orning light streams in through the stained glass windows of the Cathedral of Aroden in Almas, where Venture-Captain Brackett sits behind a large, antique desk replete with hair-thin lines that mar its surface like nearly healed scars. He scans a handful of papers before speaking to you and the other assembled guests, among them the no-nonsense wizard Wystorn Telfyr and Major Colson Maldris.
“I recently received news of a kidnapping in Sauerton, up in the northern wine country. Thalia Andares, heir to the Sauerton Red wine fortune and daughter of Consul Tercio Andares, vanished during the Silverglazer Sunday celebration and has not been seen since.”
With a meaningful look, Maldris catches Brackett’s attention, and the two nod in understanding as the major contributes. “Tercio Andares is powerful and widely respected; not only has he been the mayor of the large town for many years, but he is also a strong voice in the Andoren military—even for a consul. The Sauerton Red winery has made him extremely wealthy, and his financial support could be a considerable asset to the Pathfinders’ important work in and around the Worldwound. He seems uninterested in foreign affairs, though, perhaps because it’s politically safer to focus on domestic matters. Even so, he is known to help those who help him.”
“I appreciate the summary, major,” says Brackett. “I am convinced that the Andares’s gratitude would do much to refill our war chest for a struggle that is unlikely to end quickly. When you track down Thalia, as I trust you will do quickly, it is important not only to the Pathfinder Society but perhaps to the whole world that you request funding for the military campaign against the Worldwound. Of course, convincing Tercio to contribute troops and military aid would be even better, but aim for finances first.”
With a sigh, Major Maldris picks up his tricorne hat and prepares to depart. “I would stay longer, but I must make final preparations to travel,” he states in a quiet voice. “While I hope that the Andares family agrees to help the society, I am also wary of this political practice of mutual backscratching. As all of you are in Sauerton—especially those who care for this fine country—remain vigilant for signs of short-sighted corruption and abandonment of Andoran’s founding principles: freedom and democracy. Follow what you believe to be the best course of action, as I will not be available to advise you. Nonetheless, I would appreciate any reports of corruption after the situation is resolved.” After sharing a quick handshake with Brackett and a nod of farewell to the rest of you, he departs, closing the door behind him.
Telfyr breaks the moment of silence that follows by reporting, “My scrying indicates that the young Andares is being held in a building with high ceilings and once-elegant adornments in a style popular in this nation before the People’s Revolt. The structure seems to have sustained extensive fire damage which has not been repaired. Thalia is alive and unhurt, at least for now. She was reading a fresh copy of the essays of Alysande Benedict when I saw her.”
Brackett begins to bring the briefing to a close by concluding, “We have transportation ready to take you to Sauerton as quickly as possible. When you arrive, present this letter to Consul Andares before you begin your investigation. It introduces you and offers the condolences and assistance of the Pathfinder Society. Not only is this proper etiquette to announce your intentions to the mayor, but Thalia vanished from the Andares manor. Someone there should be able to make sense of Telfyr’s visions. Telfyr frowns at Brackett’s diction. “Scrying, Brackett, is diff–“ “Alright, yes, scrying,” the venture-captain concedes as he pushes a sealed letter across the table. “Introductions, rescue operation, then negotiation for funding and possible military support. Make any questions quick; you’ve got a boat to catch.”
orning light streams in through the stained glass windows of the Cathedral of Aroden in Almas, where Venture-Captain Brackett sits behind a large, antique desk replete with hair-thin lines that mar its surface like nearly healed scars. He scans a handful of papers before speaking to you and the other assembled guests, among them the no-nonsense wizard Wystorn Telfyr and Major Colson Maldris.
“I recently received news of a kidnapping in Sauerton, up in the northern wine country. Thalia Andares, heir to the Sauerton Red wine fortune and daughter of Consul Tercio Andares, vanished during the Silverglazer Sunday celebration and has not been seen since.”
With a meaningful look, Maldris catches Brackett’s attention, and the two nod in understanding as the major contributes. “Tercio Andares is powerful and widely respected; not only has he been the mayor of the large town for many years, but he is also a strong voice in the Andoren military—even for a consul. The Sauerton Red winery has made him extremely wealthy, and his financial support could be a considerable asset to the Pathfinders’ important work in and around the Worldwound. He seems uninterested in foreign affairs, though, perhaps because it’s politically safer to focus on domestic matters. Even so, he is known to help those who help him.”
“I appreciate the summary, major,” says Brackett. “I am convinced that the Andares’s gratitude would do much to refill our war chest for a struggle that is unlikely to end quickly. When you track down Thalia, as I trust you will do quickly, it is important not only to the Pathfinder Society but perhaps to the whole world that you request funding for the military campaign against the Worldwound. Of course, convincing Tercio to contribute troops and military aid would be even better, but aim for finances first.”
With a sigh, Major Maldris picks up his tricorne hat and prepares to depart. “I would stay longer, but I must make final preparations to travel,” he states in a quiet voice. “While I hope that the Andares family agrees to help the society, I am also wary of this political practice of mutual backscratching. As all of you are in Sauerton—especially those who care for this fine country—remain vigilant for signs of short-sighted corruption and abandonment of Andoran’s founding principles: freedom and democracy. Follow what you believe to be the best course of action, as I will not be available to advise you. Nonetheless, I would appreciate any reports of corruption after the situation is resolved.” After sharing a quick handshake with Brackett and a nod of farewell to the rest of you, he departs, closing the door behind him.
Telfyr breaks the moment of silence that follows by reporting, “My scrying indicates that the young Andares is being held in a building with high ceilings and once-elegant adornments in a style popular in this nation before the People’s Revolt. The structure seems to have sustained extensive fire damage which has not been repaired. Thalia is alive and unhurt, at least for now. She was reading a fresh copy of the essays of Alysande Benedict when I saw her.”
Brackett begins to bring the briefing to a close by concluding, “We have transportation ready to take you to Sauerton as quickly as possible. When you arrive, present this letter to Consul Andares before you begin your investigation. It introduces you and offers the condolences and assistance of the Pathfinder Society. Not only is this proper etiquette to announce your intentions to the mayor, but Thalia vanished from the Andares manor. Someone there should be able to make sense of Telfyr’s visions. Telfyr frowns at Brackett’s diction. “Scrying, Brackett, is diff–“ “Alright, yes, scrying,” the venture-captain concedes as he pushes a sealed letter across the table. “Introductions, rescue operation, then negotiation for funding and possible military support. Make any questions quick; you’ve got a boat to catch.”
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Scrawny and old, possibly nearing his seventieth year, which is impressive for any human walking Golarion, "Gill" squints at every present as if he's still trying to determine just how many fighters are circled about him.
"Hnnhh? Buncha rag-tags likes us? Why I gots more scars than yer fancy desk here, Bracksy..."
As if on command, Gill hunches forward and adopts some sort of "fighting style" which is nearly comic until he breaks into a horrible, rasping coughing fit where he seems to nearly part with one of his lungs.
"Haghhh-hagggh-HAGHHH!"
Wiping his mouth, he shakes his head.
"Sorry 'bout that. Took a good one in the third round with Micky the Ox back in '4676."
Nodding to "Bracksy", Gill addresses the others.
"Name's Gilloro, case you didn't recognize me. It's been a while since the posters of me were up. Sounds easy right? Get in, find this missing girl?"
Gilloro shrugs.
"Maybe we should puts up some posters?"
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"Taken!? Terrible!" says a jovial gnome who, prior to the Captain's report had been idly sending embers of flame between his fingertips.
"And from her own home. How young is the child? And what's this Silvgazer thing? Could it be from an anti-silver dissident? Does the vineyard specialize in red wines or white? Do you need a handkerchief?" Fimbir swivels to Gilloro quickly for this last remark before spinning back to Brackett and Telfyr and continuing his battery of questions.
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A wide smirk crosses the face of the young Taladan. "Right then, if ever our little gnome friend here has his fill with questions of the irrelevant sort, we'll be off. Don't worry about a thing, Captain. I haven't let the Society down yet, and I don't intend to start today." With that, he rises from his seat and doffs his hat to the gentlemen.
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"Oh, I meant no offense! I just tend to find the answers as the questions arise in the moment. I'm Garrison, by the way, Garrison Frostmane. But everyone calls me Ghaenk. Please to meet yo... uh... um... Dang, that is some orange hair... Yea! So, um... please to meet you," Ghaenk says with an uncharacteristic stammer.
"Name's Gilloro, case you didn't recognize me. It's been a while since the posters of me were up. [...]
"Maybe we should puts up some posters?"
Gilloro ponders to put posters around the town as Venture-Captain Brackett answers the questions.
There’s no suspects. When I heard reports from the north, it seemed as though the authorities were stumped.” Then he listen the battery of questions Fimbir throw at him and tries to answer talking as quickly as the gnome. Maybe gnomes consider time differently than humans, but I’ll suggest to don’t talk about Thalia Anderes as a “child”, she’s in her thirties, which is enough to call her “woman”. Silverglazer Sunday celebration sounds more like a local celebration than dissidents. Red wine. But its hard to compete with a gnome in fast talking.
You can learn more from the region with some rolls:
Tercio Andares is mayor of Sauerton, one of the consuls who administer Andoran’s military, and owner of the extremely successful Sauerton Red winery.
Andares has generally remained popular in Sauerton despite the town suffering from a rash of attacks by wild beasts from the Verduran Forest in recent years, as his winery employs much of the town directly or indirectly, and it is rare for any public figure to suggest Andares might be responsible for any problems.
A few unpopular individuals around Sauerton say that the Andares family is rotten, and that anyone who makes trouble for Tercio or his kin is quickly and quietly encouraged to leave town.
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"Fimbir!" the gnome says to Ghaenk. He also shrugs to rackett as the VC tries to keep his pace. "Oh, sorry then. Is thirty old?" Fimbir looks sheepishly for a moment before moving his head back and forth in thought.
"Call her 'woman' then, got it. And we should also be a bit subtle when asking around then too, yes? I've heard the Andares family is popular, but partially because they employ half the town. Even if rumors of potential 'bad stuff' is true, don't want to say so too loud if we don't want to be 'asked to leave'" He makes air quotes.
"After all, Sauerton's a huge vinyard town - even if the wine is cheap. And close to the Verudran with all their beasts and such and the Galt/Taldor border, so it's not like people don't have things to be concerned about. We'll do our best to get funding too, but that could be a problem: I've heard Andares isn't even giving much support to the town's own guard's request for more funds and staff."
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"You are a fount of knowledge, Fimbir." Glomtin nods at the gnome. "A fellow Pathfinder and friend of mine, Silver Warden, will meet us there."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Gill balks at the discussion of thirty being "old" for a human.
"Thirty eh? Young, then. So we're looking for a girl. Wonder if she had a jealous boyfriend..."
Removing his soft hat, Gill scratches his head as he thinks.
"Don't remember this Sauerton. I took a lotta hits, could be it was up here..."
Gill taps his temple.
"If it was up there, it got lost a few decades ago. Then again, I never paid much to the towns outside the ring. I focused on my training... which is what we all should be doing as... what's our group called again? When do we get paid?"
Your trip up the Andoshen River is swift, and they enjoy good weather until the last hour, when a light rain begins to fall. The Andares’s manor is not difficult to find, being one of several dozen stately homes still standing in the town as functional reminders of a past age’s nobility.
Most of Sauerton appears well maintained, and although the seasonal workers who arrived a few months earlier to help pick the grapes have since departed, several presses are still set up in the town square—the residents await the return of fairer weather so they can resume their wine production.
As you navigate Sauerton, a halfling wearing light armor and a rain-spattered helmet hails them. Greetings foreigner, I´m Captain Merton Demrick of the nation of Andoran. May I ask what brings you to Sauerton?
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"Fimbir has the right of it. Is there anything you could tell us about the case?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
Walk with me, says the Captain Demrick. We can talk as we go to Andares’s manor.
Is little we know about the dissapearance of Thalia Andares. She was supposed to be at the Silverglazer Sunday celebration as every other year, but she felt "indisposed". And when his father come back to the maner and wanted to talk with her she wasn´t at home and noone can tell where she is. And that´s all I know.
Ghaenk is able to make Captain Demrick shares that the mayor has eceived a huge surge in popularity, turning what was going to be a rough election into what looks to be a landslide. His rivals in the People’s Council had been criticizing his failure to keep the countryside and town’s perimeter safe from wildlife dangers coming out from the Verduran Forest, but nobody is willing to entertain their criticism of a man whose daughter is missing. Demrick even observes that, “It’s funny. Anytime things seem to go badly for an Andares, there always seems to be a silver lining or convenient turn of events.”
AS you walk toward the manor the Captain talk about the other "silver lining" Well mostly are rumors, as many of them take place long before I had born, but I can told of his wife death at giving birth her daughter. After a few weeks people started talking about him searching another wife to take care of the girl and the house. Months later they were talking about he wasn´t giving a proper education to the girl, as he didn´t marry again and she doesn´t have a mother to learn of. Years later all the people spreading those comments were amused of how well he was educating Thalia.
As you see, a fatality became an admiration motive as time passed. He also tell you the stories he know about the rest of the "silver lining" the Andares had, and they look similar; they were politicians and entrepenours who know how turn a bad situation in a benefit.
The Andares mansion stands at the edge of a beautiful green and has a facade dominated by fine marble pillars. The manor is tall and as imposing inside as out. The ground floor has a parlor, drawing room, grand dining room, water closet, and kitchen, and the upper level has half a dozen bedrooms, half of which are unused.
A thin, hook-nosed woman with graying brown hair held in a tight bun—answers the door. She introduces herself as Dorabeth and politely but firmly insists that the master of the house is not to be disturbed as he´s occupied right now, and you must wait unil he has some spare time.
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Glomtin bows to the woman. "Excuse me. We are Pathfinders here to help find Thallia. Perhaps you might show us in and tell us a bit about her while we wait to see the Mayor?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"Ah, a man capable of 'making lemonade' so to speak. A bit lucky though: the people could just as easily have thought he'd be too distracted to do the job in his grief, couldn't they." Fimbir talks as much to himself as the Captain walks the party to the mansion as he he is speaking to any one person. The gnome continues to mutter to himself as he goes, seemingly oblivious to who hears him.
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As he sees Glomtin take a bow, Fimbir gives a big nod of his head. "Yes. Lovely girl I'm sure. Any hobbies of hers? Unexpected interests?" He lowers his voice (for about the first time since their arrival) "Regular trysts with a caller? No judgements, no judgements, but any clue could be THE clue you know."
Oh! Pathfinders! Of course, come in where we can wait more confortable. She looks relieved as knowing more people is worried about Thalia and want to search her. Well I have no proof so I can´t be sure bu you know there are Kyonin elves could have crossed the border and abducted Thalia to sacrifice to their forest gods, or well, you also know Andoren is hate by Cheliax. So a Chelish spy could had stolen her away and has hidden her body in one of the wine casks. She goes on with different ideas, each one more imaginative than the previous.
Unexpected interests? No one, she´s a perfect mistress and a a good Andoran. The only thing unusual in her or her situation is she hasn´t married yet. But is not her fault, the suitors were not up to her expectatives
Tercio Andares — a tall Taldan man who has aged gracefully with curly, graying black hair—opens the drawing room door for Sander Bryton, saying, I thank you again for your concern, cousin Sander, but the services of the Eagle Knights are not called for here. Surely you would not risk Thalia’s safety in such a bold manner. He pauses upon noticing the you, greets the captain of the guard, and with a hint of quickly suppressed exasperation asks the visitors to introduce themselves.
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Glomtin bows. "My name is Glomtin Weol. My companions here and I are Pathfinders, and we are here to help you find your daughter."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Fimbir lets the departing man - cousin Sander - exit, even as the gnome sizes him up as he goes. With a tight grin, Fimbir then turns to the Consul as the door closes.
"Yes, we've heard of Thalia's disappearance. Such a tragedy. Anything we can do to assist. Don't mean to be rude, but was that the Eagle Knights? Is this already escalating into a national thing? If so, I can understand the caution: military can be noisy. But our Society has a history of being subtle, and has found far longer-lost people than this!"
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Ghaenk gives a sullen nod of his head as cousin Sander leaves. Turning his attention to Tercio, he bows deeply.
"Garrison Frostmane, at your service. We expect to find your daughter in short order and return her to you in good health. I can tell you that the Pathfinder Society, and its members, will stop at nothing to protect the innocent." He looks around at the other Pathfinders and nods approvingly, ending with Fimbir whom he pats on the head.
Tercio Andares reads the letter of introduction from Venture-Captain Brackett as you introduce yourselves.
You are welcome to Sauerton, but not to help me in any manner. And less if you´re so good investigation then need a confirmation if someone is an eagle knight, despite how is he dressing and how is he.
On top of that, I´ve received a letter threatening Thalia’s life should I help investigators. I´m not going to risk her safety.
You have just meet me and you think I´m paralized? I know perfectly how to take care of this threat. He answers irritated by your intromision.
And it´s not telling everybody what I´m doing.
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"Our apologies, sir. My gnome friend here, was using 'you' in the general sense. He was not specifically referencing you, specifically," Ghaenk bows even lower then continues. "We agree that Thalia's life is of utmost importance. Is there anything else we could do for you, personally? Or perhaps any message back to our superiors that you would have us deliver? They are very concerned over this matter. It would be an honor to serve at your pleasure."