Pathfinder Revisited – Rise of the Runelords: Sins of the Saviors

Mokmurian is defeated and his army of Stone Giants scattered, but the greater threat of the reawakened Karzoug is now revealed. Faced with this the heroes of Sandpoint must first locate and then venture into the ancient Thassilonion dungeon of Runeforge. Sins of the Saviors marks the point where the Rise of the Runelords campaign fully enters high level territory. Like the previous chapter it also features both dungeons and a dragon, as Paizo continued to demonstrate that they were capable of executing the D&D formula.

This chapter opens with the Heroes of Sandpoint returning captured townsfolk from Jorgenfist, but with the knowledge that a far greater threat is awakening somewhere in Varisia. The heroes don’t have long to dwell on this however as soon after they arrive in Sandpoint they are confronted with a new potential crisis emerging. While they were fighting Mokmurian at Jorgenfist, an explosion ripped through part of Sandpoint, emerging from the Thassilonian ruins below the town. This blast opened a sinkhole that exposed these ruins to the outside world.

Sandpoint’s jail now opens into some of these ruins, which escaping prisoners and the guards pursuing them quickly were lost in. This level is below the Catacombs of Wrath players explored in chapter one, and as they venture into them they discover that they are an ancient shrine to the monstrous goddess Lamashtu. The shrine contains a number of servants to the goddess, the most dangerous of which is the Scribbler, an ancient Thassilonian mage resurrected as a divine guardian of the complex. This Mage was at one time a double agent working for Karzoug to gather intelligence about his enemy Alaznist. Resurrected by his goddess, The Scribbler still knows vital information about the Runelord, and a secret that could be a key to defeating him, etched onto the walls of the shrine. The Scribbler himself is tricky to deal with, trying to use the heroes to gain information about the world outside the shrine, and taking advantage of his powers to make the shrine as deadly as possible. Even so, there is a great deal of information that players can learn from him before they inevitably come to blows.

Between information they can learn from the Scribbler, contacts in Sandpoint, and the library at Jorgenfist, the party is able to discover the location of the ancient Thassilonian research complex known as Runeforge, far to the north. Journeying to Runeforge’s location the heroes discover that it has become the lair of a white dragon, which they must either defeat or drive off before entering Runeforge itself. Even if they are able to drive Arkrhyst away, the module suggests having him follow the players into Runeforge, though there isn’t any guidance on how best to make use of him if this happens. Once they are able to gain access the heroes will be able to create powerful weapons that take advantage of the opposing nature of Thassilonian sin magic.

Once they enter Runeforge the Players discover that they are trapped, and that the complex itself is an extra-dimensional space that has been devastated by millennia of infighting and disrepair since the fall of Thassilon. The complex itself consists of seven smaller dungeons each tied to one of the deadly sins, which the Thassilonians used as a basis for their magic. In order to forge weapons opposing Karzoug, the Runelord of Greed they must retrieve reagents tied to Pride (illusion) and Lust (enchantment) from their respective wings. The suffusion of sin magic in Runeforge means that creatures in the complex are empowered and impeded based on if they are in a wing of the dungeon that coresponds to their sins (and virtues). This effects players as well, adding another dimension to an already complex brew within the ancient complex.