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Eadie ponders the party’s options. “Lhug, are you going to drink your potion of haste just before those things get here? Gotta say, I don’t like the sound of them – I’m thinking undead.”
“Should Woody use the gem of brightness to cause some havoc?”
“Lore, could you please tap us with protection from evil from that wand we found?”
“Dassah, did you find any magic or weapons amongst the corpses?”
Eadie draws and consumes her antiplague before raising her enchanted falchion, dripping oil onto the Folly’s dusty floor. The lowly shortish fighter finishes her preparation with a fist bump for each of her companions as she takes her position as directed by the Dragon.
In a calm voice she says simply. “Let’s do this.”
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Lhug and Eadie see a band of barbarians from Linnoriam coming across the bridge. There are four men and one lady. One of the men is the obvious leader of the group. He walks with a great sword leaning on his shoulder. Upon seeing the Pathfinders, the man becomes enraged.
I demand to you know who you are and why are you stealing my treasure?!?
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"THey don't look friendly, that's for sure... I have a bad feeling about this."
If possible, Lore readies to cast a spell. Ready trigger: if any hostile action is taken (moving toward us with a drawn weapon, the casting of a spell, that sort of thing).
She speaks loud enough for the other party to hear her: "What makes this YOUR treasure, if we found it first?"
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Eadie flips up her visor and casually drops her falchion onto her shoulder as she speaks. “Yeah, it seems all I’ve done for the last coupla missions is kill people. Making friends would be a swell change of pace!”
She’s warming up now … “I mean there’s so much violence in the Inner Sea these days – and for what reason, huh?”
“The Shoanti hate the Chelaxians, the Chelaxians hate the Taldans, the Taldans hate Sarenrae (this week anyway) And like, what is their problem? How can you hate the Dawnflower for goodness sake!!”
In Eadie's opinion ... “Most of it’s just ignorance anyway. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
“Even in our own little group, I get the impression that Lhug hates how I talk so much, and I really, really brussel sprouts! (Seriously, *blech*)”
She flips her visor back down as she concludes “So mighty Yjalk (cool name by the way), maybe we can work something out for the mutual benefit of both parties, yeah? we could just get it on. *shrugs* Just let us know what you want to do.”
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Yjalk, considers the words of the pathfinders. It is not just any treasure that Iam looking for. I seek a great weapon to help me battle a linnorm. Wanton violence is not what I seek. Perhaps you have found something that would help in a battle against a linnorm The chieftain relaxes his hold on his great sword but still looks edgy.
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Eadie rambles on in a friendly manner. “Linnorms huh? Wow! You guys are a long way from home.”
“We’re looking for knowledge – specifically the location of someone called the Diamond Sage and her magic gems – not for their value as money or whatever – but as repositories of knowledge.”
Eadie frowns under her face-piece as she thinks back to the ‘living’ gem on the obelisk. Maybe that’s what that gem with eyes I saw on the obelisk was? I’ll have to check later.
She snaps out of her daydream. “Anyway, if you’re after linnorm-bane weaponry it doesn’t sound like our goals conflict … I will say the best way I’ve found to overcome a tough foe is with perseverance and faith in your team mates, to each bring something special to the task at hand. Might just be me …”
She *shrugs* “Maybe there’s something in this chamber to help with your quest?”
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Lore tugs on Eadie's arm gently and shakes her head slightly. "Defeating a LInnnorm is supposed to be a solitary action, not depending on a team. I heard it has to be a solo kill, or you cannot become a Linnorm King by doing so. Unless of course that is not Yjalk's goal." She lofts her brow curiously and looks at the chieftain, wondering if he plans to find this Linnorm-bane item in order to become a king or not.
"Eadie is right.. our goals are quite different and we have, on the surface, no claim to whatever it is that you seek here. Perhaps we can help each other, which would work in both our favors."
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Eadie’s brow furrows as she tries to take in what her friend is saying. “So you’re saying Yjalk here is gonna go one-on-one with a Linnorm?!? Wow!”
She shakes her head in admiration at the gnome's depth of knowledge. “How do you remember all this stuff, Lore?”
Hmm … so big, ripped dude here kills a primordial dragon and before you can say ‘Queen Ileosa’ … insta-king! How cool is that?
Wait, wait … that means his missus would become a …
Eadie glances sharply down at Lore and whispers fiercely to her “I saw him first!”
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Eadie thinks back to the lessons she learnt in Godsday School back in Korvosa.
Archbanker Tuttle always said, ‘It makes sense to grease the wheels of industry.’
Eadie's tone is apologetic. “Uh, Yjalk and co? Just talk amongst yourselves for a bit. I need to make a pitch to the board and maybe do a quick stocktake.”
In a conspiratorial tone to her companions. “We’d probably kick his ass – but he doesn’t know that. He does seem to be subject to a time constraint. Maybe we offer him the gem of brightness, wand of protection from evil and the potion of haste to go away? The gem in particular is a pretty good weapon. What do you all think?”
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"That's very civilized, but my NaiNai gave me that gem of brightness for my half birthday and I'm the sentimental type. Why not challenge him to single combat and who yields leaves the ruin for an hour. I would challenge him, but I'm thinking that's Eadie's thing," making motions in the air with two fingers from both hands.
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Lore stamps her little foot in frustration. "Stop it, you guys. We have a chance to settle this without bloodshed and you two are bristling for a fight!"
She turns to Yjalk and reiterates her stand. "Let's work together and avoid a fight, shall we? You can seek out your Linnorm-bane item while we collect what we came for, eh?"
She gives Eadie and Lugh a little glare out from under furrowed brows, daring either of them to start a fight now. Despite her calm words, her hands are balled in little white-knuckled, angry fists. She takes a deep breath to calm herself and tries to relax a little.
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It has been a long time since Eadie has been scolded in this manner. Indeed the last time was just before her Aunt Alix was summoned to the First Vault.
I deserved that. It wouldn’t hurt you to be a little more considerate, my girl.
She hangs her head and traces flaming angel patterns in the dusty floor with the toe of her right foot while she waits to see what unfolds.
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Hefting the sacks of gold crowns collected onto his camel, Lhug sighs loudly, "Who would have thought those northerners were filled with coins! When they exploded like pinatas and the coins scattered, I thought it was some kind of trick. No wonder the Wyrms attack them so often! Good thing we didnt listen to Lore, we can all retire off this bounty! "
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Lore sighs and steps forward, removing her necklace. She offers Yjalk her necklace of fireballs, explaining to him, "You throw each one and it explodes in a fireball, which does damage to everything in the area, and extra damage against ice creatures, so might be really handy against a linnorm, softening it up for a final blow from you."
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The young guild thief leaned back on his barstool, "You think that's patience? My grandfather, Lhug the Kingmaker as he was known, said he once waited a month in a chamber waiting for his opponent to even speak! Only to then wait some more! Can you believe it? He took this +5 Vorpal Blade from their leader after they died from thirst. Fortunately, my paw-paw always carried *plenty* of liquids! "
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“Pashaw! That t’ain’t nuthin.”
A short, well-muscled youth wearing the rough, woollen garb of a farmer arranges seven piles of Harrow cards on the table in front of him, as part of a game he is playing by himself. His nose and mouth are wide-set and his hair is a dirty blonde color. As he looks up you notice how striking his sapphire blue eyes are.
“My great Nai-Nai was a famous Pathfinder! Her second fiancé was a huscarl, who said he wouldn’t marry a girl as smart and beautiful as she was until he’d slain a linnorm and made her a queen! She waited a decade for him. That’s twenty years mind! Talk about patience.”
“Sadly, while she was waiting she somehow got herself killed on a mission for them Pathfinderers ...”
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Eadier and Lhug help Lore offer some items to Yjalk. The northern hero is thankful that this ended without bloodshed. He takes the items, convinced, that it will help him slay his dragon when the time comes.
Moments after the Ulfen leave the room and walk back across the bridge, the Pathfinders start to explore the room and try to find the sage jewels.
Suddenly, room trembles, the brazier in the center of the table ignites with emerald fire. The
spectral rises from the flames to attack. The monster, a malignant cloud of shadows boils in the air, its skeletal maw eerily babbling as the creature's claws manifest from the darkness.
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Dassah begins a whirling dance familiar to all her friends and *casts* allegro for the final time today.
Do I know what that shadowy thing is?
If so, Dassah will cry out the thing's name to the party along with any special defensive abilities (DR, any resistance to an energy type) and special attacks.
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Dassah and Lore share a few quick thoughts about the monster. Dassah is sure that this is an Allip. This undead creature is usually brought to its state by some type of madness. However, this allip seems to be unusually connected to the pieces of the Ruby Shard.
Lore's flames dart across the room, missing the shadowy creature. Hadassah casts her spell...
Meanwhile the Allip screams in terror and horror.
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Lhug recounts later to a young woman who is drunker than she should be: "After I nearly cut the Wraith Lord of the Arid Wastes in half with a skillful slash from my katana, Woody shouts, "All praise the Freshmaker!" and emenates a wave of hypocrisy that drove the spirit back," squeezing the outsider's shoulder a little too hard in his alcohol fueled stupor of comraderie. "Unfortunately, Lore's fire was deflected by some powerful magical force. Oh, and Eadie was there too. She put on sun screen oil or something..."
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Lhug explodes through the shadowy figure, his Katana singing through the air like a whistle. The allip doesn't move figuring to be safe from the Dragon's strike. It is only a moment later that it realizes the mistake is going to be a costly one!
All is not lost, until Fleetwood finishes off the monster with holy light.
The room again falls to silence. This time for good!
Someone, likely Eadie or Lore, are wise enough to use the sending stone to contact Amenopheus.
He arrives on the scene about an hour later. He laments that this is indeed the sage jewel and that is indeed broken. After talking with Fleetwood and Lore he realizes that there is still some magic left in the shards. It may contain several of the Ruby Sage's memories.
Amenopheus uses his magic to contact the spirit of the Ruby Sage, who briefly animates her nearby corpse (one of the three dead around the table) and restores it to how she must have appeared in life. She thanks you all for putting her colleague’s spirit to rest and can explain the events that led to her death—the same events that led to her sage jewel’s near-destruction.
Through the gem, she has maintained a limited degree of awareness, and she also related that until only day before, the topaz and emerald jewels sat on this table alongside her. When the thief handled one of her shards, she was able to read his thoughts before he discarded the fragment and fled. She identifies the thief as a man named Kafar, who had intentions of delivering the jewels to the Diamond Sage in a region known as the Pillars of the Sun. It is there that the Jeweled Sages’ built their sanctum, but it strikes both her and Amenopheus as odd that the Diamond Sage would collect the gems there instead of finding new candidates to become sages elsewhere in Osirion. Amenopheus voices his concern that the Diamond Sage’s actions are not typical for the order, and he is dismayed that the jewels may be in the hands of known enemies of the Pathfinder Society.
Sharing her fellow sage’s concern, the Ruby Sage offers her power—mythic power—to the Pathfinders if they are willing to chase down the thief Kafar, reclaim the stolen jewels, and find the Diamond Sage to learn what she intends. With that said, her corpse slumps and returns to its desiccated form.
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Mythic Player Handout
Mythic Player Handout Part 2
The pathfinders have a few hours to explore their new powers. It takes a bit of time to get accustomed to your new extraordinary powers.
The growing light of predawn filters in through a window of the two-story building that Amenopheus has rented in Eto, and the aging Garundi man takes a seat on one of the cushions set out for this meeting. He produces a sealed letter from his robe, placing it in the middle of the floor before speaking.
Good morning, Pathfinders. As you know, we have had our share of setbacks recently. Not only have the emerald and topaz gems sacred to my order slipped through our fingers, but we also faced the frustration of finding nothing but fragments of the once great ruby. Thankfully, its power is not lost entirely, and through the Ruby Sage’s blessing, it lives on in you. I am thankful that you have agreed to act on her behalf and see this through to the end.
As we speak, the scoundrels who seized the two gems cross the Pillars of the Sun to meet their employer, the cryptic Diamond Sage. He sighs heavily. What she intends to do with the gems is a mystery, but the sage jewels are too important for me to take risks with. If the power that you wield is representative of a shattered jewel’s potential, imagine what one might accomplish with three undamaged stones! Until we know what her plans are, it is paramount that we get to the jewels first.
Kafar and Nefti have a rudimentary map of the Pillars of the Sun, and last night I found a bartender who spotted them poring over it between drinks. She recalled little of the map,
and she could not make sense of the marks or annotations; however, the right spells have allowed me to probe her mind and determine Kafar and Nefti’s entry point into the mountains. We will follow them from there. With a somewhat chagrined
smile, Amenopheus adds, It may be that they will lead us to the
Sanctum of the Sages, a hidden complex I have long suspected
might be in this area.
He stands and announces, Prepare yourselves quickly. We shall leave momentarily.