This Post May Contain Possible Rise of the Runelords Spoilers. Read at your own risk.
Game summary Composed by Kern (Troy W)
By a great stroke of good luck, Taygur and I happened to return to his home town on the same day as some sort of local festival. As it turned out, the town of Sandpoint was in the process of dedication a new chapel, and the townfolk were spilling ale and piling on the banquet tables!
Taygur and I were immediately drawn to the games of strength and skill, and both of us being eager to impress the locals with our prowess, joined in on a few. First, we took part in an archery contest, where my Shaonti brother was narrowly defeated by the town champion. As for myself…well, if there had been multiple targets ranked up together, I would have probably killed a couple of them instead of just the one. Yet I was not the worst shot.
After the shooting, the victor challenged Taygur to a rematch… wagering his new prize bow against Taygur’s trusty weapon. A bit of quick talking persuaded the drunken victor to accept 15 gold as Taygur’s ante instead, and pooling our money, my companion’s skill not only retained my coin but secured him a very fine weapon…which will be of great help in the future.
Then we joined an arm wrestling competition, where I soon found myself one of the leading contenders. My final opponent was a militia man name Granite. This man was huge! He had arms as big around as the mast of a ship! I gave him a good fight though, and when all was said and done, he invited me to join him at the tavern called the Hagfish to knock back a few. There was also a bald dwarf named Marsdul competing in the event whose presence I would be very grateful for later on.
Taygur, Marsdul, and I recruited another fellow for the tug of war. We went up against a group of lumberjacks, who we easily matched, at first. But it became a long pull, and I lost my footing in the mud, and then had it all over me and the rest of our team! The victors were generous though, and invited us to join them at the Dragon, where they planned to tap the huge keg they had won. First though, Taygur wanted to compete in timed long run. He ran well, but apparently there was some other fellow in town who was faster, and won a nice set of leather slippers.
All in all, we didn’t do that bad, coming in second in a game isn’t so rough, as long as you don’t come in second in a duel
We then turned our attention to the dedication ceremony that was just beginning. The local priest, Father Zantus, ascended the stage before an excited crowd of local and called for someone to “release the swallowtails!”. Then a crate was opened up at the back of the crowd and thousands of butterflies took flight.
I was pulling Taygur away to look for the lumberjacks and their keg, when suddenly we heard someone screaming and saw a group of goblins running out into the crowd, having just gutted a dog. The goblins were chanting some sort of sing-songy tune in their own tongue, and the crowd went crazy trying to get away from them. The vermin were slashing at people, setting fire to buildings…and clothes, and hurling arrows, shingles and tomatoes everywhere.
Taygur and I drew our weapons, as did the dwarf and several other armed members of the crowd. With the help of another man, a couple of gnomes and a crazy looking half elf, we managed to crush the first wave of goblin attackers…even capturing one with the help of the gnome’s magic.
The half-elf, Maylen, and I nearly died, but were saved by Morsdal invoking the power of his god…apparently, he is a priest of some sort. Not surprisingly, the gnomes are spellcasters as well, and while one of them cast some sort of enlargement spell on me (much to my chagrin), their quick thinking was able to dazzle and incapacitate a number of our foes. The other human, Mal, took out a few, and Taygur’s bow slew many of the enemy. I dispatched a couple as well.
Then the father came out from where he was sheltering some of the frightened and injured town folk and healed some of our wounds. I went to deal with an unconscious goblin, hoping to interrogate it. One of my new companions happened to speak goblin and was able to find out that it had been told to attack the town by some “long shank” it had met in the cemetery outside of town. I wanted to hand the creature over to the sheriff, in case he has some sort of use for the vermin, but Taygur and Morsdal insisted that we kill it…the only good goblin being the dead kind. Well, I can’t really say that I disagree with that assessment, my only reluctance being that perhaps the town had some use for the creatures, but when Taygur said the town policy was to kill them on sight, that was good enough for me.
No sooner had we finished that little pest than the strange chanting began again, and another batch of the invaders appeared. This time, with the civilians out of the way of the fight (either hiding or trying to safe their homes from the fire), my new companions and I were able to formulate a better battle plan. I stepped out in front to establish a fighting line, while Maylen took up a position behind me from which to use his spear. Taygur put his bow to good use, while Morsdal and Mal got into good defensive positions. The two gnomes had expended much of their magic but were still able to contribute to the fight. It was short and quick, but even as we dispatched this second wave, we could still make out sounds of continuing conflict in the distance…
