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I've been running a RotRL campaign here for a while now. We started back in like September and then life interrupted things. Then we picked back up at the beginnig of January and then work interrupted us. So I have decided to post a campaign journal to help everybody remember what happened. Obviously there will be spoilers about things that have already occurred in the campaign. Feel free to comment, but please no spoilers. I'm at work right now so I will be posting true first part when I get home.
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THE LATE UNPLEASANTNESS
I started the players in the town of Sandpoint, five years prior to the main campaign, at the height of Chopper's murder spree. For their own various reasons, they were all working with the militia and Sheriff Casp Avertin to stop the murderer. Among them were two monks, an elf rogue, and a young Belor Vishkalai.
The sheriff sent them to investigate the latest murder. unfortunately they werent able to find any new clues. They decided to start making nighttime patrols until Chopper was caught. After a briefing with the Sheriff over dinner at the Red Herring (which would become The Hagfish) and meeting Jargie Quinn, his lovely wife Pearl, and his less than lovely sister Norah, they set out for their first night patrol.
The night started off quiet. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until Calitus, the rogue, passed by the Iron Dragon Inn (which would become the Rusty Dragon). He heard a thud and saw a body fall against a seond floor window. Rushing inside, he found the body of one the barkeepers strewn over the bar, her eyes plucked out and hands and feet cut off and stacked beside her. The rest of the room was dark and empty, the coals barely smoldering in the fireplace. Upstairs, he found the bodies of the innkeeper and his wife the same condition.
A quick search of the inn revealed only guest, a belligerently drunk man by the name of Derrick Weiss, who claimed he had slept through the whole thing. The fact that he was the only suspect, and tried to start a fight, lead them to take him into custody. Once in jail, Derrick continued to be uncooperative and refused to answer questioning. Sheriff Avertin agreed to keep him in jail for a while, on the grounds of assaulting an officer. On the way out, they had a brief meeting with Almah Avertin, as she came to bring some of her famous biscuits to the men on duty.
At this point, they decided to follow the murderer's suspected M.O. and sleep the rest of the day, the better to stay awake and patrol all night. Unfortunately for them, they always seemed to be just one step behind Chopper. That night, they found Veznutt Parooh on the beach, standing over the body of Jargie's wife Pearl. They realized that Veznutt was clearly innocent, but discovered one of the best kept secrets in Sandpoint: Pearl was actually a mermaid. Her body, like the previous Chopper victims, had her throat cut, eyes plucked out, and hand chopped off and stacked nearby. Being a mermaid, she had no feet to cut off, but she did several fresh bite marks on her side, that looked like some kind of large predator.
Jargie was grief-stricken when they broke the bad news to him, but begged them to help keep his late wife's secret. Norah, meanwhile, was being true to her spiteful nature. She thought Jargie was better off without Pearl and made sure everyone knew about it.
The body count continued to pile up over the next few days. Rynnshin Povalli returned home from a business trip to Magnimar to find her mother murdered in their home. An actress from the theatre and a gentleman visitor were found in an alley behind the theatre. With this latest murder, they were only a few steps behind. They caught a fleeting glimpse of a dark shape flying away and found several fresh black feathers on the ground.
This immediately made them suspect the local druid community, but a quick cup of tea with Madame Mvashti put their fears to rest. They briefly suspected Jarvis Stoot, but quickly put that idea of their minds. After meeting him, they realized he was just a harmless artist. Sheriff Avertin even made the suspect list briefly, but was also eliminated.
That night, they made a plan to disguise the monk as an old man, with the rogue shadowing him along rooftops and alleyways, hoping to draw out Chopper. Unfortunately, Chopper chose not to take the bait. He went for Weiss, who had just been realized on a technicality. Passing by the Red Herring with the Sheriff, they found that Jargie had finally had enough of Norah's vindictive ways and had thrown her out. The Sheriff offered to walk her over to a friend's house while the others continued their rounds. They would meet at the Garrison in an hour.
But, of course, the Sheriff would never make it to the Garrison. The heroes discovered the bodies of Norah and the Sheriff, along with a fresh trail of blood leading towards Stoot's home on the island. They didn't want to believe it, but the proof was clearly there. In an ancient-looking chamber under Stoot's house, they found a hidden shrine to a demon whose name none dared speak aloud. Stoot's lifeless body lay sprawled before the altar, his own eyes and tongue the final offering. Destroying the altar brought forth a fiendish eagle, but they were able to dispatch it with relative ease.
Stoot's body was cremated. His ashes were blessed by Ariel, a priestess of Shelyn, and scattered over the ocean. She briefly told Calitus of what she knew of Stoot's troubled past. He was raised on the streets of Korvosa by Gaedran Lamm. When he was old enough, he ran away to Magnimar, where he was taken under the wing of a Shelynite priest. The old priest taught him how to channel his pain into creating the beautiful woodcarvings of birds for which he would be famous.
The tragedy would soon be nearly overshadowed only a few weeks later, as the town woke in the middle of the night to find the Sandpoint Church in flames, along with many nearby homes and businesses. Both the beloved high priest, Father Tobyn, and his adopted daughter Nualia perished in the blaze.
In a few short weeks, the town began to try to settle back to normal. Belor Vishkalai was elected Sheriff for his work in bring an end to Chopper's reign of terror. Rynnshin expanded her mother's tailoring business into a full-scale tailor's guild. The Red Herring, which had closed only days after Pearl's death, was eventually reopened as The Hagfish. The Iron Dragon would sit empty for years, until its sculptural namesake rusted. Ameiko Kaijitsu would eventually return from her adventuring career to settle back down in Sandpoint and reopen it as The Rusty Dragon Inn, much to her father's disdain.
And, five years later, the Sandpoint Church would finally be completely rebuilt as a very impressive Cathedral, housing shrines to the six most prominent faiths in the region: Abadar (civilization and wealth), Desna (dreams, stars, luck and travel), Erastil (farming communities, family, and the hunt), Gozreh (nature and the wild places), Sarenrae (sun, healing and redemption), and Shelyn (love and beauty). A great festival was planned to celebrate both the dedication of the new Sandpoint Cathedral and, finally, an end to the bad times.
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THE SWALLOWTAIL FESTIVAL
The campaign officially begins with the Swallowtail festival to celebrate the completion and consecration of the Sandpoint Cathedral. In attendance were Calitus, who had spent some of the intervening years working with the Sandpoint Militia, and a barbarian from the Land of the Linnorm Kings.
Calitus spent much of the day enjoying the various games and competitions, including the archery contest. He was having an off day with his archery and did not win the competition. He also caught the act of Arkay, Lord of Magic, who appeared to perform actual feats of magic. Calitus's keen eyes picked out a pretty brown haired girl, standing back in the crowd, who seemed to be the real source of Arkay's magic.
The barbarian played a few of the games, but was more enamored with some of the entertainers. The town had booked a group of musicians called The Maidens III, and he was determined to make the lead singer his girlfriend. He bought himself a new outfit and a picnic lunch for the two of them. (Rynnshin also caught his eye briefly while buying his new clothes.) The lead singer was quite flattered and accepted his lunch offer but gently let him know he just wasn't her type.
During the free lunch, Calitus took he opportunity to catch up with Jargie. Thee lobster chowder, which had been his late wife's specialty, wasn't quite as good as hers had been. But Calitus didn't have the heart to tell him. The barbarian, of course, took the opportunity to flirt with Ameiko and get himself a free room at the Rusty Dragon.
After an afternoon dodging small children chasing butterflies, it was time for the actual dedication ceremony. Unfortunately the thunderstone that Father Zantus used to get everyone's attention was also the signal to begin the goblin's raid on the town
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THE SANDPOINT RAID
The goblins quickly threw the town of Sandpoint into a panic. Calitus and the barbarian crossed paths when they chose to engage the same group of gobins. They were able to finish them off without too much difficulty. Their victory was cut short by a sudden plume of fire to the south.
The two heroes quickly raced into battle with the goblin pyros. They were nearly ambushed by a sneaky goblin leaping at them from a rooftop. The goblin, however, mistimed his leap and landed instead in a rain barrel!
While fighting the goblin pyros, Calitus was injured. Father Zantus did what he could to heal him as he hurried to tend to more critically wounded townsfolk. The worst of the raid was over, but many goblins remained.
Responding to a frantic cry for help, the two found a young nobleman cowering behind a barrel while his dog tried to defend him from a goblin mounted on a goblin dog. They were too late to save the dog. During the fight, Calitus had the misfortune of attracting the goblin's attention. He was knocked unconscious but the noble pulled him to cover while the barbarian finished the goblins off.
The extremely grateful young man introduced himself as Aldern Foxglove. He helped get Calitus to Father Zantus for healing. He also offered to take the two of them on a boar hunt to express his gratitude. The confused barbarian had to have Calitus explain to him that nobles hunt for entertainment. And that there would be a feast afterwards. They reluctantly agreed to go, after the goblins had been dealt with.
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GOBLIN HUNTING
The day after the festival/raid, Calitus stopped by the Sandpoint Garrison to check and see what he could do to help. (The barbarian had wandered off somewhere, probably to flirt with some lovely wench.) While waiting to talk to the Sheriff, he met two other adventurers who had helped in the raid, a dwarf mountain-druid named Regnar and a half-Shoanti/half-orc barbarian named Creverand. Together, they decided to check some of the outlying farms to make sure everything was okay.
The trio set off to check on some of the farms to the south of town. [Edit: I think I said it was north of town, but there aren't any farms north of town. My bad.] They came upon the farm of the Jones family, who told them that they hadn't had any unusual goblin activity, outside of the festival. As it was around supper time, the heroes joined the family for their evening meal. Calitus, being a rogue, couldn't resist the urge to pocket something small as he left.
Later that evening, the heroes headed south, towards Devil's Platter, having guessed that there might be caves there where goblins could hide. As they need the plateau, Calitus began to recall stories of the Sandpoint Devil, and how it made its lair in the Devil's Platter. They decided to keep an eye out for signs of something other than goblins living there. They were able to find a small game trail that switchbacked up the side of the Platter, along the way finding several small, gnawed bones that looked humanoid.
After about an hour of searching, they found a small cave entrance. The presence of a crude trap, which Calitus easily disarmed, proved it to be the lair of a goblin. A quick check of the cave proved it to be abandoned, at least for several days. The heroes decided to camp there for the night. During his watch, Regnar saw a shadow of something large flying across the moon but wasn't able to tell what it was. But it was definitely not a cloud.
The next morning, they set off further up the hill to scout the top of Devil's Platter. They found two goblin caves on the top of the plateau. One of them was just another nest, but the other cave was much better decorated, with horse and dog pelts. They assumed that it was possibly the lair of the chieftain. They decided to set up an ambush and wait for the goblins to return home. While Calitus set up a trap at the entrance, the others searched the cave for any treasure or secret doors. They found a single potion, and a small stash of food, mostly dried meat and a few berries. The fact that the berries were not completely spoiled gave them a good indication that the cave had seen some use in the past few days.
They decided to wait for the goblins to return, hoping to capture them and interrogate them about the raid. Calitus took first watch that night, while the others waited inside the cave. A few hours after nightfall, Calitus spotted a fire in the distance. Creeping towards the edge of the plateau, he could see that it was a farmhouse on fire. He rushed back to the cave to alert the others, and they all ran to aid the family inside.
When they got to the farmhouse, the family was already being hurried out the front by an elven woman in leather armor, Shalelu Andosana. Calitus spotted a small group of goblins sneaking away from the back of the house. With a combination of the Regnar's entangle, Shalelu's bow, and Creverand's ax, they made short work of two of the three goblins. They kept the third alive to interrogate.
The remaining goblin told them that he was the last of the Birdcruncher tribe; all the others had perished in the raid. He was a bit of a pyromaniac and had only set the house on fire because it was fun. They asked him who had organized the local goblins for the raid; unfortunately, he was one of the lowliest of the Birdcrunchers. He had no idea who was behind it or if there had been any purpose other than destruction. He was so pathetic looking that they decided to bring him back to town and put him to work. Since he liked fire, they decided the smithy would be a good place to put him.
On the way back to town, Shalelu introduced herself to the heroes and told them about the area's goblin tribes. They took the family to the Rusty Dragon for the night while they tried to figure out what to do the next day. The Sheriff rewarded them for bringing in the goblin, but they all agreed to give the money to the family that lost their home. After a brief discussion with Shalelu and Mayor Deverin, Sheriff Hemlock decided to leave the next morning for Magnimar to get some reinforcements, expecting a second raid. While he was gone, he asked the heroes to stay in town and keep the peace. Hopefully, he would be back in two days.
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GUARD DUTY
The heroes set about readying the town for an impending second goblin raid. They rallied the militia and set up a schedule of additional patrols around town, especially the town borders and the beach. The first day passed without any incident more alarming than Almah Avertin forcing a loaf of bread into Calitus's hands, mothering him about being too skinny. The three heroes spent part of the night in the main room of The Rusty Dragon, eating and drinking, none more than Regnar.
While at the bar, Calitus ran into one of his old friends from the Sandpoint guard, a man named Rodney. He looked rough, like he hadn't been sleeping well. He told Calitus that his daughter had been having nightmares about a goblin in her closet, ever since she saw a goblin kill a cat during the raid. She'd woken the family dog up crying several times in the past two nights, which had woken the entire family. Calitus did his best to be supportive.
The second day was as uneventful as the first. When the Sheriff didn't return, the heroes began to get a little uneasy, but expected him to surely be back in the morning. Another evening at bar brought an unexpected reunion with Aldern Foxglove, who reminded Calitus of his offer of thanks. Calitus, trying to be polite, told Aldern that it would have to wait; Sheriff Hemlock had asked them to stay in town until he got back.
When the third evening brought no sign of the Sheriff, the heroes were generally concerned. However, they had promised to remain in town. Their vigilance was rewarded when Rodney's wife Melanie frantically sought them out at The Rusty Dragon, with little Selah and baby Judah in her arms. Calitus knew that Melanie was a strong woman, not prone to panic, so he knew immediately something was wrong. She breathlessly told them that Rodney was in danger. On the way to her home, she told them what had happened.
Tonight, Rodney had decided to let Selah calm herself down from her nightmares, like a big girl. However, when her sobs of fear changed into screams of pain and the dog's barking suddenly were cut short, they knew something was wrong. Bursting into her room, they found a real goblin on her bed, trying to eat her arm. (Melanie showed them the bite marks to prove it.) The dog was lying dead on the floor. When it saw them, the goblin ran back into the closet, where it had dug a hole under the floorboards in which to hide. Rodney ordered Melanie to take the kids while he dealt with the goblin.
When they reached the house, Calitus sent Melanie to take Selah to Hannah's in order to have the goblin bites disinfected. He told her they would do what they could to help Rodney, or at least punish the goblin responsible.
The house was small, so it was a simple matter to find Selah's bedroom. Looking in, they could clearly see Rodney, lying on his stomach with his head in the closet. Calitus and Creverand went into the room, since it was too small for all three to be able to fight in. As soon as they pulled Rodney out, they could see that he was unconscious and part of his face had been chewed on. The goblin shrieked with rage at being denied his meal and attacked. Regnar was able to pull Rodney out of the fray and heal him. The others quickly subdued the goblin and interrogated him.
The goblin, whose name was Gresgurt, was a commando from the Mosswood Tribe. He had a little bit more information about the raid, or at least the leaders. He told them that it was one of the "longshanks" (big people) that had lead the raid. He said the leader had "pointy ears, not as pointy as (Calitus), but pointy" and used a bow. The paranoid heroes' first suspect was Shalelu, but the next question (male or female?) quickly eliminated her from the suspect list. Because Gresgurt had no more information to offer, and becuase he was a goblin who had tried to eat two people tonight, Regnar and Calitus let Creverand finish him off.
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A MISSING BARTENDER
The next morning, Regnar, who was staying at The Rusty Dragon, awoke to a knock on his door. It was Bethanna, the halfling maid. She apologized for waking him, but told him she needed his help. Ameiko hadn't been up to start breakfast for the first time ever, so Bethanna went to check on her. She found Ameiko's bed hadn't been slept in, and there was a note on the floor. It was written in Minkai, the language of the Kaijitsu's ancestors, to keep prying eyes from reading it. Fortunately, Ameiko had been teaching the language to Bethanna, who has helpfully translated the note on the other side.
The letter was from Ameiko's estranged brother Tsuto. In it, he suggested that their father had been involved with the goblin raid somehow. He asked Ameiko to meet him at the Glassworks at midnight to discuss a plan to bring their father to justice, since Lonjiku would just weasel his way out of anything they brought to the authorities.
Bethanna told Regnar that Tsuto had been something of a scandal when he was born, since he is a half elf and both of Ameiko's parents are human. Ameiko and Tsuto had had a falling out several years ago, before she left town to become an adventurer. She suspected that Ameiko was in trouble and asked Regnar to find her and make sure she was alright. He assured her that he would and went to find Calitus and Creverand.
They agreed that this was trouble, and hurried over to the Glassworks. The furnace was smoking, but the curtains were closed and the doors were locked. They went around to the delivery entrance. On a hunch, Regnar knocked three times, then once more, as the note had said. Nothing happened. So, Calitus, quickly picked the lock on the door, and they snuck inside.
Inside, they found themselves in a store room lined with shelves of glassmaking supplies. A safe on the floor was hanging wide open. Through a door to the north, they heard the sound of breaking glass and high pitched, maniacal laughter. Creeping closer to investigate, they saw a gruesome display of goblin boredom. Several bodies, or rather pieces of them, lay scattered around the room. Eight goblins were amusing themselves by burning arms and legs, dripping molten glass on body parts, and smashing the remaining fine glassware. Propped in an alcove was what appeared to be a human body, encased in a thick sheet of runny glass.
The heroes knew they had to do something, so Calitus took advantage of the element of surprise and took a shot at the closest goblin. Regnar summoned a dog to help even the odds, while Creverand just charged in swinging. The goblins attacked with tongs dripping molten glass and flung panes of glass at the heroes. The dog helped keep several of the goblins cowering in fear, while the heroes finished off the rest of them. Eventually, the last two goblins recognized them as the heroes that stopped the raid, and tried to run. One was struck down before he could get out the door. While the other one escaped further into the building, he was quickly caught.
From interrogating the goblin, they learned that he was Thistletop goblin and that Tsuto had brought them here to kidnap his sister and kill his father, whose body was now in the main workroom. Tsuto was hiding in the basement.
The heroes concocted what could have been a brilliant plan. The goblin would pretend that he had captured them and take them to Tsuto. They would then try to get whatever information they could out of him. Of course, the major flaw in the plan was that goblins are terrible actors. The goblin woke Tsuto and told him that he had captured some longshanks. Tsuto quickly saw through the ruse and attacked, shouting that they would never stop her and that Sandpoint would burn. Mostly due to luck and the small room they were in, the heroes knocked Tsuto unconscious with relative ease.
A quick search of the room turned up Tsuto's journal, which contained several plans for the Sandpoint raid and some very clear information that another was in the works. Disturbingly, it also contained several erotic sketches of a woman that Calitus recognized as Nualia, foster daughter of the former priest, who was assumed to have perished in the fire five years ago.
A quick search of the rest of the basement led to the discovery of a wall that had been knocked down recently and a locked storeroom where they found an unconscious Ameiko bound and gagged on the floor. They took the siblings to the Garrison, where Tsuto was put in a cell and Ameiko in a comfortable side room. Father Zantus was sent for to make sure she was alright. In the meantime, Calitus briefed Sheriff Hemlock, recently returned from Magnimar. The Sheriff was visibly disturbed by the news that Nualia was not dead and possibly behind the raid. He was also greatly concerned about the possibility of a second raid. He had been held up with red tape in Magnimar and had only been able to secure a handful of very green recruits to reinforce the militia. He asked Calitus and his friends to do whatever they could to prevent this second raid from happening.
Ameiko, having recovered from her beating with the help of Father Zantus, filled the heroes in on what Tsuto had told her. Nualia was indeed alive and behind the raid. Tsuto had offered her a place in Nualia's group, and when she refused, he had the goblins beat her into unconsciousness. She offered to help them search the smuggler's tunnels under the glassworks, as that was how the goblins snuck into town. The heroes also recruited a local cleric by the name of Kyra and headed down into the tunnels.
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CATACOMBS PART I
Calitus and Regnar set off down the tunnel with Kyra and Ameiko following behind. The tunnel lead roughly north and they soon came to a four-way intersection. They decided to check the eastern tunnel first, but found that it had apparently caved in after a few hundred yards. The western tunnel appeared to have been bricked over but then torn down. They decided to leave that one for last. The northern tunnel also seemed to lead to a dead end but Regnar spotted an unusual crack in the wall that proved to be a secret door. The door lead to a small cave overlooking the Varisian Gulf. There were several piles.of straw and fatty blankets that looked like they might be goblin beds. Calitus suspected that this must be how the goblins had gotten into town.
On the way back down the tunnels, they decided to check out the last tunnel, just to be thorough. Calitus thought he heard somthing moving down the tunnel, he asked Regnar and the girls to wait while he scouted it out.
Calitus crept cautiously down the tunnel, hugging as tightly to the wall as he could. Soon he spotted a lone creature standing in a side passage watching down the tunnel. The thing was roughly humanoid in shape, but its knees bent the wrong way and its hands had three viciously clawed fingers. As Calitus crept closer, he could are that instead of lips it had two tiny, clawed arms beside its mouth.
Calitus moved to turn back down the tunnel, but, as he did, his foot struck a loose rock. The creature.heard the noise and moved to attack with surprising speed. Fortunately, Calitus was faster. He made quick work of the thing, then hurried back down the tunnel to warn the others.
Calitus was a little unsure about continuing on, but Myra convinced them that they needed to find out what was going on. Since both Regnar and Calitus could see in the dark and the girls couldn't, they decided that Calitus should scout ahead while the girls held on to Regnar. That way they wouldn't have to draw attention to themselves with lights.
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As they crept down the tunnel, Calitus pointed out the body of the creature he had fought. They stopped briefly to check the side passage it had been guarding, but they found it empty. They saw two more side tunnels branch off from the main tunnel but decided to follow the main one until it ended. The tunnel came to an end at a hole in the floor.
Calitus crawled down it and found himself in what looked like a prison cell. Looking around he saw maybe two dozen other cells, all empty except a few dry bones. Around the corner he could he the sound of a scuffle. Seeing that the cell door was unlocked, he crept toward the source of the noise. Peeking around the corner he could see two more of the creatures fighting each other.
Calitus very carefully edged his way back to the others and reported what he had seen. Since he had taken one by himself, they knew they could handle two together.
Calitus and Regnar snuck up on the creatures while the girls readied their torches in the cell. Regnar charged in and distracted them, while Calitus took them by surprise with a sneak attack. The girls joined in quickly and the two creatures fell beneath their blades.
A quick check of the room turned up nothing but few ancient bone fragments in the cells. Two doors led out of the prison: one to the north, one to the east.
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They chose the door to the east.
The room looked to be filled with ancient-looking, rusted mechanical gadgets. After a few moments of examination, they realized they were torture equipment. They searched the room, but couldn’t find anything really useful or immediately dangerous. Two doors lead out of the room: one south, one east.
The door to the south revealed a room filled with the broken remains of a long table and several chairs. On the south wall were three stone doors, each carved with the symbol of a seven-pointed star. Calitus checked each of them for traps and opened each one in turn. Behind each was a tiny cell, no bigger than four feet on each side. Inside each was a monstrously deformed skeleton. A search of the room turned up a scroll tucked away under a broken chair. The writing on the scroll was strange and archaic, but read magic clearly revealed it as a scroll of flaming sphere.
The door to the east lead them down a flight of steps into a long, strangely cold room with nearly a dozen pits in the floor, mostly covered by wooden lids. As Calitus went to investigate the moaning and shuffling sounds coming from the pits, a figure leapt from the shadows to attack. The thing spat a line of acidic blood at the heroes, and then swung at Calitus with the weapons in its three arms. Regnar was injured in the fight, but they managed to kill the thing. Once it was dead, they were able to examine it. It looked something like a monstrously deformed goblin with extra arms, strange runes all over its body, and parts in strange places, like an extra eyeball on its stomach.
Moving south from the room with the pits, they found themselves in another long hallway. To one side, a side passage led to a spiral staircase, which had caved in fifteen feet up.
The passageway ended at a metal door. Beyond was a room that was essentially a fifteen foot diameter sphere of reddish metal. Several objects, including a dead raven and a bottle of wine, floated lazily in the middle of the room. In fact, the heroes started to float as soon as they stepped into the room. Strange black electricity crackled along the walls of the room and seemed to form into runes or even words too often to be coincidence. The read magic spell was still active at this point, and they were able to translate some of the words: wrath, anger, vengeance. Calitus was very worried about this room being some kind of trap. He gingerly grabbed the most valuable looking of the items (a strange-looking wand, a scroll, and a book) and dove out of the room, expecting the worst. Nothing happened.
Starting to run a little low on magic, the heroes backtracked to the prison to check the rest of the dungeon. Going through the southern door, they discovered a room with a large marble statue of a woman in long flowing robes, holding a ranseur and a book with the seven pointed star symbol on it. Her long, flowing hair was held back by an elaborate headdress of hooks and blades. Her face would have been beautiful, had it not been twisted in an expression of monstrous rage. Regnar noticed that while the statue was made of marble, the ranseur was made of ivory and metal and looked to be a completely separate piece. Calitus quickly checked for traps, and then carefully removed the ranseur from the statue. Again, nothing happened.
The statue room was the crossroads of two corridors. The exit to the west lead back to the first tunnel they had come through. They decided to check the corridor to the east, which lead up several short flights of steps to a door. Inside was a round room with a pool of perfectly clear water in the center. Some sort of strange monster, a demonic looking head with wings, attacked as soon as they opened the door, but Ameiko made quick work of it. Calitus and Regnar were both concerned about the pool, especially the bloodstains along the rim, thinking that it perhaps contained a water elemental of some kind. They both poked and prodded at the pool. While it was magical, it did not attack them. As the fight had left them exhausted, they decided that this room would be the best place to rest. They jammed the two doors shut with Regnar’s sickles, in order to keep anything from getting into the room from either side, and settled down to sleep.
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CATACOMBS PART II
When we last left our heroes, they were camped out in the reflecting pool room. Since the doors had no locks, Regnar's sickles were jammed into the doors to keep them closed. Creverand offered to take first watch and Calitus took second. The barbarian's watch passed without incident.
A few hours into Calitus' watch, he heard something trying to open the door. Quietly, he crept to the door. He peered through the crack under the door, making sure to keep his face away from the crack. Nothing. Whatever it was rattled the door again. Calitus quietly woke the others.
They quickly took up positions to ambush the thing behind the door. Calitus crouched behind the door and Regnar removed his sickle. Creverabd flung open the door. There was nothing there. Suspecting something was lurking nearby invisibly, Regnar cast detect magic at the darkness. There was a faint trace of a magical aura disappearing down the hallway.
The heroes decided they had slept enough and prepared to continue exploring the dungeon. They took the sickle out of the other door. A quick check by Calitus confirmed it was safe to open. The passage led to another spiral staircase. This one led upwards, but was also blocked by a cave-in.
Ameiko checked the map she had been making as they explored the dungeon and found two corridors they hadn't explored yet. One led to what appeared to have once been a storeroom, as the ground was littered with broken shards of pottery. Calitus picked up a couple of the largest and most ornate fragments, hoping to sell them to a collector later. A gaping hole in the wall turned out to a tunnel leading back to where they first entered the dungeon
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The other intersection led down a long corridor that opened into a larger room. A pair of stone doors led south. In an alcove to one side was a raised dais. Upon the dais sat an altar rough block of black marble with a rounded depression in the top, filled with what appeared to be filthy water. On the wall behind the altar was carved a symbol of a demonic, three-eyed jackal. Kyra identified it as the symbol of Lamashtu, Mother of Monsters: demon goddess of madness, monsters, and nightmares. Kyra also told them that she believed the statue that they took the ranseur from was of Lamashtu. Calitus approached the altar, and, on a whim, poured one of the vials from the pool into the basin. The water cleared, but the eyes of Lamashtu’s icon flared an angry red; Regnar’s stonecunning could offer no rational explanation. They considered defacing the icon, but realized that if the goddess had noticed what they had already done, she would certainly notice them defacing her symbol. They wisely decided to move on, before they got themselves into more trouble.
Beyond the double doors was a large room with vaulted ceilings. A row of shallow alcoves ran around the room, just below the ceiling. A pool of water sat in the center of the room, with a ring of skulls at its center. At the far of the room stood a platform, containing a triangular pool. The pool glowed with an orange light, and wisps of steam and heat seemed to rise from it, though the room was deathly cold. Runes of various kinds covered the walls, including the seven pointed star from the statue. A strange, spiky room was carved into the wall behind the triangular pool. Much larger than the others, it obviously held some significance.
Calitus led the group into the room, taking pains to be stealthy. However, they were not stealthy enough. A raven flew over their heads from an alcove above the door. Landing on the platform, it transformed into a small, demonic-looking, female figure wearing a miniature crown and a black silk dress. She shrieked at the heroes, accusing them of daring to enter the Mother’s sanctum, as she drew a wicked-looking dagger. She slashed her own wrist twice, allowing blood to fall into the pool; the wounds healed immediately. The pool began to bubble and froth. A moment later, two of the strange monsters they had already encountered climbed out of the pool. Regnar’s sharp eyes noticed the pool’s glow faded considerably as they did, as well as the worried look in the demon’s eyes.
As the two creatures leapt to attack the heroes, the demon disappeared. Regnar cast hydraulic push at one of them, knocking it to the ground. Calitus, meanwhile, realized the danger of the glowing pool, and tried to leap over the other pool to get to it. Unfortunately, he tripped over the ring of skulls and landed in the pool with a splash. Kyra prepared to do battle by calling upon divine favor, while Creverand charged the nearest monster.
Regnar realized that the demon had only turned invisible, so began using detect magic to locate her. Kyra attacked the nearest monster to her, but was injured as it fought back. Regnar’s eagle swooped in to attack, and was able to draw its attention long enough for her to heal herself. Between the two of them, they were able to keep the monster off balance until they defeated it. No sooner had it fallen, though, than an evil-looking three-eyed hyena appeared and attacked them. It, too, swiftly met the same fate.
Calitus climbed out of the pool and quickly ran to the other pool. He emptied the contents of his final vial from the cleansing pool. Nothing happened. In frustration, he threw the vial into the pool, and rushed to aid Creverand. Calitus worked it down, and Creverand finished it off with a final, solid blow from his greatsword.
With a shriek, the tiny demon finally appeared to fight them directly. She spat a glob of foul smelling, noxious looked phlegm into Creverand’s face, but it didn’t even faze him. Ameiko took a swing at her, but the wounds healed instantly. Regnar pulled a fishing net from his pack, and tried to throw it over her, but missed. Calitus and Creverand both grabbed hold of her, and were able to hold her down long enough for Kyra to finish her off with a solid blow from her scimitar.
The demon slain, the party turned their attention to more important matters. First, the looting of the body. Calitus laid his claim on her crown and dagger, planning to turn the miniature crown into a bracelet and wear it as a trophy. They then remembered the triangular pool and the possible danger of it summoning more of those monsters. Regnar realized that purify food and drink would not be powerful enough to completely cleanse it, but perhaps multiple castings would work. Unfortunately, the spell did nothing that they could see. They considered taking a vial of the liquid back with them for someone at the church to examine, but realized they had nothing to collect it in. Their last vial was currently at the bottom of the pool. Calitus nearly reached in to grab it, but thought better of that idea.
After further consideration, they decided they were not able to cleanse it themselves, so they would inform the church about it when they got back. So, with loot in hand and a story to tell, they made their way out of the catacombs and back to the surface to rest, sell and identify their loot.
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BACK TO TOWN
The heroes headed to The Feathered Serpent to sell off their loot. Voon informed them that they had picked up a +1 longsword, a silver dagger, and a masterwork handaxe. Calitus tried to throw the demon's dagger to (at?) him, but missed. The dagger came back to him, accidentally identifying itself as a returning dagger. Voon was unable to identify the book, as he didn't understand the language it was written in. He also had not prepared the proper spell to translate it.
Kyra and Regnar took the book to the church to see if any of the priests could identify it. They found one of the priests of Sarenrae who was able to translate it. He told them that it was a Lamashtan prayer book, written in Abyssal (which was why Voon could not identify it). The priest offered to pay them a bounty for it, so that it could be properly destroyed. They also told the church about the Lamashtan altar and the mysterious glowing pool under the town.
Calitus and Creverand headed over to Savah's Armory to check out some new weapons. Calitus was interested in a garrote, while Creverand was looking for something more powerful than his greatsword, possibly something magical. Savah told him that, unfortunately, the only thing magical in her shop was a repeating crossbow.
The heroes regrouped at the Rusty Dragon to relax, thinking that the goblin threat had been eliminated. Ameiko gratefully offered them free rooms at the inn. While idly thumbing through Tsuto's journal, Regnar came across the references to Nualia. He realized that she was the actual mastermind of the plan to destroy the town, and she was still a serious threat.
The next day, the heroes went to see the Sheriff.
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The heroes went to see the Sheriff about Tsuto. He told them that Tsuto had not offered any new information and that he was scheduled for transport to Magnimar the next morning to stand trial. Regnar asked for permission to interrogate him one last time.
Tsuto didn't seem too interested in talking. Even when Regnar tried to use Tsuto's affection for Ameiko, he would not give up Nualia's location. Regnar even pointed out that Nualia would probably kill the both of them if she thought Tsuto had given up information but that the heroes could protect them both. Not even that worked.
In a stroke of inspiration, Regnar started thumbing through the journal. He found a reference to the goblins hiding out at Thistletop. He asked Tsuto if that's where the goblins and Nualia were hiding. Tsto said nothing, but his eyes said yes.
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THISTLETOP
The heroes set off immediately for Thistletop. As they approached the goblin lair they could see that it was a small fort set on top of a strangely round island. A rickety rope bridge connected it to the cliffs on the mainland. But between the heroes and the bridge grew a tangled mass of thistles and briars. Not wishing to fight through that, the heroes scaled down the cliffs to the rocky beach below, hoping to find another way in. The beach led them close to the bridge, but ended abruptly at a cave opening.
They decided to climb back up the cliffs here and see if they could skirt along the edge of the briars. They almost managed to do it quickly and quietly, but Kyra's armor clanked. Something inside the briars heard it and started yipping and barking. They decided to move a little faster.
After a harrowing climb along the narrow cliff edge, and a near fall by Kyra, they finally reached the bridge. Up close it looked even more rickety and dangerous. Calitus crossed over first. It swayed and creaked but held. The others crossed as well, one at a time.
Soon they stood in front of Thistletop fort.
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Creverand immediately wanted to burn it down, but the others quickly decided that might be a bad idea. Instead, they checked the two towers for guards. They didn’t see any in the shorter, western tower, but they spotted two goblins in the eastern tower. They decided to sneak closer and climb the tower to get the jump on the guards. Once again, Kyra’s armor proved detrimental to sneaking. The goblins heard her clank, but couldn’t see anything, so they went back to whatever they were doing.
Calitus and Regnar scaled the side of the tower with relative ease. Calitus tried to take one of the guards by surprise with his garrote, while Creverand distracted his companion. One of the goblins sounded the alarm as he joined the fray. The fight was not quite as easy as the heroes had thought, and while they did take down both goblins, Calitus sustained a nasty wound. Kyra tried to climb the tower to heal him, but met with difficulty. Finally, after slowly inching her way up, she was able to provide healing.
The heroes decided to use the view from the guard tower to their advantage. Looking down, they could see the open courtyard below with several goblin dogs running around. Calitus decided to try to climb down to the roof and cross that way. Creverand offered Kyra his rope to help her descend safely, but probably could have used it himself, as he missed his footing and landed with a thud. Everyone froze, but no sounds could be heard below. Calitus inched forward carefully, checking the safety of walking on the roof. It seemed solid enough, so he motioned the others forward.
Reaching the edge of the roof, the heroes could get a better view of the four goblin dogs running around the courtyard. They were barking and yipping and fighting with each other, and they had not noticed the heroes. They made quick work of them with Calitus’s bow (which he handed to Creverand), the returning dagger, and Kyra’s crossbow.
Examining the courtyard, the first thing they noticed was a small shed that had the door boarded over. Two goblins lay dead in front of the door, their head crushed. Calitus listened at the door. Something large was moving on the other side, but its breathing sounded weak. They decided to leave whatever it was alone for now. There were four doors leading out of the courtyard, three to the south and one to the north. They decided to start with the north door and then check the south.
The north door led them through a tight corridor. A door opened into a small room with a table and chairs. There were two more doors further at the end of the hallway. When Calitus opened the first one, the smell immediately gave away its purpose. It was the goblin’s toilet. However, Calitus’s keen elven eyes spotted something amiss with the back wall, which opened to reveal a secret room, containing an extra large sea chest. Calitus made short work of the trap on the chest, and opened it to reveal the goblins’ treasury. They scooped up as much as they could carry, intending to count the coins and such later. Kyra took particular interest in a golden holy symbol of her goddess, a well made scimitar, and a fancy green and gold dress.
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The final door in the hall led to a flight of stone stairs leading down. They decided to make a mental note of it, and come back to it later. They headed back to the courtyard to check the other doors.
The first door they checked led to a small room lined with shelves of tools. A small cage filled with rabbits stood against the far wall. A quick search turned up nothing of real value, just a bunch of poorly made, well used tools.
The next door opened into the bottom of the eastern tower. A staircase ran around the sides of the open tower. Calitus stealthily climbed the stairs, pausing at the sound of snoring coming from the top of the tower. He crept silently to the top. Two goblins were sleeping at the top of the tower, a bag lying nearby. The silent elf quickly dispatched them. A search of the tower revealed only the bag of half-eaten pickles, which no one had any interest in touching.
A door at the bottom of the tower opened into a hallway, with another door at the end. Pausing to listen, they could hear the sound of nervous goblin chatter. The heroes briefly considered just knocking on the door, just to see if the goblins would be stupid enough to fall for the trick. In the end, though, they decided to simply charge into the room.
A short battle ensued with the half dozen goblins in the room. Once they were all dead, the heroes took a moment to check the room. It seemed to be the entrance hall/trophy room. Several skins hung on the walls, mostly dog and horse. A large pair of batlike wings hung on the south wall, which Creverand identified as harpy wings, pinned to the walls with six daggers. One of them had a pearl handle, which Calitus took.
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A set of double doors led out the hall into a short hallway that ended in another set of double doors. A quick listen at this door told Calitus that there were more goblins inside. They prepared for battle. Creverand flung open the doors to find himself face to face with four tough looking goblins. Four pillars, studded with hooks, supported the roof. At the far end of the room, a goblin sat on a makeshift throne decorated with horse and dog heads. A giant lizard sat on his left, while a female goblin stood off to the right.
The goblin on the throne demanded to know what the heroes were doing in his fort. He told them that he could help them: help them to die, that is. The goblin commandos attacked the heroes first, while the female goblin started chanting a song that Calitus recognized from the raid.
The commandos were significantly harder to hit than the regular goblins; they hit harder, too. Calitus and Creverand were both knocked out at least once in the fight. Kyra used up her last healing spells to keep them in the fight. Realizing they were being overwhelmed, they fell back to the trophy hall, with Creverand blocking the door to create a choke point with Calitus, while Kyra tried to use her channel energy to keep them alive. In the end, Creverand was cut down, but they were able to finish off the commandos.
Then the goblin chief, mounted on his giant gecko, entered the fray. Calitus tried to hold him off, but even Kyra’s healing powers could not keep up with the wounds the goblin inflicted. Calitus was cut down and cast aside as the goblin advanced on Kyra. She made a valiant effort, but could not land a blow solid enough to fell the goblin chief. She, too, was slain.
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(Out of Character Note)
Since the druid couldn't make it the game last week where everyone died, he somehow escaped from the goblins. I'm going to talk to him and come up with a good way for that to have happened. I believe everyone was interested in making a new character, except possibly Creverand. So, this week's game will be making the new toons and getting them worked into the storyline.
On the upside, we should have another player joining us this week. Yay for full party! Now, I just have to figure out some side quests.
(/Out of Character Note)
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THE NEW HEROES
Meanwhile, a new party of heroes was about to form. Four new heroes happened to be in the Rusty Dragon that very night. Nubrad, human cleric of Torag, sat at the bar, drinking heavily, and ordered several rounds for the house. A traveler from Irrisen also walked into the bar and ordered a drink, having just stabled his horse. A ranger by the name of Hooch was also sitting at the bar, chatting with Ameiko.
The traveler asked Ameiko about renting a room for the week. After sizing him up, she told him that she would be willing to exchange a favor for a week’s stay. She was making a special stew for the sheriff’s birthday next week and needed some moon radishes. The moon radishes grew mainly around the Brinestump Marsh to the south, which was home to one of the local goblin tribes. He was curious as to why she needed them now, if the sheriff’s birthday wasn’t until next week, but she explained that the radishes had to be pickled, and that would take several days.
Hooch was also curious as to who might be needing help around town. She pointed him in the direction of the “Help Wanted” board. He found a wanted poster for someone called The Mosswood Stalker, who was wanted for banditry, burglary, kidnapping, sheep rustling, and several other things. Hooch thought that the traveler from Irrisen would be a great help in bringing this guy in, and asked if he was interested. They were overheard by Nubrad, who, after ordering another round of drinks for the house, told them that he worked with the guard and could help them find out more about the Stalker.
Nubrad took them to the garrison to meet with Sheriff Hemlock. The sheriff jokingly commented on Nubrad’s drunken condition, which he responded to by saying it was his day off. They asked the sheriff what he could tell them about the Mosswood Stalker. He told them that the Stalker had been causing problems for travelers and farmers around the Mosswood area for quite some time now. He warned them not to mention that they were working with the guard if they encountered Shalelu. She considered the Mosswood Stalker her private target, and would be quite upset with the sheriff for getting involved. The sheriff also told the heroes that the Stalker was not human, but some sort of monstrous being.
As they headed back to the bar for the night, they started to plan their capture of the Mosswood Stalker. They would pretend to be travelers with a broken down wagon, in hopes that he would try to rob them. The traveler from Irrisen noted that he would need to go south to gather the moon radishes for Ameiko, the exact opposite direction from Mosswood. When he mentioned this to Ameiko, she told him it would be alright, as long as he got them to her within three or four days.
As it happened, the oracle Divya was also in the Rusty Dragon that night. She, too, happened to check out the “Help Wanted” board. One of the shop owners needed several types of mushrooms for potion ingredients. As it just so happened, several of the mushrooms could be found in the vicinity of Mosswood.