Sandpoint: The Swallowtail Festival

Five years ago…

He wakes up to intense heat! Father Ezakien Tobyn, a human cleric of Desna, awakened in his bed, sweating, and realizes that the chapel is ablaze. Fire has reached his chambers, burning the curtains and draperies in the room.

"Nualia! Nualia, where are you?!? We must get out of here!!!"

He rushes out the door as it, too, engulfs in flame. He looks in her room, only to find it empty. Her bed is still made. She’s not there.

"Nualia! Please, we must get out of here now!"

He rushes to the pews, looking between each one, hoping to find his aasimar daughter hiding, much like she used to as a little girl. He laments how cruel the humans were to her here. They would ask her as a child to touch their warts or their rashes, in hopes of curing them. She was touched by Desna, after all. But they didn’t leave her alone. Some people after mass would sneak up to her and cut pieces of her hair, using it in their makeshift fertility rituals and such. Sometimes people would use their young children to lure Nualia to their homes, in the ruse of having a play date, but really they wanted Nualia’s divine voice to cast out evil spirits that they believed were in their homes.

The rumors were ridiculous, and Father Tobyn tried to rid them of these silly notions, but humans are easily superstitious, making their own notions as they deem fitting. No way to treat a child, he thought, but he never overtly defended against these actions. It happened again and again.

Tobyn couldn’t find his adoptive daughter between the pews. He thought, where could she be?, as he searched for his daughter through the flames. They have started to ride up to the ceiling of the humble chapel now.

Tobyn looked in confessional booths, in sacramental closets, and as he continued his search, the temperatures rose and the fire increased in intensity.

When Nualia was nowhere to be found, he ran for the front door and shoved. The door didn’t open.

BOOM! BOOM!

He tries frantically over and over to open the door, but nothing. It was as if the door was stopped.

He begins chanting as he realizes the futility of searching elsewhere for an access point, with the fire blazing around him:

"Oh, Great Dreamer, master mine,
Grant me thy sweet aid divine.
Carry my soul into sky,
As the swallowtail ascends on high.
Grant me freedom, sweet release,
Find thy humble servant’s somber pleas.
May my soul soar through the trees,
Among the stars and in betweens."

As he repeats the chant again, he hears a distant laughter, the laughter of a fiend. As he looks over, trying to find the source of the laughter, something thuds against the top of his head, and his mind fades to blackness. The flames begin to lick his cloak, but he fades away before feeling the pain of the fire. As he fades, he says weakly, "Thank you, my love Starsong".

Present day… (Rova 1, 4707 AR)

The hustle and bustle in Sandpoint is building this morning as merchants begin lining up around the cathedral square’s perimeter. Carts full of pastries and treats, carts full of games and art. Minstrels line up, finding seats around the perimeter as they play or sing a soft cacophony of tunes.
An array of priests prep the platform built days before, putting visages of Desna around, hanging a floating lantern of the Night Monarch tied to one of the posts, making sure the podium has the items requested by the speakers today, Mayor Deverin, Sheriff Hemlock, Cyrdak Drokkus, and Father Zantus.
It is a beautiful day, the first day of autumn. Slowly but surely, the town’s inhabitants start forming a crowd near the platform and in the square.

The guard says to Theogrin: The smithy isn't gonna open shop today, due to the festivities. Here's a map, and I'll circle where Das Korvuk's shop ('tis called the Red Dog Smithy), if you mean to stay a while an' visit his place. I'm sure he'd appreciate some business.

The guard walks off, continuing his patrol.

More of the inhabitants of Sandpoint congregate in the square of the new, beautiful cathedral during this special ceremony.

The festival has started in earnest. There is a lot to do in the morning. There are various games, there are actors and minstrels about, there is a make-shift stage where actors are making some short performances, there are snacks for sale, and there are an assortment of vendors of various products around.

Kids are running through the procession of people, and adult human (and a spattering of other humanoids) are wandering through the various exhibits.

Theogrin finds a bean bag toss game that seems fun enough. A bunch of kids are trying to hit specific targets near and far, and there is one target that is small and blocked by various bars in a daunting pattern.

A little girl next to him gets excited, as she knows the prize is this very large, very squishy and cute unicorn. She says, IT'S SO FLUFFY! I WANT TO DIE!!!

She tugs at his hand. Excuse me, sir. Can you please get that for me? She points to the unicorn, and she cheeses it up as she smiles at the knight of Iomedae.

The children, hearing the cheering and clapping, rush with their new orbs in hand towards the festivities in the square near the new cathedral. A couple of these orbs are thrown by these kids, and explosions ensue, followed by giddy child laughter and giggles.

That'a be 5 copper pieces each. The game's simple. Ya knock over certain targets, you get a number o' points. Some targets're harder to hit, but're more points.

There're a host o' prizes available, but da unicorn's a mighty special prize. Ya have ta'hit tha' li'l target (he points to the small target that Theogrin noticed earlier) right there.

The little girl giggles as she takes her ball, aims, and hefts it at a medium target, pelting it. She wins enough points to get a small lollipop. She gleefully accepts the lollipop, but she tugs on the paladin's tunic and says, Oh, please, get me that unicorn! Or get me another ball and I'll get it!

Theogrin, your careful toss evades the bars and obstacles, and it hits the target. You see the target bend backward, but the ball does not knock the target over, bouncing off the target and landing on the floor.

The little girl says, Hey, what gives? He hit the target!

The game attendant responds, crouching down in front of the little girl, and says with a mocking overtone: Let me explain something to you, missy. You see that itty-bitty target over there? You see how it's not knocked over?

He looks up at the paladin, defiantly, now standing face-to-face with Theogrin, sticking his index finger on the armored chest of this paladin.

You know what that means, professor? It means you don't get the Un-ee-corn!

AAAAHHHH!

Uh oh!

Somebody's got a frowny face.

Booohooo!

Better luck next time!

He then looks at the girl and the paladin, then chuckles and walks back to his stand.

The game operator starts counting the money in front of everyone watching, and everyone (except those who venerate Abadar) are looking on with disgust at this abuse.

Theogrin's shot would have hit the target, but for the bar that the ball hit. The guy chuckles.

The kid winds back, then stops and looks behind her to find a lady in a white cloak, with a white cowel covering her head. It seems no one else notices her but the girl and Theogrin, and Theo can see in the split of the cloak that she is wearing shiny, full-plate armor underneath, and she has a longsword slung to her hip.

The girl hands the ball to her, who hands it to Theo and says with a smirk on her pretty face, Knock that target out of here, kid! The girl looks on expectantly at Theogrin.

Theogrin sees divine light correct the ball as it leaves his hand, giving it additional force. It goes through and knocks the target clean off its stand, which breaks off with it, indicating that this particular game operator glued the target to the stand itself.

The crowd claps and cheers at this act of sheer athletic prowess. The guy running the game starts babbling, flabbergasted, and another person grabs the unicorn and hands it to Theogrin.

You look for the woman in the crowd, but cannot find her.

She says, YYYYYYAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!! as she takes the unicorn doll and weaves through the throngs of people around. You cannot see her, but can see the head of the unicorn bobbing up and down through the crowd as she runs back and forth in myrth and happiness.

As the festival goes on and the sun begins setting, several priests pull a cart into the middle of the square. It has a blue canvas tarp over it, covering the contents of the cart.

The beautiful oranges, pinks, purples, and other colors of the sunset mark the buildings, the crowd, and the cart, as Father Zantus takes the stage.

He raises his hands, grasping a small stone. As the stone hits the podium, a thunderclap erupts from the contact with the podium.

At that moment, the priestess unties the tarp, and thousands of swallowtail butterflies emerge from the cart, fluttering into the air in a flurry of wings and colors.

Just as Father Zantus clears his throat to speak, a scream is heard from a distance. Then another in the crowd. And another.

Theogrin and Gerrek both heard a dog yelp, then silence, coming from near the left side of the stage. As they peer through the panicking crowd, Theogrin sees a goblin licking a shoddily-assembled sword clean of the blood, the dog with his head half-way sliced off, and his mouth has a gaping smile as he does so, looking like a kid excited to lick his lollipop.

Gerrek looks around and finds a goblin behind him, with his sword at his feet, as he collects treats from one of the stands, stuffing his pockets full of yummy deliciousness.

The humans, in discovering these goblins and hearing a lulling, eerily catchy chant that permeates the walls of the buildings in this square, start running in every which direction. The square clears out rather quickly.

You all see the three goblins that have entered your ranks.

That goblin attempts to dodge, but the blade hits the top corner of his head, and the sword cuts that section of the goblin’s head clean off. The goblin slumps down into a mound of green flesh, red blood, and a little leather armor, dead.

You can see sliced grey matter in the exposed section of the head.

Gerrek, your flask hits the ground next to the goblin, which burns his feet.

Thackery, you close the distance between you and the last goblin, but your sword swings over his head.

Thack’s second sword swing swipes the soilent green goblin succinctly. Blood sprays from the wound until it finally slowly flows. The goblin’s body becomes motionless.

Snarling, Gerrek pulled out one of his last shock balls. Carefully calculating how far the goblin was, wind speeds, flammability of the banners and canvas covers over the booth, all compared to the probability of an errant spark from the ball setting a fire that could spread to the rest of Sandpoint.

Ellisandra runs away from the scary goblins, hiding as the carnage ensues.

The rest of the humans run off, out of sight.

The remaining goblin picks up his blade from the floor, rushes Gerrek, and takes a slice with his crude, rusted, dull dogslicer.

He misses his mark.

Round 2 Map.

Eldred is able to sneak around without issue, as the commotion from the goblin raid has whipped the people up in a frenzy of fear. He sneaks towards the cathedral square, seeing a goblin fighting a half-orc, with two other men creeping towards the green ones.

The goblin's body extends fully in mid-air for a moment, and then it slumps onto the ground, lifeless.

There is an eery calm in the immediate vicinity, though you hear human screams in the distance.

You hear Mayor Deverin yell, You four, keep the square clear of threats. We are going through and around the cathedral, to make sure it can be a haven for our villagers. Send anyone innocent into the building!

With that, she, the priests, and the sheriff disappear into the cathedral.

Combat Map Round 3.

As you all are attentive and peering around for danger, you hear some shrilly, high-pitched singing that you can now make out.

Goblins chew and goblins bite.
Goblins cut and goblins fight.
Stab the dog and cut the horse,
Goblins eat and take by force!

Goblins race and goblins jump.
Goblins slash and goblins bump.
Burn the skin and mash the head,
Goblins here and you be dead!

Chase the baby, catch the pup.
Bonk the head to shut it up.
Bones be cracked, flesh be stewed,
We be goblins! You be food!

You then see near Theogrin 2 goblins rush up and slash at him (one of them finding a spot of flesh and causing him to bleed a bit [unless you choose to use a shield block reaction], 2 goblins rush up by Thackery and slash at him (one of them get a slash in [unless you choose to use a shield block reaction]), and a single, ugly-looking female goblin come up nearby, drawing her shortbow and shooting at Thackery, singing her war chant as she fires, the arrow flying past his left.



Round 4 map.

Thackery:
You block one of the goblin's hits with your shield, and a dent appears where the dogslicer hit. The goblin does pull back his weapon, though, and quickly hits your thigh.As you swing your shield arm out to hit the goblin, he flies 10 feet to your left, impaling his body into a large tent post. Due to the ferocity of your first swing, the two sword slashes following that formidable shield swipe do not find purchase.

Theogrin:
Your shield blocks the brunt of the damage, but your arm hurts from the heavy impact. This goblin also is able to double back and hit you again.You effectively slaughter both targets, the second one quickly decapitated by your sword, and then you pull your shield close to defend against future attacks.

Eldred:
You run up and take your shot at the goblin you see standing next to Thackery, since you noticed that Theogrin dispatched of the two goblins near him rather quickly.Not getting a good look, your shot veers past the goblins head and Thackery's side. You then whistle, and your badger friend runs towards the goblin engaged with Thackery.Gerrek:Gerrek aims at one of the goblins that Theogrin was engaged with, and would have hit the goblin's head were it not that the paladin dispatched them so quickly.

Goblins:

The goblin war chanter keeps singing her goblin chant, inspiring both herself and the remaining goblin to fight.

She shoots an arrow at the pesky human Thackery, but upon seeing the badger appear she shrieks and yells, KILL THE UGLY DOG!!!

She then fires a shot at the badger.

Both arrows strike their marks.The other goblin attacks Thackery, slashing his leg, and upon hearing the command, he takes a step, then buries his dogslicer into the badger.

Battle Map

Theogrin heals himself, raises his shield, and walks towards the goblin he can see.

Thackery swipes twice with his sword and misses both times, then raising his shield.

Eldred, devastated by the loss of his companion, drops his bow and rushes towards the goblin with his hatchet, swiping and missing the goblin's head.

Gerrek reloads and fires his crossbow, then yells, MOVE! as he prepares a special bomb for the gobbies.

The goblin warchanter cries, KILL THOSE MANS! She fires her bow twice at Thackery.

The goblin warrior strikes twice at the human that just approached first (Eldred), after which he follows with a swipe at Thackery.

All those strikes miss their marks.

Combat Map

"I’ve had enough of you vermin", says Thackery, keeping his shield up whilst laying into the goblin nearby.