Sunday Lamashan 6
They were awoken to a panicked knock by one of the workers that was helping restore the dwarven monastery that the party cleared out. Budwar talked with him and discovered that everyone working there was dead. He wasn't at work the previous day and discovered the bodies when he returned. The group got ready to ride out there when the Sheriff asked them to check out a farmstead. Farmer Grump told them that they had seem scarecrows walking in the night. A group of them checked out the Hambley farm and found the whole family dead and there were things that looked like corpses, but fed like starving animals. Since the farm wasn't too far out of the way they decided to check that out first.
When they got to the farm the discovered there were a lot of scarecrows. They cautiously checked out a few as the approached the farm. A couple were normal, but two were actually ghouls and attacked, and another was a man bound up like a scarecrow and was suffering from ghoul fever. Preacher cured him, but the man was unconscious. Once at the farm the checked out the barn first. Inside were six ghouls that looked like they once were a woman and children farmers. Also there was a dread ghoul in the back that seemed to be able to command them. Budwar held off most of them while the rest of the party helped eliminate them. They found a key on the neck of the dread ghoul and identified the noble symbol on it to be from the Foxglove estate. Phain remembered that the Foxglove estate was also called the Misgivings, which was mentioned by Grayst.
They searched the house next and found Farmer Hambley dead on the table with the Sihedron Rune carved on his chest. He also had a note pinned to his shirt that said “I fear you. I hate you. You must fear and hate me as well. You may unmask me, so I must unmask you first.”
Vowing to go the Foxglove manor and get to the bottom of it, but still having to go to investigate the Dwarven Monestary they headed out. One getting closer to the monastery they noticed a wolf that was trying to get their attention and have them follow it. They discovered the wolf's track looked like human hands. It lead them to the lumber camp where Delek worked and was taken by the kobolds. Something here was wrong. The camp was partially destroyed and looked like another attack happened. Phain starting to climb the tower while Budwar checked the stables. Budwar found Delek hanging from hooks and chain and started to get him down when a log pile rolled out and destroyed the tower and the stables wehre Budwar was. An undead kobold appeared from atop the lumbar and another one appeared from where the twoer was. And soon another kobold druid as well as other kobolds attacked. After a long fought battle, the party managed to defeat them. Investigating the rest of the camp they found a huge beetle, insect swarms, and a building full of kobold zombies.
In the office they found some kobolds that told the party they were hiding there from the druid and the undead kobolds. Also that they still serve King Merlokrep who came back from from the big beyond filled with hatred of those who killed him. Merlokrep was waiting for them in the nearby graveyard. While investigating the rest of the camp, Orik said the kobolds broke free and he had to kill them.
Delek after being healed told them that many of the lumberjack had been dragged off alive to the graveyard. The party realized they would need to rest first before heading there.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Session 11 - To Magnimar and Back
Sunday Rova 16
When the party came back they were told someone who really stunk, broke into their room. She cleaned and freshened it up, but couldn't find anything missing. Budwar thought that maybe they stole his hairbrush.
Moonday Rova 17 Through Starday Rova 28
After a day of rest the group leaves for Magnimar to sell equipment and look to spend some of their money on new equipment. Shalelu comes along and sticks close to the druid. Ameiko comes along as well, saying she is looking to hire some new workers in Magnimar to replace the ones killed by her brother. They arrive in Magnimar late the next day. On Fireday the 20th the druid and Shelelu leave on the boat with some others that seem less than savory. The rest of the group go to the Golemworks to purchase and upgrade some magic items.
On Starday 21 Phain was visiting some seedy local establishments when he notices Orik, the man who left Thistletop. He followed him into a tavern and after observing him for awhile sits down with him. He discovers Orik has been drinking away his money from Thistletop. He was thinking of leaving Magnimar because of a string of murders that was happening in the city. Things were being kept quiet by the city guard as much as possible, but the word was getting out. Phain asked Orik to work for him and Orik accepted. Preacher found out similar information while checking out the boneyard in Magnimar.
On Moonday they decided to visit Justice Ironbriar, who the Sheriff had mentioned had helped him get a few men when the mayor refused. Ironbriar has heard about the group from Sheriff Hemlock and asked how he could help them. Ironbriar gives them some information about the victims, they were all merchants and they had a strange symbol scratched into their chest. After describing it, they ask him if it looked like Phain's amulet that he got off of Nualia. He confirmed that it was. They asked if they could help, but Ironbriar assured that they had it under control and agreed to enlist their aid if it they needed more help.
After a couple more days in town, Ameiko was ready to return to Sandpoint with her new workers. Arriving the following day back in Sandpoint, the group continued to relax.
Fireday Lamashan 4
The Sheriff takes them aside and tells them that some murders are beginning to happen again. There was also a note addresses to Budwar saying "We have spoken of this before, my master. Now it begins. Join the Pack and it will end." At the sawmill, there were two dead bodies, one female and one male, both had the Sihedron symbol carved on their chest. The male was the sawmill owner, the female unrecognizable. Preacher spoke with the dead to the sawmill owner, and discovered the last thing he remembered was smelling something awful. Remembering someone who stunk broke into their room, that searched and found humanoid tracks leading to the river.
Starday Lamashan 5
The Sheriff told them that a previous murder had happened and only the bodyguard of three merchants survived, though he was submitted to a sanatorium. The sheriff said they were as much con men as merchants and wasn't surprised to find them dead, but they had that symbol carved into their chests that seemed more than just revenge. He hands them a note found near the body that said
They checked out the location of the attack and didn't find too much evidence so they decided to head to the sanatorium. The doctor in charge seemed to want to experiment on his patients more than help them. Grayst, the bodyguard seemed to just keep muttering "too many teeth" and "The Skinsaw Man is coming". Preacher checked him out and discovered that Grayst had Ghoul Fever. Once Budwar got close enough, Grayst told him that the Skinsaw Man left Budwar a message and it was “He said you should come to the Misgivings soon, to meet the Pack, for they have something wonderful to show you.” After that Grayst became a should and broke out of his straight jacket and attacked. Phain downed him with no problem. They headed back into town and discovered that the druid had come back. He didn't go into any detail on what he did.
When the party came back they were told someone who really stunk, broke into their room. She cleaned and freshened it up, but couldn't find anything missing. Budwar thought that maybe they stole his hairbrush.
Moonday Rova 17 Through Starday Rova 28
After a day of rest the group leaves for Magnimar to sell equipment and look to spend some of their money on new equipment. Shalelu comes along and sticks close to the druid. Ameiko comes along as well, saying she is looking to hire some new workers in Magnimar to replace the ones killed by her brother. They arrive in Magnimar late the next day. On Fireday the 20th the druid and Shelelu leave on the boat with some others that seem less than savory. The rest of the group go to the Golemworks to purchase and upgrade some magic items.
On Starday 21 Phain was visiting some seedy local establishments when he notices Orik, the man who left Thistletop. He followed him into a tavern and after observing him for awhile sits down with him. He discovers Orik has been drinking away his money from Thistletop. He was thinking of leaving Magnimar because of a string of murders that was happening in the city. Things were being kept quiet by the city guard as much as possible, but the word was getting out. Phain asked Orik to work for him and Orik accepted. Preacher found out similar information while checking out the boneyard in Magnimar.
On Moonday they decided to visit Justice Ironbriar, who the Sheriff had mentioned had helped him get a few men when the mayor refused. Ironbriar has heard about the group from Sheriff Hemlock and asked how he could help them. Ironbriar gives them some information about the victims, they were all merchants and they had a strange symbol scratched into their chest. After describing it, they ask him if it looked like Phain's amulet that he got off of Nualia. He confirmed that it was. They asked if they could help, but Ironbriar assured that they had it under control and agreed to enlist their aid if it they needed more help.
After a couple more days in town, Ameiko was ready to return to Sandpoint with her new workers. Arriving the following day back in Sandpoint, the group continued to relax.
Fireday Lamashan 4
The Sheriff takes them aside and tells them that some murders are beginning to happen again. There was also a note addresses to Budwar saying "We have spoken of this before, my master. Now it begins. Join the Pack and it will end." At the sawmill, there were two dead bodies, one female and one male, both had the Sihedron symbol carved on their chest. The male was the sawmill owner, the female unrecognizable. Preacher spoke with the dead to the sawmill owner, and discovered the last thing he remembered was smelling something awful. Remembering someone who stunk broke into their room, that searched and found humanoid tracks leading to the river.
Starday Lamashan 5
The Sheriff told them that a previous murder had happened and only the bodyguard of three merchants survived, though he was submitted to a sanatorium. The sheriff said they were as much con men as merchants and wasn't surprised to find them dead, but they had that symbol carved into their chests that seemed more than just revenge. He hands them a note found near the body that said
They checked out the location of the attack and didn't find too much evidence so they decided to head to the sanatorium. The doctor in charge seemed to want to experiment on his patients more than help them. Grayst, the bodyguard seemed to just keep muttering "too many teeth" and "The Skinsaw Man is coming". Preacher checked him out and discovered that Grayst had Ghoul Fever. Once Budwar got close enough, Grayst told him that the Skinsaw Man left Budwar a message and it was “He said you should come to the Misgivings soon, to meet the Pack, for they have something wonderful to show you.” After that Grayst became a should and broke out of his straight jacket and attacked. Phain downed him with no problem. They headed back into town and discovered that the druid had come back. He didn't go into any detail on what he did.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Interlude
So ends the first part of the "Rise of the Runelords" adventure path called "Burnt Offerings". At this point, most of the party is 4th or 5th level. Gen Con is coming up and with it comes the final Pathfinder rules. After a two week break, we will resume playing and convert the characters to those rules.
The group found notes and a journal in Nualia's chamber. Here is a rundown of those notes for reference.
Nualia's Notes
The notes outline her plans to send an army of goblins against Sandpoint and to burn the town to the ground, not only to offer it all as a burnt offering to Lamashtu in hopes of being made a half-fiend, but to fuel the runewell in the catacombs below.
The notes go on to detail how to cause sinspawn to manifest from the runewell, and that if one were to overextend the runewell’s stores, it would be deactivated. Nualia wasn’t sure how to reactivate it, and several times stresses that the runewell shouldn’t be used much until after Sandpoint is razed and the deaths of hundreds of angry citizens and goblins have refilled the well.
Nualia's journals and notes were pieced together to find out a little of her story.
A foundling raised by Sandpoint’s religious leader, a man named Ezakien Tobyn, Nualia’s childhood was lonely and sad. Her unearthly beauty made the other children either jealous or shy, and many of them took to playing cruel jokes on her. The adults in town weren’t much better, many of the superstitious Varisians viewed Nualia as blessed by Desna, a sort of “reverse deformity.” Rumors that her touch or proximity could cure warts and rashes, that locks of her hair brewed into tea could increase fertility, and that her voice could drive out evil spirits led to endless awkward and humiliating requests over the years. Nualia felt more like a freak than a young girl by the time she came of age, so when Delek Viskanta began to court her, she practically fell into his arms in gratitdue.
Knowing that her father wouldn’t approve of a relationship with a Varisian because he wanted her to remain pure so that she could join one of the prestigious Windsong Abbey convents, they kept the affair secret. They met many times in hidden places, a favorite being an abandoned smuggler’s tunnel under town that Delek had discovered as a child. Before long, Nualia realized she was pregnant. When she told Delek, he revealed his true colors and, after calling her a slut and a harlot, fled Sandpoint rather than face her father’s wrath. Nualia’s shock quickly turned to rage, yet she had nowhere to vent her anger. She bottled it up, and when her father discovered her delicate condition, his reaction to her indescretions only furthered her shame and anger. He forbade her to leave the church, lectured her nightly, and made her pray to Desna for forigeness. In so doing, he nurtured her growing hate.
One night when she was about seven months pregnant, and she flew into a frenzy. She miscarried her child later that night, a child whose monstrously deformed shape she only glimpsed before the midwives stole it away to burn it in secret. The double shock of losing a child and the realization she had been carrying a fiend in her belly for seven months was too much. Nualia fell into a coma.
As Nualia slept, she dreamed unhealthy dreams. Fueled by wrath and the taint of Lamashtu, Nualia became further obsessed with the cruel demon goddess and the conviction that her wretched life was inflicted on her by those around her. She came to see her angelic heritage as a curse, and the demon-sent dreams showed her how to expunge this taint from her body and soul, replacing it with chaos and cruelty. When she finally woke, Nualia was someone new, someone who didn’t flinch at what Lamashtu asked of her. She jammed her father’s door shut as he slept, lit the church on fire, and fled Sandpoint.
The locals assumed Nualia had burned in the fire, a tragedy made all the worse by the death of Father Tobyn as well. Yet Nualia lived. She fled to Magnimar, where she enlisted the aid of a group of killers known as the Skinsaw Men. Seeing a kindred spirit in the tortured woman, the mysterious leader of the Skinsaw Men gave Nualia a medallion bearing a carving of a seven-pointed star called a “Sihedron medallion.” Nualia learned that she had a larger role to play, and that her dreams were a map to her destiny. Taking the advice to heart, Nualia returned to Sandpoint, and found herself drawn to the brick wall in the smuggler’s tunnels where she and Delek had conceived her deformed child. Nualia bashed down the wall, and in so doing, discovered the Catacombs of Wrath and the quasit Erylium, also a follower of Lamashtu. For many months, Nualia studied under Erylium’s tutelage. During this time, Nualia received another vision from Lamashtu—a vision of a monstrous goblin wolf imprisoned in a tiny room. In Nualia’s dreams, she learned that this creature, a barghest named Malfeshnekor, was also one of Lamashtu’s chosen. If she could find him and free him, he would not only help her achieve her vengeance against the town of Sandpoint, but he would be the key in cleansing her body of what she had come to see as her “celestial taint.” Nualia wanted to be one of Lamashtu’s children now. She wanted to become a monster herself.
The group found notes and a journal in Nualia's chamber. Here is a rundown of those notes for reference.
Nualia's Notes
The notes outline her plans to send an army of goblins against Sandpoint and to burn the town to the ground, not only to offer it all as a burnt offering to Lamashtu in hopes of being made a half-fiend, but to fuel the runewell in the catacombs below.
The notes go on to detail how to cause sinspawn to manifest from the runewell, and that if one were to overextend the runewell’s stores, it would be deactivated. Nualia wasn’t sure how to reactivate it, and several times stresses that the runewell shouldn’t be used much until after Sandpoint is razed and the deaths of hundreds of angry citizens and goblins have refilled the well.
Nualia's journals and notes were pieced together to find out a little of her story.
A foundling raised by Sandpoint’s religious leader, a man named Ezakien Tobyn, Nualia’s childhood was lonely and sad. Her unearthly beauty made the other children either jealous or shy, and many of them took to playing cruel jokes on her. The adults in town weren’t much better, many of the superstitious Varisians viewed Nualia as blessed by Desna, a sort of “reverse deformity.” Rumors that her touch or proximity could cure warts and rashes, that locks of her hair brewed into tea could increase fertility, and that her voice could drive out evil spirits led to endless awkward and humiliating requests over the years. Nualia felt more like a freak than a young girl by the time she came of age, so when Delek Viskanta began to court her, she practically fell into his arms in gratitdue.
Knowing that her father wouldn’t approve of a relationship with a Varisian because he wanted her to remain pure so that she could join one of the prestigious Windsong Abbey convents, they kept the affair secret. They met many times in hidden places, a favorite being an abandoned smuggler’s tunnel under town that Delek had discovered as a child. Before long, Nualia realized she was pregnant. When she told Delek, he revealed his true colors and, after calling her a slut and a harlot, fled Sandpoint rather than face her father’s wrath. Nualia’s shock quickly turned to rage, yet she had nowhere to vent her anger. She bottled it up, and when her father discovered her delicate condition, his reaction to her indescretions only furthered her shame and anger. He forbade her to leave the church, lectured her nightly, and made her pray to Desna for forigeness. In so doing, he nurtured her growing hate.
One night when she was about seven months pregnant, and she flew into a frenzy. She miscarried her child later that night, a child whose monstrously deformed shape she only glimpsed before the midwives stole it away to burn it in secret. The double shock of losing a child and the realization she had been carrying a fiend in her belly for seven months was too much. Nualia fell into a coma.
As Nualia slept, she dreamed unhealthy dreams. Fueled by wrath and the taint of Lamashtu, Nualia became further obsessed with the cruel demon goddess and the conviction that her wretched life was inflicted on her by those around her. She came to see her angelic heritage as a curse, and the demon-sent dreams showed her how to expunge this taint from her body and soul, replacing it with chaos and cruelty. When she finally woke, Nualia was someone new, someone who didn’t flinch at what Lamashtu asked of her. She jammed her father’s door shut as he slept, lit the church on fire, and fled Sandpoint.
The locals assumed Nualia had burned in the fire, a tragedy made all the worse by the death of Father Tobyn as well. Yet Nualia lived. She fled to Magnimar, where she enlisted the aid of a group of killers known as the Skinsaw Men. Seeing a kindred spirit in the tortured woman, the mysterious leader of the Skinsaw Men gave Nualia a medallion bearing a carving of a seven-pointed star called a “Sihedron medallion.” Nualia learned that she had a larger role to play, and that her dreams were a map to her destiny. Taking the advice to heart, Nualia returned to Sandpoint, and found herself drawn to the brick wall in the smuggler’s tunnels where she and Delek had conceived her deformed child. Nualia bashed down the wall, and in so doing, discovered the Catacombs of Wrath and the quasit Erylium, also a follower of Lamashtu. For many months, Nualia studied under Erylium’s tutelage. During this time, Nualia received another vision from Lamashtu—a vision of a monstrous goblin wolf imprisoned in a tiny room. In Nualia’s dreams, she learned that this creature, a barghest named Malfeshnekor, was also one of Lamashtu’s chosen. If she could find him and free him, he would not only help her achieve her vengeance against the town of Sandpoint, but he would be the key in cleansing her body of what she had come to see as her “celestial taint.” Nualia wanted to be one of Lamashtu’s children now. She wanted to become a monster herself.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Session 10 - Clearing Thistletop
Starday Rova 14 Around 8PM
The group decided to rest in a shed out in the courtyard, that way the horse may alert them in case anyone passes through. Near the end of their resting, Phain hears the horse stir and then someone running through the courtyard closing a door. He follows the person out and hits him with a magic missile from the wand as the man crosses the rope bridge. He says his name is Orik and was hired as a bodyguard for Nualia. While the money was good, and he hasn't actually had to do anything so far, he has realized he was over his head for some time. He had wanted to leave, but was afraid they would kill him if he tried. When he discovered everyone was dead on the lower level, he grabbed his stuff and decided it was his chance. Phain allowed him to leave making him promise to do make up for the wrongs he had done.
Sunday Rova 15 Around 8AM
After they finished resting the went back down the stairs and continued to explore. The first room they went to was a Shrine of Lamashtu. When Budwar went in to smash the altar, two demon dogs came from the ceiling and bit him and knocked him down. The rest of the group came in to fight, preacher got hit and knocked down. Budwar called upon Torag and landed a mighty blow on one of the dogs, while Phain hit one, and while his gauntlet did nothing to it, his spells managed to damage it. Budwar finished his off while Xantumal killed the other. Budwar approached the shrine and started to wail on it with his adamantine hammer until the altar broke apart.
Searching the rest of the level, they found a prison cell area, and a bunch of sleeping rooms that were all empty. At this point they decided to try the stairs behind the secret door and head down.
As they came down the stairs, two things stuck out to them. First is that the whole level was at an angle, sloping up to the east. The second was that the air on this level was cool and refreshing, despite being two levels down and not open to the outside.
After finding a room with some statues of Karzoug, the Runelord of Greed, the continued down a corridor where there was a smooth spot on the floor. Suspecting a trap, Phain searched but couldn't fins anything to suggest a trap. Budwar decided to move on, but there was indeed a trap, two portcullis drop down and two statues carrying glaives would swing in the spot where someone would stand, then a pit trap would open up and close. Luckily, Budwar was ready for something to happen and jumped ahead before the portcullis came down. Phain used his Spider Climb boots to walk along the ceiling and avoid the trap, but as he got to the other side a door opened up and a woman with a demon claw hand and a scarred midriff was there....Nualia.
She swung a huge bastard sword and hit Budwar. Budwar reacted and while calling upon Torag to assist him in battle, landed a mighty blow with both his Hammer and Shield. Unfortunately Nualia herself responded in kind with a massive hit with her claw, dropping Budwar to the ground. Meanwhile Phain was being kept busy by another one of the demon dogs that could fly so it was fighting Phain at the ceiling. Xantumal, having seen Budwar fall, lept over the trapped area in the hall and flung some flame at Nualia and hit. Barely able to stand, Nualia called to Lamashtu for aid and slammed her sword and her claw onto Xantumal. Where the claw hit him, Xantumal started to get deformed and grew a vestigial arm from that area. Phain trying to finish her off, tried to maneuver but somehow failed and fell to the trapped spot. Quickly he jumped out of the way. Still wielding fire, Xantumal hit Nualia with it and she fell dead. While Phain finished off the demon dog, Xantumal touched Budwar stopping the bleeding and keeping him alive.
Preacher decided to jump over the trap and help heal Budwar, but couldn't quite make it and landed on the trap, getting hit by two glaives and falling in the pit. Xantumal made sure Nualia was dead, so Preacher channeled holy energy and healed Budwar's wounds. Phain examined the trapped area and finally found how to disable it, rescuing Preacher from the pit. On Nualia they found a magic medallian with the seven pointed star on it. Phain decided to examine and study it later. They also found a bunch of notes and a journal detailing her life and the plans for Sandpoint.
Heading south from this room, they found a room where there was a pillar made of coins. Studying it Phain discovered it glowed with illusion magic, but couldn't find out in what way. They decided to move on and found the Runelords' crypt. In it were three shadowy creatures, much like what they fought in the kobold caverns.
After killing those and searching the room, they headed back to the gold coin pillar. After trying multiple things, Xantumal noticed there were two small slits, one on each side of the pillar. They put in a gold coin in each and the pillar lowered to the floor.
In the chamber beyond were three doors. Behind the first door was a room with surgical equipment, plus they found a disk with a handle on one side, and blades and grooves on the other. Not knowing what it could be used for they kept it and moved on. To the door to the north they heard talking. Busting down the door they dsicovered it was an illusion of the Runelord Karzoug talking to someone and the words were looping. A door remained to the south, so they went there and figured out that the disk they found earlier was a key. The used it and opened the door.
Inside there was a fire pit. Budwar enetered and was attacked by a large dog. Seeming resistant to some of their blows they fought on eventually wearing it down enough and killing it. Examining it, they discovered it was some sort of planar creature. Inside was a secret door with a box of sand with a magic ring inside of it, shaped like the seven pointed star. When used, it created a magic force shield.
Feeling like they might have missed something, they spent time searching all the rooms. Back in the crypt they found a secret door. Following the passage way they came to a room that was collapsing and slowly filling with water. Inside was a helm sized for a giant that was over five feet across. Phain detected magic and swam to get it, and a monstrous crab came out of the helmet and attacked. Despite being bruised, battered and out of spells, they killed off the crab and found some money and a magical amulet.
They finished searching the lower level and found no more secret doors. They decided before heading back to Sandpoint they would search the rest of the complex. First however would be rest.
Moonday Rova 16 Around Midnight
After resting the spent the rest of the time searching the remaining underground level and the stockade. In the stockade behind the latrine they found a secret door. Behind it was a small room with a chest. Inside was the goblin's accumulated wealth. After searching the rest of the complex and finding nothing else of value, they headed back to Sandpoint for some deserved rest.
The group decided to rest in a shed out in the courtyard, that way the horse may alert them in case anyone passes through. Near the end of their resting, Phain hears the horse stir and then someone running through the courtyard closing a door. He follows the person out and hits him with a magic missile from the wand as the man crosses the rope bridge. He says his name is Orik and was hired as a bodyguard for Nualia. While the money was good, and he hasn't actually had to do anything so far, he has realized he was over his head for some time. He had wanted to leave, but was afraid they would kill him if he tried. When he discovered everyone was dead on the lower level, he grabbed his stuff and decided it was his chance. Phain allowed him to leave making him promise to do make up for the wrongs he had done.
Sunday Rova 15 Around 8AM
After they finished resting the went back down the stairs and continued to explore. The first room they went to was a Shrine of Lamashtu. When Budwar went in to smash the altar, two demon dogs came from the ceiling and bit him and knocked him down. The rest of the group came in to fight, preacher got hit and knocked down. Budwar called upon Torag and landed a mighty blow on one of the dogs, while Phain hit one, and while his gauntlet did nothing to it, his spells managed to damage it. Budwar finished his off while Xantumal killed the other. Budwar approached the shrine and started to wail on it with his adamantine hammer until the altar broke apart.
Searching the rest of the level, they found a prison cell area, and a bunch of sleeping rooms that were all empty. At this point they decided to try the stairs behind the secret door and head down.
As they came down the stairs, two things stuck out to them. First is that the whole level was at an angle, sloping up to the east. The second was that the air on this level was cool and refreshing, despite being two levels down and not open to the outside.
After finding a room with some statues of Karzoug, the Runelord of Greed, the continued down a corridor where there was a smooth spot on the floor. Suspecting a trap, Phain searched but couldn't fins anything to suggest a trap. Budwar decided to move on, but there was indeed a trap, two portcullis drop down and two statues carrying glaives would swing in the spot where someone would stand, then a pit trap would open up and close. Luckily, Budwar was ready for something to happen and jumped ahead before the portcullis came down. Phain used his Spider Climb boots to walk along the ceiling and avoid the trap, but as he got to the other side a door opened up and a woman with a demon claw hand and a scarred midriff was there....Nualia.
She swung a huge bastard sword and hit Budwar. Budwar reacted and while calling upon Torag to assist him in battle, landed a mighty blow with both his Hammer and Shield. Unfortunately Nualia herself responded in kind with a massive hit with her claw, dropping Budwar to the ground. Meanwhile Phain was being kept busy by another one of the demon dogs that could fly so it was fighting Phain at the ceiling. Xantumal, having seen Budwar fall, lept over the trapped area in the hall and flung some flame at Nualia and hit. Barely able to stand, Nualia called to Lamashtu for aid and slammed her sword and her claw onto Xantumal. Where the claw hit him, Xantumal started to get deformed and grew a vestigial arm from that area. Phain trying to finish her off, tried to maneuver but somehow failed and fell to the trapped spot. Quickly he jumped out of the way. Still wielding fire, Xantumal hit Nualia with it and she fell dead. While Phain finished off the demon dog, Xantumal touched Budwar stopping the bleeding and keeping him alive.
Preacher decided to jump over the trap and help heal Budwar, but couldn't quite make it and landed on the trap, getting hit by two glaives and falling in the pit. Xantumal made sure Nualia was dead, so Preacher channeled holy energy and healed Budwar's wounds. Phain examined the trapped area and finally found how to disable it, rescuing Preacher from the pit. On Nualia they found a magic medallian with the seven pointed star on it. Phain decided to examine and study it later. They also found a bunch of notes and a journal detailing her life and the plans for Sandpoint.
Heading south from this room, they found a room where there was a pillar made of coins. Studying it Phain discovered it glowed with illusion magic, but couldn't find out in what way. They decided to move on and found the Runelords' crypt. In it were three shadowy creatures, much like what they fought in the kobold caverns.
After killing those and searching the room, they headed back to the gold coin pillar. After trying multiple things, Xantumal noticed there were two small slits, one on each side of the pillar. They put in a gold coin in each and the pillar lowered to the floor.
In the chamber beyond were three doors. Behind the first door was a room with surgical equipment, plus they found a disk with a handle on one side, and blades and grooves on the other. Not knowing what it could be used for they kept it and moved on. To the door to the north they heard talking. Busting down the door they dsicovered it was an illusion of the Runelord Karzoug talking to someone and the words were looping. A door remained to the south, so they went there and figured out that the disk they found earlier was a key. The used it and opened the door.
Inside there was a fire pit. Budwar enetered and was attacked by a large dog. Seeming resistant to some of their blows they fought on eventually wearing it down enough and killing it. Examining it, they discovered it was some sort of planar creature. Inside was a secret door with a box of sand with a magic ring inside of it, shaped like the seven pointed star. When used, it created a magic force shield.
Feeling like they might have missed something, they spent time searching all the rooms. Back in the crypt they found a secret door. Following the passage way they came to a room that was collapsing and slowly filling with water. Inside was a helm sized for a giant that was over five feet across. Phain detected magic and swam to get it, and a monstrous crab came out of the helmet and attacked. Despite being bruised, battered and out of spells, they killed off the crab and found some money and a magical amulet.
They finished searching the lower level and found no more secret doors. They decided before heading back to Sandpoint they would search the rest of the complex. First however would be rest.
Moonday Rova 16 Around Midnight
After resting the spent the rest of the time searching the remaining underground level and the stockade. In the stockade behind the latrine they found a secret door. Behind it was a small room with a chest. Inside was the goblin's accumulated wealth. After searching the rest of the complex and finding nothing else of value, they headed back to Sandpoint for some deserved rest.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
