Gryphon Gold's Rise of the Runelords Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Guy Player Man

"Thank you for your words." Markum does not seem totally convinced, but continues on as if nothing happened. "I must return to the building and look through the rest of it before going to guard the tunnel."

"The building can wait, you know. If there ARE still goblins or anything in there, you'd be better fit to face them after you've rested..."

...and recharged your spells. And levelled up. However, if Markum insists on returning to the glassworks, then Varg says:

"Well then, let me join you. If there is still trouble in there, you'll need all the help you can get. And if you plan to guard it all night, you'll obviously need to take that in shifts with other people, unless you plan to be too tired to be useful tomorrow."

The rest of the Glassworks has several storerooms; an office and a file room; a kitchen, a pantry, and a dining room; a dorm room and a wash room; and a shop/display room.

Map

With Ameiko safe at home, Lona heads over to her favorite local merchant to appraise the various goods taken from the body of the half-elf.

The list can be found in Lona's profile under Equipment - Temporary under the appropriate subheading.

With the business concluded, she returns to the tavern to meet up with the group. "I was thinking we can meet back up at the building and rest there for the night before exploring the tunnels. That way, we can keep an eye on that tunnel as we rest with everyone available to help defend against anything that might come through. Hey, where's Varg and Markum?"

Mr. DM, if we want to buy gear or equipment, what is available for sale here, and does some sort of discount from recognition still apply?

"I believe they went back to guard the underground tunnel. I fear that your friend Markum is still feeling guilty over his error."

Appraisals are going to cost money.

Hmm, Lona was mostly wondering about the silver ring and earrings and the gold and silver dust pouches. You bring up a good point, though. They may be magical, and we should probably detect magic and identify and appraise them ourselves first. Lona will skip the visit to the merchant for now then.

"A little bit of guilt won't hurt that headstrong fool. I suppose we'll meet up with them there then. Why don't we scatter to grab any gear you need to pick up or purchase, and meet up there whenever you get there at the building." Quite happy with her little idea, she runs out and heads over to the building to find Varg and Markum, and search through the various rooms with them, asking them to go with her back over any rooms they may have explored that she has not seen yet.

Yes, Markum was going right back to the glassworks. He can Detect Magic on the items if asked.

Praxim accompanies the half-elf back to the Glassworks.

After most of the group leaves the Glassworks, Lym takes the Goblin to the Sheriff's HQ to have it imprisoned. She makes no secret of her plans and anyone who wants to join her is welcome.

"I need a cell," the Mage says to the first guard she sees on entering the building. "We captured a Goblin -- we need to keep it alive so we can question the little anklebiter. I can speak their language and we really need some more information about what is happening."

After finishing up the questioning, however that goes, Lym pays a quick visit to the temple complex before she returns to the Inn.

"I need to ask," she says as she sees whichever priest is prepared to talk to her. "Some names have come up during our recent investigations, and I was hoping you might be able to put faces and backgrounds to the names: Malfeshnekor, Tobyn and Nualia. This Nualia appears to have Celestial blood, so I was hoping you would know of her. And... has there been a recent grave robbery? It would appear a special body was burned at Thisletop Shrine to honour Lamashtu."

After this pans out however it will, Lym returns to the Inn for a good night's rest. She joins the others at the Glassworks again the next morning.

Since I skipped ahead, I'll you retroactively detect magical auras. You can try to appraise or identify everything now.

The ring and the potion radiate a faint magical aura.

Knowledge (Local) or Gather Information DC 10: Father Tobyn was head of the church when it burned down five years ago. He was killed in the fire and his body was buried in the cemetary. Nualia is his daughter, and is thought to have burned in the fire, too, but her body was never found.

After the goblin raid days ago, it was found that Tobyn's grave had been robbed.

The name "Malfeshnekor" is unknown to everyone.

Time to figure out how appraise works. It looks like the appraise skill can be used untrained now, too (but we'll use Lona's +6 trained appraise check unless someone has a better bonus there).

With the place searched and secured, Lona gathers everyone and pulls out the following items from her backpack.

From the half-elf - things to appraise
composite shortbow
silver ring(magic)
silver earrings
potion(magic)
mw flute
12 pouches of gold dust
6 pouches of silver dust
(assumed) 1 quiver of arrows (19)

Marcum gestures in some strange fashion, and the ring and the potion radiates slightly in response. Armed with the knowledge, Lona takes the time to study the items (appraising, +6 trained appraisal check)

The omitted items from the list do not need to be appraised/identified. I just listed the items that will need appraisal. This assumes the mw thieve's tools is similar in quality to the set Lona is...er..."familiar" with.

Should I go ahead and roll for these, or do you want to roll them in secret?

Go ahead and roll.

Anyone using Detect Magic can make a Spellcraft check to try to determine the properties of a magical item.

After careful study of the goods, Lona deduces the values of the items as follows:

composite shortbow (appraisal 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20)
silver ring(magic) (appraisal 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17)
silver earrings (appraisal 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15)
potion(magic) (appraisal 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26)
mw flute (appraisal 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22)
12 pouches of gold dust (appraisal 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26)
6 pouches of silver dust (appraisal 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7)
(assumed) 1 quiver of arrows (19)(appraisal 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14)

The silver ring and pair of earrings are each worth about 25 gp. Each pouch of gold dust is worth around 50 gp, and each bag of silver dust is worth around 20 gp. The vial of the potion is 1 gp.

Everything else is as listed in the core book, with the composite shortbow having a strength rating of +1.

Upon returning to the Glassworks basement and the mouth of the tunnel, Praxim scans the tunnel intensively, using his detect evil on a constant basis, his bow readied and arrow knocked.

One magical appraisal, coming up!

Apraisal for the ring: Spellcraft 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17.

Appraisal for the potion: Spellcraft 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21.

You can't identify the ring. The potion is a potion of Cure Light Wounds.

Can I tell which school of magic the spell on the ring is, though?

You'd have to make a Knowledge (Arcana) check to determine the school of magic.

Lona tries the ring and the earrings on herself, and decides they match her outfit well enough.

Come morning (assuming the evening goes uneventfully), Lona greets Lym as she joins the group. She hands Lym the ring to play with while whispering to her, "I'm so glad you're here. Frankly, that Praxim is driving me a little batty with his nice guy attitude."

Then, louder to the group with a smile, "so, are we ready for a bit of exploration today?"

Lym gives a discrete cough at Lona's assessment of Praxim, and gently pats her on the shoulder.

"This is a curative potion," she announces out loud, indicating the vial Lona brought out of the Glassworks yesterday. "The ring... was our dead opponent wearing it, do you know? It is magical, but I can not identify its use at this time."

Lym coughs, then launches into 'scholar mode': "I have performed some investigations since yesterday. Father Tobyn was the priest of this charming hamlet five years ago. He died during the fire, and his body was stolen from its grave during the recent Goblin raid. He had a daughter named Nualia, who was assumed to have died during the fire.

If I might be so bold as to formulate a hypothesis, I would say she might be responsible for her father's death... And we know at the least that she is likely to be guilty of the desecration of her father's corpse. She is currently our most likely suspect for the position of mastermind behind the unification of the Goblin tribes.

I have been unable to identify this 'Malfeshnekor', unfortunately. But we know where Father Tobyn's body was destroyed - the 'Thisletop shrine' to the dread goddess Lamashtu. It might be a lead worth following up on at a later date."

One Gather information check, because I have no Knowledge (local): 1d20 ⇒ 12.

"I don't know about any of that, so I'll have to trust you on it. But we might find some answers down this tunnel. If everyone's ready? Vuvo lead on."

Lona's brows furrow as she tries to recollect anything of use to add to Lym's information.

Know: Local 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

As she does, she leaves the potion with Lym, for anyone who may be want to hold on to it. She takes back the ring and puts it back on her finger.

The potion should probably go on Lym, since she should try to stay out of melee, making her (hopefully) the least likely to go down. That way, she can heal any healers that go down to traps or combat. As for the ring, Lona is a vain *cough* rogue *cough*, and will unceremoniously wear that ring until we figure out what it does exactly.

For almost 200 feet, the tunnel winds, before coming to a fork. The right branch continues unobstructed, while the opening of the left branch is decorated with a ruined brick wall. Part of the wall still stands, while many bricks and brick fragments litter the floor. The hole in the wall is large enough for all of you to pass through easily enough.

From this point on, let me know how much time your characters are willing to spend traveling down a branch of the tunnel before heading back.

Praxim continues to scan the passages with detect evil; it means he's only making half moves each "round", but it should give them advanced warning if there are any goblins waiting in ambush.

The bricks, does is look as though someone broke into or out of the passage we're in? If they broke out of the passage, I suggest we keep following the passage for at least an hour. If they broke into the passage, then I suggest we go through the brick wall and explore that way.

As the group proceeds, Lona devotes her attention to looking for concealed/secret doors and traps.

During exploration, how much does such exploration slow the pace down by? Lona's +10 for general perception and +11 for trap perception, so take Ten is 20 and 21, respectively.

I take it that Markum, Vuvo, Praxim, and I kept watch all night, and that it's now the next day. I just knocked a ration off my equipment list.

Varg closely follows closely behind Markum and Vuvo, his sword drawn, devoting HIS attention to looking for people, goblins, and other possible attackers.

Lym walks at Lona's side. From time to time, she mutters an arcane phrase and she looks up, down, left and right, checking every area to the best of her ability as the group progresses.

You've guessed it, Lym is casting Detect Magic and refreshing the casting when she has to, just to make sure we're not walking into magical traps or bypassing magically hidden doors.

The brick wall looks like it was torn down from both sides.

Searching for stuff reduces your movement to a single move action per round.

Even/Odd even is continue in this tunnel odd is go through the brick wall 1d2 ⇒ 2

Markum continues down the tunnel. Taking 10 on Perception checks and working in tandem with Vuvo, who aids another (total 22)

That is fine, since Praxim is working in a similar snails pace with his detect evil.

Markum continues down the tunnel.

Which branch, and how far are you willing to go?

Lona looks quickly down both branches, and points to the left one.

What lights up each branch? Will we need to supply our own light source to be able to see?

Continue down the tunnel we're in now, passing by the torn down brick wall.
That is unless Vuvo or I detect something.
Markum Perception 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12
Vuvo Perception 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28 Scent

What lights up each branch? Will we need to supply our own light source to be able to see?

There is no light source in the tunnels, except that which the party provides.

Lona looks quickly down both branches, and points to the left one.

Continue down the tunnel we're in now, passing by the torn down brick wall.

Are you splitting up? How far down either branch are you willing to go?

[ooc]I understood that I was in the lead. I will go down the same tunnel we've been in unless
1- the perception check gives me some information that changes my mind
2- the others go through the brick wall; at which point I'll be in the back.

For clarification: the tunnel splits into two branches...one with a brick wall, and one without. When you say "the same tunnel we've been in", I'm assuming you mean the branch of the tunnel without the brick wall. Right?

I really need to know how much time you're willing to spend going down a path, without finding anything, before you decide to stop going down that path.

The bricks, does is look as though someone broke into or out of the passage we're in? If they broke out of the passage, I suggest we keep following the passage for at least an hour. If they broke into the passage, then I suggest we go through the brick wall and explore that way.

Correct, the passage without the brick wall.

You head down the right path. A minute or so later, you come to another split in the tunnel...one to the left and one to the right.

Right

"Why is Markum always so eager to run off on his own? Does he think he's a one man party or something?" Lona mumbles to herself as she looks about, and realizes she can't see anything!

"Hey, does anyone have a light source?"

I'm open to either direction. I'm just generally a left to right kind of person, which was the only reason I pointed left. If Markum really wants to go off on his own and this is his way of telling us that, so be it. I can go left or right. I'd go right since Markum is leading us that way instead, but will go left if Markum really wants to be alone for a while.

Lona has nothing to light the way. Anyone have something to help light the way? We may need two if Markum had one and took it with him.

Going right, you travel for about 400 feet before coming to a cave in.

Map

Praxim scans the cave-in, first with detect evil, and then with perception to see it's a real cave-in, or just a disguise or illusion to fool people like them.
Perception:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23

"Sometimes a cave in is just a cave in. If you look for evil around every corner and under every rock, eventually, you'll find it."
Backtrack and go down the other way.

"Of course, yet one must not fail to consider that staging a false cave in would be an effective ruse to cover a staging area for a goblin invasion. On the other hand, it is highly unlikely that goblins would be clever enough to conceive of such a plan."

Satisfied, however, that this is a true cave in, he turns to follow the cranky druid.

The cave-in looks and feels real, and there seems there's nothing more to it.

Down the other path, you travel for what seems thousands of feet. After about ten minutes, you come to a dead end.

Being no expert on the matter, how old did that cave in seem? If I figure it is more than a few days old, then I'll check around here for a secret entrance. If I don't find anything, I'll check more closely as we walk back to the brick wall.

Perception 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23

"Why is Markum always so eager to run off on his own? Does he think he's a one man party or something?" Lona mumbles to herself as she looks about, and realizes she can't see anything!

"Hey, does anyone have a light source?"

"Luces saltantes pendantes inflammo," Lym mutters, and makes a hand gesture. Four balls of cool, soothing light appear above her and spread out to their maximum reach. "Is that better?" she asks Lona.