{PFS} {PBP} {LVL 11 - 13} Tide of Honor (Jade Regent book 5, sanctioned portion) (Inactive)

Game Master FiddlersGreen

Your journey to Minkai is uneventful. Despite its current troubles, Minkai is still a sizeable and powerful nation that attracts many foreign visitors - though you have been advised to avoid publicly revealing your association with the Pathfinder Society whilst here.

Following directions the directions you were given, you make your way to the hidden fortress of Seinaru Heikiko, where you are ushred to a meeting room and met by one of the Society's most recently-promoted Venture Captains - a charismatic young man who simply goes by the name of Exiel (who may be a familiar face to some of you). With him are two warriors of native descent - a tan, heavily armored male with a commanding presence and a female warrior sporting monastic trappings. It is the Venture Captain who addresses you first in Common. As he speaks, you notice that the armored warrior follows the briefing and nods at intervals, but the monastic female appears to look bored and a little irritated, as if irritated at not understanding a word that the Venture Captain is speaking.

"Greetings, Seekers. Ah, I see a few familiar faces here! Well met, Alden and 42! Welcome to Minkai, all of you. I am glad to see you all made it here safely. Allow me to introduce to you Hirabashi Jiro, the commander of this fortress, and his lieutanent Habesuta Hatsue."

"As you are aware, Minkai has been under the rule of the Jade Regent for many years, its Emperor having retreated into seclusion out of fear of assassination. The rule of the Regent has grown steadily more repressive and dark rumours circulate about terrible deeds done in his name. Some believe the Emperor is dead and the Regent merely waits until he has enough strength to declare himself Emperor. However, the Society was able to find the heir to the Throne, in Varisia of all places! An adventurer operating out of the Sandpoint by the name of Ameiko Amatatsu. We have managed to smuggle her into Minkai and make contact with a few loyalists of the royal family and some of the more noble-minded samurai who would see the Jade Regent as a menace to the people of Minkai. As you can see, we have also been able to procure a base of operations, and we are now in the process of recruiting more of the locals to our cause."

"We recently made contact with some of the Ninja clans, who have provided us with an interesting proposition. You see, the local Geisha community is very well-connected and holds sway over both the merchant and noble classes in Minkai. Even the ninjas owe them a debt of gratitude, and we may have been given a way to help the ninjas repay that debt, as well as gain the support of the merchants and nobles through the Geisha community, all in one swoop. Once we have all of that support behind us, we should be able to gather sufficient force to oppose the tyrannical Imperial Governor, Sikutsu-Sennaka, and secure our first province in this movement."

At this point, a servant enters the meeting room bearing tea, and Exiel pauses whilst the tea is served to give you some time to digest the state of the local politics. Once you each have a cup of the fragrant bevarage before you, he continues his briefing.

This module will have a few parts, and the above narrative covers the background and overarching plot. We will now move to the briefing for the first (and longest) part of the module.

"I have already met with O-Kohaku, mistress of the Kiniro Kyomai teahouse in Sakakabe. She is no friend of the Regent and desires the return of the Emperor, but she has her own problems. Her most respected and beloved Geisha, O-Sayumi, has gone missing. O-Sayumi is adored by the local nobility, and is even rumoured to have oracular powers. O-Sayumi recently agreed to visit a local pearl merchant named Yugureda Shosaito at his island home. He has long been obsessed with O-Sayumi and she only recently agreed to visit him for a week. She left a month ago and has not returned. Yugureda claims that she never arrived at his island. O-Kohaku does not know why O-Sayumi finally agreed to the visit and she believes Yugureda is holding her captive. She wants us, which is to say you, to travel to the island and recover O-Sayumi at which time she will lend her support to our cause. "

"Before O-Sayumi left, she gave her apprentice, O-Hakami, a packet containing a poem and a small ivory Inro, as well as a long necked vase carved with a smiling Kappa filled with cucumber scented bath salts. I should mention here that an ancient Kappa is believed to live beneath a great magnolia tree at the mouth of the River Jikko."

"Your mission will be to investigate O-Sayumi's disappearance, find her if you can and bring her back safely. I will be helping with preparations for the next phase of our plan, so I will not be available to assist you in this. But you have a full team of Seekers. I trust you will be more than up to the task."

Hirabashi Jiro

Habesuta Hatsue

The Inro

Opening post has been edited to include links to pictures and information about the Inro and Poem. You can read the spoilers.

But there's no way the Inro and Poem could be that important, right? Just ignore them. Juuuust ignore them. ;)

Matamah is an Aasimar with very blue-tint to his skin. His human heritage is clearly Shoanti, as is clear from the various tattoos on his body and his deep, stuttered accent. He carries a flag with the Glyph of the Open Road.

I am Matamah the Thundering. I come from the Shar-Quah, who are the diplomats that keep peace between the Shoanti tribes. I have a gift in the art of percussion, and my rhythms are my soul and power through which everything is conducted. I have joined the Pathfinder Society because I have out-lived many of my closest friends in the Shar-Quah, and decided to take a different turn in life. Through the Pathfinder Society, I have hoped to create a better world.

And now onto the mission...

That is awful what happened to O-Sayumi. Matamah struggles to say the name. I hope no harm has befallen her, but with how long she has been missing, I feel that may be the case. I am more than happy to assist in this matter.

What more do you know of Yugreda Shosaito?

Exiel grins as retrieves a note from his pocket.

"Good question. I have spent quite some time investigating this character, and here's what I managed to discover."

Some of this information is supposed to be quite obscure, but Exiel can get his diplomacy to +30 easily, so I will assume that he did a very thorough and successful Gathering of Information on your behalf.

"Yugureda Shosaito is a very successful and wealthy pearl merchant. He owns his own island and the immense Namidakame Lagoon that surrounds it. He used to live in the small town of Shinju-no-Ie, where he started his business, and some of my sources indicate that he was a student and practitioner of the arcane arts too. This was many years ago, and I can't imagine that he gave that up, but his current reclusiveness means that I have no indication of how far he has advanced in the arcane arts."

"Let's see what else. Married twice, first wife of modest origins, but she disappeared and no one seems to know what happened to her. Yugureda remarried a month later, second wife was a younger noblewoman with associations with Sikutsu clan - which would likely make him an ally-by-association to the Imperial Governor Sikutsu Sennaka. In fact, it seems his association with the Imperial Governor has afforded him several advantages against his competitors, such that he currently practically holds a monopoly in the Pearl market."

The Venture-Captain scans his note more before speaking again.

"Hmm... first wife was about 20 years old when he married her, disappeared at the age of about 30, no known children. Second wife was about 18 when he married her, which was about 20 years ago. Yugureda himself would be about...60 now. Or maybe 70."

Brief Description of Rand:
Rand is a human of obvious Andoran descent with Golden-blonde hair and a light complexion. He stands an even 6' tall, and his movement is very precise. His hands bear the scars of intense unarmed combat.

Surveying the speakers, Rand will listen to the briefing, nodding at points to commit them to memory. "So, we should probably go and speak with this kappa. He will most likely be able to lead us to the girl."

Turning to the venture captain, Rand will add "Will she still offer her support to our mission if O-Sayumi is dead, assuming that we can recover the body?"

After the briefing:

"My name is Rand, and I am the immortal weapon of Quain. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Itamar sits back taking it all in.

So very simple, just find a missing girl...In my experience the simpler the mission, the harder the solution. Would you all agree?

Itamar says to his fellow seekers.

So Captain Exiel, Do you or anyone of your contacts, know more about this island or this Shosaito fellow?

Any sort of checks relevant?

Exiel turns to Rand with a grimace.

"No doubt she will prefer that O-Sayumi can be brought back alive, but if she can't, a sufficient report and closure for the Geisha community might be enough. I also imagine that they have access to resources to have her brought back to life if you can retrieve a body. But let's hope it won't come to that. Bring her back if you can, and if you can't, well, do what you can and we'll see what results we can get. You are all Seekers now, and that alone is enough for the Society to have some measure of faith in your discretion."

"The Jikko River in fact flows into Namidakame Lagoon, so you it will not be much of a detour if you want to seek out the kappa."

He turns to Habesuta Hatsue and says something to her in Tian, upon which she nods and replies in the same language as she retrieves a scroll case from her pack. She pulls several maps from it and studies them before handing one of them to Exiel, who hands it to you.

"Here is a map of Namidakame Lagoon. You can see where the river meets the lagoon, and the marking shows the rough location where we believe the kappa can be found. From what I know about kappa in general, an offering of horse meat or cucumbers should be able to attact their attention."

Itamar, Exiel already revealed what he knew about Yugureda Shosaito a couple of posts back.

Turning to Itamar, Exiel replies, "that's all I was able to find out about Yugureda Shosaito. As for his island, if you look at the map, you will see three markiings on the larger island. The one to the North-West is some sort of dock, and to the East of that is a small collection of huts, presumably for the workers. Yugureda's villa stands in the middle of the island. The smaller island to the East of the bigger one also appears to have several huts on it, but from what I know those have been left to fall into disrepair. Perhaps the workers' village used to be there, but was moved closer to the dock. But that's speculatory. Fact is, Namidakame Lagoon appears to be a rather self-contained community that rarely receives visitors, so not much is actually known about the place. Yugureda arranges for pearls to be collected from the Ferry Dock at the edge of the Lagoon from time to time, but apart from that, no one really goes there."

"Oh and Itamar? Good to know I am not the only non-Dwarven follower of Torag here," he adds with a grin. "May you bring glory and honour to the Forgefather in your conduct of this mission."

Rhon leans forward resting his hands on his knees as he listens to the venture captain.

"Well this sounds like a right fine kettle of fish to drop ourselves into the middle of." Rhon lets out a heavy sigh before continuing. "But if Torag and the Ten wish for us to handle it then so be it."

Rhon moves to take a better gander at the map that has been produced. "So from the looks of it we should be able to get a decent look at the larger island from this smaller island, the one marked with the abandoned huts. Between whatever information we can garner from the Kappa and the vantage of the small island we should be able to find a way onto the large island so that we can begin our search for O-Sayumi."

Following the briefing.

Greetings to you all. I am Rhon of the Delver Clan from the Five Kings Mountains. It is my pleasure to meet you all.

Rising partially out of floor next to Rhon is a large earth elemental.

Faced with an unfamiliar language, Exiel adjusts his shirt a little to reveal a tattoo of a dove on his chest. The tattoo moves, and then flies out of the Venture Captain's chest in three-dimensional form. The white feathers flow and merge into fabric as the dove's form shifts and enlarges into the form of a small winged girl in a simple cotton dress and a light helmet on her head.

"This is Lauriel, my assistant, companion and translator. Lauriel, if you could translate please?"

The girl gives a polite curtsy and replies, "the stony one said 'I could burrow up from underneath either of these islands and see what, if anything I can sense, and report back to you.'"

"Thank you Lauriel. It is not a bad suggestion. Information is always valuable. Just be careful not to get spotted, especially if you are going alone. If you are spotted, at best you only alert the enemy. At worst, you get yourself killed."

Lauriel repeats Exiel's words, and whilst you all hear her words in your respective native languages, it appears that everyone in the room understands her.

Waiting for 42 and Alden to make a post.

So is the plan to look for the kappa before making your way to
the island?

Rhon, I will need you to be very specific about how Earl is going about his reconnaisance. Where he is going, how he is moving, how much time he is going to spend visible etc.

No problem. Earl comes about from the Stone Servant (Su) ability. Earl sticks with Rhon as much as possible, only leaving for reasons of scouting ahead or death. Currently the scouting by Earl is just an idea for the group to consider.

I would say the plan currently is to seek out the kappa first.

Planes: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

42 moves into the room. "Yes, well met Jiro, long time no see."

I just moved (again) and will get interwebs in the 4th. Until then I can't post as often as I would like.

Ok then, we move on once Alden makes a post.

Sorry about my slow start guys, I had a busy day yesterday and I'm home with a sick little one today, so posting will be limited until my wife gets home tonight.

Alden has been quiet, not familiar with the customs of these Eastern people. "I agree, let's find this 'kappa' first, to see if it might know something of Miss Oh-Sayuumi." He has trouble with the terms, but tries his best to pronounce as others have.

With no further questions for the Venture Captain, you make your preparations and set off for the Namidakame Lagoon. As you circle the lagoon towards where it meets the Jikko River, you notice that the lagoon seems quiet and placid. A solitary un-manned barge is docked at the Ferry Dock, providing a ready means of fording the lagoon to the islands.

Passing the dock, you arrive at banks of the stream approximately where your Venture Captain had made the marking on the map.

What do you wish to do now?

Rhon looks questioningly at the barge and thinks to himself. "I really hope that is sturdy enough to hold us all."

"I have requested Earl to take a scouting venture for us under the stream to see if his finely honed senses are able to detect anything within the water our size or bigger. If he detects anything he will let us know."

Rhon takes off his backpack and begins rooting through it finally producing a slightly dinged and dented cucumber. "Just in case we locate the kappa. I remember something about it being attracted to cucumbers or some such. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to wrest one of these from the cook."

Any tracks in the mud?

Anyone good at tracking?

Earl looks at Rhon with a stony expression. {See what I did there? ;)}

Earl disappears into the earth for some time. After awhile he returns with his head wearing a new headdress comprised of tangled seaweeds. He reports to Rhon that while he was travelling through the earth with his head out of the earth but in the water, he thinks he caught a glimpse of a somewhat humanoid figure. It appeared to be studying him as he was trying to study it, but the humanoid figure eventually lost interest and kept on swimming leisurely. Earl has no reason to think that whatever it was has left the area yet.

Int Check: 1d20 ⇒ 16

Matamah takes the vase. Perhaps we should pour these bath salts into the water and it'll attract it?

Int: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Bath salts in the water...Perhaps some romantic music and light a few candles while were at it? Itamar says half-jokingly

Matamah chuckles. Ha! Romantic drum rhythms. Regardless, might not be a bad idea to create some music as well to attract them.

Matamah pours in the bath salts and then starts performing a soft, soothing rhythm on his drums.

Perform (Percussion): 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (15) + 28 = 43

"Well Earl spotted a humanoid figure swimming through the water. Could be who we are seeking."

Int: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21

Rhon looks at the Inro then the cucumber he is holding. "Guess I didn't need to get this from the cook after all."

"I am not a water-lover myself, nor is Naala, so I'll have to leave it to the rest of you to summon this 'kami'. "

While waiting Itamar casts Life Bubble on everyone.

4 hours life bubble for everyone

You sprinkle the scented bath salts into the water and matamh begins playing the drums. A few minutes pass and you are begining to feel just a little foolish when finally what appears to be a geraitric turtle-like humanoid with a water-filled concave in its head rises from the water.

"Oh. I was wondering when Sayumi-chan started playing the drums. Knock that din off, will you? I mean, ok, fine, it's not too bad as far as drums go, but once you hear Sayumi-chan play the samisen nothing else comes anywhere close. Anyway, what do you want?"

Despite his tone, he appears to be quite enjoying the cucumber-scented bath.

And a good day to you, we are seeking a missing a missing geisha, O-Sayumi. She is held in high esteem by O-Kahaku of the Kiniro Kyomai teahouse in Sakakabe. She was going to see a practioner of the arcane arts one Yugureda Shosaito. However she never made it to her destination acording to this Shosaido fellow. Any help you can offer would be appreciated.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (9) + 21 = 30

"Sayumi-chan went to see that old blaggard!? Whatever in Irori's name for!?" the kappa exclaims in halting common (it is apparent that it is not his native language, though he appears familiar with it).

The kappa's expression turns very sombre and severe. He takes a few breaths to calm himself down, then bids you to sit down.

"My name is Numataro, and Sayumi-chan is my adoptive niece. When Sayumi-chan was just a baby, her mother was killed by a monstrous tiger sent by an evil wizard. Desperate to save her child, Sayumi-chan’s mother left her in a basket on the bank of a stream under a blooming honeysuckle bush, and fled away from her. But in her haste, the basket was left too close to the stream and began to float away. I could only save one, and decided to honor the mother's wishes by saving the child. I later went looking for the mother, and found a place with alot of blood and some pieces of her kimono. The conclusion...was inescapable"

"Sayumi-chan lived with with for several years, and I took it upon myself to teach the girl many of the ancient stories and tales of Minkai. I called her 'Momo-chan' back then, for she was my little butterfly, and I loved her. As a niece of course don't look at me that way. But I soon realized that the child needed more than I could give her—if nothing else, human companionship. So I took the little girl to an orphanage in a monastery of Irori. The monks adopted her and taught her how to play the samisen, for which she showed an exceptional talent. When she was older, she left the
monastery and traveled to Sakakabe, where she took the professional name O-Sayumi and became the respected geisha she is today."

He smiles faintly as he remembers happier times, then remembers why you are here.

"As for Yugureda, he has been asking for her to visit him for some time now, but she has always refused! I do not know why Sayumi-chan agreed to meet with him. Something must have happened to make her change her mind... Indeed I am saddened that she didn’t come to come to visit me when she was so close by! She must have been in quite a hurry, or in some distress. I do know that the pearl merchant is a powerful wizard, and I suspect he may have had a hand in the death of O-Sayumi’s mother. That tiger, you see, was no ordinary tiger. It had the appearance of one...but it called out to Sayumi-chan's mother in a woman's voice! I do not know why he is so interested in her and her mother, but I am certain it is not for a good purpose!"

"Hmm...one other thing I have learned about Yugureda Shosaito is that he, like me, is a shogi master. Perhaps..." he fishes around in a pouch at his waist and retrieves a wooden token. "This shogi-piece, the 'angle mover' comes from an old set, that was said to be capable of channeling the greatest shogi players in Minkai if broken during a game. If you are going to try to rescue Sayumi-chan, take it with you for good luck and with my blessings."

He loooks resentfully in the direction of Yugureda's mansion, as if wishing he were more able to help directly.

Itamar rubs his chin taking it in. Hmm...Perhaps she was ensorcelled against her will.

I thank you for your help, if I may impose could you possibly shed some light on this poem and inro?

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (13) + 21 = 34

I must discover
what lies inside of myself
to enter your place
through dark and shadowed gates, but
the reflection is not me.

The inro O-Sayumi left behind is a small ivory box with four segments, held closed with a silk cord, a sliding fastener, and a netsuke (decorative toggle) to hang it from a sash. The segments of the inro are engraved with a depiction of a geisha playing the samisen. The netsuke is carved into the likeness of strange turtle-like humanoid holding a vase in its webbed hands, and a six-petaled magnolia flower is carved on the bottom of the netsuke. O-Hakami thinks that the geisha on the inro represents O-Sayumi herself.
The turtle creature on the netsuke is a kappa. O-Hakami believes that the kappa might represent Numataro-sama, a figure O-Sayumi often joked about and referred to as her “uncle.”

The segments of the inro actually form three small compartments. Inside the compartments, the inro contains three odd items: an empty silkworm cocoon in the lower compartment; two interlocking stone rings, one of yellow calcite and one of blue lapis lazuli, in the middle compartment; and three camphorwood beads on a cord ring in the upper compartment.

"What is shogi? I have never heard of this game."

Rhon cuts the cucumber he has in half and offers half to Numataro. "Thank you for your assistance. You speak of Yugureda being a powerful wizard. Do you know what magic he is known to wield? Did O-Sayumi ever speak to you about why Yugureda kept asking for her to come visit or at least why she believed he kept asking? Do you know of any safe way of approaching Yugureda' island?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

"Hmmm...the fact that she left a these things for you to find probably means that she was not ensorcelled, but still felt compelled to go. Forced by circumstances rather than magic. I only wish I knew what circumstances could make her do this. The inro has on it a geisha with the samisen. Sayumi-chan's signature instrument was a samisen, so perhaps the poem refers to the items inside of it? Perhaps the items inside the inro are clues to entering or navigating the place with the dark and shadowed gates, and the kappa..." the old kappa wipes a tear from his eye, "means that she still thought of me and wanted anyone who came after her to come to me for counsel. Ah, I wish I could tell you more, but I have told you all I can. I just hope some of what I have told you will come in useful."

"As for Yugureda, I do not know any more than what I have already said. I have always kept my distance from him and his affairs. I am old and my fighting days are long past, and only a fool underestimates a powerful mage. Safe way to get to the island? It's safest to not approach that island at all! But that's not an option if Sayumi-chan is there. Teleport there or fly there invisible perhaps? Even then I am sure there are magics that exist that might allow him to detect your approach if he was determined to. You know, I used to swim in the lagoon, long ago, but I have not crossed into the lagoon in the past 20 years for fear of what he might have done to the waters in it with his magic. I am sorry, but I simply do not know enough about the man to be able to tell you more, much as I wish I could," he laments.

You can see that he is anxious about O-Sayumi's fate, and that if he could tell you more he would.

Rhon turns to the rest of the Seekers. "I am certainly not one for wanting to run headlong into a mage's' sanctum. Most especially a powerful mages. We definitely need to get a better look at the island. Perhaps once we have done that we may have a batter idea as to how to proceed." Rhon gives a slight shrug and tilt of his head, as if not quite certain this is the best option at the moment, and looks about to see if anyone has any other ideas.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm now more than ready to go and have a talk with the 'gentleman' who lives on that island."

Matamah lets out a deep, affirming grunt. I agree with both those sentiments. We should head to the island and investigate, then try to have a talk with the merchant, but we should be careful of our approach and remain methodical.

Thank you Numataro for your time and insight.

So, what's the plan for getting on to the island?

"It's only about a 5-600 feet swim from this island to the main one. Unless we have a better way of getting there, that's what we're going to have to do."

"There was an unmanned barge a little ways back that we passed on our way here. We could use that to traverse the lagoon. There is also that small island to the East of the one the wizards compound is on we could go to and search for information or use to get a closer look at the large island. It supposedly has a small abandoned series of huts on it that may have been used by workers on the large island."

Check the map scale again, Rand. It's in THOUSANDS of feet. Fortunately there's the barge at the ferry dock, unless you guys come up with your own alternate way of getting across.

"I thinkt he barge is an excellent idea, though I wouldn't be the best one to man it..."

"Nor I. However between the lot of us we should be able to guide the contraption in the general direction we want to go."

You will need to travel across 4000ft of water. Alden and Rhon are going by boat. Who's with them? Who's piloting (I assume all others will assist)?

Please post any other preparations as well. I have noted that Itamar has cast life bubble on everyone.

FiddlersGreen, any skill beyond Profession: Sailor that could work for piloting the barge?

I think it's quite a specialised area of knowledge, so I can't think of any other skill check that would be appropriate. I will allow assisting via knowledge nature or knowledge engineering, but the pilot will definitely need to make a wisdom check or profession sailor check.

If you want to make a case for an alternative skill check, feel free, I am open to being persuaded. =)

Turning to Earl

Upon Earl's return Rhon starts trying to do some simple math to figure out how deep the lagoon is based off how fast he knows Earl burrows.

Survival: 1d2 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

If it is no deeper than 300 feet Rhon will pull out his rope and ask everyone else for theirs as well.

My plan is to have Earl drag the barge across the lagoon if the lagoon is no deeper than 300 ft.

Rhon is unable to determine the exact depth of the lagoon, but he is quite certain it is deeper than 300ft.

In addition to that, while I appreciate creativity, the rope that adventurers carry around is not the same type of rope that is used to tow boats. But the lagoon's too deep for that anyway.

Upon further consideration, I will allow a survival check in place of a profession:sailor check, but the DC will be higher, and you will need to roll a 1d20 instead of a 1d2. ;)

Missed that I did that entirely. Oops.

How that check should have actually looked Survival: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

-------------------

"Lets see if I can figure out how to make this floating target go where we need it to."

Attempt to pilot the barge. Survival: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

"Any help figuring this out is appreciated. For that matter if someone else would mind doing this it would be greatly appreciated."

Rhon tries to get the barge moving and nearly capsizes it instead.

You get the impression that the dwarven STONElord might be out of his element in more ways than one.

To Earl

Alden spends some time looking at the water to determine anything useful as well.
Survival: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16