Making Friends in low places - Rise of the Runelords campaign session 5

We again found ourselves minus our Cleric who I am told will be rejoining us in June.

In attendance were;

Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Tiberius: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager

After interrogating the creature that Thaddeus identified as a Quasit. The group conducted a relativly unsuccessful interrogation then dispatched it. Returning to the statue Kumak and Thaddeus had discovered, Susan inspected the writings and determined it was a statue of the Runelord of Wrath Alaznist. While studying the statue the group heard foot steps and found one of the Townsguard, Pte Tiernay joining them. He explained that some of the townsfolk had witnessed the party enter the glassworks and when he had investigated and found goblin corpses he had fled to get help. Running into Gavren Devres, the Paladin operator of the local brewery he felt brave enough to return and see if the newest deputies were well.

Getting bored with all the talking and fawning over old scribbles on the statue Kumak picks the north door and opens it. Tiberius calls for him to hold for a moment, and in a moment that gave the Half-orc pause, Tiberius offered to take the lead. Entering onto a rickety wooden walkway Tiberius and Susan remained above on the planks while Kumak and Thaddeus descended to check the bottom floor. Just as Kumak had begun to search the empty cells he found Tiberius was attacked from below by some more of the Sin Spawn. The first cant seem to break the knights armor, but its friend lands a telling blow against Susan who flees towards Kumak and Thaddeus. Kumak moves up to the first Sin Spawn, and using the Ranseur pins the creature to the wall and watches the life drain from its eyes. The other Spawn vaults up onto the walkway above and thrashes at Tiberius to no avail. Thaddeus rushes upstairs and attempts to shove the creature off the walkway but the gnome cant seem to budge the monstrosity. Tiberius stabs it in the gut but it refuses to go down until Kumak moves underneath the floor boards and his Ranseur pierces up through the walkway to impale the Sin Spawn right in his grundle.

Susan being rather injured elects to stay further back for the moment. Finding nothing of interest in the cells the group advances through a door at the end of the walkway. Past a hallway they come to a room with 2 doors. Opening the right one they are met with a small cluttered room with 3 doors against one wall. As Thaddeus and Susan begin searching Tiberius opens one of the doors and finds a skeleton with an abnormally large head. Kumak knocks on the other 2 doors in the room but hearing no answer moves outside. Tiberius opens the rooms other doors and finds a skeleton in each, one with a vestigial 3rd arm and the other whose rib cage continues down far beyond where it should have terminated. Moving to leave the room Tiberius kicks over a piece of wood under which Thaddeus spies a scroll case. Swiftly the gnome claims it and determines it is a scroll of Flaming Sphere.

Thaddeus's curiosity gets the better of him as he had not been able to open many of the doors himself, he opens the door to the next room, and gets a javelin through his stomach for his trouble. Kumak flies into a rage and advances into the room, seeing some piles of timber over the floor and at the far end of the room is a heavily mutated goblin. The half-orc avoids stepping on the wood piles and just manages to get into range for his new Ranseur to do its work. In one mighty swing Kumak takes the head off the goblin and seeing no more dangers catches his breath. Susan, entering the room determines that this goblin is afflicted with all 3 of the mutations seen on the skeletons in the previous room. Based off prior descriptions she feels confidant that this was once the goblin hero Korvus, who was famed for fighting with a magical long sword that was much too big for him. Hearing "Magical Long sword" Tiberius charges up to claim the blood red blade which Susan confirms is magic. Kumak stores a Masterwork handaxe, and silver dagger in his backpack for later. Hearing noises from beneath the wood piles the group remove the coverings of one and spy a couple shambling figures at the bottom of what appears to be a 20 foot pit. Confirming that there are more in each of the covered pits Tiberius begins tying some rope to rappel himself down and take the fight to them, while Kumak takes his bow and arrows purchased by Foxglove and makes short work of the zombies.

Advancing to the south Tiberius finds some stairs that continue down but they way has been blocked by a cave in that seems beyond their current capabilities to circumnavigate, further down the hall the group comes upon a spherical shaped room, the door they stand in opening into the center. Catching a glimpse of some objects seemingly floating within the room Kumak picks up a stray bit of stone and tosses it in. Seeing the stone lose much of its momentum but continue to float he steps in after it and finds that he too floats, it is an all together uncomfortable feeling which the party soon joins in on. Taking a mysterious red book which no one can read, a scroll of burning hands and a bottle of wine the group returns to the statue of the Runelord and advances down the last unexplored hallway. Rising up several flights of stairs they come out into a room with a small font and are surprised by a small creature that darts out of the shadows to attack. What can only be described as a severed head with wings on either side lets out an ear-piercing scream that locks all the heroes in place save Tiberius, protected by the light of Sarenrae. Tiberius and the creature exchange blows for several seconds and the battle is taxing but the Paladin finds himself soon standing over the deceased remains of his foe. However the creature had given Tiberius a suspicious kiss before the fight ended and Tiberius finds himself feeling unwell. The group manage to shake off the effect that held them and confirming that the hallway leads to a caved in set of stairs that would have led up they elect to return to the surface. During the trip back Tiberius finds his hair begins to fall out in large clumps and the paladin resolves he must see father Zantus as soon as possible.

Reaching the stairs that lead back into the glassworks the group hears the sound of commotion, a standoff, one man vs many, a brief fight then as they are acending the stairs the body of Gavren Devres tumbles down the stairs, unmoving. Flying into a rage Kumak reaches the landing to see a few of Jubrayl's men he knows along with 3 others he has not met. There is one large individual with his back to the stairs in the process of explaining himself to the others when Kumak's Earthbreaker smashes him across the back. The man is pushed forward into the foyer proper but remains on his feet as Kumak's form fills the doorway. One of the men holds out his hands and tries to sue for peace, that there can be an understanding and no one needs to die. As Tiberius and Thaddeus join Kumak upstairs Tiberius calls down to Villister who confirms that Gavren is dead. Kumak responds with

"Any of you lot still holding a weapon in 2 seconds gets turnt to jelly"

The one talker among them who identifies himself as Drewil agrees and drops his weapon as do all the others save the big guy that Kumak had struck from behind who holds onto his spear staring the half-orc dead in the eyes. As Kumak takes a step towards him the leader of the group calls out

"Hardue, drop it"

Hardue sniffs and throws down his weapon. Kumak and Thaddeus gather the gear and march the prisoners to the jail while Tiberius and Susan take Gavrens body to see father Zantus. Arriving at the chapel they set Gavrens body aside to be cleaned and prepared while father Zantus delves into the affliction that has now caused all of Tiberius's hair to fall out and his ears have begun to come to elongated points. The old man finally determines that some sort of disease is affecting him but he does not have the power to remove it himself. Searching through a reserve stash Zantus casts a remove disease which takes hold and immediately Tiberius's ears revert to their normal shape. He however remains completely hairless. Susan, Tiberius and father Zantus discuss the events that transpired and the 2 eventually take their leave of him to return to the Rusty Dragon.

Thaddeus and Kumak march the prisoners into separate cells and pull Drewil into the interrogation room first. Drewil is reluctant at first to cooperate, claiming that they had heard that the group had broken into the glassworks and when they saw Gavren and Pte Tiernay follow they entered and after a misunderstanding Hardue kncoked into Gavren and he must have died from the fall. Thaddeus leaps up onto the table and demands answers, throwing his new returning dagger into the chair between Drewils legs then letting it blink back to his hand. Drewil is nervous but holds out on his story so Thaddeus looks to Kumak and back to Drewil, sighs and says

"Well I tried, now I guess we do it his way"

Kumak grabs the table that Thaddeus is still standing on and hurls it at the nearby wall, causing it to explode into so much firewood. Thaddeus falls prone but with only his pride hurt he cleans himself off and takes a seat on the remaining chair.

"I saw 'is body. Was too many wounds on 'im for one idiot to have done that 'fore you coulda stopped 'im. You all did it, mebbe not at the end, mebbe yous was looking for 'im to give up. But all of yous stuck 'im didn't you?"

Gavren looks terrified of the hulking brute leaning into him, looks to Thaddeus for help, finding none the words begin to spill out

"Alright yes, I didn't want to kill him, we were just supposed to follow you and see what you were doing?"

"On who's orders?"

"......Jubrayl. But that's all, this whole situation was just a misunderstanding gone out of control"

"You know, that when we bring your friends in 'ere, your story and theirs better match up, else yous gonna see what kind of mess I can make when it aint a table I'm throwing into a wall."

Interviewing 2 of the others the story matches up. No one else claims to know about Jubrayl giving the orders, just that they take their orders from Drewil. Hardue is brought into the interrogation room and sits silently as Thaddeus runs off what they already know and if he would like a chance to offer something up to help save him life. Kumak seeing seeing Hardue just silently glare at him walks outside the room and rests his weapons against the wall in the hallway and returns to the interrogation room.

"You see if you don't want to cooperate then I have to let my friend here ask and he's not as nice as I am."

Hardue continues to glare.

"Well I did try, I think I am going to go look over all the evidence we have and try and figure out if they will kill you by hanging, headsman, or just pull you apart with horses then yes?" Thaddeus walks out leaving Kumak with Hardue.

The 2 large men glare at each other for several seconds before Kumak flexes his hands and asks

"You want a shot at the belt huh? Well lets have it"

Hardue tenses but makes no move. After a minute Kumak shrugs

"Yeah thought so." Opening the door he calls for the guards on duty, "He's done here, put 'im back in 'is cell."

Kumak and Thaddeus agree that the next step as the official law in this town should be to confront Jubrayl at the Fat Man's Feedbag and bring him in for questioning. They briefly wonder if they should wait until they have healed or bring some backup but decide that they are badasses and can do this on their own.

Walking straight into the bar the 2 are met with an abrupt silence as about 25 or so patrons immediately stop what they are doing and stare at them, fingering weapons. Kumak walks up to the bartender, who has pulled his heavy cudgel out and set it on the bar. The half-orc slides a gold over

"Good fight, no hard feelings" The bartender flicks the coin back and Kumak catches it shrugging.

Thaddeus clears his throat,

"I do hate to disturb you gentlemen but we are here on official business, we are here for a Mr. Jubrayl you see. We need to take him down to the jail for questioning."

"And what if I decide I don't want to go with you" comes a voice from the back as Jubrayl steps into the taverns main room."

Kumak moves between Thaddeus and Jubrayl "Come quietly or there will be.... trouble"

Thaddeus raises his hands "Now, now Kumak no need for that. Mr. Jubrayl you see we have information that leads us to believe that you may be able to shed some light on a murder."

"So, ask me here then. I don't have to go with you" to which Kumak holds up his badge

Thaddeus continues "I'm afraid that's not how this works. Now you could come quietly with us, answer our questions and everyone would be happy, or we could tell Sheriff Hemlock and the 20 men outside that they need to come in here and pacify the lot of you. I was hoping we could avoid that." As he talks Thaddeus discreetly casts a spell that imitates the Sheriffs voice outside calling for Jubrayl to step out or he will be coming in. Jubrayl purses his lips for a moment,

"Alirght, give me a moment then. You caught me in the middle of something" disappearing into the back room he returns a moment later. "Well lets get this over with I suppose"

Stepping outside and seeing no sheriff, Jubrayl begins to make a fuss but with a strong arm from Kumak he continues to the jail. Jubrayl's interrogation is easier that Hardues but just as fruitful. He claims to know nothing of Drewil and paints him as a local malcontent seeking him harm. As they have no evidence against him he demands they release him. To which Kumak and Thaddeus agree that it will have to wait until the sheriff returns and see him to a cell. Thaddeus inspects the belongings they had confiscated when they brought him in, finding a coded notebook he swipes it and unable to immediately decipher it elects to make a copy to work on later. Kumak elects to sleep at the jail tonight as Thaddeus returns to the Rusty Dragon.

In the morning looking over the papers collected from beneath the glassworks Tiberius and Susan realize that there seems to be a full scale goblin raid planned and the staging area seems to be at the Thistletop tribe. Sheriff Hemlock enters and sending word for Kumak to join them they fill them in on the events since his departure. The sheriff regrets that he will have to release Jubrayl as it seems they have nothing on him but Kumak and Thaddeus convince him to wait a day or 2. The group discuss options and decide to reconnoiter the goblin stronghold at Thistletop. The journey is a short 2 hours by foot and the group comes to a heavily dense forest filled with brambles. Hours of searching sees them getting no closer to Thistletop, finally Susan leads them along a small game trail to a relatively spacious opening surrounded by heavy spiky brush, but nothing else. As the day is getting darker talk turns to either camping out here and trying again come first light or returning to town. As the group debates Kumak does one final search of the area before they start breaking up the watch and spies a rope cleverly disguised to look like a natural vine. Giving it a pull a small trap door opens into the thick bramble wall before them. Glancing in no goblins are seen but signs of plenty of activity. Tiberius takes the lead but finds he must crawl forward, Thaddeus follows and finds the paths through the brambles are sized appropriately for him, Kumak elects to take the rear to keep Villister and Susan safe from any ambushes.



Thoughts: I was overjoyed to see the Paladin actually step up and start acting like a Paladin. He was never shy about taking point but it didn't feel like a point of pride. It felt like he was doing it to protect his allies which is how I feel a Paladin would act. There was a minor issue with Thaddeus rolling the perception check to find a scroll but the way it was narrated Tiberius announced he picked it up. The gnome player tried to interject that he was the one who noticed it but the game just rolled on. I don't know how the player felt about that, hopefully it wasn't much of an issue. As I suspected the paladins player started asking about making a fighter instead. I had already spoken about this to the GM so we were all fine doing some mental retconning to make Tiberius a fighter instead of a paladin but the player was interested in a full reroll if he makes the switch. Unfortunately he wants to be 2 handed power attacking beast. Which means he and I would be directly competing for items. If he chooses to switch over his rolled stats were unreal.
18/17/15/10/10/6
He was quite upset at the 6 despite my pointing out his 18,17,15. I tried to impress on him that his character is more than just the stats and the peaks and valleys are what can bring a character out. We will see what comes of it. Personally if he thinks he doesn't want to be restricted to a Paladin I would prefer we retcon his existing character to something like a Cavalier from the Order of the Cockatrice.

Haunting Images - Rise of the Runelords campaign session 4

This session sees us again without our cleric, who is piloted by the GM.

In attendance are;

Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Tiberius: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager


The group awake later than normal to a much more subtle smell of breakfast. The morning spread comparatively meager to the usual fare. The halfling cook apologizes profusely that Ameiko has not risen yet to help so she is running later than normal. Tiberius, immediately concerned for his proclaimed love shoots up to check on her when Sheriff Hemlock steps inside. He tells the party that all this goblin activity has him concerned and he wants to deputize the lot of them for the moment while he makes for Magnimar to plead for additional men.

The group is agreeable the terms of coin paid per day and access to garrison equipment. Newly minted as a deputy, Tiberius checks Ameiko's room and finds it empty. Alerting the group that their host may be missing invites jeers that she may have fled to be rid of Tiberius's advances, but they agree to look into it regardless. Kumak searches her room and finds a diary with scribbles beyond the usual scribbles people write and hands it to Susan. Susan decodes it and finds that it mentions Amieko was to meet her brother last night. Shalelu had left a note informing that she was going to scout out the local goblin tribes to see if they posed an immediate threat. With none of the party having much in the way of tracking skills they split up to ask about, Kumak proudly displaying his badge to everyone, Thaddeus ordering a guard to spend his time making a fabulous cloak for his gnome officer, Tiberius fretting, Susan rolling her eyes, and Villister forgotten at the Rusty Dragon.

Multiple avenues of searching leads them either to the Kaijitsu manor or the glassworks to speak with Amieko's father. Since they are already in town and the glassworks is operating the party elects to start there. The doors to the glassworks are all locked and all the windows have heavy blinds pulled. Thaddeus starts fiddling with the lock to the main door while Kumak moves around one side of the building to search for another entrance, Susan moves to the other side to meet in the middle, Tiberius runs forward along with Kumak and finding another locked door the Paladin pushes his shoulder into it and rips one of the stout doors off its hinges. Kumak shrugs and steps over the debris joining the human inside. Tiberius hears noise to the right and investigates there while Kumak splits to the left and opens a door revealing some sort of storage room. Thaddeus manages to pick the lock to the main door and entering a deserted front foyer filled with fancy glass works proceeds to "accidentally" knock several over. Tiberius opening the right door is greeted with the sight of 8 or so goblins smashing bits of glass, chewing on body parts and the grisly sight of the corpse of Ameiko's father covered in now cured glass. Calling out for aid Tiberius stands in the doorway and spends the next 30 seconds trading blows with goblins, the goblins unable to penetrate his steel armor and Tiberius unable to make significant headway in their numbers. Kumak is unable to join the fray as Tiberius refuses to make an advance into the room

"Git your pansy steel covered arse up in there so I can 'it em"

Thaddeus hears a commotion through some doors and investigating finds himself on the opposite end of the room from Tiberius and Kumak. Seeing 3 goblins in easy striking distance the gnome chooses to close the door and brace up against it. The fight is disjointed and drawn out. Tiberius finally moves enough to allow Kumak into the room and the Bloodrager squashes 2 goblins in quick succession.

"Please I've killed 3 to your 2"

The Paladin quips but the final goblin darts through Thaddeus's door and down the hall, Kumak gives chase, with his longer gait expecting to easily close the distance but the goblin manages to stay ahead and doubles back to where Kumak entered the glassworks and down some stairs. Kumak chases after and Susan spying this follows with Thaddeus. Tiberius decides to stay above and begins searching through the remainder of the building while Villister follows him admonishing him for looting the place while his allies are still taking the fight to the enemy. Chasing the goblin through worked tunnels, Kumak finds himself about to enter a T junction, sensing a trap the Bloodrager realizes he is alone, far from his allies, and in danger of being surrounded so he backs up and hides in a nearby closet hoping to catch his enemy unawares. Kumak hears movement but nothing crosses his eye-line. That is until Thaddeus runs past and enters the T junction, finding himself flanked by a goblin and elf man. The goblin and Elf land a few blows on Thaddeus who moves puts a hit into the goblin. Kumak moves to join the fray and drops the goblin leaving only the Elf man, who takes one look at his situation and in a series of leaps, slides and twists manages to zip over Thaddeus and past Kumak running down the hallway. Kumak roars and sprints after him but the elf is far faster than seemed possible and even at his top speed Kumak fails to so much as catch sight of him again. Susan inspects the other side of the T junction and finds the beaten but very much alive form of Ameiko. Tiberius is pleased to see the object of his affection will recover and Villister volunteers to remain and tend to her injuries while the party explores ahead. With Tiberius in the lead he hopes.

Tiberius makes comments towards the lightly armored half-orc and questions why he hasn't gone ahead instead of waiting for the fully mailed paladin. To which Kumak responds,

"Your'e right, I'm done waiting on you"

Advancing down the other tunnel Kumak encounters 2 creatures he has never seen before that give an inhuman scream and charge,whatever they are, 40 pounds of steel swung by 300 pounds of half orc muscle stops one dead in its tracks. Tiberius, Susan and Thaddeus arrive moments later and the 3 of them bring the other down.

"Going that way, your'e welcome to come or not" Kumak says nodding straight ahead. Thaddeus looks to the other 2, shrugs and follows while Tiberius and Susan choose to explore an off shoot to the cavern that gives way to more worked stone, Susan sends her owl to follow Kumak and Thaddeus with directions that she will communicate with them via the owl as best she can. Kumak and Thaddeus find themselves entering into a worked stone room with exits to the 4 cardinal points. In the center of the room is a statue of a woman bearing both a beautiful and monstrous visage. Clutched in her hands is a spectacular Ranseur that is as much a work of art as it is functional weapon. Steadying himself for the statue to attack Kumak wrenches the weapon free from the statues grasp, waits, but no attack comes. Looking to Tiny Nuggets and asking which direction he feels they should take they notice Susan's owl, who has started making concerned hoots and flapping not towards the direction they entered but the tunnel to the right of it. Resigning themselves to the task, Kumak and Tiny Nuggets follow the path until it branches, seeing signs of recent footfalls they deduce Tiberius and Susan came this way and follow.

The group rejoins in a room with some sort of raised dais and altar, with a door leading further in. Pressing on together they find a second set of doors and past that a room of some kind of importance. There is a water well in the center constantly generating a slow trickle, a pair of stairs flanking the walls that lead to a raised portion that overlooks the well and something else atop the dais. Kumak advances up the steps, Earthbreaker ready while Tiberius moves along the lower section. Thaddeus and Susan begin inspecting the room when they hear a small voice chanting. Some sort of hell dog appears below and attacks Tiberius while a small creature moves towards the object on the dais and drips some of its own blood into it, spawning more of those unknown creatures which Susan identifies as Sin Spawn. Tiberius takes a blast of hell fire and a viscous bite from the dog. Thaddeus faces off against the Sin Spawn while Kumak is magically held in place.Susan adds her arcane might and archery where she can but the tide moves against them when the creature summons another devil to the fight. Kumak finally shakes the magic and in one swing sends the creature back to whence it came. Tiberius heals himself as best he can while Thaddeus is taking blow after blow from the Sin Spawn. With a final swing of his sword Tiberius slays the devil dog and with that the door opens admitting Villister and Amieko. Kumak screams to close the door as he does not want to allow another foe to escape and between the now 6 of them the make short work of the Sin Spawn and hold the door. However the creature which had demonstrated the ability to turn invisible through the fight dives for the pool of water and vanishes beneath. Thaddeus distraught that it got away is reminded by Kumak that there is a good chance it remains. Diving into the water was a misdirect and it merely turned invisible and is simply waiting for its moment to escape. The group try to figure out how to locate it, Kumak reaches into his pack and offers up his 5 pound bag of flour when Villister reminds Tiberius that as a Paladin he can detect evil around himself to locate it. Doing so eventually gives Tiberius a bead on it and combined with his Smite the group manages to capture shortly interrogate and kill the creature. Claiming its magical dagger and small treasures for themselves.


Thoughts;

I'm trying to step back and allow the paladin to play his way but I think he would prefer a Fighter. Making snide comments that the guy with a 15 AC, 13 if he rages needs to step up his front line game while you cower behind your 20 AC just don't land. I keep telling myself that he's joking but then I'm reminded that he keeps fighting against going upfront and putting that AC to use for the party. Having literally encountered this exact thing already ( a 20's AC character refusing to step into the fray) I am adamant that I will not make the same mistake twice. Then I had allowed the other PC to take all the AC boosting items under the pretense that they would use them for the party. This time I plan on making a case for myself for every Ring of Protection or Amulet of Natural Armor we find.

GM was upset that I stopped before entering the T junction. Thinks that my character wouldn't have stopped. I pointed out that I have average Wis low Int. No book smarts but street smarts. He disagrees. I'm taking it under advisement but I think he was just upset I spotted his trap when a 40ft move speed bloodrager cant close the gap with a 30ft speed goblin. On that note talking later GM mentioned that I didn't catch the Elf because he was a level 3 Monk who used Ki to increase his speed. I pointed out Monks don't get Ki until level 4, he asked if I wanted to retcon some things but I said no. Monks get 40ft move speed at level 3 so he would have been keeping pace with me at best and I was raging at the time so I was on a timer. We would arrive at the same end point with only cosmetic changes in the journey.

GM mentioned that we will probably level up to 3 mid next session. I'm going to recommend Craft Wondrous Item to our Wizard, this is her first campaign and she finds herself with very little to do most combats. If we sell that dagger we picked up its about 1,250 gp each and I don't mind lending her my share so she can bang out 5 level 1 Pearls of power to give her repeated Magic Missiles or something, if she doesn't use them in combat then they will help with our Clerics healing

Noble pursuits - Rise of the Runelords Campaign session 3

We found ourselves without our usual venue and Cleric as that player is looking for a new place to live as well as his own game preps so Villister will be running more in the background

In attendance were;
Susan the Human Universalist Wizard
Tiberius the Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Thaddeus Whisperheart the Gnome Prankster Bard
Kumak Morudall the Half Orc Bloodrager
and GMPC'd Villister Craig the Elderly Human Cleric


The party left the blacksmiths with Thaddeus requesting Kumak join him at the Mayors. Tiberius and Susan follow after a short side conversation. At the Mayors Thaddeus tests her by tossing one of the robes found in the crypt at her but is unable to glean any reaction. Requesting that she consult with the towns tailors to see if it can be traced the group leaves. Tiberius petitions the group attend a bar together and asking around finds 2 establishments that pique his interest, The Pixies Kitten, a local brothel, and Fat Man's Feedbag, a rougher style of bar. Tiberius chooses the Fat Man's Feedbag.

Upon arriving, the establishment is dirty and mostly vacant with only a large heavyset bartender and one early patron mostly passed out in his cup. Tiberius orders ales for all but only pays for his then moves towards the sleeping patron to inquire about him. Upon getting no response for a minute the barkeep waves him off bothering a customer. Thaddeus takes one sniff of the liquid and requests something palatable in a clean glass which elicits choice words from the barkeep and an insulting back and forth between Thaddeus and the barkeep until the barman reaches under the counter and prepares to take a swing at the gnome. Kumak reaches across the bar to grab the burly man and takes a restrained swat across the arms from his club but manages to lock him in a hold for a moment before he breaks free. Thaddeus continues to jeer at the man while Tiberius, and Susan watch, and Villister naps at a table. Kumak takes a restrained swing with his hammer connecting with a solid blow, but the burly man proves to be a tougher opponent than expected and after trading several solid hits Kumak collapses. The barkeep orders Thaddeus to leave and take his half-orc garbage with him, and after a lengthy and awkward time the gnome manages to drag his unconscious companion out the front door while Tiberius looks on.

Susan wakes Vilister, who administers some aid to Kumak bringing him back to consciousness but still heavily bruised. Rubbing his jaw Kumak mumbles out a swollen "Good Fight" as he picks himself up off the street. Tiberius wishing to visit the Pixie's Kitten offers for others to join him but Kumak feeling the fresh sting of failing a challenge elects to visit the Hagfish, a tavern known for its seldom accomplished feat of drinking the tank "water" of the owners aquarium. The remainder of the party follows Kumak and when entering they spot Gris the full-orc met earlier sitting at a table surrounded by several locals laughing, drinking, and arm wrestling. Kumak saddles up to the bar, asks for an ale and inquires about the challenge. Told that competitors must pay a silver to the purse, then manage to drink down a pint of the "water" and keep it down Kumak slides a sliver across and asks for a go. The bartender, an old salt with one wooden leg, rings a bell to signal a competitor at which Gris looks up and sees them. Kumak grabs the pint and rage chews it down easily managing to fight his body's natural instincts to throw up, chasing it down with the ale. The barkeep congratulates him and tosses Kumak a purse of 3 gold, to which Gris pipes up saying they arrived too late and he had already taken the better purse. Kumak tells him that he did it for the challenge, not the reward. Thaddeus hypes up Kumak and persuades Gris to wager purse against purse in an arm wrestling contest to which the orc agrees. Setting his 3 gold winnings against Gris's 70 gold purse Kumak sits down and on 3 the half-orc taps into his orcish heritage and surprises Gris with his strength, slamming the full orcs hand into the table. Giving Kumak an appreciative look Gris smiles and says the purse is his, the two orcs clasp hands and Kumak distributes some of the wagered gold to Thaddeus and Susan.

At the Pixies Kitten Tiberius tries to charm the ladies but they are professionals at hospitality and rebuff his advances, at least until they see some coin. A runner comes bursting in to the brothel having heard Tiberius was inside and tells him that there is trouble at the Rusty Dragon, it seems the local Sczarni gang has filled the room and are awaiting the groups return. Tiberius tells the runner to find the rest of the party at the Hag Fish and tell them to make haste to the Inn then leaves to do the same. Walking into the Rusty Dragon Tiberius finds about 20 or so rough looking men filling the common room. All are wearing weapons but they seem content to leave them hooked to their belts for the moment. Tiberius takes Amieko to the kitchen to get the lay of the land. She tells him the Szcarni boys came in an hour ago, chased everyone else out and have just sat at the tables nursing drinks, clearly waiting for the group. At this point the leader of the the Szcarni gang a man named Jubral walks into the kitchen and admonishes Ameiko for leaving him and his men unattended. Walking back into the common room the front door opens and in walks the rest of the party accompanied by Gris whom they had asked if he would care for a bit of a tussle. Jubrayl seems ecstatic that he can begin to showboat, while his men are less sure with the addition of an even larger and meaner orc than Kumak. Jubrayl feigns despair that Amieko's lovely Inn might see some damages and motions for one of his men to move behind the bar and damage her drink wares. As one of the men does both Kumak and Gris move to opposite ends of the bar pinning the man inside. Just as blades are about o be drawn there is a female voice from the door and all turn to see a blonde elven woman standing in the doorway leaning casually on a longbow.

"Jubrayl, what exactly do you think your'e doing here?" The newcomer asks

"This is none of your concern Shalelu" he counters. "You'd best sod off"

Standing upright and notching an arrow the elf levels a stare at Jubrayl, "It's about to become my concern, last chance for you and your boys to walk out of here."

Realizing that with this latest addition the odds have shifted too far out of their favor, the Szcarni's file out while Kumak and Thaddeus send barbs at their retreating backs. Amieko takes her hand away from her sword and runs up to Shalelu thanking her old friend and surprised that she is back in town so soon. The two women begin to catch up, Gris seeing he will be having no sport here makes his leave. The party retires to their rooms, Tiberius makes another play to spend the night in Ameiko's room. He is once again shot down but Ameiko offers him a normal room. The following morning the group heads off to Broderick Quink a local scholar of all things Thassalonian. Susan goes upstairs to meet with him and show him the book that Kumak found in the Goblin Warren while the others wait outside. Susan and Broderick come to an arrangement that she will aid his research and in return he will allow her to use his facilities for her own studies. Waiting outside the team is met by Aveika and Erika Averton - Sisters that run a cart for Sandpoint Savories bakery. Recognizing the heroes from the Swallowtail Festival they offer the group a basket of pastries which Kumak immediately takes and dives into, passing one up to Thaddeus. Before Susan rejoins them the teacher from the festival walks up to them and reintroduces herself as Shayliss Vinder. She runs up to Kumak and stroking his arm remarks about his bravery and strength during the goblin attack, to which both Kumak and Thaddeus remind her of the gnomes contributions. Shayliss smiles in a conciliatory way and moves the conversation towards a problem she is having at her fathers store with a large dangerous rat in the basement. Kumak tells her that once they collect Susan they should be able to come assist to which she assures them that Kumak can handle the problem himself. Confused Kumak promises her they will see to her problem when able. With a kiss to the cheek and a wink, Shayliss skips away reminding Kumak to come by the shop later while Thaddeus teases a confused Kumak.

Susan translates some of the page from the book and makes her way down. The party spends some time around town and upon returning to the Red Dragon for lunch are met with the noble they met during the goblin attack, Alderan Foxglove. The "eccentric" noble takes an immediate shine to the four members he met during the raid, and is contemptuous of Thaddeus, believing him to be someones man servant. Offering to sponsor a boar hunt Alderan takes the party shopping and buys riding horses, longspears, and longbows for all. Riding out to the Tickwood Alderan makes conversation with Tiberius, Kumak and Susan, praising their skill at arms, bravery, knowledge and beauty. Alderan proposes they split into teams, with Kumak and Thaddeus on one and himself, Susan and Tiberius on the other. Kumak and Thaddeus find a fresh set of tracks first and manage to track a boar to a clearing but thanks to Kumak loudly biting into a raw turnip the boar bolts with Thaddeus loosing a quick arrow that misses. Tiberius, hearing the boar crashing through the woods runs up and fires an arrow which goes wide and into the brush. Alderan puts one arrow into the beasts flank as it comes charging towards their group but it is Susan who lines up a perfect shot and takes the boar down with 1 arrow to the neck. Alderan proclaims Susan one of the finest hunters he has ever laid eyes on and the boar is brought back to town for Amieko to cook a heroes feast for dinner.

The following morning, Kumak asks Thaddeus if he would care to join him in taking care of Shayliss's rat problem and the gnome agrees. Upon arriving at the general store however Shayliss is less than thrilled to see the gnome accompanying the half orc and asks him to watch the rear entrance while Kumak joins her below to flush out the rat. In the cellar below Shyaliss points towards one corner of the basement and proclaims the rat can be found there. Advancing forward Kumak spies a small cot set up behind some barrels when he hears fabric thrown to the ground behind him and turns just in time to see Shayliss without a bodice throw herself at him. Her hands flying about the half-orc a confused Kumak tells her she is making hunting the rat much more difficult like this when she explains there was never a rat. Kumak alas lacks the time to puzzle over this development as heavy footfalls can be heard heading their way. Shayliss exclaims her father is coming, gatherers up her clothing, and makes for the stairs. Thaddeus having long ago divined her intentions also hears her father and manages to distract him long enough for Shayliss to slip upstairs unseen and Kumak to depart with a confused look. Shayliss promises to find Kumak again to which he replies, "But why? You don't have any rat problem?" That night Susan hears a woman's scream and rouses the party who run out to see what the problem is while Tiberius begins the long arduous process of donning his armor. The woman clutching a babe in her arms, claims that one of her children had been complaining of a monster in the closet and tonight her husband finally went to check it out only to end up being attacked. The party minus Tiberius run towards her home and quickly enter. They find the one child still in his bed panicked at the sight of his father laying face down in his closet, body occasionally twitching. Kumak pulls the body back to see bits of flesh missing, having been torn off by something, when a single goblin leaps out of a hole in the floor and swings wildly at Kumak, before anyone else can react Kumak flattens the goblin with one mighty swing of his hammer. Thaddeus keeps the lads gaze averted as he takes him from the house and Kumak steps out to see the local constabulary and Tiberius running up to join in. The word is put out that everyone should check their homes for any more goblins hiding and send word to the Swalllowtail heroes should they find any.


Notes: That bartender ended up being a level 6 fighter so there was never going to be a chance that I could have taken him. I could out damage him but he just had way too many hit points.

Susan scoring a critical hit on the boar was the highlight of the night for me. All these big strong martial classes and its the little mage that crushes it.

The bard and paladin are headed for a row I think. I suspect the paladin would prefer a fighter or even a cavalier but we will see how things go.

GM has said to expect our first dungeon crawl next session and I am looking forward to making the 20 AC Paladin stand front and center for a while.

A chance to talk - Rise of the Runelords campaign session 2

Our first session with a full party, unfortunately the GM was called in to work earlier in the day and the session was delayed for an hour and a half.

In attendance were

Susan the Human Universalist Wizard
Tiberius the Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Villister Craig the Elderly Human Cleric
Thaddeus Whisperwood the Gnome Prankster Bard
Kumak Morudall the Half Orc Bloodrager

Both groups were returning to Sandpoint towards dusk when they spotted each other at the edge of town. A quick debriefing, and several snappish jabs from Thaddeus (whom Kumak continued to refer to as "Tiny Nuggets") and Amieko settled on playing her instrument loudly while walking through the town to raise their spirits. With the Orc Gris returning with one child earlier and the now joined party accounting for the other missing 2 many citizens took up the call to rejoice and a more subdued but still lively party was held at the Rusty Dragon. Passing a towns guard the 3 children are handed over so he may return them to their homes and Thaddeus convinces the guard to deliver the boys to the opposites homes. Amieko offered up her 3 suites free of charge to the adventurers, which Thaddeus quickly shut down for himself and demanded he pay for his own room. Susan quickly grabbed a key and Villister another. Kumak looked to Tiberius, prepared to sleep in the common room, but Tiberius seemed to have other ideas so the half orc took the last key.

Villister tired from the days activities napped at one of the long tables while Kumak sat with him and occasionally wiped drool from his face. Susan takes her drink and mingles with some locals while Tiberius tried to win Ameiko's affections by serving tables and washing dishes. Thaddeus having spied a well crafted shield sized just right for him that Tiberius claimed to have taken from goblins began loudly crafting a long and forlorn tale of the loss of his shield, damaged beyond repair while defending the innocent. While the sad story found no purchase with the paladin who was set on selling it for the coin, a man well into his cup declared that if the gnome found his way to his armor shop at the north end of town the next day, he would be sure to send him out the door with a brand new shield, free of charge. Susan is approaced by an elderly gentleman who inquires if she is one who did so well at the trivia games this morning and confirming she is if she would seek him out later and potentially assist him in his research into Thessalonian artifacts.

As Kumak takes stock of the bars current patrons looking for someone whom he feels could challenge his strength, seeing none he issues a general offer to any who would like to arm wrestle or dice for coin. Villister awakens briefly from his nap to look around and hearing Kumak talk about arm wrestling offers to join in which Susan scoffs at. Kumak seeing he will find no challengers tonight settles for judging an arm wrestle between the elderly cleric and svelte young woman. Inquiring if there was any who would like to bet on this display of strength he does find a dwarf man who wishes to join. Betting 5 silver Kumak declares he will champion Susan, seeing his choices up close the Dwarf declares he wishes to take the woman. After a quick arm wrestle of their own to see who has first choice Kumak takes Susan and the Dwarf Villister. Seating herself across from Villister, Susan clasps his hand and they begin. Susan betting on her youth to carry her finds that despite his age Villister still possesses a surprising amount of vigor as her hand is steadily lowered until it presses to the table. Pleased with the display of strength despite the loss of silver Kumak downs the last of his drink, helps Villister up to his room, then retires to his own suite. Susan makes a early night for herself and retired to her room with her owl while Thaddeus sees two men arguing and playing both sides of the argument causes enough strife that one man leaves in a huff while the other looks at the gnome for a moment for a moment before realizing what happened.

Tiberius makes a pass at Amieko while in the common room asking for a kiss for one of the heroes of Sandpoint and Thaddeus starts a chant a chant of "Kiss Kiss Kiss" which is taken up by the bar. Amieko grins wryly and nods her head in a invitational gesture. Tiberius attempts to swoop her off her feet but falls far short of the mark and while he doesn't drop Ameiko, the lack of chemistry is clear. Tiberius asks about how much room is in Amieko's bed, to which she looks around at everyone watching and mentions they can discuss it later. Thaddeus makes another play for Tiberius's shield by spinning his sad yarn but Tiberius remarks that he heard Thaddeus would be getting a new shield and this shield was for him to sell. Thaddeus makes a remark about how poor a kisser Tiberius must be to which Tiberius challenges him to do better. Thaddeus looks the human over, climbs up onto a nearby table, walks to the end, and runs towards the Paladin who only just realizes the implication and brings his arms out to catch the gnome but too late as their faces crash together in an approximation of a kiss, leaving Thaddeus's nose bleeding and a crimson smear across Tiberius's face. Thaddeus makes another hour of his revelry then retires while Tiberius looks around and sees Amieko slipped away while he was distracted and she is no where to be found. Tiberius sits at a table and passes out for the night.

In the morning over a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs the 5 are met by Sheriff Hemlock who says that the cemetery groundskeeper found evidence that one of the tombs had been tampered with during the raid and he would appreciate the heroes assistance in investigating the matter. Walking outside they are met by a hunchback man whom the sheriff identifies as the groundskeeper who brought this matter to him. Walking through the cemetery it is evident how well maintained it is causing Kumak to catch the mans eye and give him an approving nod. Small foot prints are still visible in the dirt around one of the tombs and the group readies their weapons and prepare to enter. Tiberius tries to impress those around by running up to the stone door and kicking it open but ends up only nudging it and launching himself away from the door. Looking a bit sheepish he puts his shoulder to the door and prepares to push. Thaddeus steps up to the door and yells inside if there are any undead while Kumak mentions they should discuss the element of surprise sometime. Pushing his way in, Thaddeus finds himself in deep darkness just in time for Susan to illuminate the interior and see 4 skeletons standing before him. Unable to penetrate the paladins banded mail and shield, the skeletons surround him and block any further ingress into the tomb. Unable to move in to get a clear shot past Tiberius the remainder wait while the paladin swings with his long sword but fails to find purchase. Tiberius steps to the side leaving a hole which the half orc more than fills and with one swing of his earthbreaker shatters a skeleton. Thaddeus moves up to take the next spot as Susan tries to hit one of the Undead with a ray of frost. 2 skeletons rake at Tiberius, but his armor holds while one swings wide at Kumak. Tiberius fails to hit again and repositions while Kumak shatters the skeleton he is fighting with then moves further into the tomb to open the path. Susan, the way clear now manages to hit one of the skeletons and almost shatters it. Thaddeus moves in and swings at the undamaged one but misses, while Sheriff Hemlock joins the fray and scatters it. Tiberius finally managing to land a blow cuts down the last skeleton.

Rubbing bone dust from his eyes Kumak declares he cant see anything in the crypt and invites someone else to survey the scene. Susan detecting residual magical energies off 2 robes tossed to the corner identifies them as the source of the skeletons. Thaddeus claims one for his own and Susan the other. Having nothing further to provide Kumak retrieves his backpack and satchel from father Zantus and makes his way to the towns northern blacksmith, accompanied by Thaddeus and Tiberius. The shops owner is a woman who seeing the gnome declares that he husband was the drunken idiot who made the offer last night but he doesn't own the store. Kumak dumps the goblin gear on the table and asks if she is willing to buy, sneering at the goblin weapons she remarks that they are poorly made which Kumak counters that the metal is still good and she could melt them down and make nails and the like. Conceding the point she offers to buy at a 5% increase from the heroes of Sandpoint to which Kumak gains just shy of 40 gold. Tiberius happily offers his masterwork shield for sale and agrees on a price of 88 gold for it while Thaddeus shakes his head and inquires about his promised shield. Tiberius begins inspecting Thaddeus's current shield and loudly inquires if it is even broken to which Thaddeus asks him to step off while he is busy negotiating. The shopkeep taps her finger on the table and proposes a trade. Tiberius forgoes the 88 gold and in exchange she will provide a small sized magical shield that she has been unable to sell for years. Tiberius stubbornly refuses to part with the gold he was promised so Kumak steps in and hands Thaddeus his 20 gold share of their sale but Thaddeus claims he still can not afford it, throwing in the rest of Kumak's money fails to meet 88 gold so Kumak feeling the gnomes bravery in the goblin burrow should be rewarded asks if the shopkeep will provide him with a line of credit of 50 gold which he will repay in 2 weeks time. The shopkeep counters with instead of 50 gold, Kumak will owe her 1 favor, ensuring that Kumak retains the right of refusal if he feels the favor violates his ethics Kumak shakes on the deal and Thaddeus gains a magical shield. Walking out of the smithy Thaddeus gives Kumak 40 gold from his purse to pay back the coin spent. While counting his spoils Tiberius is approached by Villister and Susan who inquire if he has divided their share from the sale. Countering that the shield was supposed to be his and therefore the money should be his Tiberius fights back against splitting the coin 3 ways but eventually relents and 29 gold and 3 silver is passed to both Villister and Susan.

With the day ahead of them Susan mentions she found some errands that could prove fruitful if anyone wished to join her.










The session ended a bit awkwardly for me, seeing a player (a paladin no less) fighting against sharing loot with the other players that helped get it but the GM paused everything in the moment and explained how loot usually gets divided and the potential pitfalls of what would essentially become ninja looting and how a lawful good paladin should view the matter. The player is younger (20's I think) and he said this was only his 3rd game playing so I am less concerned as I feel we can grow him in what I would consider the right direction. I talked with the GM a bit after and we both agreed that we should try and have the Wizard have a moment to shine, both for the character and the player.

Split the Party - Rise of the Runelords campaign session 1.5

With everyone's schedule what it is one of our players wasn't able to come to the first session, 3 of the players would be missing the next one and neither he nor I would be able to go to the game on the 25th because of respective work. So the GM floated an in between episode. I would play a side mission with the Bard to get him introduced to the story, then the next week the Cleric, Paladin and Mage would run a concurrent side mission, reconvening after Easter where we will hopefully all be together for the first time. Unfortunately the Bards player hadn't really gotten much done character wise so of the 4 hours we had available only 2 of it was actual game time. C'est la vie.

Session 1.5

A travelling Gnome begins to enter Sandpoint from the south when he hears something from under the bridge. Looking down it is a young woman who says she was fleeing with some children when they were set upon by goblins, she was knocked over and hasn't been able to climb up yet and needs his help. The gnome (who at this point I still do not know if he has a name yet, and I took to calling Tiny Nuggets) mentions that he is not the guy she wants for hauling things but will try anyway. Grunting with effort Tiny Nuggets does succeed in pulling her out. She introduces herself to Tiny (I have completely forgotten her name, but I do remember she was a red head and the picture was a little bit slutty). She has Tiny take her to the local clergyman who looks over to Kumak and requests they find the children the goblins made off with. Tiny takes one look at Kumak and makes some cutting remarks about his size. Kumak hands his backpack and bag to the priest grabs Tiny and throwing the gnome over his shoulders takes off at a run.

Following the tracks the two come upon a full Orc standing over the bodies of 3 goblins and a crying child. The Orc introduces himself as Gris and calls for a challenge. As a fellow follower of Kurgess Kumak agrees. If Kumak and Tiny win then the Orc will tell them where the rest of the goblins went with the other children and Gris will return the one child here unharmed to Sandpoint. Gris does not mention what happens should they lose. Preparing himself for a test of strength Kumak is surprised to see Gris has chosen what is essentially a puzzle box/cryptex hybrid. Tiny manages to solve it in fewer moves than Gris. Gris nodding picks up the kid and begins walking towards Sandpoint. Tiny is unsure if they can trust Gris, but Kumak assures him that Gris would abide by the deal.

Continuing in the direction Gris pointed the 2 find a large pool of blood, a discarded child's toy and what appears to be the entrance to a burrow. Tiny begins talking about how they should proceed when Kumak grabs him and shoves him in the warren first his half-orc form squeezing behind. Finding what appears to be a refuse pit Tiny refuses to enter so Kumak does, finally able to stand up again. A giant centipede drops from the ceiling and tries to take a bite but finding only the rough crocodile hide of his shirt. Kumak shakes the centipede off and with one back swing of his hammer crushes the insect. Finding only the remains of a strange book mostly buried in an alcove they descend further into the warren hearing chanting that Tiny identifies as the goblin language. Without darkvision Tiny is relying on Kumaks guidance and when they come upon 3 goblins gleefully tormenting a terrified child Tiny forgoes the element of surprise to insult the goblins. The fight is difficult, without light Tiny is relying on on his hearing and after several misses elects to illuminate the room. Kumaks first strike crushes a goblin but spends the next few swings missing while the much smaller goblins begin taking the large half orc down with many small cuts. Finally Kumak scores a hit against another goblin, and quickly finishes the last. The small girl tells the 2 that there was a fight at the entrance, one of the goblins took a bite out of the other boy and the boy ran, chased by some of the goblins. Kumak escorts Tiny and the girl outside and away from the blood, conducts a final search of the goblin warren then using his Earthbreaker collapses the tunnels from the surface.

Tiny distracts the girl, making her laugh to keep her occupied. Following the trail Kumak finds an escarpment where 60 feet below he spies the body of the boy and 3 goblins among the rocks not moving. Without his pack for a rope and as injured as he is Kumak decides to return for the body after he takes the 2 small ones back to town. Hefting one up on each shoulder he begins the long walk back to Sandpoint.

Thoughts: With another 2 hour session, not what I was hoping for, but understanding this is another outlier. The interaction with Kumak and Tiny was, almost hostile I suppose. The Bard kept throwing out insults and demeaning terms, which with an Int of 7 I imagine Kumak is still picking up on. That being said the fault I rolled for him was Loyalty (So long as I don't feel betrayed I will be loyal to a fault) so I took it to be Kumak seeing Tiny engaged in combat despite being completely outclassed, yet staying with him would be enough to earn some respect and if he feels Tiny needs some correction he can certainly make his opinion known.


Split the Party

The other side: I only have the GM's synopsis but it went something like this;

Villister, Susan and Tiberius hear about the children being abducted and a local bar owner and former adventurer Ameko mentions that she knows about some goblin caves by the sea. Leaving Sandpoint they spy a large Orc entering the village with a scared and confused looking child under his arm but shrug and continue. Finding the goblin caves Ameko stays at the entrance to keep any goblins from surrounding the party should there be a trap. Encountering a few traps on their way in they find a large room where an elderly female goblin squawks something that only Susan understands as "run children" before charging the heroes. With that a swarm of even smaller goblins begin coming out of every turn. Tiberius swings with wild abandon while Villister brings his heavy mace down on the adult goblin. Susan finds the work unpleasant so guards the entrance but an escaping goblinoid forces her to act and soon the cave is cleared. Searching further they come upon the bodies of 3 goblins on the rocks and one human boy. There is a large crab that is about to make its meal out of the bodies and with one of the heroes spying the barest breath from the boy they leap into action. Using a wand of Glue Seal she found in the caves Susan glues both the crabs claws shut. Tiberius now only in danger of aggressive poking from the crab makes short work of it. Villister tends to the boys injuries and brings him back from the brink. Searching the fallen goblin bodies they rejoin Ameko and return to Sandpoint.

New Beginnings - Rise of the Runelords campaign session 1

Long hiatus there, but what can you do?

Our RPG group found ourselves deciding what to pursue next as Starfinder did not really hit the mark and we settled on Rise of the Runelords. Paizo's first official Adventure Path, and from what I hear one of the better ones.

We decided to go a bit old school with our rolls to see what we got. 4D6 drop the lowest. No moving your rolls around. 1st is Strength, 2nd Dex, etc and ended up with an interesting assortment. I ended up with (before modifiers);

Str: 17
Dex: 12
Con: 17
Int: 7
Wis: 10
Cha: 14

So I figured that looked like a typical hulking barbarian to me. The charisma of 14 got me thinking however and instead of going pure barbarian I went into Bloodrager, which is a hybrid of barbarian and sorcerer. Since in our Pirate game our current GM had done a Dwarf Barbarian with an Earthbreaker, and I had decided to run Earthbreaker I went for Half-Orc instead and pumped up the Str by 2.

Doing up a quick backstory rolling in Ultimate Campaign I ended with;

Kumak Half Orc Bloodrager
Human mother who has never talked about his orc heritage, as far back as he can remember she was already remarried to a human farmer who had 3 sons and 1 daughter from his late wife. No issues in the family, the husband loved them all like they were his own and no issues with brothers and sister. Local lord (Jarrus) is fighting a campaign against nearby Shoanti tribe,raising taxes both food and money on the farmers to pay his army and when his youngest son Endrev comes of age the son decides to join the war. Conscription comes by and Kumak being of massive build even as a teen volunteers to keep his family safe. In their first foray the young lords regiment is supposed to guard a pass to prevent fleeing barbarians from escaping, but seeing a chance for personal glory he orders his regiment to attack. The Shoanti seeing a now unguarded means of escape begin surging en mass. The entire exchange lasts maybe 30 minutes but is a bloody one. Kumak for the first time feels his Orcish heritage rise up and in a rage slaughters dozens of Shoanti. The regiment that once numbered about 150 strong has maybe 20 that will live the night. Kumak while surveying the dead hears whimpers and finds the lord hiding beneath bodies of the slain, not a scratch on him. As the lords father is riding up, Kumak makes the deal that he will tell no one how he found the lord cowering beneath the dead if the lord agrees to have the farmers tax lowered to its pre-war rate, even if it means he pay the difference himself. With moments before his father arriving the young lord agrees, while his father surveying the landscape knows the truth of what happened there, the official reports reflect well upon Endrev's conduct. Jarrus declares that he needs his son close, so the remainder of Endrevs short lived regiment is disbanded. Kumak returns home and remains for a few months, to be sure that the taxes collected have been lowered. Wanting to explore this raw power and aggression he can feel Kumak leaves home, to find work where he may. Which brings him to Sandpoint, on the day of the Goblin attack;




Session 1:

Arriving in the town of Sandpoint it is arrayed for a festival to dedicate its new church. Games, prizes and food are all on display. After some delaying speeches the fun is finally begun. Kumak looks around and spots a well armored human whose size seems to rival his own. Sizing each other up, they each hear that the hammer game has opened up and decide to let their muscles do the talking. Each are given a heavy nail about a foot long and a heavy one handed hammer. Their first swing sees Kumaks nail driven halfway in with a solid blow while the humans makes a respectable third of the way in. The second blow Kumak only manages a glance but still sees his nail almost driven to the end, however the human lands a solid blow and is only inches behind. Not wanting to be shown up Kumak lets out a bellowing roar and feels his muscles swell, the nail is driven clean through the heavy wooden board and the board itself is shattered. Panting Kumak looks to the human who arches an eye brow then nods. Kumak laughs and holds out his hand, taking it they introduce themselves, his name is Tiberius, and he wants to know if Kumak would join him for the ale drinking contest.

Villister an elderly clergyman from Sandpoint enters a trivia contest where he places well but is outshone by a young female newcomer named Susan, who not only answers the questions but unprompted provides ancillary information not related to the questions. Susan is declared the winner and Villister suggests they find another activity to let some others win at trivia for a while.

Kumak and Tiberius sit down to the ale drinking contest. There is a progression of drinks beginning with a lighter lager and working its way to a rich dark ale. Kumak makes into an early lead easily downing the drinks. Tiberius forces too much drink down at once and finds it coming back up, covering himself and splattering on Kumak. Kumak reaches the penultimate drink when he hiccups while drinking and causes himself to lose his breakfast. Tiberius continues towards victory but Kumak concedes, Tiberius eyes the pie eating contest but Kumak declines opting to wash himself in a nearby horse trough.

Villister and Susan partake in a game of hide and seek in a nearby barn. Susan finds a well hidden position in the rafters while Villister finds a cozy well shaded position in some hay. Down to the wire Susan sees she is about to be caught but spots what she feels is the only other contestant and using her Mage Hand makes a noise by them causing them to be caught first. After confirming the count again the officiant declares there must have been a miscount and as Susan was the last found she is the winner. Looking around Susan does not see Villister and after searching the barn finally discovers the old man having fallen asleep in his hiding spot.

More officials begin giving speeches when all 4 notice something small dart under a table and a flash of metal as something is about to kill a dog, its a goblin. Kumak enters a rage and charges at the goblin as 4 more appear and pandemonium breaks out. The goblins alternate between attacking, eating food, throwing fish at each other, and setting anything on fire. The four make quick work of the nearby 9 or so goblins. Hearing a commotion from up the street they run to investigate. Seeing a goblin riding a mangy dog threatening a local dog protecting a cowering man Kumak charges and with his last reservoir of rage caves in the head of the goblin with one swing. Tiberius accounts for another goblin, Susan and Villister together dispatch one, and a final goblin making a hasty retreat is taken down by the no longer cowering man.

End Session

Thoughts: The session went well, Tiberius and Susan's players were new meets so it was held at a local store as our host would prefer to meet someone before bringing them to his place. Both players (a boyfriend/girlfriend team) seemed to enjoy it and were very pleasant. The session was only about 1.5-2 hours long, not great considering I find our usual 4 hour sessions lean enough as it is but there it is. As they are new to this we elected to not use battlemat/minis and did combat as a much more free form thing.

Nice kid, tries hard

So the wife and kid are still off visiting her family for Christmas but since I had to come back to work I have ample time on my hands. Better knock out a few posts. I don't visit well, whatever social flaws I have I know this one for a fact. So before we went off to see her folks I stocked up on some books to pass the time. One of them in particular sounded right up my alley. Sadly it began to fall short rather quickly.

The premise of this book is akin to, World of Warcraft mixed with the Matrix. Imagine that a crazy genius invented the equivalent of the Matrix but built it so that there were many worlds within that you could visit and it played just like an RPG. You level up your avatar, can collect magic items or sci fi tech and so long as you are in a PVP zone you can kill anothers avatar or be killed yourself. While this wont do anything to your actual body there are no respawns, you die, you start a new avatar at level 1. Now this crazy tech guy became stupid rich and he loved the 1980's especially all the geek culture that one who grew up in that era would have been exposed to. So when he dies and his video will is read on every station the world finds out that since he has no relatives, all of his wealth and control of his company that runs this virtual world will go to the first person to find the "easter egg" that he has somewhere in this virtual world. 

Well that sounds all right to me, and for the first little bit it was. The writing was passable and the story was laden with cliches but there were enough nerd "inside joke" passages that it kept me reading for a while. However the story never gets up onto its own feet. If you have ever seen the comedy of someone like Dane Cook then you might understand. It became nonstop "look at all these pop culture references, isn't that awesome? You can feel like you are in on all this." At one point the main character is talking about his DeLorean done up like Back to the Future, with Ghostbusters logo's on the gull wing doors, and a few other one offs thrown on top. It was like looking at someone wearing a hat on top of a hat. There is potential galore in the book, and I wish the author had gone back and trimmed and polished more until this book wasn't just a guilty little pleasure but an enjoyable read in its own right. But if you want a quick little read that has nerdy "easter eggs" riddled through it give this book a shot.