Rise of the Runelords, Part I: Burnt Offerings [IC]

[Savior]

"Considering this was your plan all along, I don't believ I have much of a choice but to accept the offer."

[PSinger]

Nightrom laughs - neither dainty nor musical laugh, but more alto - and hopefully Kurgol and Shale share in her mirth.

"Well, you aren't prisoners," she smiles, opening the cells ... that were closed but were never padlocked. "Your stuffs over there. Ameiko has two rooms reserved at the Rusty Dragon Inn. Whether brother and sister are in one and Caedmon in the other, or men in one and lady in the other, that's up to you. I'll give you a day to acclimated as you will. Be here at noon, though. She's actually from the general, broad area and is a goblin-hunter, and she'll tell you about them."

"Oh, as far as the Rusty Dragon ... your first three days are on the town. After that, you have half-price on meals, lodging (but she can only spare two rooms for the long-term), and drinks. After a week, it will be full price. So much was stolen and looted by the little bandit bastards, actually paying for our time here is important. Otherwise, the town gets looted, and we end up with that, and say that it's one-hundred percent our pay when the local economy needs help."

[lostsole31]

What do los tres amigos neuvos do?

[meemaas]

Rellin heads out first, with Rose behind him. Before he walks out the door, he turns towards the others and speaks. "Do you expect to have our support for the long term, that you've made accommodations for us to stay beyond a week? Or were you just preparing for the worst?"

[PSinger]

"Oh, no," said Celiss. "Long-term arrangements are up to you. They have a good undertaker in town."

[meemaas]

Rellin smiles. "Good. If we choose to stay long I'll have to find better arrangements. Wouldn't want to accidentally burn the bar down." He turns and leaves, with Rose following suit. They make their way back to the bar to apologize for the mess and set some stuff in their room, leaving Caedmon to have the other room alone.

[Savior]

Caedmon quietly gathered his things and left for the Rusty Dragon. Once there, he made for for his room. He took his armor off, and let down his hair, settling into bed for a long rest.

[lostsole31]

Besides sleeping, eating and drinking (and Caedmon did pay for a bath ... which is not inclusive) ... do Caedmon & The Bolts (a new rock group) do anything in the morning or fast forward heading back to the jail?

[meemaas]

Besides usual preparation, Rose and Rellin will do their usual things, nothing special. They'll be ready to skip ahead to morning.

[Savior]

Same for Caedmon.

[lostsole31]

You get to the jail about noonish with bellies as full as needed.

Sure enough, Shalelu Andosana gets right to giving you a primer on goblins.

Spoiler: Ten Fun Facts About Goblins

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1. Horse Hate: Goblins excel at riding animals, but they don’t quite get horses. In fact, their hatred of all things horse is matched only by their fear of horses, who tend to step on goblins who get too close.
2. Dog Hate: Although goblins raise horrible rat-faced creatures called (creatively enough) goblin dogs to use as mounts (and ride wolves or worgs if they can get them—goblins are quick to explain that wolves are NOT dogs), their hatred of plain old dogs nearly matches their hatred of horses. The feeling is mutual. If your dog’s barking at the woodpile for no reason, chances are he smells a frightened goblin hiding in there somewhere.
3. Goblins Raid Junkyards: Garbage pits, gutters, sewers… anywhere there’s garbage, you can bet goblins are nearby. Goblins are weirdly adept at crafting weapons and armor from refuse, and are fond of killing people with what they throw away.
4. Goblins Love to Sing: Unfortunately, as catchy as their lyrics can be, goblin songs tend to be a bit too creepy and disturbing to catch on in polite society.
5. They’re Sneaky: An excited or angry goblin is a noisy, chattering, toothy menace, but even then, he can drop into an unsettling silence in a heartbeat. This, matched with their diminutive size, makes them unnervingly adept at hiding in places you’d never expect: stacks of firewood, rain barrels, under logs, under chicken coops, in ovens…
6. They’re A Little Crazy: The fact that goblins think of things like ovens as good hiding places reveals much about their inability to think plans through to the most likely outcome. That, and they tend to be easily distracted, particularly by shiny things and animals smaller than them that might make good eating.
7. They’re Voracious: Given enough supplies, a goblin generally takes nearly a dozen meals a day. Most goblin tribes don’t have enough supplies to accommodate such ravenous appetites, which is why the little menaces are so prone to going on raids.
8. They Like Fire: Burning things is one of the great goblin pastimes, although they’re generally pretty careful about lighting fires in their own lairs, especially since goblins tend to live in large, tangled thistle patches and sleep in beds of dried leaves and grass. But give a goblin a torch and someone else’s home and you’ve got trouble.
9. They Get Stuck Easily: Goblins have wiry frames but wide heads. They live in cramped warrens. Sometimes too cramped.
10. Goblins Believe Writing Steals Your Soul: The walls of goblin lairs and the ruins of towns goblins have raided are littered with pictures of their exploits. They never use writing, though. That’s not lucky. Writing steals words out of your head. You can’t get them back.

[Feel free to look at the d20pfsrd for goblins and common goblin class types as she will discuss them in detail.]

She speaks Goblin fluently, and Nightrom and Kurgol a little less so (is not a pleasant language), and it turns out that was the language they were using when you guys were fighting Kurgol. Caedmon knows this, since he speaks Goblin.

After this, and as part of late afternoon rounds and going into the evening, Celiss and Kurgol will show you around Sandpoint and discuss all about the town, show you where things are, discuss other races in the area, local religion, and Sandpoint's relationship to Magnimar and Varisia in general.

Spoiler

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In your E-mail I am sending you the .pdf for the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide. This helps you both as players. Your PCs would obviously know well about Varisia, but from what I understand neither of you are really knowledgeable about Golarion geogaphy and the like, so please at least give it a good scan.

Sheriff Hemlock is currently away to Magnimar, trying to get aid in the form of soldiers to help against the goblins.

Lonjiku Kaijutsu was killed by goblins and/or his son when his bastard son - working with the goblins - attacked and slaughtered the workers at the Glassworks in town. Ameiko had been captured. She was freed by Nightrom and company, and the son was jailed and later hung for his crimes.

[meemaas]

As the group toured Sandpoint with Celiss and Kurgol, Rellin took the time needed to explain a little about his magic, giving them the necessary information to understand that his magic was not offensive, but defensive and supportive, along with a few tidbits of why his magic seems so odd compared to traditional magic.

[lostsole31]

For the sake of adventure to come, does anyone mention actual spells/ effects capable?

[meemaas]

Rellin will explain his healing capabilities, and the magic he used on Kurgol, namely that it was a slow effect. The rest of his magic he will keep under wraps for now.

[lostsole31]

And Rose?

Caedmon?

[meemaas]

Rose is still doing the Shy thing, and doesn't talk much. Rellin doesn't spoil it either, he's just being friendly and explaining the basics.

[Savior]

Caedmon doesn't mention anything.

[PSinger]

Well, let's not waste time. Tomorrow we go to Thistletop and start killing goblins.

[lostsole31]

The next day ... you leave bright and early after a hearty meal. The group follows the Lost Coast Road, heading east, and you hit the Thistle River crossing pretty quickly - it's a six-mile journey (two hours by foot). You get to the mass of nettles that lead to Thistletop.



The briars and thistles that grow so rampantly in Nettlewood grow even more dense and tangled here, close to the shore. Although not quite dense enough to block the sound of waves crashing on the unseen shores to the west, the undergrowth is certainly thick enough to block sight and access to the coast. Few trees grow this close to the edge of the sea, but the briars themselves often reach heights to rival them; here, the patch is nearly twenty feet high. There are a series of tight, low tunnels that wide around and open here and there in wider areas, but there are no guards or goblins or guard creatures. Shalelu mentions that they fought a major battle against Gogmurt (the tribal druid) and a host of goblins that were in this section.

Finally, the nettles open up and face a rope bridge which spans the gulf between the cliff and a roundish, flat-topped island sixty some feet to the north. Thick patches of nettles and briars grow here and there atop the island, but its most impressive feature is a wooden one-story stockade. Two thirty-foot-tall watchtowers guard the stockade’s southern facade. The rope bridge itself is made of hairy rope and thick wooden planks; the whole thing creaks and sways in the wind above the churning surf eighty feet below. The bridge seems treacherous.

What do you do?

[PSinger]

"Alright, scholar," says Nightrom to Rellin. "How knowledgeable are you with engineering?"

[meemaas]

"You'd be surprised. Give me a few minutes and I'll give you my judgement on this. If nothing else, we could always throw everyone across." He laughs softly, making it clear that it was a joke before studying the bridge from a safe distance, checking mostly to discern its structural integrity.

[lostsole31]

Without actually doing any kind of hands-on stress test, what you know is (likely) limited. Assuming this bridge is still in use (it is, as Shalelu can tell from the odd goblin tracks), it is safe to say that small goblins traverse this easily enough. How many at a time is unknown. Nonetheless, how sturdy it is for 100-plus-pound, medium-sized creatures is unknown just from eyeballs, but it definitely looks like it can't take a lot of stress.

[meemaas]

Rellin speaks calmly to the rest of the party. "The bridge seems to be sturdy for the most part. We'd need to test it to be sure, but I think most of us should be able to cross it safely. But I'd think it would be safest to do it one at a time, to be safe." Before he lets anyone try though, he steps out onto the bridge a few steps, while pulling at the ropes to test them.

[lostsole31]

Rellin determines that it would only be safe enough to bring over one person at a time.

[meemaas]

"Alright, it should be safe for us one at a time. Rose, can you go first? Just in case." With that, Rellin steps off the bridge, and lets Rose cross first, then crosses after her once she makes it to the other side safely.

[PSinger]

Celiss will make sure that all get across safely before going across herself. Once she is at the midpoint, she will test the bridge at various points to see if she can't get a more finite look at what it can or cannot handle.

[lostsole31]

Rellin probably failed way conservative, since the bridge looks sturdy enough to handle 2-4 Medium creatures, but he checked at the beginning and you are in the middle. Do you do any other checking, or finish gathering on the far side?

[PSinger]

Check again on the far side once Celiss (the last one) comes across.

[lostsole31]

Once you all get to Thistletop proper, Celiss checks out this side of the rope bridge. It seems that the attachment points were loosened such that the bridge would not deal with a heavy load. It would take some repair, but you could definitely do better than current. Currently, it looks as if the bridge could handle no more than three Medium-size creatures.

The stockade is made of thick wood. Closer inspection reveals that most of the wood seems to have been scavenged from ships—a few nameplates remain affixed to some of the timbers, while others look like they might have once been masts. There is some room to maneuver around the sides of the stockade. Shalelu can notes from tracks that the grounds are regularly patrolled by goblins and worgs. That said, there doesn't seem to be any guards and no alarum was raised when you slowly, person-by-person, crossed the bridge.

What is the plan, and do people do anything personally for preparations?

[PSinger]

Celiss will cast her extended mage armor (on herself, of course).