Category Archives: RotR Journal Entries

Journal entries for the Rise of the Runelords campaign

Character: Nolin

Letter to home

Mother, Father,

News travels quickly, and I wanted to be sure you heard from me first so you wouldn’t worry.

My journey to Wolf’s Ear took me through Sandpoint, where I intended to stop only for a single night. As timing would have it this was a day or two before a church dedication ceremony, the details of which are a long story itself and that you will probably hear on your own, and I chose to stay the extra days for the company and the festivities. That turned out to be something of a mistake.

This town, it seems, has a long history skirmishing with goblins and there are many tribes located in the surrounding countryside. That anyone manages to travel safely along the Lost Coast Road given their numbers is probably because goblins seem to spend so much time fighting each other that there is little left to menace travelers. Every so often they manage to organize enough to harass Sandpoint, though, and there are a number of businesses and individuals here who have made light of the situation despite the threat. (I should point out that they do in fact take this matter very seriously, it is just how they have adapted to the reality of the situation).

The night of the church dedication, the night that you will no doubt soon hear about, was very different. I attended, in the company of some acquaintances- it is perhaps too early to call us friends- that I had met at the inn where I was staying, and it was fortunate that I chose to do so armed. While this decision did invite some expected attention from the town guard, it also came in handy when the town suddenly found itself literally infested with goblins. They came out of everywhere and nowhere, and the chaos that resulted was disorienting, but a few of us organized quickly enough to squash the threats immediately around us.

Let me say this: a single goblin is not a dangerous adversary to a trained soldier, but several dozen of them are a different story. They are small, they are fast, and they are dangerously stupid, pressing a fight past the point of hopelessness. It is this last one that was most distressing since they were almost eager to run to our blades long after they had been beaten, but in doing this they came close to overwhelming our defensive line. This would be a brilliant strategy if it didn’t cost so many of their own lives in the process.

I should also point out that, despite their feeble threat, I and the others fighting with me are still very inexperienced, and their numbers did take their toll on us. We were easy to wear down, but obviously we won or you would not be reading this letter now.

Unfortunately for Sandpoint, it was not just our place near the ceremony that was attacked, and we were not the only pocket of fighting. Fires burned throughout the city well into the night, as goblins had sprung out of every dark corner and simply run amok.

It is early morning now, and I am heading out to look for my horse who was spooked when goblins ransacked the stables next door. I never intended to keep this horse after arriving in Wolf’s Ear, but now I find myself very attached to him. That was my horse they threatened, and I want him back.

Nolin

Character: Olithar

Olithar’s Journal Entry (October)

Sunday, Rova 22, 4707; Sandpoint; Half past the noon hour

The morning came grey and cold as I awoke chilled in my small cell. I threw back my bedroll and looked about my home of the past several months as if with new eyes. The walls, beams and cot were all cut from soft wood felled not more than five years ago, and the entire place smells strongly of saw dust, pine resin, and roofing pitch.

The age old stone walls of my old cell in Magnimar provided a feeling of security. The oaken timbers and furnishings burnished smooth over time by contact with the hands and feet of the countless others who had come before me. Our quarters smelled not unpleasantly of stone dust, wood polish and sweat, made all the more pungent by the heat of mid summer days.

In the winter we were allowed small fires for warmth on the coldest of days, lit in small iron braziers that lined the hall outside our cells. While the heat was modest, just the soft glow of embers was enough to warm our souls and spirits and we counted ourselves fortunate to follow Sarenrae, goddess of light and fire.

Here at the Sandpoint Cathedral there will be no fires in the winter or any other time. Only the great Cathedral itself is of stone, and the surrounding support buildings are all of wood. I have a disturbing image that these wooden buildings are like kindling that burns quick and easy so that the mighty log, the Cathedral, might burn too.

Over five years ago this very horror took place, and that event had brought me here to help Sandpoint begin anew. But instead dark memories have been dragged forth to loom over Sandpoint like a shadow from the past.

Kyras was out this morning with Bart the Beagle Breeder trying to track down the place from whence the goblins entered the town yesterday. It is hoped that by finding the source, we might find who within the city used the goblin attack as a distraction so that father Tobyn’s grave might be plundered.

I spent much of the morning helping Father Zantus prepare for today’s dedication of the Cathedral. Unlike the big public affair of yesterday, this will be quite a small ceremony with just the clergy, the mayor and sheriff present.

I took advantage of my time with Father Zantus to question him about Father Tobyn and the horrific events of that dark day some five years past. I was surprised at some of what he revealed.

Father Tobyn had a daughter, Nualia, who was a foundling whom he took in and cared for as his own child.

Nualia was uncommonly beautiful; so much so that some in the village thought she must have been touched by the gods. She was treated with a disturbing mixture of reverence, fear, awe and envy from the locals of Sandpoint.

She was constantly touched, rubbed, poked, prodded, had her hair pulled out and clothing torn off in patches by those who thought she was in some way divine herself, and so sought to gain blessings by association with her.

Likewise she was constantly touched, rubbed, poked, prodded, had her hair pulled out and clothing torn off in patches by those who thought her beauty must have been gained from some evil deed or pact (or from the just plain envious), and so sought to punish her.

For Nualia, life in Sandpoint was unpleasant at the best of times, and sheer torture at the worst.

Father Tobyn had greatly hoped to bring Nualia into the church by having her join the sisterhood at Windsong Abby. Nualia was not as enthusiastic over his plans for her future as he, and the two frequently argued. And so the relationship that should have been a safe haven for Nualia became yet another trial to endure.

It was little wonder then that she should take up with a Varisian stranger who arrived in town sometime around Nualia’s 18th birthday. The two of them spent a great deal of time together, much to Father Tobyn’s chagrin, and some of the locals were certain that their relationship was of a romantic nature.

Father Zantus then spoke in a much lower voice about the rumors spread among the midwives some time later.

Apparently Nualia had been confined to her quarters from some months and not seen by any of the towns folk for quite a while. A midwife was called over to the Cathedral, an unusual event in and of itself, and she tended to Nualia as she gave birth to a still-born child. The midwife was charged with quietly slipping out with the tiny corpse and over to the bone yard, where the poor little thing was buried.

Only the poor little thing was reported to be a hideous monster, such that the midwife used the term “daemon child” whenever she talked about that evening.

A very short while later the entire Cathedral burned to the ground. The fire had started in the sleeping quarters, where both Father Tobyn and Nualia were asleep in their own cells.

Father Tobyn’s remains were recovered and buried with his few modest possessions. Father Zantus paused here and asked, partially to himself, “and so why would the goblins dig up and take his entire coffin?”

Nualia’s remains were never found, and she was presumed to be completely consumed by the fire.

I had listened to Father Zantus with a feeling of growing dread and horror, and I felt chilled as he completed his tale.

How could the fire only partially burn Father Tobyn (he most likely perished from the smoke) and yet completely burn Nualia’s body to ashes?

A daemon child still-born just days before?

This was all related in more ways than Father Zantus, or indeed most of the locals were willing to admit.

And why would someone want to take Father Tobyn’s entire coffin with so little of material value buried within?

I had a sinking feeling that it was Father Tobyn himself that was goal of this theft, and feared the worst.

The silence following Father Zantus’ tale was broken as Nolin and Trask entered and urged Father Zantus to move the dedication ceremony an hour earlier. Nolin reasoned that if it was the dedication of the Cathedral that was the target of yesterday’s goblin attack, then we could expect another disturbance today.

Father Zantus countered that this would be a small private affair and only the city officials and clergy knew of it. I quickly pointed out that it was certain at least one city official was involved in the goblin raid, and Father Zantus reluctantly agreed to the schedule change, providing Mayor Deverin and Sheriff Hemlock agreed as well.

Avia, our trusty paladin, quickly escorted Deverin and Hemlock back to the Cathedral, where Father Zantus completed the consecration ceremony with most of us “Hunters” standing guard.

To keep up the appearances of holding the dedication at noon, I conducted the Blessing of the Mid Day Sun to honor Sarenrae.

Again, there was no interruption; thus confirming my belief that the goblin attack was simply a distraction provided so Father Tobyn’s coffin could be stolen.

Afterward the the mayor and sheriff approached us and asked if we would meet them in the Town Hall at 3:00, where they wished to discuss the goblin attack. Apparently our work both in fighting the petite pugnacious pests and our subsequent investigation of the raid had gone neither unnoticed nor unappreciated by the city officials.

It is now nearing the hour past noon when we Hunters are to meet at the White Deer and discuss strategy for unraveling this mystery.

Sunday, Rova 22, 4707; Lost Coast Road west of Sandpoint; Night

The White Deer was also destroyed in the fire of the “late unpleasantness”, and had been rebuilt into a lofty three story establishment of stone and wood. At the entrance on either side was the statue of a deer, carved from white wood. Within was a a spacious great room, but our company elected to meet in a private room towards the back of the inn.

There we learned from Kyras that the dogs could not pinpoint the location from where the goblins entered the city. It was as if they just appeared in the central business district, and from there fanned out.

We decided that our next step was to track the goblins that fled from the city’s north gate, with coffin in tow.

Picking up the trail was easy, partly because there were over a dozen of the little buggers skittering up the road, and partly because their attempts to cover their tracks were so utterly incompetent. After a short distance the foot prints of little goblin feet veered off the road and into the wood to the south. Tracking became more difficult as the light prints of our quarry left little mark in the deep mulch of the forest floor.

Eventually Kyras lost the trail and we retraced our steps back to Sandpoint for our meeting with the mayor and sheriff.

We were shown into a meeting room of the Town Hall where Mayor Deverin and Sheriff Hemlock were waiting for us, along with a slender elven woman. Hemlock introduced her as Shalelu, an experienced tracker who worked in a unofficial capacity for the Sandpoint Guard, and who was an authority on the local goblin tribes.

Until now I had considered goblins to be like roaches: an unorganized infestation that if left unchecked could have serious consequences for public health.

Imagine my amazement when Shalelu described how the local goblin population was divided into five semi-organized autonomous tribes! While occasionally a single tribe might stage a small raid on a small city the size of Sandpoint, more often than not they limited their depredations to isolated farm holds. Their more serious skirmishes were restricted to attacks on rival goblin tribes.

Shalelu emphasized how the tribes loathed one another and simply did not get along. She then paused and said, “All five tribes participated in yesterday’s raid on Sandpoint.” She told of other goblin attacks within the past 24 hours as well, including a local farm that had been burned to the ground just this morning.

Something new was in the area and organizing the goblin tribes into a single cohesive (for goblins) unit. Someone or something that instilled fear and awe into the “weeds that bite”, as Shalelu called goblins, was controlling them.

The sheriff chimed in and said that because of the change in goblin behavior and the threat it posed to Sandpoint, he was leaving for Magnimar that day to hire additional guards. He noted how the locals had come to know and respect us for or help in the battle, and the mayor asked that we keep a high profile presence in Sandpoint while the sheriff was gone to keep watch and help maintain calm.

We agreed to help, and then shared what little information we had gleaned from the Sandpoint attack. Shalelu agreed to help track the north-west bound group. And so just a few hours after having left the goblin trail we were back in pursuit, with Shalelu in the lead and Kyras lending assistance.

The trail continued through the woodlands, making for the highlands known as Ravenroost, and the Tickwood forest beyond. As we neared the feet of the highlands Shalelu paused and said that the trail split there. One track led south to plateau called the Devil’s Platter, where one goblin tribe lived, and the other track led north back toward the road.

We opted to follow the northern track, reasoning that the group heading south was returning to its tribe, while those that went north carried the coffin to its destination.

A short while later Shalelu paused again and said she saw human sized boot prints accompanying the goblins. We continued on for an hour or so more before Shalelu lost the trail in the dim light. We were near enough to the road that we pushed forward and set up a small camp by the road side, waiting to see what the morning light might reveal.

Kyras, Avia, Sabin, Rigel, myself and Shalelu all remained in camp while the rest of our party returned to Sandpoint to uphold our agreement with the mayor.

The twilight has come and gone, and the stars are out, playing hide and seek among the thin strands of cloud that sweeps overhead. The fire has died down to orange red embers which give little light, but ample warmth and comfort. There is just enough light to write by, and soon we will fall into the nightly routine of rest and watch.

Moonday, Rova 23, 4707; Lost Coast Road west of Sandpoint; Morning

The morning fire crackles hot and bright as we cook our late breakfast. We were up with the first crack of light, and Shalelu found the goblin tracks (plus boot prints) heading out from the woods and up onto the road. There they stopped abruptly. No doubt a wagon or carriage of some sort was waiting and picked them up. Whether they traveled east back to Sandpoint or west we could not tell: too many tracks led to and from the city for the The Swallow Tail Festival of two days past.

We will wait for our companions and accompany them back to Sandpoint, where we will continue our investigation as best we can.

Shalelu will leave us ere we depart, as she has her own business to attend to away south.

Moonday, Rova 23, 4707; The Rusty Dragon, Sandpoint; Late afternoon

On our way back into Sandpoint we checked out a couple of landmarks just in case they were being used as a hangout for the goblins or the goblin ringleaders.

First stop was The Old Light, a ruinous tumble of stone blocks perched upon a bluff overlooking the sea. Other than the wind rustling among the ranks weeds pushing up between cracked masonry, there was nothing there.

The next stop was Chopper’s Island, a promontory thrusting out from the ruins of The Old Light, and accessible on foot in all but the highest of tides.

As we stumbled about the island two of our native Sandpointians (Sandpointites? Sandpontonians? Sandpointers?), Nolin and Sedjewick, wove a tale from the local lore of the infamous Chopper.

During the late unpleasantness local wood carver Jervis Stoot went insane and killed 25 people, hauling their bodies back to his home on the “island”. There he gouged out their eyes and cut out their tongues to lay on an altar shaped as a monstrous, bird like creature. Chopper himself was found dead at the base of the altar, with his eyes and tongue missing.

From the description of the altar the creature sounded like a daemon to me, and I wonder if Chopper was really a crazed killer or an unfortunate victim.

The towns folk had burned everything to the ground and destroyed what hadn’t burned, and so there was little to find here.

Still, there is no way that Chopper’s murderous rampage could be unrelated to the fire that burned down the northwest half of Sandpoint, the death of Father Tobyn, and the disappearance of Nualia. Just how this all ties together is beyond me.

We drifted back into town, checking in the the guard, and then heading down to the Rusty Dragon for a drink and a chance to talk together about all we had found thus far, and to mull over the even longer list of unanswered questions we had uncovered.

We never ordered the drinks, for soon after entering the tavern an elderly halfling woman, who introduced herself as Bethana, came over to Kyras and begged for a moment of his time. She escorted us into a private room where she turned to Kyras and sobbed, “Mistress Amiko is missing!”

Amiko is the owner of the Rusty Dragon, and apparently the daughter of Lonjiku Kaijitsu, the owner of the Sandpoint Glassworks. There is a lot of odd family history that Bethana shared that included her disgraced brother, Tsuto; her mother, Atsuii, who died in a mysterious accident (some say murdered at the hands of Lonjiku); and the fact that for all but Tsuto Amiko had turned her back on the family.

Bethana became concerned when Amiko failed to return to the Rusty Dragon the previous evening, and so became alarmed this morning that she entered Amiko’s room and found a note written in the odd and intricate script from the far east. Fortunately Bethana could read the script and translated the note for us.

amiko_letter

It was from Tsuto, Amiko’s brother, and he implicated his father in the latest goblin raid on Sandpoint and begged that she meet him at the family glassworks that evening.

We received permission from Bethana to search Amiko’s room, where it appeared she had left as if to run an errand from which she would shortly returned. The fact that she left alone and so quickly made it likely that the letter was from her brother, and she went trusting its authenticity.

We are heading over to the Glassworks to search for Amiko or any sign of her where abouts, and to see if there is indeed a connection between the goblins and Lonjiku Kaijitsu.

Moonday, Rova 23, 4707; Glass Street, Sandpoint; Early evening

It is dusk and the sky is quickly deepening from turquoise to cobalt. I take a few moments now to record what we have found in case I do not survive the night.

We arrived on Glass Street to find the Glassworks closed. Aptly named is Glass Street, because the factory dumps all of its broken glass onto the street before it, where it is ground to a round pebbly rubble by the passing of heavy iron shod wagon wheels and the tramping of countless workers heavy boots.

None the less, there are many sharp shards embedded in the road, and no children run bare foot up and down the road, nor do dogs or farm animals stray this way.

Rigel quickly scaled the side of the stone building and peered down into the shop below, where she saw from the ruddy glow of the forges more than a dozen goblins capering about on some mad mission of chaos.

Kyras slipped away to notify the town guard, and we have forced open a window that looks into the dark office of the glassworks.

Rigel is about to climb in and open the door so we may all enter and confront the goblin menace.

Character: Sedjwick

Sandpoint by Sedjwick

My thoughts on Sandpoint

Oh, Sandpoint. What tragedies have beset you.

The fires, the death

Yet you fight to overcome

Eager to start anew

Erase the past

Building to a brand new future.

On the very eve of your rebirth

The joy of the Swallowtail

Lost in the cries of children and dog

goblins rain

City in flames

Now Sandpoint standsĀ  with tragedy once more.

Character: Trask

The Journal of Trask Feltherup

Sunday, Rova 22

The day began slowly, compared to our recent adventures. A good night’s sleep, an adequate breakfast, and finally, a meeting with the Sheriff. Although I’d briefly met the Sheriff yesterday on what I’m sure the locals will come to call “the most recent unpleasantness”, Sedgwick is local and could make a more personal introduction.

The Sheriff seemed impressed with our party’s bravery, and he was about to send me to the head of the garrison to help out with the guard when he stopped a moment and had a different idea. The consecration of the cathedral had never really completed, and Father Zantus really wanted to see that completed. So at noon there was going to be a quiet, private ceremony to complete that. And he thought it prudent if there were a little extra guard around. I accepted his charge.

We hurried over to the cathedral and got there in time to find Kyras strongly advocating holding the ceremony early, say at 11 instead of noon. His theory was that there was evidence that there was some sort of help from inside the city for the goblin raid, and so we might reasonably expect some sort of disruption again … unless we changed the time on short notice. By noon, the ceremony would be completed and couldn’t be interrupted again.

I myself thought this was a bit paranoid, but I had no particular objection to it. In the end, the group did that. Avia went to get the mayor, who happened to be meeting with the sheriff, and they both came early to witness it. There were 10-15 extra guards casually walking around in case of trouble … but no trouble was forthcoming.

While doing this little bit of guard duty, our good friend (?) Aldron spied me on his way to the inn and reiterated his insistence that we go boar hunting. I was politely deferential, which he loved, and he absolutely insisted we needed to have dinner together to further discuss hunting. The man may actually be a good hunter — some reports do say he’s better than average — but he clearly has more time on his hands than, well, most people. More resources too, to hear it.

After the ceremony, the sheriff quietly asked much of our group to attend a meeting in his office at 3pm that afternoon. He had some more information he wanted to share with us.

We used the time until 3 to try to continue tracking the goblin trail out the north gate. It led to the Tickwood, but that’s about all we could learn.

The meeting at the Sheriff’s office was something of a surprise. We were introduced to “an unofficial member of the Sandpoint town guard”: Shalelu. Shalelu is an elf who spends much of her time trying to keep the goblins in check. Normally this is a busy but not difficult task, as the 5 goblins tribes that live within a reasonable distance from the city spend as much time fighting among themselves as bothering the city. It was noteworthy, though, that this particular attack apparently was conducted by members of all five goblin tribes — that is, they were cooperating to some common goal.

This had Shalelu concerned. A farm not too far from the city was attacked and burned this morning, but it wasn’t clear if that was part of this concerted effort or simply ordinary goblin misdeeds. Shalelu spent a little time describing the five tribes. Although they look the same to most, she said a sharp observer would be able to tell them apart by their dress.

She agreed to return with us to the wood and use her tracking skill to try to learn more about their raid. We discovered that about 3/4 mile from the road, half the goblins headed north back to the road and half went back to the Devil’s Platter, possibly just going home. As we returned to the road, Shalelu said she was starting to lose the trail. Olithar, Kyras, Sabien, Rigel, and Avia decided to spend the night in the woods; I, Sedgwick and Nolin decided to return to the city.

Sedgwick and I availed ourselves of Aldron’s splendid layout and got a free dinner. We made excellent conversation with him without promising a thing. Later I returned to the Rusty Dragon and apologized to Nyla and reset our date for Toilday evening. She was accepting, seeing as how the goblins were the reason our first one fell through, but she was also preoccupied because her boss, Meko, was not at work that day which made things more hectic.

Moonday, Rova 23

I rose early and met the rest of the group in the woods at first light. Working with Shalelu we were only able to additionally determine that it appeared the coffin and perhaps some goblins boarded a cart or carriage on the road. Direction and purpose unknown. Shalelu needed to leave, so we headed back to town.

Meanwhile, while we were doing that, we learned later that Kyras and Sabien (who were trying to get more information in town rather than in the woods) were beset upon by an elderly halfling — Bethann. Meko has apparently been missing since yesterday morning. Against her better judgment she entered Meko’s room and found a note there. The sum of it was that her brother Tsuto wanted to meet Meko to discuss “their evil father”. She was to go to the glassworks shop, “knock twice, then three, then once.”

It was about this time that our two parties reunited, and so it was that we headed over to the glassworks shop en masse. The doors were locked (it’s about 5pm, so that’s a little early) but there is smoke coming from the chimney. Rigel climbed to the roof and after looking down a couple of the skylights, returned to say that inside, she saw lots of goblins all over. Broken glass all over too.

Sedgwick went off to get the town guard (just a few buildings away). We prepared to enter the building and either kill goblins, or save Meko, or both.