GM Burglar's 04-21: Way of the Kirin (Inactive)

Game Master mechaedd

Activate scenario speed mode.

Starting location is Ramparassad, the capital city of Dtang Ma.

Dot

Return from Shackles Dot

Pinchy dot.

Plink.

By way of transportation through the Hao Jin Tapestry, the party is taken from the Grand Lodge in Abasalom to Goka, and then a far-shorter boat ride to Ramparassad, the captial city of Dtang Ma.

Venture-Captain Amara Li is waiting in a well-maintained private garden behind a house on a quiet street in Ramparassad, the capital city of Dtang Ma, a nation in eastern Tian Xia. She speaks once everyone has arrived and has had an opportunity to enjoy tea. “When first I arrived in Absalom two years ago, I had a simple but nuanced mission: to increase communication and sharing of resources between the Pathfinder Society and its counterpart in Tian Xia by establishing the Lantern Lodge’s position on the other side of the world.” She pauses briefly to sip her tea, before adding, “More than a year ago we successfully purchased and restored the house known as Hinojai, which was once a base for the Way of the Kirin. When we acquired Hinojai, it was as much a gambit to attract the attention of the remaining agents of the Way of the Kirin as it was an opportune acquisition of real estate. And indeed, a man claiming to be an agent of the Way recently contacted me by leaving me a message here.”

“Although the Way of the Kirin fell into ruin with the fall of Lung Wa a century ago, its far-reaching resources remain valuable, and it still commands great respect. If the Pathfinder Society could ally itself with the Way, the relationship would be of immense benefit to both organizations.” Amara’s voice reveals her satisfaction as she says, “Pathfinders, we are on the cusp of just such an alliance. In a day’s time, we shall meet with this representative from the Way of the Kirin, and you are to act as security for me and ensure that the meeting is a success. I do not expect any trouble from the Way, but after all of the betrayals and double-crosses that the Society has experienced over the past few years, I worry that this is an elaborate setup by the Aspis Consortium. I have arranged for us all to be transported to the site early tomorrow morning, so take care of any errands you have in Ramparassad this afternoon. There are no settlements near our destination, and we will be spending the night there. I expect you understand the need to be fully prepared.”

Amara Li stares into the dregs of her tea as though she were attempting to discern some lost thoughts in the green leaves floating at the cup's bottom, then looks up. “Ah yes—before the negotiations begin in earnest, I will host a formal tea ceremony to set the tone. I encourage you to participate, though doing so is not required. I would, however, expect you to dress appropriately for the event.” With that she stands and waits to accept any questions.

"What is the Way of the Kirin? As per usual, you did not inform us of the particurars." Han says as he sips his own tea. In truth he hated this woman and the hold she had on him. Technically being a pathfinder is better than being executed, but just barely.

"So am I to be guarding the meeting or sipping tea at it? My decision of attire depends on that." The large metal-encased blonde haired man asks, while holding his well polished helmet casually under one arm.

Does anyone have the Debt of the Kirin boon from First Steps II, perchance?

@Han: "You never seemed to be one for a history lesson, Han, though I will provide you with the details for which you ask." She drinks a little more tea, and continues. "Slightly more than a century ago, the Lung Wa Dynasty collapsed, plunging much of Tian Xia into chaos. During this time, a once-powerful military and trade organization known as the Way of the Kirin also crumbled and disappeared from the public eye. At the height of its power the Way of the Kirin held great wealth and had small private armies defending its interests. A century later, the Way has not entirely vanished, but the organization’s influence has waned to the extent where its very existence is kept secret for the sake of its remaining members."

She takes another drink, and continues again. "I have long been fascinated with the Way, and as I while have gained power in the Pathfinder Society, this interest has only grown. I see the Way of the Kirin as an ideal complement to the Pathfinder Society in Tian Xia. The Society has the wealth of agents that the Way of the Kirin lost, and the fallen organization in turn possesses a pool of wealth, political contacts, and local knowledge that the Society lacks. It is a paring like that of Tsukiyo and Shizuru; two distant forces that can, in concert, wield their assets in perfect harmony."

“To ensure the utmost secrecy, I will not reveal specific details until after we have left in the morning. There are too many curious ears in Ramparassad that are not your own.”

@Seb: “I do not expect any trouble from the Way of the Kirin, and we have taken considerable measures to ensure this mission is secret. Even so, I am certain that both the Golden League and the Aspis Consortium would leverage every resource to prevent this alliance. Should you decide to attend the ceremony to achieve both your potential goals, one could wear formal armor in lieu of formal court dress. I doubt that our contact will be particular about which you choose.”

EDIT: Had to re-type a bunch of stuff, but didn't want to lose it so I had a half-post up to respond to. You can fix up your post if needed, Han, though it's still unhelpeful on the question of "what's goin' on."

Nope.

"Of course not, why would I expect to be answered. That is it for me then."

Krunch beams happily at seeing Amara Li. She was so pretty! Like an overly affectionate dog, the hulking tiefling finds himself constantly inching toward her.

"Krunch will be very good", he says with an emphatic nod. "Krunch loves tea parties!"

Krunch is a massive brute with obvious otherworldly origins including bestial features, pair of thick jutting tusks, and skin the color of ash with the texture of cured hide. One beefy hand is noticeably bigger than the other and covered in a stony texture but no less dexterous or able. He wears armor composed of scraps of leather and silvery metal that does little to cover up his thickly muscled and scarred torso and a pair of worn bracers.

A tiny crab wearing a eye patch perched on the monstrous Pathfinder's shoulder waves a claw in agreement.

Sharna al-Subaiyyat sits perfectly straight in her chair, listening intently. A desert hawk sits on the back of her chair, staring around with the mad yellow gaze of all birds. Occasionally it eyes the crab. =Dinner? No.=

Sharna's journal, open on one knee, is filled with notes on the experience of passing through the Hao Jin tapestry; now she adds to it with descriptions of the Way of the Kirin, and their goal here, her quilled inkpen skritching in the pauses between Amara Li's words.

"I myself," she says in a low, smoky voice, "have little familiarity with the customs of the distant east. Perhaps those of us with a native understanding of such--" and she looks to Han Van Thao, "--can advise as to the protocol at a 'tea ceremony'."

She makes a mental note to ask around in Ramparassad for appropriate clothes to wear. That, she will not ask Han Van Thao about. He's a man. What would he know of a woman's attire?

"So, tomorrow, we proceed to the site of the rendezvous: a diplomatic mission, but of course, as we are Pathfinders, it rarely goes so simply." Sharna speaks with the cynicism of an agent who's been sent on many 'diplomatic missions'.

"Keeping an eye out for trouble from the Aspis. What is this Golden League? An eastern counterpart?"

Knowledge: History, if applicable: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11 Ah yes. Kicking things off with nat 1s.

And no, no Way of Kirin boon with this character.

"It has been many a year since I have been here, but I berieve I remember how it goes." "So we have a ma quỷ, and some foreign woman, both of whom I've never met."

@Sharna "The Golden League is similar to the Aspis in many ways, but their methods are on par with the worst rumors you've heard of the Consortium. While they are mercantile by necessity, they focus on the apsects of ruthlessness and rule by fear primarily. Even moreso than the Aspis."

She sips the last of her tea and waits for everyone to be finished with theirs. "While good Pathfinders prepare for the worst as I have bringing you all along as security, I only hope we have met a reprieve in difficulties. If there are no more questions..." The meeting is called to an end. After meeting with Amara, you have the rest of the day in Ramparassad to shop/prepare/get drunk. Please list purchases/gather infos/bar tabs spent, as there's some unrelated faction missions that are still cool things that can happen, and I don't want to force passing them if if possible.

Krunch shops around for a tailor capable for getting him fitted for a kimono. He tended to tear them but he knew how important they were for a proper tea party. Krunch loves tea parties!

Sharna stands and collects her things, tucking her journal away into the haversack on her back. She gives Amara Li a small but respectful bow, and holds out her arm for the hawk to climb aboard.

"Captain. Colleagues. I shall see you here on the morrow."

Sharna will make a brusque way out into the city, seeking a merchant who speaks Taldane and requesting garments suitable to a lady of the Dragon Empires. She is vaguely irritated that it seems that her veil is not fashionable here, but, when in Dtang Ma... The silk is luxurious to the touch, at least. She pays for robes in the local fashion of black silk embroidered with red and gold thread.

Sharna al-Subaiyyat is not that interested in clothes, however, beyond wanting to look presentable at this tea ceremony. She is far more interested in the local customs, history, and herbs, and as soon as the transaction is concluded she will instead wander the markets of Dtang Ma, seeking out any sort of scroll-seller's booth, and getting inevitably distracted by stalls selling ginger, bamboo leaves, ginseng, cinnamon, ginkgo, and a hundred other plants that she has only heard of.

She buys a few handfuls of the local herbs to study them further at a later date.

As for the book-sellers... it is difficult when you do not read the language the majority of the scrolls happen to be written in. Sharna considers using magic for this purpose, but decides this would be wasteful. The true knowledge she seeks will not be found in street-sellers, but in the knowledge hoarded by the Way of the Kirin.

-30 gold for Courtier's outfit, -5 gp for assorted herbs

assorted herbs

Bing! Key word! Note: Gather Info has a +2 to those who actually speak Tien, Dtang or Nagaji (though I can't imagine anyone actually taking Dtang.)

You find a shop with a sign that portrays a vial of colourful, though the sign is incredibly faded and only in some foreign script. Inside a 90-year old Tien-Dan woman is yelling at a man who was almost as large as the Outsider in the meeting.

당신이 폐 워싱턴의 마지막 죽은 황제에 의해 고용 된 경우 난 상관 없어! 나는 내일 아침 같은 연고를 만드는, 그래서 내가 전에 말했듯이 이틀에 와서 당신의 상사를 말할 수 없다!

The man returns her angry look and looks as if he almost takes a swipe at her, but decides the better of it and pushes past you.

"Does the Golden League break the law in its pursuit of these goals?" Sebastion pointedly asks Amira.

Amira's not there. She got DM-credited and played to almost twice your level, remember?

@Sebastian "The higher level of them are assassins know to stop at nothing to find their target's heart. The Society has tangled with them before, a woman named Shadow Orchid, who was notably convicted of over 100 assassinations, and she was an elf in semi-retirement. I would doubt they find the law to be a hindrance beyond the nominal guard or two standing in their way."

Sharna watches the almost-a-struggle with wary eyes, the hawk shifting restlessly on her arm at the tension. The man is enormous. The old woman is clearly not intimidated by him, though, which makes Sharna smile, behind her veil.

"Is everything well, grandmother?" she says in Taldane to the woman, when the large man has pushed past. (If this gets no response, Sharna will pull out a scroll of comprehend languages from her pack, and prepare to do tedious written conversation via magical Tien.)

If you need it... Knowledge Local, untrained: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10 Caps at 10 due to being untrained, and.... that's what we got, woot.

For the record, I would presume Sharna would not have left the briefing while Sebastian or others were still asking questions. So hopefully she has access to the answers Sebastian/anyone else received. If not, oh well!

Han will reluctantly go out and buy some appropriate garb to replace his pirate outfit. And plenty of alcohol, rum was good, but there was something about the booze of his people that was unique.

Everyone has all the briefing info; t'was merely taking advantage of the pre-dinner posting swell. Actually at dinner now, so I don't have the scenario in front of me for the Gather info check result; I know you get SOMETHING though.

The old woman scowls at your Westerner talk and waves a far younger Tien-Dan girl over. She says/yells some more not-Taldane toward her, and walks off behind a curtain. The girl bows and apologizes. "Good evening, ma'am. I am welcome you to our humble shop, though we are currently booked on procurenent and producement for the coming seasons. If there are reagents desired for buy, I may be able to find."

Yes, but he knows who she is, and just the thought of her being on missions with him is a headache.
"Duly noted." Sebastion replies, before going to make sure his armor is in pristine condition for the meeting.

Fleh, Paizo ate my initial post and I didn't notice at first.

Sharna gives the girl a small but courteous incline of her head.

"Please convey my apologies to your... honored mother? if my ignorance of your language offended her. I have come a very far way.

"The man who left in such a hurry, I suppose he was impatient with the delay you mention? Most unfortunate. One hopes you do not often deal with such customers. Can you spare a few moments to educate a foreigner on some of your local plants?"

If the girl is willing, Sharna will spend a few minutes in chit-chat about the plants, and make the 5gp worth of herb purchases from her.

"Her name is Som Kesor, and she is the mother of my mother of my mother. I offer you thanks for the vote in my mature-lookingness." She beams with pride at the comment. "Please, do not be offended by my honored elder's ignorance; she is of the old ways and does not like foriegners and is busy through the next coming seasons on work. Please let me bring honored gram-gram forth again for a making of price." The girl, still ecstatic from the comment earlier she bows to Sharna and shouts back to her elder's curtain. 영광 장로, 고객은 몇 가지 나물을 구입하고자!

The old woman shouts back, 당신이 그들에게 내가 곧 작업에 필요한 아무것도를 판매하지 않도록! The girl turns back to Sharna. "One moment prease." The girl goes in the back and gets into what might be a heated discussion with her grandmother for roughly half-a-minute, after which she returns with a small bowl of cloth-wrapped plants. "I hope these will be satisfactory for the madame." She bows yet again, accepting the offered. During the idle, broken Taldane chit-chat, she shows some promise for a girl as young as her in the school of alchemy, but she is currently no major prodigy or accidental savant. The grandmother peers out a few times during the talk, checking the population of the store.

"The man who was here, I do not know what he wanted, sadly."

Anything else from anyone? They, for whatever reason, do not have a bar encounter. It must be that the city doesn't have a bar with a large fish tank that hangs over the open water.

Madness!

Other than shopping for clothing, Krunch/Pinchy doesn't have anything planned.

The next morning, Amara, along with a pair of servants, gathers you all to be teleported via scroll to the island where the meeting will occur, and she reveals that they are now on a small volcanic island at the northern end of the Minatan Archipelago.

A black stone pier juts out from the beach, though years of pounding surf and use make it impossible to discern whether it was magic or skilled hands that constructed the pier. Igneous black sand peppered with chunks of dark gray rock makes up the beach. Further up the hill, the landscape is filled with strange shapes eroded from the charcoal-colored stone. Wild basalt beasts, bizarre pumice chimneys, igneous archways, and twisted stone snakes line the winding milelong path that crawls up the steep hillside. The black tiles of the lighthouses’s rooftop is just barely visible between two of the more serpentine stone menhirs. A light mist dampens the docks and darkens the stone to a glossy black.

A lighthouse towers above a two-story house. Both structures are made primarily of the local soot-colored basalt. The lighthouse appears to be intact, but the manor has fared less well—its windows lack screens and its roof sags, suggest it has suffered badly from decades of neglect. These structures perch at the edge of a cliff, with the north-facing side of the house supported by tall stilts anchored deep into the cliff.

This works, maybe? Obviously, don't peek under the MyStErY bOxEs, 'cause they've might have a MyStErY tHiNg in them! Oooooohhhhhh!

"This place does not look to be easily defendable." Sebastion openly comments after his first look at the manor.

Amara comments to the paladin's observation. Having clearly dealt with Abadarans before, she states the legalese to enable the job to the done. "I would like to change that fact. I, Amara Li, of sound mind and body, grant all visible individuals present full access the the tools and materials inside this manor house to alter it's defensive usefulness, so long as said preparations do not hinder the quality of the tea ceremony."

The servants move to the front doors on the first level and open them. "Agents, I will be preapring for the tea ceremony. We have two hours before our contact arrives. I believe I do not need to ask for you all to do your best, though I hope we need none of them."

”Krunch will help!”

The tiefling and his loyal crab companion do a brief circuit around the building, looking for obvious weaknesses.

Perception: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (8) + 16 = 24

"I suppose I do not have anything better to do." Han will join the enthusiastic tiefling and the captain on doing a perimeter check.

Perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (14) - 1 = 13

Note: This is a "Keeping Track of Time and Somewhat Altering Perception Rules" section. each search will take 5 minutes, and doing other stuff takes variable amounts of time, depending on whether or not Mr. Baker or his editors thought it good to put it in the scenario.

The front door is actually quite sturdy despite time elapsement, though the large number of of what were once vanity windows are a HUGE safety concern.

5 minutes in: Han and Krunch are looking around the outside of the building.

Additionally, should you think to, the amassment of stones that jut from the ground could easily be used to make tripwires or other pointy dangers, if you were to dedicate a lot (read: an hour) of time to it and had the proper materials.

Sebastion will be seeking a way to secure the windows around the room the ceremony will be held in.

What check do we need to get the proper materials?

First, you would have to find some kind of salvage. None is visible from outside from your earlier checks. Then, deepening on whether the salvageable material utilizes woodworking, ceramics, or something else, it will typically take a craft, profession, or disable device. Essentially, if you can justify the skill to me, it can be used. The failure of such a check will not waste the material, but it will waste more time making it useful.

TL;DR, This is one of those "Get Creative" scenarios I like to run. Find stuff in my descriptions I post and use them with justifiable skills.

I'll get a map of room numbers up, since Krunch is gonna demolish the secret thing's DC anyways to help speed this up.

MAP Just give me room numbers and I'll give you a short description of the room. If you want to search it, you might get more info.

Sharna studies the dark waters that surround the island. It is a very foreign landscape from her native Thuvia, with its stretches of endless sand and ruthless sun. The building itself may not be inherently defensible, but the island itself can only be approached by boat, it seems... or by magic.

The witch engages in a short, croaking conversation with the restless bird that sits on her shoulder. The hawk spreads his wings in the salty sea air and answers. Sharna brings out a curiously-carved piece of wood.

"Tejen," she whispers as she touches the wood to the hawk. "Ancestors, protect the eyes of my spirit..."

She lifts her wrist in a sharp gesture, and with a sharp cry, the hawk takes to the air above the building, settling into a swooping surveillance as he rides the ocean updrafts.

Casting 1 charge of Mage Armor on Ra, my familiar. Sharna can speak verbally with her familiar, per 5th level witch, and is telling him to watch the island and return to her whenever he detects anyone approaching to the island, or within one hour, whichever comes first. Ra's INT is 8, he has the Seek trick trained, and his perception is +17 (with low-light vision should it be remotely necessary). (And, while I definitely hope you don't need this... Ra's AC is currently 22.)

With a birdie DEWie in play, Sharna stows the wand again and heads after the others to survey the site. Ever so often, she murmurs a cantrip to detect the presence of arcane energy as she walks more slowly up the trail, admiring the basalt sculptures, and picking up a few small pebbles of basalt to add to the herbs in her pack for further study.

Beyond a vague appreciation of the novelty of a basalt building, though, Sharna has little to no knowledge of the principles of engineering. Nor interest in such. Let the muscular men handle such things. She will walk around in the rooms inside the building, looking things over.

Perception in A3, I suppose? The large room of the ground floor?: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9 With detect magic, if it matters.

Ra's Perception if you need it: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (17) + 17 = 34

Familiars are magical beasts and not animals, I'm not even sure they're subject to Handle Animal rules. If they are subject to the tricks rules, it's news to me. You'll learn I'm pretty bad at being right a lot, though that's taught me a lot about backpedaling. Additionally, he's smarter than one of your fellow agents, so I'm not too worried about it, though it's probably a good call to train him in case of a different ruling. I might do that on my pig...

This room appears to have served as both a library and a longue at one point, judging by the bookcases and immense fireplace that rests against the southern wall. Two massive bay windows with window seats topped with ruined silk cushions face north and offer a spectacular view of the ocean and a cluster of smaller islands; barricading these windows takes 15 feet of material each.

5 minutes in for all takers.

Sharna frowns to get an answering sensation so soon from Ra. Much as the bookcases tempt her, she waits at the window for the bird to return. Ra lands on the leather of one of her wrist-sheaths and the witch listens, stroking the fine feathers on the hawk's head.

"Well done, eyes-of-my-spirit," she murmurs in their secret tongue. "It is not your fault."

She takes a few pieces of dried meat from among her trail rations, moistens them from her waterskin, and gives them to the bird to gnaw on while she thinks about the thick fog. If only she knew more of coastal regions... Is this a natural storm for the season? Or does it presage a mystical cover to hide the approach of possible foes?

Knowledge, nature: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

I think you're right regarding the familiars/tricks thing. I've just gotten into the habit of oversharing all possibly relevant data on PBP, just so that I don't have to slow things down by having to make a GM ask, etc. :P

There is nothing unnatural about fog happening here, especially being that these are coastal islands. This is not to say these things can't be conjured by magic, but it is not horribly out-of-place. This is exceptionally so by the fact you're not even entirely sure where you are right now; teleportation can have that effect on people.

Oh, no problem; I do the same thing. Ask Red about my Zen Archer and his fun Quest For Perfection build.

Sharna scowls as she reaches her conclusion, then sighs. Stupid oceans. She goes back outside to tell the others of the incoming fog-- unnatural or not, it will still mean that they have little-to-no advance warning of when guests arrive, so it is knowledge that should be shared, in her opinion.

The cold sea air feels especially chill on her uncovered face. The lack of her own comfortable clothing for these silks is a source of minor irritation. She has grown especially used to the psychological effect that the half-covered face can have on those who are not from the desert-- they find it harder to read her intentions or moods, and sometimes that is useful-- so without it, she feels exposed, which adds to her irritation.

"A thick fog is coming. It will make it difficult to see the arrival of our contacts.... or our enemies, at that. Be wary."

She watches their preparations a moment, shrugs to herself, then returns inside, out of the chill breeze that cuts off the water and through the pretty silk robes. There are bookshelves. She is very curious about the bookshelves.

When Ra finishes shredding his bit of meat, she will ask him to take up a position on the top of the lighthouse, and do his best to keep an eye out, regardless of the mist, but to return to her if anything is strange or wrong.

5/120 minutes are done.

Note that your bird is smart enough to search around as well. He'll be pretty bad at carpentry and opening heavy doors without hands, but hands are not needed to just look at things that have open air access (like the opening in the lighthouse from disrepair.) I know I probably over-use my pig for things like Perform checks and stuff, but just wanted to add my 2cp on Familiars, at least for scenarios I run.

Knowing a little about the engineering of ships, clearly Han would be an expert when it comes to buildings, right?

Engineering!: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

"This building lacks a mast and a forward sail..."

"If you get a flag at the top of the Lighthouse and hang a big blanket from it, it might LOOK sea-worthy from a distance if it weren't for this fog..." You searching any rooms as well? The Knowledge goes in-hand with it, I'd say.

A5 then A6

"That's a great idea, grad I thought of it."

So, I've been going a little wrong at this in true Burglar-style. I'm gonna put up a spoiler with each room at a glance, and you guys post what you're going to search or do, one at a time preferably unless you want to queue up actions. The room-by-room format I was trying works a lot better at a table with lots of time and keeps that veneer of possible danger, but not quite as much in pbp with a time limit.

Han will examine the master bedroom and will see what he can do about the slant and the water damage. Hopefully without getting cancer from the obvious mold.

Engineering!: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

I suppose with an INT 8, the hawk can identify building materials, etc!

On reflection, Sharna decides Ra's eyes are better served in seeking materials to use in the ultimate retrofitting of the eventual Pathfinder lodge... and, possibly, its immediate defense.

This takes some explaining to the bird.

"No.... pretend you are making a nest. Those are the sorts of things you need. --no, I know there is no straw. It is a nest sized for people. Like myself. Big beams of wood. Stone. Anything else that you think is interesting. ...no, for purposes of this exercise, my dear, rats do not count.

"...yes, you may still catch and eat any rats that you see."

Sharna opens the door into the kitchen so that Ra can flutter about in there. If there are likely to be mice anywhere, it is probably in a decades-abandoned kitchen.

Ra - Perception - A2, not sure what round of checks that one counts as: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (19) + 17 = 36

Sharna is looking at the bookshelves when she can. Is there anything even left intact upon the shelves, or have time and moisture claimed all readable documents?

("No, Ra, Amara Li is not a very large rodent.....")