. “A traitor,” she says softly, “or else a stealthy goblin sneaking it’s way across a bridge and into town … although people seem confident that the eastern shore remains free of goblins. Come, let us look for Shalelu Andosana.”

I’m assuming we can find her without too much trouble. Once we do, I give her this speech:

After scarfing down his breakfast, Alwyn tells his companions he'll be off to find Shalelu. After checking with Ameiko to make sure she's not in the inn, he wanders off to the market to see if she's there.

"Excuse me, ma'am", he says as he happens upon her, "but I, or, should I say, we, have a couple of further questions I fear only you can answer. After we inspected the northern gate, several disturbing trends seem apparent to me. Firstly, the goblins have a new, smart and ruthless leader. My immediate reaction to the theft of the priest’s corpse was that someone stole it to bring dishonour to his house. However, I doubt that either the Chelaxians or the goblins follow this tradition. Another theory would be that a shaman would use the corpse as a conduit to the dead man's relatives in order to cast a powerful hex on them, but his daughter died in the fire that consumed the old church. Perhaps the body was stolen in order to be animated as one of the restless dead - but why this specific body? The only reason I can see is that it is an act of revenge, and that the priest's bones now adorn some vengeful creature's hut. However, there must be a reason that this raid happened now, and I think that someone must have recently seized control - someone who hates the dead man, his faith and his town enough to sacrifice dozens of minions just to get their hands on a long-dead man’s remains. Thus, we were wondering if you know about any changes of leadership within the local goblin tribes - specifically if you know about any ambitious and capable witchdoctors."

"Secondly, the goblins have an ally in town - an ally that unlocked the northern gate in order to let them in. Do you know if any goblin leaders, past or current, who would ally with a disgruntled Sandpointer? Or of a local human depraved enough to consider allying with the foul little beasts?"

Edit: Heya - a little crossposting!

“Stars, Sun and Moon, Shalelu Andosana,” Elisile (who has accompanied Alwyn again) greets the ranger in Elven. “In addition to the questions of my companion, are you aware of any goblin activity on the east bank of the river that borders town? Or are they confined to the north?”

I think someone more personable than Elisile should start making enquiries around town as to the activities of the dead priest, and why the goblins (or anyone else) might have an interest in his corpse. Also – perhaps I missed it – but do we know why and how he and his daughter died?

Hudak dives into his bowl of barley and warm milk.
"So, what is on the block for today's festivities?"
He asks between steaming spoonfulls.
He follows with gobs of bean curd on unleavened bread.