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thecreaturecodex · 11 months

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Daisy Moonblossom

"Ice Queen" © Xavier Collette. Accessed at his gallery here

[This is going to be the last of the PCs from the Rise of the Runelords game I post; I'm going to move onto other campaigns, like Curse of the Crimson Throne, Legacy of Fire, and Council of Thieves. Daisy Moonblossom was a very fun character, with her quotes like, "you would be happy if you thought less" and "I didn't think it would kill him; I only thought it would torture him forever!". She told me later that she didn't want to play a healer, she wanted to play a fighter, and so decided to be kind of a brat about it when it was decided by the group that it was "her turn". Everyone loved it anyway. So much so that the same player played her surly goth little sister, Belladonna, in Curse of the Crimson Throne, and the Moonblossom clan has been a recurring name drop in my games, and spawned multiple PCs and NPCs in the games run by @canwefixitnoitsfucked. Here's the original art for Daisy, done by one of the other players in that game:

Art © Heather F., accessed here

Because of the whole "don't really want to heal" thing, a warpriest was the perfect choice for converting Daisy from D&D 3.5 to Pathfinder 1e. The Icicle Crown was a personal addition to Rise of the Runelords. The art for Lamatar Bayden was so cool, it seemed a shame that he was just a wight (especially up against a 9th level party). So I gave him an artifact, and then Daisy got it, and she got to go from "magical girl inspired" to "full on transformation sequence". The original version used various spells from Spell Compendium, so has been updated for Pathfinder applicability.]

Daisy Moonblossom CR 14 CN Humanoid (cold, human) This woman is short, muscular and beautiful, her arms bearing delicate Varisian tattoos. She appears to be made of ice, with inhumanly pale skin and hair, with a crown of icicles growing out of her brow. She carries an enormous mace in the shape of a rose, and wears the holy symbol of Desna prominently around her neck and on her clothing.

Daisy Moonblossom was born lucky. Although never very smart and with a penchant for solving her problems with violence, she was both charming and perceptive, and was a natural to enter the priesthood of Desna. There, she received training as a warpriest, a traveling crusader to bring dreams and joy to those who needed them, and a pummeling to those who deserved it. And she was able to do all of those things, joining up with a team of adventurers to defend Sandpoint from first a goblin incursion, and then a ghoulish serial killer. Aldern Foxglove, the Skinsaw Man, became obsessed with Daisy. Perhaps this is because she reminded him of his murdered wife, or perhaps because he detected her bloodthirsty streak. Appropriately, she was the one who freed the revenant of his wife, and then bashed Foxglove’s skull in.

On Hook Mountain, Daisy made two discoveries that would change her life. First was the friendship of the star monarch Roramoru, who happily serves her as a mount and confidante to this day. The second was the Icicle Crown, a lost artifact made by the White Witches of Irrisen in centuries past, sitting on the brow of the wight Lamatar Bayden. Daisy didn’t realize its true magical potential when she put it on, thinking it would just protect her against the cold, but it transformed her into a being of elemental ice. As a divine caster, Daisy can use remove curse to take off the crown and resume her human appearance when she needs to, but does so less and less these days.

Rather than explore the dungeons of Runeforge and take the fight to Runelord Karzoug, Daisy chose to remain behind at Jorgenfist to learn more about her Varisian heritage and to help rally an army of giants against Karzoug’s influence. Daisy is considered by many of the giants of the Kodar Mountains to be somewhere between a guardian angel and a bogey, as she will gladly aid giants who play nice and slay those who don’t. The legends that have built around Ice Princess Daisy vary from clan to clan. Some giants claim she is an unusually beautiful cold rider, or maybe a miniature frost giant, or possibly a divine agent of Desna herself. Daisy is happy to keep them guessing.

Although she is a talented healer, Daisy Moonblossom would rather inflict damage than cure it. She usually spends a round or two casting enhancing spells on herself, then wades into melee. If enemies keep their distance, she pelts them with ranged spells cast from the Icicle Crown, or simply uses air walk to close the gap. Daisy isn’t a very skilled combat rider, so although she does use Roramoru’s support, the star monarch typically drops Daisy off rather than carry her into the fray.

Icicle Crown (minor artifact) When not worn by a creature (occupying the head slot), this appears to be a delicate silver tiara studded with diamonds and sapphires. When put on, it transforms into ice, and transforms the wearer as well, affecting her as per an ice body spell for as long as the crown is worn. The Icicle Crown allows the wearer to cast the following spells with charges, as if it were a staff: Snowball (1 charge) Frigid Touch (1 charge) Wall of Ice (2 charges) Cone of Cold (2 charges) Icy Prison (2 charges) The Icicle Crown has 10 charges, and regains 1d4 charges a day. If its last charge is expended, the Icicle Crown falls off of the wearer’s head and becomes dormant for 30 days. This is the only way to remove the Icicle Crown without the use of remove curse or a similar effect, or the death of its wearer. CL 13th; Weight 4 lbs.

Daisy Moonblossom CR 14 XP 38,400 Human warpriest of Desna 14 CN Medium humanoid (cold, human) Init +5; Senses Perception +7 Defense AC 21, touch 11, flat-footed 20(+1 Dex, +10 armor) hp 136 (14d8+70) Fort +14, Ref +6, Will +13 Immune ability score damage, blindness, critical hits, deafness, disease, drowning, electricity, poison, stunning Defensive Abilities ice body Offense Speed 20 ft. (30 ft. unarmored), burrow 20 ft. (ice only) Melee +1 spell-storing heavy mace +16/+11 (1d10+7) or slam +13 (1d6+3 plus 1 cold) Ranged starknife +11 (1d10+3/x3) Special Attacks channel energy (positive, 5d6, based on fervor), sacred weapon (+3, 14 rounds/day) Spells CL 14th (CL 15th for conjuration), concentration +17 (+21 casting defensively) 5th—flame strike (DC 18), righteous might 4th—air walk, blessing of fervor, divine power, neutralize poison (DC 18) 3rd—communal resist energy, inflict serious wounds (DC 16), magic vestment (cast), prayer, sacred bond 2nd—align weapon, bull’s strength, inflict moderate wounds (DC 15), lesser restoration, owl’s wisdom, spiritual weapon 1st—bless, divine favor (x2), remove fear, shield of faith (x2) 0th—create water, guidance, light, resistance, stabilize Spontaneous casting—cure spells Spell-like Abilities CL 14th, concentration +17 (+21 casting defensively) 3/day—acid splash Statistics Str 16, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 16 Base Atk +10; CMB +13; CMD 24 Feats Combat Casting,Dazzling Display (B), Greater Weapon Focus (heavy mace) (B), Improved Initiative, Selective Channel, Shatter Defenses (B), Skill Focus (Intimidate), Spell Focus (conjuration), Trailblazing Channel, Toughness, Varisian Tattoo (conjuration), Weapon Focus (heavy mace) (B), Weapon Specialization (heavy mace) (B) Skills Diplomacy +9, Heal +9, Intimidate +24, Knowledge (local) +3, Knowledge (religion) +6, Linguistics +1, Perception +7, Ride +6, Sense Motive +9 Languages Celestial, Common, Giant, Varisian SQ blessings (10/day, freedom’s shout, liberation, lucky presence, unlucky enemy),fervor (10/day, 5d6),legendary, no breath, sacred armor (+3, 14 minutes/day) Gear 38,400 gp, +1 spell storing heavy mace, starsong mail, Icicle Crown, belt of physical prowess (Str, Con), rod of extend spell, cloak of resistance +1, scroll of speak with dead, wand of cure light wounds (20 charges), 4 starknives, 500 gp worth of diamond dust, 2 gold bracelets (for sacred bond), 2 flasks holy water,15 gp Special Abilities Legendary (Ex) Daisy is built on 25 point buy. In addition to her NPC equipment, she possesses an artifact, the Icicle Crown. These advantages increase her CR by +1.

#daisy moonblossom #monster girl summer #npc #pathfinder 1e #rise of the runelords #ice queen #magical girl #bonk bonk on the head

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mewtagen-mau · 7 days

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Entry 14

We headed back to the Rusty Dragon to sleep off our haunted house venture. It was…an uneasy sleep, at least for me.

Forgive my wording, but I felt like absolute dogshit when I woke up this morning. If I’d had any doubt that I’d contracted the disease that infected Misgivings, I certainly did not doubt it then. Tabot had tried to heal me the evening prior, but his holy magic didn’t seem to really…take. He’d promised to try again as we began our journey to Magnimar.

Thankfully, on the road, Tabot seemed to have much better luck in cleansing my system of the fungal disease. I feel much better, and look less like a half-dead stray.

We made it to Magnimar in good time with our horses, and decided to first check in at the store where the rat cages in Misgivings had been from.

The gentleman who owned the shop didn’t know anything of use about the cages Aldern had purchased, but he did indicate that Aldern and his wife were ‘back from vacation’ and could be found at their estate.

Seeing as we’d seen Aldern Foxglove die not 24 hours prior, and knew that Iesha had been dead for far longer, this obviously raised some red flags in our minds. We decided to look into Foxglove’s estate.

When we arrived, the door was answered by what appeared to be Aldern Foxglove. He greeted us and asked to what he owed this unexpected visit to. The others did a good job playing it off as though he was a friend we’d met in Sandpoint, who had invited us to his estate at some future time. The false Foxglove took the bait, and ushered us inside with the promise of a delicious homecooked meal from Iesha. He led us into the dining room, then left us to go talk to ‘Iesha’ in the kitchen.

We discussed our plan while they were out of the room. This was so obviously not the two Foxgloves—more likely who or whatever they were had been sent here to keep up appearances while Aldern was in Sandpoint committing horrible murders. Including the real Iesha.

The imposters returned to the room with plates of food. We were, understandably, suspicious that the meal likely contained poison.

They didn’t give us long, before the fake Iesha tried to stab Tabot. Then her form seemed to warp, the flesh stretching before snapping back into place like a rubber band. The creature suddenly didn’t resemble Iesha—or any human—in the slightest. The creature was tall, with long limbs, and a face with no eyes, nose, or mouth. Instead it looked like the flesh of its face had been grabbed and wrung into a spiral before being pressed back into place, giving it a disturbing fleshy spiral texture.

The false Aldern followed suit, warping into another identical creature.

We fought the doppelgängers, and came out victorious despite the small space they’d cornered us in.

We took the time afterwards to search the home for any more clues. There was a secret cache we were able to open using a key we’d found in the real Aldern’s possession. There we found a stash of coins and the deed to Misgivings, which noted that after a century of ownership, it would return to the possession of “The Brothers of Seven”—including anything around and below the manor. So clearly whoever these “brothers” were, they knew what Vorel Foxglove had been up to in the basement. They probably hadn’t expected it to become a haunted diseased ruin in the next century, or perhaps they would have changed their demands a bit.

We didn’t have another good lead, as we didn’t know where we might find this Brotherhood. So we decided the next logical step was to go speak with the local head of law here, Justice Ironbriar, whom Sheriff Hemlock had written to with all the pertinent information about the Skinsaw murders and its possible connection to a murder cult in Magnimar.

Ironbriar was…not a personable man. He took the information we had stoically, and when we mentioned we suspected the Brothers of Seven, he pointed us in the direction of their meeting place in a lumber mill. He seemed like he wanted this to be done as quickly and quietly as possible, but he otherwise came off as…indifferent.

Still, regardless of how I felt about him at the time, he had given us our next lead.

As we left the courthouse, someone shouldered Tabot hard. Tabot initially took offense to him, believing he’d just stolen something off his person. But then it was noticed there was a little halfling who had been using the larger man as a cover, and he was the actual culprit.

Gutsy, stealing in broad daylight right outside the courthouse.

Krysa used Hold Person to freeze the thief in place, and Tabot got his stuff back. Threats were made that he should think twice before trying that again.

After the halfling scampered off, Krysa informed us that they’d seen a strange bird flying overhead. It had looked like it was carrying a scrap of paper. Possibly a messenger bird. We had no idea where it had come from, but it seemed to be flying in the direction of the mill that was our own destination. Which put us on guard and caused us to hurry our travel to the mill.

At the mill, we saw an open window up top. A prime spot for a messenger bird, although we didn’t hear any bird calls.

We decided to enter from above, and catch them off guard.

Between a rope, a fly spell, and my spider climb potion, we all made it safely to the upper floor.

Once inside, we realized why there had been no bird noises. There were birds in cages, to be sure, but the entire room had a Silence spell place on it. The good news was that this would keep us from making any noises that might alert the people below. The bad news was, we couldn’t communicate or cast spells.

The other bad news was that we couldn’t hear anyone else moving about in the area either. Especially not someone invisible.

We made our way down the stairs, and Krysa turned themself invisible to scamper ahead and scout.

Unfortunately, once they’d slipped into the room down the hall, a signal was given, and all of the murder cultists in the building were alerted to our presence. A number were in the room with Krysa, more appeared from down the hall, and we heard footsteps behind us on the stairs—invisible assailants who had kept their presence concealed while we were in the bubble of silence, so they could box us in from behind.

We made our stand in the hall, with stab-happy murderers swarming us.

Then a door opened on the far end of the hall, some words were spoken by a familiar voice, and I felt my body seize up as a Hold Person spell froze me in place.

I couldn’t look to see, but I heard the others react—Justice Ironbriar was one of the cultists, and had set us up to be killed by his little murder band.

I could see a man step in my direction from around the doorway. He was going to go for the kill. I could do nothing to move or defend myself. There was no chance he wouldn’t strike somewhere fatal.

His blade froze centimeters from my chest, as Nanel (Donyoku?) skewered him.

A moment later I was able to will my body to move again, avoiding any more near-death experiences for the day.

We cornered Justice Ironbriar in the closet he’d been hiding in. Donyoku was forced to retreat after Nanel went unconscious from stab wounds and blood loss. But the rest of us dogpiled the treacherous Justice, and left his corpse to rot in the closet.

Seeing as we’d just stopped a major conspiracy (and with the desire to not be deemed murderers ourselves for killing one of the city’s highest authorities and a bunch of asshole nobles), we went to the Lord-Mayor about what we’d found. It helped that a few of us had spotted him ‘hiding’ a paper that seemed to incriminate the Lord-Mayor himself—something we worked out was a purposeful move, to get us to suspect his superior rather than him.

The Lord-Mayor was incredibly grateful that we’d stopped the cult who had been murdering citizens of Magnimar, and whose corruption had even worked its way into the house of law. We showed him some of Ironbriar’s writings, which was plenty incriminating on its own. We also asked about a place called The Shadow Clock, which his writings indicated were where someone by the name of Xanesha stayed. We’d seen the name before, in letters to Sheyless. This Xanesha seemed to be the mastermind behind all of the recent atrocities in both Sandpoint and Magnimar.

We were pointed in the direction of an ancient crumbling old clocktower, which locals had a betting pool on when it would collapse. So that was reassuring about how safe it would be to confront Xanesha there. Still, it was the only place we could face her, since we knew little else about the puppet master of this sick game.

We decided against trying to climb the outside—the stone that made up the exterior wall looked like it could give way at any moment. Instead we went inside and made our way up from there. Krysa flew, while Tabot and Nanel took the stairs, and I spiderclimbed up the wall.

As we reached roughly the halfway point, there was a loud clanging metal noise. And suddenly one of the bells from the top of the tower fell, hit Tabot and Krysa, and dragged them down together. Nanel went running down the stairs, and I slid back down the wall.

On the ground floor, a monstrous creature rose from the dust, releasing the bell it had ridden down on. It was a golem made of stitched together flesh, wearing an equally patchy cloak, and wielding an oversized scythe.

The monstrosity spotted Nanel first, and lunged for him as he reached the bottom of the stairs. Scythe cut through flesh and bone with a sickening sound.

We leapt into action, Krysa and I setting the lump of living flesh ablaze while Tabot sliced it with his blade.

We didn’t give it a chance to try to finish the job with Nanel.

We had to patch ourselves up a bit before we dared try to climb the staircase again. But we did try again—we had to, if we were going to put this grisly chapter to rest.

At the peak of the belltower, we stopped before entering the only room. Given how we’d already been ambushed once, I drank a potion to See Invisibility, while Krysa used a Greater Invisibility spell on themself. Then we entered the room.

I saw what the others didn’t—within the room was a large half-snake-half-woman, who was invisible and silently waiting to strike. The others only saw three more of those shapeshifting Faceless Stalkers, which moved in to strike. I warned the others of the lamia, then slipped around the other enemies to throw an explosive at the snake woman. Krysa followed suit—also invisible, and it seemed unnoticed by the enemies despite them using the same tactic. They dropped a Flaming Sphere, immolating one of the vicious shapeshifters.

The lamia tried to skewer Tabot, but missed, and revealed herself to the others as her invisibility fell.

Nanel took care of the other stalkers, seemingly unaffected by their attempts to find a weak-spot to stab. I assisted him, tossing a bomb at the two creatures he was fighting, and watched as they went up in flames. A moment later, so did the lamia, as Krysa’s Flaming Sphere rolled over her, and Kyrsa finished the job with one last spell, dropping her smoldering corpse to the ground.

We found a note which confirmed that this lamia was indeed Xanesha, the one we’d thought was the mastermind behind the murders. But the note indicated that someone else was pulling the strings. Someone else was marking ‘sacrifices�� with the Sihedron Rune—in a ‘more elegant manner’ according to the letter. The note indicated that this person was Xanesha’s sister, and that both Xanesha and she served some ‘lord’, whose rise they were setting the stage for with all these sacrifices. The letter also specifically indicated that they were sacrificing those with greedy souls, and that the Lord-Mayor had been singled out as a prime sacrifice.

Obviously, when we showed the Lord-Major this he was shellshocked to learn there had been an assassination planned for him, but also ecstatic that it was already derailed. He invited us to have a party with him, although we politely declined, as we had to leave immediately for the area the letter had indicated.

Turtleback Ferry. My hometown.

I am terrified what we might find when we get there. If this letter was any indication, the handful of murders we’ve already witnessed was only the beginning.

I…need to sleep. I need to calm my mind. Worrying is pointless. I need to be ready for our travel tomorrow. One thing at a time. The better shape we’re in leaving, the faster we’ll get there.

I do not think I will sleep easy, no matter what logic I try to convince myself of.

#journal entry #pathfinder #rise of the runelords #rotrl

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roll-a-d3 · 5 months

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Rise of the Runelords - Nayu Kiln - Part 2

A small conversation sparks between everyone. Many wonderings about the city of Sandpoint are made, names are exchanged and a small pip of comradery is shared as the now formed group wanders their way into the Swallowtail Festival. They pass the small markets set up by residents, light performances and the main square. They find their way to a dock side bar, half on the water and busy with marine types. The large, tattooed man is struck by delight! He enters the bar, swinging the doors and with a large grin on his face. The bar is marine-life inspired and boasts a large water tank by the counter. In the murky, green water swims a large Hagfish. The challenge the man was talking about turns out to be the following; one must drink a pint of water from the horrendous water tank and keep it down. The challenger, Brutus, readies himself and sits down after proclaiming his soon-to-be success. The rest of the group watches with glee as the burly bartender serves up this swill and everyone in the locale grows silent with anticipation. Vomiting, Brutus pushes his way out of the bar and the group follows. They find their way back to the main city square just in time for a speech from the mayor himself! Amidst his proclaiming celebration, screams fill the once attentive silence. “Goblins!” a man screams as suddenly the square finds itself filled with green menaces. Through quick wit, decisive actions and precise strikes the main square finds itself safe for the moment. Among the attacked, but saved townsfolks, the group finds Aldern Foxglove. A noble who recently returned to Sandpoint. He expresses his gratitude to the group and extends an invitation to come hunt along side him in the future. He also leads them to the Rusty Dragon Inn. There they meet and are warmly greeted by Ameiko Kaijitsu, the innkeeper with cold beer and warm rooms. The following day the group is contacted by the Sherrif of Sandpoint, Hemlock, at the Rusty Dragon Inn. In private, he tells that the tomb of one of the old Fathers of Sandpoint has been broken into. He required a strong team to investigate and clear the tomb of the undead that have been left there. The group accepts and moves towards the Graveyard. Upon finding the tomb of Father Tobyn, Skeletons greet the party with aggression but find themselves quickly decimated. The remains of a necromantic item are found, but many questions arise. It is thought that the goblin attack was merely used as a distraction for this plan, but why the skeleton of a holy man is needed is still a pondering point. They return to the Rusty Dragon Inn, and find themselves between Ameiko and her father, Lonjiku. The father pleads for his daughter to leave Sandpoint, but is rejected and leaves with a hurtful phrase to his daughter.

This session was very short. This marked like the 4th time I played this damn adventure. We played some more, but I stopped doing the Journals because everyone wanted to have the journal, but I was the only one who ended up writing one.

#ttrpg #pathfinder #D&D #dungeons and dragons #Rise of the Runelords

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dungeonthedragon · 4 years

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Somewhere Along the Way Pt. 1

She turned the key and opened the door. Stepping inside, she slipped the key into her bag of holding. Theodyn stopped shortly after she spotted Aldern, who she killed not even a week ago.

“You’re dead aren't you?” Flint asks from the doorway, confused.

Aldern was sitting in a lounge chair adjacent to a large set of double doors. “No, I'm very much alive,” he said while setting the book he was reading on his lap.

“Theodyn,” whispered Flint quiet enough so Aldern couldn't hear, “his head.”

She reached into her bag of holding and pulled out his head that they had gotten at Foxglove Manor. “Oh dear, what happened there?” Aldern asked coyly.

“That's your head.” Flint enunciated each word very clearly as he spoke. Theodyn put his head back in her bag.

“When is the last time you have been to Foxglove Manor?” Theodyn asks.

“Oh, must be a few weeks now. I'm doing renovations there.”

Flint hasn't moved from his spot in the doorway which trapped Valkyrie outside with Damakos. “We’re going to need to detain you and bring you to Sand Point for questioning.”

“I don't see why that is necessary.”

“I should just shoot him with an ice spike, shouldn't I?” Flint said under his breath.

Theodyn turned to Flint and said irritatedly, “No. Not yet at least.” She turned back to Aldern. “Do you even remember us?”

“Well I have met a lot of travelers in my day; we went boar hunting together didn't we? I must apologize though. I don't remember your names. I'm bad at them you see.”

“You still need to come with us back to Sand Point,” Flint repeats.

“Let me explain a little. We need to ask you some questions because there were a string of murders in Sand Point and the leads we got pointed to you. Specifically, you wanting to kill Flint. So we headed there and long story short, found you. You attacked Flint and we killed a ghast version of you.”

“Oh, now I can understand why you would want to question me. Aisha is making dinner and it should be done shortly, so why don't we eat first then leave.” Flint started looking for traps. He didn't trust this man, especially after the events in the past week. Aldern was visibly offended. “I understand you might not have the most trust in me, but to think I would resort to silly traps under the rug is just a little far fetched.”

Theodyn tugged Flint back. “I think we should just go along with it.”

“Are you crazy? It's a trap. We should fight him now.”

“Remember at the manor though? Aldern attacked you right away, this version of him seems to not have any idea that it happened. He hadn't even been to the manor when we were there and he's still alive.”

“That's true, but he could poison the dinner or something.”

“He's agreeing to come with us after we eat, and he doesn't look as dilapidated as he did at the manor.”

Flint sighed and gave in. “Fine.”

Theodyn turns back to Aldern and gives him the news. “We’d love to stay for dinner.”

“Wonderful!” he stood up and opened the double doors. Behind them was an elegant dining table with six chairs surrounding it. Everyone gathered in the dining room except Damakos, who was keeping guard outside. “I'm going to make some tea for everyone.”

When Aldern returned he threw the pot of boiling water onto Flint. Aisha was with him and stabbed Theodyn with a longsword. Flint changed into a tiger and launched himself onto Aldern. Theodyn was in so much shock that when she stood up Aisha was able to slice her again. Theodyn was the most caught off guard and the one who felt the most betrayed. She tried to take her adamantine longsword out and stab Aisha, but missed. She tried a second time and was able to make a small gash on Aisha's arm. Suddenly an arm tried to grab Theodyn's sword. Aisha was able to hit Theodyn again while she was dealing with the mysterious arm. Once she got her sword out of

the arms grasp she quickly grabbed the symbol in her necklace and a faint green glow came from it as some of her wounds closed. Theodyn tried to swing again but the hand came back and distracted her. She took another hit from Aisha and felt weak. Theodyn noticed Aisha looked tired and had bags under her eyes, something that was new. Valkyrie must have used his magic on her. Finally. Theodyn took a step back and tried to protect herself but knew it was useless. She was scared. Aisha held her sword up and was preparing a swing. Theodyn closed her eyes and was prepared to say goodbye even if she didn't want to. She had never been scared of dying until this moment because it didn't seem possible. Normally she was the one who would come out the strongest, but now, she wouldn't even be able to see what would happen. A loud ear piercing roar caused Theodyn to open her eyes. A bright white tiger was in front of her, protecting her from Aisha. Flint had just saved her life.

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dndeed · 5 years

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Critical Role Miniature Rollout: C2E66/Episode 1

With Andrew Harshman

An archive and review of the minis used on Critical Role.

Episode 66 is an episode devoid of minis. So with nothing to discuss, I figured it was high time to go back to Episode 1 and archive the crowd miniatures I glossed over in my original post. I am going to forgo reviewing each figure, but I can say that basically all these are pretty fine figures.

Throw on your Boots of Elvenkind and take a stroll down memory lane, it’s time for Critical Role Miniature Rollout Campaign 2 Episode 66 Episode 1!

The vast majority of NPC miniatures are from the following prepainted product lines: Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures Game, Pathfinder Battles Miniatures, and D&D Icons of the Realms. There is one unpainted model from Reaper Miniatures, the Reaper Bones Barkeep. And there is a single prepainted figure from Dwarven Forge. Coincidentally this miniature is also a barkeep, Garn the bartender at the Gold Coin Inn. Garn was given out in random miniature packs during the City Builder Kickstarter fulfillment. Garn is now only available in the DF Hamlet set.

The List

Mats by Mars: Grassy Spring Tabletop Wargaming Play Mat

Unhallowed #53 Gravetouched Ghoul / Castle Ravenloft Board Ghouls

Deathknell #25 Voice of Battle

Tomb of Annihilation #021a Tabaxi Minstrel

Rusty Dragon Inn #016 Dwarf Bard

Underdark #19 Halfling Sneak

Lost Coast #015 Gnome Eldritch Knight

Giants of Legend #39 Scarlet Brotherhood Monk

Crown of Fangs #008 Halfling Rogue

Angelfire #12 Village Priest

Pathfinder Battles Iconic Heroes Set 5 Enora, Iconic Arcanist

Pathfinder Battles Iconic Heroes Set 6 Lem, Halfling Bard

Rise of the Runelords #041 Vraxeris

Storm King's Thunder #033 Solara Thann

Tyranny of Dragons #016 Wood Elf Druid

Against the Giants #38 Shifter Claw Adept.

Tyranny of Dragons #008 Human Paladin

Against the Giants #41 Captain of the Watch

Tomb of Annihilation #021b Tabaxi Hunter

Rise of the Runelords #023 Lyrie Akenja

Tyranny of Dragons #001 Rock Gnome Female Wizard

Rusty Dragon Inn #004 Farmer

Player's Handbook Heroes #12 Male Human Wizard

Tyranny of Dragons #009 Sun Elf Guard

Pathfinder Battles: Amiri Iconic Heroes Set #2

Rise of the Runelords #045 Aldern Foxglove

Reaper Miniatures Barkeep

Rusty Dragon Inn #018 Aristocrat

Storm King's Thunder #023 Yuan-Ti Pureblood (Bow)

Lost Coast #014 Shifty Noble

Rusty Dragon Inn #024 City Watch Commander

Dwarven Forge Garn Mini currently available in the Hamlet Set

Pathfinder Battles Court of the Crimson Throne Glorio Arkona

Elemental Evil #018 Moon Elf Ranger (Invisible)

Tomb of Annihilation #007a Qawasha

Giants of Legend #07 Warmage

Tyranny of Dragons #002 Stout Heart Halfling Female Bard

Giants of Legend #09 Aramil, Adventurer

Monster Menagerie 2 #010 Human Monk

Blood War #43 Red Hand War Sorcerer

Monster Menagerie 2 #004 Halfling Rogue

Legends of Golarion #034 Marsh Giant

Rusty Dragon Inn #025 Riding Horse

Rusty Dragon Inn Dressing: Cart

Hero Forge Custom Miniatures Painted By Iron Tusk Painting

HeroForge Jester Duplicity Miniature

Axe N Shield Single Flyer Risers - Clear Mithril

Dwarven Forge Ladder

Legends of Golarion #034 Marsh Giant

Dwarven Forge Wicked City Smuggler’s Wagon

Dwarven Forge Ladder

Safari Ltd Civil War’s Officer’s Tent

Tabletop Props Tent

Tabletop Props Tent Accessories

Legendary Realms Campfire

Legendary Realms Wooden Large Open Crate

D&D Icons of the Realms Adventurer’s Camp Case Incentive Tent and Accessories

Closing Remarks

So many figures. A very impressive first episode miniature showing. In the time since Campaign 2′s start, the camera quality has improved significantly and the maps have gotten more intricate and engaging. Wonderful to see such marvelous miniature progression.

#criticalroleminiaturerollout

#criticalroleminiaturerollout #crspoilers #criticalrole #cr #critrole

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darkandlightsides · 5 years

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IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO MENTION THAT OH MY GOD AGKSKGSLGS

His name was Aldern Foxglove and he had to leave town but. Someone claims to of seen him with another girl. Its not confirmed that he was cheating on her but it was heavily implied

#plague-plucked-eleven

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dmtbelle87 · 7 years

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The North Gate

The first goblin swings its blade at Aldern, but the noble manages to duck out of the way. Another slashes at him, but he manages to disarm the goblin with his rapier. The third goblin does not miss, slicing the noble’s back.

Snubs sneaks around one side while Sabacen races to the other; Zevran charges towards the cluster, releasing his Color Spray and knocking out three of the four goblins. Tansy follows behind him, leaping over the unconscious form of one goblin to charge the commander and his dog, damaging both with her swinging swords.

Drux moves into position, allowing Aldern to rush behind him for cover. Aldern sheathes his rapier, pulling out a short bow and readying an arrow.

Snubs takes his first shot, but it flies behind the goblin commando as his dog lunges forward to bite Tansy. Snubs is able to stay hidden out of view while Tansy deflects the dog’s bite with her sword. The commando swings his long blade towards her, but she is able to duck under the attack. As he rides out of range, Tansy and Sabacen try to stop the dog, but it is too nimble for their advances.

Drux holds his staff overhead, the polished wood swirling with green magical energy; in an instant the energy bolts out, summoning an eagle to fight. It swoops at the goblins while Zevran pulls a blade to fight. Both attacks miss as the goblins begin heading towards the open gate.

Sabacen blocks the path, knocking the remaining goblin warrior back. Zevran hools his dagger around its neck, but Tansy slices across its stomach, nearly splitting the goblin in two. She looks up and charges the goblin commando, embedding her longsword into his head. As she frees her sword, Snubs gets a clean shot at the goblin dog, sending a bolt through its flank. The dog collapses and dies.

Aldern moves forward, profusely thanking the group. “I was just trying to get to safety, maybe get out of the town. Thank you for saving me; you have such incredible power.” He turns his gaze to Zevran, eyes wide with awe. He continues to answer their questions about what he saw: the dog-rider came from the east side of the gate, inside the town. He tried to fight his way free; that’s when the heroes came to save him.

Meanwhile, Snubs and Drux work to tie up the unconscious goblins. Sabacen inspects the North Gate, finding it unlocked. He closes and locks the gate, looking for any sign of foul play, but finding none. Eddigar return, and two guards approach as the reinforcements sent by Fingali. They help finish tying up the goblins as the three remaining begin stirring to consciousness.

“Please, I must be able to repay you all for saving me! I am staying at the Rusty Dragon currently; I would love to buy you drinks or a meal, maybe take you all on a Boar Hunt so you can see I’m not such a terrible fighter,” Aldern shrugs sheepishly. “Find me later,” he smiles at Zevran before heading south, back into the city.

The guards ask the group to return with them to the Garrison; Sheriff Hemlock wants their help interrogating the goblins since neither he nor any guards speak goblin. Zevran commands Eddigar to watch the North Gate until more guards can come to check it; the group continues south towards the Garrison, checking over the goblins on their way there and gathering any useful items.

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origami-goblin · 6 years

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Episode 37 – Baking and Entering

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The party is handed off to the attention of Erzi, Justice Ironbriar’s secretary, who rushes off to inform the Justice of the party’s arrival. He apologizes for the brief wait, which turns into a half-hour slog waiting around before being graciously welcomed by Ironbriar.

Instead of twiddling their thumbs, each member of the party uses their respite as an opportunity to hone their skills: Theo peruses the vast bookshelves filled with books on tort law and civil disobedience before settling down with one of his personal tomes to read. Fobias investigates an intricate statue of a black panther from the Mwangi Expanse, one of Justice Ironbriar’s passions. Barnaby attempts to strike up conversation with Erzi, who doesn’t seem to know much about the party other than the fact that Ironbriar wished to see them. Krask assists in this line of questioning but is clearly antsy about being kept waiting.

Justice Ironbriar thanks the party for their efforts in Sandpoint and invites them to assist him in another matter, possibly pertaining to the string of murders that have been happening concurrently in Magnimar. He can’t offer further details, as there is some red tape that needs to be sorted out first, but he schedules a meeting with them in three days’ time.

Perhaps the most curious bit of intel that comes out of this meeting is that Justice Ironbriar mentions that Aldern Foxglove had recently amended his will to include Barnaby as heir to the Foxglove Townhouse in Magnimar. What’s even more intriguing is that Ironbriar saw Aldern Foxglove and his wife, Iesha, at the Triodea theater a couple nights ago, several days after the party killed the Skinsaw Man at the Manor.

Not wanted to dawdle, the party rushes across Magnimar to the Starsilver Plaza to investigate the Foxglove Townhouse. There is much deliberation on the exterior before the party decides to break into the boarded-up building. Barnaby wrangles up his charm and intercepts the Magnimarian guards while Krask fiddles with the lock. Luckily, the distraction is enough, and the party quietly enters the Townhouse.

The residence is sparsely decorated, which seems unusual for someone of such as high social status as Aldern. It also seems as though someone is currently living here. As the party cautiously and stealthily makes their way up to the second floor, they hear the distinct sound of voices coming from a nearby room, chatting about the theater. Unnerved, Krask ushers everyone back downstairs and the party agrees to knock on the front door to see what happens.

They knock.

Aldern and Iesha Foxglove answer.

Surprised, the party follows the Foxgloves inside and they begin talking. Aldern is incredibly happy to see Barnaby again, and has regrets about missing their meeting in Sandpoint; the nobleman wanted to run a quick errand in Magnimar, which included adding Barnaby to his will. Iesha prepares some small game pies while they converse and offers them to the party once they have concluded backing. Fobias and Theo are entirely skeptical and don’t take the Foxgloves up on their hospitality. Barnaby and Krask, having personally met and been friends of Aldern, begin to eat.

Krask feels sick as the skin begins to slide off the faces of both Foxgloves, revealing a pair of Faceless Stalkers.

What secret mission does Justice Ironbriar have for the party? Why would Aldern make Barnaby to heir to the Foxglove Estate? Will the real Aldern Foxglove please stand up?

#RotRL #Runelords #AP #AdventurePath #DnD #Pathfinder #PathfinderRPG #Paizo #TTRPG #RPG #Gaming #Tabletop #Recap #Episode

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mindahofer · 5 years

Photo

This is the second floor of Aldern Foxglove’s townhouse in Magnimar. This was ma… https://ift.tt/2XHfWsI

#IFTTT #WordPress

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pencil-urchin · 6 months

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So, I just made my AO3 account, haven't posted anything or done anything except set an id pic.

What advice do y'all have for someone new to the platform? What should I avoid? What do you recommend?

Two main objects of my affection intended to appear in fanfiction for tax.

#ao3 #fanfic #fanfiction #thrawn #star wars #grand admiral thrawn #mitt'raw'nuorodo #aldern foxglove #rise of the runelords #Pathfinder #paizo #pretty men #whomst i love

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anythingbutgnomes-blog · 6 years

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The Swallowtail Festival

Our heroes were enjoying themselves in Sandpoint during the festival, moooostly by trying all the food on offer (who would have guessed that they would gravitate to the Rusty Dragon Inn? :P)

When the goblins arrived we all witnessed first hand the power of a two-handing Paladin, and a song off between Neith and a goblin chanter.

The group managed to save an imperiled noble (not his dog tho) who was quick to introduce himself as Aldern Foxglove. After finishing up the goblins the lovely Ameiko offered the heroes free room and board and Aldern expressed his eternal gratitude to Tsardok specifically. Not much different to how the start of RotRL is meant to go, although I chose hero worship for Aldern rather than the typical love at first sight that I’ve used before.

We did learn that chatersz had been prepped to use an insanely good African accent for his character, probably one of the best in character voices I've heard in all my rp days

#rotrl #pathfinder #rp #1st level #paizo #rise of the runelords #rpg #tabletop rpg

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mewtagen-mau · 9 days

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Entry 13

Aldern proved to be a slippery little snake. When we got back to the farmhouse this morning, he had managed to slip out from his bindings and was sitting there making breakfast. I almost wish I hadn’t sold the masterwork manacles we’d recently found—I doubt he could have so easily slipped the leash then. He told us, however, that him remaining here was a show of good faith. I wasn’t going to take the bait so easily—this man was perhaps one of the least trustworthy people we’d ever had the misfortune of meeting.

Still, we had to bring him along if we wanted to find out who was pulling the strings on these murders. It seemed it might be the same person who had manipulated Nualia, as Aldern made reference to Shayless being spoken to in her dreams, much as Nualia had been. I don’t know if it was the same Stone Giant face that had ordered Nualia to have my house destroyed in the goblin raid, but it’s certainly more than a mere coincidence that both benefactors used the same method of communication.

We made our way to The Misgivings. And it most certainly lived up to its name. The entire manor seemed rotten. Both literally and metaphorically. It was covered in strange fungus and mold, and the wood was so warped and bloated that every door took us throwing our entire body weight against it to force it open. Sometimes it took multiple tries and more than one person to finally force a door to creak open.

As we approached the manor, we found ourselves being eyed by a disconcerting number of ravens. Foxglove said when he left he usually had to run to get through the violently pecking and squawking flock. Tabot told us something even more worrisome—the birds were undead, the direct result of a bird feeding on ghoul flesh, letting its disease warp and kill their bodies, leaving a flock of violent mindless monstrosities where birds had once been. As if I didn’t dislike birds enough. Being disease carrying carrion eaters only made them that much worse.

They didn’t hassle us as we approached the manor, however. We predicted they would instead try to swarm us if we left.

We approached one of the front doors, which Aldern indicated would lead to a piano room. We forced the door open and piled inside.

The entire place smelled of decay and disuse. Krysa suddenly reacted as if they’d heard something. They asked who had lived here, and if one of the former residents had played piano. Aldern recalled after a moment that his mother had. Tabot went to inspect the piano, lifting up its cover to try to get a look inside. The moment Tabot’s hand touched the grand piano, however, Krysa was flung into the air. Above us our rat friend seemed to dance a waltz with no partner.

A moment later Krysa seemed to struggle free of whatever hold the spirit had on them. As they did, we could all see the haunting visage of a spectral woman who set Krysa back on the floor before floating above us. She appeared to be about to shriek, but was cut short when both Tabot and Nanel hit her with positive energy. She still remained, seeming to just barely hold her form together. Krysa shouted for me to throw a potion. I grabbed out a cure light wounds potion, and hurled it as if it were one of my explosives. It had the desired effect, the latent positive energy imbued in the potion burnt away the last of the Haunt.

We decided to retreat from this room quickly, piling through the door into a washroom. As we got our bearings, we could hear a squeaking and scrabbling noise. In the washtub was a single rat. Its fur was clumped, matted, and streaked with mold and decay. Tabot didn’t know what exactly it was, but warned it was undead like the birds outside. It seemed to take notice of us and began trying to drag itself out of the washtub. Tabot grabbed the rat and channeled positive energy into it with his paladin abilities, forcing the life—or unlife—from its body.

Outside of the washroom was a long hallway. We pushed our way through the nearest door, and found ourselves in a sitting room. As we investigated, I was suddenly overcome by intense feelings of worry and fear. From the perception of a former member of the house, I found myself believing for a moment that I needed to escape with my children because my husband was doing something horrible. I shook off the feeling after a moment, resisting the urge to grab one of my companions and flee. It seems Krysa had similar visions, as we discussed what we’d just seen and felt. There was nothing else of note in this room, so we retreated back down the hall and out into the dining room.

The rear wall, looking out towards the sea, was completely filled with four stained glass windows. They each depicted a magnificent magical creature being drawn into a seven-sided box. The box had necromantic symbols, which clued me in to what this was actually depicting. The creation of a phylactery. Part of the ritual for a mortal man to become a lich. Krysa was able to confirm my suspicions with their own knowledge.

There was something more going on with this manor than just ghouls and ghosts. Something deeply sinister had happened, scarring this building with hatred and terror.

We left down the hall to the front foyer. We took note of a strange spiral shaped patch of mold on the ground that almost looked like a spiral staircase. We also took note of a rather disturbing monkey head with a rope having from it. The others took it down and told Foxglove to carry it. He begrudgingly did, but not before pulling the chord and causing the monkey head to shriek. Apparently it was a magical item. And its magic was screaming like a bloody banshee.

When the sound was no longer echoing through my skull, I heard a different sound. Muffled, coming from upstairs. It was the sound of a woman crying. It was different from the haunts, which seemed to whisper in our ears and cause phantasmal visions. This was real, the sound had a sort of substance to it that the haunts lacked. There was an actual person crying upstairs.

We demanded Aldern to tell us what was upstairs. The only information he would give us is that when his wife choaked to death in the library, he had some allies help in disposing of her body. He added that it seemed they had done a poor job.

As we passed into the foyer, I smelled the strong scent of burning fur. A familiar scent, from many burnt fingers while perfecting my alchemical arts. I asked if anyone else noticed it, but the others didn’t know what I was talking about, and even suggested it was my own fur. I assured them I had not scorched myself today.

I went to take a look in the fireplace, thinking perhaps the smell was coming from there. As I did, I passed by a large stuffed manticore that filled the center of the room. The smell became stronger, and I turned around just in time to see the burning visage of a minotaur made entirely of flames. I tried to leap out of the way of the flames, but my efforts were in vain as the fire engulfed me. I yowled in pain, drawing the others’ attention to me again. They did not see the spectral fiery manticore as it burned itself out and vanished, but they certainly saw my scorched fur that had been pristine a moment prior.

We decided to move on quickly. We entered a drawing room, with curtains pulled shut. Tabot went to push them aside and look out the window, then leapt back in surprise. There had been a reflection of a woman with bulging bloodshot eyes in the place of his own reflection. We quickly retreated to the next room, wary of falling victim to another haunt.

Aldern became cagey about this next room. The library. Where he’d said his wife had choaked to death. He seemed particularly shaken by this room, especially when he saw a red scarf draped over a broken chair. He started muttering ‘no no no’, and looking around fearfully. When Krysa touched the scarf, the length of crimson cloth seemed to spring to life. It shot for Aldern, who ducked away in trembling terror.

So instead it latched onto the next closest person. Nanel.

Nanel seemed to be frozen in place by the ghostly strip of fabric. And it started to squeeze. It was immediately clear that the scarf was trying to choak the air from his lungs.

Before any of the rest of us could react, vines began growing around Nanel’s neck, trying to force to scarf to loosen its grip. The green plant matter grew over Nanel’s mouth as Donyoku began speaking, telling Nanel to snap out of it in an almost panicked tone. That seemed to be enough, as Nanel brought his vine-covered hand up and ripped the scarf off of himself, gasping for air.

I’m not entirely sure what to make of it. I’m grateful that Donyoku saved Nanel, don’t get me wrong. But just because he helped to protect his host doesn’t mean he’s any more benevolent or trustworthy than he was before. There’s every chance he did it entirely so he wouldn’t lose the body he’s planted himself within. But after that there’s no chance any of us are going to convince Nanel of that. He is already so wrapped up in Donyoku’s claims to care for him and protect him, this will only strengthen his resolve that the parasitic plant has his best interests at heart. I’m afraid for what will happen if Donyoku decides we’re not beneficial to it, if he whispers to Nanel that *we* don’t have his best interests in mind, and that we need to be removed from the picture.

I certainly don’t relish the idea of being plant food.

But for now, he did save Nanel. None of the rest of us would have likely been able to loosen the possessed scarf and snap Nanel out of his sudden stupor the way Donyoku did. So I have to begrudgingly admit that his presence was…beneficial this time.

After Nanel had gotten his bearings, he lunged for Foxglove. He demanded to know what that had been. He said he’d had a vision. A vision out of Aldern’s wife, Iesha’s, eyes. A vision of Aldern murdering her with that same strip of red fabric. ‘Choaked in the library’ indeed. More like strangled to death.

Aldern made excuses, that she had been cheating on him with some carpenter, that he’d acted in the heat of the moment, etc etc. Nanel told him that Iesha hadn’t even been cheating on him—it was just his own paranoia and jealously that had driven him to add his own wife to the ghosts already haunting this decrepit manor.

With new purpose, we made our way upstairs, ignoring Aldern’s pleas to leave the upstairs be. The crying was louder on the second floor, but still seemed to be coming from further above.

There was another set of stained glass windows in the back of a music gallery. This one depicted necromantic spell components—ones specifically rumored to be of use in a lichdom transformation. Surprise surprise.

There were more haunts on the second floor as well. And they seemed to be getting more and more dangerous. In a personal art gallery, we brushed away cobwebs coating paintings of the different members of the Foxglove family that had previously lived in this manor. When the images were clear to see, they began to twist and warp and rot. Each figure became a disfigured corpse. Except for an image labelled as ‘Vorel Foxglove’. That image exploded in a cloud of fungus and decay. When the diseased cloud cleared, I felt…unwell. And I could see bits of fungus caught in my fur, although no one else seemed to take notice.

It looked unsettlingly like that undead rat Tabot had cleared out.

And that was only the start of the second floor. In the next room, Nanel was nearly possessed by a haunt into slitting his own throat. In another room, I became convinced that there was fungus growing from my eyes, and tried to claw them out. I do not think the wounds left from that one will heal nicely.

As we neared the stairs to the attic, Aldern went into a blind panic and ran for it. We tried to catch up with him, but he launched himself from a bedroom window before we could stop him. Down below we saw him limp away on an injured leg. To where, we weren’t immediately sure. Still, he’d been more of a hinderance than a help, so it wasn’t much of a loss, really. Far worse, the room we’d followed him into compelled Nanel to attack me, and me to attack Tabot. The compulsion passed quickly, and I apologized profusely to our holy friend.

Despite all these setbacks, we managed to make our way upstairs into the attic. The crying and screaming was much louder now, clearly coming from a room at the end of the hall. We still checked each room as we went, ever vigilant for something that might sneak up behind us.

I fear our caution about living threats may have blinded us to the far more pressing danger the dead posed.

Another room of necromantic stained glass caused me to believe I was on fire, and that I needed to fling myself through the colorful glass and down to the ocean below. It…would not have been a fall I could have survived. Thankfully Nanel and Tabot held me back until I was in my right mind again.

We stopped before the room where the screaming and crying was emanating. Krysa got the door unlocked for us, and silently slid open the door.

Within was what remained of Iesha Foxglove after Aldern murdered her. A sobbing and howling undead that Tabot identified as a revenant sat crumpled before a mirror, unable to tear her tearful gaze away from her own reflection. We spoke to her, and although her gaze never left the reflection of her own face, Iesha did respond to us. She wanted to be put to rest—and to do so she needed to be allowed to leave this room and hunt down her murderer. To avenge herself. We agreed—Aldern had been nothing but a scumbag since we’d met him, and a murderer to top it off. It was well deserved, if his betrayed and murdered wife returned the favor tenfold.

So we knocked over the mirror, letting it shatter on the floor. Unbound by the sight of her reflection, Iesha let out a howl of sorrow and rage, and pushed past us to leave the room, making a beeline for the stairs. We followed as we heard a hammering sound that felt like it shook the foundations of the rotten building. Back on the first floor, we found the source. Iesha had stopped where that strange spiral of fungus was on the floor, and was punching it down, down, shaping the fungal growth into a spiral staircase. She told us that we wouldn’t be able to follow her, but if we wanted a piece of the action we could find our way down to Aldern’s hiding spot through the basement.

We took her advice, and made for the basement.

There was one final set of stained glass windows in the basement, in what appeared to be a necromantic workshop. The windows depicted exactly what we might have expected—a decaying man standing triumphantly, having conquered death in his own twisted way. In this room we had another haunting vision—this time of moving stained glass, depicting the stages of lichdom that Vorel Foxglove had gone through. Before being interrupted by his wife, Kasanda, who had broken into his workshop when she suspected what he was doing, and interrupted the final stages of his ritual.

The vision overtook me, and for a moment I believed I was the one who had just discovered how far gone Vorel was, and I felt the need to run upstairs to try to collect the children, and usher them to safety. I came to my senses once I made it to the second floor, and was disgruntled with having to walk those stairs again. It would seem haunts have no consideration for a poor crippled cat.

Upon returning to the basement, I found the others examining a handful of intricate cages with dead rats inside. The cages had a name—Pug’s Contraptions—that pointed towards them being procured in Magnimar. It was a lead for what to look into next, once we’d dealt with Sheyless and Aldern.

We found a spiral staircase that plunged deep into the ground, coming out in a small cave system. The caves were far from uninhabited. A giant bat-creature tried to make us its lunch. And lurking the natural cavern halls were a handful of undead goblins—more ghasts. Because more goblins and more super-ghouls were exactly what we needed.

We found Aldern with Sheyless and four more ghouls. Sheyless was…looking worse for the wear. It appeared she had succumbed to Ghoul Fever, and that she really was the serial killer we’d been tracking down. She tried once more to convince Tabot to join her in her undeath, but of course Tabot rebuked her. She went into a rage, telling Aldern to assist her in cutting our lives short. Aldern tried to blame our treatment of him for him joining Sheyless again—but given everything we’ve learned about his past actions, I don’t think any of us felt particularly remorseful even assuming he was being honest. More likely, even if we’d treated him with the utmost and undeserved respect, he still would have stabbed us in the back.

Iesha burst in from behind Sheyless and Aldern, her eyes fixed on her soon-to-be late husband. Aldern began panicking, but Sheyless told him to just kill like he’s supposed to.

Krysa started the fight off with a bang, immolating all of the ghoul minions with a single Fireball. Aldern was clearly terrified at this point, stuck between us and Iesha, and maybe, just maybe, realizing he made some really shitty life choices that led him here.

Sheyless went down first, as she seemed to be the greater threat. Then a knocked Aldern back and into Iesha’s waiting arms—so that she could rip him apart herself.

With the Skinsaw Man and Iesha’s murderer soundly dead, Iesha thanked us, and then the final ties holding her in this world unraveled, and she passed on. I pray she finds peace beyond the Boneyard.

#journal entry #pathfinder #rise of the runelords #rotrl

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pathfindercodex-blog · 7 years

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Magnimar: Big Goddamn Heroes Part III

This is the first time in the better part of a week that I’ve had some space to myself to write, on a desk, with a proper inkwell, rather than in a cramped inn with my journal propped on my knee. We’re “guests” at the city’s garrison right now, with soft beds and good wine food, yet I would prefer to be in the cramped inn, able to move freely without eyes on me.

Let me start at the beginning of the day - we headed to the Shadow early to get to the clocktower. The Shadow Clock was in terrible condition, scaffolding all around, a large angel statue teetering on top. The clock was frozen to say it was three in the afternoon - I imagine it had been like that for years, if not decades.

The door was barred shut - in fact, it was forbidden to enter the place, with the city having barred it after the tenth death due to the poor condition of the stairs. After Tril ‘persuaded’ (or rather, paid) for some kids to leave, Tril, Graham and Jack set to work on the heavy door. The air inside was dusty and dry, and rubble littered the large room.

We closed the door behind us to stop anyone following us and made a start towards the stairs, only for the rubble itself to start moving and a Flesh Golem emerge from underneath. [The paragraph is written around a sketch of the golem, along with some notes: large, artificial construct. Immune to mind effects, stuns and poison. Known to fly into berserker-like rages]. It carried an enormous scythe in one hand, its other (larger) hand balled into a fist. It took a bit of work to destroy the construct, but we managed it together.

The stairs were another matter - as we went up, the bell at the top was cut down, taking out swathes of the staircase on either side of the tower. Graham and I both had trouble jumping the gap - thankfully we had Jack to help, or I’m not sure how we’d have made it to the top along with our armour.

On the penultimate floor, we came across the perpetrators of the bells being cut loose - a group of faceless shamblers. Poor Rascal, Rosie’s wolf, bore the worst injuries as he was knocked out cold, so we left him in a safe corner with Tril’s cloak to hide him while we dealt with whatever was on top of the tower.

The top of the tower was as rickety as the rest of it, with scaffolding like stairs around the outside to the top floor, and a swathe of wall and roof missing, leaving it open to the sky. A number of chests lined the back wall, and there was a beautiful, brown-haired woman near the opening to the sky. When she turned towards us, she said nothing, and turned into a young red dragon. [There’s a sketch of a dragon next to this paragraph, young wings reaching into the margins and across onto the next page; tail circling around the block of notes: Immune to fire, sleep and paralysis; vulnerable to cold.]

Rosie shot at the dragon, but her arrow went straight through it, showing it to be an illusion. Graham shouted for our enemy to show themselves - I had to wonder for a moment if it was really that easy, but apparently it was. The dragon vanished, and our real enemy appeared: a lamia matriarch. She was very large - at least 8 feet, if not more - wearing a strange-lookinig mask, and carrying a vicious spear.

The fight was vicious - her reach with the spear meant she could attack us easily, even if we thought she couldn’t reach. As well as her strength and magical power, there was the fact that we were fighting her atop of a broken tower, with a drop of hundreds of feet. During the battle, Tril got knocked from the edge - we thought him dead, but by some miracle of luck, he survived the fall, telling us later how he landed on the walls of the tower as it tapered out towards the ground. He then jumped back through one of gaps in the wall and raced back up the stairs to help us… just as we killed her.

From the letters we found, we determined that the lamia’s name was Xanesha, the Mistress of the Seven that had been writing to Aldern Foxglove about the Sihedron ritual (amongst other things). The main letter of note was from Xanesha’s sister, where they talked about “harvesting” greed… According to her, the Lord Mayor of Magnimar was a prime soul for this strange harvest.

Graham took off Xanesha’s head to take with us and we headed back down the tower (not before making the most of what Xanesha had left behind in coin, weapons and jewels). At the bottom, a crowd had gathered, including guardsmen, the ruckus caused by the appearance of a dragon in the tower. After showing them the letter with the plot to kill the mayor, they asked us to come back as ‘guests’ to the garrison to mee the Lord Mayor.

The Lord Mayor is not what I would like from a public official - he fits the stereotypes of most corrupt governing officials that makes me dislike them to begin with. You can criticise the Overlord of RIddleport for many things, but at least he’s not delusional about his intentions in his position. Lord Mayor Haldmeer Grobaras is a corpulent man with a poor taste in over-fine clothes and gaudy gold jewellery, clearly taking advantage of his position in multiple ways, yet he seemed shocked and surprised at the suggestion he was a suitable candidate in the harvest of greedy people.

Both Graham and Tril helped share an account of how we came to be in Magnimar, right up to where the guards picked us up outside of the Shadow Clock. Tril’s penchant for exaggeration got him (and us) into some trouble when he claimed we had killed the dragon, but later it was made clear that this dragon was just an illusion. Deciding that Graham was the most trustworthy of those talking, Haldmeer asked to talk to Graham alone. I wasn’t happy about this - not because I don’t trust Graham (of course I trust him) but because we’ve had recent dealings with Faceless Stalkers that meant it could have been a trap. Graham assured me he was fine… and he was fine. This time. I’d rather not have us split up again if we can help it though.

When Graham returned, we were escorted to a suite of rooms (much nicer than the cell we were initially left in) and it was explained that we had an option to avoid any trouble with the laws we had broken… providing we stuck to the story of this all being the Mayor’s idea to put together a “team of heroes” to protect Magnimar.

It’s all utter horseshit, but we’ve not the time, resources or evidence to fight the ‘law’ on this, so that shall have to be the story that we share. There’s a ceremony being arranged to ‘celebrate’ our ‘victory’ - all pomp and circumstance for the benefit of the Mayor’s image, of course. I think it’s just inviting trouble myself, and I’m uncomfortable with this kind of spotlight, but we’ve little choice in the matter.

While those preparations are being made, we’re “guests” here… and I use the term ‘guest’ loosely since I’ve got a guard outside this door even now. They check in on us in the garrison, they come with us shopping - I even had a guard allocated with me when I went to pray. I can’t imagine that was much fun for him, traipsing down to the Underbridge every morning, but if it bothered him, he didn’t complain at least. Maybe I’ll share some more stories of the Dawnflower tomorrow, see if he’s at all receptive to sharing in her Light. It’d be nice to have other devotees of Sarenrae around this city… or maybe it’ll annoy him enough to leave me alone. Either would be acceptable at the moment.

I managed to get my guard to let me visit Brother Vyush and Leaf at the Temple of Desna. Vyush had decoded the journal of Justice Ironbriar - had we not needed to kill him, the evidence in the journal would have been more than enough to prove his true nature and loyalties. I’ve kept a hold of the journal and the translation should we need it, but hopefully this gets laid to rest soon.

#magnimar bgh #red dragon #flesh golem #relhana #session diary

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