Category Archives: Session reports

Session 19

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Aric climbs on Brother Bother’s shoulders to better spy out the land and sees that there are farm buildings to the Northwest, so the group take this route. Presently they see a dilapidated barn and farmhouse and approach as silently as they can. Brother Bother can hear a faint raspy breathing from inside the farmhouse so Aric skirts the outside, peering through gaps in the shutters into the darkness with his elvish vision. He sees at least two creatures standing still in the main room.

Quietly approaching the main entrance, Garalath throws open the door and steps back. He is assailed by a foul stench of decay but is able to hold his stomach down, which is just as well as several ghouls rush forward. One holds back inside but three attack the barbarian, wounding him with teeth and claws.
Ghoul

As the ghouls carry forward their attack and move out of the farmhouse Brother Bother becomes a blur of fists and feet as he destroys one in a flurry of blows, but then Garalath takes a nasty gash from a ghoulish claw and becomes paralysed. Aric rushes in and kills another ghoul in two blows but then he and Bother begin to feel weakened and nauseated by the stench coming from one of the things in particular. Bother thinks this may be a stronger ghoul known as a ghast.

Bother is wounded slightly but Aric is getting torn up by the attacks. The ghoul facing him has an expression of sick glee and begins rasping “I will eat your flesh!” He proceeds to do just this as he takes a bite out of Aric, who only resists paralysis due to his elvish blood.

Luckily Garalath’s paralysis now wears off and he rejoins the fight, beheading the ghast with a powerful strike. Bother kills the last ghoul and the exhausted heroes drag the undead corpses into the farmhouse. The ghast’s corpse has a leather thong around its neck bearing an iron key with the symbol of a curious flower surrounded by thorns, but there is no other treasure on the things.

This room of the farmhouse is a mess of broken furniture and blood splashes, as if a family were massacred here by undead monsters. Through the door is the kitchen, where a mutilated body lies on the table decaying and swarming with flies. On its chest is carved a sihedron rune, but pinned to its tunic is a folded note – addressed once more to Gol’den Chile.
Hambley note

Searching upstairs reveals a stout wooden coffer under a loose floorboard. Garalath can hear coins inside when he shakes it but there is no means of opening the lock for now so the party moves to search the barn. This is partly built around a 12-foot high stone head, now weathered and moss-covered but probably once part of a Thassilonian statue of a stern warrior. Inside it is a charnel house, strewn with bones and the partially-eaten corpses of animals and humans. Aric makes himself sick searching through this but finds nothing. The stout-stomached Bother conducts a last search of the mutilated body in the farmhouse kitchen and finds a small key which unlocks the coffer; inside are 34 pouches of 100sp each.

Deciding that the madman at the sanatorium needs their attention before he too becomes a ghoul, the group head back to town by way of Erin Habe’s establishment. Habe appears when the bell is rung but if anything he seems even more nervous than last time. Bother is convinced he is hiding something and a firm line is taken; Habe resists granting another audience with Grayst Sevilla but after some persuasion from Aric he and his two tiefling orderlies fetch the madman downstairs again. Just like last time the sick man makes no sense, muttering about teeth and razors but once again Gol’den Chile’s name can be made out amongst his mutterings. With a promise to come back in the morning with the Sandpoint guards, the party bids Habe goodnight. Satisfied that there is no overly-suspicious activity that they can see from outside, they head back to the sheriff.

The heroes tell Hemlock everything that has happened, leaving out only the discovery of the coffer full of silver. He is alarmed but satisfied that the ghoul threat at the Hambley farm seems to have been reduced if not eliminated. He can offer no enlightenment or explanation for anything they have seen but he does recognise the emblem on the iron key as being the Foxglove family crest – Aldern Foxglove being the noble who the heroes rescued when the goblins attacked Sandpoint, and who took them hunting boar in the Tickwood in gratitude.

Exhausted, sicked and wounded, it is time to retire to the Rusty Dragon for some of Ameiko’s hearty food …

Experience: 600 each (15,523 total, 6th level).

Session 18

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A decision is made to investigate the previous murders, so sherriff Hemlock is consulted for details. He explains how three days ago a patrol of guards were assaulted by a deranged man near an abandoned barn south of town. On subduing him they found three bodies in the barn, mutilated in the same way as Banny Harker. The dead men were local con men and swindlers and were identified by a note one of them carried:
Note

The group set off for the sanatorium where the survivor – a Varisian thug-for-hire known as Grayst Sevilla – is now being cared for, but first visit they the barn where he was found. Despite intense investigation no clues are found and the local farmers know of no suspicious goings-on so they press on and by late morning arrive at Habe’s Sanatorium. After ringing the bell in the lobby Erin Habe appears. He is unfriendly and claims to be in the middle of ‘important’ work, refusing to allow access to his patients. Garalath has no truck with this attitude and threatens to bash his head in if he does not cooperate, at which point he darts back through the door he came in by and locks it behind him, calling for his guards. A brutish tiefling retainer appears at the front door, but on evaluating the three capable-looking individuals before him he evidently decides that maybe they don’t need to be thrown out just yet.

As the situation calms down Habe reluctantly agrees that they can interview Sevilla for a few minutes. The man is brought down from upstairs by another tiefling retainer but he is not in good shape – Aric recognises the man’s affliction as the advanced stages of ghoul fever. When eventually prompted to speak he titters and babbles incoherently, occasionally muttering odd fragments about “razors”, “too many teeth” and “the Skinsaw Man is coming”. Ears prick up when he seems to say the name “Gol’den Chile” but as they can get no sense from him the group decide to head back to town to see if their monk friend knows anything more.
Erin HabeGrayst Sevilla

On their way to see Chile sheriff Hemlock approaches them in the street – he needs their help again. He takes them to meet Maester Grump, a terrified farmer who ran into town an hour ago. Grump, clearly in great distress and not a little sozzled, claims that ‘walking scarecrows’ have been plaguing the southern farmlands for a few nights now. The locals knew that the problems were coming from the old Hambley place – where things “ain’t been right” for a few days now – so several of them got together to pay it a visit last night. They were attacked by people that looked like corpses but fed like starving animals – “they even ate the dogs!” – and Grump was the only survivor.
Maester Grump

Forgoing Hemlock’s offer of a few guards as backup, the heroes of Sandpoint set out for the southern farmlands and within a couple of hours arrive in the vicinity of the Hambley farm. Here the alfalfulus grows tall and thick either side of the path making navigation difficult, but there are farm tracks to follow. When they come to a crossroads at which stands a scarecrow the group approach cautiously. Garalath rushes in and slashes at it with his greatsword and the thing sags with a wooden crack – it is just a scarecrow.

They press on and see two more scarecrows ahead at a fork in the path. However these two start writhing and thrashing on their frames when the party get near. Suddenly one breaks free and with a shriek rushes forwards, pulling off the sack covering its face to reveal the hideous features of an undead ghoul. Slashing violently with its claws it manages to paralyse Brother Bother but it is brought down just before the other scarecrow – also revealed as a ghoul – breaks free. This one is destroyed too and Bother’s paralysis wears off – no-one is badly injured but they are certainly shaken up.
Ghoul attack!

Proceeding warily, the group adopts a policy of ‘hack all scarecrows in half before they jump you’. This works well for the next two – both straw & sticks affairs – but when the third one gives out a pathetic whimper and starts bleeding, they realise that some of these ‘scarecrows’ are still-living humans. This poor unfortunate was a middle-aged woman, afflicted with advanced ghoul fever but still – until Garalath’s two-handed greatsword blow to the belly – alive.

They therefore give the two scarecrows at the next crossroads a little more time to prove their provenance, but the things turn out to be ghouls and after a short battle are destroyed. However there is no rest as Aric hears more creatures approaching through the fields. He and Garalath try to hide for an ambush but the three ghouls who emerge from the alfalfulus can smell their living flesh and melee ensues. The things are defeated, but clearly if there are ghouls out in the fields the threat may be greater than anticipated.

Heading on in the direction they think the farm lies the party finds another sack-covered figure bound to a pole. Removing the covering from its face shows it to be a confused, sickly-looking farmer still clinging to life. Bother does what he can for the man with a healing surge but he does not know how to cure ghoul fever. The farmer says his name is Horran Guffman and begs to be returned to his family – “have you seen Lettie?” he asks plaintively …

Experience: 933 each (14,923 total)

Session 17

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Having thwarted Nualia’s goblin invasion and cleared out the catacombs below the town the heroes of Sandpoint spend some weeks resting on their laurels, catching up with their old friend Garalath while Gol’den Chile spends some time in contemplation. Life is relaxed until one day after lunch sheriff Hemlock arrives and asks for a private conversation.

Last night, a gruesome double murder took place at the lumber mill. Hemlock believes that this was linked to another similar murder of three men in an abandoned barn south of town two days ago, as many of the bodies were mutilated in the same way. Recalling the hysteria caused by Chopper’s murder spree five years ago in the Late Unpleasantness, Hemlock wants the heroes’ help in investigating things whilst not spreading panic.

But there is a complication: the murderer seems to know the heroes personally, as a bloodied envelope addressed to Gol’den Chile was pinned to one of the latest corpses. Inside was a note:
Bloodied note

Hemlock has several leads:

  • the lumber mill, scene of last night’s murder;
  • Ibor Thorn, who jointly ran the mill and discovered the bodies this morning;
  • Ven Vinder, father of one of the victims;
  • the bodyguard who survived the previous murders and is now in Habe’s Sanatorium;
  • the mysterious seven-pointed star carved on many of the bodies.

He makes the heroes his deputies and bids them be discreet.

The group heads first to the lumber mill, where the gathered crowd is being kept out by nervous-looking guards. Inside there is a smell of foul decay in the air which Brother Bother recognises as the stench of undead. By the log-splitting machinery is the mangled corpse of Katrine Vinder, sister to Shayliss with whom Bother almost had a dalliance; she must have fallen, jumped or been pushed into the splitter when it was running.

Hanging on some hooks on the wall is the body of Banny Harker who jointly ran the mill; he is in worse shape than poor Katrine, for his face has been carved away, his lower jaw removed and a seven-pointed star cut into his chest. Bother and Aric recognise this symbol – the warped aasimar girl Nualia wore it on a pendant. On closer inspection of the body Bother notices that there are gashes on the body made by a clawed five-fingered human-sized hand, and these gashes also smell strongly of rotten flesh.

Garalath examines the bloody axe embedded in the floor. Rotten flesh and fragmets of bone are on the blade and he has to stop himself from gagging as the stench here is so strong; Bother confirms that the axe has been used against a corporeal undead creature very recently.

There are bloodied footprints on the floor with the same rotten smell so Garalath follows these out to the mill’s wooden pier. His keen eyes determine that a barefoot human man climbed up out of the mud under the pier, crossed to the mill, scaled the wall and entered through an upper window. He has a hunch about the marshland across the river, so leaving the mill the party search both riverbanks between the bridges and end at the marsh. Here the see a dry spot with a good yet obscured view of the mill; barefoot tracks lead to and from the water, but not away from the dry spot.

It’s getting late so the group head to the garrison to question Ven Vinder, who has been locked up after flying in to a rage on learning of his daughter’s fate. When he sees Aric and Bother Ven flies into a rage again, accusing the pair of murdering his child, so Aric steps out of sight while Brother Bother goes to the shopkeeper’s house to talk to his wife Solsta. However Garalath’s robust line of questioning does not prove productive, with Ven initially being reduced to a sobbing mess then babbling about how ‘they’ must have murdered his daughter. Bother has no better luck and comes away suspecting that he’s the last person Solsta wants to see right now.
Ven Vinder

The next morning they approach Father Zantus to ask him about the rune; he does not recognise it but directs them to Brodert Quink, an expert on Thassilonian ruins. This genial old fellow is delighted to have his esoteric knowledge called upon and identifies the mark as a Sihedron Rune, which symbolises the seven virtues of rule (wealth, fertility, honest pride, abundance, eager striving, righteous anger, and rest) and the seven schools of magic recognised by Thassilon. He believes that the classic mortal sins (greed, lust, pride, gluttony, envy, wrath, and sloth) rose from corruptions of the Thassilonian virtues of rule. However he has no idea who in modern times might use or even know of such a rune apart from a scholar – he is then quick to state that he was not the murderer.
Brodert QuinkSihedron Rune

Returning to the garrison the group ask to interview Ibor Thorn – Hemlock asks them to be more gentle this time. The young man still seems a bit stunned and claims that he’s already told Hemlock everything. He does confirm that Banny Harker was seeing Katrine Vinder behind her father’s back, but doesn’t think Ven was capable of such a brutal murder no matter how angry he became. When pressed on whether anyone might have had it in for Harker he reluctantly admits that the man had been cooking the books and skimming profits from the mill owners, the Scarnetti family – something which Ibor is quick to point out he did not take any part in. While he thinks the Scarnettis would be ruthless if they found out they were being scammed and possibly even have the perpetrator killed, defiling the body like that and killing an innocent girl is not the way they would go about it.
Ibor Thorn

The party considers Thorn’s words and ponders what to do next …

Experience: 667 each (13,990 total, 5th level).

Session 16

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Now that Brother Bother is holding his rage back the group returns to make sure that the little demon is dead. She is floating face-down in the pool and not moving so they search her tiny body and find her magical returning dagger, a miniature tiara, a tiny black silk gown and what must be an obsidian unholy symbol. Bother’s insane rage eventually subsides but its effects leave him drained.

The two doors in the cathedral reveal empty store-rooms, the runes on the walls are indecipherable and the glowing pool doesn’t seem to be doing anything threatening so they head back to the round room with the red marble statue. Listening at the northern door, Brother Bother can hear some creatures grunting, snarling and chittering. They are some distance away so he opens it carefully; nothing attacks him so after a moment he steps in.

The door leads onto a wooden platform above a prison pit. The monks can just about make out a creature lurking under the rickety wooden walkway which leads off to the east, so Bother creeps down the stairs while Aric covers the room with his bow.

The lurking creature is a Sinspawn and there is another under the platform; as they both rush to attack the monk, Aric manages to get a good shot on one of them. Golden Chile leaps over the platform edge to join the fray but doesn’t land well and hurts himself. However, Bother manages to hit the wounded Sinspawn and Aric finishes it off with another arrow. The remaining creature gives Bother a terrible mauling, its bite causing sinful thoughts to rise in the monk’s mind – he is able to control these but is forced to concentrate on defending himself from further attacks.

As Aric puts an arrow in the second Sinspawn, Gol’den Chile comes to the wounded monk’s aid and batters the creature down, finishing it off.

The prison cells are all locked and contain nothing but ancient bones so the group heads across the walkway and into a disused torture room. A small room off this must once have been a library as it is littered with scraps of scrolls and books written in the same spiky runes seen elsewhere; Aric manages to discover an intact evocation scroll hidden under a broken chair but he is unable to decipher it.

There are three locked prison doors in this room but as they are unable to open them the party tries the eastern door. Bother can hear the occasional low moan some way beyond it, so he opens it and the group carefully creep up some stairs into a 20-foot high, strangely-cold vaulted chamber. Wooden lids cover nearly a dozen pits in the floor, from whence the moaning and some shuffling sounds emanate, but before Bother can take all this in a foul-looking, hideously-deformed goblin hiding round the corner vomits a stream of acidic blood at him.

Aric runs in and shoots the thing; Gol’den Chile follows him and thumps it. They both see that the pits each contain a single zombie, although these wretches are unable to do anything other than moan and wail and futilely reach out to the living things above them.

The goblin-thing has several sets of arms and legs and wields a sword, axe and silver dagger; he slashes Chile with all of these and wounds him, so the monk steps back to cast a protective spell. Aric shoots the goblin again but he responds by vomiting a vile stream of acidic blood at the half-elf. Bother, too weak to join the fight, casts several luck spells on Chile as he attempts to hit the monstrosity, eventually slaying it with an incredible blow to the throat.

Taking the thing’s magical longsword, masterwork hand axe and silver dagger, the group wait for Chile to painstakingly slay all the zombies with his rudimentary anti-undead magic before dragging their wounded, weakened and generally rather abused hides back to Sandpoint for some much-needed recuperation …

Experience: 800 each.

Session map:

Session 15

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Gol’den Chile has been sorely hurt by Brother Bother’s frenzied attacks and is forced to duck aside and drink his healing potion. Bother now switches his attack to the imp, at which point Aric – who had been playing dead – leaps up and also attacks her with his sword, although she moves too fast for him to hit.

Somewhat recovered, Gol’den Chile rejoins the fray with a new mode of attack – grab her! She flits about annoyingly but he is soon able to get hold of her and manages to keep her still. This enables Aric to land a heavy blow which clearly hurts her. However, as Chile wrestles the little demon into the central pool Bother switches his attacks to the half-elf and nearly kills his friend.

While Aric flees up the stairs to the pulpit Chile manoeuvres himself so that the demon is the closest thing to Bother. To Aric’s relief this tactic works as – mad with rage – the big monk starts battering the pinned creature. Aric moves to help Chile hold the demon under the water and although she almost breaks free several times and manages to hurt Chile a little with her claws, under a constant barrage of blows from Bother she eventually loses consciousness.

Any relief is momentary however as Brother Bother is still gripped by madness; as soon as the demon passes out he starts attacking Gol’den Chile. He and Aric decide to try running away, with the agile Chile interposing himself between Bother and the badly-wounded half-elf. However Bother is extremely fast so Chile is forced to confront him again; he is unable to grapple him and barely dodges a pummelling.

Perhaps seeing the frightened faces of his friends in front of him has an effect, or perhaps the madness was wearing off anyway, but a glimmer of Brother Bother’s sanity flickers in his mind. With great force of will, he is able to push back the rage and hold the blood-lust in check for a moment …

Experience: 400 each.

Session 14

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The huge rat and vile mound of quivering flesh that the tiny flying demon had summoned surge forward but Aric holds them in the doorway. He disables the rat with a single blow, then Chile springs past him and lays into the flesh-thing. As Aric finishes off the rat the monks team up to do the same to the fleshy abomination.

The summoned minions dealt with, this leaves only the flying imp. How much trouble can such a tiny creature be? An awful lot.

She is fast, she can fly and she attacks the party by throwing a dagger that magically returns to her hand. This is small and barely does any damage, but she is incredibly accurate with it and despite the group’s best efforts they can barely hit her back. Even when they do so, she seems all but immune to the damage caused by their weapons and fists. Brother Bother’s tiny lightning bolts seem to hurt her but it becomes apparent that she is healing very fast even from the wounds caused by these.

The dagger is not her only means of attack. She casts spells on both the monks that cause significant wounds. Although she needs to touch them to do this she does so almost with impunity, as she is so small and fast that they can barely strike her in return. At one point she belches forth a vile-smelling wad of phlegm at Gol’den Chile but luckily for him he is able to dodge it.

Aric realises that his arrows are having virtually no effect so he uncharacteristically switches to his sword; this is little better.

Thinking that while he can’t really hurt her, conversely she can barely hurt him now that she seems to be out of spells, Bother decides to investigate the bubbling orange pool by washing his hands in it. The effect is immediate and drastic: its freezing waters hurt him greatly and he is seized by uncontrollable wrath, attacking Gol’den Chile who is standing near him. The glowing waters dim slightly.

The imp unleashes a burst of terrible fear, but the adventurer’s stout hearts resist this and they are merely shaken. As she flies about the room throwing her returning dagger, Chile attempts to subdue the raging Bother while Aric continues to try hitting the demon. Things are not looking good. Maybe a new plan is needed …

Experience: 178 each.

Session maps:

Session 13

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The party decides that the ape/wolf thing in the fire-pit room must be the ‘Malfeshnekor’ that Nualia was seeking. However it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere and after their encounter with the shadows they are all too weak to confront either it or the giant crab inhabiting the golden helmet in the pool. In fact any kind of danger could prove too much for them so they forgo further exploration and head back to Sandpoint and Father Tobyn.

The priest is saddened to hear of Nualia’s fate but is happy to help with healing, although he does not have any spells ready that can restore drained strength so the group head back to the Rusty Dragon for some rest while he prepares.

On the way they are approached by a woman clearly in a panic, clutching a baby to her chest and holding on to an older child. In a hurried tumble of words she explains that she is Amele Barrett and ever since her son Aeren saw a goblin set a cat on fire during the attack on Sandpoint he has been waking during the night in terror, claiming a goblin came out of his closet. They told the boy to stop telling tales until finally, last night, they decided not to go and comfort him when he awoke howling. But then they heard their dog cry out in pain and the boy started screaming. They burst in and saw a goblin sitting on Aeren’s chest, the dead dog beside it.

Her husband Alergast went for the goblin but it fled into the closet; as he started tearing it apart to get to the creature she grabbed the boy and ran.

The party are moved to investigate and Amele shows them to her house. As they creep in it is ominously silent. They find the boy’s room and see a man lying half into the closet; turning him over shows that his face has been half eaten away. Before they can react a hunger-crazed goblin ranger bursts up out of a hole in the cupboard’s floor and attacks. In their weakened state the goblin gives them the run-around but he is no match for three heroes and soon he is killed.

Amele is grateful to hear this but when told about her husband she breaks down completely. Used to dealing bravely with tangible threats the group are unsure what to do but luckily Sheriff Hemlock arrives on the scene, alerted by the commotion. He thanks the adventurers for their help and says that he will arrange for the remains of the Barrett family to stay at the cathedral for a few days.

The party rests in the Rusty Dragon for a few days then decides that they will investigate the caverns they tentatively entered when they were first chasing after Tsuto. They return to the passageway in the cliff and enter the catacombs again. As they creep in, they are attacked in the same place as last time by another Sinspawn, although this one is defeated much more quickly.

The rough tunnels become flagged passageways as they explore further and they enter a round chamber with a red marble statue of a strikingly beautiful but monstrously enraged woman with a headdress of hooks and blades. In one hand is a metal and ivory ranseur but in the other is a large book inscribed with the seven-pointed star they have seen before.

Pressing on they find a small shrine with a basin of filthy water, but of more interest are the large double doors. These open into a huge cathedral-like room, the walls carved with spiky runes. A large pool with a ring of polished skulls on stone spikes is in the middle, while at the far end stairs lead up to a pulpit with another pool. This one is churning and bubbling with a translucent, steaming, lava-like liquid, although the room is deathly cold.

Hovering above it is a tiny winged demon who flies into a rage and rasps “how dare you intrude upon the Mother’s sanctum?” She slashes her own wrist with a dagger and a drop of her blood falls into the orange pool. As this happens a Sinspawn emerges from it, but the pool’s glow diminishes noticeably. A look of worry crosses the demon’s face when she sees this, but then she directs her minion to attack.

As the Sinspawn advances the demon begins casting spells and soon has summoned a monstrously large rat and a creature which appears to be a rolling wave of fatty flesh. The party backs away to the relative safety of the doorway and as the Sinspawn is the first to reach them, their combined efforts manage to bring it down …

Experience: 533 each.

Nualia’s notes

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Nualia was an aasimar foundling raised by Sandpoint’s previous religious leader Ezakien Tobyn. Her childhood was lonely and sad as her unearthly beauty marked her out. Other children played cruel jokes on her and rumours that her touch or proximity could cure warts and rashes, that locks of her hair brewed into tea could increase fertility, and that her voice could drive out evil spirits led to endless awkward and humiliating requests over the years. When she came of age Delek Viskanta, a local Varisian youth, began to court her and she practically fell into his arms in gratitdue.

Knowing that her father wouldn’t approve of a relationship with a Varisian (he wanted her to remain pure so that she could join one of the prestigious Windsong Abbey convents), they kept the affair secret. They met many times in hidden places, a favourite being an abandoned smuggler’s tunnel under town that Delek had discovered as a child. Before long, Nualia realised she was pregnant. When she told Delek, he revealed his true colours and, after calling her a slut and a harlot, fled Sandpoint rather than face her father’s wrath. Nualia’s shock quickly turned to rage, yet she had nowhere to vent her anger. She bottled it up, and when her father discovered her delicate condition, his reaction to her indiscretions only furthered her shame and anger. He forbade her to leave the church, lectured her nightly, and made her pray to Desna for forgiveness. In so doing, he unknowingly nurtured her growing hate.

Then one night when seven months pregnant, she suffered a bizarre dream; wrathful energies suffused her mind and she flew into a frenzy. She miscarried her child later that night, a child whose monstrously deformed shape she only glimpsed before blanching midwives stole it away to burn it in secret. The double shock of losing a child and the realization she had been carrying a fiend in her belly for seven months was too much. Nualia fell into a coma.

As she slept, she dreamed unhealthy dreams of Lamashtu. Nualia became obsessed with the cruel demon goddess and the conviction that her wretched life was inflicted on her by those around her. She came to see her angelic heritage as a curse, and the demon-haunted dreams seemed to show her how to expunge this taint from her body and soul, replacing it with chaos and cruelty. When she finally woke, Nualia was someone new, someone who didn’t flinch at what Lamashtu asked of her. She jammed her father’s door shut as he slept, lit the church on fire, and fled Sandpoint.

The locals assumed Nualia had burned in the fire, a tragedy made all the worse by the death of Father Tobyn as well. Yet Nualia lived. She fled to Magnimar, where she enlisted the aid of a group of killers known as the Skinsaw Men. With their aid, she tracked down Delek and murdered him. Yet his death did not fill her need for revenge. Sandpoint and its hated citizens still lived.

The leader of the Skinsaw Men gave Nualia a medallion bearing a carving of a seven-pointed star called a ‘Sihedron medallion.’ Nualia learned that she had a larger role to play, and that her dreams were a map to her destiny. Taking the advice to heart, Nualia returned to Sandpoint, and found herself drawn to the brick wall in the smugglers’ tunnels where she and Delek had conceived her deformed child. Nualia bashed down the wall, and in so doing, discovered some ancient tunnels known as the Catacombs of Wrath and a creature named Erylium, also a follower of Lamashtu. For many months, Nualia studied under Erylium’s tutelage. During this time, Nualia received another vision from Lamashtu – a vision of a monstrous goblin wolf imprisoned in a tiny room. In Nualia’s dreams, she learned that this creature, named Malfeshnekor, was also one of Lamashtu’s chosen. If she could find him and free him, he would not only help her achieve her vengeance against the town of Sandpoint, but he would be the key in cleansing her body of what she had come to see as her ‘celestial taint.’ Nualia wanted to be one of Lamashtu’s children now. She wanted to become a monster herself.

She dug up her foster father’s remains during the attack on Sandpoint and offered these in a ritual to Lamashtu, which saw her rewarded with a promise of things to come – her left hand was transformed into a demonic red talon and she was sent a yeth hound as a companion.

Nualia’s journals outline her plans to send an army of goblins against Sandpoint and to burn the town to the ground, not only to offer it all as a burnt offering to Lamashtu in hopes of being made a half-fiend, but to fuel something called a ‘runewell’ in the Catacombs of Wrath below. This is some kind of pool which can create things called ‘sinspawn’ – to manifest a sinspawn, a creature need only allow a few drops of its blood to fall into the pool and moments later, a sinspawn emerges.

The notes go on to say that if one were to overextend the runewell’s stores, it would be deactivated. Nualia wasn’t sure how to reactivate it, and several times stresses that the runewell shouldn’t be used much until after Sandpoint is razed and the deaths of hundreds of angry citizens and goblins have refilled the well.

Session 12

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Aric is weakened and can barely move but the two monks decide that they will not flee from shadows. Casting Mage Armour on Chile they creep back to the pillared room and make their way into it, keeping their eyes peeled. As they near the far end the shadows emerge again but this time they are met with stiffer resistance.

With his Mage Armour and unnatural agility Gol’den Chile seems almost invulnerable to their attacks and with his fists imbued with the power of Arcane Strike he can even damage them, albeit lightly. He engages all three undead freeing Bother to blast them with his bursts of positive energy. Nevertheless the pair don’t seem to be doing much damage and for a while the fight is a stalemate. Eventually Bother’s positive energy overwhelms one of the shades, but the others strike back at both monks and they are considerably drained of strength. When his positive energy runs out Bother falls back on his electric bolts and finally, helped by Chile’s weakened blows, the shadows are defeated.

A search of the room yields no treasure but Bother does notice some odd lines in the western wall. After a bit of head-scratching they eventually figure that this is a secret door and they manage to open it. Beyond, a short passage branches into two staircases heading down. Doors at the bottom of these both lead into a room which has partially collapsed into a tidal pool. What remain of the walls of the room are covered with detailed and impressive carvings of incredible treasuries filled to overflowing with coins, gems, jewelry and other riches. On the east wall is depicted a towering mountain, its peak carved in the shape of a stern face just above a great palace, with an immense city of spires in the valley below.

Even more interesting is the content of the pool – shattered urns, crumbled stone chests, rusted bits of once-beautiful armour and weapons. Even more interesting than that is the giant-sized, coral-encrusted golden war helmet, five feet across, that sits in the water. This becomes more interesting still when it turns to face Gol’den Chile.

The monks are taken aback but do not flee straight away. Noting that spindly legs appear to stick out from the bottom of the helmet and that it moves slightly when they stir the water, they decide that anything big enough to move that is not to be argued with when they are both so desperately weakened. Retiring with Aric to the round room again they rest for the night, although the morning brings only a small recovery of their strength.

Ignoring the strange helm for now, Chile searches the sarcophagi from the shadows’ room while Bother investigates the pillar of gold coins. Eventually he spies that on either side there is a tiny coin-sized slot. Inserting silver pieces into these simultaneously achieves nothing but the loss of money, but repeating the trick with gold coins causes the pillar to begin sinking into the ground with a loud rumble. Beyond it is revealed a large anteroom with three pairs of double doors.

Bother enters and scans for magic, finding a slight aura of abjuration to the south and a moderate one of illusion to the north. He tries the southern doors but finds that they have no handles, just an indented outline of a seven-pointed star, its shape covered by hollows and slits. Joined by Chile, he instead tries the eastern door. The three low tables in here are covered with a chilling selection of tools – saws, long-bladed knives and objects whose purpose is not apparent. On one table is a strange collection of bones that seems to be a skeleton of a two-headed man with a smaller man growing from his back. Ignoring this, Chile searches amongst the tools and finds one that strikes a chord – a silver and gold seven-pointed star, one surface studded with nodules and blades.

The monks take this straight to the southern door and fit it into the matching indentation. With a twist, the doors swing open.

The large room beyond is lit by a ten-foot wide pit of flickering fire which emits a strange humid heat and the smell of burning hair. The southern wall bears an immense carving of a seven-pointed star – a recurring theme – but before it crouches a large, terrifying-looking beast that seems to be a foul cross between an ape and a wolf. It snarls and bares its fangs. Bother immediately hits it with an electric bolt, at which point it vanishes into thin air. He doesn’t believe he has defeated it so easily however so he quickly slams the door shut; a moment later something heavy thuds against the other side with an infuriated howl.

Somewhat spooked, Bother and Chile listen instead at the northern door; they can hear very faint speaking but decide to enter anyway. Throwing open the door they see a marble throne on a dais, flanked by more statues of the stern, glaive-and-book-wielding man. In the throne sits a ghostly simulacrum of the same man, addressing the room in a faint unknown tongue. Every 15 seconds or so the speech starts again at the same point.

Unable to make sense of anything they have found, the group retreats to Nualia’s lair again. After some pondering they realise that they have not yet looked at Nualia’s copious notes, so they settle in for a few hours’ reading …

Experience: 800 each.

Session maps:

Session 11

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Aric, waiting by the rope bridge, is astonished to see a badly-wounded Chile burst out of the main gates, run around a corner and hide. When Bother appears a moment later and hides in the bushes on the opposite side he knows it is time to draw his bow.

Seconds later an ugly Yeth hound appears in the doorway sniffing the air – without hesitating Aric fires one of the bugbear’s magic arrows at it but it bounces off harmlessly. With a little healing from Bother Chile tries to batter the dog while the other monk tries to fry it with lightning bolts. Only the bolts seem to have any effect and that is minimal.

The situation worsens when a furious Nualia arrives. Casting a spell she steps through the door and attacks. The monks engage her while Aric backs slowly across the bridge firing at the dog. Eventually his determination pays off and with a whimper the beast falls into the sea, but by this time Nualia has incapacitated Brother Bother. Gol’den Chile, buoyed by Bother’s last bit of healing, tries to hold Nualia off but – eyes focused on Aric – she casually cuts him down.

She steps onto the bridge. Aric tries a shot but can’t pierce her armour and the shimmering magical field which she has summoned around her. Badly wounded himself he flees across the bridge to try one last shot from range and she charges in pursuit, but neither Aric nor Nualia have counted on Chile.

Not quite done for, the barely-conscious monk uses the last of his strength to yank out the rope securing the trapped bridge. With an infuriated yell Nualia is just able to grab the rope as the planks disappear from under her and is left dangling in mid-air screaming obscenities at Aric, who takes his time to finish her off with arrows. She follows her dog into the sea.

Aric makes his way across the ropes as fast as he can towards the dying monks. He arrives just in time to administer a healing potion to Bother, who is then able to aid everyone with his final healing auras. Somewhat refreshed the group decides to investigate what Nualia was up to.

Heading back down to the lower levels and jumping over the polished area they examine the round room. Apart from a lever behind the font which causes mechanical sounds in the corridor there is little of interest so they head south into a large L-shaped hall. At the south end are large doors carved with skeletons while at the east is a strange pillar carved to look like a huge pile of gold coins. Detecting illusion magic here the party decides to retire to the round room to rest and recuperate. At some point in the night they hear dog-like sounds outside the door but Chile has wisely sealed it shut with pitons and they have an undisturbed rest.

The next morning they set forth to try the skeleton doors. These open into a large domed chamber containing several sarcophagi and another statue of the stern glaive-wielding man. As the group are inspecting these, three incorporeal shadows emerge from the walls and attack. Fortunately no-one is caught off-guard but even so, Aric is hit several times and has much of his strength drained. The party’s weapons don’t seem to affect the creatures and with only Bother’s bursts of positive energy seeming to do any minor damage the group makes a fighting retreat. As the last one leaves the room, the shadows fade back into the walls…

Experience: 1,067 each (including 267 which you should have received last session for defeating the trap).

Session maps: