Rise of the Runelords Recap # 79 [RPG]

[8 Calistril 4708 continued]

After the defeat of Mokmurian and the ominous speech from Karzoug, a shocked silence fills the vaulted chamber.  But then the silence is broken by the mechanical speech of the ancient library’s caretaker, a millennia-old clockwork construct: “Which volume of lore would you like me to retrieve for you? There are currently 24,491 volumes, scrolls, pamphlets, and unbound manuscripts available.  Please indicate your wish by author, title, subject, or date of acquisition by the Therassic Monastery.”  Salma is able to understand the creature’s mostly-forgotten language, and asks if it has info on Xin-Shalast, a place mentioned in Karzoug’s mocking speech.  The clockwork librarian affirms that indeed the library has several useful volumes on the subject, and that it is ready to assist in retrieving them.

The decision is made that research can wait, however, as there are still several tribes of stone giants on the surface getting ready to march!  After quickly stripping Mokmurian’s body of powerful magickal artifacts, the adventurers hurry to where they last saw Conna the Wise.  They find her at the bottom of a massive ramp that connects the surface to the first subterranean level of Jorgenfist.  Conna is proclaiming Mokmurian’s death to the assembled stone giant leaders around the rim above, saying that the spirit of Vanderrac has told her the time has come to return to their ancestral homes.  The giants above are sceptical until Yuzo runs to the library, severs Mokmurian’s head, and returns with it to stand next to Conna.  The tribal leaders slowly nod in acceptance of the truth, and the forces assembled around Jorgenfist begin to disperse.  Conna thanks the adventurers, stating that they have earned her gratitude for helping to spare the lives of so many of her people.

The adventurers discuss what to do next, with various possibilities raised: returning to Hook Mountain to find the hag who escaped Jinkatsyu’s revenge; seeking out the cave of Longtooth (the dragon slain in the attack on Sandpoint) and looting its hoard; teleporting to Magnimar to sell the spoils of war; or heading for Sandpoint to see that Nerissa receives a proper burial.  The Heroes of Varisia justifiably decide to rest on their laurels for the night, and decide in the morning.

[9 Calistril 4708]

Gripplis rarely leave their 

homes in the swamp.

In the morning, the decision is made to teleport first to Sandpoint.  When they arrive in front of the Rusty Dragon, Ava suddenly remembers that she’s been legally exiled from the town!  She starts to panic until Salma turns her invisible and Yuzo promises to escort her across the river via the nearby bridge.  As the two start walking, they realize that the most incredible thing has happened: Sandpoint has become almost overrun by gripplis!  On almost every street corner, groups of Ava’s racial kin are laughing, hopping, and chattering noisily with each other in their native tongue.  She’s overjoyed by their presence, yet still wary of getting them or herself in trouble by being caught within the town’s borders.

Salma, Jinkatsyu, and Kang notice the same thing as they head towards the Sandpoint Cathedral with Nerissa’s body wrapped in a blanket.  Jinkatsyu says that the Scarnettis must be at wits end with so many “freaks” about, and when the trio ask one of the gripplis what’s going on, they learn that their tribe has come from the Mushfens because their Elder Chief Cragpawmpum had a vision that Big Hero Ava would slay the most dangerous threat to the land and establish a new shrine to their god, Sinashakti, here in Sandpoint.  The grippli explains that they arrived only yesterday, just in time for the big earthquake that rocked the town and was a sign of Ava’s impending arrival!  Salma explains that Ava has indeed arrived, but isn’t allowed in the town because its leaders exiled her.  Elder Chief Cragpawmpum arrives to investigate why his people have started congregating around the newcomers.  When he hears about the situation, he sends scouts across all of the bridges to find Ava and then leads the rest of the gripplis towards the town hall to get Ava’s order of exile revoked!  The trio of adventurers look on with amusement as the little frog-like humanoids hop towards Sandpoint’s center of power.

When the trio reach the Sandpoint Cathedral, Father Zantus is saddened to hear of Nerissa’s death.  He affirms that he can, of course, arrange a proper burial, and that surely Sister Giulia would wish to attend.  He says it will take a couple of days to arrange everything, but the adventurers persuade him to plan a ceremony at sundown this very day, explaining that they have important business to attend to elsewhere.  When they ask about the gripplis’ mention of an “earthquake,” Father Zantus nods and explains that it was only a minor one, but it did open a sinkhole just outside the garrison’s northern wall on Tower Street.  He says that no one was hurt, but that last night, strange howling and bloodcurdling screams came from the hole.  Early this morning, Sheriff Hemlock sent some guards led by Bosk Hartigan into the hole to investigate and they haven’t yet returned.  Salma cleverly notes that the time the earthquake occurred matches precisely the moment in which Mokmurian was slain.

Meanwhile, a pair of gripplis sent by their elder to find Ava come across Yuzo, failing to realize that the object of their search is standing nearby, completely invisible.  When the gripplis explain why they’ve come to Sandpoint, Yuzo gets swept up in the moment and starts proclaiming Ava’s many “divine” qualities and even coins the appellation that spreads like wildfire through the tribe: “Ava, the Light of Sinashakti!”  When Ava starts talking (while invisible), the two gripplis think they’re in the presence of a divine being and one of them faints while the other, filled with religious fervour, starts marking the spot where their empyreal lord first sent his emissary to their people.  The grippli then speeds off into town to tell Elder Chief Cragpawmpum of Ava’s manifestation.

Back at the Cathedral, the other adventurers make their way to the town hall, curious to see what’s happening.  They find that the gripplis have, en masse, interrupted a meeting of the town executive and are hopping all over the chamber.  Titus Scarnetti is obstinate at first, but after repeated pressure by the heads of the other noble families (and the aggravation of dozens of gripplis everywhere), he begrudgingly votes to lift Ava’s ban from Sandpoint.  The gripplis cheer and holler with joy, and Kang unfurls his dragonfly wings to fly to Yuzo and Ava’s position to tell them the good news.  Ava makes a grand entrance on her return to the town, crying with joy, to the great acclaim of the other gripplis.  She is greeted warmly by Elder Chief Cragpawmpum, and he enjoins his people to give the Light of Sinashakti both reverence and some space.

Once the adventurers are reunited, they decide it would be worth helping out the town and investigating the sinkhole to see if they can find the missing guards.  A quick stop is made at the markets for some fresh food and other supplies.  Kang learns that Nisk Tander has leveraged “Nisk Tander’s Elixir of the Peaks” into a profitable new business in Magnimar and has even given Bimmy Beems a Sandpoint “franchise.”  Jinkatsyu is recognized and teased by some of the patrons at the Rusty Dragon who saw his ignoble “duel” some weeks ago, while Yuzo looks nervously at the ocean and keeps muttering about something looking for her.

When everyone is ready, they find Sheriff Hemlock and offer their services.  He’s grateful for the help, and notes a detail that hasn’t been made public yet.  Tracks were found leading *out* of the hole at dawn this morning, which is why he sent the guardsmen in to investigate, simultaneously asking Daviren Hosk to follow the tracks.  With neither the guards nor Hosk yet returning, Sheriff Hemlock is concerned that the sinkhole may have opened up ancient chambers full of monsters, like those other adventurers once found under the Glassworks.

An examination of the sinkhole shows that it’s almost thirty feet wide, and has partially consumed the outer walls of the basement cells of the town’s garrison.  However, it’s only fifteen feet deep, and the adventurers have no trouble climbing down.  A narrow opening along the northern wall of the sinkhole allows access to a short tunnel leading further downward into darkness.  The adventurers soon realize that they’ve gained access to the so-called “Catacombs of Wrath” via a different entrance.  A quick search shows that stairs that were once blocked by rubble have been recently cleared, and it seems like as good a lead as any.

When the adventurers reach the bottom of the cleared staircase, they find themselves at a dead end covered in webbing.  Clearing the webbing isn’t difficult, but finding the extremely well-concealed secret door is.  Once the adventurers push their way through, they find themselves in an antechamber of sorts whose walls, floor, and even arched ceiling are covered in Thassilonian writing: some of the writing is in tiny, spidery script, while other words are nearly three-feet high, and the medium varies as well, from blood to dark ink to words etched into the stones themselves.  Kang and Salma are able to discern that much of the writing consists of prayers and scripts to the demon-goddess Lamashtu, but Kang finds a verse that seems completely out of place from the rest: “If magic bright is your desire, to old Runeforge must you retire! For only there does wizards’ art receive its due and proper start.”  As Kang reads the rhyme to his companions, a strange, whispery voice speaks in Thassilonian from a hidden position to the north.  “Who are you?  Where are you from?  “What was the fate of Thassilon?” The adventurers are reticent, with Salma answering only that Thassilon sleeps.  Kang, in turn, asks the voice what “Runeforge” is, and the voice grows coy, describing it as “a place of learning created by Runelords but grown beyond their control.”  The voice describes it as the one place in Thassilon over which the Runelords could not exercise direct influence for fear of enraging the other six and causing an immense war, adding that if there are any secrets that exist to defeat them, they’re within Runeforge’s walls.  But the voice eagerly brags about discovering Runeforge’s location and hiding its map and key within the writings on the walls.  The voice then asks about the fate of the Runelords, the most powerful king and wizard in the realms, etc.  Suspicious that an invasion of the surface might be planned, the adventurers give poor, opaque answers, and in a fit of pique, the voice doesn’t return.

Glabrezu demons are capable 
of granting wishes to mortals.

Heading deeper into the underground complex, the adventurers see what is clearly an ancient shrine of Lamashtu, some of the walls of which have collapsed over the ages.  Standing in front of a partially-broken stone pulpit is a massive four-armed demon, its eyes shining with a mix of intelligence and cruelty.  It smiles as the adventurers approach, but before it can even get a word out, Kang hurls a bomb at it and knocks it to the ground!  “I could have given you your greatest heart’s desire!” the demon shouts.  “But now you have earned my wrath!”  But the demon has never tangled with the Heroes of Varisia before.  Jinkatsyu activates the magic in his strange, insect-like mask and it flies through the air and bites out the demon’s throat!

Seconds later, the distinctive sound can be heard of someone teleporting into the chamber.  An immaculately-dressed courier appears wearing the livery of a Korvosan noble house.  The courier delivers an invitation to Salma to attend and take part in this year’s Breaching Festival at the Acadamae, Korvosa’s premier institutional of magical learning.  The Breaching Festival is an annual event in which competitors vie to enter the school’s Hall of Wards and exit from the other side, thus proving themselves worthy to win a prize that exceeds 15,000 platinum pieces.  However, the competition is known as extremely dangerous, with a winner not being named in over a century and a half.  Given just five minutes to decide via hourglass, the adventurers consult with each other quickly.  Salma says it’s high risk, high reward.  In the end, everyone agrees and they accept the invitation.  The courier reads a magical scroll and teleports everyone away!

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Director's Commentary

This session was the big kick-off to Chapter 5.  I knew that this would probably be the last time the adventurers would spend any significant time in Sandpoint for the rest of the campaign, so I wanted to continue the PCs' connection with it.  I started a new subplot--a tribe of gripplis coming to Sandpoint to worship Ava--and just played it by ear to see how the PCs would react and what would happen.  By this time, the PCs were getting pretty high level and I thought it would be really fun and interesting to bring back the old-school concept of a high-level cleric getting followers and a shrine (whether she asked for it or not!).

The beauty of adventure paths is that they're meant to allow for an open-ended setting customised for each group, but with a through-line to keep things going.  APs aren't like Pathfinder Society or Starfinder Society scenarios which are very much on rails, have to be finished in a set time-frame, and drastically limit GM discretion.  Both styles of adventures have their place, but I think it's important not to run APs like PFS/SFS scenarios where it's just encounter, encounter, encounter.

The earthquake and sinkhole are of course the adventure hook that properly starts off the investigation into the Scribbler's domain.  I'll be writing more about this soon.  Interestingly, the PCs never followed up on what happened to Daviren Hosk, so the ranger's fate remains a mystery.

The ending was my attempt to see if the PCs would bite on an adventure hook that offered major cash rewards but would distract them from the main quest they'd committed to (and further shorten the dwindling timeline to stop Karzoug before it was too late).  The adventure in Korvosa  was the module Academy of Secrets, and we'll quickly see next session what ultimately transpired with it.