Session 1: The Swallowtail Festival Report

General Summary

Pre-Lunch

Duh met with his contact, Jubrayl Vhiski, who he had known previously somehow when he was younger. Jubrayl invited Duh to play cards, which went poorly for Duh. Duh proceeded to ask Jubrayl for advice on where to find a meal and place to stay and Jubrayl sent him to the town square to take part in the oncoming lunch.   Lawson Raktallow went to the Sandpoint Theater and met with Cyrdak Drokkus the owner of the theater. Cyrdak hinted to Lawson about big developments that would come later in the day relating to the theater's productions. Then Lawson asked if he knew of any place to find some dancing cats and Cyrdak directed Lawson to The Pixie's Kitten.   Visijya Vishki set up a stall to sell herbs and tell fortunes to the people of the town. After selling some of her wares, a Young Redheaded Girl and her partner came to her. The girl asked if Visijya did fortunes on love, and despite a less than satisfactory answer from Visijya, went along and had her fortune told anyways. Visijya told her fortune and of an ill-omen of some sort of death in her future. This alarmed the girl greatly, and her partner ushered her away shortly after giving some money to the druid.   Mokon went to The Hagfish and met Jargie Quinn, the proprietor of the establishment. There, he learned about The Hagfish Challenge, which involved drinking from the tank of Norah the Hagfish. Mokon spent his money but found the hagfish slime too strong to stomach and quickly found himself vomiting. Jargie cheered him up, gave him some food to settle his stomach, and then sent him on his way.  

Lunch

  The party all gathered together in the town square to watch the festival's speeches. Mayor Deverinn began the proceedings, followed by Sheriff Belor Hemlock, who warned the villagers to be careful in their merrymaking. There was meant to be another speaker, Lonjiku Kaijitsu after Hemlock, but he was feeling unwell and decided not to attend. Instead, after Hemlock, Cyrdak Drokkus went up to cheer up the crowd and told some grand stories about the construction of the Cathedral. Cyrdak also mentioned that a grand diva from Magnimar named Allishanda would be playing the lead role in his new play. Finally, after Cyrdak, Father Abstalar Zantus went up to conclude the speeches and invited everyone to take part in the free lunch provided by the local taverns.   During the speeches, Visijya Vishki spotted a small black bird perched on the rooftops looking down suspiciously at the proceedings.   After the speeches, when everyone was having lunch, Visijya and Lawson Raktallow briefly crossed paths with Sheriff Belor Hemlock when Visijya spotted some goblins slinking around the alleyways.  

The Goblin Attack

  At the end of the lunch, when the crowd was enjoying their merrymaking, Abstalar Zantus took to the stage once again to continue the ceremonies. Initially, the priest was unable to get the crowd's attention, so he took some sort of stone from behind the podium, raised it into the air, then slammed it into the podium. A loud thunderous crack rang out, grabbing the attention of the crowd. The father began his speech, but mere moments after he began, screams began to break out in the crowd. Goblins had snuck into the town and began to wreak havoc. Attacking townsfolk, destroying property, etc.   In the first wave of goblin attacks, the party jumped to the townspeople's defense by fighting back the goblins. During the commotion, Father Zantus moved to direct the townspeople to hide in the temple. Lawson joined him and with his booming and charismatic voice, was able to get the panicking villagers to calm down and move towards safety. At the same time, Visijya Vishki consoled a grieving man who was mourning one of the townsfolk who was killed by the goblins. With some words of comfort and some stern direction, Visijya convinced the man to keep himself safe.   Before the first batch of goblins could be completely dispatched, another group appeared. The second group of goblins set off an explosion by setting fire to a wagon of fireworks. Among their ranks as well was a goblin warchanter, who wielded dastardly spells. As the new group of goblins surrounded Lawson, the chanter cast a vile enchantment on him that caused him to break into uncontrollable laughter, leaving himself vulnerable to attack. Luckily, with the protection of his comrades, Lawson was able to shake off the enchantment before the goblins could take advantage of the opportunity, and the party quickly dispatched of the remaining foes.   A brief, tense moment passed as the sounds of battle rung out through the town.   Then, the party heard a scream for help coming from the north. Charging towards it, they arrived just in time to see a nobleman watching helplessly as a goblin riding on the back of a hideous rat-like dog brutally killed the noble's pet hunting dog. A group of other goblins, apparently lackeys of the rider, emerged from a nearby hiding place where they had been cowering, and began celebrating the death of the man's dog.   Taking advantage of their distraction, the party charged into battle to slay the goblins before they could turn their evil deeds towards the innocent nobleman. With swift ferocity, the party defeated two of the three goblin lackeys, but the final lackey and his beast-riding leader proved dangerous foes. As the final goblin lackey skillfully distracted multiple members of the party, the goblin rider gravely wounded Lawson and Naga (Visijya's pet viper). The goblin rider proved a slippery foe, using his high speed and skillful riding to keep out of reach of the party as he shot at them with a shortbow. Finally, though, when Lawson lay down on the ground as bait (immediately prior to being knocked unconcious), the rider separated from his steed and was left vulnerable. With this, the party was able to turn the tide of battle, defeating the final lackey and swiftly bringing down the goblin leader and his unholy steed.  

After the Attack

  In the aftemath of the goblin attack, the party had rescued Aldern Foxglove after he had been cornered by a group of goblins that killed his dog. Aldern thanked the party and brought them back to The Rusty Dragon where he bought them all a night's stay to show his thanks. He also spent some time drinking with Duh and Lawson Raktallow and invited them and the rest of their group out to hunt boar with him when the circumstances improved.  

The Next Morning

 

Duh

  Duh went back the next morning to meet with Jubrayl again at The Fatman's Feedbag. There, Jubrayl and Duh discussed ways to get richer in the aftermath of the previous day's attack. Finally, Jubrayl sent Duh to Savah's Armory to rob them while the proprietor of the establishment was injured.   Unfortunately for Duh, he found the armory was still occupied by some dwarf in Savah's absence. Duh attempted to distract the dwarf by having Spur snag a piece of equipment and make a break for it. Unfortunately the dwarf became suspicious of Duh when the half-orc made some less-than-convincing attempts at faking help. Unable to catch the fox without reliable help, the dwarf decided to leave the matter to the authorities and went back inside to continue his work. Around this time, Mokon walked by and asked Duh is he wanted to go investigate some suspicious happenings at the Sandpoint Boneyard. Duh refused, intending to find some way or other to get the dwarf away from the armory.   In the end, Duh pretended to have retrieved the sword from the fox and returned in to the dwarf. At this point, the dwarf recruited Duh to help retrieve the armor stolen by the goblins during the raid. Then the half-orc, sure that he'd not be able to break into the armory, made his way up the road where he crossed paths again with Mokon, Visijya Vishki and Lawson Raktallow.  

Mokon

  Mokon started his morning by asking a Fat Drunk Half-Orc on the side of the road how he could make some money. After some fairly unhelpful dialogue, Mokon decided to go to the general store. At the general store, Mokon witnessed the owner of the general store having a fight with a young red-haired woman that Mokon would quickly learn was the general store owner's daughter. After buying some supplies, Mokon headed up towards the Sandpoint Garrison to talk to Sheriff Hemlock about the goblins.   At the garrison, Mokon met with Hemlock, who had apparently gotten a black-eye from some townsperson or another who was unhappy with his failure to protect the town. Sheriff Hemlock told Mokon about a lead he had received from the head priest Abstalar Zantus. Apparently, the keeper of the boneyard had spotted signs that the goblins had been in the boneyard up to something, but he didn't know what. He had decided to send for the authorities before investigating in case any goblins were still lurking nearby. Sheriff Hemlock decided to send Mokon and any of the other adventurers he was acquainted with from the previous day to check things out in his stead, since the town watch was spread thin as it was.   On his way to search for the rest of the group, Mokon found Duh in front of Savah's Armory. When Duh refused his invitation to join him, Mokon went in the nearest store to ask if anyone had seen the other two members of the group. The store he entered turned out to be The Pillbug's Pantry, and the owner of the establishment, Aliver Podicker told him he had sent the paladin up north to bring a crate of medicinal supplies to the square in front of the church to aid the wounded.   When Mokon headed up to the town square, Father Zantus was there to tell him he had never received the crate after sending Visijya Vishki (not Lawson) to retrieve it for him. Perplexed, Mokon headed back down the south road back to the Pillbug before running into Visijya and Lawson as they were coming out of an alleyway at the same time that Duh was heading up the road from the opposite direction.  

Lawson and Visijya

  Lawson and Visijya began the new day by heading up to the town square, hoping to help with the injured. Lawson told a grand tale to the villagers and received a magic scroll in return. Visijya, meanwhile, offerred her herb-related expertise to Father Zantus and was recruited to retrieve a shipment of herbs from The Pillbug's Pantry down the street. Visijya followed the road as instructed and Lawson followed shortly after her. There, Visijya met Aliver, who was just planning to deliver the crate of supplies himself. Visijya took the crate from Aliver and began her way up the street before she and Lawson spotted a suspicious character heading towards the Sandpoint Boneyard.   Visijya returned the crate to Aliver and attempted to stalk after the stranger together with Lawson, but they both proved too noisy. In the end, Visijya sent Moka to carefully trail the stranger while she followed from further behind. At that same moment, Lawson discovered an aura of evil emanating from Aliver, and he stepped up to take the crate of supplies from the fat man. Rather than deliver them however, Lawson waited till Aliver was out of sight and then hid the crate, suspecting something to be wrong with its contents. Lawson opened the crate and took from it two potions as a sample, then followed after Visijya.   Finally Visijya followed the strange figure only to realize that it was the keeper of the Sandpoint Boneyard, who was apparently a bit of a physically deformed fellow. When Lawson soon followed after her and showed her the two potions, she concluded that there was nothing wrong with them and that they were ordinary healing potions. Perplexed, the two gave up their stalking and returned to the street south of the square. There, they encountered Mokon and Duh, and Mokon told them of the task given to him by the sheriff.

Rewards Granted

The party was awarded 450 xp for their battle against the goblins.   Lawson Raktallow received a magic scroll for telling a grand tale to the wounded villagers.