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You all received individual letters from one Sheila Heidmarch.
I am Sheila Heidmarch, Venture Captain of the newest Pathfinder Society lodge-and the only such lodge in Varisia at this time. You have come to my attention as someone who possesses a certain amount of skills and interests that make you an excellent addition to a highly specialized team I'm putting together for a matter of grave import, not only to the Society, but to Varisia as a whole. Please report an hour before noon to Heidmarch Manor-you will be compensated for your visit, but that reward will pale in light of the riches that await you should we come to an agreement on my proposition to you. I look forward to meeting you soon!
Sheila Heidmarch
When you assemble at Heidmarch Manor, you are asked to wait in the foyer with several other people , as Sheila is finishing up a meeting with an unexpected visitor-a relatively well-known Pathfinder named Koriah Azmeren.
A moment later, two women step into the room. The first is Sheila Heidmarch and the second is her guest, Koriah.
Sheila greets you in an unusually deep voice and with a no-nonsense attitude. "Thank you all for coming. I am sure you have all heard of Koriah Azmeren." Sheila motions to the other woman, an attractive half-elven woman dressed in leather armor and armed with a distinctive-looking mithral-and-redwood aklys and a bastard sword. "Koriah is one of Varisia's most famous Pathfinders and a well-renowned expert on the Darklands. She has just returned from an expedition to the Darklands below Varisia, having successfully scouted out a new (but relatively minor) route down to Nar-Voth from the Fogscar Mountains. She has also returned with a surprising number of Thassilonian artifacts from this expedition and I must spend a few more moments discussing the implications of this discovery with Koriah."
Heidmarch smiles apologetically. "So I must apologize for the delay, but I must conclude my business with Pathfinder Azmeren before we meet. In the meantime, though, I thought you could help us with another minor issue." Sheila leads you to an adjoining room.
This chamber is the lodge library and study. The walls are lined with bookshelves, while several tables in the middle of the room are heaped with scrolls and books. One table in the center, however, supports only a single object-an ornate cubical stone coffer covered with Thassilonian runes. [b]"Please, have a seat." Sheila commands.
"This stone coffer is an ancient Thassilonian puzzle, a cunning feat of magical engineering known as a paradox pox. As you'll see form even a casual investigation, what appear to be seams on the sides are only shallow grooves-there's no obvious way to open the thing. Each paradox box has its own secret method of being opened. Essentially, a paradox box substitutes hidden catches and magical triggers for a lock. Given time, anyone clever enough could figure out how to open a paradox bos, just as given time, a locksmith can open any lock. This particular box was among those items recovered by Koriah-the scrolls next to the box are her preliminary notes on possible triggers or methods of opening it, but she's not yet had a chance to sit down and properly investigate the thing. So. . . why don't you put your heads together and see if you can't do that for me? Even if the box is empty, as I suspect it probably is, knowing the method of opening it makes it a valuable find anyway. I'll return shortly, and I hope to see that box open! And this will give you an opportunity to become acquainted. Think of this as audition, if you will-because the actual task I want to speak to you about soon will require as much wit as it will brawn!"
Koriah's notes indicated that one of the most oft-repeated symbols is the rune for "wrath", which Koriah also notes is associated with evocation magic, and in the earliest days of Thassilon with the word "kindness". Her notes also indicate that this rune merely marks the box as having once belonged to a citizen of the Thassilonian nation of Bakrakhan, and that the rune likely has little to do with the method of opening this particular paradox box.
Another of Koriah's scrolls lists a few other key observations-five of the box's faces are identical, but on one face, several additional runes appear. These runes spell out the word "CRUEL". Koriah has deduced that this word is somehow linked to the box's mystery. She also notes that each of the individual runes in the word can be reorganized by touching two runes at once-doing so causes the two touched runes to exchange place for an our before reverting to their original spelling of "CRUEL".
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Pathfinder Society, eh? Well, if it'll find me work I guess I'll give it a go. Maybe it'll give me something worth doing. I gotta do somethin'.
The dwarf had trouble reading the letter but was able to understand enough of it that he managed to show up on time. He stays back from the front of any gathering of people that occurs and speaks little, if at all.
After being led into the room with the paradox box he wonders to himself, A stupid puzzle? I'm a soldier, not a scholar. Is this the kind of work these Pathfinders do? I might be wasting time here. The dwarf offers no help to the group regarding the box as he seems reserved to let smarter people than himself try to figure it out.
However, curiousity takes hold of August and he finds a moment to look at the coffer while others aren't paying much attention.
Dotting.
Brelar looks over the notes, his mind racing. "A puzzle box, fascinating! Perhaps, hmmm, let's see. Well...evocation school, of course, of course. Kindness, maybe conjuration? Well, let's just see what we've got here..."
Brelar recites the words he know by heart, detect magic and peers intently at the box.
Looking at the dwarf he says, "What do you think son of Torag? If we took it out in the yard there, you think this trinket would stand up to magical fire? Oh, manners. Manners, manners. Hello there, I am Brelar Darheek. Recently of Absalom, but originally from the far steepes of Numeria."
Intelligence:
Brelar smiles, "I like you August. To the point. Yes, yes. It is my understanding that all dwarves were originally sired by Torag. If you truly do not know who your father is, you could do a lot worse than a God, eh?"
Brelar detects magic on the box.
He can sense a moderate Conjuration aura but is unable to determine the actual effect placed on the box.
Brelar, remembering that he learned Thassilonian once, thinks that this is an anagram. By touching the letters and rearranging them, he thinks he can spell out the word "LUCRE".
"Oh, hey. Let me see that a minute, OK?" The halfling jumps down from the oversized chair he was sitting on and toddles over. "I'm Bert Blackwillow, combat historian. You might say."
"I haven't had a chance to study Thassilonian yet. Thinking about it, though, an ULCER is a CRUEL thing, right?"
Brelar nods at the halfing, "Bert, glad to meet you. A combat historian? You'll have to tell me what that means. Obviously, I know what both words mean. I just don't believe I've ever heard them used together like that." Brelar motions to the pandora box, "Have at it! An ulcer would be a cruel thing, that's very clever of you. But I believe lucre would be a kind thing."
Brelar studies the pandora box again for anything else he may have overlooked.
Perception:
"Lucre is an old term for money, and an ulcer is a bleeding sore."
"Thing is, there is a conjuration aura on this box. Conjuration is a very interesting school of magic. It can summon things, it can heal things, it can create things or even teleport things. So, my little friend, " Brelar nudges the box with his hand, "which of these things are you? I tend to agree with Torag's son here."
Brelar arranges the letters to spell LUCRE.
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August steps closer, obviously curious to see if the box will open. Even though puzzles and ciphers are not something that normally interests the dwarf, this time he actually felt like he helped in some small way. Still the soldiering type, he readies his weapon. If it opens, who knows what trickery may be inside. Appearently August has had bad experiences with surprises in the past.
Brelar rearranges the words on the box and it opens. Immediately, two tiny fey creatures which you might recognize as pugwampis appear beside the box. One of them grabs ahold of a scroll and begins tearing it apart with his teeth. The other one pulls out a very small dagger and begins carving a swear word into the table.
Brelar sighs and grumbles. "Ugh. Summoning. See, what did I tell you? Now as for you little...beasts...stop that! I can't have you ruining the venture-captain's study!"
The pugwampis seem unaffected by the spell. In fact, one of them jumps up to a bookshelf and tears a book in two. The other grabs a candle and greedily begins to gnawing at the wax.
Suddenly Sheila and Koriah burst into the room and with a quick word from Sheila the pugwampis vanish. She blushes a bit as she looks at you and takes in the minor damage caused by the gremlins.
“First, allow me to apologize for that unpleasantness regarding the gremlins—but it does provide an excellent object lesson. The life of an adventurer is not one for the weak-hearted. That you got the box open in the first place is all the confirmation I need that my gut was right—you’re the perfect group for the job I have in mind." She gives a cursory glance at the contents in the box and snorts. "You may keep those, I suppose. Koriah, will you excuse us?"
The box contains 150 GP worth of garnets, a masterwork silver dagger, and a ring of feather falling. Koriah steps from the room.
Sheila Heidmarch waits for Koriah to close the door before addressing you. “You see—I’ve recently had trouble with one of my informants here in Magnimar, Natalya Vancaskerkin. She’s a half-Varisian who recently approached the Pathfinder Society with an offer to serve as a street informant. She runs with the Sczarni—I’m not sure with which group. A week ago, Natalya sent me a cryptic hint that her gang was on the verge of uncovering an item that would be of great interest to the Society. Since the Sczarnis’ methods of uncovering something often involves an armed robbery or breaking into somebody’s personal chambers, we thought it prudent not to press for further details and instead wait to see what it would produce. Suffice it to say, she hinted strongly that it pertained to Thassilon, and promised to meet with me to discuss this find three days ago.
“She never kept that promise—instead, she seems to have simply vanished. Initially, I assumed that the acquisition of this item was simply taking longer than expected, but now I’m hearing rumors that the Sczarni are looking for her as well.
“It seems likely that Natalya has absconded with this item she’s discovered. And this is where you enter, my friends. I want to know what it was that Natalya and the Sczarni found. In fact, I’m more interested in that than in what happened to Natalya herself. For now, I’d like to keep all of this quiet—if you can find out what happened to Natalya without letting a lot of people know she was also working for me as an informant, that would be preferable—that’s a big part of why I’m coming to you, as new members of the Pathfinder Society-if you will accept your new position, that is- with this task. You don’t yet have a reputation in Magnimar, and as such, the lowlifes and criminals you are likely to encounter may be more likely to talk.
"“So... go out there and look for Natalya. Find out what happened to her, and to this item she and her gang discovered. If you can secure the item, all the better—bring it back to me and I’ll have a reward of 500 gold pieces for you. And if you can bring Natalya back alive for me to speak to, I’ll double that!”
In addition, Sheila provides you with four potions of cure light wounds.
Brelar seems embarrassed as Venture-Captain Heidmarch enters the study and causes the pugwampi to vanish. "M'lady, my apologies for the ... vandalism. Hopefully nothing of too great a value was...eaten but those little monsters. They seemed unphased by my magic, and I think August here was just about to chop one into bits when you entered."
Taking a moment to examine the contents of the box for himself, Brelar mumbles to himself sliding the ring on his right hand, on top of a ring decorated in elven script, looks at it, turns his hand over to look at the back of it and then listens to what Venture-Captain Heidmarch has to say about Natalya and the Sczarni. Finally commentating when she is finished. "A sczarni informant, yes, yes good idea. Keeping your involvement with her to a minimum, interesting. Prudent, of course. Sensible." he nods approvingly. "We'll do it! If she's alive we'll find her, and if not...well I'm sure we'll still find her. Do you know of any places she would frequent in the Dockway, or Lowcleft? Or...uh..." he fumbles a bit sucking in air, "in the Underbridge? How is it that you met with her before? Surely she didn't come here to the Alabaster district for tea." Brelar stashes the potion in his sash.
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Ummm, my apologies... The dwarf slowly puts his weapon away. This was a test? Is that how the Pathfinders do things, wasting time with tests? He then listens to what was said, not completely following every detail but gathers enough to know the mission. I'm a soldier, a warrior. I've protected people before but I'm not cut out for finding 'em.
"Sorry, August. I think that to start with you're going to be better off looking threatening and not saying anything. But I'll bet we're going to dangerous places, so if anyone attacks us you take them apart. Sound good?"
Brelar looks at Karnhousk intensely, sizing up his kinsman.
"Brelar" his quarterstaff thuds on the floor. "Son of Atrok Bloodspeaker."
"Numeria my brother. Where the mammoths have skin of metal!" Brelar lets out a hearty laugh.
Before sending you off, Sheila Heidmarch briefs you on as many details of the case as she can provide. "I unfortunately don't know much about Natalya, other than that the woman approached the Pathfinders and offered to be a sort of double agent among the Sczarni. As the Pathfinders have recently forged alliances with the Sczarni in many cities throughout the Inner Sea region, I knew that having a member of a Sczarni gang as a double agent could be useful—the Sczarni have yet to fully earn the trust of the Pathfinder Society, after all. Unfortunately, one of Natalya’s conditions for entering this alliance with the Pathfinders was that she wanted to retain a good amount of anonymity and autonomy, so she’d be free to handle things as she saw fit. I now realize that agreeing to these terms may have been a mistake—but until I know more, I'm not willing to write off Natalya as a traitor.
"The Sczarni have been a part of Magnimar from the start—they’re not the most dangerous or powerful of the city’s criminal organizations, but they are the most visible. The Sczarni generally don’t involve themselves in particularly violent crimes, and in many cases in Magnimar, they actually help to protect and police less fortunate neighborhoods, and as such are often well regarded by the lower-class. There are six major Sczarni gangs in the city: the Creepers, Doolun’s Lads, the Gallowed, the Tower Girls, the Washside Wringers, and the Wreckwash Blades, with the Gallowed being the most powerful Sczarni family in the city.
"When Natalya initially approached me with the offer of serving the Pathfinders as an informant, she engaged the aid of a man known as the Amazing Zograthy, a Varisian who keeps a permanent tent and fortune-telling business in Washers’ Row in Dockway—specifically, at the end of a narrow alley that serves as a permanent street fair. The Amazing Zograthy often works as a sort of middle-man between Sczarni and outsiders.
"I'm afraid those are the only facts which I am in the position to offer you currently. there are rumors of Nidalese slavers prowling the streets of late, and if these are true, being abducted by a slaver in the middle of the night would certainly explain Natalya’s absence. She might even have been picked up by the city guard for some reason, in which case a visit to the Arvensoar, the garrison for the city’s watch, might yield some clues. But I would visit the Amazing Zograthy first and beyond that advice I can only offer you good luck."
At the southern end of Washers’ Row, a tattered banner hanging over the entrance to the small side street advertises “Professor Callivario’s Stupendous Exhibition of the Outrageous and Sublime.” Beyond this overly exuberant advertisement is a squalid setup consisting of little more than a series of rundown sideshow booths and carts with assorted games and amusements of the meaner sort. To one side, urchins pitch pennies at lily pads floating in a small, scum-covered fountain while a bored carnie looks on. Nearby, the sound of cats hissing and fighting arises from behind a cart where a small crowd of ne’er-do-wells has gathered to cheer and place bets. Everywhere lurk faces pinched with suspicion or hunger— expressions worn by carnival workers and visitors alike. This is not the sort of place to be careless with a coin pouch.
By talking with one of the carnies you are quickly pointed to the abode of the Amazing Zograthy, Seer of the Dark, a small, well-patched tent crudely painted with mystical symbols and decorated with chicken bones and other oddments. Within the stuffy, cluttered tent is a table covered in blue velvet stitched with moons, stars, and arcane symbols. A dusty crystal ball and a dog-eared harrow deck sit upon it. Behind this table sits an aged, bald, Varisian man with threadbare purple robes and piercing eyes—the one and only Amazing Zograthy.
Upon your entrance he gestures broadly and states in a tremulous voice, “The Amazing Zograthy sees all and knows all. A double fist of silver for a turn of the cards or a vision in the crystal; a treble fist of gold for the secrets of the multiverse.”
When you indicate that you are here to talk, Zograthy leans back in his rickety chair and says, “Aaaah... Secrets! Perhaps my greatest trade!”
Asking him about Natalya's disappearance, the Varisian says, I know nothing about any supposed “discovery” she may have made, but he does confirm that she hasn’t been heard from among the Sczarni. Many folk along the waterfront, both here in Beacon’s Point and over in Dockway and Underbridge, have been disappearing of late—a few each week, in fact, with many simply vanishing out of their very beds at night. I suspect that Natalya is among those who have disappeared in this manner." He adds bitterly, "as long as only poor Varisians and other destitute folk are being targeted, the chances of the city doing anything about the disappearances is nil."
He continues, "It’s not a Sczarni plot—indeed, the Sczarni seem quite interested in solving the vanishings themselves, but are not seeking aid in that effort. If anything, it’s harder to contact actual Sczarni leaders these days than it is normally. The leading theory on the street is that the vanished folk are the victims of slavers who then secretly sell them offshore at night to Nidalese ships-but I don't put much stock in such rumors."
As you get up to leave, Zograthy clears his throat. "I hesisitated to tell you this before, but perhaps I shall. Natalya was, at least until recently, a member of a Sczarni gang known as the Tower Girls, a group of cat burglars. They are themselves searching for Natalya, and word is that when they find her, she’ll be in deep trouble. I don't know exactly what is going on with them but I have heard them say that Natalya went mad before her disappearance." With a gesture the aged fotune teller then dismisses you.
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The officer you eventually speak to is a woman named Kasadei, a busy watch officer who nonetheless tries her best to make time for concerned citizens.
When asked about Natalya, Kasadei responds, "I can confirm that Natalya Vancaskerkin is known to the city watch—she’s a petty burglar known to run with the Tower Girls. That Natalya has vanished is news to the watch— she hasn’t been picked up by any patrols, in any event. I'm not surprised that Natalya’s disappearance hasn’t been reported—the Sczarni tend to try to solve their own problems. If anyone knows more, it’s probably the Tower Girls. Tracking down any of the Sczarni gangs is tricky normally, but as far as I know, the Tower Girls themselves have recently changed their headquarters. No informants have yet been able to update the city watch as to their new headquarters, but I do know that a few months back, the Tower Girls had a falling out with another Sczarni gang, the Wreckwash Blades. For several weeks after that, rumor was that the Tower Girls were slumming it in an abandoned warehouse in Underbridge that they shared with a disreputable local by the name of Fenster the Blight—he may know where the Tower Girls (or perhaps Natalya) are located now." Kasadei provides you directions to the warehouse.
When the disappearances enter conversation, Kasadei becomes obviously bristled. "I admit that I'm frustrated at the persistent rumors that the city watch is doing nothing to solve the disappearances—especially considering that we've confirmed that the rumors of Nidalese slavers are false, and that the majority of those who vanished have actually been found. I suppose rumormongers don’t find happy endings nearly as fun to gossip about, and as a result news that the vanishings have been solved isn’t nearly as gossiped about as the vanishings themselves have been. In fact, as far as the city watch is concerned, the investigation into the disappearances is concluded.
"Many of those who went missing have been found, with the few remaining missing cases likely the results of mundane misadventure. The fact that Natalya is not among those who have been found is of little concern to the watch—she is a Sczarni, after all. many of those who had disappeared were not vagrants, but rather were gainfully employed merchants, fishermen, shopkeepers, and laborers. In many cases, they were found days or weeks after they vanished, living as homeless wretches in the city slums. Those who were questioned proved to have amnesia and had no idea of where they had been during their disappearance. They seemed none the worse for wear other than their amnesia and the effects of their deplorable living conditions. We are baff led as to what may have caused the amnesia, but since most victims seem to have returned safe and whole otherwise, the watch has declared the spate of vanishings to be a closed case."
When you are finished speaking with Kasadei, she escorts you from her office and prompty returns to work.
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August just follows the group, does what he is told, and otherwise makes sure that everyone, in particular the small halfling and the elementalist, is safe from any threats, perceived or otherwise.
How are we to find some girl that we don't even know what she looks like? All we are doin' is runnin' around this city askin' questions and gettin' long-winded answers.
The dwarf stands by, waiting for the group's next move.
Brelar waits to see if Karnhousk's offering is accepted...
"Can't say I think much of his sense of style." Whistling off-key, the halfling looks around for any sign of watchers.
At the clatter of the tin, a hunk of dirty cloth and matted hair crawls out of the hut. Fenster is a wretched creature, more skin and bone than meat. His flesh is clammy and gray in places, one of his eyes is clouded over with a white film, and his clothing is caked with filth. His breathing is raspy and gurgling and smells of bad meat-he's plagued by a wet, hacking cough. Fenster greedily grabs the gold piece and sniffs at it before hiding it away in some inner pocket. "What yew want Fenster ta'do?"
"Tower Girls? 'course I know 'em, I'm thur landlurd!" Fenster says proudly. "They’ll be back...they always come back ta ol’ Fenster!"
At the mention of Natalya, Fenster stands up a little straighter. "Might be I know where Natalya is. 'course, 's gone cost more'n one gold, lots mer fer sometin' like that." His eyes widen greedily.
Brelar reaches into his pouch and produces one of the garnets, holding his hand out to Fenster "Hows this look?"
The derelict examines the item before stashing it away. "I seen her lurking about 'n a nearby buildin'. She ain't hangin' wit t'other Tower Girls no mur. Fact, she seems t'be doin' her bes' t'hiding 'n stayin' unobserved. But nuthin’ in th’Shadow gits by me good peeper!” as he taps the sallow cheek under his non-clouded eye. Fenster provides you with directions to the building.
You think he's tellin' the truth?
"Sure! Ready when you are."
Natalya's new hideout has seen better days. Its clapboard sides are dark with mildew and marred by scorch marks. In places fire has gutted portions of the roof's moss-covered tile shingles, but the building appears to be structurally intact. The building stands near the stark wall of the Seacleft, and scree from several decades of minor rockfalls has piled up along its southern face. The structure was built over a group of collection pools in the city's early sewers, and when its interior was gutted, the floors collapsed into the septic system below. The building's windows are heavily boarded over.
Stepping from the shadows is a tall woman with flowing blonde hair. Behind her stand three rough-looking girls. "Looking for Natalya, eh?" She spits. "So are we."
Brelar snorts, "Must be the Tower Girls huh? Shame you are going to get hurt girls, maybe we could help each other instead?"
Argust looks to Brelar or anyone in the group for instruction. Are we talkin' or fightin' with these gals? I will ready an attack in the event I need to take a swing or defend myself. If told to attack, I will move to do so.
Terisha seems to dodge the jet and doesn't get hurt at all. Her friend, however, is a bit singed and burning.
Thug 2 double moves up to Bert.
Argust gets his answer as he takes a strike from Thug 1 (HP 17/22). We ain't talkin' anymore!
I'll make a fresh post for Round 2 to give you time to update Thug 1's condition (if I hit or not).