Varisia Campaign

The heroes shackled the goblin bard, who agreed to give them any information she knows, including the fact that both Nualia and Tsuto were in the dungeons below. The heroes then continued their exploration. Barracks. Six poorly constructed bunk beds, little more than hammocks slung from rickety frames, stood along the walls of this room. Each was heaped with a vermin-infested blanket and a lump of straw that served as a frustrating pillow. Each of these bunk beds slept three goblins - the Thistletop tribe numbered 18 in all (not counting Warchief Ripnugget, his wives, or Gogmurt), although none of them were here. Eastern Guard Tower. An open flight of wooden stairs wound up to a trap door in the ceiling, thirty feet above. This open air tower gave a great view of the surrounding area. Two goblin corpses that the heroes killed during their initial assault on Thistletop were on these towers. Food Storage. The door to this room was locked; the key was carried by Chief Ripnugg

Giant gecko lizards are animals. An animal is a living, nonhuman creature, usually a vertebrate with no magical abilities and no innate capacity for language or culture. Animals have low-light vision. Animals breathe, eat, and sleep. These lizards are mostly docile and shy away from attacking creatures larger than a cat or dog. Despite their shyness, they are ultimately curious creatures, and often approach bigger creatures simply to investigate. Of course, a giant gecko is more than capable of defending itself, biting creatures that react violently to the lizard when fleeing is not an option. Some humanoids train giant geckos as bestial guardians. Smaller humanoids (in particular, goblins) can even use the creatures as mounts, taking advantage of their superior climbing skills to attack from seemingly impossible positions and angles. A giant gecko measures 8 feet from nose to tail and weighs 120 pounds. Coloration among giant geckos can vary widely, though most

The heroes continued their exploration of Thistletop. Trophy Hall. The floor of this room was hard-packed soil, as if the builders 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 prepared horse and dog heads were mounted along the eastern wall, while along the southern wall hung a pair of large black-feathered wings tacked to the wall with daggers. The feathered wings once belonged to a harpy. One of the daggers used to display the harpy's wings had a pearl handle, and was worth 50 gp according to Tsela. The other six daggers were mundane. The alarm had been raised, so six goblins were found here, ready to defend the room from any intruders. The heroes killed them all. Throne Room. The alarm had been raised, so the door into this room was closed tightly and locked. Urtrigor picked the door. This large throne room was decorated with hanging furs along its walls, mostly black-and-r

The heroes killed the remaining goblin dogs and Urtrigor tied off the trapped bridge so that it could support the heroes' weight in case of a retreat. Then they started their exploration of the stockade. Thistletop.  The stockade was made of thick wood. Closer inspection revealed that most of the wood seemed to have been scavenged from ships - a few nameplates remained affixed to some of the beams, while other timbers looked like they might have once been masts. The front door leading into the stockade was barred from the inside. The heroes scaled the walls of the stockade itself and entered the complex from the exercise yard. While the stockade was made of wood, the damp sea air and thick layers of soggy moss and linen that grew here and there made it difficult to burn without significant work. Exercise Yard.  This large courtyard was open to the sky. Tenacious clumps of partially trampled grass grew fitfully here and there in the hard-packed earth, in places stained

The heroes accepted Shalelu's help and discussed tactics on their return to Sandpoint. There, they purchased discounted supplies from Savah's Armory, got free healing from Father Zantus at the Cathedral, and spent the rest of the evening at the Rusty Dragon. Ameiko informed Shalelu of the events that transpired during her absence, and she in turn informed her and the heroes that she ended up in Thistletop after following Tsuto and a couple of goblins as they were making their way there. Ameiko seemed very relieved to have Shalelu around, and expressed her grief at recent events by consuming copious amounts of alcohol. Shalelu on her part seemed very eager to face Bruthazmus when they returned to Thistletop. The heroes noticed that her fingers bore deep scars, and when asked if Bruthazmus gave her these scars, she responded that it was another bugbear, and avoided further conversation by hauling a very drunk Ameiko to her room. The next day they returned to Thistletop and conti

The heroes didn't learn much from interrogating the goblin raiders, but they let onw go with false information on when they would attack Thistletop. They then reached the Thistle River crossing relatively quickly - it was only a 6-mile journey from Sandpoint (2 hours on horseback), and they didn't run into any more trouble along the way. Thistletop was located on the Varisian coast - approaching by land was difficult since the tangles of Nettlewood were in the way. North of Mosswood lay Nettlewood, a frustratingly tangled forest. Whereas the trees of Mosswood grew tall and stately, those north of the Lost Coast Road in Nettlewood were lower and shared their forest floor with snarls of nettles and thorny underbrush. Urtrigor found a route through the woods. It took 4 hours of wandering in the woods, and the heroes stumbled into patches of poisonous plants twice, either stinging nettles or a goblinberry patch. Hidden Entrance. The briars and thistles that grew so rampant

Tsela tried to gather information in town about Thistletop. Sandpoint's citizens were not very knowledgeable about the goblin lair, and he found it more difficult to gather information that in the past. It seems Ven Vinder's displeasure with the heroes has spread to other citizens, since he is a well-liked man in town. The heroes purchased a map that showed the location of Thistletop from the Way North. As with several other buildings in the vicinity, this one-story structure was recently rebuilt after the Sandpoint Fire. Originally a stable, the building has been converted by its owner, an aged but spry gnome named Veznutt Parooh, into a cramped and cluttered library to house his tremendous collection of maps and sea charts. Maps of local regions, from the immediate vicinity up to the whole of Varisia and the Storval Plateau, can be purchased from him for prices ranging from 5 gp to 100 gp, depending on the size and level of detail. When not here crafting copies of old ma

Vargouilles are evil, extraplanar outsiders. An outsider is at least partially composed of the essence (but not necessarily the material) of some plane other than the Material Plane. Some creatures start out as some other type and become outsiders when the attain a higher (or lower) state of spiritual existence. Outsiders have darkvision. Unlike most living creatures, an outsider does not have a dual nature - its soul and body form one unit. When an outsider is slain, no soul is set loose. Spells that restore souls to their bodies, such as  raise dead, reincarnate,  and  resurrection,  don't work on an outsider. It takes a different magical effect, such as  limited wish, wish, miracle,  or  true resurrection  to restore it to life. An outsider native to the Material Plane can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected just as other living creatures can be. Outsiders breathe, but do not need to eat or sleep (although they can do so if they wish). Outsiders native to

Zombies are undead. Undead are once-living creatures animated by spiritual or supernatural forces. Undead have darkvision. Undead are immune to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms). Undead are immune to bleed, death effects, disease, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning. Undead are not subject to nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain. They are immune to damage to their physical ability scores, as well as to exhaustion and to fatigue effects. They cannot heal damage on their own if they are unintelligent, although they can be healed. Negative energy (such as an  inflict  spell) can heal undead creatures. They may heal fast regardless of the creature's intelligence. Undead are immune to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless). Undead are not at risk of death from massive damage, but are immediately destroyed and cannot be stabilized while

Each of the prisoner pits contained a single human zombie, a pitiful creature left over from an age thousands of years in the past, its flesh maintained by necromantic magic. The zombies were relatively harmless in their pits - the heroes destroyed them with ranged weapons anyway. They then finished their investigation of the catacombs. Washing Pool.  Water rippled quietly in this circular stone pool, the rim of which was lined with skulls. This approach to the Catacombs of Wrath was still guarded by an ancient creature, a hideous vargouille that rested in the shadows near the wall. The heroes killed it. Stairs.  A flight of spiral stairs wound up around a circular pillar into darkness above. These stairs led up to a collapse. Narrow fissures remained in the stone, helping to keep (relatively) fresh air in the catacombs. Blocked Stairs.  This twisting flight of spiral stairs once led down to even deeper complexes below Sandpoint, but like the previous flight of stairs leading up

The heroes continued the exploration of the catacombs. Ancient Prison.  This large chamber was obviously once a prison, as testified by the twenty cells that lined the room's perimeter. A rickety wooden platform overlooked the room, with two flights of stairs descending to the prison floor ten feet below. A five-foot-wide wooden walkway ran from the northern end of the platform to a passageway to the east. Skeletons lay in most of the cells. The bones in the cells were quite dry and brittle. Although the walkway above the room looked rickety, it was actually quite stable. Two sinspawn waited here. They had hidden themselves in the rafters just under the platform, waiting to reach up and attack anyone who came close to the edge. The heroes killed the sinspawn. Interrogation Chamber.  This room contained several ancient relics of what appeared to be torture implements, although their function and style seemed strange and archaic. In one corner sat a spherical cage wi

Runelord Alaznist, inspired by and jealous of Karzoug's success with the runewell of greed , experimented with variant runewells of her own design. Many of these minor runewells of wrath existed in her domain - with the only one found on mainland Avistan hidden in the Catacombs of Wrath under Sandpoint. Every time a creature with a wrathful soul dies within a mile of a minor runewell , it gains 1 wrath point. There's no limit to the number of wrath points the minor runewell can store. Each time the well's waters are drawn upon (as detailed below), a number of wrath points are expended. If enough points are expended to put its total at 0 or negative wrath points, the minor runewell deactivates, its waters fading away. Reactivating the minor runewell requires long-lost rituals - or the reactivation of a major runewell somewhere else in the world. Such an event restores a minor runewell of wrath to a starting level of 3 wrath points. A minor runewell is only 3 feet de

This time around the heroes were better prepared to face the quasit. After they seriously injured her, she became invisible and fled. The heroes used the minor runewell  to create and kill enough sinspawn, thus removing the menace the minor runewell posed to the Sandpoint region.

The heroes retreated from their fight with the quasit, in order to equip themselves appropriately. They visited the Sandpoint Market and Savah's Armory for supplies. The northeast corner of this building bears a few scars from the Sandpoint Fire, but fortunately for its owner, Savah Bevaniky, the building escaped significant damage. Savah greeted the heroes with an instantaneous offer of 20% off anything in stock. Savah's shop sells all manner of weapons and armor, including several masterwork items and exotic weapons like a spiked chain, a dozen masterwork shuriken, and a +1 repeating crossbow with a darkwood and ivory stock that bears the name "Vansaya". She's not sure what the name means - she bought the weapon from an adventurer on the way to Riddleport a year ago, and its high price and complexity have ensured its semi-permanent stay in her shop. After the heroes rescued her, Ameiko rewarded them with free room and board at the Rusty Dragon for the rest

Although tough to hit and capable of healing from wounds quickly, the quasit used flight to maintain ranged superiority over her foes, using spells like summon monster or hold person  (aimed at Thurden) in the first few rounds of combat. She then proceeded to pelt the heroes with spells, causing them to start retreating. The heroes killed the wrathspawn though.

Demons are a species of chaotic evil outsiders. An outsider is at least partially composed of the essence (but not necessarily the material) of some plane other than the Material Plane. Some creatures start out as some other type and become outsiders when the attain a higher (or lower) state of spiritual existence. Outsiders have darkvision. Unlike most living creatures, an outsider does not have a dual nature - its soul and body form one unit. When an outsider is slain, no soul is set loose. Spells that restore souls to their bodies, such as raise dead, reincarnate, and resurrection, don't work on an outsider. It takes a different magical effect, such as limited wish, wish, miracle, or true resurrection to restore it to life. An outsider native to the Material Plane can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected just as other living creatures can be. Outsiders breathe, but do not need to eat or sleep (although they can do so if they wish). Outsiders native to the Mat

Sinspawn are aberrations. An aberration has a bizarre anatomy, strange abilities, an alien mindset, or any combination of the three. Aberrations have darkvision. Aberrations breathe, eat, and sleep. Sinspawn are corrupted products of magic used by spellcasters in a past era as shock troops for their armies. Literally the embodiment of a sin made flesh, they are sentient abominations of distilled ectoplasm imprinted with the soul-image of slain creatures that possessed an abundance of a particular sin. Sinspawn can scent creatures whose nature reflects the sinspawn's sin. For example, wrathful sinspawn can scent creatures using rage effects. Sinspawn are immune to mind-affecting effects. A creature bitten by a sinspawn may be overwhelmed by sinful thoughts. These emotions are so powerful that the target becomes sickened. An affected target that is bitten a second time may become staggered. Calm emotions, remove curse, or break enchantment breaks the ef