James Jacobs and the rest of the Pathfinder staff have allowed me the honor to start running Rise of the Runelords a little bit before the rest of the world. I wanted to do this for two important reasons: a quick play test of "Burnt Offerings" before it heads off to the printer this week, and a nice series of preview posts that hopefully get those soon-to-be Pathfinder GMs out there more excited about their new campaign.
Before I start posting about the characters, a few quick notes:
1. I am not involved in the process of creating Pathfinder or the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. I am GMing this campaign just like any other GM and may make small changes to the story for the sake of the characters. Please don't assume everything I write is canon. (Though I will note where I deviated from the story--I expect these deviations to be minor.)
2. We're running RotR twice a month--there should be at least that many posts each month in this thread.
3. Please post your comments! I love reading these journals mainly for the follow-up comments from folks in the Paizo community and am eager to hear what everyone thinks.
4. THIS THREAD WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN RISE OF THE RUNELORDS, STOP READING NOW.
On to the story! We begin with our characters ...
Jal a.k.a Jorlund, Level 1 Human (Chelian) Rogue as run by "Joe S."
Jal was born in Magnimar almost twenty years ago. His birth name was Jorlund, a Chelian name, which he’s tried to hide his entire life. Jal’s grandfather was part of a quashed revolution in Cheliax decades ago when Cheliax’s god died and the region was taken over by a devil-worshipping cabal. His family was forced to flee and assumed new identities in Magnimar, a large city in the out-of-the-way Varisian region north of Cheliax. A death warrant is still in existence in Cheliax for all members of Jal’s family.
When Jal was seven, Chelian agents discovered his family and killed them all. Jal was hidden away in a secret closet before the agents kicked in the door and he watched as his mother, father, and two brothers were butchered by these fair-skinned monsters from the south.
He spent the next decade of his life roaming the streets of Magnimar. He was a member of several street gangs and learned his rogue skills the hard way. His closest childhood friend was Volioker Briskelbend, a dwarf who is now the locksmith in Sandpoint. Their friendship was tested when they were both captured by a rival gang and tortured for weeks. This event is something Volioker doesn’t talk about even today and Jal is notoriously tight-lipped about his childhood as well.
A few years back, Volioker sent a letter to Jal asking for his help in Sandpoint. A local crime organization, calling itself the Sczarni, were strong-arming Jal’s childhood friend and he needed help. So Jal headed north and has been a resident of Sandpoint ever since.
Jal and Volioker have spent the years since opposing the Sczarni wherever possible. Most people think they’re small time crooks, but Jal and Volioker know they can be just as brutal and cunning as they are conniving and greedy. Since Jal often has to do less-than-legal things to thwart the Sczarni, he’s also ended up on the wrong side of Sheriff Hemlock. This rivalry is the perfect cover for Jal—-he’s in Sandpoint pretending to be a Varisian traveler and since Hemlock isn’t well-liked by the local Varisians (he's a Varisian who abandoned his true Varisian last name and replaced it with the common tongue's analog) Jal does what he can to fuel that fire to keep his real Chelian ancestry and Magnimar birth a secret from the Sczarni.
Jal has only been in Sandpoint for a few years, but he knows of the recent events--Chopper's murder spree and the Sandpoint fire that claimed the lives of Father Tobyn and his adopted daughter Nualia.
Galen, Level 1 Human Warlock as run by "Eric B."
Galen was a normal kid in Sandpoint. An orphan, he grew up in the Turandorak Academy and spent his days trying to break into the headmaster’s museum of oddities in the basement. The odd and mysterious always appealed to him more than what the other kids were doing. This, in some ways, eventually turned him into an outcast. Because of this status and his curiosity, he befriended another town outcast, Nualia Tobyn, the adopted Aasimar daughter of Father Tobyn, the local religious leader. Galen was fascinated by her heritage and spent as much time with her as he could. As he grew older, though, they grew apart. She became more withdrawn and sullen and mentioned only one time that her adopted father was a mean-spirited and brutal man (a portrayal that no one in town shared).
Galen's possession started six years ago. He awoke one night and was convinced two figures were in his room at the Academy. After finally getting his lantern lit, he found no one but thereafter heard two “voices” vying for control of his mind: a wrathful, vicious female
voice and a greedy, maniacal male voice. Sometimes, whenever he’d let his concentration slip for a moment, one or both of the voices would take control. He’d lash out at friends and strangers alike or steal things for no reason more than to have them. These moments, though rare, would scare Galen and leave him depressed and withdrawn for weeks. Even now, as a young adult, the voices sometimes push him to do things he doesn't want to do.
A year after the voices began, Galen blacked out for a week. When he came to, he was at Hannah’s getting medical treatment for burns. Later, he learned of the great Sandpoint fire and he's been convinced ever since that he started it. His distant friend Nualia and her father died in the fire and since the Sandpoint Temple burned to the ground during it, Galen feels supernaturally bound to stop and kneel before entering any holy or unholy site. He hasn't blacked out like that since.
Very recently, his powers began to manifest. The voices tell him it’s their doing, a reward for taking care of them. The male voice has become rarer but the female voice of wrath and anger is getting stronger. Galen worries that not even his fanatical worship of Desna will save his cursed soul and he dares not ever tell the townsfolk his belief that he started the fire.
Zwardheb, Level 1 Human (Chelian) Paladin as run by "Reid S."
Zwardheb was born in Magnimar 20 years ago. The son of a famed Chelian Paladin, Zwardheb was raised to follow in his father's footsteps. From a very early age, it was quite clear that, though Zwardheb was lacking in the mental faculties department, he was growing to be a gallant and valiant knight.
At age 15, he joined his father's order of Paladins--The Knights of Iomedae. The Knights believe that no Paladin can truly understand Iomedae's blessings of Justice and Valor until they've traveled and seen for themselves that even in the darkest corners of the world, the honor of Iomedae springs eternal. Once the Knights felt Zwardheb was ready, they released him into the wilds of Varisia to explore and spread Iomedae's message of Justice.
Zwardheb hasn't gotten very far. He wandered for just a few days before arriving at Sandpoint. Hearing that a festival to honor the newly built Sandpoint Cathedral was to happen the next day, Zwardheb decided to stay the night and attend the festival.
It was to be a small choice that launched the naive Paladin into a larger world.
Bear, Level 1 Dwarf Barbarian as run by "Jeff H."
Bear was born in an enormous dwarven city in eastern Varisia 50 years ago. As a youth, Bear was lost in the Ashwood during a family business trip to Turtleback Ferry. He never saw his family again. He wandered the Ashwood and the Storval Lowlands for years, almost always keeping out of sight of humanoids (he had limited contact with a few human Shoanti tribes, but not much else-—they saw him as a wandering hermit and shaman). He developed a fondness for bears and began to practice a sort of worship of them as a spirit totem. He was never educated and his worship of the bear turned into his rage abilities as a barbarian—-abilities that have saved his life more than once.
About ten years ago, Bear came across a party of dwarven miners headed back to the town of his birth. Curious about his family and dwarven life in general, he joined them and returned home. It was quickly apparent to him that his dirty, brutal, and often chaotic way of life didn’t fit in with the cosmopolitan dwarf city. The dwarves here were obsessed with profit and wealth and Bear thought they should be stonecutters and craftsman, living simple lives as artists of their trade. He spent several years working as a stonecutter, trying to set a good example. His frustration with his own people finally drove him to leave, though, and six years ago he set out to explore the other civilized regions of Varisia.
Over the next year, he wandered through small towns, dales, secluded mountain communities, and even settled for some time in larger cities like Korvosa and Magnimar—-but none of these places felt right. As he headed north out of Magnimar he found a secluded fishing/logging/quarry town called Sandpoint. Immediately, he felt like he was at home. He went to work at the Sandpoint Quarry a few miles outside of town shaping blocks of stone for local buildings and spent his evenings at The Rusty Dragon Inn swapping travel stories with Ameiko Kaijitsu, the new owner on the Inn and a former adventurer. Eventually, he went to work as a bouncer for Ameiko to keep the rowdy sailors quiet on the weekends and settled into a life he could enjoy. Bear has long had a crush on Ameiko and feels his rage boiling every time he sees her older brother Tsuto fly off the handle and yell at her. Bear knows Tsuto is a half-elf, something Tsuto tries to hide, and knows of his scandalous birth twenty years ago (neither of his parents are elves). Bear suspects that Ameiko’s mother’s tragic death was the result of an indiscretion with an elf.
Bear lived in Sandpoint during the fire and has even helped cut stone for the new Sandpoint Cathedral. He still holds open the possibility that he'll discover another direction in life that takes him away from Sandpoint and the events at the Swallowtail Festival will push him that way in a hurry.
Zindelo, Level 1 Human (Varisian) Cleric of Saranrae as run by "Jeremy W."
Zindelo was born 18 years ago in a Varisian traveler’s camp outside of Sandpoint. As a youth, he became lost in the woods across the Turandarok River from Sandpoint and spent several cold and hungry nights huddled beneath a log. One morning, he awoke shivering and found a kindly, old man of Chelian descent shaking him awake. The old man turned out to be Father Tobyn, the kindly Cleric of Desna who ran the Sandpoint Temple. Zindelo knew of Father Tobyn since his group of Varisian travelers often came to Sandpoint to trade and worship Desna (their most revered deity) at the Temple. Father Tobyn took young Zindelo in and fed and housed him until Zindelo’s group of travelers arrived for their next trade day.
Zindelo’s mother, who had feared her son dead or captured by goblins, was so grateful for Father Tobyn’s kindness, that she agreed to let Zindelo stay in town to study to become a Cleric of Desna. This was a great honor in Zindelo’s band and he took to his studies with zeal.
Over time, though, Zindelo’s loyalty to Tobyn and Desna began to fade. As he spent more and more time with Father Tobyn, he discovered Tobyn could have a brooding, dark side. Zindelo also witnessed Tobyn violently scolding his adopted Aasimar daughter, Nualia, several times as well. These actions eventually led Zindelo to study more and more at the shrine of Saranrae in the Sandpoint Temple. This upset Tobyn, but he let Zindelo make his own choices--after all, Zindelo was no son—-adopted or otherwise-—of Father Tobyn. Zindelo thinks the new leader of the Sandpoint Cathedral, Abstilar Andreti, is a pompous ass and doesn’t get along well with him. Andreti is thought of well by most townsfolk, though, so Zindelo keeps his opinion quiet.
Zindelo hopes someday to see more of the world and to leave behind his life as an acolyte in the Sandpoint Cathedral. The Swallowtail Festival is going to grant that wish in spades.
Soon: A summary of the first session played on 6/9/07 wherein Goblins Raid, Adventurers Fight, and Secrets Are Uncovered!
Wow. I'm impressed with the background presented. I can't wait to hear more! :)
Interesting. I'll be reading this one.
It's not often you see a dwarven barbarian. :)
Very cool to have this preview. Did you create the backgrounds with the players? Or did you just present the players with them?
I can't wait to read the report. :-)
Wow. The best reviews of adventures are these actual journals.
I too would like to know whether you came up with the characters and their backgrounds or was it the players and then you meshed them with the locals?
I take it you are not using the pre-generated characters, which leads me to believe the players created characters and then you meshed them with the AP. Are the generics meshed in this manner? Have you borrowed from their backgrounds?
Either way I love the levels of intrigue and relationships to NPCs in Sandpoint.
This preview is great! Thanks a lot and please, keep it coming!!!
It's not often you see a dwarven barbarian. :)
Even less often that you see a Dwarf Barbarian wearing no armor and using a variant Barbarian template that tosses fast movement and replaces it with a free toughness feat. 20 HP at level 1 is nothing to scoff at.
Very cool to have this preview. Did you create the backgrounds with the players? Or did you just present the players with them?
Eric B. presented me with his possession idea and liked the idea of taking a supernatural stricture (a suggestion in the PHBII). With this in mind, I blended his story into the Sandpoint backdrop and tied him pretty intricately into the plot of the first adventure.
Joe S. often plays a surly rogue-type character in D&D and liked the idea of the fall of Cheliax so much he wanted to blend his character in with that story. With this in mind, I created his family's backstory and tied him closely with the local locksmith (who was raised in Magnimar and had a past not often talked about in the Sandpoint backdrop.)
Reid S. knew only that he wanted his Paladin to worship a god/goddess of Justice and that he wanted to, basically, be The Tick as Paladin (dumb as a rock, totally committed to thwarting evil). I created the rest of his story wholecloth and invented the Knights of Iomedae.
Jeremy W. knew only that he wanted to be a Heal Bot. I wrote the rest.
Jeff H. is probably the most consistent in our group for inventing unique characters along which comes a unique voice. (For example, his recently deceased Cleric-Monk in our Red Hand of Doom game was voiced by Sammy Davis Junior.) He knew that he was going to be a shamanistic dwarf of barbarian pursuasion who eventually would take levels in the Bear Warrior prestige class. I used these tidbits to meld him into the story line and liked the idea of his crush on Ameiko helping to drive the PCs to find her when she dissapears. (More on that later!) Jeff is convinced his character will die before 2nd level because of his no-armor, no-fast movement policy. Though, he never hit the negs in our first sitting (lots o' HP) and the Paladin hit them twice. :-)
Are the generics meshed in this manner? Have you borrowed from their backgrounds?
Your first question is a good question for the staff on this board. Like I said in the OP, I'm not working on Pathfinder or any of the GameMastery product lines. :-) (Though, I did write three rooms for Seven Swords of Sin, but that doesn't really count as "working on the line".)
I'm kinda lukewarm on Pathfinder so far, so this will give me a great chance to see how it looks in practice.
Yikes! I hope a write a good journal then. :-)
Origins prep is kicking my figurative and literal behind this week, but I hope to have the first journal up tomorrow night for our first session a few weeks back. Our 2nd session is this weekend.
Thanks for reading!
-Josh
James should add in the Knights of Iomedae, whatever they are. It's a great name, so I assumed it was already part of Varisia. :)
I especially like the hook with the dwarven locksmith! Perhaps because I have two dwarven PCs and had no idea what reason those two would have had to travel to Sandpoint. But perhaps it is because I am playing in a SCAP-PBP. We are playing this campaign for more than a year and are still in the Malachite Fortress deep under the Locksmith's shop.
Creative Director
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James should add in the Knights of Iomedae, whatever they are. It's a great name, so I assumed it was already part of Varisia. :)
Iomedae isn't really that big a deity in Varisia. Not to say that she can't have knights in the region, or not to say that any DM can't add her into the area...
There's already about 8 deities who get a fair amount of attention in Runelords (Desna, Erastil, Shelyn, Sarenrae, Gozreh, Abadar, Lamashtu, and Zon-Kuthon). Tha'ts probably enough for one Adventure Path.
Plus: Iomedae is kind of Erik's creation, so I'd personally rather leave the development of her church & stuff to him for the most part as far as in-print stuff goes.
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Think Joan of Arc meets Jesus and you're half way there. As Mayaheine is to Pelor or Zagyg is to Boccob in Greyhawk, so is Iomedae to Aroden, a god whose death 100 years ago cast the empire of Cheliax into disarray. Aroden was the last of the Azlanti, the first humans, and thus was a god of culture and wisdom dating back millennia. Now that he is gone, his servant Iomedae has inherited most of his religion and goals, but she has a long time to go before she's as powerful as her deific sponsor.
Much more on all this stuff soon. Very soon.
--Erik
Iomedae isn't really that big a deity in Varisia. Not to say that she can't have knights in the region, or not to say that any DM can't add her into the area...
That's what I do. I add. :-) But not to Sandpoint--the folks in Sandpoint have their deities and they don't need no city folk comin' 'round scarin' up big city folk ideas like justice!
Err, or something. :-)
Rise of the Runelords--Session #1
or How many hits does it take to get to the negative hit points center of a Paladin?
(6/9/07)
Rise of the Runelords begins the morning of the first day of Autumn. The townsfolk of Sandpoint have been planning their traditional Autumn celebration, the Swallowtail Festival, for nearly a year and are eagerly looking forward to the consecration of their newly built Cathedral. Five years ago, disaster struck Sandpoint and the original (smaller) Sandpoint Temple burned to the ground, killing Father Tobyn and his adopted Aasimar daughter Nualia. The townsfolk are eager to move on and have impatiently waited for this day.
On this morning, an unlikely gaggle of soon-to-be heroes find themselves going about their own business in the hustle and bustle of the festival crowd. Jal, the Rogue, does his best to keep an eye on everything, watching for Sczarni scams or pick-pockets in the crowd. Galen, the Warlock, is picking absent-mindedly at his food, bending his will to silence the voices screaming at him to kill and rob and murder everyone around him. Zwardheb, the Paladin, just arrived in Sandpoint the day before and stands outside the crowd listening for an opportunity to extol the virtues of Justice and Valor. Bear, the dwarf Barbarian, is working with the tavern-owners who've set up shop to market their food and drink and is watching for unruly drunks or other unsavory types that might cause a ruckus. In truth, he's primarily bathing his stomach in mead and hoping a fight breaks out so he can stop it. Finally, Zindelo, the Cleric, is helping the other acolytes of the newly rebuilt temple wheel out another wagon-load of Cathedral-donated food.
As the mayor, sheriff, and other important members of the community take their turns giving speeches, a small, and gruesome menace begins to weave its way through town. The menace hides itself well, sneaking through basements, shadowed allies, and dancing across rooftops.
At noon, acolytes of Desna release the "Thousand Stars of Desna" into the festival grounds and the town's children laugh and dance and try to catch one of Desna's blessed butterflies. The menace watches from the shadow, biding its time, waiting for the moment to strike. A dog barks, and somewhere under a nearby wood pile the menace grits its teeth and vows death to the canine.
Near dusk, with the townsfolk stuffed and well on their way to being drunk, Father Andretti (the new head of the Cathedral) takes the stage. To get the attention of the crowd, he removes a thunderstone from his pocket. With a loud crack, the stone brings the crowd to silence and Andretti clears his throat to issue the Prayer of First Opening and finally consecrate the new Cathedral.
Disaster strikes! A vicious little menace, face all mouth and teeth, eyes burning red with hate, screeches through the crowd and plunges his makeshift sword (or dogslicer, as they call them) into a hapless dog at the foot of the stage. Father Andretti stares horrified at the little monster and the crowd screams in panic. From all across Sandpoint the alarm is raised. The shout of "Goblins!" can be heard from every direction.
As the crowd flees in all directions, more and more goblins flood the festival grounds. Our heroes jump into action!
Jal climbs the stage, drawing a crossbow as he moves and takes aim at the little beast that cut the dog from ear to ear. He pulls the trigger and watches the bolt fly past the goblin and straight into the leg of one of the town's loggers. The logger cries out in pain, but in the crush of the crowd and noise he doesn't assume for a minute that he's been shot by another townsperson. The logger stumbles into the crowd and away from danger. Jal clears his throat and takes aim again.
Galen springs into action. The voices in his head cry for blood - BLOOD!! - and he flicks his wrist at the nearest goblin and grins as greenish fire explodes from his fingertips and sets the beastie ablaze. He begins to cackle, his voice oddly feminine, and fires another eldritch blast at another goblin. Critical hit! (Drawing from the Critical Hit Deck) he manages to do not only eldritch damage to the goblin but manages to set him on fire, too. In a matter of seconds, the little thing is immolated and a small pile of smoldering ash is all that remains. The townsfolk closest to Galen give pause at what they've witnessed and then flee in horror from Galen, rather than the goblins.
Zwardheb rips his sword from its sheath and cries out, "I shall smite these goblins for Justice!" He runs at the nearest one and misses and soon finds several of the unholy terrors surrounding him and slashing madly at his legs.
Bear touches the blessing of the bear and rages. He pulls his weapon and charges the group surrounding the Paladin, quickly dispatching one before pressing the attack on another.
Zindelo draws his sword and wades into the melee developing around the Paladin. He gets a few good strikes in and manages to take one of the goblins down.
By this time, the crowd and all but fled and sounds of battle can be heard throughout the town. The goblins in the festival grounds are dead, but it's clear others are ravaging the town to the south. The hastily flung-together heroes catch their breath for a moment and then decide to seek more battle.
WHOOSH! the nearby food cart goes up in flames. Four little goblins dance around the fire and sing their goblin song. It's then that our heroes realize that they can hear this same song being sung from every direction--like insane little children are howling a nursery rhyme from the tallest chimneys. It's eerie.
The would-be heroes charge the food cart and quickly dispatch their goblin foes. Not before the Paladin takes a near-mortal wound, though, and Zindelo calls upon Saranrae's blessing to heal him.
The group moves south through the town, chasing the sounds of combat. They come across a wealthy noble on horseback, being menaced by a goblin on ... well, on the back of some kind of rat-looking dog. Near the rider, stands another goblin who shouts the goblin song as encouragement. Something is different about this song, however. It's doing more than encouraging the rider--it's making him more potent in combat.
Our heroes immediately rocket into battle and are quickly surprised by another four goblins who had been terrified by the horse and were hiding in garbage piles.
A tough battle is fought. The rat thing bites the Paladin, causing an infection, but not before the Paladin kills the rider. The goblin bard hits the Paladin with daze, knocking him silly for a few seconds, and then moves back to fire at the attackers with a bow. While knocked silly, the Paladin gets bit again by the rat and this is enough to drop him to the muddy street for the second time in ten minutes.
The group of four goblins do their best to inflict wounds and bring down their larger foe but, in the end, the PCs are too much for them and the battle is won. The bard flees in terror and is chased down and killed.
The noble on horseback declares himself Aldern Foxglove and promises a reward later. He tells the party to seek him at The Rusty Dragon and runs for his life.
By this time, the battle is won across the city and a ringing silence hangs over Sandpoint. Our heroes have been joined, the city has been saved, and our story continues soon ...
Next Post: Hail the Heroes, Uncomfortable Moments, and a Boar Hunt.
The PCs have become instant heroes--freeze-dried celebrites, just add water. In the days that follow the Swallowtail Festival, the town goes out of its way to thank and applaud their new heroes. They are plied with drink, food, kisses, hailed as saviors, slapped on the back, and generally well-regarded.
A few morning's after, the rather naive Paladin is tricked into following a local girl into her father's general store to hunt a "rogue goblin" she found. When the Paladin discovers she's trying to repay his heroics in ... less than comfortable ways, he tries to escape her grasp. Her father discovers them, flies into a rage, and a very confused Paladin escapes for the safety of his inn.
That same day, a local ranger of good reputation returns suddenly from her typically lengthy wanderings with her arm in a sling. When the PCs are summoned to meet with the ranger, Shalelu, as well as the Mayor, the Sheriff, and Father Andretti, they learn that things are afoot in the Sandpoint area. She explains that goblins are attacking everywhere and that she was wounded not one day earlier while defending a farm from an attack.
The next day, the players meet up with Aldern Foxglove who promises riches after they go boar-hunting. He wants to serve a feast in their honor and present them with their reward then. It is painfully clear that Aldern believes Zwardheb the Paladin to be the true hero of the day and makes it a point to lavish lengthy, robust, and mildly annoying praise on the Knight of Iomedae. Zwardheb insists he was but one of many who saved the town, but Aldern will hear none of it. So on and on Aldern prattles, ignoring the other party members and repeatedly declaring Zwardheb hero.
They return from the boar hunt, have a huge feast at The Rusty Dragon (many more instances of Aldern heaping praise on the Paladin occur), and party late into the night. Ameiko Kaijitsu, the owner of The Rusty Dragon and daughter of the local glassmaker, Lonjiku Kaijitsu, begs off early and asks Bear to lock up. Eventually the party winds down and everyone stumbles drunkenly to bed.
Next Post: Kidnapping! Murder! RAAAAGE!
A knock at the door of Bear's room startles him awake. He stumbles over and opens it to find the Rusty Dragon's elderly halfling maid, Bethana Corwin, standing there looking concered and gripping a letter in one of her frail hands.
It turns out that Ameiko didn't come downstairs and start cooking and opening the Inn and a concerned Bethana went to check and found Ameiko's room empty, the bed not slept in, and a crumpled note on the floor. The gist of the note is that it was a summons from Ameiko's brother, Tsuto, encouraging her to meet him at their father's Glassworks. Tsuto states in the letter that their father is responsible for the goblin attack at the Swallowtail Festival and that Ameiko should come quickly, keeping the meeting secret.
Suspecting that Tsuto is up to no good (and because he's got a crush on Ameiko), Bear gathers the rest of the group and they head off to the Glassworks before dawn.
Jal explores ahead and circles the building, finding all doors locked, all shades pulled, and the furnace chimneys still spewing their 24-7 smoke. The party finally selects a back door and decides to sneak in there.
Once inside, they open the first door available and are greated by a horror show. The foundry, where just a few days before glass was blown and great works of art and utility were created, is now a morgue. The murdered and dismembered bodies of the workers are strewn about and Lonjiku himself is encased in a blob of molten glass. Over the noise of the furnaces, the goblins currently dancing about and breaking glass don't really notice the players--except one little observant fellow who gives a shout and turns the glass-shattering imps into menacing villains.
Combat ensues. Our heroes are set upon by thrown glass, molten glass, and dog slicers. The battle lasts for only a few moments and ends when one of the goblins recognizes one of the "longshanks" who saved the town and starts a stampede that flees in terror out the opposite door. The PCs give chase and follow the goblins into a basement.
There, they find a long hallway dug into the earth and used for the storage of glass-making supplies and implements. Recently torn down brick walls lay strewn about the floor, revealing a few secret rooms beyond. As the PCs open one of these doors, they're greated by Tsuto and the remaining goblins who attack. Tsuto, it turns out, is something of a monk, and proceeds to beat the crap of anything that gets in his way. The goblins are quickly dispatched, but Tsuto proves to be a challenging match. Exhausted, the PCs finally defeat the brother of Ameiko, and set about restraining and stabilizing him.
A quick search of the other rooms finds Ameiko herself, relatively unharmed, but completely dispirited by her brother's actions. She explains that Tsuto had joined with several others who wanted to bring about the destruction of Sandpoint and that he was working with Nualia Tobyn to make this happen. Naturally, this comes as a shock to everyone since Nualia is supposed to be, you know, DEAD. Ameiko further explains that Nualia allegedly has "big plans" for Sandpoint and that Tsuto warned his sister that she shouldn't be there when it happens. When Ameiko refused to help and scolded her brother's insanity, he had his goblins beat her and lock her away until he could figure out what to do with her.
The PCs recover Tsuto's journal and learn that Nualia might be some kind of succubus or demon. They're unsure exactly what this means--but the drawings of Nualia in the journal are creepy, nonetheless.
The PCs find a tunnel branching out of the hidden basement that leads to a smuggler's cove and they decide to explore this the next day, after they've had time to rest. They go back upstairs and find the Town's Watch timidly peeking in the door. They report everything and ask the Town's Watch to secure the building.
The next day they enter the smuggler's cove and find two more branching tunnels. They explore both, finding one dead-ends, and the other enters a small cave complex. Inside this complex they fight some hideous humanoid that hits the Paladin with some sort of rage-enducing attack. Once the Paladin calms down, they decide to move on.
And this is where we stopped.
Soon: Burnt Offerings continues!
Awaiting ;)
Very well written post. Consise and informative...and makes me want to read more...and DM the darn thing ;)
Be patient, be patient, etc
This journal brings up a thousand questions!
Was Ameiko's brother instructed in the monastery north of Sandpoint?
Where is the Rusty Dragon on the Sandpoint map?
Great to have a bard and a monk in the first module, will we see more of them?
How important is the Locksmith and his problem to the AP?
What is this strange humanoid in the last sentence(s)?
The other 9995 questions have to wait, don't you think? ups
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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Great to have a bard and a monk in the first module, will we see more of them?
I second that. Again, I love the Paizo folks' ability to take something old, and make it fresh and exciting. Goblins and bards have been around for quite some time - but a goblin bard? Nice. Very Nice.
And the fact that he sings one of the eerie goblin songs contained in the Goblin Songs thread, and this spreads encouragement to his fellows, well done.
Can't wait to run the Goblin bard.
Well done, Josh. I'm very interested to hear about the Catacombs of Wrath. Keep up the good work.
I'm very interested to hear about the Catacombs of Wrath.
And I second this! What are they?
(9994 remainig questions. Well, okay 9993!)
Excellent journal; also sounds like an excellent adventure. I especially like some of the underlying ethnic tensions between the human races of the setting. Looking forward to hearing more.
Awesome. Love the humor, love the drama. Warlock and paladin in the same party and the warlock listens to voices in his head. That should be interesting.
I'm going to steal that scene where the local girl tries to "reward" the paladin. Hilarious.
More please!
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Creative Director
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No need to steal the local girl rewarding the paladin; that's one of several encounters in the adventure where the PCs have to come to terms with the fact that they've suddenly become big fish in a little pond.
And yes... you can look forward to more bards; they're my favorite character class, after all! I try to sneak them in as often as I can! :)
I shall always try to note where I've added or deviated from the original text. We had some small deviations in the first session: such as, I moved the Goblin Bard from the wagon-on-fire encounter to the goblin-rider encounter as I liked the idea of the little guy chearing on his friend in the attempt to kill the horse.
We had a great session last Saturday that saw the player's finish the Catacombs of Wrath and then make their way along the coast to Thistletop. Near TPK in the Catacombs! There are a few encounters in the CoW that can be hard on a level 1 party--especially if they skip to the end purely by chance. :-)
I'll post a more verbose story about the session sometime this week.
This certainly has made me more excited than ever to get this thing and run it.
Rise of the Runelords--Session #2
or Paladin: the Original One-Hit Wonder
(6/23/07)
Before we begin, a few quick notes:
1.) Due to a change before going to press, the goblin rider in encounter three will be menacing and trying to kill a dog in the final product, not a horse. This now counts as a deviation from the story line.
2.) Sheriff Hemlock was changed to a Shoanti rather than a Varisian in the final. Since I'd tied Hemlock's Varisian background to one of the player's backgrounds, I'm leaving him as a Varisian in my journal. This, too, now counts as a deviation from the original.
3.) Just before the PCs returned to explore the Catacombs of Wrath beneath the Glassworks, they learned that Tsuto (whom they captured alive and turned over to the authorities with his incriminating journal) had hung himself in jail.
Our heroes press on ...
After fighting a hideously disgusting monster with a face that splits open and bites you (inducing an uncontrollable rage in most people bitten) the party moved on further into the tunnels. Just a few yards later, the tunnel emptied into a series of chambers that appear to have been carved into the bedrock centuries ago. With chiseled walls and carved floor tiles, its obvious that these "Catacombs" once served a purpose.
The first room contained a statue of a man holding a book with a seven-pointed star on the cover in his left hand and holding a bejeweled ranseur in his right. Jal, the rogue, cleverly deduced both that the ranseur could be removed and that it was worth 800 gold.
Bear, the dwarf Barbarian, became instantly enamored with the weapon (perhaps forgetting, briefly, that it was his dislike of dwarf greed that sent him away from the city of his brethern) and decided he was going to use it from now on.
"This thing is too beautiful to be art!" he exclaimed. "I must use it to crush my foes!"
This did not sit well with the rogue who mumbled many times under his breath that it was, in fact, art and that the dwarf should leave the damn thing alone.
After exploring an adjacent chamber and finding only an altar with a dirty pool of water on top (naturally Galen knew this to be a holy/unholy place and knelt, begging forgiveness from Desna for dispoiling this place of worship) the party faced their first combat of the session.
In the next room over, our heroes found two more of the rage-inducing creatures they'd faced in the tunnels. In a moment, the humanoid monsters were on them. (This is a deviation: there is only one of these things in the final, I misread the text. Oops!)
What happened next can only be described as a delicate ballet.
The business with the ranseur had set the party to fighting and bickering and they were all but ready to let each other die. Well, specifically, Jal and Bear were exchanging words. The bickering continued even as the monsters began clawing at the party.
The creatures positioned themselves at the doorway, blocking most ranged line of site, and created a choke-point through which the party was going to have to cooperate to maneuver through.
Of course, they weren't cooperating at this point, so everything went bad. To quote Arnold in True Lies, it was "all bad".
It seems another creature was hidden in the room with the face-splitting beasties. This creature cast spell after spell at the party and effectively hamstrung them. Daze, Doom, Fear, the rage-inducing effect of the monster and it's secondary ability that leaves you staggered if it hits again--at one point or another the party had all of these on them. Fear hit the rogue who fled screaming back they way he'd come. Bear was staggered as was Zindelo the cleric. The Paladin, Zwardheb, was under the effect of Doom. Only the Warlock, Galen, seemed to avoid the nastiness but he was rendered useless by line-of-sight conflicts and a couple of hot-headed party members who refused to get out of each other's way.
The creature casting all this? A female Quasit in an evening dress and wearing a tiara. Like a miniature Miss Universe, she demanded complete obedience from her servents and, today, the party would serve her.
In short order, after bad tactical decisions, in-fighting, and some of the worst dice-rolling I've seen in 19 years of DMing, the entire party lay dying except Galen. With both face-splitters also dead, it was a one-on-one showdown between a nearly dead Warlock and a really pissed off Quasit.
The Warlock did what was best for the party: applied bad dice rolls to attempts to use magic device and ran around the room trying to use a Wand of Lesser Vigor to stabilize and eventually restore the party to full health. He failed FOURTEEN times. And everytime he failed, the Quasit (now out of spells), tossed her tiny +1 returning dagger across the room and nailed the Warlock for a mighty 1 or 2 points of damage. Just seconds before the final dagger throw was to knock Galen unconscious he made one last try with the wand and managed to cast Lesser Vigor on himself.
Then he was hit for 2 and went down for the count.
Moments later he awoke, staggered, and watched the angry little Quasit begin to drag Jal across up a set of stairs in order to toss him into a triangular pool of bubbling yellow-ish liquid.
Eric B., who is playing Galen, wondered aloud, "Well, crap, what do I do now?"
Joe S., who plays Jal said, "I don't care what you do! Just stop her!"
Next Post: Mexican Standoff, Exploration, One-Hit Paladin
The rest of the battle is easy to sum up:
Eventually, Galen managed to get Zendilo back on his feet and Zendilo, using the wand and healing magic, brought everyone else back up. It became clear to the quasit that she was at a dead end, so she disappeared and left.
The party healed up and decided to press on -- despite being completely out of healing magic. (Bear also decried the ranseur as cursed, blaming it for his terrible battle prowess of the day, and flung the weapon to the ground, swearing it evil -- Jal recovered it for sale later.)
A little more exploration, and they found themselves in an ancient jail room. Here they battled two more face-splitters and, since they were no longer in-fighting, made quick work of their foes.
Later they found a room with eleven pits in the floor covered by wood gates. The pits were protected by a malformed, mutant, medium-sized goblin that Jal was pretty sure used to be a local goblin hero named Koruvus. As the party maneuvered to fight him, the goblin charged the Paladin and, yep, one-hit him right into the negs. (Anyone keeping count of our Paladin and his trips to Neardeathsville?)
Eventually, the mutant was slain, the Paladin recovered (I think it was the Bard, Lord Duscimore, who sang, "burn, burn, burn those charges on the wand of lesser vigor!"), and the Warlock eldritch-blasted the zombie inhabitants of each pit.
It was at this point that the party decided to rest. The suggestion was brought up that they should head to the surface for rest to which someone (Jeff or Joe) replied out of character, "Hell no! We go up to the surface we'll get involved in some metaplot that will keep us from returning. We sleep here!"
So they did.
And it was pointless. They finished exploring the next morning and found what they thought to be the lair of the Quasit. Her lair was a spherical room lacking gravity that several objects floated in. They found a scroll, a gross skin-bound book dedicated to Lamashtu, and a half-drank bottle of expensive wine.
They returned to the surface.
After selling items and resting up (ding! level 2!), they appraised their clues and decided it was time to head to Thistletop and face the goblins responsible for the assault on Sandpoint.
Our session ended with the players arriving at a massive briar wall blocking access to Thistletop.
Tomorrow they press on!
I'm at Origins all next week, but I hope to post the journal report as I have time.
Sounds like a fun AP, not that we should expect anything less. The journal is great.
Hmm. Sure this Paladin isnt related to a guy named Vyth?
Just make sure he doesnt eat any fortune cookies. "Look, a secret message... from MY TEETH!"
Ahem. Pardon the threadjacking. Love the campaign journal keep it up!
This is now my favorite, most eagerly awaited campaign journal. Especially since McArtor is being remiss on posting in the Eberron one. And don't even get me started about the Tyralandi journal.
Anyway, I'm loving what I'm seeing here. Kudos to Nick Logue! It appears that Pett isn't the only Lovecraft fan giving tribute to the master of horror (I'm referring to the room with the zombies in the pits-very Charles Dexter Ward).
Kudos to Nick Logue!
James Jacobs wrote this installment of Rise of the Runelords. Nick's is later. :-)
"The Late Unpleasantness" (May 17th blog) indicated that the Sheriff of Sandpoint was one Casp Avertin. In your posts the Sheriff's name is Hemlock. Is this another change, or did Avertin bite the big one at some point?
"The Late Unpleasantness" (May 17th blog) indicated that the Sheriff of Sandpoint was one Casp Avertin. In your posts the Sheriff's name is Hemlock. Is this another change, or did Avertin bite the big one at some point?
To quote from that same blog:
In any event, Sheriff Avertin himself became Chopper's last victim, slain when he finally caught the killer mutilating his latest victim in the side street that would come to be known as Chopper's Alley.
He dead. :-)
His replacement was Sheriff Hemlock.
Kudos to Nick Logue!James Jacobs wrote this installment of Rise of the Runelords. Nick's is later. :-)
My bad! Kudos to James Jacobs! Hell, kudos to Nick Logue anyway, because we know it's all good.
Excellent campaign journal - and it doesn't spoil things for anyone who hasn't bought the AP (i.e. what the face-splitting nasties are).
Seems like there's plenty of material in the adventure, too: the party did quite a lot to get to second level (unlike some adventures in 3.5e - or perhaps I've had XP-happy DM's ;) ). And they haven't finished sorting out the problem, yet, either.
Good stuff. I may be keeping an eye on this one.
Rise of the Runelords--Session #3
or Why Goblins Hate A Crit to the Face
(6/30/07)
Before the journal, one quick note:
Jeff H., Bear's player, wants me to note that his character wasn't being greedy when he took the bejeweled ranseur, he was curious. He'd never used a ranseur before and wanted to try the shiny thing out. His experiment was short-lived and, as you'll soon read, he went back to his atypical barbarian combat methods.
We last left off with our heroes arriving at a massive briar wall blocking their access to Thistletop (seen over the briars in the distance on a giant rather head-shaped rock sitting just off the coast).
After a bit of exploration, Jal found a not-so-hidden door that was nothing more than a bit of wood with some briars tied to it. Once inside, the PCs found it to be difficult work moving around. Since all of them are medium creatures and found themselves moving about a small series of briar tunnels this slowed their movement considerably. (Squeezed, rough terrain.)
They encountered a group of 10 goblins from another tribe (probably refugees) not too much later and then had the fight of their lives. The little gobbies could go anywhere and do anything while the party had to do everything slow, squeezed, and uncomfortable. This was particularly difficult for Bear, our barbarian, as his already pathetic AC9 was reduced to 7 while raging and reduced to 5 while squeezed AND raging--the goblins only missed on a 1. They figured this out in short order and began to surround the surly dwarf, hoping to make short work of him. Zindelo, the cleric, saw the tactic forming though, and positioned himself to aid Bear as needed. A series of 1s rolled by the goblins as they attacked Bear created howls of laughter as just one of those misses would've sent the hairy humanoid into unconciousness. One goblin managed to escape this battle, throwing himself over the cliff and into the sandy beach. He looked very hurt, a leg broken nearly in half, but managed to cry out an alarm. Later, from atop Thistletop, the PCs would see the little goblin splayed out on the beach, face down, with the waves lapping over his still frame.
Part way through the briar, they found a hole in the ground that looked to be some kind of volcanic tube leading down into a sea cave. Bear was lowered down, looked about, saw something with a LOT of teeth, panicked when the teeth opened and a roar sent him scrambling upwards in abject fear, and was pulled quickly back up by his companions who didn't like the sound of the roar one bit.
Their final encounter in the briar patch was with a goblin druid and his firepelt companion. Bear grappled the druid, effectively rendering him useless while everyone else beat the druid's cat to death and then the druid shortly thereafter. I'd hoped for a more interesting combat here, especially since the druid could effectively walk through walls in this environ but, alas, it was not to be. Damn grapplers at low levels. :-)
A bridge over the rolling waves of the ocean was located next. A rickety old thing, it was made of hairy rope and timbers and stretched a good 60 feet over to the closed gate of Thistletop. To make things more interesting, four goblins on their hideous rat dogs were waiting for the PCs.
Naturally, being adventurers of the highest and most intelligent caliber, they charged.
The Paladin, Zwardheb, reached the other side first engaging two of the riders at once while still standing just on the edge of the bridge. Zindelo was close on his heals, bringing the fight to a third rider but, also, still standing on the bridge. I keep mentioning this because when Galen, the warlock, set foot on the bridge to make his run to the other side, the bridge snapped and sent Galen into the drink.
The Paladin rolled a good save and got out of the way and Zindelo just managed to hang on as the bridge slammed into the head-like rock that Thistletop is perched on. Galen took a massive shock to the system when he hit the waves and was instantly at -8, very soon to be dead.
Bear, knowing his companion was hurt and possibly worse, lept off the cliff, took a bunch of damage himself, and swam after Galen's slowly sinking body. In two quick rounds, he brough Galen back to the surface, fed him a potion, and saved his life. Unable to climb back up in the scope of this combat, Galen and Bear were out of initiative right at the start.
Zwardheb immediately changed tactics. He went into full defense, keeping his body behind his newly-purchased shield. This was a good tactic, it turned out, as the goblins had a terrible time trying to actually do any kind of damage to the heavily armored knight at all.
Zindelo faired a bit worse. The other two riders guided their mounts to the top of the cliff above him and pelted him with javelins until he finally got back up and took another hit from an AoO. Once up, though, he moved closer to the Paladin and the two of them held off the four riders for quite a while.
Across the water stood a lonely and bitter Jal. "Great," he thought, "what now?" He did the only thing he could do: pulled out his crossbow and killed EVERYTHING. His first shot was a crit. Drawing off the crital hit deck, he pulled "heart shot" and plugged one of the riders right off his rat. He proceeded then to fire nearly all of his bolts into goblin riders and their rats and was a good deal of the party's success during this combat.
Once the riders and rats were all down, the party quickly set to dismantling the bridge to create enough rope to bring Galen and Bear up from the water. Finally, they fired the rope across the expanse of water and Jal tied it off on one of the poles originally supporting the bridge and climbed across.
Two goblins, too scared to look out of their tower and see what was going on, took this opportunity to throw javelins at the PCs. A few short seconds later they were both dead, one with an arrow in the face from the Paladin and one with a crossbow bolt in the neck from the Rogue. Awesome stuff.
In the opposite tower, two goblins had been awakened by the noise and were just planning to throw their own javelins when they saw their buddies across the way skewered. They came to a hasty agreement that they in fact would not be putting any part of their bodies above the rail again EVER.
Next Post: Dismantling a War Chief
The PCs found the front door to Thistletop locked but Bear went at it with his axe. Just before his last blow could land to smash the door to pieces, javelins started zipping through the holes from inside. The goblins had prepped a welcoming party of eight goblins--they didn't survive very long. Once inside, the PCs made short work of the nasty little menaces.
Their further exploration of Thistletop found the following:
1. The scared goblins in the tower above were heard climbing down the side of the building. The Paladin ran outside to see them off and found the buggers, lacking rope, had used their clothes (ALL of their clothes) to make a short rope so they could climb down. Zwardheb shouted that they could still surrender and received two rude gestures in return as the goblins made their naked escape to the rear of the island.
2. The goblins had caught themselves a horse. Being terribly frightened of it after it stomped two of their best warriors to death, they locked it in a closet in the excersize yard and nailed the door shut. The PCs were forced to subdue the enraged and starved warhorse after freeing it and decided to just stuff it back into the closet with water and food and come back for it when they could.
The last battle of the day was against Warchief Rippnugget, his giant gecko companion, a goblin warchanter, and a few crunchies (one-hit gobs). Again, I imagined an awesome combat here but Bear's amazing grappling skills made short work of the Warchief and the battle was over far too quickly.
Bear has an amusing character trait, though, that came into play here: whenever he runs out of his daily uses of rage, he gets super mellow and decides his day is done. This happened right after the Ripnugget combat and Bear hobbled over to the chief's throne, plopped down and said, "Hey mang, I'm too tired to carry on. Let's just rest here." Then he realized the throne was made of dog and horsehide with a leering horse skull perched over the top. Sufficiently disgusted, he decided it would be best to rest elsewhere.
And this is where we stopped.
Next time: The dungeons of Thistletop.
Where is Thistletop in relation to Sandpoint?
As the crow flies, it's about four miles north-by-northeast. You have to travel through some thick, briar-choked woods to get there, though, so it's slow-going.
Great journal, as well, although by now you're sick of hearing that.
Never. ;-)
There was a death today--a really hideous one, too.
Details later. :-)
