The invitation delivered last night was remarkably simple, especially given the importance of the occasion: "Start where it all began. Meet us at the Pig’s Paunch one hour before dawn."
The Pig’s Paunch is a run-down building with a faded sign of a large pig standing on its hind legs, arms folded above a corpulent belly. Inside, the air is thick with the scents of human sweat, stale tobacco, and leftover food. In the center of the room, surrounded by inebriates sleeping off their revelries, a familiar elven man stands high upon top of a large round table.
"Welcome! Welcome, my students! Please, have a seat!"
With that, Kreighton Shaine, the Pathfinder Society’s Master of Scrolls, nimbly drops down to sit cross-legged on the table before looking about the tavern with a sense of reverent wonder: "Can you believe it? It all started here years ago—well, over four hundred of them at least. Under this very roof the Pathfinder Society was born."
"But today! Today you will begin your Confirmation! Master Farabellus, Master Zey, and I all agree you each have shown your worth and dedication to the Society, so there’s no better time to see if you can handle becoming full field operatives. Allow me to introduce you to Janira Gavix." he says as he motions for an excitable halfling woman to approach. She wears a large backpack and carries all manner of tools, pouches, and scroll cases around her waist.
Shaine continues, saying, "Janira here will be going with you on your Confirmation. She was one of my brightest pupils and will no doubt be an invaluable resource on your journey, for she discovered the caves you are about to explore during her own Confirmation."
Janira speaks up in an enthusiastic and cheerful voice: "Greetings, aspiring Pathfinders! Six months ago, while I was mapping cave entrances in the foothills of the Kortos Mounts, I witnessed a lone gillman entering a concealed cave. I thought little of it at the time, but I saw another one enter the cave again a month later as my Confirmation stretched on. A few days later, after I completed my assigned task, I entered the cave system, but was unable to find the gillmen."
Master Shaine hops to his feet. "Initiates, for your Confirmation, you will travel to these caves to explore and document its many passages. Additionally, and most importantly, you are to learn what the gillmen are up to in there. Oh, and you need to come back alive as well." With these parting words, the Master of Scrolls jumps off the table and strolls out of the building while humming to himself.
At the center of the Isle of Kortos stand the Kortos Mounts, the points on the island.
Entire tribes of centaurs, harpies, and minotaurs constantly vie for territory up and around the mounts, with harpies being the most common at higher altitudes and centaurs controlling the lower slopes and foothills.
Also known as the Low Azlanti, the gillmen are an amphibious humanoid race believed to be the last descendants of the ancient Azlanti people.
During Earthfall, the Starstone struck Golarion and destroyed the human empires of Thassilon and Azlant. It is said that gillmen’s ancestors survived the cataclysmic event because they received the blessing of an aquatic entity that allowed them to breath underwater.
Most scholars believe the terrifying aboleths were responsible for the gillmen’s transformation. Any alliance between them appears to have fallen apart over the millennia, however, and the gillmen are now an independent people.
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Carlotta Valdez sits near the spot recently vacated by the Master of Scrolls, the smile on her face incongruous with the disheveled hair and tired eyes that suggest she got little sleep last night. Her armor looks out of place- -or at least out of date- -its boiled leather is cracked and water damaged in several places, battered insignia is all-but-unidentifiable. Her voice carries a fraction of the excitement visible on her face.
"So if we're traveling into the foothills, we're avoiding the harpies that cling to the peaks. There's plenty of other trouble around the foothills, though," she offers, recalling several of Shaine's rambling lectures. "We aren't encroaching on centaur tribal grounds or minotaur turf or anything, are we?" She continues, trying to recall if there was anything else she's missing from Shaine's rambling lectures.
"Do we have time for breakfast?" She interjects, shouting "Coffee and eggs!" to the nearest employee before anyone can answer.
Janira lifts her head to look at Carlotta while talking to her, but her hands keep rummaging through her backpack, apparently looking for something.
"Good point. Since we're moving through battlegrounds of centaurs, harpies, and minotaurs. We should keep a quick pace for two reasons. One - we need to reach the caves at the height of the Somal's cycle at worst. It's a nearly two-day journey, and that is is exactly when we should arrive. If we get there sooner, awesome! If not... Well, we should be able to make it."
She finally finds what she was looking for and produces a large leather-bound book from her backpack. She promptly puts the heavy book on the table as she speaks: "Two - and this is probably the more serious reason - centaurs can be quite fast, so we should move through as quickly as possible without provoking them. If we catch one in a bad mood, we might have an entire coterie on our tails in a matter of hours. If we miss the lunar cycle, we can probably try again next month, but that would be a waste of time and probably your reputation. You probably don't want either."
She opens the book, takes out a few sheets of paper stacked just under the cover, and hands them out to the party.
"You'll need these for notes. Quality paper that shouldn't tear when the wind blows in its general direction."
She takes a moment, her eyes squinting and looking towards the ceiling.
"What was I saying? Oh! Food! I suppose we can have a quick first breakfast here so that we don't get tired on the way. Surely we can manage second breakfast and elevenses on the fly. At least we'll get to know each other a bit better.", she gives the initiates a brief smile, and turns to signal the barmaid.
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The door to the tavern was opened and in walked a male human, dressed in fine clothing and carrying certain books with him. A small symbol of Asmodeus was hanging around his neck as he sat down. He listened to the speech given to him and as he did leaned back and took notes where he could.
When all was said and done he pushed a paper to each of the members with a smile on his lips. On top of the paper there was a small card as well, on it writen there was Jean-Robur du Queste, Lawyer. "First of, let me introduce myself, I am Jean Robur du Queste, Lawyer. In front of you there is a mere contract for my services and what not. I am sure you can understand it but one can never be to sure about what we can run into. Feel free to read it, sign it and then return it to me..." Upon the mentioning of food he nodded and motioned to the maid as well and a charming smile touched his lips. "Coffee and eggs for me as well dear..." The maid seemed to blush as she scampered of to get something to eat for him.
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"Harpies? Minotaurs?" the strange, three eyed old woman responds upon listening to Carlotta and Janira. "Yes, we'd do well to avoid them. I'm not worried about centaurs, though. Lovely folk. Perhaps a bit shy..." She trails off, her eyes unfocused.
She suddenly comes back to the present, and looks at the party. "Oh, don't worry about food, dears. I'll take care of all the cooking. But why are we in such a rush to get there in two days?"
Noranti pulls out a scroll case, and shoves both the paper from Janira and the contract from Jean-Robur into it, without looking at either.
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The tall, dark-haired woman listens to the Master of Scroll's instructions patiently. She smiles warmly at the halfling when Janira is introduced and then the others, making a double take when she looks to Utu. Her leather armor is bereft of wear and decorated with colored silks. She, however, has well tanned skin revealing a few faint scars on her arms and legs, and has strong, calloused fingers.
"I'm ready to go when you--"
Zaratina pauses as the Asmodean thrusts the contract in front of her. She spends a long moment staring at the document before looking up to Jean-Robur. "Are you sure you wrote this in Taldane? The only part I understood was this." She points to the last sentence. "And I assure you, I didn't understand."
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Vorden arrives. He is followed by a humanoid carrying a greatsword and a backpack. As they enter, Vorden turns to the humanoid. He seems a bit irritated and he points a finger at the doorway rather insistently. The humanoid turns around and goes outside.
Vorden continues walking over to the rest of the party and sits down. His surly look quickly turns friendly as he greets everyone, "Good morning everyone!"
He glances at the paperwork handed out by Jean-Robur. He seems completely disinterested in even looking at it and orders breakfast for himself.
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He regarded his companions for a moment before he turned to Zaratina. "It's written in Common, it is the langauge that is more comprehensible for each and all of us... Now if you want to go over the details, I have the time for that..." He noted the reacion of the others and gave a mere shrug at it, it was their choice and it was understandable, Nobody seemed eager to discuss terms with either a lawyer or with a devil so to speak.
When the food was deliverd he slowly started to eat before answering the question about the time frame. "Lunar cycle, if we miss it we will have to return in a month. Not something I would suggest to do, it will tarnish our reputation..."
After reading the contract, the halfling agent steps in again.
"Lunar cycle indeed. Every time I saw a gillman enter the cave, it was a during a full moon. It might have been a coincidence, but if not, we might regret not going as soon as we finish our meals."
"As for this,", she points to the contract, "you have my trust. No need for papers to confirm."
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A young-looking elf sits at the table, listening. His skin is so fair of complexion that by appearance, his gender is difficult to distinguish. He wears black robes but no armor is evident. In the crook of his arm is a wooden staff, straight as an arrow and ornately carved with skulls and various patterns.
Evariel takes the contract offered by who he presumes is one of his new allies. He reads it carefully and nods here and there; he knows how to absorb meaning from the written word. After reading he signs the bottom and hands it back, looking at Janira. "Yes, of course. Pattern recognition can be crucial to these sorts of things, well done. Perhaps these gillmen are drawing some kind of power from the full moon. And at the least, it's something to go on until we know more."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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The young lawyer takes his time to explain the finer details to Zaratina and when she has it signed he neatly tugs it away together with some other papers, soon to be followed by the one from Evariel. With everyone that wanted to have it signed the lawyer seems to be ready for the next step. He taps his chin for a moment and then nods. "I will have to grab my shield and weapon and then I am ready to go... Not sure if either of us need to do some quick shopping? But seeing the time frame, I would say, time to go?" When he recieves the contract from Carlotta he raises a brow and then shakes his head. "M'lady, you misunderstand my intention, this is no way a suicide contract, but I understand your concern..."
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"Full moons, full moons. Why does that seem significant?"
"Maybe it's some sort of lycanthrope custom?" Turning to Janira, she asks, "Are you sure they were gillmen, and not werefish of some sort?"
Responding to Zaratina's comment about her cooking, Noranti looks at her and says, "Oh yes, I'm quite an accomplished chef. Venture-Captain Valsin even encouraged me to get this fine wooden serving platter to bring along when I travel."
With that, she holds out her arm, and adjusts the buckler she's wearing to lay flat, then picks up a mug from a nearby table and balances it on the buckler, smiling proudly.
Seeing that the other agents are ready, Janira quickly finishes her plate while responding to questions:
"That is exactly why we are going, Carlotta - we're not sure why they go there. As for where are they coming from, I've been to Escadar once or twice, and it seems the city has quite the population. Perhaps from there?"
"Madame Utu, they seemed quite tranquil when I saw them. A this time we have no reason to believe that their activity has anything to do with lycanthropy or shapeshifters."
She stands from her stool and packs her stuff.
"Alright then, agents!", she almost shouts with excitement.
"I see most, if not all of you, are ready to go, so - go do some final shopping before we go and we meet.. in an hour? Sounds good?"
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"Oh please, call me Noranti, dear. Utu is more of a title. Where I come from in Jinin, it means something like "revered elder" in your language.
With that, Noranti starts to go on about her childhood in the elven nation in Tian Xia, almost 300 years ago. The rest of the party would probably get pretty bored quickly if they pay attention.
As the group leaves the pub, Noranti collects a mule that carries some of her heavier gear (rope, grappling hook, full cooking kit, etc), and follows the rest of the group, occasionally muttering to herself as she goes.
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"An hour to prepare?" Carlotta says, semisurprised, slowing the speed in which she consumes breakfast to a more reasonable pace. "Guess I don't have to inhale my eggs. I'm good to go."
Carlotta will listen to Noranti's longwinded stories, if nothing else to get a chance at hearing stories of before Lirgen was lost to the Eye of Abendegno.
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"Lirgen?"
"I've heard of it, of course, but I was never there. I spent most of my life in Tian Xia."
"As I said, I'm from Jinin, the elven nation on the Tian continent. I always thought I'd fit in better with the western elves here in the Inner Sea. My own country modeled itself too much on Minkai, getting all involved in honor, and samurai codes. I was always too much of a free spirit for that sort of thing."
"But in my old age, they finally came to respect my wisdom. They called me Utu, and encouraged me to travel the world, sharing my wisdom with others", she declares proudly.
Some of you begin to wonder if the Jinin elves just encouraged the old woman to travel to get rid of her.
The agents depart after the post-purchase meetup. Janira takes the lead, and to your surprise, she is fairly swift on her feet. The slower members of the group might have trouble keeping up. The journey through the City at the Center of the World is swift and without incident, and the long trek across the Cairnlands provides a great opportunity to discuss various topics, and Janira is happy to chip in on any discussion the group has. Most of the journey is uneventful, and Janira points out some of the local landmarks - siege towers, distinct flora and fauna - all visible from the path. As the sun is about to set, Janira stops at a clearing: "We should set up camp inside the forest, near the edge. The foot of Kortos Mounts is just beyond.", she points towards a dense stand of trees ahead. "We didn't stumble into any centaurs, but if they see a fire in a clearing like this they will likely come investigate. Not to mention harpies."
Urging the party to continue following, she walks into the midst of the dense growth of tree trunks. After finding a sufficiently large opening and consulting the group, she starts setting up her tent. Doing so, she produces some firewood from her backpack.
"I'm sure you are all tired from the journey, but there's enough of us. We can split and take shifts with the watch."
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Huffing and puffing once in a while before getting to the location of where they were setting up camp he slowed down before dropping his ghear to the ground. "I am not build for these adventures, but duty calls as they so eloquently describe it..." With that said he starts to setup some sort of little camp ground and assists any of the other party members where needed.
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The elderly three eyed elf surprisingly has no trouble keeping up, even after a full day of walking, though she does lean on her pack mule for support occasionally.
She spends much of the day talking about a wide variety of topics, adding her own thoughts to whatever Janira talks about. It's obvious that Noranti actually knows quite a bit, but tends to ramble incoherently. She tosses out bits and pieces of information, not actual stories that would put any of it in context or make it interesting. On the few occasions that she does begin to tell a real story, she'll inevitably lose her train of thought and switch topics without getting to the point.
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Evariel knows little about the landmarks and nothing of the history behind them, but readily discusses the various flora and fauna. "Not the least bit responsive to pain," he would say, or "More clever than it looks." His comments often are not lacking in typical elven condescension. "Their lifespans are even shorter than a human's. Maybe that's why they don't bother making tools."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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As Vorden travels with the party, he takes only mild interest at what each member is doing. Other than getting some help from his eidolon at various rough traveling moments ("You there! Help me cross this stream."), he doesn't bother doing much talking or observing.
When the group stops for the night, Vorden has the eidolon set everything up in camp before Vorden falls asleep and the eidolon disappears with a small poof.
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Zaratina hitches her mule to a tree near the campsite and unloads her tent and bedroll. The day's march has left a light sheen of sweat on her brow and a healthy flush to the skin of her arms and legs. It takes the Varisian woman a few tries before her tent stays pitched, but she stays at it until it is finished and doesn't seemed flustered by her failures.
"A brisk jog around Absolom each morning should get you into shape swiftly enough, yes?" she states helpfully to Jean-Robur.
"I can't say that I'd be eager to face a harpy, but I hear centaurs are good wrestlers. That could be fun! Maybe a bit bruising. But fun!"
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"Oh, I thought a nice chowder", the old lady responds, busying herself with making a fire and pulling out pots and bags of foodstuffs from the pack saddle on her mule.
Apparently, some of Noranti's ingredients were sitting in the packs in the hot sun for too long, as the chowder doesn't turn out very good.
The rest of the night remains rather uneventful, except the odd animal noise here and there. The party gets a good night's sleep, and after your morning rituals and packing, you head off deeper into the forest. After not too much time, the trees towering overhead begin to shield most of what remains of the day’s sun and the vegetation beneath grows denser. Janira pauses a moment and pulls out an intricate silver compass emblazoned with the Pathfinder Society logo: the Glyph of the Open Road. "I received this wayfinder when I successfully completed my Confirmation. Should we be successful on our journey, you will get your own as well."
She flips open the device and holds it in front of her; the initials J. L. are engraved into the inside of the device’s lid. After studying the compass inside for a moment, she remarks, "We’re on the right path. We need to keep heading northwest past those large rocks up ahead." Most of the trees in this section of the forest have trunks that are too big for any creatures to share their space. Sporadic patches of light undergrowth provide areas for creatures to hide while restricting movement for those passing through.
A large rock outcropping to the east rises nearly 20 feet above the forest floor, and a small sinkhole to the northwest drops off sharply, descending to the ground 10 feet below.
As you move closer towards the rock, the stench of rotting meat assaults your nostrils. Unfortunately, it also attracted two other creatures. Two wolves are in the area. One is sitting under the nearby rock, chewing on a piece of meat, the other is still attempting to tear its own out of the dead creature. You can easily see their bones through the skin, and they both growl menacingly as you approach.
Yeap. They are wolves. Canine beasts that reside on top of the forest food chain for ages. Usually hunting in packs, but sometimes solitary.
Every 5 by which you beat the DC, you can ask a question about them.
Order - Turn 1 - Bold may go.
Evariel
Janira
Wolves
Carlotta
Zaratina
Vorden
Jean-Robur
Hey You
Noranti
Given that they are young, and possibly inexperienced, they might attempt to flee after tasting real pain for the first time in their lives.
No "special" attacks, but as you can clearly see, they have a lot of talons to use. And they are known for being excellent at maneuvering mid-air.
Welp. Mea culpa.
Well - now that that's out of the way, they are wolves, so they will try to get you to the ground and go for the jugular ( trip attack ).
And they look pretty hungry, so they might defend their food until death.
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"These are wolves, not uncommon to this environment. Unfortunately, with as hungry as they look, it will probably be a fight to the death. If we fight them, that is."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Janira draws her crossbow and shouts "Come on, agents! We're not being stopped by some wildlife!"
Just a side note, the stumps are trees, the green foliage is difficult terrain.
The wolves start closing in, pinpointing the shortest member of the group. Their eyes get set on Janira as they move in.
Order - Turn 1+2 - Bold may go.
Evariel
Janira
Wolves
Carlotta
Zaratina
Vorden
Jean-Robur
Hey You
Noranti
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"Well then I suppose I should summon a servitor to help", the old woman says, then mutters something incoherent to her Wayfinder.
Servitor (Sp): As a standard action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus to summon a servitor. This ability functions as summon monster I, but you can use it only to summon a single creature, and the effect lasts for 1 minute. At 4th level and every 3 levels thereafter, the level of the summon monster spell increases by 1, to a maximum of summon monster VII at 19th level. You can't have more than one servitor in effect at a time. At any time, you can expend 1 point of mental focus as a free action to extend the duration of an active servitor by 1 minute.
An eagle magically appears between the nearest wolf and Janira, and attacks it.
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With more allies between himself and one wolf than himself and the other, Evariel speaks a short word in Draconic and unweaves a small cantrip from the aether to confound it.
-Posted with Wayfinder
The party unleashes a barrage of sttel and claws, but the wolf swiftly dodges all attacks as it closes distance. The only exception being Evariel's arcane incantation, which causes it to lose momentum for a brief moment.
Janira takes aim and launches a bolt at the nearest wolf as it is fighting Vorden extraplanar ally.
She strikes a mean wound and the beast howls in pain, but remains adamant in its attempt to satisfy the hunger. The wolf launches itself in Janira's direction with fangs bard.
janira dodges the maw without greater effort, since the wolf ends up biting a twig near her. The oter wolf circles around the group and gets closer to the position of the lone halfling.
Order - Turn 2+3 - Bold may go.
Evariel
Janira
Wolves
Carlotta - Readied action, but the wolves are not heading in your direction. You may keep the roll for future attacks, if you wish.
Zaratina
Vorden
Jean-Robur
Noranti
Red - Dazzled 10 turns
Yellow - -6 HP