About a week ago you were summoned to Venture-captain Ambrus Valsin's office in Absalom's Grand Lodge. "You're no rookies anymore," he'd said as he motioned for you to sit down. "Your work has been noticed, and I've specifically requested you for the following mission."
"There's a border fort known as Fangwood Keep, located in the central-western region of the Marideth River valley. It constitutes the constantly shifting border between the warring nations of Molthune to the south and Nirmathas to the north. A junior Molthuni officer named Lieutenant Pavo Vos and his specialized task force captured this small border fort about three weeks ago. It is believed that Vos has gone rogue, since he acted without orders and since then has ignored orders sent by Molthuni officials to cease his current course of action and abandon the keep."
"By removing a rogue Molthuni officer from a Nirmathian fort the Pathfinder Society hopes to strengthen its own ties with both Molthune and Nirmathas. If we succeed, the generals of both armies will owe us. That's where you come in; you're to track down Vos and remove him from Fangwood Keep by any means necessary."
"Vos is seldom without a pale, dark-haired woman named Elessia, rumored to be his companion, who occasionally acts as the platoon's field medic and infiltration specialist. I advise you to work stealthily, since Vos is rumored to be a capable leader and probably has secured the fortress quite well by now. We weren't able to obtain a map of the fortress, but a reliable source informed us of secret entrances on the keep's northern side. Look for a stone engraved with four interwoven circles as a marker for one of these secret entrances. Vos likely doesn't know about this entrance, since knowledge of it is usually only shared among higher-ranking Molthuni officers sent to Fangwood Keep on official business."
The Venture-captain had reached into his desk and pulled out two elixirs of hiding, a scroll of knock, and a scroll of hold portal. He'd handed the items over to you. "Before you head over to the fort, make sure you have all you need. Taking over a fort may take a while, and you won't be able to buy items halfway the mission."
After asking any questions you'd had about the mission, you'd paid a visit to Absalom's shops and started your journey to Fangwood Keep.
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A Tengu dressed in eastern clothing and protected by a breast plate made of red dragon scales steps into the meeting room. His black feathers covered in a thin coat of grey ash at the tips. He clicks his tongue loudly before nearly shouting. Tuich, Vyk and Vincent! It is good to see you all again!. He still has the crossing quarter staff and nodachi on his back, but he now carries a sheathed long sword on his belt.
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"Squeeee! KAWROCK!" Tuich shouts with total disregard for decorum, leaping to her feet and rushing across the room to greet the newly-arrived tengu. He likely has just enough time to notice she's added a hooded cloak -- done in violet and shot through with silver threads -- to her already tumultuous ensemble before she leaps onto him in a flying hug.
"Ye gods it's good to see you," she says excitedly, her face buried in his soft plumage. Then she lets herself down and playfully slaps him on the arm. "Where have you been!," she scolds him. "I've missed you!"
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Miko is surprised to see a Tengu appear, and even more so with the familiarity of Vyk, Vincent and Tuich. You... you guys know each other?, she says, startled, before she formally introduces herself to the avian.
Miko Bel... she says, slightly startled, then corrects to ... Teppen.
A delight to meet you. Do you hail from... from the dragon lands?
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You... you guys know each other?, she says, startled, before she formally introduces herself to the avian.
Tuich turns to Miko, one arm still around the tengu and grinning ear from ear. "You bet we know each other! Kawrock and Vyk and I, we all went on our first mission together. Oh, I'm sorry... Miko, my fine-feathered friend here is Kawrock. Kawrock, this is Miko. I've been teamed with her the last few missions, she's very talented."
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Kawrock puts a feathery arm around Tuich. I have been to a good many places. First was a dark and dreary place called Ustalav. While I was there I accidently tried some rather tasty sleeping poison and ate a shrieking worm." The tengu ponders a moment, "Then it was off to aid a former Pathfinder who had a rather interesting sleep walking condition. That's where I met my new friend Gamin and I got sprayed by a giant skunk." Kawrock ponders some more, "Then it was off to Mendev where we had to investigate the basement of a traitor. This was very dangerous work and what we found could mean trouble for the Society's plans up there." He clicks his tongue twice to express the gravity of the situation up there. "Then it was over to the river kingdoms where I explored a floor of a place called Thornkeep. There were many strange and other worldly creatures there and I got covered with some rather tasty fungus creature."
There is a muffled voice coming form Kawrock's scabbard. "Mmm mm mffh mmm". Kawrock looks down and draws his sword, "Oh I forgot to introduce you." he says as he draws out a longsword, though it looks like it was intended to be a fine looking blade it is tarnished with a large crack from the tip of the blade down to the hilt. "This is Gamin, I just recovered him from the Society vaults. He's a flippin talking sword! Say hello Gamin." A voice comes from the sword, "Hello nice to meet you all."
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Tuich harrumphs at Vyk's comment and mutters, "Trust me, hauling a disembodied intelligence around isn't as glamorous as you'd think." Then, more pointedly as she gestures at Kawrock's sword: "You see that, Tooley? Even a stupid sword can talk! Why won't you?"
A sudden blast of wind -- unfelt by anyone else -- hits Tuich from behind, blowing her hair into her face and causing her to stagger forward slightly.
She sighs and pulls her hair aside so she can see again. "I think that was, 'Don't need to'..."
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Qadiran lady, dressed gold and yellow, entered a hall, accompanied by a small kid, wearing same colors.
— "Oh, look, everyone is here!", - she took out small fan and whispered, — "Introduce me, how I teached you!"
This time girl was more familiar with an audience and stepped forward, quietly speaking:
— Qadiran trade princess, owner of Akanambre trading caravan, voice of the Ruby Sage, active Pathfinder Society Agent, Khismia al-Khair
This was not the best introduction any one could imaging, but Khismia approvingly touched Sabah's shoulder and stepped forward, shaking hands with her friends.
Behind her back, Sabah winked to Vyk, who made same movement with his hands and got his animated paper toy.
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- I do my best to become her mother, - said Khismia,
- Which you will never be! said angry voice inside her head.
which I never be able to replace. - woman quickly confirmed her haunts words and evil ghost was caught by surprise.
Kid smiled and touched Khismia's hand:
- One day I might become a Pathfinder myself, Khismia-hanim teaches me well.
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Vincent gives a big grin to the others, glad to see that he is once again going on a mission with people he knows. His fine cloak is held together with a shiny new clasp in the shape of a black shield. "Hello all," he announces with a flourish, "I'll be pleased to be working with all of you on this mission. It's good to know people have my back."
His eyes widen a bit at the sight of the talking sword. "You'd be counted lucky among the Gorumites to be wielding such a blade, I'm sure."
After your reunion and introductions you set out on your journey to Fangwood Keep. Some days later you find yourselves at the northern edge of the shadowy Southern Chernasardo, where the wide Marideth River valley separates the large forest to the north from its smaller southern spur. It's currently in the middle of the day.
The forest thins out ahead, revealing a wide river valley cleared of trees. The path descends for a quarter mile to a single stone bridge that spans the river, and then continues up a small hill. Atop this barren hill sits a small, two-story fort surrounded by a thick, partially collapsed outer wall.
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"Looks like we found our keep!" Vincent's face brightens noticeably for a moment until he remembers that no hot bath and fresh linens await them here. He sombers up a bit as he peers at the fort. He once again grins as he announces that, "There are guards on the keep, even where that break in the wall is. Looks like they're still here, and that means a fight! Anyone have a plan?"
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Tuich sighs and shakes her head. "Same old Vincent, I see. How can you get excited about being in a fight?"
By shielding her eyes and concentrating, Tuich can just barely make out the guards Vincent mentioned.
"I see... people. Can you spot weapons and stuff too?"
She ponders a bit. "Once we get within bow range we could try to pick them off. But that announces we're here and they'll just beef up their defenses. Maybe we can find a way to sneak in and capture Vos instead?"
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"It's a shame, Dylara isn't here. We could have sent Melon to scout ahead. Oh, well."
He gave Vincent a pointed look, "Assaulting a fortified position isn't a fight. It's suicide. We need to get as close as we can without being spotted. It'll probably end in a fight anyway, but I think we do better in close quarters."
He then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I have an invisibility spell. But it'll only work for one. Well, no, I suppose I could cast it more than once, but it'll leave me a bit drained."
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Khismia looked forward, but it was too far for her eyes to discern any details.
"I might ride ahead and distract them, but I don't think it is good idea as well. Let's try to scout for approaching from another side, hopefully they won't notice us"
— "You might want to keep thinking like that, but I'll curse and suck eyes out of first one, who shoots Sabah direction" promised Ayu
— "It would be better, if you could keep him from screaming", telepathically replied Khismia
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Well, we don't have to fight everyone, just this leader. As long as we can drive him out, and make a convincing enough case to his followers, we should be fine.
Oh, and Vyk, your magic has saved us more than once. It think that's pretty cool.
Anyway, there is a crossing 5 miles from here, that we can use to approach the fort from the other side of the river. May be helpful
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Tuich opens her mouth to explain to Kawrock about Melon... and her mouth remains open for a few heartbeats as the tengu transforms and flies off.
"Well that's new," she says quietly.
"Everybody's magic is cooler than mine," Vyk says with a wistful sigh as he watches Kawrock fly off.
She smiles and pats the tiefling's arm comfortingly. "Not true, dearheart. Mine pales as well."
"And really, Tuich, a good brawl is probably the best part of being a Pathfinder."
"Yep, same old Vincent," Tuich grins.
The land immediately around Fangwood Keep is predominantly low grass and bushes that slope up with the terrain's steady grade, and all foliage and obstructions appear to have been cleared from the hill long ago. Countless shallow pits have been dug into the dark river valley soil. More alarming, however, are the signs of recent combat all around-dozens of corpses are littered throughout the courtyard, most human, but some of hobgoblins as well, and all bear signs of an intense battle. The human bodies have been stripped of their equipment, and if not for the broken swords and bows lying about, one might be inclined to think that the dead soldiers fought with the shovels and pickaxes leaning against the inside of the outer wall.
Those who aren't flying start toward the crossing, which is five miles upstream. It turns out most of the distance to the crossing's filled with dense vegetation, and it'll take you some time to reach it.
Kawrock returns to his comrades, and together you make your way through the last few miles of dense vegetation.
About one and a half hours after Miko mentioned the easy crossing, you find yourselves in front of it.
A soft breeze brushes your cheeks and you hear it gently stir the vegetation around you. You hear a single crow in the distance, calling out to its brethren.
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"A secret entrance sounds like a good plan." Vincent puts away his jeweled hair comb as Kawrock reports back, having finished adjusting his hair as they approach the keep. "We should probably approach on foot, now that we're close."
Vincent looks around for a good place to leave the horses temporarily. Near water would be good, since there's a river here.
Vincent easily finds a safe spot for the party's mounts, in the forest the party's currently still in.
There's about a quarter mile of open ground to the river. The distance from the river to the secret entrance is about the same.
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Khismia spent some time, giving last advises to her kid. Mostly it was obvious things, like how do not get caught, how many days to wait for their return and what to do if someone approaches. Sabah already used that every time Khismia departures for another mission, they talk like the last time. But both hoped this won't be one.
"I think we should wait till the night. Blinded by darkness, we still can find our way. And it is more likely that we can sneak than we can outrun their arrows"
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Yes, let's move in under the cover of darkness.
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The approach had me worried. I knew that many creatures of the forest and hills have superior night vision - elves can see in the dark after all. Still, the cover of darkness would bring some advantage, and some stumbling around was to be preferred over getting peppered by arrows
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Miko Teppen, personal journal
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Vyk looked at the others doubtfully.
"Are you sure you want to wait until nightfall? I'm the only one here who can see at night, unless one of you has some spell up their sleeve. Don't get me wrong, I can guide you. But if missiles start flying, there's not much I can do to protect you. Don't let the spellbook fool you. I'm not much of a mage. I mostly hit things with different shades of lightning."
"And I don't know much about hobgoblins, but if they're anything like most goblinoids then they can see us in the dark. I think it's better if we move in now. When the light favors us as well as them."