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Folloch is too intent on his spell to dodge the starknife hurled by Erasmus, and the blast from Seoni hits the man right after. The charlatan looks up at you, eyes filled with hate, but it's quickly snuffed out when the mesmered guard finishes the man off with a thrust from his longsword. The second guard looks at the first with a bewildered look on his face, but it quickly passes as the spell Folloch had woven over the people of Allenstead fades away.
What... why were we fighting you? I don't understand..
The townfolk arrive shortly thereafter, and after using detect magic spells, and knowledge of arcane items, it's discovered that Folloch was using a Mesmeric Baton, stolen from a temple of Razmir, to control the populace and drain the town of wealth. Your actions stopped him just in time, as he had intended on collecting one last "donation" from the town before skipping town that night. The Baton had been drained of energy in the morning hours right before you arrived, due to his carefree usage on the entire town for weeks on end. The townsfolk are grateful, so much so that even though the baton is drained and won't be much worth toward paying off Ulisha's bounty, you won't leave empty handed because they pay you the hefty amount of 300 gp, and bid you take whatever you want from the false priest. After searching him, you find a potion of invisibility, a masterwork dagger, and a pair of bracers of armor +1. They also put you up for free for the night, and offer to take you to your next location, a crashed meteor in Numeria, free of charge.
I may have just made a monumental discovery. While searching for an Osirian urn in an Absalom museum, I came upon a collection of charcoal rubbings in an old scroll tube. According to the notes that accompanied them, they were taken by a Pathfinder from a cave wall somewhere between the border of Numeria and the River Kingdoms. The rubbings depict what Numerians now refer to as the Rain of Stars. While this cave alone is an incredible find, I believe there’s something even more remarkable. In the rubbings, one of the smaller objects has a line that connects it to the horizon. While the Pathfinder dismissed this line as a stone fracture, I have another thought. I believe whomever witnessed this Rain of Stars must have seen where one of the smaller objects impacted and etched the line as a point of reference! Now all I need to do is calculate where the ridge lies in relation to this cave and I’ll have my name in the history books.
That night, you review Ulisha's notebook, and your next locale. Accompanying her notebook entry, Ulisha filled the next several pages with crude maps, complex equations, and further notes. She apparently returned to the Pathfinder’s cave mentioned in her previous entry. By observing the angle of the ridgeline and her current position, she was able to calculate the crash site’s probable location. The last page on the matter includes a detailed map into Numeria with various landmarks and a destination. An addendum written in recent ink warns, “Tread lightly. Numeria remains a mystery to the rest of the world. Those who stay too long draw unwanted attention.”
Glad to be done with that terrible Razmir business Quinn is glad to be on his way to somewhere else.
Quinn ponders the local surroundings and confides the answers with his companions.
"Numeria is not a nice place and it's been largely shaped by the Rain of Stars, a series of meteor hits. They've made interesting things with the minerals from the event, be on your guard, the locals are unlikely to be friendly."
Numeria. A place of strange magics from what I hear. Anyone have any ideas how to use the money?
Merisiel nods.
"I've heard that might makes right in Numeria, so shows of force may be required. Skymetals like adamantine are also quite prevalent in the area."
She then grins.
"Let's go see what is at the crash site!"
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The next morning you set off for the crash site, and it only takes a few hours before you arrive at the location marked on the map. The view is phenomenal at the crest of this hill, where Ulisha’s map indicates a crash site. Vast plains extend to the north, where clouds gather on the horizon. To the south, the Sellen River cuts a definitive border between the River Kingdoms and Numeria.
The escape pod that crashed here embedded itself deeply into the side of the hill. Over time, the hill has eroded, covering the vessel in layers of dirt. Merisiel notices that the soil along the slope of the hill here is looser than it should be, as if a recent rockslide had covered it. It only takes a few minutes of digging to uncover a solid metal surface buried below. The escape pod is ovoid, just over 10 feet in length and 5 feet in diameter at its widest point. The metal is strange and unfamiliar, but Quinn is able to identify it as an alloy of iron and adamantine. The entire wreck appears to be relatively undamaged. Its surface is scratched and dented but unbroken, and a 3-by-5-foot section of the side appears as though it could be opened on a hinge. Opening the escape pod may be harder than anything else, as time has worn the seals and warped the metal, requiring a lot of strength to get it open. Quinn steps up to the task, and with the aid of Kyra, Erasmus, and Seoni, is able to pull the hatch off the pod, revealing the treasure within!
[
The inside of the wreck is cramped. A single chair made out of the same strange metal faces the hatch, dozens of straps hang inside the device, and an array of levers and buttons lines the interior on one side. Several dozen palm-sized metallic discs and an unadorned silvery bracer lie scattered across the interior.
The systems the buttons once operated are no longer functional. Only one of the levers—the one that opens and closes the hatch—still operates. Quinn identifies the discs as Numerian “silverdisks,” a form of currency. There are 35 in the pod, each worth 10 gp. The silver bracelet is an even greater prize, as it dampens the kinetic energy of any objects moving toward the wearer. The adamantine used to create the escape pod is valuable, but separating it out of the iron alloy could be very difficult; the pod is worth little as scrap metal.
The silverdisks will go as long way toward helping Ulisha with her bounty, and the bracelet will definitely help you all with your future endeavors. As you begin to descend the hill, already making plans to travel to the next destination in the journal, you hear a voice.
“Stop there,” demands a Kellid woman who hefts a massive blade. “You’re are not from here, and those things are not yours. Give us the silverdisks, all the gold you have, and anything else you found there. Then you may live.
Beside the woman are three more kellid warriors, and they eye you and your weapons with wary looks.
"Yeah, no... We know how things work around here. My counter-offer is this: Drop your weapons, and your valuables, and we won't turn you into crow-food."
So saying, Merisiel tosses a dagger in the woman's face.
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Erasmus sighs and keeps his back turned to the lady. "As Merisiel has so eloquently stated, no. We are not in fact from around here, we don't like being threatened, and we have no intention of being taken for easy pickings. Let your friends know that we aren't to be trifled with and you can leave with your blade and that scar as a reminder."
"Unless of course you want to have a messy and ignominious end, in which case we will be happy to oblige..."
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The leader screams in rage as the dagger finds her cheek, and the kellid warriors with her look unsure of the fight that just started, costing them valuable time as you all get the jump on them!
Kill them and take the disks! Show the outlanders our fury!
Round 1
Merisiel
Erasmus
Quinn
Seoni
Warrior 1-
Warrior 2-
Yoon
Rager 1- (7)
Rager 2-
Kyra
Merisiel tosses another dagger at the flatfooted woman she already hit.
Quinn draws his swordcane in one hand, as he quaffs his enlarge person elixir with his other.
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Seoni backpedals, and launches a magic missile at the closest warrior, and shouts.
We already killed your leader! What makes you think you stand a chance?!
Her missile burns against the warrior, and they all start to back away. The biggest one snarls to the others, when they don't back off right away.
We are outnumbered! There are more places to find wealth. Let these outsiders have their prize!
And with that, you have yet another gathering of wealth to add to the pot for Ulisha's bounty!
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Webs (River Kingdoms, Just Southeast of Daggermark)
That the Riverfolk of Daggermark haven’t wiped themselves off the map with their wanton assassinations and poisonings is a fact that will never cease to amaze me. Still, where such dealings occur, coin is always involved, and one knowledgeable in the ways of commerce can always earn a good wage. Daggermark’s economy runs on poisoned blades, but those blades would be dry were in not for a constant influx of alchemical goods. Such goods wax and wane, though, and if one watches diligently, these market shifts can be predicted. The next ingredient the markets will want is an adhesive produced by spiders and left in their webs. Of course more potent chemicals would be found in the glands of the dreadful beasts, but I am a scholar, not some vagabond sellsword slaying vermin for ale money. I have mapped a route to a newer nest that should be sparsely defended. My buyer, one Johannes Vox (an Iobarian of curious temperament) has not been as forthright in our latest dealing as I’d like. Perhaps it is time I sold elsewhere.
Diplomacy to Gather Information, or Knowledge Local
Well at least I can try
Nice place guys. I've heard of it. Seems like assassination is almost encouraged and many folks profit from it. In fact, the assassin's guild has a long-standing and mutually beneficial relationship with the poisoner's guild. Who ever heard of a guild just for poisoning; Daggermark, that's who. You would have to be a fool to want to be a leader there. Any yahoo with a few coins to rub together and a grudge can make life difficult if not lethal for anyone that makes them mad, and, as you know, everyone gets mad at leaders eventually. Oh, and mind your tongue or someone might skip a few meals to have you eliminated.
Quinn nods, confirms what Kyra has discovered.
"Shall we follow Ulisha's map and get the spidery goods, so we know what we have to negotiate with before we commence with the commerce."
Quinn grins a bit with his clever word play.
"Absolutely. Some day I'll be worthy enough to deserve a way to delay poisons, but for now all I can do is detect them. I'll prepare the orizon."
"Sounds like an interesting place! Let's go hunting..."
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Yoon reads Ulisha's journal entry closely.
"I know about this! I think she's talking about how giant spider webbing is used in complicated poison recipes to keep all the ingredients in them together so they don't 'spoil' before they can be used...and it's best when it's taken from a freshly-killed spider, so we should be careful: Giant spider venom burns up your muscles like so much dry rope!"
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As you all prep yourselves on how to harvest spider venom and adhesive, you make your way toward a spider nest marked on a small map in Ulisha's journal. As you head deeper into the woods, you see the signs of giant spiders growing more and more common; giant webbing in the trees, desiccated carcasses of animal hanging by strands of spider silk (too old to harvest from, unfortunately), and the occasional skittering in the canopy of branches above. The webs you see get fresher and fresher the deeper you go, and after a while you fell you're getting close.
Merisiel cautiously moves forward, dagger in one hand, and rapier in the other.
Kyra will buff herself with a Shield of faith and then run a Detect Poison spell to try to give some forewarning if a spider tries to sneak up on her.
Quinn will drink his extract of enlarge and draw his sword cane.
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As everyone notices the webs getting fresher and fresher and starts to protect themselves with magical auras and items, Kyra has the good sense to cast Detect Poison. She looks straight up immediately after she's done, and shouts out
They're right above us!
Surprise! Spiders!
Kyra-Up!
Spiders-Up!
Round 1
Merisiel
Spiders
Kyra
Erasmus
Yoon
Quinn
Seoni
Rats. Spiders are vermin. Have to change my plan...
Kyra will 5'step and if she can reach swat one with her scimitar. If not ready an action to do so if one comes within reach. In either case, here are her rolls.
(potentially flat-footed)
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The spiders stay in the canopy of webs, and launch sticky strands of their own to engulf Quinn and Merisiel!
"It looks like we are in a bit of a sticky situation..."
Merisiel tumbles around to a flanking position, and stabs!
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Merisiel waits for the spiders to come down, and then brutally stabs one!
The spiders drop, attacking Quinn and Merisiel!
They both miss, and Merisiel returns the attack with one of her own!
Round 1
Round 1
Merisiel-Stabs one real good!
Spider 1- (8), Misses Merisiel
Spider 2- Misses Quinn
Kyra
Erasmus
Yoon
Quinn
Seoni
Merisiel keeps stabbing at the injured spider, whistling a jaunty tune!
Quinn steps back, taking advantage of his increased size as he attempts to skewer a spider.
Kyra sidles around to the side and takes a swipe.