Background:
This is my first time as a GM and all my players are brand new to both Pathfinder and tabletop RPGs. We play once every two weeks.
The Catfinders:
- Belfyr, NG Male Half-elf Hunter, with the tigress Snow as his animal companion, from the River Kingdoms
- Lena, CN Female Human Bard, from Riddleport
- Lugrick Fizzleberry, CN Male Half-orc Alchemist raised by gnomes, from Magnimar
- Steinar Gunnarson, NG Male Human Fighter, from Sandpoint
- Taznutt Parooh, NG Male Gnome Illusionist, from Sandpoint
House Rules:
- We are using Hero Points
- We are using the Automatic Bonus Progression system (so no magic items that give enhancement bonus to AC, damage, abilities or saving throws)
Prep work:
- two Sandpoint newspapers sent to players prior to the first session, for flavour and a fun way of establishing the setting. They are located here and here, free for use.
- the Town Square Flip-mat printed out (I am extremely lucky that my office has a large format printer that eats photo paper and spits out gorgeous, glossy maps)
- stat blocks and spell cards for all enemies, printed out
- goblin songs, printed out
- various examples of goblin antics, printed out
- festival speeches from the community created stuff thread
- about a dozen festival games printed out from the community thread and Wayfinder #007
- individual folders for each player, containing the maps of Sandpoint, Sandpoint Hinterlands and Varisia, a town guide with locations of interest, a rules cheat sheet and, for select characters, a memory of their childhood in Sandpoint (introducing Jervis Stoot and Nualia)
Session:
A large part of the first session was spent creating characters and filling in the character sheets. I had asked them to prepare a character concept prior to the session, which they all did.
Once we had crossed all the eyes and dotted all the teas, we then started play, with all the characters located in the temple square and listening to the speeches. After the swallowtail butterflies were released, the PCs scattered around the festival to try their skill and luck at games.
Steinar failed miserably at an Atlas stones contest, despite his otherwise impressive strength. The stones just slipped from his fingers.
Taznutt didn't completely embarrass himself in an archery contest and won a meat pie, unlike Belfyr the hunter, who forgot how to hunter and missed all his shots.
Steinar and Belfyr teamed up for one of Gorvi's wheelbarrow races, which they won by a hair after falling on their arses in the mud multiple times. They got a wand of cure light wounds for their trouble, which should help with all those bruises.
Taznutt and Steinar tried their wit against Chask Haladan's riddles. They both answered three riddles correctly and won a cap of light and a pearl of power.
Belfyr and Steinar had a lot of excitement at the dragon races, but unfortunately none of their lizards won.
Lena was the most devious of all - instead of fairly entering Banny Harker's archery contest and attempting five increasingly difficult shots for the grand prize, she charmed the poor man into entering a bet with her: one shot only, if she misses she pays Banny 20 gp, if she makes it Banny gives her the grand prize. Banny agreed, Lena made her shot and walked home with a darkwood masterwork composite longbow.
Once the players tired of all the festival fun and games, we moved back to the festival square, just in time to hear Father Zanthus make another boring speech. What followed was not so boring though, as child-sized creatures scurried through the crowd, slashing left and right. The initial wave of goblins was easily dealt with, but the PCs' relief was short lived as a wagon burst into flames and some creepy chanting started. The goblins were evidently over-excited, as they almost set themselves on fire several times, fell over and tried to hit the heroes with chicken drumsticks instead of dogslicers (biting into the dogslicers, obviously). After these goblins went the way of the first ones, furious barking attracted the players' attention and they rushed to the rescue (not before the bard carefully investigated the well in the square, suspecting it to be the goblin's way in). A pitched battle ensued, with Steinar bravely throwing himself in front of the goblin commando and shielding the nobleman's wolfhound with his own body. Their heroic efforts paid off and both the man and the dog were saved. Aldern Foxglove professed his undying gratitude, invited the heroes to visit him at the Rusty Dragon and flirted a bit with Lena before disappearing into the night. At this point we wrapped up the session.
Post-session story hooks and RP bits, sent by e-mail:
- Since Steinar is a member of the Sandpoint militia and displayed exemplary conduct during the raid, sheriff Belor Hemlock has put him in charge of an investigation to discover how the goblins got into Sandpoint.
- Shalelu Andosana, the elven ranger, visited Belfyr in his room at the Rusty Dragon with some questions regarding his travel to Sandpoint. Her moonlight visit made a strong impression on our hunter, who is now having a teensy crush on Shalelu.
- Chask Haladan, the editor of the Sandpoint Herald, has paid Taznutt Parooh 10 gp for an exclusive account of the events.
- Lugrick's glassware order is late, prompting him to pay a visit to the Glassworks, which he finds locked and silent.
- Lena is approached with two different proposals and she must choose one. Ameiko Kaijitsu is offering to do a double act with Lena depicting the goblin attack (Lena narrating and Ameiko accompanying her on the shamisen), splitting the proceedings 50/50. Cyrdak Drokkus wants to co-author with Lena a humorous play on the same topic, offering 15% of the profits once the play is put on stage.
- The third issue of the Sandpoint Herald is published.
Prep work:
- Sandpoint NPC cards with names and pictures
- Sandpoint rumours with various Knowledge Local DCs
- printed map of Glassworks (using Tintagel's beautiful map) and Glassworks basement
- stat blocks for enemies (I added a warchanter to the 8 goblins)
- printed Tsuto's letter and his journal
- "Sandpoint memory" handout for Lugrick's player, describing a mysterious nocturnal encounter (his character hates Sczarni, so I put in a little hook for that)
Session:
The next day, Steinar woke up bright and early to start his investigation of how the goblins got in. His clues were: the north gate open and the two guards missing from their post, a ladder against the graveyard wall and a covered wagon branded with a coat of arms identified as belonging to the Kaijitsu family. The two guards who were on duty at the gate the previous night confessed that they left their post after a little girl came with a message, supposedly from Sheriff Hemlock, to join the festivities and that someone else would take their place. The little girl was tracked down at the Turandarok Academy - an orphan from a family of traders killed on the road between Sandpoint and Riddleport. She hadn't been in town for long, so she couldn't identify the man who had given her the message for the guards, but she did mention he had fancy clothes and gave her a whole gold piece! Disappointed with this avenue of investigation, Steinar proceeded towards the Kaijitsu manor. En route, he ran into Taznutt, who was happy to help with the investigation (if only to escape the arcane homework given by his uncle). At the manor, they encountered Alfred the butler, who was quite adamant that his master was indisposed and not receiving. Their inquiries about the wagon were as much as dismissed with a vague mention that the foreman at the Glassworks might know more about it. The two investigators nosed about the aforementioned Glassworks a bit, but all the doors were locked and nobody answered their knocks and shouts. Some passer-bys were of the opinion that the workers inside must be busy with some secret project, so Steinar and Taznutt headed towards the Rusty Dragon in the hope of finding their new friends there.
Back at the Rusty Dragon, Lugrick was sleeping in (just like his player), Belfyr was enjoying some breakfast beer and Lena was reading at a table. And who comes downstairs but the noble who they saved the night before, making good on his promise and rewarding our heroes with a purse containing 50 gold pieces. He apologized for the meager sum, not wanting his saviours to think he values his life that cheaply, but times are lean for the Foxglove family, what with the repairs on the country manor. Taznutt, brazen as ever, asked if they could get an extra reward for saving the dog, at which Aldern hemmed and hawed, declining as politely as possible. Lena slipped outside, trying to preempt more of the noble's attentions, so a slightly deflated Aldern left for his business appointments at the Sandpoint Mercantile League.
Things did not remain quiet for long, as none other than Lonjiku Kaijitsu made an appearance, with a carriage and an entourage of guards and servants. He seemed a lot less indisposed as he stormed into the inn, shouting for his daughter. When Ameiko appeared from the kitchen, they switched to a language that none of our heroes could understand; fortunately, they had running translation courtesy of Bethana, the halfling server and assistant cook. When things got a little heated, Steinar interposed himself between father and daughter, intimidating Lonjiku with his powerful physique. After Lonjiku stormed out, Bethana was more than happy to offer a full account of the Kaijitsu family history and drama, while Taznutt followed the noble outside and not only secured permission to investigate the Glassworks, but Lonjiku even tossed him the keys, not realizing Taznutt's affiliation with the group.
As they were about to leave the inn, Sheriff Hemlock arrived to fetch them for an emergency meeting at the town hall. As Lugrick was finally done with his beauty sleep, the entire group assembled in a meeting room on the first floor. Also present were the mayor herself, Father Zanthus, Shalelu Andosana and representatives of the other three noble families. At the meeting, Sheriff Hemlock mentioned troubling signs of increased goblin activity (as reported by Shalelu) and submitted the proposal that he and four guards leave as soon as possible for Magnimar, to request armed reinforcements from the mayor there. In his absence, the town guard would be reinforced by people who had proven themselves during the attack. The proposal was put to a vote, with the sheriff, the mayor and Father Zanthus supporting this course of action. Lonjiku Kaijitsu not only opposed it, out of contempt for those who dared to interfere in a family matter and saw him humiliated in public, but he also requested the return of the Glassworks keys. Titus Scarnetti also opposed it, even coming up with a counter-proposal that he would hire mercenaries instead to help protect the town. As Ethram Valdemar was still undecided, the heroes used the opportunity to plead their case, winning the Valdemar patriarch over and ensuring that the motion passed with a majority of votes. They were given badges as honorary militia and charged to keep the peace in Sheriff Hemlock's absence.
After the meeting, Shalelu accompanied the newly minted honorary militiapeople back to the Rusty Dragon, where she gave them a brief run-down of the goblin tribes in the region over delicious lunch prepared by Ameiko. Just as the ranger was musing about the possible involvement of the bugbear Bruthazmus, Father Zanthus made an appearance, with a request for help. Apparently he had noticed something suspicious with one of the crypts, but was afraid to investigate on his own, so our tireless heroes accompanied him to the temple. Once there, they noticed a number of tracks outside the crypt, which Belfyr was able to identify as belonging to 7 humanoids, 6 of them small and one of them medium-sized. Inside the crypt the group was attacked by two skeletons, which they quickly smashed to bits after the initial scare. Unfortunately, the damage was already done, as Father Zanthus discovered that Father Tobyn's remains had been taken. After a futile attempt to track the culprits, the heroes returned to the inn, only to find a distraught Bethana. The halfling was afraid that something had happened to her mistress and had a letter to support her claims. The letter was addressed to Ameiko and signed by her half-brother Tsuto (whom Bethana never trusted since her mistress had that falling-out with him and he hit her).
Following that lead back to the Glassworks, the group picked the lock on one of the back doors to gain entrance. Inside, they found bloody trails and shards of glass on the floor, hinting at recent violence. Their suspicions were confirmed when goblin voices and sounds of mayhem were heard from nearby. While most of the group was attempting to come up with a strategy, Steinar charged through the door, smack in the middle of a goblin party. Fierce fighting ensued between our heroes and nine goblins. Steinar and Lugrick were gravely wounded and almost lost their life. Lena used a wand of cure light wounds to heal them both, after a brief debate regarding Lugrick's unlabeled potions (which the rest of the group did not dare to try). Just as they were regrouping, a stranger appeared from deeper in the Glassworks, unarmed and seemingly not hostile (although that didn't stop Taznutt from pointing a crossbow at his head). Claiming to be on their side, the stranger reached the group... and promptly punched Taznutt in the head, stunning him. Believing this to be a misunderstanding, the others did not attack the stranger, who then proceeded to punch Lena (also stunning her) and almost knocked out Steinar with some well-placed blows. Fed up with this nonsense, the group quickly apprehended the stranger via grappling and tying him up. A quick search of his belongings revealed a journal, which aside from identifying the stranger as none other than Tsuto, Ameiko's half-brother, also revealed his involvement in the goblin raid and Nualia Tobyn being still alive. After a thorough inventory of the other items found on Tsuto's person and some futile attempts at getting some information out of him, the session was adjourned.
Fortunately I already had a session write-up for this, as Steinar's player was absent and I wanted to provide him with a recap.
Prep work:
- acquired the Woodlands flip-mat (for the hunting encounter)
- Catacombs of Wrath map printed out
- stat blocks for enemies printed out
- spell cards printed out (for Erylium's spells)
- character sheet for Shalelu as level 2 fighter
- A5 pictures of more unusual enemies printed out
- level up cheat sheets for each character (detailing what changes and what is gained)
Session:
After Steinar took the prisoner into custody and went to the garrison to safely lock him up (and get some reinforcements), the others continued to investigate the Glassworks. In the large room they found Lonjiku Kaijitsu in a frightful state - tied to a chair and almost covered in molten glass. The noble was unconscious and remained in that state even after Lena used her wand of Cure Light Wounds to patch him up a bit. By that point sheriff Belor Hemlock arrived, with Father Zanthus and Shalelu in tow. Having been briefed by Steinar on the situation, they took Lonjiku with them to be treated in Magnimar, since the extensive damage done by the molten glass was beyond Father Zanthus's healing capabilities.
Exploring the ground floor of the Glassworks yielded very little - the place had suffered a veritable goblin tornado and was an utter mess. The basement was more interesting - the group found the entrance to a tunnel, some papers indicating that Tsuto was blackmailing Lonjiku, and a bound and gagged Ameiko. Once Ameiko was revived, she recounted the conversation she had with her half-brother: Tsuto claimed to be part of a band led by Nualia and headquartered in Thistletop. They have "big plans" for Sandpoint and Tsuto advised Ameiko that she doesn't want to be around when those plans come to fruition. Instead, Tsuto offered Ameiko to join his band, but Ameiko rejected the offer and indignantly slapped him. Enraged, Tsuto set his goblins on her and she was quickly overwhelmed, knocked unconscious and then tied up.
Exhausted after their adventures, the group retired for the night to rest and resupply. Early the next the morning, Aldern Foxglove met them at the Rusty Dragon to go hunt some boars in the Tickwood forest. He was gracious enough to rent some horses for everyone, so the hunting party made it to Tickwood in only a couple of hours - which was a great relief to everyone subjected to Aldern's conversation (that guy is a chatterbox!). On the way they came across a dead woman and a dead horse, apparently a courier ambushed and killed by goblins. After some deliberation, the group decided to continue with their hunt, but one of Aldern's servants was dispatched back to Sandpoint to inform the authorities and to remove the woman's body for a proper burial.
After slaying a savage wild boar, Taznutt and Lugrick noticed some tracks leading off into the forest. After further investigation, a camp site was discovered. Judging by the tracks and the various junk scattered around, 4 goblins had camped here the previous night. Rather than wait for the goblins to return to their camp, the group tracked them and was promptly ambushed. After some intense fighting in which Snow was almost killed and one goblin almost got away, the goblins' menace was ended - hopefully no more travellers will fall prey to their arrows.
Back in town, the party did a spring cleaning of their inventory, selling a lot of the accumulated loot at the armoury and buying a few needed things. Lena foiled a seduction attempt from the youngest daughter of Ven Vinder, the owner of Sandpoint's general store, but got some information about the dead courier in exchange for a kiss. Following that lead, Lena paid a visit to Titus Scarnetti at his manor, since the letter found on the courier hinted at some suspicious activity on the part of the Scarnettis. For her trouble, Lena got a 50 gp recompense and a new mission from Mr. Scarnetti - find out if his employee Banny Harker at the lumber mill is embezzling funds, as Mr. Scarnetti suspects.
After a delicious dinner of boar salad, boar soup, boar curry, boar ribs, boar pie and boar ice cream at the Rusty Dragon, complete with more chatter from Aldern (who was utterly entranced by Lena's tales of two-headed ogres and Lugrick drinking dragon blood), the group went back to the Glassworks to investigate the mysterious tunnel. Shalelu joined them there, armed with her curved elven sword and her everburning hatred of goblins.
Alas, it wasn't goblins that the party encountered in the dark, damp underground passages. Taking what seemed to be a side tunnel, they soon found themselves face to... face, I suppose, with a monstruous creature - long-armed, clawed and with a triple-jawed face full of sharp teeth. The creature wasted no time in skewering Shalelu with its ranseur, Lugrick took on a feral appearance and after a heated battle it was finally defeated, but not before biting Lugrick and sickening him.
Cautiously advancing further into the complex, the party came across two more of the monstruous creatures and defeated them. They also came across a statue of a woman, from whose carved hand they removed a masterwork ranseur.
We stopped here. Bonus picture with scarf fog of war.
Prep work:
- a number of potential side quests (Lure of Greed, Deverin's Folly and Chopper's Isle from Wayfinder #007 and #009) and character/story hooks in Sandpoint, prepared in case the players finished CoW before the end of the session
- printed out "Help Wanted" board in the Rusty Dragon to introduce aforementioned side quests
Session:
Wounded and a little shaken, our heroes return to Sandpoint to heal up and resupply. After some free healing at the temple courtesy of Father Zanthus, the group retires for the night, with Shalelu saying farewell - she has her own mission to complete and will be leaving Sandpoint early the next morning.
The following day, the group pays a visit to Brodert Quink, in part to inquire about his request for help in finding his missing niece, in part to see if he can identify the monsters they had encountered in the catacombs (Taznutt has detached one's head for just this purpose). Brodert Quink fails to put a name to the monsters, but he does identify the statue as Runelord Alaznist and offers to buy the masterwork replica ranseur that it was holding.
Back in the catacombs, the heroes charge back into the statue room, only to be met by a welcome party of two more of those ugly monsters. Lugrick is heavily wounded and attempts to retreat down a side corridor, but one of the monsters is in hot pursuit and knocks him out quickly. The rest of the group are desperately attempting to reach their downed comrade, with Taznutt managing to daze the second monster. They reach Lugrick just as the monster was about to drag him away deeper into the catacombs, who knows for what nefarious purposes.
Exploring the rest of the place, they run across what seems to have been a dungeon in the true sense of the word, with barred cells whose floors are littered with bones. Farther along they encounter an ancient torture room and some deformed skeletons, apparently results of some gruesome experiments. A lucky find uncovers a magic scroll among the tattered parchment fragments scattered around.
The next room contained a strangely mutated three-armed goblin, wielding what appeared to be a magic sword in one of his arms. After the group unsuccessfully tries to bluff their way past him, a heated fight ensues where the heroes manage to knock the goblin unconscious and tie him up. However, the goblin still has an ace up its sleeve, as it spits a stream of stinking blood which catches three of the group, burning their skin and flesh. For his trouble, the goblin gets its throat cut and its possessions looted, with Lena claiming the magic sword. The zombies lurking at the bottom of the deep shafts in the room present on threat to the party, so they are left alone.
After encountering rubble-blocked stairs spiralling upwards, the group comes across a strange vault-like door ringed with runes. Lena identifies them as Thassilonian and manages to read a few fragments mentioning the "eye of the storm" and something about raging fury. Seems to be a theme of this place. The door opens, revealing a spherical room with red metal walls periodically traversed by charges of some kind of black electricity. Cautious at first, the group remains outside, using mage hand to pull out one of the objects floating in the middle of the room - a book inscribed with a symbol which they recognize as belonging to the demon goddess Lamashtu. Throwing caution to the wind, Lena enters the room and gathers the remaining objects - a bottle of wine of decent vintage from 5 years ago, a scroll, a dead raven and a wand. Lena becomes strangely attached to the dead raven. They fail to identify the scroll, but they do identify the wand as being charged with the shocking grasp spell (by testing it on the zombies in the previous room).
Backtracking to the statue room, the group takes a previously unexplored flight of stairs and they reach a circular room with a pool in the middle. Flapping near the ceiling is a creature that Taznutt identifies as a vargouille, and he is quick to warn the rest of the group about its terrifying abilities. The vargouille shrieks, causing Steinar and Lugrick to become paralyzed. The rest are frantically attempting to shield them from the vargouille's kiss - Lena stuffs her empty waterskin in Lugrick's mouth and Steinar is pushed to the ground face-down. The vargouille is still very dangerous though, as it manages to bite Lugrick almost to death. The party finally kills the creature with their ranged weapons and they continue on.
Their next stop is in an antechamber that contains a rough marble altar with a shallow pool of water on top. After identifying the water as unholy and dangerous (Waters of Lamashtu, causing deformity and madness in those who ingest it), Lena experiments for a while by placing the dead raven in the water, with no visible effect. In the end, they open the double doors carved with more Lamashtu-related scenes, to reveal a cathedral-like space with a raised dais at the opposite end, on which sits a triangular bubbling pool of steaming, orange liquid. The room seems empty, so Lena advances boldly to the pool, noticing how the temperature drops as she does so. Her sharp eyes also notice a few drops of blood falling into the pool, although she cannot discern their source. At that point, one the ugly monsters rises from the pool and takes a swipe at our bard. The rest of the group rushes to engage, but find their path blocked by summoned creature after summoned creature - first a giant spider, then a fire beetle. The spider manages to catch two of the group in its webs, Lugrick becomes suddenly frightened and runs out of the room. Their enemy finally reveals herself as a quasit flitting around the room and flinging spells at them (and occasionally her dagger, which magically returns into her hand after every throw). Our heroes are struggling to hurt the creature - its small size and damage reduction are difficult to get past and it also seems to be regenerating. For a while it seems like a hopeless endeavour, until Lugrick imbibes an enlarge person mutagen and snatches the quasit out of the air, snapping her neck.
The battle and looting done, Lena continues to experiment with her dead raven, this time placing it in the triangular pool. Congratulations, Lena, now you have a dead raven frozen solid.
The catacombs fully explored, the party takes their leave. At this point, the scientifically-minded Lugrick and Taznutt have collected among themselves: 1 vial of ugly monster blood, several bolts dipped in ugly monster blood, a vial of blood from the three-armed goblin, a vial of unholy water from the shrine of Lamashtu, a vial of freezing orange liquid from the triangular well. Let's see what they plan to do with them.
Back on the surface, they pay a visit to Brodert Quink, who is delighted with the rubbings of the runes and carvings that Taznutt has brought him and expresses his interest in personally exploring the catacombs, now that the dangerous creatures inhabiting it have been dealt with. He also gives them another tidbit of information regarding the Runelord Alaznist, namely that she used to rule over the Thassilonian nation of Bakrakhan, and helps them identify the scrolls found below. Lena goes to The Feathered Serpent to see if the magical sword from the three-armed goblin can be sold or traded. She sets her heart on a very expensive magical harp and does her utmost to persuade the store owner to trade it for the magic sword and Tsuto's silver flute (which she tries to pass off as belonging to Riddleport's Overlord). Despite her best efforts, Vorvashali Voon is not taking the bait, but amused by the girl's boldness he gifts her a ioun torch from his store.
Post-session story hooks, sent via e-mail:
- The 3 characters who are followers of Desna (Lena, Lugrick and Steinar), are having strange dreams that hint at events past, present and future. Knowledge Religion or Knowledge Local checks will allow them to guess at the meaning of these dreams or identify people in Sandpoint who can help them further (chiefly Madame Mvashti).
Prep work:
- Map for Lure of Greed, pre-drawn on blank battlemat, stat blocks and spell cards for Lure of Greed.
- level up cheat sheets for all players (anticipating they will get to level 3 this session).
- Google docs sheet with the most notable Sandpoint shops listing what they can buy and where, including an assortment of magic items.
The session:
The three characters who had the strange dreams spent some time thinking about them and correlating them with things they have heard about. They got a few clues about The Chopper, about Nualia and about Das Korvut's son. Then the group debated what to do next. They had a number of side quests and minor activities available, but first they decided to tie off some loose threads. In the previous session they hadn't managed to disable the runewell in the catacombs and initially they did not consider it a threat, but new information from Brodert Quink changed their mind. They returned to the catacombs under Sandpoint and created sinspawn until the runewell was drained. Then they finished exploring the smugglers' tunnel, locating the secret door and jamming its mechanism so it could no longer be opened.
This done, they headed into the Ravenroost hills on foot to investigate Brodert Quink's missing niece. The tracks of the archaeological expedition were quickly located and followed until goblin tracks intersected them. This made the group move more cautiously and as a result they were able to take the goblins' camp by surprise. A pitched battle followed, with the party facing a more disciplined and organized bunch of goblins that they had expected. All but 2 goblins were killed, with the survivors fleeing inside an opening in the rock wall. After regrouping and talking with the goblins' human captive, a guard from the archaeological expedition, the party headed inside. In the first room they came across, a large, circular room with 3 round depressions in the floor, the two goblin survivors and a goblin snake waited for them. After taunting them and hypnotizing Steinar into walking away, the goblin snake filled the room with obscuring mist. One goblin was knocked unconscious by a spell from Taznutt, while the other fought on and the goblin snake kept lunging out of the mist and biting the party, almost killing Snow and badly wounding Belfyr. Lugrick imbibed one of his mutagens, which increased his size - this helped the party locate the elusive goblin snake more easily. After much bumbling about in the mist and numerous scouting attempts, they managed to kill the goblin snake and finish off the unconscious goblin. The one remaining goblin, through a combination of incredible luck and bravery, was the last to go down after having scored many hits against his foes. It is unfortunate that this goblin's story was unwitnessed by his brethren, he would no doubt have been made a hero in the memory of his tribe.
Once the mist evaporated from the room, the group attempted to find a passage deeper into the ruins, but beyond finding a button on the wall of one of the circular depressions and a wand of detect secret doors, their search was fruitless. Much alarm was caused by Belfyr pressing the button and seemingly disintegrating in front of their eyes. Lena followed his example in a rather reckless manner, but fortunately they had just gone through a teleportation circle and were alive and unharmed. Once the rest of the party went through, they found themselves in a part of the complex that had a slightly different architecture style than the first room - and a lot of serpentfolk carvings and statues. One of those statues animated and moved to attack them when they got too close. Fortunately, Taznutt was able to tell exactly what they were dealing with, so the party was able to come up with a some strategies that minimized the risk of them breaking their "good" weapons against the thing. Taznutt ran back through the teleportation circle to gather some of the discarded mining tools, while Lena kept the animated statue busy for a while with a well-placed patch of grease. Lugrick almost died (again), but in the end they managed to smash the thing to bits. The dust hadn't settled yet when Lena rushed to pry off the ruby chips it had for eyes (Lena has a thing about rubies).
At this point, wounded and a little discouraged by their failure to locate any traces of Brodert Quink's niece and her companion, the party returned to Sandpoint to regroup. After getting healed up at the temple, Father Zanthus mentioned his concern about the remains of his predecessor being stolen and used in demonic rituals and asked our heroes to see what they can find out about Father Tobyn's past. They also sold some of their loot, including the antique masterwork sword that the animated statue had wielded, and purchased two wands of cure light wounds from Hannah (learning a bit about Nualia's Tobyn pregnancy in the process and getting a nice 2-for-1 deal).
Back in the ruin in Ravenroost, they found another secret door leading further into the complex. They came across a library, where Lena stepped on a trap which summoned an iron cobra. After the metal snake was destroyed, they were able to loot the place at their leisure - aside from the valuable books and scrolls on arcane theory they also found a masterwork alchemy kit, antitoxin, healing potions and a flask that can magically preserve alchemy extracts. The next door they opened revealed a large room with more of the serpentine carvings and motifs. Lena creeped into the room undetected, and what she saw and heard must have triggered her alarm bells, as she tried to snipe the man in the room and missed. At this point the game was up and the rest of the party followed Lena into the room, to see an unknown man standing over an injured woman. The man tried to talk his way out of it, but Lena saw past his lies and started threatening him. The man backed away, seemingly cowed, but it had been a ruse - a gesture from him brought forth a heavily armoured skeleton which interposed itself between the man and the party. Fighting ensued, with the man paralyzing Steinar and his skeleton champion badly wounding Lena, Steinar and Snow. As odds seemed to be against them, the party decided to strategically retreat and regroup, so once Lugrick picked up the wounded woman they all high tailed it out of there.
The woman was indeed who they had come to rescue - Lucendi was very grateful for that and so was her uncle. Her fiancé and research partner, Mersoolian Threce, is still at large in the Thassilonian-serpentfolk complex, researching who knows what and brooding on the secrets he uncovered. Lucendi cannot explain the sudden change that came over him and turned him into a paranoid, murderous, power-hungry man. Perhaps one day our heroes will untangle that mystery.