You arrive in Diobel via the overland route from Absalom to meet a contact in a pub known as The Tails; a dingy,brine-soaked shack covered with swordfish tails located in a rundown section of town called South Reach. There, bitter longshoreman coming off the graveyard shifts pile in and slam rounds of a potent shark-fin liquor, cursing and complaining until they’re drunk enough to be carted home by noon. The disparaged scene has few prying eyes—the ideal place for Pathfinders to pass along their covert whispers. You enter early in the day, when the small crowd of older men is at its most drunk and rowdy, the revelry within barely contained by the boarded-up windows. You stand out like sore thumbs among the ruddy-faced dockworkers, most of whom have more gin-blossoms than teeth. The crowd immediately heckles you for being up-scalers and gold-thumbers, demanding you spend some of your coin to buy the bar a round, but quickly fall silent when moments later, a dark, cloaked figure rises from the back of the bar. Then, eyes averted, everyone returns to their former conversations. Drawing back his cloak, your contact reveals himself—a man his late forties with obvious Chelaxian features and a faint beard. He introduces himself only as Osprey, then invites you to sit before he finally tells you why the Society dragged you to Diobel:
"We've word that the accursed Chelaxian pirate Darsielle Du Moire’s has anchored his much sought ship, the Hydra’s Fang, in the harbor. Everyone’s looking for that bastard. He carries with him some ancient tablets of extreme historical value to our organization. Unknown to most, Wittlestone, the small Andoren town Du Moire razed to the ground, was also home to Myraxus Threeshadows, a noted but aging sage and umber mystic supposedly of ancient Azlanti decent. Among Myraxus’s possessions he kept ancient forgeries of several tablets used in ancient rites during Old Azlant’s height. When Darsielle destroyed the village, he slew the wizard and took the tablets, hoping to pawn them to one of his buyers in Diobel. The tablets are a priceless archaeological treasure, one greatly desired by the Pathfinder Society. In fact, just prior to the Azlanti’s death, we placed several bids to purchase the tablets and so naturally were the first to realize they’d gone missing. You must race to get Du Moire and recover the stolen tablets before his pursuers find him or he flees port."
"If our sources are correct, we've learned that he owes a substantial amount of money to one of the Consortium’s more ambitious Enforcers, an importer named Lubor Staizkal. Likely he needs to settle with him at some point. Go to Lubor’s shop on Meldon Lane, near the docks, and see if you can pick up Du Moire’s trail from there, then do whatever you can to get those tablets. May the Gods speed you in this task."
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"Mind your damned business, you lamentable pack of louts! Before I transmogrify you into something terrible!" the wizard barks, gripping his weighty staff in two hands, ready to club whichever of the towering dockworkers makes the next remark. It's only the arrival of the mysterious stranger that mollifies him, and perhaps saves him from a bloody beating. He listens to the man impatiently, rapping his staff on the tavern floor with a sour expression on his face.
"A pirate? Bah! We're scholars, not thiefcatchers, I'll have you know. Why, you can tell the Lodge that I have a few choice..." he blinks. "Azlant, you say? How very interesting. What do you say, Milo m'boy? Shall we go and give these thugs a sound thrashing?"
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For those who know him, Milo seems just as surly as ever, though if anything he has gotten even more fidgety and jumpy then before, shying away from crowds and trying to stick to shadows and away from people's notice even more then usual.
He looks pretty much the same, perhaps a few more scorch marks on clothes which are a little more worn. Only a pair of smoked goggles, pushed up on top of his head seem new.
"Always sending us to do down some cursed prig what nicked some other gits toys." The gnome mutters in agreement with Archibald.
"If everyone's crowin' for this bastard, and he's parked his tub out in the harbor, why don't we go out there and burn it down to its boot toppings? Do everyone a solid." He scowls. "Ain't no ice ta keep this one floatin' like the last."
"Azlant, you say? How very interesting. What do you say, Milo m'boy? Shall we go and give these thugs a sound thrashing?"
"Ain't you gawked at enough old runes?" He replies to Archibald, almost smiling.
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Elael fingers a knife as he follow his compatriots silently. He's more than ready enough to shank anyone that accosts him, and so his jumpy behavior is almost a really really poor decision when he wheels on a heel, hand on the hilt of his knife at the arrival of Osprey.
He listens to the man, eyes narrowed, before he relaxes.
"I suppose we'll help you with your little task."
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Darvan thinks on Osprey's words while he idly scratches Sahba's eye ridges. His saurian companion lays its head in his lap, content for the moment.
Shouldn't be too hard, really, but Sahba might be at a bit of a disadvantage on a ship. He considers a few moments more, but eventually comes to the same conclusion he always did: the Society chose him to perform this task, and he would be remiss if he didn't follow through to the best of his ability. At Elael's words, Darvan nods agreement.
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The tall half-elf known as Jalias, clad in Osirion garb reinforced underneath with a layer of wool, nods at his pint-sized companion, Milo. "Let's do this. Normally I'd say 'let's keep a low profile', but with our rather cosmopolitan fellowship and accompanying outlandish garb, they'd need to be blind not to notice us."
The trip to Meldon Lane is short and you find a shop with the sign reading "Lubor's Imports" without too much difficulty, thinking this is the location of one of Du Moire's supposed connections.
To your surprise, the door hangs slightly ajar. All is dark within, and eerily silent. As you peer inside, you witness the scene of a recent brawl. Furniture lies smashed and strewn about. Near a closed door at the back of the shop, two bodies slump upon the floor, their blood pooling slowly beneath them.
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Milo does his best to avoid both the wolf and the allosaurus on the trek over, both much larger predators making him feel anything but comfortable.
When they reach the shop, and notice the situation therein and tenses slightly. "Like I said, if it ain't one prig, its another." He mutters, then adds, "We ain't first off the block, 'would seem."
He happily lets anyone else lead the way in.
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The narrow space makes enlarging a companion in the case of an upcoming brawl a problem so Jalias decides to follow. He's ready to call upon his powers to shield his companions, but waits for them to be done researching the bodies before they decide to open the door. He moves up behind them, "I'll bring forth a protective ward when you open the door, just in case there's trouble." He then tightens his grip on his khopesh-glaive.
Unfortunately, the door to the next room is bolted, as the halfling cavalier tries it, it won't budge. The door appears to be rather flimsy, and it appears it wouldn't take much to knock it in, if required.
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"Watch your step you loathesome lizard!" the wizard hisses, as the dinosaur nearly trips him up. As the others cram in like sardines and begin to pound on the door, Archibald paces around the perimiter, double moving to the large window opposite the building. He makes no effort to hide himself, pointed hat bobbing up and down beneath the windows, and once there he raps his staff on the windowframe and presses his nose to the glass. "Hello? Is anybody... "
By the time Archibald gets outside, orients himself, curses at the kids playing ball on the corner, and locates the window, Tobold has knocked in the door.
The cast of thousands looks inside and see a teenage girl hovering over the corpse of middle-aged merchant. Her silent eyes filled with tears, she mouths the word, "Daddy".
Not waiting for the others, Elael sweeps into the room, and has he does, the uninviting twang of a bowstring resounds followed quickly by another, an arrow hisses past the face of the elven rogue while the second grazes his shoulder, blood welling to the surface of the cut.
Milo's dancing lights appear in the room, a moment too late to reveal 2 tattoed sailors in each corner, holding shortbows. It appears the girl is not alone in the room after all, and her companions mean to fight.
Tobold and the wolf enter just after the arrow sings into Elael.
A Sour Deal in Diobel - Round 1
17 Milo
17 Jalias
16 Tobold
16 Orange Thug
14 Purple Thug
12 Elael
7 Katiya
6 Archibald
6 Darvan
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"Yikes!" Tobi shouts as a pair of arrows fly by. One hits the Elael but seems to just graze him, so Tobi doesn't worry too much about his companion. He scrambles onto Tug's back as quickly as he can.
In his saddle in a flash, the halfling gives his furry friend a squeeze with his calves and draws his "greatsword". They advance upon the nearest sailor and attack.
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As the attackers are revealed in the light, Milo curses in orcish, but as he does so, the words quickly change to an older, more primal language. Suddenly a vaguely dragon-shaped nimbus of fire forms around him, and launches itself forward, weaving and winding its way through the people and obstacles in the room, before bursting with a loud bang and bright colorful fire and light on top of the assailant in the northeast corner.
plus dazzled; (DC 11 Reflex save for half damage and no be-dazzling!)
He then realizes he's stepped a bit further forward then intended, and moves out of the way for others.
A Sour Deal in Diobel - round 1 - continued
Milo cracks out one of his fancy new spells, calling forth fireworks against the northeast assailant. The man cries out as his skin singes and burns, then cries out "I'm blind! Them sparklers blinded me!" and he fumbles around trying regain his vision.
At the same moment, the greatsword blow from the mounted halfling hits the dazzled man, ending his life in a quick stroke.
finally, Jalias uses his reach weapon to hinder the Orange Thug who is attempting to attack Elael, after dropping his crossbow and readying his longsword. Between the agility of the elf, and the meddling and magic of the Osirian wizard, the attack is foiled.
A Sour Deal in Diobel -Round 1 - continued
Elael's knife flashes out, but the strike fails to harm the thuggish thug.
The little girl standing over her "father", stands steps back to the rear wall and fires a bolt of arcane energy at the wolf-rider, who she deems the most immediate threat.
A Sour Deal in Diobel - Round 1 - continued
The Kelish druid orders is allosaurus to attack the girl-caster, while he tries to chop the nearest thug. The attack against the thug misses, and the dino opens itself to an attack by the nearby thug, whose swing misses wildly mostly due to the sight of a meat-eating dinosaur in the room. Eventually, Sahba's teeth clamp down on the girl, who screams in pain from the bite.
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A slight nimbus of fire still surrounds the gnome and he fires off a second volley. Another fiery dragon-shaped missile wends its way through the crowded room, this time bursting at the second thug's feat. The fiery aura on the gnome fades completely this time.
plus dazzled; DC 11 reflex for half and no dazzling
He then mutters some more arcane words in gnome and steps back into the doorway looking around suspiciously.
A Sour Deal in Diobel - Round 1 - concluded
Archibald observes the combat begin from the window, and in a fit of pique, blows out the glass so he can get in the fray.
End of Round 1