You are at the Grand Lodge in Absalom awaiting a meeting with Venture-Captain Adril Hestram.
Adril Hestram, a venture-captain with a severe face and an even more severe disposition, stands with his eyes locked in a gaze of professional appraisal, his hairy arms folded tightly over his powerful chest. Finally, after a long moment, he heaves a weary sigh, allowing his shoulders to slump as if defeated, and says, “All right, fine. I don’t have time to be picky. I need you to go to the Lusty Mermaid in the Docks. One of our Pathfinders, an aging man by the name of Airk Jarigan, hasn’t reported in for two weeks. He’s supposedly close to finding a priceless Andoren artifact called The Sniper, lost right here in Absalom, or so he’s been claiming. As the sun isn’t even up yet, he’s probably still asleep. I need you to go down to the Mermaid, drag Airk out of bed, and find out why he hasn’t been reporting in. More importantly, I need you to get that artifact. You’ll recognize Airk by a gold amulet he always wears around his neck. It’s of an owlbear clutching an amethyst. He should also be with his protégé, a whelp by the name of Dargo Mar. That’s all. What are you waiting for?”
"I believe it is some sort of Erastilian idol. Erastil is a famed hunter, after all."
climbed to the rank of nobility.
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The tall, heavily armored man wearing a holy symbol of Iomedae considers the Venture-Captain's words.
Alas, his memory of the teaching of Erastil are not as good as he had hoped.
He faces Hestram and speaks:
"And what if we find our fellow agent dead? I've seen far too much of that in my service to the Society..."
"And what if we find our fellow agent dead? I've seen far too much of that in my service to the Society..."
"Then you'd best hurry to try to prevent that. Deal with it if that happens."
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The darkness has melted away, leaving Absalom in the gray grip of dawn. Rolling in off the sea, a chilling fog hangs thick in the air like a cold, pale wraith seeking to steal warmth from the living. Cries of seagulls pierce the otherwise dull stillness of the Docks. A dim yellow light spills from the stained windows of the Lusty Mermaid. The front door opens with a moan, and inside sits a scattering of fisherman, returned from a predawn haul. The overwhelming stench of raw fish clings to these men, and it mingles with the savory aroma from the pot of stew hanging above a snapping fire in the hearth. The proprietor, a greasy-looking human with thick arms and an even thicker belly, looks up from behind the bar and says, “A little early for customers, idn’t it? I have stew cooking, but that’s it. If yer lookin’ fer enthin’ else, ya best shove off.”
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A short gnome carrying a magnificent backpack and an assortment of other odds and ends enters the room.. He's wearing mostly neutral colored clothes despite his race, but he does have a long colored feather poking out from his headband.. On his left arm is a buckler and attached to it is a small flag.. It makes you feel better just by looking at it.. "Greetings fellow Pathfinders! I am Floggentop Wizzbottle III, teller of tales and writer of stories.. You may all call me Wizzy for short.. So whats on the menu for today?"
On the way to the Mermaid.. "It seems The Sniper is a relic that once belonged in an Andoren temple dedicated to the god Erastil. Crafted from pure gold, the statue resembles Erastil kneeling and taking aim with a mighty bow. Nearly 700 years ago, during the Even Tongued Conquest, the temple was razed by a detachment of Taldan soldiers. The Sniper vanished and was presumed lost. It reappeared just over two centuries ago in the hands of a Taldan family, the Lasars. Within a generation, the Lasars climbed to the rank of nobility."
"Additionally it is believed by some that The Sniper brings either good fortune or a curse to its owner, depending on whether the owner has The Sniper for his own glory or for Erastil’s."
"Finally Legends speak of thieves stealing The Sniper and being cursed with undeath until the statue was returned to its rightful owners."
"It sounds to me like it should be returned to the Fellowship of Erastil.. I would not be surprised to find undead among those that keep it either.."
You notice the mood in the inn suddenly drop. What once was an atmosphere filled with crass and loud conversation becomes eerily silent, almost to the point of a simmering hostility. The bartender looks up and simply says, "Never heard of him."
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Filios steps forward, close to the bartender.
Look, Larro, right? We need to talk with Airk, or even his friend, young Dargo. I believe that I can make it worth your while. You do not have to say anything, just point us to his room.
a brief smile touches Filios' lips before his stern sneer returns. He calmly lays 5 Gold pieces on the bar.
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You see a rotund dwarf with a broad smile and even more broad belt enter the room, while chewing on what appears to be a leftover trail ration. He looks around and spots the other pathfinders and approaches.
"Hey there! Hello my good friends. Sorry I am late. Grims the name, and this is my kind of place ta be meetin'. I heard something about Erastil and figured I better check it out."
Not realizing he is interrupting, he bows to each, not as deeply as he would like, but as much as his physique will allow.
"Are we getting drinks yet? What's the story?"
Jorin notices two men at different tables watching the conversation intently. There is a pause while Larro considers your words. Eventually he relents and says, "Over there," while pointing to a door to the side that presumably leads to the place's rented rooms.
As you are walking towards the door, however, Larro whistles and the two men Jorin noted earlier rise as Larro pulls a greatsword from under the bar.
Jorin disarms the beefy bartender! Oswin offers surrender but the men don't seem willing to back down yet.
Larro reaches down to pick up his greatsword and then moves in closer to Jorin with an angry look in his eye.
The little gnome begins to inspire the party while the wood mage fires an arrow that is dodged by Larro.
The first thug moves swiftly around the common room to get behind Oswin, drawing a rapier along the way. The second thug then pulls out his own rapier and stabs Oswin!
Grim hits Larro and Oswin smacks one of the thugs!
Jorin puts his whip to good use and trips the bartender! Filios then knocks the man unconscious, at which point the thugs get a frightened look in their eyes and hold up their hands. "Just let us go now, we don't want any more trouble!"
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... Somebody watch the front while we search the rooms. ...
I will keep an eye out for more trouble approaching from outside.
Jorin quickly throws the bolt/latch/lock on the exterior doors then moves over behind the bar where he can keep an eye on all those portals. He has his crossbow loaded but out of sight behind the bar.
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...
It almost guaratees I can trip or disarm any one creature that stands up or carries a weapon. With the wand I end up with quite a higher total then even a dedicated manuever specialist.
It's kinda amusing when I give my totals and trip golems and spiders that everyone assumed where nearly immune to that.
However, I wouldn't call it broken because it's only vs one opponent. I won't have nearly as high of totals for the itterative attacks and AoO area denial trips that a dedicated mauver specialist will have. It works a bit better in PFS since they have such preponderance of single dangerous guy maybe with mooks. And the mooks are usually so much weaker that they can nearly be ignored.
But then I also have spell strike to fall back on and they don't.
One of the Larro's men responds, "Dargo left for the Flotsam Graveyard just a few hours before you got here. Airk Jarigan was slain and his body dumped off in a cave. Dargo left notes in his room."
Sure enough, one of the rooms still has scattered notes which tell the tale of one young noble, Vaydren of House Lasar, dismissed his parents’ forbiddance and stole the family’s ship, renaming it Vaydren’s Might, and joined an invasion fleet. Worse, he also stole the family’s idol from the house shrine—a one-foot-tall, golden statue of the god Erastil known in House Lasar lore as The Sniper. Though he believed it would bring him luck, Vaydren, his crew, and his ship joined the rest of the fleet as permanent residents of the Flotsam Graveyard when the Absalom navy greeted the ill-equipped and vastly outmanned invaders with neither mercy nor quarter. The notes also reveal the location of Vaydren’s Might: 1,500 yards offshore in the Flotsam Graveyard, beneath a one-mast ship known as the Iron Tide. The Iron Tide is recognizable by its mast, which still protrudes above the green waves of the harbor, and is carved into the likeness of a woman clutching dangling, iron chains.
"Larro was in charge. He took care of him and dumped him off in. . . " he describes how to get to the cave where the body is.
One of the fishermen nervously lets himself behind the bar and pours Grim a pint of ale.
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The party moves out to recover the body of Airk Jarigan from the cave. Using the man's directions, you can walk or row to the sea cave in about twenty minutes. Unfortunately, dawn has also brought with it high tide. The surf mostly obscures the entrance to the cave as it crashes against the rocks surrounding the grotto but you eventually notice the lip of the cave peeking above the waterline. Furthermore, the surf itself is treacherous, as it slams repeatedly against the surrounding rocks with terrific force.