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"Humpf.. Well.. not very friendly are they?" Ollo says as his hail is ignored. As the arrows begin to fall, he pulls out his own wand and follows suit with everyone else prepping for battle.
Round 1: Wand of Bless
Round 2: Set hammer close at hand, draw bow
Round 3:
Round 4: Cast Burning Disarm on the lead boarder for Reflex DC 12
Pick up hammmer
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Narika has nothing she wants to do in the first two rounds. Round 3, she uses burning hands on the ship (the idea is to keep at least on of them distracted trying to put the fire out; they've already fired on us). Round 4, she uses color spray on the leader and as many others as she can without catching her companions in the spell.
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Ai is correct, you no longer need to steer, but on the bright side Aarion you got some low rolls out of the way. Narika and Ollo the four rounds were for prep, the Captain and her soldiers are still aboard the other ship at the end of round 4 and out of reach of close range spells and melee combat, if you'd like I can take your actions for round 5 though, just let me know.
A few oarsmen chuck their grappling hooks onto The Laughing Crow as their own boat lines up beside it. Pulling in unison they manage to draw both boats close enough for it's soldiers to leap from their deck onto yours the oarsman then scatter below deck.
However even as the boats are drawn along side one another the captain and two of her soldiers pass out on the deck.
Talon
Ai
Captain - Sleep 1/20 Rounds
Soldier 1 - Sleep 1/20 rounds
Soldier 2
Soldier 3 - Sleep 1/20 rounds
Ollo
Aarion
Narika
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Talon holds his ground for a few moments, dark eyes scanning for other threats. When only the oarsman presents himself, he turns and gives his team—and specifically Ai—a thumbs up. "We should bind these men," he says, pointing down at the snoozing captain and guards.
The pleading grabs Talons attention. "We won't harm those who leave us alone." He replies, stepping closer to the man as he lowers his blade, "Tell me. Are you an oarsman by profession? Or slavery?"
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Ollo looks on in abject amazement as Narika and Ai end the battle with a complete lack of bloodshed. Ollo jumps aboard the vessel with Talon, and backs him up as he searches the boat. "Aye lad, lets get these men tied before they awake!" After the crew are secured, he searches the boat while waiting for the captain to wake.
Once the captain wakes up, he marches over and demands to know what is going on.
"Well, ye'll be wise ta tell us why ya just tried ta kill us. Whats yer story?
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"By trade sir!" The nervous oarsman answers Talon. "Just doing out part for Lingshen. We won't cause any trouble!" True to their word the oarsman keep their heads down and stay out of trouble.
When the captain wakes and hears Ollo's inquiry she spits. "Why did we attack you? Perhaps the headless body floating down the river might ring a bell? Or our man on the border patrol who almost drowned? You raised your weapons against Lingshen and ask us why we retaliate? Who are you? Kill me now so I may serve Lingshen in death, being taken captive has no honor!"
She's angry and only barely intimidated by Ollo.
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"Now, look here, there's no reason to be losing your head!"
Ai pauses, looking suddenly thoughtful, the a look of pure mortification spreads across her face. "No. No no no. Bad Tam. This is not the time for that joke." She walks over to the officer from Lingshen and looks for a moment for a way to shake her hand in apology, then gives up and settles for a hug instead. "Ma'am, we are but humble worshipers of Picoperi! Do you have the time to hear the glorious word of Picoperi, Lord of Laughter, Prince of Puns, the Evergleam?" She looks at the captain's currently bound state. "Of course you do."
After nearly an hour of the worst puns imaginable, Ai stops. "Now, as you can see, we were just traveling devotees. All we carried was enough to complete the Telling of Jokes on the Day of Joy, which starts in only a couple of days, but your officer, Sun, wouldn't have any of it. He drew his weapons first, I don't care what he says!"
She looks at the captain, trying her best to look earnest. "We didn't kill you, and you didn't even announce who you were, you just attacked like pirates!"
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"Just doing out part for Lingshen. We won't cause any trouble!”
Talon scowls, ”If the quality of his soldiers is a measure, Lingshen may not deserve such loyalty.” He shrugs, ”But we’re not here to hurt anyone.”
The waking captain gets his attention, and he grimaces as he shakes his head. My friend is right. Twice your men have attacked us. Twice we have left them alive as we could.” He hefts his massive blade menacingly, ”Maybe you would prefer we adopt your tactics, instead?”
Talon looks back at the oarsmen, ”Your captain and her men will be staying with us until our objectives are met. You can follow along, but do so peacefully. When our job is complete, if we’ve experienced no additional hostility, we’ll return everyone to you. Agreed?”
The question is as much for his teammates as for the oarsmen.
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"We fly the flag of our country, who you already acted against. What more did we need to announce?" The captain glares at Ai. "I see at least you're sticking to the same story." She turns to Talon.
"The way our border patrol told it, you wouldn't let him on board to search your goods, then you started casting a spell. Would that stand in your country? What would you have done in their place? Wait for an unknown spell to go off?" She spits again even more agitated than before but says nothing else.
The oarsman agree to steer the boat alongside The Laughing Crow for the duration of your journey. I assume at least one or two of you stay on board to make sure the prisoners are not released.
The next few days of travel are easy, and the oarsman do as they promised, keeping the Hailong moving at a steady pace. The party lands in Shokuro where they rendezvous with a Pathfinder Society contact who is waiting to receive them.
"I have separate orders for Aarion." She says, "He is to accompany me to handle the prisoners, the rest of you may rest here for a while but then you must press on to Nesting Swallow."
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Ollo shakes his head as he reminisces of the terrible troubles they seem to be falling into, before changing tactics. "Lass, I can see yer point, but yer men acted against us first, tryin ta force their way onta our boat. Twas all a misunderstandin from tha first. Now, ma'am, We have once again encountered force, and met it with as little blood as could be. What will yer actions from here be?"
Ollo is truly attempting to build a rapport with the woman, and no matter her response, will make sure the prisoners are held honorably, with adequate food, water, and basic needs attended to.
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"I'm ok with forcing your way onto the boat. Hell, I'm even ok with scrupulous attempts at strong armed taxation. What I'm not ok with, is the fact that your men attempted to murder one of our group without just cause. In addition to that, I'm not ok with you and your crew firing on our boat without an attempt to investigate the B.S. claims of your man. We where compliant up until you and your people presented life ending threat. At that point, you have a fight on your hands. Next time you decided to assault someone without cause, Bring more men!"
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"Maybe you don't trust each other wherever you foreigners are from, but we received the same report from two separate men who had no time to corroborate, and a third when we recovered our man left unconscious on the river bank so perhaps it's you who should do some investigation, perhaps into your own morales."
The captain spits one last time and refuses to speak for the rest of the journey. One brave oarsman suggests that the honorable thing to do would be to kill them, so they may be remade into terracotta warriors to protect their country in the afterlife.
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The party says their farewells to Aarion as he escorts their Pathfinder contact, and their prisoners to wherever it is they'll be held. With Lingshen behind you, the next few days at the local village you docked at are quite pleasant. The nation of Shokuro is led by a benevolent dictator and it's a nice change of pace from being constantly in danger along the river.
It's on the final day of rest that a fledgling pathfinder, Tynat n'Tynata appears abruptly in Ollo's temporary living quarters. Having been sent in a similar fashion as the rest of you by the master of scrolls to aid you on the last leg of the quest.
It's a few days travel to the Town of Nesting Swallow, where you will finally rendezvous with the last living ancestor that can activate the Braid of a Hundred Masters.
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Ollo meets Aarion in the barroom the night before he leaves and joins him for their final drink and meal. "Lad, its been good knowing ye. We'll miss yer sure arm and good head. I pray Torags grace on ye and yer travels!" the dwarf says, lifting his mug high in the inquisitors direction before emptying it in one long drought. The rest of the night passes swiftly and thirstily, and the next morning, Ollo is barely opening his bleary eyes to the light of the sun when suddenly his view is filled with the rather disconcerting sight of a strange little dark skinned man peering at him.
He jumps from bed.. and lands flat on his face as he tries to grab for his hammer in alarm. He rolls over and growls "Who're ye?! What'r ya doing in me room??"
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Tynat is puzzled by the dwarf's actions, but assumes they are merely the strange ways of a strange people. He also flops to the floor lays down next to Ollo, in an attempt to fit in with his new comrade.
"Tynat is Tynat. Sent via scroll by surly orc to serve in stead of departed inquisitor."
He stares at the prone dwarf with wide pure white eyes, and fidgets restlessly.
"Can Tynat get up? His pouches are packed with precious potions and powders, and he would prefer not to press them flat like pancakes. "
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Ollo sputters and blusters for a minute before finally getting his bearings. The little mans words finally work through his sleep fogged brain and he manages to get up off of the floor. "Er, yes. Get up.. as ya wish. Tynat, ya said? Replacement fer Aarion, huh? Well.. Lets go meet tha rest o' tha group then.." Ollo grabs his gear and heads to round up the rest of the party.
must be that damned Crain again... he mutters to himself.
"Crain strikes again! He dropped this little man in my room as a wakeup.. Im guessin' it means time ta go.." he says by way of introduction for Tynat.
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Ai listens to Ollo's introduction, looking quizzically at Tynat as she messes with her hair, twisting it back and forth between her fingers. Halfway through, she crosses her eyes, then bugs them out as best she can before offering an enthusiastic handshake to the little man.
"Hi, I'm Ai! Most itinerant priestess of Picoperi, just like my mother and father!" She pauses, looking at Tynat with sudden concern. "You...have heard of Picoperi? The Lord of Laughter, Prince of Puns, Master of Merryment? If not, do you have a moment to listen to the wise words of Picoperi?"
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Tynat follows Ollo, doing his best to stick to the shadows in the corner of the room.
A tiny, twitchy, pixie like creature, Tynat has skin and hair black as night, but bone white eyes shining intently out of his oddly childlike face.
Wearing patched and tarnished chain armor, and covered head to toe in various pouches, pockets, satchels, bags, tools, and vials, he looks like a walking junk drawer, and smells faintly of sulfur, smoke and assorted solvents.
He tilts his head quizzically at the mention of Picoperi
but noticing the oh so slight grimace on the sorceress' face, simply says
"Tynat has heard. Yes. Definitely has heard the word."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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After initial introductions, it turns out the party will have significant time to get to know their newest companion, as the town of Nesting Swallow is not in fact a 'few days' travel, but a few weeks.
Tedium has become a constant companion in the countryside of Shokuro. The roads have dwindled in size and maintenance as the days have passed; what was a wide, stone-paved highway near the river towns has become a narrow, winding track of dust, sometimes fading entirely into the surrounding terrain. Travelers along it have likewise grown scarce as the days drone on. Still, the journey’s end lies no more than a few hours travel away, in a hamlet so small it could easily vanish into a crease on a map. No more than a few more miles through these sparsely wooded hills and valleys rests the last known home of Master Li Yao, and here, with luck, his descendant still lives. In this speck of farmland may be found one who can, by right of blood, bring forth the forgotten power of the Braid of a Hundred Masters.
Cresting a rise, the trail winds its way up a small hillock that overlooks a large valley beyond. Not far from the hill, a dead mule and overturned cart lie in the middle of the road, two cloaked figures rummaging through the spilled contents of the cart while making disapproving cawing noises to a pair of similarly dressed riders on horseback. Two other horses stand on the side of the road, presumably mounts for the two on foot. The mounted figures loom over a half-dozen shabbily dressed peasants. One of the riders urges his horse forward and makes a threatening slash at the face of a man trying to shield several children behind him.
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Tynat has a wonderful time on the trip through the idyllic countryside. He learns more about the bizarre habits of dwarves, and finds he actually quite enjoys the constant jackanapery of Ai despite the strained looks she sometimes elicits from the others.
As the group comes over the hill, he is humming contentedly to himself, and fiddling with a series of tiny glass beakers, mixing various powders and liquids, creating the occasional glow of colored light or puff of smoke.
He glances up at the commotion below, and seeming almost to not even take notice of the ominous scene he goes on humming and fiddling with his gear. He puts away his tiny chemistry set, packing it carefully into a padded leather pouch. Then he roles up his sleeves and begins toying with the small clockwork devices strapped to his wrists, lodging a small sealed glass vial into each.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Ollo takes the time along this extended trip to get to know his sudden visitor. Not wanting first impressions to last, he gladly fills the hours with tales of his mountain home and the exploits of his fathers fathers fathers father. He groans and moans as Ai constantly drops puns and bad jokes, but in all reality, the woman has certainly grown on him. In fact, the absence of their companion Aarion has forced the surely dwarf to accept a fact he had been ignoring.. the group has become dear to him, indeed. Looking over their familiar faces across the nightly campfires, and as they march too and fro through the bleak countryside, his seems to have found a kinship with this disparate group he did not expect.
And just as unexpected, he curses gruffly as he sees the bandits accosting the peasants. "By all the gods! Torags wrath'll be felt here!!" he cries out, watching the mounted figure move towards the children. He draws his wand of Bless and taps himself with it before stowing it away again.
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Narika uses her wand of Mage Armor as soon as she sees trouble ahead. She is furious at seeing the suffering of innocents. Her hands involuntarily start tracing the scars around her wrists. She longs to rush in to stop things, but she waits a little to let one of her stronger companions approach first.
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Talon is standoffish to the new little guy, but it becomes clear over the journey that its more due to the young Kellid’s own nature than anything to do with the new Pathfinder.
As they crest the rise, and the situation with the cowled “men” and the peasants presents itself, Talon scowls down, squinting to make out the details. ”What is this?”
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As far as you can tell Talon these men don't seem to be any formal authority that you've seen. Though similarly dressed, the cloaked figures are not in any uniform that you recognize.
As the party looks on the rider that threatened the man and his children shouts loud enough for you to hear him.
"Trying to leave early? Fine, go, but it costs you. Silver, gold, turn it over!"
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Tynat nods at Ollo, smiling widely.
"Tynat is a top notch teacher!"
He is visibly excited as his group heads down the path on their way to confront the cloaked ruffians, practically bouncing up and down as he follows Ollo. He drops a handful of arrows to his quiver on his belt, and unslings his longbow from across his back.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Partially due to their interest in the villagers and partially because the cart blocks their view, the party makes their way toward the bandits and get quite close before they're noticed.
By the time the party is close enough to notice that all of the bandits are Tengu they are finally spotted and their enemies rush to attack, though they are unprepared.
Bandits - (Surprised)
Ai
Talon
Ollo
Narika
Tynat
You may all act in this surprise round. 1 Move Action 1 Standard action
Map has been updated, yes, that's right, our map is in use again! (PFS Maps in my header)