A woman named Amele Barett approached us in a panic, accompanied by her young son Aeren and baby daughter Verah, and told us that they were being tormented by a “closet goblin”. She said that it had attacked Aeren and then disappeared into his closet. We accompanied them back to their house to investigate. Upon entereing Aeren’s room, a goblin named Gresgurt emerged from under the bed and attacked us. Ausk knocked him out, and then stabilized him, hoping to question him later. We then searched the closet, in which there was a loose floorboard covering up a tunnel beneath. The family’s dog was stuck in the tunnel, and Ash went down and retrieved it. Shortly after this, the sheriff arrived and took Gresgurt away. He told us to come to the town hall at 2:00 to meet with him, the mayor, and another person named Shalelu Andosana.

We attended the meeting at the appointed time. We were introduced to Shalelu, an elven warrior who lives in the wilds outside of Sandpoint, but is generally considered to be an unofficial member of Sandpoint’s town guard. We were informed that goblin raids have been increasing lately, especially between Nettlewood and Mosswood. There are five goblin tribes in the area:

• The Birdcrunchers of Devil’s Platter
• The Licktoads of Brinestump Marsh
• The Seven Tooth tribe of Shank’s Wood
• The Mosswood Goblins
• The Thistletop Goblins

Normally, these tribes keep themselves in check by fighting each other. But recently, they have started working together, presumably coordinated by an outside party.

We were also informed about several enemies of note:

• Big Gugmut: leader of the Mosswood goblins, and believed to be the offspring of a hobgoblin and a boar
• Koruvus: a notorious member of the Seven Tooth goblins
• Vorka: a cannibalistic goblin of Brinestump
• Rendwattle Gutwad: chieftain of the Licktoad goblins
• Ripnugget: leader of the Thistletop goblin tribe
• Bruthazmus: a bugbear ranger

Finally, we were informed about the events in Sandpoint’s recent past known as “The Late Unpleasantness“. Some years ago, a man named Jervis Stoot had taken up the habit of making bird carvings on buildings in Sandpoint. Many admired the quality of his work, and some people requested that he make carvings for them, but he always turned them down, claiming that he could not make carvings where there were no birds for him to “set free”. Stoot soon moved to the small island north of the lighthouse.

Some time later, people in Sandpoint began to turn up murdered, their bodies found with their eyes and tongue removed. The murderer was given the nickname “Chopper”. Over time, Chopper had claimed 25 victims in all, the last of which was the Sandpoint’s sheriff at the time, Casp Avertin. However, Casp had wounded Chopper, causing Chopper to leave a bloody trail which the town guard followed to Jervis Stoot’s island. Here it was discovered that Stoot had been Chopper all along, and had been sacrificing his victims to a birdlike demon. Stoot himself was found dead, having offered himself as the final sacrifice. The fire that destroyed the Sandpoint Church occurred a few months after this.

At some point after our meeting concluded, while we were back at the Rusty Dragon Inn, we were approached by Bethanna Corwin, a halfling maid in Ameiko‘s employ. She informed us that Ameiko was missing, and showed us a letter that had been sent to Ameiko from Tsuto, Ameiko’s half brother. The letter requested that Ameiko meet him at the glassworks at midnight to discuss implicating Lonjiku, Ameiko’s father, in the recent goblin attack. We went to the glassworks to investigate.

Upon entering the glassworks, we found the bodies of eight people who had been killed by goblins. Among them was Lonjiku, who was covered in molten glass. A number of goblins were still present, and we fought them, although some ran off when they realized that we were the “heroes of Sandpoint”. As we continued exploring the building, we were attacked by Tsuto, and we killed him. Among his possessions was a journal, which we could not read because it was written in Minkaian. However, it also contained naked drawings of Nualia Tobyn.

After making our way into the basement, we were attacked by swarms of tiny ooze-like creatures that smelled like vinegar. We managed to kill them by dousing them with vodka and then incinerating them with fireworks.

We finally found Ameiko tied up. After freeing her, she translated Tsuto’s journal for us. It indicated that Nualia was actually some kind of demon, and Tsuto was working with her to release “Malfeshnekor”. There was also mention of a quasit. Furthermore, it was Nualia who had taken Father Tobyn’s remains from his tomb, and had burned them to begin her transformation to her true form. Finally, Tsuto and Nualia were planning to attack and destroy Sandpoint for Lamashtu, with the help of Bruthazmus and the goblin tribes.

Also in the basement we found an entrance to an old smuggling tunnel, which we made note of and planned to explore at a later time.

It is the usual raucous and fun evening at the Rusty Dragon Inn that you’ve come to know over the last few days. Ameiko Kaijutsu has a knack for warming up the crowd, and tonight you feast for free on the boar meat donated by Aldern Foxglove from his hunting trip with Ausk. Aldern himself departed earlier today to Magnimar, but with Kaye Tesarani and Pixie’s Kitten girls warming the crowd and Carpentry Guildmaster dwarf Aesrick Battlehorn buying drinks for anyone who will give an ear to his grievances with the Sandpoint Shipyard, there’s plenty of charisma and good cheer to keep the party going strong.

Until, that is, a surly visitor slams the tavern’s door open and bellows out a sharp-tongued command in a strange language. The room grows quiet with an interested ear as the middle-aged Tian man, looking older than his years, strides to the center of the room, angrily shouting the same foreign words a second time.

His eyes light upon you and his mouth twists in a snarl. “Oh, I see, here are the self-professed heroes whose ‘antics’ the other day probably put us all in danger from further goblin raids!”

This is greeted by a disapproving murmur from the crowd, many of whom saw you in action.

“Don’t you think yer being a bit hard on ’em, Lonjiku?” says Aesrick from the far end of the room.

You’ve heard the name… this is Ameiko’s wealthy father who runs the Glassworks across town. Lonjiku sweeps his hand to encompass you and your companions. “Just what we need – a filthy band of vagrants to attract even more trouble to town.”

The crowd murmurs again, but just before you can act Ameiko appears, a ladle dripping with soup in her hand. Her father barks something at her in Minkaian and she says something back in angry tones. The room holds quiet as the two shout at each other angrily. Enraged, Lonjiku suddenly tries to grab his daughter by the hair and she dodges, braining him with her soupy ladle, spattering fish stock and potatoes all over his hair and outfit. He sputters for a moment, finds his voice and utters, “You’re as dead to me as your mother!” before rushing out the door.

Ameiko looks like she is fighting back tears, but she bravely picks up her ladle, inspects it, pulls a hair out of the mess, and says, “I’ll need a well-cleaned ladle now, since jackass stew’s not on the menu.”

The resulting cheers and laughter from the patrons breaks the ice and the party resumes. Ameiko looks briefly across the room at all of you, mouths a quiet apology, and returns to the kitchen, allowing her halfling maid Bethana Corwin to take over the main room once again.