Hi all,
I've been thinking about posting our Campaign diary up here for some time, so finally decided to take the plunge. Its written as a series of letters by the party cleric, Viv Balaniky, to a colleague only referred to as 'A'.
The group is outlined in this post. We meet once every two weeks at most, four weeks at least, and are playing the adventure roughly as written (yet I've taken lots of ideas from these boards) and its 3.5 core rules (with a few official splat books, and a couple of house rules)
We're currently halfway through Skinsaw. I'm running another group through this in the new year, but I won't be journaling it, one of that group probably will (but they don't view these boards)
Hope you enjoy, if there is any feedback, please let me know!
(Edit : Just remember that I can post as Viv, so journal entries will come from her)
Dearest A.
I write with an excited hand, after several dull weeks of preparation, the Swallowtail Festival went off with a bang, literally. Halfway throught the evenings revelry, the town was raided by goblins! Lots of the stinky little buggers were running everywhere, and the general public just fled..! I thought that the townsfolk of Sandpoint had more backbone!
Anyway, I managed to corner one of the little blighters on a wagon, and he even managed to cut me! I soon finished the cocky sod off though, who says that women can't fight?
Once the fracas had died down, I found myself in the company of some new friends. They seem alright generally, Pippen is a half-elf working for his cousin Nisk down at the alchemy store, Kate is a visiting mage from Magnimar, Ammeretti is some local druid and Dilbert is a really likable (and rather stupid) dwarf who seems to fight with a sword thats bigger than him!
We'd rescued some Magnimar noble from some goblins during the raid, Aldern Foxglove (where do I know that name from?) his name was. Both Kate and Pippen said that Foxglove is a fairly well known family in Magnimar, so I guess its good to do the nobility some favours! He invited us down to the Rusty Dragon so he could thank us properly. I thought that it would be a good idea, it'd been a while since I'd caught up with Ameiko anyway...
Father Zantus asked me to help out with blessing the fallen in the Cathedral, which I can't say was the most exciting job, but necessary. He then found out that the remains of Ezakien Tobyn had been stolen from the graveyard, you should have seen his face..!
Sheriff Hemlock was called and informed. He'd managed to capture a couple of goblins, but hadn't found out any useful info out of them. In his usual dour mood he surmised that the raid must have been a diversion. The sheriff asked the group of us to hang around for a few days, which I was happy to anyway, even before Father Zantus agreed for me! He said the folks from out of town could stay at the Rusty Dragon, and made arrangements to get them lodgings there.
The last two days have been quiet again, we seem to still be the talk around town, getting the occasional gift or even discounts at the stores... The Sheriff seems to be trying to work out if the raid was just the tip of the iceberg... I guess we'll soon see.
We had a good incident earlier today where Shayliss Vinder (the blond loose one) managed to lure Pippen into the basement of the general store with a story of a 'rat-problem' before ripping her clothes off and jumping on him. Gave the young lad a bit of a start, especially when her dad Ven turned up and bellowed at him and chased him out of the store! He'd even managed to land a blow on the boy, his cheek will be red for a day or so, I could have easily removed the mark with a spell, but I thought it better to leaving it for now.
Did manage to catch up with Ameiko, she took us down to the Hagfish, and got Pippen to have a go at Norahs challenge. He totally wimped out of course (probably because he's an elf!) but Dilbert stepped up and with some brevado had a go himself. And he only went and bloody done it! That got the crowd going! Problem was the dwarf can't write, and had to etch a large X instead of his name in the bar!
Returning back, we ran into Aldern again, and he asked if we'd like to go hunting in Tickwood. He asked if we thought that Ammeretti would go, with being a druid and all that. Maybe she will, we'll find out tomorrow...
Yours, Viv
Dearest A,
Well, the town still seems to be on edge over the goblin raid, and the last few days remain eventful!
A couple of days ago, we agreed to go out hunting with this Aldern Foxglove guy. He seems to be pretty well off, as he had three housemen with him and he bought us all horses from the Goblin Squash stables. On the way out he talked to us all, and he was charming enough but probably tried it on a bit hard with Ammeretti. Looks like she's got an admirer!
Anyhow, Aldern got his men to scare out a few 'boars' (more like pigs if I'm honest) and we all took potshots with shortbows. Suddenly, someone spooked a real boar, and one of the housemen got gored, and the boar shot out of the trees and gored the horse that Pippen was sat on. The horse charged off, and Pippen rolled off its back in a rather undignified manner. Aldern gave me the impression that he was more worried about losing the horse than the houseman, and seemed more interested in carting the boar back to town than the corpse. Lucky there's an able woman of the clergy around to do the dirty work!
Aldern wanted to take us all back to the Rusty Dragon to get Ameiko to cook the boar and talk more, but I needed to take the poor dead houseman upto the cathedral. By the time we got back, both Pippen and Ammeretti had had enough and made their excuses and left. Aldern looked a bit disappointed when Ammeretti went.
The rest of the evening was up at the catherdral. Father Zantus left me to inter the body and prepare it for burial. Father planned to hold a short service for the man within a few days. Just before retiring for the day, I got informed that the I needed to inter the body of townsman Alergast Barrett, and when the corpse arrived it was horribly disfigured, most of the flesh of the poor mans face and upper body had been eaten away!
I found out later that he'd found and attacked a goblin that has been hiding in his sons room since the raid. The goblin had got lucky and managed to slit Alergasts throat with a sharp blade, and then tried to eat him! Alergasts wife, Amele ran out to the street, and attracted the attention initially of Dilbert and Kate. Dilbert went in and found the body and killed the goblin. Sheriff Hemlock turned up shortly after, and tried to comfort the woman when she broke down when she found her husband was dead.
Yesterday afternoon, I found out that Shalelu was in town. She's a local elven ranger, who's good friends with both the Sheriff and the Mayor, and is recognised by most of the townsfolk. It was odd that she was in though, as she was only in about a month ago and normally wouldn't come back until the end of autumn. My concern was shortly verified as one of the town guard arrived at the catherdral asking for me and the new group of 'heroes' to meet up at the town hall for an important meeting.
Down at the town hall we talked to Shalelu, Sheriff Hemlock and Mayor Deverin, and found out that Shalelu had discovered that the nearby goblin activity seems to be on the increase. Shalelu said that there are five tribes of goblins in the area, and their bickering amongst themselves normally keep them in check, but all five tribes were involved in the raid. She said that organised goblins need bosses. Based on this information, the Mayor asked the Sheriff to go to Magnimar to try and get some extra men, and asked Shalelu to look around various places in the local hinterlands to see what she could find.
The Sheriff asked us to stay in town while he's away to help cover the missing towns guard, as it seemed that the townfolk had taken a liking to us. The group accepted, Dilbert particularly liking the idea of free board, food and beer! Shalelu returned to the Rusty Dragon with Dilbert and Kate and talked goblins over food and drink. The Sheriff headed off to Magnimar.
This morning, Shalelu left town before sun up. Apparenly Kate found out from the halfling woman Bethana (who works at the Dragon) that Ameiko was missing. She found a letter from Ameiko's half-brother Tsuto, saying that their father Lonjiku was behind the raid, and that he wanted to talk to her down at the family Glassworks. I remembered that Tsuto never got on with Lonjiku, as he wasn't Lonjikus son (being a half elf) and that incident at Tsuto's mothers funeral some years ago where Tsuto accused Lonjiku of murdering her.
Once everyone had got together, we headed to the Glassworks to find the place locked up with all the curtains drawn, but the forges were running. We could hear the noises of high pitched voises and breaking glass. We noticed an open skylight, so Pippen climbed up and looked through. He saw a load of goblins inside, throwing glass about and defacing the corpses of the factory workers there. We barged in and dealt with goblins, but one ran off.
Searching the ground floor, we found Lonjikus body sat up in a chair encased in hardened glass. Quite a gruesome display! We headed down into the basement, where Tsuto and the last goblin were waiting for us. Even though he was firing arrows, and was a slippery bloke, Kate managed to stun Tsuso and Pippen quickly frisked him and tied him up. Apart from the valuables we found a key and some kind of journal.
The key fit the door to a storeroom, within which was an unconscious Ameiko. I brought her round and found out that Tsuto asked her to join him against the town, and when she refused he set the goblins on her. She shouted a lot at Tsuto when she found out that he'd killed her father. Tsuto was strangely quiet dispite all this. We also found some hidden tunnel heading away from the Glassworks, maybe this was how the goblins had been getting into town.
Ameiko agreed that we should take Tsuto to the garrison, and leave him locked up there until the Sheriff returned to town. From there he'll probably get taken to Magnimar for trial. Ameiko then headed back home to the dragon, and we decided to investigate the tunnel. Back underneath the town, we found that the tunnel split into three, one heading back on itself to come out to a hidden spot on the beach near the docks. The second come out into a small cave north of town, and we found a small goblin campsite there. The third tunnel was interesting to Dilbert, as he could see that it had been bricked up at some point, and that recently the bricks had been torn down.
We headed in, and found that the passageway opened slighty and became more natural, before we turned a corner and were attacked by a roughly humanoid figure with long arms and a split jaw. It didn't last too long, and we stumbled across some ancient underground dungeon.
We headed on, until we found a large room with a tiny horned woman flying over a glowing bubbling pool of liquid. She spilt some blood into the pool and another of these split jaw monsters climbed out! We faught them, but found that the woman stayed out of our reach, was very difficult to hit and was summoning monsters. During the fight, I tried to bless the bubbling pool, and it started to dull its glow. The woman didn't seem to like that!
The fight went on for some time, but we really struggled to damage her, so got annoyed and left, and fled back to town. The woman didn't follow, but we're certain that we'll be more prepared for her next time!
Yours, Viv
Dearest A,
The last few days continue to keep us busy!
After retreating from what we now know to be a Quasit in the tunnels underneath the town, we took some time to rest up and buy Dilbert another sword from Savahs. We headed back into the tunnels, avoiding the Quasit, and exploring the rest of the complex. We discovered at least four more of the split jaw monsters, and a hideous mutated goblin with four arms and two small legs growing out of his head!
We also found a room which seemed to have no gravity, with a number of items floating in it (Kate used some simple magics to recover the items worth taking), a number of old torture devices, a number of mutated corpses, and a statue of a angry yet beautiful woman holding a book with a seven-pointed star etched on it, and a ornate ranseur. Pippen found he could remove the ransuer, so we dicided to take it back to the town. We saw the star design in a few other places about the complex as well.
I thought that the best person in town to talk to about our new found dungeon would be Brodert Quick, the ‘sage’ (as he calls himself) living up by the Old Light. Most people think that he’s a bit of a loon, but Kate seemed intrigued when I told her about what he’d been upto in town. Anyhow, a quick visit to Brodert seemed to do the trick! Once he saw the ranseur and we told him about the star, he got quite agitated, and wanted to come down the tunnels himself, to the point that the following morning, he’d turned up at the Dragon before I did, complete with notes, pencils, and all manner of weird adventuring gear!
So we decided to humour the old guy, taking him down below town, and showing him the complex. He made notes and examined everything as he went, it took most of the day, and was really quite dull! But he did tell us that the star was known as the ‘Sihedron Rune’, which seemed to be a mark of ancient Thassilonian magic, not too different to the draconic runes used in arcane magics today. Also, Brodert seemed to think that the statue was of Runelord Alaznist, one of the rulers of ancient Thassilon, over ten thousand years ago. Apparently, these rulers were more like dictators, and were not nice to be around.
We decided to have another go at taking out the Quasit, as I was really interested in the bubbling pool that she seemed to guarding. Brodert wasn’t having any part of it, so we led him out first, and he went home to cross reference his notes. We entered the Quasits room, but this time I led, as we had an idea to use my basic magics to start dumping pure water into the pool.
The room seemed empty, until one of the group called out that something was invisible in the room, and immediately afterwards I heard something casting a spell next to me. The Quasit appeared right in front of me, and planted her hand on my shoulder, and all I can remember next was immense pain shooting across my chest. I almost passed out!
Once I realised where I was, only a few seconds later as it turns out, everyone was around me and the Quasit was on the floor. I don’t know what came over me, but I pretty much lent in and drew my starknife across her throat, killing her instantly. After a minute or two to let the red mist clear, I used my healing magic to get rid of the pain, and then turned my attention to the pool. The guys told me that the Quasit was yelling something like ‘My well, my well!’ at me!
Putting fresh water into the pool seemed to work ok, only two castings were needed until the light in the water went completely out. I was expecting some kind of reaction, or something spooky to happen, but it just went dark. Pippen gave the place a good search, but didn’t find anything.
It was getting late when we left, and curiousity got the better of us, so we had a look around the Old Light to see if there was anything there (Brodert seemed to think that the Old Light and the tunnels were connected in some way) but we didn’t find anything. Kate and I headed up to the Deverin Manor to give the mayor an update, and we agreed that it was about time that we closed off the tunnels under the town. Don’t want anymore goblins sneaking in that way.
We met up over dinner at the dragon, and decided to go through Tsuto’s journal, and that seemed to be a mine of information! There were several diagrams of Sandpoint with attack plans all over them, reference to the Quasit, a bugbear called Bruthazmus (an old enemy of Shalelu), someone or something called Malfeshnekor, and pointing us towards Thistletop island, a few miles north along the coast. The surprise was that there were erotic pictures of Nualia Tobyn, who everyone thought to have died in the fire five years ago! It seems like she plans to burn her fathers remains (that was what the raid was for!) to an evil demon called Lamashtu. Then she plans to burn the town! We can’t let her get away with that!
Yours, Viv
Dearest A,
Short entry today, its been another busy one!
We headed out nice and early towards Thisletop, considering that its only about five miles away, it seemed that the town could look after itself for a day. I forgot to tell the group that Thistletop was acutally a sheer island just off the coast until we'd practically got there, after sharing this information I decided to keep quiet for a bit!
It seemed that the place itself was not just on the island, but there was a rope bridge leading to a cliffed area, covered in some kind of goblin warrens broken up by thick and bushy brambles, and underneath was some kind of cave. Ameretti had no problems with the brambles however, and could pass through them with ease. The rest of us had to be a bit more careful.
The place seemed quiet, to start with we could only hear the noise of the sea on the rocks and the cave below. But we soon found a fire-pelt leopard and his owner, which was a goblin who also could move through the brambles. The fire-pelt went down quickly enough, but the goblin was more trouble. He cast a spell that caused all the nearby foliage to grab at us, and it was holding us all in place! At one point, it was Ameretti and Kate who were fighting toe to toe with the goblin! Then the goblin ran off and then we heard dogs barking.
We thought this was odd, as we knew that goblins hated dogs, but these weren't dogs like we knew them. These were almost hairless beasts, and they shed loads of flaky skin when attacking. They mostly got stuck in the roots and weeds spell though, so they didn't cause much trouble. This gave the goblin some time to cast a spell which summoned a dove that flew off towards the island. After what seemed to be an age, Dilbert got free and promptly marched straight upto the goblin and quickly killed him.
We could see the bridge to the north, but decided to search the rest of the warrens. In the last area, we found a large group of goblins huddled in the corner, but when they saw us they jumped up to attack. They were slow to react however, and before most of them got a chance to move, Kate had knocked half of them out with a spell. The others didn't take too long to clear up, but we questioned one to ask who this Ripnugget was.
The goblin told us that Ripnugget was the leader of the Thistletop tribe, and was on the island to the north. The other goblin we'd found was called Gogmurt. These goblins weren't from the Thistletop tribe, but the Birdcruncher tribe who's leader was killed in the Sandpoint raid. Leaderless, about two dozen fled to Thistletop, where their numbers had dwindled as some were taken away, and others were thrown down the 'Howling Hole'. This hole was nearby, seemingly heading down into the cave where we could hear the roaring of some creature.
We headed back to the bridge, and could see goblins on the far side, two on guard in a tower and four more playing some game. There were more of these goblin 'dogs' too. Pippen was tasked with checking out the bridge and making sure it was safe. He did the close side easy enough, but was spotted crossing the bridge, so he ran back.
The group just decided to head across the bridge, and deal with the goblins once we got there. The goblins were waiting for us, but they really wasn't a match. The bridge creaked as we crossed, but we all got across and killed the nearby foes. The two in the tower yelled something and disappeared from view
We continue to head on into the unknown!
Yours, Viv
Dearest A,
We oddly enough decided to head back to town and sell some of the stuff we'd found. We're still getting the cold shoulder at Vens store, but Savah seemed to be willing to buy from us. Looks like she could be heading to Magnimar to make a tidy profit soon!
Returning back to Thistletop the following day, we made it back to the bridge without incident, but Dilbert was spotted by some goblins and was shot at. He reacted by running across the bridge... we all followed suit, and Ammerettis wolf, Coke went bounding past. As we couldn't get at the archers, Dilbert charged the doors! Coke was in the way and both of them went tumbling through!
We all ran in after them, and started to work our way through the complex, dealing with with the goblins. Dilbert charged another door with a goblin dog behind and used it as cover to fight the dogs off! After dealing with that problem, we even found that the goblins had captured a large warhorse! It was clearly undernourished, so we got it some grain while Ammeretti calmed it down. While it was eating, we pressed on.
Finally, we seemed to come across the leader of the goblins, in a hefty battle throughout most of the complex and with something like ten opponents, poor Coke ended up on the wrong end of a goblin blade and was killed. The leader was a capable combatant, but was weak willed so was easily affected by my spells. This let Pippen land several blows before Dilbert killed him.
We carry on
Yours, Viv
Dearest A,
We realised that we'd cleared the top level of the complex, and headed down into the dungeon. A quick search of a few rooms below, and we were almost ambushed by a bugbear ranger, and a number of female goblins. Maybe this was the bugbear that Shalelu warned us about!
The goblins didn't last long, and Dilbert forced the bugbear to retreat. As we were running low on spells, we decided to leave the bugbear alone. This meant that we had the problem of the warhorse who seemed to be attached somewhat to Ammeretti!
We tried to lead the horse across the bridge, and got Pippen to attempt to secure it, but obviously he didn't do a good job, as when the horse tried to cross, the whole bridge collapsed! This left the horse on the island, but the rest of us on the mainland. We couldn't really do anything else but head back to town.
Back at town, Savah bought some of the goods we'd found (she'll take them onto Magnimar to make a profit, I'm sure!) and found that Sheriff Hemlock was back in town. We gave him a brief on what had happened, and he explained that he'd have to take Tsuto to Magnimar for trial, and we'd have to go as witnesses, but he'd let us deal with the more immediate threat to the town first.
We rested, Ammeretti got another wolf, and we worked out that we would go back to Thistletop by boat, and got some climbing equipment to climb up the side of the island. Also, we had some ideas about shrinking the horse and rowing it back to town! Rowing back and climbing back onto the island didn't give us too much problem, and we found the horse with a nasty sword wound. Ammeretti healed it, and we headed back into the dungeon.
We found some evidence to see that there was another raid due in a few weeks, with the assistance of a 'whispering demon' once it was tamed, and that the goblins were worshipping some kind of huge goblin. We found a large leathery squid type creature, which went down easy enough after trying to leap on Dilbert!
After searching most of the level, we come across the bugbear again, and Dilbert charged in and started trading blows. Out of a side room stepped a human warrior with a large sword and shield. Kate hit him with a weakening spell which worked so well, he dropped the sword and surrendered!
The bugbear was more trouble though, I had to heal Dilbert a lot to keep him up! Dilberts sword did the trick though, and the bugbear was slain. We tied up the human, searched the area, and questioned him.
He (we found his name to be Orik) pleaded for us to let him go, and he said that Nualia had another lackey called Lyrie and some 'monster dogs', and was trying to release something in the dungeon below. Kate had the idea to lock Orik up in one of the prison cells we'd found, until we'd dealt with Nualia.
Looks like we're getting close to our goal!
Yours,
Viv
Dearest A,
I write with a heavy hand, today we lost a truly heroic colleague to a grisly end.
We'd headed on into the dungeon, and encountered a mage holed up in a chapel with a couple of evil looking hounds. As we moved in, one barked and I was overcome with a wave of fear. Embarrassingly, I turned and fled, I'm not proud. Pippen also fled, and when we returned, the rest of the group had cleared up the problem. We rested in the prison area and found that our prisoner, Orik had died during the night! I examined him thoroughly, but couldn't tell what he'd died of.
We moved on, and the path led us to the next level of the dungeon, which seemed to be on a slope. Pippen led by searching for traps, and he found and disabled a pressure plate. This led us straight to Nualia, who seemed to be ready for us. She had another hound with her, which Dilbert charged in to fight. The hound barked again, but this time my resolve held, but Pippen ran off again.
We dealt with the hound and managed to knock Nualia unconcious. Ameretti headed off to find Pippen, followed by Kate. We heard them yelling, and followed to find them under attack from some dark shadowy figures. These were draining their strength, so the group decided to run away. The shadows didn't follow.
Ammeretti and Coke were in a bad way, so we rested up to allow them to get some strength back. Pippen and Kate had found a pillar blocking the way to another part of the complex, and had found that they could bypass it using gold coins. I kept Nualia unconscious so we could move on. Searching the rooms further in, we found an ancient torture room, and a room with an programmed image of a man in a throne chanting some message in an unknown tongue.
What seemed to be the last room of the complex had a large fire pit, and Kate said that there was something invisible in the room. Ammeretti sent in CokeThree to smell out whatever it was, until it jumped him. Whatever it was, it was about eight feet tall and looked like a large wolf stood on its hind legs.
It jumped on CokeThree and knocked him down quickly. we all moved in to attack it, and surrounded it and the fire pit. It was hitting Dilbert really hard and I had to use all my healing on him to keep him alive. Pippen took a nasty blow and Ammeretti had to heal him as well.
It was looking bleak, and Dilbert fell. I used the last of my healing on him just as Kate managed to stun the monster for a few seconds. Dilbert stood up, grabbed the monster and pulled him into the pit. I tried to grab Dilbert as he passed me, but I couldn't grab him in time. The monster perished him the pit, but Dilbert was killed too, the flames burning bright and strong on the new source of fuel. It was too late to help him, and we stood there for several minutes, tryingt to comprehend what just happened.
Yours,
Viv
Dearest A,
We fled the dungeon, the place felt tainted as Dilbert had gone. We couldn't even recover part of his corpse or any of his gear, and as I reached the outside air again, I realised that it was our greed and curiousity that got him killed. We'd already captured Nualia, we didn't need to have gone on.
Ameretti had some magic to talk to Shadowmist the horse, and then shrink it. This allowed us to get it back down to the row boat, and without Dilbert, I had to row back myself. The trip back was in silence.
Once back in Sandpoint, we took Nualia to the garrison and handed her over to Sheriff Hemlock, briefed him on what we'd done, put Shadowmist up in the stables and we headed home. I went to the catherdral, made a small stone cairn for Dilbert and quietly said a few prayers in his honour. Pray Desna look after his soul.
The following morning, we all reported back to the garrison and the Sheriff told us that he would need to take the prisoners to Magnimar for trial at the Justice's Court. Ameiko was going too, not only to see her brothers trial, but to recruit a workforce to get the glassworks back up and running. Sheriff Hemlock said that we should go as well, as we'll be asked to testify in the trial, and we all agreed. Kate and Pippen both seemed relieved to be finally going home! We got some money for the safe return of Shadowmist, and Shayliss Vender turned up and told Pippen she loved him and that she wanted to go with him. When he said no, she threw a tantrum and stormed off! Seems like the two have been having a few illicit meetings, and I found out later it was the talk of the town for a few days.
The trip to Magnimar took most of the day, while we traveled I talked to Ameiko about her plans for the glassworks, and the Sheriff told us about the court system in Magnimar. Apparently, there's seven 'Justices' in the city, and they hold court on different days, and each have different areas of control. Sheriff Hemlock reported into Justice Ironbriar. Seems like Pippen knows the court system all too well, as it was there he was sentenced to his 'community service' (as he called it) in Sandpoint.
We arrived at Magnimar just before sunset, and what a city it is! I could write all day about the stunning vistas, the elaborate monuments, and the bustle of the trade districts... it certainly makes Sandpoint look like a dot on the horizon! We found lodgings and agreed to meet up in the morning. Both Ameiko and the Sheriff headed off to conduct their business. Kate headed off home, and Pippen went back to his little corner of the city. Ameretti spent most of the time outside the city walls, leaving me to explore on my own. I didn't know where to go, so I decided to look for the church quarter and find any church or shrine to Desna.
In the morning, we met up again, and we were told that the trial was the following day. The Sheriff told us that we will need to testify and he explained what would happen during the trial. The rest of the day was our own, so Kate and Pippen took us all down the business district and we found buyers for all the goods that we had captured in Thistletop. It was quite a haul! We managed to then buy some new gear as the old stuff was starting to look quite shabby. I got myself fitted for a suit a plate armour and a really nice shield.
The trial was quite exciting as far as I could tell, but I was last to testify, so I missed most of it! Justice Ironbriar was a tall, very stern elven man, and the trial was all very strict. From all the logs and ledgers that had gone in, we found out all what Nualia was planning to do, and what her motives were. I found out that she was treated really badly when she was you, and thats what turned her. She was a very angry woman! The evidence was overpowering though, and in the end Justice Ironbriar sentenced both Nualia and Tsuto to death. They were to be hung the following morning, Ameiko tried to get a viewing of when this occurred, but was turned away (as they don't seem to have public executions in Magnimar)
After the trial, I'd got talking to a Dwarf named Brandon. I don't know why I started talking to him, maybe I saw a little of Dilbert in him, they do look fairly similar (although most dwarfs look the same to me!).
Turns out that he was a Knight employed by the city to work under the Justices to deal with problems that the watch cannot, and he had worked with the Sheriff in the past (Seems like the Sheriff had pointed him in our direction anyway). He'd lived in the city all his life and knew the place really well. He wanted to show me the highlights of the city and I let him. The rest of the group went their own ways, so I thought that I could have some time to look around. I must say I really enjoyed it!
The following day, the Sheriff had received word that the execution of Nualia and Tsuto had taken place, so he had no reason to remain in the city, so he was returning home to Sandpoint. Ameiko headed back a few days later, once the new workforce for the glassworks had been setup. I told Brandon that I would need to return to Sandpoint with Ameiko, and asked if he'd like to come. He said yes, and checked it was fine with his superiors.
Returning to Sandpoint was straightforward, and it didn't take long to show Brandon around the town. Ameiko agreed to put him up at the Rusty Dragon, as she feels a little indebted to us anyway. As far as I could tell, Brandon seemed to like the place, and spend several days helping out myself, the Sheriff and Father Zantus with various duties.
Another couple of weeks passed, and everything looked to be returning to normal. We'd found that Shayliss Vender had been ill quite a lot in the mornings, that would be good news to Pippen if he ever returned to town.
A few days ago, the Sheriff come looking for me and Brandon, and once he found us, he told us that there had been a horrific double murder up at the Sandpoint lumber mill. The place had been running late into the night for weeks now, the noise from the old log splitter keeping nearby people awake at night. The place was owned by the Scarnetti family and run by Ibor Thorn and Benny Harker, two local boys. Anyway, Ibor found two dead bodies, one that was determined to be Benny Harker hung up on the wall and defaced (only recognisable by an old tattoo) and the other corpse had been pushed through the log splitter, and was nothing more than mulch. The Sheriff had determined that it was Katrine Vender, sister to Shayliss, and daughter to Ven. Katrine was missing, and was known to be sneaking out to meet up with Benny, so it had to be her.
The Sheriff said that he'd found a bloodstained note on Benny's corpse. It had Ameretti's name on it, and said about 'submitting to his lordship'! We decided that we'd need to get Kate, Ameretti and Pippen back from Magnimar. The Sheriff got his fastest horse, wrote a note of recommedation to give the Magnimar watch, and Brandon headed off to the city. If they could get back for the morning they would be tired, so Father Zantus prepared some restoration spells to help them fight off the fatigue.
Meanwhile, I headed with the Sheriff to the mill. It was a gruesome sight. Bennys corpse was hanging up on the wall, most of his face was missing, as was his entire lower jaw. He'd been clawed at, and the seven pointed star (that we'd seen several times before and was called the Sihedron Rune) had been carved into his chest. There was nothing much left of Katrines corpse, you could barely tell it was humanoid, but that was it. The mill machinery had been shut off, and it was clear from the scuffs around the place that a stuggle had taken place a few hours ago. The place had a horrible stench, something like rotten meat, and it seemed strongest from a discarded handaxe stuck in the floor. It almost made me vomit.
I left the mill, and agreed that the Sheriffs men should clear up the scene, and a large crowd had formed outside. I heard that Ven Vinder had lost his rag when he heard the news, and he'd been put in the garrison cells to cool off, along with Ibor Thorn, who was still a suspect. I could do nothing else but wait for the others to get back in the morning... I didn't sleep well.
Kate, Pippen, Ameretti and Brandon rode back into town early in the morning, and Father Zantus cast his restoration spells on them to allow them to carry on without sleep. I met up with them and the Sheriff, and explained what had happened, and what I'd seen at the mill. The sheriff said that his men had found other murders south of town a few days ago, the corpses of which had the Sihedron Rune etched into them as well. Three local con men were killed, and a fourth man (their bodyguard) had been found diseased and insane. The bodyguard (known as Grayst Sevilla) was been held at Habes Sanitarium, a few miles outside of town. Also, Ibor and Ven were being held in the garrison, but the Sheriff was looking to release them soon, as he had no further reason to restrain them.
We all headed to the Sanitarium, and it took a little bit of diplomacy from Kate to get entry. Once inside, we found Grayst in a straight-jacket in a padded cell, and he was jibbering to himself. Once he saw Ameretti though, he changed and said that 'His lordship' had a message for her. It was on about falling for him, and going to 'Misgivings'. I recognised that instantly, Misgivings is the local name for Foxglove Manor! Was our murderer Aldern Foxglove???
Grayst went mad at this point and burst from his jacket and tried to attack Ameretti. I held him in place with a spell quite easily, and Pippen tied him up again. Looking at the poor guy, Ameretti and myself could tell that he was quite insane, heavily diseased and close to death. We thought that he wouldn't last the night, but there was no spells we had that could help him. We could do nothing else but leave.
As we headed back, we spotted a man running to town, he was old and covered in blood or mud or something. We called out to him, and he looked at us, but carried on running. We followed and caught up with him at the garrison, it was Farmer Grump from one of the southern farms some miles from town. He'd come to see the Sheriff, and started going on about scarecrows coming to life at night and attacking the farms and eating the animals. He said that it was all going on at the Hambley farm and nearby, and that they'd fled to the more northern farms for safety before he ran to town. The Sheriff said that he could spare a few men to head to the more northern farms to check up, but asked us to check the Hambley farm. He thought that it all could be related as the Hambley farm is closest to Foxglove Manor, and the farmer there worked as a janitor of sorts at the manor.
Kate wanted to talk to Ven and Ibor before leaving town, and we headed to Ven's place. He hit the roof once he saw us and blamed us all for his daughters murder, saying that we did it. We left fairly sharply. Ibor was more helpful, after Kate talked to him for a while, she found out that Benny Harker had been skimming money from the mill, and Ibor was terrified that the mills owners, the Scarnetti family, would have hired someone to kill Benny. The Scarnetti family had a bit of a bad reputation, so I wouldn't be suprised either!
It was mid-afternoon when we left town and the group agreed to take Brandon with us. It was dark when we got to the farm, a full moon high in the sky casting a dim light over the landscape. We could see the corn crops which were ready for harvest, reaching nearly six feet. We moved forward cautiously, and started to see scarecrows near the path. Ameretti took the head off the first one with her club, spraying straw everywhere.
The next two however were moving slightly and as we approached they pulled at the ropes holding them down. It didn't take long to break free, and we had to move to engage them. Brandon worked well with us, and they quickly fell.
We continue on to investigate the cornfields!
Yours,
Viv
Dearest A,
As we ploughed on into the cornfields, we were assaulted by more fake scarecrows, which turned out to be undead ghouls. We made short work of them, until Ammeretti accidently killed a human girl from the farms trussed up like a ghoul. Poor Ammeretti, she wasn't to know.
We moved on more carefully, and picked our targets somewhat better. Managing to save one of the farmers also trussed up. He was heavily diseased, was unlikely to survive the night, and my magic wasn't strong enough to save him. In the end we took him back to town where Father Zantus had a potion to heal him. We decided to rest overnight.
We went back the following day, the weather had taken a turn for the worse and it was raining. At the farm, we found the farmhouse where there were more ghouls, and both Brandon and Pippen got bitten. Once we cleared those, we found a large iron key on the ghoul that seemed to be in charge. The key had the Foxglove family crest on it. Also, we found poor Crade Hambley, his corpse had the Sihedron Rune etched into his chest, and there was another note luring Ammeretti to his Lordship (another note from Aldern maybe?). We also found a smaller key, but nothing else, the place seemed to have been completely ransacked.
We left and made our way to Foxglove Manor, and the rain got heavier as we approached. The place looked completely run down and the outhouse was nothing but ruins with a well in it. There were some lazy looking ravens on the ruins, that Pippen threw stones at until they flew away. He then looked around the outside of the house before we went in.
The large key opened the doors, and inside the main doors we found a very long room with what looked to be a stuffed manticore at one end, and large stained windows at the other, looking out over the Lost Coast. Brandon couldn't understand why there were windows you can't see through blocking possibly the best view of the ocean for miles around, but Kate and Ammeretti were more interested in them. The four windows showed what looked to be a Treant, a Roc, a Sphinx and a Kraken all being pulled into small seven sided boxes with runes on them. Kate said that the runes were connected with necromancy magic.
Before we explored further, Pippen took a liking to a monkeys skull attached to the wall. It had bellpull hanging out of its mouth, and it let out a loud shriek when Pippen pulled it. He thought that this was so amusing, he pulled it a few more times. In the end, Brandon pulled the thing off the wall, and Pippen put it in his backpack.
The next room was some kind of library, and as Pippen when into search the place, he quickly turned and shot an arrow into a brightly coloured scarf nearby, then had a look of terror in his eyes and collapsed! We quickly brought him round, and he said that he had a vision of Aldern Foxglove using the scarf to strangle him, and that he was Alderns wife. The vision had passed but we carefully searched the room. We found a broken bookend, which looked like it had been used to bludgeon someone. The scarf seemed valuable too, so we took that and moved on. The next room was in darkness, and when Pippen opened the curtains, he said that he briefly saw the image of a forlorn woman in the window. No-one else could see it.
We headed on, passing back through the room with the stuffed manticore in it, and suddenly Kate burst into flames! She quickly rolled on the floor and put it out, and then she said that she saw the manticore rise up, burst into flames and attack her! This place was getting wierder by the minute! We thought about returning to town, but decided to press on. The next room was a lounge, and as we got into the room, Pippen noticed some footprints walking back and forth in the dust near the fireplace. Ammeretti said she had a spell to help, but immediately after casting it, she grabbed Kate and started to drag her out of the house, yelling that they were in grave danger.
Brandon tried to stop them, but Kate said to go with it, so we all headed back outside into the rain. Once we got there, Ammeretti come to and told us that she was convinced that Kate was her daughter, and had to be saved. At this point, Pippen was pointing at the ruins. As we looked, there were hundreds and hundreds of ravens perched there, staring at us! Ameretti had the idea of casting an entangling spell on the ravens and we ran past, only stopping about a mile down the road.
We headed back to town to find out more about the manor, and Kate seemed to find out from Madame Mvashti that three generations of Foxglove had lived there, first Vorel and Kasandra Foxglove about eighty years ago, then Traver and Cyralie Foxglove twenty years ago, and finally Aldern more recently. Vorel, Kasandra and their daughter were killed by disease, the night twenty years ago when the outhouse burned down Cyralie was found burned on the rocks below the manor and Traver had slit his own throat, and Aldern and his sisters were karted off to Korvosa to be brought up by relatives.
We needed to rest for a few days as we found that Brandon and Pippen had contracted Ghoul Fever, and we wanted to make sure that they'd shake it off. We plan to head to Magnimar to find out more about the Foxgloves.
Yours,
Viv
Dearest A,
We got to Magnimar without any trouble and found out from the watch that there had been a couple of similar murders in the city. The watch were investigating so we continued to investigate Aldern Foxglove. We found out that he was only 20, and he was married to a Varisian woman by the name of Iesha. They had a townhouse which we checked out (read Pippen and Kate broke into) and inside we found the place turned over.
Pippen did find a hidden cache which needed a tiny key that we didn't have. Kate had a scroll wih a spell to bypass the lock and we found a hidden stash of Alderns. It had money, legal documents for the townhouse, the deed to Foxglove Manor and a ledger. The deed to the manor said that the building had been founded by a group called 'Brothers of the Seven' and that after one hundred years, the manor including grounds to a mile around and below would revert to them.
The ledger was interesting too, as it had regular weekly payments to 'B7' at midnight every Oathday at the Sevens Sawmill. We found this mill to be on Kyvers Islet, near the south of the city. Pippen went to check the place out, and found the place to have people there at all hours of the day.
We persuaded Brandon to use his power of influence with the watch to try and raid the place, and we did it late at night. We found two men inside, one of which Brandon terrified with shouting, the other attacked us. Kate hit him with a spell and he fell off the balcony to his death. A search of the place found various antiques, and a journal written in different languages. We also found a load of red and yellow robes, like cultist robes.
Brandon said that he'd have to report this to the watch, and he was worried that he'd be in trouble. He was right, by the end of the day, we'd been questioned heavily by the watch and Brandon had got demoted. Seems like we shouldn't have raided the mill without better evidence or a warrant. Pippen had tried to follow some cultists across the city but he lost them.
Brandon was in a bad mood the following day, and wanted to rest up at an inn. We went with him, and Kate picked up some scrolls allowing her to decipher the journal. It was written by someone called Ironbriar (that name is familiar) who'd fallen for someone or something called 'Wanton of Natures Pagan Forms' who'd told him how to complete the murders and Ironbriar had been planning them all. He'd also been visiting this female at the Shadow Clock, and arranged for a delivery of 'Vorel's Legacy' to a group called the Red Mantis.
Just as we discovered all this, we heard a scream from downstairs, and when we investigated, we found some cultists and both Tsuto and Nualia! We thought that they'd been executed! We fought them both, a tough battle, Pippen nearly died, but we killed Nualia (for good hopefully this time!) and drove Tsuto off!
This is going to get interesting!
Yours,
Viv
Dearest A,
We reported what happened to the watch, who turned up fairly promptly. Kate and Dilbert went off to talk to the watch captain, and I dealt with Pippen (who was still unconscious). I found out later that they'd told the captain about the ledger, and that Ironbriar was corrupt, and he was taking this up with the watch commander and the mayor.
The following morning, we fetched Ameretti and the captain told us that Ironbriar had gone missing, and that they'd posted guards at his house and this Shadow Clock mentioned in the ledger. I'd received a message from Father Zantus that there had been three more murders in Sandpoint as well. We decided to head to the Shadow Clock (mentioned in the journal), which was underneath the Irespan. When we got there we found it was a derelict old tower about two hundred feet high. A couple of constables were outside looking terrified, the rest of their squad had gone in and they'd heard a bit of screaming and they hadn't come out. We decided to investigate ourselves.
It was dark inside, and as we started to investigate, some monster rose from the otherside of the room. It was a large humanoid creature, a patchwork of flesh, bone and metal. It stepped forward and started to tear into Brandon with its wicked looking scythe. We could barely damage it, and had to flee. We later discovered it to be a flesh golem, and reported this to the watch captain and left it to them to deal with.
We returned to Sandpoint late the next day, and met with Sheriff Hemlock and he told us about the additional murders. The first was a local thief called Jubrayl Vhiski, a regular at the Fatmans Feedbag and local troublemaker (according to the Sheriff). Jubrayl was found dead in an alleyway a few days after we left for Magnimar, his chest carved with the Sihedron star. Next was Olmar Danvakus, the head of the grocers guild (a guild in pretty much name only). Olmur was a halfling, and found in his store with the star on his chest as well. The Sheriff and Mayor kept things quiet by telling the townsfolk that he'd gone to Magnimar to visit relatives. He son was running the store in the meantime.
The final murder was poor Pippens cousin, Nisk. He was found in his house with half a star etched into his chest as if whoever doing it stopped halfway through. As it was recent, the body was still up at the cathedral, so we briefly visited there. Once done, we reviewed all the murder victims, and it looked like they were all either thieves, people upto unlawful doings or mistaken identity. We needed to head back to the manor.
We set off in the morning, and when we reached there, I cast a fly spell on Brandon and let him head down around the base of the cliffs to see if there were any caves or caverns hidden there. He come back a few minutes later but hadn't found anything. Looking around, there was only one raven on the ruins and this time we left it.
Inside the house, we first had an incident where Pippen started dancing around the room with an invisible partner. Brandon tried to stop him, but in the end we left him to finish his dance. This left him tired and weakened, but Ameretti had prepared a spell to deal with it. Heading upstairs, we had an incident where Ameretti had a sudden flash of insight that her parents were trying to kill her, but suffered no ill effects.
We found a portrait gallery, with all the members of the Foxglove family, and as we watched the figures in the paintings all died before our eyes! Vorels painting exploded in a burst of fungus, and I think that we all resisted it apart from Ameretti who kept saying that her skin was all red and pimply, but I couldn't see anything wrong with her.
We reached some bedroom, where the horrific occurred! Without warning, it seemed like Brandon got overcome with the spirit of Traver Foxglove, and imitating how Traver died, Brandon walked straight over to the bedside table, picked up a splinter of wood and slit it across his throat! It was almost if none of us could move to stop him. As blood rushed from his throat, and his face paled, his eyes grew wide as if he'd realised what he'd done! And then he collapsed!
Yours,
Viv
Dearest A,
I can't believe what happened to me today, immediately after Brandon dropped, I had a vision of Desna herself! She told me to look after Brandon as he mustn't die here. When I come to, Brandon was still alive, still covered in blood, and he'd changed into a human! He'd got a jagged scar across his throat with a mark of a butterfly at one end (which I knew to be the symbol of Desna). We took a while to try and understand what had happened, but decided to move on.
We continued to experience various haunting effects as we moved through the house, but none had any real lasting effect. We discovered a painting of Iesha in one of the rooms, and Kate took it from its frame and took it with us.
Heading into the attic, we finally found the source of the faint sobbing noise. It turned out to be a forlorn female figure, clearly undead, sobbing in front of a mirror. She seemed to ignore us, until we moved the mirror when she'd then start screeching for Aldern. We discovered that we could placate her showing her reflection in the mirror or the picture in the painting. Once she started to attack Ameretti, Brandon stepped in to intervene. Some blasts of fire from Kate finished her off.
The upstairs being cleared, we headed into the basement, found a load of rats, a sound burst spell from me dealt with them before they become a problem. We reached a hole in one of the rooms leading down onto old stone steps, which in turn led to a natural limestone cave. In the caves, we found a large undead bat, a number of ghouls (which I managed to destroy several with the power of Desna, before Kate blasted several more with an bolt of lightning!), and the bottom of the well.
Eventually we found our way to where Aldern was hiding. It was some kind of shrine to Ameretti, but with a larger patch of mold and fungus on the walls. Aldern had an evil grin on his face before moving to attack. Brandon hit him first and Aldern dropped to his knees and started to sob, asking us to save him before 'He came back and makes him do bad things'.
At this point, Pippen walked straight over the to the fungus and picked some up. Worried that he'd try to eat it, I used a holding spell and froze him in place. As he group approached Aldern (Amerettis dog wouldn't go near him), his voice changed again, and he leapt past me and Brandon and went for Ameretti!
She cast an entangling spell to hold him off, but it didn't seem to hold his advance, She said his face changed to match hers and he was hitting her hard. She was healing herself all she can to stay upright while the rest of us struck at Aldern as best we can. I couldn't reach Ameretti to help, and just as I thought that she was going to fall, and arrow from Pippen (now back to his senses) stuck into Alderns chest and he collapsed. The look of relief was all over Ameretti's face!
We cleared the place up, I poured a load of holy water over the fungus, which seemed to kill most of it, and we found clippings of Amerettis hair and discarded potion bottles on the table. Aldern had keys to his townhouse on him, and a letter from this Wanton of Natures Pagans Forms (like we'd found with Ironbriar) saying about the list of Sihedron Sacrifices. Looks like Aldern was working his was through a list of victims!
Ameretti decided to burn Alderns body to make sure he didn't come back, and now the threat had been dealt with, we left the manor and headed back to Sandpoint.
Yours
Viv
Dearest A,
Returning back to Sandpoint, we told the Sheriff and the Mayor what had happened, we cleared up the disease affecting Pippen and Ameretti, rested up and headed to Magnimar.
Once in Magnimar, we went to talked to the watch captain, and he said that they'd demolished the Shadow Clock. The golem in the basement escaped into the sea, and whatever it was at the top escaped (we were told it looked like a large snake). However, Ironbriar was killed in the collapse, and his head was now on display in traitors corner.
The captain said that they found a list of sacrificial victims, and the Mayor was on it! The Mayor wanted to have us over for dinner to thank us. We arranged to go meet there, but Pippen didn't come with us. The mayor seemed to be a pompous old baffoon, but harmless enough. Our opinion of him improved when he re-promoted Brandon and gave us a load of gems! We went on a bit of a spending spree.
Pippen turned up a few days later, looking slightly more devious and sinister. when we asked where he'd been, he wouldn't say!
Within a week, the captain called for Brandon again, and asked us to travel across country to a far off fort called Fort Rannick. This fort was home to a ranger group known as the Black Arrows, placed to look over the surrounding area, and the local town of Turtleback Ferry. There'd been no contact from the fort in over a month, and the Mayor wanted us to go find out if everything was OK.
As we thought about it, the captain said that they'd found something else in the debris of the Shadow Clock, a letter from someone called Lucretia to Xanesha saying that they were harvesting greedy souls from Turtleback Ferry to bring back their lord, and that Lucretia was going to deal with Fort Rannick soon. We decided to take on the job.
We worked out that the best way to the Fort would be to travel by boat. As we chartered a place on a local ferry, we ran into Shalelu Andosana. She said that she was heading up to the same area to look for someone, so we took her along.
The trip was quiet, we talked to a couple of gnome furriers heading to Turtleback Ferry to get supplies, and a group of the Korvosan Sable Company on the way. Shalelu talked to Ameretti most of the way, and when we stopped off at the town of Whistledown, we stopped off at an inn for the night and Ameretti went off with Shalelu.
Suddenly we heard a scream, and Ameretti was being attacked by the Sable Company, who'd turned into faceless humanoid creatures! We burst outside (Brandon nearly taking the door off!) and saved her, Pippen sprinting up the street with a stern look on his face before skewering one on his rapier! Then Kate fired in a ball of flame that almost took Brandons eyebrows off!
We found out later that the so-called Sable Company were all shapechangers, and the real Shalelu had been captured and tied up on the ferry! She was a little shook up, but recovered after a drink or two.
The next day, we caught the next ferry to Turtleback Ferry, again with the gnomes, and this ferry was run by a couple of half-orcs. This trip was uneventful, except that we saw a man being attacked by crocodiles. Kate used her fireball spells to help, but it was too late the save the man, and we headed on.
As we approached Turtleback Ferry, we noticed that one of the half-orcs had a tattoo of the Sihedron Rune on his back. We decided to see if he'd react to the Sihedron Medallion (that Brandon was now wearing) and when we tried it, he didn't really react at all.
Heading into town, we found the inn to stay at, and Pippen started to talk to a few of the locals to find out some news. Seems like the townsfolk hadn't heard from the fort in a few weeks, about the same time that a local gambling-den moored in the docks sank. Apparently the den was run by Lucretia, the same one in the letter perhaps?
We continue to investigate!
Yours,
Viv