Rise of the Runelords Recap # 59 [RPG]

[31 Kuthona 4707]

In the middle of the afternoon, Salma is confident she’s memorized the features of her room at the Rusty Dragon.  She heads out to find Ava, and soon learns that the grippli is visiting with the mysterious Nerissa at the Sandpoint Cathedral.  Still weak from the assassin’s poison, Nerissa repeats her claim that she has no idea why she was attacked and little memory of her life previous to washing up on a nearby beach.  Father Zantus comes to check in on his patient.  He gives Salma a long, curious look with a flicker of recognition, and Salma hastily identifies herself as a newcomer to town named “Silva.”  Father Zantus is hesitant, but finishes his examination of Nerissa and then departs, mentioning that it’s nearly sunset so everyone needs to “take the necessary precautions."

Jargie's known for telling wildly amusing
and inconsistent stories about how he lost his leg.

Ava is intrigued at this cryptic warning and spends the remainder of the afternoon trying to find someone to explain what Father Zantus meant.  Most of the residents she asks change the subject or simply walk away, but she manages to persuade one person to speak: Jargie Quinn, proprietor of Sandpoint’s preeminent seafood restaurant, the Hagfish.  Even the normally voluble Jargie is reluctant to speak, but Ava is just so cute and small that he can’t refuse her aid.  He explains that tonight is known as the Night of the Pale, when the spirits of the departed walk the land.  Jargie says anyone with a lick of sense barricades themselves indoors with certain symbols on the door to keep the dead from entering.  Ava takes a look at the symbols and discerns that they’re holy Pharasmin runes telling spirits that they’re not invited.

Madame M'vashti is the
oldest resident of Sandpoint.

As Ava finishes her examination, the sun begins to dip below the horizon and ominous bells toll from the Cathedral.  The adventurers hastily convene as all the townsfolk begin locking their doors.  Salma takes refuge inside the Rusty Dragon (as does Nerissa within the Cathedral), but Kang, who is wavering, is addressed by an aged Varisian woman standing across the street.  The woman, known to locals as Madame M’vashti, tells Kang that she’s read the Harrow and that there’s something Kang needs to see tonight—he needs to realize the full implications of his past failures, because “da’ bad man comin’ gonna be more powerful din before.”  Before leaving, she alludes to having foreseen that she won’t live out the month.  Kang decides to see things through in the town square, and Ava and Jinkatsyu bravely accompany him.

Hours pass as the night grows darker and colder until, near midnight, the adventurers hear the sound of hundreds of people marching.  A ghostly procession approaches, led by the solemn visage of Father Maelin Shreed of Turtleback Ferry.  Accompanying him are hundreds of townspeople of that doomed village.  Almost all of them pass by the adventurers wordlessly, but the spirit of the town’s innkeeper, Cesten Orlandi, stops slowly and faces Kang.  “You could have saved us!” he moans over and over again, growing more and more vehement each time.  Kang is overwhelmed by the psychic assault and collapses into a coma!  The procession continues as Ava and Jinkatsyu try to awaken Kang, but with no success.  The last figure in the procession is that of the town’s schoolteacher, Tillia Henkenson.  She says in a wistful whisper, “tell him we understand and forgive . . . but worse is coming, and he has to be ready.”  When the procession is finished, Ava and Jinkatsyu carry the unconscious Kang to shelter to wait out the rest of the long night.

[1 Abadius 4808]

In the morning, the two adventurers carry Kang to the Cathedral to consult with Father Zantus.  The priest suspects Kang is suffering from a spiritual curse of some kind, but can provide little in the way of explanation as to what the long-term effects of it will be.  Ava decides to consult with Salma.  After a quick magical jaunt to the Kreeg Clanhold to collect some of the spoils of war left there, Salma arrives at the Cathedral and examines Kang.  His vast erudition allows him to recall the details of a rarely-cast spell that shatters the curse and jolts the tiefling back to consciousness!  All Kang can remember of the last several hours are constant, recurring visions of a dam bursting and himself drowning, over and over and over again.  He’s obviously shaken by the experience.  Kang’s recovery is accompanied by that of Nerissa, as her body’s ability to recover from the assassin’s poison has been dramatically accelerated by Ava’s divinely-fuelled intercession.

 As the adventurers leave the Cathedral, they’re met by Bosk Hartigan, Sandpoint’s Deputy Sheriff and primary criminal investigator.  Bosk explains in his gravelly voice that he’s been left in charge since Sheriff Hemlock is out trying to verify the claims that the adventurers made to the mayor yesterday.  The grizzled veteran goes on to say that he’s managed to link Nerissa’s attacker to a boat that’s still tethered to the docks, and that, given everything that’s happened, he’s willing to work with them if they want to accompany him on the raid.  The adventurers agree and, after a (relatively fruitless) discussion with Jodar Provolost about the town’s defences against invasion, meet Hartigan at the docks.  Ava runs to Sandpoint Savories, where Nerissa works, and persuades her to come along on the raid.

The sword is enchanted to leave vicious
wounds in the flesh of humans!

The adventurers approach cautiously, with Salma possessing the body of a wharf rat and leaving her own body to slump to the ground, alarming Hartigan.  Kang, Nerissa, and Salma huddle around the door to the boat’s cabin while Kang searches it for traps.  Having pronounced it safe, he opens the door only to trigger a trap as dozens of flasks of alchemist fire drop from the ceiling of the cabin and explode!  Nerissa somehow escapes without even being singed, literally running over the water to reach safety.  Salma’s possessed rat is obliterated.  Kang is burned, but bravely dashes into the blazing ship to see if anything can be recovered.  He finds a secret compartment containing a mask and a sword, and manages to make it out of the inferno alive.  As the residents of Sandpoint start a bucket brigade to keep the fire from spreading to the docks, the adventurers examine Kang’s discovery.  The mask is insect-like, with antenna and long mandibles, while the sword is cruelly serrated.  Nerissa feels like maybe she’s seen these items before, but any concrete memories are lost in a veil of fog.  Salma’s spells identify each as heavily-enchanted (and quite valuable) items.  Unfortunately, both items are seized by Bosk Hartigan as evidence pertaining to the original crime, and, despite Kang’s protests, they’re taken off the adventurers’ hands.

After returning to their inn for a brief respite, discussion turns to how to prepare for the expected invasion of Sandpoint.  Kang and Salma decide to see what they can find out about dragons, since the intercepted message mentioned that the invading force would include one.  The two have little difficulty persuading local legend-keeper Ilsoari Gandethus for permission to use his museum and archives for research.  Meanwhile, Nerissa and Jinkatsyu decide a sparring match would be a good way to see if Nerissa is able to use the weapons that washed up on shore next to her.  At the Red Dragon, Ameiko clears space in the common room so that her patrons can be entertained by the duel.  She has to call the match, off, however, after Jinkatsyu inexplicably fumbles his way through his opening moves, appearing to be more harmful to himself and the audience than his opponent!

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Director's Commentary (January 1, 2019)

In the Golarion calendar, this was the Night of the Pale, a holiday where the spirits of the dead are said to walk.  I couldn't find much about it online, so I improvised a few things.  I think holidays are an important way to make a setting believable and realistic, so I like to incorporate them whenever I can.  Here, as you can see, I really wanted to bring home the depth of the failure to save Turtleback Ferry and set up ominous foreshadowing that even worse things could happen if the adventurers don't get their act together.

The explosion aboard the assassin's boat was a pretty exciting scene, and I was impressed that they were able to find the hidden trapdoor even with the fire raging (Kang's fire resistance helped, of course).  I would have handled some things differently with the Red Mantis if I had some of the setting material I have now, but at the time all I really had to go on with the group was their entry in the Pathfinder Wiki.  I'm always annoyed at myself when I mess up established setting lore.

Jinkatsyu's duel with Nerissa has become an infamous moment in the campaign.  It was intended just as a bit of fun, but when Jinks' player rolled *three* natural ones in  a row, I had to make a big deal of it.  Even now, something like forty sessions later, people in Sandpoint talk about how terrible a swordsman Jinks is despite all other evidence to the contrary.

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