As a new PbP GM I would like to play #1-45 'Delirium’s Tangle' (Tier 1-5) with you.
Messengers found you across Absalom before sunrise and summoned you to the Grand Lodge on orders from Venture-Captain Drandle Dreng. His milky, half-closed eyes, normally offering a bearing of regal decrepitude, instead looked sour as he apologized for the early hours.
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To keep warm in the early morning, Inga pulled her green cloak tight around her brown leather clothes, and shivered.
Looking up at Drandle Dreng, since most everything is up when you are not even 3 feet tall (just over 80 cms), the thin halfling lass smiled warmly: "Hullo, hullo, Master Venture-Cap'n Drendle. Inga Briartoes reporting for...", she yawned, "Sorry 'bout that. Reporting for duty. I'm just out of training, but I think I am a Pathfinder. Ready to be one for sure., cap'n, sir." She salutes.
Igna has rather strong Ulfen accent, from the far north.
Reddish blonde hair and green eyes, studded leather for protection, a longbow and several quivers on her back, and a spiked-gauntlet on her fist, she sports a wooden symbol of a bow and arrow.
Seeing some herb stuck on her breeches, she takes it and starts munching on it: "So, where are we accompanying you, cap'n ? Are you going to tell us over breakfast, or after we eat?"
Inga looks around to see who else is arriving.
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Nyloth, having been born blind, has no trouble making his way to the venture captain in the early low light of the morning, taping his walking stick along the ground as he goes.
Sporting a black, hooded cloak with gold trim and wearing the typical cloth clothes of monks and commoners, Nyloth arrives at the Grand Lodge.
"Grettings Venture Captain Drendle." Nyloth says as he sticks out one hand towards Drendle for a handshake.
"I'm still new to the society, being blind made it a little tough to convince some venture captains that I was fit for field work after all, but I managed fine. Anyway, my name is Nyloth, a channeler of spirits and a lawyer on the side."
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”aaaarrghh Drendle they told me you liked to start your mornings early”, grumbles the stout dwarf as he yawns entering the room. He is wearing a black suit over some hide armor, his head is bald but his beard is black and well oiled.
”Names Lucious, I’d have a cup of that tea there too lass,” he says to Inga’,”less of course ye got anything stronger.”
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A brazen-skinned Gnome shuffles in, he is cleanly shaven, face and head. He pulls a chair up to the table, climbs up, stands on it and bows.
"My name is Meux Feux. I have come here to chew alchemical gum and kick ass! But, as alchemical gum is too damned expensive, and I am really not as strong as the average Joe, I will settle for charring my foes and healing my allies. I like my enemies...well done."
He looks at the current activity,
"Ooooh, tea!"
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“Hehe not to fear lassy, I only meant coffee” he says as he reaches out for the mug. As she hands him the mug a viper slithers out of his sleeve,”Solomon! No!!! Ya leave her alone now!, he says as if it it was just a dog. ”you’ll have to excuse Solomon, ee’s not used to people reaching towards me like that” he adds as he blows the steam off the mug and the snake slithers up and flicks it’s tongue at Lucious’ ear.
Venture-Captain Drandle Dreng looks at all of you and says.
"Great that you are all here! Come with me now - I want to introduce you to our guest."
Drandle Dreng walks into a larger meeting room with you and introduces a thick man bearing the scars of many horrific burns seated in a chair.
The scarred man has his feat soaking in a small metal bucket of steaming water. Behind him stand two enormous, heavily armored half-orcs, their arms crossed over their massive chests and all four of their eyes constantly scanning the room for danger.
“Pathfinders, this is Grandmaster Torch,”
Dreng mutteres sleepily.
“He’s an… associate of the Society. We owe him a favor after that business in Sedeq, and it seems he’s looking to collect.”
The settlement of Sedeq, south of the Zho Mountains, is a place of warm breezes, lush gardens, and frequent desperate pleas and screams, for it is a settlement of the Qadiran slave trade. There, captured slaves are broken, shorn, and made ready for sale. Few escape.
Little is known of the early life of Grandmaster Torch before he became an information broker. Grandmaster Torch was a field agent for the Pathfinder Society, but his career came to an end in one of the tombs he was exploring. Cursed and left for dead by his peers, he nevertheless managed to escape back to Absalom. His true name, like his career as a Pathfinder, has been left behind in that ancient tomb.
Since that time, Grandmaster Torch returned to Absalom and began accruing favors from the Pathfinder Society.
“You wound me, my lord,” says Grandmaster Torch, leaving Dreng chuckling softly to himself in the background.
“I come in the interest of the common good. You see, my good friend and occasional business associate, Nuar Spiritskin, is missing. You may know him better as the Minotaur Prince of Absalom, the head of the Taurean Embassy and something of a famous foreign dignitary, what with his assertions that he speaks for all Minotaurs everywhere. A collection of papers recently entered my possession that spoke of a grand maze beneath the city; naturally, my first instinct was to discuss the matter with Nuar. He seemed as intrigued as I and after I elicited his help, he set out at once for the maze. It has been several days, more than enough time for a minotaur to solve a maze, and I grow worried for my bovine chum."
He is only telling you parts of the story and is hiding something ... maybe more is at stake.
Grandmaster Torch continues.
“Clearly, I cannot take this matter to the guard. Poor Nuar would be scandalized if word got around that he couldn’t solve a simple maze. I can provide you with directions to this maze, called Delirium’s Tangle, if you promise to return Nuar quietly to his home. I’m even willing to let your organization keep the artifact I believe lies in the maze’s center. Some ancient, elven hourglass—my notes aren’t specific as to what it does. Just ensure the Prince’s safety.”
Dreng looks incredulous, but solemnly nods.
“A small earth quake only recently revealed the entrance to this maze. Nuar is a useful ally to the Society and a lost labyrinth below Absalom herself is too convenient to pass up. Take an hour to prepare and then head out. And be thorough; no telling what you’ll find down there.”
"Interesting question. Many cultures have legends of how the first minotaurs were created by vengeful or slighted gods who punished humans by twisting their forms, robbing them of their intellects and beauty, and giving them the heads of bulls. Yet most modern minotaurs hold these legends in contempt and believe that they are not divine mockeries but divine paragons created by a potent and cruel demon lord named Baphomet.
The traditional minotaur's lair is a maze, be it a legitimate labyrinth constructed to baffle and confuse, an accidental one such as a city sewer system, or a naturally occurring one such as a tangle of caverns and other underground passageways. Employing their innate cunning, minotaurs use their maze lairs to vex unwary foes who seek them out or who simply stumble into the lairs and become lost, slowly hunting the intruders as they try in vain to find a way out. Only when despair has truly set in does the minotaur move in to strike at its lost victims."
Grandmaster Torch looks at Dreng with a sly smile.
Deng then starts to laugh "Well, at least these are the stories told. Nuar is a diplomat and visiting foreign dignitary, The Minotaur Prince, and I assure you that him going missing would be a diplomatic crisis and those responsible would be punished."
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"Grandmaster torch, while your briefing was excellent, I could hear the change in your heart rate. There is something you're not telling us, and for the safety of the pathfinder agents, it seems beneficial that you tell us everything."
Nyloth then sips some of his tea and looks deep in contemplation.
"...It does seem strange that your minotaur cannot solve this maze. I have a feeling that there is something preventing him from solving it, rather than the maze itself being confusing or difficult."
He then continues with his tea, waiting for grandmaster torches response.
Grandmaster Torch looks at Nyloth with a smile "I do not know what you are referring to young man. Nuar's health is of utmost importance for me and if that would not be the case I would not ask this favor of the Pathfinder Society. You know that your services are not cheap ... even if I pay you with information!"
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An elderly and tall Chelaxian woman with a permanent sneer across her face remains seated for the briefing, not saying a word, sipping the tea going around, long, gnarled fingers curling around the cup. She seems so out of place here, more at home in a library than an adventuring career. Still she sits, leather armor fitting her form perfectly. An expertly crafted whip lay coiled at her waist, an equally fine backpack resting against her chair leg, the initials "V.S." stitched across the top.
Grandmaster Torch, eh? Seems like a foul man...But it would not do to dredge up old painful memories of some past Pathfinder Society mission in front of him. No. Manners must always be adhered to!
"What does the Society know about the Delirium's Tangle?" she says finally, likely startling the others. They might have thought she was simply some foppish diplomat or guide. Har!
When the briefing has concluded she says, wagging a finger, "Apologies then for not introducing myself sooner. Manners! Manners! My name is Hadega Scrimsworth. You might know my late husband, Viktor Scrimsworth, the leatherworker right here in Absalom. I suppose you could say he was a passable craftsman, but how horrid he was at business! A gambler and a cheat! Horrid, I say! And now that he's gone, and left me with not a copper to my name, I had two options: wither away as an old maid with nothing, begging for scraps, or get on with my life and see the world."
Her fingers flick the whip at her side, and it rocks slightly. "I chose the latter."
"Now then, we will need to be clear. I expect the utmost professionalism from every Pathfinder. I am able to aid us all with helpful suggestions and tricks, but you WILL say please. Manners! If you were eating at my table you would ask to be excused, and you would NOT soil the carpet with muddy boots! Do I make myself clear? Good."
Dreng is slightly confused when Hadega Scrimsworth captures the audience with her speech but he remains silent and polite when answering her question.
"To be honest dear Hadega we do not know anything about the maze. It is your task to find out what is going on."
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”awk come on naw Torch, I’ve seen through enough lies across the bench to know you’re withholdin’ evidence”. He says sternly to the scarred man,”I’d hate to find out you were withholding information that could save your friends life, and both your reputations...”
Lucious tries to appeal to the man’s sense of self preservation.
”now I’m sure you’d like to tell us anything else ye might know, after all the more we know, the more we can get your bovine prince.”
Grandmaster Torch is not startled due to Lucious remarks but his smile fades away. Then he looks at Dreng and asks "Are they trustworthy?"
Dreng observes the whole discussion and replies immediately "Yes, of course!"
After a couple of seconds of silence Grandmaster Torch looks at Lucious "I was researching an artifact that might be located in the maze. Nuar offered his support to retrieve the artifact but shortly before going into the maze Nuar started to act strangely and he has not returned, yet. I am worried. And I really do not know anything about the structure of the maze that could provide details on potential dangers."
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”Ah...well then, now that we have the truth of the matter we can be more prepared”, he says as he rubs his hands together excitedly,”so we have a addled Minotaur prince in a maze. I do love a mystery but not one I’m at the center of. We should make sure to be well prepared before we enter this maze. Do ye at least know the entrance?”
"Yes, I can give you a map to find the entrance." Torch says.
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"Well. assuming that map is accurate, it seems like we ought to begin shortly. The longer wait, the less likely we will find our Minotaur in good health."
He then gestures towards his current group of fellow agents.
"Would someone be so kind as to guide us with that map to our destination?"
He then pulls out his walking stick to sweep in front of him.
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"Yes, let us ignite this quest! Pardon me, in my haste I relegated myself to this rudimentary weapon," he holds up a club, "if time permits, I would so like to procure a proper armament. Might there be a readily available morningstar close buy i may purchase? If not, I will make due with this stick..."
You all arrive at the site described on the map and enter the cave that was opened by the earth quake. The cavern opens from a bottleneck into a large, smooth cavern of striated blue stone and pale, sandy floors. The walls glisten with moisture, and a small pool sits on the eastern side of the chamber. All across the area, thick carpets of fungus blanket the stones.
You wandered for 5 hours through the natural maze (which is simply a series of confusing tunnels, caverns, crawlspaces, and so on that surround the maze proper) in search of tracks, signs, or clues of the Minotaur Prince’s path to arrive at the cavern that you are seeing now.
You are a little relieved that after hours of walking through tunnels you have arrived in a more open structure. You move further into the cavern but due to Meux and Inga you know that something could be lurking here and are ready.
Suddenly, you see several bug-like creatures erupt from beneath the sandy surface of the cavern with a strange and bright light emanating from them. You see eggs beneath the ground.
These are Feral Mining Beetles. The beetles usually wait just below the cavern’s surface, guarding their nests from predators. If anything approaches one of the fungal patches or disturbs their pool, they attack. The beetles fight to the death.
Immune mind-affecting effects
A mining beetle’s glowing glands provide light in a 10-foot radius. A dead mining beetle’s luminescent glands continue to glow for 1d6 days after its death.
Meux and Hadega are suprised by the sudden appearance of the bugs but the rest of the group is ready and acts.
INITIATIVE round 0: Suprise
1. Inga, Jinath, Lucious
2. Feral Mining Bugs
3. Nyloth