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Recently I asked for some advice in the RotRL forum because I am running a group of 8 players through the campaign. Seven of the players are new to the Pathfinder system, but all of us have been gaming together more than 20 years, some even longer. When setting up the campaign, I gave them the player tips from the players guide, and told them to pick a class they "wanted to play" and also to keep that secret from the other players. I wanted a desire to play the class from the player, I didn't want to hear, I'll play the cleric since no one took it. Turns out it worked out well.
So I intend on having my players come here and post their journals of the nights adventure, their perspectives, etc. If they do that I give them a boon for the next week, one d20 reroll for either them or to make me reroll against them.
Because I gathered their backstories, I will include them here as well.
I will also update the post by explaining what I put them up against, and the minor changes I may do to increase the difficulty of the encounters.
I hope you all enjoy!
Player Class/Race:
Human Gunslinger, Human Alchemist, Elven Magus, Gnome Rogue, Elven Druid, Half-Elven Ninja/Witch, Dwarf Ranger, Human Cleric, Human Fighter
My family name is Eld, as far as you know. As to how that came to be, I will be happy to tell you. I was born to an aristocratic family, a trading house, in the Taldorian city of Cassomir. I learned my father’s Merchant trade, but knew from an early age that as the seventh son, I had no chance of inheriting anything substantial. Indeed, on my sixteenth birthday, I was given a fine set of travelling clothes, a pack of gear, and told in no uncertain terms to go out in the world and seek my fortune.
As a child, I had always listened earnestly to the stories of my mother’s brother (the black sheep of the family), a traveler and scoundrel who was almost always away on some sort of adventure. I was fascinated by his tales of faraway lands and strange people, and wanted to visit them for myself one day. One day when I was about fifteen, a parcel arrived for my mother; it was a locked box and a note from her brother that it should be given to me. There was no key, and I was so fascinated by the idea of what might be inside that I never got round to actually opening it and looking.
My first night on the road, as I made a crude camp on the edge of the Verdant Forest, I dug through the pack in search of the hard edge that had been digging into my back all day. I had been feeling quite sorry for myself, and in truth a bit homesick, even though the weather was fine and my purse was full. My spirits lifted when I found that my mother had packed my uncle’s box in the bottom of the pack; affixed to the top with a bit of wax was a note from her, and a small brass key. What the note said is no concern of yours; the key of course fit my uncle’s box. Inside was a wonder: a variety of small intricate tools, some handwritten notes, a number of parchment cylinders, and a heavy pistol in somewhat less than pristine condition.
I set the box and its contents aside, and the pistol lolled loosely in my right hand as I tried to make out the notes by the light of my tiny campfire. Thus engrossed, I never heard the bandit as he stepped into my camp, and he actually had to clear his throat to gain my attention. “Put up yer hands, lordling,” he said as he drew his short bow, “and let me see yer purse. If it’s heavy enough, I might let ye live.” I was shocked to say the least to see this apparition less than three feet before me. He was gaunt, had only one eye (though he could hardly miss me at such a range), and his clothes were little more than filthy rags. I dropped the pages I was reading and began to raise my hands.
As the pistol came up, a stray spark from my small fire landed on the priming pan of the gun. The roar as it discharged was deafening, and I flinched aside, just as the ruffian’s arrow grazed my ear. As it turned out, I could hardly miss at such a close range either; my assailant’s clothes actually caught fire from the powder discharge, and his body was blown into the brush on the far side of my small clearing in the woods. I heard footsteps running away, and bodies crashing off into the woods as the accomplices of my mugger were apparently even more startled by the discharge than I. Still, I thought it prudent to gather my meager belongings and quit the scene of carnage before they regained their courage and thought to return. I spent the rest of that night ensconced in a tree.
The very next day, I read my uncle’s instructions and followed them to the letter, disassembling and cleaning the weapon, and reloading from the meager store of cartridges he had bequeathed me. I was soon to discover that gunpowder and shot as such were hard to come by, but the raw materials to make them were decidedly less so. In my travels, I fell in with a Kelishite Alchemist while on a voyage across the Inner Sea, and he was kind enough to instruct me in the art of mixing gunpowder in exchange for some services. No, not that kind of services. Not those either. Mostly running errands and carrying heavy things from one place to another, and using my trusty pistol in guarding his person.
At length, my explorations have brought me to Sandpoint, where once again my attention to my uncle’s tales has stood me in good stead. Upon my arrival, I noticed a sign for an establishment called the “Goblin Squash Stables.” This seemed familiar to me, and thinking for a moment, I recalled one of my uncle’s stories about a goblin uprising near Sandpoint, and that he had assisted a man named Daviren Hosk in putting paid to it. Seeking only to verify in some small way one of the beloved stories of my youth, I stepped into the establishment and inquired as to whether Mr. Hosk was the proprietor, and if he might be about. A massive man with graying hair and grizzled beard bustled out, saying that yes, he was Daviren Hosk and who wants to know? As he took in my face and stance (and probably the pistol on my hip as well), he went pale as a ghost. I hastened to introduce myself as my uncle’s nephew, and asked if he were alright. He regained a more healthy coloration, and said, “Sure and I thought you was your uncle himself, come to claim what was owed for his part in that nasty business back when. Dead you say? Then I suppose I’ll have to make right by you.” With that, he made me fine gifts; a mount to befit a prince, along with tack, saddle, bit and bridle, feed, and free lodgings for the beast for a month! Thinking back to my uncle’s story (my father had always considered him a shameless braggart), I began to think that perhaps he had, if anything, been understated in his tellings. At that moment, I determined to take for myself his surname of Eld, and I will live as such for the rest of my days. Let me be known as Uther Eld.
Friedrich Beilstien
Good evening my friends. My name is Friedrich Beilstien, well, not really. I am technically nameless, a point I will cover later. I am a laid back sort who enjoys the many wonderful things this existence has to offer people such as us, drink; the company of a fine women (or women depending on one’s luck); the fruit of a hard day’s labor; the rush of relief over a battle won. Obviously I am not born to this land of Varisia, I hail from Qadira, a state in the south-eastern corner of this continent. Qadira is a beautiful but harsh land; with most geography consisting of desert landscape we have a fairly sparse population well made up for in a rich, proud culture.
I myself was born to a spice merchant in the capital city of Katheer. Katheer is second in mercantile and trading only to the great city Katapesh. I even remember my former father’s more humble beginnings. I am no stranger to the pang of hunger so debilitating that one can hardly move a spoon and save oneself. Through some bizarre play of luck and patience my former father was able to make his business thrive into a very prosperous trade. He now has more than five cargo ships to his name as well as multiple store fronts in the city. His greatest vice, in my belief, and the main reason I sit here today, is the pride in number and variety of slaves he possesses.
The most common breed of slave in Qadira is the Gnoll; Katheer and my former father are no exception. I have always been against the owning of others, odd for a Keleshite I know, but I have always been a bit off by my society’s mores anyway. I came to enjoy many an evening dining with our Gnoll slaves, now please get that disgusted look off your face, it does not suit you well my friend. As I was saying, dining with our Gnolls came to be a most agreeable experience for me. Once you get over their mannerisms they become the most hilarious company. I am quite bewildered they make decent workers for all the humor they have to suppress. My friends, the stories told by Gnolls have to be the most entertaining tales on this plane. We came to be quite fond of one another; in trade of knowledge and even some tutering, they taught me their odd language of yips and barks. I have even been told I “speak” their tongue better than they do. I came to the conclusion that such fine members of society did not deserve to be servants. If anything they should be the world’s greatest bards! Regardless I brewed up a scheme to free my cackling friends.
I came up with a harmless little plan to free my friends. Poisoning my former family’s dinner was far too easy. Again with that look, be well my friend I have not yet ended my reiteration. It was a simple poison to put them into a deep sleep, and just between you and I, my former mother quite enjoyed the peace and tranquility of those unwaking hours. Then I had the guards simply look the other way as I lead the group of Gnolls towards the docks. This raised no suspicion as it is commonplace to sell one’s troublemaking slaves at the docks during all hours of the day. A ship I had long known to be like-minded took them to a land that they could start anew. I know not where but have faith that they arrived as promised.
The next day my former father was furious. Yes, I am aware I didn’t need to state that, I was simply using it to segue into my next point; now if you continue to interrupt me I will find little quarrel altering your physic that even a Tian would laugh at your endowment. So, being slighted most his workforce and pride, my former father stripped me of my family name and forbade me from coming home. He gave me a small pouch of gold and I decided to head north. Frankly this is pretty much best possible outcome. He could have sent my insubordinate self to jail or worse, but he would then have had to deal with even more loss of face. This way he could tell the story as the Gnolls kidnapping me however, anyone who even remotely knows my former family would be aware of this fabrication.
What do I do you ask? Not much of a story there. I was poor and unable to obtain education until my teenage years. Though it would have been simple I never joined the ranks of the many hordes of children forced to steal and beg for money only to be beaten if they didn’t bring enough home or worse yet, to some keeper. Instead, I went to the plains north of the city and learned a small amount of how to listen to nature and live off the land. I very nearly left home to live solely in the wilds and try my luck there, however, my former father turned things around right on the brink of my desertion. I then had enough to attend classes and found much joy in the many histories of this land. Most importantly this is where I learned of my love for the alchemical world. It was from this love that I chose my current title of Friedrich Beilstien, an ancient scholar known as one of the founders of alchemy. He wrote the first book encompassing alchemical reagents and many of the formulae still used today. This book was titled Handbuch der Organichen Chemie. It is a shame but very few even in my field are taught this fact, many prefer to claim his work as their own and simply rename the formulae to their liking and self gratification.
I delved deep into the studies of altering our physical existence through the use of substances we find everywhere. I learned to make near magic-like effects happen through the use of elixirs of my own design. Explosives are everywhere, literally everywhere. It takes almost nothing at all to make something unstable enough to explode. That ale you’re drinking, give me five seconds and it could be a bomb. No, I will not tell you how, so don’t ask. I leaned of history as I stated earlier, the cyclopean cities that once dotted this very countryside, their language and that of the Thessilonian have intrigued me a great deal. So I decided to head for Varisia straight off.
First from the docks of Katheer I took a sailing ship to Almas, the capital of Andoran. From hence I procured a river boat to take me up the Andoshen River to the pleasant logging town of Falcon’s Hollow. From Falcon’s Hollow I was able to journey with a merchant caravan into the Cheliax haunted country of Isger, stopping at Dustspawn. Left after just a few days rest through the mountain pass to Druma’s, Profit’s Flow River. I walked along the side of the river until reaching Macridi on the outskirts of the Palakar Forest. Whence from I took yet another river boat to the Capital, Kerse, and found a ship to bring me to war-torn Nirmathas. Beginning in tamron I followed the Marideth river until arriving at the eastern foothills of the Mindspin Mountains and travelled by foot once more to the Shining River and the pneumatic wonder known as the city Skelt.
I spent some weeks in Skelt allowing my body to rest after all the traveling it had partaken. During this time I was able to marvel at the many manufactured channels the boats where raised by to get to the city, which rests at the top of a cliff. Sorry, makes it kind of hard to follow with me jumping around like that. I fallowed the rivers north and west again until I finally found myself in Varisia. It was in Korvosa that I learned of this festival opening a new church to the seven and I simply could not miss such an event. What grand timing as well, for I had time to make it to Sandpoint if I played my hand well, and indeed I did. I was lucky enough to find a ship to take me to Magnimar by way of the Conqueror’s Bay and finally on to Sandpoint, with just about a week to sleep before the festival starts up. That my friends is how I came to be here, now if you will be so kind as to excuse me, there is a bed upstairs calling to me even now as I speak these last few words. Drink my friends, be happy, for Shelyn saw to it that I am here, and in one piece none-the-less.
Eilarolyn “Lynn” Tarsis
I was born and raised in Iadara, Kyonin. My father Drannor and my mother Imryll worked at the University as instructors. They had been together for hundreds of years. He had served through the military and adventured on his own, and was still known to travel occasionally. She had always lived in the city and done many things throughout her life.
Due to my parents’ occupations, I have spent much time trapped in rooms and libraries reading and listening to lectures. Tons of books and tomes, some of which I had to learn, so I could sit in classes. It wasn’t until the last 10 years or so that my parents actively started pushing me toward something to start my life.
I was unable to dedicate myself wholly to magic. I could focus when necessary and learn proper methods, but was always drawn to the fighting fields. Studying both seemed to satisfy me, but lead to mediocre reviews by my teachers as I did neither as well as those classmates wholly devoted. Some of my teachers were glad to see me go, as I seemed to be at the center of disruption. Between girls being angry with me and others tending to have mishaps, the fingers always seemed to point in my direction.
My parents sent me to work with Master Sidthor. Master Sidthor mixed the use of weapon and magic into one. There would be times during studies that he would instantly spring to his feet and order an attack or sparring lesson, only to immediately put me back to studying. Or immediately call for spells in the middle of sparring or actively have me attack using both.
I came to that point where Master Sidthor said I’d be better off going out on my own to learn more. I told my parents, packed some stuff and left for Sandpoint to start my adventure. My parents gave me enough to get me to Sandpoint. I sailed from Greengold to Tamran. Walked, hitched from Tamran to Korvosa. Sailed from Korvosa to Sandpoint.
Moxie Ottersqueak
Moxie is a kind, quiet, coy young lady. She is cute, demure, and artistically playful. This combined with her style, and natural beauty has endeared her to the local community. She entertains occasionally with song, dance and an infrequent “magic trick.” Moxie has a gentle, tender heart which she wears on her sleeve, but is well versed with a blade or bow and will pounce from the deep shadows of an alley to shank-n-bank those who victimize the innocent. When Moxie is in full bloom, she is difficult to disregard. At 3’2”, 35lb. (53), Moxie is the vision a female gnome with a shapely fragile frame, olive complexion, big bright orange eyes and thick fine hair. Although her hair is muted in dreadlocks most of the time, she switches her look to pig tails or the wild look occasionally. Originally from Whistledown, Moxie was orphaned at a young age while her family travelled with a merchant caravan teamed up with a troupe of acrobats and troubadours that was set upon by bandits. Few escaped with their lives but the child Moxie hid successfully in a chest among the brightly colored costumes of the entertainers. Of the original troupe and caravan only an acrobat, a troubadour, and Moxie survived. Moxie was left with the Sandpoint locals, but made the acrobat and troubadour promise to return for her . She did not fare well with her foster family, and broke out on her own, living and working with the local artisans. Moxie cared for her aging acrobat and troubadour in their elder years after they retired from the road in Sandpoint. Moxie learned their skills, and since the last of them was laid to rest in the boneyard, she has lived life to the fullest, in her way. She has loose affiliations with the local wharf bruisers and pier dollies because of the time she spends near the ocean. She loves the animals in, and around town, caring for all the stray and sick she comes upon. Her favorite pass time is going to the river or beach to find the local raft of sea otters that she has come to know and love. They play and squeak for hours some days. She has learned many “tricks” from the otters as well. Her ultimate desire is to follow in her adopted parents, the acrobat and troubadours footsteps to see the beautiful things the world has to offer, and take a few of the prettiest for herself. She has finally accumulated enough to outfit herself for the road, and only awaits the proper group of adventurers to come along to earn their trust and respect.
Sheldor, the Elf
Where he is from: The foothills of the mountains to the east are where I call home. These foot hills are strategically located in between the lands of the Winterwall Glacier to the west and the northern mountain range of the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. This is where I was born and raised, this land of long bleak winters and ancient magical invaders. Here is where I learned the ways of the natural world and the balance between survival and coexisting with nature and the natural order.
History: It is no secret that my family and clan are Fey in essence. That is obvious due to our ability to manipulate nature through spells and our almost symbiotic relationship with both plant and animal. The ancients have passed down from generation to generation the oral tradition of our beginnings. The dreadful Ice Queen and her minions invaded from the far north long ago. It was her invasion of the lands southward that brought my early ancestors to where we are now. At one point, one of my fore-fathers diverged from the dark path and we have lived on somewhat seclusion ever since. The Queen still demands our allegiance and to be brought back into the fold of evil. She has made her Winter Witches responsible for “convincing” my clan to rejoin. Too much time has passed and that will never happen.
Arriving in Varisia (My story): My people have a long running tradition. This tradition is to venture out into the southern lands to experience life and to gather knowledge to bring back to the clan. These experiences are shared while sitting around communal fires and enduring the long winter days and nights. We share these stories when it is the coldest and we are gathered together keeping warm and passing the time still the great thaw comes again. As I travel through these strange and exotic lands, I keep a journal of facts and encounters with others. This will ensure an accurate record of my venture and further enlighten the elders and members of my clan so they may understand how the world is faring outside our cold and rugged lands.
Story to come
The only other Pathfinder experienced person at the table. Does not have internet, doubtful I will get a story, but will add if I do get one.
Synopsis written by GM
An orphaned child rescued by Varisian troubadours and raised by them. Fantastical tales of long fiction where told as to the whereabouts of his rescue and orphanage. Now a cleric of Desna and enjoys the open road.
Story to come
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Gah! My kingdom for an edit button. I remembered seeing them when I posted but didn't realize I was on a 1 hour time limit. So anyway . . .
Small correction the Cleric is a Half Elf. My bad.
And here is the Half-Elven Ninja/Witch
She was born in the shadows and mires of Wanshou, never really knowing much more of her parents other than the faintest images in her mind's eye; more of a child's dream of what could have been rather than what was. More than anything, she remembers running through the edges of the rice patties, nearly feral. Stealing a meal here and there, she was always moving and searching for a better place to hide, hopefully somewhere dry to sleep if her luck held, which it often did not.
All to escape notice of the overseers, that was her only goal. Even in the guise of filth and starvation, the plight of little girls is obvious. So, she hid -- always. But, even the shadows have eyes. And from the darkness, she was spotted, measured and found of some worth. They came and took her.
Rumors of such practices have always shrouded the legends of ninja clans -- more for their truth than one would ever would suppose. But, the strict and orderly life she was tossed into gave her purpose and place where she had none before. As the other orphans struggled and failed, she found meaning and accomplishment.
Such was her success, that she was sent with an entourage to a far away land to manage clan concerns, concerns that ultimately were not hers other than to do as she was requested. She was simply charge to await in this foreign land until assigned tasks the masters deemed of value. But, no one plans on storms and shipwrecks.
She was salvaged, like so much other wreckage, by a witch-woman who by chance found this lone survivor and wanted to spare her the plight that goblins might have for a young girl from a far away land.
Years have since past and she waits, as that was her task and final charge. High over the bluffs of Sandpoint, she lurks and watches for salvage for the witch-woman, her mother-not. Together, they live a solitary and secluded life filled often with silence. She trains. She listens. She prepares. Some day, she will leave.
Her mother-not, knows her time of departure is coming. She has foretold it. The girl, as that is often all she calls her, or perhaps just Tian, knows the truth of it. She must journey into the world to test her training and lessons, as well as her own worth. Fate, much like shipwrecks and shadows, must once again take a hand in her future. Hopefully, there will be purpose and honor.
Lucien Prospero
Who am I?
Well now, that is really the question we must all ask ourselves.
Are we all born into our roles in life and identified only by our family name? Are we merely the next pawn in a long series of pieces marching across the board in a predetermined pattern? Do we really have no choice other than to accept our fate and our place in the cycle of events that is our reality?
Perhaps, for some, this is their destiny, be it lowly or grand. They may choose to follow along with the current that weaves through their daily lives. But for me, I have chosen a different path. I wish to make my own way in the world and explore it’s mysteries and wonders on my own accord.
For me, I have chosen to be a wanderer and adventurer. It is this desire that led me to leave behind my birthright as the eldest son of a wealthy family in Cassomir, in my beloved home country of Taldor.
Many have questioned me as to why I would forego a life of wealth and ease. Of course, I benefited from my family name and wealth as a child. I studied in the best schools, and trained with the blade masters of Cassomir. My skills were good, and I earned the praises of the instructors, but I still wanted more from life than to be tied down in the city. Instead of taking over the successful gallery business built by my father, I chose to attend the academy in the capital city of Oppara. It is there that I found my love of history and legend in the tomes and scrolls of the library. The heroes and stories of the past intrigue me to this day.
After reaching an agreement with my father to allow my younger brother to inherit our family’s gallery, I left Cassomir behind and have traveled throughout the local lands to experience the world for myself. It is during these travels that
I heard of the Swallowtail Festival in far-off Sandpoint.
I booked passage on a ship from Cassomir that took me to Absalom, and from there onward to Sandpoint, the Light of the Lost Coast.
Upon arrival in town, I acquired a room at the Rusty Dragon Inn, and have spent the last few days exploring the town and enjoying the sights, sounds, and excitement preceding the festival.
I look forward to the coming days.
Looking forward to the new game starting tonight!
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Just to fulfill a point of curiosity, considering you're running with 8-9 players and most of them are new to the system, would you mind timing a round of combat (the second round, ideally) and maybe an entire combat? I'd really be interested in how long such a thing might take... we've never had a group larger than five players and tend to feel like four (with 0-2 DM-run NPC's) is usually ideal - in part because we all hate the idea of players missing sessions and getting gamers together can be like herding cats sometimes. The smaller groups tend to make role-play a little easier, with subplots for each character easily addressed each session - in my admittedly limited experience with large groups, they tend to devolve into massive dungeon crawls because individual role-play detours might leave anywhere from 3-5 people bored and with nothing to do for a time.
I also wouldn't mind hearing how you adjust the occasional fights to accommodate that small army you've assembled as well as how you adjusted the rewards... we're going to be starting RotRL this weekend and we'll only be going with 3 PC's - a Summoner and two Master Summoners, all Half-elves. The Master Summoners are twins and the Summoner a long-lost half-brother that has only recently been reunited after a giant attack on the family's village... the summoning magic obviously being part of their bloodline and heritage. I mention all of this because it seems like we'll be going through VERY different campaigns despite sharing the same AP and the variances should prove interesting - I may start an online journal here if there is any interest in reading it.
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Last nights campaign kicked off and I would have to say it was a success!
A quick recap by me on what I wanted to see in the game, a reminder of the journals and the boons, and a small don't be surprised if I don't know *all* the answers when the question is asked.
The night began with Mayor Deverins speech and introduction of all the speakers when it was their time to speak. Soon after the players were given free reign to walk about town to see the vendors that were selling their wares, and sampling some of the local events.
I used the additional events that have been posted on the RotRL forum post by other players and the players had a great time with many events. Essentially every player ran 1 event, with some doing 2. I really played up Daviren Hosk running the Goblin Toss event, the hatred of goblins being very obvious to the players that attended.
The Dragon Races were fun to play as I really acted up Gressel Tenniwar's attempt to sound like a cross between a latin soccer announcer and a WWF wrestler.
I had Ven Vinder and his bored daughter Shayliss running The Devil Hunt archery contest. Two players walked away with pies from that event.
One of the funnier parts of the evening was the female gnome rogue doing the Ogre Stomp event and totally stunning Das Korvut into silence when she rang the bell. Gotta love a good d20 roll.
Another player walked away with one of Aesrick Battlehorns wooden giants during the Lighthouse Smash.
The lunch and free meal had almost everyone running to the free peppercorn steak and missing out on the meal provided my Ameiko, but this will soon be rectified after the evenings "festivities."
Players then had another go and some of the events they missed and soon the sun began to set.
The thunderstone was dropped and I even in my best Andy Serkis voice sang the creepy Goblin Song. That went over well, but admittedly, my throat is sore today. :)
Following the advice that was given from a previous post asking for help with running a large group, I had one of the players responsible with running initiative. That helps greatly as a GM. The other awesome thing he did was announce who was on deck and who was in the hole so they could be ready with their action when their turn came up.
The first fight was changed from 3 goblins to 6 goblins with max health. So instead of the listed health of 6 I increased it to 11. (Another suggestion from the forum post asking for advice.)
The magus sprang into action first casting color spray and getting two of the goblins pretty much out of the fight as they were blinded. To show the chaos that is the goblin mind, I had one of the goblins start rifling through his blinded friends pockets for the shiny stone he carries, another goblin who was shot from the gunslinger went right after the gunslinger hoping to grab the BOOM stick from his grasp.
The fight itself went quickly. I rolled horribly and only hit one player for 2 points of damage.
The pyros and the warchanter quickly arrived and added to the chaos but again, the dice were abysmal on my end and no real "threat" was imposed. Again I used 6 goblins with max health but only 1 Warchanter, 2 may have been a better choice. The gunslinger made his save vs. Hideous Laughter and turns out the Warchanter sucks at tripping. (Going after a dwarf doesn't help either.) Also it turns out the alchemists are disturbingly effective.
As this second fight ended the cleric and druid ran about the courtyard healing those citizens that were injured along with Father Zantus.
Then the shouts for help by Foxglove and the barking drew their attention to the North Gate and White Deer Inn area.
For this fight I had 2 Goblin Commandos on Goblin Dogs, and another 6 Goblins. This fight like most of the others went easily in the party's favor, but I rolled better. It would seem that Goblin Dogs have an affinity with biting Elves. A few goblins got in minor hits, that were non threatening when compared to their total hit points. One of the Commandos crit with his bow and left a telling wound on the Gunslinger and the dogs did take bites out of the Magus and Druid. The Druid failing his save and immediately broke out in hives.
The evening ended roughly 4 hours after we started and I would say everyone had a great time. I expect to see individual player journals to start fluttering in this week.
Enjoy!
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Zandu (half elf cleric of Desna)
The last couple of days here at the Rusty Dragon have been a great break from being on the road. I love traveling but it's always fun to meet new people and share stories. I'm here for a dedication of a new temple. I was near by when I heard of the dedication so I decided I would partake in all the festivities. I used the last of my coin to book a room at the Rusty Dragon for four days. Now that I have payed for my room and board I only have 10 copper, and 9 silver to my name but that's how I like it.
Today during the Swallowtail Festival, I saw the Mayor, Sheriff, and town Priest. I played games and won prizes. Ate good food, I have a small crush on the Rusty Dragon's owner (Ameiko Kaijitsu) so I ate the food that she provided. As always it was a mix of interesting flavors.
After my meal I wondered off to play more games. You get to meet owners of the shops, it's easier for me to talk to them when I'm outside, I just feel more comfortable in an open market. Desna pointed out to me that some of the merchants had items of interest. Touched by magic. Way to pricy for my purse but I always like to look.
Back to the releasing of the Swallowtails. The highlight of the evening for me since I am a follower of Desna. After the release there was a loud boom and then goblins attacked the town.
The goblins were right there in the square by the Cathedral, I couldn't believe it. There were people running away but I saw brave people willing to fight against the attack so I asked Desna to aid in our struggle. I raised my totem spear and began to dance and swing it so it could make it's music. I know it's not a favorite weapon of Desna's but it's sound can be lovely. I hate to kill so the mournful sound it makes matches that of my mood when it's time for death. the dance reminds me of freedom and that's worth fighting or even dieing for.
I don't remember just how many stayed to fight the goblins but they did very well. I healed the injured after our first two onslaughts were winding down but I could hear more trouble just north of me so I ran that way, surprised to see so many others pass me. I move very fast and to have so many people around me gave me courage. As I ran to the sound of fighting I could see goblins in the road ahead, again I asked for Desna's aid.
We came upon a goblin fight that looked as if it wasn't going very well for a citizen of Sandport. The group I was with sprang into action. Seeing a goblin and his mount (goblin dog) standing on the corpse of a local dog made me mad. We moved in to attack. We supported each other as though we had fought many battles together. We were victorious in our fight against the goblins. I healed more citizens and the group of us that were fighting so well together, were rewarded by being put up in the Rusty Dragon for a week.
There were others like myself that were already staying there but we all accepted and headed off on our own. Of the people who I had fought alongside there were three humans, two elves, another half elf like myself (female and pretty), a dwarf and a female gnome that looked way to cute to be in the thick of it but she surprised me by more than holding her own. I will need to talk with them, Desna has placed them onto my life's road and they should be properly welcomed.
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Well I started to hand-write Friedrich's journal, however, after getting halfway down the third page and not even to the point our characters ate lunch; I figured I would make two versions. One is curt, the other, how Friedrich actually perceived the events of the day.
Twenty Second day of the Month Rova.
Sandpoint-Swallowtail Festival-Temple opening-Tragedy-Discovery
I awoke in fine spirits this morning, knowing the day was to hold much entertainment and merrymaking. I packed light, donning no armor or true crafted weapon and only strapping a more decorative dagger to my person in an attempt to add a touch of color to my simple regalia. I nearly emptied my robe of its many elixirs, potions and makings, but I did not want to leave those unguarded. For, Shelyn forbid, if some curious sneak-thief got into my room and incinerate themselves I would be most distraught. Especially since I had not the funds to cover any damage as such. I headed first off for the new temple, rumor stated there was to be food and a speech or two. Speeches yes, unfortunately food would not be served till noon. As such I went about suppressing my hunger a few hours.
After the speeches put on by a few individuals, I fear I was not paying much attention to them. My eyes seemed to drift across the crowds and take in the bright colors and joyous faces. I believe the mayor and sheriff spoke, then some over-dramatic by the name of Mr. Drocas, came to find he was head of the theater in town so that explains it, gave a long winded speech on one thing or another.
It took me a moment or two to realize people were moving about me, the speeches had come to an end. I decided to wander the streets and join in with a few games. I found myself in line for what an eccentric gentleman called the "Goblin Toss". This man appeared to me to have an overzealous way of cheering when the goblin dolls landed in the "fire pit", thus I found him quite agreeable and entertaining. He more than deserved my custom.
Tossing before me was a man I recognized from the inn I am residing in. The main point of interest on his person was the wooden and metallic device, firmly attached to his waist. A pistol I believe they call it, a type of smallish firearm used with a single hand. I have, on occasion, seen them in the possession of nobles back in Qadira but was astounded to see one here. This man must have an interesting story to tell, wonder if I will ever hear it? Though I was unable to approach him for two accounts; firstly it was my turn to throw, something I was quite looking forward to as winners were awarded bags of jerky. Secondly he had only gotten a single of three goblins into the fire and I was unsure how his demeanor would be affected such, and I am aware I am far from subtle about my interests and some have taken offence to such an abruptness in the past; I had no interest in a demonstration of the device to my person. However I digress, my goblin tossing exploit was average. Besting but two of the fowl bean-gutted cloth terrors; the third was left to ransack my mythical house obtained but seconds prior. I was at least rewarded a piece of fine jerky, my empty stomach begged for more after that fantastic morsel but I did what was needed to ignore its meager pleading.
I wandered a touch more finally eating lunch in the square of less-than-entrapping speeches. The three main inn keepers providing fine meals. Seeing many of the same faces I had earlier in the day. I was surprised to see multiple gentlemen in armor and carrying spears or swords. Even ran across the man with the pistol, though I now had a new reason not to speak with him as I overheard him speak to some random passerby his dialect was unmistakably Taldoran. So once more I let him be.
Aw I fear I have put this part off long enough, as evening began to fall we gathered in the square of less-than-entrapping speeches for the christening of the Temple. The Father Zantus started the first decent speech I had heard in that particular square. Releasing hundreds of swallowtail butterflies near its completion, a most fabulous sight to behold. A scream let out to our rear, the first explosion of many to come and the appearance of small disproportioned creatures I recognized as goblins from the dolls I had tossed earlier that day.
They were laughing as one slaughtered some random canine they had pounced upon. A shrill voice came out in some poorly tuned song; I was not able to make out the words for the sudden chaos that abounded. Many ran, most screamed, some died. I felt a mixture of fear, nausea, and panic. The fewest of us did not move, they stood soaking in the picture of what was before them. They were rocks whilst the waves of people flowed around them in terror they acted. The first move was done by a spell-sword, he charged the group of green terrors and threw a swath of color from the fingertips of his left hand blinding two of the creatures while his right deftly drew sword from scabbard. More joined his defiant charge.
My body moved before I knew what was happening, it advanced without my conscious self. Hands quickly grabbing and mixing volatile reagents from pockets; to my horror it was crafting some concoction dangerously unstable.
Then, it left my hand.
Tracing its parabolic path in my mind I witnessed the effect before it happened. Fire engulfed three of the goblins as the fragile container struck the hard cobblestone street, the sound should have been deafening but I heard nothing. Perhaps that can be accounted for from the pistol's sharp retort moments before.
The melee took but moments, my mind still in shock from the actions of its host. I think I tried to speak but nothing came from my mouth. It would not have mattered either for another group of goblins come forth from the other end of the square less-than-entrapping speeches. I was once more in control of myself, though I fear it may not have been the best time. I tried to imitate what by body had made before and was pleasantly greeted with another explosive bottle. Why is it still in my hand? Its getting warmer! THROW! HOW COULD I FORGET? THROW! It flew through the air hitting its mark perfectly, more fire, more death; both of green flesh and an innocence I had held dear.
This group was dispatched as easily as the last. More screams north. I handed the spell-sword a potion of swift-feet and drank an elixir to copy its effects. We bolted forth, the rest of the weathered rocks followed close behind. More goblins ahead, some with large swords riding rat-like dogs. They put up more of a fight, the dogs more vicious than the goblins and biting long after their bodies gave to steel and fire. A noble saved, an innkeeper grateful. Finally as I put pen down, a rest most needed.
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I received the journal from our esteemed gnome rogue and am posting it for all to enjoy.
Well this turned out to be an interesting day! It was the first day in my new line of work so I decided to treat myself. I roused from my last night of slumber as a commoner, donned my armor and my new gear in the manner which Lady Ameiko Kaijitsu carries herself. I walked out to a sunny cool morning with a sense of freedom from the past. I strolled down to the piers and purchased a bucket of bait fish, then made my way to the water’s edge calling for my otter friends. Soon they arrived loping and skittering as they expressed to me how imminent was their demise had I not arrived with food in hand as they have done since our first meeting. After a quick breakfast and romp I explained that I may not be around as often now as my life had taken a new path. I stayed until they returned to the water, said my goodbyes and turned back towards town.
I arrived in time to hear the opening ceremony of the Swallowtail Festival and made my way through the crowd to stage to see the Mayor Deverin, Sheriff Hemlock, Cyrdak Drokkus, and Father Zantus give their words to the assembled townsfolk and festival goers. After announcing the beginning of the festival I walked the length of town observing the good people of Sandpoint enjoying their much deserved celebration. In my walk about town I heard Das Korvut, of the Red Dog Smithy, barking about the manliness required to best his “Ogre Smash” hammer and bell contrivance and watched the pitiful attempts to ring the bell for a while. I had grown tired of the spectacle and Master Korvut’s indignant ridicule of his participants and turned to pet his great hounds when I heard him remark how a contestant performed as well as a little girl. At which point I squirmed my way up to the again barking Master Korvut and requested to play. With a reluctant glance, a snicker and some mildly unkind encouragement he took my copper and gave me a hammer as big as myself. With both hands I dragged the hammer to the contraption, knelt down, praised Shelyn and rubbed dirt on my hands, stood back up with the heft of the hammer over one shoulder, and tried to steady myself in a wide stance. In retrospect I now understand the wide stance was not in my best interest. As I forced the hammerhead skyward and paused briefly to aim as the hammer reached the highest point in its transit, I was required to side step to remain directly beneath the hammer. Then panic set in. As the hammer fell backwards, I stepped to correct the momentum. Then a brief stillness, regained composure, back to panic again with two steps to the left, back to the right, a turn to the crowd…. and straight back I fell.
As you can imagine I felt myself wishing to wither up and blow away on the breeze at this moment. My first day of self-proclaimed independence and I let an old man shame me into a fool’s errand, E-gads! To my surprise I heard the contraption sound off, looked up to witness the lead weight strike the bell and DING! I believe the secondary factor in my unbalancing had been Master Korvut’s continued bellowing as he tried to proclaim my certain difficulty with his contrivance to the crowd, but ALL fell silent for a brief moment, as I lay on my back looking skyward, eyes tearing up, a broad smile crossed my lips and I whispered a word of thanks to Shelyn for her belief in me. “HUZZAH!!” the crowd sounded as I scrambled to my feet so Master Korvut would not see what had actually happened. He turned and looked on me with amazement as I tidied up, wiped the tears away and stood proudly before him. Master Korvut presented me with a prize for being successful. A finely crafted stuffed doll…more tears coming. I politely paid my respects to Korvut and quickly moved for a place to release my flood of emotion in as much privacy as one can achieve at a festival. When I had wiped the last of the tears from my eyes I found the doll was one of variety I had always wanted as a child from Vernah’s Fine Clothing. I carried it proudly through the festival all day.
I noticed folks feasting on pies and meat which looked much better than the trail bundles I had recently purchased, so I inquired as to where they could be found. I learned they were prizes for other events so I hurried on my way to the beach to win a pie! Sadly not only did I not win a pie, I was mildly shamed for I had to use my own bow because only longbows of human size were provided at the “Devil Hunt.” I could not use the excuse for poor accuracy I had heard two elves use, that being “that is because I’m not using my bow,” but I got to familiarize myself more with my new bow, and I am glad it turned out that way.
Next I tried my hand at the Goblin Squash Stables; maybe I could win a bite to eat there. I arrived to here Master Daviren Hosk bellowing to his patrons as well, about burning the goblins before they burn down your house. He is a man obsessed with the destruction of the local goblin tribe, and ya know what, I’m fine with that! As I made my way through the line I found that women and children had a better chance of winning because they didn’t have as much challenge as the men did, so again I choked with panic. I decided to wrap my scarf about my head and hold my new doll as if I were a child, wholly forgetting I was no longer in my street clothes but armed and armored. However he did do a double glance before he realized I was a gnome, and though he was kidding, I did pull back the scarf enough to prove myself a maiden when he queried as to whether I was a lad as well. So with both of us in full blush Master Hosk screamed at me to throw the wretched goblin in the fires before it burned my house down. At which point somewhat disheveled, I missed. Only to have him fume and spit and bellow at me a second time in the same manner, again I missed. I believe I have learned a valuable lesson this day. That being….DO NOT YELL AT ME!!! Especially if you need my assistance because apparently it is an issue!?!? So with Master Hosk completely on the verge of losing his mind, he instructs me to use the children’s level at which point I was successful, because all I need do was drop the bag in a hole. To sum up, he insulted my feeble existence and gave me a tasty piece of jerky and sent me on my way.
All that piece of jerky did was make me hungry!!! Luckily lunch was not far away. I remembered the speakers reminding everyone to come back to the square for lunch. So with the sun high in the sky I made way back towards the temple, soon all I needed to do was follow my nose. I ate two portions of curried salmon and felt as fat as a noble. So I loosed a few buckles of my armor coat and took a nap in the shade of a tree with my doll in my arms and waited for the Cathedral dedication ceremony. As the afternoon sun started to lower in the sky, the air cooled and between the breeze and loosened armor I was roused from my nap by the slight chill. After a good stretch, fastening my armor up tight and washing the sleep from my face at the nearby well, I gathered my possessions and made my way to the Cathedral dedication.
As I relaxed on a barrel in the back of the square awaiting the start of the dedication I noticed the beautifully colored evening sky, yet another blessing granted for the festival. Then Father Zantus began his dedication. The amazing spectacle at the release of the enormous swallow-tailed butterflies was beautiful. I marveled at their size and beauty only to enjoy watching the children frolic and chase about with them even more. This wonderful celebration was abruptly shattered by loud crashes, screams and the unmistakable verse of a war chanter and scores of wretched gobs. I must admit I froze solid as the nasty beasts rattled threats and waved their jagged blades. Then they rushed.
A grand melee ensued, but my eyes were aflutter with the complete pandemonium and abject terror on the faces of the previously gleeful towns folk who had just witnessed a heartwarming peaceful display of devotion. Then I felt the rage start to swell in me. Just then I was torn from the terror of the people by a thunderous crack and flash. I saw a goblin staggering in a cloud of smoke screaming in agony. That seemed satisfying to me, so I leapt from the barrel and readied my bow, knocked an arrow, took a deep breath, drew back and loosed at the goblin in agony. As I had said before, the mornings practice had done me no harm, for my shot was on the mark, dropping the gob stone dead! Wow!! I marveled at my good fortune, and praised Shelyn for her blessing. As I stood there in amazement the battle with a half dozen gobs moved to the left and I struggled to focus on what was happening. Then a lone gob that had just been caught in a blast from a burst bottle came into view through all the panic and screams. I took a knee and loosed my second arrow in true combat, which also found its mark. Though he did not fall from its sting his life light was extinguished quickly, but the manner was hidden from my view. This melee had finished quickly, but through the night air screams of terror and goblin laughs seemed to come from all directions. They were everywhere, in the shadows, on the roof tops, behind us, everywhere!!
Then a sudden gout of flame erupted from a wagon near the Cathedral, and the creepy laughs of the gobs accompanied by a war chant broke the local quietude. The warriors who had put down the first clutch of gobs now charge head long into this one. “A lively bunch this troupe is! I wonder? Do they need a sneak-about?” I whispered to myself. I waited for them to lumber by and then made my way to the stage to try to get a better vantage point from which to shoot. Alas the combat was over before I could again find a suitable target for my shafts. I leapt from the stage and scrambled up the stairs to rest in a dark recess in the new Cathedral’s entry. I listened to the group as they decided on a plan, and found, that the really weren’t a group per se, just do-gooders who found a common cause. As they readied for the next wave a ruckus started towards the sea, and off they went. So I followed.
I arrived in time to be startled a second time by the loud crack and flash from one of the fellows mechanically charged metal wand. I stayed well back of this foray as two of the gobs were riding the gruesome mangy goblin-dogs, and I certainly wanted all the head start on one of those I could get. With a keen eye on those dogs and riders I managed to spot two gobs in mortal combat with a human wielding a spear. Again I took a knee and loosed an arrow at the closer of the two. My best shot of the night so far, as it burrowed to the fletching. Still, not a kill but a fine shot just the same. The second shot showed promise in flight but in his flailing to avoid the spearman’s thrust, his arm took the shaft which turned out to be a mere flesh wound. The spearman bested both gobs before I could get a third shot off, and the only safe targets to remain were the dog riders, E-gads! Leaving much to chance, I loosed two arrows at the dog riders, neither of which hit their mark. Thanks to Shelyn! Neither of these arrows were retrieved. But this was ok as I wished to stay in the company of these fine combatants on this night. Oh, on a humorous note, one of the elves was bitten by a gob-dog and got the flea-bitten-itchies. (Giggle!)
As everything came to a lull, the din of screams and laughter began to die down and all that was left were the moans of the injured. When from down the street waltzed a gentleman, who introduced himself as Aldern Foxglove who seemed smitten with the Tian in the troupe. He thanked us all and asked us to dine with him at the Rusty Dragon Inn later…..Well,Hyaa!! Oh and on the walk back to the Cathedral, Lady Ameiko graced us with her presence and bid us stay at the Rusty Dragon Inn for our efforts….for a WEEK,…FREE!!! After helping to clean up a bit and tending to the wounded. We went to the Rusty Dragon, but on the way, I realized…no one form town seemed to recognize me now, no one spoke to me and I knew none of these people, not even a name. I hope that is a good thing! Oh well, as I said, It was an interest-NO!!….it was a glorious day!!!
Uther Eld, Taldorian Pistolero:
Sandpoint is an interesting little town, and even more so during the Swallowtail Festival, their local celebration of the fall equinox. The local dignitaries put on a show in the morning, and there were many displays of the local artisan’s wares as well as games of skill. I had initially had my doubts, since the entire town isn’t too much larger than the great Merchant’s Square in Cassomir, but it turned out to be a welcome diversion after my weeks of travel.
My uncle’s friend Daviren Hosk was running a “goblin toss” game, rather like the Taldoran game of “washers” where one tries to throw beanbags into a target; I tried my luck and found that I had none on this day, though Hosk’s delight at even the thought of throwing live goblins into a fire was most amusing. I suspected as much after having seen the rafters in his stables, and his enthusiasm was infectious. In light of the events later in the day, I really must find the time to speak to him about his “hobby” and how that might enable some additional coin to flow into my purse.
I also made it a point to try the archery contest, which was called a “devil hunt” and found my aim somewhat better with the traditional longbow. My prize was a small but excellent apple pie, which I savored as I headed back to the town square for the free lunch. I’ve not much taste for seafood, and the choices were a shellfish soup (“chowder” I gather they call it), salmon steaks, and a peppercorn venison dish; I chose the venison. There was apparently some sort of contest involving the lunch as well, and the salmon dish won though I was not consulted in the matter. For the afternoon, I wandered the town and kibbutzed some of the players at the games of skill (those who seemed good humored enough not to take it personally), and examined the wares of the local artisans. The one item that caught my eye was a truly exquisite repeating crossbow, with an ivory-inlaid stock. It was beyond Master Crafted, and I couldn’t begin to estimate its worth in coin; certainly far beyond my meager reach.
I had debated with myself as the day began whether to carry my pistol for the day’s festivities, for surely a peaceful settlement such as Sandpoint could hold no real danger for me; but my uncle’s weapon is my most valued possession, and it would not do to be entirely unarmed in the case of an encounter with ruffians from afar (such as me, after all). I had therefore determined to wear my pistol in its holster, but beneath my cloak to avoid remark. It is good that I did, for as the day drew to a close and I found myself back in the square at the dedication of the town’s new temple, a raucous band of goblins burst into the crowd, singing and biting and stabbing away at the townsfolk! Such behavior is simply not to be borne! As the townsfolk scattered, it appeared that a group of folk (none of them locals, by their look and dress) were of a like mind to me to stand and fight this menace. After a brief struggle, I and these fellow stalwarts made short work of the first half-dozen of the interlopers, but we could hear yet more commotion among the townsfolk; it appeared that the entire town was beset by the foul creatures. Even so, they seemed to me to be as much of a danger to themselves with their antics than they were to the townsfolk. If the mob had kept their heads and fought rather than running pell-mell from the danger, they would have made quick work of the monsters. As it was, it fell to me and my fellows.
All told I believe we slew nearly two dozen of the creatures, my compatriots and I. I know that I fired six shots (no misfires, for a wonder!), and hit five of the creatures though I only brought a single one down; they were remarkably resilient. Several of us were wounded, and I myself took what seemed to be a particularly solid shot from an arrow, but two of my fellows hold some sway with the gods and were able to heal our wounds. Many of the citizens seemed to notice our work, and our deeds did not go unrewarded as we were all granted a week’s room and board at the Rusty Dragon Inn. So I suppose that luck was with me this day, as I’m not required to move my belongings to take advantage of the boon!
Apparently my arrival in Sandpoint is precedes an annual festival. This year’s festival features a ceremony for a new temple. I was lucky enough to get a room in a decent place called the Rusty Dragon. The town is filling up with people for the festival.
Spent some time wandering around and found a fun little bar called Cracktooth’s Tavern. Local entertainers show up here and perform. It’s a pretty good time, with wine, and entertainment to your fill. The local talent is fine, but out of town talent is showing up for the celebration and everyone enjoys the fresh blood.
The day of the festival arrived with many vendors, some games and lots of food and entertainment. Little did I know how much excitement would follow.
The day was fairly uneventful until the evening came. I had played some games and listened and laughed at the hawkers and townsfolk as they participated in the activities. One local has a real appreciation of dead goblins. His game was basically to throw goblin shaped bean bags into holes in a board with painted “fire” underneath. If you throw 3 “goblins” in the hole you got some very good jerky.
That evening found people heading to the temple for its dedication. Screams rang out through the town as goblins attacked. Initially I must say I thought it all a stage show to represent a past occurrence, but that was quickly discarded. Six goblins appeared near me, more of a reaction than any active courage, I cast and stunned a couple and started to attack. Others from the crowd jumped in to assist. I recall seeing an elf, and a couple humans jump to the attack. One of them fired what I can only assume was a gun. A loud boom and blast of fire came from a metal pipe-like thing. As the assault continued others joined in and aided in defending the town. A gnome fired a bow into combat and another human lobbed some sort of exploding potions to help defeat the attack.
A short lull occurred and the small group of apparent travelers took stock of the situation. Suddenly more calls for help and sounds of attack were heard. I was handed a potion told to drink it as he drank one and moved at an exceptional speed. I did, the fighting spirit must have taken hold. I rushed the noise of attack to find more goblins and a couple dogs. A fearful noble was off to the side pleading for help. The group, reacting much as I, had rushed to the sound of fight. Upon the sight we jumped to the attack. I must say, it didn’t go well for me and the dogs pack a nasty bite. I was bitten twice and to save myself stepped away from combat. My fellow elf and the potion laden human aided in my recovery each time and I moved back to the fight. I didn’t help much and others managed to sleigh the remaining goblins.
The noble offered us free lodging at the Rusty Dragon for “saving him”. I look forward to meeting the group.
My arrival in Sandpoint a few days before the festival provided me with some extra time to explore the town and take in some of the local sights, customs, and flavors. Needless to say, I was thrilled to finally be here after the long journey by ship, and the less than satisfying accommodations found on board. The Rusty Dragon was rumored to be one of the best inns in Sandpoint, so I made reservations for the next week.
The pre-festival celebration was quite a party in its own right, and gave me a chance to sample the local food and drink. Unfortunately, on the night before the festival, I overindulged in the drink category. This led to me oversleeping the next morning...until after the noon bell to be precise. I finally rolled out of bed early that afternoon with a groggy head and a mouth as dry as a desert. I was annoyed with myself as I realized that I was already missing the day's activities.
I washed up and dressed as quickly as possible under the circumstances, and made my way downstairs to find some much needed food and drink. I felt somewhat better after eating a late lunch, but my head was still throbbing and the sun seemed unnaturally bright. Instead of strolling through the noise and bustle of the festival, I found a nice, comfortable table under a canopy near one of the main streets and watched the people stroll by dressed in their brightly colored outfits.
Several hours later, my head had finally cleared, and I felt well enough to get up and become part of the festivities. I made my way through the packed streets, and marveled at the diverse crowd and overall excitement. Throngs of smiling and laughing people filled every street and sidewalk as they played games, bought treats and treasures, and generally enjoyed themselves.
As the sun began to set, I made my way toward the main square to see the events at the new cathedral. As soon as I arrived at the square, complete chaos broke out as a loud explosion was followed by the sudden appearance of a hoard of bloodthirsty creatures that could only be Goblins. A wave of the foul creatures flowed through the now panicked revelers and took delight in attacking anyone and vandalizing anything in their path.
I quickly found myself in the middle of a rapidly developing melee in the square. I noticed several others in the crowd who seemed to be attacking the Goblins rather than running away, so I forced my way through to join them. Within a few minutes, we had eliminated the immediate threats around us, and went in search of the calls for help we heard from another part of town.
As we pushed our way down the street, we encountered another band of Goblins, with some of them riding on ugly, dog-like mounts. These also proved to be easily dispatched by our small group of brave souls. I slew two of the Goblins quickly myself and moved to help the others finish off the last threats in the area. Following the fight, we had a brief chance to treat any injuries suffered before several citizens from the town showed up to thank us for our help.
It seems that the Goblins had attacked throughout the town, and there were many fires and other damage that completely interrupted the festival. While I'm sad that the great festival was ruined, I found myself exhilarated by the recent combat, and looking forward to learning more about the other brave souls who faced down the Goblins.
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Our Half-Elf Ninja/Witch is unfortunately on the road at the moment for work and was unable to write out a detailed journal but for inclusions sake sent this:
They smell bad. I always hate going to town. I hate it almost worst than the goblins. However, fate has finally granted me a sign and I have tested my steel against those awful little green demons. It is now time to prove myself.
There are others who joined the battle. These I shall travel with - even though the dwarf smells more than the goblins.
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Last night we began Part 2 of Burnt Offerings.
Because Part 2 is more organic in nature as to the encounters I arranged for the events to follow in a particular manner.
After the fight with the Goblin Commandos and Goblins near the North Gate and saving Alderen Foxglove from his predicament the group breathing heavily from the sudden call to arms and non-stop nature of the encounters were finally able to stop and realize what had just happened.
I described Sandpoint as almost feeling like a ghost town as a majority of its citizens had made it indoors and barricaded themselves against the goblins. There were occasional bodies in the street, thankfully mostly goblins. It seemed that mostly pets and strays were the order for the day as they seemed to take the brunt of the goblin attack.
I explained to the group that now that you have stopped fighting you take in the scene around you. Bodies litter the streets, mostly pets or strays. Occasionally you see the remains of a townsperson, but there are more bodies of goblins. The sounds and sights of a few goblins stuffing their pockets with goodies before running for the wall the only sound and sight you see. Its then that you realize the only other people standing with you are the ones that fought the goblins.
I then had everyone give a brief description of themselves and general introductions were made.
Surprisingly enough no one looted the bodies. The only "looting" was done when the gnome rogue picked up one of the many dogslicers to keep as a trophy.
They decided that going to the Rusty Dragon was what they wanted to do because a drink was desired by all. Along the way it was noted that damage the further into town they went was less severe.
Eventually everyone grew weary and retired to their free rooms for rest during the night. Aemiko giving them all a bowl of day old stew with a haunch of bread for dinner, free of charge, as she had not had proper time to cook anything.
The cleric headed up to the cathedral after dinner and worked into the late evening helping with the wounded and doing his nightly prayers (receives his spells at night rather than morning).
The next day had the group moving about town and assisting where they could. None of them had a Craft or Profession that would help but they could sweep, drag bodies, lift overturned carts, and climb ladders to replace burned thatch. This part of the adventure took the longest and as a GM I probably played it up to much. Admittedly though, a lot of RP happened during this phase.
That morning they met Foxglove who gave them a bag with 25 platinum coins in it to divide among their group of heros. I played up his "foppery" and enthusiasm at having seen them in action. It was also at this time that Foxglove asked if the group would be interested in a boar hunt the next day. I allowed the group to make a Sense Motive check (DC 15) to determine that there were ulterior motives behind the invitation. Not knowing that he really just wanted to "learn how to be a hero."
I had Sheriff Hemlock arrive late in the morning with a cart load of gear and offered it to the group as it was his understanding that they had earned it. In it were 2 potions of Cure Moderate Wounds (from the 2 commandos) and 1 potions of Cure Light Wounds (from the warchanter) and 60g. Only the warchanter had a listing of 20g, the others had none listed. Mistake or omission by Paizo not withstanding I added 20g from both of the commandos as well. They did not have to identify the potions as I added that Hemlock had asked Podicker to look at them to see if they were safe.
As had been suggested some of the group wanted to tear off into the countryside looking for more goblins to slay. With one of the group taking the campaign trait for the free horse from Hosk they went to him being the resident goblin killing lover. To help keep them in town while Hemlock was still having them go through the spoils of the fight and their asking if they should pursue the goblins I had Hosk step from the stables and mention that it wasn't one tribe that did the raid.
I had Hemlock question this with the group standing there and Hosk replied with different markings on their bodies, flights of their arrows were of different make. To get two tribes of goblins to attack a city meant they were working together. Hemlock asked how that could happen and Hosk gave him the "Duh" look and replied something bigger and meaner made them do it. This info was supposed to come from Shaelelu but she had not entered the picture yet. The ploy worked as the group thought it unwise to go wandering about when they didn't know the whole picture.
That evening they went with Hemlock after a frantic Zantus arrived to investigate the vault. Instead of two skeletons they had two zombies. Since the Robe of Bones could make them as well. Once they slid the vault door aside two zombies did their free 5' and slammed both. A good fight happened with three of the party being injured and some of them using their boons I gave for their journals as me re-rolling to hit them. Well played sir, well played. Both of the zombies were at max health as that seemed to give a good encounter for danger vs time of fight. Funny enough they found the discarded and now useless Robe of Bones but no one identified it or cast Detect Magic. Their assumptions that it was the discarded robes of the previous priest.
The next day was the boar hunt and in the morning Foxglove and his three manservants were waiting with a boar spear for all. I decided not to buy everyone a horse as the adventure suggests since there probably not that many horses to buy and I doubt Foxglove had that much money. Eight boar spears he could do.
They then walked to Tickwood Forest and this was probably the funnest part of the night for me as again I played up his "foppery" and he talked to everyone. Asking them all for grand stories of daring-do and high adventure. A lot of great RP happened during this phase. Eventually he settled on the fighter and they spent the rest of the hike talking combat maneuvers with the boar spear.
The group made a Perception check to notice the sounds of movement in the underbrush and those that did were able to react to the two boars charging their party. The boars were using the listed health and not the max health that I had been using for all the monsters so far. The round went with boars first, then those that made the Perception check then we went into initiative. Again a few more boons caused a re-roll by me and were becoming concerned when the damage did not seem to drop the beasts (Ferocity for the win).
When the fight was over it was then they noticed that Foxglove was standing in frozen terror, with a death grip on his spear. His manservants behind trees far behind the group. When he shook off the shock of the attack he proclaimed that he didn't know that boars here were that big, and that mean, essentially playing up his "foppery" again. The journey back to Sandpoint in complete silence from Foxglove as he was still terrified from the fight.
The night lasted just under 4 hours. Our group taking a little longer to start than normal. Next week we will introduce Shaelelu and I intend on splitting the group to run the remaining encounters from Part 2, and hopefully we will get a good way into Part 3 next week.
Uther Eld, Taldorian Pistolero
After the fight, there came the opportunity for my new compatriots to introduce themselves. They are Zandu (human cleric), Barus (dwarf ranger), Tian (half-elf ?), Sheldor (elf druid), Moxie (gnome rogue), Lynn (elf magus), Friederich (human alchemist) and Lucien (human fighter). It seems that Lucien is from my own home town of Cassomir, and I even recall (vaguely) his family name as being associated with an art gallery. At first, Zandu’s accent fooled me; when I asked his name, I thought that he said ‘Wilmit’ when he was just noting that we were “well met.” I shall have to pay closer attention to his unusual speech.
We all agreed that the ordeal had developed in us a powerful thirst and hunger, so we all headed to the Rusty Dragon to take advantage of the offered free acommodations. There was considerable minor damage to a number of homes and buildings, but it seemed that most of the dead laying in the streets were dogs, cats and goblins. Still, I was aware that we were closely watched from behind barricaded windows and doors as we made our way to the south of town.
At the Rusty Dragon, the few patrons were in a sour mood. Most of them were injured in some way, and all looked up suspiciously at our arrival. I attempted to lighten the atmosphere by quipping, “didn’t everyone slay a bunch of goblins tonight?” That fell flat, so I taxed my purse a bit by buying a round of ale for the house as recompense. Somewhat later the proprietress arrived and served some stew and hard bread, and we eventually all staggered off to our rooms and dropped into an exhausted slumber.
The next morning at breakfast, I outlined my plan to those companions present that we could perhaps make some profit by ridding the region of this plague of goblins; and several of us made our way next door to the Goblin Squash Stables, where I tried to interest Daviren Hosk in the enterprise. He allowed as how the town sheriff might have some plans in that direction, but did offer a bounty of 5 gold pieces for each pair of goblin ears we managed to bring in. I think he has plans to wallpaper his entire house with them, as well as his business.
Back at the Rusty Dragon, the others had arisen, and I told them of the bounty. Just then, Mr. Foxglove arrived and paid us his promised boon. As no one else made a move for the pouch, I took it up and counted 25 platinum pieces within! A rich bounty indeed! His only caveat was an invitation to a boar hunt the next morning, which I took to be a pretext to get us alone for some spiel. We all agreed to go nonetheless. I believe that we all then dispersed about the town to help in any way we could. I wound up carrying bundles of thatch up ladders all morning, and was reminded how little I like so-called “honest work.”
After lunch back at the ‘Dragon, the sheriff arrived with a cart of spoils from the goblins slain last night. He told us that the townsfolk thought that we ought to have our pick of the stuff; only a few things were really of value: a bag of gold coins and some vials of liquid. I was surprised at the heft of the bag of coins, and even more surprised when one of my compatriots said that he thought the money should go to the townsfolk who had been most afflicted. Someone else even agreed with him! I was about to wonder aloud what sort of fools I had fallen in with, when the cleric (!) piped up and said, “This is their way of showing us their gratitude. It’s alright to accept a gift.” I swiftly agreed, and we split up the proceeds after the sheriff left. At this rate (assuming I can bring Hosk about fifty pairs of goblin ears) I will be able to afford the materials I need to refurbish my pistol in a matter of days!
There was another commotion in the evening, as the sheriff called upon us to look into a desecrated crypt on the church grounds. After a brief scuffle with some monstrous walking dead (the remains of one of whom’s brains I managed to decorate the side of the crypt with) we found that the remains of the previous priest had been stolen. More goblin tracks were about, so we knew the responsible parties, and this latest outrage further encouraged me that we should take the fight to them rather than wait for their next jab.
But first, we had other business to attend to, in the form of the boar hunt with Foxglove and company. He brought boar spears for all, and I dutifully shouldered mine as we walked southeast toward the Tickwood. It seemed that Foxglove was interested in learning everyone’s history as an adventurer; he subjected everyone but me to an extensive interrogation. As I don’t care to lie, I simply stayed as far away from him as possible and kept my mouth shut and in this way seemed to escape his notice. He finally latched onto my countryman Lucien to instruct him in the proper handling of a spear. As they were practicing their thrusts or parries or whatever one does with such a contraption, I heard a rattling and grunting in some nearby brush. Before I could shout a warning, two great boars burst from the woods and were upon us.
Lynn was badly mauled upon the instant (he had also taken the brunt of the zombies’ attacks the previous evening; I wonder if monsters like the taste of elf?) and Moxie stuck one with a spear and hung on for her life. As for me, I dropped the silly spear and drew my pistol. I missed not once, but twice in the melee, but finally managed to wound one of the unholy beasts to the heart (firearm crit FTW! DG) as we finally brought them both down. Foxglove hadn’t moved a muscle during the entire confrontation, and gripped his spear across his body with white knuckles, his eyes were as wide as any person I have ever seen; indeed, I begin to understand why the Tian’s refer to us as “round-eyes.” We spitted the boars on two spears and carried them back to town, making gifts of the carcasses to the two inns. Foxglove spoke not a word the entire way.
As we walked…well I was trotting, to the Rusty Dragon I took note of each of these brave warrior’s likeness, bearing and character. The manner of attire and equipment was fascinating as each seemed to be of a different style and make, and some even wore real, heavy plated armor! Curiously many carry and wield spears of a type and fashion specific to their cultural origins. Though talk was sparse I consumed every word of their accent laden speech. They are well traveled and worldly. Just the type of band I always hoped to endear myself to, and they did not seem to have a sneak-about! As I dodged in and out of the paths of each as they spoke, trying to keep up with their stride and take in all that distinguished them, I began to formulate a plan to impress upon them the benefits of retaining a sneak-about. It was just before reaching the Rusty Dragon that I realized none of them were familiar to the other. Maybe this won’t be so difficult after all!
The elves in particular fascinated me! The one, Lynn, is the tallest and most handsome elf I have ever seen. He fights with sword and spell…at the same time, and carries himself in the manner of a city dweller more so than the other elves! Sheldor is a woods-elf from the northern waste, devoted to the wilderness and seeking knowledge of the world outside his tribal domain. He wields a boar spear and has provided curative healing to those in need. More moderate in stature, in what some consider a Wildman’s variety of leathers though well fit and sound. These two seem kindly, soft spoken and reserved as is commonly found amongst their people. The other two are elf-kind I believe to be half-bloods. One is the only among the group whose attire is of a style that is familiar to me. Xandu, he is called, is a priest of Desna wielding a most curious totem-singing-spear. I imagine it to be a fright to his enemies as he whirls it about for it is disconcerting to me, but by far the most approachable of the elves and apparently the most gregarious. The last of the elf-kind referred to herself as GIRL??…Tianne?? But I’m sure she meant Annie, and was just caught up in the rush of combat and flushed by Master Foxglove’s adoration. Annie is an acrobatic fightress and extraordinary swordswoman. Strangely quiet even for any of elf-kind. They are an oddity, or more properly, a mystery! A mix of two peoples, I am curious which they most emulate? At any rate it is delightful to hear the elves in conversation, as they have the most fluidly articulate of elven accents even when using the common tongue.
The humans are a funny lot. They are so bold, brash, and boisterous, more so than the Sandpoint locals. Two Taldoran’s, called Lucien and Uther. Both it seems from the same river city north of the Capitol of their land. Both speak and carry themselves in a manner most proper yet are quick to strike with envenomed wit. Their behavior, though muted exposes their nobility. Uther, a human in quality leathers wields the thunderous percussion wand and spins wildly about an adventuring Uncle whose steps he wishes to follow in. The Uncle cast a long shadow, so his road will be filled with excitement few will know should he be successful in his attempt to trace his Uncle’s path. How exciting!! Lucien is a more formally trained spearman wielding what he calls a “glaive” and Falakchatah..mavatah or some mouthful of consonants I cannot hope to form into a coherent word. At any rate he is a master with the polearm and chopping blade. While they are mildly noble, their wittitude is most jovial even when accompanied with a hornet’s sting! The Keleshite hails from the desert city of Qadeer. In a traditional Keleshite robed attire with ornate dagger and spear. While adept I’m sure with his weapons of choice, it seems he is a master of elixir mixture as his vest is festooned with pockets and pouches filled with vials of concoctions most explosive, E-gads! He also tows a small cart about in which he digs for vials and reagents for his compounds, Double E-gads! They too are enjoyable to hear speak in their respective accents and mannerisms. I would not consider their dialect to be so much as eloquent, but entertaining.
And lastly the dwarf. Barus is…a dwarf, gruff, dour, and sullen. What we did manage to learn was that he is a giant slayer…E-GAAADS!!! This is wondrous!!! Surely we would not be in any danger with his likes among us. And, and he is encased in heavy metal armor and shield, wielding an axe of quality dwarven make. What a boon! However, he announces his presence long before he arrives even if you are well windward of his route! I do not believe his tumbling into the river, ocean , or horse trough would hurt his chances with the ladies at the Pixie Kitten. I can’t imagine him removing his boots an….(tongue gag) ugh!! ( hard swallow) OH, E-GADS!!
Part 2:
“Oh here we are! The Rusty Dragon Inn, Let us take eat and drink in repose and warmth.”
We entered Lady Amieko’s Inn to find it empty and decided to wait and relax. Soon Lady Amieko arrived and fed us a hearty venison stew, bread and a round of drinks purchased by one the noble humans as the planned dinner had been ruined during the raid. I took the initiative to perform by singing local songs to Xandu’s accompaniment and danced for patrons in an attempt to comfort those who had stopped in after Amieko had returned. Lady Amieko thanked and complimented all of us, and she noticed me…as ME!! I quickly offered to clean up after our meal and washed dishes in order to avoid an emotional display. After which I retired to the room Lady Amieko had promised…my own room. I can’t believe it. My own bed and wash basin too. I washed up, crawled under a blanket with my doll and slept like a baby.
I rose with the sun, praised Shelyn, stretched myself awake and washed before dressing. As the violet sky began to turn to blue I pulled on my long shirt, leather pants and belted my dagger low on my hip and padded barefoot to the pier for a bucket of bait fish for my otter friends. No one was around so I waited until the fish monger arrived. I was amazed to find he called me by named and thanked me for helping defend Sandpoint. In fact he didn’t charge me for the bait. I skipped along the beach until I found my friends and played about in the shallows for a bit then returned to inquire about breakfast.
Upon my return I ate breakfast with the elves and waited for the late risers to wake for their well-deserved slumber. After all were present in the main room we were graced with the company of Aldern Foxglove who presented the troupe with a pouch of platinum coins as a reward for saving him the night before. Blessed Shelyn!!! PLATINUM!!! I had never known such wealth. Do I spend it? How should I spend it? I held the three coins tightly, occasionally taking a peek to make sure they were real. Then I heard Master Foxglove address ME? He inquired if I would join him and the troupe on the morrow for a boar hunt in the Tickwood! A quick glance at the troupes faces said they awaited my answer and not thinking I accepted. Then I made sense of what had been said and wondered what else it was Master Foxglove desired. After we agreed to his hunt we all decided to help about town.
First I stopped by the Red Dog Smithy to speak with Master Korvus. He remembered me!! He also expressed his appreciation for my help in the raid. I asked him to acquire a dog like his the next time he got the opportunity. I paid him in advance and politely excused myself. I regained the troupe and while helping clean up I tried to spy a family with a little girl who had experienced misfortune in the previous night’s raid. At lunch we returned to the Rusty Dragon where we found Sheriff Hemlock with a cart of “loot” collected from the gobs. He presented us with a pouch of coins as well. I received six more gold from this reward. The rest seemed a waste of stinky leather and rusty stabby bits, or so I thought until someone dug out three score of arrows, all straight and true. So I took them for my own. After a filling lunch I left early, found the little girl I had noticed earlier and gave her the doll I had won at the festival. The mother thanked me and recounted their unsuccessful attempts to win their daughter the very same doll. I spent as much time with the family as was needed and then made my way to the chapel to assist Father Zantus. First I gave him a gift equal to half the amount of my share I had received from Master Foxglove. Then spent the rest of the day assisting the injured and sick.
Upon returning to the Rusty Dragon I found a livelier atmosphere than the night before. I ate with the troupe and cleaned up after them as before and felt an evening of upbeat fun might be in order. So I went up to my room and washed the day’s dirt and grime away and set to freshening up a bit. I rubbed a pinch of fresh lavender and a vanilla bean found in Lady Amieko’s kitchen all over my skin. Next I pulled my long shirt up to a short skirt length just below the bum and belted it in place. Then I untied the chest, pulling each side below my arms and retying it in the back. I unbuckled the sleeves and shoulder pads from my armor and buckled the corset tighter than I normally wear it but still loose enough to allow free movement. I pulled the shoulders of the long shirt onto my arms, and checked to make sure the twins were secure. I smashed some red berries common to the town’s foliage in a cooking ladle, also found in the kitchen, and applied the color to my lips and cheeks. I checked my reflection in the wash basin and fixed my hair in a more pleasing manner, pulled on my boots, folded them to knee height, and sauntered down the stairs. I gave the best dancing and singing performance of my life. Flirting with those who were playful and pranking those who were not, all to Xandu’s musical accompaniment and had a wonderful uplifting evening. There was laughter and singing from the patrons, and all left in good spirits. Just before we retired for the night, Father Zantus arrived with a sweaty, pasty, pale, mildy panicked look on his face and spoke in private with the Sheriff. The Sheriff in turn turned to the troupe and explained that Father Zantus had found the door to the priest vault in the boneyard ajar! I stepped away from the conversation to prepare myself for yet another exciting encounter and collected my armor and weapons. I figured the troupe would accept whatever the Sheriff would ask of them and I came back down as they were leaving still fastening my armor sleeves and lagged behind until everything was situated acceptably.
I must admit the boneyard is not my favorite place at night. I can think of many other places preferable to it for spending time! When we arrived we indeed found the vault door ajar. I offered to check for levers, latches, push points and other dangers before an attempt was made to open the vault. No such dangers or devices were apparent so I retreated to the long moon shadow of a gravestone and readied my bow. Lucien and Barus opened the vault only to be mauled by two of the walking dead…GASP!! As they resisted I loosed two arrows, neither of which struck but were danger close to it. Then the troupe pounced and with a furious display of combat prowess laid the undead low for the second time. During the ruckus I peeked over the gravestone and saw the Keleshite grow to an enormous size and punch his spear clean through the face of the last walker. E-Gads was he big!! I chose not to approach scanning the darkness for movement in the boneyard or along the wall. Barus found tracks in the boneyard and followed them to the wall. Yep he’s a tracker too!! Who’d a thunk!?! Suppressing the urge to purge the evenings meal I followed the dwarf to the tracks end at the wall. It was suggested to throw an active sunrod over the wall and then proceed from there. Which we did by way of the north gate. Once the sunrod was located, Barus followed the tracks but a small distance before the trail was cold. On our return to the inn for the night the good Sheriff asked that we use good sense and not share this encounter with the townsfolk and we agreed with his reasoning. Upon our return to the Inn Lady Amieko presented Xandu and I with six silver pieces each and explained that they were given freely by the patrons for our performance. My immediate thoughts were..”E-GADS!! They do not think me a Pixie Kitten surely!?!?” “But what of Xandu, that would make him….GASP!! With an audible “Oh my!?!” I realized what Lady Amieko had said and politely thanked her and excused myself giggling all the way to my room about my interpretation of the gift. I undressed, leapt under my blanket and giggled myself to sleep.
Another azure sunrise found me yawning and stretching until I squeaked. I washed the sleep from my eyes, pulled on my clothes and made a quick barefooted dash to the pier and greeted the otters with a quick bucket of fish for them and a swim and frolic for me. Worried about getting left behind, for the amount of time I had spent at the beach. I ran back in my long shirt carrying the rest to find not many of the troupe had yet rolled out of bed. I composed myself and walked to my room, cleaned up and dressed for the days hunt. It was as I descended the stairs that I realized I had agreed to hunt an animal and kill it…Gasp!! Then the word “Hunt” soaked in and that meant a fine meal. So I was set to kill a boar…I think, because nothing tastes as good as a hunk of pig!! I ate all that the Lady provided and finished the remains of the troupe’s that didn’t clean their plate while I was cleaning up after them. Soon Master Foxglove and his three manservants arrived and bid us depart as it was a long walk to the Tickwood. Boar spears of appropriate size were provided and off we marched in the early morning sun.
Master Foxglove queried each of us in turn as to our prior actions, lives and travels. He too complimented me for my fortitude during the gobs raid. Thankfully he lit upon the Noble Lucien who provided him with conversation and a combat training lesson along the way. The walk was long and the more Master Foxglove talked the more I began to wonder, what it was he was really after? I am positive it was his constant conversation that distracted some in the troupe when the boars charged from the woods. I and a few others met the boars and set to the attack. E-GADS what ferocious beasts!! We struck time and again but they kept up the fight! I landed a solid blow and found myself wholly outmatched and nearly gored by a tusk from the nasty tempered creatures! As they flailed about I held on for dear life and with my feet on the ground I gained another thrust into the boar, and that is when the entire troupe laid heavily upon them and dispatched both swine. In the excitement of the aftermath I was shocked by the site of a fright-filled vision of the trembling lock jointed poofter who is Aldern Foxglove. Never has a human been so completely willing but incapable of soiling himself. At any rate the men hoisted the boars and we start back to town. It was decided the boar that had been laid low by Uther’s percussion wand should be given to the white deer Inn as the damage to the beast was more extensive than the one killed by spears. The second we carried to the good Lady Amieko’s Rusty Dragon. I must speak with Xandu to see if he wishes to attempt a repeat of our previous performance when Lady Amieko prepares the boar. For now a meal, a swim and a bed sound like a good end for this day.
I met my fellow combatants at the Rusty Dragon that evening. After cleaning up and joining them downstairs in the main area. Zandu, the half-elf cleric of Desne, was trying to entertain and was mediocre. The gnome, Moxie, was dancing and doing a fair job. The townspeople were in shock and really low. It seems of those joining the fight, besides the aforementioned cleric and gnome, were a woodsman elf, Sheldor, a dwarf “giant killer” named Barus, a well to do human fighter named Lucien. The human with the gun, Uther, appears to be from a well off family, but far down the heir list. The human that was throwing explosive vials seems to be reasonable for a human. He seems well educated and may be fun to talk to, he is named Friederich. I expect he’s from noble lineage as he tries to be proper. The female human that was helping us has not offered a name, but is called Girl or Tian. If I recall, Tian is a country and that is where she is from, so that is curious. We retired for the night after introductions and so forth, agreeing to meet in the morning to meet Foxglove.
The next morning arrived and after breakfast, I toured the town and assisted in clean up and repair as I could. Some townsfolk were thankful and gracious, others not so much. In their time of grief I did what I could to aid, but when I was a source of pain, I left to find other places to help. Foxglove paid us handsomely for our “saving him” from the goblins and asked us to go on a boar hunt. From his actions, I was not sure if he knew what he was doing, but agreed with the others to go along. The sheriff met us as we left after lunch to allow us to go through stuff that was found after the battle. There was a decent amount and divided among us. Tian must have been ill, as she was not around. Lucien, made an appearance late morning looking hung over. I’m not sure how his life has been so far, but he appears to enjoy his beverage and is in no hurry to rise.
That night the sheriff asked us to assist him in looking into something. The local clergy, Father Zantas, found some door ajar and was vexed. The sheriff told us what was up and we went with him to investigate. He stood back to judge our abilities and let us proceed. Indeed we found the door to a crypt, somewhat jammed shut and dislodged. There were marks on the outside that led Barus to believe that the culprits had climbed the wall and come over and that it was very likely during the goblin attack. We had learned earlier that two tribes of goblins had attacked the town which apparently is odd and they must have been driven by something to join and attack.
Upon finally opening the door, two zombies attacked. I have been hit before, but nothing like this. Immense strength struck me. My spell had been ineffective and I suffered the consequences. Someone healed my damage during the fight, although it was over quickly after that. I don’t remember who, it happened so quickly. I think another potion from Friedrich.
The next day the boar hunt took place. Foxglove and his men supplied us with boar spears. I asked the elf, as he already carried one, what to expect. He explained the process. Foxglove harangued us for stories of our adventures and Lucien began giving him instruction on use of the weapon he carried. I have doubts that he’s ever been on a boar hunt. If he’s hunted boars they were babies in a pen. As distracted as we were, the startled boars were on us before we knew it. One of them bit me, or hit me with his tusks and made me question the decision to accompany Foxglove. I hit the boar and did damage with the spear, and with others we finally dropped the foul beasts.
Once the combat was over we found Foxglove, frozen solid in fear. I’m quite surprised there weren’t stains in his trousers. We carried the boars back to town and gave one to the White Deer and the better to Ameiko at the Rusty Dragon.
I think this group could be interesting and apparently we have an attraction to adventure. I need to stay out of nature, it doesn’t like me, and I’m beginning to share the sentiment.
Twenty Third day of the Month Rova
Association – Plans – Undead
Perhaps I ended a might hastily last night. After the last fight with the goblin’s and their rat-hounds, the group of brave souls and myself decided to gather at the Rusty Dragon and share our varied stories. Indeed a most fascinating collage of travelers, I fear that the events of the evening had my mind befuddled as I am unable to remember most of what was said last evening. What I can remember is that there are two Taldorans. One as I guessed earlier is the gun-bearer known as Uther. The other a noble who hails from the same town as the afore mentioned taldoran. A gruff dwarf who handles his axe very well and such should be expected as he claims to be a giant killer. There is a local Varisian, Zandu, who has traveled all his life, as they are known to do, to distant and fantastic lands. He carries an interesting long-spear that vibrates the air as it passes making a dreadful whistling sound one might affiliate with the moaning of the dead. An arctic elf from the far north has come to seek adventure; I feel he may have found just that. Of course there is little Moxie, the very skilled gnome, who though seems a child, has confessed she has seen fifty-some rotations of the heavens. I feel it would be a true disaster to underestimate this fair creature. Ah and the spell-sword who was so quick on his feet earlier, wants us to call him Lynn. He is an educated elf hailing from, curses I forget the city, but it becomes apparent later that we have similar morals. The quiet Tian, I fear that is all I know of her other than she appears to be of half-elf decent as well. That and she carries herself lightly, that as a leaf on the wind.
Now as for this morning I awoke quite early to prepare a few formulae that may prove useful throughout the day. When I arrived in the front room some of my new friends were already enjoying a mighty break-fast. Young Uther was of the notion that we should band together and hunt the goblins down; he even figured that if anyone was to plan such an excursion, it would be Hosk. I decided to join him in running next door to inquire on such an event, however, Hosk had made no such plans and instructed our eager friend to find Sheriff Hemlock. I believe Hosk noticed Uther’s discouragement and offered five gold coins per pair of goblin ears brought to him.
Upon our arrival back at the Dragon, the rest of our virgin group had entertained a meal together. Just as I was sitting down to have another bite or two, though my robes may need extra cloth sewed in if I continue to feast as I have these past few days. Hmm, oh yes, Foxglove made an appearance and once more made a scene of thanking us, and threw a hefty purse onto our table. Before I realized what had occurred Uther had divided the contents evenly and slid perfect little stacks of platinum coins to each of us. This was quite the kind gesture on Foxglove’s part, not one I was expecting either. As I figured it was not without a follow up, as he asked us to join him on a boar hunt the next morning. As my friends agreed one by one I decided it would be best not to insult the man and go along even though I believed I could be of more help around town.
We agreed to meet back for lunch and discus what to do with ourselves. I went to help a local herbalist who seemed quite excited at my offer of assistance. I set up my meager supply of reagents and began making simple salves to help heal cuts and keep wounds closed and clean. I could have sworn she would have preferred to talk then work, and thinking back I should have properly entertained her desire to do so. She is quite the fetching elf, although, as always, I realize this too late. Pah!, better I remain alone, many who share my desire find a less then pleasant fate at their own hands.
I returned to the Rusty Dragon a little later than I had wanted to, I had to promise my herbalist friend half a dozen time that I would be back after lunch to continue my work. After all I left all of my flasks and reagents for her disposal should she require them. I was surprised to find my friends out front talking with Sheriff Hemlock. With him he had a large cart with what looked like scrap metal and strips of what I believed to be leather though it was hard to tell under the grime. I believed, at first, that this was ruble from the night prior. I learned otherwise when I heard him explain that this was scavenged from the goblins we had ended. The most notable were three elixirs found; two were superior to what I am currently able to produce, and the other smelled more on par with my abilities. A purse full of coin was offered Lynn and I wanted the money to go to the townsfolk to help with recovery, Zandu quickly pulled me aside and informed me this was a gift of thanks from the townsfolk and it would be insulting to refuse it. Not at all wanting to insult those who had been so kind to me I, heartily as I could, accepted the gift, I believe I will give it to my herbalist friend so she can restock and in doing so still help the delightful people of sand point. I returned henceforth and worked diligently till dinner.
In the midst of our dinner back at the rusty dragon father Zantus came hurriedly in looking for Sheriff Hemlock. I myself did not hear the discourse shared between them but some of my colleagues did and made not of it. At which time I learned that the crypt of passed priests stood ajar, and this alarmed Zantus a great deal. We quickly gathered our necessary belongings and followed them to the town’s cemetery.
Twas quite dark when we reached said cemetery and the noble and I had the same idea. We struck sunrods at nearly the same time, the yard instantly burst forth with light. I quickly tied mine to my spear as the dwarf and noble went to fully open the crypt. Soon as the door was opened two ghastly creatures came forth. I was later informed that they were in fact zombies, an abomination I had only ever heard about in my classes. They proved to be quite resilient as well. The group was too congested for me to throw the explosives as I had done the night prior. I decided it would be better if I had a slightly higher vantage point so I drank an elixir of enlargement to strike at the foul creatures safely over the heads of my new friends.
I landed two good blows that I feel should have wounded the creatures more but was satisfied as the second pierced ones head through and it collapsed forthrightly. The other had already fallen and a few of us went to look about the crypt. The recent father who died the year prior in the great fire, his coffin stood open, body missing. I found a robe with two holes that looked like something had been torn free but no one was able to find significance with them. The dwarf found goblin prints that lead over the wall to the crypt, and then back out to the forest. We left quite befuddled unsure what to make of the entire situation.
Twenty Fourth day of the Month Rova
Foxglove-hunt-feast
When I came to break-fast the next morning, the noble Foxglove was awaiting us with what he called boar spears for each of us. It was suitably close to the spear I carried and, not wanting to offend, I gladly accepted the weapon. We trekked some hours to a forest known to hold such game, all the while Foxglove could not keep quiet. He was constantly asking one of us questions of our homelands, our background, history of adventures and so forth. He was mostly intrigued by the Taldoran noble who was not at all put off by this attention. When he did start to take notice of me he claimed that throwing bottles was not heroic. Though I quite agree with him, and never claimed to be heroic, for I am not. I was unable to allow this annoying man to belittle me so I told him he should do it sometime. He quickly downed some drink and threw the empty bottle, he even seemed surprised when it simply shattered into fine bits of glass on the stones, as if he expected the same results as my horrendous devises. Suppressing a smirk I handed him a vial of alchemist’s fire and told him to throw it as some rocks. This effect pleased him much, though I will have to replace the vial of my own expense I feel I won our petty conflict.
We had not been in the forest long before our group was surprised by two boar charging out of the brush. These stout boars put up a terrible fight I do not believe any of my friends took too grievous a wound but it was more excitement than I was expecting. After the squabble it was found that Foxglove stood quite paralyzed by the encounter, skin a pale that even our arctic friend could not contend with. We ran the boars through and decided one to go to the White Deer and the other to the Rusty Dragon. A feast most fantastic followed upon our return with the large boar. My stomach is complaining now as I was quite fervent in filling it this evening and I fear I will be soar come the morning from the day’s outing.
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Because we had lagged behind in the story a little, mostly my fault by giving "the army" things to do about town we finished up Part 2.
Their arrival in town with the now dead boars was slightly overshadowed by the whispers of the townsfolk about Shalelu arriving in town. Knowledge local allowed one of the Taldorans to know of her by reputation as a mercenary or bounty hunter. The only local "Moxie" knew of her as the local ranger.
No sooner had they offered the boar to Ameiko to cook for dinner than the Sheriff arrived to ask them to a meeting with Shalelu and the mayor. Deverin proceeded to thank each player individually for their heroism and introductions were made all around with Shalelu after this.
The meeting read from the book then had the Sheriff preparing to leave town to go to Magnimar and asking for the "Heroes of Sandpoint" to watch the town in his absence. They agreed and then proceeded back to inn for dinner with Shalelu and for her to impart her general knowledge of the local goblin "heroes."
Dinner became a grand affair with the boar as its centerpiece, and the food was free for any who entered the bar that evening, drinks of course were not free. (As a side note, I can only imagine how much pork they could eat in one night, as the few pigs I've eaten, there was a LOT of pork left over and small armies couldn't eat all of it).
The sheriff arrived with the two guards he was going to leave with to ask if Foxglove would prefer the company of his men, since a larger group would provide more protection. The night ended peacefully with everyone having a full belly.
The next day I split the group up into small groups to run the encounters offered in the book. One group patrolled during the day and one for the early evening. Our two no shows because of commitments were relegated to the early morning patrols.
When the day patrol was relaxing in the inn for dinner the following day I ran the Shayliss encounter with one of the group being pulled aside for Rat bashing. The encounter went as expected, the ability to get such a high DC Diplomacy being a major hurdle, I allowed the roll (reroll boon used by player) to allow him to extricate himself from the situation, but was banned from the store. Unknown to the group yet, but they are also banned until the player can make things right with Ven.
Those that remained in the inn ran the altercation with Ameiko's father and until Lonjiku openly accuse the players of meddling did they become involved with Lynn defending their actions against the raid. The cheers after the ladle incident were noted to the group and allowed for some good RP dialog as the group told the night patrollers what had happened the following day. One of those members being Tian a good dialog of cultural differences allowed for those of one mindset to alter their thinking of how cultures are different.
The night patrol ran the Monster in the Closet encounter and the description of the remains of the father had a few players squirming. The fight was rather anti-climactic when the goblin went after the dwarf and the dwarf took him out in two swings.
We followed up the evening with the missing bartender and the group leaving at lunch to go and investigate the glass works.
Since I was able to split the group up I ran all the encounters as printed in the book with no alterations other than max health for the goblin commando in Monster in the Closet. We completed this whole adventure in roughly 3 hours and had some great RP involved as well. We ended the evening early to prepare for our annual Halloween Cthulhu game.
After a meeting with the Sheriff and an elven ranger from the area, he decided to travel to Riddleport to get some help. Too many people think something big is going on. Goblin tribes don’t act in coordination with each other and something must be pushing them together. The Sheriff asked us to monitor the town and kind of keep watch. Make the inhabitants feel safe. He left that night and took Foxglove and his servants with him. We broke into groups and shifts patrolled the town. On one of the nights, a leftover goblin was found hiding in a bedroom after killing a dog and the father. The goblin was dispatched and everyone was on a higher alert. Something happened with Eld and Ven Vendor's girl. She came asking for help, but it was some sort of show. Don’t know the details, but Daddy is none too happy.
While eating dinner one evening, we encountered Ameiko’s father, the local noble. He somehow tried to blame us for the attacks, told us to butt out of things and got into a heightened argument with Ameiko. From what I was told, as the argument was in Tian, it was something about not doing his wishes and he ended up disowning her. Apparently it’s a big deal in their culture. It seems to me that Ameiko is doing fine without him and he needs a lesson in manners. After a couple days of patrols, Ameiko turns up missing. A short investigation led to the discover of her brother being in town and a meeting she was supposed to go to which she hadn’t been seen from since. So we went to the glassworks building to find what we could find. Ameiko is a good person, from what I can tell and I feel some obligation as she has been a fine host.
On our way to the Rusty Dragon I had introduced myself to the others of my new friends. I would consider them all generous and good natured persons. One a local, I spoke of before, named Moxie is a joy and wonder. I saw her in the streets fighting alongside the others but as soon as the fighting was done she became scarce and quiet. I noticed that she mostly listened to us speak and during our introductions she was quite shy. She dressed like she knew the streets and fought well also but now she seamed unsure of herself, reserved. And I knew just the thing to bring her out where we all could meet her. That's where the dancing and singing came in.
There are several others in the group that catch my attention. All very interesting and I will speak of them more later as I have prayers to do and towns folk to heal.
I left the Inn after watching my new friend accept the money from Lady Amieko for the nights entertainment. She giggled looked over towards me giggled again and ran off to bed or maybe to do some night time outing, I'm not sure. It was good to meet and celebrate with these good people. I will talk to them more in the morning.
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Well, finally got back at it with 'the army' and started Part 3: Glass and Wrath of Burnt Offerings.
The evening started only missing a couple of players and a quick recap by me and everyone rereading the note found in Ameiko's room.
The group were all under the idea that it was in fact Ameiko's father that had left the note and figured he might try and run when they showed up at the glassworks. The party split into two groups with the first group containing the local Moxie and the Elven druid (having shopped there for sunglasses the day after the Swallowtail festival) and a few others tried to enter the front door. The rest of the group was on the beach side going to the back door there if Lonjiku tried to run.
Most of them noticed the furnace continued to work, but were surprised to find closed doors and curtained windows. I made sure that they realized that townsfolk were watching, some out of curiosity at the herd moving around Sandpoint together and concern from others when it seemed they were trying to "break-in."
Some horrible rolls at trying to Intimidate/Diplomacy/Bluff the problem was humorous in the role play aspect and many different approaches were used before finally being able to convince the townsfolk that they believed someone was missing and that person was being "held" in the Glassworks. After learning that the Hemlock was out of town, and that they had in fact been "deputized" did the townsfolk back down.
The group with the rogue had picked the lock to the far entrance that was nearest to the offices and were slowly making their way inside not able to hear any noise other than the consistent sound of the bellows working the furnace somewhere further inside. The other group not having any lock pickers tried unsuccessfully for multiple turns trying to shoulder the double doors aside nearest the factory floor. The gunslinger decided to breakout the nearest window using his pistol and the alchemist knocked the remaining panes out so they could eventually enter. The magus moved up and reached in to slide back the curtains where after a moment thought he heard giggles and whispers, but he also saw the body parts.
Reporting what he saw to the others the alchemist climbed in and was immediately rushed at by the goblins who were inside waiting after they heard someone breaking in! Goblin perception roll of a 20 for the win. For this fight I used 11 goblins with only two armed with the tongs. Those that couldn't reach the alchemist threw bottles and glass chunks with body parts inside.
The room suddenly filling around the alchemist with goblins meant that no one else could enter. So the cleric ran down further and started busting out another window to enter. By the time he made it inside the magus had dropped several of the goblins (4) with color spray and the alchemist was having a bad day (got him to 1 HP twice) the little gobbos did pretty good with the dog slicers, not so good with the glassware.
The second group finally heard the commotion and made it to the room to mop up the remaining goblins that were trying to run. The best part of the night for me was Moxie hiding in a room far from the others as she had crept around looking for more goblins when the lone goblin that had ran and successfully made it out of the room was running down the long hallway to reach and warn Tsuto. His two turns of 60' movement was heard by the rogue and she hid in a small room with her bow drawn. The final 60' of movement ended with the goblin 15' from Moxie with her in its blind spot. She shot, hit and sneak attacked for enough damage to kill the goblin outright.
At that point I laid out the rest of the glasswork map since all the goblins were dead and filled them in with the important details. The body of Lonjiku in the alcove, the blood spattered room where the workers were killed, etc. Some of the group stepped out to the gathering crowd of townsfolk who were watching (the gunslingers constant firing from outside the window into the room drawing the crowd) and asked for someone to get the mayor and asked for others to come and help drag out the goblin bodies. (Not good at quelling the peace, we will be visiting that part next week.)
They returned inside and went into the basement where they found and woke up Tsuto first. Because of the confined space of the room and the fact that Tsuto was a solo fight I gave him max hit points. Turns out Tsuto is one evil and tough bastard in a confined fight. He knocked out the magus (-1 HP but stable), knocked out the tian half-elf ninja of the group (-3 HP but stable) and went after the fighter after realizing he was the biggest threat (-3 HP but stable). By then he had cleared his way out of the room and was able to get into the tunnel. The alchemist finally hit him with a real bomb and dropped him from 13 to 3, the magus who had since been healed hit him with acid spash for 2 when the gunslinger shot him for 12. PUDDING!
We wrapped up the evening after 4 hours with dialogue with Aimeko (Moxie had found her while the fight was going on) and finally looting what they could while the druid was reading the journal he found with wide eyes. The group decided that the bags of gold and silver dust that Tsuto had stolen would be returned but kept the loot off Tsuto.
All in all they had a great time and leveled. One thing we do for HPs in our group is the player rolls, if they like it they keep it or they have the GM roll and they have to keep what the GM rolls. I added an additional way they could gain HPs by giving them the option of taking half + 1 (PFS hit point generation). So they decided if they would roll or take the half+1. All rolled except one of the players and I rolled better for everyone but one. Sorry Lex. :(
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Deputy Moxie!!
After presenting the boar, the troupe relaxed from the long trek and intense combat. Soon our recounting of the day’s events was interrupted by a visit from the Good Sheriff Hemlock. He asked us to a meeting with the Mayor Deverin and Lady Ranger Shalelu Andosana. Strange the Ranger should be back so soon, as visits are based on her patrols of the area and she had been through Sandpoint not so long ago? What an honor and thrill to meet such a figure! She is a stunning vision and tower of confidence. She shared her knowledge of the five local goblin tribes and their six revered “tribal heroes”. After the meeting the Sheriff explained his intent to travel to the City to request reinforcement of the towns’ guard, and asked if we would see after the town in his absence. We agreed and suggested he take Master Foxglove and his retinue as he had intended to set out in the same direction and that it may be mutually beneficial. When we returned to the Rusty Dragon Inn I retired for a brief repose from the day’s excitement. Upon waking to the aroma of roast boar, I washed, fixed my hair in ringlets and dressed for dinner. Lady Ameiko graciously opened her doors to the town for a meal of roast boar. A fine evening of peace and merriment was had. I slipped away after cleaning up our table to the beach to watch the sun set on the horizon, walk barefoot in the sand, listen to the surf and feel the fresh ocean breeze. I returned shortly after dark counting the stars on my way back to my room for a restful sleep.
Waking late, for me, I rolled out of bed to the floor, in a full yawning stretch with arched back…and the squeak! I washed, wet my hair, and dressed in my long shirt with a belted dagger and boots. I strolled to the fish monger, collected my bait fish and made my way to the beach to find my raft. After their breakfast, and a brief play we swam together for a bit and I returned to the Inn for my breakfast. Following breakfast we split into groups to patrol the town in shifts. I served during the day shift walking the streets and providing assistance to the townsfolk as required. By mid-day I was soooo hungry I wasted no time returning to the Inn for the lunch plate! While chewing away on a mouthful of yumminess the Sheriff arrived with a pair of guards and waited for Foxglove before setting out for Magnimar. Then we were approached most voraciously by Master Kaijitsu, father of Lady Ameiko. He accused us of making the towns gob troubles worse. Stunned with cheeks packed full of left over roast boar all I could manage was a “ whad we do wong!?” He expounded and further exchanged with Lynn the tall elf. At which Lady Ameiko burst from the kitchen to end her father’s rant. My jaw dropped as she splashed her father with the ladle full of broth she had in hand. (The very one I had borrowed!) Realizing I still had a mouthful of food, gaping…open wide, I swallowed and felt Ameiko’s heart strings snap as her father publicly disowned her. GASP!! What a tragic and traumatic event! I could see the emotion ready to burst from her eyes so I gathered my table service and that of those who had finished with theirs and made a quick move to follow on the heels of Lady Ameiko to the kitchen. I provided what assistance and comfort I could in the appropriate time and manner.
After our town watch duty was complete I stole away with my half-bow and a score of the gob arrows toward the beach. Along the way I purloined a barrel cover for a target and set up for some much needed practice. After a half dozen flights with the score of arrows I returned the barrel cover, not much worse for wear sadly, and went back to the Inn. I freshened up a bit, pulled the hair back and sat with the troupe. An early slumber ambushed me so I surrendered and retired early for a change.
With the early retirement came an early rise. Stretching to the squeak, rubbing of eyes, messing of the hair, I washed up and sat on the bed to comb out the rats and gnarls generated by the night’s rustling. Not yet dawn I dressed, minus the leather uppers and skulked quietly to the street as to not wake anyone. Once outside I buckled on the boots and that’s when I noticed no aromas or activity in the kitchen. But considering the day Lady Ameiko had experienced I could understand the desire to steal away with another hour of sleep or more. I strolled casually to the fishmonger as the chill before the dawn took hold and I waited for his arrival. I enjoy the quiet of the morning before the town wakes, then to watch and listen as it does. I spent time talking with the fishmonger and bid him good day as I wondered looking for my raft of clowns. I fed them and chased them about, then decided to take a brisk swim in the cool morning. After the swim, wearing only my long shirt I lingered as the raft played and foraged. I walked the beach and gathered a good pile of simple thin, very small, brittle sea shells and filled one of the pouches in my scarf. I am always on the lookout for the pretty ones too but this time; I had an idea and wanted to try it out. Now I just need the opportunity. That’s when I noticed one of the otters racing towards the water awkwardly dragging one of my new boots!! “NOOOO!!” So…..after retrieving a half soaked boot and drenching me in my shirt…..I extended my stay to allow my clothes to dry a bit before returning to the Inn. When I returned I went to my room and made myself presentable sporting a ponytail. I found the breakfast to be rather….blah fare for the Rusty Dragon Inn….but again the previous day had been rather dramatic, and Lady Ameiko had obviously had a late start so I let it go. This is when the troupe shared the events each group had encountered on their watch and when Annie enlightened us to the intricacies of Tian society which explained the behavior exhibited and how serious a matter it would have been to them. Then we went our separate ways again to patrol the town. When we returned for lunch we found the same lack luster fare offered and that’s when I decided to check on Lady Ameiko. I found Lady Halfling, kitchen help doing the best she knew how, and in a state of near panic. That is when she shared a note with us from the brother Tsuto, asking for Lady Ameiko to help with punishing Master Kaijitsu who was in league with the gobs!! The Halfling had had no word from Lady Ameiko since the night before and was concerned as were we! Upon receiving the news we gathered the troupe and headed to the Glass Works.
Glassworks
Myself, Sheldor the wilderness elf, Lucien-noble spear wielder and Annie attempted to gain access through the street side entrance while the remainder of the troupe tried the rear entrance. A sizeable crowd gathered to inquire as to our intentions and they were persuaded them we ours were good in the need to acquire entry to the glassworks….which was operational and was not in attendance on market day. As I am not highly fond of the good people of Sandpoint to know I have certain skills I waited for the ruffians to attempt the door before offering the skillful try. And at that had the larger of my group block those onlookers who lingered from viewing my method of gaining entry. How EXCITING!!! I waited and was the last to enter, locking the door behind us. We searched about, finding offices and meeting rooms, one with an open safe! Then I am sure I heard what was surely, the report of Uther’s percussion wand!as we advanced through the halls my group took the path to the right, leaving the rooms to the left unchecked. So as they moved off I heard only the sounds of the Glassworks operation and tuned myself to listen for new and strange voices or rhythmic steps. I checked two rooms and heard a second report from Uther’s percussion wand as my group called out they had found the others and rushed in for a fight. That’s when I heard quick steps advancing on me from the long central hallway. I knelt in the doorway diagonal from the hallway entrance, readied my bow and drew back as the footfalls approached ever closer. As the figure appeared in the doorway I loosed my arrow striking the gob in the neck, pinning him to the door before his dead weight snapped the arrow and he dropped stone dead on the floor. Wow!! Wow!! I marveled at my good fortune, and praised Shelyn for her blessing. For the second time I had laid low a fell beast with my bow. As I stood in amazement, I remembered the ear bounty and set quick to collect this nasty creatures lobes for the coin! As I performed the deed I recalled the archery practice I attempted days earlier and was thankful I had. I regained the company of the troupe to find a group of goblin corpses and what we later learned were the dismembered remains of the Glassworks employees encased in glass, as well as the body of Master Kaijitsu encased in glass. “Egads..GASP!” Further evidence was found that the gobs had been here for a couple of days prior to our arrival. We found a stair way to the lower rooms and went to check them out. I lead the group the long way around checking doors as we went. Before I could gain access to our last door a fight broke out in the other groups hallway. I made one last attempt before I heard Lynn attempt a spell which did not discharge. So I went to investigate still hearing the sounds of combat. I entered the room just after Lynn’s spell was triggered and a body fell to the floor. There I found Lynn lying on the floor with Xandu and Frederick exchanging non-pleasantries with who appeared to be Tsuto. Who no sooner than I entered the room called me by name….CREEPY!!! So I dragged Lynn’s body form the room and returned to the door I had yet to unlock and set myself to the task. The fourth attempted gained entry, and wouldn’t you know it that is when Tsuto fought his way from the room he had been in. Luckily Xandu had followed me out of the combat to attend to wounds and quickly shut the door behind me because we realized Lady Ameiko had been bound, gagged and left upon the floor of this room. I spoke to the Lady and removed her bindings. I told her what had transpired with her brother up to that point and that her father was deceased in as gentle way as I could muster. She wished to view their remains and I stayed with her the entire time. When she had collected herself, she thanked us and offered a generous gift of permanent lodging at the Rusty Dragon Inn. We were given the opportunity to claim her brothers belongings as well. They were collected and have yet to be dispersed with two exceptions. The bags of gold and silver dust were the property of the Glassworks and will remain so. I would find it difficult to take the jewelry myself as I do not wish to, in any way, remind Lady Ameiko of this event. Additionally Tsuto’s Journal contained information warning of future attacks. As the day progressed I wished we had not requested the assistance of, and therefore provided the town folk with the details of this gruesome mess and hope that the good Ladies reputation will not be damaged further. On the upside, we now know the tales of the smugglers tunnels were true. This is a secret which is worth keeping. I shall press upon the troupe the importance of keeping them secret. I can’t wait for the Sheriff to return!
Twenty Sixth Day of the Month Rova
Pain – Glass – More pain – Fun (certainly not dangerous) realization
I woke to find the same meal as the previous day, bread and cheese. The kind-hearted Moxie went to the kitchens to inquire if everything was alright. She found the hafling helper frantically trying to keep the inn running by herself. Ameiko had apparently received a note from her brother, Tsuto, requesting Ameiko to meet him at the glassworks. We agreed this seemed too coincidental concerning yesterday’s conflict with her Father. It was decided that we should investigate the glassworks. Upon our arrival it was noted that, while smoke was pouring out of the chimney, there was not the usual activity of the workers. I went around covering the beach side worker’s entrance with Lynn, Uther and Zandu, in the event someone should attempt to flee. Uther suggested I attempt to force the door open claiming I was the strongest of them; I believed it a joke, however, to humor him I tried the door and was not surprised when it refused to submit to my weight. Another attempt was made with their help, however, I fear I did not have a decent footing and was unable to assist much. Once more it refused to yield. I was in the process of examining the door for a weak point to apply an acid when Uther decided to gain entry via one of the large windows. It would benefit me to keep a more open mind apparently; stop and look around instead of apply the most obvious solution. Lynn pushed the curtains aside and calmly mentioned observing body parts on a table inside. Fearing we had arrived too late to save our hostess I carefully climbed through the now open window.
I had but a second to view my surroundings before I was ambushed by foul goblins. The few unable to reach me decided to throw chunks of glass, luckily their aim was poor. The two with knives, however, did not follow their brother’s mistake and dug them sharply into my flesh. My vision blurred as the pain overwhelmed my senses; I was unable to act before a third knife nearly brought me to my knees. Somehow I was able to retrieve a curative elixir and clear my head as the liquid thrust an icy path through my veins, instantly halting my life’s blood from leaving its vessel. My hearing had not yet recovered, though that was of no consequence for the sulfuric cloud that flooded into my nostrils spoke of Uther’s pistol discharging; a happening that would have certainly deafened me. In the sudden chaos of combat the goblins’ divided attention allowed me to fell two of the vermin with my spear. I was not aware of when, but the others joined the melee and made short work of the others. Surveying the room we discovered Lonjiku, Ameiko’s father, burnt and encased in glass, a truly horrific sight. At this point we were desperate to find Ameiko, discovering a set of stairs we descended to a cellar. I followed Lynn down with Uther and Zandu directly behind me, the rest of our band preceding Lynn.
At the base of the stairs the path split into two paths. It was decided we split and cover ground quickly. Lynn was unfortunate enough to wake the sand worm as it were. An arrow flew into the hall just missing Lynn, who immediately entered the room as only a madman would. I suppose I qualify as my body followed suit, before me stood a drunken male half-elf reminiscent of Ameiko. Assuming this to be her brother I mentioned we were trying to locate her, he responded curtly “Die!” He was swift and very agile fore though I tried many times to strike him only once did I make contact and it was poor at best. On the other hand he bare-handedly taken three of my comrades out of the fight, I was selfishly happy none of the fists he threw at me connected. After clearing a path in the hall he made for a tunnel in another room we ad quickly glanced through earlier. When I entered the hall in pursuit Zandu was holding the door to the tunnel closed; I furiously shoved past knowing that I could not let Tsuto escape. He was nearly to a bend in the tunnel when I arrived. I hurriedly made and threw a bomb, it struck coating him in volatile fluid that combusted violently filling the hall with a flash-fire. As the flame cleared Tsuto remained standing and was hit with some sickly green orb conjured by Lynn. Luckily Uther shot once more before Tsuto could round the corner to his freedom. Uther’s bullet struck true, showing just how dangerous a pistol can be, I could have sworn I saw a hole clean through Tsuto’s upper chest.
None of my new friends were grievously injured, and we were able to take care of those who had been removed from consciousness by Tsuto’s furious assault. Moxie Discovered Ameiko sometime during the fight. She was beaten but alright. An expeditious search of the area reviled Tsuto’s journal as well as some gold and silver dust used in coloring glass. The journal explained that Tsuto and the old priest’s daughter, believed till this point to be deceased, had been organizing the goblins and had more attacks scheduled.
Ameiko was saddened by the loss of her father and disheartened by her brother’s path. For saving her she granted us free stay at her inn for life, a most generous offer, given the circumstances. Since seeing the powdered silver and gold a thought had been congealing. A sudden realization of electrical possibility formed. Gold is often used in electro-alchemy as a conduit. If I were to utilize a salt-bridge in the construction of my bombs it would allow the untapped electrical energy to discharge through the air potentially disorienting the target; furthermore if I were to use a cupric compound the arcs of energy would be spectacularly green in appearance. Perhaps I will get the opportunity to test this hypothesis soon…
I think she even reveals secrets to me through my dreams. She has always been there for me especially when I have been alone. Although I have been very lucky in my travels and am seldom without companions, at least travelling company. I hate to be alone. I love people. I love to hear them play and laugh. I even of late come to like them when they are at war and they are terrible but terrible for the right reasons. I noticed that even I like to fight a common evil. I dance and make a sort of music when I fight. I always bless Desna and ask for her blessing as well when entering battle. I accept the path that I am on and welcome my new companions.
The night was long and though not many people were physically injured Father Zantus and I talked a great deal to those who weren’t ready to accept the reality of the raid by goblins. The tortured pets, burnt homes and even some shattered families that weren’t their own. The raid wreaked havoc on the peoples spirit as much or worse than it did physically. What I know of people is that their spirits will heal as they help one another in the following days. Their bond to each other will strengthen and their pride will return. Time, time can heal so much hurt. And this is just the first night.
I woke late this morning and after accepting money that Alderen Foxglove had given us for helping with the goblin raid the night before and agreeing to join him in a boar hunt the next day. Did he not see the damage that had been done to the town? I sometimes wonder how some people can be so generous and yet so blind. I went about town fixing and helping in ways that I could. We met at the Inn for lunch and shortly after the Sheriff came by with a cart load of goblin gear. The town’s folk had gathered it and wanted us to take what we might need. I realized they had responsibilities other than us but wanted to show their appreciation in some way. A couple of my new friends suggested that we give it to the town’s people not understanding that it was them trying to repay us for our contribution. I quickly and quietly explained to them that it was just as important to accept a gift and it is to give one. They looked at me strangely but I stood there looking over the rotten leather and rusty weapons and picked something out. I was happy to receive a part of our gift. There was gold as well and it was divided among us by Uther Eld. The most level headed human I’ve met. He also knew the importance of accepting what the folk’s had to offer us and helped me convince the others of accepting it.
That night during Moxie’s and I’s entertainment Sheriff Hemlock came in and asked us to accompany him to see Father Zantus. As we went with him he explained that a vault in the cemetery had been opened or at least tampered with. He was so excited and we were all almost at a run to keep up it was hard for me to hear all that he was telling us. We arrived to be greeted by Father Zantus, he explained to us that indeed a vault of a former priest had been disturbed, and it was the Sheriffs idea to have us along when they were about to investigate the vault. (I’m starting to have my doubts about the Sheriff’s ability)
The door to the vault was barely ajar but it was so heavy that it took a lot to move it, to open it. A couple of sun rods flew in as it was opened and a couple of men (later I found out that they were Zombies, a kind of undead creature) attacked from within the vault. Lynn was hurt but the rest of the group had killed the foul creatures that had been left behind. Left behind by goblins it seemed. There were goblin tracks that came and went over the cemetery wall. We lost the trail on the other side of the wall as the goblins made their way to the woods.
As far as I know the rest of the group went back to the Rusty Dragon and I stayed to do my nightly prayers at the temple. I returned late and no one was around accept a couple of inn workers cleaning up.
In the following days we were introduced to a female ranger named Shaelelu Andosana . We were also Deputized by Sheriff Hemlock and asked to watch over the town as he went to get reinforcements. (Again I have more doubts about Sheriff Hemlock)
We accepted the new duties, Moxie seemed more pleased than most of our new job. I spent my time rebuilding repairing and patrolling when I wasn’t praying. There were some unpleasantries that took place between Ameiko and her father. All I know is that it’s the first time I’ve seen Moxie so openly upset. The following day the group had gathered to search for Ameiko. She had been missing for perhaps a couple of days now and everyone was on edge. There was a note from Ameiko’s brother and in it he made it sound like their father was behind the goblin raids. With Ameiko’s disappearance and the note we decided to investigate the Glass Works. A business owned by Ameiko’s father.
We went in two groups, the first was to enter the business from the front and the second to enter from the rear or at least keep anyone from escaping by the back doors. I was with the first group that went to the front. To our surprise the doors were locked and the curtains drawn. We thought that very strange on a market day. We decided that it was to important not to go in, even if we had to break in. I left the front of the business to tell the others what was going on. And in fact the back doors were locked or barred as well. We tried to force the doors open and when we couldn’t we were forced to break a window. As our group surveyed the inside human body parts were seen and in a frenzy we all tried to get in the building. I asked Desna that Ameiko not be harmed and that Desna would guild us as we entered.
Friedrich was the first to enter and was set upon by goblins immediately. With Uther firing through the open window and Friedrich just on the other side I decided to go to another window. I flung my spear wildly in front of me to break the glass as I dove through the window. I made it with just a few scrapes but was attacked by goblins as soon as I landed. I fought for my life and wondered just how many goblins were in the room with us. They pressed me hard and backed me into a corner. I had to drop my spear because I could no longer use it effectively. During the fight our entire group had come to the same room and we finished off the goblins. One had escaped that I didn’t know about but the ever sneaky Moxie had set an ambush for any escaping foes and she dealt with the goblin responsible for her friends disappearance in her own way.
We quickly looked for Ameiko’s body among the parts left by the goblins and breathed a sigh of relief when she was not discovered. However Ameiko’s father’s body was found. The discovery of her father’s body whole and incased in glass was very disturbing. The goblins obviously had nothing to do with his encasement. Far too much skill was required to complete such a task. Our reality was unraveling before us and we pushed on in search of our friend Ameiko, not sure where it would lead us. We found a stairway and before we went down it we decided to inform someone on the outside.
Some town’s folk had gathered around the back of the business probably drawn there by the device Uther uses, it is so loud. We told some people to go get Mayor Deverins and after we came back out we could use some help in getting the goblin bodies out of the business. We locked the back door and headed down to see what we would find in the basement.
Terrified that we would be too late to help Ameiko or her brother we headed down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs we could see a wall that had been constructed to seal of one of the hall ways. We split into two groups and continued to search for Ameiko. One group went straight and I was with the group that turned left down the newly reopened portion. As we came across a door we checked inside, it was just a door to another passage way. This passage way looked rougher and not as finished so we shut the door and moved to the next door.
We were less than a hundred feet from the stairs and in front of us we could hear the first group coming our way. The guys in the front of our group opened the door and started talking to someone, I had hoped it was Ameiko but it turned out to be someone else. Since it may have been her brother our guys tried to talk to the man in the room. He started fighting and knocking my friends out with just his fists, I stepped into the room to see and a fist hit me in the face and maybe one in my chest I don’t remember. All I know is that I backed out of the room and saw Moxie dragging another body out as well. Something in that room was angry and going to kill us if we didn’t shut the door and lock it back in the room.
When I thought of the idea to close his door Moxie had opened one right behind me, I looked and saw a tied up and bound Ameiko. That’s when the guy in the room came out into the hall (too late to shut that door) I stood in front of the door Moxie had just opened as she stepped in I whispered for her to be quite and lock the door as I shut it. The man gave a quick glance my way and ran through the door we had passed, the one with the rough corridor. I ran behind him and shut that door.
Friedrich came shouting for me not to let him escape and for me to open the door, which I did. He burst through the door and through a vile onto the man running. Lynn also did something to the running man and at the same time Uther did as well. With a ringing in my ears I could see that the man was down. I stumbled back to Moxie and Ameiko.
We saw no more goblins and found out that the man was indeed Ameiko’s brother. We also discovered some parts of a journal that he had kept. It gave a hint to our recent goblin raid and why and who was behind them. I didn’t tell the others just how bad it was and I don’t know how much they got out of the journal but it would seem that he was under the spell of a succubus, a daemon that would be able to control the goblin tribes. There is also mention that this succubus was once the daughter of the priest whose body was taken from the cemetery. This is coming together into one big mess. I need to talk to the others and also to Father Zantus. The only good that came so far this day is that we found Ameiko alive and well. Thank you Desna.
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Adding a new player to the army, a human fighter/cavalier. Here is the backstory provided by the player.
I am Exabachak. My tribe calls me He Who Says Nothing. My family was exiled from the Shoanti for our heresy - that any man's relationship with the spirits is his own and needs not the intervention of the Spirit Speakers. My father joined the Gendarmes and I cared for the horses, though I missed the horses of our own people. I followed in his footsteps, and joined them myself when I was old enough. On an outing with my company, we encountered a village led by a chief who would not surrender tribute to our employer. They took shelter in their temple, which I was ordered to put to the torch. To my everlasting shame, I did. I broke with the Gendarmes and joined the Order of the Penitent. I hoped to pay for my lapse in honor - though I know I never will.
I am not a subtle man. I kill, I get better at killing, and I kill again, from the back of my steed. I don't understand art, or finery, or philosophy, or why blood makes one pink better than another. But I try to get along and serve others even when I don't understand when they speak of things that make no sense. There is a thing with these pinks where they call a thing by another thing - a 'metaphor.' A man who is brave is a 'lion' even when it is obvious he is a man and not a cat. My friend William said I was 'obtuse.' My only friend, apart from my horse. I am clumsy when I try to speak, so it is better when I say nothing.
Uther Eld, Taldorian Pistolero:
After my encounter with the devious Shayliss and her (perhaps) justifiably angry father, I returned to the Inn to discover that I had missed the REAL fun. Ameikos’ father had stopped by, and apparently made quite the scene.
Meals the next day were not up to the usual standards of the Rusty Dragon, but I scarcely noticed as I headed out for my patrol. Some of the townsfolk had apparently heard about my run-in with Ven. I tried (unsuccessfully, I think) to sway some small amount of public opinion in my favor, and at least got one of the young gentlemen to admit that Shayliss was, in his words, “crazy.” Would that I had known of the young lady’s affliction only a day earlier! At any rate, I was advised to remain clear of Ven and his shop until I had “made it right;” just what that might entail is anyone’s guess.
The rest of the day was uneventful, but the evening fare at the Dragon was once again nothing but stale bread and cheese, and our hostess did not put in her customary appearance. What with the sheriff out of town, and the scene with her father, I suspected that something was amiss but was preoccupied with the Ven/Shayliss situation. I wonder if I should speak to the village priest about it?
The next morning, Moxie went to offer her services in the kitchen, and discovered that Ameiko was gone, and the scullery maid had found a note from her “brother” asking that she meet him in the glassworks. We got the family history out of the maid, and I believe that we all smelled a rat named Lonjiku. We set out for the glassworks, and spit into two groups; one heading in the front way and myself, Lynn, Friedrich and Zandu covering the rear. Noticing that all the doors were locked and windows covered, but that the furnace was in operation, we determined to take advantage of our unobserved position and attempted to force the door. My shoulder still hurts! Even with three of us acting in concert, the bar proved to be too stout. Feeling that time was of the essence, I stepped to a nearby window and used the butt of my pistol to bash it in. Friedrich assisted in clearing the frame of dangerous shards, and Lynn reached over both our heads to part the curtains and peer inside.
We were greeted with a grisly sight. On a nearby worktable were quite obviously human body parts, some encased in glass! Friedrich clambered inside, and we all heard the shouts of glee as many goblins inside charged to the attack. Friedrich was quickly fighting for his life, and Lynn and I lent what help we could from outside the window. The reports of my pistol would quickly draw the attention of the townsfolk, and I managed to miss twice and then misfire. Drat! Meanwhile Zandu dashed off to another window and burst through in an attempt to flank the goblins dragging Friedrich down. Fortunately for both of them, reinforcements arrived from inside the factory and out as Sheldor came around the side of the building and plunged through the window, while Lucien and Tian arrived from within. I managed to clear my gun and pot one of the vile little buggers, and we all moved inside to clear the building.
In the aftermath, we discovered that Lonjiku was not the villain of the piece, as his corpse was entirely encased in glass within one of the furnace-room alcoves. The goblins had seemingly been trying to imitate the work using dismembered parts of the resident factory workers, all of whom had been murdered. There was no sign of Ameiko.
I stepped outside to speak with the gathering townsfolk (likely drawn by the sound of my gun), and asked that someone please get the Mayor. When asked what was happening, I admitted that there had been a fight, and there were more goblin bodies to dispose of. Seeing the aghast looks on many of the faces, that was perhaps less than the proper thing to say. Well, spilled milk and all of that.
While clearing the building, we had found a stairway leading down to a small cellar area, and a corridor that had been bricked up at one time, but more recently torn down. There were a couple of small rooms off the bricked up area, and in one of them was (surprise!) Ameiko’s brother. He rose from slumber with a roar, and went immediately on the offensive, pummeling all those within reach with his fists. I fired a shot into the ceiling in an attempt to distract the fellow long enough to reason with him, to no avail. He proved to be extremely hard to hit (though I did manage to graze the madly bobbing and weaving half-elf), quickly taking three of my comrades out of the fight singlehandedly. Discretion being the better part of valor (and since I was likely to be his next target, and unlikely to survive such rough treatment), I retreated a short distance down the hall in an attempt to cover the demon’s exit.
To my chagrin he simply bolted next door, and I heard the sound of his footfalls retreating down yet another corridor. Lynn managed to hit him with a ranged spell, and I (I am not proud to say) brought the bastard low with a shot to the back. Ignoble of me, to say the least; but I feel somewhat less badly about it seeing the way he had treated his kin. We found Ameiko locked in a room nearby; she had been bound, gagged and severely beaten. We also found a small journal whose contents I do not wish to contemplate. It seems that the troubles of Sandpoint are far from over.
Our assault on the glassworks was successful and quite frankly rather painful. And assault is the appropriate word. Having observed the glassworks locked and windows concealed with curtains on a day that it should be open and running, we decided to enter forcefully through the back. However our shoulders weren’t up to the task, so we broke a window. Moving the curtain aside we found body parts and blood strewn on a table. Fearing the worst, Friedrich went in first and was immediately set upon by a minor horde of goblins. Uther fired into the fray from the window and I jumped through the window to assist. I dazed and stunned several of the little menaces with a spell and looked to press the attack against the others.
Thankfully at approximately the same time the cleric and some other members entered the room from other locations and the goblins split their group. The little devils were dispatched in a matter of a minute or so with Friedrich being the hardest pressed. Upon finishing up the area, we found Ameiko’s father encased in glass.
Not having accomplished our main objective, to find Ameiko, we continued on searching the rest of the building. There were stairs leading down and down we went. Upon checking various doors and such we found Tsuto, Ameiko’s brother, apparently waking up from a drunken nap. I tried to speak to him but he immediately attacked and basically knocked me out of the fight. I went ahead and finished my casting and passed out. When I next came to, I was in the hallway and the fight still raged. I went to see if I could help and Tsuto was running down the hallway, Uther and I in pursuit. I hit him with a minor spell of acid and Uther dispatched him with a shot from his gun.
That done, we returned to see that Moxie had found Ameiko, tied and beaten. Someone did some healing and then we proceeded to give her all the bad news about her brother and father. We found some journal stuff written by Tsuto and are trying to figure out what’s going on. The sheriff isn’t due back for a couple days so we’ll see what the Mayor thinks.
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Last night we began the Catacombs of Wrath and continued the adventure having just concluded the glassworks. We had a few players late so those players were taking Ameiko into the factory floor to show what had happened to Lonjiku with the rest remaining below to discuss Tsuto's journal (and finishing up the leveling of their characters to level 2).
The cleric of Desna and a few others told the rest about Lamashtu being one of the gods, and not a good one, while just the cleric realized what a Quasit was and that certain metals were needed to harm them significantly.
Eventually the late comers arrived and I had them react to the situation of banging on the outside doors and eventual "hello?" from the broken window as Mayor Deverin had arrived to find out what the fuss was all about. Once they let her in there was a group of men, four of them, one being Gorvi and one of his helpers and two locals, also came it to help dispose of the goblin bodies. I had the group recognize that the men were those that had helped after the Swallowtail festival.
A very delicate dance by Moxie to explain to the Mayor what had happened help to calm her fears, and the appearance of a somewhat beaten and compliant Ameiko reinforced the story. The Mayor being a long time local having heard the rumors of the "secret tunnels" surmised that the goblins had probably entered from there and politely asked Moxie to "return into the glassworks basement and *wink* make sure the area is cleared out." The humorous part of the evening was the druid, Sheldor asking if Moxie was going to tell her about the tunnels they had found, not realizing that the Mayor already knew. Moxie's polite "shuuuuut uuuuup" brought a small bit of levity to a grave situation.
I had the Mayor decide that she would have the men take the bodies of the goblins to the beach to be burned, and for the glass encased body parts of the workers to be gathered up and taken to father Zantus for a "mass" burial and small service. She was also going to escort Ameiko to Zantus for further healing.
The role-play of Gorvi with the others brought a few more chuckles when I had him realize that all the goblins ears were missing, his scrunched up face while looking at the party members upstairs and replying "man, that's just cruel." The obvious realization that he was not going to be able to get some quick and easy gold from Daviren Hosk. When Moxie asked one of the men (turns out to be one of Gorvi's boys) to clean up the mess in the workers bedrooms, he replied, "I'm just here to move bodies, not clean up." When Moxie started pulling out gold coins, Gorvi pie faced his man out of the way and said he'd be glad to do it. 5g the richer Gorvi was sated.
I described the long tunnel leading to the cave/beach as having torches placed every 100 feet or so, the goblins not needing the light and Tsuto being able to use his low light vision the reason for the occasional torch. Now as a quick caveat, the description of this tunnel is über confusing to me, so my version may not be "correct" but it worked. I had the 1,750 foot winding tunnel lead to the cave in a NE direction from the glassworks. Using the Sandpoint map, the cave mouth being 'off-map.' Probably 100 feet or so into this tunnel there was a branch, 400' long, leading off to the east where it had collapsed in. Roughly another 100 feet past the first branch was the "bricked-up" portion that leads into the catacombs.
The group proceeded into the tunnel and decided to follow the first branch, the unlit tunnel that led east. The dwarf of the group was able to deduce (with Perception and Stonecunning) that the collapse at the end was natural and very old, the tunnels being in fairly good shape. They then retraced their steps and started back in on the 'main' lit tunnel until they encountered the torn down brick wall and entered here. Because of their focused, search what they pass, instead of following the lit tunnel I decided to close off the areas so the only "true" access into the catacombs was by dropping into the jail cells at the end of B1.
The encounter was increased from 1 sinspawn to 2 sinspawn with maximum health. The fact that the group was not being stealthy the sinspawn easily made their perception and waited to ambush the closest. The fight went quickly with the dwarf ranger being bit and failing his save. I described the sudden rush of sinful thoughts as a desire to hack apart the bodies of these creatures and any in his party, Moxie being the closest he envisioned himself in wrathful glee doing this, then the realization of what he thought made him 'nauseous.'
Because the fight included our gunslinger (Uther) most of the groups fights are not going to be stealthy fights and the sinspawn in the jail cells were ready. But instead of investigating the room, they lowered Moxie into the cell and she locked the door to the cell (DC 25 since the lock was on the outside of the cell door and she couldn't directly see the lock). They then pulled her up and retraced their steps to the 'main' tunnel and proceeded all the way to the cave/beach.
Once they discovered the actual entrance area they went back and decided to enter into the catacombs proper. By this time the sinspawn had realized what had happened and when they heard the group approaching the hole above, hid under the stairs. In my haste, I forgot the encounter was set for 2 sinspawn (again max health), which I should have doubled because of the size of the group. Bad GM, bad.
Because the cell was the choke point, I was going to have the sinspawn control the fight from there. Moxie though made a great stealth roll and quietly let herself down and unlocked the gate, and moved into the room. The only light source was above the hole and her low-light vision made the jail cells pretty much pitch black. The dwarf followed and his abrupt landing keyed the sinspawn to act, but were surprised when Moxie ran under the stairs to hide, right next to the sinspawn she could not see. Sooooo, the rogue got chomped on, hard.
In order to work this fight in some semblance of order I said that everyone was 5' from the hole and it would take 5' of their movement to enter the hole and 5' of movement to slide down the rope safely. Any remaining movement would allow them to enter into the room, since players could move through friendly occupied squares, just so long as they didn't stop in an occupied square. If they wanted to make an acrobatics check (DC10) they could forgo the 5' movement for sliding down the rope. Initiative order had the dwarf, in the cell at the bottom of the rope, going last so movement was key.
The fight went quickly with only Moxie also suffering from the bite and failing a save so she was given the same wrathful thoughts only using her mace to pound her comrades skulls into the floor as her vision.
The great part of what happened next is they split up. The dwarf player already in a sullen mood at bad dice rolls and 'almost' being totally skipped on his initiative started his 'I don't care what happens and Im going to open doors and go, the hell with the consequences.' Some of the group went over the walkway leading to the torture chamber while others went into the greeting room. 25+ years of gaming leads to hardwired paranoia and no one would touch the ranseur in the statues hands for fear of it animating and attacking them, the dwarf (key, earlier sentiment) pulled it out and took it, then proceeded up the stairs to the pool with the Vargouile (which had now been increased to 2 Vargouiles with beastiary listed health). Two of the party members (the alchemist Friedrich, and the magus 'Lyn') raced to keep up with the dwarf with Moxie and the fighter (Lucien) staying in the room with the statue.
The fight went as expected. One Vargouile shrieked freezing the dwarf and Moxie since she was 50' away and the door was open. The other Vargouile 'kissed' the dwarf and he failed the Fort save. Interesting things are going to happen in 5 hours time. The magus color sprayed them and pretty much made a hittable monster very hittable and the alchemist and magus made short work of them.
The group finally decided that maybe they should stick together since the other group only went as far as the study. So as a group they proceeded to check the study and the cells with only Lyn searching the 'cells' and not the study, so no scroll.
The Koruvus fight I tweaked just a bit since it was only 1 mini-BBEG vs 8 players. I gave him max. health and increased his breath weapon to 30'. The fight though did not last long, Only 2 full rounds with Koruvus getting the surprise round of belching onto them on the stairs leading into the room.
I told them that moving in the room around the pits was going to be a DC 10 reflex save if they attempted to move more than 5' per round (the outer edges of the room being safe) near the pits would have them step onto one of the lids, which then would require the DC 15 reflex save to jump back. Because half the party has reach weapons it really didn't amount to much and they made short work of Koruvus.
We ended the evening there, just under 4 hours of play time, a late start by us shortening our play time.
Hope you enjoyed reading this wall 'o text. :)
Smuggler’s Tunnel
I explained to Mayor Deverin the afternoon’s events at the Glassworks and with Lady Ameiko’s concurrence she requested we continue our investigation of the “lower chambers” of the Glasswork’s with a wry smile and a wink! Wait a minute….she knows…..about the tunnel!?! Huh…Hmm?? At any rate she insisted on escorting Lady Ameiko to the Chapel so Father Zantus could help ease her grief. Oh and for future reference, never let a wilderness elf try to tactfully arrange a body detail from the townsfolk, I did have to SHUSH Sheldor at least twice from speaking of the interiors carnage in public. Ugh!! We must work on his public persona a bit more deliberately, geepers. Luckily the four strapping townsmen who were on hand were those who had helped dispose of the carcasses from the festival raid so they seemed hard enough to take on the task of the cleanup. I asked them to pay specific attention to the living quarters where the Glasswork employee’s seemed to have been butchered initially and that was met with some hesitancy. Immediately upon the mention of payment the halforc Gorvi pie-faced his way to the front to volunteer for the job, at which point I offered 5gp. Upon our return I will make good the debt owed to these good men of Sandpoint. Then the troupe set off to the tunnel to see what lurks in the bowels of the town.
I think we have officially become a troupe, as in, a band of companions with common purpose and they have accepted me as their sneak-about. I am elated. I cannot express the joy I am experiencing from the opportunity to prove myself!! With that said, I found myself taking my first steps into an underground adventure when I realized…..I do not have my pack with me as there was no need to carry it on patrol in town or during our investigation of the Glassworks. E-gads what a tenderfoot thing to do!! A mistake I do not intend to repeat. As we walked the tunnel, the Giant Killer Barus stayed with me to the front. He grumbled now and again as the trail switched back and forth, about the nature of structural nuances of the tunnel and the supposed direction we were traveling. After a while we came upon a split in the tunnel. The way forward was well lit, but a passage to the right was dark and surely fraught with danger, so we took the dark path to the right. We followed it to a cave-in and returned to the lit passage.
Progressing along the lit tunnel, we happened upon a second dark passage, later determined to be merely an alcove, but before we could speak of its existence two crazed ravenous creatures charge Barus and I clawing and biting. Desperate to gain some sort of advantage I attempted to bounce by along the wall but was denied and clubbed with a clawed fist for the attempt. As I recovered and others were landing blows from rear ranks with pole weapons, I witnessed a raw and vicious sideways glance from Barus as though he was furious with me!? At that moment I was both confused and a bit frightened. I attempted to wink from sight and was again thwarted by these gangly snarling creatures. My troupe dispatched the one assailing me and so, I returned to the tried and true method, sharp-edged pointed metal and scored a light hit from the side before the rest fell upon it with unwavering ferocity showering myself and Barus in a brackish warm, black ichor……..YEEEEEE-ICK!!!! After a moment to collect myself and remove the excess…ichor (tongue gag!!) we proceeded down the lit tunnel. Barus recovering from what looked to be dry heaves, took his spot beside me but more sullen….if that is even possible for a dwarf?
The next dark passage was partially blocked by rubble; the Dwarf noted the rubble strewn upon the floor as remains of what was once a brick wall which had at one time blocked this passage much as we had found in the lower rooms of the Glassworks. Upon investigation we found a hole which lead to a barred cell below. I was lowered by rope about 10ft. to the floor of the cell and quietly closed and locked the cell after a couple of tries…and with a big smile looking up into the light whispered “I did it! Pull me up!” We then pursued the lit tunnel to its terminus. An in depth search revealed a concealed door. I listened and heard what sounded like the surf, or waves breaking on the beach. The door was slowly opened, presenting a cave which opened out to the sea. We found a gob camp site in the cave. I went out to the beach to get my bearings and could make out the lighthouse ruins and Choppers Isle. We returned to the cave, and once again found myself in tenderfoot status. Had I given it any thought at all, I would have suggested a rinse in the surf before returning to the burrow. I was not fond of the crazy sticky ichor caked all over me.
We decided to retrace our steps to the cell and see what lay in wait for us there. We used a pole arm or two to tie off a rope over the hole to make our way out. I slid down the rope and unlocked the cell on the first try!! Barus followed as I crept beneath a stairway adjacent to the cell, bow in hand. Our third party member lowered on the rope and that is when the darkness attacked me!!! I felt claws and teeth gnashing at my legs and side, I wanted to scream out in terror, but as the light approached I made out the same types of creatures we had fought before trying to devour me or claw me to pieces. I kicked and flailed and became so angry that I envisioned myself braining these two nasties with my mace, then denting in Barus’s helmet until a red goo seeped from the holes, and bashing Lynn and Frederick’s skulls flat on the stone floor…and enjoying in immensely. Then, as the pain rushed back my scream of terror turned into a barf as I realized what I had just imagined and how disturbing it was to me. As my troupe advanced into the room and the light made things a bit clearer the creatures engaged them leaving me for dead. In my tear blurred vision I curled up under the stairs in agony. After I hastily surveyed my wounds, finding them non-life threatening I allowed myself the luxury of a deep breath to collect my wits and was blessed by Shelyn of the memory of an old man who once visited my guardians, the acrobat and troubadour. He stayed the night and after I was supposed to be asleep, recounted a fantastical tale of an exploration of ancient ruins and creatures such as these we face now. He called them….sin eaters…nooo…sin biters…nooo…sinnnn SPAWN!! And I had thought him a fool spinning yarns…who’s the fool now? Damn that old man scared me; I recall the story became increasingly scarier as I did not sleep for days. And should I survive this prison of doom, probably will not sleep for some time to come!!! Upon hearing a burst melon land in my immediate area I slowly opened my eyes to find a dead sin spawn, with its head split open within arm’s reach. I retrieved my bow and rapidly scrambled through the warm, black pool of ichor, (GASP!!) made my way up the stairs to a safe distance from these creatures’ corpses and the troupe as I was not certain of my reactions just yet. I think I now understand the foul gaze Barus expressed on our first encounter with the sin spawn.
Barus, Lucien, Lynn, and Frederick advanced on the stairs so I quick stepped to the doorway Barus was heading towards with a purpose. He looked…well, determined!?!? So a knelt before the door and gave a cursory search for lethality. Finding none, and the door also unsecured. I listened for occupancy. Nothing…so I slowly opened the door. I SWEAR….. SHE MOVED!! But alas it was only a very well crafted (life-like!) carved red stone statue of an angry woman clad in disturbing styles and accents carrying a pole arm. So I opened the door and entered the room. I let those who followed enter and found the rest had stayed behind. I took the opportunity to rest and inspect my wounds a bit more closely. Wow those bites left a mark and the claws did poke and tear a bit. STINGING!! BURNING!! Oh that hurts so!!! No sooner than I looked back, Barus with the statue’s pole arm in hand, was advancing up a starred hallway. So I hopped up as quickly as I could and checked the next door at the end of the hall. Once again clear of any dangers, I peeked in, finding a raised reflecting pool topped with… skulls!?!? NOPE!!! NO WAY!! “I am not going in there!” and I returned to the statue of the angry red lady. A moment or two after reaching the statue I turned to catch the silhouettes of half my troupe…and what looked like a set of wings bobbing around their heads. Then as if time and distance distorted, I swear I saw the sound wave darken the hall in slow motion as a blood curdling scream advanced on me. Then about half way down the stairs it rushed me like the surf on a stormy day. All at once I was terrified of what I couldn’t see in that room. I wanted to flee….but couldn’t!! Again my eyes blurred as the tears welled up, I began to shiver in fright….just wanting to run….but can’t!!! Then I felt the ultimate shame as a warm trickle found the path of least resistance down my right leg. As the sounds of combat slowed and stopped I could hear the troupe but could not make out much save the light and blurred shadows. Locked in abject fright for long after the fight was over I was finally loosed from its grip and ran to the other side of the statue and knelt to the floor in a full out release of emotion! Lucien returned and learnt a comforting hand upon my head. Then advanced into the darkness on a path as yet unsearched and I will admit, did not care to follow. What foulness must have befallen those in the upper room!? The scream was most horrid!! After a few moments the entire troupe had regrouped and as I wiped the tears away, Xandu’s healing touch took the sting from my legs and side but the inner pain still lingered from the force of the sin spawn bites.
We decided to go as one large group to check the area the other half of the troupe had scouted and scrambled through a truly disturbing room with all manner of torture implements and cells with misshapen skeletons. We happened on a door, which I checked and showing no signs of malfeasants, was opened after I moved back into the troupe a few feet. Unfortunately though, not far enough!! As when the door was opened a three armed…wait,what? Yep, A THREE ARMED goblin puked a gout of acrid blood-vomit upon all those in the front of the troupe with myself taking the last of the gout. (Closed lip GAG!!!) I resigned from sight and attempted to make my way behind this waste of breath and shank the nasty green turd painter from his brown eye to the tongue!! But the troupe was quick and all but severed him at the hips. I gingerly stepped between what was found to be zombie pits and reclaimed my visage to kneel at its side to happily remove its ears. As the troupe ransacked the corpse and fed it to a zombie I pondered my lack of combat training and vowed to change my strategy from now on. Xandu relieved me of all but the deepest of bruises and now we set off to a new set of doom-filled rooms. Should we prevail I cannot imagine the tales that we could tell that would be believed?
Uther Eld, Taldorain Pistolero
In the journal, Tsuto alluded to several unsettling things. First, the alliance between the tribes of goblins (hinted at by Shalelu) was a fact, and he was not the only leader of the alliance; someone he called “his love” was up to her neck with him. This “love” was identified by Moxie as Nualia, daughter of the deceased priest whose body had been stolen during the original raid. She was described as obsessed with removing her “celestial taint” and had burned her father’s remains in some foul ritual intended to alter her body in some way. Tsuto seemed less than pleased with the results so far. Also, they were trying to ally with something called a Quasit in an attempt to get “her freaks from below” to attack the town; the town was to be sacrificed to an evil god to complete Nualia’s transformation.
While most of us were puzzling over this information, Moxie, Sheldor (the conqueror!) and Annie took Ameiko upstairs and arranged with the mayor for her healing, and for some sort of cleanup crew; I could hear them banging about as I kept watch down the partially-lit “smuggler’s tunnel.” Upon their return (after dividing up some of the loot gleaned from Tsuto’s body; once again the Elf showed recalcitrance towards being rewarded for risking his life and limb. I would have thought that Tsuto’s fists had damaged his brain, but this was not the first time he has voiced such prejudices) we headed into the tunnels to confront whatever allies Tsuto had left behind.
Long tunnel, badly lit with a few widely spaced torches. Luckily, Moxie's assessment of the area being “full” of tunnels was in error, as there were only two branches from the main corridor. A relatively short distance in there was a dark branch to the east, which ended in a cave in a few hundred feet along. Another branch to the west took us into an ambush with some loathsome gangly-looking creatures (not goblins). We made short work of them, though the dwarf was badly bitten. Past the opening where the ambush took place, the western branch ended with a hole in the floor, leading to a cell door; we quietly lowered Moxie on a rope, and she locked the cell door before heading back to the main tunnel. It was very long, with a secret door at the apparent dead end, which led into a cavern on the beach well to the northeast of town. No further enemies that way. We decided to return to the hole and cell, and see what awaited us there.
More of the gangly critters is what. They were hiding under some stairs in the dungeon which the cell gave access to, and attacked Moxie when she moved into the room. I must say that the report of my pistol is amazingly loud in confined spaces, several of my companions have complained of it in passing, but I’ve noted that they don’t seem to complain about the enormous holes that appear in our enemies because of it. One simply cannot have everything. After we killed the creatures I lit a torch to improve the light situation, and with a couple of others spent some time examining the dungeon in which we had emerged. Nothing but old stonework and cells empty but for bones.
Somehow the party got split up at this point, with several going to investigate what a closed door led to, while others of us took the more prudent course to check out an open hallway first. Those of us who followed the hallway found a rather gruesome torture chamber, complete with archaic and somewhat esoteric implements for inflicting pain, and two more closed doors. Zandu and I discussed the situation, and have come to the conclusion that we are in some sort of catacomb beneath the Old Light.
The sounds of battle brought us running to the aid of the remainder of our party. They had been attacked by some sort of monstrous flying skulls. The fight was over by the time we arrived, and only the dwarf seemed the worse for wear, with some sort of bite on the side of his face. Once we had treated some of the wounds sustained in the latest encounters, we moved on to explore the rest of these foul chambers. Another cave in cut off a rising spiral staircase that promised a retreat route, and we returned to the torture chamber to investigate the doors there. Behind one a small study and three closed doors, each containing a horrifically misshapen skeleton; I can only imagine what sort of person might have kept these unfortunate beings. The second door led to a staircase leading down, and another battle.
This one was with a vile misshapen goblin with a distorted skull and three arms. As we approached the room he occupied, he spat some kind of corruption at us; luckily I was far enough back to not be covered in the slime. We moved into the room quickly, and dispatched the… whatever, in the process discovering that the floor was riddled with pits containing zombies. Stabbing downward with spears and such eventually ended their foul existence, and we gathered ourselves for further exploration.
Lucien Prospero, Taldoran Fighter
Well, it seems like I chose wisely when I picked Sandpoint as my starting location to find adventure!
From the excitement of my initial arrival in town, the overindulgences of the festival, and the attack by the nasty goblins, to our investigation of the Glassworks and discovery of the maze of smugglers tunnels under the streets, Sandpoint has kept me entertained!
I believe fortune has indeed smiled on the residents who have been spared the worst of the events by the presence of our small group of adventurers who have taken a stand to stop the goblins. The local authorities have all but handed the entire matter over to us to deal with for them.
Our investigation into the disappearance of Ameiko has led us to uncover a more sinister plot by several tribes of goblins and other foul creatures to destroy Sandpoint. It seems the leaders of the enemy forces are former and current residents of the town! I wonder what has brought them to this evil pursuit, and what drives them on? Revenge? Power? Worse?
Following the battle in the Glassworks, we quickly regrouped and ventured into the tunnels below the town to root out the rest of the goblins. It quickly became apparent that the tunnels were larger than we suspected, and that it would take some time to explore and cleanse them all.
As we followed the lead of Moxie and the dwarf, Barus, we soon found our path blocked by dead ends and walls. In this maze of passages, we discovered that the dark tunnels are home to things far worse than the pestilent goblins.
The twisted aberrations have upset some of my companions, but so far, my training has allowed me to avoid the worst of their effects. The same can't be said for poor Moxie, who has found herself bitten, scratched, and covered in the vile fluids of these creatures. The mental trauma also seems to be affecting her, and I've taken a bit of time to reassure her that we won't leave her alone in the darkness. She carries on like a soldier, but I'm worried that she may not be so lucky next time. I intend to do my best to see that she survives this adventure. It would be a loss to us all if her bright spark and sly smile were to disappear.
The dwarf and the magus have both proven themselves brave and useful as we navigate the dark tunnels. The dwarf's uncanny ability to find the way, even in the total darkness, is a great benefit to the party. The magus, Lynn, has shown some signs of his growing mystical powers. On several occasions, his arcane arts have given us the edge.
My fellow Taldoran, Uther, is also a dependable ally. His roaring pistol surely strikes fear in all of our enemies. (Even if it does leave a certain ringing in my own ears!)
The alchemist and his dazzling array of potions, the cleric and his divine aid, and the steady spear of the druid, have all come together with the talents of the others. I believe that fate has brought us all together in this time of Sandpoint's need, and that we have a chance for greatness if we stick together.
I, for one, will not be satisfied until this threat to the innocent townsfolk has been removed.
Apparently my thoughts of speaking with the Mayor and some rest were premature. A couple party members briefly spoke with the Mayor to bring her into the loop. We went forward to clear out the tunnels. So down we went.
We started to travel down the main tunnel and our plan was to clean out the side paths. We’ve cleaned out the main areas eliminating about six monsters. The cleric told us they were called aberrations, ugly creatures that would bite and claw you. The bite was somewhat sickening, from the look of some of my companions, the dwarf and Pixie at least.
We finally came to the end of the tunnels and we had only found 1 pathway left to explore. It started inside a cell. Some of us have predicted that this part of the system is going to show us the old light area. There appear to be symbols in Thassilonean. We’ve encountered a torture area and more cells. Some sort of three armed creature that pukes blood and a room full of zombies. We’ve destroyed them all. I’m tired and have want of a bed. The adventure is exciting, but more chaotic than I’d like.
There was an area in the tunnels that lead to a beach, which lends truth to the rumor that these were smugglers’ tunnels. A goblin camp out on the beach showed at least where some of our adversaries have come from.
Moxie has earned her worth for me. She’s opened locked doors and been the first in a couple bad situations. This may not have been the wisest decision, but we may not have had many other options. As for the others in our party, they all seem to be pulling their fair share of the pain, both given and taken. The fighters have held their own and punished well our foes and the cleric has added both healing and damage to our enemies.
We had just returned to a part of the tunnel system that had a hole in the floor that led to a lower chamber; a hole that opened into a cell of old. We had been here earlier and had lowered Moxie down to look around. She said it was pretty big but very dark so we asked her to lock the cell so that nothing would come up out of it while we were down here searching the rest of the tunnels. Moxie was to go first followed by Barus (the dwarf) then the rest of us. Moxie went as planned but when Barus landed on the cell floor he was attacked by something we couldn’t see. It turned out to be a couple of the Sin Spawn creatures. We all climbed down to rescue Moxie and Barus. The room was pretty big and filled with old cells. As we looked around the chamber the group kind of got split up. I was walking on a wooden walkway above the cells when I came to a dark hall and asked Uther for some light. That’s when he said sure but don’t go too far the others have taken a different way. I had gone into what looked like a torture chamber and fond three doors when we heard screams. It didn’t sound like Moxie but we all turned and ran towards the doors that Moxie had gone through. There was a huge statue and Moxie hiding near its legs. She had been crying or at least there were tears on Moxie’s face. I notice she was wounded and placed my hand on her and asked for Desna to help her, to heal her. A calm came over Moxie and she sniffed and said “Thanks, can we go a different way, I don’t like what’s at the end of that hall.
We all agreed to go back to the torture chamber and inspect it. We didn’t find much there other than the bones of misshapen creatures in the cells next to it but as we went on deeper into that tunnel we found a three armed goblin. It puked at us and the ones up in front were covered in….well….yuk. At first glance it looked like the room had wooden planks spread around on the floor but as I got closer I heard groans and moans coming from under them. They looked to be lids covering a pit so I lifted one up with my Totem spear to see a zombie in a small pit cell. If we weren’t carful we could easily fall into one and have the fight of our lives with a zombie in a very tight space, not good at all. We focused on the three armed goblin and after we had killed it we killed all of the zombies in the pits. It is now time again to heal the wounded and catch our breath. What are we up against? First it was goblins then zombies then “Sin Spawn” now to three armed puking goblins and zombies. What the hell did we get into? I came here to dance and party and I find myself along with a few good strangers, Deputized and put in charge of cleaning up Desna knows what. All very strange but on we go. And my bond to these people of my group gets stronger. If it wasn’t for each one at some point I think we would fail but the strength of the whole keeps us safe, not from harm mind you but from death. In a few short days I’ve gone from happy to be alive to HAPPY TO BE ALIVE. I feel now that it would be worse for me to lose one of my new friends than would be my own death. I have vowed to Desna that I will do my part in keeping these friends in good health.
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GMs note, I was asked by our esteemed druid of the frozen north to post his journal.
Sheldor’s journal entry – Into the Glass Works we go!
The curiosity of the closed but seemingly operational Glass Works was solved today. After splitting up and searching for an entrance in to the building, Moxely was able to pick the lock at the contractor’s entrance of the factory and we proceeded in very quietly and began searching the premises. Several offices and storage areas were explored until we made the ghastly discovery in the main foundry. There we found, along with some disgusting goblins, body parts of the former workers of the works and worst of all Mo’shiku’s father dead and preserved in glass. A fight ensured and the other half of my party gained access in to the room as well through a broken window. All the goblins were dispatched and together we ventured into the basement of the foundry to continue to look for Mo’Shiku.
The search of the basement revealed some more goblins and Mo’Shiku’s drunken brother sleeping, who when awakened, almost ran an arrow through one of us. He was an incredibly tough man, who in his state refused to calm down and a hand to hand melee ensued. He almost broke several jaws with his powerful bare-knuckled blows. Unfortunately, he was dispatched as he fled down a long underground passage way. I am sure some will never forget the impact his fists for as long as they live. The search continued and to our amazement, Mo’shiku was found and also a journal of her brother’s which shed some “light” on the goblin attacks and who might be behind them. She was led upstairs and turned over to the some of the town folk to attend to needs as we continue to try and unravel this ever deepening mystery in Sandpoint.
The exploration of the underground passageway was not as laborious as one could have expected. We found that the main corridor was lit with torches which made movement easier. There were some dark passage ways branching off which we followed but led to nothing. Eventually we came to a more open area with in the tunnel and a secret door was revealed. This door led to a sea cave. This has to be the way the goblins are getting into the town so easily.
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Well, we completed the final few rooms of the Catacombs of Wrath last evening. I believe we were missing 2 players, 1 of which showed up about an hour before they finished.
The group proceeded from the Prisoner Pits to the Meditation Chamber and 20+ years of paranoid gamer came out of "everyone." Once the description of the floating objects was finished (including the dead raven and squirming maggots) the collective yell of "Its a trap! Do not go in there, if you attempt to go in there I will stop you," was stated by a few.
The magus and alchemist both speaking Thasillonian recognized the few brief words that flashed across the plating in the room when they looked in. The cleric though ignored the advice of the others and decided to investigate. Fearing that the room would make it so that he could not move once he entered he wanted to ensure that he reached the far wall so he could push off to get out. So he ran forward and leaped. I gave him a Reflex save (DC 10), which he failed, and so he flew through the room impacting the far wall with much greater force than he expected to have (1 point of damage). It was then that he realized that it was fine and he could move about as he needed, so he gathered the book to give to the alchemist. Even after explaining to everyone it was safe, no one went back in. (Here is where I inwardly rolled my eyes, some adventurers.) So the cleric went back in and gathered everything, including the dead bird, which he dumped into a pit with a now dead zombie.
They then proceeded to check various empty areas as they made their way to the Shrine to Lamsashtu. The description of the brackish and dirty looking water befuddled the group and I seriously expected someone to drink from it, but they didn't.
They then entered into the Cathedral of Wrath. Since the area had 20' ceilings I had the doors into the cathedral also be similar in height roughly 16'. Because there are so many in the group I had 2 sinspawn already in the chamber, 1 in each alcove doorway. She cut herself and spawned another sinspawn and then took flight. Because she had a high initiative (highest) she went first and went invisible. The fight against the sinspawn ensued with the group moving into the room. The next round she began summoning and on the next round 2 Riding Dogs (using the description of hyena's offered by one of the other threads) appeared to great effect as the trip and bite damage was rather significant.
Essentially the fight went about 8 or so rounds with the 3 sinspawn, 2 hyenas, and Erylium tearing most of the group up. They managed to drop her to 1 hit point but on her round, *poof* invisible and she ran (well, flew) and hid.
This is where it got funny and sad all at the same time. They had figured out that the glow on the rune well diminished after she used her blood to summon a sinspawn. So they tested it by the fighter grabbing the cleric and poking his hand to make him bleed because he said he could test it since he could "summon." One sinspawn appeared and the group killed it before it could even act (low init roll by me didn't help). At that point the gunslinger drew his pistol and said if anyone approached the rune well to do that again he was going to shoot them. Hooray! Party infighting for sinpoints all around!
Those that had a chance were not totally sure how to "destroy" the rune well, but were able to figure out that by draining it they could make it inert. But the fact the group had injuries (except the fighter who was down only a few points) and the infighting prevented them from draining the rune well. They believed Erylium would just fill it and use it. So they left to go lick their wounds and return later.
They were able to find out that the dwarf was in fact diseased from the Vargouille and Zantus told him to go stand in the sun until the group was able to locate a scroll of remove disease in the market. Since it was Friday, and market day I allowed them to locate one for 150 gold. They sold the prayer book of lamashtu to the owner of the Curious Goblin for 80 gold, and sold the ranseur from the Welcoming Chamber to Brodert Quink who was in the shop for 350 gold once he realized its significance. The group is going to have to explain where they found it to him at a later date but he was happy to have a new item to glean Thasillonian history from. They then retired to the Rusty Dragon.
While eating dinner the mayor showed up and asked what had happened and they explained. Once she heard, some creature was still down there and could summon in more creatures, she asked why they weren't down there killing them. To which a collective, cause we are almost dead was the reply. It was about that time the group decided to go back to the glassworks and maintain a vigil in A16 and rest there. Even though they had barred the exit from the catacombs by locking the cell, (remember that I closed the other two entrances into the catacombs off) they wanted to make sure any sinspawn could not make their way into Sandpoint.
When they returned the next morning they found a dark room, with all the power from the rune well gone. As they entered and split up heading to the rune well the 2 remaining sinspawn she had summoned attacked. As did she. This time multiple enlarged individuals (one of which grappled her) and poor dice rolling by me, and a failed save versus faerie fire pretty much made the fight much quicker. Even the 3 hyena's rolled horrible. Although the Cause Fear worked better and the hyenas did get some attacks of opportunity.
So now with a now cleared Catacombs of Wrath they returned to the surface to begin preparations for heading to Thistletop.
This journal entry I find difficult to write as I disagree with the actions our party took overall. The outcome may have been the same, but the path to the outcome wasn't of my liking.
We continued through the passageways finding various rooms. One of them is some sort of meditation room, but I don't know how it serves to calm. It appears to let you float. You can move around and breath, but ... how that would be calming to anyone is beyond me.
We explored various areas including what appeared to be some sort of pulpit and shrine. Beyond that was a double door. We entered and were immediately engaged by a Quasit? and some sinspawn. We dispatched the sinspawn and had injured the quasit "Erylium" but she had a nasty habit of disappearing so we were unable to locate it. We explored the chamber, knowing that she had fled. I had tracked her down the corridor a short distance, but was away from the group and did not want to face her alone. She seemed to have some self healing abilities. We deduced that there was some sort of summoning power artifact to Lamastu that could summon sinspawn. It only had a limited amount of power and each time it was used the power lessened. WE tried it, summoned one, killed it. This is where the paths went wrong. We were tired, and out of spells and wounded, but we weren't done. So we left and went back to town after the gunman threatened to shoot anyone that used the summoning rune again. I think we would have been better served staying there, in the room. We could have eliminated her using the rune and waited for her to return while regaining our strength. Maybe not healing completely, but we left and went back to town.
When the mayor checked on us, she kind of asked the same question, why did you leave. I was in the minority, so I held my tongue. That may not always be the case.
We returned the next day and basically fought the same battle, but with more spells. We got lucky and dazed her and grappled her and ended the threat.
I thought if I get a chance I’d like to go into the room. As the group was deciding on a plan of action I made my way to the door. I thought if I jump in with enough momentum I would be able to push off of the far wall and get back to the door. I jumped into the room and effortlessly passed through the space between the walls slamming into the far wall much sooner than I thought possible. The impact knocked the air out of me and bruised a couple of ribs but I was able to move around the room easily. I grabbed the wine bottle and headed to the door.
As I stepped through I again felt the pull of gravity and walked towards Uther who had asked about it. I handed it to him and told everyone that it was safe to enter the room and fun but no one would go so I said I’d get the rest of the items out. 1. a bottle of wine 2.a book of lamashtu 3.a twisted wand 4.a dead raven. I discerned that the raven’s neck had been broke and threw its remains into a zombie pit. The only reason I removed the raven was so I or anyone else could float around in the room without it getting in the way. The room was/is way cool and I plan on returning to just hang out.
Back to investigating the catacombs. We back tracked our steps to the large statue. There had been a couple of hallways we hadn’t gone down so we decided to start looking for more monsters again. I noticed as we walked away from the floating room that Moxie kept looking back at it. I think she was disappointed that she didn’t try it out. Maybe I can bring her back soon to show her it’s really ok. One of the hallways was collapsed the other opened to some kind of shrine and two huge doors. I looked around the shrine but found nothing. The doors were heavy but the guys got them open and as soon as they did we were attacked by sinspawn.
There was also a quasit (small daemon) at the opposite end of the room. She cut herself and her blood dripped into a glowing red basin. At that point another sinspawn rose from a pool in front of us. We fought the quasit and the sinspawn but without many healing spells left I was reluctant to continue the fight after the quasit disappeared. We had killed all three of the sinspawn and several summoned evil laughing dogs but the quasit wasn’t to be found and as a matter of fact had flown away for the time being. I was looking over the “summoning” pool when the fighter pricked my hand with his dagger and a drop of my blood fell into the pool. I was out of summoning spells but just to try I thought of the eagle I had summoned before. To my surprise it was a sinspawn that rose from the first pool and we killed it quickly. “I’m not doing that again”. I told the group. We decided to go back to town and rest and come back in the morning to fight the quasit. While back in town we found out that the dwarf was diseased and acquired a cure for him before heading to the Glass Works to keep a vigil through the night. We did return and fought the quasit again. Finally I think we’ve cleared the “catacombs”.
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To start this evening off I had some small roleplay happen between the Mayor talking with Eilarolyn about their endeavors once it was discovered they returned from the Glassworks. Brodert Quink tracked down Moxie (ie. I rolled a dice for all players present and thats who he bumped into first, which worked out well since she's the only local) to talk about the Thasillonian spear they found. I played up his scholarly aspect and wide eyed wonderment at what they described but was adamant about never going down there to look at the catacombs without heros to protect him.
The group decided to gather Ameiko, Zantus and Deverin (mayor) to discuss the journal. Deverin is a very tactically smart woman and I played up her listening to everything before making any decisions, Zantus was just pale and wide-eyed as they described the possible raid, Amieko was played as a gamut of emotions. Sorrow, anger, resigned smiles, etc. Its been a busy few days for her and I tried to play up her backbone and mourning.
It was decided to investigate Thistletop and that they would leave the next day, this was after two days of down time. One of those days was the return to the catacombs to find and eliminate Erylium. Since Ameiko is portrayed as a rather good cook, I had her supply the group with some dried meats and simple cinnamon bread for their trek, which was well received.
The trip up was easy, no encounters (it was about to get hellish hard on goblin turf) and only two party members got poked by poisonous plants before getting to area C1.
The best part of this was the addition of a new player (who sadly could not make it) that was a shoanti outcast horseman. Instead of using Shadowmist as the horse the goblins captured, his mount was the one captured and the party was able to "rescue" and add the barbarian to the group. I had his character tied up with a long pole tied to his back so the goblins could carry him, but after the problems with the horse only three of them were left to drag his body to the hole leading to the Bunyip. As the group encountered the goblins they just managed to shove him into the hole but were dismayed when both ends of the pole prevented him from falling down it. I wished the player was there for the description of wide-eyed terror as all he could see was the long shaft to the water, and something large, dark and fast was moving in the water below.
Now I am unsure if I read the description correctly for the area, but I have the entire area covered in the brambles and as such, the whole group is at a -4 AC and -4 to hit. The dwarf being medium sized but 4'6" only had a -2 to AC and to hit. Moxie was the only one that suffered no penalty. The druid would also have been good, but alas he was also absent. 'Tis the season.
That hurdle plus the low level of the group (only 2nd at this point) made the fight against 11 goblins in C4 a real test for their skills. (Small error on my part, there was only supposed to be 10, but eh, they're heroes.) I gave them all max health, so 11 health for each goblin. Even with a well placed color spray it was a tough fight and I nicked them down quite a bit. The funny part was the gunslinger watching the tunnel at C3 that led north. He was ambushed by Gogmurt and his cat. After 3 rounds of combat he was at a -2 and I had forgot to deal 1d6 sneak attack damage on the initial hit. Having a +16 to stealth is hard to notice.
We finished the night late (but we had a late start with full bellies) so we did not get to far into the actual goblin nest pre-thistletop.
I don't know if you want non-player posts in your thread, but I'll pipe up that I had my PCs at -4 AC and -4 to hit, and they nearly got TPK'ed by 4 goblin dogs.
I think you're supposed to have the passageways be that bad, but the "rooms" should have higher roofs to allow fighting.
Or, you just cross your fingers and hope your group can manage it, as I/we did...
We came back from the tunnels and cleaned up and I wandered around town. The mayor spotted me and I let her know what was down there and what we had encountered and that we had basically eliminated those things. I told her a little about the various rooms and then a little about Tsuto’s journal. I told her what I could about the attacks and some future plans that we had read about in the journal and that we probably needed to let Ameiko know. Told her we had killed one of the goblin chief legends Koruvas, 3 armed guy that belches or pukes something. After we had that meeting it was decided to go check out Thistletop. We spent a couple days in town though, before we left. We needed a break and to heal up.
We began the journey to Thistletop and the woods were nasty thorny. We found a trio of goblins trying to dump a human down a hole. The human was tied up to a stick and the stick didn’t fit in the hole. We fought the goblins and I finished off one. We saved the human, but he went back to the opening, recovering from the shock apparently.
We progressed deeper into the tunnels. Did I mention that they’re only 4 foot tall? Makes fighting very difficult for the tall folks. We rounded a corner and found 11 goblins. I stunned a few of them to help with the odds, then it was a long drawn out fight to finish them off, finally killed one that was determined to either steal my wand or kill me.
During the fight, apparently Uther, who had reluctantly barely entered the tunnels, was attacked by the Thistletop leader. There was a fight there, and he was rendered unconscious. The chief was casting spells and the cat was fighting. Zandu took up the attack and the chief left. We still need to get to the top. Not going to be easy, they know we’re coming.
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Last night we finished up the upper tier of Thistetop and set up their inevitable confrontation with Nualia.
We finished with the group leveling and healing up after the fight. Knowing there was a druid in the area they proceeded cautiously forward following the drag marks of what was supposed to be Shadowmist but was instead the new players horse. They came to the T intersection with the southern path leading to Tangletooths and then Gogmurts lair and the northern path leading to the rope bridge. They went south with only the dwarf ranger and halfling rogue leading the way about 30' ahead of the main group being stealthy. As they entered into Tangletooths lair the group entered the T intersection with all the subtlety of a marching band. Gogmurt and Tangletooth were hiding in the brambles and attacked. Gogmurt was able to move out and cast entangle on the entire group other than the rogue and the ranger and only 1 of 6 players failed the Reflex save. Suffice it to say, the fight was short but Gogmurt was able to escape a 2nd time.
Because of the narrow confines of the briar patch the group was banged up. With the recent level, there were some new slots available for spells so they stopped to rest to gain those spells. Essentially 15 min. rest with each spellcaster gaining a spell.
During the rest Gogmurt made a run to the fort and was shot by the gunslinger for his trouble. It didn't kill him but he only did 2 points of damage and left Gogmurt with 8. The rest was interrupted by the alarm being raised when the 6 goblins riding the goblin dogs began shooting into the group at the edge of the bridge, the rest were further down the path. The encounter called for 2 goblins per tower and 4 dogs and 4 goblins. Because I had 9 players present (missing 1) I upped it to 3 per tower and 6 dogs and 6 goblins. Instead of javelins, they all had shortbows, I also kept them at normal health and not max health as the party was pretty banged up.
As the fight progressed it became apparent that the heroes were having issues. The realization that the bridge may collapse (as a trap) was learned by the third player that entered onto the bridge. They were not sure how many more could go on but the sudden talk of "well, three characters don't way as much as a horse" started to go around. So I immediately quashed the talk with a "don't put to much thought into this, its a mechanic, right now you know that 3 people do not cause the bridge to snap." That had them rush across sans Dex to reach the other side.
The fights went about as expected. The dogs being the largest threat but the easiest to hit. When it was all said and done they had killed all the goblins, including the 9 in the courtyard (upped from 6). The ranger had dropped and several players were hovering around the 5-7 hp mark with all healing being used up.
The last of the fight was against Ripnugget and because I was tired and not paying attention instead of the warchanter and commandos I had 8 goblins on wooden seats affixed to the columns in the throne room shooting down with shortbows. Everything was going okay with Ripnugget until on round two he was hit with Misfortune from the witch. Gods how I hate that hex. The color spray that hit him and his gecko while he clung to the ceiling after a charge sealed his doom as the gecko failed its save and fell to the ground. After that, the Hex guaranteed I never hit anyone with Ripnugget.
Notes: Alchemists are disgustingly efficient in close quarters with multiple mobs. Witch Hexes suck. :)
All in all we had a great time and will begin the descent into the island/head next week.
Lucien Prospero – Taldoran fighter
As we continued on into the goblin thicket, we encountered even more of the vile creatures that continually blocked our progress. The worst was another encounter with the goblin who seemed to have powers much like our own druid. He and his panther-like pet ambushed Moxie and Barus by stepping out of the wall of thorns that did not seem to affect him. The surprise attack was followed by a magic effect which caused the vines and thorns to grow and wrap around the majority of our party. Luckily, I and several of the others managed to run out of the area with little problem and aid Moxie and Barus. We were able to kill the panther, and wounded the goblin severely, causing him to flee. Uther managed to fire a shot at the fleeing goblin, but was unable to stop his escape across a narrow, wood and rope bridge leading out of the thicket and over a chasm which dropped to the rocks and water far below. At this point, we decided to rest and allow several of our group to recover and treat their wounds. This proved to be a tactical mistake!
Our decision to rest allowed the goblins to mount a counter-offensive against us, and we found ourselves funneled down to the narrow bridge that was held at the other end by a group of goblins mounted on the rat-like dogs they ride. In addition, a ramshackle fortress made from the flotsam and jetsam of wrecked ships stood beyond the bridge, and was manned by goblin archers in two defensive towers. We came under arrow fire as we moved from the thicket and onto the bridge. While Uther and others engaged the archers at range, Barus and I braved the rickety bridge and charged across as quickly as possible to close with the mounted goblins before we were shot to pieces by the archers.
As we reached the waiting goblins, Barus managed to kill a couple of them before falling from his wounds. I was able to force the remaining goblins back with help from the ranged weapons of the party, and the additional aid rendered by the Shoanti horseman we rescued from the thicket. With the immediate threat neutralized, I looked for an entrance to the fortress, but found my way barred by a wooden gate. I threw myself upward in a leap that just allowed me to catch a handhold on the top of the wall. I pulled myself over the top of the rough, wooden barrier, only to find a hoard of goblins waiting for me below inside the gate as I dropped over the wall. It was here that my hours of blade training with the masters paid off as I engaged the screaming hoard, fighting desperately for my life as the party reached the gate and began to chop at the wood, hoping to gain entrance and come to my aid. As the Shoanti sundered the gate and the party poured through the breach, we killed the last of the goblins in the courtyard. All told, I slew more than eight of the creatures myself while only taking minor wounds in a situation which could have gone much worse.
The slaughter in the courtyard was quickly forgotten as the goblin archers in the towers continued to pour arrows into our group, causing us to spread out through the fortress in an attempt to end the relentless attacks. The alchemist and his unique bombs quickly ended the threat from one tower, while Barus and others fought their way up the stairs in the other tower and killed the goblins there.
Our group reunited and we pressed on into the fortress, looking to clear it of threats, and hopefully find the goblin druid and finish our retribution. We encountered small amounts of resistance from goblins and dogs as we searched the fortress. The goblins had storerooms of rotted food and worse, and the entire place was cluttered and filthy.
Finally, we entered a large room where the goblins had decided to make their last stand. The room had large pillars covered in nails and spikes, and wooden platforms built high above the floor were occupied by more goblin archers, who immediately began firing down on us as we entered the doorway. In the far corner of the room, the goblin leader sat mounted on a large lizard of some kind. Beside him stood the wounded goblin druid. Once again, Barus and I led the charge toward the leader and the druid, followed quickly by the rest of the party who began to engage the goblin archers on the platforms in the rafters. The goblin leader rode his mount swiftly through the party like a knight on horseback, and slashed his blade at anyone who stood in his way. The mount moved quickly and had the ability to scale the wooden walls and withdraw out of reach from most of our attacks. However, the magus once again flashed his arcane spray of color that dazzled the lizard mount, and caused it and the rider to fall to the floor in he midst of the battle. Just before this happened, I struck a vicious blow against the faltering goblin druid and ended his life, and nearly cleaved him in half. As we finished off the goblins in the rafters, we turned our attention on the downed leader and his mount, and quickly put an end to the fight.
Once again, we bandaged our wounds and many of us rested briefly before exploring the rest of the main floor of the fortress. Someone discovered a locked chest filled with goblin "treasures" amidst the vile filth of the goblin privy. However, I'm not sure the rewards found in the chest were worth the unpleasant efforts of several party members to retrieve the chest from the privy. Egad, the smell!!! After recovering the chest, we have decided to rest and restore ourselves before venturing down the stairs to whatever waits below the fortress.
Uther Eld, Pistolero:
I knew that going into that thicket was a mistake.
It’s just one thing after another with these people, enough is never enough with them. We fight off a goblin attack on their insignificant little village, and then get asked to check up on the broken tomb in the graveyard. Zombies, yuck. “Oh, and there’s a monster in this person’s house, could you look into it?” Another goblin. Berated by the town noble for not lying down and letting the foul creatures carve us into people-steaks. More goblins in the glass works (noble got some deserved come-uppance there, if you ask me). “Oh yeah, there are smugglers’ tunnels down there, would you mind cleaning those out?” “You’re back already? Why didn’t you finish killing everything down there?” Well maybe because we’re exhausted and half-dead, thank you very much! “Now that you’re done with the tunnels, why don’t you go out to the Thistleback goblin’s stronghold and clean them out too, hmmm?”
Thistlewood (or whatever it’s called) is a dreary place, foggy and filled with plants sporting six-inch thorns. We tracked the thrice-damned goblins to their lair, which turned out to be a maze in a mass of thorn bushes, with only four foot passages. We’d be fools to go in there, I said. Likely all get killed, I said. They’ll have it all their way, I said. And I was right.
I hate being right about these things, I hate goblin-druids and their black and red-striped wildcat familiars, and I hate I HATE I HATE goblin archers that I can’t reach.
We rescued some fighter fellow who claims to be a horseman, and a good thing too, since he was one extra body to soak up arrows. Stormed the maze, and nearly got dead for my trouble. I was being rear-guard, trying to make sure the whole tribe didn’t come screaming up behind us when I was dry-gulched by the afore-mentioned druid and familiar. I shot the nimble little bastard, but his familiar tripped me, and I never managed to regain my feet. I thought I was a goner for sure.
When I came to, Zandu was pouring a potion down my throat (thank the gods for Zandu and Friederich the alchemist). As we regrouped to head further into the maze, I told them to be wary of the druid who attacked me, since he could move through the thickets faster than we could move along the passages. No sooner had I said so, than the bugger popped up again and threw a spell which caused more shrubbery to clog the passage, and vines were trying to hold us fast. I managed to avoid the worst, and once again found myself separated from the group as they ganged up on the druid. He got away again, and I again managed to wing him as he briefly appeared deeper in the maze.
Did I mention that fighting goblins on their own turf is a fool’s errand? By this time, we were all battered, our spell casters were out of spells, and there were an unknown number of goblins ahead of us. I had gotten a second wind from somewhere, and we regrouped to take stock. Ahead of us was a rope bridge (almost certainly rigged), and on the far side was a small fort atop a tiny island; apparently the last stronghold of the Thistletop goblins and their chieftain, Ripnugget.
Our casters decided to try to regain some spells, and leave this part to the fighters. We tried sniping across the bridge for a bit (we could clearly see some dog-riders on the far side, but they refused to engage us), but the goblins had too many archers; we were being nibbled to death. Moxie told us that the bridge would collapse if too much weight was on it at once, so we had to move across one at a time, and force a landing on the island; this was done by Lucien, Barum and the new guy, I kept sniping until there was a place to stand on the island. Lucien and Exaybachak (what the hell kind of a name is that?), the new guy, then forced an entry into the fort.
Once we had forced the entrance, clearing the fort wasn’t too difficult; most of the defenders died at the gate and on the towers. Ripnugget and some archers were holed up in the throne room along with the damned druid, and after a short fight we managed to punch their tickets: paid in full.
A couple of the less fastidious members of the group went swimming in the goblins’ excuse for an outhouse, and came up with the entrance to the fort’s treasure room. Exaybachak managed to find and liberate his horse (only a bit the worse for wear), and we are preparing to mount an expedition into the dungeons to see what final challenges await us before we can head back to Sandpoint to a hot meal and comfortable bed.
We headed north to find Thistletop and Ripnugget the goblin. We eventually came to what appeared to some as some kind of ambush. Goblin tracks and drag marks were then followed to a thicket of brambles and a door was found. We entered the overgrown brambles that lead into or turned into hallways and rooms of sorts for little goblinoid type creatures. I should just say that the passage ways and rooms were for smaller folk. Only Moxie wasn’t hampered by the confines of the thicket. We discovered goblins and a human prisoner. Attacking the goblins we almost lost the prisoner down a hole. Luckily he was stuck at the entrance and we were able to kill the goblins before he fell in. We untied him and told him of our quest as he gathered his gear the goblins had strewn on the ground. He said that he wished to go with us to see if he could save his horse. We could still clearly make out the drag marks that his horse had made while being taken to some unknown location.
More goblins were found to fight and a goblin druid and his pet “big cat”, talk about scary. We were torn up and needed rest but some wanted to press forward. A compromise was reached and we were allowed to heal and rest for a few minutes. During the rest the goblins mounted a counter attack of sorts. They stayed across a ravine and shot arrows at our group from a fortified position. There was a rope bridge across the ravine but the fact that the goblins wouldn’t cross it gave me mind to look at the bridge more closely. In fact the bridge was trapped but I had no idea what would set it off other than weight. And I didn’t know what that weight might be. At the time of discovering this there were three of us on the bridge so I yelled to the others not to let more than three on the bridge at one time. We had to watch our escape and try an assault at the same time.
Our fighter and dwarf ranger made a run for the other side and engaged the goblins there. The gunfighter took up a position on this side and engaged at range with his pistol. Friedrich “the alchemist” and I kept an eye on our retreat route while two of us rested and learned new spells. I then took a turn and prayed for new learning and Desna granted a healing spell that I’d use shortly on one of my friends. As we finished our prayers, the others had already made their way across the bridge and were trying to gain access into the fortified island.
The fighter had scaled the wall and the prisoner we rescued was chopping his way through the front doors. Friedrich, the alchemist, focused on the goblins in the towers with his bombs. The place was a mess. Dead goblins everywhere and little hallways and tiny rooms littered the interior of this “fort” we searched everywhere to find Ripnugget and his crew. When we did the fight was on immediately. Ripnugget and the Druid goblin stood at the far end of a large meeting hall. Unfortunately there were lots of goblin archers in the cross beams near the ceiling. The druid had his cat beside him and Ripnugget was riding a large lizard. We charged in and he charged out attacking us as if he was a knight on a steed. At first I thought he had made his escape but as the fighting continued he also came riding back into the Great Hall astride his wall climbing mount. The Druids cat died first then the druid. The party was able to make the lizard fall from the wall and they jumped on Ripnugget. As it stands we are hurt but faring well. I unfortunately was able to find a hidden room in the goblin privy that held a treasure chest and loot, the unfortunate part being how I now reek of goblin feces and urine. I can’t wait to get to the ocean for a bath.
Lynn “Elvin Magus” cast a spell on me and I no longer smell bad but I still think as soon as possible I jump into the ocean, clothes and all. We now prepare ourselves to go further into this nest and try and find the lady that started all of this trouble in the first place.
The fighter came back and introduced himself to us as some sort of horseman and he and his horse were jumped by the goblins. His horse was apparently dragged deeper into the maze probably to their little fort on top of the hill. He needs to find his horse. His name is Exaybachuk. We continued into the maze and found an area with a "nest" where the druid's pet cat slept.
About that time Moxie and Barus got jumped. The party came into the fight and someone killed the cat and we nearly killed the druid, but he escaped through the brambles. He had cast an entangle spell and the group had to evade this barrier to join the fight.
After this, there was a decision for the spellcasters to try and rest a little to get some spells back. The rest of the party ventured further in and found a bridge to the main encampment. They got into a fight with about 12 goblins and 6 dogs at range. I'm personally glad I wasn't there as I and the dogs haven't got along. Apparently I'm tasty.
I got an extra spell and joined the fun. Came up and they had already crossed the bridge leading to the fort. We continued to clear out the encampment. I didn't offer much until the group entered the "throne" room where both the druid and Ripnugget were. Ripnugget was riding a lizard of some sort and the druid. The druid went down early as he had been damaged earlier. There were 8 goblins on stands high up on pillars in the room firing bows at us. Those with range weapons were trying to eliminate them as a threat while the rest of us did our thing. I hit Ripnugget and his lizard with a color spray and apparently the lizard failed and fell to the floor. I think I killed Ripnugget, but I'm not sure, it was a group success. We cut off as many ears as we could and some of the party dug through the outhouse closet and found a secret door that held a chest with tons of copper, silver and some gold. We're taking it back, we found the horse and he seemed to be uninjured but hungry.
There are stairs leading down, but I think we're going to rest before venturing forth to explore. We have a lot of injuries and a lack of spells. I am just beginning to understand some of my skills and they are getting better.
Something day of … Rova perhaps?
I just stumbled upon this book of mine, forgotten in all of the work that lead up to this point. In these last few days I feel as though I am loosing grip on who I once was, and what I once held certain. My knowledge has truly helped this assembly of people seeking fame and adventure, but I fear it is at the cost of myself.
I do not argue that the eradication of this goblin infestation is indeed a necessity, however, I am ashamed of my satisfaction and the exhilaration obtained when dispatching them. Either with the electric concoctions or any other alchemical device I have invented. I just hope that once all this… killing… is done, I may be able to return to my previous existence; though I fear I will have changed too greatly. I suppose I should still try to chronicle my time, perhaps reading back on it will aid in my preservation.
After clearing out the Thasillonian ruins, it was decided we should head to thistletop to remove the area of goblins. The trip there was simple, even pleasant at parts, save a few unsavory bushes that scratched a few comrades. We finally arrived at a bramble wall, and it was discovered to have a makeshift door revealing a four foot tunnel. Leading up to this were certain drag marks that we were keen to investigate.
The short roof and thorned interior proved quite obtrusive, especially when we set upon the first group of goblins. I had no chance using my spear; it was too cumbersome in the environment. As such I resorted to making the explosive charges as I had so many times prior. Green electrical discharges tore flesh from bone and turned bone to ash. I find it fascinating how cleanly it disassembles the morbid creatures, any wound produced seems to sear shut, and the scars produced are very singular design. I stray from the moment. The main group did fine against the goblins, though Uther was not so lucky. He was ambushed by a goblin druid and its pet cat, cat however is an understatement, more like a mix between a wildcat and a panther. We were able to wound and drive off the druid though he remained alive to strike later.
What we came upon next was what appeared to be a man tied to a large stick, hanging over a pit, with goblins trying to navigate the entire bundle into the aforementioned pit. This scene may have been humorous given different circumstances; however, I was tired of fighting these blasted creatures in this cramped environment and was quite ready to be done with the lot. We slaughtered this small lot and freed the man. Who turned out to be tribal and a horseman of sorts. I am not familiar enough with the populous of this region to be knowledgeable of his people, I hope I don’t offend; he seems well accustomed to his weaponry.
Another tangle, quite literally, with the druid. This encounter left his cat ashed, though once again he evaded death. An end to the brambles was finally spied; a rope bridge suspended sixty feet across the sea to the small island of thistletop. Resting on the island was a small fort constructed by the goblins out of what appeared to be shipwrecked timber. It was decided that our band should rest for an hour to try and regain strength and perhaps a spell or two for those with the ability. It was perhaps ten minutes before the goblins began to shoot upon us with short bows. Some of our group went to shoot back with arrow and bullet alike. I decided to protect our flank in an effort to allow those studying magic to finish. No threat came from behind after some time so I went to help the assault. I was out of the necessary catalysts to create my standard electrical bombs. I did, however, have some acids and alchemical fire ready for use. Use it I did, the towered goblins fell quickly to both fire and corrosion. The other goblins were quickly dealt with by my companions. One very important note, the fort has decent ceilings, allowing for proper movement.
We swept through the rest of the fort, finding Ripnugget in his throne room. That blasted druid was beside him. The fight went much faster than I had anticipated. Some goblins near the ceiling fell to acid and arrow while the druid, near dead to begin with, fell within the first few seconds. Ripnugget and his giant gecko were disjoined thanks to a spell from Lyn. The group surrounded the pair and quickly ended them as well. We took quick inventory of acquired items and are now preparing ourselves for a decent beneath the fort.