GM Dak - Rise of the Runelords

Game Master Dakcenturi

Chapter 1: Burnt Offerings
Part 4: Thistletop

Pics / Maps / Loot & Notes

Starting Day: Toilday, 23rd of Rova, 4707
Current Day: Starday, 27th of Rova, 4707


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M Half-Orc (Ulfen) Druid (Goliath Druid) 3 Speed 20 ft | HP 23/23| AC 21 ( Barkskin), T 13, FF 17 | F +6, R +5, W +8 | CMD 17 (15 FF) | Init +3 | Per +11

Sven nods, "okay, Naesehorn will carry Uvara and Gudada and we can drag her corpse along." He starts to pull everything, "Let's talk to Gogmurt after we seal everything up down here, yes?" Sven looks for a way to close seal both "secret doors" if he can.

Once finished, as they leave, he finds Gogmurt and grunts, in Druidic "bad longshanks are all dead, but we are tired now. We will come back later. Can we look around on this top level for a few minutes? We do not wish to miss anything from their schemes. Please friend Gogmurt."

Take 10 diplomacy, for 14, if anyone wants to help, I'd appreciate it!

"If the people of town are missing anything, they will be less likely to send off their murderous ranger to retrieve it, yes? And maybe we can convince them to leave you alone, in general."


Male Elf Sorcerer 3 | Speed 30 ft | HP 16/16 | Spells: 1st: 3/6 | Arcane Bond: 1/1 | AC 12 (16), T 12, FF 10 (14) | F +1, R +3, W +3 | CMD 13 (11 FF) | Init +2 | Per +2, Low-Light Vision

Adarion chimes in to help Sven convince the goblin. "She really does hate you goblins. She spoke of different ways to make goblins scream while keeping you alive to get information. I'd imagine she'd be only too happy to have an excuse to hunt you all."

Take 10 with bluff for a 19


CotCT | HR | MM | RoA | RotRL1 | SD | SS1 | SS2 | WftC_1 | WftC_2 |

Gogmurt agrees to let you take a look around, walking the grounds with you, he seems to want to avoid any potential issues for his people with the town or this murderous ranger that he has obviously already heard tales of. There is little else of interest in the fort and definitely not anything else you notice that has anything to do with the longshanks from below, everything else Gogmurt clearly claims as belonging to the goblins. The only thing of particular interest, one of the doors Gogmurt refuses to open. He notes that a beast of a horse that Rippnugget's supporters had captured a few days ago was locked inside. He would be happy for you to take it away as he notes that it had killed at least 10 of his kin between its capture, transportation and then eventual imprisonment in the courtyard shed.


Male Elf Sorcerer 3 | Speed 30 ft | HP 16/16 | Spells: 1st: 3/6 | Arcane Bond: 1/1 | AC 12 (16), T 12, FF 10 (14) | F +1, R +3, W +3 | CMD 13 (11 FF) | Init +2 | Per +2, Low-Light Vision

Adarion looks interested when Gogmurt mentions the horse. He asks the group,"Is anyone good with animals? It may be of aid and we would prevent it from being killed by the goblins."


M Half-Orc (Ulfen) Druid (Goliath Druid) 3 Speed 20 ft | HP 23/23| AC 21 ( Barkskin), T 13, FF 17 | F +6, R +5, W +8 | CMD 17 (15 FF) | Init +3 | Per +11

"Hah, yes. Me. I am a druid." He looks confused, "Gogmurt, why don't you talk to it." Then he remembers, "oh you hate horses... that is confusing. They are animals, like your kitty."

He shrugs. "I can talk to it a little if it is big."

Sven will accept being led to the horse's area, and when the others are ready, he will have the goblins moved away from the horse's opening. "Horse. I am Sven. We want to let you out and feed you."

If there's a way horse can see Sven without opening the door, or hear him and receive wild empathy, we'll do that. Otherwise he'll have the door opened prior to wild empathy being used.

Wild Empathy: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19


M Half-Orc (Ulfen) Druid (Goliath Druid) 3 Speed 20 ft | HP 23/23| AC 21 ( Barkskin), T 13, FF 17 | F +6, R +5, W +8 | CMD 17 (15 FF) | Init +3 | Per +11

handle animal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Sven grabs some of Naesehorn’s vegetables and offers them to the horse. ”Here, horse.”


M N Tiefling Trap Breaker Alchemist 3 | HP 24/24 | AC 15 T 13 FF 12 | CMB +2, CMD 15 | F: +5, R: +6, W: +1 | Init: +5 | Perc: +6 (+7 vs traps), SM: +0, Darkvision 60 ft, deathwatch | Speed 30ft | Extracts: 1st 4/4 | Bombs 7/7 | Active conditions: None

"Why are we bothering?" Bartholomew asks, no judgement or any other emotion present on his face. "Do we require another pack animal to carry the dead back to Sandpoint?"


CotCT | HR | MM | RoA | RotRL1 | SD | SS1 | SS2 | WftC_1 | WftC_2 |

Opening the doors Sven sees this horse is a magnificent creature, yet his days in captivity have begun to take their toll. It's apparent the goblins hadn't been feeding or watering the beast. Slowly starving, the wild-eyed horse rears up ready to fight until Sven offers it some of Naesehorn's food. It hesitates a moment before quickly taking the food and eating, then calming. Sven is confident he can keep control of the horse, especially if he continues to get it some food and water.


M Half-Orc (Ulfen) Druid (Goliath Druid) 3 Speed 20 ft | HP 23/23| AC 21 ( Barkskin), T 13, FF 17 | F +6, R +5, W +8 | CMD 17 (15 FF) | Init +3 | Per +11

Sven shakes his head at Bart, "I help animals that are hurt. It is my job." Sven leads the horse to the entrance and says to Gogmurt, "okay, we will come back later. Have a good day, friend!" He approaches Gogmurt and hugs him if he'll let him.

I think we head back to town, feeding the horse.


Male Elf Sorcerer 3 | Speed 30 ft | HP 16/16 | Spells: 1st: 3/6 | Arcane Bond: 1/1 | AC 12 (16), T 12, FF 10 (14) | F +1, R +3, W +3 | CMD 13 (11 FF) | Init +2 | Per +2, Low-Light Vision

Adarion looks impressed as Sven calms the panicked horse. He helps the others carry their belongings as they begin their journey back to town.


CotCT | HR | MM | RoA | RotRL1 | SD | SS1 | SS2 | WftC_1 | WftC_2 |

With the new horse in tow the group heads back to Sandpoint to report on their progress.

When you find the time you read through the journals and notes you found in the part-demon woman's room. First off you realize this was the journal of Nualia. An aasimar girl who was a resident of Sandpoint, long thought to be dead when the previous church burned down. Aside from a diary on her life a few bits of important information are found. First, the notes also outline her plans to send an army of goblins against Sandpoint and burn the town to the ground, not only to offer it all as a burnt offering to Lamashtu in hopes of being made a half-fiend, but also to fuel the runewell in the catacombs below. With this it is obvious you found the architect of the raid against Sandpoint.

The notes go on to detail how to cause sinspawn to manifest from the runewell but making blood offerings in the well itslef, and claim that if someone were to overextend the runewell’s stores, it would be deactivated. Nualia isn’t sure how to reactivate it, and several times stresses that the runewell shouldn’t be used much until after Sandpoint is razed and the deaths of hundreds of angry citizens and goblins have refilled the well.

Nulia's story from her journals:
She was a foundling raised by Sandpoint’s previous religious leader, a man named Ezakien Tobyn, and her childhood was lonely and sad. Her unearthly beauty made the other children either jealous or shy, and many of them took to playing cruel jokes on her. The adults in town weren’t much better—many of the superstitious Varisians viewed Nualia as blessed by Desna, a sort of “reverse deformity.” Rumors that her touch or proximity could cure warts and rashes, that locks of her hair brewed into tea could increase fertility, and that her voice could drive out evil spirits led to a succession of awkward and humiliating requests over the years. Poor Nualia felt more like a freak than a young girl by the time she came of age, so when Delek Viskanta, a local Varisian youth, began to court her, she practically fell into his arms in gratitude.

Knowing her father wouldn’t approve of a relationship with a Varisian (he wanted her to remain pure so she could join a prestigious convent), they kept the affair secret. The couple met many times in hidden places, a favorite being an abandoned smuggler’s tunnel under town that Delek had discovered as a child. Before long, Nualia realized she was pregnant. When she told Delek, he revealed his true colors and, after calling her a slut and a harlot, fled Sandpoint rather than face her father’s wrath. Nualia’s shock quickly turned to rage, yet she had nowhere to vent her anger. She bottled it up, and when her father discovered her delicate condition, his reaction to her indiscretions only furthered her shame and anger. He forbade her to leave the church, lectured her nightly, and made her pray to Desna for forgiveness. In so doing, he unknowingly nurtured her growing hate.

Seven months pregnant, she miscarried her child later that night, a child whose monstrously deformed shape she only glimpsed before blanching midwives stole it away to burn it in secret. As the child had been conceived in the smuggler’s tunnels below town, in close proximity to a hidden shrine to Lamashtu, the child itself was deformed and horrific. The double shock of losing a child and the realization she had been carrying a fiend in her belly for 7 months was too much. Nualia fell into a coma. As Nualia slept, she dreamed unhealthy dreams. Fueled by her wrath and the taint of Lamashtu, Nualia became further obsessed with the cruel demon goddess and the conviction that her wretched life was inflicted on her by those around her. She came to see her angelic heritage as a curse, and the demon-sent nightmares showed her how to expunge this taint from her body and soul, replacing it with chaos and cruelty. When she finally woke, Nualia was someone new, someone who didn’t flinch at what Lamashtu asked of her. She jammed her father’s door shut as he slept, lit the church on fire, and fled Sandpoint.

The locals assumed Nualia had burned in the fire, a tragedy made all the worse by the death of Father Tobyn as well. Yet Nualia lived. She fled to Magnimar, where she enlisted the aid of a group of Norgorber-worshiping killers known as the Skinsaw Cult. With their aid, she tracked down Delek and murdered him. Yet his death did not fill her need for revenge—it only quickened her need for more of the same, for Sandpoint and its hated citizens still lived.

Seeing a kindred spirit in the tortured woman, the mysterious leader of the Skinsaw Cult gave Nualia a medallion bearing a carving of a seven-pointed star called a “Sihedron medallion.” Nualia learned that she had a larger role to play, and that her dreams were a map to her destiny. Taking the advice to heart, Nualia returned to Sandpoint and found herself drawn to the brick wall in the smuggler’s tunnels where she and Delek had conceived her deformed child. Nualia bashed down the wall, and in so doing, discovered the Catacombs of Wrath and the quasit Erylium, also a follower of Lamashtu. For many months, Nualia studied under Erylium’s tutelage. During this time, Nualia received another vision from Lamashtu—a vision of a monstrous goblin wolf imprisoned in an underground room. In Nualia’s dreams, she learned that this creature, a barghest named Malfeshnekor, was also one of Lamashtu’s chosen. If she could find him and free him, he would not only help her achieve her vengeance against the town of Sandpoint, but he would be the key in cleansing her body of what she had come to see as her “celestial taint.” Nualia wanted to be one of Lamashtu’s children now. She wanted to become a monster herself.

Let me know your plans once back at Sandpoint and with any revelations above. Once we wrap things up you all can go ahead and level up! You will have some downtime, at least a couple of weeks if you want to craft or anything. During this time I will introduce our new character.


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M N Tiefling Trap Breaker Alchemist 3 | HP 24/24 | AC 15 T 13 FF 12 | CMB +2, CMD 15 | F: +5, R: +6, W: +1 | Init: +5 | Perc: +6 (+7 vs traps), SM: +0, Darkvision 60 ft, deathwatch | Speed 30ft | Extracts: 1st 4/4 | Bombs 7/7 | Active conditions: None

"Fascinating." Bartholomew looks up from reading the journal on the walk back to Sandpoint. "A pity she was not fond of proper note taking." He sniffs, an odd reaction from the usually-emotionless man. "Or proper penmanship."


M Half-Orc (Ulfen) Druid (Goliath Druid) 3 Speed 20 ft | HP 23/23| AC 21 ( Barkskin), T 13, FF 17 | F +6, R +5, W +8 | CMD 17 (15 FF) | Init +3 | Per +11

Sven nods as others read the story and recount her tale. "I do not know this penmanship." As the others explain the situation, he nods along.

"Okay, should we disable this thing then by summoning more annoying monsters? We should be able to clobber them one at a time. It would help the town maybe, and maybe the mayor could pay us more." He things, "it is sounding to me like the well deformed the lady's baby which made her crazy, and was also sad, so it would help everyone. It is unnatural."


Male Elf Sorcerer 3 | Speed 30 ft | HP 16/16 | Spells: 1st: 3/6 | Arcane Bond: 1/1 | AC 12 (16), T 12, FF 10 (14) | F +1, R +3, W +3 | CMD 13 (11 FF) | Init +2 | Per +2, Low-Light Vision

Adarion shakes his head sadly as he reads the diary, "Such a tragic story. The townsfolk did not treat the woman well but it hardly warranted her response. I believe the woman was manipulated by Lamashtu and the magic of that shrine when she was at her most vulnerable. We should inform the Sheriff about the Skinsaw Cult she mentioned and about the barghest we fought. Malfeshnekor, I believe she called it. They could be a further threat to Sandpoint and the barghest, at the very least, should be defeated or will continue to harass the town. Not to mention that its defeat would be justice for Uvara's death! Fortunately, I believe that we've already dealt with the quasit she mentioned."

He pauses and looks to the others before continuing, "We should also deal with the shrine below the town. It seems to have some sort of magical influence that could cause problems. Perhaps we should try to deactivate it using the method Nualia mentioned."

Bluff: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29 Lol, that roll though!

Sense Motive (DC 29):

You sense that Adarion is excited about the opportunity to deal with the Thassilonian magic of the shrine.

Also, woohoo! Level up time!


M Half-Orc (Ulfen) Druid (Goliath Druid) 3 Speed 20 ft | HP 23/23| AC 21 ( Barkskin), T 13, FF 17 | F +6, R +5, W +8 | CMD 17 (15 FF) | Init +3 | Per +11

Sven nods, "yes, we can give blood offerings and kill the stupid monsters. They are weak and small, and stupid. We will kill them, and we will save Sandpoint a lot of trouble in the future. Maybe the well made the evil lady turn bad." He trusts Adarion and Bart more or less implicitly at this point.

"So we kill the sinspawn. Then we go and fight the helmet. Then we go and kill that 'barghest', yes?" He sharpens his scythe as they walk. "Oh, and there's also a cave under the nettlepatch I want to explore - but we need to get swimming gear. Now I can turn into a big swimming beast and carry some of you weaklings if you'd like." He smiles toothily.

Once they get back to Sandpoint, Sven will recommend they give the books at some point to the local expert, Brodert, and to show the corpses of the various enemies. He'll also recommend that they indicate that goblins shouldn't bother Sandpoint anymore, but that Thistletop is not to be visited.

We can say there's ghosts or something.

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