David Annable 773's page

My group reached the rope bridge at Thistletop at the end of last week's session, but they also suffered a casualty (the Paladin bought it in the fight against Gogmurt) so they chose to retreat back to Sandpoint. Before they left, they cut the rope bridge on the land-side and tossed Gogmurt over the cliff down to the rocks below (he'd been captured and tied up - the CN rogue decided throwing the goblin over the edge would be hilarious).

So my question is - how would you handle the state of Thistletop when the PCs return? Clearly, since it states that the rope bridge is rigged to collapse if too many people are on it at once, the goblins have a way to re-attach the bridge when the find it severed. But given that they will have found the briars cleared out (except for poor Tangletooth, who survived), how would you have the goblins behaving?

I'm also a little fuzzy on the "alarm" that is mentioned many times throughout this section. Several encounters unfold differently depending on whether or not "the alarm" has been raised but without any further details, I'm not sure exactly how that manifests. Do the goblins scream at each other throughout the complex that there is danger? Is there a bell or some other noisemaker somewhere (and if so - where?). And pursuant to the question, above - how long would the goblin "alarm" remain active before they'd decided the danger had passed? A few hours, maybe?

Finally - how would Bruthazmus, Lyrie, Orik, Tsuto (still alive), and Nualia react? I assume Ripnugget would tell someone that there's danger afoot.

Any thoughts?

Hi folks,

I'm running a 3-man group through Rise of the Runelords for the first time and somehow my party managed to flub the fight at the Glassworks. The initial Goblin raid during the festival was a breeze for the party - I played up the goblin's lack of organization and focus and the party really took advantage of it. But since Tsuto was running the show at the Glassworks, I had the goblins work a little more cohesively. Part of the problem was that the party never really committed to an attack (the party is made up of a paladin, a monk, and a rogue) and they ended up getting flanked. While a lot of the goblins died, the Monk eventually went down and the Paladin somehow found himself outside leaving the poor Rogue to run for his life.

Regardless - I figured it made the most sense for the goblins to capture the incapacitated Monk and return to Thistletop where he can be imprisoned along with Ameiko. The other two party members (probably with some hired help) can go on a rescue mission.

The problem is, Tsuto's journal is the primary clue leading the party to Thistletop. They've spoken to Shalelu about the various tribes but I don't expect them to just start randomly searching the countryside for a hint. So I'm a bit stuck as to how to get them to Thistletop.

I expect the remaining two party members to return to the Glassworks where I will have them find the entrance to the Catacombs of Wrath. Provided they can make it through there, they can move on and perhaps find the secret smugglers door that leads out to the beach. I assume this would be how the goblins and Tsuto would secretly get themselves in and out of town. I don't really have anyone in the party capable of tracking but I can have Shalelu show up claiming to have picked up the trail of some goblins and a human who are carrying two humanoids. From there, they can head to Thistletop.

How does that sound?