Scenario 1.5: Thistletop Delve

The party was going along, Lem leading the way, casting his detect evil spell. “What have you found out?” Valeros asked.

“I’m sending high levels of evil coming from this direction,” Lem said. “The leader of the goblins is around here somewhere.”

“Can you triangulate its position?” asked Harsk.

“That requires that you take at least two separate angle measurements from widely separated points,” said Ezren. “Since he’s the only one that can cast Detect Evil, that won’t be possible at the time. Lem, do you know anything else about the villain?”

“Ancient lore indicates that the villain is likely the one known as Nualia. Nualia is of a race known as ‘aasimar’, which is literally translated as “godtouched.” Despite this, she turned to evil, at one point burning down his own father’s church.”

“How do we defeat him?” asked Valeros.

Lem didn’t really know, because all the ancient lore mostly focused on the stories and history, rather than the immediately practical questions of how to defeat villains. .Fortunately, Ezren had been studying the party’s Sage’s Journal earlier, before they had gotten rid of it to make room for other stuff.

“Nualia has a dark pact with the gods themselves, so if we use blessings in her presence, he will be able to capture some of the energy. Using blessings to boost our attacks will be significantly less effective. And she’s tough – we’ll have to get in at least two solid hits to defeat him.”

“But if we don’t know where it is, what happens if we run into it and we’re not prepared?” asked 

Harsk.

“There’s a temple in the area,” Lem said. “If you see the villain and you’re not prepared, you should be able to run to the temple for safety. Then at least we’ll know where the villain is for when we come back.”

“Okay, we need a plan,” Ezren said. “How about this. We’re detecting magical energy in the Thassilonian Dungeon – Lem and I can go there and investigate. Valeros will go to the Goblin Fortress and clean that out, while Harsk will provide fire support from the Deeper Dungeons.

“Oh, man you want me to shoot out from inside the dungeon to help everyone else out? I guess I can, but it might be hard.

= = =

Valeros approached the goblin fortress, and soon felt someone telling him to stop. It was Shalelu Andosana, his ranger companion, warning him that he had seen the fortress’ commander, Orik Vancaskerkin, on the rooftops. Valeros had a longbow, but wasn’t nearly as good with it as with a sword –if he took the shot now, there was a good chance of missing and alerting the enemy. Instead, they went and got Harsk, who crept up to the walls and took a shot with his crossbow. Orik screamed in pain, and a follow-up shot from Valeros brought him down. When the goblins saw that their leader had been killed by an unseen enemy, they panicked, quickly grabbing their stuff and leaving the scene. One tried to run right by Harsk and Valeros, but they killed it before he could alert the others. They went into the fortress, and found that most of the stuff was gone, but Orik’s magic shortsword was still in his dead hands, free for the taking.

Lem began exploring the Thassilonian Dungeon. He and his sage companion saw some basic spell scrolls, but nothing he didn’t already know. Ezren also looked down to try to decipher the spells, thinking maybe there was something else there – but he was attacked by a plague zombie! Lem began singing an inspirational song:

It’s a zombie, it’s a zombie, and this one has the plague!

If you don’t kill it, they’ll infect you, and then they have got it made!

Ezren felt his strength grow, although that was probably more due to his own strength spell than anything having to do with Lem’s inspiration. He thrust a longspear into the plague zombie’s neck, then got up and started trying to detect magic.

“I’m not detecting any additional magic in the vicinity,” Ezren said. “But I’m picking up a possible henchman just below our position. Unfortunately my attack spells are not available at this time.”

“Let’s decide later if we want to go for it. Remember, once we spook the henchman, they’re likely to take the treasure and run. We all like shinies, don’t we?” Lem said.

“But if we spend too much time going for the treasure, we might give the villain time to escape.”

= = =

After clearing out the goblin fortress, Valeros and Harsk decided to advance toward the deeper dungeons, thinking there might be good stuff in there. Valeros dispatched another plague zombie. This was the second plague zombie the party had encountered so far – perhaps Nualia had made a secret deal with the undead. (Actually probably if that was the case, it would have been a secret deal with a necromancer – undead themselves had no minds, so they couldn’t really make deals.) Harsk heard a howl – the howl of a yeth hound! He was panicked, but managed to get his crossbow up just in time to kill the enemy. He continued onward, shaking, and since he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, he stumbled across a tripwire, triggering an alarm and alerting the goblins. Attack!

Lem saw a goblin coming at him, and cast a spell of sanctuary, avoiding it. Another goblin rushed at Ezren, who cast a fire spell on his longspear and set it against the charge, getting rid of the goblin. Valeros and Harsk also had no trouble getting rid of their goblins. But the goblins were just a prelude to the hell hound attack. A hell hound rushed at Harsk and Valeros, who killed it, but not before it singed Valeros’ armor and send Harsk’s crossbow up in flames. As they surveyed the scene, Harsk found a suitable small shrine to light the holy candle. The candle barely glowed – perhaps the gods had abandoned them. Or maybe they would just have to count their blessings more closely.

The group decided to leave the Thassilonian Dungeon for now, and make their way to join the rest in the deeper dungeons. Normally it is a risk to have too many in one place, for they could all be taken out by a single explosion or giant monster. But with the temple in play, they had an “out” if they needed it. They Lem was merrily singing along as he approached the deeper dungeons, but soon found that it wasn’t just him singing – a goblin approached. This was a warchanter, who said a song so mesmerizing that he didn’t think to draw his sling. In the cramped environment, it was hard to give ranged support. Valeros tried to intercept him, and the warchanter managed to get in a swipe at Lem before Valeros chased him off.

Ezren joined the rest in the dungeon and heard the floor move under his feet. Pit trap! Lem started singing a song of trap detection:

It’s a trap! It’s a trap! Hit the off switch on the wall,

Or else all of us will go right down and fall!

Ezren didn’t realize traps had off switches, but he cast a speed spell and ran around looking for it. He 

found the off switch and turned it off just before the pit trap opened up. He continued exploring, and found a small cache of potions – one was a Portion of Fortitude, which would be helpful in providing the endurance necessary to clear out the deeper dungeons. Ezren took out his codex to ensure he had identified the potion correctly, and then recharged his spells.

Valeros continued searching the dungeon. He found a weird looking stone and touched it, and images and visions flowed through his head. He realized that this was showing him how to cast a spell of augury – a powerful divination spell that let one know what was up ahead. Valeros was not trained in magic, but he had to hold onto the spell in his mind long enough to teach it to one of the others. He was having a tough time until he heard Lem’s song:

It’s a spell! It’s a spell! You’d better learn it well:

Because one day it might be the only thing ‘tween us and hell!

Valeros learned the spell, but did not dare cast it yet – if he did, the knowledge would vanish forever.

Lem gave a blessing to Ezren and advanced. But he found none other than Nualia himself! And he had given away his blessing, so he was cornered, he couldn’t run away. Nualia cast a damaging spell at the party. Lem had no chance of winning, so he ran away, and Nualia ran away too. Ha, you fools! Nualia said. You can’t stop me now!

Now that the villain was on to them, they had to move fast. Though the group had fortunately not taken too much damage from the attack, they still needed to be on the lookout – they could not afford to make such a mistake again. Ezren returned to the Thassilonian Dungeon, hoping to find stuff there. He found a spell of aid – though it was a divine spell, perhaps it could still help. He saw a spiked chain in a cavern that looked difficult to make his way through – he could probably do it with enough effort, but it wasn’t worth it right now, they had other things that needed to be dealt with. He found what looked like the goblin camp in the middle of the dungeon – he killed the leader with a lightning touch, where he found an arcane map, which he used to go around the dungeon and set up magical wards so that the villain could not escape here.

Valeros made his way to the throne room. Having been hit by Nualia’s force before, he was too tired to run to the temple if necessary. Running into the villain now could be disastrous. But the chance of running into the villain now was what, about one in 40? They had to keep going – if they didn’t take calculated risks, they would surely fail. Valeros did find something good, but it was a henchman – it was actually a henchman this time, not Nualia. He defeated the enemy, causing the rest of the bad guys to flee, and he went up to the throne, where a local queen was sitting on it.

Valeros had to convince the queen to close the palace, because monsters were afoot. If they didn’t close the palace now, the party would have to search through all the nooks and crannies in order to flush out the villain. They didn’t have time for that now. Valeros thought back to when their adventure had first begun, and he had to convince Ameiko to close the tavern. Unfortunately, he didn’t have his supply of Glibmonex with him, and he was all alone – he had to do this on his own.

“The villain Nualia is afoot,” he told the queen. “We believe Nualia is responsible for the recent goblin attacks on Sandpoint. Additionally, we have credible evidence that he is developing weapons of mass zombification.”

“What evidence?”

“We have encountered two zombies in our travels so far. These were no ordinary zombies – they carried the plague. And as you aware, we now have evidence that zombies can infect other humans and turn them into zombies. If we let such zombies escape, the effects on civilization could be devastating.”

The queen was still unconvinced. This talk of villains and zombies seemed far-fetched – she hadn’t seen any such foulness with her own eyes, and she had learned to be suspicious of adventurers, since they seemed to be willing to say anything to get loot. Valeros turned to the gods for help, and gained insight into the queen’s mind – the queen was suspicious because she was afraid Valeros was looking for an excuse to take her treasure.

“We are authorized by Mayor Kendra Deverin of Sandpoint to seek out and defeat any villain that threatens the town, and to request any reasonable assistance from others as may prove necessary. Thus you are required by Sandpoint law to help us.”

“This isn’t Sandpoint,” the queen said. “Your laws have no meaning here.”

“Very well.” Now it was time for Valeros to play his trump card. “You are aware that as licensed adventurers on a legitimate mission, Varisian law authorizes us to keep any loot, money, and other treasure items found over the course of the mission, and that this law supersedes those of all local jurisdictions. If you refuse to close the palace, we will have a right to search in it for the villain, and we will take any treasure found during that search. However, if you close the palace and ensure the villain is not hiding here, we will no longer have any legitimate reason to be here, and we will leave you and your treasure alone.”

“This is why I always hate you adventurers!” the queen said. “Always bossing everyone else around and taking their stuff! And now you say there’s some stupid law that says it’s okay to just take stuff whenever you feel like it! Fine, if that’s what it takes to get you to leave me alone, I’ll close the damn palace. But I don’t want to see any of your kind here again.”

The queen and Valeros went around the palace, searching any hidden passages, and found no villain. There were a few good magic weapons and swords that Valeros was a little bummed that he wouldn’t have the chance to get. But at least it was better than having the villain destroy Sandpoint.

= = =

Harsk and Lem recovered from the encounter and continued exploring the deeper dungeons. Harsk put on some magic leather armor, to protect himself from the villain’s force attack. He explored further, and felt blessed by Erastil, but ended up running into the goblin warchanter again. Lem sang his song, but the warchanter’s enchantment was overpowering. Harsk was hit by the warchanter, who sliced through his armor. Lem called upon the power of Father Zantus to heal Harsk, and his wounds closed.

The clock kept ticking. Ezren journeyed to the Temple to search there. Yet his power was still drained, in part because he had been prone to fits of absent-mindedness and forgot to recharge some of his spells. If he didn’t play his cards right, an unlucky encounter with the villain could still be fatal. He drank part of his potion of fortitude so he could make the long journey to the temple, and put his magic sense on to see what was happening. He acquired a blessing, but failed to notice a potion of ghostly form among a collection of otherwise innocuous drinks. As he moved into the darker regions of the temple, he became cautious. Another force blast from Nualia could wipe out his spell power before he had time to react.

Valeros joined Ezren in the temple – he could surely help in case of unexpected villainy. Gorum spoke to him and offered a test of strength for a blessing, which he easily passed. Another voice spoke to him and offered him a spell of evil detection if he could solve a simple riddle, which he couldn’t. The rest of the gods took pity on him and offered a blessing for free, which he happily accepted. Maybe even the gods were starting to think that all these silly challenges were too much. He found a shortbow lying on the ground, but in the process, inadvertently went too far and alerted a henchman!

The henchman tried to run away, and Valeros screamed for help. Harsk heard his cries and ran to help. He saw a goblin raider, and fired several shots. He was able to drive the goblin raider away, but unfortunately, the goblin raider got away with the map. So the party would have to keep going and search the rest of the place on their own.

Lem made one more try at defeating the warchanter. He gathered all his strength but still couldn’t resist its song. Fortunately, Harsk came to the rescue, and several bolts and a dagger flaw at the warchanter, killing it. Lem rushed to the warrens, hoping to see something there. He found a scroll of Frost Ray, which he had a hard time reading. Fortunately, he remembered one of Aldern Foxglove’s lectures, and remembered how to read the scroll. He kept going into the tunnels, finding a throwing axe.

Ezren joined Lem in the warrens. Lem cast a spell of mending to repair Ezren’s amulet of life – he might need it if he ran into the villain. Ezren came across a sabre-toothed tiger, and despite Lem’s singing, they couldn’t tame it. They kept going and saw a bit pit – the legendary Pit of Malfeshnekor. There was some treasure there, but in a pool of fire. The treasure was nice, but not nearly enough to make it worth braving the fire.

Valeros stayed where he was and kept exploring the temple. Guess what – they found the villain! But this time, they were prepared.  They defeated the villain, who escaped to one of the remaining two locations. There wasn’t much time left. At first they came up with a clever plan – Harsk would sneak back into the deeper dungeons, and see if the villain was there. If there was, he would spook the villain but the rest of the party would be at the warrens to close off that escape route. If not, then Harsk could finish up his exploration and close off any escape route back into the dungeon Unfortunately, things didn’t work out as planned – the villain was there, and was spooked, but the team at the warrens had left one of the passages open, and the villain went through there.

With time short, Lem and Ezren continued their exploration of the warrens apace, hoping that they would get lucky and turn up something. They soon did – they found the evil Lyrie Akenja, mastermind of one of the raids on Sandpoint! Working together, they were able to capture Lyrie and force her to reveal any information on where Nualia was. Lyrie told them that Nualia had rushed back out of the warrens and into the deeper dungeons, and had brought a monster with him as a bodyguard. Valeros went into the deeper dungeons and dispatched that monster – a goblin raider – leaving Harsk to come in and finish the job.

Harsk rushed in, battered and bruised, oblivious to his own safety and focused only on getting the job done. When he approached Nualia, she knocked him and Valeros off their feet with powerful force blasts. Hark in particular, was very lucky - if the force blast had hit him just a few inches higher, it would have driven the shaft of his crossbow directly into his heart, and death would have been almost certain. Harsk struggled up, and saw Valeros fighting Nualia, keeping him at bay. Harsk fired one bolt into Nualia’s chest, then the next into her head, and she fell down, defeated. He searched Nualia’s fallen body, and found a Sihedron Medallion, which had an enchantment that would help protect him from enemy attacks. If only they had that before they had gone into this battle.

The group returned home victorious, to the admiration of the whole town of Sandpoint. They went to the taverns to celebrate their victories, and to the temples to wash away their wounds. But they soon heard rumors of an undead uprising about to happen. There were always rumors of bad things being planned leading up to the bad stuff happening – I guess the bad guys weren’t very good at keeping their evil plans secret. On the other hand, it was also true that lots of times, there were rumors that didn’t pan out at all. Maybe those were just rumors that were seeded by the bad guys to throw the good guys off their trail – if they couldn’t keep the signal from getting out, at least they could drown it in the noise. But in any case, there was a break for at least a couple weeks, which gave the party time to prepare. Valeros and Harsk spent some time at the temples and cathedrals, strengthening their connection to the gods. Lem and Ezren studied at the Academy, that they could expand their knowledge of spellcasting, and learn how to keep more spells in their mind.