"Absolutely," Wherby grumbles. "We're ALL lucky to be alive!"
He glances over the books.
"Thassilonian," he mutters as he pages through one of them. "My reading skills are a bit rusty, but let me give it a try: These. Books. Lead. To. Death. Give. Them. To. Professional. Adventurers. Yeah, probably should give 'em to the Runewatchers or something.
Ximble goes through the stack of fancy-looking paper and frowns at Wherby. "Seems these are all scrolls, Wherby. I'd have told you it's your lucky day, but that wouldn't be very nice to Tekmin, now would it? Oh, and there's an expensive-looking ring. Let me guess, more wizardy stuff. Maybe it is your lucky day."
He brings the things that look magicky to the old grumbler and leaves them for Wherby to identify. It's then that Wherby tells them what's written inside those books. "Really now? That's oddly specific. Maybe I should learn how to read ancient Thassilonian. I am an adventurer, after all. Would you, could you?"
Herok frowned. "I agree we should give them to the Runewatchers, but are the Runewatchers adventurers? I was under the impression they were mostly scholars who studied but didn't actively venture forth."
Considering a moment, he followed up with, "Also, Wherby, we may have accidentally made ourselves professional adventurers, given everything we've done so far."
"We are amateurs, at best!" Tekmin protests. "We barely even get paid for doing this stuff."
Wherby just groans and puts his head down in dismay. This is just getting worse and worse.
Eventually he looks up. "Do I look like a wizard to you? I'm not wearing robes or a fancy, pointed hat! I wouldn't know the first thing to do with that ring! You might as well wear it!"
Ximble raises a correcting finger at Tekmin. "We do get paid, friend, we get paid in experience. That's how new, unexperienced adventurers in a competitive market environment try to get ahead of the competition, or so I read in a book by some Aspis Consortium guy."
"Experience is just like gold. It's only good if you're alive at the end of it," Wherby grumbles. "Let's get these books to the proper people and sell that stupid ring and go home!"
"Well, we'll need to report to Father before we go home as well," Tekmin adds. "It will be good to take a break. I think we're overdue for a magic lesson, Master Crick!"
You make your way out of the Pit and start heading back to town. It is early evening by the time you return to the familiar environs of Sandpoint. Abstalar Zantus welcomes you warmly when you arrive at the Cathedral. He looks haggard as he serves you each some warm tea.
"So Ripnugget did return! And now you have destroyed him again. This is good. Perhaps he was one of the seven dooms Nualia mentioned. I will spread the word among the townsfolk. Surely this will help to establish your good name."
The priest rubs at his eyes. "Forgive me. I slept quite poorly last night. I have ben haunted by Nualia's words. While I worry about the seven dooms that she mentioned, what is really getting to me is the fact that she thinks all of Sandpoint hated her. I think that to finally allow her soul to find peace, we need to convince the people of Sandpoint to forgive her. We must own our past shame so that we can learn from it."
Frequency: once per day
You spend 4 hours wandering Sandpoint, during which time you strike up conversations with locals about Nualia while also attempting to convince folks to set aside their anger and to forgive her. Convincing the locals to admit to themselves that the town had a role in cultivating the events that led to Nualia’s violent actions is difficult, and requires a DC 22 Diplomacy check.
Critical Success: The PCs earn 2 Forgiveness Points.
Success: The PCs earn 1 Forgiveness Point.
Failure: The PCs earn no Forgiveness Points.
Critical Failure: The PCs lose 1 Forgiveness Point, and also lose 1 Reputation Point with the Townsfolk.
You will need to accumulate 10 Forgiveness Points to be successful.
Wherby sighs. "That's probably something we should do. Talking to neighbors is normal behavior, not something for adventurers, at least!"
That said, he's too grumpy to really be good at communicating, but comes along and grunts sourly as Tekmin and Ximble get overly excited.
"You know, I really think that Nualia got a bad rap! She seemed fine when we were nice to her. She even warned us about all that doom!" Tekmin selectively remembers.
"I don't know that we're particularly well in the townsfolk's graces, at the moment, but we'll see what we can do."
You find it quite difficult to convince anybody to rethink their opinions of Nualia. What's more, you overhear many whispers and catch side-eye glances directed your way. Soembody mutters, "Those are the ones that Charn told me of—who knows what trouble they're stirring up in that old Pit?"
***
When you return to your quarters that night, you find a missive waiting for you. Vorvashali Voon runs the Feathered Serpent, Sandpoint's only curio shop. A message from him invites you to visit his shop, offering you a 5% discount during the visit.
"Whoa, a personal invitation, and a coupon!" Tekmin is excited at the prospect. "I've had my eye on a few curios, I have to say. Most witches have a whole hut full of bric-a-brac, right Master Crick?"
"How should I know?" Wherby snaps back. "Do I look like I've ever met a witch?!"
"Regardless, I think we should head to the shop. Maybe Vorvashali can help us get a little better recognized in town if we help."
The Feathered Serpent is a cramped and cluttered shop that smells of a strange mixture of incense, spice, and dust. Not everything in the shop is for sale, rendering the shop’s eclectic collection of strange relics, statues, and monument fragments part museum, in addition to being Sandpoint’s most likely place to find a strange magic item for sale. Adventurers seeking magic items and other tools of the trade can find what they’re looking for here more often than not.
Its sole proprietor, Vorvashali Voon, is an exotic-looking man with bright blue eyes, long, red hair, and almost bronze-colored skin. It seems he has prepared for your arrival with a delicious tray of baked goods and candies from Sandpoint Savories. He closes the shop as you enter and invites you to have a seat at the least-cluttered table in the shop.
"Welcome, welcome! It's so nice to finally meet our little town's newest adventurers! You just got back from the Pit, didn't you? I want to hear all about it!" Vorvashali pushes forward the pastries with a grin.
"Well, we were a bit out of our element, not being adventurers, but it was quite a harrowoing experience! The goblins there were being haunted by the fiery apparition of a former chieftain, and we had to defeat the foul undead monster!" Tekmin confides. "We snuck like rogues and fought like champions. Oh, and I almost died!"
Wherby's skin starts crawling almost immediately as he enters the popular haunt for adventurers. This was only going to encourage Tekmin.
He sighs dramatically at Vorvashali's greeting. "We're not adventurers! Just people doing what we have to because no one else will!"
He does take a baked good, though.
Vorvashali laughs. "I think you're an adventurer now, whether you want to be or not!"
He listens with rapt attention to Tekmin's retelling. "Thrilling! I'm sure there are no shortage of both wonders and terrors to behold in the Pit. I can't wait to hear what else you uncover in your explorations. As a matter of fact..."
The proprietor reaches into a pouch and pulls forth a curious object—what appears to be the wingless, headless, legless body of a clockwork bird about the size of a blue jay. "Take a look at this beauty! Another adventurer claims to have found this in a goblin’s den on Devil’s Platter. It's incomplete, though. I've been hoping to find more parts of the bird if they’re out there. I suspect there are five more parts—a pair of wings, the head, the tail, the feet, and the winding mechanism. I'll pay you 50 gp for each part you're able to find and bring to me."
The tiny winding mechanism you found after defeating the goblin witch Minargul seems to be a fit for this clockwork bird.
"That seems like a fair price for a little trinket! Does this fit in it?" Tekmin fishes out the winding mechanism and hand it over (as long as no one objects). "Seems like there's a lot of goblins getting bothered by adventurers around here!"
"Yes, that's it!" Vorvashali shouts excitedly. "I feel like this is going to be a very successful partnership." He gather up the promised 50 gp and hands it to you. "There you are. Feel free to spend it here, if you want! Remember, you've got a 5% discount for this visit!"
Ximble checks what knick-knacks Vorvashali has in store with great interest. He isn't exactly flush with gold right now, but he is eager to spend some of it. Perhaps Vorvashali has one of those vaunted lifting belts? Ximble guesses what it might cost and pouts. There is no way he could afford one.
"What if we tell you that we'll be right back, but we won't be back for say, a couple of days? Would that still make it count as being 'this' visit for the discount?"
Vorvashali chuckles. "Fair enough! How about we say you can have the discount on the first day that you make a purchase here?"
"You're a very fair merchant! And I have to say, thanks for listening so attentively to our story," Tekmin adds. "Would you mind mentioning our heroic adventures if people in town mention us? We seem to be getting a bit of a bad reputation, since we helped the spirit of Nualia find a better rest."
"Nualia," Vorvashali says, his expression souring. "I'll consider," he mutters, in a tone which makes you think that he really won't.
Wherby sighs mournfully at Vorvashali's words. He's afraid the shopkeeper might be right. It's likely a fate worse than death, which is what adventuring will surely lead to sooner rather than later. After all, look how he's managed to stay alive for nearly 50 years without having (m)any adventures.
That night, as you rest, you are awakened by a loud thump, followed by the sound of hoofbeats on the roof above where you're sleeping. Quick to the window, Tekmin catches a glimpse of a large flying shape retreating into the foggy night. An investigation of the roof reveals strange scorched hoofprints...
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"What in the brisk blazes was that?"
Tekmin exclaims. "Looked like some sort of giant flying creature, but what bird has hooves?"
"It's probably a griffin, or a hippogriff, or one of those creatures," Wherby says, even grumpier than usual by being woken from his sleep. "Hopefully you scared it away with all the noise you're making!"
The next morning, rumors begin to spread of more scorch marks being found on barn roofs on outlying farm and a few other houses throughout town. Dread begins to build as the citizens fear the infamous Sandpoint Devil may be stirring once again!
"I suspect it's just teenaged pranksters or perhaps some sort of pyromaniac goat," Tekmin surmises. "Goats can get just about everywhere, you know."
Still, he pokes around town, trying to gather more information about the sightings.
Wherby sighs heavily. "We're just goingt o have to stay up some night to prove it's NOT the Sandpoint Devil. I'm pretty sure that's just a myth, though. Doesn't really exist! Like rodents of unusual size."
"What if it was just a nightmare? You know, a collective bad dream we communally manifested into the scorch marks that now remain?" Ximble shrugs and then drops it, because ain't it obvious this is alotta a do about nothing? "It's known to happen, especially in communities with a significant fey presence. Hrm, wait, other than me, what fey-touched call Sandpoint home? Alright, fine, maybe we should get up on the roofs and check out these so-called scorch marks."
Tekmin's information gathering reveals numerous reports of burned hoofprints on roofs, of a winged shape flying overhead and startling livestock, and of lone travelers hearing an eerie shriek while making their way across the Lost Road. The townsfolk are convinced that the Sandpoint Devil is indeed the culprit, and they fear that something is riling the monster up from its alleged lair in the depths of the Pit...
"But we were just in the Pit!" Tekmin tries to tell the townsfolk. "We didn't see one devil. Burning skeletons, sure. A bit of probably-cursed taxidermy. No devils, though!"
"It's all just rumors. Though if you insist, we can go try to find some of these farmers or travelers, who will tell us it was nothing. Unless they're adventurers, in which case, they'll try to extort money from the village to deal with this alleged problem!"
The gnome scratches the back of his head and gives Tekmin a look that screams that he doesn't get it. The halfling spoke the truth when he said they just had been in the Pit, and how could they have missed whatever is doing this to the roofs of Sandpoint?! But isn't this how a citizen of Sandpoint would react? And aren't they stout adventurers? "Perhaps this mysterious creature's presence is testing our, and I say this most begrudgingly, burgeoning adventurial mettle. If so, we must return to the Pit and set the record straight, I do dare say."
Ximble tries to sound like an adventurer, stoic and resolute, and going by his body language, he's darn proud of what he just said.
"We can check it out, but let's at least have breakfast first. I hardly slept, with that horse up on the roof all night," after giving his frying pan a very thoroughly cleaning, Tekmin makes breakfast.
Once you are ready, you return to the Pit. A foul stench and strange sounds from the depths greet you upon your arrival. There was a door leading west from the main entry hall of the goblins' lair you could explore if you are so inclined, or you can descend further into the Pit's depths to see what lies below...
"Which way, chums?" Tekmin asks. "I would think a flying creature would be on one of the higher levels here, but maybe the goblins would have scared it away?"
"It's not just some rural legend, it probably ate any goblins that were still here," Wherby grouses. "But I guess if we must, let's check that door first."
It seems that the Whistlefang goblins have abandoned their lair now that Minargul and Ripnugget are gone. You open the western door in their throne room. Thick sheets of spiderwebs adorn the walls, ceiling, and floor of this cavern, and the gossamer sheets of webbing that hang like curtains make estimating the chamber’s size and shape impossible.
A few moments after you have opened the door, a scratchy voice calls out in an unfamiliar language. It pauses, apparently waiting for a response.
"Hmm. Anyone get that? I don't really speak monster," Tekmin peers curiously into the spooky room.
"Hello? Who's there? This isn't funny!" Wherby declares peevishly.
A grotesque creature scuttles into view through the webs, a horrific amalgamation of humanoid and spider with a bloated, purple belly. Eight beady eyes focus on you as it waves its hooked forearms and chitters in that same strange language!
Tekmin waves at the creature, but keeps his frying pan close to hand. "Hello! We are just passing through!"
Wherby looks at it, only slightly encouraged by the fact that it's not attacking immediately. He tries to usher the others back, hoping they can avoid another fight.
The creature chitters loudly. Four black-and-red spiders the size of large dogs emerge from the webs around it and begin to skitter towards you!
"Aw, waffles and crepes!" A strange feeling comes over Tekmin and lightning leaps between him and two of the spiders. He outs himself between the creatures and the rest of the group, ready to smack any that try to pass him.