The Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path begins in the small coastaltown of Sandpoint. In a time when rumors of rampaging dragons and massing armiesof giants have everyone on edge, the people of Sandpoint eagerly anticipate thecoming festival to commemorate the consecration of a new temple. Yet, at theheight of the ceremony, disaster strikes. A band of goblins assaults Sandpoint,and it falls to the heroes to defend the new temple. In the days that follow, amysterious malady that leaves its victims monstrously deformed and dangerouslyinsane spreads through the town. The PCs must not only determine what's causingthis strange contagion, but also discover the sinister connection between theplague, the goblin attacks, and the emergence of a strange rune from an empirethought to be long dead. This installment of Pathfinder also includes extensivedetails on the town of Sandpoint, rules and details on a new pantheon ofdeities, several new monsters, and information on the mysterious ancient empireof Thassilon, whose cruel and despotic rulers may not be as dead as historywould have us believe.