With the combined attacks of Theadric, Hskori, Boderus and Xien, the minotaur's no match. It bellows loudly, then falls to the ground.
Silas'ra makes sure the minotaur stay down, stabbing it in its neck.
With a few taps of Boderus' wand, Janira opens her eyes. "wow! thank you so much!"
Janira gives each of you a quick hug. "I promise I'll submit a glowing recommendation for your heroism! And if you ever need my help during missions to come, let me know!"
After praising your actions, Janira pauses in thought.
"What did you find in the caves?" she then asks, and listens to your summary of your discoveries.
"I sounds like there's still more to discover. Well, it's your confirmation! I'll wait for you here. Go ahead and finish your exploration!"
The party retrieves S'arkee from the water, and heads back into the cave system. You head back to the cave where you met Uori, who's still 'listening' to the water. He's too absorbed in his practice to notice you pass.
Though you encounter several points where the tunnel branches off in different directions, all of those paths either too narrow to traverse, lead back to the main trail, or are blocked by cave-ins. Trekking through the twisting passages to the next area takes approximately 20 more minutes.
The persistent glow of the bluish fungi dimly lights the way deeper below the Kortos Mounts. The tunnels broaden to reveal a shallow river that bisects an immense tunnel stretching to the north and south. To the east a small passage exits the chamber at a steep incline.
On the other side of the stream are several small fey-like creatures, with a rather large centipede.
Turn progression - round 1:
Theadric
Boderus
? (Yellow)
S'arkee
? (Red)
Xien
Hskori
Centipede
? (Blue)
Silas'ra
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Looking at the dead beast, Xien says "That was really big. I think we just made a good job together. Specially approaching the thing before it could kill Janira. He was just trying to defend his territory I guess, but should have been more respectful. Let's just leave him at his own luck and let the gods judge him."
Then after Janira is safe, Xien takes anything of value from the minotaur "This will serve as payment for the troubles." And in just the same way, he picks up the large greataxe.
"Hello Janira! We defeated the minotaur, sorry to not following strictly your orders, but we can continue mapping the caves now, so we thought it would be no problem. Follow us now if you wish, we have discovered one guildman named Uori."
And so, Xien starts walking towards the left corridor with the minotaur greataxe in his shoulder.
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Hood did not leave Janira's side until she had told her entire tale in excruciating detail; the look of jealously on his face indicated he would much rather have traded places with her. Once she has completed the telling, he reluctantly agrees to complete exploration of the cave, but looks back over his shoulder to see if Janira is about to do something much better.
Once back inside, he seems eager to complete the exploration.
Seeing the fey creatures, he does not have a good line to charge from, and moves to their flank.
"Are you guys friendly or hostile? I suggest friendly, since we kill all the hostile stuff!" he says as he moves forward.
Janira shakes her head. "I won't come with you, Xien. I'll stay out here, and write down the events I've been involved in thus far. Good luck inside!"
She sits down on top of the downed minotaur, while Xien tries to drag the large battleaxe and three large javelins the beast owned with him.
"Uhm... I'd leave those heavy things here, " Janira suggests to Xien, "but that's up to you."
Theadric gets in position, but doesn't recognize the creatures. The small fey don't reply to Theadric's words.
The creatures don't reply to Boderus' words either, instead swinging their small daggers at him.
Boderus shoot one of the creatures in its head, taking it out.
Turn progression - round 1:
Theadric
Boderus
S'arkee
? (Red)
Xien
Hskori
Centipede
? (Blue)
Silas'ra
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Xien walks inside the main cave and out of the line-of-sight of range attackers while waving his trident, and trying to impress the small thing with his shield, he shouts "This is guillman territory, run away or die!"
And tries to guess what type of creature it is with his poor knowledge about western creatures.
S'arkee boosts Hskori's defenses with shield of faith/
The red creature moves slightly, takes out a dart, and throws it at Theadric.
The dart misses.
Xien then moves forward, and scares the blue creature by yelling loudly. The blue creature has no idea what Xien's yelling, but its oversized eyes bulge out in terror.
Turn progression - round 1:
Theadric
Boderus
S'arkee
? (Red)
Xien
Hskori
Centipede
? (Blue), shaken
Silas'ra
------
Ancestral Ally: Golarion’s many cultures have traditions of animal husbandry and cooperation that date back millennia, and you have embraced one of your people’s favored companion creatures. If you have the divine bond or mount class feature, instead of choosing an animal companion from the list provided in the class description, you may instead call a mount from the list below so long as you are a member of the corresponding race. If the animal companion statistics for your race’s mount are found in a source beyond the Core Assumption, the source is listed below. You must bring a copy of the listed book to all games in which you use the selected animal companion as though access to the animal companion came from the Additional Resources list.
If an asterisk follows an animal companion option listed below, the animal already appears on the list provided by your class description, and you are at least 4th-level, you may spend 5 Prestige Points to strengthen your bond with that type of animal. This increases your effective druid level as one higher when determining the animal companion’s bonus HD, natural armor bonus, Strength and Dexterity bonuses, bonus tricks, and special abilities. This boon cannot increase your effective druid level more than one level above your actual character level.
Dwarf: badger*, boar
Elf: bird*, elk (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3)
Gnome: badger*, giant weasel (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 4)
Halfling: dog*, ram (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2)
Half-Elf: A half-elf may choose from the elf and human lists.
Half-Orc: camel*, bear; a half-orc may also choose from the human list.
Human: bird*, horse*
------
Custom Order: You have a special contract with an ammunition crafter, and you are able to order small batches of specialty ammunition as a result. Choose either a +1 or +2 ranged weapon enchantment. You may purchase +1 [enchantment] pieces of ammunition in sets of 10 instead of sets of 50. Once you choose the weapon enchantment, you may only change the enchantment type by spending 4 Prestige Points.
Hskori moves up, and goes defensive.
The blue creature moves a bit closer to the water's edge, and takes out a dart.
While the dart hits the cave's ceiling, the centipede moves up to Theadric. The blue creature's eyes continue to bulge, as it continues to be shaken.
Theadric easily dodges the centipede's attack.
Silas'ra then moves forward, and draws his katana.
Turn progression - round 2:
Theadric
Boderus
S'arkee
? (Red)
Xien
Hskori
Centipede
? (Blue), shaken
Silas'ra
Boderus tries to not hit Theadric, who's facing the centipede, and misses the giant vermin.
Turn progression - round 2:
Theadric
Boderus
S'arkee
? (Red)
Xien - Will step toward edge of water, and attack blue creature.
Hskori
Centipede
? (Blue), shaken
Silas'ra
The giant centipede is hit once by Zyzzyx, but Theadric misses. The vermin still stands, but barely.
Turn progression - round 2:
Theadric
Boderus
S'arkee
? (Red)
Xien - Will step toward edge of water, and attack blue creature.
Hskori
Centipede -4HP
? (Blue), shaken
Silas'ra
S'arkee delays.
The red creature takes a step toward the edge of the water, and takes out a dart. It throws the dart at Xien, but the dart isn't able to penetrate Xien's armor.
Xien then throws his trident, taking out the blue creature.
Hskori crosses the river, using a double move to end up in front of the red creature.
Theadric is bitten by the giant centipede.
Silas'ra then moves forward to flank the red creature with Hskori.
Turn progression - round 3:
Theadric 8/13HP & -2 Dex
Boderus
S'arkee
? (Red)
Xien
Hskori
Centipede -4HP
Silas'ra
Theadric looks cool while the centipede bites him, and even cooler when the centipede's poison takes out a large chunk of his dexterity.
He then decides to stab his lance through the centipede's head, bringing his coolness to a whole new level.
Turn progression - round 3:
Theadric 8/13HP & -5 Dex
Boderus
S'arkee
? (Red)
Xien
Hskori
Silas'ra
Boderus and S'arkee delay, and the red creature feels it's outmatched. It tried to run away, provoking attacks from those who flank it. Before Hskori can make his attack, Silas'ra cuts the blue creature down.
After defeating the creatures, you travel up the tunnel to the
east. You eventually reach the same exit as you discovered earlier, when heading toward Janira and the minotaur.
"Hey, you're back!" Kanira says, and jumps off of the downed minotaur's shoulder. "Did you finish your exploration of the caves? Tell me all about it!"
While you tell her all about the cave system, Janira leads the expedition back to Absalom without further incident. Once safely back in the Grand Lodge, Master of Scrolls Kreighton Shaine inquires excitedly about what you found and asks to see your notes. He compliments those who recorded notes for being certain to write down ideas and observations while the thoughts are fresh. "It's difficult enough to remember what one had for breakfast the day before, as it is to recall exactly what one was thinking while studying an inscription. Making notes is very important for Pathfinders."
"As you're now the foremost authorities on that cave and what it contains, I invite you to come up with its name," Kreighton adds smilingly. The elf then turns to compliment Janira for her guidance and assistance, much to the halfling’s delight.
"These six are very promising Pathfinders! It was fun working with them!" Janira replies to Shaine.
There are two other Masters besides Kreighton Shaine, who is the Master of Scrolls. These are Marcos Farabellus, the Master of Swords, and Aram Zey, the Master of Spells. Three days after you've completed your mission, you're each contacted by the Master who best represents your interests. He confirms that you've become a full Pathfinder field agent. As part of the ceremony that follows, you're each gifted a personalized wayfinder by this mentor, 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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"What what!?" Hood yells. "We totally rocked that exploration! There were a couple times where there was too much talking or people were too cautious and worried about not getting hurt instead of being awesome, but that Pathfinder stuff is fun! I want to do some more of it!!!" he yells as he runs circles around the room.
"Someday I want to be a venture captain myself, and every time we run into something, I'll order everyone to run while I engage it for a while, just like Janira! That was cool! I'm super jealous! Well played, Janira! Well played!"
He continues in this manner for some time. On occasion, he looks over at Xien. "You're not going to report me for getting bit by a centipede on purpose or fighting skeletons with piercing weapons, are you? That wouldn't be very cool...not cool at all!" he says.
"You guys were really fun! Wooo! Thus begin the adventures of Hood! WOOOOOOO!!!"
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Xien assist the initiation ceremony with his Nagajor traditional suit. He receives his wayfinder with honor and makes his promise solemnly "For my honor and the honor of my ancestors, I promise to explore, report and cooperate. I will pay homage to Nalinivaty and Nagajor by following the orders by the Pathfinder Society."
Afterwards he maintains himself a little bit away from the rest of the party. This is just the start for the nagaji. He knows he had to endure the negligence and chaotic behaviour of the occidentals. That was part of the deal, for most he dislikes it he will have to learn to work as a team with those chaotic minds. It is just the beginning, the real challenges still await, and everybody needs to prepare for the day.
When Theadric appears and throws at him the words Xien just says "Take care Greyhood, you can always count having me at your back. Don't know for how long that will be enough to maintain the real troubles far away. If I could ignore your unconsciousness about the danger and its outcome I would say you were certainly brave." and he gives back all that can be understood as a smile from a nagaji.
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"I would rather not name the cave but rather keep it secret for the folk who go to pray there."
Boderus says with a very serious voice, unlike how he would normally act.
He walks to the exit and turns around before leaving.
"It was a pleasure working with you all. I hope we should meet each other again some time."
He bows and opens the door with his tail, making his exit.