A more Savage Sandpoint. A new look at an old friend.

Game Master ZenFox42

Ceri says "Evesk, you're a cleric, can't you heal Velrek's wounds with magic if Jzero isn't successful?"

The nice thing about the Healing Power is that the same person can try it multiple times until Success, whereas with the Healing Skill the same person can only try once, period (but may use Bennies).
Jzero, your roll is at -1 from Velrek's Wound.

OCC: Thanks Crastor for the clarity of things and yes Evesk does seem a bit suspicious. However, he already has reason to be since at least two prominent townsfolk were involved/behind the Goblin raid. Granted a Dwarf would be less likely to be directly associated with Goblins but then again that does not mean a Dwarf would not do other nefarious things while steering clear of the fodder that the Goblins seem to represent thus far.

Also either I misread Jzero or everyone else did because he said Evesk, who had no wounds, but it seems that was corrected by the others and has been switched to Velrek, who does have a wound.

"Ah well Crastor Deems, it is no secret that I accompanied Shalelu on an excursion and while you do kind of describe what occurred that was also reported so could have been easily learned. Next it is mighty convenient that she is not here to vouch for you. Now I mean no direct ill will towards you if you be honest but I have a strong reason to be mistrusting due to the recent events and what we now know about them."

When Jzero welcomes Crastor into the group, Evesk looks to him and states, "Okay Jzero then he is your resonsiblity until he either proves himself a friend or an enemy. Let us hope your decision does not turn out to have been a wrong one."

Then to the comment by Ceri he replies, "Well technically I am a Holy Warrior of Iomedae. Although, you are correct that I can still grant the blessing of healing from Iomedae upon others today and I will administer a miracle of Iomedae unto Velrek should the skill of Jzero prove to be insufficient."

While Jzero is busy with Velrek, Evesk remains in a position that keeps himself between Crastor and Ameiko as best that he can. He will also keep an eye out for the rest in case this Crastor might go after one of them.

Jzero sets to work.

Healing: 1d4 ⇒ 1
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Here we go. Sorry.

Jzero's hands slip while he's treating the wound, and accidentally makes it worse. Velrek now has 2 Wounds.

Evesk?

I hate to tell you this but I already had 2 wounds. I was using the fighter feature to emulate an ability to ignore one of them. :)

Velrek - no, I went back and double-checked, you only had 1 Wound from the combat. Check it yourself, and if you still think you have 2 Wound, please explain to me why.

Page 15, first entry Sep 20. A gobbo got lucky with an arrow.

Ah, ok - thanks! I hadn't gone that far back.

Crastor looks over as Jzero seems to rip off the scab while trying to clean the wound and grimaces as he says, "Hmm...That doesn't look good."

Jzero appears genuinely pained for making the wound worse. He does what he can to limit bleeding but will gladly allow someone else to apply healing, magical or mundane. "Perhaps we can take him to the temple and make a donation in exchange for help with this."

"That will not be necessary Jzero as we have the blessing of Iomedae here with us." Evesk then steps over to Velrek while still keeping an eye on Crastor and then lays a hand upon Velrek and speaks firmly, "Iomedae the great inheritor grant your blessing upon this individual and heal them of their wounds." This close some of the wounds and so he requests for more blessings of Iomedae and heals the remaining wounds.

Heal: 1d8 ⇒ 4
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Heal: 1d8 ⇒ 8
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Ace: 1d8 ⇒ 2

ALL - everyone is responsible for tracking their PP and Bennies in-between battles, I only track them during battles.

A glowing golden light surrounds Valrek for a moment. Evesk heals all of Valrek's Wounds. The small crowd gasps in amazement.

What next?

Velrek stands up, looking and feeling much better. He reaches out to grasp Evesk's hand. "Thank you, my friend,"
He then turns and quickly grapples Jzero in a hug and then lets him loose before he starts fighting back. "And thank you for trying to help."

He looks around at the crowd.

"Well. I hear we have a new quest. Do we need supplies before we start or shall we get going?"

OCC: I was under the assumption that we were still in the previous battle of a sorts and thus I am currently at 0 PP and from what I understand when we get to the next fight Evesk will be at full PP while in between he will remain at his current 0 PP. Please let me know if I have misunderstood anything.

"We first need to inform the sheriff of what we have learned. He will need to know that there is a threat to this place."

Velrek - the place you need to go is in the underground basement of the glassworks.

ALL - your Bennies have reset to your default count.

Evesk - once all the bad guys are dead, you're "out of combat". Only Bennies get reset immediately after combat (houserule). DaRules say you regain 5 Power Points per hour spent "resting" (not even walking). But, they also say you can spend a Benny to "magically" (sorry, I had to say it) regain 5 PP. So you can wait until you need to cast a spell, say you're spending a Benny, and have 5 PP available immediately.

Ameiko says "I'm somewhat beat up, but I can walk. I'll go tell the Sheriff everything that's happened, and where you're going." She looks at the crowd and says "Oh, there's Shayliss, she's a good friend. I'll ask her to accompany me."

What do you all do?

"I am ready to head down as soon as everyone else is, but you all look like you had a rough time. Do we need to take a breather to regain some of your energy and maybe eat some food before we head down?" Crastor asks.

If people are out of PP, we can also rest an hour to regain some power before heading down. I think there is are time constraints, but we hopefully have sometime to regain PP if necessary.

Velrek looks at Crastor again and nods. "Unless there is some urgency, a short rest and a meal might be good for us all."

Engage Rule of Two... (if anyone wants to discuss using the Rule with four players, please post in Discussion)

Ameiko says "Well, okay then, lunch is on me. And to be honest, I'm so rattled by my brother's actions that I could use a little protection right now. Just hope nothing comes up from the basement soon..."

You all walk to the Rusty Dragon, eat a hearty meal (but not too much ale). Ameiko sends a waitress to fetch the Sheriff, and you bring him up to date on the situation. He says he'll have his men scour the ground level of the glassworks to check for any more goblins, but what's below the basement sound a little out of his league, and wishes you success.

Evesk gets 5 PP back.

Onward to the basement?

"Thank you for the lunch, it was quite tasty. I am ready to go find this threat if everyone else is." Crastor says as he gathers his tools and stands to go.

Velrek stuffs an entire Roast Beast sandwich in his mouth and stands up, starting to gather his gear.
"mmm ya... less,mmmm go!"
He finally chews enough, swallows, takes another swig of his drink.
"ahem, i meant yes. Let us go forth."

Evesk made a minor detour to inform Brother Kyle of the recent events and to pick up the meal basket prior to once more rejoining everyone at the Rusty Dragon for a meal and a bit of rest prior to taking on their next endeavor.

Reminder: The House of Iomedae is the house that sits on the southeast corner of Net Street and Prickleback Lane just north of the Rusty Dragon. The Acolyte Brother Kyle and Evesk reside there and they are awaiting the eventual arrival of a new Priest to take charge of the Temple to be. The conversion of the house is not complete and work stopped when the previous Father (aka Priest) died.

Not liking that they did not immediately finish purging the building of its garbage, he stewed as he ate his stew. He then methodically checked his gear to make sure any minor damage was tended to and his blade once more carried a fine edge. As the others prepared to leave, he took the meal basket to Brother Kyle and then met the group once more at the Glassworks building where they met the sheriff and his men.

He would have like to participate in purging any more Goblins that might remain but all things considered any that had remained will most likely have fled. So he will go with the others into the belly of the beast to strike at its heart.

Jzero is a bit smitten with Ameiko. He doesn't act on it, except to promise to do what he can to make things right and that he'll check in on her when he gets back. He gets all his gear and is ready to go down under.

You all go to the Glassworks, where deputies are walking around on the first floor, and go down to the basement. The journal said something about "up from below thru the smuggler's tunnel".

Velrek opened the first door you came across in the basement where he saw a long corridor curving to the left. It went for at least 30 feet before curving out of sight. All the other doors opened up into small rooms.

Continuing down that corridor, you find that it winds its way for 1/3 of a mile before reaching a dead end, which takes you about 7 minutes to walk along.

Someone notices that the wall actually has a hidden, unlocked thin stone door in it. Going thru, it opens into a 12-yard-diameter cave on the side of the cliff overlooking the Varisian Gulf. You see a collection of crude goblin beds and remnants of their meals scattered about the cave. The cave mouth slopes down to a narrow beach.

There's two tunnel openings in the cave, one to the east, another to the west.

Which way?

Jzero, can you get the map on page 35 up on the Google drive, and block out everything except a small vertical area in the bottom left of the image (just enough to show the beginning of the tunnel) when you can? You don't have to divide the map into multiple blocked-out zones. Please PM me with the link when it's done, and don't change the link in your tag line yet, thanks!

1=East,2=West: 1d2 ⇒ 2

Jzero suggests going west.

"Hmm...Does either of these directions lead towards the water? If so, I suggest we head the other way." Crastor says as he considers where they might be in relation to the dreaded beach. He then adds, "With this many goblins down here, they may have had a way from the beach to get in. And they probably didn't stumble by wherever this ancient evil is constantly while doing it."

It's hard to describe this area. The openings to the two tunnels are in the high rock face that forms the "back" and "sides" of the open "cave". It's probably described as a cave because the rock also forms a "ceiling". The open part leads down to the beach.
Take a sphere, and poke it most of the way into the rock cliff, forming a "bubble" which is the cave. The small part of the sphere sticking out forms the cave mouth, which is maybe only 10-20 feet above sea level, but is about 100 feet away from the waterline.

Velrek takes a minute to check a little into both openings for scuffs or tracks or anything dropped..

survival: 1d4 ⇒ 1
wild: 1d6 ⇒ 1

After he stands up quickly too close to the edge and bonks his head, "Ah, west sounds good..."

I'm really sorry about this, but the new player is ready to go, and there's no good way I can work him into what you're about to walk into, which could take weeks to finish IRL.

So, I'm re-winding the story back to the lunch at the Rusty Dragon (which happened less than an hour ago in game-time). After introductions are made, the group will magically re-appear right at this cave.

While enjoying your meal at the Dragon, some of you notice a Hobbit get up from his table and start walking towards yours...

No problem at all! The more the merrier!

Seeing a Halfling walking up with purpose, Velrek greets him with his mouth mostly full of, well, something..."Hail and well,mmm met! omnom Join us for a bite!"

His mother would be ashamed of his table manners.

Jzero knows from experience that halflings (sometimes called hobbits in some places) are usually friendly and helpful, give great dinner parties, and some of them like going on adventures. So he introduces himself and inquires as the newcomer's name and profession.

Yeah, yeah, I called a Halfling a H*bbit. Let Tolkien's estate sue me if they wish... ;)

LOL...and here I thought I was the only one who occasionally slipped up!!

Johhann boldly approaches the group and gives a short bow.

"Greetings, my name is Johhann Coppice, and I would like to join your party. As I understand it, you have encountered goblins during the festival. I am a hunter of such vermin and vowed to destroy them wherever they may be found. I am a capable tracker and quite deadly with my bow or axe. I ask only for a chance to help the people of Sandpoint in their struggles against these creatures."

This speech tumbles from the halfling in a way that makes you think he does not spend much time in the company of people. A bit silted and stiff, you can still see the determination in his stance and expression.

A Half-Elf, and the only female in the group says "Hello, Johhann, nice to meet you - how did you know we would be here?"

...and for that matter, that we were...us?"

"The people of the town told me about your group, and I would be a poor tracker if I could not discover where you would be this morning...and I have been here for about an hour before you arrived."

A brief smile crosses his lips as he says this.

Evesk finds Ceri's question most pertinent since the answer to it might help to determine if this Hobbit be truly friend or hidden foe. The fact that they just recently discovered the duplicity of a townsfolk and then suddenly everyone seems to be popping out of the woodwork to help seems quite convenient or perhaps inconvenient all things considered.

OCC: Personally I prefer Hobbit and even DnD originally called them Hin while denoting that halfling was a human derogatory term much like half-elf is also a human derogatory term. Heck Elves simply refer to them with a term that translates to cousin showing that Elves have more respect for them than Humans do. Still I do not find that all that surprising. Further if they are half-elf that also means they are half-human and why would an elf or any non-human refer to them as being half-elf. Personally as a GM I use Hin and I give the other two races actual race names Tauth for those that Elf/Human and Uriak for those that are Human/Ork. Still what each individual GM decides is totally up to them.

Evesk raises one eyebrow (aka just like the Rock so ya know Evesk be cookin') at the statement the Hobbit just made, "You have been waiting here for us for an hour before we arrived? That sounds extremely suspicious since we only came about deciding to come here after rescuing Ameiko and her offering a free meal here before we continued our endeavors. Therefore that would mean not only are you an extremely good tracker able to track folks to place they have yet to go to but will unknowingly go to but that you are in fact also a seer able to divine future events. Either that or you are much more likely a liar and were simply privy to the fullness of what might occur within the Glassworks and surmised if we survived we might come here with Ameiko. So please explain how you knew we would come here before we even knew that we would?"

OCC: Yeah I the player realize that the Hobbit player just made a major faux pa by using meta-game knowledge but my character does not and my character does not use meta-game knowledge ;-) It will be interesting to see how this player pulls a rabbit out of their proverbial hat to explain this major error.

It wasn't the player, it was me, that determined the details of this introduction, and I *knew* the coincidence was highly...coincidental. I *hate* book stories that have huge coincidences, but I couldn't think of anything better on such short notice.

I had him arrive the same day you went to the Glassworks because since you're living here, I couldn't very well have him start staking out the place looking for you the week or even the day before, because he would have run into you all then. Since you went to the Glassworks *and* the cave on the same day, that had to be the day he would first run into you.

So while I appreciate you're playing to your character, please don't let Evesk's paranoia last too long in-game, and accept (at least tentatively, perhaps on condition of his future actions) whatever rationale the player comes up with...

P.S. - by "living here", I meant at the Rusty Dragon.

The smile on the halfling's face seems to freeze as he turns to take in the towering form of the paladin.

"I suppose you can never be too careful when meeting new people. By talking to various people here in town, I surmised that you were probably not a group that would frequent the Hagfish and its more 'humble' surroundings. I had also heard that Mistress Kaijitsu was involved, and as owner of the Rusty Dragon I guessed that you would all be staying here...or at least she might know where to find you. The timing was pure luck, as I would have waited until either you showed up or Mistress Kaijitsu did. Either way, I am here and hope that I can be of some help to your group Sir."

Johhann pulls out a pipe and pouch of tobacco and begins to load the bowl as he waits for the others to reply.

Crastor shrugs, "If what I have been told is true, then the more hands to stop the threat the better."

Evesk looks over to Jzero, "So what do you have to say, you going to trust another total stranger? Or do we tell em to take a hike."

Johhann also looks to the human waiting for a reply. With all this mistrust and questioning, he feels a little out of sorts but understands that he is an outsider looking to insert himself into an already forged and bloodied band.

Velrek finishes chewing his current bite and swallows. A sure sign he's serious.
"Now, now. We need the help. These two seem to be goodly people and come in good faith. Ye Halfling seems to share your feelings on the green skins. Let us finish our meal and head out. There are Goblins to track."

He makes a happy sound when he sees an untouched cinnamon bun and grab sit, stuffing half of it in his mouth with a very satisfied "mmmm..."

Crastor shakes his head at the whole affair and finishes his meal. "Whatever danger is below is not going to wait for us. We should head down now." He rises and gathers his stuff to go.

OCC: Did Jzero indicate that they would not be available to post for a while? Otherwise I would like to give them a chance to respond before moving on.

"Those who show no trust will not be trusted," Jzero says, apparently quoting some scripture he knows. "Let us work together and learn trust in trusting."

He then says no more, apparently feeling the meaning of his words are self-evident.

Sorry for the delay. It's been a busy week.

Assuming the last few posts mean that the two newest members have been accepted into the group...

You head to the Glassworks after lunch (deja vu...).

Johhann - please see the [Fri, Nov 8, 2024, 08:54 am] post above and what follows to get caught up to where we're jumping to...

You're standing in a cave, with two tunnels, one on the east and two on the west.

There were two votes for the west tunnel before the ret-con. Applying the Rule of Two...

You follow the winding tunnel for 60 feet before turning north for another 100 feet, where you find a pile of rubble which was evidently a wall across the tunnel that has been torn down. 30 feet beyond that you see two natural hallways on the right side of the tunnel, 12 feet apart.

Click on the link below to see the map :

MAP

I don't know how Jzero controls who can or cannot edit the map, but you all are on your honor not to peek until he can create a "player link". Please just zoom in or out, and scroll up or down only, thanks!

What do you do?

Velrek starts to quietly walk up to the first entrance to take a peek and then remembers he's not stealthy at all.

OCC: Who ended up getting the Everburning Torch (did we share the cost or did someone have one already?) and who ended being the one to carry it?

Evesk was not fully sure how to take Jzero's comment but let it go for now. He definitely did not agree with it in totallity but understood its basic fundament. Still extending trust to everyone you meet has in past proved fatal for some folks so he would rather not be trusted and alive than having blindly trusted and be dead.

As before Evesk brings up the rear letting those that are better at scouting go first.

With his boy out and at the ready, Johhann stays near the back of the group and listens to make sure nothing is creeping up behind them. He is prepared to move forward if his tracking ability is needed but stays out of the way of the "bigguns" for the most part. His eyes constantly search for any goblin spoor the others might have missed.