Six weeks ago, you were roused from your quarters in the Sothis Pathfinder Lodge in Osirion and ordered to travel far to the north into the decidedly unfriendly Hold of Belkzen. Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir gave you two missions: first, to uncover the whereabouts of a Pathfinder delver named Heralt who was last seen working out of a hidden Chelish fort called Skull Hill, and second, to investigate claims in a long-ago published volume of the Pathfinder Chronicles that a lost tomb rests beneath the fort’s timber tower—a tomb that holds the body of Akila, a legendary Osirian sorceress and her magic ring that was said to have brought death to Skull Hill the day Akila was laid to rest.
After weeks aboard a smelly Katapeshi galley crossing the Inner Sea, winding up the Sellen River, bravely traversing stormy Lake Encarthan, slipping up The Path, and finally docking in Vigil, you and your companions then crossed the Belkzen frontier into a region the orcs call the Skittering Mounds, carefully avoiding orcish patrols. Now you stand atop a ridge overlooking a low river valley and stare down at the fort called Skull Hill.
|
A tall powerfully built half-elf in well worn and travel stained plate mail joins the party in Absalom. Outside can be heard a raucous squawking noise as of a large and agitated bird, sigh, not again.... He leans out of the window to see a small group of pathfinders trying to herd an enormous Roc back into the stables, Ka, put that initiate down! You don't know where he has been. Chuck him a rabbit and he will be fine.
Meeting up with the party before they set out he introduces himself, Greetings friends, I am Torvald Gallonica, a priest in the service of Erastil and the noise you can hear outside is my companion Ka. I trust we will manage well enough venturing into the OrcHold
You should know that while I am in service to Erastil I have little skill in the healing arts. I can certainly activate any wand you might require but should we get into a fight, which seems utterly predictable given where we are going, I would not rely on me to keep you in the fray.
As we make our way towards Belkzen Torvald will keep an aerial lookout from well above the group. As we enter Belkzen he will keep a much lower profile to avoid drawing attention to the party.
SQUAAAAAAAAWK
|
Diplomacy Heralt
Diplomacy Skull Hill
Great, a priest who doesn't heal! Why not stick me with another barbarian and an extra healing wand then? That'd be same difference,the serious looking halfling thinks to herself upon her first introduction.
"Well, I'm the Baroness, Shel Whispertongue. You can call me Shel during the mission. You've probably read about some of my discoveries for the Society. I'm soon to receive a promotion, if you believe the rumors. I can do a bit of everything, except for those untrustworthy spell jinxes. I'd much rather have a lockpick or my kukri in hand. Settles things quick and easy, that way. You able to keep that beast under control? I always hear you never want to work with children or animals...and I don't see any kids in these parts."
Once she made introductions to the rest of the group, she delved into the topic. She spoke with a contact about Heralt, and found a couple nuggets about him. "Rumors are, he was last in Vigil, heading toward the Skittering Mounds in Belkzen. He was looking for Skull Hill under an assumed identity of a minor Chelish noble. He was looking for the lost tomb, alright."
When the topic turned to Skull Hill, she had even more knowledge. "This Chelish fort was destroyed when Belkzen took the place. They used it mostly during the Everwar for trading and recruiting. That's the story out to the public, but really, the place is still standing and being used by the Chels. It's part of their spy network to keep track on everyone in the area. It's been really quiet for weeks though. That's not promising."
|
You see a homely elf in pure white pants made of a light material and no shirt. His body is covered in tattoos depicting the forces of evil being destroyed by the elements. Some of the tattoos are marred by scar tissue.
"I am Nuar Vala. I bring the cleansing flame to evil. Or cleansing other elements for those who are immune to fire. If we are traveling to Cheliax a Holy weapon could be of use. Thanks to my contacts in Mendev I can requisition one of needed."
"Akila was an Osirian sorceress who died somewhere in the Chelish frontier during the Everwar. She was the mistress of Skull Hill during the Everwar and used the fort to build a mercenary army that she sold to whoever paid the most—she was not loyal to Cheliax and spoke often of her patron in Sothis. One day she dropped dead of seemingly nothing and as she was laid to rest, the magic ring she always wore on her left hand emitted a horrifying necromantic energy that nearly killed everyone in the fort."
|
In walks another Elf, this one rather better-dressed and not at all homely, albeit quite thin and...simply disturbing to look at for long, somehow. Some of his motions seem to trail after-images. Sitting on his shoulder is a cat-sized dragon, the color of a moonless night, with a long, faintly scorpion-like tail.
"You forgot to mention that Akila was, in fact, buried in caverns deep beneath Skull Hill’s timber tower, primarily to keep her ring hidden from inept, power-hungry fools...as well as from talented, power-hungry fools like us. And wouldn't you know it, about 100 years ago, someone from the Society spent some time in Skull Hill and reported back to Absalom that he'd found Akila’s final resting place."
I tried my best to smile and be tactful while asking about Mr. Heralt, Echoes a strange, pleasant voice in your heads that you realize after a moment is coming from the little dragon. But everyone we met turned out to be in so much of a hurry to be somewhere else that they barely had time for a couple basic question before running off. Is there a carnival in town right now, perhaps?
|
And then a elven woman walks in. Outside you hear
The woman is dressed in a mithril chainshirt and has an elven blade on her back. On her hip is a quiver.
"Good day, I am Eolowyn." she pulls a bow from her quiver, careful not to damage the leafs growing from it. "A holy weapon you said? I have just the thing here. I have just returned from the world wound."
|
|
Bauble wanders into the meeting, looking for some food to wolf down. Bauble is a small man with a large head and ears... and pointy filed teeth. His face is hidden behind a disturbing metallic veil. (A special item picked up as a boon called an acrimony veil).
"HI EVERYONE." He fairly screeches. If rumor has it right, the poor fellow is a human that was raised by goblins. He sure eats like a goblin.
Hearing Torvald he responds in goblinesque fashion
"Bauble pound and Bauble smack
All are safe behind small back.
Black Lord by his trusty side,
carve up baddies no can hide!"
He announces this with a flourish of his black scimitar.
From atop the ridge, you can see the entirety of the fort, a motte-and-bailey resting on the shores of a small, shallow waterway called the Skittering River. The front gates to both the motte and the bailey appear smashed in, there are scorch marks all along the palisade, and there are three craters—two in the bailey and one at the base of the timber tower atop the motte. There appears to be no sign of movement from the ridge, though you can see a thin wisp of smoke rising from the timber tower’s chimney.
Ka hunkers down next to the hill. He glares over towards Arrano, he has had little experience with others of his kind. He stretches, raising himself up to his full height, puffs out his chest feathers and flaps his wings at his rival.
Noticing, Torvald pulls on his halter, easy boy, no need to get jealous...
The master makes strange noises and then Ka feels a calming warmth spread over him and he settles down.
Torvald's keen eyes see no apparent dangers, and you all safely reach the foot of the ridge. Ahead, Skull Hill’s double gate lies open, one half broken off its hinges. A small watchtower sits above the gate, forming a short ten foot tunnel as one enters the bailey—scorch marks mar the gate and the tower. The drawbridge is down and appears to be in good condition.
|
|
Noticing the broken gate and scorch marks, likely indication of trouble being afoot, Toravld and Ka will fly over to the palisade wall. They keep low to avoid too much attention and Torvald pulls Ka up, hovering over the moat just below the lip of the wall. Rising up in his stirrups Torvald takes a careful look over the wall to see what lies beyond.
From the edge of the palisade, Torvald can see the devastation wrought upon Skull Hill. Scattered about the bailey are the signs of battle; dried blood smears, broken arms and armor and damage to the log houses. Oddly enough, there are no corpses. The craters in the eastern half of the bailey seem deep, but it's hard to gauge how deep they are from afar. A cloud of flies hover over what looks like an livestock pen in the northwestern corner of the bailey.
From outside, Naur sees that the entire gatehouse is rigged to collapse on whichever unlucky soul where to walk through it.
|
|
Whispering through the message spell Torvald relays what he see's, It's carnage in there, looks like some sort of pitched battle but no bodies. Loads of flies over in the northwest, looks like an animal pen, whoever did this were right bastards.
Logan scans the devastation looking for something that might give an idea of what caused this, tracks, discarded weapons or bits of armour, a battle standard, anything at all.
Torvald can't spot any clues as to where the fort's occupants or attackers are, though his eyes are drawn to small, two-story inn sitting beside the main road that runs north-south through the bailey. All of the windows on the second floor are broken, their tattered curtains blowing through the openings. The windows on the first floor are intact, but it appears that someone nailed boards over the inside of those windows. The front door appears to have once been smashed off its hinges and then shoddily replaced. There are scorch marks and blood smears on the front porch of the inn. A sign swings on one broken chain in the wind—on it is an enormous human smile full of cartoonish teeth. Beneath the teeth it reads, “The Grinning Inn.”
As Shel moves closer, she also notices the trap in the gatehouse, though Bauble finds nothing amiss.
|
|
Again through the message spell, it looks like there might be some survivors, there's an inn, all boarded up, we should check it out...
With that Torvald directs Ka to fly over the palisade and land on the top of a nearby building, assuming it looks like it can support their weight, so they can get a better view
As Ka lands on the building, Torvald hears the scraping of wood on wood and moments thereafter the inn's door flings outwards and two crazed orcs burst out waving weapons and bellowing in their harsh tongue.
|
|
Torvald speaks many languages, but orcish is not one of them.
You have destroyed this settlement, you crimes will not go unpunished!
With that he flicks Ka's reins and the two of them leap into the air swopping down on the enemy. Torvald reigns Ka in flying above the orcs, out of their reach but well within the reach of his spear!
|
|
"Stop! They think we did this. They may be the victims."
I mostly want to know Hit Dice if possible.
Nuar pull out his rod of merciful metamagic then floats 5ft closer. He will ready an action to cast if they continue hostilities.
Torvald swoops down and pierces one of the orcs, who barely seems to notice the wound.
The orcs aren't swayed by neither Naur's call for a ceasefire nor Bauble's business proposition.
Shel gets to work securing the gatehouse.
The orcs show no intent of stopping the fight, so Naur casts his spell and Eolowyn fires an arrow.
Eolowyn's shot goes wide, and Naur only manages to blind one orc.
The non-blind orc steps away from Torvald and Ka, draws a javelin and throws it with impressive force at the cleric.
Both orcs keep hurling the same accusation at you over and over again.