Rise of the Runelords Recap # 40 [RPG]

[4 Kuthona 4707]

The crew and passengers of Pinkeye’s Comeuppance settle in for another day’s journey east up the Yondabakari.  Little seems to distinguish one hour from the next, except for incidents that seem minor at the time but that hold greater meaning in retrospect.  Kang notices that one of the halfling shipmates, a man with a pitted and scarred face named Skivolo, keeps glaring at him when he thinks the tiefling isn’t looking.  Kang tells Briza that the fellow is probably jealous of his skills at alchemy and may turn to theft out of anger, and that she should keep her eyes open.  Meanwhile, Kozen returns from a walk on shore to find  fellow passenger Tillia Henkenson, the schoolmarm of Turtleback Ferry, petting her dog, Taz.  Tillia shyly explains that she misses her dog back home, and that this journey upriver is already turning out to be far different than when she accompanied a caravan on the way to Magnimar.  As it starts to get dark, Shalelu draws Artemis aside and gives him a cryptic warning that once they’ve passed Ilsurian, they’ve left the reaches of civilization behind and have to be ready to make some hard choices in the field.  Once the boat lays in for the night, Captain Othlo explains to Briza, in a roundabout way, that he recognizes what she and the others did to fend off the boggards.  He hands her a new fishing pole hand-crafted by the crew.  She’s jubilant over the gift.

That night, Kozen and Briza maintain watch while their fellows slumber.  But as they watch for any dangers approaching the boat, they don’t realize that the true danger is already aboard!  Skivolo, the halfling shipmate who aroused Kang’s suspicions earlier, silently treads over to where Kang is sleeping, unwraps a dagger wrapped in a cloak, and cuts the tiefling’s throat!  But in the darkness, Skivolo failed to realize the slightly different anatomy of the tiefling and missed the jugular—Kang’s wound is serious, but not fatal, and he cries out in alarm as he wakes in great pain to discover his would-be assassin lurking over him.  Kang rolls to his feet, downs a vial, and suddenly disappears from view.  The whole ship is awakened to see Skivolo with the blood-stained knife.  “He was there!  He saw what they did to me!  They’re tortured me and he didn’t even care!” the halfling shouts over and over, stabbing uselessly at the spot where Kang disappeared.  Kozen dodges various crates and supplies on deck and lashes out with the flat of her scythe to knock Skivolo to the ground, and Briza does a flying leap to body slam him to the deck.  Artemis supplies the manacles to ensure the halfling will prove no further threat.  Captain Othlo has him locked in the ship’s small cargo hold and tells Kang that an affidavit against Skivolo can be sworn out once they reach the next town.  Afterwards, Kozen and Briza asks Kang what the halfling was raving about.  Kang says he’s never been in a situation where someone was tortured and that likely the halfling mistook him for another tiefling.

[5 Kuthona 4707]

The vessel continues east.  Save for an occasional barge coming downriver or a wagon passing along the Dry Way, the long stretch between Magnimar and Wartle seems rarely used in winter. 

During the voyage, Kozen slips into the cluttered hold and manages to speak with Skivolo.  The halfling grudgingly explains that he was abducted from his home one night years ago and taken some place far underground, where there were strange, dusky purple-skinned elves.  They experimented on him, he says, for untold months, and during one such torture session he saw a figure that could only be Kang walk right by!  Weeks later, his captors let him go, Skivolo says, and he wandered through tunnels lit only by phosphorescent moss for days until finally finding a way back to the surface.  Kozen is sympathetic to the obviously emotionally-scarred man, but says that his plight still doesn’t justify murder.

Kang spends some hours deep in thought and reaches a decision: he needs to speak with his assailant firsthand.  The master alchemist swallows a new concoction that shrinks his physical form and then enters the hold to confront Skivolo.  Kang endures the halfling’s verbal tirades before admitting the essential truth of what happened.  But, Kang confides, he was as much a prisoner to the legendary “drow” as Skivolo was, and there was nothing he could do to help.  In a show of humanity that his allies have perhaps never glimpsed, Kang tells Skivolo that he’ll ask Othlo to let him go.  Skivolo says nothing will make up for Kang’s callousness those years ago, but that he’ll leave the boat and never return.

Goblins are cruel, vicious, and probably insane.

As Kang emerges from the shadowy hold into the crisp daylight, a general shout of alarm goes up on deck.  Goblins have been spotted on the north shore, trying to set fire to a trapper’s cabin while the trapper himself is perched on the top of it!  Captain Othlo orders his crew to maintain current speed and course, but the adventurers spring into action.  Kozen, Shalelu, and Goragar (while mounted on his warhorse!) all try to jump to shore only to land in the water.  Artemis sinks an arrow into the nearest goblin from almost a 140’ away.  Finally realizing they’re being attacked, some of the goblins charge towards the boat singing “Goblins turn and Goblins fight, goblins sink a boat tonight!”  The ox that pulls the vessel on the port side is the first target of the goblins’ wrath and suffers several stab wounds.  Other goblins continue dancing and setting fire to the trapper’s cabin, leading Briza to call out to Kang to rescue the poor man.  Kang knocks back another elixir and soars into the sky just seconds before a fusillade of goblin arrows injure several of the halfling crewmembers.  Flying swiftly through the air, Kang manages to grab the now-unconscious trapper.  Meanwhile, Kozen realizes the fast-moving boat is leaving her behind and runs to catch up, and Shalelu does the same thing while firing arrows on the run.  Goragar and his steed reach shore and charge into the advancing goblins, sending several fleeing in terror.  The goblins are routed and scatter, with all but a couple perishing from the overwhelming firepower of the adventurers.

That night, Goragar channels holy energies to close the wounds suffered by the halflings, the ox, and the rescued trapper, who gives his name as Shiggogan.  Shiggogan says he doesn’t have any way to repay the adventurers, but that he’s forever in their debt.  Briza feeds Goragar’s horse a carrot as a partial apology for a stray arrow during the fight, while Kozen offers some comforting words to Tillia after yet another brush with danger.

[6 Kuthona 4707]

The last stretch of water before Wartle is travelled without incident, and as dusk falls, Pinkeye’s Comeuppance reaches the docks of the small hamlet.  A handful of muck-encrusted cabins and shacks built on the edge of the Mushfens, Wartle offers little in the way of amenities.  Artemis, Kang, and Goragar follow some of the deckhands and find themselves in a dimly-lit, cramped, and filthy watering hole named the Lean-To.  The locals (bearded, husky men who have obviously lived a hard life) are friendly enough to most of the visitors, but Kang is mocked for his haughty manner and addressed as “Your Majesty.”  The only drink available, served in communal bottles, is called “Bog Grog” and tastes as good as its name implies.  Time passes in idle drinking and conversation until suddenly the omnipresent sound of dogs barking and insects chirping stops.  A look of panic passes over the locals’ faces, and in unison they slap a copper piece on the table, douse the lanterns, and slip under the nearest table.  “The Dark Lady!” one whispers.  “She’s coming!”

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Director's Commentary (18/3/2018)

Kang's backstory is a really interesting one that I hadn't yet managed to do anything with.  It took me a bit to come up with the idea of a survivor of his time in the Darklands seeking revenge.  I didn't actually expect the coup de grace attempt to come off, but the assassin rolled a natural 20 (an automatic success under our house rules) on his Stealth check.  Fortunately, the damage roll was low and Kang rolled high on his Fortitude save to survive (matching the number exactly).  It's interesting to think about how much sometimes hinges in a campaign on a single die roll, as Kang has become the "oldest" member of the group as I write this now.  I also quite liked the aftermath to the assassination attempt, as we got to see another side of Kang's personality.

The goblins were what turned up on a random encounter roll.  I knew they'd be a complete pushover, but the encounter was kind of fun anyway, with the biggest challenge for the PCs consisting on saving the trapper but not getting left behind by the boat!

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