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Sahba walks in and sits down. This Keleshite beauty is no longer the scared little girl escaping slavery in Qadira. She's still quite young, only 16, but has seen more than most her age, from the deep jungle to the western islands.
She sits with confidence, poised, and ready for her next mission, allowing an idle flame to dance across her fingers.
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Next to arrive is an elf in a flowing overcoat the color of tarnished silver. There seems to be a slight chill in the air as he passes by. With a bare minimum of sound and motion, he enters, sits down, and withdraws what looks like the largest pearl anyone present has ever seen, and he begins staring at it.
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A stout woman comes in. She seems pretty dirty 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 a animal would do. When she does so, you see that her canines are more developed than most human's and seem to have been through a lot of whetting. She carries a big Orc Double Axe in her back.
Summoned to the Shackles by Venture-Captain Calisro Benarry of the Arcadian Mariner’s Lodge, you board his ship, the Grinning Pixie, and immediately set sail for parts unknown. Sailing out from Drenchport, the ship skirts the edge of the Eye of Abendego for a week before the captain calls you into her cabin.
Calisro Benarry grins widely as she slides a clay jug of strong Sargavan rum across her table. Designed with a wide base, the jug sits sturdy against the lurch and sway of the ship as it sails through the rough waters. Though broad-shouldered and half a head taller than most humans, the intimidating half-orc speaks with an almost childlike excitement in her husky voice. “My apologies for all the secrecy,” she says. “I had to make sure some pirate rascal didn’t catch wind of our mission. Now that port’s a week behind us, it’s time to give you lubbers the full run-down.”
Benarry waits for the jug to make its way back to her, then takes a long swig. “I mentioned in Drenchport that the Society wants you to explore a recently discovered ruin somewhere north of the Shackles. Well, that was partly true, but it wasn’t exactly the whole story.” Benarry’s eyes narrow and her grin becomes unsettlingly sharklike. “We’re actually sending you to the Gloomspires, to Old Sevenfingers’s tomb.” Chuckling softly, she slides the jug back across the table. “Here, have another nip. Looks like you need it.”
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 Ghol-Gan, 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.
The Gloomspires are inundated with strange, reality-warping effects. The columns occasionally shift their positions, and many explorers report feeling a sense of wrongness and foreboding just from being in the area. This bizarre magic also makes teleportation and planetraveling magic very difficult, though summoning spells tend to function normally.
The Gloomspires were constructed during the Age of Serpents by a humanoid race of powerful sorcerers called the Makers, who are believed to have escaped enslavement from some nightmarish realm and fled to Golarion.
Sempet Sevenfingers was a legendary pirate who was active in the region 300 years ago.
From his dreaded flagship, the Voracious, Sevenfingers commanded a small fleet of pirate ships. He was feared and despised for using cannibals and madmen to augment his boarding parties.
Sevenfingers was a powerful wizard who dabbled in necromancy and communed with evil outsiders, entities from the Dark Tapestry, and other beings from unspeakable realms beyond Golarion.
Sevenfingers had dealings with the denizens of Leng. His flagship, the Voracious, was actually a black ship of Leng, gifted to Sevenfingers by his dreadful allies.
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"I've heard of the Gloomspires; I wish I knew more, though. Superficially, they're what they sound like: truly ancient towers of dark stone rising from the ocean, said to have already been old when the Ghol-Gan Empire was young. They're hollow inside, and built rather like a giant dried sponge, with lots of chambers and passages - and of course they're haunted by curses and monsters, you get the idea, so naturally fellow travelers of ours have explored them over the centuries, and have even put some of the chambers to their own uses, the tomb of Sempet Sevenfingers being the most notable example."
"Sempet Sevenfingers I've heard more about. He's a legendary pirate and dark wizard from 300 years ago, and there's lots of fun, fun stories you can hear about him and his flagship, the Voracious, in the taverns around here. He made the dead walk, consorted with fiends, gazed into the unspeakable gulfs of madness beyond the stars, staffed his ships with cannibals and lunatics, you name it. Clearly, one or more Hells of a guy."
"Yes, good!" Calisro nods enthusiastically as Nectanebo finally supplies some lore on the region, then sits up straight in surprise at Marduk's outburst. "Whoa! Let's not be too hasty with the slicing. Hopefully it won't be necessary."
Nodding at Faerin questions, she continues.
“I’ve been researching the Gloomspires for a very long time." she says, "Before I sailed to Absalom and joined the Society, I was a Free Captain here in the Shackles. Back then I learned about the Gloomspires, Old Sevenfingers, and all the treasure and secrets the old devil took with him when he sealed himself in his tomb.”
A long, rumbling growl of thunder makes Benarry pause, and she takes the opportunity to wet her lips with another swig of rum before she continues. “Since joining the Society, I’ve been able to learn even more about the Gloomspires. Most importantly, I’ve discovered that they’re tied to certain alignments of the stars, and that twice each year—beginning on the nights of the summer and winter solstices—the columns cease moving for exactly three days.
"And Sevenfingers was a powerful wizard and pirate active in the Shackles three centuries ago. After a very long and successful career full of killing, looting, and assorted depravity, he entombed himself alive in one of the Gloomspires. His legendary tomb has lured pirates, explorers, and treasure-hunters to their doom ever since.
“So, tomorrow’s the summer solstice. Now that you know the ‘where’ 'who' and the ‘when’ of this little caper, you need to know why the Society’s sending you.” Benarry pauses before continuing in a more conspiratorial voice.
“I recently came into the possession of a logbook once owned by the pirate captain, Mazzer Thrennt. Before Thrennt ended up as lusca-bait seven years back, he was a moderately successful pirate who shared my obsession with the Gloomspires. It turns out his log contains an inventory of the plunder he liberated over the years, including the loot he found in Sevenfingers’s tomb. One item on Thrennt’s list immediately got my attention: His log described with perfect accuracy a relic from lost Lirgen called the Orb of Stars. I’m certain that this device can manipulate the alignments of the stars—or at least how we perceive them—and historical accounts suggest we could also use it to trick the Gloomspires into thinking that the solstice lasts more than just a day. The Society and I both want that orb, and it’s going to look really good to the folks back home if you’re able to secure it. Here,” she says, passing a sheet of parchment across the table, “I’ve written down some of the particulars.”
She hands you a piece of parchment:
Reefs surround the Gloomspires, so big boats like the Pixie can’t get close. You’ll need to use my magical folding rowboat.
At dusk, when the columns cease moving, make your way to the column containing Sevenfingers’s tomb—it’s the one with the shipwreck wrapped around its base. Climb aboard the wreck, and you’ll see a set of narrow stone steps that wind their way to the top of the column. Once up top, find a way inside the tomb and then find the Orb of Stars.
Thrennt’s log claims he hid the Orb in a side chamber connected to what he called the ‘hall of the flesh eaters’ and then collapsed the entrance to keep it safe. So, I’m giving you some picks and shovels since you might need to do some digging.
I’m certain there are multiple levels to this tomb, so keep good notes, and document anything you find that might help future expeditions. Check around the top level, but don’t go any deeper than you have to to find the Orb. Remember, you only have three days to do this before the columns start moving again.
The Orb of Stars is a solid sphere made of a dull copper-colored metal inlaid with dozens of star-shaped moonstones, rubies, and blue sapphires that mimic the stars of the Cosmic Caravan.
To Mikail, "I don't want to tempt fate. If you can get the Orb of Stars then we might learn how to use it to lock the Gloomspires in place for an extended exploration. If you descend deeper you might become lost or get killed, and it would be a long time before a rescue party could come for you. I have no idea what lies deeper, and only the vaguest hint of what is near the top, which is to say I only know it by the name. I have no idea if "flesh eaters" is a literal meaning or scary title meant to keep the curious at bay."
To Sahba, she says, "Fear not, we are right on course and should arrive tomorrow. I have planned this precisely to give you the most time possible."
"I will provide any digging tools you need (miner’s picks, shovels, etc.) at no cost. And I can offer 50 gold pieces of credit for renting equipment from the quartermaster, though I expect you to return any surviving equipment when you come back. The quartermaster can also provide additional things, though you will need to work out prices with him."
The ship experiences minimal difficulty navigating the waters to reach the base of Sevenfinger's Tomb and you arrive the next day as expected.
Strange, wind-resistant fog envelops the Gloomspires, although the actual structure of the Gloomspires are so large that you are able to see them from a distance: At first glance, the clean, rectangular design of the Gloomspires seems rather plain. However, a palpable sense of wrongness saturates the Gloomspires as shadows flicker and move in unnatural directions, strange sounds and unidentifiable scents tease the senses, and alternating sensations of claustrophobia and agoraphobia periodically assail you as you approach.
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It took nearly two hours to climb the narrow, winding steps to the summit of the great stone column containing Sevenfingers’s tomb. Although the swirling chaos of the Eye of Abendego lies only a hundred miles away to the east, the violent storms it constantly hurls across the seas seem to have forgotten this eerily quiet place. Surrounding the monolith are dozens of nearly identical columns, their ominous outlines stretching down into the mist. And here, atop Sevenfingers’s tomb, is a small clearing surrounded by a thick and utterly silent veil of tropical trees, hanging vines, and thick undergrowth, all shrouded in fog.
A lush canopy of tropical trees, flowering vines, and thick undergrowth forms a dark green wall around this small clearing. A broad trail cuts through the foliage and vanishes into the mists to the northwest. To the south and east is the edge of the column, and a sheer five hundred-foot drop. The ground here is a soggy carpet of thick green moss and black soil.
You can determine that the plants growing here seem to be stripped of all edible fruit and seeds.
You find the remains of a weeks-old campfire that contains the charred skull and bone fragments of a humanoid. All of the bones show signs of gnawing.
You find humanoid tracks leading along a thin path to the north.
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Nectanebo's propensity for extreme focus makes itself quite visible to his companions as he speeds heedlessly past the ambient flora to expose the site of an old campfire. He sifts through the ashes and, as though he were expecting them to be there, uncovers the skeletal remains of a humanoid. He gingerly picks over the bones.
"Teeth marks."
Moving forward through the trees Mikail and Fauxish hear low voices and the sound of movement off to the right. But before either can react, a warning is called out in a language no one understands!
PERCEPTION
INITIATIVE
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Moving forward through the trees Mikail and Fauxish hear low voices and the sound of movement off to the right. But before either can react, a warning is called out in a language no one understands!
** spoiler omitted **
Fauxish stops suddenly and holds up a fist. She then points to the break in the wood where she heard the voices before leaping over to the opposite hoping to set up a flanking position from which to fight whatever is coming.
From further east comes a savage, blood-curdling shriek. A moment later figures begin to emerge from the fog, two coming through a path from the east, and two more rounding the trees to the north.
Disturbing tribal tattoos cover their red-eyed faces, and jagged teeth appear to have been filed down to points.
Cannibalistic Vitality (Ex)
When a kuru hits a living creature with its bite attack, he gains 1 temporary hit point by ingesting the target's blood. This ability does not work on creatures that do not have blood.
Weaknesses: Kuru are especially sensitive to bright light (kuru have light sensitivity).
Sahba's ray scorches the warrior's shoulder. It flinches, then turns its red eyes her direction and charges with a howling battlecry.
The other warrior on the western path leaps on Fauxish, trying to bite her.
Both attacks are desperate, and neither gets anywhere close to sinking teeth into fresh Pathfinder.
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"Ah, Kuru!"
Nectanebo looks down at the bones in the campfire, his strange coat billowing over them despite the lack of noteworthy wind. "How would you like some retribution?"
With that, the bones in the firepit abruptly stand up, and begin tearing into one of the cannibals.