The Glassworks was eerily quiet when Razvan and Corita arrived at the building together late in the morning. Although he was hesitant, Razvan took a moment to look into the glassworking room. All of the corpses, from the workers to the goblins to Lonjiku, had been removed by the guards still in Sandpoint. They hadn't cleaned up the room and he could see the shattered glass, scattered tools, and stains of blood across the floor. He closed the door leading to the room and shook his head when he looked back at Corita.
"They're not in there," Razvan told her. "Are we sure that the others are around?"
"Bethana did tell us that they had left the Rusty Dragon by the time we woke up," Corita said. "If we didn't sleep in, we could have had breakfast together."
"Next time, let's not stay up so late training."
"It was a good idea and you know it," Corita smiled. "Come on. Let's check downstairs."
Razvan followed Corita downstairs, admitting to himself that Corita had a point about last night's training. Taking a few hours to work on his fighting style with his daggers made him feel a little more confident about staying in Sandpoint. His combat skills were rusty and the more chances he had to practice without being in danger the better he would be. Corita made for an excellent sparring partner, and although she was as inexperienced as he was, she made up for her lack of training with determination and courage. Razvan decided that even if the odds were great, he would try to be as brave as his friends were in face of danger.
The basement of the Glassworks was recently lit with a few torches, showing that their companions were downstairs. By the time they made their way through the hole in the wall, they found Draul, Kennick, and Mariel waiting for them by the door Tsuto fled through that led to the smuggler tunnels. Razvan was worried that his friends were starting to learn about the tunnels, knowing that they were still in use, but if there were monsters beneath Sandpoint, it was best that they were dealt with even if the town knew of the tunnels. Draul waved the pair toward him while Mariel flipped through her spellbook with a cat with gray fur by her feet. Kennick leaned up against a wall with Razvan noting that he didn't have his greataxe on him.
"Good morning!" Draul said with a wide smile. "I'm glad to see that we're all here. I trust you're both prepared for the battles ahead?"
"I sure am!" Corita nodded and took out her longsword. "Just lead the way and I'll fight."
"You can count on me," Razvan patted on his daggers and turned to Mariel. "What's with the cat?"
"Oh right," Corita looked down at the cat. "I remember you."
"Luxford is my familiar," Mariel explained. "I've had him since exploring Sandpoint but he doesn't enjoy being involved in anything dangerous. Still, after what happened yesterday, I thought it best if he joined us to see if he can be useful."
"Can he fight?" Razvan asked.
"Certainly not but he has other uses," Mariel shook her head. "Fortunately, I did take the chance to brush up on some spells that will aid us in battle."
"That's good," Razvan nodded and turned to Kennick. "Did you misplace your greataxe before?"
"Draul asked that I leave it behind," Kennick answered.
"It's time, Kennick," Draul told him. "Everyone, Kennick and I talked a little last night and he wants to trust us with a secret so that he can fight at full strength. Kennick, I leave the rest to you."
Kennick nodded and stepped away from the wall. The other adventurers focused on him, waiting to see what he had to say for himself. Razvan was curious by what Kennick had planned since he didn't think the bulky mercenary had any secrets. Even what he knew about Tsuto and Nualia wasn't much of a secret and more that he was never asked about. Razvan was even more intrigued by the secret if Draul thought that it would help improve Kennick's skills in battle, which were impressive as it was.
With a deep breath, Kennick closed his eyes in concentration. Corita gasped and stepped closer to Razvan with him catching out to the slight changes that she saw. Thick fur started to grow across his exposed skin and claws grew from his fingertips. Kennick's face twisted as his nose and mouth extended, resembling an animal's stout than a man's face. When Kennick opened his eyes, his bestial transformation was finished.
"Kennick's a werewolf?!" Corita gasped.
"He looks more bear than wolf," Razvan pointed out, looking over Kennick.
"Werebear!" Corita corrected herself.
"I'm coldborn," Kennick said with Razvan noting how sharp his teeth were.
"Coldborn?" Corita asked, calming down after seeing Kennick was still the same on the inside.
"There are those who can shift into animals," Mariel started to explain. "Although similar to lycanthropes, and sometimes related to them, these kinds of shifters can control themselves when they transform although they're not as strong as a true lycanthrope."
"My father was a werebear," Kennick added. "Not all coldborn are related to lycanthropes though, or at least, that's what he told me."
"I see," Razvan nodded along with the explanation.
"You didn't have to hide this from us," Corita told Kennick with a kind smile. "We're your friends."
"That's why I thought to show you," Kennick said with a sigh. "The rest of Sandpoint won't accept me if they see who I truly am though."
"Given recent events, I have to agree with Kennick on that," Draul said. "This remains a secret between the five of us."
"We can keep a secret," Razvan said with Corita nodding in agreement. "I have to ask if your true form does help in a fight."
"Fighting with my claws and teeth comes naturally compared to my greataxe," Kennick explained, looking at his hands. "You can see for yourself when we find the quasit."
"Speaking of, we should get started," Draul told the group. "Follow me. Let's see what we're up against."
The group followed Draul into the room and went down the tunnel with Mariel casting a spell to light the way for her companions. Razvan could make out details in the wall that showed it was made by man decades ago but the only sign that it was used were small tracks in the ground made by goblins. The group walked in silence for several minutes, careful not to alarm any potential enemies, until they came across a crossroads in the path like Corita mentioned in her report. With the goblin tracks coming from one tunnel, Razvan noted that was likely the way they came into Sandpoint. The other tunnel was a mystery and Razvan noted that it appeared to have been sealed before with bricks scattered on the ground.
"This is strange," Razvan whispered to the group. "There aren't any tracks by the other tunnel but something broke through the wall."
"That could be where the quasit waits," Draul frowned. "Stay together."
Draul took out his greatclub and Razvan unsheathed his daggers as the adventurers braced themselves for battle. He could hear Mariel muttering another spell but couldn't see what she was up to. From the direction they had traveled, Razvan thought that they were close to being underneath the Sandpoint Garrison. He could see how the criminal elements of town wanted a way to break prisoners out and it seemed strange that they would purposely seal up the route. The most likely reason was that it was deemed too dangerous, which could mean that Draul was right. If so, he was curious as to who broke down the wall.
The group followed the tunnel up until a point where it split to the right while continuing. Razvan, behind Draul, glanced to the right and his eyes went wide. With Mariel's spell illuminating the chamber, he could see two creatures unlike anything he's seen before. Their arms and legs were unnaturally long with their hands consisting of two talon-like fingers and a thumb and their legs bent like a dog. Visible veins were across their pale and hairless flesh, and when Razvan looked up at their heads, he saw bulging red eyes and a slit nose. Their jaws were split in half at the chin that showed the creatures' sharp teeth. They screeched when they saw the adventurers and grabbed a ranseur.
"I think we found the monsters," Razvan said, fighting back the feeling of panic at the sight of the creatures.
"It's time to fight!" Draul commanded.
Mariel took up a spot by the chamber's entrance and shot a cone of fire at the monsters, burning them. Razvan joined the others in charging at the creatures, following behind Corita while Draul and Kennick focused on the other foe. Corita swung her sword at the monster's arm, cutting into it and giving Razvan an opportunity to sink one of his daggers into its chest. The creature screeched out and collapsed onto the ground with Razvan sighing in relief. Horrifying as they may be, they could be killed.
Draul slammed his greatclub down on the other monster's shoulder but it held on tightly to its ranseur. The creature shoved the sharp prongs of its ranseur into Draul, cutting through his armor and into his chest. It was a devastating attack but the paladin stood on his feet afterwards. Kennick slammed into the monster, bringing it to the ground, and started to hack away at it with his claws and teeth. The creature let out one final scream before growing silent. Razvan could see that Kennick truly was more dangerous without his greataxe in this form.
With a grimace, Draul pulled the ranseur out from him and placed his hand on where he was struck. Razvan could see the paladin's fingers coated with a golden light as Draul sighed in relief. He moved his hand, and although he was still injured, he wasn't at risk of bleeding out.
"What are these creatures?" Corita asked, pointing her sword at one of their slain foes. "I haven't seen or heard about anything like them."
"I'm at a loss as well," Draul admitted. "They look like some sort of twisted humans."
"I've seen drawings of these creatures but my research led me to believe they were wiped out long ago," Mariel commented with the adventurers turning to look at her. "They're sinspawn, and long ago, these experiments were soldiers of the runelords of Thassilon."
"I remember talking about Thassilon with you not long ago," Draul said with a nod. "You never told me that it resorted to such experimentation."
"The runelords were tyrants so it was to be expected," Mariel said. "The sinspawn were believed to be wiped out along with Thassilon during Earthfall."
"It looks like they survived," Razvan frowned. "They're scary but we can take them in a fight at least."
"What are they doing beneath Sandpoint?" Kennick questioned, standing up from the sinspawn he killed.
"That is the mystery we need to solve," Mariel said. "We won't find the answer here. We should continue on."
"A good idea," Draul said and turned away from the sinspawn. "Let's go."
The group pressed on further down the tunnel, which had two paths leading to the right past the chamber the sinspawn were in. Draul glanced down the closest path, and without any enemies in sight, decided to lead the group toward the tunnel further down the tunnel. The split in the road immediately led to a small chamber with three hallways down different directions. Razvan and the others focused on the statue made of red marble. The statue depicted a woman in flowing robes whose beautiful face was twisted in anger. Her hair was pulled back with a headdress of hooks and blades. In one hand she carried a large book with a seven-point star inscribed on the cover and a ranseur made of metal and ivory with her other hand.
Mariel looked at the statue with wide eyes and stepped forward to examine it closer. "Remarkable. I believe that this is a statue of Alaznist, the last runelord of wrath."
"She does look rather wrathful," Corita nodded in agreement but kept her distance away from the statue.
"What makes her the runelord of wrath?" Draul questioned, crossing his arms.
"The runelords were masters of an ancient form of magic called sin magic," Mariel explained. "Their lives emulated one of the seven sins: wrath, pride, lust, sloth, gluttony, and greed."
"So there's always one runelord of wrath along with the other six runelords?" Corita asked.
Mariel nodded. "That's right."
Razvan looked over the statue and stroked his chin in thought. "You know, I think that ranseur isn't a part of the statue but was added to it."
"You're right," Corita said with a grin. "We could take it with us and sell it!"
"I don't feel comfortable with the idea of pawning off Thassilonian artifacts," Mariel told the group with a frown.
"If it's magical, it could be useful to us," Draul told Mariel. "If not, we can let you decide where it goes."
"I suppose I can agree to that," Mariel nodded. "Let's take the ranseur and search down the middle hallway."
It only took Draul and Razvan a few seconds to take the ranseur from Alaznist's statue with the paladin holding onto it. Corita, Mariel, and Kennick walked down the middle hallway with the other two adventurers following after them. By now, the group was in some sort of structure rather than a cave with the stairs in the hallway leading up. The adventurers made it to a door which Corita opened and stepped into a small room. There was another door on the other side and a well of water outlined with skulls placed in the center of the room.
Flying above the well was a strange monster that only consisted of a head with a pair of bat-like wings and tentacles attached to it. The monster dove at Corita who dove to the side to avoid the creature's sharp teeth. Kennick charged at the head, slamming his claws into the monster. The coldborn made quick work of their attacker, tearing it apart and throwing the remains at the wall.
"Good work, Kennick!" Razvan said, amazed at how deadly his friend was.
"Thanks," Kennick nodded.
"That was a close one," Corita took a deep breath and stood up. "Was that our quasit?"
"I'm afraid that was a vargouille, another kind of demon," Draul explained. "Our search continues."
"What about the well?" Razvan asked, gesturing towards it.
"It doesn't appear to be magical from a glance," Mariel noted. "I suggest we leave it be and continue on."
The group briefly continued through the door on the other side of the room, but ultimately, it led to a dead end. There was a set of stairs that led up into rubble with Mariel speculating that whatever the stairs led to has since been destroyed and built over by the town of Sandpoint. The group backtracked to the chamber that held the statue of Runelord Alaznist and went through the door to the north.
The adventurers stepped onto a wooden platform that creaked from their weight. The platform had two stairs that led down into what was clearly a prison given the amount of jail cells were around. There was a walkway on the wooden platform that led to the right, continuing on to another passage. There weren't any prisoners alive but the group spotted a pair of sinspawn below them that caught sight of the adventurers and took out their ranseurs. With no chance to hide, they prepared for battle while the sinspawn dashed toward the stairs.
Razvan didn't mean to fight in the front at the start of the battle but he and Corita were closest to the wooden stairs the sinspawn ran up. Corita fought off one of the experiments, slashing her sword across its chest while backing away from its ranseur jab. Razvan stabbed at the other sinspawn, his dagger sinking into its wrist, and he pulled back in time to duck beneath the ranseur jab. However, the sinspawn dashed forward and bit into Razvan's shoulder. His leather armor kept him safe from serious injury but he felt a few of the sinspawn's fangs sink into his shoulder.
For a brief moment, Razvan felt an overwhelming rage nearly overcome him. He heard that warriors could feel strong emotions in battle but the anger he felt didn't feel natural. He took several deep breaths as the sinspawn let go of him and felt the wrath inside him fade away as quickly as it had come. With Corita holding off her sinspawn, Mariel blasted the sinspawn that bit Razvan with a dart of magical energy while Draul slammed it back with his greatclub. Kennick maneuvered his way through his companions, and with a swipe of his claw, tore through the throat of the sinspawn that bit Razvan to kill it. The coldborn then turned to Corita's foe and pounced on top of the sinspawn, tearing through its flesh with his teeth.
"Razvan, are you okay?" Draul asked. "Do you need healing?"
"I'll be fine," Razvan said, feeling only a light scratch on his shoulder. "I'm more worried about the rage I felt when it bit me. It didn't seem right. Mariel, does that sound like something a sinspawn could do?"
"It's possible that they could inflict feelings associated with their sin," Mariel thought out loud. "Given that this lair likely fell in Alaznist's territory, it meant that you were 'infected' with wrath for lack of better words."
"I guess I must have been able to push back the rage," Razvan sighed with relief. "Should we continue on?"
"We should," Draul nodded. "Everyone, be careful to avoid being bitten by the sinspawn."
The adventurers continued their exploration by walking across the wooden walkway and into another chamber that contained several torture devices such as a spherical cage with spikes protruding inward and a long wooden table covered in leather straps that were design to swivel and rotate. Razvan could tell that this was likely meant for prisoner interrogation with most of the tools outdated both in functional use and from the passage of time. The adventurers pressed on, continuing through the door and down a set of stairs.
After making it to the next chamber, the group found themselves in a large chamber with a ceiling that arched upward. There were several "lids" made of rotted wood spread on the ground, and from beneath the wood, the adventurers could hear low moaning. No one needed to say anything to the others about not standing on the wood. In the center of the room was a goblin that Razvan was surprised to see had three arms. The extra limb extended from his left shoulder and carried a hatchet. The arm beneath the extra hand held onto a dagger and his right hand held onto a sword that was perhaps too large for the goblin. The sword stood out most to the group with the metal blade burning.
The goblin screeched and turned his red eyes toward the group. He charged at them but was careful to jump over or step around the wooden lids. Razvan held onto his daggers tightly, not enjoying the idea of combat in this room.
"We're not fighting here," Mariel declared and held out her hand toward the goblin.
Vivid colors shot up from her hand and enveloped the goblin, who fell down onto the ground. The sword he carried fell from his clutches and went dim, the flames fading away. Razvan sighed in relief and was glad to see that Mariel made quick work of the goblin.
Kennick looked at the goblin's sword before turning back to the collapsed goblin. "Koruvus."
"Koruwhat?" Corita asked.
"A goblin hero that wields a magical sword," Kennick explained. "According to Shalelu, he went missing."
"Regardless of who that goblin is, he won't be stunned for long," Mariel informed the group. "I suggest we put him out of his misery."
"I would suggest that we take him prisoner and see if we can turn him away from being a vile villain, but given that goblins aren't meant to have a third arm, I think it's too late for him," Draul said, sighing. "Kennick, make it quick."
Kennick was careful to avoid the wooden lids and dove onto Koruvus, ending the goblin's life with his claws. Draul turned away from the coldborn before the deed was done, not caring to see Koruvus' death. It was a quick end but not a pretty one. Razvan looked away from the carnage to see Corita pick up the sword that Koruvus wielded. She picked it up by the hilt and the sword grew hot once again.
"That's an impressive blade," Razvan commented with a grin. "A bit too big for me but I think it fits you."
"I think so too," Corita nodded and swapped out her old longsword in favor of the magical weapon. "I can't wait to fight with it."
There was only a single door in the room to the right of where they had entered. The adventurers made their way carefully to the door and into another hallway. There was a staircase that led down to the left of the hall but rubble prevented the adventurers from taking them down. Instead, they went further down the hallway and through another door into what ultimately led into a chamber with no further way forward.
The room the adventurers found themselves in was shaped like a sphere, and strangely enough, several objects spun around in the air without any care for gravity. Among the items were a tattered book, a dead raven surrounded by writhing maggots, a scroll, a twisted rod of iron with a forked tip, and an open bottle of wine. The walls were covered in dark red metal with runes that rippled as the group stepped into the room. Razvan looked down at the ground and noticed that his feet weren't touching the ground.
"Woah!" Razvan gasped as he floated up along with the rest of his companions. "What's happening?!"
"The room must be enchanted," Mariel said, focused on the walls.
"We're flying!" Corita exclaimed and moved upward.
"It's levitation, not flight," Mariel corrected without glancing at the bard. "There's a difference."
"I'll be outside," Kennick told the group, moving back to the door where he fell back onto his feet, showing that the magic didn't extend past the chamber.
Razvan looked around the room and focused on the bottle of wine. "It's empty. I don't see any stains in this room and I doubt that the sinspawn are heavy drinkers."
Draul moved up to the bottle and frowned. "I recognize the label. It's from a winery in Magnimar."
"Magnimar was founded long after Thassilon fell, right?" Razvan thought out loud. "That means someone had to have brought it here recently."
"I have to agree on that," Draul nodded. "We weren't the first ones here."
"But what about the sinspawn?" Corita asked. "Wouldn't they have attacked any intruders like they did with us?"
"Unless the quasit told them not to," Draul said. "Regardless, it doesn't look like the quasit is here. We should continue with our search."
"Indeed," Mariel nodded and floated up to the scroll. "Corita, grab that metal rod. It looks like it could be some sort of wand."
Corita nodded and levitated up to the wand. Razvan floated down to the door along with Draul, feeling more confident. The sinspawn were terrifying but the group had made short work of them. Kennick getting the chance to fight as a coldborn was definitely contributing to the group's progress during their exploration. Razvan felt that his earlier idea of fleeing from Sandpoint was no longer necessary. They had struggled recently but their experience and training was paying off. Once the quasit was dealt with, Razvan was certain that he and the others could stand against Nualia, Tsuto, and their goblins.
A/N: When it comes to creating a cast of characters for a TTRPG game, I like having variety when it comes to the races of the members in the group. I think it makes for a fun story compared to an all-human group. Honestly, I probably could have gotten away with having two humans in Rise of the Runelords, much like I did with Curse of the Crimson Throne and Second Darkness, but honestly, the different variations of skinwalker (I'm not too big on that name) stood out to me when I was looking into Pathfinder and I really wanted to include one in a story.
Next time, we continue the exploration of the dungeon beneath Sandpoint.
Until next time.