Yangrit Foehammer |
"Aye. Let us begin the trek." Yangrit is in a good mood compared to usual. She just saw the half-orc needlessly make a fool of himself, so all seems right with the world for now. A small smile plays at the corners of her lips as she replays the recent events in the cave in her mind.
Telos Downshot |
"Yeah, I think we've seen all that we need to here. Yangrit, still got those drawings?" asks Telos, fully intent on copying her homework.
The World's Most Interesting GM |
It's early morning two days later, and the party is back at in Absalom, in Dean Kreighton Shaine's office, presenting their findings to the Master of Scrolls as he takes breakfast.
Feel free to expand upon the time between the caves and here.
Yangrit Foehammer |
During the trip back to Absalom, Yangrit spent most of her time lost in thought, mentally composing her report. The tight, painstakingly legible handwriting states:
A lone gillman, Uori, whose mental faculties could be questioned, was discovered kneeling in a pool at the center of the cave system. The cape was given to him. He claimed that the pool was sacred to his people. In the center of the pool, on a pedestal, stands an ancient replica of Absalom.
After inspecting the miniature city, the party continued to explore the portion of the cave to the east. Three zombies were defeated. Near them was a corpse and loose pages from a diary, stating that the corpse was attempting to raise an army of undead, but through clumsiness created zombies which turned on him. (See addendum 2 for the diary pages.)It appears that all of his creations are defeated. A secret passage was found and followed.
In the passage, Janira's distressed voice was heard. On the way to come to her aid, the party encountered and defeated a cube of jelly. Upon exiting the cave, the party engaged the minotuar. After exchanging blows, it fled. No serious injury was sustained.
Janira and Ironshanks Magee guarded that entrance to the cave as the rest of the party returned to the cave to explore the passage west of the sacred pool. Upon passing Uori, he gave Telos a wand with the instructions: 'Just touch the tip of this to a person, and say the magical words: 'Klaatu barada nikto' and it will encase that person in a bubble of defensive magic.' Please note that this exact same phrase is noted in the corpse's diary regarding his creation of the undead.
In the west section of the cave, two kobolds were encountered. The half-orc goaded them into attacking the party, after which they hit him with a likely-poisoned dart. While one of the party rescued him from the stream in which he had fallen, face down, the remainder of the party succeeded in driving off the kobolds, which fled and were not seen again.
Upon exiting the cave, the group rejoined Janira and Ironshanks Magee and returned to Absalom without incident."
Telos Downshot |
Telos most listens in on Yangrit's report and slips in random details that may or may not be relevant.
"Uori also had a strange fashion sense. Multi-colored robes and such. Also he seemed very unconcerned with any other goings-on in the cave system whatsoever."
"The zombies were of deceased gillfolk"
Duncan MacMhuirich |
Duncan chimes in by saying, "We also encountered a really odd creature that sorta sucked Telos into it. It was kinda like a jelly lookin thing. Oh wait, you told him about that already. Didja tell him bout that cool miniature city? You did? Well, she already told ya what happened and what we found. Guess I'll just sing a song bout the whole thing then."
"Let me bring you songs from the wood:
to make you feel much better than you could know.
Dust you down from tip to toe.
Show you how the garden grows.
Hold you steady as you go.
Join the chorus if you can:
it'll make of you an honest man.
Let me bring you love from the field:
poppies red and roses filled with summer rain.
To heal the wound and still the pain
that threatens again and again
as you drag down every lover's lane.
Life's long celebration's here.
I'll toast you all in penny cheer.
Let me bring you all things refined:
galliards and lute songs served in chilling ale.
Greetings well met fellow, hail!
I am the wind to fill your sail.
I am the cross to take your nail:
A singer of these ageless times.
With kitchen prose and gutter rhymes.
Songs from the wood make you feel much better."
Tusk Two-Blade |
On the way back, Tusk leaves a trail of destruction as he practices on many previously lifing fauna until he gets an idea. Tusk fashions a practice weapon for sparring consisting of a haft with two padded and weighted ends.
"Say, any of you dwarfs care to practice with me?" he asks hopefully.
When they get back, Tusk will relate the battles in excruciating detail, particularly the parts he was involved in, but he really has very little to offer when it comes to the Aroden pictures or the gillman meditations.
"...and then I pulverized the second tick with a back-handed slash that send goo everywhere. Unfortunately, that particular bug was surrounded and everyone got a taste of raw tick. Not my favorite. Speaking of food, dinner that night was inspired..."
Dean Kreighton Shaine |
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'Shanksbot adds:
"They searched high n low they did. We made our way through the caves, following direct orders from Janira, as she lead off the vicious minotaur." He pauses to estimate its considerable height and width.
"We crossed a pit of watery death thanks to the leaping of some of the kids in the group and a heavy plank. We came across some old carvings in the stone walls and notes they were taken. Yangrit has a steady hand she does." He looks to her and nods approvingly.
"We met with an old gillman hippy type at a sacred pool he said, with a small version of our great city here. Full of vermin and frogs it was. After some swimmin' and some 'splorin' was done, we continued on to help investigate some 'bad neighbors'. A pile of stinkin' zombies we found, they fell quick to axe and fist. Stinkin' necromancer's work we found." He spits on the floor with disdain.
The Master of Scrolls regards the mess on his office rug critically, but Ironshanksbot gives it no mind and instead continues telling his tale.
"We continued on in a rush, hearin' Janira's singin' coming down through the tight tunnels. Telos he ran on ahead, being the smallest with the most room to move, ran straight into a wall o jelly, going limp like an overcooked noodle. I reached in and plucked 'im out bafore the jelly flopped on me." He makes a loud SLURP sound and combs some dried remnants from his beard still.
"I carried the Lad out the back of the ooze while the others took it down with slings, arrows, and slaps. Onward we ran to the surface n found Janira n that damned Minotaur sweatin' like pigs in the summer heat."
Dean Shaine looks up from the mess now to regard Janira with some concern.
Dean Kreighton Shaine |
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Telos most listens in on Yangrit's report and slips in random details that may or may not be relevant.
"Uori also had a strange fashion sense. Multi-colored robes and such. Also he seemed very unconcerned with any other goings-on in the cave system whatsoever."
"The zombies were of deceased gillfolk"
"Yes." says the Dean. "I was just going over some of the more legible pages of the mad man's journal."
He regards the document before him.
"'The deep, deep, darkness of my eternal soul'...."
He flips to another partially crumpled and muddied page.
"'However far away
I will always love you
However long I stay
I will always love you
Whatever words I say
I will always love you
I will always love you.' Hmm. Mad."
"And the body in the 'deep hole' in Yangrit's report? The one with the cloak you gave to Uori; was it also a gillman? Excellent note-taking by the way, Yangrit. It is always best to write this sort of information down while it is happening. It gets so that person can't rightly remember what they had for breakfast by midday."
Dean Kreighton Shaine |
Duncan chimes in by saying, "We also encountered a really odd creature that sorta sucked Telos into it. It was kinda like a jelly lookin thing. Oh wait, you told him about that already. Didja tell him bout that cool miniature city? You did? Well, she already told ya what happened and what we found. Guess I'll just sing a song bout the whole thing then."
"And were on this regional map would you say, Duncan, that you found this field with the 'red poppies and roses'? About what time of day did the healing rains fall would you say? Wild meteorological magicks are a sort of hobby for me, and the war-scarred plains around Absalom with their many ruined siege towers still filled with their bygone war magic are of particular interest. Just think of it; rain that could cure masses of light wounds! That would certainly give an army an the edge in the field if they could control the rain clouds! Why if only one could master those fallen fortresses. The possibilities boggle the mind."
Dean Kreighton Shaine |
"...and then I pulverized the second tick with a back-handed slash that send goo everywhere. Unfortunately, that particular bug was surrounded and everyone got a taste of raw tick. Not my favorite. Speaking of food, dinner that night was inspired..."
"'Ticks' you say? In Janira's report she says they 'bounded' at you. Ticks don't 'bound', they 'quest' as it were. Sort of a fiddly little dance number they do on their four back legs until you get close enough to be hooked on their four front legs. Entomology is a bit of a hobby of mine. How many legs did these things have? Pity you couldn't bring me one in a kill jar. describe the taste again maybe I can recognize it from that. They serve a mean venison at the Pig's Paunch, and I mean 'mean'."
Tusk Two-Blade |
"Ticks, did I say ticks? I meant lice. Lice bound, don't they? Or were they fleas? Who cares! They lept and they bled."
Tusk Two-Blade |
"Crunchy, nutritious, plentiful. What's not to love? It constantly surprises me the taboos various human cultures have about eating, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me that you would find such things nasty. Some would rather starve than eat perfectly good meat."
Liv Moore' |
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Liv presents a couple drawings of the mostly worn down statues of Aroden This is mostly a site people used to care about but shouldnt anymore what with Aroden being dead. Miniatures enthusiasts might like the scale model of Absalom though. Might I recommend a round of Warhammer 40k down there some time?
Telos Downshot |
"'However far away
I will always love you
However long I stay
I will always love you
Whatever words I say
I will always love you
I will always love you.' Hmm. Mad."
"Yes, mad indeed. It's as if the very words inflict on my mind a... Disintegration of sorts..." He shakes his head, not knowing where that specific word could have come from. It also conjures up memories of his own teenage angst. He has the sudden urge to utilize dark eyeliner and other makeup to assume a very cosmetic, and very harmless undead aesthetic. The mad passage must have taken hold over him momentarily.
Dean Kreighton Shaine |
"Yes, mad indeed. It's as if the very words inflict on my mind a... Disintegration of sorts..." He shakes his head, not knowing where that specific word could have come from. It also conjures up memories of his own teenage angst. He has the sudden urge to utilize dark eyeliner and other makeup to assume a very cosmetic, and very harmless undead aesthetic. The mad passage must have taken hold over him momentarily.
"Aram once showed me a wand of disintegration he had invented. And when I say that when that when my friend Aram makes a wand disintegrates it disintegrates."
"Ticks, did I say ticks? I meant lice. Lice bound, don't they? Or were they fleas? Who cares! They lept and they bled."
"Lice, right. Make sure that you visit the Lodge infirmiry when you are done here. Don't take your helmet off until then. They may have laid eggs."
Liv presents a couple drawings of the mostly worn down statues of Aroden This is mostly a site people used to care about but shouldnt anymore what with Aroden being dead. Miniatures enthusiasts might like the scale model of Absalom though. Might I recommend a round of Warhammer 40k down there some time?
"Earthbreaker 40K is a hobby of mine! I play Drow of course. Do you think the place is the right scale?"
"So why do you think the gillmen very definitely 'men' travel so far over land every full moon to visit the site?"
Liv Moore' |
of course it's to scale, Dean. The Gillmin seemed like an old fogey that was still making the trip out of tradition. My guess is they once worshipped Aroden and then just sort of forgot that was why they did it over time.
Duncan MacMhuirich |
"Why would gillwomen travel to a faraway site on the full moon every month? Wait! What else happens when there's a full moon? Werewolves! They're lycanthropic gillwomen!"
Duncan says that with a perfectly surprised look on his face as if he discovered something that no one else had thought about.
"Or could it be something even more sinister?"
Yangrit Foehammer |
"The best we could make out is that they consider the pool to be sacred, but we could get no further explanation out of the addle-pated fool."
Tusk Two-Blade |
"If you need to ask him any more questions, we could probably drag him back here during the next full moon. Or you could just visit, I suppose. But you will need to look out for that cowardly minotaur. No, probably better if you send us to bring him back."
Tusk rubs his hands together at the thought of a rematch with the horned beast.
Dean Kreighton Shaine |
The Master of Scrolls seems to contemplate Tusk's remarks coolly before riffling the papers before him and saying: "There seems to be a few inconsistencies here among your reports. I'm sure that I will be calling some of you back in the days, and weeks to come to go over the find greater detail. Still, I know that some of you young people are looking forward to 'Latrine Duty Toilsday', so I shan't keep you much longer. One final question though, as you are now (how can I put this?) the Society members most familiar with the caves, it falls to you-" during which time he makes very specific eye contact with everyone in the party except Tusk, "to name the site for future reference."
Tusk Two-Blade |
Resisting the urge to name it after himself, Tusk suggests,
"How about 'Gill grove and great gap'?"
He's obviously struggling to throw something together with alliteration. Another 'thing' that is not his 'thing'.
Duncan MacMhuirich |
Duncan brightens up and smiles widely. "Fish Man Hole works too. Sorry to report and run, Master o' Scrolls, but I've got job to do."
He slaps Tusk on the back and says, "Have fun with that latrine duty thing, Tusk. I saw your name on the roster. I drew duty singing at the Wounded Wisp tonight. Gotta go!"
He turns and heads out the door. From out in the hallway you can him say, "Don't forget to take your toothbrush!"
"Well the dawn was coming,
heard him ringing on my bell.
He said, ``My name's the teacher,
that is what I call myself.
And I have a lesson
that I must impart to you.
It's an old expression
but I must insist it's true.
Jump up, look around,
find yourself some fun,
no sense in sitting there hating everyone.
No man's an island and his castle isn't home,
the nest is for nothing when the bird has flown."
Yangrit Foehammer |
"What about 'Aroden's Sacred Caverns'? It speaks to the contents of the cave and what it means to its pilgrims."
The World's Most Interesting GM |
Three days later (First Round's Free Fireday), the Masters of the Lodge (Master of Swords Marcos Farabellus, Master of Spells Aram Zey*, and the Master of Scrolls Kreighton Shaine) meet with each of the party members in a private ceremony, and confirms that they are indeed full Pathfinder field agent--(no matter what Master Zey says). As part of the ceremony, they gift the newly minted Pathfinder with a personalized wayfinder**, reminding him or her that this is not only the symbol of the Pathfinder’s trade, but also a reminder of the three principle duties to: explore, report, and cooperate.
* Yeah, I know, but not everyone has played through those scenarios yet.
** This is a boon that you have to acquire from your chronicle (at reduced cost!) for it to stick. Note all the temporary equipment obtained throughout the adventure (i.e. the wand from Uori, and the stuff in Janira's backpack) must be returned at the end.
The three deans also present the agent with a graduation scroll suitable framing.
I've included Ironshanks's below for completeness.
Telos Downshot |
Thanks for the game, GM! I had a lot of fun. An entertaining group of players always helps too :) I'll be looking out for all of you in future games.
Tusk Two-Blade |
Lot's of fun as is evidenced by the fact that we just couldn't stop RPing even when the thing was technically over.
Tusk will be getting a wand of CLW for 2 PP. If you have time please add it to the chronicle sheet, otherwise I'll hit up the next GM.
Telos Downshot |
Telos will buy:
Wand of CLW for 2 pp
Wand of mage armor for 2pp
Bracers of Armor +1 from chronicle sheet
The World's Most Interesting GM |
Telos Downshot |
No apology needed. Thanks! This is the first time a GM has bothered to record purchases on a chronicle for me. Not sure if that’s good, bad, or neutral.
The World's Most Interesting GM |
It is certainly chaotic. ;)
Telos Downshot |
Touché ;)
Likely chaotic good.
Tusk Two-Blade |
Thanks, and see you all around I'm sure.