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Note: We're using a mesh of 3.0 and 3.5 rules.
PC Profiles:
Lenna Sunrider (NG female human Cleric 1 of Sarenrae)
Age: 23 Height: 5'5" Hair: Brown Eyes: Green
Favored Weapon: Shortspear
A buxom Shoanti woman of the Tamiir-Quah tribe. She was kidnapped by hobgoblin slavers when she was fifteen and carried far from her home before being rescued by a cleric of Sarenrae. Intriqued by the "civilized lands", she stayed with him at the Windsong Abbey, eventually becoming an acolyte of Sarenrae.
Valeros Rey (NG male human Fighter 1)
Age: 24 Height: 5'10" Hair: Brown Eyes: Blue
Favored Weapon: Longsword and Short Sword
Born a farmer's son in Andoran, he left to become an adventurer and has since become a skilled warrior. He's a fan of the two-weapon fighting style, and hides a strong moral streak beneath a devil-may-care soldier's attitude.
Cirilli (CN female gnome Sorcerer 1)
Age: 48 Height: 3'5" Hair: Blonde Eyes: Blue
Favored Weapon: Light Mace
Styles herself as a battle mage, with the attitude to match. Dull-witted for a gnome, she left her home in the north when her sorcerous talents emerged and she realized she no longer needed to rely on her more clever friends and family.
Malgrim "Mal" Copperthumb (N male dwarf Rogue 1)
Age: 45 Height: 4'3" Hair: Red Eyes: Brown
Favored Weapon: Light Crossbow
A dwarf from an enclave in Riddleport with little love for mining or smithing, he instead puts his talents with locks and traps to work as a talented tomb-breaker and adventurer, much to the chagrin of his more traditional family.
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First session: Burnt Offerings, the beginning.
Sunday, Arodus 15th, 4707 AR
-The PCs meet when they end up sharing a table for lunch at the Swallowtail Festival. They engage in some idle chatting with one another.
-Mal and Valeros meet the owner of the Two Knight Brewery, Gaven Deverin, while sampling the brews in his ale tent. They learn that he's the cousin of Kendra Deverin, Sandpoint's mayor.
-Goblis attack the town, and the PCs quickly do what heroes do and fight back. A few of the little freaks swarm Mal and Valeros, but are quickly sorted out by Cirilli, darting about electrocuting goblins left and right.
-The PCs defeat a second group of goblins with much more ease. Afterwards, Father Zantus tends to the wounds Lenna can't handle. Hearing a commotion to the north, the PCs rush to the rescue of a young noble named Aldern Foxglove.
-In the aftermath of the raid, the PCs are personally thanked by Mayor Deverin, Father Zantus, and Sheriff Hemlock. At Aldern's invitation, they head to the Rusty Dragon Inn. The inkeeper, Ameiko Kaijitsu, listens eagerly to their tale before taking to the inn's stage to perform with her lute.
Moonday, Arodus 16th, 4707 AR
-In the morning, the PCs head down to the Rusty Dragon common room, where Aldern Foxglove invites them to share his breakfast, served by a young halfling maid named Bethana. Insisting on rewarding them, he gives them 50 gp for saving his life and invites them on a boar hunt the next day, which they agree to.
-The PCs head to Savah's Armory. On the way up Main Street, an elderly woman, Almah Avertin, charges into the street to press a fresh-baked loaf of bread into Cirilli's arms with comments that the skinny gnome must be starving. Valeros catches Arika and Aneka, Almah's twin daughters, giggling and blushing as he catches their eye.
-At Savah's, the PCs are greeted with an instant offer of 20% off of anything in stock. As the PCs stock up on ammunition, Mal's eye is drawn to a beautiful +1 repeating crossbow that Savah refers to as "Vansaya"
-As the PCs browse, a human guardsman enters the shop. Introducing himself as Sergeant Brilman, the no-nonsense man takes the PCs to see Sheriff Hemlock at the garrison. There, the good sheriff inquires as to the PCs intentions in town. Satisfied with their answers, he thanks them again for their help in the goblin raid and says he's fine with having adventurers in town, as long as they solve more problems than they cause.
Toilday, Arodus 17th, 4707 AR
-In the morning, the PCs meet Aldern in from of the Goblin Squash Stables, where he has rented mounts for them. The young noble leads the PCs and three manservants to the Tickwood, spending most of the trip flirting with Lenna.
-Returning to Sandpoint after bagging a boar, Aldern takes the PCs to the Hagfish Tavern for a good time. The PCs are challenged by the locals to drink from Norah the Hagfish's tank. To everyone's surprise, the only one who manages it is Cirilli, who wins a nice bag of silver and the right to carve her name above the bar.
-While Valeros entertains a few local girls at the bar, including an attractive young maid named Shayliss Vinder, Aldern continues to flirt with Lenna all night, and the two wind up in each other's arms on the dance floor. As the group leaves, the noble and cleric stumble into an alley. But when Aldern tries to move things a bit faster, she tells him to stop. Outraged, he calls her a tease and a lowborn savage before storming off. Depressed, the young acolyte wanders to the Sandpoint Cathedral, where she spends a few hours in prayer. When she returns to the Rusty Dragon, she learns from Bethana that Aldern left with his men, supposedly back to Magnimar, quite odd in the middle of the night.
Memorable quotes:
DM: All of the food and drink at the Swallowtail Festival is provided free at the expense of Sandpoint's taverns.
Valeros: I'm starting to like this town...
(Valeros rolls a 1 on his first attack roll of the campaign)
Valeros: "Thus I establish my reputation as a great warrior. Not only can I not hit the broad side of a barn, I couldn't find the barn if I was given a compass and mapquest directions!"
(Cirilli is the only one who can stomach the hagfish water)
Cirilli: The gnome has bowels of steel!
DM: Valeros is at the bar at the Hagfish, surrounded by locals who want to buy him drinks and a few attractive women.
Valeros: I'm really starting to like this town.
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Second session: Local Heroes
Wealday, Arodus 18th, 4707 AR
-In the morning, the PCs have breakfast at the Rusty Dragon. Bethana delivers an anonymous letter that was left for Valeros. It turns out to be a love note with a lacy blue ribbon attached. When she sees Valeros' reaction, Bethana giggles, remarking on how rumors of Valeros' "availability" have been on the lips of young girls all over town.
-As the PCs leave the inn, they see a group of local children playing. One young lad has two sticks that he twirls about, while two little girls cast mock spells. The youngest little boy has a toy crossbow, and slinks about doing his best imitation of a dwarven accent. As the PCs pass, the children stop to smile and wave.
-Passing by the Sandpoint Theatre, the PCs see Cyrdak Drokkus promoting his new play. Seeing them, he gives them a flamboyant salutation, as well as free tickets to the opening night of "The Harpy's Curse" on Fireday. Seeing Cirilli, he comments on her looks and asks her to audition for his new play. The gnome declines, but finds the theatre owner more than a little charming.
-Talking with Cyrdak, the PCs learn a few local rumors, mainly that Sheriff Hemock might be seeing Lady Kaye, the madame of the Pixie's Kitten, and that there have been whispers lately that a few local mills that burned down might have been arson sponsered by the Scarnetti family to leave their mill the only one in the area.
-Returning to the Rusty Dragon, the PCs find Ameiko and Bethana preparing to serve the boar they caught for dinner. When the PCs mention Crydak, Ms. Kaijitsu has a few rude things to say about him.
-The PCs are in the common room when Ven Vinder arrives at the inn with his daughter, Shayliss. He's delivering a few items from his shop that Ameiko ordered, and Shayliss is bringing a homemade apple pie her mother made as a gift for the PCs. Ven introduces himself with hearty handshakes, and tells the PCs that they should stop by his shop if they're in need of any quality provisions. While the shopkeeper talks, Valeros notices Shayliss at the bar having a whispered conversation with Bethana. Catching his eye, the young girl gives him a shy look before leaving with her father.
-After dinner, which turns into an impromptu party, Ameiko takes to the stage and sings a comical song she just wrote about idiot goblins and clever heroes.
Oathday, Arodus 19th, 4707 AR
-Around noon, Cirilli drags Lenna and Valeros down the street to a shop called the Sandpoint Boutique. Mal, wanting nothing to do with the shopping trip, checks out a tavern called the Fatman's Feedbag. There, he gets into a dice game with a few Varisian dockworkers and one lanky Varisian named Jubrayl Vhiski. The dwarf starts out ahead, but end up losing all of his gold to Jubrayl.
-At the Sandpoint Boutique, the PCs meet Hayliss Korvaski, the owner. She helps Lenna and Cirilli pick out a few new pieces of clothing to wear to Cyrdak's play, but warns Cirilli that Cyrdak's attentions shift in a different direction than she thinks. Lenna, used to the simple clothes of the Shoanti and the habits of Windsong Abbey, is intriqued by the fine clothes Cirilli and Hayliss start to try out on her.
-Valeros, at the other end of the shop inspecting a collection of fine daggers, is approached by the bashful Shayliss Vinder. The pretty young woman tells him about her father's preoccupation with rumors of her sister Katrine's activities with Banny Harker at the lumber mill, and so has neglected the rat problem the general store basement has. And since there's this handy new hero in town, Shayliss just thought he could come back with her to take care of a few rats. The fighter agrees, and tells Lenna and Cirilli he'll meet them at the Rusty Dragon later.
-Led to the general store basement by Shayliss, Valeros doesn't find any rats, but instead a cot set up in the corner. Turning, he sees Shayliss, her shy look replaced by a sultry one as she unlaces her bodice. Sliding into an embrace, she guides him toward the cot.
-Before Shayliss and Valeros get much further, they are interrupted by Shayliss' father, Ven, as he comes down to the basement. Seeing his daughter half-naked with Valeros in a similar condition, he roars in rage. As Shayliss covers herself with a sheet, Valeros tries to explain, and the burly shopkeep breaks his nose. As the fighter beats a hasty retreat from the shop, he sees Shayliss give him a wink before her father leads her away.
-When Valeros gets back to the Rusty Dragon, Lenna tends to his broken nose while he explains what happened. Not long after, a tearful woman named Amele Barett bursts into the common room in tears with her two children. Explaining that a goblin burst crept into her son Aeren's room from the closet, the PCs quickly grab their gear. Amele leads them back to her house, leaving the children with Bethana while Ameiko tags along.
-Entering the Barett house, the PCs find Alergast Barett slain, and a crazed goblin leaps out at them, screaming "Longshanks out! House Gresgurt's now!" The goblin puts up a fight, slashing Valeros and Cirilli with a makeshift dagger before Mal sneaks up behind it to cut its throat.
-When the PCs tell Amele of Alergast's fate, she has a complete breakdown. Sheriff Hemlock shows up and takes charge of the situation, aranging for the Barett family to stay at the cathedral for a few days.
Memorable quotes:
Mal: (upon seeing the children imitating the heroes) "Hey look, we have groupies."
DM: "You spin around to see Shayliss not more than a few feet away. The shy look on her face has been replaced with a sultry one as she begins to unlace her bodice. 'Now show me you're a true hero,' she purrs as the garment falls to the floor.
Valeros: "I love this town."
Gresgurt: "Longshanks get out! Longshanks die! House Gresgurt's! This Gresgurt's house!
(Mal sneak attacks Gresgurt from behind and the goblin falls dead)
Mal: This is my house b@%#*!
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Second Session: Glass and Wrath; Part 1
Fireday, Arodus 20, 4707 AR[/b[
-The PCs spend most of the morning browsing through the wares at the Town Market. As they do so, they notice a blonde elven woman in forester's clothes making a beeline for the town garrison. They ask around about her, and Gaven Deverin tells them that the elf's name is Shalelu, and she's a ranger and scout that occasionally makes reports to Mayor Deverin and Sheriff Hemlock about the surrounding hinterlands. He notes that seeing her is unusual, as her last visit was only a month ago. A few of the locals seem unwilling to talk to the PCs. It seems that the outraged Ven Vinder has been badmouthing the PCs all morning to anyone who'll listen.
-Early in the evening, the PCs head to the Sanpoint Theatre to attend the opening night of "The Harpy's Curse." Cyrdak greets them in front of the theatre afterwards, and introduces them to Allishanda, the Magnimarian actress that played the Harpy Queen. As they talk, Titus Scarnetti steps forward and loudly advises Cyrdak against associating with ruffians like the PCs. "Since they arrived in town, they've done nothing but freeload off of our gratitude," he says, adding that "No young woman of virtue is safe with hooligans like them around.
-A few patrons of the theatre quickly choose sides as the PCs turn to face Titus, standing with his haughty wife and two house guards. Valeros fires back at the nobleman, bringing up the recent rash of mill fires that left the Scarnetti Mill the only one in operation. The nobleman pales at this, and his guards hands move to the hilts of their weapons, but before anything can happen, Sheriff Hemlock arrives at the theatre, and asks the PCs to accompany him to the town hall. The PCs see Scarnetti glaring at them as they follow the sheriff.
-Sheriff Hemlock takes the PCs to a comfortable second floor office in the town hall, where Mayor Deverin waits talking with the elf ranger the PCs saw earlier. Hemlock introduces the PCs to Shalelu Andosanna, referring to her as an unofficial member of the town guard. It seems that Sandpoint is not the only part of the Lost Coast to have trouble with goblins lately. Shalelu tells the PCs that she has been seeing more and more goblin activity all along the Lost Coast road, and has uncovered evidence that members of all five of the local goblin tribes took part in the raid on Sandpoint. It's unusual for different tribes to cooperate unless they've got something big planned, and big plans mean big bosses. She's worried that some kind of organizing force has arrived in the area and is uniting the goblin tribes in preparation for some nefarious purpose.
-In light of this information, Sheriff Hemlock has decided to take a few of his men to Magnimar to see about securing some additional soldiers to help guard Sandpoint until the crisis is over. In his absence, Mayor Deverin has suggested that he enlists the aid of the PCs. To that end, he wishes to make the PCs interim deputies until he gets back, offering them 50 gp each, half now, half upon his return. The PCs accept.
-After the meeting, Shalelu accompanies the PCs back to the Rusty Dragon and joins them for dinner. She shares some information about the local goblin tribes, and a few notorious goblin "heroes", including Warchief Ripnugget of the Thistletop tribe, Bruthazmus, a bugbear ranger she's clashed with several times, and Koruvus, a goblin that wields a magic longsword sized for a human.
[b]Starday, Arodus, 21, 4707 AR
-In the morning, the PCs head to the garrison to see off Sheriff Hemlock and three of his men. The remaining guards, under the nominal command of Sergeant Brilman, remain in town. A pair of young guardsmen, Vlad and Kragar, approach Valeros, smiling and clapping him on the back, telling him they heard he "had a ride on the lovely Miss Shayliss."
-Lenna heads to the cathedral later, accompanied by Valeros, to check on Amele Barett and her children. The woman is quiet and withdrawn, and doesn't say much. Most of the rest of the PCs day is taken up walking about Sandpoint, keeping a public presence.
-At the Rusty Dragon that evening, two drunks near the PCs table begin arguing over whose turn it is to pay the bill. They come to blows, knocking over the PC's table and starting a bar fight. During the ruckus, they notice a man using the commotion to cover his theft of gold from the cash box at the bar. The PCs apprehend all three and haul them to the jail beneath the garrison. Mal recognizes each of them as Varisians who were hanging out at the Fatman's Feedbag.
Sunday, Arodus 22, 4707 AR
-Lenna spends most of the day attending religious services at the cathedral, assisting Naffer Vosk, a fellow devotee of Sarenrae, in his duties.
-Later, while patrolling, the PCs come across Jubrayl and a few other Varisians smoking outside the Fatman's Feedbag. The lanky man congratulates the PCs on becoming deputies in Hemlock's absence, and also on their apprehension of the three troublemakers at the Rusty Dragon. One, it turns out, is Jubrayl's nephew ("That rascal, always stirring up mischief."). He advises them to be careful, and his voice takes on a rough tone, "The job of a lawman can be...dangerous."
-Ameiko is oddly absent from the Rusty Dragon during dinner, but Bethana tells the PCs that she was called away on business.
(Note: I changed Bethana to a young halfling maid, a better choice to help Ameiko run the inn than an old woman.)
Moonday, Arodus 23, 4707 AR
-In the morning, a timid Bethana asks to speak with the PCs privately in one of their rooms. There she reveals that Ameiko has apparently gone missing. She shows them a note found in the innkeeper's room, apparently from her half-elf brother Tsuto, instructing Ameiko to meet him at their family's Glassworks factory. The young halfling is worried that Tsuto is up to no good, and asks the PCs to go to the Glassworks and investigate.
-The PCs head to the Glassworks, finding all of the windows curtained and all of the doors locked. Mal begins to pick the lock to a side door, attracting the attention of some curious locals, which Lenna calms be explaining their activities as part of an official investigation by the town guard.
-Entering the factory and finding themselves in a storage room, Mal hears the sounds of breaking glass and hysterical goblin voices cackling in the next room. The PCs ready their weapons and rush through the door.
They are greeted with the gruesome sight of Lonjiku Kaijitsu, Ameiko's father, encased in glass as goblins caper about the room, feeding the body parts of the glassworkers into the room's large furnaces. As the goblins turn to look at the new arrivals, the PCs attack!
Memorable quotes:
Vlad: "Heard you had a ride on the lovely Miss Shayliss, eh?"
Valeros: "Didn't quite have a ride. I made it into the saddle though."
Mal: "The stablemaster caught him before he got onto the trail."