Rise of the Runelords Recap # 81 [RPG]

[10 Calistril 4708 continued]

Jodar isn't exactly the best guardsman, 

but he's always been friendly to the adventurers.

Fresh from their brief sojourn to Korvosa, the adventurers return to Sandpoint to find that early morning grey skies are drizzling a light rain.  The group walk directly to the sinkhole, where an astonished Jodar Provolost is surprised to see them since he never saw them come out after going in the day prior.  Jodar says that the howling from inside the hole could be heard all night long, and he confesses that most in town think the members of the previous guard patrol are probably dead.  The adventurers decide they’ll find out one way or another, and proceed down to the catacombs under the city.

They find the newly-revealed section much as it was when they abruptly teleported away.  As before, whispering from a hidden figure asks them many questions, such as “where does the King of Varisia live?” and “what nation has the most powerful weapons of war?”  Kang and Salma tell pieces of the truth, and in return are told that the secrets to Runeforge are hidden deeper in the tunnels.  After proceeding through the shattered Lamashtan cathedral where they slew the glabrezu demon, the adventurers find a passageway to the south covered in blood and bits of flesh.  Obviously, whatever happened here ended poorly for someone.  The adventurers push on along a winding southward passage, but soon hear, quite nearby, the howling of some fearsome beasts!  Kang and Yuzo are chilled to the bone and panic.  Ava quickly uses a charm to suppress Kang’s terror, but Yuzo runs into the darkness and smashes straight into a pillar!

Some sages speculate that babau demons are 

formed from the wretched souls of serial killers.

The whispering from the mysterious figure continues as the adventurers recover in the shattered cathedral, with the voice asking more information about the disposition of forces of the various city-states in Varisia.  The group grow tired of the questioning and more and more reticent about answering, and start moving back towards the southern tunnels.  “So the time for talk has come to an end, my sucklings?” taunts the hidden figure in ancient Thassilonian.  “Then learn the true glories of Lamashtu!”  Suddenly, three demons manifest around the lone figure left behind in the cathedral—Salma!  Each of the demons looks like a horned human skeleton smothered with a bone-tight hide of slimy leather.  Armed with longspears, they begin stabbing before the surprised fire mage can react, and in but an instant she crumples to the ground, dead!  Ava teleports to Salma’s side and magically breathes life back into her lungs, only for the cruel demons to continue their stabbing of the now-prone figure!  Bombs and the sound of battle echo through the ancient chambers as the demons teleport right next to the surprised adventurers before being slain and, oddly, disappearing instantly.  Having seen enough, and hearing more arcane chanting from their unseen stalker, Ava shouts for everyone to assemble and then she teleports the group back to the front door of the Rusty Dragon.

Ava sobs as the adventurers walk to the Cathedral, concerned that Salma (like Nerissa before her) won’t be raised from the dead because her spirit will have chosen to move on.  When they reach the building, a brusque Sister Arva allows the group use of a room.  Ava prays to Sinashaskti and then draws upon a spark of his divine power to communicate directly with Salma’s spirit.  But the only response to the question of whether spirit will return to flesh is cryptic: “the wood has burnt, the fire dies.”  Ava becomes convinced that it means Salma’s spirit has moved on, and in her despair she blames Sinashakti for not helping.  The others discuss the meaning of the cryptic words and what Salma indicated she wanted while she was alive, but they can’t find anything conclusive one way or the other.  Ava decides only further prayer can clear her mind.

Kang returns to the sinkhole and tells Jodar what happened just minutes ago.  Jodar says the situation is dire, and notes that Daviren Hosk still hasn’t returned from following the trail of whatever emerged from the hole a couple of nights back.  Kang decides to take up matters directly with Sheriff Hemlock.  Hemlock says he’ll double the guards around the perimeter of the hole, and look into arranging for cartloads of rock and gravel to fill it in.  When Kang asks who in town might be an authority on Thassilon, Hemlock recommends Brodert Quink down by Old Light.  Kang finds the somewhat cantankerous old man quite enthusiastic about anything to do with the empire that ruled Varisia millennia ago.  Quink shares his theory that Old Light was never a lighthouse, but actually a powerful weapon of war capable of hurling balls of fire miles into the sky.  He explains that Sandpoint sits on the border between two parts of the ancient empire of Thassilon:  Shalast, to the east, once ruled by the Runelord of Greed, and Barakhan, to the west, once ruled by the Runelord of Wrath.  In his excitement at finding a willing listener, Quink goes on to talk about how Thassilon enslaved giants to build the massive monuments that still dot the landscape, such as the Irespan in Magnimar, Skull’s Crossing in central Varisia, and the Cyphergate in Riddleport.  However, Quink seems confused to hear that there’s a temple to Lamashtu underneath Sandpoint, and admits he doesn’t know much about the religious leanings of the Thassilonians apart from their reverence towards something called the “Peacock Spirit.”  When Kang reveals the adventurers’ discovery of an ancient library under Jorgenfist, Quink literally trembles with excitement and wrangles a promise form the alchemist to take him there.

Brodert Quink spent three decades 

as a cataloger at libraries in Magnimar.

Back at the Cathedral, after hours of prayer, Ava announces that she knows what must be done: Salma must be laid to rest, and she must help the grippli consecrate their shrine to Sinashakti.  Upon hearing that his former adventuring companion won’t be brought back to life, Jinkatsyu raises the matter of Salma’s possessions.  Yuzo says he doesn’t want anything from the corpse of an ally, but the others show no such compunction.

That afternoon, the surviving adventurers meet over drinks at the Rusty Dragon to talk about their next steps.  Kang shares about his conversation with Brodert Quink, and concludes that perhaps the old man isn’t as crazy as most people think.  Jinkatsyu suggests returning to Jorgenfist to collect and sell the treasures accumulated there so that they can purchase new equipment for a return engagement against the mysterious whispering figure.  Kang worries that could take time they don’t have.  Consensus is reached to return to the tunnels in the morning.  In the remaining hours of daylight, Ava asks Kang if he can obtain some rare herbs for her so that she can atone for her blasphemous words against Sinashakti.  Kang is able to find what Ava needs at the Pillbug’s Pantry, and also uses the opportunity to make a hefty profit by discreetly selling the proprietor some vials of drow poison.  Hoping to find out if anyone in town knew Salma personally, the others are directed to Cracktooth’s Tavern, where the proprietor tells them that Salma was a regular some years prior but hadn’t been around in months.  Yuzo takes the opportunity to entertain the clientele with a raucous story.

The adventurers meet up at the Cathedral and see Father Zantus comforting a sobbing teen—the son of missing guardsman Bosk Hartigan.

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Director's Commentary

This session was a good demonstration of how the Scribbler had important information to drive the rest of the chapter, and how he could be pretty dangerous if he could stay hiding.  The sudden attack by the babau demons was one of those unfortunate reminders that the presence of powerful martials won't be enough to save the "squishies" when enemies can start to appear anywhere.  The Scribbler wasn't much of a thread in direct combat, but definitely had some tricks up his sleeve.

I think it was after this session that I had to just be frank with the whole group that they needed to make PCs who wanted to live, and would, under normal circumstances, come back from the dead if an opportunity presented itself.  The issue was that turning down being raised from the dead was becoming something of a trend, and that then both dramatically increased overall party wealth (because the other PCs rarely showed qualms about taking the dead PC's stuff and new PCs often came in with more wealth than the other PCs had) and because it was hard to get any consistency in party coherency when having a new shiny character seemed all advantages and no drawbacks.

Brodert Quink really starts to get involved in the storyline with this episode.  I like how naturally it occurred while fitting in exactly with what the AP expected--that the PCs would turn to Quink for help in figuring out where Runeforge is.  I think I role-played him less cantankerously than previously, but I wanted to emphasize just how excited he was to be brought in on something involving real locations dating to Thassilon.