Pathfinder RPG Session 06: Loot and travel to Thistletop

Pathfinder items cards are used to help keep track and divide treasure gained.

As always:  Spoiler Alert!  Session 6 of our Rise of the Runelords Adventure!

After fighting a long and difficult battle with the quasit and other foes in the hidden temple beneath Sandpoint, the group took pause, healed,  and and divided up the loot gained.  Guardsmen Tully and Jethro are thanked and given a gold each to head to the Rusty Dragon for drinks.  Service in the Sandpoint watch has gotten more exciting (and dangerous) in the past few days.

The characters use the backroom of the Rusty Dragon Inn to divide shares.  Owner Ameiko Kaijitsu has offered the party their rooms free of charge, so the group can have a home base while staying in Sandpoint.


There were a number of interesting and valuable items including;  a ring of protection, a magic longsword, a wand of shocking grasp, several potions, a master work flute, a mysterious book, an evil symbol of Lamashtu (mother of monsters), a couple of scrolls, and other more common but still valuable items.

The next day, the company leads Father Zanthus, a couple of Acolytes, and a squad of the town guard back into the temple to secure it.  There were some pits that contained zombies that were bypassed, and Father Zanthus and the Acolytes channel holy energy to finish them off.  After making sure that it is empty and well searched, the company leaves Father Zanthus and the guardsmen to determine how to secure this unwanted discovery...

The next call was to Sandpoint Mayor Kendra Deverin.   She is brought up to date on the discovery as well as other findings.  She asks the group to keep the temple's existence a secret as not to create panic in Sandpoint.  The group informs her that they are going to head out to Thistletop to follow up on a clue found in Tsuto Kajitsu's journal.  It mentioned that Thistletop was an area that an ally of Tsuto's was located.  It is also a known local goblin tribe territory.

After items are sold, gold is divided.  Each member deposits a portion of their gold in the chest.

The company decides to take horses when they go on their mission.  It is hoped that the speed and mobility could be an asset when facing the goblins.  To take care of the horses, Jasper, an animal handler and, son of the stable owner  is hired.  Town guardsman Jethro the archer is hired to protect Jasper and the animals.

The company travels from Sandpoint along the Old Lost Coast Road, past Shank's Wood, and head north at the Pauper's Graves.   The idea is that they will enter Nettlewood as close to the coast as they can and use that to navigate to Thistletop.  Nervous eyes look north as they pass Shank's Woods. It's is the home of the Sven Tooth goblin tribe.

The company reaches Nettlewood and finds that the name is appropriate.  The woods are made up of very dense underbrush.  A game trail is found that makes trekking through the woods easier, but the horses and pack animals would be a liability to bring along.  Jethro and Jasper find a low area near Pauper's Graves that they can conceal themselves and the horses.  They are given instructions to wait 24 hours, and if the party does not return, they should retreat with the animals back to Sandpoint.  The proximity of the goblin tribes makes it too dangerous to stay around a longer amount of time.  The group bids farewell and heads into the Nettlewood...

The afternoon gets older.  The trail is followed, and single file formation is maintained.  Gilly the halfling scouts ahead. 

Gilly walks through a patch of Goblin Berry weeds...a very ichy irritant, but by luck she avoids stepping in it.

Tuihirdock notices the patch, calls for the column to halt while he chops and clears the weeds on the path with his sword.  "Gilly, look what you missed!  You would have been itching for a week."

The Nettlewood gets thicker until a clearing is reached.  A couple of  paths lead to this area.

Tuirhirdock and Gilly scout the clearing.  Gilly finds a path cleverly concealed by camoflage.  It's a goblin made trail!  Brush has been placed in front of the path to prevent notice.  It is removed and the group proceeds in...

The path narrows to 5' wide and 4' high.  It's almost like a hedge cave.  Gilly is the only one who isn't stooping to walk down the path.  The sun's rays barely make it through the vegetation.  Gilly scouts ahead and the group makes its way further into the Nettlewood.

To be continued...

Pathfinder RPG Session 04: The Glassworks

!Warning!  Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path Spoilers ahead.

Rolf the mercenary, sorceror Chance Arcane, Tuihirdock -barbarian from the north, and Gilly halfing rogue had spent a much needed restful night at the Rusty Dragon Inn.  As they were getting up the next morning, the Rusty Dragon's cook, Bethana the halfling, came to them with distressing news.  The owner of the inn, Ameiko Kaijitsu, was missing.  When the cook went to look for Ameiko in her room, she found a note asking Ameiko to go and meet her brother Tsuto at the Glassworks at midnight (6 hours earlier.)   The Sandpoint Glassworks are owned by their father Lanjiko Kaijitsu!

Expecting trouble, the party got kitted out with their equipment, sent a runner to fetch their assistants Oswald the packbearer, and Cinart the torchbearer, and headed off to the Glassworks in search of some answers.

Arrving at the Glassworks they found an unusual situation.  When it should be ready for morning business, they found the doors all locked, and the curtains pulled shut.  They moved to a back entrance,  broke a window, and Gilly the halfling rogue was lifted through...

After scouting the exterior of the Sandpoint Glassworks, Gilly slips through a window and opens the backdoor.

Gilly listened at the door, and heard a rumbling (of glass forges), cruel laughter, and glass breaking. 

Peeking through the doors they spy:  Goblins!  The vile creature were in the glass making room having their chaotic version of fun.  Several bodies of Glassworks employees were on the ground ...dead.  One goblin was stuffing the remains of a worker into a furnace.  They were throwing glass products around, breaking them, and making mischief.  The party split and went through two doors simultaneously with the idea to surprise the goblins.

The goblins are too busy with mayhem to notice the group entering the room.

Gilly and Chance launch arrows and magic.  Rolf and Tuihidock form a battle line to repel the goblin counter attack.

The goblins recover from surprise and charge.

A melee ensues, a couple of goblins fall, but get some good strikes in on Tuihirdock and Rolf.  A couple of goblins pelt the party with glass items being used as improvised missile weapons.

Watching with unease outside the room as the battle rages, Cinart wonders:  What did I sign up for?!

Goblins attempt to flank around the fighters but fail.

The party gains the upper hand, chase down, and dispatch the last of the goblins.

The characters find the bodies of the  factory employees in the furnace room.  Most have been slain in the crude manner of goblins.  One death was very different than the others.   Lonjiku Kaijitsu, owner of the Glassworks, has had molten glass carefully poured over him.  Whoever did this wanted a particular revenge against against him...

Another view of the furnace room and work floor.

Moving on,  Rolf leads the party into the storeroom.  Most containers hold a useful material for making glass.  One lockable chest is found open and has had it's contents removed.

The party moves forward.  There is a stairwell to the left going to a lower level, but the group elects to continue the search of the main floor of the Glassworks.

Gilly picks the locks of the Glassworks doors as they are encountered, so there is an escape route should the need arise.

Exploring the service entrance and side office.

The office and service entrance are empty and slightly ransacked.

The long hallway.  The furnaces are to the left.

The party moves down the long hallway..

The meeting room is empty.

The party searches the kitchen and dining area.  The goblins ransacked it.

No goblins found in the pantry closet, but much of it's contents are missing.  Cinart watches the back.  Gilly and Chance search the dining area.

The party presses forward wondering if there are more goblins hiding out.

The sleeping quarters of the workers was a grisly mess.  They were most likely ambushed and murdered while they slept.

Storage closets containing mundane items like brooms and mops.

The party searches the last room of the Glassworks:  the public showroom where items would be put out for sale to the citizens of Sandpoint.

Main floor of the Sandpoint Glassworks

Sandpoint Glassworks in Miniature using Dwarven Forge Dungeon Tiles.

Game Master view of Glassworks main floor.

After completing the search of the main floor, the party gathers at the stairwell to the lower level.  Chance throws a light spell and Cinart lights a torch.

 

 

 

Entering the basement level.  To their left is a hallway with what looks like the rubble of a knocked down wall.  Someone walled off part of the basement?  (And now it's down!)

 

 

The hallway contains many extra materials used in making glass.

Gilly the halfling rogue scouts forward.

They spot two doors on their right hand side.

Another room is discovered.

A second door in the hallway...this one is locked.

Gilly tries to pick the lock.  She hears someone inside the room.  The party knocks on the door, "Ameiko is that you?  It's Gilly!"

Tsuto Kaijitsu hears the party's commotion, storms out of a door further down the hall, and yells for his goblin allies.

Tsuto attacks!

Rolf falls under the attack.

Tuihidock and Gilly engage Tsuto.  Chance Arcane opens a healing potion and uses mage hand to deliver it to Rolf.

Rolf soon rejoins the combat.  Tsuto's cries for the assistance of his goblin allies is all for naught..the party defeated them upstairs!

The group's weapons find their mark and Tsuto is badly injured.  Using acrobatics, he disengages and flees down the hallway.

Tuihirdock uses his uncanny barbarian speed to chase Tsuto down.

Rolf joins trying to prevent Tsuto from escaping through a door.

Tsuto is defeated and falls, but is not dead...  Chance Arcane:  "We'll be able to question him!"

Gilly picks the lock, and with Cinart's help releases Ameiko.  She is informed of the events, including her father's death, and grows very silent from the trauma of the day.

The door Tsuto was escaping to leads to a long tunnel.

Tuirdock:  "Dis door leads to a hallway dat goes on quite some ways."  Gilly:  "This must be the old smuggler's entrance.  That probably goes all the way down to the sea." 

The smugglers tunnel area had been bricked off some time ago.  Tsuto and his goblin cohorts must have knocked it down to gain an unseen entrance into Sandpoint and the Glassworks.

Tsuta has some treasure on him and some notes.

The parchments detailed the plans of attack.

What the!?

The realities of the battle were setting in on the party.  Wounds had been taken, Chance's spells expended, and healing potions depleted.  It would be handy to have a cleric in the party!  They could go no further that day.  It was decided that the party get themselves and Ameiko to safety before pressing on.  They would return to Inn to rest up and prepare for the next mystery that awaits them down the smuggler's tunnels.