Heroes of Sandpoint: The Lure of Greed

The Town of Sandpoint, The Light of the Lost Coast

Recently, I ran the first session of my new Pathfinder campaign. As the name implies, the campaign is set in Sandpoint, a prosperous town located on the coast of Varisia in the Pathfinder Campaign Setting. Unlike previous campaigns, I plan to make this game a little bit more episodic and focus more on the characters and their growth as adventurers instead of some complicated metaplot. I thought it would also be fun to post regular re-caps of each session here. I'm going to do my best to keep everything short and spoiler-free as well. 

Our Cast of Characters

• Alfgeir Stannisson, a Ulfen Cleric of Gorum who has traveled from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, hoping to become a great hero like his ancestors. 
• Fiona of Sandpoint, a Varisian Rogue who has spent most of her lives on the streets of the coastal town, doing whatever she can to survive. 
• Jon Silverbow, an Elf Ranger who hails from the Mierani Forest of northern Varisia who has a deep hatred for goblinoids. 
• Ongar, a Half-Orc Paladin who has dedicated his life to the goddess Sarenrae and hopes to spread her redeeming light wherever he goes. 
• Tywin, a Half-Elf Sorcerer from the shadowy realm of Nidal who has traveled far and wide in search of vengeance against someone who has wronged him. 

The session began, like most do, in the Rusty Dragon Inn of Sandpoint. The characters had been drawn to the tavern by the town's sage, Brodert Quink, who wished to hired them to travel into the surrounding hinterlands and find his missing niece, Lucendi. While Ongar was the first to show interest in the old man's plight, the others eventually agreed to help after being promised a decent reward. 

After purchasing some horses from the town's stables, the party made their way down the Lost Coast Road, with the Jon at the lead, using his survival skills to make sure they stayed on track and didn't get lost. After a few hours of travel, the party decided to retire for the night and made camp along the eastern border of the Tickwood. As they relaxed by the fire, the group was ambushed by a large group of goblins. Thankfully, the group managed to handle their attacks with a well-timed sleep spell from Tywin. While most of the goblins were either killed or fled, the party managed to capture two of them and interrogate the pair. 

They learned the goblins were dedicated to an entity known as the "Snake Mistress" who was supposedly a goblin once that was cursed for being greedy. The also say they've moved into one of the old ruins in the nearby Tors, having attacked a archaeological dig that was taking place. Knowing Quink's daughter left with a cleric of Nethys on an archaeological dig to the same region, the characters make a deal with the goblins and they lead them back to their new lair. 

After arriving at the camp and using the shade of night for cover, the party ambushed and easily overtook the goblin camp. After which, they took the time to heal a man who turned out to be one of the dig's guards. Now conscious, he told the characters that Lucendi and the cleric Marsoolian had escaped into the ruins, with the goblin's leader eagerly chasing after them. With this new knowledge, the characters entered the ancient ruins. 

The group quickly found the leader of the goblins, a goblin snake sorceress named Tethiqqa. After defeating the wicked creature, the party discovered a secret passage that lead to a series of hidden chambers underneath the ruins, figuring Lucendi and Marsoolian had traveled down there. They quickly moved through the chambers, only being slowed by a elaborate pit trap that almost took the life of the sorcerer (who was thankfully revived after Fiona force-fed him a healing potion she had stolen from the ranger earlier). 

The party finally found Lucendi, on the flood slowly bleeding to death with the cleric standing before her and a armored skeleton laughing maniacally over them. Figuring the skeleton was trying to kill the two, the party joined the fray and managed to take down the undead champion. However, they quickly discovered this was all a ruse when Marsoolian, smiling wickedly, blasted them with negative energy and tried to kill them. Earlier in the dig, the cleric had discovered a strange book that cursed him when he red it, turning him evil. He had taken control of the skeleton and used it to attack Lucendi. The party retaliated and, sadly, killed the cleric. Alfgeir quickly healed Lucendi's wounds and returned her to her uncle and the party received their reward. 

((Note: I used a modified version of the Lure of Greed adventure from Wayfinder #7. Also I'd like to thank Fiona's player, Drew McClain, for sending me a re-cap last week. It really helped me when writing this post))