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Begrilda raises her hand once again to send out another wave of divine energy, her voice rising in a fervent wail of righteous fury!
But the ring she wears as a holy symbol only gives off a sort of coughing noise and a little shimmer of energy. "Ah," she says quietly, "It would seem that my connection to Bolka's energies has nearly reached its limits for today. Jerrid, be a dear and go obliterate that foul thing for me, would you?" She lays a hand gently on the young man's muscular arm and imparts a small bit of holy guidance for his next attack. The touch also sends her mind back to her beloved Gallix, whose musculature might even rival that of the warrior before her. Hmm...this one's quite a man too!
She then draws her healing wand, ready to patch up any wounds her friends might have sustained in the fight.
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"Lets end this!" Jerrid yells as he steps toward the last skeleton. He then proceeds to throw two quick jabs at the skeletons, left then right.
He grunts with disappointment when the left jab connects weakly but is unsure if it does any damage at all and his right jab completely misses as he slips a little on the ground.
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Finding himself now in the tunnels by himself Bishop follows after the half elf with Janira's wand held tightly in his hand.
He sees that a sole skeleton is still making a nuisance of itself. Easily weaving his way through the others he steps beside the skeleton, points the wand in its direction and and evokes the command word "Searaco!" Unfortunately Bishop's pronunciation of the word is completely incorrect and all it appears to everyone is that Bishop is pointing a stick at the skeleton. "What in the..."
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Despite Begrilda's blessing, the skeleton easily dodges Jerrid's blows. Luurg and Einn's strikes are similarly unsuccessful. Damiel's bomb, however, explodes beside the skeleton and it falls into pieces.
Once the last skeleton has fallen, you are able to search the chamber. Other than the body lying in the corner, and the skeleton bones, the chamber is empty.
A simple examination of the skeletons reveal that they are gillmen in origin, while the body in the corner is that of a dhampir. On his body, you find a note written by the dhampir that details plans to start an army of undead made from the “fish people” who have been frequenting this cave. It seems that he had been quite pleased with the pit trap he had bug near the entrance, which had led to the capture of a number of gillmen. The notes ended quite abruptly, however. You surmise that the dhampir necromancer must have lost control of the undeads.
Among his belongings, you also find a pearl and a ring.
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Luurg watches the bomb explode and blast the remaining bones off of the bone man. He smiles and shouts at Damiel "Gud one mang!"
He helps hunt through the chamber and pokes at the 'damper' whatever that is, and looks a bit sullen at the thoughts that all the bonemen were once frogmen caught in a pit. "Ya lets go float dem all away like dat old frogman said."
Before though he pulls out his applewood stick and gives himself a poke to heal over the scratches in his side "See dat? Luurg likes apples big time!"
Also once back in the main chamber Luurg will take a closer look at the pile of shinies in and around the mini Absalom.
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As the bomb explodes, and Luurg praises his efforts, he moves over to receive high fives as a victory celebration.
As the note get's passed around Damiel shakes with chills as he reads the note, horrified thinking about the possible future that could be. Damiel writes the notes
"Well, that's... uncomforting... should tell that other gillman? The pathfinder society should know about this too. What if there are other crazy people like him?"
Damiel also assist with the bishop putting away the bodies.
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Jerrid sighs and glad the battle is over, "I can't believe how that last skelly gave us so much trouble. We took that bull monster down easier."
Jerrid helps with providing a proper 'burial' for the bodies while doing so he wonders out loud, "Would gillmen really make much of a difference than humans, dwarves, or even elves in making undead? I mean they are already dead, so it is not like they can drown."
After helping with the bodies, he writes down in his journal the events.
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Begrilda shudders at the grisly scene and the dhampir's dark plans. She helps with the rites to inter the gillmen, reciting a general funerary rite that she believes should be acceptable to people of any faith.
After performing the funeral, she takes a few moments to record the events in her journal, noting the necromancer's plans, the equipment he had on him, and what they did with the skeletons after defeating them. "The poor souls can rest now, and flow back to the waters of their ancestors," she writes.
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Einn solemnly assists with final rites for the gillmen remains. She pulls out her paper when she sees the others making notes. I should take down what we learned about the necromancer, and the undead gillmen. She studies the ring and the pearl, but not being learned in the Arcane can't discern more than they are shiny.
"Janira ready to learn how to find your way in the woods as we head back to the city?" She cuffs the hafling on the shoulder.
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"Oh yes, Einn! Lead the way!"
With the entire caverns explored and the remains of the unfortunate gillmen interred, Janira and the party heads back to Absalom without further incident. Once safely back in the Grand Lodge, the Master of Scrolls Kreighton Shaine summons the party and Janira to his study and inquires excitedly about what you have found. ”Show me your notes! We need to compile them for the records!”
”Good job, good job! Taking good notes is important for all Pathfinders, to take down ideas and observations while the thoughts are fresh. Why, it is difficult enough to remember what one had for breakfast! Well, I do!” Kreighton shares. He then turns to Janira, ”And you, young lady, do not disappoint me. You have done an amazing job your first time as a guide and mentor. I look forward to your promising future.” Janira is beaming with delight, and blushes. ”They are the ones to praise. I would not have made it back alive if not for them!”
Three days later, the Masters of the Society confirms each of you as full Pathfinder field agents. As part of the ceremony, that you are also gifted a personalized wayfinder, reminding you that this is not only the symbol of the Pathfinder’s trade but also a reminder of the three principle duties: explore, report, and cooperate.
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Luurg smiles at Bossman and shakes his hand vigorously "Tanks Bossman! Janira dun real gud, kept dat minitar away fer along time, we just help finish it off so she can rest a bit."
He unslings a large sack from his shoulder and pulls out the 'minitar' head, not quite dripping in blood anymore but still quite gory. The fleshy bits dusted with sand to help dry them up. "When orcs return from battle its gud to bring Bossman a trophy, here it is!" He drops the head on the table with a thud, facing Shaine, his tongue hanging out and his eyes wide open in death.
Luurg smiles and nods to the rest of the group very excitedly "You all dun real gud! 'Specially you new ones!" After a few reminders Luurg will pull out his tattered notes of the trip: Written in broken common with a few pages of finger painted mural drawings he recounts the adventure, primarily the caves and the gillman and 'damper'. He also hands Master Shaine one of the ancient coins from the cityscape. "Deez work ok?" He says nervously.
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Jerrid is glad everyone has returned back to Absalom unharmed and when directed so, hands over his notes. "Sorry if they are little sloppy."
We left Absalom fairly early heading for Kortos Mount. We were led and guided by Janira Gavix to explore some caves where a gillman was spotted. Something might be up there and we are to check it out.
The group is interesting and make me fill confident about my first mission.
There is Begrilda, a dwarven priestess but unsure what god she worship. I should ask before the mission is over. Then there is Luurg which is a half-orc I think. He has had some conflict with Begrilda but I sense it might be just friendly jabs at each other. There is Einn, I can really only say she is a woman and pretty much nothing else yet. There is Bishop, who is a rogue. I've met his kind before at my family's tavern. He seems to be the 'gooder' type instead of the type that would stab you in the back. Then there is Damiel, a half-elf alchemist who seems to have a fear of werewolves and Janira had to calm him down and assure him there would be no werewolves in the caves.
Day one was pretty much uneventful besides the jabs Luurg and Begrilda had for each other. We ended the day setting up camp early so we could get an early start in the morning.
The morning opened up with an unpleasant surprise. We were attacked by a swarm of snakes. Odd they would attack a group our size but we might have been too close to the nesting ground. The battle didn't last long but Damiel was bitten pretty bad and started to stagger about. Fortunately with a well placed kick my me and more of the explosions by the alchemists in the group the snakes were driven back. Janira then healed Damiel.
From there we head out until the path was disrupted by fallen trees and debris but Einn was able to determine the correct path through the debris for us to continue onward. We finally reached the cave only to be forced to flee into the tight entrance because a huge bull creature, I believe it was called a minotaur attacked from the forest. Janira chose to lure it away from us, promising to rejoin us later.
We come across a pit that blocks the path. I take the lead and manage to climb down into the pit were a fancy cloak laid. It had some fancy designs on it and was put away for later investigation. I think it might have some magical enchantments on it but unsure.
While the rest of the group descended into the pit, I managed to climb out of the pit on the other-side with just minor setbacks. The rest eventually joined me where we found interesting carvings in the wall. The wall consisted of interesting murals of Aroden. There were four specific.
Later we found a strange altar rising from a pool of water. A gillman was there praying or something. He turned out to be friendly. I didn't understand much of it, but the group figured we would need to perform rituals in front of the altar. To my delight I managed to figure out one of them making make a clay bowl and offering it to the altar.
We ran into some hostiles. A giant bug and three small creatures. They attempted to cast some spell on us but I shook it off and jumped over the river that divided us. That fight didn't last long but a new problem arose. We heard Janira off in the distance, still fighting the bull creature. She had to be fighting for a while and so the entire group rushed through the cave, heading toward the sound of Janira's battle. Along the way we did get attacked by some blob creatures. I was wounded but took a healing potion to fix myself. We finally exited the cave to see Janira off in the distance, fighting the bull creature. We rushed over the river only to see Janira go down. We attacked the bull creature where Bishop went down before we could finish the monster off. Thankfully they were healed up.
After some rest, we headed back into the cave to explore the rest of it. We took the other path at the altar and ran into the remains of the pilgrims surrounded by skeletons that rose to attack us. Three of the skeletons fell easily but the fourth one proved difficult but eventually fell. After the battle we found some items and some notes on a body explaining the skeletons. Apparently this person wanted to raise an undead army by trapping and killing gillmen here on a pilrimage and then turning them. We then proceeded to give the gillmen we discovered dead a proper burial before heading back to Absalom.
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Einn pulls out her notes and turns them over to Kreighton Shaine. "Thank you for the opportunity. I enjoyed leaving the city for a few days."
We found the cave with very little issue. A Minotaur found us right before entering. Janira distracted the creature while we entered the caves to explore. After a fairly simple exploration we came across some frescos on the walls. Those more religiously inclined were able to determine an initial meaning. It was enough to determine some simple rituals we could do in the next room we found. There we found a small scale statue of Absalom in the grotto. We did a few rituals such as lighting the city as Aroden was known to do. It gave us a magical benefit. Further study of this statue should be done.
The Society should be respectful. The Gillmen feel the grotto is sacred.
We also helped a Gillman by interring his deceased kinsmen as requested. There was a dhampir necromancer using them as an army.
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Begrilda blushes at Master Shaine's praise and sheepishly hands over her notes. "They're not much," she says with a shy grin, "But I made some notes on the religious aspects of our investigations for the Society and the local temples to be aware of."
Upon traveling further within the caves, we encountered a deaf gillman by the name of Urori. This gillman revealed to us a pool of water, which the gillmen claim to be among the freshest on the Isle of Kortos. For this reason, the gillmen hold the caverns and its waters as sacred. Perhaps there is some residual divine presence from Abadar that blesses and purifies the waters, which makes the site so precious for the gillfolk.
In the midst of the sacred pool stood a pillar of stone upon which was carved a most fascinating artifact of the cavern's former worshipers. A miniature depiction of the entire city of Absalom was carved from the rock at the top of the pillar. Various baubles, coins, and semi-precious stones were strewn throughout the miniature city, which seems to show that the carving served as some kind of holy relic. This supposition was further supported as Urori encouraged us to perform a series of rituals around the city that evoked an outpouring of divine blessings that strengthened us for the rest of the trials we would face throughout the caverns.
Our final challenge lay in a small cave. Inside, we came across a party of skeletons. After disposing of the foul creatures, we discovered the remains of a dhampir. It became clear from some notes among this person's possessions that made it clear that he was the one responsible for raising these skeletal warriors. Apparently, he had been trapping the gillfolk and raising their skeletons. The dhampir was apparently not as adept a necromancer as he had supposed, however, and the skeletons turned on him and destroyed him. The sacred caves wrought their vengeance on the foul man in the end. Once we had put the skeletons back to rest, we interred their remains in the waters of the caverns so that their spirits could follow the streams back to their homes and on to the afterlife.
In the end, the caverns proved to be a site of great religious significance: for those dedicated to Abadar, to the gillfolk, and to the author. While they are surely a site for future exploration and investigation, the author recommends the highest degree of reverence toward the caves and toward the gillmen who make the pilgrimage there.
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Damiel pulls from his bag a bunch of roughed up looking parchments, some noticeably with smothered ink, however most of them remain quite legible for the time being.
Pathfinder Society. Mission investigate cave for possible werewolf gillman. Pathfinders like long walks.
Janira chase by Minotaur
Cave entry:
Noticeable trap near entrance. What is this for?
Religious writings. The History and Future of Humanity. Aroden.
12 guises: Beggar. Scholar. Soldier. Farmer.
Refer to others notes. They seem to understand this more.
Found gillman in worship. Near model of Absalom.
Attempt ritual(?) by putting light stick on model. Soldier lights way apparently. feel some sort of divine blessing.
Others attempt rituals
Saved Janira from Minotaur
Return into cave to find undead. Destroy undead.
Note from Dhampir trying to create undead, Dhampir dead before we got here.
Send off Gillman into river by following rites.
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Looking at Master Shaine and then to Janira he smiles while whispering to them "I hope the journal entries are to your satisfaction. As always I am ready for whatever mission you have ready for a person of my talents. Just don't put me downwind of that orc."
Turning to his fellow companions"Where to next my friends? Maybe The Great Dreamer will have something else in store for us."
Date
Left Absalom. En route to Kortos Mount. Led by Janira Gavix.
Task: Head to investigate a cave system that Janira has seen gillmen* enter on several occasions but never leave.
Party consists of:
Luurg - potbelly orc who eats fruits?
Begrilda - crazy dwarf priestess who claims to everyone she is married to a man she has only met once. Man's name is Gallix also a member of the Society and a group I've met called the Red Arm of Absalom.
Damiel - half elf alchemist; seems paranoid about werewolves? Think he has been drinking too many of his own concoctions.
Einn - Ulfen lady. Quiet woman. Could probably break me in two with her hands. Probably some warrior. Think most of these ulfens are the beserker types.
Jerrid - human. no idea what skills he brings. Has said maybe ten words since joining with this group.
Day One on the road. Headed through the plains passing by several siege towers. Janira explained how the battlefield is the failed attempts by other nations to rule over Absalom. All have failed to date. First travel uneventful but I will share some insights on the more colourful members of this team.
Luurg. What an interesting orc. He hadn't met many orcs or their half bloods when he was in Osirian and very few in Andoran. Absalom had been eye opening in terms of the races it attracted. Still this orc was hmmm timid compared to other orcs. He had no sense of personal hygiene but that bloodthirsty kill first talk later attitude that he heard in passing was non-existant in this orc. He was in fact more like an over-sized child. Sloppy and curious.
Begrilda. That dwarf had been relatively quiet since her chasing the orc. She was clearly embarrassed at the orc calling her out. Some secrets were better left as secrets, but the dwarf liked to her voice and now she had gotten bitten for it.
Notes: *gillmen - humanoid race much like humans save for the three piscine gills on both sides of their necks; secretive; Will confirm how hostile they are after I encounter one. Most live in or near the water.
Finishing that he finds a comfortable spot and drifts off to sleep. Hearing the orc snoring. I wont forget to record that Luurg sounds like a irritated camel when he sleeps
Day Two. After waking up with that fat orc’s foot nearly in my face we headed deep into the wilderness off the trail we had been following. Lead by Janira’s wayfinder** we stumbled upon a large tree that ended being a nest for a hundred little snakes. Only to add to Luurg’s all his nonsensical habits he threw a large gourd coconut at the massing serpents exploding and killing a number of them. Armed with only my dagger I tried to get a torch ready to burn them. No way was my dagger going to do anything to a three scores of snakes. Fortunately the others seemed prepared and dispatched this swarm of snakes before I was able to do much. Note: Invest in a flask of alchemist fire. Works good in these situations.
Finally made it to the cave. The large northern woman Einn helped to find the path once Janira lost sight of the path. Probably saved us several hours. The vegetation is dense here it’s amazing Janira was able to find her way back when she originally came here.
Thank the luck of The Great Dreamer! We have found the cave after getting separated from Janira. Some bull-headed creature called a minotaur ambushed us and Janira threw us her pack and told us to finish our mission. The halfling is either brave, crazy or both. I think it is both she ran off taking that behemoth of a creature with her. The pack was full of a several useful items and just as importantly had an inventory list of what was in there to be used. I ended up taking a fire wand of some sorts. Noone else was able to use it and after seeing those snakes I figured it might come in useful.
Seems there is a pit blocking our passage. Weird what use would the gillman have digging a pit and blocking access to these caves. We were able to get across with some rope and a grappling hook supplied by Luurg and Einn. Also seems a cloak of some sort was found at the bottom of the pit. Jerrid took this. No idea what it does but we’ll find out after getting back to Absalom. After crossing the pit there was a board on the other side. Probably used to get across the pit. Must be another entrance out if that plank is here.
The orc has inspired me. Odd I know but the cave seems to be full of mysteries. Getting into the cave took some effort on our part and we've now been split apart from Janira. Fortunately she threw a pack of various items that will greatly benefit us. Janira was also equally prepared she left a list detailing item found in the pack.
Important notes:
(1) The cave entrance was difficult to find. If Janira had not been here before we would have passed by it without a second thought. Entrance covered with thick vines. Also there was a minotaur in the area. Not sure what brought the creature here but Janira pulled it away.
(2) Inside the tunnel. There is a pit trap. Was sprung before by another person investigating the cave it would seem. Found a cloak at the bottom of the pit. Unable to identify its properties but it is embroidered with aquatic scenes. Pit seems standard 10 ft wide and 20 ft deep. We crossed over with no incident and found a plank on this side. Clearly to allow access back and forth.
(3) Moving deeper into cave system we have found a large cavern with some pictographs on the wall. Turns out the images and writing are a version of The History and Future of Humanity, the holy text of Aroden. Our resident theologian indicates these differ from the version she has seen. I'm drawing the images – the twelve guises of Aroden – and will clarify with her where they differ. Possible a place of worship. Do the gillman and Aroden have something in common?
**wayfinder = a compass of some sorts rewarded to those who complete their Confirmation?
We were able to pass Aroden’s rituals. The four rituals involved re-enacting the four guises of Aroden: the soldier, the beggar, the farmer and the scholar. We were informed of it after we met a gillman pilgrim praying by a pool of water in one of the caves. It was a group effort but we solved the riddle. Finishing the rituals I could feel the divine energy wash over my entire body.
<details on how to complete each ritual>
Before we left the gillman, named Uori, he told us that these caves are a place of pilgrimage for him and his people. The waters within this cave are holy to them. He rewarded us with a wand able to provide magical protection. I passed this on to Begrilda who thought she would be able to use it. I also asked him about the other pilgrims and he said many have come here but never left. I asked about how to honour their deaths he indicated any bodies should be interred to the water.
Using my dice I have told the others that west is the best way to go. The dice never lie. They are a gift from The Great Dreamer after all!
Just like the dice foretold we met up with danger. The ugliest creatures I have ever laid my eyes upon. They were small humanoids with eyes and heads far too large for their small frames. We easily took care of them and their pet bug. Only to hear a familiar voice in distress. It was none other than Janira.
It seems the minotaur was still chasing her and we were lucky enough to stumble upon her when we did. The minotaur knocked her down and was about to kill her when we rushed the creature. I wish I had been more help but thinking I could sneak up on the creature it attacked me before I could even get close enough. Knocking me out as well. When I awoke the minotaur was dead and Janira was just being roused. It seems that Janira’s passion had gotten to me for it was me who was being crazy and brave this time.
That near experience with death got me thinking about the pilgrims that had never left those caves. I was able to convince the others to head in there to find the bodies and inter them to the water.
We found more than the bodies. It seemed that instead of dying they had not been allowed to die but were forced to continue on as an undead creature. We dispatched them and found a journal left by a necromancer who was planning on making a small horde of undead creatures. He was the one who had built the pit and was using it to kill and then raise the dead gillman. We have since cleaned out the cave of the undead and set them in the water to finally find peace.
Signed,
Bishop
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Shaine flips through your reports as you submit them, speed reading through them. (You have odd flashbacks of being back in school, submitting homework to your teachers.) Shaine nods as he reads Einn's, mumbling, "Yes, all Pathfinders should, indeed. There's wealth of treasures in the wilderness." On completing Bishop's, he requests to look at his dice quite excitedly, but after studying them for some time, returns them to him looking disappointed. Reading Damiel's he simply mumbles, "Short and sweet..." He looks pleased with Jerrid's report. "Good level of details, Master Jerrid. A future as a chronicler might be in the works." He looks up after completing Begrilda's, rather impressed. "Young Lady, perhaps in your free time, you could help sort out our records on religious findings." He stares at Luurg after finishing his, briefly comtemplating what to say, before saying, "Um, yes, it's fine."
"Come, everyone!" Janira waves to all of you after Shaine is finished. "For a good job well done, first round of drinks is on me! How does the Wounded Wisp sound?"