|
M'bola shifts uncomfortably in his chair as the elf woman enters in her...attire. He makes a show of pulling at straps and buckles as if to show that it is the shoddy, second-hand armor that is making him twitch, but the abashed glances he casts at Rilla make it clear that his own armor is the least of his concerns at the moment.
"Ah...hello, he begins to say, his Common thick with the accent of a Mwangi tribesman. My name is M'boka. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.
|
Big man grimly nods to all present. He is shaved bald, dressed in almost don't inhibit movement leather armor and carries behind a huge two-handed sword. His face constantly expresses a complex range of emotions that can be described like this: "We'll be in big trouble very soon but I'm so cool that I don't care".
|
|
A scrawny half-elf with light brown scraggly hair and goatee, wearing simple trousers, a light cotton shirt, and traveler's cloak enters the room and sits down. He carries a backpack with little more than is necessary to live a life on the road. "Searlas Savy. Looking forward to working with the society again, it has been a while."
|
A short teenaged young woman enters quietly and stands back a bit from those already mingling, looking everything over and not speaking to anyone until spoken to. She has red hair, green eyes, and a pale Ulfen complexion, with a few freckles. If she put any effort into looking attractive, she could be beautiful, but without make-up or any jewelry or fetching apparel, she looks rather plain and average. She wears work-a-day studded leather armor, with a heavy wooden shield slung over her backpack. She carries a few simple weapons, a morningstar, a dagger, and a set of javelins. Under her arm is a book and on her belt are a couple of pouches. Poking out of one of the larger pouches is the head of a toy stuffed tiger. It looks well worn with button eyes. The weapons and armor weigh her down and make her look awkward. No one would look at her and think she was a warrior or even a rogue.
As new people come in, she nods in acknowledgement as they say their names, but says little on her own unless asked. She studies everyone cautiously, but with an intelligent, calculating gaze. When asked her name, she replies, "I am Nona Petron. This is Katzu," she adds, patting the toy tiger on the head.
During a lull in the conversation, she draws from a pouch a deck of Harrow cards, shuffles them carefully, cuts the deck and then draws a single card.
: The Hidden Truth. Suit = Intelligence. Alignment = LG.
She studies the card, smiling slightly, places the card to her forehead for a few moments, and then returns it to the deck.
|
"Late as usual.", Ser Willem sighs to himself more than anyone as he sends his squire away to deal with his horse outside. "Ser Willem Dargerion, knight of Taldor, assistant to Lady Gloriana Morilla and Pathfinder, at your service. " He ends with a courtly bow and you can see the Sovereign Court's crest on the hilt of his sword which, along with the chain mail underneath his tunic, appears to have been recently polished to a silvery sheen. He appears every bit the noble, distant stare, well kempt clothing, short cropped blond hair. Even his voice appears to demand respect. "It is a true honor to be working with the Pathfinders again. "
|
|
The ramshackle tenement outside of Korvosa softly echoes with the sound of light rain as Venture-Captain Sir Canayven Heidmarch begins his briefing.
“For this mission you will have to venture into the sewers beneath Korvosa. Sascha Antif-Arah,” he announces, gesturing to a haggard human woman who is past her prime but whose posture expresses confidence and experience, “requires access to a particular vault. The society is going to help her.”
Sascha eyes each Pathfinder in turn then nods to herself with some satisfaction and steps forward gracefully. “Some years ago my friends and I had made quite a name for ourselves around Korvosa, and our adventures earned us a considerable amount of gold. We stashed most of it in one of the Vaults after evicting the cult that had already claimed it.” Sascha pauses for a moment, smiles, and shakes her head as if recalling particularly amusing details of the raid. “Anyway, I retired from the business after that, started up a shop, and lived peacefully until I got into trouble with the Hellknights.”
“I can’t show my face in Korvosa because I don’t fancy spending my retirement in shackles, but I’m willing to cede my share of the loot in that Vault to you. It’s no dragon’s hoard, but it should be more than worth your time. The only thing I want from there is an old locket—nothing magical or worth fencing, but it means a lot to me. Once I have it, I’m getting out of this place and off to somewhere the Order of the Nail has no sway.”
“The entrance shouldn’t be too hard to find, assuming you know what to look for,” she remarks as she fishes several folded papers from her haversack.
“There’s an old service entrance into the sewers about a quarter mile north of my old shop in Midland; I wrote down directions that should lead you to the vault. There’s a big room inside, and I stashed my share under the flagstones in one of the small chambers nearby.”
She extracts a few more items from her bag and holds them out. “I hope you don’t need these, but you never know. I certainly won’t be using them in my retirement. Good luck to you, Pathfinders.”
|
|
Searlas looks over the contents of the bag. "Arrows specially crafted and enchanted to strike a heavy blow to abberations. These are very specific weapons... Is there anything particular you have in mind that might require us to use such equipment? You said this was once a cult's vault... do you suspect they have returned or let loose some monstrosity within?"
He looks around at the party and begins to divide up the contents of the sack, placing the arrows before Rilia, and the alkali flask before Kiddir, and the antitoxins and antiplague before M'boka. "Look good?"
|
|
“Korvosa’s sewers have lots of blackboil alligators, so I wouldn’t go for a swim unless you really have to. My group ran into some other strange creatures years ago, but our scholar usually identified them for us; I don’t remember what they were. Those arrows were what was left of ones he enchanted for us when we went into the sewers, so I assume they could be useful to you as well.”
|
|
M'boka sits quietly as the old adventurer delivers the details of their mission. His chest swells with excitement at the thought of serving such a prestigious figure in his first assignment for the Pathfinders. He collects the vials and flasks offered to him and nods enthusiastically while the others ponder the coming trials. "I do not know anything of such structures or the creatures that might reside within, but rest assured that we shall return your locket to you soon!
|
|
Nona perks up when sewers are mentioned. "Considering how old Korvosa is, it would not surprise me to find a variety of structures down below street level. Best be on our toes." Her pronunciation betrays an accent from Ustalav. W's sound like V's, V's like F's, and trailing S's border on Z's.
Nona asks a number of questions of Sascha:
"How long has it been since you were there?"
"And does anyone else know about this place?"
"Any chance the Hellknights are looking for the same thing you are?"
Once the briefing is over, Nona says, "Sounds like the kind of place my Katzu would like to see. He will be better at wrestling alligators than I." She sits down, pulls her stuffed tiger from her pouch, hugs it to her chest, closes her eyes and concentrates, mouthing wordless prayers until, a minute later, the stuffed animal disappears and an impressive looking outsider appears as if summoned.
Katzu looks like a brawny humanoid but he has a tiger's head, claws at the end of his hands, and black and orange tiger stripes. One might even mistake him for a catfolk, but for his fur, which is of the faux variety found on the stuffed tiger toy and his eyes, apparently mere buttons with a Minkai stylized butterfly symbol on each. He has some minor pieces of armor in the lurid style of Minkai samurai, but they look more symbolic than functional.
Nona gives her eidolon a hug and introduces him to all the others. The same butterfly symbol can now be seen on her forehead. "This is Katzu, my guardian and friend." She points to each person and states his or her name for Katzu. The beefy agathion towered over the petite Nona, over six feet all. He says nothing and stands waiting for the group to move out. His expression is hard to read but he seems to be scowling.
|
|
"You know, I once knew a man from Korvosa... In the days I worked as a dockhand I heard all manner of stories, but this was from a dwarf. They may make tall tales of drink and brawl, but his description of their stonework was so detailed it couldn't have been exaggerated. The construction in the area was quite a mess... although he called it 'innovative.'. Natural cave leading to hewn rock sewer leading into ancient burial mounds and back to sewer. Some of the entrances didn't even have gratings so lots of marine life inhabit the sewers... and oozes, wererats, goblins, fungi, otyughs..."
Searlas shudders and trails off.
|
|
"Sewers. And don't think these arrows inspire anymore confidence. He's right, Korvosa's sewers aren't proper sewers at all. Some of it is just half-drowned caves and grottoes. The place experiences backwash from the sea so there's likely to be anything in there--aside from a clean dry patch that is."
|
|
Nona asks a number of questions of Sascha:
"How long has it been since you were there?"
“More than 5 years.”
"And does anyone else know about this place?"
“The vault is pretty out of the way and should still be a secret.”
"Any chance the Hellknights are looking for the same thing you are?"
“The Hellknights were not after me because of the vault. Apparently accidentally stepping onto the streets between Hellknights and a wanted criminal indicates that a completely innocent citizen is an accomplice. I was unjustly convicted, but I’d rather not test the local law enforcement’s patience by trying my luck out there.”
|
|
Something in the old woman's story didn't sound right to Ser Willem.
He doesn't mention this fact, but instead marvels at Nona's "friend". "He is impressive, I must say. It is good that we have a way to see in the sewers. The many creatures that Searlas mentioned dwell there do not need more of an advantage on us." He then looks to the retired adventurer. "We will return with your locket soon."
|
|
M'boka stands and bows to the woman and says with an air of finality, "Miss Antif-Arah, I have no further questions for you. Thank you for this opportunity to serve the Pathfinder Society and a storied warrior such as yourself. We shall not fail." He then goes to stand by the door, waiting for the others to follow him out.
|
|
Kiddir puts the alkali flask in the bag giving Searlas Savy the silent sullen nod.
"Perfect" - his voice sounds slightly hoarse. "I know nothing about local animals and monsters, neither about local architecture and history nor about the sewers beneath the city. But I know for sure that when you are sent to find treasure somewhere underground, you will need a lot of this." - he makes a lazy hand gesture, with the thumb pointing to the big sword hanging behind his back. "Everything else is nonsense and a waste of time."
He gets up and goes to the door. His movements are surprisingly soft and almost feline. It is unexpected to see such plasticity in such a muscular man. "Let's go?" - he says, standing with his back to you and without waiting for an answer goes.
|
|
"Does the locket possess any magical properties that could cause it to be sought out by others? Or render it dangerous in and of itself? If not, well, I'm with Kiddir. Lets go... It will be refreshing in an odd sort of way to delve into a monster infested sewer rather than delve into a monster infested city. At least we'll be expecting them..."
|
|
Nona takes possession of the notes . She studies the contents to make sure she can read the handwriting and recognize the words. She was hoping for a map with an "x" on it marking "the spot," the spot with the treasure, that is. A treasure hunt should have a map with an x on it, she concludes, no matter what her professor says about such things being the sole province of overactive imaginations of bards.
Once she's clear on the directions, she nods to the Venture-Captain and Sascha. "Shall ve look fur you here, vhen ve're back mit the locket?"
Once that detail is ironed out, she memorizes the directions and then tucks the notes in her book and packs it away in her pack. The title of the book is Moats, Bridges, and Tunnels of Ancient Azlant. Then she gestures for Katzu to follow her and she exits to meet up with those who have already exited.
|
|
After making sure he is the last one out, Willem prepares himself for the journey into the sewers. He told Brianna, his squire, to make sure Destrier was well taken care of and to have a bath for him when he returned. She was only too happy to oblige. He cringed his nose at the thought of going below the streets, but here he was.
The smell was worse than he imagined. Either the lower section of society has gotten worse or it had been that long since he had explored the sewers, either way, he had a job to do. As his companions trudged along, he spaced himself out far enough to still be able to see in the magical light, but not so close in case something caught them all unawares. While he did not draw his sword, his hand was on the pommel. Just in case.
|
|
Before descending into the sewers, Nona snapped her fingers as she said "lux spatark". A glowing light formed at the spot she snapped her fingers. She raised her morningstar so the head passed into the glowing region and the weapon became a light source. After ten minutes holding the morning star in one hand and Nona decided when the spell ran out, she would recast it on her hat.
|
|
M'boka descends into the sewers and begins looking around, attempting to allow his eyes to adjust to the darkness before providing his own magical light. After a few moments, he straps on his shield and casts the spell on it, creating a brightly glowing boss in the shaped of a Iomedaean holy symbol. Once the light is in place, he draws his terbutje and advances into the darkness, stalking as quietly as he can in his unfamiliar armor.
|
|
A rusty, slime-encrusted steel ladder descends into the Korvosan sewers, whose tunnels stretch to the north, east, and south like roads in an underground city. Curtains of fungus and mold hang from the ceilings, which rise roughly ten feet above the tunnels’ walkways, which run along either side of the sewage channels. Occasional dim patches of light filter in from the streets above providing minimal illumination. Despite the sickening smell of decay, the tunnels are free of garbage, waste, and the other byproducts of Korvosan life.
Sewer rats move through the tunnel, their chittering echoing off the walls making it sound much louder than it should.
But you also hear a sing-song tune from somewhere further along the tunnel. A song that is getting closer. Eventually you can make out some of the words sung in a deep, raspy voice.
♫If you invited me to dinner, I'd wear a coat and fancy hat.
But please oh, please don't make me eat, another sewer rat.♫
♫If I had something good to eat, I'd be sure to save some for later.
Please won't something new come my way, I don't want more... blackboil alligator!♫
A bulbous creature with a huge toothy maw, ringed by tentacles that end in barbed pads rounds the corner.
"Oh hey!"
Seeing the PCs, it sniffs the air. How it can smell anything other than the stench of the sewage is beyond you.
"You smell GOOD. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWRRR."
The creature lets out a loud roar that send the rats scattering as it waves its tentacles around.
|
|
Katzu moves toward the tentacled roarer. Along the way, he jumps across the channel of water down the middle and continues his approach along the eastern side.
He stops after moving 30 feet and readies an attack on any hostile that comes into his reach.
Where he stops, he notices what appears to be a branching passageway to the northeast. using darkvision 60'
|
|
Kiddir rushes forward and slashes it opening a gash in its side that causes bodily fluids to rush out, smelling like sewage only twice as strong.
Katzu and Willem move closer, while Searlas's rock break on the wall beyond Togg.
Deciding the only meal being offered to it is standing in front of it swinging a sword, it lashes out at Kiddir. But it just manages to do a lot of angry flailing.
(Miss)
(Miss)
(Miss)