Gob tries to talk to it, but seemingly doesn't get any response back.
GM Reminder: Go over the loot you've found this scenario...
"A scroll? May I?", asks Zura.
Seemingly speaking gibberish, the high priestess bears a shocked face. "It... has a name. Verdant Spark. It's a little hard to understand though, like as if it is talking in its sleep.". She continues talking to it for a minute, the woman showing both awe and calm curiosity as she converses with the large seedling. "Amazing... you were right, Verdant Spark must be connected with our flora. Its describing our gardens, the trees... even us with such detail. However, it seems to be complaining, too, about why it is in the wrong bed, that it cannot make things green here."
Zura pauses as Gob mentions the growths. The Sheriff sighs, then provides a bit of an answer. "I'm not sure how you folk know about the kids, but despite it being strange, we all end up healthier and stronger for overcoming it. Now it's part of a rite of passage here in Mercy, although one that most other folk wouldn't be to keen on if they thought we were mana mutants or something.".
During that time, Zura continues to communicate with the Verdant Spark "Spark says that it was taken out of its bed, and if it doesn't continue to sleep there, the green will stop... that must explain why the plants started suddenly dying.", Zura concludes.
About the growths, she gets a strange look on her face after hearing a reply through the warm pulses of the seedling. "It... is confused. Verdant Spark is wondering why it we would not want to be part of its loving embrace." The seedling pulses again, and Zura's face show a concerned look. "It... seems to know that it is asleep, and that if if it were to awaken, it would try to enhance the world as it does with Mercy."
"Verdant Spark doesn't know any of that, unfortunately.", Zura replies after asking the sentient seed.
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Zura asks, a little weirded by the comments of plant zombies. "It says it was trying to defend itself from those that were taking it out of its bed. I suppose that makes sense. It also says that this bed isn't comfortable. What kind of place was it at?"
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"It was inside of a cave not far from here. Perhaps we should show you as the life of your village depends on Verdant Spark. It may not be Rabori, but it definitely seems keen on protecting your village." If everyone else is in agreement Gob is willing to escort the Sheriff and priestess back to the cave.
"I'll stay here, I'll do my best to keep the village in one piece while you try and fix things up with that seed thing.", Molune seemingly indifferent to the situation other than the safety of Mercy.
The party makes their way back to the cave, the morning sun continuing to rise in the sky during the journey. Little is said as Zura remains quiet, clutching to the seed.
Inside the cave, the scent of the corpse flowers is dulled as the plants themselves look on the verge of death. The party returns to viny cradle were Verdant Spark was found.
The vines almost grab at the party, so intent are they to get the spark back. But with little effort, the seedling is returned to its bed. Almost immediately, the plants in the cave return to life, flowers blooming and the boughs of the trees rising with vigor. "It, it worked.", says a relieved Zura.
"You are right, I will have to tell the others of Mercy something, but instead of Robori, we shall protect the Verdant Spark. It has affected all of our lives, and I thank you for your own mercy is letting the seedling stay here."
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"I, for one, hope that thing stays asleep. I don't care to be 'helped' the way it would offer, and to subject the whole world to that..." He shudders.
"Speaking of which, there's still something off about all this. Plants all around wilting and dying off because this thing wasn't snug in its bed? Nowhere else do growing things depend on some sentient sleeping seed!"
Then Wyeth pales a bit and looks around at his companions. "Unless... unless this wasn't a local effect, and plants everywhere went sickly while we had this thing removed. In that case maybe it is some kind of weird plant god."
"If only we had some way of communicating with people elsewhere, to ask them."
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"The nature of godhood is a mystery to we who are not gods ourselves... maybe even to the gods themselves... who is to say? Perhaps, we will learn more when we return home. I am heartened though that the return of the plant worked. Shall we go back to town now? And what of little 'Nira here? Do you think we should convince her to go with us back home? or will she stay here and be welcomed by the townsfolk?"
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"If it is alright with you Zura, we would like to send some agents to study the spark. We could learn a lot from it and possibly strengthen the bond between it and your village."
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"As long as some villagers from Mercy escort them; we will be guarding Verdant Spark with our lives now. It has protected us, and we will do the same."
To Hakime's question, Nira seems to answer for her. "Travel.", she says in the somewhat haunting, child-like voice.
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"So I guess the negative effects can be chalked up to the plants being dominated by that cloaker. Amenira seemed to have figured it out and foolishly went to this cave by herself where she was overwhelmed. That's why it's always best to keep with a group." Benson smiles at the others. "I suggest we bury Amenira nearby or in your village. She gave her life trying to see that your children were safe. You should remember her with honor and praise. With your permission, we'll return her possessions to her family or to the Society, so her research will not be in vain."
The party gathers Amenira's belongings , including a few more of her dolls. While Nira does get some strange looks, the Mercians are still more shaken about the plants, the lack of Robori, and Zura trying to lead the village to a new charge. You leave the village, the impact of your actions yet to be fully determined. But, you know at least that the people of Mercy now more fully understand their true benefactor and will do everything they can to protect it.
The journey to Alkenstar, and eventually Katapesh to meet up with Venture Captain Roderus is thankfully uneventful... except as some growths appear on the party's skin.
Only the monks, with their trained bodies, seem to get nothing more than some itchy patches. Aspex, Benson, Gob, and Wyeth begin forming yellow, barky growths that are quite itchy. Gob recalls this is what Gir described as what the children looked like, but it seems more severe on the adult adventurers.
You surmise that this ailment must affect adults more severely than children, like chicken pox and similar diseases.
By the time the party reaches Katapesh from boat, only Benson and Wyeth show any signs of continued affliction; the arcane casters seem now cured of the transformative ailment.
The delay to take care of medical issues gives the party time to organize their notes, intel, and evidence for the upcoming debriefing. The warm Katapesh air feels more refreshing that it did back in the time in the Mana Wastes, and the honeyed lemonade Roderus has waiting for upon you is a refreshing treat before he begins his questions.
"Welcome back, Pathfinders.", greets the boisterous man. "Please, give me a detailed report of your travel, and what you found of Amenira's work. I'd like to give an accurate report back to the Temple of the All-Seeing Eye."
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Hakime will let Wyeth or Benson speak first, as she knows she isn't the smartest among the party and might forget and leave out some important matters... but she keeps 'Nira close to her (if she's even with us at the time), protectively, and only introduces her when/if she is brought up in the tale.
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Benson suggests we meet and discuss what we remember and combine our notes into a written report. He's not much at writing or explaining the magic we encountered, but he would list the following as elements to include.
1) General description of the mana wastes climate and geography encountered on the way in.
2) Description of the fight with the mutant hyenas/gnolls.
3) List of what we found in their lair.
4) Turn over all Amenira's notebooks.
5) Show little 'Nira and see if there is a way we can communicate with her more effectively. She seems to have limited vocabulary but excellent intelligence, so perhaps an appropriate communication spell would improve what she has to contribute and perhaps explain how she came to be.
6) Show the dolls and other effects left behind by Amenira.
7) Explain what she was investigating, including the symptoms on the children, the curfews, and other restrictions.
8) Benson will describe the worship service he witnessed.
9) Describe the basic tenets of Roberi-ism.
10) Explain the thing with the tree suffering and the remedy relating to the oil they were putting on the tree.
11) Describe the cloaker/bat drama, including the evidence of the strange god whose emblem was manifested. (This part still concerns Benson, as he cannot properly account for how such simple creatures could be manipulated and for what reason and by whom.)
12) Describe the trees growing in the caves and the plant things that attacked us.
13) Describe what happened when the seedling was removed, what it said via the talk with plant spell, and what happened when it was returned to the cave.
14) Symptoms of the disease afflicting Benson and others.
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"I hope this doesn't mean that foul thing woke up," Wyeth growls in frustration as he scratches furiously at the patches... an action that brings only the briefest relief. Having tried and failed to throw off the infection, he makes up his mind to visit a proper alchemist or herbalist when they got to town, rather than continuing with his own still-limited skills.
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To Wyeth: "You just have to go to the right source. That stuff I bought cleared it right up."
Benson looks at his notes he jotted down after things settled down and reads out the details of the little play again:
So the people all have bats and they take care of them like pets, with special lofts and openings so they can go out. Bats normally go out and hunt at night, but on the night in question, they did something unusual, since the people became terrified.
They were throwing rocks at the bat swarm suggesting this was not normal, but that would mean throwing rocks at their own pets whom they've named, so maybe these were non-native bats, but how could they tell? Curious.
Anyway, the shadow play had the following elements:
A shadowy scene showing a figure in a large cape battling a feminine shape. Gob suggested the caped figure was the hero and the feminine shape was the villain. We got the sense the feminine shape was probably Amenira. We know that Amenira was killed in the cloaker cave, so that would probably be the sense the cloaker got that it killed her in self defense.
The people started yelling "vampire" at this point. I would think that was either an assumption that a vampire was controlling the bats or that the cloaked figure was a vampire? Hard to say. We should have asked them about it, but after all the other things that happened, it slipped my mind. Bad form on my part.
So the next act of the play showed the feminine form turn into a smaller form, presumably Amenira's spirit inhabiting the doll? I don't much understand the magic of such things. Then we got the unholy symbol of Azeroth, a scary god from the Dark Tapestry, and it seemed disappointed in the caped figure, as if it was a servant of the god.
Then it shows six more figures, probably us, arriving to help the caped figure fight little 'Nira. But that is a lie. We were not fighting little 'Nira. So perhaps the shadows were trying to incite violence against us.
At this point, 'Nira approached the bats and they formed a shadow of disgust with everyone for not attacking her. Then the bats and the cloaker just attacked us.
So the question is what or who controlled the bats? Perhaps this god was trying to find a way into this world and was using the strange mana disturbance to do that. And Amenira somehow fought that, but there is nothing in her notes to suggest she had any such sense, just that she was concerned about the children.
So she at some point went to the cave and died, but what did she do that led to her spirit inhabiting the doll? And what about the plants in the cave causing the bountiful conditions for the town? This is where I lose what thread I can make of all this. Perhaps the Venture Captain can spot something we've missed.
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The shadow play was the cloaker manipulating the shadows, right? And it threw in the unholy symbol of Azathoth to show that it had some greater power behind it. Like, 'it's not just me who's pissed at Amenira and these adventurers, it's the Black Goat with a Thousand Young' (or maybe that's another Lovecraft nickname). The cloaker must have been trying to scare the townsfolk into mobbing us, but I guess it gave up when we spotted it?
Still, it doesn't seem like the cloaker had a cult or was trying to summon Azathoth, so it was just hanging around being creepy and trying to scare the outsiders off.
I'm still not clear on how it was influencing Spark. Cloakers aren't known for their connection to plants. Do we have any clues there?
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After the group hashes out the key events, we report the following:
We were asked to investigate what happened to Amenira and to learn what shielded the town from the mana storm. We know the former, not so much the latter.
Amenira became concerned about a disease that seemed to afflict the children, who were kept off the streets most of the time. We ourselves noticed children with bandages on their hands and some kind of rash. Amenira apparently also suffered from a disease and we too caught it, although we have all since recovered, in some cases with magical help. The villagers viewed this disease as a rite of passage that once past made people healthier.
Amenira located a cave near the town of Mercy, where a cloaker lived. Also in the cave was a strange collection of plants growing in unnatural directions and combinations. Nestled in the plants was a seedling that seemed to have great powers. It seems to be the source of power that protected the town from the mana storm and enhanced whatever grows in the area. This led the locals to believe in a god they called Roberi whom they thought was focused in a large tree in town. This may have been an invention of one of the residents who served as a priestess of "Roberi." They observed all kinds of restrictions, including no meat eating, no swearing, a curfew at night, among other things we can list.
Amenira was apparently killed by the cloaker in its cave. This cloaker also seemed to control bats and got them to become accepted as pets in the households of the people. Perhaps he had ways of communicating with the bats and used them as spies. He also may be a devotee of Azeroth.
We killed the Cloaker. When we found and removed the seedling from its nest, we were attacked by some kind of plant zombies. When we took the seedling to the town, all the plants and their 'sacred tree' were dying. We talked to the seedling using a spell. It identified itself as Verdant Spark. Once replaced in the vegetation in the cave, the plant life in Mercy began to recover. It made a cryptic comment that it was sleeping but if it should wake up, it would try to do for the world what it is doing for Mercy. It also described things that existed in town that suggested it had a way of seeing the town, although could have been information provided by the bats.
One last mystery: Amenira crafted construct dolls to spy on families in town to try to learn the origin of the illness and apparently, after she died, her spirit seems to have migrated to this construct.
We would also make available everything of Amenira's we found, including her notes, and little 'Nira.
"My goodness.", Roderus taking your report and evidence in. He closes his eyes, nodding approvingly. "While the Society would have loved to study this Verdant Spark, I applaud your prudence for leaving it near Mercy and knowing when a mission should be completed or not at the expense of others. We aren't Aspis after all.", he says with a smile as pulls out a fat sack that jingles with coins. "I told you I would compensate you for the success of your investigation, and I am a man of my word.", the Venture-Captain distributing coins to each party member. "Well done, Pathfinders, It's good to know I can rely on you for future missions."
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After returning to the Grand Lodge, the party waves farewell to Benson, who is off on adventures in the mainland of Avistan. Everyone else, though, gets little rest in Absalom before being whisked away to another vessel to an even farther location: Goka in Tian Xia.
As the early dawn’s light crests over the Wall of Heaven mountain range, the Lantern Lodge is already bustling with activity. The sound of clashing swords echoes in the air from a nearby training area, and a group of Pathfinder agents silently meditates in the front courtyard. The lodge’s doors open, revealing a long corridor and a faint floral aroma wafts gently in the air. Sturdy shelves laden with artifacts from all corners of Tian Xia line the corridor’s walls. Venture-Captain Amara
Li emerges from a door labeled “Taldor Room” in a fine cherry-red kimono.
"Good morning, Pathfinders. I hope your travels have been safe and enjoyable," Li says. "Please, come inside.” The Taldor
Room is an opulent meeting space with a solid mahogany table and ornately carved chairs. Its walls are adorned with ornamental weapons and portraits of noble families in resplendent finery. Elegant porcelain teacups and plates sit in front of each chair, and several platters of fruit, cakes, and cheeses occupy the center of the table, surrounding a steaming pot of tea.
The venture-captain pours herself a cup of tea and continues, [b]"As I’m sure you are aware, the Grand Lodge was attacked a few months ago. Since then, the Society has been following any and all leads that could help us find and arrest the Aspis criminals behind the assault. From Varisia to Nirmathas to Absalom itself, the Society has successfully gathered a substantial amount of information about Aspis operations. We have combined our own resources with the reports of a turncoat within the Consortium whom we have taken to calling ‘Three Rings’ to create a list of vital Aspis operatives all across Golarion. One in particular, Tseka, lives beneath Goka, in a warren of tunnels and ruins called
Undermarket. Specifically, she lives in its deepest levels, known as Deepmarket. Tseka works from the shadows, and makes most of her profits from black market trades. Deepmarket is a dark and dangerous community of criminals, thieves, and outcasts. Those who don’t know the area or have connections to protect them make easy targets. I recommend using a little subterfuge to help yourselves blend in, and to give Tseka as little time to prepare for your approach as possible."
The venture-captain places a small wooden chest on the table and says, "To get inside Deepmarket, I propose that you pose as smugglers bringing in a fresh round of contraband. Once there, find Tseka. We know that she has valuable information, so do everything in your power to bring her back alive, and collect whatever documents you find in her base of operations. I do not know where within Deepmarket she resides. Gather what information you can from the locals in Undermarket, and seek
out a guide to help you navigate these treacherous waters. Do you have any questions?"
"You could appear as the strong, silent type; these may aid you.", Venture-Captain Li presenting the party with a disguise kit and a pair of scrolls of disguise self. "I understand the need to protect your vows and oaths, but also know that soothing words will be just as useful as deceitfulness. Just do not appear as an easy target while doing so."