I was just wondering how much trouble you would have getting a horse to drink a potion?
So do I need 8 hrs rest? I'll take the watch in the tower ASAP since its dark now.
Works for me
Nothing springs the trap. The next morning dawns a bit brighter than the last. The fort is dead quiet as you gather your loot, your prisoner, your horse, and your casualty and make the long way back over the bridge and the through the nettles.
The picked-over bodies of the thistletop warriors lie here and there, worsting in the morning sun. After some rambling and a couple conferences between Cha and Shal you finally wind your way back to the road and strike for town. Orik halts here.
I feel quite rested, back to town we go maybe get some even better rest there and some decent chow!!!
"This is where our ways part, friends. Your offer to split the treasure is an honorable one, but I have the wages Nualia paid me and my life, which you spared. That's enough for me. I'm for Magnimar and beyond that, ports unknown. If our paths cross again, we shall meet as friends."
He offers his hand to each of you, then shoulders his pack and takes the road east.
Yeh good luck and Orik dont forget which head to use next time you're picking out a group to go adventuring with!
"Farewell friend. We'll look you up if we come that way."
Orik punches Yod in the arm as he walks by, and with a sidelong glance in Sari's direction mumbles, "You should talk."
Not ten minutes down the road you come across a day-old battle site. Goblins lie everywhere. Some have been trampled, others skewered on lances or hacked by the sword. The road here is covered with the heavy track of cavalry.
Looking over the carnage you are surprised to find an occasional human mixed in with the casualties. There are also a couple of horses that were brought down in the fight. They all lie where they fell in combat, undisturbed but for the crows.
Shal stands from her examination of a goblin corpse and wipes her hands with a rag.
"These are Mosswoods. Obviously Belor's ambush went off well. This one here is the Mosswood king. Judging from the numbers here I'd say they were decimated by the attack. But I don't understand the fallen riders. It's not like him to leave the dead lying in the road like this, particularly his own."
"I think we need to get back to Sandpoint."
Maybe they had to leave in a hurry? Some other force showed up and drove them off or they got word of another attack on Sandpoint or something? Perhaps somebody can check to see if there is anything we can learn from the tracks.
Not ten minutes down the road you come across a day-old battle site. Goblins lie everywhere. Some have been trampled, others skewered on lances or hacked by the sword. The road here is covered with the heavy track of cavalry.
Looking over the carnage you are surprised to find an occasional human mixed in with the casualties. There are also a couple of horses that were brought down in the fight. They all lie where they fell in combat, undisturbed but for the crows.
You and Shal look over the site and put together a plausible sequence.
It looks like it was a pitched battle right in the road. Many goblins died in groups, like they might have been on the move. A knot of the little bastards died around their king. Most of the goblins corpses have been completely mutilated by the trampling they received under the iron shod hooves of the town's Magnimarian guard.
But it does appear that the town force withdrew from the battle and left their wounded. And it looks like a large number of the warriors in the column behind the king beat a retreat back to the east.
"The Mosswoods aren't finished, then." Shal says as she and Cha examine signs of the retreat. "But with their hero king lying dead in the road they'll fall to fighting amongst themselves again, more than likely. And they suffered an embarrassing defeat here."
"I don't like the idea of leaving the bodies of men lying in the hot sun amongst this filth, but we have our hands full. Let's get back to town."
Any point in searching the Mosswood king or anyone else for goodies? It looks like everyone left suddenly.
The king and his retinue have already been picked over by something, as his missing ring fingers and earlobes attest.
You pick up the pace for the remainder of the trip back to Sandpoint. When you arrive you find the town's gate closed and the wall well-manned. As you approach the gate swings open and a couple guardsmen come out to help you with your burdens.
Eberk's corpse is carried into the church as Father Zantus comes out to greet you in the square before the cathedral doors. "My friends! We feared you all dead with so many goblin folk about. My sincerest condolences on the loss of your companion. I will see that he takes his rightful place among Sandpoint's fallen heroes."
"Who is this?" he asks, meaning the bound and gagged Lyrie.
"A traitor to her kind. She was helping Nualia...Nualia is dead now though. What have we missed?"
The father's eyes narrow in anger.
"Then she has much to answer for. The sheriff executed his attack as planned and we won a great victory over the Mosswoods. But while that battle was taking place another goblin band attacked the town from the river."
He leads you over to the railed drop behind the church so you can look out over the southern half of the town. Several of the building along the waterside have fire damage. Guardsmen stand out prominently along the bridge and patrolling the far shore. Across the river there is a huge pile of goblin corpses.
"Hegred led the few remaining guardsmen in a counterattack that drove them back over the bridge for awhile, though others were swimming the river and climbing the docks. But his attack bought enough time for Belor's force to return."
"We narrowly averted a disaster here. It seems our enemies were even better organized than we believed."
Mayor Deverin walks up looking disheveled and sleep-deprived.
"Thank the gods you're safe!"
"So the Brinestumps attacked as well. It seems that all of the local tribes were united for this attack. And that Nualia was controlling them from Thistletop. This is one of her accomplices."
She shoves Lyrie toward the guards that flank the mayor. Deverin orders her jailed and the guards lead her toward the garrison building.
Well Nualia seamed to be just waiting at Thistletop, maybe she was expecting a report of when Sandpoint had been taken so she could move in. There must be something here to justify such a large organized attack. We need to find out what it is. Question is what to do next, go looking for trouble or wait for it to come to us. Should we go out and mop up any goblins left out there or stay here and try to figure out why they need Sand point?
"Not all are safe. Eberk didn't make it...he died at Nualia's hand..."
"It looks like you've had plenty of trouble yourselves though. Let's gather for another meeting so we can fill each other in on recent events and plan our next move. Brodert should be there as well. We'll drop our stuff off at the Dragon and meet you back at your office in an hour."
Sari takes that hour to do a quick wash and suggests the others 'freshen-up" as well. She thinks about all the attacks and is very confused. What could be so important in Sandpoint that would cause all this organization? What exactly was Nualia after? She ponders all this on the way back to the meeting. Hopefully someone will have some answers about something, and soon.
There must be some artifact or book or something hidden around here, how much of the "Old light" did we explore? Are there some other hidden tunels we have not found yet? Seams like this whole area has catacombs of some kind under every building we check out.
I'll drop the horse off at the stables on the way to the Dragon. On the way I'll take the time to move in close and cast Speak With Animals. I'll stick with simple things like, What's your name, I'm Cha, You'll be safe here, I'll be back, Do I stink as bad as Sari makes out...
I'll pay the man for boarding for a month and let him know that if I don't return to donate (insert horse's name here) to the Church.
"He's had a rough time. We found him with a group of goblins. I expect he'll receive much better care here..." I give him a look to imply I expect a good answer. Once I'm assured he will, I'll give the man a tip to match the boarding fee then head to the Rusty Dragon.
I'll unload everything I don't need, keeping any books, drawings, idols or unrecognizable things we picked up that might be a clue for Brodert or the Father.
Cha:
The stables are called the "Goblin Squash" stables for a reason. The proprietor is the former ranger buddy of Shal (Daviren Hosk), and he harbors a great hatred of goblin-kin. Your suggestion that his care might somehow be comparable to a goblin's care would probably deeply offend him, so you don't make it. (This is the bloke who lent you mounts when you were looking for Shal in the first place). He's happy to take in the horse and offers to board her without pay for the heroes of Sandpoint.
The horse's name is Shadowmist, and as you deduced, she once belonged to a member of your clan. She tells you that she was stolen by her original owner's murderer, the tribesman named Jagen, and that she had been neglected in the shed for many days when you found her. The goblins tried to kill her - presumably to eat her - and she killed several of them in return by trampling them into the ground.
And she tells you that you smell like a tribesman, which is how she expects humans to smell. (You are taking hygiene advice from a horse. Back in the old days the druid would get an extra xp surprise for such behavior :)
The doors of the Dragon are open and an unusually large crowd of folks are gathered there when you arrive. It seems that the Dragon has functioned as a temporary shelter for those whose homes were damaged in the attack. Ameiko comes out of the kitchens briefly to greet you then returns to her labors, leaving you in private so you can do your freshening. As inviting as your beds look, you gather yourselves together at the appointed hour and make your way back to the mayor's offices where you find the folks you requested.
It occurs to you that you probably hold the answer to at least some of your questions in Nualia's notes. Brodert and Zantus take these and begin sequencing them as you answer 1,000 questions about what you found at Thistletop. Belor recounts the battle on the road.
"They marched right into our trap. Their column was caught between a cavalry charge from one side of the road and prepared pikemen on the other. We slaughtered them in droves - barely taking any casualties at all. A group of riders isolated the Mosswood king while most of his warriors fled in terror - they are really shaken by horses and truthfully stood no chance against us in the numbers they came in. I doubt any of them would have escaped had it not been for the attack on the town."
"A rider relayed the news of the Brinestump attack as we were mounting our last attack on the king's cadre. We left the field to what enemy remained and fled back to the town as fast as our mounts would carry us."
"When we arrived, Hegred's counter-attack had run its course and the goblins were surging back into the town. Several men saw the boy carried over the side of the bridge by a pike thrust. Wounded and weighed down by his armor he stood no chance. We have not recovered his body."
He pauses here, clearly disturbed by the loss of his young protege.
Well I hope we can figure out whatever it is they want here and get to it first. They are probaby running short on troops by now and they have not taken the town so they either need more or bigger troops or both. Or maybe try something other than a frontal assualt, I'm sure someone will take the place of Nualia they might have a different plan of attack.
"Too many good men have died these past few days. We need to find an answer to this. I think this is bigger than Nualia. She was studying the old runes and books when we found her, far from the battle. She's connected, but it's hard to believe she's pulling these strings and not even curious to see the outcome. It might be time to talk to the prisoner?"
No she didn't seam like the brains behind all this but it appeared as though she was incharge of the Thistletop crew. There may be several controlling the various Goblin tribes but who controls them? Hopefully some answers to be found in the stuff we brought back.
Any point in us looking over the notes with Brodert and Zantus or would we just be in the way?
I'm in on talking to our prisoner.
Taken together the papers and journals form something like a diary of a troubled young woman. The first part was apparently composed while she lived with her adopted father here in Sandpoint. The entries describe a young woman who considered herself thoroughly ostracized by other members of her hometown. As mayor Deverin described earlier, she was simultaneously envied and shunned by other girls her age. Evidently boys followed suit, leaving her with few potential confidantes.
The entries ramble on like this for quite some time before they abruptly change. It seems Nualia found a suitor at some point in the form of a Varisian scamp named Delek Viskanta. Several entries dwell on the young man's finer parts and it becomes increasingly apparent that Nualia fell entirely into infatuation. This part culminates in descriptions of sneaking out of her room and meeting with the young man to consummate their blooming relationship. One disturbing detail is the location of her trysts - the sea cave at the foot of the cliffs, below the Old Light. Still, there is no mention of the tunnels that your group discovered there - just vivid descriptions of their physical encounters. Many of these have been scribbled through and some pages are missing.
At the end of the first journal it is revealed that Nualia is carrying a child, and that she is wracked with fear and guilt. She does not know how her father will react when he finds out about her condition. Then there are pages that are barely legible describing a final encounter with Delek. Apparently he did not react well to the news of his impending fatherhood. They parted badly, leaving Nualia in further distress. The last page is spotted with an ugly brown stain that looks suspiciously like dried blood. The words scrawled in brown read, "You got what you deserved, you bastard!"
There's some debate about sequencing after the first journal, but the prevailing opinion is that the next section of notes takes place in Magnimar. There's no record of how she arrived there, but she seems to have fallen on very hard times. Evidently this is after the fire and the episode Hannah described, for she only writes of her father in the past tense, and only rarely. Rather, this section is a sordid tale of abuse, crime and prostitution.
Then there is a chilling entry that describes an attack by one of her clients that ends with Nualia stabbing her patron to death. It seems that this becomes something of a pattern for her, as there are several more such descriptions. There is mention of something called the "Wanton of Nature's Pagan Forms", and how she has taken up with this creature or organization. On reading, Brodert suggests that this may even be a figment of her increasingly delusional imagination. Her writing becomes inconsistent and hard to follow.
The next note is one that no one quite knows where to place in the sequence of things. Brodert places it among the Magnimar writings purely on the basis of style. In any event, it describes a conversation that she has with someone (or perhaps herself) that characterizes her celestial blood as a taint to be expunged. She becomes obsessed with transforming herself into a demon - so that her outer self might more perfectly reflect her inner self. This is the first mention of the "dark mother", a reference that Zantus assures you is Lamashtu, demon goddess of monstrous birth. She begins to obsess over a return to Sandpoint - to the place of where she conceived her first monster. The tunnels below Sandpoint.
The next series of scribblings plainly describe life in the catacombs below the town. There is an extensive description of the quasit (whose name was Erylium). There's even a crude sketch of the little demon, along with one of the rune well and the freakish well-spawn creatures it produces. Apparently Nualia become an apprentice to the nasty little monster and was formally instructed in the worship of Lamashtu. She describes her communions with the b%&~~-goddess in great detail. She is amazed at the power she is granted as a priestess of the evil cult. She also describes visions or dreams she has and the interpretations of these visions fed her by the quasit. Apparently she learned of the tunnels under Thistletop through such visions. She describes a demon - malfeshnekor - and how she was to mate herself to this beast if she truly wanted to complete her transformation to alu-fiend.
It's also here that she begins to rant about her deceased father. Erylium convinces her that she can begin her transformation by offering those who have wronged her in the past as burnt offerings to Lamashtu. This apparently was the motivation for the original attack, though how she gained control of the goblins is not yet apparent through her writings (of course you have heard part of that story from Orik).
The last and perhaps most interesting part of the account of her times in the tunnels is in regards to the runewell and the catacombs themselves. Nualia learns from the quasit that the tunnels below Sandpoint were once part of a larger complex created by the runelord Alaznist - the runelord of Wrath. The runewell is a device that captures energy from the souls of the wrathful when they die. This energy can apparently be released through the shedding of blood into the well to create creatures called Sinspawn.
Nualia and Erylium dreamed of creating an army of these creatures by burning the entire town of Sandpont to the ground. One gigantic burnt offering to Lamashtu would serve as the seeds of an army of hate-motivated abominations. Nualia goes on to write that Erylium is quite specific that the runewell should not be overused before it can be filled with the soul-energy of the deceased. Erylium is convinced that if the well is completely depleted of energy, it will deactivate completely and lose its ability to create monsters.
Her instruction complete, Nualia returns to Magnimar and to the Wanton of Nature's Pagan Forms. This time she has ventured to the city in search of allies to strengthen her hand before venturing to Thistletop. She describes meeting Tsuto and her plans to use him. She also writes of the hiring of Orik and Jagen, and the recruitment of the desperate wizard named Lyrie. There are some incriminating musings here about Lyrie - that she was running from something in Magnimar and that it had something to do with the Pathfinder chapter-house there.
The last writings detail how she pulled the goblins of the region together. She describes in lurid and disturbing detail some of the things she did to secure the loyalty of the various tribes. Most difficult was Ripnugget, king of Thistletop. He could neither be threatened nor seduced into a partnership with a human woman - not until she revealed what she knew of the demon that lurked in the tunnels below the king's fort. This was apparently her master-stroke. To free the powerful demon trapped somehow in the ancient tunnels below the island and in doing so gain herself a powerful ally and mate. Her transformation complete, she could then return to the ruins of Sandpoint and create her army.
Unfortunately for her, the scouring of Thisteltop yielded no malfeshnekor. This is apparently where her plan bogged down long enough for your party to intervene.
So, are we thinking because Nualia's influence is gone, that the goblin threat on the town might be as well?
Does anyone have a clue as to how to drain the runewell so no more sinspawn can be created?
It seems there might be answers for us in Magnimar if we care to look.
"It does seem as though the organizing force behind the goblin attacks has been neutralized. We know that the hero kings of the Thistletop, Birdcruncher and Mosswood clans are dead. The Brinestumps left most of their warriors dead on the banks of the Turandarok. I have no clue as to their real numbers, but surely they have been crippled by their losses here."
So how does this Runewell thing work anyway? Will it only create evil beings? Or can we make a new meat shield to work for us with it?
I'll volunteer a few drops of blood. Or we could use Lyrie and just kill the things as they pop out untill it doesn't work anymore.
Whats the story on Alaznist - the runelord of Wrath?
Was he evil or just ticked off at everyone? The old light was some kind of weapon long ago was it not, maybe there is something left of it we could use at some point.
So how does this Runewell thing work anyway? Will it only create evil beings? Or can we make a new meat shield to work for us with it?
You only know what you've read here and what you've seen firsthand. If you'd like to experiment with it, you know where it is.
I'll volunteer a few drops of blood. Or we could use Lyrie and just kill the things as they pop out until it doesn't work anymore.
Zantus speaks up, "Indeed, that would seem to be the only way to 'destroy' the well according to what we know. And that's assuming that what Nualia wrote is accurate. It makes one wonder how the quasit came by its knowledge. Demons live until they are killed, so there is no telling how old that creature was. Perhaps its knowledge was first-hand?"
Brodert chimes in as well. "There's always the possibility of undoing the magic that powers the well. But if the thing was created ten-thousand years ago by Alaznist herself... I know of no one powerful enough to cancel such powerful magic. And with all the goblins who died in the attack on the town, one wonders if Nualia's plan was partially successful. That well may be quite full now."
Whats the story on Alaznist - the runelord of Wrath?
Was he evil or just ticked off at everyone? The old light was some kind of weapon long ago was it not, maybe there is something left of it we could use at some point.
Brodert again: "Well, Alaznist was a woman - you found a statue of her in the catacombs below, so attributing the complex to her fits that clue."
"Was she evil? The runelords' empires disappeared from the world ten thousand years ago. What you've discovered under Sandpoint is easily one of the most compelling Thassilonean sites in all of Varisia. So little has survived the long toll of years. I'm afraid we just don't know the answers to your questions."
"I assure you the Old Light is quite dormant. I've lived in its shadow and studied it for a decade. If there's more to the complex under the town, I believe it is quite buried and probably inaccessible. Of course I would never have guessed at the existence of the intact catacombs you found, so take my opinion for what it is worth..."
"So, it sounds to me like we have little answers after all is said and done. It seems that we could take a few days and still be vigilant regarding the goblins. Maybe Shal could track around and find out some more information after some rest."
"And regarding the sinspawn generator, I am uncomfortable leaving it alone. I feel strongly that we should find some way to negate its magic. If we can't find the answer ourselves, maybe someone outside of Sandpoint would have advice."