Rise of the Runelords - Campaign Journal

[BlueInc]

I am currently running a game of Pathfinder. The setting is Golarion, and I will eventually be guiding the PCs through my interpretation of Paizo’s excellent Rise of the Runelords campaign. We’re mostly using Pathfinder, with additions from ToB, Dragon Compendium, and other sources as I see fit. This will be my notebook for keeping track of the party’s progress and brainstorming further developments in the campaign.

Here are my player’s character sheets [note that they leveled up at the end of last session and those changes aren't reflected yet]:

Sashelas (http://www.dndsheets.net/view.php?id=21075)

Hari (http://www.dndsheets.net/view.php?id=21085)

AasimarSummoner (http://www.dndsheets.net/view.php?id=21114) (Unfinished)

These will constitute my core group. The PC playing the Aasimar Summoner hasn’t completed his sheet or played a game yet, due to scheduling difficulties. If it continues, I’ll drop him (kindly) and find someone else.
In addition, I’ll be running a GMPC, who will play the role of meat shield and allow me to test how well ToB synchronizes with Pathfinder. So far, my players love him, but if he becomes a problem I’ll tone him down, change him, or remove him entirely.

Kyrnyn (http://www.dndsheets.net/view.php?id=21065)

Finally, I have one temporary player whose character will probably become an NPC after one more session:

Cinde (http://www.dndsheets.net/view.php?id=21151)

I’ve had problems getting this campaign off the ground for a number of reasons (schedules, players dropping, personality conflicts), but I’m pumped to getting playing. I’ve already had to deviate from my plans in a number of ways, but generally in fun ways.

The story so far:

Prelude #1 - The Ettin's Riddle

Prelude #2 - Burns, Birds, and Scavangers

Prelude #3 - Following Leads

[BlueInc]

Prelude #1 - The Ettin's Riddle

The players behind Cinde and Hari asked me to run a one-shot for them. Hari was kind of on the fence about playing in the main campaign, and wanted to play-test her character to see if she’d like it. I started them at level 5 (a small mistake, in hindsight, as we will see).

I ran The Ettin’s Riddle (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/Ettin_Riddle.pdf), a module I read a few months back and desperately wanted to try. I told them that they were guarding a crotchety old gnome wizard named Delofo as he made his way across Varisia to the town of Sandpoint. The journey has been a little rough (some of the hired muscle abandoned them after a scuffle), but they’ve been making good time despite Delofo’s incessant grumbling.

The characters successfully talked him into increasing their pay and giving them a little under half up front because of the difficulty involved so far and their proven loyalty. Hari offered to let him ride on her Riding Cat (stats as Riding Dog), and he cheered up.

As they approached the village of Newkeep, they found the town in disarray; buildings smashed, people injured, and the bridge over a treacherous canyon destroyed. From the jumbled accounts of witnesses, they came to understand the basics of the story: An ettin (two-headed ogre) has been rampaging through the village every few days, and something needs to be done or the village will fall apart; at night, the same ettin sneaks through the village to stare at a riddle it painted on the side of a shrine to Iomedae .

Almost instantly, they realized that the ettin was not what it appeared to be; it was someone trapped in its two-headed body. The bigger questions were “Is the person trapped good or evil?” and “If good, how do we help them?”

The PCs split up, Hari using her Scent ability to follow the ettin’s path, while Cinde talked with the important citizenry to dig up information; Delofo retired to what passed for a bar in the tiny town.

Hari witnessed a troop of 8 orcs march up to Oldkeep and attempt to recruit the ettin, but it savagely threatened them and locked itself back in its lair. Around sunset, Hari climbed into the tower through a hole in the wall and found the creature. With the vicious head asleep, Kyrnyn watched as Hari (in cat form) dipped her paw in the blood on the floor from a recently devoured cow and paint words on the wall.

Kyrnyn explained his plight to what he believed was another cursed shapeshifter: He was once a cleric of Iomedae who joined an adventuring party to cleanse Oldkeep of the necromancer who inhabited it. In the struggle, he was turned into an ettin and attacked his friends, but regained control and slew the wizard. Hartmund, a rogue, told him that she would find help, but never returned. Over time, his second head took the name Muck and began killing humans in the forest, eventually becoming confident enough to stroll into Newkeep to snatch cattle. He prayed constantly to Iomedae for the power to break his curse, but received only the riddle.

Kyrnyn agreed to meet Hari at the shrine at midnight, and she left to rendezvous with Cinde, who learned much of the same information from the townsfolk, plus some more about the history of the town and Varisia in general.

The party convinced Malwick, the head guardsman, to have the militia on guard, but not attack unless it became crucial to avoid loss of life; he reluctantly agreed.

With the information they gathered and surmised, they worked through the riddle piece by piece with Kyrnyn, making him understand that he had not lived by the tenants of Iomedae, but had ruthlessly and violently judged others. Muck was not the monster; his current form of an ettin showed his double-hearted and incomplete devotion to Iomedae. He tearfully confessed to killing the necromancer even as he plead for mercy and asked to be tied up inside the shrine. Inside, he prayed for forgiveness while the party and the militia stood watch outside.

At sunrise, Kyrnyn walked out of the shrine, a man once more. But the celebrations had to be cut short – with his curse removed, he now had his memories as Muck restored, and new that an orc raid was imminent.
A small contingent of orcs backed up by two ogres soon came charging out of the forest. Cinde hurled the fire of her Goddess, Hari slipped in an out of combat, taking down a few orcs and one of the orges, and Kyrnyn charged bravely into combat, taking many hits but protecting the militia men. The two ogres and both of the orcs fell with the remainder fleeing back into the forest. Hari tried unsuccessfully to follow their trail.
In all, only a few citizens of Newkeep fell, and with the ettin menace permanently taken care of, the town was free to repair their homes, fields, and bridge.

I decided to make Kyrnyn my GMPC, but refluff him as a Warblade instead of cleric; story-wise, he feels ashamed of his actions as Muck; he still serves Iomedae, but does not feel worthy enough to channel her sacred power anymore. He now plans to refocus his efforts to live an honorable, chivalrous life and defend the righteous.

[Fineous Orlon]

I am concerned that a campaign journal of a commercially published campaign will contain spoiler material. However you do this journal, please do not spoil Rise of the Runelords for players and their DMs.

[Lastgrasp]

Looks cool. Have fun with it. I've heard some great things about the AP. Hopefully Paizo releases a hardcover collected version. I would buy it and run it.

[BlueInc]

I am concerned that a campaign journal of a commercially published campaign will contain spoiler material. However you do this journal, please do not spoil Rise of the Runelords for players and their DMs.

That's a very important point that I hadn't thought of.

I haven't posted the other two "Prelude" sessions yet (and there will probably be at least one more before we get to the actual campaign), but so far I haven't gotten to anything related to the plot of Rise of the Runelords.

Rise of the Runelords (http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/p/paizoPublishingLLC/pathfinder/adventurePath/riseOfTheRunelords/v5748btpy7zkr) is OGL but not OGC, so I think I would be in violation of the forum rules if I posted about it here.

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Well, darn.