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As the ship comes within the last several leagues of the Gloomspires, Nectanebo occupies himself matching wits with a book of puzzles.
"A-ha, yes! It all starts with the LEFT crank!"
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On the Grinning Pixie’s deck, Venture-Captain Calisro Benarry stands defiantly amid the howling wind and driving rain. The powerfully built half-orc’s voice carries over the storm. “There!” she yells, pointing to the northwest. “We’ve reached the Gloomspires.” As if on cue, numerous impossibly narrow fingers of black rock suddenly appear in the distance. The unnatural structures exude a sensation of unnatural and profound dread. Benarry laughs deeply as the sensation descends.
Turning to those of you that have had a recent history with the location, she turns and adds, “I bet you’re glad to be back to these gods-accursed spires! I sent in another team to continue the good work you started, and things didn’t go so well. You’re the closest thing to an expert on this rock we have, so I’m trusting you to bring the team through this mission safely.”
She leans in closer. “Let’s review some of the details of your mission.” Her eyebrows furrow. “Two months ago, I sent another team of Pathfinders to Old Sevenfingers’s tomb aboard a Thuvian caravel called the Pride of Aspenthar. The Pride and the Pathfinders never returned to Drenchport. Divinations confirmed that the ship was lost. It apparently sank after transporting the Pathfinders to the tomb, but no Pathfinders were on board. I sent the team into the second level of the tomb, a place called the Labyrinth of Hungry Ghosts. I put a veteran explorer named Jaohd Ilzinian in charge of the team. He’s a paladin of Shelyn known for his skill at fighting against things that should be dead."
“Ilzinian’s team carried the Orb of Stars with them. It’s a powerful magic item that freezes the Gloomspires in place so they can be explored safely. As you can see,” she says, gesturing to the spires, “the orb isn’t working. In the last few minutes, those columns have shifted twice. Without the orb, the spires only stand still on the solstice.”
Benarry allows her words to sink in before continuing. “The solstice begins in a few hours, so you’ll be able to make your way to the tomb just fine. I need you to climb up to Sevenfingers’s tomb, find out what happened to the Pathfinders, and recover the Orb of Stars. Also, I let Jaohd borrow Old Flotsam, my folding boat. She’s precious to me, and I’d really like her back.”
A sudden flash of lighting and the roar of distant thunder punctuate the captain’s words, and she smirks. ”Sounds simple enough, don’t it? The spires will stay in place for three days. If you find the orb, you’ll get two weeks. If you stay longer than that, you lubbers might run into trouble sailing back out. I’ll circle the Pixie around the spires for three weeks just in case. Any questions before you jump in the rowboat?”
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Night Hunter steps to the railing to peer through the storm at the spires rising from the roiling waters. He looks back to the Venture captain with a little shrug, never letting go of a firm grip on the railing of the ship. Being diminutive as he is, it would be so easy for him to get washed overboard without something to anchor himself with. The tiny humanoid frog blinks rapidly in the streaming rain, his tongue snaking out of his mouth and up, wiping one eye clear of dripping water in a totally alien manner. He sighs, grabs one of several flasks hanging from his belt and downs the contents, followed by a healthy belch.
"So this labyrinth of hungry ghosts, is it aptly named? I've never fought a ghost before, hungry or not."
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"From what we can tell from the Society's diviners, we know it is some sort of maze, but the Gloomspires tendency to disrupt certain magics only gives us partial clues. I had hoped to have at least a report form either Jaohd's team or the initial one, but that doesn't seem forthcoming at this point."
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A monk of average size and appearance listens intently. He has been to the Gloomspires before. Searching his memory, he tries to remember what he can of the area.
He speaks up My name is Kitajo and I explored an area used by Sevenfingers not long ago. I know a little of this region. The Gloomspires are an ancient field of massive stone columns that rise from the Arcadian Ocean. Most sages say they were already old when the Ghol-Gan Empire was young. The Gloomspires are hollow and contain many chambers and passages, all of which are believed to be cursed, monster-infested, or both. Since the time of the Ghol-Gan Empire, many of the Gloomspires have been explored, and some have even been claimed and repurposed by other beings. Of these, Sevenfingers’s tomb is the most well known. Sempet Sevenfingers was a legendary pirate who was active in the region 300 years ago.
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A tiny gnome bobs his head rapidly in agreement with Kitajo, his dark purple hair bouncing all over as he does. "That's right! Sevenfingers was quite hated. He commanded a small fleet of pirate ships from his flagship, the Voracious, and augmented his boarding parties with kuru cannibals. Sounds like a fun fellow."
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A tawny-skinned Elf with deep lavender eyes, long silver hair, and wearing a long overcoat the color of tarnished silver that makes him look a bit like a wraith, and wearing a massive, beautiful jeweled sword at his side, staggers up from below decks. Last night's meal must not be agreeing with him, as he leans overboard and regurgitates it, nearly oblivious to the discussion of the local history .
"*gasp*...Last...time...I...eat...*GAAAAAAAAACK*...Marduk's...cooking."
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A stout woman arrives with a quick pace and readies herself to quick the door open when she realizes the door is already open.
She seems pretty dirty to you but smells of wood and moss. Splinters of wood are tangled in her dark hair. She looks at the other persons in the room and bares her teeth, letting out a snarl, as an animal would do. When she does so, you see that her canines are more developed than most humans' and seem to have been through a lot of whetting. She carries a big Orc Double Axe in her back.
"Helo evrybody. Name's MARDUK! What be MISSION?" She says with a toothy grin.
"OooOh Halo Necatamno! Nyss to sea ya once agyn!" she says, nodding at the elf with the puzzles' book.
"WUt? I haz cookingz beattles and wood. Vary good!" she shouts, outraged.
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A small and skinny halfling stands on the deck of the ship, the hood of her heavy dark robe pulled up to give a semblance of protection against the elements. Upon boarding the ship earlier, she took the time to shake hands with each of you in an optimistic and cheerful way. "Heya, I'm Risa, I'll be assisting you on this mission, pleased to meet ya!"
Her appearance was somewhat startling to you however; her pale face has several deep scars across it, that appear very old. Her eyes are heavily clouded, appearing as milky white orbs. Worse even are her hands and arms, which are shriveled and blackened, and charred with eschar.
"A pirate's tomb? How exciting! Only one question from me, well, two actually; what does this orb look like, and how big was the previous team of pathfinders?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"“The Saoc Brethren of Lirgen made the orb. It can hold the Gloomspires in place long enough for us to study the site properly. Many of the agents around you where theose that discovered it for me,. . . for the Pathfinder Society, so they might have more details if you need. It is a small glode,” she holds out both hands for emphasis, "made of a golden colored metal. It is a puzzle device of sorts, with ones side being able to be rotated so that symbols can match up with markings that form a ring around the orb's center."
"As for the other team, I'd say average height. . ."
“Jaohd is a Taldan paladin who worships Shelyn. He’s tall and scrawny, with gray eyes and red hair. He joined the Society thirteen years ago and become an expert on spirits and haunts. His longsword, a fine blade he calls Ether’s Kiss, can hurt creatures with no real body of their own. Jaohd went into the Gloomspires with four other agents: the Taldan twins Alrasus and Naphinia, known for their quick fingers and quicker wits; Zumek, a Kellid warrior who could wrestle a crocodile and win; and Yetisiel, an elf with the power of storms in her blood.”
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Before heading out, Benarry gives you two pouches of grave salt as well as a wand of ghostbane dirge wrapped in a shroud, hoping it might help you in your mission.
"A mystic old sea dog performed a ritual to connect it to the wand. He said it should make the magic item more effective in the Gloomspires, as long as you don’t unwrap it. You let me know if he was trying to pull something on me, and I’ll go get my coin back.”
Your trip to the Gloomspires, a return home for some of you goes uneventful. The Gloomspires themselves, seen from a distance rise as massive stone towers from the sea itself, though they are covered in a dense, wind-resistant fog reminds you of it's treachery.
Climbing the narrow, winding steps to the top of Sevenfinger’s tomb takes 2 hours. The tomb’s summit is covered with thick tropical foliage, most reaching the height of 30 to 40 feet, a trek some of you remember all too well.
A lush canopy of tropical trees, flowering vines, and thick undergrowth forms a dark green wall around this small clearing. To the south is the edge of the column, and a sheer 500-foot drop.
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Though the jungle canopy over this clearing is exceptionally thick, a small campfire set in its center illuminates the area significantly. The clearing contains a makeshift camp, with a handful of improvised beds made from old sails and numerous stools and tables scavenged and repurposed from flotsam.
Suddenly, as you begin making your way to the south your hear an enraged female scream, "I'm sick of this. Tell us where it is or I'll have 'em cut off your toes and feed them to you."
Emerging around a bend in the jungle canopy path, you stumble up a quartet of sailors holding down a scarred man. He is blindfolded, and very near the campfire, with both hands and feet bound.
One of the sailors, or perhaps pirates is a Half-Orc woman that seems to know how to handle herself, and seems to be the one giving orders.
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ROUND 1
Night Hunter ()
Half-Orc Leader RED ()
Sailor ORANGE ()
Nectanebo ()
Kitajo ()
Henrikuaxian ()
Sailor BLUE ()
Sailor PURPLE ()
Marduk ()
Risa ()
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Nectanebo ponders the tracks once they've been pointed out.
"Excellent work. Those of you who haven't been here before ought to know: The locals are more hungry than friendly."
He concentrates on his sword, and it begins to shimmer with power.
He then concentrates, and the tattered edges of his overcoat seem to begin writhing like beckoning fingers, until suddenly, a mass of bones, probably the remains of a cannibal's dinner, claw their way out of the packed loam!
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During the trek to the summit, Risa keeps asking questions along the line of "Are we there yet? What's it look like?"
During the trek, she also touches a few people. "Here, I've just given you a bit of my own life essence, if you should get hurt in a fight, it will keep you alive."
Upon reaching the clearing, Risa can just about spot the orc at the edge of her sight, but can't see their prisoner yet. "What's going on?" she whispers urgently.
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Hearing your party coming through the dense jungle, the pirates seem to react to danger, or the possibility of it just as quickly as you do, whipping about and going defensive.
Night Hunter quickly grabs a potion and downs it, but refrains from attacking to see if words might suffice. The Half-Orc shouts to her minions to attack, while herself stepping slightly away and drawing a bow, but also casting a spell of some sort to help protect herself.
ROUND 1
Night Hunter (life link)
Half-Orc Leader RED ()
Sailor ORANGE ()
Nectanebo (life link)
Skelly ()
Kitajo (life link)
Henrikuaxian ()
Sailor BLUE ()
Sailor PURPLE ()
Marduk ()
Risa ()
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Henrik will move a little closer, then reach out his hand and utter an arcane casting, causing a human knight in full plate armor to appear. The knight will move forward with his armor clanging loudly, drawing his sword as he moves with the hiss of fine steel being pulled from a scabbard. He will take up position in the middle of one of the clearings, and turn in the direction of the remaining pirates, holding his sword menacingly at the ready.
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Nectanebo and his newly formed minion both move in to attack, but neither of them is able to land blows, as devastating as they might have been against their surprised foes. Kitajo drops into a "come and get me" stance, awaiting anyone to rush at him, while Hen "summons" another ally to the field.
The two sailors each move towards the closest foes to them, one going after the skeleton warrior and the other the knight, both drawing a ratty scimitar as they do. The first hits the skeleton, but with such an ineffective weapon it simply cuts a small notch into the breastbone with no effect. The other's weapon goes straight through the night, as she curses it's magical protections.
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2.)Additionally, just for ease, I've moved Marduk and Risa from the end of one round to the beginning of the next, just for ease of play. Technically they are still at the end of the round as far as durations go.
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3.) I did remove the Red X and put in a knightly mini, just so I don't get confused and forget it later. Different similar things are happening across my games, and it's too easy for me to get mixed up. :)
ROUND 2
Marduk ()
Risa ()
Night Hunter (life link)
Half-Orc Leader RED ()
Sailor ORANGE ()
Nectanebo (life link)
Skelly ()
Kitajo (readied, life link)
Henrikuaxian ()
Sailor BLUE ()
Sailor PURPLE ()
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Nectanebo and his newly formed minion both move in to attack, but neither of them is able to land blows, as devastating as they might have been against their surprised foes. Kitajo drops into a "come and get me" stance, awaiting anyone to rush at him, while Hen "summons" another ally to the field.
The two sailors each move towards the closest foes to them, one going after the skeleton warrior and the other the knight, both drawing a ratty scimitar as they do. The first hits the skeleton, but with such an ineffective weapon it simply cuts a small notch into the breastbone with no effect. The other's weapon goes straight through the night, as she curses it's magical protections.
Marduk rushes forward with her enormous axe, cutting one of the poor sailors down where she stand. The mists seem to react, . . . favorably, to the wanton spilling of blood, and near the tree line, just out of sight, you swear you hear a dark laughter.
Risa moves in a bit closer and calls on divine aid to help herself and her allies while Night Hunter also advances a bit, drinking double barreling two drinks with ease.
The Half-Orc and one of the sailors each return fire, the sailor stepping back and drawing a crossbow, which she levels at Nectanebo. The Half-Orc, aware of the fogs detriment, still fires her bow, though advances closer before doing so. Necktie manages to avoid the bolt, even from such close range, but Marduk is not so lucky, taking the arrow in the shoulder and spilling more warm blood on the mist covered ground.
ROUND 2
Marduk (Rage, charge, -8)
Risa ()
Night Hunter (life link)
Half-Orc Leader RED ()
Sailor ORANGE ()
Nectanebo (life link)
Skelly ()
Kitajo (readied, life link)
Henrikuaxian ()
Sailor PURPLE ()