In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
Entering into Magnimar through the east gate the Redeemers encounter a bit of resistance when Thaddeus suspects the guard is racially profiling him for being a gnome, one short but awkward conversation later finds the group stumbling into the city in full swing of celebrating Ascendance Day, to mark the ascension of the goddess Iomedae. Kumak wishing nothing more than to find an inn to unload all the extraneous gear is overruled for the moment so Thaddeus can revel. Having never been in a city of this size nor participated in such revelry the half orc makes the most of the experience and accepts 3 doses of a narcotic offered to him by a citizen. Inhaling one dose of the dust leaves his mind working far more rapidly than before, able to piece together connections that had previously seemed so complicated. Offering up the remaining 2 doses to any who would care to join him, Thaddeus swiftly imbibes then followed by Kronk. It is Kronk who suddenly realizes what the drug was once he experiences the effects, Inspiration Dust, a powerfully addictive narcotic whose down will cause them significant troubles. Before he can relay this information to the others an arrow strikes Susan in the shoulder and from a nearby rooftop the group spies the shooter moving away. Kumak gives chase to the obvious trap before any of the group can warn him let alone join him.
Kumak soon finds himself turning a corner and coming face to face with a hooded woman who quickly completes an incantation before Kumak realizes that she is one of his dearest friends. She offers her aid to catch the assassin but they must hurry and with that she and Kumak move through the alleyways until they come to a warehouse where a particular knock grants them access, then down a hidden passage to the sewers.
The Redeemers catch up to the rooftop sniper and manage to spoil his escape, the assassin falling off the roof sustaining several broken bones. Kronk in the throes of the drugs leaps from the roof himself to deliver a devastating blow, both to himself and the crippled form of Susan's attacker. Thaddeus is the first to notice the towering half orcs absence and he manages to pick up the trail reaching the abandoned warehouse first and annoying the doorman enough that he opens the door to deal with the gnome, only for Thaddeus to disappear and scurry into the building. Thaddeus's startling tracking skills hold and he notices the crates that cover the entrance to the sewers had been recently moved and manages to sneak down before the guard can catch him. In the sewers Thaddeus comes across one of his less scrupulous friends from his old days in Magnimar, asking if he had seen anyone move through recently his contact mentions that he heard the thrashing and roaring of some horrid monster from one tunnel, and after some cajoling from Thaddeus accompanies him. Thaddeus turns the corner to see an enlarged Kumak half stuck up an exit, his head caught in some sort of bear trap while a rat like creature is advancing on him from below with a blade drawn. The rat creature notices Thaddeus and flees just as Kumak frees his head from the trap. Some brief conversation reveals to Thaddeus that Kumak is likely still under the magical influence of his sudden "friend" and with the timely arrival of Susan and the others any lingering presence is purged from him. Thaddeus's old friend offers to take the group to one of several inns that would serve someone of the gnomes reputation, Thaddeus settles on one and tells the group to trust his halfling friend while he will go topside and wrangle the horses. Kumak not wishing to be in the confined space of the sewer declines to travel below as well and soon the group finds themselves securing lodging in one of the seedier parts of town, with the unconscious badly injured body of the would be assassin in tow.
The inspiration dust begins to take its toll and the 3 soon find themselves viewing everything and everyone with suspicion. The prisoner escapes in the predawn hours, but thanks to the effects of the inspiration dust only Susan and Tim are capable or interested in following him. Getting as far as the sewers they decide that just the 2 of them are not enough to handle any dangers from below and return to the inn. Thaddeus having a moment of lucidity in the morning offers to bring the others with him to meet his "fixer" Dr. D. Some tiring time later Dr. D has administered a restorative to the 3 but it will take at least a day to see if it will help their condition. Until then they will have to just ride out the symptoms.
Thoughts
A fast recap, missed a few salient points like Thaddeus's friends name. I missed everything from the first session up to getting my head trapped in a bear trap. The 24 hours of extreme paranoia, where it takes a DC 20 sense motive to not suspect EVERYTHING someone says really sucked. Kumak made his save to resist the addiction, Kronk made his save after Dr. D gave him some alchemical assistance, but Thaddeus is still addicted. Thaddeus will be missing the next game and possibly Kronk so we will see what we have.
There is the job to clear out some Hellknights.
There is word that Foxglove has a house here and the thieves guild has put it off limits. Thaddeus's friend provided the address.
I think there was one more task we could do at Magnimar but cant for the life of me remember what
Finally was able to sell off the loot, since I was under the effects of the dust and was automatically suspicious of everything I actually ended up getting a better deal for items and scored a 60% sale price on things.
Saturday, 6 October 2018
Sunday, 16 September 2018
The road to Magnimar - Rise of the Runelords Campaign session 17
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
The group wakes up the next morning and agrees to head for Magnimar, each attends to various tasks. While selling items is problematic there is a substantial amount of gold to divide. Kumak purchases magical reagents and asks Susan to craft some magical boots to protect from fall damage and an enchanted vial to use some of his supernatural blood. Susan finds that Tiberius had ordered 3 additional horses before the group had left for Foxglove manor and convinces the proprietor to give them to her. Thaddeus balks at the notion of riding a pony in a child's saddle but after speaking to the farrier gets some accouterments placed on it to seem more serious. The ride to Magnimar looks to take about 3 days. The first night passes without incident until near daybreak when Tim points out that a large spider has begun spinning a web across the top of the groups pavilion tent. Kumak enlarges himself to be able to reach the spider and with Tim firing an arrow into the massive body and one solid swing from Kumaks Earthbreaker the spider is launched 40 feet, crashing into the ground, its legs contracting in death throes.
The party converses with Kronk and Tim getting to know a little about their new companions until on the third day several of them spot a large suspicious patch of what seems to be mud on the road. Susan sends her owl up to scout ahead and is immediately alerted to its concern. Thaddeus is unable to warn Kumak not to disturb the mud in time before the half orc lobs a rock into it. Shambling into action the now huge mud elemental advances towards the Redeemers. The mud monster fails to connect its beefy limbs to Kronk several times before finally landing a blow that continues past the Oracle and connects with almost all the party. Kronk uses his divine talents to keep the group healthy and soon the creature retreats below ground swiping at the group from relative safety until a solid thwack from an Earthbreaker lives up to its name and the Elemental departs to search for easier prey.
The group debates the merits of camping for the night vs pressing on when Thaddeus announces that if they hustle they could reach Magnimar in 2 hours time. Electing to sleep in a bed rather than outside the group continue towards Magnimar and arrive at the gates at open into Keystone and Lowcleft districts.
Thoughts,
Not a very eventful session. The GM declared that Sandpoint only had 5,000 gold in total to purchase anything, and that was if we could somehow convince them to pool all their gold. At this point I just gave up and given the knowledge that in Magnimar I should be able to sell items with relative ease let go that I will be unable to unburden myself for the moment.
Unfortunately I will be missing next session due to work, I told the GM to just sideline me with selling items and trying to get my magical Adamantine Earthbreaker, but have been told that essentially I am going to be charmed/kidnapped. Not thrilled at that since being kidnapped there is a decent chance I will lose a bunch of money/equipment but more importantly when I return I will be sidelined for I'm guessing 45 mins to an hour until I get rescued, where as if I was just selling items that would remove the need to carry around all this gear and I could rejoin the party at almost any point having just finished selling some things.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
The group wakes up the next morning and agrees to head for Magnimar, each attends to various tasks. While selling items is problematic there is a substantial amount of gold to divide. Kumak purchases magical reagents and asks Susan to craft some magical boots to protect from fall damage and an enchanted vial to use some of his supernatural blood. Susan finds that Tiberius had ordered 3 additional horses before the group had left for Foxglove manor and convinces the proprietor to give them to her. Thaddeus balks at the notion of riding a pony in a child's saddle but after speaking to the farrier gets some accouterments placed on it to seem more serious. The ride to Magnimar looks to take about 3 days. The first night passes without incident until near daybreak when Tim points out that a large spider has begun spinning a web across the top of the groups pavilion tent. Kumak enlarges himself to be able to reach the spider and with Tim firing an arrow into the massive body and one solid swing from Kumaks Earthbreaker the spider is launched 40 feet, crashing into the ground, its legs contracting in death throes.
The party converses with Kronk and Tim getting to know a little about their new companions until on the third day several of them spot a large suspicious patch of what seems to be mud on the road. Susan sends her owl up to scout ahead and is immediately alerted to its concern. Thaddeus is unable to warn Kumak not to disturb the mud in time before the half orc lobs a rock into it. Shambling into action the now huge mud elemental advances towards the Redeemers. The mud monster fails to connect its beefy limbs to Kronk several times before finally landing a blow that continues past the Oracle and connects with almost all the party. Kronk uses his divine talents to keep the group healthy and soon the creature retreats below ground swiping at the group from relative safety until a solid thwack from an Earthbreaker lives up to its name and the Elemental departs to search for easier prey.
The group debates the merits of camping for the night vs pressing on when Thaddeus announces that if they hustle they could reach Magnimar in 2 hours time. Electing to sleep in a bed rather than outside the group continue towards Magnimar and arrive at the gates at open into Keystone and Lowcleft districts.
Thoughts,
Not a very eventful session. The GM declared that Sandpoint only had 5,000 gold in total to purchase anything, and that was if we could somehow convince them to pool all their gold. At this point I just gave up and given the knowledge that in Magnimar I should be able to sell items with relative ease let go that I will be unable to unburden myself for the moment.
Unfortunately I will be missing next session due to work, I told the GM to just sideline me with selling items and trying to get my magical Adamantine Earthbreaker, but have been told that essentially I am going to be charmed/kidnapped. Not thrilled at that since being kidnapped there is a decent chance I will lose a bunch of money/equipment but more importantly when I return I will be sidelined for I'm guessing 45 mins to an hour until I get rescued, where as if I was just selling items that would remove the need to carry around all this gear and I could rejoin the party at almost any point having just finished selling some things.
Tuesday, 28 August 2018
Allies are found - Rise of the Runelords campaign session 16
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Arriving this session were
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
The surviving 3 Redeemers looking down at the bodies of the slain ghouls and the pool where Tiberius's body had disappeared into are startled to hear movement coming from behind. Weapons to the ready a unassuming human man comes around the corner and walks right into them. After poking him to ensure he is real and not another haunt the newcomer introduces himself as Kronk. Seeing the team is in dire states Kronk offers his assistance. Kumak demands that Tiny Nuggets be healed first. Using several spells Kronk brings Thaddeus back from deaths door to something resembling health. Kumak dives into the pool and retrieves Tiberius's corpse, stripping the body of usable gear Kumak is too encumbered to bring the body back, neither Susan or Thaddeus have the strength for the task so Tiberius is laid to rest back in the pool. Thaddeus stays back with Kronk to compare notes while Kumak and Susan explore the room that Aldern came from. Susan spies a broken puzzle box which she identifies as a broken phylactery, Kumak is overcome by a vision of a man, who he suddenly knows is Vorel Foxglove, in the process of consuming a potion that will complete his transformation into a lich when suddenly a crossbow blot shatters the remainder of the potion, his body wracked with arcane energies Vorel screams in agony and collapses on the floor as his corpse rapidly turns into a rotten man shaped pile of mold. Kumak regains his senses to find he is standing over that same man shaped mold patch, consuming portions of it. The realization is cut short by the wracking pain as whatever illness takes hold. Susan collects some notes, paintings and most disturbing what appears to be bits of her hair and scraps of her clothing. On their way out of Aldern's abode Kumak spies a set of well made wind chimes off in a corner. Pocketing them, the Redeemers move back up to the house proper.
The sun not yet risen Kumak doesn't spy any of the dangerous ravens outside. Mounting up on his horse, which had weathered the night inside rather well all things considered, Kumak offers to take another on the horse. Susan speaks up and with Thaddeus riding on Kronks shoulders the group leave behind the nightmare of Foxglove manor.
Choosing between a 6 hour walking speed to Sandpoint or an hours walk to the Asylum the group chooses Sandpoint and in the wee hours before sunrise they spy a campfire and wagons. Thaddeus wishes to approach and as they near an armed guard demands to know their intentions. Some discussion is had and the guard commands that they join him. Taking the reins of Kumak's horse he leads them to the campfire where they find a caged wagon holding several prisoners and 5 other armed fighters. Based off the specialized armor 3 of them are wearing, Susan and Thaddeus identify them as Hellknights. The Captain begins asking pointed questions which the group answers, while lacking manners the Hellknights had not made any untoward moves on their persons. Suddenly two arrows fly out from the darkness. The 2 lightest armored Hellknights rush off to deal with the threat while the group is warned not to make any moves. Complying for several seconds while a scuffle can be heard a few feet into the darkened woods the one Hellknight holding the reigns starts shoving his blade into Kumak's face and making increasingly aggressive demands until the Bloodrager dismounts and swings the flat of his blade against the Hellknights head. Kumak faces against the Hellknight Captain and 2 Sergeants while the fight in the woods continues. Suddenly one of the "prisoners" stands up, his bonds falling off him like rain water, takes one step and in a flash appears outside the cage. The fight is on the verge of going sour with the Captain in the mix but the golly rotund prisoner chuckles and with a touch sends the Captain to see his beloved Asmodeus via a Plane Shift.
Regrouping, the golly Cleric of Cayden Cailean introduces himself as Father Lum. The arrow had come from one of his misguided agents seeking to rescue him, a halfling named Tim. Working the cage locks Thaddeus and Susan manage to free the remaining prisoners. Father Lum offers to take the group wherever they are heading and with that the group returns to Sandpoint slightly ahead of schedule. Over a conjured feast at the Rusty Dragon Father Lum inquires about the group and offers them a contract of 1,000 gold to accompany Tim to Magnimar to "remove" some more Hellknights. Kumak worries that the authorities might take offence if they were to go around and "remove" problems like that, Father Lum attempts to assure him that there would be no repercussions should they agree. The group elects to sleep on the offer and after several hours Kumak attempts to sell some of their wares around town but Sandpoint seems to be money poor.
Susan reading through one of the notes found in Alderns lair finds that he had a townhouse in Magnimar and whatever nefarious organisation he belonged to might be found there. Their destinations seemingly aligned for the moment Thaddeus proposes they agree to the terms.
Notes:
Not a great session I found.
First introducing the new characters, having the Oracle just stumble into us at the bottom of a haunted mansion we had literally just finished clearing out then we all just have to kind of shrug and say "team up?" felt way off to me.
Then as we were riding back to Sandpoint the Ranger stealthed and watched us pass, then followed us until the Hellknights encountered us. Then decided to silently fire an arrow at them and provide no context to clue us in about whose side we should be on. After 2 rounds of not doing anything since as far as we could tell he was a bandit I picked up on the GM's clues to engage. The Ranger cheered that he had caused us to enter the fight but in all honesty I had to metagame pretty hard to keep him from losing his character again.
The Hellknight encounter itself was weird. The Capt was something like a level 8-9 Inquisitor I think. With Father Lum ending up around level 13 based off some abilities. Combat was a drag for the most part, new characters meant that people needed more time to figure out their moves. Much of the session was wasted.
The push to team up and go to Magnimar was jarring. As I see it we would be getting 1,000 gold total to go to one of the most populous cities, commit mass murder against a well funded very dangerous organization and somehow also not attract the ire of the local constabulary.
Based off what I know here, there being a group in Magnimar that was allied with Foxglove, possibly pulling his strings. I think a better move would have been to team up the Oracle and Ranger, stick them in Sandpoint, fast track our travel back from the mansion, then have them arrived last night having lost an ally or two to "The Brothers" (I don't actually know their name only the Wizard read the note, she just summarized it's contents for us). So they are out for payback but need more muscle, we have the local rep as heavy hitters plus wanting to tidy up the loose end of Foxglove makes for a neater package than an Oracle who just wanders in and decides to hang out and a Ranger who is trying to kill some people who mean nothing to us. Coupled with a monstrously high level cleric severely underpaying for mass murder.
Not being able to sell anything is also getting annoying. I acknowledge that the 10.5k gold dagger might not be able to be sold in Sandpoint but I should be able to sell some mundane but masterwork weapons and armor. Instead I got, "the blacksmith only has 400 gold to buy anything". A small town should have a purchase limit of 5,000 gold that a shop can spend on just a single item.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Arriving this session were
Tim: Halfling Ranger
Kronk: Human Haunted Life Oracle
The surviving 3 Redeemers looking down at the bodies of the slain ghouls and the pool where Tiberius's body had disappeared into are startled to hear movement coming from behind. Weapons to the ready a unassuming human man comes around the corner and walks right into them. After poking him to ensure he is real and not another haunt the newcomer introduces himself as Kronk. Seeing the team is in dire states Kronk offers his assistance. Kumak demands that Tiny Nuggets be healed first. Using several spells Kronk brings Thaddeus back from deaths door to something resembling health. Kumak dives into the pool and retrieves Tiberius's corpse, stripping the body of usable gear Kumak is too encumbered to bring the body back, neither Susan or Thaddeus have the strength for the task so Tiberius is laid to rest back in the pool. Thaddeus stays back with Kronk to compare notes while Kumak and Susan explore the room that Aldern came from. Susan spies a broken puzzle box which she identifies as a broken phylactery, Kumak is overcome by a vision of a man, who he suddenly knows is Vorel Foxglove, in the process of consuming a potion that will complete his transformation into a lich when suddenly a crossbow blot shatters the remainder of the potion, his body wracked with arcane energies Vorel screams in agony and collapses on the floor as his corpse rapidly turns into a rotten man shaped pile of mold. Kumak regains his senses to find he is standing over that same man shaped mold patch, consuming portions of it. The realization is cut short by the wracking pain as whatever illness takes hold. Susan collects some notes, paintings and most disturbing what appears to be bits of her hair and scraps of her clothing. On their way out of Aldern's abode Kumak spies a set of well made wind chimes off in a corner. Pocketing them, the Redeemers move back up to the house proper.
The sun not yet risen Kumak doesn't spy any of the dangerous ravens outside. Mounting up on his horse, which had weathered the night inside rather well all things considered, Kumak offers to take another on the horse. Susan speaks up and with Thaddeus riding on Kronks shoulders the group leave behind the nightmare of Foxglove manor.
Choosing between a 6 hour walking speed to Sandpoint or an hours walk to the Asylum the group chooses Sandpoint and in the wee hours before sunrise they spy a campfire and wagons. Thaddeus wishes to approach and as they near an armed guard demands to know their intentions. Some discussion is had and the guard commands that they join him. Taking the reins of Kumak's horse he leads them to the campfire where they find a caged wagon holding several prisoners and 5 other armed fighters. Based off the specialized armor 3 of them are wearing, Susan and Thaddeus identify them as Hellknights. The Captain begins asking pointed questions which the group answers, while lacking manners the Hellknights had not made any untoward moves on their persons. Suddenly two arrows fly out from the darkness. The 2 lightest armored Hellknights rush off to deal with the threat while the group is warned not to make any moves. Complying for several seconds while a scuffle can be heard a few feet into the darkened woods the one Hellknight holding the reigns starts shoving his blade into Kumak's face and making increasingly aggressive demands until the Bloodrager dismounts and swings the flat of his blade against the Hellknights head. Kumak faces against the Hellknight Captain and 2 Sergeants while the fight in the woods continues. Suddenly one of the "prisoners" stands up, his bonds falling off him like rain water, takes one step and in a flash appears outside the cage. The fight is on the verge of going sour with the Captain in the mix but the golly rotund prisoner chuckles and with a touch sends the Captain to see his beloved Asmodeus via a Plane Shift.
Regrouping, the golly Cleric of Cayden Cailean introduces himself as Father Lum. The arrow had come from one of his misguided agents seeking to rescue him, a halfling named Tim. Working the cage locks Thaddeus and Susan manage to free the remaining prisoners. Father Lum offers to take the group wherever they are heading and with that the group returns to Sandpoint slightly ahead of schedule. Over a conjured feast at the Rusty Dragon Father Lum inquires about the group and offers them a contract of 1,000 gold to accompany Tim to Magnimar to "remove" some more Hellknights. Kumak worries that the authorities might take offence if they were to go around and "remove" problems like that, Father Lum attempts to assure him that there would be no repercussions should they agree. The group elects to sleep on the offer and after several hours Kumak attempts to sell some of their wares around town but Sandpoint seems to be money poor.
Susan reading through one of the notes found in Alderns lair finds that he had a townhouse in Magnimar and whatever nefarious organisation he belonged to might be found there. Their destinations seemingly aligned for the moment Thaddeus proposes they agree to the terms.
Notes:
Not a great session I found.
First introducing the new characters, having the Oracle just stumble into us at the bottom of a haunted mansion we had literally just finished clearing out then we all just have to kind of shrug and say "team up?" felt way off to me.
Then as we were riding back to Sandpoint the Ranger stealthed and watched us pass, then followed us until the Hellknights encountered us. Then decided to silently fire an arrow at them and provide no context to clue us in about whose side we should be on. After 2 rounds of not doing anything since as far as we could tell he was a bandit I picked up on the GM's clues to engage. The Ranger cheered that he had caused us to enter the fight but in all honesty I had to metagame pretty hard to keep him from losing his character again.
The Hellknight encounter itself was weird. The Capt was something like a level 8-9 Inquisitor I think. With Father Lum ending up around level 13 based off some abilities. Combat was a drag for the most part, new characters meant that people needed more time to figure out their moves. Much of the session was wasted.
The push to team up and go to Magnimar was jarring. As I see it we would be getting 1,000 gold total to go to one of the most populous cities, commit mass murder against a well funded very dangerous organization and somehow also not attract the ire of the local constabulary.
Based off what I know here, there being a group in Magnimar that was allied with Foxglove, possibly pulling his strings. I think a better move would have been to team up the Oracle and Ranger, stick them in Sandpoint, fast track our travel back from the mansion, then have them arrived last night having lost an ally or two to "The Brothers" (I don't actually know their name only the Wizard read the note, she just summarized it's contents for us). So they are out for payback but need more muscle, we have the local rep as heavy hitters plus wanting to tidy up the loose end of Foxglove makes for a neater package than an Oracle who just wanders in and decides to hang out and a Ranger who is trying to kill some people who mean nothing to us. Coupled with a monstrously high level cleric severely underpaying for mass murder.
Not being able to sell anything is also getting annoying. I acknowledge that the 10.5k gold dagger might not be able to be sold in Sandpoint but I should be able to sell some mundane but masterwork weapons and armor. Instead I got, "the blacksmith only has 400 gold to buy anything". A small town should have a purchase limit of 5,000 gold that a shop can spend on just a single item.
Sunday, 19 August 2018
The cost of victory - Rise of the Runelords campaign session 15
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Tiberius Lionheart: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Cradling Susan protectively Kumak brings her to the library and lays her on a couch to recover. Thaddeus reappears and warns Kumak that she will need to be restrained until the Suggestion wears off. Tiberius remembering his previous experience in the library refuses to enter but elects to stand guard outside. With nothing left to do Kumak and Thaddeus build a pillow fort and rest for the next 5 hours. Dozing fitfully, Susan, Thaddeus and Kumak experience disturbing dreams. Susan that she is being chased by a malevolent being through the house unable to escape, while Kumak and Thaddeus feel themselves being crushed by an ever shrinking house. Thaddeus and Susan wake feeling troubled but nothing more, Kumak however takes the experience to heart, far too reminiscent of the thorn patch outside Thistletop the dreams weigh on his mind.
Using their wands to bring the group to fighting health the Redeemers return to explore the 3rd floor. The first rooms seem to be storage for linens and such. Thaddeus and Tiberius push ahead and find a sort of study at the end of the hallway, across from which soft sobbing can be heard. Kumak enters the 3rd floor windowed overlook and is filled with the unmistakable sense that he is on fire and the only salvation lays in leaping into the surf below. The half-orc manages to push the sensation aside before his body can react though and continues his search. Tiberius and Thaddeus open the door to the sobbing and see a bunched up blood stained sheet shaking ever so slightly along with the sobs. Getting closer Thaddeus spies an eye peeking out from underneath, not looking towards him but towards the full length mirror before it. Creeping along and careful not to move into its eyeline Thaddeus pulls the sheet back and sees that the woman underneath is clearly undead, drawing upon his bardic knowledge he feel certain that whomever she was in life she has become a Revenant in death, any violence she intends would only be towards herself or her murderer. Tiberius recognizes her from some of the visions he has been having in the mansion and upon seeing her undead nature wastes no time and just as Thaddeus shoves the mirror over the Paladin swings his sword into her flesh. Thaddeus moves away from the combat while the Revenant lets out an unearthly scream, sinks her nails into Tiberius's shoulder and with uncanny strength lifts the paladin off his feet and begins clawing into him. Kumak and Susan both chilled by the sound cower momentarily in another room while Tiberius finds himself in a losing battle. Kumak soon regains his limited wits and moves to join the fray, the undead woman soon put to rest.
With nothing further to be gleaned upstairs the group moves to the basement where Tiberius spends several minutes battering down a sturdy door while Kumak and Thaddeus search the remainder of the floor. Lending their shoulders Kumak and Thaddeus pop the door off its hinges and the Redeemers find themselves in a sort of workshop with more stairs leading down. Passing by the stained glass on this level Susan suddenly realizes what has been troubling her about the windows on each level. They are depicting a transformation into a lich. Thumbing through a few books that are so rotted that they crumble as she reads them Susan learns quite a few tips should she ever wish to make a similar transition.
The stairs down lead into a cavern branching off in 3 directions, Kumak takes the lead down one path, followed by Thaddeus. Then Tiberius charges down another with a reluctant Susan in tow. Kumak finds himself in a large cavern with a high ceiling. Looking around he finds a corpse in one corner and as he moves towards it notices something detach from the ceiling and come gliding down towards him and Thaddeus screaming. Thaddeus is overwhelmed and collapses, his body fighting against the paralysis but Kumak having gone into a rage shrugs it off. The battle is fierce, but with Kumak standing overtop the gnome the bat creature can not find easy fare. It lunges at Kumak and dropping his ranseur Kumak finishes it off with his bastard sword. Pulling Thaddeus up the 2 search the body and find an adamantine blade as well as some loose coins and particular ring. Thaddeus recognizes the ring and now knowing what he is looking for identifies the corpse as belonging to Red Shiv, supposedly called so for his blood stained blades but Thaddeus recalls that the name stuck after he was kicked in the bits by a woman and pissed blood for a week. During this time Tiberius and Susan had moved further into the caverns only to walk into a small nest of ghouls. Tiberius backs up to a choke point so all 4 cant surround him but then sees 3 more arrive and move past them down a side passage and appear at the 3rd, unexplored passage. Susan moves back to back with Tiberius and sends her owl down the passage Kumak and Thaddeus went to get help. Tiberius swings his sword taking chunks of flesh off the ghouls while his celestial dog rips pieces off. Susan is soon paralyzed by the ghouls behind who move in to finish her but Tiberius dog backs up to protect her as Kumak and Thaddeus arrives. The battle soon won, Susan and Tiberius heal themselves while Kumak and Thaddeus inspect the 3rd passageway to ensure there are no more surprises in store. Finding a small alcove in the rock and nothing else the 2 are about to leave when Kumak notices that one of the mining picks seems to have weathered the time surprisingly well. Prying the pick free from the patch of mold that has overgrown the area Kumak stirs up a cloud of yellow mold. Kumak has a brief coughing fit and is soon weakened but still in fighting form. Thaddeus however inhaled far too much for his smaller lungs and coughs for almost a full minute, phlegm, bile and some blood coming out the gnomes complexion having gone dangerously pale and gaunt, Thaddeus finds himself light headed and in need to real medical assistance.
Tiberius declares he will take the lead and marches forward but fails to see how slick the winding ramp ahead is and tumbles down crashing into walls as he slides ever further down the 60 foot drop to splash into a pool of water that 4 goblins were playing in. Only on closer look they are not just goblins, they are ghasts. Kumak from his vantage point above cant make the jump to aid Tiberius so he draws his bow and fires an arrow into one. Susan lets loose a single magic missile from her wand but it is all for naught. The 4 ghasts tear and rake at the paladin who under the onslaught finds that even the protection of Sarenrae can not hold up forever as his body seizes. One ghast tears an arm off while another rips his throat open. Between Kumak and Susan 3 of the 4 ghasts are finished, the final one leaping below the water as Tiberius corpse slides below as well. Without a moments pause a door suddenly opens halfway down the shaft and out steps what once was Aldern Foxglove. Now the man has succumbed to ghoul fever and has eyes only for Susan. Kumak retrieves his ranseur and gives Foxglove 2 hefty stabs but the man barely registers them as he makes his way unerringly to his prize only to collapse at her feet and beg her help. Kumak arches one eyebrow and hesitates for a moment before running Foxglove through again. Susan backs away and calling on arcane flames, tries to ignite the undead Foxglove but to no avail. Aldern seemingly retreats back into his undead nature and lunges at Susan cutting a deep gash along her arm. Kumak lets loose a roar and stabs Foxglove again, though the undead form is in tatters from the onslaught Foxglove is still standing, his eyes firmly fixed on Susan. As he is about to leap on Susan and finish her off she focuses her arcane fire and Aldern's body erupts in flames. Screaming her pulls himself free of Kumak's ranseur and plummets towards the pool in an effort to put out the flames. His broken and burning corpse shudders and falls still a few feet from the pools edge and the cavern falls quiet save for the crackling of burning flesh below.
Thoughts:
Was a bit of a rough session. The parties penchant for splitting up wasn't hurting us while exploring the house but really hurt us when we went below.
Apparently if Tiberius had waited one round before attacking the Revenant of Foxgloves wife she would have ran downstairs and fought him for us, which would have really helped with all the ghouls.
Unfortunately Tiberius was too far away to make the jump even ignoring the 60 feet of fall damage. The second round with Heroism from the bard would have needed a Nat 20 but by then it was too late. I realized later that there was a chance if instead of trying to make the jump in one move I could have tried to jump half way down, make the acrobatics to stay upright, then move again to jump the rest of the way down. But then I would have eaten the 10 or so attacks, prob 8 hitting and even with a now +12 to fort there would have been a good chance for 2 paralyzed characters, then a now 10 hp max (due to yellow mold) bard and a Wizard to fight against 4 ghouls plus Foxglove who took close to 100 damage before dying.
Doing the math there was a good chance we could have sold the loot from the house to bring Tiberius back since the healing fund didn't have enough in it he would have had to repay the rest of the party their share eventually. The player elected to instead let Tiberius die and is doing up a Ranger with another dog animal companion. There is also another player from his 5e game coming to try out. So we will be adding a Halfling Ranger and Human Oracle next session.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Tiberius Lionheart: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Cradling Susan protectively Kumak brings her to the library and lays her on a couch to recover. Thaddeus reappears and warns Kumak that she will need to be restrained until the Suggestion wears off. Tiberius remembering his previous experience in the library refuses to enter but elects to stand guard outside. With nothing left to do Kumak and Thaddeus build a pillow fort and rest for the next 5 hours. Dozing fitfully, Susan, Thaddeus and Kumak experience disturbing dreams. Susan that she is being chased by a malevolent being through the house unable to escape, while Kumak and Thaddeus feel themselves being crushed by an ever shrinking house. Thaddeus and Susan wake feeling troubled but nothing more, Kumak however takes the experience to heart, far too reminiscent of the thorn patch outside Thistletop the dreams weigh on his mind.
Using their wands to bring the group to fighting health the Redeemers return to explore the 3rd floor. The first rooms seem to be storage for linens and such. Thaddeus and Tiberius push ahead and find a sort of study at the end of the hallway, across from which soft sobbing can be heard. Kumak enters the 3rd floor windowed overlook and is filled with the unmistakable sense that he is on fire and the only salvation lays in leaping into the surf below. The half-orc manages to push the sensation aside before his body can react though and continues his search. Tiberius and Thaddeus open the door to the sobbing and see a bunched up blood stained sheet shaking ever so slightly along with the sobs. Getting closer Thaddeus spies an eye peeking out from underneath, not looking towards him but towards the full length mirror before it. Creeping along and careful not to move into its eyeline Thaddeus pulls the sheet back and sees that the woman underneath is clearly undead, drawing upon his bardic knowledge he feel certain that whomever she was in life she has become a Revenant in death, any violence she intends would only be towards herself or her murderer. Tiberius recognizes her from some of the visions he has been having in the mansion and upon seeing her undead nature wastes no time and just as Thaddeus shoves the mirror over the Paladin swings his sword into her flesh. Thaddeus moves away from the combat while the Revenant lets out an unearthly scream, sinks her nails into Tiberius's shoulder and with uncanny strength lifts the paladin off his feet and begins clawing into him. Kumak and Susan both chilled by the sound cower momentarily in another room while Tiberius finds himself in a losing battle. Kumak soon regains his limited wits and moves to join the fray, the undead woman soon put to rest.
With nothing further to be gleaned upstairs the group moves to the basement where Tiberius spends several minutes battering down a sturdy door while Kumak and Thaddeus search the remainder of the floor. Lending their shoulders Kumak and Thaddeus pop the door off its hinges and the Redeemers find themselves in a sort of workshop with more stairs leading down. Passing by the stained glass on this level Susan suddenly realizes what has been troubling her about the windows on each level. They are depicting a transformation into a lich. Thumbing through a few books that are so rotted that they crumble as she reads them Susan learns quite a few tips should she ever wish to make a similar transition.
The stairs down lead into a cavern branching off in 3 directions, Kumak takes the lead down one path, followed by Thaddeus. Then Tiberius charges down another with a reluctant Susan in tow. Kumak finds himself in a large cavern with a high ceiling. Looking around he finds a corpse in one corner and as he moves towards it notices something detach from the ceiling and come gliding down towards him and Thaddeus screaming. Thaddeus is overwhelmed and collapses, his body fighting against the paralysis but Kumak having gone into a rage shrugs it off. The battle is fierce, but with Kumak standing overtop the gnome the bat creature can not find easy fare. It lunges at Kumak and dropping his ranseur Kumak finishes it off with his bastard sword. Pulling Thaddeus up the 2 search the body and find an adamantine blade as well as some loose coins and particular ring. Thaddeus recognizes the ring and now knowing what he is looking for identifies the corpse as belonging to Red Shiv, supposedly called so for his blood stained blades but Thaddeus recalls that the name stuck after he was kicked in the bits by a woman and pissed blood for a week. During this time Tiberius and Susan had moved further into the caverns only to walk into a small nest of ghouls. Tiberius backs up to a choke point so all 4 cant surround him but then sees 3 more arrive and move past them down a side passage and appear at the 3rd, unexplored passage. Susan moves back to back with Tiberius and sends her owl down the passage Kumak and Thaddeus went to get help. Tiberius swings his sword taking chunks of flesh off the ghouls while his celestial dog rips pieces off. Susan is soon paralyzed by the ghouls behind who move in to finish her but Tiberius dog backs up to protect her as Kumak and Thaddeus arrives. The battle soon won, Susan and Tiberius heal themselves while Kumak and Thaddeus inspect the 3rd passageway to ensure there are no more surprises in store. Finding a small alcove in the rock and nothing else the 2 are about to leave when Kumak notices that one of the mining picks seems to have weathered the time surprisingly well. Prying the pick free from the patch of mold that has overgrown the area Kumak stirs up a cloud of yellow mold. Kumak has a brief coughing fit and is soon weakened but still in fighting form. Thaddeus however inhaled far too much for his smaller lungs and coughs for almost a full minute, phlegm, bile and some blood coming out the gnomes complexion having gone dangerously pale and gaunt, Thaddeus finds himself light headed and in need to real medical assistance.
Tiberius declares he will take the lead and marches forward but fails to see how slick the winding ramp ahead is and tumbles down crashing into walls as he slides ever further down the 60 foot drop to splash into a pool of water that 4 goblins were playing in. Only on closer look they are not just goblins, they are ghasts. Kumak from his vantage point above cant make the jump to aid Tiberius so he draws his bow and fires an arrow into one. Susan lets loose a single magic missile from her wand but it is all for naught. The 4 ghasts tear and rake at the paladin who under the onslaught finds that even the protection of Sarenrae can not hold up forever as his body seizes. One ghast tears an arm off while another rips his throat open. Between Kumak and Susan 3 of the 4 ghasts are finished, the final one leaping below the water as Tiberius corpse slides below as well. Without a moments pause a door suddenly opens halfway down the shaft and out steps what once was Aldern Foxglove. Now the man has succumbed to ghoul fever and has eyes only for Susan. Kumak retrieves his ranseur and gives Foxglove 2 hefty stabs but the man barely registers them as he makes his way unerringly to his prize only to collapse at her feet and beg her help. Kumak arches one eyebrow and hesitates for a moment before running Foxglove through again. Susan backs away and calling on arcane flames, tries to ignite the undead Foxglove but to no avail. Aldern seemingly retreats back into his undead nature and lunges at Susan cutting a deep gash along her arm. Kumak lets loose a roar and stabs Foxglove again, though the undead form is in tatters from the onslaught Foxglove is still standing, his eyes firmly fixed on Susan. As he is about to leap on Susan and finish her off she focuses her arcane fire and Aldern's body erupts in flames. Screaming her pulls himself free of Kumak's ranseur and plummets towards the pool in an effort to put out the flames. His broken and burning corpse shudders and falls still a few feet from the pools edge and the cavern falls quiet save for the crackling of burning flesh below.
Thoughts:
Was a bit of a rough session. The parties penchant for splitting up wasn't hurting us while exploring the house but really hurt us when we went below.
Apparently if Tiberius had waited one round before attacking the Revenant of Foxgloves wife she would have ran downstairs and fought him for us, which would have really helped with all the ghouls.
Unfortunately Tiberius was too far away to make the jump even ignoring the 60 feet of fall damage. The second round with Heroism from the bard would have needed a Nat 20 but by then it was too late. I realized later that there was a chance if instead of trying to make the jump in one move I could have tried to jump half way down, make the acrobatics to stay upright, then move again to jump the rest of the way down. But then I would have eaten the 10 or so attacks, prob 8 hitting and even with a now +12 to fort there would have been a good chance for 2 paralyzed characters, then a now 10 hp max (due to yellow mold) bard and a Wizard to fight against 4 ghouls plus Foxglove who took close to 100 damage before dying.
Doing the math there was a good chance we could have sold the loot from the house to bring Tiberius back since the healing fund didn't have enough in it he would have had to repay the rest of the party their share eventually. The player elected to instead let Tiberius die and is doing up a Ranger with another dog animal companion. There is also another player from his 5e game coming to try out. So we will be adding a Halfling Ranger and Human Oracle next session.
Friday, 10 August 2018
An unwelcome suitor - Rise of the Runelords Campaign Session 12-14
In attendance for these sessions were
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Tiberius Lionheart: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
7 days pass with little excitement. Susan busies herself with scribing and crafting. Tiberius asks Kumak to help him hunt goblins in the area to ensure the threat is over. Thaddeus talks around town, getting the lay of the land and making a few contacts. The morning of the 8th day Sheriff Hemlock arrives at the Rusty Dragon and asks that the group join him to take a look at a murder.
Taking the Redeemers to the nearby sawmill the group walks in to a grisly scene. Blood is everywhere, a young woman, Katrine Vinder, has been fed through the saw mill and a man, Banny Harker, has been partly carved up and hung up on a hook. The group finds foot prints and a rancid meat smell throughout the building. Some sharp eyes finds a solid foot print in the mud across the river, Susan recommends Hemlock find a Ranger that could use some magic to determine the suspect, while Thaddeus and Kumak volunteer to interrogate the 2 persons of interest, the girls father Ven Vinder, the same father to the young woman who had tired to seduce Kumak so many days ago, and the coworker of the dead man.
Thaddeus and Kumak start with Ibor Thorn, the coworker who claims to have discovered them. Thaddeus presses him while Kumak leans on him, the man is in distress, covered in blood and while he does finally relent that Harker had probably been stealing from the Scarnettis. Thaddeus advises Thorn to keep that last bit to himself and the two move to interrogate Ven. The man is built like a brick house and is looking for a problem to hit. Thaddeus begins to tear him down and as Ven comes to terms to what has happened to his daughter his powerful shoulders slump as his eyes take on a glazed look. Concluding that Ven probably wasn't responsible for the deaths Thaddeus tries to lessen the blow somewhat which draws an offer from Ven. Give him a few hours alone with whoever did this to his girl and he will pay thousands.
Tiberius and Susan confer with the Villister and father Zantus and determine that the stench of rotten meat was probably from a ghoul. Sheriff Hemlock tells them that the murder is reminiscent of another bloody scene they found a few days ago. There was one survivor who was babbling incoherently that was taken to a nearby asylum. Worried about potential ghoul fever Tiberus and Susan collect the Thaddeus and Kumak, mounting their horses the 4 ride for the asylum arriving near dusk. Tiberius begins banging the door with his fist demanding to be let in in the name of Sarenrae, that his station as a Paladin commands authority to enter. A mousy man named Habe hesitantly opens the door a crack and after a quick introduction and explanation he allows the Redeemers into the reception area but refuses to allow anyone into the asylum proper to visit the madman, Grast. The group counter that Grast be brought to them to determine if the man is indeed sick with the affliction and after a few minutes of waiting a clearly ill, both mentally and physically man is brought forth. He mumbles to himself until his eyes fall on Susan, then he stops all shaking and speech.
Giving a short speech about how she has been selected by his master Grast begins thrashing against his bonds and lunges at Susan. Kumak brings the butt end of his Ranseur up and jabs the man in the head knocking him unconscious. A cursory check confirms that Grast is suffering from ghoul fever and has only a short time left before he will succumb. Claiming the unconscious man against the protests of Habe the Redeemers take off for Sandpoint to find healing for Grast but with full dark out the trip is slower than before and soon Grast comes to consciousness and begins giggling from the back of Tiberius's horse. When asked whats so funny he replies.
"The pack, the pack, the pack is here. Here to take you away" and looks right at Susan, "Take you to him"
The group has a moment to take that in when 6 ghouls appear from the darkness and attack. None of the Redeemers are skilled in mounted combat, some dismount of their own volition, others forcibly so by their startled horses. Kumak accounts for one ghoul with each stab of his ranseur and thankfully the ghouls are made short work of. However the group finds themselves without their horses. Picking up Grast they try to reach Sandpoint while the man still has time but luck again fails them and they witness him expire shortly afterwards. Finding themselves about an hours walk from the asylum or about 6 hours hike to Sandpoint the group ensure Grast stays dead and return to Habes.
Habe is disappointed to see them again, more so without Grast and almost refuses to give them shelter for the night claiming the well being of his patients before finally relenting and offering to let them bunk in the reception area. With some pressure he "upgrades" his offer to just inside the building proper, they can sleep in the common room and are allowed to use a privy in another room but that is the extent of their leash. They find as cozy quarters as they can in the situation save Tiberius who stays up and patrols the area and immediate perimeter of the building. It is after one of his perimeter walks that he returns to find a door ajar in the common room leading downstairs. Waking Kumak and asking him to join the 2 descend to what appears to be an operating room with a black robed figure examining a body. Kumak asks what the man is doing, and suddenly both Kumak and Tiberius find themselves standing inside a foul smelling cloud. Flying into a rage Kumak moves to get in range but the man now has multiple copies of himself and even when a strike lands true it seems to hit nothing. The man fires spell after spell into Kumak but the half Orcs constitution is too great and he just shrugs them off. Tiberius finds himself tied up with several zombies. Kumak finally connects one hit against the robed figure who flees up the stairs. Susan, having been woken up by her owl Suzanne, has just finished waking Thaddeus. The two see the edge of a foul smelling cloud at the top of the stairs and a robed figure stumble out of it retching, between mouthfuls of vomit he claims that their friends are below and need their assistance. Thaddeus looks to Susan, then the man, the gnome doesn't quite know what it wrong but the story smells as bad as the cloud. Tapping into his magic Thaddeus suggests that the man go down below and help the two then. As the spell finishes Thaddeus feels the suggestion take hold, and with a mournful look he returns below where Kumak and Tiberius have finished off the undead save one, who the man commands to return to the closet. Kumak and Tiberius move to intercept the man but he is still near impossible to grasp and he pulls a potion and downs it, transforming into a cloud himself. Kumak braves the stinking cloud once more to close the door and tell the others to wedge some clothes under the cracks to prevent his escape then returns down. The cloud moves very slowly towards the far door in the basement and Tiberius lands a few blows causing drops of water to fall until the entire cloud suddenly turns to drops of liquid and falls to the floor. Habe and his two muscle men appear hearing the commotion, take one look towards the open door to the basement and make a run for it. Susan attempts to bar their exit with a magical web but they deftly dodge it and she only succeeds in trapping herself and Thaddeus. The robed mans body soon reforms from the liquid and a search of the building provides a spell book, some small money, 2 wands and a potion. There are 3 patients on the 3rd floor and in the morning Kumak ensures he leaves ample food and water in reach for the men and the group returns to Sandpoint.
Kumak enlists the sheriff and some deputies to return to the asylum and recover the patients. Susan spends time crafting for Thaddeus, while Thaddeus and Tiberius pursue their own agendas for the day. The following day Kumak provides security to Susan, who has been receiving unpleasant gifts like dead animals nailed to her bed frame while she is out. Once she finishes her crafting for Thaddeus, Kumak leaves her in the care of the rest of the Redeemers and catches some sleep, hoping to catch her erstwhile lover in the act during the night. Darkness falls and finds Kumak hidden outside Susans window at the Rusty Dragon. He catches a whiff of rotten meat before a scream rings out somewhere in town. A rustle above confirms what he suspects, ghouls. Flying into a rage Kumak engages 3 ghouls in the alleyway dispatching them all in quick succession however two manage to climb the wall and force their way into Susan's room. One is swiftly blasted back through the window landing in a heap with its neck at an impossible angle. The other is soon sent to its final rest but not before it gets a solid bite out of Susan's shoulder. The redeemers regroup and split off to secure the town. Tiberius and his new dog companion following tracks while Kumak, Susan and Thaddeus move towards the screams. Over the course of the next few hours they account for all the ghouls and find another disturbing note, this one carved into the flesh of one of the ghouls. All signs point towards Aldern Foxglove, the noble they had saved during the Swallowtail Festival, as being the one behind the ghouls and leaving these disturbing gifts for Susan.
Talking to the Mayor Thaddeus determines that there is Foxglove manor to the south where Aldern may have fled to, as well as an old caretaker that could provide clues at a nearby farm to the south. The Redeemers decide to investigate the farm on their way to the manor. Several hours on horseback bring the group to a branching path through a high corn field. Using Susan's owl to get a sense of the maze of trails the group moves through the maze of paths until they reach a cluster of scarecrows who start flailing against their bonds and launch themselves at the party revealing themselves as ghouls. Tiberius, his dog, and Kumak make short work of their attackers and prepared against such ambush tactics the group is able to dispatch several more ghouls before finding a still living girl infected with ghoul fever also strung up. She is far too weak to move and at deaths door but manages to weakly ask about her brother and father. Kumak is conflicted between rushing the girl to Sandpoint for aid and searching for any more survivors but deciding that the hour or so he will spend scouring the area could very well save more lives deems the risk to her life worth the risk. Finding the farmhouse and out building finally Kumak walks through the front door, and into 8 or so ghouls. Quickly surrounded Kumak begins slowly backing through the door, stabbing at the ghouls as he does so. The ones that cant quite reach the half orc smash through the windows where Tiberius and his dog meet them with teeth and blade. Finding what must be the half eaten remains of the father, as well as the manors old custodian the group searches the rest of the corn fields and luck is with them for now, the girls brother still lives, though also infected and in worse shape than she is. Riding as fast as they dare back to Sandpoint, during the nights ride the boy holds steady but the girls already shallow breathing takes on a dangerous raspy note to it. Riding hard into town Kumak dismounts at the temple and wakes Villister and father Zantus, explaining the situation to the clerics they explain they are tapped out but will be able to replenish their spells come dawn, and knowing the danger can prepare accordingly. Each casting a lesser restoration on the children then attempting to remove the disease leaves the children looking healthier but still infected for now. Villister assures them that he will devote a lesser restoration to each of them and will attempt to cure one of their diseases each day while providing care, which should given enough time be sufficient to save the kids. The Redeemers return to the inn to rest up and then depart for Foxglove Manor.
Foxglove manor sits surrounded by ocean cliffs on three sides, its massive size made all the more depressing by the state of the manor. A crumbling ruin sits 50 feet or so from the entrance. Tiberius and Susan with Thaddeus doubled up, move their horses to the ruin to tie their mounts while Kumak rides straight to the front door. A handful of crows dart away from the ruins and fly east. The 3 join Kumak at the door which he had just finished unlocking with a key from the old caretakers, and forcing open. The wood bulges and sags. The manor has a persistent creak, the smell of rot and mildew permeates the building. Kumak notices the scent of burnt hair but no one else makes any mention of it. Moving past the stuffed manticore statue the group fans out. It soon becomes apparent that Foxglove manor is haunted and each Redeemer begins to encounter things that the others don't see but still feels real enough to harm them. Clearing the first floor and second the Redeemers are preparing to move up to the 3rd floor where they have been hearing soft sobs from when an unfortunate haunt takes hold of Thaddeus's mind and convinces him that Susan must die. Since Thaddeus isn't much of a combatant he uses his magic wiles to convince Susan she must leap off the cliff to save herself. Tiberius is unable to reach her in time but Kumak manages to catch up and knock her unconscious just before she walks off the edge. However looking up Kumak sees what was previously a handful of crows is now hundreds upon thousands of them, all staring silently at them before swooping down and attacking them.
Thaddeus having regained his wits leaps out after Kumak, who has Susan's unconscious form in his arms and is battering at a side door to get her inside before the birds can finish her off. Thaddeus holds his torch above his head waving it and succeeds in drawing some of the crows attention but finds he is becoming nauseated by them. Kumak bursts through the door and running into a back room pours a healing potion down Susan's throat, she is in bad shape, but will live. Thaddeus manages to re-enter the manor and the birds disperse, their task of keeping the group in the house completed they show no interest in pursing the Redeemers into the manor.
Thoughts: Some small bickering from the Paladin towards the Bard, the player seemed to want to attack the bard for the perceived attempted murder, ignoring the fact that his own character had already acted against his will earlier in the house. I felt that it was well within reasonable assumptions to think that an ally, who up until that moment had never made any move against the party might have been under duress or mental control from an outside force before drawing their sword. But we will see. I rather enjoyed how the story of the house is playing out. As each character experiences a haunt a new piece of the history falls into place. I kind of wish the GM had the text preprinted on cards and when a character experienced something they read the card, rolled whatever check was required and acted accordingly all without the rest of the group knowing what happened but maybe that wouldn't work as well as I think it would.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Tiberius Lionheart: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
7 days pass with little excitement. Susan busies herself with scribing and crafting. Tiberius asks Kumak to help him hunt goblins in the area to ensure the threat is over. Thaddeus talks around town, getting the lay of the land and making a few contacts. The morning of the 8th day Sheriff Hemlock arrives at the Rusty Dragon and asks that the group join him to take a look at a murder.
Taking the Redeemers to the nearby sawmill the group walks in to a grisly scene. Blood is everywhere, a young woman, Katrine Vinder, has been fed through the saw mill and a man, Banny Harker, has been partly carved up and hung up on a hook. The group finds foot prints and a rancid meat smell throughout the building. Some sharp eyes finds a solid foot print in the mud across the river, Susan recommends Hemlock find a Ranger that could use some magic to determine the suspect, while Thaddeus and Kumak volunteer to interrogate the 2 persons of interest, the girls father Ven Vinder, the same father to the young woman who had tired to seduce Kumak so many days ago, and the coworker of the dead man.
Thaddeus and Kumak start with Ibor Thorn, the coworker who claims to have discovered them. Thaddeus presses him while Kumak leans on him, the man is in distress, covered in blood and while he does finally relent that Harker had probably been stealing from the Scarnettis. Thaddeus advises Thorn to keep that last bit to himself and the two move to interrogate Ven. The man is built like a brick house and is looking for a problem to hit. Thaddeus begins to tear him down and as Ven comes to terms to what has happened to his daughter his powerful shoulders slump as his eyes take on a glazed look. Concluding that Ven probably wasn't responsible for the deaths Thaddeus tries to lessen the blow somewhat which draws an offer from Ven. Give him a few hours alone with whoever did this to his girl and he will pay thousands.
Tiberius and Susan confer with the Villister and father Zantus and determine that the stench of rotten meat was probably from a ghoul. Sheriff Hemlock tells them that the murder is reminiscent of another bloody scene they found a few days ago. There was one survivor who was babbling incoherently that was taken to a nearby asylum. Worried about potential ghoul fever Tiberus and Susan collect the Thaddeus and Kumak, mounting their horses the 4 ride for the asylum arriving near dusk. Tiberius begins banging the door with his fist demanding to be let in in the name of Sarenrae, that his station as a Paladin commands authority to enter. A mousy man named Habe hesitantly opens the door a crack and after a quick introduction and explanation he allows the Redeemers into the reception area but refuses to allow anyone into the asylum proper to visit the madman, Grast. The group counter that Grast be brought to them to determine if the man is indeed sick with the affliction and after a few minutes of waiting a clearly ill, both mentally and physically man is brought forth. He mumbles to himself until his eyes fall on Susan, then he stops all shaking and speech.
Giving a short speech about how she has been selected by his master Grast begins thrashing against his bonds and lunges at Susan. Kumak brings the butt end of his Ranseur up and jabs the man in the head knocking him unconscious. A cursory check confirms that Grast is suffering from ghoul fever and has only a short time left before he will succumb. Claiming the unconscious man against the protests of Habe the Redeemers take off for Sandpoint to find healing for Grast but with full dark out the trip is slower than before and soon Grast comes to consciousness and begins giggling from the back of Tiberius's horse. When asked whats so funny he replies.
"The pack, the pack, the pack is here. Here to take you away" and looks right at Susan, "Take you to him"
The group has a moment to take that in when 6 ghouls appear from the darkness and attack. None of the Redeemers are skilled in mounted combat, some dismount of their own volition, others forcibly so by their startled horses. Kumak accounts for one ghoul with each stab of his ranseur and thankfully the ghouls are made short work of. However the group finds themselves without their horses. Picking up Grast they try to reach Sandpoint while the man still has time but luck again fails them and they witness him expire shortly afterwards. Finding themselves about an hours walk from the asylum or about 6 hours hike to Sandpoint the group ensure Grast stays dead and return to Habes.
Habe is disappointed to see them again, more so without Grast and almost refuses to give them shelter for the night claiming the well being of his patients before finally relenting and offering to let them bunk in the reception area. With some pressure he "upgrades" his offer to just inside the building proper, they can sleep in the common room and are allowed to use a privy in another room but that is the extent of their leash. They find as cozy quarters as they can in the situation save Tiberius who stays up and patrols the area and immediate perimeter of the building. It is after one of his perimeter walks that he returns to find a door ajar in the common room leading downstairs. Waking Kumak and asking him to join the 2 descend to what appears to be an operating room with a black robed figure examining a body. Kumak asks what the man is doing, and suddenly both Kumak and Tiberius find themselves standing inside a foul smelling cloud. Flying into a rage Kumak moves to get in range but the man now has multiple copies of himself and even when a strike lands true it seems to hit nothing. The man fires spell after spell into Kumak but the half Orcs constitution is too great and he just shrugs them off. Tiberius finds himself tied up with several zombies. Kumak finally connects one hit against the robed figure who flees up the stairs. Susan, having been woken up by her owl Suzanne, has just finished waking Thaddeus. The two see the edge of a foul smelling cloud at the top of the stairs and a robed figure stumble out of it retching, between mouthfuls of vomit he claims that their friends are below and need their assistance. Thaddeus looks to Susan, then the man, the gnome doesn't quite know what it wrong but the story smells as bad as the cloud. Tapping into his magic Thaddeus suggests that the man go down below and help the two then. As the spell finishes Thaddeus feels the suggestion take hold, and with a mournful look he returns below where Kumak and Tiberius have finished off the undead save one, who the man commands to return to the closet. Kumak and Tiberius move to intercept the man but he is still near impossible to grasp and he pulls a potion and downs it, transforming into a cloud himself. Kumak braves the stinking cloud once more to close the door and tell the others to wedge some clothes under the cracks to prevent his escape then returns down. The cloud moves very slowly towards the far door in the basement and Tiberius lands a few blows causing drops of water to fall until the entire cloud suddenly turns to drops of liquid and falls to the floor. Habe and his two muscle men appear hearing the commotion, take one look towards the open door to the basement and make a run for it. Susan attempts to bar their exit with a magical web but they deftly dodge it and she only succeeds in trapping herself and Thaddeus. The robed mans body soon reforms from the liquid and a search of the building provides a spell book, some small money, 2 wands and a potion. There are 3 patients on the 3rd floor and in the morning Kumak ensures he leaves ample food and water in reach for the men and the group returns to Sandpoint.
Kumak enlists the sheriff and some deputies to return to the asylum and recover the patients. Susan spends time crafting for Thaddeus, while Thaddeus and Tiberius pursue their own agendas for the day. The following day Kumak provides security to Susan, who has been receiving unpleasant gifts like dead animals nailed to her bed frame while she is out. Once she finishes her crafting for Thaddeus, Kumak leaves her in the care of the rest of the Redeemers and catches some sleep, hoping to catch her erstwhile lover in the act during the night. Darkness falls and finds Kumak hidden outside Susans window at the Rusty Dragon. He catches a whiff of rotten meat before a scream rings out somewhere in town. A rustle above confirms what he suspects, ghouls. Flying into a rage Kumak engages 3 ghouls in the alleyway dispatching them all in quick succession however two manage to climb the wall and force their way into Susan's room. One is swiftly blasted back through the window landing in a heap with its neck at an impossible angle. The other is soon sent to its final rest but not before it gets a solid bite out of Susan's shoulder. The redeemers regroup and split off to secure the town. Tiberius and his new dog companion following tracks while Kumak, Susan and Thaddeus move towards the screams. Over the course of the next few hours they account for all the ghouls and find another disturbing note, this one carved into the flesh of one of the ghouls. All signs point towards Aldern Foxglove, the noble they had saved during the Swallowtail Festival, as being the one behind the ghouls and leaving these disturbing gifts for Susan.
Talking to the Mayor Thaddeus determines that there is Foxglove manor to the south where Aldern may have fled to, as well as an old caretaker that could provide clues at a nearby farm to the south. The Redeemers decide to investigate the farm on their way to the manor. Several hours on horseback bring the group to a branching path through a high corn field. Using Susan's owl to get a sense of the maze of trails the group moves through the maze of paths until they reach a cluster of scarecrows who start flailing against their bonds and launch themselves at the party revealing themselves as ghouls. Tiberius, his dog, and Kumak make short work of their attackers and prepared against such ambush tactics the group is able to dispatch several more ghouls before finding a still living girl infected with ghoul fever also strung up. She is far too weak to move and at deaths door but manages to weakly ask about her brother and father. Kumak is conflicted between rushing the girl to Sandpoint for aid and searching for any more survivors but deciding that the hour or so he will spend scouring the area could very well save more lives deems the risk to her life worth the risk. Finding the farmhouse and out building finally Kumak walks through the front door, and into 8 or so ghouls. Quickly surrounded Kumak begins slowly backing through the door, stabbing at the ghouls as he does so. The ones that cant quite reach the half orc smash through the windows where Tiberius and his dog meet them with teeth and blade. Finding what must be the half eaten remains of the father, as well as the manors old custodian the group searches the rest of the corn fields and luck is with them for now, the girls brother still lives, though also infected and in worse shape than she is. Riding as fast as they dare back to Sandpoint, during the nights ride the boy holds steady but the girls already shallow breathing takes on a dangerous raspy note to it. Riding hard into town Kumak dismounts at the temple and wakes Villister and father Zantus, explaining the situation to the clerics they explain they are tapped out but will be able to replenish their spells come dawn, and knowing the danger can prepare accordingly. Each casting a lesser restoration on the children then attempting to remove the disease leaves the children looking healthier but still infected for now. Villister assures them that he will devote a lesser restoration to each of them and will attempt to cure one of their diseases each day while providing care, which should given enough time be sufficient to save the kids. The Redeemers return to the inn to rest up and then depart for Foxglove Manor.
Foxglove manor sits surrounded by ocean cliffs on three sides, its massive size made all the more depressing by the state of the manor. A crumbling ruin sits 50 feet or so from the entrance. Tiberius and Susan with Thaddeus doubled up, move their horses to the ruin to tie their mounts while Kumak rides straight to the front door. A handful of crows dart away from the ruins and fly east. The 3 join Kumak at the door which he had just finished unlocking with a key from the old caretakers, and forcing open. The wood bulges and sags. The manor has a persistent creak, the smell of rot and mildew permeates the building. Kumak notices the scent of burnt hair but no one else makes any mention of it. Moving past the stuffed manticore statue the group fans out. It soon becomes apparent that Foxglove manor is haunted and each Redeemer begins to encounter things that the others don't see but still feels real enough to harm them. Clearing the first floor and second the Redeemers are preparing to move up to the 3rd floor where they have been hearing soft sobs from when an unfortunate haunt takes hold of Thaddeus's mind and convinces him that Susan must die. Since Thaddeus isn't much of a combatant he uses his magic wiles to convince Susan she must leap off the cliff to save herself. Tiberius is unable to reach her in time but Kumak manages to catch up and knock her unconscious just before she walks off the edge. However looking up Kumak sees what was previously a handful of crows is now hundreds upon thousands of them, all staring silently at them before swooping down and attacking them.
Thaddeus having regained his wits leaps out after Kumak, who has Susan's unconscious form in his arms and is battering at a side door to get her inside before the birds can finish her off. Thaddeus holds his torch above his head waving it and succeeds in drawing some of the crows attention but finds he is becoming nauseated by them. Kumak bursts through the door and running into a back room pours a healing potion down Susan's throat, she is in bad shape, but will live. Thaddeus manages to re-enter the manor and the birds disperse, their task of keeping the group in the house completed they show no interest in pursing the Redeemers into the manor.
Thoughts: Some small bickering from the Paladin towards the Bard, the player seemed to want to attack the bard for the perceived attempted murder, ignoring the fact that his own character had already acted against his will earlier in the house. I felt that it was well within reasonable assumptions to think that an ally, who up until that moment had never made any move against the party might have been under duress or mental control from an outside force before drawing their sword. But we will see. I rather enjoyed how the story of the house is playing out. As each character experiences a haunt a new piece of the history falls into place. I kind of wish the GM had the text preprinted on cards and when a character experienced something they read the card, rolled whatever check was required and acted accordingly all without the rest of the group knowing what happened but maybe that wouldn't work as well as I think it would.
Tuesday, 10 July 2018
A name is earned - Rise of the Runelords Campaign Session 11
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Tiberius Lionheart: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Cooking up a large portion of crab into a crab stew the party eats what they hope to be their final meal in Thistletop. Come the morning Shalelu elects to remain for a few days to pick off any goblins that return. Kumak leaves all the goblin arrows and his 5 days of trail rations with her to tide her over until they can return. Shalelu casts a spell transforming one end of the 200ft of rope into an arrow and shoots it across the gap. The arrow strikes true reforming itself into a rope and securing one end to the tree. Kumak lashes the large golden helmet to himself and prepares to swing across with the idea that he and Thaddeus would ensure the rope remains tied to the far end allowing the rest to corss safely. The swing to the base of the cliff goes well with Kumak casting a feather fall to ensure his descent is gentle enough but his weight, the 300 pound golden helmet strapped to his back and Thaddeus on his shoulders proves too much weight for the rope which snaps 30 feet from the top. Kumak climbs the cliff face with the reminder of rope around his waist and holding on to his end allows the rest of the party to cross before they secure the mainland end for Shalelu.
Moving through the burnt carnage of the remains of the brier patch Kumak looks down into the hole they had seen before, seeing many tracks leading into the pit he surmises that many goblins leapt into the pit to try and escape a fiery death from Susan's flaming sphere. Tiberius asks if he would like to go down there and fight whatever beast they heard roaring days ago to which Kumak raises an eye brow, hands off the rope still tied to him to Orik and jumps in. Descending about 60 feet down he stops himself and looking in the dark spies a large pool of water about 10 feet deep below him and to one side a shelf mad from the cliff on which a creature later identified as a Bunyip dozing. Tiberius grabs the rope to join him but slips at the lip of the hole and plummets into the water below waking the Bunyip. Kumak swings over to the ledge and thrusts his now repaired Ranseur into the Bunyip drawing significant blood and an ear piercing roar which threatens the resolve of the party but only Thaddeus's courage falters as the gnome moves away from the hole. The bunyip moves towards the water, either to make an escape or to attack Tiberius but Kumak gives it a parting stab which finishes off the creature. Searching the grotto finds a wand, some coins and gems and a few magical arrows, not a bad haul for few minutes work.
With that the party soon find themselves returning to Sandpoint, Kumak says he wishes to sell all the excess items he has been carrying around for the last few days and Tiberius announces he will be taking the religious iconography to the temple to be turned in for a bounty and destroyed. On their way to the market square the remainder find a crowd gathered and the Orc from before Gris is at the center of a celebration recounting his recent heroics single-handedly vanquishing the Licktoad Goblin tribe. Susan and Thaddeus wish to stay and listen, the event doesn't hold Kumak's attention long but the sticks of meat and cups of ale convince him to stay a while and listen. Soon some townsfolk's attention drifts to the newcomers and the large golden helmet, Gris noticing this yells out that this is his celebration and they need to leave. Kumak talking around a mouthful of meat calls back that Gris is welcome to the glory, he is in it for the challenge, and with that and a few magically generated heckling calls from Thaddeus, Gris jumps down and strides up the group challenging them all to a contest, that the winner is the true hero and the losers must slink away back to their rooms. Thaddeus and Susan are game, Kumak announces that he will gladly compete but since he doesn't care about the glory asks if Gris would like to make the competition interesting and wagers 150 gold to which Gris agrees. Calling out for a drinking, archery and running contest the party confer to see who will compete in which. Kumak allows the others to decide as he will take which ever they do not wish.
Thaddeus steps up to drink against the Orc but proposes a change. In one hand they will drink while the other will hold the burning end of a torch, stop drinking or remove your hand from the torch and you forfeit. Gris agrees and snatching a burning brand from a nearby fire pit does not seem to notice that the torch that Thaddeus presents does not seem to give off heat. Each grasping their torch they begin to drink, downing their first, second and third cups. Gris has a moment of weakness on his forth cup but powers through to the fifth and sixth, the crackle and smell of cooking meat coming from the Orc's torch. Thaddeus feels a touch woozy on the seventh cup but pushes through until finally on the ninth cup of ale Gris finishes consuming it, takes a moment, then heaves into the nearby fire pit. The crowd erupts in cheers and sighs depending on who they had backed, Gris angrily wipes his mouth and slurring only slightly points to Kumak "Double or Nothing!" and grabs a nearby bow. Looking around Gris declares that closest shot to the eye of the Dragon figure on the Rusty Dragon Inn wins, then fires a shot that goes wide but still in the direction of the inn. Remembering Susan's hunting prowess from earlier Kumak looks to her to see if she wishes to compete, while chanting quietly Susan grabs the bow and expertly puts an arrow just shy of the eye to the cheers of the crowd. Snapping his bow in half Gris calls out "Double Double or nothing" to which Kumak asks if he can even cover the now 600 gold bet. Gris throws a pouch filled with platinum down and a cursory inspection shows he can, so Kumak removes his armor and stretches while Gris drunkenly casts some magic on himself which Susan identifies as Longstrider. The course is determined and with a call Kumak rockets off at a startling speed, whether it is the drink, his own temper at being bested twice, or he was not expecting his half-orc opponent to be that fast Gris stumbles out the gate and lands face first just past the starting line. The race is swift and while Gris does make up significant ground that first few seconds tells the tale and Kumak wins. Collecting the money pouch Kumak pulls out 60 platinum then hands the remainder to Gris who angrily stalks out while the crowd cheers asking what to call the group. Looking around none seem to have an idea before Thaddeus steps up and introduces them as The Redeemers which the crowd eagerly takes up and begins chanting.
Shortly after their victory a shrill trumpet is heard and upon a carpet laden palanquin pulled by burly shirtless men a flamboyant stranger approaches. Calling himself Captain Creesy he takes in the newly minted Redeemers and invites them to his ship for dinner, drinks and tales of adventure. Thaddeus steps up and identifies himself as the leader of the group and accepts on their behalf, Creesy stands up on his carpet which now begins to move on its own towards the gnome and extends his hand out to Thaddeus who steps on and the 2 fly off towards the ship. Left with the now vacant palanquin Susan and Kumak look to each other, shrug and say OK. Kumak addresses Orik to find Tiberius and let him know then to wait for them at the Rusty Dragon. Susan finds the most dashing looking of Creesy's burly men and has him carry her in his arms to the ship while the strongest of the bunch approaches Kumak and after a short wrestle to see who ends up carrying whom Kumak finds himself slung over the mans shoulder eating the remainder of his meat on a stick. Creesy and Thaddeus discuss their respective exploits while they wait for the rest of the party and Creesy asks Thaddeus to choose what kind of fare they should have, to which he asks for some far off delicacy that he had barely even heard of. Creesy laughs in approval and claps his hands as more burly men move about the ship and swiftly construct a sizable table with chairs and place some aperitifs out for the now arriving Susan and Kumak. The 4 are seated and begin with conversation and feasting while Tiberius joins them by the second course. Kumak and Tiberius soon find themselves well into their cups and while Tiberius demands he be returned to the Rusty Dragon, Kumak accepts the offer to sleep the night aboard the ship. Susan and Thaddeus nurse their drinks as such keep a level head when suddenly Creesy turns the subject to business. A collector of antiquities and merchant Creesy declares himself willing to purchase their plunder and sell them whatever they desire but first wishes to hear the tale of the daring adventure. Thaddeus deftly cleans the rough edges of the journey and leaving out the discovery of the Barghest Malfeshkenor suitably impresses the Captain enough that Creesy claps his hands and declares that in celebration of this grand new arrangement he will provide a one time 5% discount to them. In the morning the accounts are settled and the Redeemers find themselves with just over 11 thousand gold. Setting aside a share for the group expenses each member makes their purchase requests known. Kumak reasonably happy with his weapons, armor, ring and amulet hands his share plus winnings from Gris to Susan to help outfit herself. Susan purchases 500 gold of inks for scribing spells into her book while the remainder of the 5,500 is put towards reagents she can use to craft magical items. Tiberius requests a suit of Full-Plate, and a Masterwork shield. The remainder of his money he had pledged to Orik and Lyrie to repay the items they had lost. Thaddeus buys some magical reagents and asks Susan to make him a headband and enchant his well made cloak.
In the morning the Redeemers look ahead to their tasks,
Susan has 10 days of crafting ahead of herself. While Shalelu was left with at least 5 days food Tiberius wishes to return to her soon and after comparing notes the Redeemers feel they have a solid plan to finish Malfeshnekor off and finally close the chapter on Thistletop. Ameiko wishing to see her friend also asks to check out Thistletop as she feels the real estate could be put to use.
Kumak introduces Sheriff Hemlock to Orik and Lyrie and ensures he understands how they came to be with the Redeemers. Kumak recommends that Orik be taken on as a deputy for a while and Hemlock see if the man is a good fit. Kumak also reccomends that Lyrie function under a sort of house arrest for a while, which spells she prepares each day is monitored and that her book remains in a secure place when not in use.
Thoughts:
A better session, there was considerably less biting back and forth though a few still did happen, the paladins player complained a bit about not having much money but I pointed out again that he was the one who wanted to pay back the people for the scrolls and wands we took. That giving them their lives was mercy enough and the loss of items would be the tax they pay for siding with Nualia and the goblins.
At the end of this Susan has crafting for 10 days and 3.5 of which she will also be scribing spells into her book. At the end she will have;
Headband of Int +2
2x Pearl of Power level 1
Pearl of Power level 2
Cloak of Resistance +1 for Kumak
Cloak of Resistance +1 for Thaddeus
Headband of Cha +2 for Thaddeus
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Tiberius Lionheart: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Cooking up a large portion of crab into a crab stew the party eats what they hope to be their final meal in Thistletop. Come the morning Shalelu elects to remain for a few days to pick off any goblins that return. Kumak leaves all the goblin arrows and his 5 days of trail rations with her to tide her over until they can return. Shalelu casts a spell transforming one end of the 200ft of rope into an arrow and shoots it across the gap. The arrow strikes true reforming itself into a rope and securing one end to the tree. Kumak lashes the large golden helmet to himself and prepares to swing across with the idea that he and Thaddeus would ensure the rope remains tied to the far end allowing the rest to corss safely. The swing to the base of the cliff goes well with Kumak casting a feather fall to ensure his descent is gentle enough but his weight, the 300 pound golden helmet strapped to his back and Thaddeus on his shoulders proves too much weight for the rope which snaps 30 feet from the top. Kumak climbs the cliff face with the reminder of rope around his waist and holding on to his end allows the rest of the party to cross before they secure the mainland end for Shalelu.
Moving through the burnt carnage of the remains of the brier patch Kumak looks down into the hole they had seen before, seeing many tracks leading into the pit he surmises that many goblins leapt into the pit to try and escape a fiery death from Susan's flaming sphere. Tiberius asks if he would like to go down there and fight whatever beast they heard roaring days ago to which Kumak raises an eye brow, hands off the rope still tied to him to Orik and jumps in. Descending about 60 feet down he stops himself and looking in the dark spies a large pool of water about 10 feet deep below him and to one side a shelf mad from the cliff on which a creature later identified as a Bunyip dozing. Tiberius grabs the rope to join him but slips at the lip of the hole and plummets into the water below waking the Bunyip. Kumak swings over to the ledge and thrusts his now repaired Ranseur into the Bunyip drawing significant blood and an ear piercing roar which threatens the resolve of the party but only Thaddeus's courage falters as the gnome moves away from the hole. The bunyip moves towards the water, either to make an escape or to attack Tiberius but Kumak gives it a parting stab which finishes off the creature. Searching the grotto finds a wand, some coins and gems and a few magical arrows, not a bad haul for few minutes work.
With that the party soon find themselves returning to Sandpoint, Kumak says he wishes to sell all the excess items he has been carrying around for the last few days and Tiberius announces he will be taking the religious iconography to the temple to be turned in for a bounty and destroyed. On their way to the market square the remainder find a crowd gathered and the Orc from before Gris is at the center of a celebration recounting his recent heroics single-handedly vanquishing the Licktoad Goblin tribe. Susan and Thaddeus wish to stay and listen, the event doesn't hold Kumak's attention long but the sticks of meat and cups of ale convince him to stay a while and listen. Soon some townsfolk's attention drifts to the newcomers and the large golden helmet, Gris noticing this yells out that this is his celebration and they need to leave. Kumak talking around a mouthful of meat calls back that Gris is welcome to the glory, he is in it for the challenge, and with that and a few magically generated heckling calls from Thaddeus, Gris jumps down and strides up the group challenging them all to a contest, that the winner is the true hero and the losers must slink away back to their rooms. Thaddeus and Susan are game, Kumak announces that he will gladly compete but since he doesn't care about the glory asks if Gris would like to make the competition interesting and wagers 150 gold to which Gris agrees. Calling out for a drinking, archery and running contest the party confer to see who will compete in which. Kumak allows the others to decide as he will take which ever they do not wish.
Thaddeus steps up to drink against the Orc but proposes a change. In one hand they will drink while the other will hold the burning end of a torch, stop drinking or remove your hand from the torch and you forfeit. Gris agrees and snatching a burning brand from a nearby fire pit does not seem to notice that the torch that Thaddeus presents does not seem to give off heat. Each grasping their torch they begin to drink, downing their first, second and third cups. Gris has a moment of weakness on his forth cup but powers through to the fifth and sixth, the crackle and smell of cooking meat coming from the Orc's torch. Thaddeus feels a touch woozy on the seventh cup but pushes through until finally on the ninth cup of ale Gris finishes consuming it, takes a moment, then heaves into the nearby fire pit. The crowd erupts in cheers and sighs depending on who they had backed, Gris angrily wipes his mouth and slurring only slightly points to Kumak "Double or Nothing!" and grabs a nearby bow. Looking around Gris declares that closest shot to the eye of the Dragon figure on the Rusty Dragon Inn wins, then fires a shot that goes wide but still in the direction of the inn. Remembering Susan's hunting prowess from earlier Kumak looks to her to see if she wishes to compete, while chanting quietly Susan grabs the bow and expertly puts an arrow just shy of the eye to the cheers of the crowd. Snapping his bow in half Gris calls out "Double Double or nothing" to which Kumak asks if he can even cover the now 600 gold bet. Gris throws a pouch filled with platinum down and a cursory inspection shows he can, so Kumak removes his armor and stretches while Gris drunkenly casts some magic on himself which Susan identifies as Longstrider. The course is determined and with a call Kumak rockets off at a startling speed, whether it is the drink, his own temper at being bested twice, or he was not expecting his half-orc opponent to be that fast Gris stumbles out the gate and lands face first just past the starting line. The race is swift and while Gris does make up significant ground that first few seconds tells the tale and Kumak wins. Collecting the money pouch Kumak pulls out 60 platinum then hands the remainder to Gris who angrily stalks out while the crowd cheers asking what to call the group. Looking around none seem to have an idea before Thaddeus steps up and introduces them as The Redeemers which the crowd eagerly takes up and begins chanting.
Shortly after their victory a shrill trumpet is heard and upon a carpet laden palanquin pulled by burly shirtless men a flamboyant stranger approaches. Calling himself Captain Creesy he takes in the newly minted Redeemers and invites them to his ship for dinner, drinks and tales of adventure. Thaddeus steps up and identifies himself as the leader of the group and accepts on their behalf, Creesy stands up on his carpet which now begins to move on its own towards the gnome and extends his hand out to Thaddeus who steps on and the 2 fly off towards the ship. Left with the now vacant palanquin Susan and Kumak look to each other, shrug and say OK. Kumak addresses Orik to find Tiberius and let him know then to wait for them at the Rusty Dragon. Susan finds the most dashing looking of Creesy's burly men and has him carry her in his arms to the ship while the strongest of the bunch approaches Kumak and after a short wrestle to see who ends up carrying whom Kumak finds himself slung over the mans shoulder eating the remainder of his meat on a stick. Creesy and Thaddeus discuss their respective exploits while they wait for the rest of the party and Creesy asks Thaddeus to choose what kind of fare they should have, to which he asks for some far off delicacy that he had barely even heard of. Creesy laughs in approval and claps his hands as more burly men move about the ship and swiftly construct a sizable table with chairs and place some aperitifs out for the now arriving Susan and Kumak. The 4 are seated and begin with conversation and feasting while Tiberius joins them by the second course. Kumak and Tiberius soon find themselves well into their cups and while Tiberius demands he be returned to the Rusty Dragon, Kumak accepts the offer to sleep the night aboard the ship. Susan and Thaddeus nurse their drinks as such keep a level head when suddenly Creesy turns the subject to business. A collector of antiquities and merchant Creesy declares himself willing to purchase their plunder and sell them whatever they desire but first wishes to hear the tale of the daring adventure. Thaddeus deftly cleans the rough edges of the journey and leaving out the discovery of the Barghest Malfeshkenor suitably impresses the Captain enough that Creesy claps his hands and declares that in celebration of this grand new arrangement he will provide a one time 5% discount to them. In the morning the accounts are settled and the Redeemers find themselves with just over 11 thousand gold. Setting aside a share for the group expenses each member makes their purchase requests known. Kumak reasonably happy with his weapons, armor, ring and amulet hands his share plus winnings from Gris to Susan to help outfit herself. Susan purchases 500 gold of inks for scribing spells into her book while the remainder of the 5,500 is put towards reagents she can use to craft magical items. Tiberius requests a suit of Full-Plate, and a Masterwork shield. The remainder of his money he had pledged to Orik and Lyrie to repay the items they had lost. Thaddeus buys some magical reagents and asks Susan to make him a headband and enchant his well made cloak.
In the morning the Redeemers look ahead to their tasks,
Susan has 10 days of crafting ahead of herself. While Shalelu was left with at least 5 days food Tiberius wishes to return to her soon and after comparing notes the Redeemers feel they have a solid plan to finish Malfeshnekor off and finally close the chapter on Thistletop. Ameiko wishing to see her friend also asks to check out Thistletop as she feels the real estate could be put to use.
Kumak introduces Sheriff Hemlock to Orik and Lyrie and ensures he understands how they came to be with the Redeemers. Kumak recommends that Orik be taken on as a deputy for a while and Hemlock see if the man is a good fit. Kumak also reccomends that Lyrie function under a sort of house arrest for a while, which spells she prepares each day is monitored and that her book remains in a secure place when not in use.
Thoughts:
A better session, there was considerably less biting back and forth though a few still did happen, the paladins player complained a bit about not having much money but I pointed out again that he was the one who wanted to pay back the people for the scrolls and wands we took. That giving them their lives was mercy enough and the loss of items would be the tax they pay for siding with Nualia and the goblins.
At the end of this Susan has crafting for 10 days and 3.5 of which she will also be scribing spells into her book. At the end she will have;
Headband of Int +2
2x Pearl of Power level 1
Pearl of Power level 2
Cloak of Resistance +1 for Kumak
Cloak of Resistance +1 for Thaddeus
Headband of Cha +2 for Thaddeus
Friday, 6 July 2018
Festering Wounds - Rise of the Runelords Campaign session 10
In attendance were;
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Tiberius: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Orik and Kumak spend the next several minutes claiming coins, gems and a magically enchanted amulet from the floor of the pool. The large golden helmet is too large to fit through the doors but Kumak swims below and with much difficulty finds the exit the giant crab was about to use and determines they can move the helmet through this exit. Susan casts a spell to assist in detecting any secret doors that the group may have missed before leaving Thistletop and indeed finds one nearby, a door hidden behind a wall made to look like a pile of coins. After determining the activation method the group proceeds up to the main floor finding no additional secrets. Tiberius busys himself with burying Black Jack then sits with Shalelu and Villister in a huff and refuses to speak with the group so they return to the secret door. Searching beyond they find a strange communication room, and what appears to be a torture room. Finally they come to the final door which Susan identifies as having strong abjuration cast on it. Either meant to provide protection or containment the group checks once again with Tiberius before opening the door.
A small burning fire pit dominates the center of the room but nothing else is seen. Kumak uses his newly uncovered arcane blood to enlarge himself and steps inside with Orik, bastard swords ready. Suddenly a large paw swipes at Kumak landing a good hit. Kumak swings back but misses and the large beast which Susan will later identify as some kind of barghest unleashes a devestating barrage on the half-orc who remains standing purely on rage. Kumak orders Orik to flee and while the mercenary does so he only withdraws enough to allow Kumak to pass by. Quickly losing blood Kumak has no choice but to withdraw and flee back along the corridors calling for everyone to run. Thaddeus trusts that the creature is bound to this room somehow and once it does not follow appears proven right. Kumak downs a moderate healing potion to bring him back from deaths door and collapses in a heap panting. Tiberius walks down at this point and derides the group for bothering him before he once again returns upstairs. Kumak asks the rest to close the doors and return later to face this thing then heads upstairs to deal with Tiberius. Asking Villister for any healing magic the cleric has remaining Kumak listens to the cleric and paladin chide him back and forth over whether or not this group deserves any healing based off their actions before he interrupts and points out Tiberius's conduct including throwing the recently slain corpse of Nualia from room to room as bait and his apparent blind trust of Lyrie, who up until this group had forcibly taken her prisoner was on track to be complicit if not involved in the slaughter of town of Sandpoint, while he deems Thaddeus beyond salvation. That it was Villister's uncharacteristic refusal to lend aid to Kumak that led to Villister not being considered to heal Black Jack so that they could interrogate him. A long drawn out conversation is had between the 3 before it is decided the group will discuss the matters of our prisoners, temperament, and future. Then Villister relents and heals Kumak.
While the conversation is happening above, another more sinister one occurs below. Not heeding any warnings, Thaddeus approaches the now closed doorway with Orik in tow. Hearing a deep voice in his head asking "Who are you?" Thaddeus pries for information back. Suddenly the door begins to open again and rather than its pseudo wolf form, the barghest appears as an enormous goblin. Asking Thaddeus several questions in first common, then goblin, the barghest finally asks something in a language that the gnome shows no recognition in then chants something in that language. Thaddeus realizing that this beast has been one of the gnomes truest friends eagerly accepts its invitation to step inside to talk. It is only Oriks timely intervention that saves the gnome from becoming a meal, thwarted the beast unleashes some kind of area attack that rouses Thaddeus from his charm and with Susan and Lyrie shooting magical blasts the creature identifying itself as Malfeshnekor removes the key from inside the room. As the doors begin to close Lyrie magically shatters the key in Malfshnekors hand. The creature is taken aback for a moment before it snarls in rage and ineffectually flails against the invisible bonds that hold it in the room.
The team regroups upstairs and Kumak, Thaddeus, Tiberius and Susan move to the side to discuss their future together if any. In the end it is settled that some bending on all fronts will be required. Orik and Lyrie will be taken back to Sandpoint. Orik will be presented to Sheriff Hemlock and will work as a deputy with full pay for a period of 1 year to earn his freedom. The hope is that in living among the people of Sandpoint he will feel a connection to them and even if he should leave would not pose these people a threat. Lyrie will be presented to Broderik Quint the local Thassalonian expert, Kumak suggests she remain under some sort of house arrest that will ease over time and her spell book be provided under scrutiny of Susan or another designated chaperone. That her exact spells prepared be known until she demonstrates she is no threat to the group or Sandpoint.
Thoughts,
This was another weird game. A lot of time was spent towards the end out of character arguing between players and between players and GM. The paladins player claimed that Thaddeus had so wronged him that he did not see anyway forward under the current form he could continue with the gnome. When asked why the paladin was best friends with both people who up until hours ago were about to murder an entire town, but the gnome who had willingly fought side by side with the paladin to stop it was so bad, because he played stupid jokes like pretended to be Sarenrae speaking to him, in a mans voice. The player had no real answer to that, I suspect it had more to do with he felt teased in character and either did not have a response ready to fight back or felt he could not fight back in character. He accused me of enabling Thaddeus, but I countered that my only response was to stop obviously bigger and stronger people like a 17 Str paladin from physically picking on the much smaller and weaker 9 Str gnome. They were always welcome to meet his words with words of their own and I would only step in when I saw an obviously lopsided physical confrontation looming as that what my character dislikes. The GM began insisting that I play my character right, which I had let slide last week but this time handed him the sheet and asked if he would like to play him instead. The argument seems to be stuck at the point of whether a Chaotic Good character would feel bad about someone who had been plotting to kill them in their sleep did not survive being used as bait. I had argued that while he would not be happy at the outcome he would not lose sleep over it. Tempers I think were running high. The paladins player had been eyeing re-rolling as a 2 handed fighter and had brought it up again when claiming that he needed to see repentance from us and I told him that if he wanted to try and force my character to atone for the death of someone who had been plotting my demise then he had better re-roll or think of another way to feel ok with it. Not the most diplomatic exchange I admit, it costs me next to nothing to say I go to confession and mope around for a while and he can smile and feel like hes changing me, but change should come from within, trying to force me by the social contract of the party to lament my would-be murderers death doesn't sit right. I think rather having us help him bury the body, talking to us while we are digging, asking "Did he ever say anything about family? Children? Brothers or Sisters?" to make us think about the life before he went bad would have been a much more effective strategy. I never think a paladin should be like a school marm, slapping the hands of other alignments when they don't conform to his. I always felt the paladin leads by example, they don't offer the services of the group to a town free of charge, since that's not what the others may want, they could instead publicly hand back their own share and ask if any of their comrades will join them. If the town cant afford their assistance then the paladin could throw their own money into the towns coffers, work on the group slowly. Like with boiling the frog when you increase the temperature one degree at a time they never notice until its too late, so too can a paladin or cleric seek to convert their more wayward companions.
Kumak Morudall: Half-Orc Bloodrager
Tiberius: Human Paladin of Sarenrae
Susan: Human Universalist Wizard
Thaddeus Whisperheart: Gnome Trickster
Orik and Kumak spend the next several minutes claiming coins, gems and a magically enchanted amulet from the floor of the pool. The large golden helmet is too large to fit through the doors but Kumak swims below and with much difficulty finds the exit the giant crab was about to use and determines they can move the helmet through this exit. Susan casts a spell to assist in detecting any secret doors that the group may have missed before leaving Thistletop and indeed finds one nearby, a door hidden behind a wall made to look like a pile of coins. After determining the activation method the group proceeds up to the main floor finding no additional secrets. Tiberius busys himself with burying Black Jack then sits with Shalelu and Villister in a huff and refuses to speak with the group so they return to the secret door. Searching beyond they find a strange communication room, and what appears to be a torture room. Finally they come to the final door which Susan identifies as having strong abjuration cast on it. Either meant to provide protection or containment the group checks once again with Tiberius before opening the door.
A small burning fire pit dominates the center of the room but nothing else is seen. Kumak uses his newly uncovered arcane blood to enlarge himself and steps inside with Orik, bastard swords ready. Suddenly a large paw swipes at Kumak landing a good hit. Kumak swings back but misses and the large beast which Susan will later identify as some kind of barghest unleashes a devestating barrage on the half-orc who remains standing purely on rage. Kumak orders Orik to flee and while the mercenary does so he only withdraws enough to allow Kumak to pass by. Quickly losing blood Kumak has no choice but to withdraw and flee back along the corridors calling for everyone to run. Thaddeus trusts that the creature is bound to this room somehow and once it does not follow appears proven right. Kumak downs a moderate healing potion to bring him back from deaths door and collapses in a heap panting. Tiberius walks down at this point and derides the group for bothering him before he once again returns upstairs. Kumak asks the rest to close the doors and return later to face this thing then heads upstairs to deal with Tiberius. Asking Villister for any healing magic the cleric has remaining Kumak listens to the cleric and paladin chide him back and forth over whether or not this group deserves any healing based off their actions before he interrupts and points out Tiberius's conduct including throwing the recently slain corpse of Nualia from room to room as bait and his apparent blind trust of Lyrie, who up until this group had forcibly taken her prisoner was on track to be complicit if not involved in the slaughter of town of Sandpoint, while he deems Thaddeus beyond salvation. That it was Villister's uncharacteristic refusal to lend aid to Kumak that led to Villister not being considered to heal Black Jack so that they could interrogate him. A long drawn out conversation is had between the 3 before it is decided the group will discuss the matters of our prisoners, temperament, and future. Then Villister relents and heals Kumak.
While the conversation is happening above, another more sinister one occurs below. Not heeding any warnings, Thaddeus approaches the now closed doorway with Orik in tow. Hearing a deep voice in his head asking "Who are you?" Thaddeus pries for information back. Suddenly the door begins to open again and rather than its pseudo wolf form, the barghest appears as an enormous goblin. Asking Thaddeus several questions in first common, then goblin, the barghest finally asks something in a language that the gnome shows no recognition in then chants something in that language. Thaddeus realizing that this beast has been one of the gnomes truest friends eagerly accepts its invitation to step inside to talk. It is only Oriks timely intervention that saves the gnome from becoming a meal, thwarted the beast unleashes some kind of area attack that rouses Thaddeus from his charm and with Susan and Lyrie shooting magical blasts the creature identifying itself as Malfeshnekor removes the key from inside the room. As the doors begin to close Lyrie magically shatters the key in Malfshnekors hand. The creature is taken aback for a moment before it snarls in rage and ineffectually flails against the invisible bonds that hold it in the room.
The team regroups upstairs and Kumak, Thaddeus, Tiberius and Susan move to the side to discuss their future together if any. In the end it is settled that some bending on all fronts will be required. Orik and Lyrie will be taken back to Sandpoint. Orik will be presented to Sheriff Hemlock and will work as a deputy with full pay for a period of 1 year to earn his freedom. The hope is that in living among the people of Sandpoint he will feel a connection to them and even if he should leave would not pose these people a threat. Lyrie will be presented to Broderik Quint the local Thassalonian expert, Kumak suggests she remain under some sort of house arrest that will ease over time and her spell book be provided under scrutiny of Susan or another designated chaperone. That her exact spells prepared be known until she demonstrates she is no threat to the group or Sandpoint.
Thoughts,
This was another weird game. A lot of time was spent towards the end out of character arguing between players and between players and GM. The paladins player claimed that Thaddeus had so wronged him that he did not see anyway forward under the current form he could continue with the gnome. When asked why the paladin was best friends with both people who up until hours ago were about to murder an entire town, but the gnome who had willingly fought side by side with the paladin to stop it was so bad, because he played stupid jokes like pretended to be Sarenrae speaking to him, in a mans voice. The player had no real answer to that, I suspect it had more to do with he felt teased in character and either did not have a response ready to fight back or felt he could not fight back in character. He accused me of enabling Thaddeus, but I countered that my only response was to stop obviously bigger and stronger people like a 17 Str paladin from physically picking on the much smaller and weaker 9 Str gnome. They were always welcome to meet his words with words of their own and I would only step in when I saw an obviously lopsided physical confrontation looming as that what my character dislikes. The GM began insisting that I play my character right, which I had let slide last week but this time handed him the sheet and asked if he would like to play him instead. The argument seems to be stuck at the point of whether a Chaotic Good character would feel bad about someone who had been plotting to kill them in their sleep did not survive being used as bait. I had argued that while he would not be happy at the outcome he would not lose sleep over it. Tempers I think were running high. The paladins player had been eyeing re-rolling as a 2 handed fighter and had brought it up again when claiming that he needed to see repentance from us and I told him that if he wanted to try and force my character to atone for the death of someone who had been plotting my demise then he had better re-roll or think of another way to feel ok with it. Not the most diplomatic exchange I admit, it costs me next to nothing to say I go to confession and mope around for a while and he can smile and feel like hes changing me, but change should come from within, trying to force me by the social contract of the party to lament my would-be murderers death doesn't sit right. I think rather having us help him bury the body, talking to us while we are digging, asking "Did he ever say anything about family? Children? Brothers or Sisters?" to make us think about the life before he went bad would have been a much more effective strategy. I never think a paladin should be like a school marm, slapping the hands of other alignments when they don't conform to his. I always felt the paladin leads by example, they don't offer the services of the group to a town free of charge, since that's not what the others may want, they could instead publicly hand back their own share and ask if any of their comrades will join them. If the town cant afford their assistance then the paladin could throw their own money into the towns coffers, work on the group slowly. Like with boiling the frog when you increase the temperature one degree at a time they never notice until its too late, so too can a paladin or cleric seek to convert their more wayward companions.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)