Travel journal of Modo Illspitter

Chapter 1:

The party finds each other in the town of Sandpoint. All gathered for personal reasons and pursuits. Aioda came to Sandpoint to participate in the annual festival as a fortune teller and mystic. Rotar arrived in search of [forgot his name, know he’s a serial killer of some sort]. Modo and Grendel came to Sandpoint from the north, slightly unaware of the grand festival they have walked into. Lastly, Gill came to town for what seemed to be personal enjoyment of the festival.

While the party slowly got to talking about the festival and introducing each other, the mayor of Sandpoint, Deferin got started on a speech about the roots of the feast. It wasn’t long before the party started to engage in festival ground ‘games’. Grendel had bested Gill in a contest to grab a pig in a muddy pit, but Gill managed to beat Grendel at a small lizard race, while neither became 1rst mind you.

Throughout the day the party got shallowly introduced to Sandpoint; its bars, glass work industry and the large cathedral in the heart of the town. Near the end of the day the party found itself admiring the cathedral. To everyone’s surprise, Goblins had found their way into town in alarming numbers. Taking swift action, the party was able to subdue the Goblins near the cathedral and ensure the safety of a notable noble; Marcus Foxglove. Taking haste himself, Foxglove thanked the party, but expressed his concern about the town gates.

As the party rushed to the south gate, they found the town Sherriff, Baalor Hemlock, fending off goblins. Using some quick tact the party managed not only to close the gate door on the goblins but also render one unconscious for investigating purposes for Hemlock. The party was thanked and was invited to a boar hunt by Foxglove himself.

The next day, the party used some of their time to sell some goods gained from the Goblin encounters. Rotar had found himself a curious statue in a general-magic shop. Enticed by its crafting, Rotar bought it only to discovered later it held a wand inside. The wand was of an odd nature. It seemed to be able to turn its targets invisible, but whether the target perceives it as such is still a bit of a mystery.

We returned to Sherriff Hemlock later that day to check up on the state of the assumed Goblin raid and possibly a reward for the day before. Hemlock had few words to spare about the Goblin attack, but did mentioned the Gravedigger had encountered something unsettling. A corpse had been stolen from the graveyard, leaving 2 skeletons in his stead. As the party rushed to investigate, they found a small set of clue’s; A necromancer robe that had been used to raise the 2 skeletons the party faced and tracks on the ground. The tracks were composed of roughly 5 Goblins and a single human. Following the trail to the edge of town, we discovered that the ‘party’ they were tracking had taken a cart to escape, making tracking pretty much impossible when they reached the main road. With some insight, but ultimately at a halt in the investigation, they returned to the cathedral to inquire more about the stolen corpse.

Back at the cathedral they were informed that the body that was stolen belonged to a priest. A priest who was burned alive/in his sleep in the old cathedral, roughly 3 years ago. We learned he had a daughter who left town sometime after his death. Figuring that more knowledge about these figures would give us some more insight in the recent happenings, we chose to speak to the Mayor and an Inn owner, Ameiko of the Rusty Dragon Inn.

On the way the party was alerted to a woman who had a Goblin in her house. Gill taking charge, ran into the house only to have a Goblin get him by surprise. While the foul little humanoid was killed, it seemed it had already claimed a villagers life for its own. Swapping short condolences, the party moved on.

As the party found their way to The Rusty Dragon Inn, they asked if Ameiko had a moment for their investigation. Before we were able to talk, a strange man entered the Inn, speaking in a foreign language and seeming quite irate. We later learned that it was Ameiko’s father, trying to tell Ameiko to leave town with him. After a small exchange, he left in a rage.

Then we got drunk.

The party awakes in the morning deciding to head to the guard barracks to bring their findings to Baalor Hemlock. There we were met by some ‘freelancers’ working for the Mayor and Hemlock to aid in the Goblin incidents. They explained that the Goblin tribes in the areas around Sandpoint were mobilizing. One scout said she would check out the different tribes and return in a few days with more information.

We decided to return to Ameiko to keep her up to date with our investigation, only to find her gone and a note nearby. The note was left for Ameiko and details on where she had to meet the writer of this note. Finding our way to the Glass works we investigated the area.

After some looking around and convincing onlookers we were not breaking in, we found our way in. To our surprise we came across a group of Goblins. Making quick work of them we did find something troubling; a man covered in now cold glass. More unsettling was that we discovered this man to be Ameiko’s father from the day before. Close by we discovered a note detailing a ritual to call some other planar being. Also detailing more about the Goblin attacks.

It seemed apparent now that the Goblin attacks were a distraction for more than just grave robbery. As we continued on, we discovered Ameiko unconscious in the cellar of the Glass works. We had heard another person run from us in the cellars, but we decided Ameiko’s safety came first. Aioda and Rotar took her to the church as Modo and Gill made haste to Baalor Hemlock.

At the guard barracks, Gill and Modo received news that Baalor was out of a town for some time. Taking a chance, Modo wanted to write a letter informing Baalor and have it sent by carrier pigeon. The party regrouped at the cathedral and went with Ameiko to the mayor. While we were told to keep our finding hush-hush, it seemed that time had passed. The mayor instructed us to head back into the Glasswork cellars and put a stop to whatever is happening. We received a scroll of Send Message to contact him if needed.

We moved back into the Glassworks and moved further in underground tunnels. Before long we found Wrath Spawns, demonic beings of some nature. In a fit of confusion at their discovery, Modo foolishly ordered the mayor to seal the tunnel, with them inside.

As they ventured on, they encountered more Spawns and an elaborate cell block. Aioda recognized some writing on a Spawn’s armor in particular. It seemed to be written in Thessalonian. The party ventured on through small hallways and caves. They came across a spiral staircase leading up, but not before they were attacked by a vargouille.

Upon closer examination the spiral staircase was blocked off by collapsed pillars and rubble. The party opted to venture on. Heading back to the cellblock to get a bigger overview of their location. The party stumbled upon a mutated goblin in a dark under passage. After a fierce battle which almost costs Gill his life, another problem arose. Rotar’s beard had begun to fall out. In this moment, the party’s wellbeing outweighed the towns safety, one could almost say. In a rush the party ventured back into the tunnels that lead them here. Finding a split in the road unseen from when they entered, the party came across an odd wall. In his hurry and with his uncanny sense for stonework, Rotar slammed his weapon into the wall and discovered the outside again. Finding themselves at the edge of town on a cliff, Rotar wasted no time to find a cure for his beard troubles.
While running through the city, Rotar lost his composure and wept. While Ameiko and Rotar headed to a magical shop, Modo and Gill opted to head back to the barracks and hope for a word back from Baalor Hemlock. While Rotar received a potion to cure his ailment, Gill and Modo were told Baalor has returned and was setting up the incoming Goblin raids. The party regrouped at the Rusty Dragon inn after taking care of some minor shopping. Rotar was still upset by his loss of part of his beard. Ameiko was able to give him some respite by giving him a ‘prosthetic’ beard made from his lost hair. While we are a ways away from fixing his beard, Rotar did feel better.

The next morning the party ventured back into the caverns, retracing their previous steps. Entering a new path, they stumbled across a room with a black-stone altar. Upon examining it, Modo discerned the altar to produce Unholy Water. Under the thought of “Never know when this’ll come in handy” Modo filled one of his empty hipflasks with it and also one of Rotar’s containers. Finding their way to a large room, they were greeted by a small daemon-like being summoning Wrath Spawns from an altar. After some grueling combat they came closer to examine the altar. In a little fit of experimentation Modo poured some of the Unholy water into the altar. To everyone’s surprise, another wrath spawn emerged from the altar and had to be dispatched.

The party pondered on this for some time before they ultimately had to move on. Last, they discovered a room veiled in a sheen of magic. A small room with chairs and others floating gently in a blue aura. As Gill and Aioda went in, they discovered the room to grant a feeling of rest. Reluctant to leave the peace-inducing room, Modo asked Rotar to tie a rope around him and help pull them out of the low gravity room. Leaving with some small forms of treasure and more literature to examine, they retired back to the town.

once back in town, Aioda went to the library to search up more information on our discoveries beneath the town. Primarily to find a way to destroy the summoning font. In this moment, Modo promised Rotar he would do what he could to help restore his beard. Once regrouped, Aioda explained her finding and directed us to the Lighthouse, more notably, a man who lived nearby, Dr. Kink. The Doctor was described a scholar type and might proof useful to aid us.

We visited Dr. Kink and after some unpleasant introductions we sparked his interest in Thessalonian, leading him to suddenly excitingly reveal some of his research to us. While Aioda and Gill were mostly enthralled by his finding, Modo and Rotar examined a book styling many dwarven haircuts and beard types. He also aided us in giving us a method to destroy the Thessalonian altars we had encountered before. While by the end of the conversations with Dr. Kink we realized that the Thessalonian structures under the city may pose a grave threat, the more visible and more-known Goblin problem needed their attention.

After a quick rest and a haircut for Rotar, we proceeded to the Barracks to meet Baalor and receive reports back from the scouts. The scout relayed to us that the Goblin Clans were at the point of mass mobilisation and had to be halted now. The largest clan was the Thistletops, located on a nearby island.

Wasting little time getting to the outskirts of the island, they did stumble on themselves about how to go about the assault. While the party all had various ways of reaching the island and getting the rest on, they opted for the scouts plan to simply scale a side of the island and sneak in to the undergrowth of the island.

once inside, the party sneaked their way to a watch tower. Taking out a few targets from range proved useful before they attempted to sneak up on a bigger group. As they attempted to stealth approach a small group of Goblin, Gill opted to simply rush in. In a short flurry of bombs, arrows, magic and bolts, the Goblins quickly found themselves with their maker, or simply dead.

As the party progressed across the bridge, we found ourselves at the mercy of a trap. Gill and Modo were halfway across the bridge before the trap activated. While Modo was able to hang on, Gill fell 80 feet down into a body of water. As Aioda used a rope given by Shalelu, 2 Goblins were watching from a distance laughing at us. While Gill climbed his way up, Shalelu dispatched the Goblins with 2 quick arrows.

Once all across we beheld sight of an old ruin, repurposed by Goblins. Large doors guiding us in, we came to many hallways and even more doors. Passing through hallways and cleaving through Goblins the party found themselves at a stair case leading to a watch tower. From the tower we were able to see a yard with Goblin Dogs. With bow, bolt and a dagger the Dogs were quickly dispatched. Moving to the yard they had seen from the small tower, Gill found a starved horse locked up and decided to come back for it later. After finding a set of stairs leading down, they decided to search the full floor of the ruin before heading on.

Soon when in undiscovered territory, the party found their way into a large room filled with Goblins. Dogs, one on a large lizard and an array of chanting greenskins. Knowing to be overwhelmed in the room, the party moved back to get into a defensive position. The Goblin assemble quickly pushed the party back and incapacitated Modo. While Modo was able to halt his bleeding from fatal levels, he quickly found himself taken away while Aioda and Gill were fighting their own assailants. Aioda and Gill chose to retreat under the cover fire of Shalelu.

During their rest, Gill headed into Sandpoint for some quick supplies. Aioda devised a plan to infiltrate the ruins as a Goblin and get Modo out. Using her spells, she managed to enter the ruins almost un-harassed and made a quick ally out of a charmed goblin, finding some of Modo’s gear along the way. Modo himself awoke in a dark room, the goblins prison. While looking around the room he heard another person close by. It turned out to be another captive, one who referred to himself as ‘The Wanderer’. They exchanged words and on how they were captured. As the mysterious, but seemingly kind Traveller told of some his exploits, Modo heard the door previously keeping him locked up, open to reveal Aioda in Goblin form. As Aioda hushly explained that they were getting out, Modo told her of the Wanderer in the next ‘cell’ and how he wished for him to be freed as well.

In a quick rush, the trio managed to make it out of the ruins before Aioda’s transformation spell faded. As Gill returned we had a brief discussion on what to do and the introduction of the Wanderer to the rest of the party. Soon enough a familiar face found them, it was the Goblin Shaman! Expressing his wishes to clear the ruins and halt the Goblin raids, he assisted us in clearing the once dreaded throne room of the Goblin ‘King’. While he had preferred us to not be so violent in our ways, we did agree that he might have to lead the remaining Goblins and do his best to deter them from large scale attacks.

Once our current level was clear, we also found our way to a small armoury and Modo was able to retrieve the rest of his gear along with that of the Wanderer and some Goblin sized weapons.
We ventured down into the ruins, only to come across more tables with unfinished scraps of food. Beyond the regular signs of life reflected in dirty plates and cutlery, the party found an ever-burning torch, solidifying their idea that there are still plenty of horrors below, be it Goblin or Longshanks.

Looking into long dark hallways, the party opted to let Modo scout ahead, for, as he said himself, he’s rather hard to find in the shadows. In a split hallway he found a locked large door to an altar of Lamashtu, a barricades door and one that was notably ‘smelly as all hell and beyond’.

Reporting back to the party of his findings, they continued to the large doors first. As soon as we we’re able to open the door, we were surprised to find a misshapen dog of some sorts waiting for us. The sight of these demons clashed with images and scripts from the Abysmal book in Aioda’s mind. Sparing not a moment, Aioda ran as far as she could from these demonic beasts. Remembering how they skin their prey and the gruesome aftermath of an encounter.
The combination of blades and bombs proved our way away from the beasts we later identified as Yeth Dogs. While Aioda found her way back with a Wand of Cure Light Wounds in hand, Gill and Modo began to examine the altar room. Finding again, Black Altars with what we deemed as Unholy water. But a certain statue did catch out attention. A large statue of Lamashtu, Mother of Monsters with dimmed diamond eyes looked over us from the edge of the room.

In perhaps an opportunistic moment or a religious one, we decided to take the Diamond eyes from the statue to ‘defile’ the unholy place it was housed in. After taking what we could to diminish Lamashtu’s presence, we continued on to the previous doors Modo has scouted out.

The Wanderer commented on how he saw a figured dart by the room entrance while we fought the beastly dogs. Proceeding with a slight hint of caution, we found ourselves in a room detailing Goblin plans. In true Goblin fashion, their story, plan or perhaps even their prophecy was draw on the walls. We deduced that the Goblins were planning a 2^nd raid on Sandpoint, but this one was to have more clans and tribes of Goblin involved than the 5 surrounding the city.

As we moved on, we found ourselves In a hallway blocked by chairs and tables, skittering his way across and under the blockage, Modo was able to spy into the next room. His eyes fell upon stacks of discarded paper on the ground, one he identified as a map of the area. With some help, the party was able to move the barricades. Looking around the room we found snippets of text about Lamashtu and Modo found himself some writing equipment in a nearby bookcase. Another blocked door presented itself to us and we took it’s challenge like all those before. After straining Gill’s shoulder and some demolition play we were able to open a crack in the door, Gill sticking his head through to see what would meet us on the other side.

Gill was surprised by a Magic Missile attack from within. We were told by a angered, female voice to leave and stop breaking everything. We soon realized we would have no way in without having to combat what we deduced to be a slightly less then sane wizard. We left the room, leaving parting words that we may return, did not wish for conflict and were here merely to solve the Goblin problem and the rising threat of Lamashtu.

tracking our steps back we came across a room Modo has earlier identified as being barricaded. With some snappy footwork by Gill we opened it and found ourselves in what seemed to be a cave system. Our puzzlement did not have much time to wonder as Roper-like creatures had noticed us and began attacking us from the ceiling. While Gill slew one with a strong attack, he was covered in its innards. Taking a small moment to take off his armor and have Aioda splash water on him, another Roper began to attack us. The Roper had managed to grab Gill and attempted to lift him up to the monsters maw. With fire, sword strikes and a small flying dagger, the party was able to get Gill lose and slay the monster.

The party retreated from the small cave and rested for a while in one of the previously cleared rooms. After a few hours the party went back to another room; a room with 6 doors in total of which they had only explored 2. While checking the doors, Modo found one emitting horrid crying sounds. Demon sounding as he called it. Gill quickly moved to the door and opened it by force. To his and our surprise, it was a Goblin nursery and Gill found baby Goblins starting to chew on him. With the Goblins waking up due to Gill’s entry, we quickly found ourselves in a tight spot.

As all present started to discuss the finer points of baby killing, even of vague humanoid children, Gill was able to shake of some of the Goblins and also crushing one under his boot. As Modo indecisively juggled a bomb at the entrance and the Wanderer attempted to drag Gill out Aoida had taken irritating notice of the screeching. Aoida was quickly able to hypnotize the babies and Gill using a spell. While Gill walked out, Aoida tended to the Goblins and stuck them back in their ´beds´.

While the party discussed how they certainly should not kill the small ones, seeing they will need a tribe to stay to ´keep other beings at bay´ they were being watched by a mysterious onlooker. The onlooker introduced himself as Saati, an Elf Druid. After brief introductions Modo continued to search the doors in the room. After finding what was only described as a ‘Love room’ the party continued down a hallway. The hallway lead past some small rooms with beds and some storage. Feeling confident, the party moved on to another floor on the ruined stronghold.

As the party moved down the staircase they found, they arrived in a small hallways. A hallways with 2 statues opposite of each other holding weapons. Modo immediately recognized it as a trap and advised to just throw something heavy on it to trigger and dispel it. After some discussion, Gill foolishly walked between the statues with his shield up, triggering a pressure plate. As fences quickly rose behind and in front of Gill, he rose his shield above him to quickly defend against the weapons that were clattering down on him. As the statues started to lean forward, it was obvious Gill would either fall to the weapons or the sheer weight of the statues.

In 1 bright moment, Aoida was able to cast a spell to relocate Gill. As he found himself out of the trap, we saw the floor between the statues drop and the fences lift. With some small jumps, the party was able to cross the hallway.

As they moved on, they came to a split. Modo and Gill identified a Yeth hound on one side and the rest of the party came across a strange statue on the other end. Aoida was the first to examine the statue and the first to find her way through some sort of portal by putting coins on the eyes. While Aoida was on the other side Modo, Gill and the Wanderer examined the statue. Only gold coins worked, and only 2 of them would be enough. The Wanderer first held up Modo to try and see through the portal he had opened using some of his coins. He exclaimed to see Aoida vaguely and seemingly unharmed.

First Gill attempted to run through the statue to gain entrance, but kinetic force and stone walls quickly halted that idea. As Gill then placed 2 coins and stuck his hand through, Modo hovered a copper coin in front of him. Apperently neither convinced of any evil or possible faults; Modo placed a copper coin on the statue and Gill’s lower left arm was severed. In a fit of panic on Modo’s side and anguish on that of Gill, the Wanderer and Saati found themselves in a very grave need to aid Gill. With a healing spell, they were able to halt the bleeding from the severed arm, but the damage had truly already been done.

In panic and disbelieve of what he had just done, Modo adamantly repeated he ‘did not think it would do anything to add a copper coin, as the statue only responded to gold.’ After understandable anger from the rest of the party, Modo was to go through the portal first and under careful watch of the Wanderer as Saati comforted Gill. On the other side Modo and the Wanderer found Aoida intensely examining the room they found. Aoida explained that some of the relics placed here were from Lamashtu along with a strange, almost holographic image of someone giving a speech. Modo and the Wanderer quickly explained the incident with Gill and his arm, understandably, Aoida did not think it was a very becoming action of Modo to mess with something obviously magical in nature.

Also located on this side of the statue portal was a room. A sealed room that whispered deep seethed thoughts into the party. While most had the sense that a door calling you to open it would never hold good fortune, Modo felt differently. Slowly and with small weapons, Modo attempted to open the door before the Wanderer and Aoida told him not to. Before more time could be spend, they moved back out of the portal, back to Saati and Gill.

Gill at this point was softly rambling to himself about the futility of his arsenal, after narrowly evading serious shock. As the party regrouped, Gill suddenly seemed better. Believing his missing limb to be an illusion of some kind. Gently the party went along with this to spare any spurs of insanity. As they continued they came face to face with shadow like beings. While Saati and Aoida attempted spells on them, Modo tried to use his bombs, but to no avail. With strength draining touches, the shadows were able to push the party further back.

The party quickly got out of the chamber and was able to lock the shadows behind them. Some drained of their energy, had to rest. After a while the party was rested enough to continue down the previous hallway, towards the room they had spotted a Yethhound before. Aoida had the idea for 1 person to boot open the door as a surprise, while she would teleport someone else behind the beast.

Our plan seemed better on the outside of the room it seemed, as we forced our way in we came face to face with more Yethhounds, Lyrie the Archeologist and a slight demonic Nuallia. In a quick succession of strikes, The Wanderer was able to finish Nuallia by slicing her in 3 pieces. Despite Modo’s crooked throwing arm playing up again, the party was able to rid the room of beasts and beings.

After some searching the party found a large stack of scrolls and some books detailing more info on Tessalonian. Feeling drained by being underground for what seemed like days on end, theparty moved back to the whispering door. After a quick rest they braced themselves for whatever beast may have been behind the sealed door.

As they opened the door, they at first found nothing, as soon as Gill inspected some of the surroundings a Barghest appeared from thin air. With a mighty roar it started to attack the party. While Gill and The Wanderer took switch hits on the beast, Ioda readied her spear and Modo unleashed a small barrage of bombs. Suddenly the Wanderer was struck hard by the being, bleeding and falling to the ground, a stray bomb hit him. In a beat of a moment, Aoida was able to lodge her spear in the beast, Saati called forth a fireball accompanied by arrows and a gallon of oil applied by Gill. In a last, powerful flash of flames, Aoida ignited the beast and ended the battle.

Worn, torn and weary from drudging through underground tunnels, the party traveled back topside. On their way they considered taking some of the Goblin babies as a ‘bargaining’ chip if they were to encounter more Goblins. Towards the end of the stronghold they found the Goblin Shaman and quickly discussed the state of the fortress and the Goblin clans. Shalelu was also encountered at the exit, quickly swapping notes about what lied below and something about more Goblins attempting to enter the ruins.

In a slow, but determined pace, they headed back to Sandpoint. It was time for some real rest and celebrations.