The door to the study on the top floor opened by itself. Gulnyr and Ash investigated the room. They found a loose brick in the wall, behind where the painting of the bullfight had been hanging. Behind the brick was a small alcove containing some coins, two vials of liquid, and a copper key. While in this room, Ash thought that she caught a glimpse of a blue butterfly flying from the birdcage towards the alcove.

Next, the two of them returned to the first floor, and met back up with Devin, who explained what had happened to him. In the room with the manticore, there was a door which led to a stairway leading down. Devin had seen Iesha pass through that door before he was stopped by the manticore. The three of us proceeded down these stairs.

The first room we came to in the basement had a large wooden table, and shelves along the walls. The shelves were in disarray, as though they had been ransacked, and rat droppings were visible on the tabletop. There was also a stove with a chimney, and inside the chimney Devin spotted an urn, though he was hesitant to disturb it. Gulnyr grabbed the urn, and three violet garnets fell out of it. At this point, a large swarm of rats came bursting from the walls and attacked us. During the fight, Gulnyr chopped off the legs of the table so that some of the rats became trapped under it.

After killing the rats, we continued exploring the basement level. The next few rooms we found were:

• A relatively clean room, which we determined to be the servants’ quarters.
• A wine cellar. The floor was covered with broken bottles. In the back wall, Ash found a secret compartment containing eight bottles of wine from the Vigardeis Vinyard in Cheliax. We took these.
• A pantry, which had become a rat’s nest.

We came to a locked door at the end of a corridor, and unlocked it using the copper key from the study. Behind this door was a workshop. There was a workbench, with some soggy books on it. There were also three birdcages, with dead rats in them. The room had two stained glass windows, which looked out over the water from the cliffside. The images in the windows depicted an old man undergoing some kind of transformation. Ash investigated the wet books, and as she touched them, she experienced visions which gave her the knowledge that Vorel had tried to become a lich, but failed because he was interrupted during the process.

Another door led from this room to more stairs leading down, which brought us to a room filled with stone, dirt, and broken pickaxes. In the floor of this room was an ancient spiral staircase of stone, leading much farther down. Suddenly, Gulnyr experinced being attacked by a horde of ghouls, and claw and bite marks appeared on his flesh. He saw through Aldern’s eyes as Aldern dug out this room, found the spiral staircase, and was ambushed by ghouls from below. Gulnyr also came to the realization that Aldern was the one who had written the notes that were signed “Your Lordship”.

We proceeded down the spiral stairs, and came to a cavern with mold-covered walls. Several passages led out of it, and one looked more recently dug than the others. We opted to explore one of the older passages first, in which Gulnyr kicked up a cloud of yellow spores, and we fought three ghouls.

From there, we came to a large, round cavern with a cathedral-style ceiling. The center of this room contained a huge pool of water, and the floor consisted of a large spiral-shaped ramp leading from the edge of the room down to the pool. There were four goblin ghouls in this room, and four others attacked from a side cavern near the entrance to this room. The floor of the side cavern was covered with piles of bodies and entrails, and we saw a skull with a stony protrusion. We recognized it as a fragment of the stone angel bookend from the library.

A door led from the large round cavern to an alcove. This room contained a painting, a chair, a table covered with garbage, and a broken puzzle box. One wall of the room was covered with black fungus. Aldern was here, in the form of a ghast, fighting the ghost of Iesha. Meanwhile, Phillipe was sitting on the floor, eating the black fungus from the wall. Suddenly, Aldern put on a mask that resembled Gulnyr, and attacked us. After we fought him for a while, he dropped to his knees, and wept. He begged us to save him by destroying his body. He mentioned a cult called the “Brotherhood of the Seven”, and said that they were currently occupying an apartment that he had in Magnimar. He also told us to destroy the fungus on the wall.

Gulnyr delivered the killing blow to Aldern, and Devin channeled energy twice to beat back the fungus. He knew that he would have to come back the next day with a Consecrate spell prepared to destroy it completely. Examining the room more closely, we discovered that many of the items on the table had been taken from Gulnyr. We also found a letter addressed to Aldern. It read:

Aldern,

You have served us quite well. The delivery you harvested from the caverns far exceeds what I had hoped for. You may consider your debt to the Brothers paid in full. Yet I still have need of you, and when you awaken from your death, you should find your mind clear and be able to understand this task more than in the state you lie in as I write this.

You shall remember the workings of the Sihedron ritual, I trust. You seemed quite lucid at the time, but if you find after your rebirth that you have forgotten, return to your townhouse in Magnimar. My agents shall contact you there soon — no need for you to bother the Brothers further. I will provide the list of proper victims for the Sihedron ritual in two days’ time. Commit that list to memory and then destroy it before you begin your work. The ones I have selected must be marked before they die; otherwise they do my master no good and the greed in their souls will go to waste.

If others get in your way, though, you may do with them as you please. Eat them, savage them, or turn them into pawns — it matters not to me.

– Xanesha, Mistress of the Seven

On Aldern’s body, we found a suit of armor, a razor sword, two rings, and the mask. Other than the armor, all of these items were magical. The painting in the room was a portrait of Iesha, which had been crudely drawn over with a picture of Gulnyr. We also found a keyring with two keys, one of iron, and one of bronze with a lion motif. We found a magical chime in the mold.

We returned to the first cavern at the bottom of the spiral stairs, and although we were injured, we wanted to find out what was in the passage that we had not yet explored, the one that appeared newer than the others, before returning up. Ash scouted down the passage while the rest of us waited behind.

This passage led to another cavern with entrails and carcasses covering the floor. Also in this cave was a monstrous undead bat, which detected Ash’s approach, and stunned us with a loud screech. Phillipe charged at the bat, but the bat knocked him unconscious. It then picked up Ash, and tried to fly away with her through an opening in the ceiling, but Gulnyr caught up and killed it before it got away. We found some treasure among the carcasses.

We then returned up the way we had come, and continued exploring the upstairs of the manor. We found a loft, and an observatory. The observatory had more stained glass windows, one depicting a woman, and the other showing a man, each with a bladed weapon. At this point, we rested for the night.

The next morning, we went back down into the cave where we had fought Aldern, and Devin destroyed the fungus using a Consecrate spell as planned. We then left the house. On the way back to town, we were attacked by a swarm of undead crows.

When we got to Sandpoint, we visited Father Zantus to get Ash checked for disease. He diagnosed her as having Vorel’s Phage, but Devin was able to cure her. We then reported to Mayor Deverin, and gave her a full report about what happened to us and what we had learned.

The next day, Ash was sick again, as was Devin, and Devin cured them both. The day after that, he had to cure Phillipe and Gulnyr. On this day, we booked passage by ship to Magnimar, to investigate Aldern’s apartment.

We entered Foxglove Manor through the side entrance. As we entered, Phillipe told us that his sword didn’t want to go in, but he joined us anyway. Devin cast a Light spell to help us to see, but it appeared dimmer than expected, as though something in the house was suppressing it. The floorboards of the first room were uneven, giving us a sense of vertigo as we walked on them.

In the room was a piano. Gulnyr decided to examine the piano bench, but as soon as he touched it, the piano started playing itself. Suddenly Ash started dancing, as though with an invisible partner. Gulnyr attacked the piano, but even as he smashed it to pieces, it kept playing as though it was functioning perfectly. He then grabbed Ash to try to stop her dancing. When he did this, we all heard a horrifying shriek. However, he succeeded in breaking the spell, and Ash was free. She described having been dancing with what appeared to be a beautiful woman, who then appeared to be getting strangled.

At this point, we realized that during the commotion Phillipe had left the house, closing the door behind him. We tried to open it, but it was stuck. Furthermore, it had patches of mold growing on it. Gulnyr tried scraping the mold off with his axe, but the result was that some of it spread to the weapon. Wiping the axe with a cloth did not remove all of the mold.

With our exit blocked, we had no choice but to continue further into the house. This room had two other doors, one which smelled of mildew, and the other of which was wet. We wrapped strips of cloth around our faces to help protect ourselves from mold, and then Ash opened the wet door, which led to a washroom. A scratching sound came from inside the tub. Gulnyr entered the washroom to look in the tub, and saw a large rat inside. It jumped up to attack, and Gulnyr smashed both it and the tub, killing it.

Gulnyr then tried opening the other door leading from the first room, the one that smelled like mildew. However, the handle broke off, and some green goo squirted out onto his hand. He then smashed the door, and this time more goo sprayed out, all over Devin. This doorway opened into the side of a corridor.

From there we made our way into the front entrance hall. It contained many stuffed and mounted trophy animals. One was a manticore: a twelve foot long creature with a lion’s body, a scorpion’s tail, bat wings, and a human face. A door in this room had an icy cold handle. This door led to a lounge, which contained a couch caked with white wispy fungus. Devin heard a woman’s voice whisper “Lorrey”, coming from this room. Dust swirled around the floor, despite a lack of any wind; it moved as if being kicked around by invisible footsteps, and Ash could feel the vibration of footsteps when she felt the floor with her hand.

Suddenly, Gulnyr was overcome with a compulsion to protect Ash, and remove her from the house. He picked her up and headed back the way we came. Devin decided to help clear a path for them, and knowing that the door we had entered through was stuck, he went to the front room to try to open the front door. However, when he entered the room, the manticore appeared to come to life, on fire, and blasted Devin with flame. Devin was badly hurt, and crawled quickly out of the room, as the manticore returned to statue form.

Forced to take another route, we went back into the hallway to try another door. This door was wedged shut, so Ash dismantled the hinges, which were on our side of the door. While doing this, Ash found this door very cold to the touch, and took some damage from it. However, it was not cold to Gulnyr. Behind this door was a dining room. It had two fireplaces, and many windows of stained glass.

Continuing further, we came to a library. In this room were two chairs, one of which had fallen over, and had a scarf draped over it. In the fireplace lay a stone bookend, carved into the shape of an angel. When we entered the room, we suddenly experienced being Iesha Foxglove as she was strangled by her husband Aldern. We fell unconscious, and later awoke in the dining room. We saw that the door at the southern end of the corridor had been removed and laid upon the floor. Beyond the now unobstructed doorway was a stairway leading up. There was a rug on the floor in the corridor, and we saw Phillipe’s footprints on it. Gulnyr moved the rug, revealing a spiral of mold on the floor underneath it. He then opened another previously unexplored door in the corridor, which revealed stairs leading down.

At this point it was the morning, and Devin performed his daily prayer for spells. As he did this, Gulnyr went through the front room, and into a drawing room. The manticore did not attack him as he passed through the front room, the way it had attacked Devin. In the drawing room, he moved a curtain aside, and briefly saw a woman’s face reflected in the window. When he returned to the corridor, Devin and Ash were nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, after praying for spells, Devin tried to jump over the moldy patch in the floor, but crashed partway through the floor, and needed Ash to pull him out. The two of them then went back to the library, to try to join Gulnyr in the drawing room while avoiding the manticore. They reached the drawing room, but did not see Gulnyr there. They drew the curtains, and saw nothing but darkness in the window, despite the fact that it should have been daytime.

Meanwhile, Gulnyr had taken a look up the stairs, and at this point he came down, and saw the hole in the floor that Devin had made.

Ash and Devin went back to the library, and the scarf flew up to attack them. Devin channeled energy to harm undead, which suppressed the evil that was present, and the scarf dropped. Gulnyr then arrived, and burned the scarf.

We did some healing, then headed upstairs. A cobweb-covered door led to a curved corridor. We found a bedroom containing a child’s bed, a toybox, and a large fireplace. When Gulnyr entered the room, he experienced a vision, in which he believed himself to be Lorrey Foxglove, witnessing her parents trying to kill each other.

We next came to a musician’s gallery. This room had stained glass windows, depicting scenes representing necromantic spell components.

Next, we came to a rectangular room whose walls were adorned with named portraits depicting members of the Foxglove family. Portraits of the following family members were present:

• Vorel Foxglove: A middle-aged man
• Kasanda Foxglove: Vorel’s wife
• Lorrey Foxglove: Vorel’s and Kasanda’s daughter
• Traver Foxglove: A tall, thin man, with a thin moustache
• Cyralie Foxglove: A redhead woman, wife of Traver
• Aldern Foxglove: Son of Traver and Cyralie
• Sendeli Foxglove: Daughter of Traver and Cyralie
• Zeeva Foxglove: Daughter of Traver and Cyralie

The room suddenly became cold, and the portraits of each of the dead family members changed in a manner related to their cause of death. Aldern turned into an undead creature, and Vorel’s portrait exploded into fungus. Only Sendeli’s and Zeeva’s portraits remained unchanged.

We left this room, and came to a door with a spiral of mold on it. This led to a bedroom completely covered in mold. Suddely, Devin and Gulnyr got the sensation of their faces becoming itchy. In response, Gulnyr started clawing at his face. Both of their faces then erupted in boils and tumors.

We found another washroom on this floor, with an iron tub, which once again had scratching sounds coming from inside of it. Gulnyr approached the tub to kill what was inside, but as soon as he stepped into the room, the floor collapsed, and Gulnyr fell through to the first floor. When he came back up the stairs to join Devin and Ash, he once again could not find them. Meanwhile, they waited for him for about an hour, after which they went downstairs to find him. Failing that, they returned upstairs, and found that the hole in the floor was noticably bigger.

Devin and Ash continued exploring the upper floor without Gulnyr, and found, behind the next door, a destroyed bedroom. Beds, chairs, and portraits were all smashed. One painting remained untouched, hanging backwards against the wall. After we entered the room, Ash turned the painting around to look at it, and staggered a bit when she touched it. The portrait was of Iesha Foxglove.

Meanwhile, Gulnyr had returned upstairs, and entered the same room, though from his perspective Devin and Ash were not present. He left the room without revealing the painting. However, as he left, he was suddenly overcome with a strong hatred towards women.

Ash and Devin next came to a locked door, and as they were about to examine it, Gulnyr arrived, and attacked Ash. Devin channeled positive energy, and this cleared Gulnyr’s head, restoring him to normal. Ash then tried to pick the lock, but failed, breaking it. Gulnyr then smashed the door in, revealing a stairway leading up.

Ascending the stairs, we came to a hallway with several doors on either side. Exploring these, we found a room filled with repair equipment, and four storerooms, containing items such as linens, boxes, crates, and furniture.

At the end of the hallway were two doors. We heard a shriek coming from behind one of them. We approached the doors, and found that the one on the right was locked, and we could hear the sound of a woman sobbing coming from behind it. The door on the left was unlocked, and we opened it to reveal a private study. In it were statues, sculptures, scrollcases, and books, as well as an empty birdcage. Also present was a painting of a bull fight, which Ash appraised to be worth about 600 GP. Gulnyr took this and put it in his backpack.

Memories of Traver’s adventures suddenly filled our heads, and we felt a sense of his regret over having married Cyralie. We took some Wisdom damage from this experience, and Gulnyr fell unconscous. Ash and Devin brought him to one of the storerooms, and rested there for the night. Devin then used a Lesser Restoration spell to revive Gulnyr.

We returned to the locked door from behind which we could hear a woman sobbing and wailing. Ash picked the lock, and we entered to find a room with an armoire, and a mirror in a wooden frame which had carvings of roses. There was an apparition of Iesha sitting on the floor, looking into the mirror. Ash used her sling to smash the mirror, at which point Iesha stood up and screamed, causing Ash and Gulnyr to fall to the ground. She spoke some words directed towards Aldern, then fled the room. Devin decided to chase her, following her downstairs, and ultimately through the manticore room. Unfortunately, the manticore attacked Devin as before, and this time he caught fire. Devin dropped to the ground and rolled around to put the fire out, and lost sight of Iesha as a result.

Shortly after the fight in the sanatorium, Phillipe fainted, which we presumed was due to a bite he received during combat. We moved him into a room where he would be safe while the rest of the party continued exploring. During this, we heard a person making hooting sounds, upstairs from where we were. However, we chose to proceed downstairs first.

The first room we came to was a necromantic laboratory. It contained various pieces of surgical equipment. There were also two large metal slabs, each of which had a body lying on it, covered with a sheet. A door in the room had blood stains and pieces of flesh hanging from it; behind this door was a small closet, further stained with blood and gore, but otherwise empty. We concluded that this is where the undead that we fought had been stored. We removed the sheet from one of the slabs after Gulnyr thought he had spotted movement beneath it; it revealed the well-preserved corpse of an older man, but he was not moving.

While we were investigating, someone opened a door across the room from the one we had entered through. The room beyond it was filled with mist, so we could not see the person responsible. Then that person cast a Stinking Cloud spell into the laboratory, causing Ash and Devin to retreat the way they had came, while Gulnyr went forward to attack. Around this time, Phillipe recovered, so Ash retrieved him, summarized what was going on, and we all joined Gulnyr in fighting the enemy in the misty room beyond the lab, eventually knocking our foe unconcious.

This room was a study, and by looking through the various papers on the desk, we discovered that the man was a necromancer named Caizarlu Zerren. In this room we also found an arcane spellbook, and various notes and maps that indicated that he had been tracking “ghoul activity”. His writings noted a recent increase in ghouls in the southern farmlands and along the Foxglove River, and he believes that a ghoulish force has recently arisen.

After finishing investigating the basement, we proceeded upstairs from the ground floor. We came to a block of cells, which we were able to access using a key what we had found in Caizarlu’s possession. The cell doors were open, and in one cell was a blind man, who was making the loud hooting noises that we had heard earlier. We came to a second cell block, which the same key opened, and one of its occupants seemed to be obsessed with Gulnyr.

Continuing on, we came to an examination room, containing an operating table and a well-stocked cabinet. The two tiefling orderlies were present, and demanded that we leave. Instead of obeying, Ash knocked one out, and Gulnyr knocked out the other. We found a sliding panel in one wall, and upon opening it, we found Erin Habe hiding within. Concluding our investigation of the sanatorium, we rounded up all of its inhabitants, and brought them back to town.

Upon returning to the inn, we found a note from Sheriff Hemlock requesting that we see him first thing the next morning. We went to bed, and the next morning we met with the sheriff at the town square. He was accompanied by an old farmer, named Maester Grump, who was ranting about walking scarecrows stalking the southern farmlands at night. The sheriff requested that we investigate the southern farms, and provided us with four of the town’s guards to accompany us:

• Eugeni Scarnetti: a member of the noble Scarnetti family, who has a disconcertingly wide mouth
• Kazar Lint: a man obsessed with angels, who hoped to see one on this trip
• Carmina Raxton: a woman who habitually picks her teeth when she thinks no one’s looking, and likes dice games
• “Old Nurm“: used to be a sculptor, but gave it up after art went out of favor after the Late Unpleasantness

We headed out for the Handley Farm. Along the way, we found a scarecrow, but it did not react when Phillipe threw a rock at it, nor when Old Nurm poked it; it seemed to be an ordinary scarecrow.

Further on, we came to a group of three scarecrows, one of which did jump up and attack us. Ash shot at one of the other ones, killing it. Devin then used energy channeling to destroy the one that attacked, plus the third one.

We came to another “scarecrow”, who was actually a thin, hungry stable boy who had been tied to a post. We surmised that people who had contracted ghoul sickness were being strung up and used as scarecrows, and when they died, they became ghouls. The one that Ash had killed so easily had not yet turned, and would not turn because ghoul sickness was not the cause of death. We gave the stable boy some food and water, and left him for the time being, promising to return for him after our expedition was complete.

We found, fought, and killed another pair of scarecrow ghouls, and Nurm and Gulnyr were bitten during the fight. Then we found another normal, straw scarecrow, though it was covered in blood.

Finally, we reached the Handley farmhouse and nearby barn. We noticed that the barn was built over a large stone head, which was being used as a support. The farmhouse, meanwhile, was completely dilapidated. Gunlyr investigated inside the barn, which was occupied by six ghouls, which then attacked. During the fight, more ghouls arrived from the surrounding farmland. We managed to kill them all, but not without Devin and Phillipe getting bitten, as well as Gulnyr a second time.

We then investigated the farmhouse. Upon opening the door, we were immediately met with a sickening stench. A ghast emerged and attacked us. Carmina recognized him as Rogers Crazeby, the caretaker of Foxglove Manor. After killing him, we found in his possession a key with the crest of Foxglove Manor, a thorned flower. In the kitchen, we found the body of farmer Handley, with the sihedron symbol on his chest, and a note for Gulnyr. The note read:

You, and you alone, have brought this fearful harvest. They are dead because of you, and more shall join them soon.

Your Lordship

In the master bedroom, we found a loose floorboard, under which was a coffer containing many pouches of silver pieces.

We sent the four guards back to town, along with the stable boy, and enough silver pieces to pay for Father Zantus to cure him. We then spent the night at the nearby Bilsby Farm, and while we were there, we got some information about the history of Foxglove Manor. While we were sleeping in the barn, Ash was awoken by the sound of hooves on the roof. She woke Gulnyr, then went outside and climbed onto the roof. There she saw some broken boards that looked as though an animal had walked on them.

The next morning, we went to Foxglove Manor. We unlocked the side door using the key that we got from Rogers Crazeby.

While in town, we did some buying and selling. In addition, Devin went to the monastery to learn about barghests. Barghests feed on the innocent on the material plane, and we believe that Malfeshnekor is likely mad with hunger. Phillipe went to Chask‘s bookstore to investigate ancient Thassilonian history. He spoke with both Chask and Cyrdak Drokkus, but gained no useful information. Ash met with Brodert Quink. She showed him the 7-pointed star symbol, which he identified as the “Sihedron” rune, which represents the 7 virtues of rule. Another theory is that it stands for the 7 deadly sins.

During lunch, we overheard Larz Rovanky mention that the “Sandpoint Devil” was recently attacking his wife’s parents’ farm. The Sandpoint Devil is said to be a winged horse that spews flames from its nostrils. It comes at night, attacking farms, massacring the sheep.

Ash and Phillipe visited Ilsoari Gandethus, the wizard who runs the Turandarok Academy, a school/orphanage in Sandpoint. They asked him about the 7-pointed star, as well as the illusion of the Thassilonian speaking on a throne, but he hand no useful information. They also asked him about the Sandpoint Devil, and Ilsoari said that it was just a legend.

We returned to Thistletop keep to investigate the Thassilonian illusion. Some of Shalelu’s agents were stationed in the first room of the lowest floor. We went to the throne room, but only after blocking our ears in order to protect ourselves from Malfeshnekor’s call. Devin cast Comprehend Languages in order to understand the Thassilonian speech. It was a fragment repeated over and over: “…is upon us, but I command you remain. Witness my power, how Alaznist’s petty wrath is but a flash compared to my strength. Take my final work to your graves, and let its memory be the last thing you…”

After we returned to Sandpoint, Mayor Deverin urgently requested that we meet with Sheriff Hemlock. We went immediately, and he told us that a murderer had struck at the lumber mill the previous night. Two bodies were discovered by Ibor Thorn, who operates the mill. A bloody note, addressed to Gulnyr, was found pinned to the sleeve of one of the victims. It read, “I do as you command, master!”, and was signed “Your Lordship”. The victims were Banny Harker and Katrine Vinder. Banny was a mill operator, and Katrine was Shayliss Vinder’s sister. One of the victims had the 7-pointed star symbol carved on their chest.

We went immediately to the lumber mill to investigate; at this time it was about 7:00 PM. A large crowd of people was gathered outside, including Cyrdak. We spoke with the guards stationed outside, and then went in. One body was in a pile of wood from the log splitter, and the other was hung on the wall by a hook. There was an axe embedded in the floor. We could see a set of footprints, barefoot, which smelled of rotten meat. The axe had the same smell, and its smell was the strongest, as it actually had pieces of meat and bone caked onto it. Katrine’s body was the one on the floor, and Banny’s was the one on the wall. Banny had the star carved into his chest, and his jaw was missing. Ash looked outside, behind the mill, and found muddy footprints coming up the pier to the back door. They matched the barefoot prints inside.

After this investigation, we went back to the Sheriff’s office. He then informed us that three con men from Galderia had been killed in an abandoned barn a few days ago. Their bodyguard survived, but went insane, and was currently in a sanatorium. The men were lured into the barn by a note from “Your Lordship”; the note proposed a lucrative business venture.

Ibor Thorn and Ven Vinder were in the sheriff’s custody at this time. We tried to speak with Ibor, but he was unwilling to talk to Gulnyr or those who associated with him. We then spoke further with the Sheriff, and he revealed that Banny and Katrine were lovers.

The next day, Phillipe and Gulnyr stopped by the smithy, and then went to check for clues across the river behind the lumber mill. They found more odorous tracks leading away from and back to the river, but none that seemed to originate from elsewhere.

We then decided that it might be helpful to speak with Shayliss, and that Devin should be the one to do it since she would trust him the most. Devin was worried that he might get seduced again, so he had Ash wait outside in case he needed to call her for help while he met with Shayliss. She told him that Banny Harker had been cooking the books of the lumber mill, skimming money for himself and Katrine. The two of them were trying to get back at the Scarnettis, who owned the mill. Banny and Katrine were worried that the Scarnettis had found out, and Shayliss was concerned as well, as she had also benefitted somewhat.

After this, we visited Hayliss Korvaski, the owner of a curiosity boutique, to gain information about the Scarnetti family. She told us that they are one of the three founding families of Sandpoint. They are corrupt, and hire thugs to collect protection money. The three murdered con men, named Martwell, Hask, and Tabe, were associated with them.

We went to the barn where the three con men were murdered, and found it burned down. We then went to the sanatorium where their bodyguard, Graced Savila, was being kept. We knocked at the door, and Erin Habe answered. We told him we wanted to meet with Graced, and he brought him out. Graced was rambling crazily, and said “too many teeth”, “razors”, and “the Skinsaw Man is coming”. He also had a message for Gulnyr: “He said. He said you would visit me. His Lordship. The one that unmade me said so. He has a place for you. A precious place. I’m so jealous. He has a message for you. He made me remember it. I hope I haven’t forgotten. The master wouldn’t approve if I forgot. Let me see… let… me… see… The master said that the bodies you are finding are signs and portents, that when he is done, you shall be remembered forever and the misgivings shall be your throne!” He then broke free of his bonds and attacked Gulnyr. We knocked him out, and then left immediately, by the request of the orderlies. The orderlies were two large tieflings, whose teeth protruded through their cheeks.

We stopped at a local farm for dinner. The owners had a shrine to Ylimancha, an Agathion lord.

We then returned to the sanatorium after dark. Ash broke in through a window, explored for a while inside, and then requested that we join her. Once inside, we were attacked by a human-sized rat wielding a scimitar. He was joined by four undead. We killed them all, including the rat.

The party return to Sandpoint without incident, where they are given a heroes’ welcome by Mayor Deverin and Father Zantus, as well as the rowdy crowd at the Rusty Dragon. Even Shalelu consents to join the in the evening’s revelries, and Ameiko knows how to throw a truly outstanding celebration, while also giving respect and honor to the recently departed druid Ausk (despite an awkward moment when Father Zantus, a bit drunk, describes Ausk as a guy who just couldn’t seem to keep his guts on the inside.) Only Sheriff Hemlock seems reserved, and excuses himself early after making assurances that Nualia is safely guarded under lock and key.

While Nualia remains impossible to interview (varying between near catatonic silence and fits of mad screaming) her extensive notes recovered from her Thistletop lair piece together a tragic story, as follows.

Nualia was a foundling raised by Sandpoint’s previous religious leader, Ezakien Tobyn, and her childhood was lonely and sad. Her unearthly beauty made the other children either jealous or shy, and many of them took to playing cruel jokes on her. The adults in town weren’t much better – many of the superstitious Varisians viewed Nualia as blessed by Desna (goddess of dreams and luck). Rumors that her touch or proximity could cure warts and rashes, that locks of her hair brewed into tea could increase fertility, and that her voice could drive out evil spirits led to a succession of awkward and humiliating requests over the years. Nualia felt more like a freak than anything else when she finally came of age, so when Delek Viskanta, a local Varisian youth, began to court her, she practically fell into his arms in gratitude.

Knowing her father wouldn’t approve of a relationship with a Varisian (he wanted her to remain pure so she could join a prestigious convent), they kept the affair secret. They met for many secret trysts, often in the abandoned smuggler’s tunnel under the glassworks. Before long, Nualia realized that she was pregnant. When she told Delek, he revealed his true colors and, after calling her a slut and a harlot, fled Sandpoint rather than face her father’s wrath. Nualia’s shock turned to rage with no outlet, and her father’s reaction to her condition only exacerbated her feelings. He forbade her to leave the church, lectured her nightly, and made her pray to Desna for forgiveness.

Nualia’s rage continued to grow, amplified by the presence of the catacombs and sinspawn below Sandpoint. Seven months pregnant, she miscarried a monstrously deformed shape, only a glimpse of which put Nualia into a coma. As she slept she experienced dark dreams, fueled by the wrath from below and the dark goddess Lamashtu. Nualia gained a conviction that her wretched life was inflicted on her by those around her. She came to see her angelic heritage (for indeed her unearthly beauty was due to being an aasimar, a half-angel) as a curse, and the demon-sent nightmares showed her how to expunge this taint from her body and soul.

When she awoke, Nualia was someone new, someone who didn’t flinch at the personal connection to Lamashtu that had been forged. She jammed her father’s door shut as he slept, lit the church on fire and fled Sandpoint. The locals assumed Nualia had burned in the fire, a tragedy made all the worse by the death of father Tobyn as well.

Nualia fled to Magnimar, where the record becomes fragmented and disjointed. She tracked down Delek and murdered him, possibly with the help of others? The god of secrets, Norgorber, is mentioned but scratched out. It was in Magnimar that she received the seven-pointed star medallion from an unknown benefactor. Newly confident, Nualia returned to Sandpoint and found herself drawn to the brick wall in the Smuggler’s tunnels where she and Delek had conceived the deformed child. Nualia bashed down the wall and discovered the catacombs beyond, as well as the quasit Erylium.

For many months, Nualia studied under Erylium’s tutelage. During this time, Nualia received another vision from Lamashtu – an image of a monstrous goblin wolf imprisoned in an underground room. Nualia learned in her dreams that this creature was named Malfeshnekor, and was also one of Lamashtu’s chosen. If she could find him and free him, he would help her to continue her vengeance on Sandpoint, and would be the key to cleansing her body fully of her “celestial taint.” Nualia wanted to become one of Lamashtu’s children now… a monster in form as well as soul.

The notes finish with a few interesting details. Nualia was planning to send a large army of goblins to Sandpoint to burn the place down once and for all, as a burnt offering to her dark goddess. She hoped to become a half-fiend, and had learned from Erylium how to manifest sinspawn from the “minor runewell” down in what she refers to as the “Catacombs of Wrath.” However, the runewell has only so much arcane fuel, and once expended neither she nor Erylium knew how to replenish it.

Phillipe Starstrike, a human Magus among Shalelu’s troops, came to where we were in Thistletop Keep to give Shalelu a status report. Shalelu left, and told Phillipe to stay with us for our remaining exploration of the keep.

Proceeding with our exploration, we found a large room flanked by pillars. At one end of the room was a raised area with an altar upon it, and behind this was a statue of Lamashtu, depicted as a pregnant woman holding two kukris in taloned hands. The edges of the room were filled with red glowing smoke. Two Yeth hounds emerged from the smoke and attacked us. They began their attack by howling at us, which caused us to panic and run, seeking shelter in the cells of the nearby torture chamber. As we became unpanicked, we fought and killed the hounds.

After the fight, we entered the altar room to investigate it properly. In the corners of the room opposite the altar were two basins of water. Phillipe’s sword pulled towards one of the basins, as though it wanted to be submerged. Phillipe dipped the sword into the water, which it absorbed, draining the basin. Meanwhile, Gulnyr smashed the statue of Lamashtu, and the altar.

We returned to Lyrie Akenja’s study, only to find that she was no longer there. In her study was a secret door, behind which were stairs leading down. We followed those stairs to a lower level.

This level of the keep had a slanted floor. The first room contained four statues of glaive-wielding men in separate alcoves. Due to the uneven floor, the statues were leaning against the walls of their alcoves. Beyond this was a hallway with three more statues, though one of them was missing its top half. Rune-covered doors were present on the sides of the hallway.

As Gulnyr walked forward, two portcullises dropped. They would have trapped him between the first two statues had he not leapt forwards in time to avoid them. As part of the mechanical workings that dropped the portcullises, the two statues rotated to face the space between them, and stabbed at the air. Then, the floor between them opened up into a pit. Finally, the mechanism reset everything to their original positions. Ash studied the trap, and disabled it by wedging pitons to block the statues from rotating. She then told Gulnyr to activate the trap again, which he did by striking the floor with his hammer. The mechanism broke when it tried to activate.

We opened one of the rune-covered doors. Beyond it was a round room, with red marble ledges adorned with books, and a fountain of blue water. Present in this room were Nualia, Lyrie, and another Yeth hound. They attacked us, and during the fight, Shalelu showed up and assisted us. Though Lyrie was fighting us, she didn’t seem to be doing all she could to harm us, and when we started to gain an advantage over Nualia, Lyrie turned against her. After we defeated Nualia, Shalelu took her into custody and headed with her back to Sandpoint.

We went back upstairs to rest for the night, and then returned to the lower level to continue exploring.

We came to an L-shaped hallway. At one end was a pair of double doors that had a carving of skeletal arms holding a skull. At the other end was a large carving of a pile of gold coins. The hallway continued beyond the carving, which was blocking the way at a narrow point.

We opened the double-doors to find a room containing a statue of a main holding a glaive and a book, and five standing sarcophagi. We started to open the sarcophagi, finding nothing within the first two, when we were attacked by three humanoid shadowy wisps. We managed to kill them.

We returned to the carving of the gold coin pile, where we noticed on closer inspection that there were six coin slots in the walls beside it. We placed six gold coins into the slots, which caused the carving to sink into the floor, and the walls beside it to part, widening the hallway. We proceeded forwards, coming to a corridor with three doors.

Behind one door was a room with some tables covered with various tools. There was also a skeleton of a two-headed man with a smaller man growing from his back. One of the tools was seven-pointed star with a handle. This star matched the symbol on an amulet that Nualia was wearing.

Behind another door in the hallway was a room with a throne on a dais. Nearby was a statue of a man holding a glaive and a book. A ghostly figure of that man was on the throne, and he appeared to be addressing an audience in Thassilonian.

We pried open the third door using the seven-pointed star weapon. This led to a room with burning candles, a carving of the same star symbol, and a fire pit. A smell like that of burning hair filled the room. Phillipe noted the presence of illusion and abjuration magic.

While we were still outside of the room, Malfeshnekor, a four-legged creature known as a Barghest, appeared in the room, and charmed Gulnyr into entering. We attacked him, and he knocked Phillipe unconscious. We decided that Malfeshnekor was too dangerous for us to fight, so we dragged Phillipe and Gulnyr away and retreated. Malfeshnekor seemed to be confined to his room, since he did not pursue us.

Shortly after this, some of Shalelu’s troops showed up. We returned with them to Sandpoint, where we planned to assist with the interrogation of Nualia.

After resting for the night in the bunyip cave, we used the bunyip’s corpse as a boat to travel across the water to Thistletop, where the rope bridge led. The land there was also a cliff, but what was left of the rope bridge was dangling into the water from that side, so we were able to use it to climb up. Ausk and Ash climbed up first. At the top they found a number of goblins, who were torturing a seagull by throwing rocks at it while it was tied to one end of a rope. The goblins were holding the other end of the rope, flying the seagull like a kite. Ausk ordered Spike to attack, then he and Ash finished climbing the rope and joined the fight. Devin and Gulnyr followed shortly afterwards, and together we slaughtered all of the goblins.

Nearby, we found a keep that was cobbled together from pieces of old ships. Ausk smashed the door down for intimidation purposes, and we entered. The first room was decorated with poorly preserved dog and horse heads mounted on the walls. One wall had a large pair of black feathered wings pinned up with daggers. We took a valuable looking pearl-handled dagger as treasure.

A goblin emerged from a nearby bedroom which contained four more goblins, and Ausk and Devin went to fight them. Because the bedroom was small, and its door was in a narrow corridor, there wasn’t room for more of the party to engage, so Gulnyr investigated in another direction.

Gulnyr opened a door that led to a corridor whose floor was covered with sand. Beyond the door on the opposite side was a small room containing a staircase that led up to an attic. In the attic Gulnyr found two goblins who had fallen asleep after eating a number of pickles. He killed them in their sleep, then headed back downstairs munching on a pickle.

After Ausk and Devin finished killing the goblins in the bedroom, the party continued exploring. We came to a courtyard which was open to the sky, with grass covering the ground. Two goblin corpses lay on the ground, and four live goblin dogs were present. After killing the goblin dogs, we noticed a shed in one corner of the courtyard. Its doors had been boarded up, and we could hear a large creature making noise inside. We broke open the door, and found a horse inside. It looked angry and ready to attack, but Ausk was able to calm it down.

Continuing on, we found more rooms, including:

• A room filled with cages containing live rabbits. Ausk set the rabbits free.
• A storeroom containing food. The floor was wet due to a leaky pickle barrel. Ausk took some grain from this room to give to the horse.
• Another attic, in which some goblins were playing cards. Gulnyr slaughtered them.

We came to a large throne room. Its walls were decorated with the pelts of horses, goblin dogs, and fire pelt cougars. Four pillars stood in the room, with human hands nailed to them. Present in this room were five goblins, including Ripnugget, who was riding atop a gecko. He invited Ausk in to negotiate. When Ausk approached, Ripnugged attacked, and ordered the other goblins to attack as well. The party then fought the goblins, and killed them all, but Ausk and Spike were also killed in the fight. After the fight, Shalelu showed up, and joined with us as we continued exploring the keep.

We found the following rooms:

• A bedroom with fur rugs. Searching this room, Ash found an iron key in a chair cushion, and a holy symbol of Lamashtu under a pillow on a bed.
• An armory with goblin weapons and armor, and two workbenches.
• A buchery.

We descended some stairs to the lower level. The first room we came to was a meeting room which had a chalkboard. We found a note indicating a plan of a second attack on Sandpoint after the “whispering beast” was tamed. This attack would involve sinspawn.

We then came to a room with a work table, and shelves filled with archaeology equipment. The table was covered with fragments of carvings, runes, and other artefacts. A woman named Lyrie Akenja was present, and surrendered to us immediately. She is an archaeologist who has a deal with the goblins allowing her to live in and conduct her research from their keep. She was not particularly interested in helping us or joining us, and just wanted to be left alone to continue her work. So we left her there and continued on.

Further rooms that we found were:

• An art gallery. There were goblin drawings made with mud, blood, and paint. There was one drawing of a giant goblin with snake-like eyes and taloned hands.
• A corridor containing double-doors. The doors had carvings of monstrous creatures clawing their way out of pregnant women.
• Tunnels with polished stone floors, leading to a cave overlooking the water.
• A cavern filled with bodies of dead birds, as well as six goblin corpses.
• A tunnel in which we were attacked by a tentamort, which we then killed.
• A cavern filled with junk taken from Sandpoint.
• A room full of cages, used as a nursery for goblins to raise their young.
• A bedchamber in which we found Bruthazmus lounging with four goblin women. We fought and killed Bruthazmus.
• A bedroom in which a human man was wating to attack whoever opened the door. Shalelu hit him with a sleep arrow, and then manacled him.
• A bedroom with a musty smell, bird feet on the floor, and fur in the bed.
• A spartan bedroom with an everburning torch.
• A well-organized bedroom, containing papers weighed down with a piece of obsidian. We concluded that this was Tsuto‘s bedroom.
• A large room that was a combination bedroom and study.
• A torture chamber, containing six cells with iron doors.
• A room containing torture equipment.

On the advice of Shalelu, we chose to journey through Nettlewood to get to Thistletop. Nettlewood consists of a network of passages and clearings walled by thorny brush, and has a thick canopy that blocks out most of the sunlight.

We entered Nettlewood through a low archway entrance, and began exploring. We soon found a deep stone-walled pit. We could hear that there was water at the bottom of it. Further on, we came to an alcove where there were four goblin dogs tied to stakes in the ground. Agitated by our presence, they were able to break free to attack us, so we killed them. In another clearing, we found a nest made of the fur of fire pelt cougars.

We were attacked by Gogmurt, a goblin druid, along with his pet fire pelt cougar Tangletooth. It was a difficult fight, as Gogmurt used entangling vines to slow our progress, and was able to move through the brush unhindered. However, we managed to kill Tangletooth, at which point Gogmurt retreated. We caught up with him again, along with 10 other goblin allies. We killed all of them except Gogmurt, who then surrendered and offered to tell us everything we wanted to know. He told us the following facts:

• There is a bunyip at the bottom of the stone pit that we found.
• In Thistletop, there is a stairway in the throne room of the keep that leads underground.
• Ripnugget is following Nualia‘s orders, and they are planning to attack Sandpoint.

We then left Nettlewood and headed off for Thistletop. We came to a rope bridge that was suspended over water. The bridge was rigged to collapse, so when we tried to cross it, Devin fell into the water below. He was pulled by the current into a cave which had a bunyip in it. The ceiling of the cave had an opening which was the bottom of the previously encountered stone shaft. The other party members descended into the water to assist Devin, and we killed the bunyip. Within the cave, we found some money, a gem, a kukri, and a wand of Shield.

You gather your belongings and strike out for Thistletop. At the Northgate you are met by the elven ranger Shalelu Andosana. She hails your group and explains that Mayor Deverin informed her of your trip. She gives you reliable directions to reach Thistletop, including a cautionary note to take the old hunting path through the Nettlewood rather than trying to navigate through Pauper’s Graves to the coast. Pauper’s Graves is apparently a large graveyard dedicated to the many poor and desperate laborers from Magnimar who came to the region to establish Sandpoint and its surrounding farmlands. Unfortunately, a pall has fallen over the monuments, and many of the graves have been desecrated, despite the lack of wealth of those interred. The Nettlewood, while wild, tangled and thorny, is a better bet, she thinks, especially with a druid in your group.

Before you leave, Shalelu makes a serious request. She does not know the source of the evil at Thistletop, but she asks that you act appropriately when considering the nature of your opponents. Goblins and other monstrous creatures can and should be “whacked like weeds” but those who should have a conscience, humans or elves or the like, should not be killed, but rather be brought to justice at Sandpoint if at all possible.

The Journey to Thistletop is roughly two hours by foot, east on the Lost Coast Road. The morning you set out is overcast, with intermittent winds whipping the grey ocean waters and bright beams of sun occasionally illuminating circles of water far off shore. You pass north of the Ravenroost Hills, with their isolated copses of eucalyptus, pepperwood and pine. Out to the northeast the Three Cormorants rock structure is just visible from the road, and something catches the light and glitters at the third rock. However, beyond an impression of movement, neither Ash nor Ausk can make out anything further from this distance.

As luck would have it, heavy rain begins about an hour into the journey, just as the road begins to wind inland between Shank’s Wood to the north and the Tickwood to the south. You pass a small roadside shrine… not much more than a stone plinth overgrown with yellow roses and a faded symbol of a golden seagull with blue circles on each wing. No one in the party is able to identify the meaning, but Spike lands atop of it and gives a happy squawk.

You have reached the point in the road where the Pauper’s Graves lie to the north, the Nettlewood to the east. The rain continues to fall, less feverish now but heady with the smell of ozone. Will you follow Shalelu’s advice and take the slightly longer path through the Nettlewood, or strike out north into the field of graves?

A couple of days after rescuing Ameiko from the glassworks, we returned to its basement to explore the smuggling tunnels that we had found. Shortly after entering, we found a secret door that led out to a beach by a cliffside. Since there was nothing of interest there, and the tunnels continued on past the exit, we returned inside for further exploration.

We soon encountered a creature known as a sinspawn. A sinspawn is a tall humanoid creature with a split jaw, and which is attuned to one of the seven deadly sins. It will seek out those who either harbor or lack the associated sin. The one we encountered was attuned to wrath.

Among our discoveries in the tunnels were the following:

• Various doors on which could be detected small amounts of abjuration magic. These doors were not harmful in any way.
• A small room containing a statue of a woman holding a ranseur. The ranseur was not part of the statue itself, but was removable and perfectly usable, so we took it with us.
• A room full of prison cells. We fought some more sinspawn here.
• A torture room.
• A room with three doors, each of which was marked with a symbol of a 7-pointed star. Behind each door was a small room containing the skeleton of a creature. The skeletons were notably deformed, each in a different way.

We came to a room that had 11 covered pits in the floor, each 20 feet deep, and at the bottom of each pit was a zombie. Koruvus, a notorious goblin from the Seven Tooth tribe, attacked us in this room, and we killed him. Unlike a normal goblin, Koruvus had an extra arm.

We came to another room which was spherical, and in which gravity did not function normally; all of the objects in the room were floating around near the center. Also, the surface of the wall was some sort of red metal, and had electricity crackling across it. Ausk and Gulnyr entered the room, and soon found themselves floating in the air, unable to escape the room easily. Gulnyr eventually escaped by throwing Ausk, using the momentum to propel himself towards the doorway. He then threw Koruvus’s body into the room so that Ausk could use it to escape in the same manner.

We found a room that contained a large pool of dirty water, as well as an altar. Here we fought a bat-like creature that had tentacles.

Finally, we came to a cold room which contained a triangular pool of bubbling liquid that resembled translucent lava. There was a larger pool as well, filled with water, which contained a number of spikes with skulls impaled on them. In this room, we encountered a quasit named Erylium, who we believe to have been created by Nualia. We saw Erylium create a sinspawn by dropping some of her blood into the bubbling pool. After defeating the quasit, our exploration of the tunnels was complete, so we returned to town.

We met with mayor Deverin, and based on what we knew we concluded that Nualia and the nearby goblin tribes would be launching their full-scale attack on Sandpoint soon, and that the attack would come from Thistletop. The mayor recommended that we prevent this by going on the offensive, and head to Thistletop to attack Nualia.