Results of the Raid on Sandpoint

Thanks to your heroic actions and timely intervention, most buildings in Sandpoint suffered only minimal damage. Half the town garrison burned down from dragon fire. The Two Knights Brewery lies in ruin and all the beer has been stolen or destroyed. The Feathered Serpent magic item shop was also damaged, and has suffered looting as its owner has gone missing.

Thankfully, you prevented much loss of life, but the following named NPCs died during the raid:

• Father Zantus
• Larz Rovanky (Rovanky Tannery)
• Aesrick Battlehorn (dwarf carpenter)
• Gorvi (half-orc dungsweeper)

Additionally, the following named NPCs have gone missing, most likely abducted by the stone giants. It should be understood that this list is not comprehensive, and other townsfolk are missing their family members or friends:

• Nisk Tander (potion maker, propietor of Bottled Solutions)
• Jesk “Cracktooth” Berinni (owner of Cracktooth’s Tavern near the theater)
• Kendra Deverin (mayor)
• Vorvashali Voon (wizard proprietor of the Feathered Serpent magic item store)
• Niska Mvashti (Harrow Deck seer and fortune teller of dubious merit)
• Aneka Avertin (twin sister skilled in knives from Sandpoint Savories, likes Gulnyr)

Further Developments

The Scarnetti Family’s success at repelling the giants from their mansion and in capturing a giant for interrogation has raised their popularity in town. Titus Scarnetti is milking it for all it is worth, and there are many grumblings about the so-called “heroes of sandpoint” being over their heads and the Scarnetti family being the town’s true defenders. Obviously, not all people share this view, and you continue to enjoy large support from Sherrif Hemlock, Ameiko Kaijutsu, Savah Bevaniky and Sabyl Sorn, among others.

Interrogation of the Stone Giant Prisoner

Eliatris uses magic to confirm the captive is telling the truth. If this one is typical of his race, it appears stone giants are blunt and honest, and far from deceptive.

1. Where is Jorgenfist?

“Jorgenfist lies within the Valley of the Black Tower in the Iron Peaks. It overlooks the waters of the Muschkal River, but can also be approached by heading east from the Storval Stairs. Lord Mokmurian himself dwells deep below Jorgenfist – in hidden places he does not allow us to visit!”

2. What defenses can we expect to find there?

“Mokmurian has at least seven tribes of the People under his command, with each tribe numbering in the dozens. The number of lesser kin he’s conscripted – ogres, hill giants, ettins, trolls – is not insignificant. He also enjoys the support of several lamias – degenerate followers of the Mother of Monsters!”

3. What capabilities does Teraktinus have?

“Teraktinus is an idiot. Though the stones give him great strength, he should not have led the raiding party. I should have been the one in command!”

4. Who is Mokmurian?

“I already told you – he’s our lord and leader. He promised us glory and riches, and although we lost the dragon on our raid of your town, that was because Teraktinus is a fool. When Lord Mokmurian marches down from the Storval Plateau, he will take from you everything!”

5. But what is Mokmurian?

“I have only heard him speak from afar, and have only heard from others of the power of his magic. He is the rarest of us all, a child of the stones who has mastered the magic of the Ancient Lords. They say he can turn the living into immobile stone and can turn his own flesh into granite armor. I’ve even heard he can cause the very stones of the world to quicken and pull those who stand atop them into a tomb below the earth. And I’m sure he can do much more than that!”

6. Why did Teraktinus take the granite from the Old Light?

“I can’t say. He mentioned having a special mission from Lord Mokmurian, but didn’t tell me what it was. Didn’t tell any of us. My people’s elders have ways of prying secrets from the stones – perhaps that stone knew something that Lord Mokmurian needed to learn?”

7. What is Teraktinus planning to do with the prisoners?

“They will likely be brought to Jorgenfist to serve as slaves. Or maybe they will be fed to our war mammoths. Either way, they will be the lucky ones!”

8. Why did you attack the Scarnetti family mansion in particular?

“Teraktinus wanted treasure, and this mansion you speak of was the most opulent. He was a fool to divide our forces!”

9. Why the beer?

“All your beer will soon belong to us!”

10. Do stone giants like beer?

“Surely you have heard of our great ancestor, Charlie Mops?…”

We fought Lucretia and the two stone giants accompanying her, during which Barl Breakbones cast offensive spells, the other giant hurled stones, and Lucretia teleported in for quick attacks before teleporting away again. At one point, Barl used Vampiric touch on Eliatris. We killed all of our opponents, or so we thought, but it turned out that Lucretia’s death was just an illusion. We discovered her true self hiding invisibly in the corner, and she teleported away once found. Searching the bodies of the giants, we found that Barl had a letter, written not only in another language, but encoded as well.

We returned to the Shimmer Glen, and delivered Lamatar Bayden‘s remains to Myriana‘s ghost. She resurrected Lamatar, and granted Devin a boon to some of his skills in gratitude. Then she faded away.

We went to Magnimar and reported to Lord-Mayor Grobaras, who gave us our reward. We then spent some time in the city shopping. After this we went to Sandpoint. Along the way, we noticed some burning hoof prints by the side of the road.

Upon arrival in Sandpoint, we were greeted by Mayor Deverin. We then went to the garrison to see Sheriff Hemlock, who told us there had been recent rumors of supernatural occurrences. He also mentioned that Savah Bevaniky, who owns the armory in Sandpoint, has mysteriously fallen ill. She was currently in the care of Father Zantus, who could not figure out the nature of her ailment.

After seeing the sheriff, Gulnyr went to The Blind Sorcerer, Ash went to Chask Haladan‘s bookstore, and Devin and Eliatris went to the cathedral to inquire about Savah. At The Blind Sorcerer, Gulnyr drank with the dwarf Volioker. Risa‘s children, Besk, Lanalee, and Vodger, were also present.

On the way to the cathedral, Devin and Eliatris noticed that Savah’s place was closed, some of its windows were broken, and there was paint splattered on it. At the cathedral, Zantus told them that Savah had been sick for two weeks. We determined that she had been poisoned, and Eliatris cured her of it, though she remained unconscious for the time being.

On the way to Chask’s bookstore, Ash ran into Cyrdak Drokkus, who expressed interest in hiring her for a show. At the bookstore, she saw Chask, and Brodert Quink was there as well. She gave the encoded letter to Chask to translate, and he said he would have it figured out soon.

After leaving the cathedral, Devin went to the House of Blue Stones, the monastery run by Sabyl Sorn. He once again failed to prove himself worthy of entering the library, so he stayed and meditated for a while.

Meanwhile, Eliatris went to Pillbug’s Potions, the potion shop run by Aliver Podiker, to find out if anyone had recently bought poison from him. However, Aliver was unwilling to talk, and insisted that Eliatris leave him alone. She then went across the street to Bottled Solutions, and spoke with the proprietor, Nisk Tander. Nisk told her that the Shoanti were responsible for poisoning Savah. He said that the Shoanti have ties to organized crime, and a Shoanti dock worker has been seen visiting Savah several times recently. This same person purchased some potions from Nisk.

That evening, as we ate dinner at the Rusty Dragon, we heard rumors that the Sandpoint Devil had been seen recentnly out in the farmlands on moonless nights. Kaye Tesarani, owner of the brothel The Pixie’s Kitten, was also there, and mentioned that the Shoanti have been visiting her esablishment recently, paying in Scarnetti coins.

The next morning, Brodert Quink came by, frantically looking for Ash. He had the translation of the letter. It read:

Barl-

Latest contact with Teraktinus indicates he has narrowed the search — he believes a human town called Sandpoint could hide what my lord seeks. Teraktinus will lead several of the people, as well as the dragon, on a raid into the town soon. When they return, they may be pursued, and I may need your ogre slaves to aid in Teraktinus’s retreat to Jorgenfist. Be ready to return at my command!

We split up to try to gain more information and prepare for the impending attack on Sandpoint. Unfortunately, the attack came almost immediately. Three stone giants attacked and broke through the north wall. Devin and Gulnyr arrived to find a few of the town guard trying to defend. Meanwhile, two more stone giants, accompanied by three bears, attacked from across the river to the northeast. The giants were carrying large sacks, and had begun capturing some of the townsfolk and putting them inside. Ash and Eliatris joined in the defense at that location, and soon Lyrie Akenja showed up to help as well. A dragon then joined in the attack, flying in from over the lighthouse and engulfing the garrison in flame.

Unfortunately, our party was not able to stop the onslaught, and the giants soon moved deeper into the town. The giants demanded to be brought beer, and continued capturing townsfolk. Some giants attacked Scarnetti Manor. Gulnyr and Devin ran to the cathedral, where they met the dragon, as well as a giant and two bears. During the fray, Father Zantus emerged from the cathedral to heal Devin. Savah, having recovered from her poisoning, also came out to join in the fight. Just then, the giant hurled a rock at Zantus, killing him. Shortly afterwards, Gulnyr killed the dragon, and Savah and Devin killed one of the bears. The giant and the other bear then ran off.

Gulnyr, Devin, and Savah then retreated into the cathedral, and watched as a group of giants, including Teraktinus, walked by carrying a piece of the lighthouse. Finished with their attack, the giants left the town.

After regrouping, we found out that the mayor was one of the people who had been kidnapped. The sheriff and Ameiko were hurt, but alive. The Scarnettis had managed to capture a giant as a prisoner, and Titus Scarnetti addressed the crowd, attempting to make himself out as a hero. However, the sheriff insisted that our party be the ones to interrogate the giant.

We returned to Fort Rannick to prepare for our trip to Hook Mountain. Jakardros brought out a map and showed us the location of the Krieg ogre tribe caves.

We then proceeded to Hook Mountain. Before starting our climb, we stocked up on supplies, and hired some sherpas and pack mules. Gulnyr picked a route for us to take, and the sherpas enthusiastically agreed that it was a good choice, but we weren’t sure if they were just humoring us.

We began our ascent, using a Rope of Climbing. At one point Devin slipped, but held tightly onto the rope as he slid down it, causing his hands serious rope burn.

Eventually we came to a ravine that was 20 feet across. We secured the rope to both sides, and Ash tightrope-walked across it. However, as she reached the other side, that ledge collapsed, increasing the distance to 35 feet. Ash managed to land safely on the far side, while Gulnyr quickly grabbed the rope before it fell into the ravine. We secured the rope again, and climbed across.

We reached the level where the cave entrance was. At this point, we were above the clouds, and below us was a swirling maelstrom. From here, we could see into the cave, and noticed that the ceiling inside was rather high. There was some kind of smoke pouring out of the cave and rising into the sky, and two frozen ogres were patrolling in front of the entrance.

Ash turned herself invisible and moved away from the rest of us, to try to draw the ogres’ attention. She blew a whistle, causing them to look for the source of the sound, while the rest of us snuck around towards the entrance. One of the ogres jumped down to where Ash was, and she created a fog cloud to hide in. The ogre managed to find and attack her, while the rest of us fought and killed the other one. By the time we killed it, the first ogre had knocked Ash unconscious, so Devin moved in to heal her while Gulnyr and Eliatris fought and killed that ogre.

We then entered the cave. Inside was a 40 foot tall statue of a giant, which radiated evil. Beyond it were stairs leading down. We followed them, and came to a room with a 30 foot wide pit in the floor. The stairs continued further down, and ended at a set of winding tunnels. We immediately spotted two Krieg ogres, accompanied by a hill giant named Lunderbud. We proceeded to fight them, but soon 11 more ogres joined the fight from around the corner, including another Krieg. We eventually managed to kill them all, though Gulnyr lost an eye in the process.

We explored the tunnels, and came to a cavern with body parts and animal carcasses strewn about, and a nook containing a bubbling cauldron. As we stood in the middle of the room, we heard three elderly female voices cast a spell which enclosed us in a force cage. Three hags then appeared, and cast a spell that severely lowered Eliatris’s Charisma. Though we were trapped, the cage was made of narrow bands of force with some space between them, so we were able to attack through it. Devin used a Flame Strike on he hags, while Eliatris fired arrows. Meanwhile, Gulnyr attacked the cage itself to try to destroy it. We killed two of the hags, at which point the third one dismissed the cage, and we then killed her as well. The cauldron stopped bubbling, and we realized that it had been the source of the smoke we had seen coming out of the cave entrance, and that it was the cause of the maelstrom.

We ventured further on through the tunnels, and came to an alcove containing a statue of a woman with the head of a jackal. Lamatar Bayden was there, though he was undead, and we had to fight him. Devin and Eliatris both channeled energy to good effect. During the fight, Devin took some damage to his Dexterity. After we killed Lamatar, Ash put his body into a bag of holding.

Continuing on, we came to a room with two high ledges on the sides, and stairs leading upwards between them. The ledges had statues on them. At the top of the stairs, Lucretia was waiting, accompanied by two stone giants, one of whom was named Barl Breakbones.

We cleared away the pile of skulls and went through the door that they had been blocking. Beyond it was a room with two summoning circles on the floor, one at each end of the room, each behind a portcullis. On one of the circles was a pile of red ash, and on the other was a near-dead fiend named Avaxial. He told us that he had been imprisoned by a Thassilonian named Karzoug. He wanted us to kill him to release him from his tortured existence, and Devin obliged.

We next came to a room with a pool of water on the floor, and a scale model of Skull’s Crossing on the wall. A large creature shaped like a scorpion and covered with skulls and bones attacked us here, and scared Gulnyr away. The rest of us tried to fight it, but were not very effective against it. Devin suffered some Dexterity damage when struck, and Ash nearly died. Fortunately, Gulnyr came to his senses and returned, and we managed to kill the creature.

Upon examining the model of Skull’s Crossing, we found that there were levers that control the sluice gates. Unfortunately, there was no power available, so pulling the levers did nothing. We figured out that the fiends in the summoning circles had been used as a source of power. We decided to try using two of our party members to power the mechanism, so Gulnyr and Ash each stepped into a summoning circle, and Eliatris pulled the levers. This successfully opened the sluice gates, at the cost of giving Gulnyr and Ash a negative level.

Having fixed the dam, we returned to Turtleback Ferry to report our success to Mayor Shreed. He in turn told us that he had done some more research regarding the sihedron tattoos, and said that half of the townsfolk had them. He speculated that there had been a concerted effort on the part of Lucretia to tattoo everyone in preperation for killing them as a sort of harvest. Finally, he requested that we go to the Shimmer Glen, which required passing through Bitter Hollow.

We traveled to Bitter Hollow, where we met B. K. Pedwyn, who runs the trading post and is the de facto leader of the town. He mentioned that Lamatar Bayden is a frequent visitor. We ventured out on the Wicker Walk, and soon encountered a pixie named Yap, who was crying. He told us that Myriana was his mistress, and that she was ill, and asked us to help her. We followed him, and along the way some ghostly fay emerged from the forest and caused Ash some injury.

We rested for the night. During Ash’s watch, a derelict ship appeared in the swamp. She awoke Gulnyr, and then went to sleep. Gulnyr examined the ship, and then smashed a hole in the side of it, awaking the rest of us. There was a magical darkness permeating the inside of the ship, but Devin dispelled it. We then went inside to investigate. We came to the captain’s quarters, where we found the dead body of the captain sitting at a harpsicord. His chest had been burst open, and there were some kind of polyps inside. Eliatris used a torch to burn them away.

We returned to camp, and saw a white dog with milky white eyes. As Eliatris approached it, three large caterpillar-like creatures emerged from the water and attacked us. After we killed them, Myriana herself showed up, in the form of a ghostly figure with disembodied arms. As we fought her, she blinded Ash. Devin cured her blindness, but Myriana blinded her again, as well as Eliatris. Devin then channeled energy to kill Myriana. As she faded away, she told us to bring Lamitar’s remains to her at Hook Mountain.

We left the keep, and returned to the forest to spend the night. The next morning, we scouted the keep through a spyglass, and saw that there were 18 ogres remaining. We then returned to the keep. On the first floor, we encountered a large ogre tormenting two smaller ones. The large ogre had goat legs, and his face was covered with red pustules. We fought and killed them, and just as the large one died, he said “Jaargrath will eat your face!” to Gulnyr.

We went up to the second floor. Ash heard ogre voices coming from the temple when she listened at the door, so we prepared to fight them. First we checked the commander’s quarters to makes sure it was still unoccupied from the night before, and found that the ogre that we had killed there had been put into a cooking pot. Returning to the temple, Gulnyr knocked on the door. It was opened by an ogre who had part of his jaw missing, and another, larger ogre was inside with him. We saw that the temple was decorated with antlers mounted on the walls, and they had strips of bloody flesh hanging from them. We fought the ogres, and just after killing the smaller one, another ogre emerged from the conference room across the hall. Inside the conference room was a fourth ogre, with tiny hands and feet, and a huge head and butt, wearing a chef’s hat. We killed all of the ogres, and found that the large one had a list of names, written in Lucretia‘s handwriting. Also, Eliatris found a magic sword lying on the altar of the chapel, which she felt was a gift from her god, so she took it.

Looking inside a wine cabinet, we found a wooden coffer containing a bunch of love letters written by the captain to a woman named Myriana. There was also a locket, and a strand of silver hair. Jakardros said that the captain was probably still alive. He then gave us three tasks to complete:

1. Report back to Turtleback Ferry
2. Go to Hook Mountain to clear out the remaining ogres there
3. Investigate the Shimmer Glen to find the captain

We returned to Turtleback Ferry, and found that it was flooding from the rain. Many townsfolk were trapped in buildings, and there were some schoolchildren trapped in a boat. A large sea serpent, known as a nightbelly boa, swam towards the boat to attack the children. Their teacher, Tylia Hendrickson, called to us to help them, and we noticed that there was a sihedron tattoo on her arm. Gulnyr attacked the boa, but the water made it difficult to get to it quickly, and we were unable to prevent it from grabbing and constricting a little girl. However, Devin was able to heal her and prevent her from dying after Gulnyr killed the serpent.

As this was going on, we heard screams coming from the church, and Ash and Eliatris went off to investigate. They saw a huge tentacled sea creature phasing in and out. We realized that this was Black Maga, the creature that had recently sunk the Paradise gambling boat. It breathed a cloud of black smoke that was capable of causing Wisdom damage. Devin arrived and used Channel Energy to harm it, at which point it retreated.

In the evening, we met with mayor Maelin Shreed. He told us that the dam at Skull’s Crossing should have prevented Black Maga from getting in, and asked us to investigate it to check on the sluice gates. He warned us that it was home to a tribe of trolls known as the Skulltakers. We then reported to him what we had found out about Fort Rannick, the Black Arrow Rangers, and what we had done. We also mentioned Lucretia’s list of names, and told him about the sihedron tattoo on the teacher’s arm. Her name was on the list, and we asked him to investigate other townsfolk who were on the list, to see if they had similar tattoos.

We spent the night in town, and the next day we met with the mayor again. He told us that he had investigated some of the other townsfolk as we had asked, and they did indeed have sihedron tattoos, but that it was merely used as a membership symbol for the gambling boat.

We then went to Skull’s Crossing to investigate the dam. Its face was decorated with carvings of skulls. On one side was a stairway sized for large creatures. Eliatris tried to climb up on her own, but slipped and fell into the water. Gulnyr then climbed up, taking one end of a rope with him, and the rest of us used the rope climb up after him.

At the top, we encountered and fought an ettin. Inside its cave, we found some coins, a velvet pouch containing six pearls, a phylactery, and a jade scroll case containing three scrolls.

We then proceeded to the top of the dam, where we encountered five ogres. We killed them, with Devin tossing the last one over the edge of the dam. We came to two sets of double doors leading to the interior. One set of doors was barricaded from the inside, and the other set was stuck. Gulnyr was able to open the stuck set of doors, and we proceeded inside.

The first room was a large chamber with rubble on the floor, ogre bodies, and broken weapons. There were vines of some sort of moss or fungus growing on the walls. Four trolls emerged from the vines and attacked us. We killed them, and found that we had to use fire to prevent them from regenerating.

We explored a few more rooms, eventually coming to a set of giant-sized stairs leading down. We followed them to a set of double doors, which opened into a room with a pool in the middle, which was filled with slimy yellow fungus. There were five doors in this room, and one of them was blocked by a pile of humanoid skulls. A scrug (sea troll) named Grazuul emerged from the pool and attacked us, and we killed it.

We backtracked to the fork in the tunnel, and took the stairs down to the keep basement. Jakardros warned us to be quiet and to avoid disturbing any lizard eggs, because the shocker lizards were very protective of their young. In one corner of the basement was a group of five lizards, blocking the exit. Jakardros and Gulnyr collected a colony of ants to try to lure the lizards away. Meanwhile, Ash twirled a shock arrow around in the air to make crackling electrical sounds, in hopes of attracting the lizards. This worked, and she lured them to where the ants were, which kept them occupied long enough for us to sneak by.

We came to a set of cells, which had been repurposed into a bedroom for Lucretia, Xanesha‘s sister. Lucretia was present, and she tried to persuade us to join her side. She claimed that she and her allies were not evil, but were trying to bring order to the world. She also revealed that Kaven was the one who had betrayed the Back Arrows, allowing the ogres to take Fort Rannick. Kaven then tried to flee, but we caught him and knocked him unconscious. Lucretia encouraged us to kill him, but we tied him up instead, for later questioning.

Gulnyr then attacked Lucretia, and we all fought her. During the fight, she used a Dimension Door to get away. We heard the sound of her casting a spell back in the main part of the cavern, and most of the party went to investigate the area, though Devin stayed behind in case she returned. She avoided being seen by the party, and returned to the bedroom, where she attacked Devin, and drained him of some Wisdom. She also mentioned that “Mokmurian” would love to meet Devin, but did not say who that was. After the party returned and inflicted more injury on her, she used Dimension Door again, this time to flee the fight completely. Right before she left, she said “I’ll see you in his court”.

We questioned Kaven, but he had no useful information, nor was he repentant for his crime, so Vale and Jakardros killed him. Then we headed upstairs into the keep.

We came to an entrance hall, and from there, proceeded to an infirmary. It was filled with mutilated bodies and body parts. One corpse was propped up and positioned as though it were eating its own entrails from a bowl. There was an ogre in this room as well, which we fought and killed.

From there, we encountered:

• A library, containing torn, mangled books
• A round tower
• Three guest quarters, which were still in good condition

We came to the door to a dining room. We heard ogre voices behind it; they were arguing over who was going to get to wear a horse head as a hat. Ash opened the door, saw that there were four ogres, filled the room with mist, and quickly closed the door again. Unfortunately, she was spotted, so they all came out into the hallway to attack us, and two other ogres heard the commotion and came out to join in. Ash filled the hallway with mist, and this, combined with the narrow width of the hallway, allowed us to keep the ogres well contained as we fought them.

Proceeding on, we came to a work room, which was filled with graffiti consisting of poetry, written in Giant. An ogre was there, using the head of a dead ranger as a paintbrush. We fought him, and during the fight he managed to daze Vale. As Devin tried to pull him out, the ogre killed Vale. Jakardros then killed the ogre.

From there, we explored:

• An armory
• Two guest quarters that were in good shape
• A closet
• Barracks, which were torn and smashed up
• A kitchen, which was in a shambles; it had a pantry, which contained a barrel of pickled fish

We then went up a set of stairs to the next floor. We entered the commander’s quarters, where there were two ogres present. One was a female named Druella, and the other was a male named Hookmaw, who was deformed and had a metal jaw. We fought and killed them, and then stopped to rest for the night.

We continued exploring the farmhouse. We went upstairs to the attic, and came to two doors. One led to a room filled with junk. There were crates, barrels, tools, furniture and all kinds of assorted items. Gulnyr opened one barrel, which turned out to be filled with rusty parts of animal traps. He opened a crate, which contained stained bedsheets and bits of razor wire.

The other door led to a bedroom containing a large cedar chest. The chest was unlocked, but the lid was too heavy for us to open by hand, even with several people trying. Eventually we managed to open it using Ash’s shovel for leverage, and inside was a sack of coins. When Eliatris retrieved it, a blade trap was sprung and injured her. When we looked inside the sack, we found that it also contained the skeletal remains of severed ogrekin fingers.

We returned to the first floor, and then went downstairs from there to the basement, to find a corridor with several doors. The first door we entered led to a storeroom containing broken farm equipment and miscellaneous tools. There was a set of double doors in this room, which led to a corridor with another set of double doors at its other end. The walls of this corridor were covered with some kind of green slime.

Suddenly, we heard a sound coming from behind another door in the first basement corridor. It was the sound of someone accidentally striking his thumb with a hammer, and then swearing. We opened that door to find an ogrekin in the middle of building some chairs. Also present were two donkey-rats, who the ogrekin commanded to attack us. Their names were Chuckles and Drooler. We fought and killed the donkey-rats and the ogrekin carpenter.

We opened another door in the first basement corridor, which led to a skin-shucking room. Then we returned to the corridor of slime, and opened the double doors at its far end. This led to a room filled with fungus. A giant plant with tendrils and a mouth, which Shalelu identified as a Tendriculos, occupied the room, and attacked us. As we fought it, it grabbed Gulnyr and put him in its mouth. Gulnyr enlarged himself, but this did not prevent the plant from swallowing him. We discovered that the plant was regenerating during combat, but damage from fire prevented this. So Ash attacked it with Alchemist’s Fire, and Devin cast Sun Metal to make Eliatris’ sword flaming. We managed to kill the plant, but when it died, it released a cloud of spores which knocked us unconscious for eight hours.

When we awoke, we investigated another door that was in the fungus room. It led to a closet which contained a chest and some equipment belonging to the Black Arrow Rangers. The chest contained a ring, a necklace, gloves, and some coins. Among the ranger equipment was a longbow which belonged to Jakardros Sovark, Shalelu’s stepfather.

We then decided to go outside and investigate the barn. This time, its doors were open when we got there. Mammy Graul was waiting inside for us, along with three of her henchmen: Hograth was the eldest, and had an extra arm; Jeppo was the tallest, and the most handsome; Sugar was the shortest, and had crooked, stumpy legs. We fought them, and after we killed the henchmen, Mammy Graul started levitating to try to avoid us. We managed to kill her, and found three wands and a spellbook in her possession.

The barn had a second floor, with two catwalks leading up to it on opposite walls. Doors at the end of each catwalk led to a large room that contained cages and lots of spider webs. There were three unconscious Black Arrow Rangers in the room. A giant spider attacked us, and severely weakened Eliatris with its venom before we killed it.

We revived the three rangers, whose names were Jakardros Sovark, Kaven Windstrike, and Vale Temros. They told us that the other Black Arrows were killed. They were out on patrol when their fort was attacked by ogres, who now occupied it. The fort had been under the control of Commander Baden, who they now presumed was dead. They asked for our help in retaking the fort.

They told us that there was a secret tunnel that led to the fort, which was sometimes patroled by shocker lizards. The entrance to the tunnel is hidden behind a waterfall. Another way into the fort is through a sluice gate. They also mentioned a barracks that was built 20 years ago, but was abandoned because it was a deathtrap, as it is highly susceptible to fire.

We left the barn after learning all this, and the cougar we had rescued came back to join Jakardros. We rested for the night, and headed towards the fort the next morning. On the way there, we noticed that some of the trees had hooks, and there were bodies strung up on them.

We camped for the night in the forest, and the next morning we entered the secret tunnel behind the waterfall. The ground was slippery due to the presence of fungus. We encountered two shocker lizards, which shocked Gulnyr and Jakardros, but then ran away. We found a room that contained some crates, and we found six Shock Burst arrows.

We came to a fork in the tunnel: one way led down some stairs into the basement of the keep, and the other was a side passage that led to a secret entrance in the keep grounds. We decided to take the latter path. Soon we came to a bridge, which Vale noticed had been set to collapse, but we were able to reinforce it to make it safe to cross.

We came to a room which contained some skeletal remains. A ghostly figure, who Jakardros identified as Lorgus Fenker, appeared and attackes us. We killed it.

Shalelu informed us that Grobaras wanted us to meet with him, so we followed her to his office. Once there, he told us that the Black Arrow Rangers at Fort Rannick have not been heard from in quite a while, and requested that we investigate. He told us to go to the village of Turtleback Ferry and meet with its mayor, Maelin Shreed.

We booked passage on a barge. Aboard was Rivermaster Tigh, who warned us that there were reefclaws and boggards lurking in the Yondabakari River, in the Mushfens. The journey took several days. On one foggy day, we were attacked by swarms of mosquitoes, which we had to fight by using fire and oil. Towards the end of the trip, it began to rain, which worried the crew, because it was too early in the season for rain.

We arrived in Pendaka, a small village on the south edge of Claybottom Lake, where we spent a few hours waiting before we were able to transfer to the next barge that would take us to Turtleback Ferry. This barge was made from a large turtle shell. We met a strange man on this vessel who did not give his name, but who informed us that an albino gar named Pink-Eye inhabits Claybottom Lake, and has recently eaten some fishermen.

We finally arrived in Turtleback Ferry. We got rooms at an inn called The Turtle’s Parlor, run by the inkeeper Sestin Orlandi. Here we learned that a gambling vessel called Paradise recently sank, possibly due to Black Maga, a large sea creature that sometimes comes into Claybottom Lake.

We later went to the local church of Erastil, where we met with mayor Maelin Shreed. He told us that recently people have been disappearing. He also mentioned that the Paradise sank two weeks prior, during the night. He also commented on the early rainfall.

The next morning, we made a visit to the general store, which was run by a person named Wendellini. Afterwards, Gulnyr visited the local smithy. We then traveled to Fort Rannick. Along the way, we heard a creature yelp as though in pain. We investigated, and came upon a firepelt cougar that was caught in a bear trap. Tris calmed it, and Ash freed it. Meanwhile, we heard the sound of animals barking and voices speaking, coming towards us. Suddenly, a large humanoid arrived, accompanied by five large dogs, or perhaps wolves. The man was angry that we had freed his prey, and he and his dogs attacked us. We killed the dogs, but after the man had become severely wounded, he started crying, and then ran away. Shalelu warned us not to follow him, and pointed out that one of the dogs’ collars had the emblem of the Black Arrow rangers on it.

We rested, and then followed the humanoid’s trail. We felt a strange aura in the forest, and we saw that some of the trees were decorated with human-shaped fetishes made of dirt and human hair. We eventually arrived at a sagging old barn and accompanying farmhouse. In the area we spotted an eight foot tall humanoid whose head resembled a pumpkin on one side. We fought and killed it. We then tried to open the barn door, but it appeared to be barricaded from the inside.

We then approached the farmhouse. The front porch was crawling with large ants, and when Ash stepped on it, saw blades emerged from it. We then entered the house from a side door. The first room was crawling with cockroaches, and there was a carcass being devoured by rats. There was also a basket full of severed fingers.

Gulnyr opened a door leading from this room, and this triggered a trap in which a scythe swung out at him. The room beyond was a dining room. It contained a large table, whose tablecloth was made of human skin, and a human head served as the centerpiece.

Ash opened another door leading from the first room, behind which was a stairway heading down. She then examined a door that led from the dining room, and found it was armed with another scythe trap, but she accidentally triggered it when trying to disable it. Behind this door was a room filled with toys, and it also had bookshelves occupied with skulls. There were two creatures fighting over a squirrel carcass, which attacked us when they saw us. We killed them.

There was a second trapped door leading from the dining room, which Gulnyr smashed a large hole through, thus avoiding triggering the scythe. This led to a corridor with several other doors in it. One led to a bedroom, inside which was the humanoid who accompanied the dogs we had fought earlier. We killed him.

Another door off of the corridor led to a storage closet, containing the bones of children, all girls. Another door led to a family room, which contained a couch covered in human skin. It also had a bearskin rug. When Tris entered this room, she triggered a pit trap, but was able to avoid falling in.

A fourth door from the corridor led to a large bedroom. It contained an easel, a brush made with human hair, and a comb made from a human jaw. There were three defomed men standing in upright coffins, and their mouths were sewn shut. In the bed was a large, disgusting woman who identified herself as Mammy Graul. She commanded the men in the coffins to attack us, while she cast spells at us. After we killed the men, Mammy Graul escaped via Dimension Door.

Lord-Mayor Grobaras instructed us to meet with Eliatris Dawnstalker, aka “Tris”, a paladin of Magnimar. He wanted Tris to join our party as a city representative. We met with her and introduced ourselves, then proceeded to do some shopping to prepare for our mission. After that, we went to the Dockway, and got dinner from the open market.

After dinner, we headed to the Underbridge area. As we looked out over the sea, we could see the pylons that once held up the Irespan. Tris explained that each pylon had a name based on the carvings that adorned it. One of the pylons closest to our location was The Gecko, which was covered with carvings of lizards.

We noticed that many of the roads in this district were missing most of their cobblestones. We soon saw three children who were in the process of prying up a cobblestone, but we left them alone. After we turned a corner and the children were no longer in sight, we heard them singing the “Mumble Mumble Scarecrow” song, but when we looked back for the children, they were gone.

An old seaman whose breath smelled of alcohol ran into Tris as he stumbled by, and warned us not to go the way we were headed. He also begged for some coins for his “midnight milk”. Devin tossed him three copper pieces, and in return the man warned us that some Hellknights were presently conducting a raid on a warehouse up ahead. Ash scouted ahead and confirmed this to be true, so we took a different route, down a dark alley. In this alley, we were attacked by three shriezyxes, which are large spider-like creatures. We killed two of them, and the third one ran off frightened when Gulnyr caused his sword to become flaming. After the fight, Devin tried to use the wand of Cure Light Wounds that we had taken from Judge Ironbriar, but it did not work because it was powered by the god Norborger.

We arrived at the Shadowclock to find that its doorway had been boarded up, but the boards had been pushed aside. A sign in front read “Beware the dangerous stairs”. Tris detected the presence of evil beyond the entrance. We entered the building; the inside at ground level was a tall room, several storeys high, with rickety stairs spiraling upwards against the wall. We could see four large bells suspended from the ceiling high above us. On the ground was a wagon, and some heaps of plaster. A scarecrow emerged from the plaster to attack us, and we killed it. It was armed with a scythe, and was wearing a Cloak of Elvenkind, which Ash chose to keep. Underneath the wagon we found a moldy leather sack containing a silver ring, a silver mirror, and some coins.

We began climbing up the stairs. Ash scouted ahead, while the rest of us followed far behind; we stayed spread out enough not to put too much weight on any one part of the stairs. Suddenly, one of the bells dropped, injuring Tris, and smashing an eight-foot gap in the stairs. Gulnyr and Tris had to use rope to cross the gap to continue the climb. When Ash reached the topmost platform beneath the bells, and the rest of us were fairly close behind on the stairs, we were attacked by three faceless stalkers. They had crossbow-like devices that fired ropes that they could slide along to reach us. Unlike the faceless stalkers we had fought in Aldern Foxglove’s apartment, slashing weapons were more effective against them than bludgeoning ones. After killing them, we followed the platform to the outside of the tower, where the stairs continued around the outer wall, and then back into the tower at a higher level.

We came to a small square room containing a cabinet with a messenger raven inside. Beyond this was another room filled with clockwork. From here, we climbed some more stairs that went outside the building again, and then onto the roof.

On the roof, we saw an onyx statue of an angel. Beneath this, under an overhang, was a nest of cushions and silk sheets, and among these were seven chests. Suddenly, a winged demonic or devilish creature swooped in as though to attack us, but we realized that it was an illusion. Then Xanesha, a lamia who had been waiting nearby while invisible, appeared and attacked Gulnyr as he moved forward to explore the roof further. She was also under the effect of a Mirror Image spell. We fought her, but as she was able to climb around the walls of the building, while we were having trouble moving due the unevenness of the roof’s terrain, we were at somewhat of a disadvantage. She was also wearing a Medusa Mask, which at one point she used to attempt to turn Tris to stone.

Eventually, Xanesha managed to push Ash off of the roof, and she fell to the ground below. At this point, Devin was nearly out of spells and had no more uses of Channel Energy left, so he ran down the stairs to try to tend to her, leaving Gulnyr and Tris to fight Xanesha alone. When Xanesha was almost dead, she threw herself off of the roof, using Feather Fall to glide down slowly.

When Devin got to Ash, he found her unconscious, and used Rebuke Death to revive her. Just at that moment, Xanesha landed nearby. Ash tried to attack her, but missed, and fell prone. Meanwhile, Gulnyr hurled himself off of the roof and onto Xanesha. Then, Devin delivered the final blow that killed her.

Xanesha had in her possession a +1 longspear called “Impaler of Thorns”, which can cause a despair effect on the wielder’s enemies. She also had the aforementioned Medusa Mask, a sihedron medallion, and a snakeskin tunic. We also looted the chests in her rooftop nest, and found a number of coins and gems of various types, four potions, a kukri, a ring, a scarab gem, and a letter.

After reporting back to Lord-Mayor Grobaras, he rewarded us with a total of 18,000 gold pices.

Shalelu chose to accompany us to Magnimar. We arrived in the morning, and asked around on the dock to get a recommendation on where to stay. We were told that it would be best to go to Ordellia, the primary non-human district. We also learned a bit about the geography of the city; the most remarkable feature is the Irespan, the remains of one end of a giant bridge that extends out from the city 300 feet above the water.

As we made our way through the city, we came upon a Varisian encampment, filled with tents, children playing, and women in colorful clothing. Further on, we saw a brothel called The Shucked Oyster, which resembled a manor house, or was perhaps converted from one. We also came to a park, which contained a spring, and had a statue of a woman. There was no plaque or engraving to identify the subject of the statue.

We came to a spherical building made of glass and metal, resembling a diving helmet. Outside was a gnome named Nireed Wadincoast. He greeted us, and welcomed us to the Aquaretum, an aquarium featuring a variety of sea creatures that he had collected on his expeditions. He offered us a tour of the establishment for 1 silver piece each. We accepted, and saw a number of strange sea creatures, including reefclaws, eel-like creatures with sharp claws. Nireed also told us the story of the Vydrarch. The Vydrarch was a twin-serpent-headed sea creature who lived off the coast of Magnimar. It was eventually slain by a paladin named Alcaydian Indros.

As we left the Aquaretum, Nireed recommended that we eat lunch at a tavern called The Pig, located in Beacon’s Point. We did so, and while we were there, we overheard people discussing a recent spate of murders occurring in Magnimar, which were just like the ones that happened in Sandpoint. People were found slain in gruesome ways, with a Sihedron symbol carved on their torsos.

We found our way to Ordellia, and booked ourselves some rooms at The Rose and Rake Inn, which is located right next to the Rose and Rake Theater.

We then headed to the district of Naos, located in the wealthy area of Magnimar. It was 6 o’clock in the evening by the time we arrived, so we ate dinner at a restaurant called the Rag and Garter. This is a themed restaurant in which the servers dress as vagrants, to allow the upper class folk to feel like they are mingling with the lower class.

After dinner, we went to Aldern Foxglove’s townhouse. We saw that the windows were boarded up, but there was light showing through on the second floor. We knocked on the door, but no one answered. We unlocked the door using the key. As we did this, three Hellknights walked by, and eyed us with suspicion, but they seemed satisfied when we showed them that we possessed the key. The Hellknights are law enforcers from Cheliax, who have a presence in Magnimar.

When we entered the house, we encountered Iesha Foxglove, much to our surprise. She then called down her husband Aldern, who introduced us to Iesha, and welcomed us in and offered us dinner. As we were sitting at the dinner table, we mentioned that we were investigating the recent murders, at which point the two of them attacked us. During the fight, their human disguises melted away, revealing them to be faceless stalkers. Unfortunately, the slashing weapons wielded by Shalelu and Devin had no effect on the creatures, even after Devin cast Magic Weapon on his scimitar. Fortunately, Ash and Gulnyr had bludgeoning weapons that were able to damage them. After one of the faceless stalkers was killed, the other fled the house into the alleyway, but Gulnyr chased it down and killed it.

We then investigated the third floor. We found a fireplace, whose mantelpiece had two carvings of lions. The left lion had a keyhole in its mouth, which we were able to unlock using the key with the lion motif. This opened a secret compartment containing some platinum pieces, the deed to Foxglove Manor, and a ledger. The ledger contained a number of entries labeled “Iesha’s trip to Absalom”, and there were payments of 200 GP per week to “B7” delivered to the sawmill.

We spent the night in this townhouse. During the night, we heard the sound of children outside singing a song about “mumble mumble scarecrow”. The last line of the song ended with the word “eat”, and when this word was sung, we thought we also heard a voice saying this word coming from the third floor inside the house.

The next morning, we went to Seven’s Sawmill on Kyver’s Islet. Kyver’s Islet is a small island that stands in the Yondabakari River, right between Ordellia and the main part of Magnimar, and is mostly occupied by loud industrial operations.

We entered the sawmill at the ground floor, and encountered a few workers, who suggested that we leave a note for the mill manager in his office above. We then proceeded up the stairs, entering at each floor in turn. At the next floor was a room with some equipment, and no one present. On the next floor was a storeroom, with openings in the ceiling and collection chutes leading down from them. There were four thin, malnourished workers in this room, and one of them told us to leave our note with him, but we declined and continued upwards. Finally, we came to a floor with a number of workbenches and woodworking tools, and piles of sawdust. There was a door leading to the mill manager’s office. Two workers were present. Gulnyr tried to open the office door, but it was locked. One of the workers left to fetch the town guard. We started to leave, but on the way down the stairs we were attacked by a number of cultists. Four of the mill workers joined the fight as well, and we heard them saying they would put us through the logsplitters.

During the fight, the mill manager, a magistrate named Judge Ironbriar, came down from upstairs to join the attack. At one point, he summoned a large spider-like creature against us. Eventually, Devin was struck down, and one of the workers started to carry him towards one of the wood chippers. Ash took gaseous form to move past other enemies to get into the room with the wood chippers, and managed to stop the enemy carrying Devin. Shortly after this, Ash was knocked out, and another enemy tried to put her into a wood chipper, but Shalelu saved her. We barely managed to defeat all of the enemies and survive.

We searched the manager’s office. The walls of this room were decorated with the stretched out skin of human faces. We found pamphlets, books, and paintings. Among the books were a wizard’s spellbook, a book of fairy tales of creatures known as the Tane, a ledger, and an enciphered journal. The ledger revealed that Ironbriar had received payment from someone known as the Red Mantis. The ceiling of the office had a trap door, which led to a room containing a desk, quills and paper, and three ravens. This seemed to be a room for sending messenger birds.

After leaving the sawmill, we went to the Abadarian temple to turn ourselves in, with evidence of the magistrate’s guilt. We were jailed for three days, after which Lord-Mayor Grobaras met with us, and we told him everything we knew. He told us that Ironbriar had been the victim of a charm spell placed upon him by Xanesha. He told us that Ironbriar had visited Xanesha many times at the Shadowclock, a ruin beneath the Irespan. Grobaras then offered a deal for us to destroy Xanesha.