Unknown to each other, the four heroes of our tale are headed to Sandpoint the day before the Swallowtail festival and the investment of the new Cathedral of Desna. The old Shrine of Desna was burnt down in a horrible fire that took the lives of the priest and his foster daughter. Father Zantus has spent years to rebuild, not just a shrine but the magnificent structure to be consecrated. Ironically, none of the group of would be adventurers even realizes this is happening. Each is headed to Sandpoint for his or her own reasons.

Traveling on foot is the half-elf druid, Elinae Faelyn, accompanied by her faithful tiger, Selene. They are headed her because of dreams the young druid had. After talking with the city guard at the South Bridge, El (as she likes to be called) heads to the Rusty Dragon Tavern.

The other three are coming as part of a trade caravan. Azalea Castelle is working security on her way to Sandpoint to find giants to fight. The half-elf fighter is a tall and well built woman with an open smile and attitude. At the moment she is on break, riding along in a carriage with a halfing another half-elf and a Tengu. The halfing is making small talk with the Tengu, Alessio Prinzi, a rogue with connections to the Scarzni crime families, who is looking to lay low. It is the hafling who informs the others of the festival in town tomorrow. He is Hlodwin a devotee of Desna and wishes to see the consecration. He is wary of the male half elf in the carriage. Grymar is obviously touched by something non-human. His face has golden scales, like the most noble of dragons upon it, showing his lineage as a sorcerer. Grymar is reserved, knowing that he often is feared. Alessio and Azalea both talk enough for him and the trip passes well. Azelea heads to get a room at the White Deer, while Grymar decides to go with Alessio “Call me Al” to the Rusty Dragon. Al, however has to stop in at the Fatman’s Feedbag and meet Jubrayl Vhiski to check in. While Grymar has a drink at the bar, Al talks with Vhiski and learns the lay of the land. While the man does not have a job for him at the moment, but does tell him he will keep him in mind and what the local cut is (30%) for independent work. The two then head to the Rusty Dragon in search of lodging.

El is already there. She has met with Ameiko Kaijitsu, the owner and former adventurer. She welcomes El as a fellow adventurer and begins a nice discussion. She even brings some smoked pork to Selene who is content. It is around three hours later, as the shadows are growing long that Al and Grymar show up. Al gives the large cat a wide berth and sets at the bar, with Grymar following. Ameiko is her normal energetic self, but she is struck by the sorcerer and attempts to flirt with Grymar. The sheltered young man is not sure what to do with the flirtation and simply orders a wine. It is not clear Ameiko has given up, however. The three adventurers chat briefly before taking rooms for the night at 5sp each.

The Swallowtail Festival begins promptly, as scheduled, on the Autumnal Equinox. The square before the church quickly becomes crowded as locals and travelers arrive, and several merchant tents featuring food, clothes, local crafts, and souvenirs are there to meet them

The turnout for the opening speeches is quite respectable, and the four keynote speakers each deliver short but well-received welcomes to the festival. Mayor Deverin's friendly attitude and excitement prove contagious as she welcomes visitors to town and jokes about how even Larz Rovanky, the local tanner(andnotorious workaholic) managed to tear himself away from the tannery to attend, much to everyone's amusement (except Larz's).

Sheriff Belor Hemlock brings the crowd down a bit with his dour mood, his reminder to be safe around the evening's bonfire, and his request for a moment of silence to remember those who lost their lives in the fire that claimed the town's previous church several years ago.

The next speaker is scheduled to be local nobleman Lonjiku Kaijitsu, (Amekio’s father) but a sudden illness has prevented him from attending the ceremony. This isn't something that surprises the locals, given Lonjiku's well-known dislike of frivolity and festivals, and the group hears many comments to this point.

Sandpoint's own showman Cyrdak Drokkus is more than up to the challenge of bringing the crowd's mood back up with his rousing anecdotes. He delivers a not-completely-irreverent recap of the long process the town went through to finance and construct the new cathedral. He throws in a bit of self-promotion at the end, as is his wont, inviting everyone to stop by the Sandpoint Theater the following evening to check out his new production of “The Harpy's Curse,” revealing that the lead role of Avisera the harpy queen will be played by none other than the famous Magnimarian diva Allishanda!

Finally, Father Zantus steps up to give a short speech thanking everyone for coming before declaring the Swallowtail Festival underway!

Numerous games and contests take place during the day, including sack races, games of hide-and-seek, weight-lifting challenges, balance beam contests, tug-of-war events, and the like. While the prize is nothing more than a circle of wood cut from a branch with a burnt brand and bragging rights for the day, this is a fine prize indeed for most of Sandpoint’s Residents. Azalea gives a try at balancing and fails, much to her own amusement and the amusement of others. She then excels at the lifting competition, beating out a somewhat surely looking man, who did not laugh along with the others. El does well in a knife throwing event, placing in the middle, but poor Grymar appears as nerdy as ever with a horrible showing. He makes up for it with an outstanding performance of prestidigitation to the delight of several of the townsfolk. The children warily approach Selene, and when given permission delight in rubbing and touching her. The tiger luxuriates in the attention she so rightfully deserves. Al shows off his skill with a bow, winning first prize.

The four get to know each other as they walk, with El seeking out the other woman, since she already knew met the two men last night.

At noon, Father Zantus and his acolytes wheel a large covered wagon into the square, and after recounting the short parable ofhow Desna first fell to earth and was nursed back to health by a blind child whom she transformed into an immortal butterfly as a reward for her aid, they pull aside the wagon's cover, releasing the thousand children of Desna-a furious storm of swallowtail butterflies that swarm into the air in a spiraling riot ofcolor to a great cheer from the crowd. Throughout the rest of the day, children futilely chase butterflies, never quite quick enough to catch them

Lunch is provided free, at the expense of Sandpoint's taverns. Each brings its best dishes-this event is as much a marketing push by the taverns to win new customers as it is to feed a hungry crowd. It soon becomes apparent that the darling ofthe lunch is, once again, Ameiko Kaijitsu, whose remarkable curry-spiced salmon and early winterdrop mead easily overshadowthe other offerings, such as the Hagfish's lobster chowder or the White Deer's peppercorn venison.

Finally, as the sun begins to set, Father Zantus takes the central podium, uses a thunderstone to attract everyone's attention, and clears his throat as he prepares to recite the Prayer of First Dreaming. As he recites the first few lines, Al’s new acquaintances notice him praying along.

A sharp retort, like the crack of distant thunder, slices through the excited crowd as the sun's setting rays paint the western sky. A stray dog that has crawled under a nearby wagon to sleep starts awake, and the buzz of two dozen conversations quickly hushes as all heads turn toward the central podium, where a beaming Father Zantus has taken the stage. He starts his prayer and utters the first few lines when suddenly a woman's scream slices through the air. A few moments later, another scream rises, then another. Beyond them, a sudden surge of strange new voices rises high-pitched, tittering shrieks that sound not quite human . The crowd parts and something low to the ground races by, giggling with disturbing glee as the stray dog gives a pained yelp and then collapses with a gurgle, its throat cut open from ear to ear. As blood pools around its head, the raucous sound of a strange song begins, chanted from shrill, scratchy voices.

Goblins Chew and Goblins Bite

Goblins Cut and Goblins Fight

Stab the Dog and Cut the Horse

Goblins Eat and Take by Force

Goblins Race and Goblins Jump

Goblins Slash and Goblins Bump

Burn the Skin and Mash the Head

Goblins Here and you be Dead

Chase the Baby, Catch the Pup

Bonk the Head the Shut it UP

Bones be Cracked, Flesh be Stewed

We Be Goblins! You Be Food!

Goblins are attacking the city! When the goblins attack, they shriek and leap and race and cackle, taking great joy in the panic and fear they spread among the humans (whom most goblins insultingly call “longshanks”). Some goblins wave torches and light tents on fire, while others chase children and pets with ill intent. The entire time, goblin warchanters sing a horrifically catchy and nerve wracking goblin song at the top of their lungs, further spurring their kin into murderous frenzy. Everywhere the heroes, goblins tear through merchant stalls, menace locals with their dogslicers, throw rocks through windows, and otherwise make terrors of themselves.

Al, El, and Azalea turn to see three goblins coming at them. Grymar at first mistakes them for dogs. Fortunately, they don’t target him, and instead go after Selene, El and Azalea. This proves to be a mistake for them as they are held off. Grymar notices the attack and moves to roast them with Burning Hands. El and Selene finish them off.

Al looks to find a Warchanter and heads to the south of the stage. Three goblins lighting fires see him and Azalea coming and attack them. While Al uses his bow on the Warchanter, it seems his skill was used up on the competition earlier in the day. Azalea on the other hand, slices a goblin in twain, cutting its head to his crotch. The Warchanter uses hideous laughter on the fighter, stopping her from fighting for a moment and taking a blow. Grymar and El move down and Selene engages two of the Goblins. Grymar, not wanting to hit an ally, grows golden claws and attempts to attack, but misses the small creatures. Azalea stops laughing and kills the goblin in front of her, slicing him in half. Selene also kills the other leaving only the Warchanter.

In moments all five combatants are around the bard goblin. It takes a moment and he is ripped apart by Selene, who chews on his rubbery body.

In a moment to take a breath, Father Zantus rushes to their side. He thanks them for what they're doing to help fight the goblins and cures both Selene and Azalea of their wounds with his divine magic.

Things at the festival itself have calmed somewhat. Here and there, the sounds ofbattle, clanging swords, calls of support by the town guard, and shrieking and singing goblins echo through the streets, but at the festival itself, most of the citizens have fled. One or two goblins remain behind to scavenge food, and many more lie dead (along with a few unfortunate citizens). It should be obvious that the fight has moved on, especially when the sound of a scream and a frantic barking come from the north. This fight is not over!

The next morning at the Rusty Dragon, the group of four heroes is just finishing their morning meal. They are still basking in the glory of helping to defend the town when a breathless Father Zantus comes in. Near the Church, up towards the North cliffs is an old burned out Guard House. It seems some goblins have holed up there!

The group grabs their gear and heads across the city. All along the way, folk stop them to shake their hands and praise them. They approach the old guard house from holes in the west and south. The building shows its damage and age. In one unburned room, Alessio finds a locked door with footprints up to it. He has everyone gather and be quiet, though Grymar and Azalea are not the most stealthy. He picks the lock and Azalea bursts into the room to find a severely wounded goblin commando who she kills in the old bed. A search of the room reveals an old secret door in the floor. It appears not recently used, so the group decides to clear the upper floors before checking it.

In the northwest corner, three Goblins have secured themselves in the old armory, with two hastily erected barricades of wood. Standing in one of the two totally burnt out rooms, Alessio set fire to the eastern pile of wood, while Elinae, Selene and Azalea waited to the north. As the fire spreads, it can only burn into the unburned area on this fire threatens the goblins inside. Hearing yells and screams, the northern barricade is dismantled enough to allow the three goblins inside through. Unfortunately, they run into the blade of Azaela who kills two, and the jaws and claws of Selene. With the goblins here cleared, the group searches the building thoroughly, they open the door to head below.

Heading down a set of steep stairs, the heroes find a dark room, the far walls illuminated by their torches and El’s light spell. Two skeletons have seen them enter and immediately attack the group. Despite Skeletons resistance to slicing attacks, one of the skeletons falls to her sword, while Elinae bashes the other. Searching the room, it is clear this was a living area. The remains of a large hexagonal table and six hexagonal benches remain, though they are quite rotten and will collapse if sat upon. There is a hexagonal bed, also rotten, which will explode into dust if someone jumps on it or tries to tear it apart. An iron bound chest is in one of the alcoves. The chest has a trap on the lock. If it is not found and disarmed it will pour a vial of liquid into the chest as the lock is turned. Fortunately, Alessio was more than able to disable the trap. They leave the metal vial for another time. The contents of the chest include a belt buckle, an ornate dagger, some coins and a medallion making its wearer immune to sleep.

The resident rouge also finds a secret door to a hidden room. This room has a small chest in the eastern niche. Inside the chest are the following: 177gp, 210 sp, and a bag of 5 gems; 3 x 50 gp, 150 gp, and 200 gp. There is also a cloak made of feathers. It acts as a cloak of elvenkind, but if worn by a Tengu, it also provides featherfall. The door on the far side is clearly a secret door to the next room. Emerging into that room has more undead! A ghoul and a skeleton advance on the group. The corpse of a dire rat blocks the passage to the south. The group easily dispatches the ghoul and skeleton. They search the room, which appears to have been some sort of game room. A large, hexagonal table is in the center of the room surrounded by six chairs. A throwing dagger is hidden under the table at each chair location. The remains of a deck of cards are present that crumbles to dust when picked up - as well as six piles of copper pieces, numbering 40, 65, 23, 88, 99, and 31 respectively. One of the daggers is in fact a +1 Dagger of Returning.

With the noise of the fight, dire rates charge into the room to the south, however, they seem unwilling to cross the corpse of their fellow. To the northwest, the door leads to a practice range. This room contains a knife rack with 8 rusted throwing knives. There is a table and a single chair. Four practice targets are on the east wall. Otherwise, it is empty. The door out is locked, but Azalea forces it open. It is clear it leads to a long passage leading away. The group decides to leave it for now, and opens the other door in the room. Then things go south.

Immediately the two ghouls and two zombies in the room attack. The doorway creates a bottleneck. The ghoul adsorbs hits and paralyzes Selene. Grymar torches the ghouls and zombies through the door, doing maximum damage. Azaela swings her sword while El is attacking with her staff, but the ghoul attacks Grymar and he too falls. Alessio grabs the sorcerer and drags him away. A ghoul and zombie falls in the fight, but it rages on, as Azaela is bitten, and she two falls paralyzed. Alessio tries the returning dagger but misses. El is next to fall to the ghoulish bite, leaving only the Tengu standing. The remaining zombie mindlessly attacks the three near it, El, Azaela, and Selene. Ghoul lands its bite on Alessio as he lands one on the ghoul. He now is downed. The ghoul stands over the party planning to feast, but Grymar shakes off the effect and futilely swings at the ghoul. Azalea tries to swing from the ground and misses. The Ghoul and zombie both attack and drop Azaela and Selene into near death states. Grymar attacks with his crossbow and misses. Finally, the tide turns. Alessio unfreezes, the least effected from the ghoul’s attack, and he connects with the dagger, and Elinae recovers and stands with her sickle, slashing the Zombie. The undead are downed! Eliane rushes to heal her companion and then Azaela.

Alessio takes the time to check the room. This room has many storage shelves with food containers on them. The food is all rotten. A table and two chairs are in this long, curved chamber plus a small hearth (long since closed to the outside), a weapon rack with 6 rotting spears, and a cabinet with pots, pans, utensils, etc. There is a secret door to the south.

The group staggers out of the guard house into the afternoon sun. They receive shocked looks from townspeople as they walk the length of the city back to Rusty Dragon. They heal, bathe and have a decent dinner before all collapsing into bed. That next morning, Al takes their loot and both sells it and does some shopping. He pick sup a hammer for any more undead and a few alchemical fire flasks.

In the afternoon, the group returns to the guard house and decides to leave the doors for later and take on the rats. The dire rats swarm up from their tunnels to defend their nest. Azalea El, and Selene move to clear a side cave while Grymar and Al watch more rats swarm from below and another tunnel to the side. Grymar fills the passage to the south with his burning hands and takes down four of the dog sized creatures. Meanwhile Al struggles to hit any rat with his sword. The tiger and the ladies are easily clearing their cave, smashing the dire rats.

Al finally makes contact while Grymar steps back to be able to cast again. Al sees more swarms coming and calls for the ladies as Grymar burns more rats saying ”Fire’s good!”. The women move up to support the men, killing one rate after another. Al uses the first of his alchemical fire to burn and splash oil on rats approaching them. Azalea blocks the passage to the east, but this puts her in the way of Grymar who does not want to bathe her in fire. Azalea tries to hack her way forward to give Grymar room, as Al uses another flask. While the fighter is able to get forward, she is swarmed before anyone can help!

El and Selene move have finished with the rats from the south and move to support Azalea who is in dire straits while Grymar and Al fire arrows that fall ineffectively amid the chaos of the fight. El is able to get to her friend and heal her with glowing hands.

Finally, the swarm of dire rats is defeated. The group moves to explore the caves. Al finds baby rats that he quickly dispatches. They lower caves have several nests with the odds and ends gathered by rats, including some gold and other items. Tunnels in these caves lead to secret exits, one outside the city gates, and another to key locations within the city.

Healing up, the group heads to the secret doorway and enters the first of two rooms. Both have treasure forgotten from long ago. Both have traps of gas, only one of which Al finds, a poison dart on a door. He fails to notice the gas on the greatsword case and all four heroes hack and cough in the old gas. Fortunately, it is not fatal, as it has lost much of its potency. The greatsword within is a magical adamantine sword with Thassalonian runes upon it. They also find a feather token of construction.

The sun is setting when the group heads back out into Sandpoint. This time, they look much better than before. Azaela is eager to see about claiming the site for themselves and they discuss it as they return to the Rusty Dragon. All agree to keep discussions of the cave network a secret. They stop to consult with the local sage, Brodert Ouink, who confirms the feather token will allow for the rapid construction or repair of a medium sized structure. The excitement for the four grows.

In the morning they go to meet with the Mayor Kendra Deverin. Azalea takes the lead in asking if they can have the old guard house. The Mayor, clearly sensing and opportunity to “pay” the heroes of Sandpoint with something worthless, is eager to agree. She tells the group to return in the morning to get the deed.

As they eat dinner at the Rusty Dragon, they are approved by Alden Foxglove, inviting them all for a hunt the next day. He is coming on strongly to Azalea and the group can tell he is taken with her. The group says it will consider the hunt, and he promises to return with mounts at 10 tomorrow. Kissing Azalea’s hand he bids them adieu. Al then tells Azalea that while Aldern is a rich and successful merchant, he is married to a beautiful woman named Iesah.

As they digest that, an older Tian man bursts into the Inn and spies the heroes. This is Lonjiku Kaijitsu, father of Ameiko. He stalks over the group at the table and beings to berate them, accusing them of endangering the townsfolk with their ill-advised “antics” against the goblins, implying they should have left the defense of the town to the city guard and other “trained professionals.” Azaela stands up, followed by El and even Selene who jumps on the table. Azaela gets in the man’s face and makes him pause. Ameiko rushes into the front room, a ladle dripping with soup in her hand, to find out what all the ruckus is about and starts a yelling match with her father. He eventually issues his ultimatum that he is taking her back to Magnimar. She refuses and the old man tries to grab her, but she strikes him with her soup filled ladle spattering fish stock and potatoes all over his hair and outfit. This act of public defiance wounds Lonjiku's pride more than anything else, and after he sputters for a moment, he finds his voice and utters, “You're as dead to me as your mother,” before leaving the tavern.

Ameiko, nearly in tears with the comment at her mother bravely picks up her ladle as her father leaves, and inspects it. Pulling a hair out of the mess, she says,

”I’ll need a well-cleaned ladle now, since jackass stew's not on the menu.“

The resulting cheers and laughter from the tavern's patrons help her attitude immensely. She thanks the group and extends their free rooms another week, telling them their dinner's on the house.

The group goes to bed wondering what tomorrow will hold.

Aldern Foxglove, arrives the next morning with four horses for the hunt. He has purchased one for each party member. For Azalea he has a robust roan. For Grymar a golden coat. El has a light grey and Al finds a rather dull brown. Rather than go on a hunt into the wild, the city bred Al decides to stay in the town. The others ride off with Foxgolve for the hunt. During the ride, the man’s intentions towards Azalea are quite clear, but she continues to lightly rebuff him. El is easily able to find boar tracks and within an hour and a half, the hunting party has their kill. They can easily make it back to the inn for dinner.

Back in town, Al touches base with his contact and is offered a mission to retrieve a ledger book from a visiting merchant at the White Deer. Al accepts the job and begins to plan. He is back at the Rusty Dragon when the others return. There is a big party with the large bore returned. Foxglove, dejected by his rejection, retires early.

During the festivities, Shayliss Vinder, the daughter of the Sandpoint General Store, makes a clear play for Grymar which utterly fails. The bookish sorcerer with the exotic features becomes even more appealing to the young woman, even though he is missing it entirely. Al offers to escort the young lady home and gets her their safely, all the while getting to know her better. The young lady feels outshown by her older sister ”who gets to have all the fun”. Al, ever attentive to the local gossip knows that rumor holds that Katrine Vinder's been “shacking up” with one of the workers at the lumber mill, and her overly protective father's been up in arms about it When they do arrive at the General Store, the Tengu talks well and makes a good impression of her grateful father. He then heads off on his mission to steal the ledger of one Caanan Tegah.

Al heads to the White Deer and finds the owner, Garridan Viskala, lives down to his reputation. Eager to encourage visitors to stay at his inn, Garridan keeps the prices of his rooms and board low, matching those of the Rusty Dragon despite the fact that his accommodations are much cleaner and more spacious. Still, his gruff attitude tends to make his establishment less popular than the Dragon. Garridan is the brother of Sandpoint's sheriff, Belor Hemlock, although the two of them are in a long-running feud stemming from what Garridan sees as his brother's complete abandonment of Shoanti tradition.

Al makes small talk with the owner, inquiring about Tegah and finds the man is hosting a party in a private room. It is about this time that the waitress comes out complaining about the acts of the drunken men inside. Sensing an opportunity, Al offers to serve the next round for the lady, and Garridan is happy to agree, as this spares his daughter more indignity.

Al adopts a obsequious manner and goes in to serve. The guests pay him little mind, other than noting his race. Al is easily able to steal the ledger and exit. Jubrayl Vhisk is not there to take his prize, but he talks with a man calling himself “Longshanks” (on account of the goblins he has killed), who takes the message Al will return tomorrow.

Al heads back to the Rusty Dragon and finds the rest of his party in bed. He helps Ameiko close down, and drinks with her. He is surprised by how little the drinks effects him tonight (fort nat 20), and the two talk late into the night, starting what seems to be an unlikely friendship. Ameiko opens up about the disaster of her adventuring days and the trauma of those experiences, while Al finds himself talking about his time growing up and having to leave Magnimar.

The Next morning. Foxglove leaves early. Breakfast is self serve bread and cheese as Amekio is still fast asleep. So are most of the other people staying, though Al is up early and goes to see Vhisk and turn in the ledger. The other three get up and leave later in the morning. Despite none of them imbibing too much, each decides a long morning was called for, as they have been through quite a bit recently. Despite offers, they all awake alone. The trio of new friends head up to the burnt out guard house to explore discuss when to use the feather token when they get is back from the scribe. They are reading to leave as Father Zantus approaches them and bids them come to the Cathedral. He has news that the tomb of Ezakien Tobyn, the old priest who died in the fire, has been disturbed!

Al is headed to the Rusty Dragon when he hears someone behind him running. He is relieved to see it is an Acolyte of Desna. The young man is clearly not in the best of physical fitness, and is huffing with the effort. Between breaths he informs Al he is looking for the group and Father Zantus needs their help with the disturbed tomb. Al follows him to the cathedral.

Once they are all there, Sherrif Hemlock and Father Zantus tells the group that stone door to the previous priest's burial vault is hanging. Fearing the worst, Zantus quickly sought out Sheriff Hemlock and the local heroes. Hemlock tells Zantus to stay here and invites the party to come with him to the tomb in the Boneyard.

The vault in question is a 20-footsquare stone structure that stands near the wall. Used to house the remains of previous caretakers, priests, and acolytes who served at the Cathedral, the stone door does indeed hang ajar. The ground around the place is churned up as well. It is clear to all there are many of the footprints are goblin prints, but some of them appear to have been left by a larger humanoid. El can is enough to confirm that about six goblins and one humanoid climbed the wall, then approached and entered the vault.

It's an easy enough task to open the vault door, and Azaela does so. Four skeletons stand within and-they immediately lurch out to attack! Al switches his weapon to a mace with a curse while the skeletons attack Azalea and Selene. The undead are no match for the group, and very quickly, the skeletons are destroyed.

A search of the vault's interior turns up two things of interest. First, Grymar notes the discarded robe that lies in a corner is a expended robe of bones (no patches remain on the now only faintly magical robe). Second, and more disturbing, is the fact that the sarcophagus that contained Ezakien's body has been opened and his remains stolen. Sheriff Hemlock has little insight into why the bones have been taken, but he muses that, perhaps, the goblin raid was a distraction so that this unknown thief could steal the remains of the town's previous priest. The sheriff recommends that the group keeps this information to themselves, in any event-the townsfolk have had enough distress this week, after all!

They return to the town through the cathedral towards the guard house. As the pass the White Deer they see Caanan Tegah being kicked out, even as he rages about his “Stolen book!”. The group shakes their heads at the spectacle, but Al cannot help but cock his head in the Tengu motion of amusement.

They are also approached by a child runner, who is asking them to come see Quint, the scribe who has been in study of the feather token. He indeed confirms it is for repair and construction and has taken significant notes. He asks to keep the notes and will make a copy for Grymar instead of asking for payment. Grymar gladly accepts, though from what he can see of the magical energy of this object, its magic is still beyond his understanding. Al suggests they use the feather token at night to make less of a fuss, and the group agrees. Quint does note, the token does appear to have fey blood in it, much like ink in a quill.

That night at 2:00am, they go to the center of the burnt out keep and Gymar throws the feather token into the ground. It sticks and spins. Soon, it starts to make a scribbling sound, like on paper, but the writing is on reality itself. It spins more, and now there are two, and four, and eight. The four beings wisely decide not to be in its way and exist the ruin. There is a growing sounds of pens on paper, scratching like 1000 scriveners all at work. After some hours, the work is complete and all the quills vanish, save the first, laying where it started, its magical energy spent. Perhaps it could be the base for another item?

The next morning, townspeople stop and stare and the totally repaired Guard House. One of them is Shayliss, who is this time more coy on asking for help with the rats in the basement. The young woman is clearly captivated by the strange man’s clear intellect and does want to get to know him better. This time, Grymar agrees to help her, though if he is actually understanding what she wants or not is unclear.

Shayliss has not lost her will to find some companionship of her own. She leads Grymar through the streets back the General Store with Al following discreetly behind. They enter the private door and head for the basement. Shayliss reveals her true intentions as soon as she they are alone in the basement; her bodice comes off and she slides herself into an embrace with Grymar, guiding him to a convenient cot she has set up in the back of the room.

While Grymar is having his first serious encounter with a woman, her father, Ven Vinder returns from picking up supplies. Al sees this and leaps into action, approaching the shopkeeper and offering to help him get things into the store. Vinder remembers Al from the other night and welcomes him in. Al desperately casts about to see where his friend has gone but sees nothing. He loudly asks Vinder about anything he might purchase for their newly renovated Guardhouse. It is this noise that alerts the now pantsless Grymar something is up. He and Shayliss quickly dresses and Al sees Grymar sneaking out the back door. Relaxed, Al is genuinely interested in the furniture that Vinder has for sale, especially a sophisticated desk.

The Scarnettis are Sandpoint's most notorious noble family, and many of Sandpoint's elderly Varisian locals still haven't forgotten or forgiven Alamon Scarnetti's assault on their people more than 40 years ago, even with Alamon 20 years in the ground at the Sandpoint Cemetery. The Scarnetti family, now headed by Alamon's only surviving son, Titus Scarnetti, controls Sandpoint's mills and the lumber industry. Their control over the lumber the Valdemars need for their enterprises is not lost on the Scarnettis, and they use this fact as often as possible to leverage Valdemar support. The Scarnettis are easily Sandpoint's most traditional family, who cling to old Chelish values that are, in many cases, outdated today

With this in mind, it is somewhat of a surprise when a well dressed messenger approaches the Guard House and inquires of the ladies if they and the other “Heroes of Sandpoint” would attend lunch with Titus Scarnetti. The ladies accept and wait an hour. Just as they are leaving, the men show up, Al having caught up to the would be paramour, giving him brotherly ribbing about the episode. The two are interested in attending and they four take the long hike out of the city to the Scarnetti Manor house.

Over Lunch, he congratulates them on their heroics and talks at length about the past history of his family, excluding the details on his late father’s sorry history. He does discuss the “Late Unpleasantness” as it is called. He offers the group lumber as a reward for saving Sandpoint. It is pretty clear to Al and the ladies that Scarnetti is looking to buy influence with them in the future. However, the heroes are happy to take the gifts since no formal strings are attached, and the scheming noble can find out how much his bribes are actually worth in the future.

They end lunch and proceed back into the city, hoping to conduct some shopping. However, they encounter Sheriff Hemlock who asks them to come to see him at the Mayor’s Manor to visit with Shalelu Andosana, a ranger in these parts. The group turns around and goes back through the city and back out to the noble homes, this time to Mayor Deverin’s home.

Shalelu Andosana isn't quite a bounty hunter, a survivalist, or a mercenary, but rather a mix of all three. The half-elven woman passes through town once or twice a season to buy supplies and never remains more than a few days, always staying in the same room at the Rusty Dragon free of charge thanks to her long friendship with Ameiko. Near the end of each visit, she meets with Sheriff Hemlock and Mayor Deverin for a few hours at the garrison to give a report on the state of the hinterlands before she leaves town again, a pouch of gold at her side. Both Hemlock and Deverin value Shalelu's reports, since they provide unbiased insight into how the local farmlands are faring and keep the town council abreast ofburgeoning dangers in the region.

Shalelu’s current visit to Sandpoint is unexpected-she last passed through town only a month ago and wasn't expected until the last week of autumn. She dispenses with her visit to the Sandpoint Market and the Rusty Dragon, instead requesting an immediate meeting with Sheriff Hemlock and Mayor Deverin. The unusual meeting and Shalelu's ragged look combine to make an already jumpy populace suspect that the woman brings news of a new goblin threat. This is why the Sherriff seeks out the Heroes of Sandpoint.

Hemlock then introduces Shalelu to the group as an “unofficial member of Sandpoint's town guard” (an introduction that causes her to smirk) and the young heroes to Shalelu as “Sandpoint's newest crop of goblinslayers.”

Hemlock explains that Shalelu has been a thorn in the side of the local goblin tribes for years, and that few in the region know more about them than she does. He goes on to recap her report that Sandpoint hasn't been the only place in the region that's had goblin troubles. In short, there's been an increase in goblin-related raids along the Lost Coast, particularly in the dale between Nettlewood and Mosswood. Only a day ago, a farm south of Mosswood was burnt to the ground by a group of goblins. Shalelu was thankfully nearby, and while the farm couldn't be saved, she did rescue the family and drive off the goblins; the family is staying at a nearby farm for now, but the goblin problem is obviously not going away.

At this point, Hemlock cedes the floor to Shalelu, asking her to tell the group what she told him:

“Belor's told me of your work against the goblin swell done. I 've dedicated the last several years of my life to keeping them from causing too much trouble around these parts, but they're tenacious and fecund little runts. Like weeds. Weeds that that bite.

“There are five major goblin tribes in the region , and, traditionally, they're pretty good at keeping each other in line with intertribal squabbles and the like . Yet from what I 've been able to piece together, members of all five tribes were involved in the raid on Sandpoin t. A fair number of the Mosswood goblin s I dealt with yesterday were already pretty beat up, and there was a lot of chatter about the 'longshanks' who killed so many of them. Now that I 've met you, it seems obvious from their description s who they were talking about. Seems like you've made an impression.

“In any event, the fact that the five tribes are working together disturbs me. Goblin tribes don't get along unless they've got something big planned, and big plans require big bosses. I 'm afraid that someone's moved in on the goblins and organized them. And judging by these recent raids, what they're organizing seems like bad news for all of us.”

After Shalelu's speech, Sheriff Hemlock announces that he's taking a few of his guards south to Magnimar to see about securing additional soldiers to station at Sandpoint for a few weeks, at least until the extent of the goblin threat can be determined. While he's out of town, he's asked Shalelu to sniff around Shank's Wood, Brinestump, Mosswood, Devil's Platter, and other places where goblins live to see if she can discover anything else about what's going on. He also asks the new heroes to maintain a public presence in Sandpoint over the next few days, if they don't mind. “The locals seem to have taken to you,” he says, “And seeing you around town will do a lot for keeping worries down over the next few days.”

The grope of course agrees. The meetings and conversations have taken them from the afternoon until the evening. Shaelu notes she is staying at the Rust Dragon and offers them dinner on her in exchange for hearing more about their times in the Sandpoint raid. That evening, over drinks and dinner at the Rusty Dragon, the five exchange stories and tales. Importantly, Shalelu's tells the group about the local Goblin Tribes.

The next morning, the half elf ranger heads back into woods, and Sherrif Hemlock heads out with his men. The party decides to spend the day shopping, a good way to both be visible and to furnish their new home. The first head back to Vinder’s General Store and order some specific items. Next is the Carpenter’s guild where word has already reached them from Titus Scarnetti for a supply of good lumber for them to use. Next up is the local Locksmith. Finally, Azaela notes she just met with a noble and they keep rubbing elbows with others in power. She has them stop off the head of the local Clothing Guild for an order of nice clothes. They are putting a number of people to work!

They retire to the Rusty Dragon for a good night’s sleep.

Al is awoken to a knock on his door and a timid voice calling to him. He gets up to meetthe elderly halfling woman, Bethana, a maid who works for Ameiko at the Rusty Dragon. She's obviously upset and asks to speak to Al. In short, her employer has gone missing. Bethana woke earlier this morning to find that Ameiko hadn't already started breakfast, for the first time Bethana could remember. Worried, she knocked on Ameiko's door but didn't get a response. Against herbetterjudgment, Bethana entered Ameiko's room to find it empty and the bed unslept in. Worse, she found a crumpled piece ofparchment near the bed-a note from Ameiko's older brother Tsuto.

At this point, Bethana hands Al the note. Although it was written in Minkaian (likely to keep prying eyes from reading it, Bethana muses), Ameiko had been teaching Bethana the language over the last few years. The halfling has helpfully already translated the note's message on the opposite side.

The note is from her brother, Tsuto, inviting her to meet him at the Glassworks saying their father might have something to do with the recent troubles in Sandpoint. Al knows this is strange, because in his talks with his new friend he learned about her half brother. Bethan does not know this and she explains to Al hat Tsuto was something of a scandal when he was born back in 4688 (a year before Ameiko), since he's a half-elf. Bethana sagely notes, with big eyes, that neither of Ameiko's parents are elves. It was obvious that old Lonjiku wasn't the boy's father, and his rage at the discovery of his wife's indiscretion was the talk of the town for months. Lonjiku's wife Atsuii never revealed who the father was, and it's a testament to Lonjiku's stubbornness that they remained married. Tsuto was handed over to the Turandarok Academy to be raised outside of the Kaijitsu family, ignored by his father and forbidden visits from his mother. Ameiko starting visiting him in secret once she learned about his existence at the age of 10, visiting him a few times a month to keep him company, bring him some food, and promise him that someday things would get all sorted out. That all changed in 4705, when they had a terrible argument in which Tsuto struck Ameiko. Bethana doesn't know what the argument was about, but whatever it was sent Ameiko away from Sandpoint for a year, during which time she made a living as an adventurer. She returned to Sandpoint a year later to attend her mother's funeral. Tsuto was quite public in his opinions that his father had pushed Atsuii off a cliff to her death, and during the funeral there was a confrontation. Lonjiku nearly broke Tsuto's jaw with his cane, after which Tsuto cursed him and left Sandpoint. Ameiko has tried to reestablish contact with him ever since, but was never able to track him down.

Bethana's worried that Tsuto's up to no good. Since SheriffHemlock's out oftown,the PCs are the onlyones she can turn to. She begs them to head over to the Glassworks and find out what happened to Ameiko as soon as possible.

Al rouses his friends and the head off immediately to the Glassworks.

Once at the Glassworks, they find the building curiously silent. Neighbors have noticed the lack of traffic into and from the building, but since the furnace chimney still plumes with smoke, most assume that the building is simply closed to allow Lonjiku and his workers some privacy while they work on a big project. A quick investigation of the building perimeter reveals that curtains have been drawn over the windows and all the doors are locked. The rumble of the Glassworks' furnace is plainly audible from within.

After knocking on two different doors, Al decides to pick a lock. The front entrance is too well designed for his skills. Trying the back entrance, Al finds the lock worn and easily defeated. Sneaking in, the sounds of the furnaces are loud, as the furnace room is behind two more doors. Those are unlocked, and silent as the night, he sneaks in and peeks around the wall. Eight or more goblins are inside the room.

A furnace burns along the southeast wall of this room. Marble tables sit in the chamber, used to work raw glass into usable shapes, with nearby wooden tables cluttered with various tools of the trade. The building's furnace rumbles loudly, making hearing extremely difficult. The main furnace burns at the northeast end, a large chamber that utilizes alchemically treated wood that burns with a hot blue light. The workers use this room to melt glass, but Al knows that Lonjiku also periodically “rented” the furnace to Sczarni thugs for the disposal of evidence, as the fires are hot enough to burn bones and teeth. As the furnace's stone pipes run southwest, they reach smaller and progressively cooler furnaces used to keep glassworking projects at the proper temperature-glass shatters if it's allowed to cool too quickly.

Horribly, inside the bodies of the eight staff lie in various stages of dismemberment; the goblins have been burning legs and arms in the furnace with glee, and pouring melted glass on the remains in an attempt to duplicate a “masterpiece” of Lonjiku Kaijitsu’s body, propped up in a chair in the central alcove and encased in thick, runny sheets of hardened glass.

Horrified, Al pulls back to talk to his party!

The group decides a surprise attack is in order. Because of the loud noise of the furnaces, it is easy for them to fall upon the goblins. They march down the length of the room, leaving dead goblins in their wake. The goblins fight back with thrown hot glass and their dogslicers, but it is no good. One tries to flee down a flight of stairs but as the goblin has his hand on the doorknob, he glances back and Grymar sends a crossbow bolt though his eye.

Six goblins lay dead in in the room. The group discusses next actions. They feel finding Ameiko is most vital, and decide to sneak down the stairs since that is where the goblin was fleeing. They slowly descend into the lower areas. At the bottom of the stairs, they find cleared rubble, like an area had once been bricked over. Investigation leads to another area that had been cleared in the same way. Al takes the other direction and stumbles into their real quarry, Tsuto Kaijitsu and to guardian goblins. Al takes the iniative and leaps past the goblins to go for the big game. El leads her pet around the other way to flank the group.

Grymar falls back on his old favorite, burning hands and burns the goblins who swing wildly to defend themselves. Azaela simply strides past the goblins, taking their attacks as she closes on the kidnapper. With a mighty swing she almost cripples him. As Selene closes from the other side, Tsuto flips over the cat and stabs El. However, this fight is not going to go well for him. Azaela again suffers a stab form a goblin to get within reach of her foe and kills him while Selen takes out the last goblin. There is a quiet that falls in the room. They spread out to search downstairs, and fittingly, it is Al who finds Ameiko, conscious but badly wounded. They are able to get her stable, but want her safe. Grymar reports there is a tunnel heading out of the glassworks and is worried there are more goblins deeper. Al carries his friend out of the glassworks and flags down a citizen who is only too happy to take Ameiko to the Cathedral for care. Meanwhile, the other three investigate the rest of the Glassworks. While Tsuto is dead and can tell no tales, Tsuto's journal proves a better source of information. This small, leather-bound booklet contains two dozen parchment pages, most of which Tsuto has filled with maps of Sandpoint or erotic drawings of Nualia (who the party recognizes as the presumed-dead adopted daughter of Father Tobyn). The maps each depict different attack plans. The first set shows the attack plans for a group of 30 goblins-one of these battle maps is circled, and the heroes recognize it as the attack the goblins made on Sandpoint many days ago. Of more pressing concern are the next several pages, which illustrate an assault on Sandpoint by a force of what appears to be 200 goblins. None of these are circled, and while many are scratched out as if they've been rejected. The implications are ominous. Most of the drawings of Nualia depict as a normal human, though the last single demonic hand, but also bat wings, horns, a forked tail, and fang.

The group investigates what appears to be an old smuggler’s entrance between the two areas that were bricked up. The long tunnel leading from this room winds for some distance through the bedrock below Sandpoint. It must have been built decades ago by smugglers, the tunnel remains stable and serviceable as it winds lazily northeast for just over 1,750 feet before reaching a dead end. A DC zo Perception check reveals a secret door that opens into a 30-foot-diameter cave on the side of the cliff overlooking the Varisian Gulf. The cave mouth slopes down to a narrow beach; no Survival check is required to note the crude collection of goblin beds or remnants of their meals strewn about the cave.

From the tunnel's southern half, two side tunnels branch off. One leads east to a collapse after 400 feet El estimates I may have once led all the way to the Turandarok River. The one to the west seems to have once been bricked over at the point where it diverges from the main tunnel. This westerly passageway winds for 50 feet before turning north for another 100 feet. This tunnel seems dug for an unknown purpose. Whatever was found three by the old smugglers convinced them to brick up the tunnel and never speak of it again. The brick wall appears to have been torn down recently.

The party advances cautiously in their normal order. As they enter into this unknown complex. The immediately run into too a pair of sinspawn guarding the entrance. El and Selene rush to attack and both hit well. Al attempts another flipping attack but misses, as does Azaela. Grymar is behind the others and afraid to unleash an area of effect spell or fire into melee. The sinspawn sink into Azaela hurting her gravely, but El steps up to heal her. The summoned creatures then perish as Selene and Al finish them off.

The group heads in deeper and Azaela leads the way. As if guided by something, she directs the group straight towards the heart of the complex to the Shrine to Lamashtu and the Cathedral of Wrath. This huge room looks like nothing more than an immense underground cathedral. Ston e doors stand to either side of the main entrance, but beyond this, the walls are carved with strange, spiky run es. I n the center of the room is a large pool, with a ring of polished human skulls balanced on stone spikes arranged in a circle around the deeper midsection . At the far end of the room, a pair of stone stairways leads up to a pulpit on which sits a second pool, this one triangular and filled with churning, bubbling water that looks almost like translucent lava . Yet while wisps of what look like heat and steam rise from the strange orange liquid, the room itself is deathly cold.

Inside they see a quasit, a tiny type of demon and another sinspawn. She flies into a rage, accusing the group of “daring to intrude upon Mother’s sanctum”. The group does not hesitate. Al and Azaela engage and destroy the sinspawn between them and their foes. Selene closes and misses the tiny creature, but Grymar relies on magic missile to always hit. This results in Grymar being caught in a hold person spell. Azaela steps up for a big attack and she is rewarded with being put to sleep. The quasit dodges El and Selene while Grymar against uses magic missile as he does not think he can hit her any other way. Al steals the greatsword from the slumbering Azaela and swings the mighty blade killing the quasit.

The rest of the catacombs are easier to manage. They find ancient zombies in cages, easily delt with. They also find the goblin hero Koruvus, mutated by the unholy water in the shrine. While dangerous, he is not a match for the group. Grymar’s expertise in Runelord lore leads him to believe this fountain is a minor runewell and may be where the sinspawn are coming from. This will need to be delt with. However, a full accounting of these catacombs can wait. Right now Ameiko needs a friend.

Al and Azaela go to the healing Ameiko to break the news to her of her brother’s and father’s deaths. As heir, she is now the newest noble in the city. She takes the news stoically, but they know she does not want to run a glassworks.

The group knows that some additional clean up is needed. With the threat of over 200 goblins against the city from Tsuto’s journal, they have to act quickly. There are not dates and no warning when the attack might come. The next stop is going to be the goblin stronghold of Thistletop and perhaps the “longshanks” who has been rallying them, the apparently not deceased Nualia Tobyn.

The group spends the night in their new home and the next day preparing for confronting the goblins. The discovered notebook makes it clear that the goblins are being organized in Thistletop and present a grave threat to Sandpoint. Sherrif Hemlock has not even had a chance to get to Magnimar, much less return with reinforcements. The heroes know it is up to them to address this menace. They are also much concerned with what is clearly a Minor Runewell, but plan to leave that for another day.

The four started out just weeks ago as iterant travelers, but now they are the Heroes of Sandpoint. Each has discovered his or her inner powers and abilities. And that is not all. Both Al and Azaleahave discovered deeper magic within Al’s cloak and Azaela’s sword. The four feel they are ready to face this foe, but first, shopping!

The group goes out to shop, and Graymar and the ladies are surprised at how connected Al seems to the town. While they are all greeted cheerfully, Al is welcomed by the townsfolk as if he has been here for years. He even tells one women he had found her missing necklace and returns it to her as promised. Al is appalled at Graymar’s suggestion that maybe he was why it disappeared in the first place.

Al is easily able to sell most of their loot from the goblins and the catacombs of wrath. Loaded with new wealth, Al scours the city and returns triumphant with four handy haversacks magical bags of holding, one for each hero. The others gather supplies and what they think they will want.

Thistletop is located on the Varisian coast-approaching by land is difficult since the tangles of Nettlewood are in the way. Thistletop is a curiously round island about 6o feet off shore, connected to the mainland by a rope bridge. While reachable from the sea, or by traveling along the beaches, treacherous sea cliffs block the way to get to the stockade built atop the island. The cliffs themselves are 80 feet high, and the damp sea air makes the walls slick.

After a two hour journey form Sanpoint, the group heads into Nettlewood, trusting in El’s tracking ability. After an hour of searching, they come across one of several narrow goblin trails. Slowly picking their way through takes 3 additional hours, ably avoiding the hazard of single nettles that infest these woods. Finally, they find a wall of thorns. The briars and thistles that grow so rampantly in Nettlewood are even more dense and tangled here, close to the shore. Although not quite dense enough to block the sound of waves crashing on the unseen shores to the west, the undergrowth is certainly thick enough to block sight and access to the coast. Few trees grow this close to the edge of the sea, but 'the briars themselves often reach heights to rival them; here, the patch is nearly twenty feet high. While El can easily pass through these with her Druid abilities, they are an impassible wall for the others.

However, all four are easily able to see a place where there is a briar door that can be moved. In her new plate armor, Azaleahas no trouble moving the thorny door aside. This reveals a small network of tunnels and chambers in the briars to make it easier for them to come and go. A four-foot-high tunnel winds through the dense briars and nettles . The floor is hard-packed earth, with patches of wiry plants growing stubbornly here and there. While El can pass easily, and Selene can just walk, the others have to crouch or crawl in the small spaces. The group enters in, with El in the lead, looking to catch the goblins unawares.

Up ahead, three thistle tunnels open into a large cave-like chamber. Above, the thorny canopy grows thin enough that tiny slivers of the sky above can be seen, while below, the ground con sists of trampled dirt. To the west, the distant sound of sloshing waves echoes up from a hole. To the north, Al spies four goblin dogs resting and can smell the stink dozens of feet away.

Grymar wants to try his new grease spell to have the dogs slowed as they charge the party. He discussed with El and Azaleathe exact place to drop the spell. Unfortunately, this takes too much time and the dogs awaken! Al curses and moves up to fire an arrow into one of them!

The floor and walls of this musty-smelling chamber are covered with matted, wiry fur. Well-gnawed bones lie scattered about the floor, and a dozen wooden stakes have been driven into the ground near the walls. The dogs are actually held in place on ropes!

Al and Grymar fire arrows and bolts and the now barking beasts, while El sends Selene up to attack another she kills with a single bite. El, able to transverse the thorns with ease, moves to guard the western approach while Azalea guards their south.

A firepelt cougar leaps from the east. Only Al senses it coming and turns in time to be ready. It attacks him, slashing with a claw. Right after this happens, an entangle spell causes spiny plants to wrap around everyone in the area! Alessio, Azalea, and Selene are able to avoid getting wrapped. Elinae and Grymar are not so lucky.

Alessio leaps into the air, flying over the head of the creature attacking him, landing behind it, still managing to be free of the grasping vines as Selene charges into place next to the cat. Elinae tries to free herself but cannot. Azalea uses her strength to brush past the plants and heavily wounds the cat, bringing it to near death. It is at this point a burst of light erupts from the bushes, and a flare spell strikes Elinae, but she shuts her eyes and avoids its effects.

Grymar manages to get free and scuttles back outside the effected area in time to hear several goblins coming down the path. Now he decides to cast grease and he watches as four goblins hits the grease at a run and slid out of control, landing in disarray. He is pained to see that there are 6 more behind him!

With Grymar calling for help at the south of the entangled area, Al manages to cut the cat down, only for the goblin druid Gogmurt to use his flaming blade from the bramble walls on Al. Azalea goes to confront Gogmurt, but finds herself entangled again, only her armor saving her from damage. Elinae responds to Grymar’s cries and moves through the tripping hazards and walls with ease, dropping her own entangle on the goblins menacing the party’s sorcerer. All but two find themselves caught in the brambles, and each struggles to free himself. Grymar responds with scorching hands incinerating all caught in the spell. The remaining two entangled respond with short bows, striking Grymar.

Alessio stabs and drives off the goblin druid, who retreats into the briar walls. Elinae decides to go after this druid threat after Al calls out they are facing a druid, and charges through the briar walls to confront the retreating Gogmurt. They speak briefly in Druid and begin an epic fight. Eliane deftly dodges the flaming blade, with Gogmurt ducks and weaves to avoid El’s staff. They go back and forth missing, until they both manage to connect. As Gogmurt’s sword skids across El’s leg, she manages to land a heavy blow on his head. The goblin screams and throws himself to the ground, begging for mercy. The heavily breathing El accepts, tying him up and binding his mouth. As she does, he pleds with her to save his injured pet, which El reluctantly does, moving them both north to the edge of the walls. Gogmurt drops the magic powering his entangle.

As this fight rages, Azalea moves forward to attack the goblin dogs after being cut free by Al, who also fires an arrow into one of the dogs before freeing the trapped Selene. Grymar and the goblins trade arrows and crossbow bolts, but Grymar grows frustrated after his first fantastic shot through a goblin’s eye, and pulls his wand of magic missiles to drop one of them. As the entangle drops Azalea has finished off the last of the goblin war dogs and charges south to help Grymar. She avoids falling in the grease but is again entangled. The strong fighter simply pushes forward, this time ripping her way ahead, and smashes goblin after goblin. It is all over!

Elinae interrogates their captive, who snivels, cries, and whines.

Gogmurt says that Warchief Ripnugget has become enthralled with several taller folk of late, in particular a “very angry woman with white hair and weird eyes and a torn-up belly” whom he suspects Ripnugget has become infatuated with. The chieftain has certainly been placing a lot of trust in this strange woman's advice-it was at her urging that assault on Sandpoint took place even as Gogmurt spoke against it. The druid has distanced himself from the chieftain and these new allies, not wanting to be tainted by her bad ideas. He reports that she has four dangerous allies of her own: a brutish bugbear mercenary named Bruthazmus who lived for many years in a hut on the northeastern side of Nettlewood, a quiet human man who wears lots of metal armor, a dark-skinned violent human woman who's used fire to scorch several goblins who got too close to her, and a male half-elf (obviously Tsuto) who seems too happy all the time. Gogmurt suspects that the half-elf and the angry woman with the torn-up belly are lovers, because he's seen them “going at it like donkey rats” in the woods at times.

Gogmurt begs the group not to hurt any more goblins, pointing out that the angry lady and her friends are the real troublemakers. If they can get into Ripnugget's fort to the north and get rid of them, Gogmurt promises that no goblin will ever bother Sandpoint again-a promise he can't possibly honor, but he's desperate enough to say anything. At Al’s insistence he draws a rough map of the area and what he knows. He notes he sent an alarm so the 30’ gates will be barred. He also tells them the secret of the trapped rope bridge. Unsure of what to do with him, they knock him out and leave him tied up.

A rope bridge spans the gulf between the cliff and a roundish, flat-topped island sixty-some feet to the north . Thick patches of nettles and briars grow here and there atop the island, but its most impressive feature is a wooden one-story stockade . Two thirty-foot-tall watchtowers guard the stockade's southern facade . The rope bridge itself is made of hairy rope and thick wooden pla ks; the whole thin g creaks and sways in the wind above the churning surf eighty feet below. This rope bridge might seem treacherous, and it is. As Gogmurt told them, the goblins have rigged it so that if more than three Medium creatures attempt to cross, the western supports tear free, dropping the planks down to hang vertically from the eastern rope and dumping anyone on the bridge into the waters below. A series of knotted ropes at the base of the northern posts allow one to tie off the trap so that it can support many times the weight.

Alessio climbs under the bridge, out of sight of the Eastern tower and hides in the bushes around the edge of the cliff. He is able to get a good look at the stockade as he moves the ropes into place to secure the bridge. The stockade is made of thick wood . Closer inspection reveals that most of the wood seems to have been scavenged from ships-a few nameplates remain affixed to some of the beams, while other timbers look like they might have once been masts

With Al’s signal, the others start across. Elinae follows the same path as Al but is noticed at the last moment by a guard in the tower. As Selene pads across the bridge an arrow is unleashed. It is at this moment, four goblins mounted on war dogs come around on their patrol. They see Selene and Azaela crossing the bridge and charge forward, having failed to see the hidden rogue and druid. . Grymar uses magic missile to deal with the goblin firing from the tower. Selene rears up and strips a goblin from its mount, while Azaela cuts on in two. El attacks from behind, bashing in the head of a rider, while Al leaps into the air from nowhere, landing behind his foe and running his sword through the neck of another rider. While the dogs fight back, in short order, they are all dead along with the riders.

The high walls present a challenge. Al asks his fighter friend to throw him part the way. While her aim is a bit off, Al manages to scurry to the top of the wall. Below he sees a 6 guards along with a commando facing the door. As he secures his grapple to the wall and lowers a rope, the commando orders his followers to sheath their horsechoppers and get their bows. This delay gives Azaela a chance to use the rope to just manage to get up the wall. Grymar runs up to the wall while El and Selene try to go up, but slip on the damp surface.

The bow armer goblins unleash a hail of arrows, missing the nimble Al, but two strike Azaela. Having had enough, she drops to the ground, landing poorly and has to painfully stand. Al tosses alchemical fire, directly striking a goblin who screams in agony as he burns to death under the oil. The commando drops his bow to pull his sword as the startled goblins fire their bows at point blank range. The movement lets the rising Azaela smash one into the ground. The goblins are shaken and have very poor aim. Screaming, the Commando orders them to pull their horsechoppers as he charges the half-elf fighter in their midst. Ignoring the goblin, she avoids his charge and opens the gate. Al uses featherfall and a flip to land behind the goblins and deftly stabs one in the back, then turns to slash another. El pushes open the gate and Selene charges into to maul a goblin. By the time El and Grymar enter the entrance hall is cleared of living goblins.

The floor of this room is hard-packed soil, as if the builders either ran out of lumber after building the walls and roof, or as if they simply never thought about building a floor. A number of poorly preserved horse and dog heads are mounted along the eastern wall, while along the southern wall hangs a pair of large black-feathered wings tacked to the wall with daggers.

As El is healing Azalea, Al takes a pearl handled dagger from the wall, where it is one of the daggers holding up what appear to be harpy wings. They decide to head straight towards the throne room and the “king” of the goblins, following the rough map given them by the defeated druid Gogmurt. The door is locked, but Al picks it with ease.

This large throne room is decorated with hanging furs along its walls, mostly black-an d-red striped firepelt skin s, various dog pelts, an d in some cases, what look like horse hides. Four square timbers support the ceiling, their faces studded with dozen s of iron spikes, with the lower reaches decorated with dozen s of impaled an d severed hands in various stages of decay. To the northeast, a wooden platform supports a throne heaped with dog pelts an d horse hides. Dog skulls adorn the armrests and a horse skull leers over the throne's back.

Warchief Ripnugget is here upon his throne, three goblin commands before him with his giant pet gecko, Stickfoot, waiting loyally at his side. Azalea takes no time at all and charges through the opening door straight into a goblin commando killing him. This does not stop the response, and Ripnugget leaps upon Stickfoot as the warchanter near the throne inspires the goblins. Al takes that as his mark and immediately fired into him. El and Selene engage the other two commandos, while Grymar uses his wand of magic missiles to take out the warchanter, noting ”That is too important a target to miss!”

As Azalea is engaged, Ripnugget charges by and slams her into the floor, putting her down, and then heads up the wall out of melee range. Al stabs a commando in the back while Selene bites it, but misses the small foe. El heals her friend as Grymar fired his favorite burning hands up at Ripnugget and his pet. Ripnugget is mostly unaffected, but the flames are too much for Stickfoot and they both fall to the ground. Azalea flails at her foe but misses. Ripgut starts hand to hand with Grymar, who responds with his claws. El keeps healing as Azalea stands to fight alongside Selene and Al. The goblin “king” is as tough as he thinks, and while his final commandos go down, he is still standing and drops the wounded Azalea as they go down. Grymar reaches out with a shocking grasp and Al pounces on the goblin leader, running his sword through his eye, killing him. ”Stop attacking my friends”.

A quick search of the upper area uncovers three watch goblins, gorged on pickles and asleep. Al kills them all as they lay there. They know there are goblin dogs to deal with, but they can wait. They head downstairs and move into a room with cells. The southern wall of this room is a bank of cells with iron doors, six in all. The rest of the room is obviously a torture chamber; a rack sits against the far wall, an iron maiden stands to the north, and a fire pit smolders below a spiky cage dangling from a chain in the ceiling to the east. Three lost citizens of Sandpoint are there! Mario, Basari, and the woman, Alina. Basari is the most verbal, with Alina clearly in shock. Al cannot pick the locks, but the Adamantine great sword wielded by Azalea can cut through the locks with ease. They send the three back up to the storage room to hide, while they explore further.

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

Lurking in the room are two monstrous outsiders, yeth hounds. These creatures guard the chapel, and both let off frightful howls. Everyone but Selene is terrified and runs for their lives, charging up the and half way out the upper level before they regain their senses.

Fortunately, other than Al, most of the party were in an adjacent room and could easily, if somewhat sheepishly, pick up their weapons. Al opens the fight with his short bow, and finds the creatures are mostly immune to their weapons. Only Azalea stands a chance to do enough damage to overcome them every time. Selene nonetheless does not like the evil hounds and she is doing damage with almost every bite. Al grabs his sword and begins to attack at weak points where he can. Grymar relies on his wand, always doing damage. The hounds fight back viciously, concentrating on Azalea and Selene, but they keep fighting. Selene manages to drag one into her claws and rake with her back feet. They finally kill both monsters and a quiet falls.

The party passes through what goblins think of as an art gallery. The lower four feet of the walls in this empty room are covered with crude drawings in mud, blood, and paint. Most of the drawings show goblins engaged in some sort of violence against humans, horses, or dogs. One picture on the north wall is at least three times the size and complexity of the other scrawlings. This image shows Thistletop from the side, the goblin stockade perched atop it like a crown. A cave has been drawn into the center of the image, and looming inside is what appears to be an immense, muscular goblin with snakelike eyes and a dogslicer in each taloned hand. If the scale compared to the rest of the drawing is to be believed, this goblin must be at least thirty feet tall. They then pass though a war room.

A large table surrounded by chairs fills much of this room. A slate board to the north is covered with scribblings in chalk, but the map of Sandpoint that has been carefully inscribed on it leaves no doubt as to the purpose of this room-this is clearly where the recent raid was planned. Al slowly peers through the adjacent door and spies a woman working at a table. With gestures he wars the party and then they charge in. Before the woman can do anything, Al’s sword is at her throat and Azaela is behind her. Al is masterful in his intimidation (nat 20) and the woman surrenders, even as her cat familiar hisses. Now the party has a moment to glance at the room.

A large wooden worktable sits in the middle of this room, its surface cluttered with scrolls, books, stone tablets covered with dense, spiky runes, and fragments of carvings that appear to have been chipped off of statues or bas-reliefs. To the north, a floor-to-ceiling set of wooden shelves sags with picks, shovels, brushes, lanterns, and other equipment one might expect to see at an archaeological site. The woman identifies herself as Lyrie Akenja, and says she works for Nualia. As Azaela binds her she and El both notice the woman is glancing towards the west wall. Al easily finds a secret door and stairs heading down. Before they can move on it, they hear someone approaching from the war room.

”Allesio?” asks the rugged man who is approaching. The man is ruggedly handsome, with a visage and demeanor that doesn't mesh well with smiles and laughter. Al looks back in shock, recognizing Orik Vancaskerkin.

Orik is a down-on-his-luck mercenary from the city of Magnimar. After a scam involving a tiefling prostitute, a shifty alchemist, and an elixir of love, Orik was forced to flee the city. Clegg Zincher, the now-dead alchemist's powerful brother, still carries a grudge for what Orik did to the alchemist when he discovered, to his horror, that the elixir of love was actually just cheap ale laced with lavender. While Orik bears no regrets for murdering the alchemist, he does regret the fact that Counsel of Ushers member Clegg Zincher effectively made it impossible for him to continue living in Magnimar.

”What are you doing here?” Al asks his beak agape.

”Well, I was looking for work in Riddleport and this strange but beautiful woman approached me. It was Nualia. She needed a bodyguard and I accepted. After the assault on Sandpoint I helped her plan, I have to admit this may be another in my rather long string of, um, unfortunate choices. Still, she pays regular in platinum, no less. Hell, I don’t even do much bodyguardin’, since she is almost always here. Still, killin’ those nice folks in Sandpoint don’t sit too well with me. I rather liked several of them, including that shopkeeper’s daughter. Anyhow, it has been a lot of waitin’ around, and I am not so sure what she is up too. And now you and your friends are here. I am guessin’ that you are here to stop her, am I right?”

”Well, yeah.”

”In that case, I am thinking I might just gather up my stuff and leave. I’d be happy to take Lyrie there along seein’ as you already have her tied up. “ Orik says nodding and sheathing his sword.

Al talks it over with party and they agree. Orik takes the trussed up Lyrie and takes her away. He does mention that Bruthazmus the bugbear has taken up with the goblin king’s harem since he is ignoring them. As Al hands Lyrie over, he whispers to her,

”Orik just saved your life. Keep that in mind.”.

After they leave, the group decides to worry about the bugbear later and keep heading down.

A stone door just around the corner from the steps hangs slightly ajar, the detailed carvings that once covered its surface defaced by chisel marks and hammer blows to the extent that only a few remnants of images (mostly of gemstones and crowns) remain. It appears this whole second it canted slightly to the west.

Beyond the smashed door, is a hallway. Two pillars support the ceiling in here. In many places the stone walls, floor, and ceiling are caked with ancient grime and soot. Alcoves in the north and south walls contain partially damaged statues of a man in robes clutching a book and a glaive. The entire room is canted toward the west, and whatever ancient upheaval caused the complex to tilt knocked the statues from their bases so that now they lean against the western walls of their alcoves. Grymar believes the statues once depicted Runelord Karzoug.

In the hallway beyond, Al takes no time in finding a trap. This short hallway rises in a slope to the east. Five feet from the western door, the floor is polished and shiny, unlike the dusty floor elsewhere. A pair of stone statues depicting stern men wielding glaives stand in alcoves north and south of this section of the hallway. At the eastern end stand two stone doors, their faces carved with strange runes. Just past the doors is a third alcove in which a partially collapsed statue sits. The top half of the statue is missing, leaving behind a ragged stump of a torso.

The trap is two hidden iron portcullises are recessed into the ceiling around the polished section of floor, as indicated on the map. When a creature steps between them, a pressure plate causes them to both drop with a clang; 1 round later, the two statues began slashing at the space between them, cutting the trapped intruder to ribbons. Al jams the plate

The group choses to head south through another hallway into a large room. The southern wing of this L-shaped hallway ends at a pair of stone doors carved with the depictions of two skeletons reaching out to clutch a skull between them, while to the east the hallway narrows down to frame a circular carving of what seems to be an immense stack of tens of thousands of gold coins that rises from floor to ceiling. The edges of these coins are carved with tiny, spiky runes. El notices three slots in the stack of gold coins, which in fact, bears a permanent image to make it look as if it were made of gold. In reality it is made of carved stone. However, the observant druid see reveals the coin slots show a hollow space beyond the pillar.

Azaela pulls three gold coins and inserts one into each slot causing the pillar to noisily grind down into the floor. The coins themselves vanish. The room beyond is another hall with three sets of doors. They head north into a strange room with a flickering image of Karzoug.

This barren room contains an upraised dais on which sits a marble throne. To either side stand statues of a man clutching a book and a glaive. A ghostly figure seems to be seated in the throne, an image of the same man who appears in the statues. He seems to be addressing an audience as he moves his hands about, his fingers decorated with hooked rings, but the words issuing from his phantom mouth are difficult to make out and in ancient Thassilonian. It is clearly a damaged message, spoken with varying volume and clarity. All Grymar can make out is

”…it is upon us, but I command you remain. Witness my power, how Alaznist's petty wrath is but a flash compared to my strength. Take my final work to your graves, and let its memory be the last thing you. . .”.

They head south and find clearly magical doors. The doors t o this room are made of stone but bear no handles. An indented outline of a seven pointed star, its shape covered by hollows and slits, graces the spot where handles should be. The whole door is secured by the most powerful arcane lock Grymar and El have ever seen. The magic shines in their detect magic. Clearly, they cannot enter here.

The final room to the east is one they wished they had not seen. This room contains three low tables, their tops covered with a strange and chilling selection of tools, saws, long-bladed knives, and objects whose purpose is not readily apparent. A strange collection of bones lies near the southern table too many to be one skeleton, but too few to be two. El’s examination shows it to be a two headed man with an additional partial skeleton of a smaller man growing from the small of his back. This room was used for fleshwarping, the modification for living flesh and the tools left behind were for quick changes where magic was not needed; cutting would do. El keeps the surgical tools, but they find another object. e a silver and-gold seven-pointed star; one surface is studded with nodules and blades, and the other features a thin, curved handle. It is clear this is the key to the southern door.

Again, this is a door they wished they had not opened. This room is lit primarily by a 10-foot-long pit of flickering fire that fills the room with a strange humid heat and the smell of burning hair. In the northern corners of the room, wooden risers each hold several dozen golden candles that burn without melting, while to the south the wall bears an immense carving of a seven-pointed star. Trapped inside is a monstrous beast, a barghest. Al quickly slams the door shut and removes the key. That is clearly a creature locked up for a reason!

The party moves to the south of the L shaped room and checks the skeletons by the door for traps. Finding none, they enter into a long room. Four pillars support the domed ceiling of this room. Several dark alcoves containing standing sarcophagi grace the walls, and a statue of a stern man wielding a glaive and holding a book stands in the southern part of the chamber. After a few moments, three shadows emerge from their eternal slumber attacking the party. In the fight, Azalea, Grymar, and Selene all suffer from the shadows’ touches and are weakened. El heals from outside the room. The group sends the shadows to a real rest, and they can feel the relief. Although the architects of this crypt willingly allowed themselves to be buried alive here, three of the six were not able to maintain their devotion for long. They died in horror, and now their shadows haunt the chamber

El again is observant and finds a secret door to the west. The group goes down a hallway into a flooded treasure room. The sound of sloshing water fills this room, which has almost entirely collapsed into a large tide pool. What few walls do remain intact here bear detailed and impressive carvings of incredible treasuries filled to overflowing with coins, gems, jewelry, and other items of value. To the east, the walls depict a carving of a towering mountain, its peak carved in the shape of a stern face just above a great palace. Below, the side of the mountain's valley cradles an immense city of spires.

In the pool, the remains of what must have once been an incredible treasury lie in the sloshing waters. Shattered urns, crumbled stone chests, rusted bits of once-beautiful armor and weapons, and other long-ruined treasures from an ancient past lie below. Most impressive of them all is a large, coral-encrusted helmet sized for a giant; the helm measures nearly 5 feet across, and its full-face guard bears an expression of twisted rage and fangs. The helm it self appears to be made of gold. Azalea moves to the water’s edge to peer in and see if any treasure might be at the bottom. It is then that the old helmet down below suddenly shifts and moves, rotating to look at them. At first, they think it is haunted, but the truth, is more mundane, but quit scary nonetheless. The helm become the home of a 450-pound hermit crab, and it is reacting poorly to the attempt to enter what it's come to think of as its pool. The helm suddenly rises up to release a pair of spindly legs and immense claws, one of which grabs Azaela!

A brief fight ensues. Soon the crab has Selene in its other claw, with the triumphant Azaela shouting ”Now it can’t grab anyone else” as she hacks at it with her sword. Despite hold the two most dangerous melee fighters, the crab is still quickly killed. The group takes a few minutes to rest. El searches the pool and finds numerous coins. Al asks about getting the giant helmet out of the water, and the recovered Azaela easily drags it free of the water.

Having searched this whole area, they decide not to worry about the treasure here and go forth to seek out their foe, the instigator of the attacks, Nualia. She must be somewhere to the north.

Creeping north, they enter the final room on this complex. Wide stone ledges of red marble line the curving walls of this room, which is well lit by four burning skulls that sit in each corner. Three chairs rest in the room, and both stone ledges are covered with old books, scrolls, teeth, bones, scrimshaw artwork, jars of deformed creatures soaking in brine, taxidermized animals and limbs, and other strange objects. To the north, a large round fountain filled with frothy blue water fills the room with the gentle sound of bubbling. In the room is another Yeth hound and their ultimate foe.

Nualia's recent success with the ritual to offer her foster father's corporeal remains to Lamashtu saw her rewarded with a promise of things to come-her left hand has been transformed into a red demonic talon. With the exception of her demonic hand and her scarred belly, the rest of her body is incongruously beautiful. Yet in her madness, Nualia has come to view her silver hair, violet eyes, and shapely figure as a curse, a scar visited upon her by her angelic heritage. She wears the mark of her devotion to Lamashtu proudly, keeping her midriff bare to expose the ugly scars and wounds across her belly.

Al moves like a dark streak and flips past Nualia, striking her with his sword. El and Selene move in on the hound who bites Selene even as Grymar unleashes his magic missiles against the servant of the goddess of monsters. Azalea goes toe to two with Nualia and the two exchange sword blows with blocks and parries, Nulaia getting the better of the fight, even as Alessio gets his hits in. Grymar and Selene both go at the yeth hound which then bays it horrible yell. Grymar flees in terror as Nualia unleashes as wave of black energy. Selene and El spare with the Yeth hound, while the other two fight Nualia, who is concentrating on Azaela. El pauses to heal her friend. Al drops Nualia and the refreshed Azaela dispatches her demonic hound.

Al runs to get Grymar and the group gathers. Three of them are still suffering from the effects of the shadows. They wonder what else they should take on. The decide to leave the locked up demon while dealing with the rest of the forces on the upper level. In short order, the goblin harem and bugbear are dealt with, and the horse, Shadowmist is rescued from the pen where it was being tortured. The group retreats to Sandpoint to recover several days before returning to deal with the barghest and and whatever was down that sink hole outside Thistletop.

They also find disturbing notes as the rummage through the room. Nualia's notes and several journals lie on the tables here. Sorting through these notes takes several hours, but reveals the whole of Nualia's story.

The notes also outline her plans to send an army of goblins against Sandpoint and burn the town to the ground, not only to offer it all as a burnt offering to Lamash!u in hopes of being made a half-fiend, but also to fuel the runewell in the catacombs below The notes go on to detail how to cause sinspawn to manifest from the runewell, and claimthat ifsomeone were to overextend the runewell's stores, it would be deactivated. Nualia isn't sure how to reactivate it, and several times stresses that the runewell shouldn't be used much until after Sandpoint is razed and the deaths of hundreds of angry citizens and goblins have refilled the well.

The group spends several days resting and recovering. Al engages in the openings to get some of their items and treasures sold. This includes getting the helmet removed and an unexpected encounter with a bunyip within the tidal pools. Al is also able to find the original owners of Shadowmist, the heavy warhorse they rescued. The Thistletop goblins have captured horses many times before, bringing them back here for their chieftain to kill during cruel bloodsports in the exercise yard. Brining back a creature like Shadowmist proved to be a deadly mistake. El is able to use speak with animals to find out the story.

The mighty steed was stolen several days ago from traveling merchants on their way from Magnimar to Sandpoint. The goblins murdered the two caravan guards and one of the two remaining horses (the merchants escaped on horseback to Sandpoint), but Shadowmist proved to be more than a match for the goblins. Through a mixture of luck and false bravado, the goblins managed to knock Shadowmist unconscious while only losing four of their own. They bound up the horse's legs, loaded it into the merchants' wagon, and hauled it back here as a prize for Chief Ripnugget. Though the methods by which they managed to drag the unconscious horse through the thistle maze and across the rope bridge were as ingenious as they were ill-advised and risky, the goblins managed to get the horse here.

Tragedy struck when the excited goblins dumped the horse in the exercise yard, cut its bonds, and poured a potion of cure light wounds into its mouth so that their chief could show off his horse-killing skills on a live horse. Shadowmist immediately leapt up and began racing in circles in the yard. The goblins panicked and fled, shrieking for Chief Ripnugget to kill the creature, but when he tried to do so, the horse proved even tougher than Ripnugget was expecting. The chief took a crushing blow to the arm, breaking it and forcing him to flee. Enraged, he accused the goblins who had caught the horse oftrying to assassinate him, then told them to trap the monster in the shed while he figured out what to do with it. Mortified, the goblins managed to lure the horse into the shed (losing three of their number in the process-two outside, one inside), but in the end managed to nail the door shut. After days of starvation, the horse was weak, but the party was easily able to get it back to health.

The group heads back to the lower dungeon to deal with the greater barghest. Grymar is sure the creature is bound to the room as a guardian and surmises there may be something it is guarding. They have researched this sort of being, and know it will be resistant to non-magical attacks and can even become invisible. They come prepared. El casts magic fang on Selene’s teeth and claws, and reinforces the will of Azaela.

This room is lit primarily by a 10-foot-long pit of flickering fire that fills the room with a strange humid heat and the smell of burning hair. In the northern corners of the room, wooden risers each hold several dozen golden candles that burn without melting, while to the south the wall bears an immense carving of a seven-pointed star.

Entering the room, it is empty, but they know that is not true. El’s faerie fire floods the room reveling their foe. Al, Selene, and Azaela corner the creature and engage it. It is blinking and half the time is not even there. The melee is fierce. Grymar stands outside the room, launching magic missiles which ignore the flicking effect. Malfeshnekor tries to charm Azaela, but fails. His crushing despair however, washes over the group, but again fails on Azaela and the fierce cat. However, a strong will does not stop Azaela from nearly falling at the bites and claws of the monster. Only its own blinking saves her from a claw hit. El moves in and heals her enough for the fighter to stagger back and quaff a healing potion. The blinking in and out of phase makes the monster hard to hit. It lashes at Selene and Al when Azaela is out of range, but savages her again when she moves up. However, some blows land, and one magic missile after another strikes Malfeshnekor and Grymar finally takes it down. Immediately, Al, Azaela, and Selene tear into the downed corpse, making sure the summoned fiend is destroyed.

Everyone pauses, and El heals the wounded. The group begins a thorough search of this room and finds two secret doors in the south. They find several treasures, including a ring of force shield and a Mask of a thousand tomes in an Thassilonian Style. There are also 7 Large Star Rubies, cut to have seven facets. A final check of Thistletop does show it is totally cleared.

With Thistletop tribe destroyed, and the dark force behind them killed, the group are again hailed as heroes. The quietly spend a several days depowering the runewell by summoning a sinspawn and defeating it.

Mario, Basari, and Alina have already spread the word of their heroic actions. The return of Shadowmist to the merchant from Magnimar, Zinder Dalcescu, nets the group even more accolades. Al is able to land very favorable prices for what he sells to Dalscue. The group takes their treasure and settles into several weeks of a more regular life. They find it hard to pay for their own drinks and meals in town. Grymar continues his formal courting of Shayless, making her father happy, though the vivacious young women somewhat frustrated at the pace towards physical affection.

Al recognizes but does not acknowledge that Orik and Lyrie are spending time in Sandpoint. The wizard looks much chastised, but appears to be keeping out of trouble. Al makes no mention of the two’s part in the attack on Sandpoint. He spends down time with his friend, Ameiko.

Everyone takes time to train and improve their abilities. Al discovers his cloak allows him to disguise himself as other races. Grymar finds his Scale gives his claws magical damage. El discovers her newfound ability to change forms, and Azaela’s sword shows a new rune.

What is next for the heroes is a question for the future. For now, the city is safe thanks to the Heroes of Sandpoint.