PF: the iconic Licktoads in Thistletop?

[Kudaku]

This thread may have some minor spoilers for the first part of the Rise of the Runelords-campaign, keep that in mind.

When I first introduced my players to Pathfinder a few years back, I used the "We Be Goblins"-module. We all had a really great time and the players really connected to the Goblins Iconics (Scruffy Lickwound, Reta Bigbad, Poog and Mogmurch). However the We Be Goblins module ends somewhat abruptly and I know the players have been talking about what happened to the goblins afterwards.

Now, I'm currently running a Rise of the Runelords campaign and the players are going to be visiting Thistletop in the not too distant future. I thought it would be a fun easter egg to add these four iconics to Thistletop, all grown up!

Therefore I'm wondering if anyone have character sheets or writeups for these characters, ideally in a level range of 3-6, and/or have any suggestions, advice or the like.

[AttilaTheGeek]

In my Rise of the Runelords campaign, I finished Thistletop just a couple weeks ago. Whatever you do, for their sake, don't have them fight Bruthasmus and Nualia at the same time. I was in a party of six and we were annhilated. I don't know much about the We Be Goblins campaign, but I just wanted to chime in to ask you not to do that to your players.

[Kudaku]

Did you by any chance fight Bruthasmus earlier and let him escape, or attack Thistletop and then retreat to rest up? RotRL has some quite specific tactics for what happens if "the alarm is sounded" - if you trigger it early enough and/or blunder your way to Nualia without clearing out the rest of the fortress first there's a pileup of monsters and npcs that gather there for the last stand - it can get incredibly ugly.

[Kudaku]

Figured I'd put an update in here to share my experiences, maybe someone else would like to do something similar. Be aware, Rise of the Runelords part 1 (burnt offerings) spoilers ahead:

I placed Reta Big Bad with the 10 goblin refugees at the Refugee Nest at C4. I built Reta as a fairly uninspired level 3 fighter focusing on dualwielding short swords. In hindsight I'd probably make her archer focused instead, her low BAB and unimpressive melee stats resulted in her getting turned into a pulp fairly quickly.
I changed the 10 goblin refugees to be from the birdcruncher tribe to the Licktoad tribe, and used rules I found on the paizo forums to simulate the use of the toads in battle: The faces of my players when Reta screeched "LICKTOADS!!! LICK! YOUR! TOADS!!!",11 goblins simultaneously licked their poisonous toads and immediately had reactions varying from vomiting to panicking to going stiff as a board to getting a +4 strength bonus was priceless.

I changed C17 (storage shed) into Mogmurch's laboratory - the only thing they found in there was ample evidence of a large explosion, tiny pieces of at least one goblin and a grimy metal codpiece. Later on they'll find a female goblin weeping and licking a skull face mask, rambling about how "she can still taste him". Slightly macabre, but then again the player who played Mog did portray him as quite deranged.

I changed the encounter with the Caged Horse (C18) significantly. I didn't really want the hassle of having my players try to move a terrified warhorse over a rope bridge and I have one player in particular who'd go completely doe-eyed the second he'd see Shadowmist.

The player who played Poog in the We Be Goblins campaign really played up his desire to become a better rider by trying to mount every enemy they met, including lots-legs, the two dogs, the horse, and on one particularly memorable encounter, Vorka herself. However, somewhat inevitably, he'd fail spectacularly. I figured I'd let Poog continue that tradition.
I decided that after the goblins shut Shadowmist into the outbuilding, Chief Ripnugget challenged Poog of Zarondel into riding the terrifying beast - and unsurprisingly (Goblin Bravery is a brilliant trait), Poog accepted the challenge. I should probably mention that I advanced Poog into a cleric2/cavalier 1. Long story short, Poog was still shut in the outbuilding with his brand new warhorse Mount/Animal Companion when the players arrived and started picking at the boards.

Poog directed Shadowmist to sunder the south wall of the outbuilding and rode into the courtyard, merrily singing "POOG IS THE BEST, WHO CARES ABOUT THE REST" and the like. This fight got interesting since I equipped Poog with a wand of Cure Light Wounds as part of his combat gear and he had a few rounds to buff up before the fight started. Using the wand on Shadowmist, taking advantage of spells like Shield of Faith and Bless, as well as the Mounted Combat feat and a ridiculousness ride skill bonus resulted in a bit of a deadlock where the players were unable to hit Poog or Shadowmist for enough damage to put either one down. It was particularly enjoyable to watch the players agonize as each charge of CLW meant their treasure trove was shrinking.

Finally a lucky string of rolls brought Shadowmist into the negatives followed swiftly by no less than three Coup De Graces (my players REALLY wanted that horse dead). Subsequently Poog decided to make a run for it (dodging four attacks of opportunities in the process) shouting "POOG WILL RETURN ANOTHER DAY" but unfortunately chose to escape through the south door which the players had previously barricaded from the other side, and was promptly chopped to pieces.

Final brilliant moment was when the players decided to leave Thistletop after this to rest: Through the entire visit here they were able to avoid the rope bridge trap through a combination of caution, mind-blowing luck, and the fact that one of the players is Small. However when leaving they specifically said that they'd leave in marching order and subsequently all the players were on the ropebridge when it gave out, and got dumped into the ocean. Luckily the wizard still had a Feather Fall prepared, meaning only one character took falling damage from the fall. He wound up on perfectly 0 HP and -2 subdual HP, while 10 feet underwater.

Currently the paladin is dangling from what's left of the rope bridge, three characters are rapidly trying to figure out how much of the gear they really don't need in order to help their carry load limitations, the Inquisitor is Staggered, underwater, and trying to figure out how many swim checks he can roll before he runs out of air and needs to start making those nasty constitution checks.

And of course, suddenly there's quite a bit of blood in the water... I wonder if the Bunyip is going to make an appearance.

In case it's not readily apparent from the wall of text above, I am greatly enjoying Rise of the Runelords so far. It's a very well-written adventure paths and me and my players are having tons of fun with it. Similarly, if you're thinking about trying out Pathfinder or RPGs in general We Be Goblins is available as a free download from Paizo, it's incredibly funny, and well worth a look.

[Palanan]

Your writeup is hilarious; it sounds like it was a great session. I'm suddenly inspired to drop a rope bridge into my campaign.

For that matter, I'm inspired to finally take a look at "We Be Goblins," which everyone seems to love. I may have to pillage madly adapt portions for my own purposes.

:smallbiggrin: