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My Rise of the Runelords campaign thus far.
I’ve got seven players, but thus far only six have attended sessions. As such I wanted to make certain that I had a challenge for each of them.
First off I altered character creation a tad bit. I asked people to first choose a background that would tie them in more to the story. This is what I gave the players before they made characters.
Character Origins
Character 1: This character is attached to a newly constructed temple in the city of Sandpoint. This character can be a cleric or paladin of one of six gods in the temple or a druid, or you could be a worker, any character that has taken Craft: Stone-masonry. You have only been in the city for less than a year, so there are a lot of mysteries that you are still uncertain of, including the exact reason for the destruction of the last temple. This character can be any class, but works best as any of the Divine classes.
The Temple has shrines and head clerics (no higher than 4th Level NPC's) for these gods: Desna, CG Goddess of Dreams, Stars, Travel, and Luck. This Goddess is extremely important to the native Varisians. Abadar LN God of Cities, Wealth, Merchants, and Law. Sarenrae NG Goddess of the Sun, Redemption, Honesty, and Healing. Shelyn NG Goddess of Beauty, Art, Love, and Music. Gozreh N Deity of Nature, Weather, and the Sea. Erastil LG God of Farming, Hunting, Trade, and Family.
Character 2: This character is a scholar. He must have Knowledge History. This character is from a larger city called Magnimar, second largest city in Varisia. This character comes from a very rich and politically powerful family. The expectation of the family was that their son/daughter would become an aristocrat and merchant, instead this character became fascinated with the monuments of the city and now seeks out ancient runes. The character has come to the town of Sandpoint both to explore the Old Light, a broken light house that was built in the time of the empires of old. This character should be a Bard, Monk, Cleric, or Wizard.
Character 3: This character is a traveler. This character comes from the very small town of Turtleback Ferry, located far from Sandpoint in the ogre and giant infested Hook Mountain Range. The character is a failed member a group of rangers and hunters known as the Black Arrows. The character spent their youth in Fort Rannick, the castle that houses the Black Arrows. For reason that we will have to figure out, the character is no longer connected to the Arrows and is now a traveler, perhaps a mercenary for hire, working as a caravan guard that has recently come to the town of Sandpoint, or something to that effect. This character needs to be willing to help others in need. This character works best as a Ranger or Fighter, but could also be a Rogue, Barbarian, or even a Sorcerer.
Character 4: This character has the most specific origin. A native Varisian human born into a member of a criminal organization known as the Sczarni, a mafia style crime family all over Varisia. This particular branch of the Sczarni were located in the city of Riddleport. This character's mother was the leader of her gang, and his/her father was one of her many lovers, the exact father is unknown. This character was raised within the organization and so has some amount of understanding of the criminal world. Five years ago something happened leaving most of the gang dead, the character scarred and missing one eye, and with the knowledge of who caused the destruction of his gang: his/her mother. Riddleport and most Sczani gangs do not treat the character very well, the stigma of what the mother has done follows him/her around where ever the character goes. The only exception is his cousin Jubrayl, who runs a gang in the small town of Sandpoint.
Character 5: This character has grown up in Sandpoint their whole life. Family is most likely made up of fishermen or farmers. You would know most of the semi secrets of the town, but not all of them. You still have memories/nightmares about Chopper, the serial killer that haunted the town in your youth. Now you crave adventure and to do something important with your life. You have considered joining the town militia, but you haven't done so yet. Any Class is fine with this origin.
Character 6: Something interesting that ends with you going to Sandpoint, if for no other reason than a festival.
I posted the group in the rooster thread, but here they are again:
Option 1: Kelvin Mason, Human Cleric of Nomus (God created by player) Nomus is an ancient god from Varisian past. A God of Strength and Craft. His designs will appear all through out the game in ancient Thassilon ruins. Kelvin was born in the town of Ravenmoor. His god exists and travels on the Material plane and Kelvin spent years as his apprentice. I plan to use flashbacks of this time with him to show areas of Varisa that are difficult to show off. Definitely I want to have at least two moments at Rimeskull to better set up Runeforge later on. A riddle with no way for a player to solve always seemed lame to me, by showing the location a few times he might be able to get the riddle without rolling a knowledge check. That’s my hope at least.
Option 2: Bumpus Windsong, Halfling Bard. Pretty much exactly what the option stated. His father, Waylan Windsong is a rich merchant and member of the Council of Ushers in Magnimar. Waylan will become more important in the second book. I haven’t decided what I’ll do quite yet. At least a kidnapping if not more.
Option 3: Fletcher Greene, Human Ranger. This player’s rolls were some of the best I’ve ever seen. Two 13’s and the rest were 17 and 18’s. Amazing. Sadly his poor d20 rolls have shown that high stats aren’t always enough to be effective at level 1. His background is really neat and I’m really looking forward to how it will play out. The idea he had was that he committed some crime (perhaps he did it or maybe framed) and now he’s on the run. He’s left the details up to me. I’ll have to use a lot of flashbacks to make this work. Right now I’m thinking that he discovers part of the truth of the Paradise. Maybe he discovers that the owner is evil and tries to kill her. Not sure but something like this. I definitely want to have a trial. I’m thinking it will happen in Turtleback Ferry and that’s what brings them into Book 3.
Option 4: Mannis Malocci, Human Fighter. This character is based on a NPC in Book 6. I want the Champion of Shalast to have a much bigger part. Some of my ideas include a trip after Book 2 to Kaga Maer to track down rumors of the swords of sin. He’ll find out in Magnimar that it was there that his mother found her golden sword. Later on in my major change to Book 4 (the weak link in the story for me) she will be a leader in the Army of Jorgenfist.
Option 5: Pad Pelton, Human Rogue. Young farm boy turned adventurer. He really wanted to be a victim of Chopper, someone who was supposed to get killed but somehow survived. We’ve already had one creepy flashback moment. His story is going to hopefully really add to all the horror aspects to the campaign. In my third session I had a ghost story involving his dead brother and a trickster spirit that was feeding off all the negative energy.
Option 6: Alister Wise, Human Sorcerer. A spy and bodyguard hired by Waylan Windsong to watch over his son. Don’t know much more about this character. The player and I have to get together and talk more.
The game thus far:
First major change was that I added some games and festival moments before the attack. We spent most of the first game just role playing, which was a lot of fun. One of the best roll playing sections was an arena style cage match between Pad and his two NPC best friends and three NPC ‘bad guys’ named the Bugun Brothers. I had each of the players play an NPC. All six going at it with crappy warrior stats. No tactics just fighting. Very silly and a lot of fun. It was a really effective first fight. One of my players is playing d20 for the first time so this game had an aspect of training to it.
During the festival I introduced Aldren Foxglove, the young boy Aeron and his dog Petal, and even a moment with Orik. Admittedly Orik was unnamed. A giant tower shield in the shape of a face is pretty noticeable.
One big change I made to the game is that I had an NPC cleric named Sister Lynn that has a small shrine dedicated to Father Tobyn and his daughter. In my mind she was in love with him. During the fight with the goblins the human villains (Orik, Naulia, and Lyrie) travel to Sister Lynn’s and kill her to gain the artifacts of Tobyn. As fate would have it the only person to both make his perception roll and be close enough to hear the disturbance in the temple’s residence house was Mannis, who had seen Orik earlier. The two almost killed each other in a small hallway before they decided that neither of them would gain anything from each other’s death. Great little moment.
Due to the high numbers and power levels of the characters I had to increase the numbers of goblins significantly. They still destroyed them fairly easily. I increase the number of normal goblins by two and added a couple of better than normal goblins, including a smart Goblin Fighter/Rogue, consistently annoyed by his stupid cousins. As it turned out the rest of the goblins got killed off so fast he fled the battle. The players thought he added a lot to the fight. Highlights of the fight included the bard summoning a pony on top of the goblin warchanter. The player (the one that has never played dnd before) had no clue as to the goblin’s insane fear of horses and I had them all panic and lose an action. I admit that did make the fight much easier, but I think it was worth it. I tried to add Bruthazmus in a significant way by placing him and a goblin archer on a rooftop during Die Dog Die, but the party killed off all the goblins and goblin dogs so quickly I had him take the better part of valor. (I added two more dogs and an extra warchanter to the fight). Now he’s pissed and wants revenge.
The next two games focused on the town and some character development. I did these games because I wasn’t going to have a full party for them and people still wanted to get together.
Session 2
Mannis gets hired by Jubrayl to get rid of some thugs from Magnimar that are using the chaos after the attack to muscle in on his territory. The group is known as the Pale Dogs, and for those who know Ptolus they are based on Toridan Cran’s low level gang in the mini adventures in the back of the book. My Fighter, Ranger, Cleric, and Bard destroyed the gang with ease. I need to really pull out the nasty on these PCs, they’re really difficult to harm. But even still I almost killed the Fighter twice.
I also included the first of many mysteries. I had the party find out that two graves had been disturbed in the attack, Father Toybn’s and his adopted daughter’s. I also let them know that Goblins had been seen coming out of wagons placed around town. I put sand and different types of minerals such as tin and cobalt in the wagons as well.
I also started to have the party hear rumors of an army of monsters in the Storval Plateau. As the game continues I really want to play up Jorgenfist and their leader known as the Rune Master. My players already know the name of the adventure, I figure why not use some subterfuge and misdirection.
Session 3
Only had the rogue and the ranger for this one. I started the game with a flashback of the Ranger, Fletcher Greene’s life. I’m going to do my best to flashback on each game giving more details on past events. I figure there is so much concern in this game on the past, it only makes sense. I had Fletcher and his best friend, Elon on the shore of the Claybottom Lake looking over at Paradise. Elon convinces Fletcher to enter the boat and to help him find evidence of wrong doing. The two move towards the boat and we flash to the present. I focused the main plot of the night on the rogue, a local boy who’s sister has been unwell for a while now. He notices that his bed ridden sister has dirty feet and asks her if she’s been outside to which she says no. He spends the next day training with the ranger, learning skills on how to fight. During the first session he purposely played the character like a commoner, very few combat skills and knowledge. The two continue to look into the mystery of how the goblins got into town and I make sure they know that Sheriff Hemlock has sent out for assistance from Magnimar.
The next day the rogue Pad discovers mud on his sister’s feet and so he decides to watch her on the next night. While he’s waiting he returns to town and I had the two players do the Monster in the Closet. Very effective and gross. They didn’t kill this goblin and so they took him to the Turandarok Academy. I really played up the mad scientist role for Isoari. During the course of this game we jumped around in time, getting to a week after the Festival by this point in the story. So the night that Pad wants to watch his sister’s activities the Magnimar forces come to town. But it’s not what the Sheriff was thinking of, the reinforcements are thirty Order of the Nail Hellknights. I know that their presence in Magnimar is supposed to be small, but I wanted them in the story. At any rate that night Pad’s sister is possessed by some strange force to travel back to Sandpoint (as a farmer I had Pad house two miles from town). Pad tries to stop her but can’t and figures that since she’s following main road maybe he can get to town first and get aid. The Hellknight at the gate will not let him pass. Now Pad has to sneak into town and get past Hellknight patrols to get aid. By the time that he and Fletcher get back to the main gate, Pad’s sister has already killed a guard and knocked another unconscious. The ranger is able to find her tracks and they follow her to Chopper’s Isle.
The two of them enter a spooky underground lair where I have Pad revisit the location from his flashback, showing him a few glimpses of what he went through in the past. Since the player doesn’t know everything that happened to him this scene was foreshadowing future flashbacks, which is very strange and I love it. I decided that Chopper had at least eight other victims that were never found, including Pad’s little brother. Pad and Fletcher discover a secret passage that leads to an ancient cavern. Lot of collapsed sections of buildings and an old nearly broken runewell. Lots of undead fights and a variant version on the Attic Whisper with Pad’s brothers voice. Very creepy, very fun. I ended it with the runewell waking up and having the two see a strange communication between a black skinned creature (Erylium) and a figure in a fox mask (Nualia in a priest’s mask). The two were speaking Abyssal, a language that neither player can understand. I’m really trying to play up the communication aspect of the runewell. Also I feel that it introduces two villains early without harming the plot or the characters.
That it for now, I’ll post up more as well go.
Here are some Ideas for the future:
-the Boar Hunt. Highly extended. Bruthazmus and a group of Goblin Rangers stick outside the town waiting to find the PC’s. They follow them to Tickwood and ambush them. I’m going to try my best to play up the fear factor of the bugbear.
-The Jorgenfist Army. I want to combine Part 4 with the Red Hand of Doom. I think the Red Hand is the best dnd war story I’ve ever read and I really think that Jorgenfist needs to leave the fortress. My idea is that the army is here to pave the way for the new regime. They will concur Varisa for their lord and master. That just makes more sense to me than just sitting around waiting to be killed.
-a few others not worth posting right now.
Thoughts and suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
Ok , I´m hooked :)
Sounds great what you were doing to the campaign overall, drawing the characters into the story so much and building up several subplots side by side with the main story.
Bringing Nualia and her crew into play early was nice, i think RotR missed the chance to tie the well thought out Adversaries into the game earlier. So they are no more than chance encounters in Thistletop, the effort that went into their backgrounds and personalitys is totally wasted in the original Imho
I thought about running RotR since it came out, but somehow, though i liked it and think it has great potential, the campaign looked a bit to "loosely" tied togehter.
Your ideas are great to read and are more in line with what i would envision of the campaign if i would run it.
I have some questions, just out of curiosity
1) As you build heavily around the PC, how are you going to deal with PC Death? Lets say Mannis dies in the Catacombs, won´t that break the nice storyline with his mother leading over to Part 6 in Xin-Shalast?
2)Incorporating Red Hand of Doom sounds awesome, but im running this right now, and it is big :) You would need to adjust everything after it, Hook Mountain etc for some additional Levels the Players will have after Red Hand. Plus, an army on the move is different from a possible army gathering in the mountains.
Magnimar and maybe even Korvosa would not stand idle with forces marching over Varisia i think.
3)have you befriended the PC with Aldern Foxglove or was he just a guy they saved for them?
4)Will the Sandpoint Devil Star in this one? I allways thought, why not making the Sandpoint Devil Nualias Stillborn/sacrificed child? 6 PC stand a Chance, even at low levels.
So far so good, keep it coming Mike!
Hey thanks for the response. Here's a few answers
1: PC death concerns me. I went ahead and used the Racial Hit Points option from the Beta, halflings/elves 4, humans 6 HP, half orcs/dwarves 8 which has already saved Mannis life twice. I'm also very fond of the neg Con equals death. So if someone is taken down most likely they are still alive. Hopefully that will lead to capture or out for a bit but not forever. Also when I get to to Red Hand I plan to keep the staff of life to help out. a bit lame yes, but killing off one of the main characters in this story would destroy the group. These guys have put so much into their characters already I don't want to get rid of them. Now if they do something that I have little choice but to kill them well...
2: Oh yes I want Magnimar, Korvosa, and Shoanti Barbarians involved. What I'm thinking is that Hook Mountain becomes Vraath Keep, with staff of life and map of the army. I will have to create a location that is like Cinder Hill that the party will travel to, somewhere near the Storval Steps. Drellin's Ferry will become a small town north of Ravenmoor. While Brindol becomes Ravenmoor. With that being the hometown of one of my players I had to do it. Most likely the Ruins of Rhest can be exactly what it is except that instead of dragonspawn I'll need something else, perhaps Sinspawn of Greed? I'm thinking it will be north of Churlwood. The Ghostlord's Lair will most likely be in the Iron Peaks. And the Fane of Tiamat becomes Jorgenfist. Definitely I want big huge armies on both sides. Mostly likely there will be a gargantuan statue (my take on the Rune Giants) that I'll hopefully be able to show before and after it comes to life. One of my favorite games is Shadows of the Colossus. I'd love to see that in a game. I would not have the attack on Sandpoint. It never made sense to me how the giants sneaked all the way down there and how the party got there in time. I don't think it really adds to anything. As far as XP goes. I've always told my players that I'm starting on the fast XP track and then switching to the medium. This is one of the reasons why. Besides I give out XP honestly, but I'm aware of the effects, if I have to gimp on XP so that the story doesn't get off track the players will understand. As long as I let them know that's what I'm doing. With most of my players the story comes first and we've all been in the games where the characters got too powerful too fast. That said I know I'm going to have to increase some of the threats power levels latter on. Hopefully it won't be too hard to do.
3: Many people have befriended Foxglove. Both Bumpus and Mannis are on fine terms with him, Bumpus because he seems to honestly like him and Mannis because he thinks he can make money off him. Because of this I'm actually trying to make him likable, just a coward. Right now I'm considering (no I'm actually doing this, the consideration stage is over) taking a radical departure from the story and hiring Mannis to temporarily leave the party. While the rest of the party is in the Catacombs of Wrath, Foxglove will take him and Rogors Crasby (Foxglove's assistant) to Foxglove Manor. Then I can have Mannis use a pick to break into the subbasement. Give Crasby a torch and the three go down. A few undead giant spiders, have Crasby drop the torch, a little complete darkness in a cave with undead monsters and I think I can get Mannis out of there but have him and the rest get separated. And knowing his CN self, I have a hard time seeing him go back to save them. If that does happen when Mannis gets Foxglove, Aldren will go straight to Vorel's lab and I want to have undead on his tail and have Foxglove slam the door in his face. By the time Mannis has killed off the undead (assuming he can) he will hear the sounds of screams inside and the door will be locked. I'm thinking at this point Mannis has no choice but to leave or die. I've warned the player that if he takes me up on an away from the party side quest it will be awesome but super deadly. He's really excited for it. I'll skip from scene to scene, both so that player knowledge of Foxglove Manor is lessened, no detailed map, but also to prevent any of the other players to get bored during the fighting. That or I might let them play undead creatures. That's fun but without a lot of control of the creatures I might get Mannis killed.
4: I've already brought the idea of the Sandpoint Devil in, but used it as a joke. During the Festival I had Farmer Grump give his observations on the devil as, "You shouldn't mock the SANDPOINT DEVIL. A demon that runs off with yer poultry is nothing to be laughed at!" It got a big laugh. To try and turn it into a threat at this point would be difficult. If I had only thought of that before the first game...
Awesome stuff here. If only I started my campaign *after* you...I'd be stealing some of your awesome ideas. Hope you keep posting your campaign progress.
M
So the next game with a full party is this Sunday, but I wanted to check in and update with some other thoughts on the game.
First off House rules I'm using that I highly suggest.
Racial Hit Points. I loved this in the Beta and was disappointed when it went away. An extra 4, 6, or 8 hit points for the heroes is not game breaking and has kept two characters from getting killed off. One of my goals is to challenge the players, but not destroy them. I'm really glad I did this.
Luck points: Wolfgang Baur wrote "The Book of Roguish Luck" for Malhavoc Press a few years ago and I really like the Luck rules. Every level you gain a die of luck points. D10 for Rogues, D4 for Fighter, and D2 for Wizards. There are a number of mechanics and Feats that can alter what you can do with these, but the main use is to burn a point to reroll a D20, keeping whatever you rolled next even if it was worse. Attack rolls and skill rolls cost 1 point, while Saving Throws cost 2. Once burned the points are gone forever. I had to use tokens to remind people of the points, but once I did the players really are enjoying ignoring the occasional bad roll.
Critical Fumble and Hit Decks. These are universally well loved. Great addition to any game.
Extra XP for doing neat stuff. 200XP for a write up on the game. I think this adds so much for everyone. I'm also giving extra XP to people that create fun props or minis for the game. One of my guys is in the process of creating paper minis of the party. Once they are completed I'll post them up.
I'll post up some more info of the game in a few days if I get a chance.
So the next game with a full party is this Sunday, but I wanted to check in and update with some other thoughts on the game.
First off House rules I'm using that I highly suggest.
Racial Hit Points. I loved this in the Beta and was disappointed when it went away. An extra 4, 6, or 8 hit points for the heroes is not game breaking and has kept two characters from getting killed off. One of my goals is to challenge the players, but not destroy them. I'm really glad I did this.
Luck points: Wolfgang Baur wrote "The Book of Roguish Luck" for Malhavoc Press a few years ago and I really like the Luck rules. Every level you gain a die of luck points. D10 for Rogues, D4 for Fighter, and D2 for Wizards. There are a number of mechanics and Feats that can alter what you can do with these, but the main use is to burn a point to reroll a D20, keeping whatever you rolled next even if it was worse. Attack rolls and skill rolls cost 1 point, while Saving Throws cost 2. Once burned the points are gone forever. I had to use tokens to remind people of the points, but once I did the players really are enjoying ignoring the occasional bad roll.
Critical Fumble and Hit Decks. These are universally well loved. Great addition to any game.
Extra XP for doing neat stuff. 200XP for a write up on the game. I think this adds so much for everyone. I'm also giving extra XP to people that create fun props or minis for the game. One of my guys is in the process of creating paper minis of the party. Once they are completed I'll post them up.
I'll post up some more info of the game in a few days if I get a chance.
I give out extra XP for story awards, good role playing, and for weekly writeups and such. Normally 50XP/ level for a weekly writeup (needs to be more than a few sentences) and other awards for things like finding good artwork for the game, composing songs and poetry about the game (The Ballad of Clakerclaws has already been scripted), and anything else that furthers the RPG side of things.
I post a weekly "Journal" from the party NPC, which gives both summaries of the game (along with important details the heroes missed or forgot to take note of, as well as important backstory) and gives a opinionated view of the party actions. The other players are encouraged to post their own views and reactions, in character voice, of course. We post them on our Yahoo group for the game.
50 xp per level is a really smart idea, I'll have to borrow that. I love the idea for art work and songs.
I'll think about an NPC journal. I don't have a single character that is involved with the party yet, but maybe I can do a bunch of different characters and how they viewed the events?
Thanks for the advice.
Hello all,
One of my players is making some extremely awesome paper minis of each character. He's only got four done thus far, and he's working on more. I love them and I wanted to share them with you. This is a link to my livejournal for the game. Please feel free to comment on anything you want, but please keep in mind my players do not know anything about this adventure. I told them I was posting thoughts on the game on a forum, but not even which one, so no hints or spoilers.
At any rate, Link
Take a look at the minis and print them out. We'll be adding more as Steven (Mannis) continues to make them.
If for some reason you can't get the images to work right in the printing, just leave your email and I'll send you the image directly.
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We used to have RP bonuses and good idea bonuses. After each session, the players would brainstorm what they thought were good roleplaying instances, or clever/innovative ideas. The only rule was that any suggestions had to be for a player other than yourself...
Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. ^_^
It been a while since I’ve updated on the game so here we go. This is really long, hopefully you'll find it entertaining or helpful some how.
Session 4: Rats in the Basement:
Started the game with a flashback to Mannis’s childhood in Riddleport. The idea is that Mannis’ mother, Viorian, is off on some adventure and the flashback starts with Mannis hearing an argument over loans and money between Saul Vancanser and an NPC I created named Jaster Franello, right hand man and organizer of Viorian’s operation. Jaster is a Gutter Mage (from the book of Roguish Luck). Viorian returns home and tells Saul that she wants her money. Saul gets out quick with his tail between his legs and takes his two boys with him (I make sure to call them by name, and the player totally catches the Orik reference) Viorian shows Mannis and his little sister her new prize, a golden scimitar with strange runes. Flash forward.
The official session: As recorded by one of my players. (I’ll give GM’s notes as it goes)
(GM’s Note: Because in my semi solo game the two players had skipped ahead a few days we jumped around a bit to get everyone caught up. I quickly ran through Aldern Foxglove’s Boar Hunt. Only thing of note was that Foxglove hired Mannis to leave with him and help him collect some dangerous beasts. He suggested it might not be 100% legal, CN Mannis did not care. Originally I was going to have goblins and a Bruthazmus in the woods hunting them, but ultimately it wasn’t important enough. Mannis leaves the party. One of the reasons I did this was to really have fun with Foxglove and make Skinsaw that much cooler, at least I hope it will be. Another good reason is that I lost a player for Alister and Mannis’ player stepped in)
The town is bristling with repressed energy and anxiety. The unwelcome arrival of the Order of the Nail is a serious topic of conversation and concern. This sinister group of knights were dispatched from the nearby metropolis of Magnimar to bring order to the town after the recent goblin attacks. They are heavily armored, short tempered and far more concerned with the law being obeyed by the citizens of Sandpoint then searching for the causes of the invasion. They have already arrested townspeople for innocuous offenses, but are becoming even more agitated after the sudden attack of two Hellknights by an unknown assailant. One died in the attack, the other hangs to life in the care of the Temple’s clerics.
Bumpus skips into the common room of the Rusty Dragon for breakfast, discovering the cleric, Kelvin, slumped over the bar asleep. Kelvin had spent most of the previous week toiling in the smithy, attempting to improve his longsword. Last night, the bard found him sitting outside the smithy, covered with soot, and cradling his longsword like a dying child. Apparently the cleric’s toils had been in vain. To mourn the loss, Bumpus insisted they have a few drinks. Kelvin fervently agreed.
(GM’s Note: During the downtime I had Kelvin go off with Shayliss Vender and deal with her “rats in the basement.” He’s been living in town for over a year and his background involves his many problems with the ladies, so we figured he’s dealt with these rats before. When Ven shows up he sneaks out a window. I feel the real point of this scene is just a little bit of comedy and to set up Skinsaw later. “Rats in the basement” got a lot of laughs. The only other thing he did all week was work on crafting a Masterwork long sword. He failed his craft roll. sucker)
As the cleric blearily wipes bar pretzels out of his hair, they are joined by the mage, Alister. They are drawn into the street by sounds of commotion. Following the crowd, they meet up with Pad and Fletcher – each looking slightly the worse for wear. The Hellknights are conducting a public execution of the criminal Pale Dogs that the party had brought into custody earlier in the week. Pad and Fletcher seem nonplussed, and quietly tell the others they have a lot to tell them after their meeting with the Sheriff.
Bumpus and Kelvin trade a look. They wordlessly agree to not tell the other three that they completely forgot about the meeting.
The meeting with the Sheriff Hemlock is short and to the point. He asks them to become temporary deputies, while he travels to Magnimar. The Hellknights are becoming far more of a problem then a boon in dealing with the unrest in Sandpoint. He gives them a writ of authority, and asks that they come up with a name for their group to go on the charter. He also introduces them to an Elven hunter, Shalelu, who has a great deal of experience with the local goblin tribes. She informs the group that she plans to investigate further, but it is extremely unlikely and disturbing that all five goblin tribes have joined together. To her knowledge this has never happened before.
(GM’s Note: I’m really playing down Shalelu’s presence in the story. I love the green haired ranger, but with six PC’s it seems needless. In my game she’s just there to give information.)
The five adventurers leave, and head for Kelvin and Fletcher’s lodgings overlooking the Temple Square. Kelvin, Bumpus and Alister are surprised to discover Pad’s younger sister sleeping deeply in the room. The ranger and the rogue offer a belated explanation.
(GM’s Note: The party got really concerned about the unconscious guard waking up and describing Pad’s sister. Mannis’s player Steven is playing Alister at this point and passes me a note letting me know that if he feels the that the witness will endanger Bumpus’ good name, keep in mind his back story as spy/bodyguard for the bard, he will eliminate the threat. Alister walks out of the room and returns 10-15 minutes later. The party finds out later that the second guard died of complications from his injuries. The players and the characters don’t realize why that happened.)
Disturbed by the implications, the group quickly gets Kaylee Pelton out of Sandpoint. [After Bumpus has some time to disguise her features.] Afterwards they meet with Lector Tavik, the commander of the Hellknight contingent. After some tense introductions, he thanks them for their help and dispatches a squad to deal with the site of evil, from Fletcher and Pad’s experiences on the previous night.
(GM’s Note: I purposely made sure they caught on that the Hellknights will not let them help in this affair. I’m hoping that the player’s will realize that yes they can send the Hellknights into a fight, but then they won’t be on the adventure anymore. Thus far this has worked.)
The immediate crisis managed, the group makes their way back to the Rusty Dragon for a late dinner. They are met by Bethana, frantic with worry about her missing mistress, Ameiko. She pushes a crumpled note into the party’s hands and informs them that the mistress of the Rusty Dragon has been missing since last night. Bumpus swiftly translates the foreign text – she was supposed to meet her brother at their father’s Glassworks the previous midnight. Wasting no time, the five adventurers made their way to the foreboding factory.
Discovering the exterior doors of the factory locked, Pad displayed some surprising skills he had “picked up while apprenticing for the Sandpoint Locksmith” and the team slipped inside. The ominous sounds of creaking machinery, and scattered laughter sounded thinly through the walls. After their harrowing experience of the previous night, Pad and Fletcher were almost expecting the horror they found – Kelvin, Bumpus, and Alister are caught almost completely agog.
Corpses. Body parts. Amiko’s father entombed in molten glass.
And goblins. Lots and lots of goblins.
Sorely missing the battle prowess of the sellsword, Malocci, the team set to work. Aided by the never-ending trickiness of the bard, and the dead aim of the ranger the group is making headway – until another wave of goblins pours into the room, accompanied by a laconic half-elf. He is quickly identified as Tsuto, Amiko’s half-brother.
With a suprising tactical use of livestock and arcane might, the heroes make quick work of the goblins and their leader. Tsuto, having been blinded, stunned, hypnotized, bound with rope and realizing his shin has been pierced by arrows surrenders to unconsciousness without landing a blow. The team quickly search the Glassworks discovering three things.
1. Captive, but alive, Amiko.
2. The journal of the malevolent half-elf, Tsuto.
3. A crude tunnel descending into the earth, reeking of goblin filth.
The party has discovered the goblin assault’s method of entering Sandpoint. The journal sheds even more light on the attack, while presenting some troubling possibilities for the future. The five adventurers take Tsuto into custody, with plans to return soon and investigate the foul tunnel.
(GM’s Note: so my bard (the most effective character ever) uses a scroll of Sum Monster III that I had put into the game just in case they needed it to summon four large horses that cause havoc and terror to the goblins. Alsiter and Kelvin gang up on Tsuto and he is taken out super quick but he’s still alive and already a party favorite. I'm playing him as completely amoral and insane. calm cool and relaxed, so happy he killed his father and confident that his love will revive him if he dies, assuming they don't come save him.)
Solo Session with Mannis:
This “short trip to Magnimar” is already more than he bargained for. He is to aid Foxglove and his manservant, Rogors in capturing four strange beasts that infest the area. The first creature is a vile rat-like creature, dripping with pus and open sores. The sellsword recalculates his price upwards.
(GM’s note: No more player commentary)
This game was super fun. It was just me and Steven in a creepy house. Mannis figures out something is not right with Foxglove who is acting really suspicious about the upstairs areas. I have Mannis roll perception a number of times through out the story and give him the you feel someone is watching you but you don’t know where. Mannis, Foxglove, and Rogors capture a rat in the bath tub and then eventually find the down stairs basement. They decide to eat lunch before going any further and during the meal I introduce a man that has been standing invisible in the room for some time. I have Foxglove call him Brother Zell and make it clear that he is here to retrieve Foxglove’s rats and to insure that Foxglove is still on board. In truth he was sent to kill Foxglove, the trip to Sandpoint and the delay of returning to the manor made the skinsaw cult decide Foxglove wasn’t worth keeping around.
Also I feel that with exception of Ironbriar the Skinsaw cult is barren of interesting villains. Zell is a former prisoner from Magnimar, complete with prison tattoos on his arms that Mannis noticed. He’s a Rogue Cleric and an agent of the cult. After tonight he’ll come back in Skinsaw Murders somehow.
Mannis, Rogors, and Foxglove go into the basement. To make a long story short, they find a dead body that must have been pushed in from the well. The brain looks like someone smashed it in. I purposely had this section of the caves closed off with a heavy door to explain why this guy wasn’t undead. Then I had a central cavern and lots of strange looking cobwebs. From above I have two undead ghoul giant spiders attack. First one webs Mannis while the other attacks Rogors, who as luck would have it was carrying the only torch. I had the torch continue to flame until Rogors’ dead body dropped on it. So now Mannis is in the dark with an undead spider. He killed the other one before losing the light. Nothing like biting someone and saying roll a Fort save Three times. Luckily he saved each time. He ends up getting the torch going again and losses track of Foxglove. He finds a bunch of rats and figures he can capture a few on his own and collect the money without Foxglove. He gets a few goes upstairs and looks for Brother Zell. One Hold Person spell later and Zell comes up very casually stands behind Mannis, and says the words, “Give Foxglove my regards,” right before backstabbing Mannis for 27 hit points and dropping him to -5. I tell the player that he will stabilize and wake up a few hours later covered in his own blood.
end of game.