This game is part of the Play-by-Post Gameday 4 (http://pbpgameday.com/) and will begin on November 5th, 2015 and run no later than December 20th, 2015.
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A Kelish man with rigid posture enters the room. His comportment is not haughty, just self-disciplined. His facial hair and dress are those of a native of Sothis, though he pulls it off well. He wears the trappings of the Dawnflower. They are of fine make, but bear a touch of bleeching from the sun. At his hip is a scimitar held in an old leather scabbard. The scabbard has numerous nicks and stains on it, a strange contrast to the rest of his gear. His armor and shield are polished to a mirror-like finish. When he bows in greeting it is low and genuine. "Salom and salutations. I am Sareth Manudea, a High Priest of Sarenrae."
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A large man of Ulfin lineage enters the lodge. He is not a pretty sight.. He wears a nicked up, dingy breastplate and carries a backpack full adventure gears.. He carries a wicked looking falchion across his back and his skin shows the signs of numerous wounds, scars and burn marks. It also appears that he has not had a bath in quite some time as he brings a fowl stench into the room with him. He gives a nod to Sareth before taking a seat and pulling a cork from a whiskey bottle.. The chairs creaks under his immense bulk of muscle..
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A good looking aasimar enters in the room. He also carries a backpack, but it not look enough for all he carries. Two armors and a shield had been tied as good as he can to the backpack, and he carries enough weapons to arm a small squad.
Hello Roary. How´s been all since our trip to the hidden valley?
Hello Sareth.
You and a host of fellow Pathfinders have assembled on the grounds of the Grand Lodge in Absalom in anticipation of the annual Grand Convocation — an event to commemorate recent discoveries, to celebrate noteworthy achievements, and to mingle and network with your fellow field agents and the Society's Venture-Captains.
In the midst of you meeting and getting acquainted (and reacquainted, as applicable) with each other, Master of Swords Marcos Farabellus strides up to the large crowd and claps his hands together for attention. Welcome Pathfinders, one and all! And welcome to our traveling venture-captains stationed abroad as well our honored guests! I am Marcos Farabellus, and on behalf of the Decemvirate, I welcome you to the Pathfinder Society's annual Grand Convocation! He acknowledges the applause that follows with his characteristic grin. I shall address all of the attendees later this afternoon to announce some of the Society's greatest accomplishments over the past year and our plans for the future. In the meantime, I invite you to stroll about the campus, meet with your peers, and enjoy all the sites of the Grand Lodge. We have set up numerous challenges and contests so that you can show off your skills or sharpen them if need be. I'll send around ushers when it's time to assemble for the speeches on the north lawn. Enjoy!
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Kalendir slings his bow onto his thick pack.
So many Pathfinders in one place. This is amazing. I had not realized that there were ever this many around the world.
I have nothing to prove, but I will take part in the activities they have provided. it is not often i get to return to the Grand Lodge after all.
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As Kalendir finishes speaking, his last word is interrupted by a feeble trumpet blast as a wizened man garbed in fancy but faded clothes rigidly tucks said trumpet under his left arm as his right pulls out a roll of parchment. With a great flourish, he unrolls it and clears his throat. In a reedy voice, he calls out, Presenting...*ahem*...the honorable and illustrious...Viscount Rosham Bowe...the *ahem* Wellborne. He then rerolls the parchment and stands unflinchingly as a solidly-built Taldan male, about five-foot-eight with shoulder-length dark hair, steps forward. The Taldan wears a meticulously-maintained russet colored braidcoat and flowing black breeches with ankle-high black boots. You can spot a glistening chain shirt beneath his coat and an ornate blue sash about his waist, with a broad, curved blade, fashioned of some black metal and bearing a hilt in the shape of a roaring lion's head.
He waves at the old man dismissively. Yes, yes. That will be all, Pryor. He glares at each of you, periodically glancing at a note in his hand.
You must be Sareth, Sarenrae's stooge. Hmpf. With your fellow devout, Kalendir, lackey to Erastil. Mmm-hmm. He turns to Artian. And this must be Artian, oracle of something or another. Divine caster, they say. With an exasperated eye roll, he moves on. Pandora. At least you can cast real spells, unlike these three. Still...a bard. Ugh. He says nothing at all to Merisiel, only a curt nod. He finishes with Roary, at whom he simply shakes his head. They'll let anyone into the Sovereign Court these days, it seems.
He looks once more at the note, grimaces, and tucks it away in a pouch. Fine. May I start by saying how thrilled we are to have you here. We are such fans of your endeavors. I'm not speaking of YOUR endeavors personally, of course. No. Nor am I saying that *I'm* a fan, necessarily. I don't know any of you, frankly. More a figure of speech. But generically, the whole Pathfinder field agent thing. Good times. He looks about the grounds of the Grand Lodge, sighs heavily, and continues. I suppose I'd best show you about. We can get inside. Look around. Get it over with. And then move on with my life, while you lot return to your...relatively intolerable ones. Right, then. Off we go.
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Sareth's seems unimpressed. "a friend of mine went on a mission with him once. It was a wedding of all things... sometimes the Venture officers are inscrutable."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Pandora looks around the Lodge with satisfaction eyes Home, sweet home again
She strolls among a group of Pathfinders greeting everybody as the big Taldan man arrives.
"Well, I would enjoy to play some song somewhere, it has been a time since I had the opportunity to make something creative" she looks with charming eyes at the Taldan "But of course we might better look for a pedestal if you with my lord" adding a formal bow to the statement.
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Pompous and arrogant. It looks there must be one of these always
Yes, yes. We will look around and get over it. But pleas, everybody, don´t lower your guard. Sometimes problems arise when less expected
Artian looks around slightly worried. Bad mermories come to him as he remember the last time he saw the lodge so full of people. It started very similar to this, with more guests but all were laughs and bragging about your successes. At least until someone screw the laboratory, then all go worse and worse. And finally we lost him.
Sareth, if you go for a drink I´ll follow you. I´ll raise a cup for
a former agent.
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The Viscount takes about three steps, turns, and points to the grounds of the Grand Lodge. They're over there, he says before leaving in a huff.
There are several contests to test a variety of skills and class abilities, a way to test your skills against (and generate bragging rights among) your fellow field agents. There are "prizes" for success.
Courtesy of the esteemed Venture-Lieutenant of Nashua, NH, we have a graphic to help illustrate the contests.
- ANIMAL TAMING
Relevant Skills: Handle Animal, Intimidate, or wild empathy
CHALLENGE DETAILS: Staged at the menagerie and training area on the grounds, a PC demonstrates her skill at handling and taming unusual creatures from all over the Inner Sea. The more experienced the field agent, the more exotic the beasts. - BOASTING/STORYTELLING
Relevant Skills: Bluff or any Perform
CHALLENGE DETAILS: Near the temporary structures west of the front gates, a large "talking circle" has been marked out on the grounds. There is limited seating but plenty of comfortable spots on the lawn. Pathfinders compete to tell the best story. Complete accuracy is optional if the tale is funny or entertaining enough. Experienced Pathfinders are expected to have grander tales. Music or dance is just as welcome if incorporated in the narrative. - LORE SYMPOSIUM
Relevant Skills: Linguistics or any Knowledge
CHALLENGE DETAILS: This forum is conducted in an outdoor lecture area in the Quadrangle. Agents do not literally compete in this event, but a meaningful contribution to the panel discussion garners attention and accolades from fellow scholars. - OBSTACLE COURSE
Relevant Skills: Acrobatics or Dexterity
CHALLENGE DETAILS: An obstacle course designed to test agility is set up near the training grounds, where Pathfinders compete in a timed trial to be the quickest one through the course. A large chalkboard lists the best times and participants. - SLEUTHING
Relevant Skills: Heal, Perception, or Survival
CHALLENGE DETAILS: This event is hosted in a lecture hall in one of the eastern outbuildings, where several agents have set up a fake crime scene. An audience watches as a blindfolded Pathfinder is led into the middle of the scene. He then can remove his blindfold and has two minutes in which to examine the scene before replacing the blindfold. He then must describe from memory all of the clues and forensic evidence that he noticed to an audience and event organizer. - TRAP MASTERY
Relevant Skills: Craft (traps) or Disable Device
CHALLENGE DETAILS: This competition is staged within a spare room of the Mausoleum. Tables are laden with boxes, chests, cutaway sections of door handles, empty sarcophagi, and other
common places where traps are concealed. Pathfinders know a trap is present and must disarm it with a time limit (taking 10 and 20 is disallowed). Alternatively, agents can also create or modify a trap to confound their comrades for credit. All of the traps are nonlethal. - WEIGHT LIFTING
Relevant Skill: Strength
CHALLENGE DETAILS: Pathfinders compete by seeing who can lift the heaviest weights. Gnomes, halflings, and other Small participants may opt for a handicap, and experienced agents are
expected to be mightier than the newer recruits.
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Kalendir wanders around the grounds for a short period as he watches each of the events. As he sees so many of the new recruits failing the obstacles course, he sighs.
Striding in Kalendir shows them all how to complete it with ease as he ducks and leaps at just the right moments and with elven grace.
Kalendir wanders around the grounds for a short period as he watches each of the events. As he sees so many of the new recruits failing the obstacles course, he sighs.
Striding in Kalendir shows them all how to complete it with ease as he ducks and leaps at just the right moments and with elven grace.
Acrobatics: 24
With mastery of grace (and not a small bit of style), Kalendir executes textbook flips and demonstrates agile footwork, making it through the course in record time. A cheer erupts as his name is chalked in atop the leader board!
Kalendir gains a +2 competence bonus on one Dexterity-based skill check attempted during this scenario.
Sareth finishes his pint watching Kalendir's performance. With a smile he heads over to SLEUTHING, hoping his skills as a healer do him justice.
Heal: 26
Sareth takes his time, using nearly the full two allotted minutes, before correctly concluding that the butler did, indeed, do it. There is polite applause and some murmurs of appreciation at his effort.
Sareth gains a +2 competence bonus on one Heal, Perception, or Survival check attempted during this scenario.
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Pandora approaches the storytelling contest and performs a tale about how Aram Zey fought an army of ducks and was countered by the master duck sorcerer ball of flowers which gave him that mannerism of him ever since.
The woman shows herself shameless and charming while trying to convey reality to the fantasy tale at the time of comedy with all sorts of funny details of the encounter.
Knowing he´s not a very skilled man, not even a medium skilled, Artian moves to the weight liftng arena to contest for a prize.
Let´s see how much I can lift without magic
Strengh check 21
Artian rubs his hands together and does a clean lift, moving a brick wall over a few feet.
Pandora approaches the storytelling contest and performs a tale about how Aram Zey fought an army of ducks and was countered by the master duck sorcerer ball of flowers which gave him that mannerism of him ever since.
The woman shows herself shameless and charming while trying to convey reality to the fantasy tale at the time of comedy with all sorts of funny details of the encounter.
Bluff 28
The crowd buzzes with reaction to Pandora's tale, clearly impressed, with many remarking that "they didn't know that about Master Zey" but that "it makes perfect sense" that it was the start of his Duck Dynasty.
Merisiel will try her hand at the trap mastery.
disable device 18
Merisiel goes in overconfident and makes a careless mistake as a result. She cannot seem to get the trap disabled before the timer goes off, whereupon a banana cream pie is launched directly into her face! The elf slinks off to merry laughter around her.
With their successes and accompanying renown, Kalendir, Sareth, Artian, and Pandora each overhear some rumors about the Grand Lodge as fellow Pathfinders come up to congratulate them.
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Pandora tries to cheer up Merisiel when they gather up "That was close Merisiel, if those people were not shouting around I am sure that would have worked" she makes then an elven symbol that means 'I am here for whatever you need'.
"I have heard that Lord Omrys of House Ahnkamen has succeeded for the district guard to keep an eye to the Lodge surroundings for the next week. But I feel as the Decemvirate it should be ok. It will be horrible to fail the city and they to see the Society as trouble in Absalom" the woman says with calm voice.
"I will be attending now to the Quadrangle. I wish to know what are the latest discoveries" and so she shares her latest discoveries about an cult of nobles adoring Shax and a door into Charnelhome she recently found in Cheliax.
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It´s interesting what you have heard, Sareth. I´ve been told <<Master of Spells Aram Zey was slated to deliver the keynote address but begged out of the privilege, citing his general dislike and disdain for the Grand Convocation as a colossal waste of time and expense. Marcos Farabellus, Master of Swords, volunteered to take his place>>.
I don´t have a good suposition to why Aram Zey will want to go out when so many important people want to attend the Grand Convocation.
Seeing how Pandora goes to the Quadrangle, Artian thinks it will be a good idea to see if he can pass another test.
Moving toward the lecture hall, he goes to see if he will serve as a detective. Something he doubts.
Roary will try the lifting obviously.. He gives the weights a good look and then tries the heaviest one.. His muscles bulge as he lets an Ulfen War Scream fill the air as he attempts to heft it..
Lift 26
Roary effortlessly shoves the boulder aside and takes his place atop the Pathfinder Mid-Range leaderboard!
As Roary walks away, he overhears someone mention that this year's keynote address is allegedly about the artifact discovered in Jormurdun, the Sky Key, which has supposedly been moved to a strange chamber with no corners along the exterior walls, floor, and ceiling. This is to help shield it from strange otherworldly entities.
Pandora tries to cheer up Merisiel when they gather up "That was close Merisiel, if those people were not shouting around I am sure that would have worked" she makes then an elven symbol that means 'I am here for whatever you need'.
"I have heard that Lord Omrys of House Ahnkamen has succeeded for the district guard to keep an eye to the Lodge surroundings for the next week. But I feel as the Decemvirate it should be ok. It will be horrible to fail the city and they to see the Society as trouble in Absalom" the woman says with calm voice.
"I will be attending now to the Quadrangle. I wish to know what are the latest discoveries" and so she shares her latest discoveries about an cult of nobles adoring Shax and a door into Charnelhome she recently found in Cheliax.
K. religion+Friend of Janira Gavix (Confirmation boon) 20
Pandora's revelations do not appear to catch the attention of the crowd this time. Is it the reference to Shax or to Cheliax that people find more distasteful? Hard to tell.
Seeing how Pandora goes to the Quadrangle, Artian thinks it will be a good idea to see if he can pass another test.
Moving toward the lecture hall, he goes to see if he will serve as a detective. Something he doubts.
Perception 22
In a different scenario than that which Sareth had, Artian investigates fully and, just as his two minutes run out, he points out Waldo! The crowd appreciates the dramatic finish.
Artian also hears a couple talking about the Menagerie; the budget to maintain it has been temporarily expanded for the Grand Convocation. The Grand Lodge is capitalizing on the large number of visitors to present as many unusual specimens as possible.
After her disappointing luck at the trap mastery. Merisiel will instead go overto the obstacle course.
Acrobatics 21
Merisiel almost finishes the course flawlessly, but at the last minute is distracted by the invitation to the north lawn for the keynote speech and trips up. As the crowd had already begun to move that direction, few notice her mistake.
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Wow! Not them, neither I expected this result.
Artian goes to offer some comfort to Merisiel. It looks today is not your day. Don´t worry about that, surely it will go better from here
Then he remembers he want to be prepared if everything screws up and recharges his blood reservoir, and even takes some seconds to cure his damage and cast magic vestmen in his armor.
Guys I hear the budget to maintain the menagerie has been temporarily expanded for the Grand Convocation. The Grand Lodge is capitalizing on the large number of visitors to present as many unusual specimens as possible.
If we have time we can go to see all is right... I mean, if there´s any specimen not saw by us yet
The beauty of the Grand Lodge's well-manicured grounds is shattered by the sounds of shouts and screams from panicked initiates, support staff, and visitors. Frightened innocents trip over hedges and stumble through fountains and pools in an effort to get to safety by the most direct means possible, especially when the landscaping otherwise leads them to certain peril.
As you race toward the Menagerie, you see a shadow blot out the overhead sun. Looking up, you witness a gigantic, two-headed vulture with greasy, night-black wings and and sharp talons, as it swoops down and screeches at you! The beast is currently 20 feet in the air.
Init repost
Sareth — up
Pandora — up
Artian — up
Kalendir — up
baddie — TBD
Merisiel — TBD
Roary — TBD
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As the chaos begins, Pandora starts singing inspiring her companions.
She then casts a spell on herself looking for true heroism of her time.
"A Rukh?!!! What is that monster doing here?! Attention to its beak, it can swallow you whole!" shouts the woman as she places an arrow into her bow.