Rise of the Runelords Recap # 103 [RPG]

[20 Pharast 4708 continued]

The adventurers’ journey to find the mining camp of the Vekker Brothers, dwarves who disappeared decades ago, continues.  Although the journey won’t be easy, the Vekkers’ claims to have discovered the path to Xin-Shalast is the best lead the Heroes of Varisia have found.  Having teleported to Urglin, crossed the Cinderlands, and found the Kazaron River, the adventurers camp in the foothills of the Kodar Mountains.

That night, Erik and Jinkatsyu are on watch when they suddenly realize that someone is watching them!  A muscular giant with dark grey skin and fiery red hair, dressed in furs and carrying a spear, stands like a statue and silently gazes upon them.  The two sentinels awake their companions, and Kang remembers reading an old entry in a Pathfinder’s log about encountering so-called taiga giants: nomadic hunters and gatherers who have a strong spiritual connection to their ancestors and to the land.  Kang

addresses it in the Giant language, as does Morgiana.  The two adventurers receive only curt replies, indicating that the taiga giant perceives that the adventurers have intruded into its tribe’s territory.  The adventurers ask for permission to traverse the land, but Kang’s arrogance does the negotiations no favour, and the giant makes it clear that the adventurers must turn back or face violence.  To avert hostilities, Ava uses minor teleportation magic to carry everyone several hundred feet away.

[21 Pharast 4708]

The party continues marching, with Morgiana and Jinkatsyu finding it difficult to keep up through the harsh terrain and thinning air.  But magic keeps them from flagging, and by nightfall the adventurers reach a point where the river splits into an eastern and a western branch.  A quick spell allows Ava to ask Veznutt Parooh which branch to take, and they receive an answer: the eastern.

[22 Pharast 4708]

At midday, the party’s progress is halted by the appearance of another taiga giant in their path.  Whether it’s the same one or a different one, they can’t tell.  The giant solemnly calls upon the travellers to turn back, lest they incur the wrath of a malevolent spirit that haunts the area ahead.  According to the giant, the evil spirit flies on the wind, howls in the night, feasts on the flesh of all living things, and turns kin against kin.  In the Giant tongue, the spirit’s name is synonymous with a dread curse . . . “wendigo”!

But the group has come too far to turn back now, despite the ominous portent of what lies ahead.  Ava again uses spellcraft to teleport the group past the taiga giant.  The group follows the Kazaron for a few more miles, and then they spy their goal: the Vekkers’ cabin.  Sitting in a low valley, the cabin is perched on the edge of a 60’ high cliff, with a small shed at the base of the cliff connected to the cabin via an enclosed wooden shaft.  The profusion of lichens growing on its timber walls make it clear the cabin is decades old, but it still looks sturdy—dwarves craft things to last.  Near the shed at the bottom of the cliff is a pile of fine black sand underneath a chute, and, apart from a dead, sagging pine tree, the whole area is devoid of plant life.  Even from a distance, the cabin has the look of a place long abandoned.  As the rugged adventurers take in the sight, they hear, for the first time, an awful, uncanny keening carried on the wind.

The adventurers waste no time in descending to the valley.  The door to the lower shed is burst open, and most of the adventurers go inside, with Morgiana watching the perimeter outside.  Much of what the adventurers see is what they expected: a plank floor, rusted mining tools, decaying garments, and dust everywhere.  Erik pokes his face through a curtain and is startled to see a figure hunched over in the corner of the room!  It looks like a balding dwarf with gold dust thick in his beard, stuffing fistfuls of the stuff into his mouth!  “You!” he shouts at Erik—“You have to try this . . . It’s so delicious!”  Erik feels an unnatural urge to join the dwarf, but he snaps out of it and shakes his head to clear his vision.  The dwarf and the pile of gold dust are gone.  Instead, there’s only a pile of black sand next to the chute that projects through the wall to another pile, outside.

Morgiana suddenly comes inside, pulling the door shut behind her.  She explains that a blizzard is moving in on the cabin at an incredible pace!  Meanwhile, Kang identifies the black dust as containing high concentrations of arsenic, and warns everyone to be careful around it.  Alerted by Erik’s experience that the cabin is probably haunted, the adventurers decide to climb the stairs quickly and hope there are clues about the brothers’ discovery of Xin-Shalast in the portion of the structure that lies at the top of the cliff.  But once they near the top, the stairs suddenly tip over to the side!  The cunning dwarven trap sends Morgiana plummeting almost fifty feet to the bottom of the shaft, though the others manage to grab handholds and hang on.  But the danger isn’t over, as a chain and bucket is animated by dark energies to become a lethal weapon!  Ava channels the light of Sinashakti to drive the evil spirits away, and the chain goes limp.

The upper portion of the cabin contains a bunkroom, a small living area, storage closets, and more.  From the personal items still present, it’s clear that the place was not abandoned with foresight.  As the search continues, disturbing visions and feelings infiltrate the minds of the adventurers: hunger pangs as if on the brink of starvation, mild paranoia that the others have become cannibals, and more.  Using a magical ring that allows her to see through walls, Morgiana discerns that in one room is a pile of bones.  As the storm begins raging in full force outside and the whistling of the wind carries through the cabin, the adventurers decide they have no choice: they’re going to have to enter the room and investigate.

Having found this forlorn cabin in windswept mountains far from civilization, will the Heroes of Varisia survive the terrors that await and discover the path to legendary Xin-Shalast?  Or do the warnings of the taiga giants and the unearthly keening foretell a far worse fate?

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Director's Commentary

The taiga giants were just a random encounter, but they actually ended up being pretty important.  In this session, they give the warning about the wendigo and help establish a feeling of dread, and in later sessions they take on even greater importance.  Kang's attempt at diplomacy failed miserably, as the player intentionally kept the arrogant character from being good at social skills--a nice touch.

We start to see some of the effects of altitude and cold weather come into play, but Ava had the spell resources to keep the party moving.  Without her, they would have had to invest in some magical items to proceed, I think.

We get the first taste of the haunts in the Vekkers' cabin.  I thought this part of the adventure path told a good, creepy story and I was really happy with how it turned out in gameplay.