"Perhaps the hermit will appriciate some fresh meat. Maybe it will sweeten the deal makings.."
Ivar nods his head in agreement, "Not a bad idea, but lets not give him all of it, I love crab." He then begins to look for a way to climb up to the hermits dwelling.
You can certainly say they would have eaten us. Most times i would despise eating monsters, that kind of makes you a monster yourself, but in this case... fresh crab is a delicacy. Perhaps we should quickly cook it or something, so it stays fresh.
You can see Lalali salivating a bit.
You get onto the shore after collecting your tasty bounty of the sea.
There is a conch shell shitting on a narrow ledge with a sign "Blow this cliched conch horn to contact me"
Bart looks over the shell for anything dangerous. (contact poison?)
If it seems cool, he'll blow the horn.
Seems cool so you blow the horn. It tastes of salt spray, but no poison.
Shortly afterwards high upon a narrow ledge, a dark-skinned man appears. Dressed in nothing but a loincloth, his wild, knotted hair whips about in the wind. Shouting above the crashing surf he calls down, “Who are you and for what purpose do you seek me?”
"We are pathfinders and we have heard of your great wisdom and lore of the jungle. We seek your aid in assisting us to find the lost city of Saveth Yi. We come bearing gifts of succulent crustacean."Dargorath shouts over the surf.
'Blow the horn, well that's one way to let him know were here.' Ivar watches, axe in hand, waiting to see who answers the call.
'Well if bribing him with food won't help, we could offer him cloths.' Smiling as the wild man reveals himself, Ivar nods his head in agreement with Dargorath. "Yes, we were told that you the best possible choice to help us find this lost city. Would you be able to assist us?"
"Twas me who sent you the message! We can offer coin or whatever form of payment you need. You will have a fellow tree hugger to keep conversation with as well!"
"It'll be great!"
"Those crabs were my pets. " he responds in an unfriendly voice. "Why do you intrude on my solitude and harm my animals? What do I care of a lost city. I also cannot imagine a fellow follower of the green would kill such wonderful creatures with impunity. "
"I'm sorry about your pets. I did not know that they were yours as they had no markings. They were also attacking us, and we acted in self defense. Erastil is the god of the hunt and does not condone hunting." Dargorath answers.
"It would be a glorious quest that would earn the gratitude of the Pathfinder Society, which we serve. You know that the Pathfinder Society is a large organization that has bases all over Golarion - and has the capabilities of sending their members out to protect the woodlands and animals from incursions of evil fey and others." Dargorath adds in.
"Perhaps I can help you replace the crabs with a saurian.. They are much better pets and don't die so easily. I have a fine example here if you wish to see it."
Ivar hides his axe behind his back, hoping that the druid doesn't figure out that he killed two of them, hoping to eat them...
Further diplomacy checks are in order. You didn't completely flub the first one due to assists, but you didn't make him more than indifferent. I'd suggest you decide on your lead and then assist.
If someone posts a diplomacy check without specifying assist, they are lead.
"So sorry about the crab misunderstanding. It is a shame, they really were magnificent beasties. Think of the potential creatures to be discovered on a journey to the interior!"
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"Yeah, we would like to apologize. And think of the thrill of adventure, and undiscovered lands with their flora and fauna and shenanigans! Plus the plunder and loot, which would greatly help such a dedicated nature's defender to keep safe and maintain a larger number of creatures!" yells the halfling to be heard by the old hermit.
"A wise man like you sure understands that gold, even if petty and of little value to wild life by itself, would help raise awareness towards endangered species! Think about the cubs and little critters!"
The old druid listens to the persuasive little peck and nods his head. He then scampers down the rocks to talk to you.
“In truth, I am skeptical of your abilities. At best you seem to me blissful incompetents. I doubt you even capable of finding your way back to town, much less through the jungle. But Gozreh may have different ideas, and it may serve his purpose for me to accompany you. I am willing to accept your proposal if you first prove yourselves by completing two simple tests, one of wind and one of water. Of course, you may decline, but I must add that if you fear performing Gozreh’s simple tasks, there is no way you will survive the jungle.”
"Which test do you wish to undergo first?"
"Water!"
Resting his axe on his shoulder, Ivar looks from the druid to Malok, nodding his head, "Water's fine, lets get started."
"We'll end up doing both anyway, so water is as good as a place as any to start."
“The challenge of water is hardly difficult. Mostly, it is a test of patience and fortitude. Gozreh requires that you retrieve for him a single black pearl. Head north a bit, out by the crags of the cape. Those shores are filled with oyster beds, and such pearls are not uncommon to those who know where to look.”
"No problem.. Let's go."
Heading that way..
"I have a spell that will give me the ability to swim so if yall just wanna watch my back I should be able to find one."
"Please put all items that you feel will be damaged by water into my bag. We can take them out later." Dargorath offers his handy haversack to dump valuable scrolls etc.
"What I'm more worried about is what lies beneath. Barton, I'd recommend you grease whoever who goes into the water, since things underwater tend to be grabby."
"Sure, one greasy bird ... coming right up."
Traveling up the coast, the PCs come upon a small village of indigenous pearl divers. They greet you in the local dialect, seeming friendly enough.
Lalali stood by and watched the dialogue with the hermit. Only on the way to the village she spoke again, shaking her head with laughter.
He really got me there. When he talked of a test of wind and water, for a moment i was really worried. Judging by his mood and looks, could have been something with farts and peeing. It is said human hermits often loose their mind in their solitude and go crazy. A black pearl doesn´t seem crazy so far, but then he claimed those crabmen were his pets.
She looks at Malok seriously.
It´s good that you have a swimming spell. I have one myself, but it´s not fast swimming and i would need to prepare it first. Totally expect weird things to happen there and something to attack us. Probably some more pets.
Once in the village:
Greetings fair people. I see you live by fishing and pearl diving here? That´s very fascinating! I always admired such a lifestyle. It has a simple beauty. Tell me, do you happen to find black pearls here easily? What must be done in order to achieve one? And is it dangerous? Like are there any wild or other beasts out in the water, just waiting to devour you?
We would really appreciate if you could take us on a little pearl diving trip for a black pearl.
As they proceed to the village Ivar asks Malok, "Would you like some help in the water, I'm a fair swimmer, especially if I take off my breastplate."
"I'll stay on land, if you don't mind, but I can probably summon something to aid you in the water, if I can see you."Dargorath answers.
Some diplomacy would be in order here.
"The peck gets testy if anyone else tries to speak for him."
Malok awaits the diplomatic's before heading into the water.
"Perhaps if we offer the regular pearls we find to them they will tell us where we might have an increased success at finding a black one."
'That's not a bad ideas as a last option, but I hate to give away that much money.' Ivar moves closer to Malok and whispers, "That's not a bad idea as a last resort, but lets see if we can't talk them into helping us, or at least let us do it for free."
Smiling at Barton, as he begins to take off his breastplate, "That may be because you keep calling him "Peck"!"
Approaching the tribe he smiles, and adds, nodding toward Lalali, "Don't mind her, she doesn't mean to be snooty. Any chance you'd help us out?"
The crowd seems particularly unimpressed by the efforts of the mage and the crowd of once interested people starts to disperse.
"Guess we will get to do it the hard way, I suppose." Dargorath remarks. "So you want to get started?"
OK, you can either try to diplomacy again, (someone else, they don't like the mage) or head into the water.
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Randy sighs and steps forward "My good men and women of this here fine town, we are but honest to Cayden heroes that need your help. A hermit has tasked us to retrieve a black pearl from these waters, and even if we are fine warriors we can't hope to know as much as you are about the sea. Please help us!"
"The little feller is really a swell guy. You should listen to him."
Dargorath gives guidance to Sir Galittlehad.
Ivar, continues taking off his breastplate, "Yes you folks really should listen to the little guy!"
Pah, savages! Should have known it.
They hear the fairly weak entreaties of the peck, but a bit more cajoling makes them come around and help you out.
The divers advise the PCs to be careful about what they touch, as the sharp coral can leave painful wounds. They also warn that although slow, the deceptively strong currents can still disorient divers, and can drag a swimmer out to sea to his death. If made helpful, the divers offer to barter some of their special equipment, including sandbag weights and diving floats (barrels with ropes attached) for some of the PCs’ more mundane equipment. The weights can help the PCs reach the bottom swiftly (granting a +2 circumstance bonus on Swim checks to dive), while the f loats mark a diver’s position relative to others and can help prevent the PCs from being dragged out to sea by the currents (granting a +2 circumstance bonus on Swim checks to return to the surface).
Before heading into the water Malok casts Monkeyfish giving him a swim speed of 10 the 4 minutes..
While the others were deciding if they were going to try and talk the villagers into helping or not, Ivar finishes taking off his breastplate. He walks over to Dargorath and nudges the dwarf. "He Dargorath, would you watch my gear while I swim with Malok? Looks like were going with or without the villagers help."
He then places the breastplate near the dwarf, placing first his rucksack on top;then his axe, shield, hammer, bow and quiver. He quickly removes his gambeson and shirt revealing the wode-blue tattoo of his tribal totem, a 'seawolf.'
Bare chested, with his short sword tucked in his belt, Ivar turns to Malok; "Well, I'm about as ready as I'm going to get, should we wait to see if anyone can talk the natives into lending us gear? Or do you want me to tie my rope to you and stay at the surface while you dive?"
"Sure. Nice tattoo." Dargorath looks at the tattooed Seawolf appreciatively.