This week we started running the Rise of the Runelords campaign. Participating in the campaign are...
Krumpkin, a Gnome Sorcerer of arcane bloodline who is always seen with a weasel familiar
Ragnor, a Half-Orc Barbarian
Zornrel, an Elf Ranger
Frig who is an Elf Druid with a viper companion.
Session 1: Aug 19/13
All four adventurers were partaking in the Swallowtail Festival in Sandpoint. The festival was officially opened by the towns Mayor Kendra Deverin and was being held to celebrate the opening and dedication of the towns new temple. Five years ago, the old temple was burnt to the ground along with the Father and his daughter.
The adventurers, all unknown to each other, roam the town's square observing and sometimes participating in the festival games. Krumpkin walks past a booth set up by the Hagfish Inn. "You Sir, little one! Can you stomach this insane concoction our Inn has formulated? Anyone that can will claim this bag of gold!" Krumpikin, who is very sensitive to his size, considered using Acid Splash to teach the stall keep to mind his manners when dealing with Gnomes. Instead he decides to pass.
A nearby druid named Frig also heard the dare and took down the disgusting mixture in one quick gulp. Frig is rewarded the small satchel which contained 15 GP and a Blue Ribbon! Krumpkin looks on impressed while Frig gives him a wink and a nod. Not one to be stood up by anyone, Krumpkin decides to give it a shot but only by cheating. Using a Silent Image spell, he makes it appear the the glass is empty. Krumpkin received second prize consisting of 5 GP. While walking off with Frig the the stall keep can be heard exclaiming "What the...".
At another corner of the festival the towering Half-Orc named Ragnor tries his strength at a High Striker. Ring the bell, win a prize. After failing miserably, Ragnor decided to go into a Barbarian rage....and fails once again. Fatigued and defeated, Ragnor hangs his head and sulks off. Zornel watching the pathetic attempt to hit the bell felt like he could possible do better than the weak Half-Orc and indeed does, hitting the bell winning a free beer and a Blue Ribbon.
At noon Father Santus released a 1000 butterflies as tribute to the Temple Goddess Desna. Shortly after Ragnor and Zorn enter a Greased Pig catching contest. Krumpkin and Frig, who started talking after the wink and nod make there way over to watch the greasy contest. Krumpkin wanted to edge the contest over to the Elf Zornrel favour. Using a Speak to Animals spell he was seen having a quick discussion with one of the greased pigs. Who knows what Krumpkin said to the pig, but Zorn did indeed win the contest. After the contest, while cleaning up, the four characters started into talking. Zornrel in good spirits invites the three strangers to celebrate his winning with a couple beers, his treat.
After a round of drinks the group decides to try there luck at a beam balancing contest. Once again Ragnor falls to defeat and Zornrel is triumphant.
The crowd became to gather in front of the temple as the dedication was to soon start. Father Zantos took to the podium and with a Thunderstone, makes a loud clap to initiate the dedication. Almost as if on cue, a woman's shriek could be heard nearby. This was followed by another and another and finally someone shouted "It's a Goblin! It's Goblins!" Dozens of high-pitched blood curdling voices could be heard singing a song of death and mayhem.
The four adventurers, seeing a need for their young talents jumped into action and confronted three of the rampaging Goblins. The ugly little creatures laughed and giggled manically as they terrorized the citizens. With quick delivery the four dispatched the evil bobble-headed creatures, with even Frig's snake Hermann getting involved in the battle.
With time only to catch their breaths, flames could be seen off in the opposite corner of the town squares. The four heroes rush over to see four goblins torching a wagon. At first the goblins try attacking the heroes with their torches, seemingly viewing the entire raid as some big party game. It doesn't take long for the goblins to drop their torches and draw their swords. One of the goblins appeared to be a Bard of some sort and was whipping frenzy into her cohorts. Krumpkin seeing a discarded torch as a potential weapon, uses Mage Hand to toss a torch at one of the goblins, setting the beast on fire but doing little damage. A few stones from Frigs sling quickly dispatch the beast.
With her goblin comrades dropping like flies, the Goblin Bard drops her whip to draw her shortbow. Once again, seeing a unique opportunity, Krumpkin casts Animate Rope to use the goblin bards own whip to bind her. "Quickly, Ragnor, jump on her so that we might interrogate her about this attack!" Ragnor quickly charges the goblin only to kill the weakened creature with his charge.
Father Zantos arrives to thank the heroes and uses a Cure Light Wound spell to help the heroes regain some strength. "Make haste," Father Zantos beckons, "There are still a group of goblins by the gate, past the White Deer Inn."
The heroes arrive to find four goblins, including one on a hideous Goblin dog surrounding a respectfully dressed noble man lying prone on the ground. "Kill his dog" hisses one of the goblins and with that the Goblin Commando, riding his own twisted version of a dog, lowers his sword killing the dog in one fell swoop.
Catching the motley crew of goblins off guard, the heroes attack. The battle is quick with Zornrel displaying amazing battle skills, dispatching many of the goblins all on his own. With the threat now over the noble introduces himself as Aldern Foxglove. He thanks the heroes for saving his life, especially showering Zornrel for his battle prowess."Please you must come to the Rusty Dragon while I am in town. All of you! Let me thank you properly!"
The heroes learn that despite their failed attempts at capturing a goblin for interrogation, some were captured. Little was gleamed from the goblins other than they were under orders to kill everyone in the town and were given orders by "...one of you longshanks". The group is approached by the innkeeper of the Rusty Dragon, Ameiko Kijitsu, who offers them free rooms for a week as a thank you for helping in saving the town and with that the heroes called it a day...
Session 2: Aug 26/13
The heroes awoke the following morning to banging on the door. It was Sheriff Hemlock seeking the help of the newly minted town heroes. While on his rounds of the Sandpoint Boneyard, Naffer Vosk, the caretaker, noticed that the tomb of the town's deceased Father, Ezakien Tobyn, had been desecrated. Vosk immediately notified Father Zantus who in turn notified the Sheriff.
The four heroes agreed to help up with Ragnor attempting to get some monetary compensation for lending a hand. The Sheriff, a bit surprised, said he couldn't promise anything but with Zorn leading the group agreeing to help the rest followed suite.
When they arrived at the tomb, Zorn noticed the tracks of goblins leading into and out of the tomb. He also noted that the goblins were accompanied by some non-goblin footprints, tracks that could possibly be those of a medium humanoid. Ragnor was first into the tomb when two skeletons attacked him. Ragnor, the half-orc managed to avoid they surprise attack and bull-rushed on of the skeletons to the group. They finished the group in short order.
After investigating the tomb they noted that the remains of Father Tobyn had indeed been stolen. A discarded robe was correctly identified by Krumpkin as a Robe of Bones, exhausted and useless. Frig had her snake Hermann smell the robe to try and identify the odour and possibly act like a bloodhound but the smell of death, decay and goblin was too strong in the air. Some of the party suspected that the "deceased" daughter of Tobyn was somehow behind the theft, that she somehow did not perish in the fire along with her adopted father.
The Sheriff asked the group to remain quiet on the matter as to not upset the community. On the way back to town the attractive daughter of a local shop keeper approached the group and spoke directly to Frig, the Elf Druid. She introduced herself as Shayliss and proceeded to flatter the druid, asking him for his help in getting rid of some nasty rats in the basement of her fathers store. He was too busy, occupied by her sisters antics to take care of the problem. Frig wanted nothing to do with the girl and was suspicious of her motives. Conscious of being spurned she instead turned her pleas to the attractive and adorable Gnome sorcerer Krumpkin. "Would you be able to help me? There is just a few rats, a brave and adorable hero such as yourself could help me, with no problem." She grabbed Krumpkin's hand and started walking him away with the group. Krumpkin did not protest. Zorn, feeling weary about the situation decided to secretly follow the two.
Meanwhile, Ragnor and Frig decided to look for a Sage they heard about, someone that may shed some light on the future as well as any current events. They had heard about Niska Mvashti but unfortunately, she was not home and they decided to check back at a later time.
Krumpkin was lead down to the basement of the Shayliss's father's store, leaving Zorn to stand outside the door. Once alone and in the basement, Shayliss revealed her true seductive intentions which Krumpkin was only to happy too comply. While mid coitus, Shayliss's father Vin arrived on the scene. "What the hell is going on here!" he shouted, to which Krumpkin replied by casting a Daze spell...so that he could finish. Once Vin recovered, Krumpin was able to calm the father down enough to make his getaway, promising to keep away from Shayliss.
The group ended up making arrangements to go boar hunting with Aldern Foxglove, the noble they saved from Goblins during the raid. Earlier in the day Ameiko told the group that Savah had offered the group a 20% discount at her Armory. Krumpin decided to head to the shop before the hunt and amazingly was able to up his discount to 50% by seducing Savah. It seems like a lot of the town women were willing to experience something of the exotic with our Gnome friend.
The hunt provided an opportunity for Zorn to ride the Horse left to him by a family friend. The hunt went well and a boar was killed and taken back to the Rusty Dragon to be prepared for dinner. The gang was a bit turned off by Aldern's attentions but his motives seemed pure, he just really wants to be an adventurer. Krumpkin requested the tusks of the boar which he received later that night. With some time to kill before dinner Ragnor decided to visit the Pixies Kitten. He requested the second most popular girl. The girls were a bit nervous but the Half-Orc told them that he only likes to watch. Once upstairs, Ragnor told the girl that he really only wants to talk and told her to fetch some food and wine. He plied the girl with questions about recent events and also about things in the past. The girl was too young though and five years ago she was only a young girl.
During dinner some commotion was caused when Lonjiku dropped by the Inn screaming for his daughter Ameiko, the owner of the Rusty Dragon. Things almost got out of hand but Ragnor was able to push the angry noble out of the Inn. Lonjiku stomped off but not without telling his daughter that she was as dead to him as her mother was. Ameiko thanks the adventurers and told them that their free rooms will be extended for another week and dinner will be on the house tomorrow.
The next day there help was once again requested by a woman named Amele. The four arrived at her home to find her husband dead, half stuck int a hole in her sons closet. Ragnor pulled the body out of the whole only to find half the deceased man's head had been eaten away. A crazed Goblin jumped out of the hole in the floor and was quickly beheaded by a single swing of Zorn's longsword. The Sheriff arrived and the group had him tell the woman what had happened. Her cried and shrieks could be heard in the room and the adventurers quietly took leave with the sheriff. The sheriff told the heroes that Shelelu had arrived in town and was meeting with the Mayor as we speak. She has word on Goblin activity in the area. The group met with Shelelu and had an interesting discussion about goblins and their strange recent behaviour and agreed to meet for dinner at the Rusty Dragon later that night.
The rest of the day was spent wandering around town, talking to locals. The group learned about tragic and horrific tale of Jervis Stoot along with his murderous killing spree. They tried to visit the Isle where he once lived, only to discover that it would be nearly impossible to climb up to his abandoned former home. That night they had dinner with Shelelu and became excited about the going out and exploring these goblin settlements surrounding Sandpoint. The next morning however they were approached by Bethana, the halfling house maid with word that Ameiko had gone missing. She had found a note from Ameiko's half brother Tsuto requesting her to meet him at the Sandpoint Glassworks. With the sheriff leaving that morning to round up more garrisons to protect the town (after Shelelu's warnings), Bethana is worried and requests that the heroes go to the Glassworks and see if Ameiko was alright...
Session 3: Sept 16/13
Our company of heroes arrived at the Glassworks to find all the curtains drawn on all the windows. They tried to get in through the delivery doors, the same place Tsuto told Ameiko to come in. The door was locked and no one in the party had any clue as to how to pick a lock. Zorn thought he could take the door out...with his shoulder. All that did was attract a bit of notice from a passerby. They assured the citizen that everything was fine, just conducting some hero business. Ragnor suggested breaking a nearby window might be easier and they soon found themselves inside a small filing room, full of cabinets and papers.
Once inside the Glassworks, the shrieking laughter of Goblins could be heard. The group followed the sounds to the Furnace room and managed to catch a party of 8 Goblins off guard as they dismembered the bodies of the Glassworks workers. Lonjiku's body could be seen encased in glass, resting upon one of the walls. Hopefully they were not to late to rescue Ameiko.
The battle was swift with Frig performing well with her slingshot and Ragnor going into a Rage and slicing the heads off of Goblins with one fell swoop. Krumpkin cast a Daze spell on one of the goblins. With their numbers weakened, the goblins made a break for it. One of them made it out into the delivery room while and was pursued by Ragnor who tried to tackle the ugly creature but failed, allowing it to escape to the basement. Another despicable creature made a break for the opposite end of the Furnace room before finding himself impaled by one of Zorn's arrows. The third remaining goblin was knocked to the ground while trying to escape by making a feeble attempt at bull-rushing Zorn. As the goblin lay prone the crew interrogated it, trying to gain some information. They learned little other than the "Master", some humanoid Monk, was downstairs. Frig performed a coup de grace ending the goblins reign of terror before Ragnor threw the body into the furnace.
The group then made there way downstairs. The followed faint voices and tracks which lead to a section of a tunnel that appeared to have once been bricked up. Zorn could hear two voices behind one of the doors, one of them goblin! He quietly opened the door only to be greeted by a flying fist to the face. It was Tsuto and he followed the punch to the face by tumbling through the legs of both Zorn and Ragnor. Ragnor took a swing at Tsuto and connected but was soon brought to his knees with a flurry of blows. Ragnor only manged to remain conscious due to his Barbarian nature. To further his life Ragnor once again entered a Barbarian Rage hoping to remain conscious long enough for Frig to cast her Cure light wounds spell on him. The battle continued in the narrow confines of the basement tunnels. Krumpkin cast Daze on Tsuto which bought the crew enough time to get into tactical formation. Zorn quickly dispatched the remaining goblin.
Our heroes fought the monk bravely but soon a weakened Tsuto made a break for it disappearing through a door leading to another tunnel. Zorn wanted to pursue but could not convince his peers to follow, thus Tsuto was allowed to escape. Ragnor being exhausted after his near death barbarian rage.
Amieko was found bound and bloodied in a nearby room. Once untied she related the story of her brothers traitorous activities, how he was behind the goblin attack and wanted Ameiko to join him and leave Sandpoint before another bigger attack. When she refused he had the goblins beat her unconscious. Amieko asked about her father and Ragnor broke the news to her. The group asked her about the tunnel and was told it was an old Smugglers tunnel no longer used.
In the room where Tsuto was hiding appeared to be an old office, possibly once used by the smugglers. Besides finding a potion of cure light wounds and some gold, the group also found Tsuto journal. It was a frightening mess where he talked about the goblin attack on Sandpoint as well as the larger planned attack. He also mentions something below the Glassworks, inside the smugglers tunnel and also of Thistletop and "his love" burning her fathers remains.
The group decided to escort Ameiko back to the Rusty Dragon and regroup before going further. All members of the party felt stronger and more experienced after this past encounter.