Post by Skeld on Jul 1, 2014 14:42:00 GMT -6
This is a recap of the first 4 chapters of the Shadows Under Sandpoint campaign.
Chapter 1 – Burnt Offerings
Goblins raid Sandpoint during the opening ceremony of a Desnan religious festival. The heroes band together to repel the attack. Asked to investigate, they discover the raid was a diversion for a pair of linked crimes: the kidnapping of an innkeeper (Ameiko Kaijitsu) by her estranged half-brother (Tsuto), and the theft of the remains of a local priest. The heroes rescue Ameiko, apprehend Tsuto, and discover ancient catacombs hidden under the glassworks. These catacombs house an insane quasit, several strange creatures, and a bubbling pool of energized fluid. Tsuto’s journal points to a massing of goblins, united under a demon-clawed humanoid leader, preparing to invade and raze Sandpoint to the ground.
Using the information from Tsuto’s journal, the heroes scout the goblin fortress of Thistletop, built atop and small rock island to the north of Sandpoint. Fearing that a goblin raid is imminent, the heroes attack the fortress, killing the goblin Chief Ripnugget. However, they soon find a series of chambers under Thistletop similar to those under Sandpoint. Exploring, they encounter a number of humanoid adversaries. They encounter the leader only to learn that she is an Aasimar woman named Naulia. Raised in Sandpoint, she was presumed to have died in the same fire that consumed her father, the priest whose remains were stolen in the goblin raid. Naulia, now an Antipaladin with a demon-clawed arm, planned to use her father’s remains as a burnt offering to her new patron Lamashtu (the Mother of Monsters) to fuel her apotheosis into a half-fiend and take her revenge on the people of Sandpoint. The heroes defeat her, thereby ending the goblin threat.
Chapter 2 – The Skinsaw Murders
Soon after the events of Chapter 1, a rash of murders begins, first in the outlying farms, then within Sandpoint’s town limits. Each of the victims is carved with a stylistic seven-pointed star. The heroes investigate to learn that the murders have been carried out by a number of Ghouls. They also learn that the seven-pointed star, called the Sihedron, was an important rune in a long-lost civilization called Thassilon that inhabited this region several thousands of years ago. The runes carved on the victims were similar to the rune on a medallion Naulia wore around her neck.
Their investigation leads to Foxglove Manor, the cliff-side property of a local nobleman named Aldern Foxglove. Foxglove spends most of his time in Magnimar, the large city to the South. Locals avoid the Manor because it has a reputation for being haunted. Undeterred, the heroes explore it, only to find the rumors were true: numerous haunts and undead infest the Manor. In a cavern under the Manor, the heroes discovere Foxglove, turned into a Ghast, and under the influence of a semi-sentient mold that has spread throughout the Manor. The heroes kill the Ghast Foxglove and expunge the mold, which causes the Manor to collapse down the cliff and into the sea.
Among the items liberated from the manor, is a strange contract between Aldern’s grandfather and a group called the Brothers of the Seven. The heroes travel to Magnimar to find answers about this group. They discover that Magnimar too is suffering a rash of similar murders whose victims are rune-carved. They trace the Brothers of the Seven to sawmill and find a murderous cult. They dispatch the cult only to learn that the cult’s leader is a Judge in Magnimar’s court system. The Judge, Ironbriar, is also under the influence of someone called Xanesha, who is using him and his cult to carry out these rune-carved murders. The heroes track Xanesha to an abandoned clocktower. There they learn that Xanesha is a Lamia Matriarch. The battle to defeat her is brutal. A note hints that Xanesha was working in conjunction with others, specifically her “sister.”
Chapter 3 – Hook Mountain Massacre
Fresh off saving the region from a murderous cult, Lord Mayor Graboras of Magnimar asks the heroes to travel to the town of Turtleback Ferry and make contact with the Black Arrows, a security force tasked with keeping the area relatively safe. There, the heroes find that the Black Arrows have been decimated and the area being terrorized by Ogres. The heroes find some surviving Black Arrows and make their way to the fallen Black Arrow stronghold of Fort Rannick at the foot of Hook Mountain. Fort Rannick has been overtaken by Ogres from the Kreeg Clan. The heroes and remaining Black Arrows assault and defeat the Ogres, retaking the Fort. In the process, they encounter another Lamia Matriarch named Lucrecia. This Lamia, like her sister Xanesha, has been marking and murdering locals, albeit in a much more subtle fashion.
The heroes decide to the take the fight to the Kreeg Ogres of Hook Mountain by tracking down their mountain lair and killing them where they sleep. Upon assaulting the Ogre lair, the heroes find that the Ogre clan has been taken over by a Stone Giant named Barl Breakbones. Barl commanded the Ogres to make war on the humanoids of the area. When confronted, Barl turns out to be a Necromancer. Upon Barl’s defeat, the heroes find notes to Barl from someone called “M” that say an assault force of Stone Giants are on their way from their fortress of Jorganfist to Sandpoint in search of some item.
Chapter 4 – Fortress of the Stone Giants
The heroes return to Sandpoint in hopes of heading off the Stone Giant assault. Barl’s note from “M” mentions the leader of the assault is named Teraktinus and that they have a dragon with them. The heroes inform Sandpoint’s leadership and form a hasty defense. When the Stone Giants attack, they do so from several directions using a Red Dragon named Longtooth, and a number of Stone Giants and Dire Bears. Although the Giants are defeated and Teraktinus slain before he could complete his mission, a number of Giants escape with a many kidnapped residents from Sandpoint.
The heroes track the Giants and ambush them at a place called The Storval Stairs. The Giants are defeated and the hostages released. After questioning a surviving Stone Giants from the Sandpoint assault, the heroes determine that an army of Giants is amassing at a stronghold called Jorganfist in the Valley of the Black Tower. These Giants are lead by a Stone Giant named Mokmurian, who is a powerful arcanist and a practitioner of ancient magic. He has amassed an army of Giants by promising riches and a return to the time when Giants ruled the lands.
The heroes seek out Jorganfist and find a large army of Giants of several types. Scouting the area reveals that there may be a secret entrance to Jorganfist through a smoking cave in the mountaintop on the other side of the valley. In fact, the cave was the lair of the Dragon Longtooth and is inhabited by a trio of Longtooth’s progeny. With the Dragons defeated, the heroes make their way into the bowels of jorganfist. There they encounter numerous Giants and other creatures. In the lowest level, they find the ancient Thassilonian architecture. Finally, they reach the leader of the Giants, the Stone Giant Mokmurian. At the end of a fierce battle, just as Mokmurian is about to be defeated, his body lurches as if someone else is taking control. In a voice not like Mokmurian, the puppet master claims to be someone called “Karzoug.” Mokmurian’s body collapses and the heroes are able to break up the army of Giants.
As of the end of the last adventure, the heroes have discovered a library of ancient Thassilon under Jorganfist. Also, they defeated a mummified Monk who was in possession of a scroll case that radiates artifact-level magic. The heroes have not yet been able to open the scroll case.
Chapter 1 – Burnt Offerings
Goblins raid Sandpoint during the opening ceremony of a Desnan religious festival. The heroes band together to repel the attack. Asked to investigate, they discover the raid was a diversion for a pair of linked crimes: the kidnapping of an innkeeper (Ameiko Kaijitsu) by her estranged half-brother (Tsuto), and the theft of the remains of a local priest. The heroes rescue Ameiko, apprehend Tsuto, and discover ancient catacombs hidden under the glassworks. These catacombs house an insane quasit, several strange creatures, and a bubbling pool of energized fluid. Tsuto’s journal points to a massing of goblins, united under a demon-clawed humanoid leader, preparing to invade and raze Sandpoint to the ground.
Using the information from Tsuto’s journal, the heroes scout the goblin fortress of Thistletop, built atop and small rock island to the north of Sandpoint. Fearing that a goblin raid is imminent, the heroes attack the fortress, killing the goblin Chief Ripnugget. However, they soon find a series of chambers under Thistletop similar to those under Sandpoint. Exploring, they encounter a number of humanoid adversaries. They encounter the leader only to learn that she is an Aasimar woman named Naulia. Raised in Sandpoint, she was presumed to have died in the same fire that consumed her father, the priest whose remains were stolen in the goblin raid. Naulia, now an Antipaladin with a demon-clawed arm, planned to use her father’s remains as a burnt offering to her new patron Lamashtu (the Mother of Monsters) to fuel her apotheosis into a half-fiend and take her revenge on the people of Sandpoint. The heroes defeat her, thereby ending the goblin threat.
Chapter 2 – The Skinsaw Murders
Soon after the events of Chapter 1, a rash of murders begins, first in the outlying farms, then within Sandpoint’s town limits. Each of the victims is carved with a stylistic seven-pointed star. The heroes investigate to learn that the murders have been carried out by a number of Ghouls. They also learn that the seven-pointed star, called the Sihedron, was an important rune in a long-lost civilization called Thassilon that inhabited this region several thousands of years ago. The runes carved on the victims were similar to the rune on a medallion Naulia wore around her neck.
Their investigation leads to Foxglove Manor, the cliff-side property of a local nobleman named Aldern Foxglove. Foxglove spends most of his time in Magnimar, the large city to the South. Locals avoid the Manor because it has a reputation for being haunted. Undeterred, the heroes explore it, only to find the rumors were true: numerous haunts and undead infest the Manor. In a cavern under the Manor, the heroes discovere Foxglove, turned into a Ghast, and under the influence of a semi-sentient mold that has spread throughout the Manor. The heroes kill the Ghast Foxglove and expunge the mold, which causes the Manor to collapse down the cliff and into the sea.
Among the items liberated from the manor, is a strange contract between Aldern’s grandfather and a group called the Brothers of the Seven. The heroes travel to Magnimar to find answers about this group. They discover that Magnimar too is suffering a rash of similar murders whose victims are rune-carved. They trace the Brothers of the Seven to sawmill and find a murderous cult. They dispatch the cult only to learn that the cult’s leader is a Judge in Magnimar’s court system. The Judge, Ironbriar, is also under the influence of someone called Xanesha, who is using him and his cult to carry out these rune-carved murders. The heroes track Xanesha to an abandoned clocktower. There they learn that Xanesha is a Lamia Matriarch. The battle to defeat her is brutal. A note hints that Xanesha was working in conjunction with others, specifically her “sister.”
Chapter 3 – Hook Mountain Massacre
Fresh off saving the region from a murderous cult, Lord Mayor Graboras of Magnimar asks the heroes to travel to the town of Turtleback Ferry and make contact with the Black Arrows, a security force tasked with keeping the area relatively safe. There, the heroes find that the Black Arrows have been decimated and the area being terrorized by Ogres. The heroes find some surviving Black Arrows and make their way to the fallen Black Arrow stronghold of Fort Rannick at the foot of Hook Mountain. Fort Rannick has been overtaken by Ogres from the Kreeg Clan. The heroes and remaining Black Arrows assault and defeat the Ogres, retaking the Fort. In the process, they encounter another Lamia Matriarch named Lucrecia. This Lamia, like her sister Xanesha, has been marking and murdering locals, albeit in a much more subtle fashion.
The heroes decide to the take the fight to the Kreeg Ogres of Hook Mountain by tracking down their mountain lair and killing them where they sleep. Upon assaulting the Ogre lair, the heroes find that the Ogre clan has been taken over by a Stone Giant named Barl Breakbones. Barl commanded the Ogres to make war on the humanoids of the area. When confronted, Barl turns out to be a Necromancer. Upon Barl’s defeat, the heroes find notes to Barl from someone called “M” that say an assault force of Stone Giants are on their way from their fortress of Jorganfist to Sandpoint in search of some item.
Chapter 4 – Fortress of the Stone Giants
The heroes return to Sandpoint in hopes of heading off the Stone Giant assault. Barl’s note from “M” mentions the leader of the assault is named Teraktinus and that they have a dragon with them. The heroes inform Sandpoint’s leadership and form a hasty defense. When the Stone Giants attack, they do so from several directions using a Red Dragon named Longtooth, and a number of Stone Giants and Dire Bears. Although the Giants are defeated and Teraktinus slain before he could complete his mission, a number of Giants escape with a many kidnapped residents from Sandpoint.
The heroes track the Giants and ambush them at a place called The Storval Stairs. The Giants are defeated and the hostages released. After questioning a surviving Stone Giants from the Sandpoint assault, the heroes determine that an army of Giants is amassing at a stronghold called Jorganfist in the Valley of the Black Tower. These Giants are lead by a Stone Giant named Mokmurian, who is a powerful arcanist and a practitioner of ancient magic. He has amassed an army of Giants by promising riches and a return to the time when Giants ruled the lands.
The heroes seek out Jorganfist and find a large army of Giants of several types. Scouting the area reveals that there may be a secret entrance to Jorganfist through a smoking cave in the mountaintop on the other side of the valley. In fact, the cave was the lair of the Dragon Longtooth and is inhabited by a trio of Longtooth’s progeny. With the Dragons defeated, the heroes make their way into the bowels of jorganfist. There they encounter numerous Giants and other creatures. In the lowest level, they find the ancient Thassilonian architecture. Finally, they reach the leader of the Giants, the Stone Giant Mokmurian. At the end of a fierce battle, just as Mokmurian is about to be defeated, his body lurches as if someone else is taking control. In a voice not like Mokmurian, the puppet master claims to be someone called “Karzoug.” Mokmurian’s body collapses and the heroes are able to break up the army of Giants.
As of the end of the last adventure, the heroes have discovered a library of ancient Thassilon under Jorganfist. Also, they defeated a mummified Monk who was in possession of a scroll case that radiates artifact-level magic. The heroes have not yet been able to open the scroll case.