Wayward Expeditions - Rise of the Runelords - Episode 10

 	Intro: For much of written history world events followed chartered routes. Oracles and seers mapped out the future in the stars above and their prophecies always gave a reliable view of the ages to come. Until a god died a century ago. No one saw that coming. And now the old prophecies are failing, oracles go mad and seers desperately tried to account for the loss of the future. While some cry out that the world is at an end, they've been doing so for a hundred years now and the world is still here, it's just unclear where things are going. The future of Golarian is open, ready to receive the triumphs and failures of a new generation of heroes. Welcome to Rise of the Runelords!

GM: So when we left you guys off, Markus had charged after Tsuto down the tunnels. Morana followed after a moment later, Taury and Loyal heard a noise in a side room and went to go investigate that. Hoping that it was Ameiko, but fearing it might be more enemies of some form. It was Ameiko. You open the door to find Ameiko conscious. She's bound, gagged, blindfolded and severely bruised and beaten.

Loyal: Loyal will immediately go up and just start untying her, taking off the blindfold.

Taury: Yeah, Taury will be helping.

GM: Seeing you she begins crying.

Loyal: "Don't don't worry. You're safe now. It's fine."

GM: Amidst the sobs she manages to eke out, have you seen her father?

Loyal: "Ah no, I don't believe so. Why is he in danger? Do we need to go? Do we need to find him?"

GM: "Tsuto told me some of his some some of his plans, we need to go save him or Tsuto is going to kill him [crying].

Loyal: "Our friends just went running after Tsuto. Hopefully they've caught him. We should probably go. I don't want to leave you here, though."

GM: "We need to warn him."

Loyal: "So where's he at?"

GM: "I don't know."

Loyal: "Ok. Are you able to walk, move?"

GM: She shakes her head, no.

Loyal: "Give me a give me like one minute." And he's going to start brewing his, a cure, a light cure wounds infusion, takes like a minute.

GM: Ok. While you begin brewing, she's just watching both of you. "Can you hurry it up, I want to leave."

Loyal: "I'm doing the best I can." And he's just frantically just making this extract as quick as he can.

GM: What are you doing during all this Taury?

Taury: Taury's probably just looking at her, just sort of trying to evaluate what might have happened to her.

GM: Heal check.

Taury: Okely Dokely.

GM: She has defensive wounds. It looks like she's been beaten, but not more than had to be, quote unquote, to subdue her. You can easily figure out that she came here likely talked to Tsuto, he told her things she didn't like, she tried to leave and he didn't let her. That's a very easy thing to piece together for you.

Taury: Mm hmm, and she, is she kind of panicked at the moment?

GM: She is extremely distraught.

Taury: Yes, so Taury will probably check the corridor, try and see if she can hear anybody coming or just sound of anyone else here, in case someone's coming.

GM: Other than the furnaces upstairs you don't hear anything.

Taury: And she's just going to wait for Loyal to prepare his infusion.

GM: Alright. A minute goes by, you finish your potion to hand to her.

Loyal: "There your are, just drink this, it should at least at the very least, get you up on your feet." and 6.

GM: Alright. She struggles drinking it, but once she manages to drink it, a few of the wounds close, her bruises begin to fade and she gets up. She's still sore by how she's moving, and is definitely not at full health, but she is able to move now.

Loyal: "You're in no condition to fight that's for sure. But we should probably go after our friends."

GM: "There, there were goblins, goblins did this."

Loyal: "We took care of them."

GM: "Did you kill them?"

Loyal: "Yes they're all dead."

GM: "Good, we need to go warn my father." And she begins to try to push past you, she's not moving very fast.

Loyal: "Just don't strain yourself, it'll be ok. I'm sure our friends, or at least I hope have caught Tsuto by now. They were right on his tail when we came down here."

GM: Are you guys checking any other rooms or are you just following her as she moves to leave?

Taury: Probably just follow her.

Loyal: Yeah I'll probably follow her and kind of like at Taury and say "I hope they're doing alright on their own."

Taury: Unless I spot anything interesting worth checking out, if it's just the same rooms, Taury is just going to keep going.

GM: Yeah, you guys follow her up the stairs, and then she opens the door immediately out of that that loading room where the stairs went down from, which takes you back outside.

Loyal: Loyal looks back at Taury and he says "Should we escort her to where she's going or should we go check on our friends? Hopefully they're not dead. For all we know, Tsuto could have let them into some more goblins."

Taury: "I think she should be fine from here."

Loyal: "Alright." I do look at Ameiko and I say "Do you think you'll be alright getting to where you need to go from here?"

GM: She nods.

Loyal: "Stay along the beaten path, don't go off, staying where the guard, at the very least can see you or someone can see you."

GM: She shakes her head no, "I'm going to the mansion to warn my father."

Loyal: "Alright, stay safe."

GM: Alright. That leaves you guys here at the moment and you are then heading back down to the tunnels.

Taury: Ah hmm.

Loyal: Yup. 

GM: Alright. When you get to the tunnel entrance and begin going down it, within a few moments Morana is heading back toward you.

Loyal: "Oh, good you're not dead. Ah did you catch him?"

Morana: "Yes Tsuto's been taken into custody. Markus is taking him to the sheriff as we speak. Tsuto is the one that was behind many of the things that have happened recently."

Loyal: "Interesting. Well, that's certainly interesting, the sheriff will be glad to learn that. Ameiko was in that ah area, we we got her, I gave her potions to help her heal a bit at least. And luckily she's heading off towards the mansion to warn her father. Apparently Tsuto had plans involving her father. But it's good to know that he's apprehended. So she is indeed safe heading there."

Morana: "There were more potential raid plans in Tsuto's journal, we have that in our possession as well now. We do need to go speak with," kind of waves her hand, "the priest, his name escapes me, it didn't really stick in my mind."

Taury: "Oh you mean Father Zantus?"

Morana: "Yes, him. There are some developments that have come to our knowledge. Tsuto was also behind the raid in the crypts where they took the body of the old priest. A whole lot more going on there yeah, we should talk to Father Zantus."

Loyal: "Afterwards, I do think we should check up on Ameiko at the very least. Make sure that her father is indeed at the mansion and not captured and locked away somewhere."

Morana: "Yes let's. I just want to take care of the more pressing issue first. That should be known about."

Loyal: "Yes of course."

Taury: "Morana, are you quite sure that Markus is, well capable enough to escort Tsuto on his own?"

Morana: "A bound the person with a bag tied over his head? Yes, I think he can manage."

Taury: "Well it is Markus." She just rolls her eyes.

Loyal: "I guess we should get going then, this issue is indeed pressing and urgent."

Morana: "Oh, I would think so."

Loyal: "And I'm not exactly familiar with this town and where everything is so, lead the way."

Taury: Taury is charging off to Father Zantus.

Loyal: Loyal will follow suit.

GM: Ok, Fenwarin. 

Fenwarin: Yep. 

GM: It is getting close to 10 a.m. now. What have you been up to this morning so far? When did you wake up?

Fenwarin: Got up around 8:00 and gathered up my spells, trying to familiarize myself with my new spells that I got. And then decided to go to the church and talk to Father Zantus.

GM: Alright. So you've headed off to the church as well. You will already be at the chapel then when the others arrive.

Fenwarin: Ok. 

Loyal: Along the way, Loyal will ask Morana and say, "So what exactly is this pressing issue that we're going to inform people of?"

Morana: Keeping her voice kind of low in case anybody is nearby, she'll say "Let's just say that some people that were thought to be dead may not be as dead as advertised."

Loyal: "As in undead or as in...?"

Morana: "No, as in not dead at all apparently."

Loyal: "Oh, I see. Captured? Or are these people, good people?" 

Morana: "No, I should say not, from what I'm seeing."

Loyal: "Good to know." As Loyal is getting close to the chapel, you can see he's kind of like making sure his hood is secure, and he puts up his little like, almost like scarf over his face to where just his eyes and forehead are showing essentially.

Taury: Taury is following behind Morana.

Morana: Well, upon getting to the temple or cathederal or what have you, Morana will be in, be asking around for location of Father Zantus.

GM: "He is busy with church duties ah, how can I help?"

Morana: "By telling him that we have urgent information for him."

GM: The acolyte seems offended that you can't trust them with your needs, but leaves. Several minutes pass before Father Zantus approaches. During that time, is there anything you want to do?

Morana: Not me personally, no.

Loyal: Loyal will just kind of like, having never been here before kind of walk around the chapel and look at the various gods that it's dedicated to. I know Sarenrae is one of them yeah?" 

GM: It is. 

Loyal: He kind of takes a few more moments and pauses and looks at the Sarenrae statue and then continues to move on, take a look around.

GM: Ok. Fenwarin, are you currently praying at one of the shrines?

Fenwarin: Yes.

GM: Alright. You will notice a heavily cloaked and robed man walking around.

Loyal: I don't necessarily walk up and speak, just kind of acknowledge someone someone else and continue moving around, not knowing who this is.

Fenwarin: I glanced at the hooded figure and then just walk past and out.

Loyal: Pretty much all you see considering he has his cloak, his hood up as well as a scarf around his face, you really only see his, you do see his skin on his forehead, which is a bit like a forest emerald green color, and his eyes which are like a red orange color. And he is clad in black and white robes. You do see bandages on the kind of his midriff stomach area. And a very large, heavy looking backpack with various alchemical items, tinctures and vials strapped to the outside.

Fenwarin: Fenwarin just thinks to himself, well this place attracts a lot of different people.

Morana: Is that just a diplomatic way of saying how they'd let anybody in here these days?

Loyal: [Laughs] You don't know what race I am. You don't know anything. 

Fenwarin: Does it matter?

Loyal: And to be fair, my skin is green so [laughs].

Morana: He's an elf, he doesn't need a reason to look down on people.

Fenwarin: There you go [laughs].

GM: Alright. Father Zantus approaches, "What is it that you need now?"

Morana: "Ah, we should probably speak in private about this."

GM: "Oh, didn't know heroes would be so tiring, very well." He escort you to one of the side chambers.

Morana: Alright, once we're in there and away from the earshot of others, Morana will say, "Father Zantus, tell me what you know about Nualia?"

GM: He looks surprised at the mention of the name and goes, "Oh, I haven't thought about her in years. What brings this up?"

Morana: "Well, what would you say if I told you that she was not actually killed in the fire?"

GM: He takes a few moments to think and then goes, "Come to think of it, we never did find her remains. We just assumed she'd been completely consumed. I suppose that would be very possible."

Morana: "Ok now, building on that, she is also apparently the betrothed of Tsuto Kaijitsu, ah, working with demonic forces and was in fact behind the pilfering of her father's remains."

GM: "Wait, Tsuto?!"

Morana: "Yes, who we've..."

GM: "That half-elf boy that was in the, no no he he's in Magnimar."

Morana: "He is on his way to the sheriff as we speak with another member of our group, having just taken him into custody, underneath the glassworks."

Loyal: "He murdered many workers at the glassworks. Well, technically the goblins did it, but he ordered the goblins."

GM: "I'm sorry, what?!"

Taury: "He also kidnapped his sister." 

Loyal: "That too." 

GM: "What?!"

Morana: Morana will hand Father Zantus Tsuto's journal. Well, not hand it to him, but open it to the relevant page and hold it out for him to read it.

GM: He flips through it after accepting it. Reads the page you had open to and then flips a few other pages. "This is most distressing. I find this all very hard to believe, but this is irrefutable proof."

Loyal: "Ameiko can testify towards what happened as well."

Morana: "Have there been any reports of anything odd happening at this Thistletop shrine lately?"

GM: "If anyone would know about that, it would be that that elvish ranger that wanders through every once in a while. All I know is it's some sort of goblin stronghold."

Morana: "I'll be sure to look for her to get to find out what she knows then. About this ah Malfeshnekor, do you know anything about them or it? Seems like something that would be under your purview, I suppose?"

GM: His eyes go wide at the mention of the name. "I'm afraid I don't know a great deal, but it's supposedly one of the children of Lamashtu."

Morana: "This line about succubi, at the end there. It almost sounds like they've discovered some process for someone to become one. Is that possible?"

Loyal: "Or a demon in general is what it seems, seems like he's hoping for a succubi, but?"

Morana: "Well, yes that's, that's true, I suppose. It's not very clearly worded."

GM: "Well, with Lamashtu involved. It would be possible, she is the mother of monsters who, was once a mighty demon lord herself before achieving godhood."

Morana: "Hmm I see."

GM: "It's said that she has learned the art of crafting demons from torturous techniques she learned from the horsemen of the apocalypse."

Morana: "Hmm I see, now actually this reference to the Quasit? I don't believe I'm familiar with the term."

Loyal: Would I be familiar with what exactly a Quasit is?

GM: Knowledge planes.

Loyal: Oh boy fantastic, let's try it.

Morana: I don't remember if I had rolled for that one or not.

GM: You did not. Alright, both of you identify a Quasit as a tiny demon.

Morana: Yeah, was about what I figured.

GM: They tend to have Ram's horn type horns on their head, twisted and whatnot. They are tiny winged demons with wiry forms. They are often associated with imps as well, and lots of summoners in Cheliax and Diabolists use them as advanced familiars.

Loyal: Would I have possibly seen one before, out of all possibility? I guess I, probably not.

GM: If you are familiar with Cheliaxian areas, it is quite possible.

Loyal: "I feel like I've seen one of these before, they're demons, but quite small. Many mages use them as familiars but, luckily they're not too dangerous from what I understand. As far as demons go, they're probably one of the less threatening ones, That's what it seems. But that's not to say, they're still dangerous if it seems to be leading something almost, or they're going it for aid."

Morana: "That seems somewhat unusual, but."

Loyal: "'Send her freak's up from below.' Does that possibly mean more demons?"

Morana: "It could, there were, we heard some other things in the tunnels that we did not have a chance to investigate. So there is definitely still something going on down there. We'll probably have to have guards posted near The Glassworks until we can figure out what's happening."

Loyal: "Especially that tunnel underneath."

Morana: "Well, I believe that's all we can get from here. Father Zantus if you could do some research, find out what they could possibly be trying to do. It's not my area of expertise really. We'll keep looking to see what we can find out about what they have planned, and from where. We'll try and work out some defense against any of these plans that haven't been discarded outright." 

GM: "Very well... I'm sorry," He looks up from the book, "what were you wanting?"

Morana: Morana just stares at him. "Oh, we were hoping that you could find any potential references as to what they may be trying to do with these things that they might be doing at the shrine, what connection it could have to whatever is going on with the goblins in town, if there could be some further plan that we're not seeing, that they might be working towards. The things that we don't really have resources to look into ourselves, not having the extensive library here at our constant disposal!"

GM: "Hmm yes." He hands the book back to you. "The last entry is the one that strikes me the most. She was always such a beautiful child, blessed by Desna. I don't understand why or how she could have fallen to be in Lamastu's embrace."

Morana: "That does seem odd, yes."

Loyal: "Sometimes the world has its ways and finds ways to put people in situations which they don't deserve to be in, or were never meant to be in."

GM: "Still Nualia? She was loved by the gods."

Morana: "Well apparently she decided not to love them back."

GM: "I'm trying to remember, it's been so long. Father Tobyn did sequester into the chapel for an extended period of time right before the fire. What little contact I had with her then, she was always praying to Desna."

Morana: "Did any, I suppose, belongings of hers any diaries or anything like that survive the fire?"

GM: "Oh no."

Morana: "I had a feeling."

GM: "No, the chapel burnt in its entirety, that fateful fire, so tragic."

Loyal: "Is Father Tobyn, is Father Tobyn still around?"

GM: He just looks at you and, "You've not caught this one up, have you?"

Morana: "He's no, he's just gotten here. Father Tobyn is the body that they took from the cemetery. The remains that, according to the book, have been..." he flips pages "...burnt."

Loyal: "Oh, I see ok." And he'd kind of looks at her and says. "Oh, ok I see, I see. Oh sorry, I'm new here, I've just arrived recently."

Morana: "No, that's fine. There's no way we could have had time to catch you up on everything in the four or five hours that we've known you. Right, well, if no one else has anything, that's probably all we're going to learn here at the moment. We should probably check on Ameiko and make sure that her father still counts among the living." You can tell Morana is just overjoyed at this thought.

Loyal: "It's probably best to check up on her, make sure she's doing okay after everything. After that we might want to go to the sheriff."

Morana: "Yes, once he's had time to process Tsuto and everything, we can find out if he's learned anything else from him because he was not the most forthcoming with anything. Everything that we've learned so far was from the book. Well, Father Zantus, thank you for your time, we'll be leaving." And before she's even done talking, she's turning to walk out.

GM: "Oh, your companion. He has been praying in the chapel. Perhaps you need his assistance?"

Morana: "Oh, probably I'll go try and find him."

GM: He nods and then turns and goes back about his business.

Morana: Once they are out of the room, Morana looks at the others and says, "I think we're going to have to try and find somewhere to try to attempt to study some more on the information. [Whispering] I don't think we're going to get much from here."

Loyal: "Mmm, he seems to be secretive of some information, Yes?"

Taury: Taury just nods.

Morana: "He is clergy, he's addled in some way." Anyway, she goes to look for Fenwarin.

GM: You easily find him.

Morana:  "Well, good morning."

Fenwarin: "Oh ah hey Morana, morning. Sorry I was just praying."

Morana: "I noticed. I trust you've had an, uneventful day so far?"

Fenwarin: "Well yeah so far but, I feel better after that tumble down in The Old Light ruins."

Morana: "Oh, that's good, that's wonderful." And she's just nodding.

Fenwarin: "So what's going on, are you planning to do something?"

Morana: "Isn't it nice that he's had such a." She, looks at the others. "Un-stressful, relaxing, ah thought provoking morning?"

Taury: I imagine Taury is covered in goblin blood.

Loyal: Loyal is bleeding himself and you see actually stains, some of his white clothing in multiple areas have been stabbed and slashed.

Morana: Morana actually looks, Morana actually looks, if I remember correctly pretty unscathed. [Laughs]

Taury: Yeah, I mean, like Taury did decapitate a goblin right in your vicinity.

Morana: Yah yeah, maybe, maybe some dust here and there.

Taury: There might be a very slight spray somewhere.

Loyal: There's probably some ashes on Loyal too, just from burning goblins alive.

Morana: That's why you wear black blood doesn't show up.

Loyal: Uh, there's some black on here.

Fenwarin: "Well, I see you've been up to something at least. I see Taury out there all covered in blood. That's um, is that a refreshing sight?"

Morana: "Oh, yes. I was wondering if you were going to ask how our morning was going."

Fenwarin: "Eventful, I assume?"

Morana: "Oh, yes."

Fenwarin: "Well, as much as I don't want my clothes stained by goblin blood every single day, I, I kinda yearn for adventure more than this so."

Taury: "And you would actually be surprised how quickly it washes out." 

Fenwarin: "That's good."

Morana: "Once it happens enough, you get good at it."

Loyal: Loyal looks a bit more ah, affirmed now that he knows it can wash out.

Morana: "So I supposed to catch you up. Tsuto brother of Ameiko, behind goblin invasion. Goblins in glassworks, tunnels underneath, daughter of priest killed in fire, not actually dead, in league with demons. Tsuto captured. More plans for goblin invasions. Should probably check on Ameiko as she's gone to check on her father."

Fenwarin: Fenwarin looks a little shocked at this. "Well yeah, ah that was a lot to take in at one point yeah, ok."

Morana: "Imagine how much it is to go through before lunch."

Fenwarin: "Yeah, I can imagine, yeah well, shall we?"

Taury: "I didn't even get breakfast."

Loyal: "Yes, I suppose had water before we went in there."

Taury: Taury just looks so disappointed in Fenwarin. 

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Morana: [Laughs] Everybody's just kind of looking at him like hmm.

Loyal: Loyal's not really accusatory, he's just more of like. You see that he's kind of scrubbing some of the white parts on his hood and cloak to try and get it out.

Taury: Well Taury's not accusatory either, she's just disappointed you know.

Fenwarin: "Nice to see you Taury."

Taury: She has turned around and left.

Fenwarin: "Well, that's what I'm expecting now. And you are, I think I saw you in there?"

Loyal: "Oh ah, I didn't introduce myself, Loyal" and he, he actually takes down the mask at that point. You see his face is green, otherwise when you see some tufts of like a bit of black hair coming out in some spots and he reaches out to shake your hand.

Fenwarin: "Um yes, ah it's nice to meet you, I just prayed so maybe no, no handshaking right now."

Loyal: "Ah fair enough." 

Morana: The fun thing is that Morana is expression is completely deadpan, so it's hard for anyone to tell if she's disappointed, amused, mocking. You really can't tell. She goes, "But yes, we should probably go over to Kaijitsu Manor for the moment and make sure everything there is, ok I suppose."

Fenwarin: "I see." I whisper to Morana, "Where did you find this one exactly?"

Morana: "He came with the sheriff, the reinforcements for the town guard."

Fenwarin: "Well, I guess another body would be nice to have when finding these little monstrosities."

Morana: "Yes, it's easy to tell when you're shorthanded."

Fenwarin: "That's true."

Morana: [Laughs] That was out of character, I'm sorry, I couldn't hold it. 

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Taury: So salty I love it.

Morana: Still, the understated zing. "Alright well let us go." And she's going to start making her way towards Kaijitsu Manor.

Loyal: Loyal has been following Taury most of this time.

Taury: Yeah, she's been outside the door, like sharpening her switch scythe.

Loyal: And as they're going by Loyal kind of take stock on his ingredients and on what he has left and he seems a little concerned, but not super concerned.

GM: Alright. The most direct route out of town to get over to Kaijitsu Manor is down Church Street onto High Stree,t and then a jaunt down Crab Street, where it merges under River Street and follow that to the Sandpoint Bridge, which then you follow that road down to Schooner Gulch Road crossing the Boggy Creek, and then head over to number 49, Kaijitsu Manor. When you arrive, you see Ameiko sitting on the porch watching you approach.

Loyal: "Is your father there?"

GM: She shakes her head, no.

Loyal: "Have, have you been inside?"

GM: "Just a few steps, much of the house has been packed."

Loyal: "Packed? As in someone was planning to leave?"

GM: "Well, yes. He was planning on heading to Magnimar."

Loyal: "I see."

GM: "Is, is planning on heading to Magnimar."

Loyal: "Is there any... so you haven't seen any signs of a fight or anything?"

GM: She shakes her head, no.

Taury: Can Taury insight check her?"

GM: Sure. Sense motive. She still seems shaken up, but now that she's away from The Glassworks, she's more just concerned than distressed. She's calmed down quite a bit.

Morana: "Ah, is he the only one that's not here, or are all the employees gone as well?"

GM: "No the servants are here still packing and getting the arrangements to leave."

Morana: "So there's been no disturbance, as it were then?"

GM: "No."

Loyal: "Did they say where he's gone, where he went?"

GM: She bites her lip and visibly suppresses breaking into tears again. After a few moments of this, she regains her composure and goes. "They tell me that he went to The Glassworks."

Loyal: "Shit."

Morana: "Hmm, did they say when?"

GM: "Yesterday."

Loyal: "I know this is hard but I want to get an idea of the timing of things. When you got there, were the workers at The Glassworks already dead or no?"

GM: She shakes her head, no.

Loyal: "Ok, might be, could be good. And he wasn't there when you arrived I assume, yes?"

GM: "I don't know. I met Tsuto in, in." She's fighting back tears again. "I met him in the loading room. We had an argument and then he whistled and his goblins jumped me and I woke up in that room, bound. Sorry. I don't know."

Morana: "No, it's not your fault. I suppose we could go back and investigate some more, try and see if we can find any leads."

GM: "Please do."

Morana: "I would suggest that you remain here in case he comes back or any other information comes in."

GM: She nods.

Morana: "We will stop by The Rusty Dragon and let them know that you will be indisposed for the time being. That way they know that you're at least safe.

GM: "Thank you." 

Morana: With that Morana will turn to leave.

Loyal: Loyal will follow as well.

Taury: Yeah, Taury is going to follow you guys.

Fenwarin: Yep, same.

GM: Alright. You all head back to The Glassworks after stopping by The Rusty Dragon, which is on your way.

Taury: Well, Taury would have popped into The Hagfish for some breakfast.

GM: Alright, so the order will be, once crossing Sandpoint Bridge. Stop at 37 to let Bethana know that Ameiko was alright. Continue down Market Street through the market. If you want to buy anything, the market is still going on today. And then as you go down Water Street past the market, stop by 33, The Hagfish to grab some, at this point lunch.

Taury: It's brunch. It's fine.

GM: Yeah. Whatever.

Taury: Fish tastes the same any point of the day.

GM: Yeah and then from there, it'll be just about a minute or two's walk up to The Glassworks.

Loyal: "It certainly feels good to at least get some food in our stomach before we do this."

GM: Alright, you reenter The Glassworks.

Loyal: "I remember Markus was saying there were bodies in the furnace room so we ought to at least check those, see if we can identify any of them."

GM: That's the next room up right here.

Loyal: And how many bodies in total there, amongst this room apart from the goblins?

Taury: Oh, that's so many dead goblins I forgot how many dead goblins there were.

GM: It is a gruesome display of goblin boredom. Bodies of the eight murdered staff lie in various stages of dismemberment. The goblins had been burning legs and arms in the furnace with glee, and pouring melted glass onto the remains in any attempt to make art, I guess, in goblin fashion.

Loyal: Do any of them look important or like...?

GM: The eight bodies that you find here that are all dismembered, none of them are Tsuto.

Morana: You mean Lonjiku.

GM: There is a body propped up in a chair in the center alcove, encased in thick runny sheets of hardened glass.

Loyal: "I'm not exactly sure what this fellow looks like. Does anyone else care to take a look at this?"

Taury: Does Taury know what he looks like?

GM: Yeah.

Taury: And does it look like Lonjiku?

GM: You can't really tell through the glass. You can't see any face marks or anything. It was also molten glass so any features probably would have been badly burned. However, the clothing that you can see that isn't covered in the glass does look like Lonjiku's.

Taury: Is he fully intact, he's not dismembered?

GM: Correct.

Morana: Is his cane anywhere nearby?

GM: It is.

Morana: "Uh, that would seem to answer that unfortunately."

Loyal: "We should probably get the glass off at the very least."

Taury: "And why would we do that?"

Loyal: "To preserve the dead and make sure he's not dismembered. We probably shouldn't bring him to her right now. That might, put her in even more distress"

Morana: "I'm going to posit the theory that attempting to remove glass that was melted to flesh would result in dismemberment that was not currently present."

Loyal: "That's fair, but it bugs me that we're leaving someone here like this."

Taury: "I don't know from a certain angle, it's rather creative, rather nice, maybe?"

Loyal: Loyal looks at Taury with concern.

Taury: She's like look looking at him for his reaction.

Loyal: Just a concerned like, 'What the hell?'

Morana: Morana's just kind of got her head tilted and says, "It is rather, well I mean they are goblin's, but it still it is a rather amateurish attempt at making a statue."

Taury: She's nodding her head like 'Yup, this is solid.'

Loyal: And Loyal just kind of like shakes it off and goes about looking at the other bodies. He'll actually start kind of gathering them together, so a head count essentially.

Morana: Morana will take the cane for now.

Taury: Taury is going to investigate the so-called statue to see. Does it look like goblin craftwork or does it look more like somebody else did it?

GM: Perception check.

Morana: Oh what the heck I'll try.

Fenwarin: Ooh.

Taury: Oh wow, no. 'It's just some glass.' [Sarcastically]

GM: As you're both looking at the glass, Taury, you can't really determine anything about it. It just looks like they poured a bunch of glass on top of him. Morana, you get the feeling that this was a personal touch. Not only is he encased in overflowing molten glass, it looks like his head was forced backwards and it was poured down his throat as well.

Morana: "Yes. About what I thought." Morana looks and says, "Yes I think Tsuto did this."

Loyal: "Not surprising. He didn't seem to like his father."

Morana: "Yeah, there was quite a bit of care put into this. Somebody wanted him to suffer, and I'm pretty sure I know who it was."

Loyal: "Well, Ameiko is not going to be happy about this."

Morana: "Yeah, I'm not telling her that."

Loyal: "It's definitely best that we don't let her see the body or at least until it's cleaned up some, in some way. Don't want to cause any extreme distress."

Morana: "At the very least, we should go let the sheriff know."

Loyal: "Yes certainly, I've gathered up the bodies to where they ah, well they're easily altogether. You won't have to go walking looking around for them, at least." On Lonjiku's body is there some sort of like ring or some like family ring, signet ring or something like that?

GM: If there is, it's covered in glass. The only part of him that is outside of the glass is like from the knees down.

Loyal: I see, ok.

Taury: Yeah so he was dunked?

Loyal: Yeah. Can I try to look through like, the glass chipping off bits if I need to to see if there's a signet ring or something?

GM: Sure.

Taury: Wow, desecrate the body, why don't you?

Loyal: I do this, listen.

GM: Roll me a slight of hand as you attempt to be careful to not damage the body.

Loyal: "Not great at this..." 

Fenwarin: Ooh!

Loyal: No! Cut off the finger."

Taury: Wow. He breaks the entire hand off.

GM: No, you do take off like the, the arm.

Fenwarin: The whole damn arm, holy shit!

Loyal: Cool, "Uh... Well, that didn't go as planned."

GM: It doesn't break cleanly, you slough off like all of this skin that was on the hand with the glass that you're trying to remove, leaving behind extremely badly burnt muscle tissue and visible bone. 

Fenwarin: "Huh!"

Taury: "Well, I guess now we're not short handed anymore."

GM: You do see a ring though over in the glass.

Loyal: I want to try and get the ring and say, "We should probably bring this ring back to Ameiko, she'll want it."

Fenwarin: "Would you please be careful?"

Taury: You're getting a disappointing look from Taury once again.

Loyal: "Well..." And he kinda holds up the arm that's been taken off, "I can't really do any more damage to the rest of the body at the very least."

Morana: "Oh, I'm sure you'd be surprised."

Loyal: "Fair enough." And he's actually going to take it over to one of the tables. Is there like a hammer or something on the table that I just, like, break the actual glass itself with?"

All: [Laugh]

Morana: Give hammer!

Taury: Fucking Dexter over here! Jesus!

Loyal: I'm trying to like, remove the glass without damaging the body parts much possible.

Taury: No, it's fine. You think we're inappropriate for making light of his dead body, but you just go ahead and hammer at it.

Loyal: It's just the arm.

Taury: Go nuts.

GM: Yes, you recognize a lot of these workbenches. They are alchemically setup for blowing glass and doing glassworks.

Loyal: Is there a way that I could essentially just like, I just want to remove enough glass so I can get the ring off essentially?

GM: Yeah.

Loyal: I will do that.

GM: You heat up a pair of tongs and eventually get through the glass with a small hammer that you might have from your own pack.

Morana: "You know, the thought does occur that you could have brought the tools to the glass rather than the glass to the tools."

Loyal: "That's fair. That's that's fair. Fair enough." And eventually I do get the ring and says, "When we get the chance I want to give this to Ameiko she'll, I imagine she'll probably want it."

Morana: "That is why I took the cane as well."

GM: Alright. Were you heading directly there or were there other things that you were wanting to do?

Morana: "I wanted to stop by the sheriff's office and let him know that they need to take some of the guards and clerics and whatever and do some clean up, things like that."

Loyal: "Well should, should we mention the things going on outside of town, whatnot. To the sheriff or?"

Morana: "Well I planed to, but mainly we need to let him know that there's still things in the tunnels under the Glassworks and they may want to post some kind of lookouts to make sure they're not coming out because they're part of whatever was being planned."

GM: Ok. As you're heading out of the Glassworks to go do that, there is a group of five guards heading towards you.

Morana: "Oh good you're already here." Morana says to them, "I assume you've been brought at least up to speed as far as the sheriff knows what's going on?"

GM: "Ah yes, yeah uh Markus came by and had a long talk with the sheriff."

Morana: "Ok, good."

GM: "Dropped off a prisoner, and ah, we were ordered to come here and guard this place."

Morana: "Yes, there are also some things that may need to be handled somewhat delicately. Um, there are some remains that will need to be handled by people from the Cathedral. One of them that they may want to keep a little quiet for now is ah, Lonjiku Kaijitsu."

GM: "Hmm? What do you mean?"

Morana: "We mean that Tsuto killed his father, or well, you know what I mean."

GM: "And the body is in there?"

Morana: "Yes."

Loyal: "Eight staff members and Lonjiku."

GM: "Hmm, alright."

Morana: "There are also um, I'm sure you were, it was probably already explained to you but just in case it was missed, there are some creatures in the tunnels under the Glassworks. I would recommend that you keep an eye on the exits and make sure none of them escape into the town. We haven't had a chance to deal with them yet."

Loyal: "Seal the tunnel if possible."

Morana: "There is a hidden door that leads onto the beach over there, in case you weren't aware of it."

GM: "Mmm. Ah, it was also reported that the beach entrance also leads to a tunnel that then connects to some sort of complex underneath the Old Light?"

Morana: "Yes."

GM: "Ah yeah, we're aware."

Morana: "Good I was just making sure."

GM: "We know how to do our jobs, thank you."

Morana: "Well, sometimes doors that have been hidden for centuries get forgotten about and just wanted to remind people."

GM: "Well, if that's all, come on, let's go." They push through you.

Morana: Oh yeah, we move out of the way and leave.

Loyal: "So uh let's... Should we go discuss the further matters with the sheriff?"

Morana: "We should at least let him know about Lonjiku. That will become town news very quickly, no matter how hard we try to keep it quiet."

GM: Alright. So you head over to the barracks, which is number 10. It's just up the street. Alright. You enter and there is a lot of commotion going on inside.

Loyal: "I suppose uh, Markus was here?"

Morana: Morana will try and listen to see if she can pick up anything about what's going on.

GM: Alright, Perception check.

Fenwarin: Yup.

Loyal: Loyal will do the same.

Taury: Yeah Taury begins then.

GM: Alright. All of you are trying to catch what's going on, the confusion of the madness has completely overwhelmed Fenwarin. Morana and Loyal are both trying to pick up something but, as soon as they catch just a couple words here or there, the person moves away or someone else shouts over them. It's just hectic, chaos everywhere. Taury you gather from what's going on that almost militaristic orders are being shouted by a paladin who's organizing stuff in lieu of the sheriff doing so.

Loyal: "Where's the sheriff?"

Taury: Is this out of the ordinary yeah?

GM: You didn't know that there was a paladin here. When you came the other day there wasn't.

Loyal: I would probably know as I was on the boat with him yeah?

GM: Yeah.

Taury: Yes, she's gonna keep listening, try and hear what they're saying.

GM: Alright. It seems like the paladin is organizing specific areas of watch, shift rotations and emergency detour to the cave.

Taury: What do you mean by detour?

GM: A small contingent.

Taury: Alright. Like someone to actually go down there? 

GM: Yeah.

Taury: Ok.

Morana: Which cave, do we pick that up? 

Taury: I feel like it's the one underneath the Glassworks.

Morana: Well we've put in a couple of them already, it could be either one.

Loyal: And for all we know, they all interconnect.

Taury: Yeah, but I'm just thinking the one that was brought to their attention was that one, most recently like.

Morana: Is there any Knowledge check I can do to try and figure out just who the hell this paladin this is, is he, are they local?

GM: Ah, Knowledge religion. 

Loyal: Oh shit. 

GM: They are not local. Alright. You know that this is a paladin of Irori. Ah not Irori, the other one, the Inheritor. 

Loyal: Iomedae.

GM: Iomedae, there we go.

Morana: Ah, would it be like an intelligence check to piece together what they're saying and see if it's a logical plan, or complete utter bullshit?

GM: Sure. I'm interested to see where this goes too.

Morana: Damn.

GM: They're posting people in what initially seems like random places, until you remember a few of the attack plans that had been mentioned in the journal. And there's no less than two guards at each key location of each entry.

Morana: Oh, this is in Morana's head 'A paladin that can think tactically, well what do you know, it's not something you see often. Anyway.' She just kind of nods and says "Yes, yes sounds like a decent, decent plan."

Loyal: Loyal wants to look around to see if he can actually find the sheriff because we came here to talk to.

GM: The sheriff does not appear to be here.

Loyal: I'll ask one of the guards where he is. "Excuse me, do you know where the sheriff is? We are looking for him."

GM: "Hmm ah yes, ah he went with Markus and I think they were going to gather the mayor and the father to go have a meeting about something. Ah Shalelu was also invited, but I don't think she's in town right now.

Morana: "Oh, trying to find them could be a wild goose chase."

Loyal: "Did they mention where they would be having this meeting?"

GM: "No, sorry I need to get back to..." and he  runs off.

Morana: "Alright. Well, we can sideline that for now, we'll find them later. Markus will probably be able to handle that. Alright I guess we should head back to Ameiko and bring some kind of closure."

Loyal: "Yes it's probably a good idea, after that we might want to get our bearings, decide what we're going to do."

GM: Alright. You make your way back to the Kaijitsu Manor. As you go through the streets of Sandpoint, there's already rumors going around about why the guards are being organized like such.

Morana: "Yes, certainly that's unavoidable."

GM: There's a few individuals getting onto boats and leaving town.

Loyal: "Oh, dear."

Morana: "Also unavoidable."

GM: Alright. Back at the Kaijitsu Manor, Ameiko is still sitting on the porch. As she sees you approach she kind of stands up and then seeing that you don't have her father with you. She slumps back down into the chair.

Morana: Ah, could a, ah I don't even know if that's possible, like could a Diplomacy check soften the blow or? 

GM: Sure.

Morana: Maybe a Bluff check and say he didn't suffer.

GM: We'll see what you're saying when you do the diplomacy. But, yeah choose your words carefully that's fine. You might not even need to roll.

Taury: Man you are so lucky Taury doesn't care because she would've been half a second away from just saying, yeah, he's dead. [Laughs] But she just doesn't care.

Morana: Well see that's the problem is, Morana really didn't like the prick anyway. What I'm wondering if I could leverage that whole wide eyed innocence thing?

GM: Well, you've only got a few moments until you're up the stairs. You're trying to formulate how to tell her now that she's visibly crushed by the expectation that he is dead.

Morana: Ah God, I'm bad at shit like this.

Taury: Because he was such a nice guy [laughs].

Loyal: Is Morana like visibly struggling with what to say?

Morana: Yes she ain't good at this kind of shit! [Laughs] You look at her you could just see wheels spinning. She's like, 'Oh what the fuck do I say? How do  people do this? Why is this even a thing?' All in her head but you could, like, read this on her face going, as these thoughts are going through.

Loyal: Loyal will step forward then and just say like, walk up to her, put his hand on hers and say "I'm sorry, it's..."

GM: And she begins crying.

Loyal: Yeah I figured as much. That's unavoidable. He's just kind of like not really knowing what to do, he's gonna just kind of hug her and comfort her.

Morana: Morana looks like visibly out of her depth at this, just...

GM: It's one of those deep sobs, she's got her head cupped in her hands, just sobbing into them uncontrollably.

Taury: Taury has taken out her pack of cards and she's just playing cards by herself.

Loyal: "For what it's worth. We, I managed to recover this." And he hands her the ring. "If that can help at all."

Morana: Morana likewise hands over the cane. She's not saying anything, and luckily no one can read her mind as she's trying to think of a diplomatic way to say 'shit happens.'

GM: As she takes both items, the cane she leans against the chair, and the ring she's just clutching on to while she's crying.

Loyal: And I kind of give the group a look of like, 'should we tell her that we caught Tsuto?'

Morana: I thought we already did? 

Loyal: I think we did yeah, we probably did. 

Taury: Did we? You didn't say that he was arrested or anything I don't think?

Loyal: We said it.

Taury: Did they? 

Loyal: We said that we caught him?

Morana: Well Morana will speak up and say, "If it's any consolation whatsoever, Tsuto has been taken into custody and will answer for what he's done, and what he was going to do."

GM: Loyal, as you're kind of putting an arm around Ameiko, to try to soothe her, comfort her a little bit in her grief. The mention of what he was going to do, you feel her shiver.

Loyal: I just kind of give Morana a look like 'Don't mention what he's going to do.' Just like shake my head like 'don't say that.'

Morana: Morana shrugs.

Loyal: You just kind of hear a sigh from Loyal.

GM: After a few very awkward moments of silence, listening to her sob, she begins to quiet down and regain her composure. She takes the ring that you handed her and slides it onto her thumb. "He was an ass and a terrible father, but he was still family. I'm all that's left now. This sucks!"

Morana: Morana doesn't say anything.

Loyal: "Take solace in the memories you do have, just try to remember him for the good moments."

GM: She does a heavy sigh and then wipes the tears from her eyes. "You all have my eternal gratitude, and all I can do to repay you is to offer free room and board, for life at the Rusty Dragon."

Loyal: "It's greatly appreciated, thank you. It's, we just doing our jobs, doing what any goodhearted person would do."

GM: She shakes her head no, "I've been an adventurer. No, you've gained a friend here today. You, you've gone so far beyond what any adventurer would do. You truly are heroes of this town. And this is all I can do to thank you. It's not enough to repay your kindness."

Morana: Morana is trying to remain deadpan, but looks visibly slightly uncomfortable.

Loyal: "Thank you. We're grateful for you choosing to repay us for the things we've done. I suppose now there is the matter of, what to do now." And he kind of looks at the others.

GM: "Yes, I'm sure you all have business you need to attend to, and I have much to take care of as well. I... There is estates to manage, whether or not to keep this place, let the servants go and ditch this place, accept my role as new nobility of this town or just go back to being a simple innkeeper, I don't know. There's also the Glassworks. [Sighs] So much to do. You don't need to be involved in any of that, you've done more than enough already. Go and help others, continue being awesome. All of you."

Taury: Taury slides the cards back into her pocket to pretend she wasn't playing cards the whole time.

Loyal: And Loyal just says, "don't push yourself, take it easy these next couple of days."

GM: She nods, stands up, bows gracefully to all of you, and then enters the mansion. At this point, if you have not already, feel free to take your first hero point as you are now officially heroes of Sandpoint.

Loyal: Nice!

Taury: Hell yeah man.

Loyal: Loyal will just kind of look at everyone and say, "Well, what now? I suppose there's this uh this Thistletop place to deal with. Certainly an issue seems like."

Fenwarin: "What is this Thistletop place You're talking about?"

Loyal: "Well in the journal, it was mentioned that they burned her father's remains at the Thistletop shrine and started her transformation to what I can only assume to be some sort of demon or demon-esque creature."

Fenwarin: "Ooh."

Loyal: "And if I if I believe correctly, Father Zantus said it was some sort of goblin fortress of some sort. So possibly this is where the source of the goblin raids is coming from and where, where Tsuto was planning his attacks, and if any case where his betrothed is hiding out."

Fenwarin: "I see so, kind of their stronghold?"

Loyal: "It's what it seems like."

Morana: "Well, for that goblin tribe, anyway."

Loyal: "Yes, and I would like to imagine that his betrothed won't look so kindly upon us putting Tsuto in jail, or at least not at any rate. This town I'd imagine, isn't safe until she's gone."

Taury: "Yes, this sounds like a plan."

Loyal: "It certainly won't be easy, we'll have to gather supplies, probably want to talk to the mayor and everyone about that. Gather companions, supplies. It's not super far away, so  horses if we can."

Taury: "Oh, we have horses."

Loyal: "That's good."

Morana: "Yes, Taury's admirer arranged them for us."

Loyal: Loyal looks at them like in a way that's like, 'Really? Someone admires Taury?'

Taury: There is no reaction from Taury whatsoever.

Morana: Morana just takes a drink from a water skin.

Taury: Medieval sip.

All: [Laugh] 

Morana: [Laughs] Hashtag Morana shade.

Taury: [Laughs]

GM: As you're all about to step off the porch and begin your way back into town, one of the servants comes out and goes, "My lady wanted me to tell you that uh, Nualia is hiring mercenaries or has mercenaries? Has mercenaries. And Tsuto wanted to take Ameiko to Thistletop to avoid the burning of Sandpoint. All of this sounds terrible and I'm going to go back inside and continue packing now to go to Magnimar bye".

All: [Laugh]

Loyal: "Me, too" [laughs].

Morana: "Well, that complicates things."

Loyal: "I feel like it might take more than just us to take down this Thistletop then, especially if she's hired mercenaries."

Morana: "Hmm, I would suggest telling the Sheriff he needs to pull more resources, but since we don't know where he is at the moment."

Loyal: "We also probably want to find the mayor and inform her of these ah issues, as well as finding possible backup before going to storm Thistletop as is."

Taury: "Perhaps we should bring Ameiko to Thistletop."

Morana: "Well, that only sounds like a terrible idea." 

Loyal: "I could see her possibly wanting revenge, if she was an adventurer she could be valuable but, for now, I feel like she has a lot going on right now as is."

Taury: "Well, we could pretend to be in support of Tsuto, march her there and slit the woman's throat."

Loyal: "While that does sound tempting. I have a feeling it would be much more difficult than that."

Morana: "Especially as it sounds as though from what's written in the journal, she's not entirely just a woman anymore."

Loyal: "Seems to be undergoing a transformation into some sort of demon."

Taury: And Taury just shrugs.

Loyal: "And nonetheless, I do think we should confer with the sheriff and mayor about this, see if we can find where they're having this meeting."

Morana: "I suppose we could just stop by the mayor's office and see if the sheriff and Markus have gone there yet. They probably have, but maybe one of her staff is useful?"

Loyal: "Well then it's decided then, I guess."

Morana: "Other than that, I can't think of much else that we could do at the moment."

GM: Fenwarin, you've been pretty silent. Do you have anything to add to this conversation?

Fenwarin: "No, I just think we should, just gather ourselves and get ready for Thistletop."

Taury: "Well, that is the spirit Fenwarin. It's nice to see you taking action."

Fenwarin: "Well, I do likes adventures, but it did put me out. The last time we went down to the, the ruins."

Taury: She's gonna like pat him on the back but like, probably way too hard. It'll probably knock the wind out of him.

Fenwarin: "Ow! Taury just careful! You're much stronger than you might think."

Taury: Shrugs.

Loyal: And Loyal is just digging through his bag. "I guess it's a good time to mention as any, when I was sent here some, before I got on the boat to come here, a woman, a relatively raspy voice, not sure who it was, never got a good look at her, gave me this package and told me to deliver it to, as she said, 'the heros of Sandpoint', which I can only assume is to mean you folk. I haven't opened it. I'm not sure what was in it, but I was told to deliver it to you."

Taury: Who do you hand it to?

Loyal: I just kind of hold it out for whoever wants to grab it.

Taury: Is anybody going to grab it?

Morana: No one else does Morana will.

Taury: I was going to say that about Taury.

Loyal: "When she gave it to me she mentioned something uh, she says ah something to do with Thassilonian ruins and the Nettlewood. Not sure how much it compares to how pressing our current situation is. One thing I do remember, she did have a Varisian accent."

Morana: "Thassilonian, things do sound like, that's Markus's area of interest, but I suppose I could take a look at that if she just intended for it to be, for her to send it to the group." Morana will take it and look through it, see what's in there.

GM: Alright. You take the package. It's a wrapped box with a letter on top. The box is about five pounds, little over.

Morana: I suppose she'll start with the letter.

GM: Alright. You open the letter, it says, "Esteemed adventurers, we've got a wonderful opportunity among the first to explore Thassilonian ruin here in Varisia. While our land's full of such sites, many have been sourced by adventurers and wanderers since Thassilon fell ten thousand years ago. Few empires have risen to the same height power and mastery of magic since the Runelords demise, and the wealth of knowledge hidden in the stones of the monuments they left behind is beyond compare in the inner sea. I need you to explore this site and retrieve whatever relics you can find. They will be invaluable in our research and may open further opportunities for exploration in the future. It's deep in the forest of Lurkwood, north of Riddleport. I've arranged of a shipping vessel to escort you as far as the city of Riddleport. You'll need to travel overland to the forest itself from there. You can tell us all about it in your report. Also note, Thassilon was a powerful ancient empire once spanned all of what is now Varisia and beyond. Wow! It was broken into seven realms, each ruled by a different feuding Runelord who had gained power by harnessing the power of 'sin' magic." Sin is in quotes. "Despite its power, Thassilon crumbled and the Runelords disappeared ten thousand years ago. It's unknown what dangers you're going to face. Thassilon's long dead, many of its defenses and guardians however, still remain and protect the Runelords' ancient secrets. Be ready for anything. To help you with that, here's 250 gold."

Loyal: [Laughs] So i was just carrying around around 250 gold!

Taury: Wow.

Fenwarin: Wow.

GM: And it is signed, Sheila Hyde Mark.

Fenwarin: [Laughs].

Taury: I hate her.

Morana: I had a feeling when you started reading.

Loyal: Not really ah sure who this is but?

Morana: Isn't that the one that was in Sandpoint at one point?

GM: Yes.

Fenwarin: Oh, in the White Deer Inn.

Fenwarin: Oh yeah.

GM: Yes.

Taury: Did Taury meet her? I don't think she did.

Fenwarin: No.

Morana: Yes, she was the one that told Morana to stop looking so dower, if I remember right.

Taury: Oh yeah.

GM: Yes.

Markus: "Oh Markus will be intrigued to hear about this."

Loyal: "At the very least, we might want to put this gold towards the possible raid on Thistletop we might be doing, I have a feeling Thistletop might take more priority in comparison with this."

Morana: "Oh, you don't know Markus very well, I'm sure his hands will positively shake reading that letter."

Loyal: We have access to the, like our Characters have access to the map you gave us of like the Sandpoint Hinterlands area, right?

GM: Yes.

Loyal: Looking at it he says, "Well Thistletop is in the Nettlewood."

Morana: "Oh, yes, I'm sure we will definitely be going there."

Fenwarin: "Yeah, well, if it's true, what you're saying, that there might be an actual demon up there, transformed or not, that needs to be taken care of."

Loyal: "Agreed."

Morana: "Yeah It's definitely something that needs to wait until we have everyone back together though."

Loyal: "Certainly yes. I guess it's time to go find the mayor and Markus and the sheriff, yes?"

Morana: "Yeah, no I can't think of anything else to do at the moment."

Taury: "What you have no more nobles you want to make cry now?" 

Morana: "Only all of them, but anyway."

Fenwarin: "I don't know about you all, but I feel like having some something to eat at the Rusty Dragon?"

Taury: "Yes well, you've had a rather long day, haven't you Fenwarin?"

Morana: [Laughs]

Fenwarin: "Oh you."

Taury: Another pat on the back, that definitely knocks him to the floor.

Fenwarin: [Coughing] "Oh, stop that!"

Taury: She's going to keep walking.

Loyal: "Ah off to find the mayor then?"

Taury: Yeah, Taury has already gone.

Morana: "Apparently after Fenwarin replaces all of the calories that were burnt in prayer."

All: [Laugh]

GM: Alright. So you head to the Rusty Dragon for food it sounds? 

Loyal: Seems so.

Morana: Yeah I will.

Taury: I mean, Taury is heading to go and find Markus because she just ate.

Loyal: That's true, we did just eat.

Taury: Like she's completely ignored what he said. Like, his opinion is irrelevant at this point.

GM: Ok, Fenwarin you stop by the Rusty Dragon for food and quickly realized no one's coming in with you as you turn off towards it and they keep walking down Market Street.

Fenwarin:  "Oh well, I guess I'll enjoy food on my own."

All: [Laugh]

GM: Ok.

Morana: [Laughs] We're not going to McDonald's, we have food at home.

Fenwarin: But I wanna go to Mcdonald's! [laughs]

Taury: I want the toy. I really want the toy.

Fenwarin: I want the happy meal what the hell?! Bunch of glum bastards!

Taury: [Laughs] Fair! That is a fair assessment of the entire party, glum bastards.

GM: [Laughing] Oh my! Alright. So you head up to, the rest of you head up to number 11, which is the town center, town hall type thing. As you enter, you see exiting from the mayor's office Brodert Quink, Father Zantus the sheriff and a couple other individuals. Titus is among them. There was a big meeting going on, it's just let out.

Loyal: "Well, we certainly missed the meeting."

Morana: Morana looks up and says, "Oh, I trust you all made some kind of progress?"

GM: A couple of people look down. "Oh, yeah, we just met with Markus" says the sheriff, "filled us in on everything."

Morana: Morana is just standing there with her hand kind of spinning and a 'go on' gesture.

GM: He doesn't. He continues walking and then comes down the stairs to meet you on the first floor and then continues.

Morana: Oh yeah the whole time he's doing that, she's just "Mmh hmm."

GM: Once he approaches you and he's not yelling across, you know, a couple floors worth of space, he continues. "Ah yeah Markus brought Tsuto in this morning, very unexpected."

Morana: "I'm aware."

Loyal: "We've noticed."

GM: "Set off a whole chain of events. Ah, whole town's in chaos. Thanks for that, well done, good hero-ing."

Taury: "I think you'll find that that was Tsuto that set these chain of events."

Loyal: "True." 

Morana: "I mean, if I, I'd be entirely just enraptured to hear how, you know, you think it could have been done differently?"

GM: At the Nathan Fillion meme from Firefly, where he does the point in the face of like 'I have something to say and then doesn't'. Yeah that like verbatim from the sheriff right now.

Morana: Yeah.

Taury: I love Nathan Fillion so much.

Morana: Yeah, the whole time he's doing that, Morana is just nodding like 'uh hmm.'

Taury: Yeah, there it is there, there in the discord. Oh, I love that man. Anyway, go on.

Morana: "Well, some developments that have happened since he was brought in that you probably aren't aware of just yet." She kind of looks around to see, make sure no random people are around that would hear it. She leans in a little bit. "He killed Lonjiku. His body will need to be recovered from the Glassworks."

GM: "I'm sorry what?" 

Morana: "Tsuto killed his father and left the body in the Glassworks."

GM: "Well now I'm extra confused. Did he kill Lonjiku or his father?"

Morana: "Oh you, you know what I mean, the one who was known as Lonjiku!"

GM: "No reason to get angry, calm down."

Taury: Taury is staring this guy down.

Morana: "I have had a very long morning."

GM: He goes to start to make a comment and then thinks better of it.

Morana: The look on Morana's face just says, 'please say something.'

GM: "In interest of remaining civil and getting things done, the paladin that has come up from Magnimar has volunteered to accompany Tsuto back to Magnimar, to stand trial there."

Morana: "I mean yes, that handles that facet of the problem. What ideas do you have to deal with the apparent situation on Thistletop?"

GM: "Well, if we could have gotten a hold of Shalelu, she might have been able to give us a lot of information about that. Unfortunately, she's gone off on her hunting expeditions again, probably to eradicate as many goblins as she can find. Which is fine."

Morana: "That is a problem, yes."

GM: "I am quite spread thin with guards trying to look over the entire city for an impending invasion that may or may not actually happen."

Morana: "Oh, I have a feeling it's going to. We've received word that ah..." She kind of looks around again. "Nualia has also been hiring mercenaries to attack the town."

GM: "Yes, I've heard that... Wait! Mercenaries?!"

Morana: "Yes."

GM: "That wasn't in the [Grunts]!"

Morana: "No, it wasn't in the book, we've just found this out ourselves."

Loyal: "Tsuto told Ameiko and Ameiko told her servant and her servant told us. Long story short, Ameiko overheard Tsuto saying so."

GM: "Fantastic, just wonderful! Anyway, what I need you to do, is deal with the stuff that's actually here in town first before you go traipsing off into the woods to deal with other problems. Because I've got guards spread all over town to ensure its safety, I don't have enough men to deal with those catacombs you all found yesterday."

Morana: "The ones that, you know, may ah, connect with, the ones we pulled Tsuto out of this morning, yes?"

GM: "Yes, those ones. And since I don't have enough people to guard all the entrances and exits of it and we don't know what's down there, that leaves you."

Taury: "You say that as if we built them."

Loyal: "Well, I." I kind of turn to the, Loyal turns to the party. "I suppose that we could find artifacts then that could help with Thistletop and if there are any goblins or, as this journal might entail," kind of lowers his voice, "demons down there who could be working with those at Thistletop, it might be best to clear that out first."

Morana: "Oh let, let me let me just go ahead and put this right for you now. There's more than goblins down there, so you should probably be as ready as you can be."

Taury: "Yes, they were even uglier than goblins."

GM: "Mmm. Anyway, the sooner you deal with that, the sooner I won't care if you leave my town, please and thanks." And he turns to walk away.

Loyal: Loyal kind of turns to the rest. "Is he always like that?"

Morana: "Yes."

Taury: Can Taury trip him?

GM: Combat maneuver.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

Loyal: Oh, boy, oh, boy.

Taury: [Laughs] I mean, I'm thinking like a simple, just foot out 'woopsy, he tripped.' 

GM: Yeah 

Taury: Yeah, ok.

GM: That's right. Yeah that's still a combat maneuver.

Taury: Its a terrible idea.

Fenwarin: This is turning to slapstick.

Taury: That's CMB Yeah? 

GM: Yeah.

Loyal: Nice, nice!

Taury: Oh hell yeah1 

GM: You trip him. Falls flat on his face, rolls over, glares daggers at you, hops to his feet, gives a grunt and turns and walks away again.

Loyal: Loyal kind of turns to Taury and says "Normally I wouldn't condone tripping the sheriff of the town, but he had it coming."

Morana: "I was really hoping his hand would have gone to his hilt because I had something ready."

Taury: "I don't know what you're talking about, I didn't trip him. He fell over."

Loyal: "Yes, clearly."

Morana: "Sometimes things happen and the gods just can't do anything about it."

Taury: "Indeed, divine justice."

Loyal: Loyal chuckles at that.

Morana: "It's not justice, it's just just a failing of the gods."

GM: So now what?

Loyal: "Well, I suppose we should gather supplies if we're heading down to those ruins."

Morana: "That would probably be useful."

Loyal: "As well as I'm still a bit um, beat up from today." gesturing to like some of the wounds he has. "I could, I have some I got some ingredients to make healing potions, I'd like to finish them as I didn't really get time before the other situations arose."

Taury: "Yes, you and Fenwarin could ah cuddle up together, you get on quite well."

Loyal: "Oh, are you an alchemist too?" He kind of turns to Fenwarin.

GM: As you turn to Fenwarin, you realize, oh yeah he left and is back eating.

Loyal: "Oh, right [laughs] I forgot he wasn't here!"

Fenwarin: What did you say about me? [Shouting]

Taury: [Laughs] Yeah, his ears just start burning and he's like, 'hold on a second.'

Loyal: Sprinting around the corner.

Fenwarin: I have excellent hearing! [Laughs]

Taury: Oh yeah because he's an elf, a filthy elf.

Morana: Yeah, they start burning, but then he realizes it's just because since they're pointed, the tips of them are closer to the sun.

Loyal: [Laughs].

Morana: Bloody elves.

Taury: Yeah.

Loyal: Elves that get sun burned on their ears faster than the rest of their bodies.

Fenwarin: It's an actual real problem, stop diminishing it.

All: [Laugh].

Loyal: "I'd imaging we could probably put that gold in that package we were given towards supplying for the journey down?"

Morana: "Oh yes, I have the ah coin that we confiscated."

Loyal: "I'd imagine the market's still open, yes? Is the market still open?"

GM: Yeah, it's just past 1pm or 2pm.

Loyal: Ah cool we got time. Says, "I suppose we, since the market is still open, we could buy the supplies we might need to go down there?"

Taury: "Perhaps we should divvy up the money first?"

Loyal: "Yes, that would probably be a good idea. I guess in order to do that, we'd have to have everyone here. Wherever, Markus went."

Morana: "That would help."

Loyal: "For now I guess we might as well divvy up our shares for looking to buy anything. There's five of us. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 it's about 50 or so gold, a piece for supplies. Is there is there anything you know specifically we might need heading back, heading down into there? As you've been down there, I have not."

Taury: "Perhaps someone who could help Markus wield an axe." and she's laughing.

Loyal: "Well that might be more difficult than we expect, but ah it's probably out of our price range at the very least." And Loyal has kind of taken out this book of various alchemical things, its almost on the outside it seems like some sort of guide to alchemy, and you can see there's so many notes in the pages, bookmarks, everything. He's sifting through and is like, "ah what should we use down there? I suppose more of that acid might be useful. Anything you all might request as far as ah well, as far as these supplies go?"

Taury: And Taury shakes her head.

Morana: Morana has a few things she's going to buy.

GM: Alright. It takes you a few hours to peruse the stalls and find what you need but all of you pick up everything you were looking for, no problem. Remember the marketplace here, 75 percent of book cost. So 25 percent discounts.

Loyal: Solid. So looking through the ten million things I can make, "Ooh, antitoxin might be a good idea. That's probably a good idea."

GM: Ah Fenwarin, while you're eating, you notice the adventure board, no one's taking anything off of it. And then it dawns on you. You guys never reported back to Brodert Quink about what you found in the tunnels. Maybe he has a reward and you can use some of that money to help outfit the group or yourself for whatever exploits you get into coming up.

Fenwarin: "Oh yeah!" Well, after realizing that I decide to pay him a visit. 

GM: Alright.

Loyal: That sounds useful.

GM: You work your way over to the Old Light. It's busy there. Gorvie's boys are still moving rubble around, and there is now a couple guards here as well as Brodert overseeing the excavation process. "Oh! I remember you, welcome back!"

Fenwarin: "Thank you, I, I feel much better now."

GM: "Hmm, good."

Fenwarin: "It's about that ah, notice you put up, at the adventure board."

GM: "Ahhum, yes?"

Fenwarin: "Well, I can report now that we've, we've been through all that and we've encountered some well, questionable things."

GM: "Ah yes, Markus told me all about."

Fenwarin: "Oh?"

GM: "Alaznist hmm, very interesting."

Fenwarin: "Yes so um, about the reward and maybe ah taking down, down that notice?"

GM: "Reward, reward? Huh! Suppose a reward would be an order. Circumstances notwithstanding. Ah..." He rummages through a pouch and then pulls out two gold coins and offers them to you. "How is this?"

Fenwarin: "I mean, in the circumstances, what we've been going through, it seems a little low, don't you think?"

GM: "Hmm, perhaps your right." He puts the coins away. "That would be more insulting than not, I apologize."

Fenwarin: "I take no offense."

GM: He smiles, and stares at you while smiling.

Fenwarin: "So what type of reward could you manage, given the circumstances?"

GM: "Well, to be honest, I'm a little underfunded right now, but any treasures you find are yours, how about that?"

Fenwarin: "Well, we kind of need to gather supplies and get going. So can we come to some sort of agreement?"

GM: "Hmm... How about this? I have buyers in Riddleport who are looking for Thassilonian artifacts. If you can go down and find them and bring them to me, I will be able to sell them at a significant increase and I will give you all of the the proceeds."

Fenwarin: "That is tempting but I was thinking along the lines of compensation now for what we've already done, so we can muster up some strength to go for our next adventure. How about that?"

GM: "Hmm, it's a hard bargain." He reaches back into his pouch and pulls out five coins. "Here you go." And lays them into your hand. He takes your hand, pulls it towards him, puts them into your hand and closes your hand around them. "Go run along now."

Loyal: Like a kid getting an allowance for candy.

Fenwarin: [Laughs] Yeah.

Taury: I want to kill him so badly.

Loyal: [Laughs]

Fenwarin: [Laughs]. Yeah. Fenwarin dejectedly takes the coins and moves along. Can't seem to get through to him.

GM: After you've moved a few paces, you open your hand to look at the coins. The first thing that strikes you is the silver glint.

Fenwarin: [Laughs]

GM: And then you realize those are not silver, those are platinum.

Loyal: Oh! Ok, that's something!

Fenwarin: Five platinum?!

GM: Five platinum.

Fenwarin: Woah! Well yeah, Fenwarin is decidedly happy about that. I move my way to the rest of the group, where they were heading before I went to go get something to eat."

GM: Alright. You stop by the town hall and there's a bunch of clerks running around on the ground floor. One of them stops, "Can I help you?"

Fenwarin: "Yes, I'm looking for some of my friends here, a big strapping gal, really butch looking and ah, a person in robes and a hood. Have you seen them?"

GM: "Oh, they were just here, I think they've left to... I have no idea where they've gone."

Fenwarin: [Laughs]. "Well yeah that was a nice try at least, I'll keep looking, thank you."

GM: Nods goes about their business.

Fenwarin: I try to look around and see if I can spot them or anything.

GM: Ok. Where are you searching for them at? Or are you just asking random people if they've seen them?

Fenwarin: Just walking around, searching and asking random people if they saw them.

GM: Alright. Give me a Diplomacy check.

Fenwarin: Ok.

GM: This is the gather information aspect of diplomacy. Alright. Takes you about an hour, but eventually you run across someone who knows exactly where they're at. They just were in the markets with them.

Fenwarin: Ok.

GM: They are all down at 35. Taury is the first one you spot.

Fenwarin: I walk up to her and just say "Hey Taury!" 

Taury: She turns, just looks at you.

Fenwarin: "What have you guys been doing?"

Taury: "What does it look like we've been doing?"

Fenwarin: "Well, I thought you were at the mayor's place and couldn't find you, so I finally found someone that knew where you guys were so I went down here."

Taury: "Oh yes the mayor. Well we were there, it didn't go so well. So now we're here."

Fenwarin: "Didn't go well, what do you mean?"

Taury: "Ah its a long story."

Fenwarin: "Alright, I'll just ask Morana later then. Where is she by the way?"

Taury: I presume Taury can see Morana from here yeah?

GM: Yeah, it's not a huge place, it's just crowded.

Taury: Yes, she'll just point to the general direction.

Fenwarin: Ah I'll just walk over there and in that direction.

GM: Not very long before you see Morana.

Fenwarin: "Morana, Taury said something about it not going well at the mayor's office. What does she mean?"

Morana: "Well we, we got there as the meeting was ending, and ah the sheriff was about as helpful as he usually is so, it is what it is." As Morana turns, you see that she has a belt tied, like from her shoulder to her waist now, and there's five daggers stuck in it.

Fenwarin: "Oh well. Ok so the sheriff was just his old self then ah?"

Morana: "Oh definitely, very much you know, attempting to pass the buck to us with a lot of the things that are going on in town, the usual."

Fenwarin: "Yeah as much as expected from him, I guess. Oh, by the way, I ah, I spoke to ah Brodert up by the Old Light. Gave us a reward for what we've done."

Morana: "Oh, wonderful."

Fenwarin: And I hand her one platinum coin.

Morana: "Well, that's not what I was expecting out of that but sure ok, cool."

Fenwarin: "Yeah, me neither. But hey, that's, that's supplies for us for our next outing."

Morana: "Yeah, covers more than what I just spent on these, that's for sure."

Fenwarin: And now that I reminded myself about the platinum coins, I walk back to Taury and hand her one as well.

Taury: She just takes it and puts it in her pocket.

Fenwarin: And now and I search up Loyal to hand one to.

Loyal: You find him over by the alchemical supplies areas where he's gathers and says "Oh perfect that'll be just enough to cover this. Thank you."

Fenwarin: "I've saved one for Markus when we meet up with him again."
 	
 	That's all the time we have for now. To learn more about the show, the cast, etc. head over to http://wayward-expeditions.com/ .