Level 4

Your characters have achieved level 4!  Below are listed suggestions and instructions for levelling up each character that will be continuing on to chapter 2:  The Skinsaw Murders.

As an added reward for continuing with the campaign, I'm giving you a chance to swap out and feats that you don't like or haven't been using.  Complete list of feats located HERE.  I'll also be talking a little about Prestige classes - highly specialized tracks that your character can move onto in later levels. Most don't start until levels 7 or 8, but you need to start thinking about them now if you want to qualify.

Sasha

Pathfinder Balancing: The pathfinder RPG is a little more generous to its playerswith ability scores. To compensate, Sasha gains either a +2 Str or +2 Con

Ability Score Bonus:  Sasha gains a +1 to any one ability score at lvl4.  The obvious choice here is +1 Dex. Dex influences her AC, accuracy with whip and rapier, reflex saves and many of her skills. 

Uncanny Dodge: Sasha reacts to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so.  She cannot be caught flat footed, even if the attacker is invisble.

Rogue Talent:  Sasha gains a new rogue talent.  The full list can be found HERE.   Recommedations include:  Surprise attack, Trap Spotter or Weapon Training.

Stat Increases:  Sasha gains +1 to her base attack bonus, and relfex save.  She gains 6 HP.

Loot:  Sasha's cut of the loot from Thistletop includes  a potion of cure moderate wounds ( heals 2d8+3 hp), and Nualia's medalion, depicting a seven pointed star ( +1 to all saves, can be used 1/day to cast false life, granting 1d10+1 temporary HPs), 2,950 gp

Prestige Classes and Feat Swaps:  There are two prestige classes that Sasha may be interested in at higher levels.  The one that fits most thematically is the Duelist.  You would have to swap out Combat Expertise for Dodge, and and take 2 ranks of Perform some time between now and lvl 8.  The other is the shadow dancer, which you could enter earlier (lvl 5), but I don't see it as being as good a fit for Sasha's personality.  It would mean swapping out mproved initiative and cobat expertise for dodge and combat relfexes, and taking 2 ranks in perform(dance).


Yola

Pathfinder Balancing:  The pathfinder RPG is a little more generous to its playerswith ability scores.  To compensate, Yola gains a +1 Str

Ability Score Bonus: Yola gains a +1 to any one ability score at lvl4.  Stregnth makes a lot of sense, increasing Yola's accuracy and damage in melee, but dexterity gives her access to more specialize two weapon fighting feats.  Constitution is also an option, increasing her HP and length of rages

Rage Power: Yola gains another rage power.  The full list can be found HERE.  Recomendations include guarded stance, quick reflexes, renewed vigour,  powerful blow, surprise accuracy.  Since Yola has never used her knock back rage power, you may want to swap it out for one of the ones mentioned here.

Stat Increases:  Yola gains +1 to base attack and Fortitude saves.  She gains 9 HPs and 2 more rounds of rage.

Loot:  Yola's cut of the loot from Thistletop includes a cloak of resistance+1 ( +1 to all saves),  Nualia's Breastplate+1, and Bruthazmus' composite long bow (+4 Str), 2050gp

Prestige Classes and Feat Swaps:  There really aren't any prestige classes that would benefit Yola.  In hindsight, two-bladed sword may not have been the best choice.  Yola may be better served by swapping that out for weapon focus quarterstaff or double slice.  Alternately, I have invented a feat that is more flavourfull for a Shoanti:
Klar Dance:  The Shoanti has leaned the martial form of fighting with paired klars.
Prerequesites:  Two-weapon fighting, Weapon focus Klar
Benefit:  When fighting with two klars, you may retain the shield bonus of your off hand klar. When armed with two klars but only making a primary weapon attack, you may retain the shield bonus from both klars.

Sasha gulps down her healing potions and Poot runs forward to use the last of the energy in Father Zanthus' wand on Yola, who bounces from foot to foot like a prize fighter between rounds, her eyes blazing with intent.  At the same as Sasha and the militia jog up the halway, weapons drawn, Poot backs up, saying, "That's all there is lass, lets hope its enough."  Yola doesn't hear the last part as she kicks down the down and barrels into the chamber beyond...

... and is struck full in the chest by a purple-black bolt of arcane energy.  Lyrie stands in the centre of the room.  Icy, necrotic power plays across Yola's limbs, trying to douse the fire of her rage, but the Shoanti woman proves tougher than the wizard's magic and keeps right on charging, cutting Lyrie down with a single mighty stroke.

Sasha ducks into the room behind her friend.  She watches Lyrie go down, regretting the fact that she didn't get to finish the job herself.  Instead she twists to the right and makes a quick thrust with her rapier at Nualia, trying to catch the woman off guard.  Her quick moves pay of, and though Nualia steps back at the last momment, Sasha's sword point pricks her painfully on the arm.

Nualia Recovers in a heartbeat and hacks back at Sasha savagely.  Sasha evades Nualia's sword swing easily, but doesn't see the followup swipe of the evil red claw.  Sasha is raked across the face. Yola jumps over Lyrie's still form and attacks Nualia head on, but the tall silver haired woman's reflexes are impressive - she manages to bring her sword around and parry both ends of Yola's double blades.

Rizzo, Dyer and Alpert pile into the room and Nualia steps back, placing her back to a large round fountain filled with frothy blue water. Surounded now on all sided, she smiles once, briefly, the most emotion to cross her face yet.  Then it is gone and she explodes into a blur of clawed, blade swigning cold fury.

Yola can feel her rage finally starting to ebb.  She steps to Nualia's side and focuses all her remaining strength into a single massive side swing as Nualai attacks.  The blow connects, biting through the back of Nualia's breastplate.

Yola's attack  opens an opportunity for Sasha, who stabs in from the opposite flank.  This time her blade strikes deep into Nualia's unprotected midriff, leaving behind a bleeding puncture wound behind.  Nualia sags under the two brutal wounds, but again, only for a momment.  Surging forward again in time to parry and block the attacks of all three militiamen.

Tasting victory, Sasha lunges forward again, but this time Nualia is ready and steps into the attack, elbowing Sahsa's sword arm and spoiling her attack.  But Sasha snakes out with her free hand and grabs hold of Nualia's silvery hair, pulling her off balance, and creating all the opening Yola needs to finish the fight.  With a final yell Yola strikes down, burying one end of her doble blades deep into Nualia's back.

The wrath in her eyes goes out instantly and Nualia sinks first to her knees, then falls face down to the ground...

* * *

Congratulations!  With the death of Nualia the threat to Sandpoint is over and this part of Sasha's, Poot's Gerund's Seoni's and Yola's story too.  The room Nualia died in contains her notes and field journals, which detail her plans to raise an army of goblins to burn Sandpoint to the ground as an offering to her evil goddess Lamashtu, and to fuel the runewell in the catacombs wtih enough souls to summon forth an army of the freakish sinspawn that the party faced before.  The room also cotains the reset lever for the gate trap that seperated the party.

The gear for Orik ( who bled to death during the fight thanks to Sasha's Bleeding attack), Lyrie and Nualia has been added to the loot list in the side bar - please call dibs on whatever you like now.  I'll be dividing the rest evenly amongst the party, Shalelu and the militia.

Thanks so much to everybody for participating in this story with me.  Though it did go on for a lot longer than anticipated (17 months, 123 posts, 553 comments, not including side quests and diversion!), I hope you all enjoyed yourselves as much as I enjoyed creating this for you.

Finally, Rise of the Runelords will be continuing with a new chapter - The Skinsaw Murders - this November.  If you are interested in participating, please email me no later than Oct 15, at irondesk@live.ca

Cheers all,

Greg.

The militia kick away the defeated Orik's sword and drag him unresisting into the room beyond, allowing Sasha to duck out of harm's way and fall exhausted into Poot's arms, which nearly knocks the little halfing over. While he is overjoyed to see his friend, he knows the fight is not nearly over.

Nualia falls back under Yola's fierce attack. The two women trade powerful blows back and forth. Yola's attacks are fueled by her both her Shoanti rage and Poot's magical encouragement, but Nualia fights back with a super human strength, clearly augmented by her own dark magic. After Yola scores a second telling blow against her, Nualia strikes back with a crippling backhand swipe, and though Yola barely feels the deep wound through the haze of her battle rage, the force of the blow sends her staggering to the side. Nualia seizes the the opportunity to duck inside the northern chamber and slam the door behind her. Still not realizing how badly she has been hurt, Yola slams into the door and yells out in frustration, " Come back here you white haired witch!"

Alpert, Rizzo and Dyer pile into the hallway to assist Yola while the others set about binding Orik. "Uh, boss," Mullroy says. "This guy's still bleeding pretty bad from where Sasha stuck him." As if on cue, Orik's eyes roll up in the back of his head and he passes out.

Things are balanced on a hair! Yola and Nualai each scored two colossal hits against one another, with Yola taking 24 hp in damage! She's got 9 left but 6 of those are temporary and disappear when she stops raging. Your decision now: Pursue Nuaila immediatly, or stop for a few rounds to use the last of Poot's healing magic ( and don't forget that Sasha has two healing potions as well) and maybe get the gates up for Gerund and Seoni. Remember that while Sasha and Yola are dangerously close to 0 HP, every round spent waiting is a round that Nualia and Lyrie could be up to no good on the other side of that door.

Sasha ducks and rolls as Nualia's serrated blade comes slashing down. The nimble rogue manages to squeeze past her new attacker and slip through the doorway behind her. For a brief, perfect moment she finds herself between two foes, both with their backs turned to her. Before her she sees the armored mercenary Orik, battling her young friends, the militia recruits
Sherrif Hemlock brought up from Magnimar. And behind them, she hears a familiar voice, "Come on you great armored ponce! Is that all you've got? My lads mothers fight better than that!"

Poot!

Moving fast, draws her rapier and stabs Orik in the back before the man realizes she's behind him, leaving an ugly bleeding puncture in his lower back. "Poot, Poot! We're here!" She yells out to the halfling.

Orik gasps in surprise and pain and slumps against the doorway, his guard dropping for a moment, the militia see their opportunity and press him. Dyer bats away the bigger man's shield and Alpert delivers a near fatal wound to Orik's stomach. He collapses to the ground, dropping his sword and holding up one hand. "Mercy!" he gasps.

Sasha grins at this victory, but has no time to savour it, as Nualia spins around. Her face is impassive but her eyes blaze with anger as she swings again at Sasha. This time Sasha is the one caught between two foes and she has nowhere to go. Nualia's heavy blade catches her high on the shoulder, cracking bone and severing tendons. Sasha almost blacks out as her left arm hangs limply at her side.

As Sasha fights to stay standing and avoids a backhand swipe from Nualia's red clawed hand, Yola calls out and vaults across the trapped floor. Not as graceful as the roues jump earlier but no less effective, Yola clears the jump easily and charges at Nualia with a fierce cry and an overhand chop. Nualia pivots and parries the blow with her own sword. "Lyrie!" she yells out behind her. "Close the gate...Now!"

Vision still blurry from the beating Sasha gave her, Lyrie finally stumbles into the norther chamber and finds the lever that controls the trapped corridor. She yanks on it and and two heavy gates slam closed in the corridor beyond, sealing the shiny floor section between them and cutting Seoni and Gerund off from their companions. The two statues flanking that section of the hall suddenly drop their glaives into a horizontal position and begin to spin side to side, turning the space between the two gates into a whirling meat grinder.

Gerund curses in a most unpaladin-like way as he slams his shield into the gate in front of him. Seoni steps up and lets fly a pair of magic missiles, their arcane power guiding them through the bars of the gates, around the slicing glaives, over Yola's head and straight into Nualia, who grunts once, but shrugs off the attack quickly.

Sasha took 13HP from Nualia's attack! She's down to only 3 left. Orik is down and begging for quarter, but not out. Nualia is pissed off...

The hound snarls and flies into the air. Gerund and Yola swipe at it ineffectually as it sails over their heads straight at Seoni. She manages to step back and get the slim iron wand at her belt drawn before the 1000 lbs beast crashes down, fangs seeking her throat. Finally she manages to get the wand between her and the beast, and with a flick of her wrist sends a fatal jolt of lightning through the hateful creature. The hound's hair stands on end and begins to smoke, and the whole chamber fills with the smell of singed fur as the hulking beast slumps dead to the floor.
While her friends struggle with the hound, Sasha's mind clouds with vengeance and she leaps over the shiny floor, her acrobatic feet easily carrying her to her target. The smile on Lyrie's face disappears as Sasha tackles her to the floor and starts pummelling her about the head. The bookish Lyrie is no match for Sasha's bare fisted fury. Blood streaming from a broken nose, she half scrambles, and is half pulled back from Sasha, who bellows in frustration as the focus of her wrath is yanked backwards.

Sasha looks up to see who can only be Nualia standing before her. The silver haired, violet eyed women grabs Lyrie by the scruff of her neck with a red-scaled claw and yanks her to safety behind her. "Lyrie, stay behind me; close the gate." Holding one hand to her face, Lyrie scurries around the corner to comply. Nualia cuts an imposing figure. Tall and lean, her beauty is unsettling, and marred by both her demonic claw-like left hand and the scars and partially healed wounds across her exposed midriff. Impassively, she raises her serrated blade to cut Sasha down...

In the south hall Orik stands fast against the militia, blocking all attacks against him and delivering a brutal swipe to Vansen, who staggers back to be replaced in the assault by young Alpert. Poot steps up his oratory, trying to egg on his green troops against this obvously more skilled swordsman.

The Yeth Hound attacks Seoni for a whopping 10 hp, ut seoni counters with a zap from her wand of shocking grasp, killing the beast. Sasha easily jumps the trapped section of hallway due to her high acrobatics skill and punches/kicks/scratches Lyrie for 3 hp non lethal dmg. On her turn Lyrie cannot connect with Sasha. Nualia uses her action to switch places with Lyrie, allowing Sasha one more good kick at her ( 3 more non-lethal dmg). Orik Hits Vansen for 7 HP and takes none in return.

Sasha's whip uncoils with a crack and Lyrie's grin turns to surprise as the the wand is knocked painfully from her hand. Clutching her wounded hand to her chest she swears at the rogue, "You'll pay for that wench!" She makes a wrenching motion with her other hand and shouts out an arcane phrase.

Sasha winces and prepares for another fiery onslaught, but instead watches in horror as the length of her father's whip bursts into a thousand thread-like fibres, leaving her holding nothing but the worn leather handle. She looks from the the ruined handle to the wizardess before her. Lyrie is smiling again.

In the chamber behind her the giant hound sails through the air and pounces onto Shalelu before the tall elf can bring her bow to bear. Its fangs sink into her shoulder and she falls to the ground, her slender form all but disappearing beneath the creature's bulk. Gerund and Yola are right there though, hacking wildly at the beasts flanks. While their blows are mighty they are deflected almost completely by the hound's otherworldly hide.

Seoni's magic missiles are another story. Three arcing bolts of force lance into the beast and it howls in terrific pain. It releases its grip on Shalelu and fixes the Varisian sorceress with a baleful gaze.

Meanwhile in the southern hallway, the Magnimar militia mills around in confusion as the big man Orik stands blocking the passage. Poot stands beside the pillar of coins, stunned into inaction until Vansen's voice breaks him out of his trance. "C'mon boys, lets show this fellow what's what!" Flanked by Dyer and Rizzo, he leaps forward, blade drawn.

The sudden flurry of action brings Poot back to the here and now. "Uh, that's right lads - show him what for!" he yells to his troops as he tries not to get trampled underfoot.

Orik fights like a veteran, and doesn't flinch as the three younger men move in. He parries Rizzo's clumsy swing easily against his massive shield and sends the other two reeling back with a shove and a twist.

Sasha successfully disarms Lyrie, but then falls victim to Lyrie's shatter spell. Shalelu takes 9 hp from the hound's attack. Yola and Gerund are unable to overcome the hound's resistance to physical damage but it is badly wounded by Seoni's magic missile attack. Poot activates his inspire courage song to bolster his recruits, who trade blows with Orik, but neither side lands a blow

Final Act - Nualia Strikes

"Arrgh!" screamed Sasha. "Get this thing off me!" A small, sardonic part of her mind asked frustratedly why she was always the one getting devoured by the otherworldly monsters, but the rest of her mind was too busy screaming in abject terror to give it an answer. Suddenly the massive weight of the beast disappeared as it took to the air again, sailing over Gerund's head and into the room beyond. She heard the crash and pained scream as it pounced onto one of her companions.

Sasha scrambled to her knees. Behind her, Yola, Seoni and the others struggled with the flying hound. Ahead of her, with the trapped floor panel between them, stood the the dark skinned mage that moments ago had bathed the hallway in flames. As Sasha watched, she drew a wand from her belt and aimed it at her with an evil grin.

As Sasha decided which way to jump, she pondered how things had gone so bad so fast.

"I would guess that shiny floor area is probably trapped," Seoni had cautioned minutes ago.

"Right, good point," replied Sasha. She stepped past Gerund and walked to the edge of the shiny area, dropping down to her hands and knees to get a better look. Sure enough, the floor here was made of dull metal instead of stone, and was relatively free of debris and dirt. it was slightly raised, as if it were actually a separate plate sitting atop the floor. Sasha noticed what could have been dried blood crusted along one edge. "Yep, definitely something fishy here," she called back to the others. "Pass me some more arrow heads and I'll see if I can wedge this..."

Suddenly a woman's voice shouted out, heavy with authority, "Orik, hold that doorway. Lyrie, go right." Sasha looked down the hall in time to see the cloaked wizard, Lyrie, stepped into the hall and splayed her fingers forward in a gesture Sasha had seen her friend Seoni make many times before.

"Look out!" Sasha yelled behind her. She dove to the floor as a shimmering fan of flames engulfed the hallway. Thanks to her warning Gerund got his shield up in time and deflects most of the flames away from him, taking only minor burns to his exposed shoulder, and licking around him to singe Yola, who was more surprised than hurt by the unexpected pyrotechnics.

Then Lyrie ducked down and out of the darkness behind her sailed one of the massive, evil flying hounds that the party had faced in the temple. The beast crashed into Sasha full force, knocking her back to the ground a second time, and that's when the small sardonic part of her brain started asking pointless questions.Poot contemplated the runic carvings on the pillar of coins. It was times like these he wished he had a beard that he could stroke thoughtfully. He wondered if he had remembered to pack his costume kit with the fake beard and magister's wig from last year's production of "The Judgement of Abadar" when things got a little crazy.

"Orik, hold that doorway, Lyrie, go right!" shouted a woman from the hallway. Poot spun around. He didn't see the speaker, but he did see the heavily armored warrior , presumably Orik, come charging down the hallway like a runaway ox cart.

To his credit, young Alpert managed to raise his crossbow and get off a shot before the much bigger man barreled into him, but the bolt shattered against Orik's raised shield. The body check lifted Alpert right off his feet and sent him crashing into Vansen, fouling that man's aim.

Orik stood defiantly, his frame blocking the hallway, as sounds of combat erupted from some unseen conflict behind him.

Nualia and her remaining henchmen have finally struck back! Gerund and Yola each take 3 HP from Lyrie's burning hands spell ( successful reflex saves cut this down from 7HP). Sasha took 3HP from the Yeth Hound's pounce and starts the round knocked prone. The hound has the best initiative so will start the next round by flying into the pillar room and pouncing on a random victim ( Seoni or Shalelu, as described in the above post).

Orik bull rushed Alpert, knocking him and Vansen prone, but causing no damage. You can hear Nualia chanting a spell, but no one can see her yet.

Good luck!

The party heads back to the staircase leading to the main floor and tackles the blocked door there. After some effort Yola and Gerund manage to force the door open and tumble into the room beyond.

A large wooden table had been overturned and jammed up against the door, the scrolls, books and stone tablets that had been on it are now scattered across the floor, along with fragments of carvings that appear to have been chipped off statues or bas-reliefs. To the north, a floor to ceiling set of wooden shelves sag with picks, shovels, brushes, lanterns and other equipment one might expect to see at an archaeological dig site.

To the east a door has been hastily thrown open, beyond is narrow descending staircase. While Yola and Gerund keep watch over the stairs, Seoni and Sasha quickly search through the scrolls and books. All are covered with the same dense spiky runes seen elsewhere on this level and in the catacombs back in Sandpoint, but none seem valuable or magical.

After spiraling downward the staircase opens onto a large hallway, the ceiling supported by two pillars. In many places the stone walls, floor and ceiling are caked with ancient grime and soot. Alcoves in the north and south wall contained partially damages statues of a man in robes clutching a book and a glaive. The entire room is canted towards the west, and whatever ancient upheaval caused the complex to tilt knocked the statues from their bases so that they now lean against the southern walls of their alcoves. There is a single door at the opposite end of the hall.

With a sense of foreboding the party picks their way through the rubble to the other end of the hall and opens the door. The short hallway beyond rises in a slope to the east. Five feet from the door, the floor is polished and shiny, unlike the dusty floors elsewhere. A pair of stone statues depicting stern men wielding glaives stand in alcoves north and south of this section of the hallway. At the eastern end stand two stone doors, their faces carved with more of the strange spiky runes. Between the doors is a third alcove in which a partially collapsed statue sits. The top half of the statue is missing, leaving behind a ragged stump of a torso.

The southern door is ajar, and you can hear faint voices from beyond it.

After jamming the door to the goblin harem with a couple of arrow heads, Sasha tries the handle if the door beside it. it is unlocked, and leads into another passageway. The Party sets out to explore what turns out to be a wing of personal chambers:

4a: This room is clean and well organized. A low dresser to the southwest has a stack of papers sitting atop it, weighted down by a large chunk of obsidian, while to the northwest sits a well-made bed. The notes turn out to be written by Tsuto, and seem to be rough drafts of his plans to blackmail his father and use the Sandpoint Glassworks as a staging ground for his investigation of the catacombs that your party found under the town.

4b: This one person shows many signs of being lived in. The bed itself is rumpled and unmade, and a half eaten meal of bread and smoked salmon sits on the night stand. A few articles of dirty clothing lie at the foot of the bed.

4c: While this bedroom is clean and brightly lit by the ever burning torch lying on the nightstand, the room's spartan decor makes it unclear if it's actually lived in.

4d: This bedroom has a faint musty odour. The bed is covered with matted grey and black hair, and bloodstains mar the floor, while a morbid stack of bird's feet lie by the side of the bed. Shalelu wrinkles her nose at the odour and mutters, "Bugbear. This must have been where Bruthazmus slept when he wasn't... otherwise occupied."

5: This large chamber seems to serve a dual purpose. To the north is a fine bed with silk sheets, while to the south, a desk and chair under a hanging lantern make a comfortable looking study.

After thoroughly exploring the sleeping chambers of their adversaries, the party makes its way back to the main room and tries the third door. Again unlocked, this leads into a goblin nursery. The walls are lined with small wooden cages, and inside each is a dirty mound of straw. The room is otherwise empty. It looks like the Thistletop goblins have been too busy plotting to take over the world to concentrate on child-rearing recently.

Opening the door in the west wall leads the party down a short corridor and into an unused prison. There is a bank of empty cells along the south wall, while the rest of the room is obviously a torture chamber; a rack sits against the far wall, an iron maiden stands to the north, and a fire pit smolders below a spiky cage dangling from the ceiling. To the north east lies the jailer's quarters, a dusty nest of rags, dog hides and straw forming a bed in one corner, and attesting to the fact that the last occupant was a goblin. To the north west lies a final door, which if your sense of direction is right, almost certainly leads back into the temple where you trapped the other flying hound.

You have now explored almost every nook and cranny of this level, save for the stuck door that the party chose to bypass when they first descended the stairs from the main floor. Other than the trapped goblin wives and the flying hound lurking in the temple, there seems to be no one else alive here either.

Yola and Gerund charge into the room and are upon the snarling Bugbear before he can get to his weapon. Yola wounds him with a quick double slash from her blade and Gerund follows suit, drawing a deep gash across his shoulder. As he turns to grab his flail, a pair of magic missiles arc over Gerund's head and strike the Bugbear in the back, sending him tumbling into the pillows and the shrieking goblin wives scattering in all directions.

Yola pounces on him before he can regain his feet, and the battle is over before it has truly begun.

Shalelu peers over Seoni's shoulder. "That would be Bruthazmus," she says, observing the dead Bugbear. "He and I have locked blades several times over the past years. He would hire himself out as a guide or bodyguard to less reputable parties, and resort to mugging travellers or robing farmsteads when work was scarce. I suppose finding him here means he had hired on with this Nualia person we are looking for. Well, the region's better without him now." She waves her hand into the room, indicating the moaning wives. "What do you propose we do about them?"

Gerund attends to the party's wounds, handing the two looted healing potions to Sasha and Seoni, and using most of his own divine energy on himself and Yola. With the worst of their injuries treated, the group begins to explore the rest of the complex.

East of the battle site opens into a series of roughly hewn caverns. Most of the chambers seem to be given over to storage. Crates and barrels of basic food stuffs, and mounds of mouldering refuse looted from Sandpoint's town dump over the years fill most of the space. At one point a thick curtain of vines and nettles hangs down over a wide opening overlooking the Varisian Gulf.

Leaving these caverns brings the party back into the complex proper, and you find yourself in what was once the goblins' feast hall ( D1). A single lantern hangs from a hook on the wall next to where stairs lead back up to the main floor. Several rickety doors open into this room, and a few discarded dog pelt rugs lie forgotten in the northeast corner.

A cloying stench and the twang of a very badly tuned sting intrument issues from one of the doors. The party moves quietly towards it. Yola steps up, and sword gripped tightly, kicks in the door. . . Dozens of ratty cushions, lumpy pillows, and rumpled dogskin furs lie heaped in the south half of this chamber, which reeks of a nauseating mixture of vineagar and rotting flowers. The stink in the air brings tears to her eyes as Yola realizes to her horror that is the smell of perfume worn by the four hideously painted goblin harem girls lounging about the room.

They begin to shriek and squeal at the intrusion, and the object of their affections roars in anger. A hulking half naked bugbear explodes to his feet, cursing in heavily accented common as he fumbles for a huge metal studded flail leaning on the wall nearby.

oh the horror!

Gerund used 4 out of 5 of his lay on hand uses to heal him and Yola 6 hp each. The potions restored 7 HP to Sasha and 8 to Seoni.

Gerund strikes down the wounded hound. As the fell beast crashes to the floor, Gerund's holy smite fades from his blade and he realizes they may have a tough time of defeating the second hound. Grudgingly, he calls to Yola to fall back. He bashes aside the snarling hound's jaws as it lashes out at them, and then Yola and Gerund each slam one side of the doors shut, locking the beast in the temple. It slams itself against the stone doors several times, then falls silent.

Bloodied and dazed, the party stands in the corridor, goblin corpses scattered about them, contemplating their next course of action.

Loot! Ripnugget had some gear that the party may find useful: 2 potions of cure moderate wounds, masterwork small breastplate, magical Dogslicer, large copper key, dented crown. All items have been added to the loot list in the sidebar.

With a battle cry filled with righteous fury Gerund ignores Sahsa's suggestion to withdraw and smites the hound attacking her. The power of Erastil flows through his blade and cuts the unholy beast deeply. The creature cringes away from him, badly wounded, giving Sasha a chance to regain her feet and beat a hasty retreat out of the temple. Yola jumps into the the space and delivers a powerful sweeping chop to to the wounded hound, but without the force of Gerund's holy energies behind her, most of the attack is again deflected, serving only to chasten the beleaguered creature. The second hound however, is more bold and lunges at Gerund's exposed flank. Sasha yells a warning just in time, and Gerund manages to pivot away from the snapping jaws at the last moment. The wounded hound is not out of the fight yet, and tries to bowl Yola over, and while it does manage to take a savage bite, the Shoanti woman's rage fueled strength keeps her on her feet.

In the hallway, Seoni taunts the goblin king while she draws the slim iron wand recovered from the catacombs below Sandpoint. Ripnuggut snarls at her and charges again, but Seoni reaches out and touches him with the wand's tip and sends him reeling back, arms flailing rigidly, lightning dancing across his metal armor. Ripnuggut lands in a lifeless heap, smoke curling up from his dented crown. The two goblins behind him let out a tiny "eep" and beat a hasty retreat back the way they had come.

Seeing that Seoni seems to have single-handedly stopped the goblin ambushed and vanquished the Chief of Thistletop, Shalelu shrugs, adjusts her aim and fires an arrow past Sasha's head into the hound harrying Gerund's flank. Her aim is true, but the wound is little more than a pin prick.

Ripnugget goes down! Yola takes 5 hp from the wounded hound's attack. Gerund, your smite is very potent, but remember it is only good against the one opponent that you declared it on ( in this case the now badly wounded hound).

Sasha screams for help as the gigantic otherwordly hound continues to maul her. She wiggles and kicks out, trying to get enough space between her and the beast to bring her rapier to bear, and though she gets several good stabs in, the hound's magical hide turns her blade aside each time.

Gerund hears the war cry of the Goblin chief in the hallway and curses himself for being on the wrong side of the doorway. He resolves to kill the hound before him quickly so that he can bring Ripnugget to justice and decides not to use his divine smite on the hound, instead saving it for the chief. He thrusts forward with his sword, and the his aim is good, his attack is turned away just as Sasha's were; perhaps Gerund's channelled divinity is the only way to hurt these beasts?

In hallway, Sasha's cry for help penetrates through the growing red haze of Yola's battle rage, and the barbarian sprints over and delivers a mighty overhand chop that would sever the head off an ox, but only manages to cut a thin red line into the hound's furred neck. It does serve however to catch the beast's attention.

Outside, Seoni takes advantage of the goblin's confusion and hits them with another burning hands spell, angling upwards to encompass the sprinting gecko. Her tactic works and the two goblins before crumple to the ground, and the gecko drops from the wall, dead. Chief Ripnugget rolls free of his dead stead, and he is spitting mad. Without missing a beat, he regains his feet, jogs forward, and drives his dogslicer into Seoni's side. She staggers back in surprise, blood running freely from the deep wound, while the rest of Ripnugget's warrior's cheer him on. Their cheers falter however, when Shalelu steps to the side of Seoni and buries an arrow deep into Ripnugget's chest. The goblin grunts and staggers back himself, but does not fall.

End of round. The combat is changing so quickly now that I only played out one round. Sasha managed to avoid the hound's attacks ( using her combat expertise feat) but is still prone. The hounds were completely unaffected by Gerund and Sasha's attack, and Yola only managed to inflict a very minor wound with her mightiest swing. Seoni torched two goblin commandos and Stickfoot the gecko, but took a 6 hp wound from Ripnugget in return. The darker green goblin in the back is a warchanter, and her cheering is now bolstering the attacks of the remaining goblins.

Long Live the King!

Gerund and Sasha step into the shrine and take aim at the flying hounds. Gerund misses his target as the hound jigs out of the way and swoops down upon him. Sasha's aim is truer but the arrow seems to deflect uselessly off the beast's furry hide. The hound drops down onto Sasha, and she is knocked to the ground as almost 400 pounds of of canine crashes into her, savagely biting at her arms and face. Gerund manages to drop to one knee and deflect his attacker's charge with his shield. The hound, easily 5 feet high at the shoulder, lands on the floor and circles the paladin, ready to pounce again at any second.

* * *

In the hall things get chaotic quickly. When the hounds attack, the noise of the conflict alerts the group that was trying to sneak up on the party from behind. Not wanting to miss the action, the goblins give up any attempts at stealth and charge down the hallway and suddenly find themselves the victims of an ambush instead of the perpetrators.

Giving over to her rage Yola yells out and charges into the first goblin to pass her position. Her startled foe is impaled on the end of her blade and the momentum of her charge carries the two of them right up to the big stone doors opposite.

Seoni follows Yola into the hall and sees more goblins running towards her. She quickly presses the tips of her thumbs together and sends a horizontal plane of magical flames cascading over them. The first several goblins scream out in pain and surprise, but behind them a large goblin mounted on a giant gecko the size of a pony snarls in anger. Chief Ripnugget ( you assume from the dented crown he wears) guides his mount to leap onto the wall, and the sucker footed lizard starts to charge at Yola and Seoni over the heads of the other goblins.

Shalelu steps into the corridor behind Seoni and assesses the situation, glancing from the charging goblin chief to the giant otherworldy hound mauling Sasha in the doorway beyond. Pulling back on her bow with all her might she lets loose a single arrow that strikes the hound squarely above the shoulder. The hound looks up, surprised at the slight sting, and stares balefully at the elven archer.

We're in a pickle now! The hounds shrugged off all but the strongest and most well placed attacks, and the first one savaged Sasha for 7 HP! Yola and Seoni's attack surprised the goblins quite handily, with Yola killing one and Seoni badly wounding two more. Chief Ripnuget and his loyal gecko steed Stickfoot were wounded by the Burning Hands spell as well but managed to avoid the worst of it by leaping up onto the wall.

NOTE re Smite: Smite can only be used on a melee attack, so I didn't apply it to Gerund's first bowshot. Also, I've decided to make a small change to the power ( as per the newer Pathfinder rules) - You now declare your Smite against a single foe, and it continues to work until that foe is defeated. It is still only usable once per day.

With Shalelu warning of noises coming from behind the party, the group follows Gerund's hasty whispered instructions and hides themselves in the side passages to await whatever is following them. Then Gerund and Sasha push open the carved stone doors to peek into the room beyond.

Stone fonts containing frothy dark water sit to either side of the doors, and twin banks of stone pillars run the length of the long chamber. At the western end, shallow stairs rise to a platform about two feet off the ground. The walls around this platform are lit by hanging braziers that emit glowing red smoke, giving the place an unnerving crimson light that throws the bas-relief carvings of countless monsters feasting on fleeing humans into lurid display. A black marble alter stone, its surface heaped with ashes and bone fragments, squats before a ten foot statue. The sculpture depicts a very pregnant but otherwise shapely naked woman who wields a curved blade in each taloned hand and has a long reptilian tail, bird-like taloned feet, and the snarling head of a three eyed jackal with a forked tongue. Its left blade flickers with fiery orange light while the right one glows with a cold blue radiance.

A warning hiss from from Yola from across the hall snaps Gerund's attention away from this heretical shrine to the Mother of Monsters. Flickering torch light can now clearly be seen coming from the corridor north of the party's position.

"Uh Gerund?" Sasha touches the paladin's should and draws his attention back to the shrine. She points up. In the shadows of the pillar tops, floating eerily, are a pair of huge black hounds. Lean and vicious looking, they hang in mid air, obscured by the shadows cast by the flickering crimson light, regarding Sasha and Gerund with cold curiosity. When looking back, Gerund's detect evil sense screams out at him.

Foes ahead and foes behind; what's a party to do? Did I get the characters positioned the way everybody wanted? Let me know if your character is not where you wanted them.

Sasha leads the way out of the war room and through the short hallway beyond. The lower four feet of of the walls in the empty room beyond are covered in drawings in mud, blood and paint. Most of the drawings show goblins engaged in some sort of violence against humans, horses, and dogs. One picture on the north wall is at least three times the size and complexity of the other scrawlings. This image shows Thistletop from the side, the goblin stockade perched upon it like a crown. A cave has been drawn into the centre of the image, and looming inside is what appears to be an immense muscular goblin with snake-like eyes and a dogslicer in each taloned hand. If the scale compared to the rest of the drawings is to be believed, this goblin must be at least thirty feet tall.

The corridor turns south from this room and the party finds itself in a foyer. The passage continues south or east, both corridors ending in a door after about 20 feet, but most ominous are the stone double doors set in the west wall. The doors' faces are covered with carvings of women of all races giving birth to a myriad of horribly deformed monsters. Gerund recognizes them as imagery typical to a Church of Lamashtu, the Mother of Monsters.

As you contemplate the twisted images on the door, Shalelu hisses for silence, sure that she has heard movement from back the way you have come...

The party decides to leave the rest of the fort unexplored and head down the northern staircase that descends into the solid stone of the island.

At the bottom of the stairs is a room. A large table surrounded by chairs fills much of this room. A slateboard to the north is covered with chalk scribblings, but the map of Sandpoint that has been carefully inscribed on it leaves no doubt as to the purpose of this room - this is doubtless where the recent raid was planned.

The party files into the room and begins to look around. Seoni immediately starts studying chalkboard while the others spread out, Sasha and Gerund trying the opposing doors. Sasha's door on the east wall opens onto a short corridor ending in another door about ten feet ahead, while Gerund's door to the west won't budge. The handle turns, but something seems to be blocking it from the other side. Yola heads over to see if she can help him force it open.

Meanwhile Seoni gleans much useful information from the battle plans on the board. Namely, that one the "whispering beast is tamed," the architects of the plan intend to launch a second raid on the town one that not only incorporates additional goblin tribe from as far away as the Fogscar mountains to the north, but also creatures referred to as "sinspawn" who shall invade Sandpoint from below. The good news is that while no specific timetable is given it looks as if the plan was not as far advanced as the party had worried and that its schedule is still at least a couple of months away from completion.

Gerund and Yola forge on ahead through the door on the opposite side of the exercise yard, and Sasha, Seoni and Shalelu pause in indecision, torn between staying together as a group, but not wanting to let the trail left by the fleeing goblins grow cold.

The short hallway that Gerund finds ends in two doors. The southern door opens onto a small meeting room. A round table and and a few chairs are this room's only furnishings. The norther door leads to a hall containing two west facing doors. The first of these opens into a small, foul smelling room featuring little more than a reeking hole in the ground, its rim stained with refuse and waste. The final door leads to a steep downward staircase.

While Sasha investigates the double doors that the fleeing goblin went through, Gerund moves into the exercise yard to examine the outbuilding and two dead goblins there.

The door to the outbuilding has been nailed shut, and additional boards have been nailed over these nails. The door itself is cracked and splintered in places. The two dead goblins, their heads crushed in by something heavy, lie in the dirt by the door, their ripening bodies covered in flies.

Sasha, meanwhile, is surprised to discover that the doors to the rest of the fort are not locked. She hesitates, unsure now whether to barge on in or wait for the rest of her comrades.