Rise of the Runelords

Heading down the stairs by torchlight with Henrik in the lead, you heard goblin voices ahead shouting "Longshanks! Longshanks!" followed by padded footsteps moving away from you. There was a bit of a jumble as people tried to jostle past each other on the narrow stair to be the first to skewer a goblin. Order was maintained and by in large you all moved down as a group. The main hall went straight where you saw four goblins waiting. Henrik, Bach and Wolfgar headed that direction. To the left was a narrower hall and Golian and Ishan went to check it out. Right around a corner Golian confronted a goblin in the very narrow hall.

The first two goblins dropped quickly. The rest were significantly tougher. Several rounds of blows were exchanged and the goblins looked like they were gaining the upper hand. Malloric and Pirozzi were moving from side to side trying to get angles for missile fire and spells. Wounds forced Golian to withdraw and the goblin he was fighting was ordered by someone in the darkness behind it to press the fight.

Bach fell and was stabilized by a quick spell from one of the clerics and the group finally started to gain ground, even in spite of a goblin warchanter harrying you with spells and aiding his fellow fighters. He moved into a dark hall and you followed. The other side finally dropped that goblin after Malloric joined the melee with his greatsword and moved in from the other side.

You converged on the one last goblin and a man in fine dress with a short bow slung on his back. Henrik dropped the goblin and the man quickly stepped up, tripped Henrik and then punched him hard. He dared Henrik to get up. No one on the other side really wanted to press due to pretty significant wounds. A few shot were taken and Henrik got back up. The man looked around and said "My work here is done." and ducked into an open door. Following him into the room you found a section of wall that had once been bricked up and a tunnel beyond. Most of the group gave chase but you soon realized you were not going to catch him. You did find another side passage that had also been bricked up and recently re-opened.

Examining the few other rooms in the basement you found what must have been the monk's quarters. In a desk you discovered a journal he had been keeping. In another room you found Amieko, the owner of the Rusty Dragon and the reason you ventured into the Glassworks. Considering the devastation above and the extent of your wounds, the group decided to regroup and inform the Mayor of what had happened. Edwin went for Father Zantus and Pirozzi went for the halfling barmaid that informed you Amieko was missing.

You showed the Mayor the mess in the Glassworks and had to escort her back out. She ordered guards to board the place and not let anyone in or out. You discovered in the journal that there may have been a different motive for the recent goblin attack and Ishan asked about it. Turns out Father Tobyn's grave was in fact robbed - his body was taken. This had been kept quiet by the Mayor, Sheriff and Father Zantus. You confirm the glass covered body to be that of the head of the Farfaren House in town. The monk was indeed Tsuto, Amieko's half-brother. There was no love between Tsuto and his father. There is also information pointing to Thistletop (home of one of the local goblin tribes) as well as the catacombs beneath the town where a quasit and her freaks are found. It seems there is some attempt to get Tsuto, Nualla and the quasit to join forces to destroy the town. See > this document < for more information.


You entered the first room and someone spied a misshapen beast lurking in the back. The front of the party charged in and killed it with a few blows from each. You noticed that it's wounds rapidly healed, but stopped after it was beaten down enough. See > this map < for details.

Continuing along you came to a small shrine with an alter on a raised dias (B12). The alter was filled with murky, foul smelling water. It was unclear whether is was merely old, naturally fouled water or intended as part of some ritual. After opening the stone double doors to the SE, you entered a large shrine. Apart from the natural features, there was another of those deformed creatures on the other side of the pool of water. Shortly after combat started, a small, winged demon/devil appeared hovering above the pool in the rear of the room. She cast sound burst, damaging a number of you and stunning less. She proved very difficult to hit and when you did, your weapons did not even do full damage. She healed even faster than the other beasts. In the course of the fight, she summoned a a couple of fiendish spiders and periodically sliced her palm and let a drop of blood fall into the pool below her. After hitting the liquid in the that pool, the drop of blood began to coalesce. One round later, another of these deformed creatures would crawl out and join the fight. It was nearly all you could do to keep their numbers down.

After a few lucky blows on the quasit, she turned invisible and you lost track of her. Rounds went by and Henrik determined that she was still in the room flying high out of reach. To goad here into action, some of you started to destroy the room by breaking off some of the stakes with skulls on them that were arranged in a circle in the first pool. That seemed to work. She reappeared next to Henrik as she touched him. He was racked with pain and wounds appeared all over as he fell unconscious into the pool. Wolfgar ran to his aid, cast a minor cure to stabilize him and pulled him from the water. Bach and others charged and tried to beat her down. It was even more challenging to land weapon blows on her now.

With flash of insight, Bach tried to grapple here as she hovered near chest height. She manged to fend him off. Henrik had been cured and was back on his feet. He tried as well. He failed but drew her attack which allowed back to finally get his arms around her. Looking a bit surprised and confused, Bach stood there for a moment as she went invisible in his arms. No one quite knew what to do next. No one thought they could help for fear of hitting Bach. Just then Edwin, who had been holding his tower shield over the far pool to prevent her from shedding any more blood into it shouted, "If you really want to kill it, why not drown it!" It seemed a brilliant idea and Back threw himself into the pool of water. It took nearly three minutes of wrestling, but she finally stopped struggling.

The small side rooms are prayer chambers and had a few wooden kneelers in each. She had some treasure on her including a small magic dagger.

You lopped off her head to make sure she wouldn't heal and stuffed her two pieces into a sack and headed back into town to inform the Mayor and Father Zantus of what you found as you also were in no shape to continue exploring. You debreifed Ardrinn officials and found you had new abilities. Welcome to 2nd level.

End

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The festival day began with Malloric and Henrik stopping in to introduce themselves to the Sheriff and offer their assistance in any matters that may need attending. Sheriff Hemlock informed them that there wasn't much to do, but if they could keep an eye out for drunks and pickpockets during the festival it would be appreciated. He also mentioned that he was looking for Lyrie Akenja, a dark-skinned wizard. She is not actually wanted, but he would like to ask her some questions about a recent robbery committed by members of the Tiger Sharks, the thieves guild in High Mardreth. She is known to associate with its members.

Ishan spent the morning immersing himself in local lore and finding his way through town. The others slept in and when they woke started to partake in the free food and drink.

At noon Father Zantus threw down a thunderstone to get everyone's attention. Before he even finished his first word, a woman's scream pierced the silence. Goblins were attacking! About a half a dozen goblins appeared at different locations in the square and started throwing torches onto thatched and wood shake roofs and started attacking the citizens gathered for the speech. In the chaos, the party was able to kill all the goblins, but not before some citizens were killed. After the noise in the area died down, sounds of fighting elsewhere in the village could be heard. This was soon followed by a large 'whump' from the south. A huge flame and fireworks could be seen over the roofs.

Rushing to the market square, the group found the fireworks wagon completly engulfed and several more goblins throwing torches onto roofs. A few more village folk lie dead on the ground. The group charged. One goblin, who was chanting a goblin song, cast sleep, dropping Wolfgar. The others put up a short fight before several fled to the east. Bach was the first to start the chase.

The fleeing goblins stopped in front of the Rusty Dragon where there were more gathered. They were taunting a well-dressed man who they had cornered. A short fight followed and one, dual-dagger weilding goblin in particular was quite challenging.

Hailed as town heroes, the next day was spent meeting with the Sheriff, Mayor and Aldern Foxglove, the young noble rescued in front of the Rusty Dragon. Crowds gathered where ever party members went and not so hushed whispers could be heard. Aldern offered to reward the party and asked them to join him on a boar hunting excursion.

The day of the boar hunt found Pirozzi shopping for goods when he was hurriedly approached by Shayless Vinder, an attractive young woman in town. She was worried that their might be a goblin in the basement of her father's store and asked Pirozzi to help. He followed her to the Ardrinn General Store and she showed him where she had heard scratching in the far corner of the basement. Pirozzi looked around the corner but only saw a cot and blankets. Turning around, he saw Shayless, who was now mostly disrobed. There was a mutual attraction, so Pirozzi decided to take advantage of the situation. Before much could happen, Ven, her father and store proprietor came downstairs and confronted the town hero. He accused Pirozzi of taking advantage of his status and said he didn't want to see him or his pals in the store. Pirozzi quickly left, not getting anything he came for. He joined the rest of the group for the hunt.

The boar hunt was much more successful. On the way out of town, the party passes a young half-elf riding into Ardrinn alone. The party's skills worked well to find and flush out two large boars. Everyone also made sure Aldern had a hand in killing each of them. Arriving back into town, all agreed to have community feast. Ishan set about overseeing the roast. It was a welcome distraction after the goblin attack. The Sheriff introduced the group to Shalelu Andosana, a local woodswoman and trapper. She keeps an eye on the goblins and is an expert on the various tribes. She has bad news. Turns out the tribes have put aside their petty disputes and are working together. This can only mean that someone or something has moved in to organize them as they are incapable of self organizing. Sheriff Hemlock asked the group to stay around town and help oversee the patrols. He said he was going to High Mardreth to see about getting more guards in case the goblins return. He will be gone for at least three days.

The next day the party was woken early by Bethana, a halfling maid working at the Rusty Dragon. She told the group she was worried about Ameiko Farvaren, the inn's proprietor. She hadn't started breakfast for the first time in memory and Bethana had found a note in her room. The note indicated Ameiko's brother wanted to see her at the Glassworks. The party agreed to follow up. Exploring the area you found numerous goblin tracks on the beach near the factory. Curtains were pulled shut on all the windows and the doors were locked. The factory looked to be in operation because smoke rose from the chimney. After useing the 'secret knock' described in the note, a goblin opened the door and ran off being surprised to see an armed group of humans (and a dwarf). Chasing him down and moving further into the factory you discovered that about a dozen goblins were cavorting in the large manufacturing room. Nearly everything in the building had been broken, and the goblins were throwing dismembered parts of the employees into the huge furnace. You took care of the fecund runts and were able to keep the last two from fleeing. You discovered in one section of the room a man sitting in a chair and covered with a coating of glass that was clearly drizzled over him when it was molten.

Exploring just beyond, you found another room with a descending stair.

End.