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Ah thank you both. Yea she has been "missing" for only about 2 or 3 in-game days. The PCs are concerned but not enough to mount a search mission. I do like the idea of preventing an allied force of goblins from arriving which actually ties into some of the information they found. That could be good. Maybe I'll have her come back injured but successful and need some recovery time.

Okay so here's the deal. The sheriff sent Shalelu off to do some specific goblin scouting after the attack on Sandpoint with a mind to come back and give info to the players about the current state of goblin affairs. Off she went.

And then I promptly forgot about her and so did the players. Until finally after the first chapter but before the second they had plenty of downtime and one player thought about asking Shalelu something when they realized nobody had heard from her in days.

Thistletop is dealt with and the goblin threat is neutralized and I actually ended the session with a cliffhanger of the Sheriff coming up to them to tell them of the murders so they'll get caught up in that pretty quick I think.

Now I could just chalk it up as her going around to check on all the tribes and just coming back too late to be useful, but it might be fun to have had something happen to her. Captured by one of the later villains or caught up in having found something and followed a trail or whatnot. I have only really skimmed the chapters past the second one.

So does anyone have any nifty situations I could put Shelalu in that the players could find out about down the road and would explain her absence since she was specifically supposed to come back and report to the town and never did.

Session One

Dorviksun and Lysandra had met previously and traveled to Sandpoint together. Merlinwen was already there and Echves wandered in for the festival hoping to have a good time and get away from the dangers of Riddleport for a while.

I started them off in the morning with speeches. I just made up the speeches as I went having the mayor be bright and friendly welcoming new and old alike and hoping everyone had a good time on this most important day. I also had her praise the people for the work and effort of making the temple and how proud the town was of their accomplishment.

Sheriff Hemlock did indeed bring everyone down warning people not to drink too much or they could end up spending the night in jail. He had a moment of silence for those that died in the fire and ended with a warning of caution about the night's bonfire lest we repeat the events from 5 years ago.

Cyrdak (or however you spell it) cracked some jokes about the expense of the building, made his plug for his upcoming play, and then I just GM'd the rest of it by saying he entertained the people for a bit before turning it over to Father Zantus who simply said for people to enjoy themselves and have a good day.

Then on to the games! I had a selection of games that I hoped would run through enough different skill types to give some variety for all the characters. I would really like to thank the forums for some of these as I stole shamelessly from the post about the Swallowtail festival games. Here are the games I had:

Devil's Hunt - Archery game with the targets being depictions of the Sandpoint Devil (found on these forums)

Scale the Old Light - Climbing wall (I made this one up as I wanted a climbing check game. I also introduced the Half-Orc garbage collector guy as he held the harness for Dorvikson our dwarf as he did the challenge)

Goblin Toss - Dex check game of tossing Goblin dummys into a fake fire pit (found on these forums) run by the old ranger from Goblin Squash Stables.

Caber Throw - Str check game... just a good ole caber throw. I had this run by Vin Venter and Shayliss.

The Devil's Walk - Acrobatics game. I had the carpenter's guild create a series of platforms progressively smaller and off-angle and all covered in mud and water above a pit of mud. The goal was to try to progress across the platforms without falling into the pit.

The Pixie's Kiss - Con based game (from the forums). I would love to thank the guy that came up with this game... it was a big hit.

I tried to encourage each player to try at least two games.

Lysandra the Half-Elf Ranger attempted the Devil's Hunt. She rolled a 1 on the first arrow and a 3 on the second arrow. It was pretty sad. Everyone patted her on the back and thanked her for trying something that obviously just wasn't up her alley. The poor Ranger lol. She was going to attempt the Devil's Walk but followed the Rogue over and after watching the Rogue do it, bowed out so she wouldn't embarass herself further.

Echves the Human Fighter tried the Caber toss but failed miserably. He was only able to heft it a few feet. But then he went over to the Pixie's Kiss. I had it set up where you had a maximum of 10 lemons. He rolled like a boss on this and while he was pretty bad off by the end of it, he got all 10. There was much cheering and laughter to be had by all the citizens and players alike. It was beautiful.

Dorviksun the Dwarven Cleric went for the Caber Toss. His first roll was poor barely hefting it a few feet just like the fighter. But then he rolled a NAT 20 and the boy has 18 STR so... he got it past the farthest line. He roll played the thing out like the first attempt was just gauging the balance before he went for the real throw. Vin congratulated him and Shayliss gave him a big kiss on the cheek ;). He then went over to the Goblin Toss despite his 10 Dex. It was gold. He played it off as just throwing as hard as he could with little attempt at actual aim. He made a true friend in the old ranger who loved his enthusiasm and even made it in the hole once! But his last throw was the funniest. Natural 1 after he had already said he was going to discus throw this one. I had him completely miss the whole area and it sailed across and hit somebody in the middle of an attempt at the devil's Walk. The whole community got a big laugh at that one.

Finally Merlinwen the Elven Rogue. I'm really going to like this character. First up she went for the archery contest. Did okay but no bullseye. Moved over to the Devil's walk and rolled high with a very good Acrobatics skill. She was the first person of the day to make it across the thing and just ran it flat impressing everyone. But then after all the players had done their games, she says WAIT!! Merlinwen wants to try one more. Okay no problem... which one? She saunters over to the Pixie's Kiss... with her 11 Constitution. What happened next was hilarious fun as the female rogue roleplays out her sensous increasingly hilarious attempts at getting the lemons in the bucket. Needless to say she didn't even make it to lemon 5 but it was the best moment out of all the games. (also note that it made it even better that the player playing this character is a female herself... my wife actually!)

Basically I used the games to kind of get a gauge on the PCs personalities and introduce them to various people in the town... try to get them to see Sandpoint as a community of mostly good people. We ended up spending way more time on the games than I anticipated but it ended up working out really well and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. It also helped the PCs to bond a bit as the Dwarf helped the Fighter away after his Pixie Kiss challenge they hit it off quite well and the Ranger hung out with the Rogue at the games impressed with her talent. It gave them all an excuse to be together later that evening.

We run through the various combats with the highlights being that Echves couldn't roll to hit a thing... the players laughed it off as him still being hungover from the Pixie's Kiss. The rogue one-shot my Commando with one shot before he could even act. Sneak attack damage rolled a 6 and Longbow rolled a 7. *sigh*... they were amused though :) And finally the Dwarven Cleric should be a patron of the God of Squished Goblins putting his warhammer to insanely effective use.

After this everyone is very greatful to the PCs and they get the offer to stay at the Rusty Dragon for free for a week. They accept.

In the morning I give them time to wander around and do as they please. Dorviksun goes to the temple, talks with Zantus, and volunteers to tend the wounded for a while. Echves sleeps in late. Merlinwen goes to check in with her boss for any jobs for the day. Lysandra follows along with Merlinwen.

Sir Jasper informs them that because of the attack there are not enough guards to accompany a Scarnetti caravan that was scheduled to leave today from the mill heading to Korvosa. Merlinwen has the dubious duty to go inform the mill that their options are leave with only two guards or wait for a week. He does not envy her the task. They head over to the mill and fortunately don't find any scarnetti's present so they talk to the mill master. I forget his name off the top of my head. I gave him the most annoying voice on the planet and a terrible attitude. They hated him instantly. :D He was told his options and complained bitterly but some quick talk and rolls later and there was little he could do about it. Just another chance to introduce some NPCs really.

Head back to the rusty tavern to meet someone.

So after that, we end the session for next time. All in all a great start to what I hope will be a fun campaign. I'd just like to thank everyone on these forums for your posts. They have already helped out greatly and I'm sure I will continue to rely on them for great ideas.

Hey all! Well, I ran the first session of Rise of the Runelords last night. It was a great success and a lot of that was thanks to you amazing people on the forums. I haven't really spoken yet, but I have been reading all the threads on Burnt Offerings and stealing tons of ideas. I thought I would try to start a little journal of my campaign for fun.

First off, just to get it out of the way I have only ever GM'd once and that was 17 years ago using 'Tunnels and Trolls'. Granted it was fairly long running and well received, but that is a much more watered down system and I was not using pre-made material so this is a lot different. Also 17 years is sadly quite a long time. To top it off the guy who has been my GM for most of my adult life had a thing against anything like D&D so we mainly ran things like Amber and then Fate... vastly different than Pathfinder. So forgive me if I do terrible things, ignore the dice sometimes, or just in general make a fool out of myself. Any advice will be welcomed.

Also one last warning. My memory is terrible so you guys are just going to get the highlights.

So. The PCs.

Echves (pronounced eck-ves with the e as in egg, not eek) - Human Male Fighter from Riddleport. (Female Player). (NG) Echves is going 2 handed weapon style. He's not very talkative unless you can get him in front of the ladies or on a hunt. Otherwise he's the "point me at the enemy" kind of guy.

Merlinwen - Elven Female Rogue from Sandpoint. (Female Player). (CN) Merlinwen is orginally from Sandport but went to work in Korvosa for a while. She's a "security expert". She's playing the elf as more of the respected person who gets hired to make sure things get run correctly and security is tight. Merlinwen currently works for the Sandpoint Mercantile League for the NPC Sir Jasper. Her main work is making sure shipments coming in and outgoing are legit and people aren't trying to cheat the League. She also carries important messages that have to get to various places in Varisia or sometimes guards caravans. Well respected in town by everyone except maybe the Scarnettis whom she helps keep in line. No love lost there as Sir Jasper is not only a good boss but a friend.

Dorviksun - Dwarven Male Cleric of Caiden from Janderhoff. (Male Player). (CG) Dorviksun is a wanderer at heart. He travels at whim and divine guidance. He's good natured and kind and ready to share a pint of beer, a joke, his healing powers, or whatever else is needed of him. He has a high strength and fairly proud of it and wields a warhammer with great effect.

Lysandra - Half-Elf Female Ranger from Magnamar. (Male Player). (CG) Lysandra has a high charisma and he plays her off as the kind, outgoing type. She's going to be the one to make all the Diplomacy checks of the party as he even threw his free Half-Elf skill feat into that and took the Magnimar city campaign feat for several more points. I don't know too much about her background yet but knowing this player I will get a write-up pretty soon.