Rise of the Runelords Recap # 25 [RPG]

[6 Neth 4707 continued]

Father Zantus is the spiritual leader of Sandpoint.

Having returned from the hinterlands with the body of their fallen friend, the adventurers head straight to the Sandpoint Cathedral.  The brand new building of glass and stone has been turned into a makeshift hospital for the wounded and diseased victims of the ghoul menace that is spreading through the southern farmlands.  Father Zantus and his acolytes look tired and haggard, and when he’s asked about restoring Ome to life, he says it simply can’t be done.  He says he just managed to replace the scroll destroyed the last time he tried to help the adventurers, and he has to save the new one for a true emergency.  Artemis mentions he’s been feeling ill since fighting the ghouls, and Father Zantus confirms he’s in the early stages of ghoul fever.  The cleric of Desna tells the group that the Cathedral has expended its supply of magicks to remove disease at present, but that he sent one of his acolytes, Sister Erica, to Habe’s Sanatorium a couple of days prior when Sheriff Hemlock informed him that Dr. Habe was dead and that someone was needed to look after the patients still detained there.  Sister Erica was given two such scrolls in case any of the patients contracted the disease, and she took with her a friend interested in herbalism and alchemy.  He asks the adventurers if they’d be willing to check on Sister Erica, given the events of the past days and the isolated location of the sanatorium, and says that if she still has one of the scrolls left, they’d be welcome to it.  They agree to head to the sanatorium once their other business in Sandpoint is concluded.

The adventurers discuss what to do with Ome’s body.  Bey suggests the group strip the corpse of all possessions and divide the items amongst the survivors, withholding a small amount to donate to Kaye Tessarani for the rebuilding of the Pixie’s Kitten.  The others agree and Ome’s body is taken to the morgue below the Sandpoint Garrison.  All of the stone slabs are occupied by covered bodies, so the group find a dusty, out-of-the-way corner to go about their task.  Item by item, Ome’s wordly goods are divided among the adventurers.  Afterwards, (leaving the body where it lay), the group sell some of Ome’s possessions that nobody wanted.  A portion of the resulting wealth is delivered to the Rusty Dragon and entrusted with Ameiko to make sure Kaye gets it.  After Artemis prepares some correspondence to be sent to Magnimar, the adventurers requisition mounts from the garrison and leave Sandpoint at midday.

A ghoul wererat?

The mounted travellers make quick time and are unmolested on their journey.  Barely an hour’s ride brings them to the Saintly Haven of Respite, better known as Habe’s Sanatorium.  The squat, stone building is built into the lee of a limestone escarpment known as Ashen Rise.  From the outside, the building looks secure: boards have been nailed over the ground-floor windows, and the front door is still shut.  However, Artemis’ keen eyesight picks out a startling detail: in a shadowy alcove, a bestial creature is clinging to the wall and trying to wrench free one of the boards covering a window!  Artemis drops from his horse with startling speed, nocks an arrow, sends it hurtling towards the creature, and strikes true.  But the arrow shatters, leaving the creature completely unharmed!  Artemis shares what he’s seen with his allies, and although they still can’t make the figure out, they begin to move toward the building.

Sister Erica

Two figures inside the building know what is trying to break its way in, and they know they have only themselves to blame.  Sister Erica, an elderly halfling worshipper of Erastil, and Kang, a haughty, strange-looking plane-touched man with a prehensile tail, arrived at Habe’s Sanatorium just two days previously.  At first, all had gone well: Sister Erica checked on the two elderly patients still detained in the facility, as well as the wererat Pidget Tergelson.  But later that night, it became clear that something had followed their scents through the farmlands and to the sanatorium:  ghouls!  Knowing there was no chance of fighting them off, Sister Erica and Kang had hatched a desperate plan: they set Pidget free to fight the ghouls, promising him they’d find a cure for his lycanthropy.  The plan worked brilliantly at first: Pidget tore the ghouls apart and was barely scratched by their teeth and claws.  He disappeared into the darkness and in the days since, the sanatorium has been safe.  Until now!  Pidget Torgelson had contracted ghoul fever in his first fight, and now he is more than a man, and more even than a wererat: he’s become a hideous and unthinkable ghoul lycanthrope!  And for his first meal, he’s decided to feast upon those who set him free.   Kang quickly hands Sister Erica a concoction and tells her to make a run for it after drinking it, for it will turn her invisible and hide her from the beast.  The two of them head for the side-door.

The screech of nails being pulled from wood indicates that Pidget has yanked free the last obstacle barring his path into the interior of the building.  Briza fires an arrow at the dangerous creature, but it too shatters.  Even Bey’s new bardiche can’t penetrate the abomination’s skin!  But just seconds before the creature can climb through the window, Arnald emerges from the treeline on his warhorse and buries his massive red axe into Pidget’s back.  The blade bites deep into the creature’s spine, killing it instantly.

Realizing that Pidget has been dealt with, Sister Erica and Kang meet their rescuers outside.  Kang is suspicious at first and threatens to blow the newcomers up with a bomb if they don’t explain themselves, but Sister Erica recognizes Artemis’ tabard and knows he’s a member of the Sandpoint Watch.  Bey explains that they’ve come at the behest of Father Zantus to check on them.  The decision is made that everyone, including the two elderly patients inside, should head directly for Sandpoint.  But first, the matter of Artemis’ ghoul fever must be dealt with.  Sister Erica confirms she still has two remove disease scrolls.  As Bey is the more skilled spellcaster, she performs the rites.  Her attempt with the first scroll fails to cure the tenacious disease, but her second try is successful.  Putrescence drains from Artemis’ pores as the rotting disease leaves his body.

Kang the Magnificent!

The journey north is uneventful, though the farm trails and Lost Coast Road seem deserted.  The adventurers decide to leave Sister Erica and her two patients at the shack where Ome used to live, as several refugees from the damaged Pixie’s Kitten can look after them.  Briza chats with her fellow bouncers and has to deliver the bad news of Ome’s death.  She hears in turn that Sandpoint remains dangerous as well: another murder victim, the town butcher, has been discovered.  Bey asks the group if they should investigate, but Artemis says they need to focus on the source of the problems: Foxglove Manor.  Briza asks Kang if he’d like to go with them.  The tiefling is intrigued by the prospect of learning how to synthesize the paralytic powers of ghouls, and, designating Briza as his “assistant”, he agrees.  The adventurers, five strong once again, head back to Habe’s Sanatorium and reach it in the late afternoon.  They spend the remaining daylight fortifying it against attack, and they even bring their mounts inside for safekeeping.

[7 Neth 4707]

Most of the night passes uneventfully, but in the early morning hours, the distressed whinnying of a horse can be heard outside in the distance.  Arnald decides to investigate and goes outside.  In the dwindling darkness, he can make out a horse laying on its side about a 150’ away being swarmed over by humanoid shapes.  Arnald starts thumping loudly on the doorframe to wake his friends, but his action also alerts the creatures to his presence and they start rushing towards the building!  Artemis and Briza react quickly and rush to the doorway to fire their bows.  One of the shapes falls and lays motionless, but the other two reach the circle of light cast by Arnald’s everburning torch: ghouls!  Artemis lets fly another arrow and fells a second one, while Arnald takes the fight to the last remaining ghoul and lops off its head with a single swing of his axe!  With the excitement all over, a few members of the group venture out to check on the dead horse and conclude it must have been a plow-horse from a nearby farm.

Everyone manages to get a couple of more hours of sleep.  Bey has a strange dream about a ferocious lion with a barbed tail, and, when she shares this dream with her allies, Kang says that she’s been dreaming about a manticore.  Over breakfast, the others share with Kang what they know about Foxglove Manor.  The day’s journey begins well, as they reach the Foxglove River with no impediments.  Following the overgrown trail west along its northern banks, the group notice the brightly-painted carriage characteristic of Varisian nomads stationed near an ancient shrine to Desna.  Bey is intrigued and rides over to the group to introduce herself.  Upon hearing that there is a Harrower amongst them, she excitedly pays for a reading and convinces all of her allies, except for Kang, to do the same.  Inside the back of the carriage, Bey receives a reading performed by an elderly-looking woman.  Bey can tell that the woman has no real skill at divination, but the adventurer remains enthusiastic.  After Briza has her turn, Arnald enters.  He too receives a fairly generic reading, but for some baffling reason he reacts violently: he jumps on the table and raises his greataxe at the woman!  With uncanny speed, a dagger appears in her hand as she calls out for help.

One adventurer has been laid to rest, but another has taken her place as the journey towards Foxglove Manor shows only intermittent progress.  What will the outcome be of Arnald’s bizarre actions in the Varisian campsite?

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Director's Commentary (September 3, 2017)

Since Ome died last session, this session sees the PCs return her body to Sandpoint.  They followed the classic adventurers' habit of stripping the corpse of all of its possessions, something which I've always found mildly distasteful (not to mention it slows the session down as everyone has to decide what to take, and then the remnant has to be valued and sold).  And in a fitting twist, they were so busy splitting the loot they forgot they left the body sitting in a dark and dusty corner of the morgue!

It's always fun to have an exciting entrance for a new character, so I came up with the story of Pidget being released from the Sanatorium to fight off ghouls and then being turned himself.  Fortunately, I had Classic Horrors Revisited which contained a ghoul lycanthrope template fitting exactly this situation!  

Ome's player introduced his new PC, Kang the Magnificent, a tiefling alchemist.  Kang is role-played extremely well as an egotistical self-proclaimed genius.  He's also proven to be a beast in the adventure path, as throwing bombs against Touch AC means he practically never misses and often damages multiple opponents each round.  Rise of the Runelords was written before the Advanced Player's Guide, and occasionally it shows.

The stuff with the fortune-tellers was a slightly-adjusted set-up for the encounter "Sczarni Wagon" from Volume 3 of the Pathfinder hardcover comic.  I wasn't actually expecting any combat at all, as the PCs would essentially be conned out of a trivial amount of money for false predictions.  I don't think anyone at the table, including Arnald's player, had any explanation for why the character suddenly decided to jump up on the table and threaten the woman with his greatsword.  Truly, one of the bizarre moments in gaming history!  Arnald was known for doing somewhat random things, but this one really took the cake.