This letter reached the Pathfinders not long ago.
Esteemed Pathfinders,
I trust this letter reaches you without incident. I remain in Kenabres, assessing the damage dealt by the demonic offensive that struck all along Mendev’s western border. Although the city is devastated, the fiends lost momentum and failed to maintain their advantage, and several particularly brave crusaders have rallied the scattered forces for a counterattack.
Since the siege of Nerosyan, I have mulled over a most troubling discovery. I received reports from Pathfinders involved in the siege implicating Thurl, Nerosyan’s other venture-captain, of knowing that the
demons would attack and when. What little evidence I have goes so far as to suggest that Thurl assisted the demons in planning the assault against us.
Following the attack, I sent several Pathfinders to investigate Thurl’s lodge, and though the ground floor was bare of any further incriminating evidence, the lower level were inaccessible. Thurl left many magical wards to keep out intruders, and until we could investigate further and confirm whether or not my dwarven colleague had engaged in dire mischief, the Decemvirate has ordered that I not publicize my suspicions. I received word only an hour ago that those wards appear to have faded.
I have kept you at Starrise Spire not for mundane guard duty but because I can trust you to finish the investigation of Thurl’s lodge. Go there, enter its basement, and find what evidence you can that implicates Thurl in activities against the Society. Once you have explored his lodge thoroughly, report back to Starrise Spire and await my return.
The Pathfinder Society must know for certain whether Thurl has betrayed us and to what extent our trek to Jormurdun—to say nothing of the Mendevian Crusade—has been compromised. Our efforts shall mean nothing if sabotaged by a traitor, and the sooner we know, the less damage he can inflict.
Inheritor guide your hand,
Venture-Captain Jorsal of Lauterbury
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Hello. I'm DM Beckett. I was trying to find a game to get into and Curaigh was kind of enough to oblige.
I've been doing PFS PbP since around 2011 or 2012, can't quite remember, and I generally run games rather than play. I'm a medic in the US Army, and currently getting ready to deploy. It shouldn't affect this game too much if at all, though.
This is one of the scenarios that I have absolutely no experience with, either as a player or DM, and it's nice to get into something that's outside of the level 1-5 range, (or the Confirmation!!!). ha ha ha
A few quick notes. I try to have Bloodhound up when reasonable. It lasts 6 hours per casting, but I also don't want to use all four of my 3rd level spells on it, so I try to use it for 12 hours after I wake up or go somewhere I'd want it active. Also, despite having an 8 Cha, I'm actually a pretty social guy, (Conversion Inquisition), and I tried to make a pretty well rounded character, so I can open doors/locks, be a face, cast some basic spells, etc. . . I'm not terribly great at anything, but I can cover a lot of roles if needed.
I have NOT played Siege of the Diamond city. I'm also, honestly, not familiar with Thrule. Another character, I believe, has played the later scenario that actually
It has been weeks since the siege of Nerosyan, when demonic hordes from the Abyss surged forth from the region known as the Worldwound to assault the capital city of the crusader nation of Mendev. Brave Pathfinders stood side-by-side with the city’s defenders, managing to push back the attackers and ensure Nerosyan did not fall to the demons.
Venture-Captain Jorsal, the Society’s principle representative in Nerosyan, took charge of the Pathfinder defenders and since the siege has deployed numerous groups on missions throughout the region. Having left Nerosyan to survey the devastation of Kenabres, which fell to the demonic offensive—Jorsal ensured some of his agents remained behind in Nerosyan to guard the Starrise Spire, the local lodge. Earlier this morning a messenger arrived with a sealed letter from Jorsal, signaling that more work remains to be done.
Jorsal of Lauterbury officially oversees Pathfinder Society operations in the area, but there is a second venture-captain who operates his own lodge. This is a dwarf named Thurl who has a no-nonsense attitude and sports a dizzying array of tattoos, scars, and piercings.
Some agents suspect that Thurl has not been entirely honest when dealing with the Decemvirate. Agents who work for him tend to have short life expectancies due to the dangerous work of exploring the Worldwound at his behest.
Thurl’s Lodge is a modest structure that lies in the Egelsee district of Nerosyan. A single front door provides ingress, and any other doors or windows that might have existed long ago have been long since removed during Thurl’s renovations. A blacksmith and a local brewery flank the lodge.
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"Greetings my friends", Garinol says with a modest bow as he enters. He speaks gently, "I am Garinol, a priest of the Dawnflower. I stand ready to serve."
"While VC Jorsal is the primary Pathfinder official in Mendev, there is actually a secondary lodge run by a serious and humorless dwarf named Thurl. Rumor has it that Thurl's none to loyal to the Society, and his own agents have a tendency to, well, not make it too long." (more to follow)
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Theo Rosevale is a dour looking dwarf with red hair, fast receding.
He introduces himself as "Little Foot", though scowls slightly as he does so.
He wears shiny mithril armor of Tien design, and carries a large metal-studded club.
It is clear he does not know anything at all about Nerosyan, having been brought in after the fact for cleanup. That knowledge seems to have made him grumpier then usual.
He has a large axebeak companion, who he introduces as "Fairbeaks". The bird seems generally far more cheerful then the dwarf.
Venture-Captain Thurl is perhaps the most dedicated scholar of demonic anatomy that the Society has, and several times in his career he has discovered a physiological or psychological weakness of the fiends that granted the crusaders a small advantage. A group of Pathfinders who finished a mission in Numeria was later assigned to review Thurl’s work and notebooks, but those agents have not been heard from for several months.
As the four* of you arrive at the modest structure between the brewery and blacksmith's shopm, four other agents—perhaps Pathfinders that the PCs already know—are loading the last of the ground floor library’s books into a cart for transport back to Starrise Spire and later analysis.
"Well met," they offer. They can also tell some of the local rumours concerning Thurl, but it is nothing Garinol hasn't already unocovered. About the building here they can offer more.
A man with a cruel scar down the entire right side of his face, with long black hair with some grey mixed in mentions the door leading into the basement. "It once bore powerful abjuration magic, but that seems to have faded as though a spell’s duration had expired. Not much more than a day ago."
A dwarf named Grundar retrieves a small box. "Venture-Captain Jorsal predicted a team might have to explore the basement in his absence and that he wanted those agents to have a few extra tools at their disposal. "
About that box...?
About that door...? The elderly gentleman with a white beard and a cane asks.
A scroll, two potions and a bottle labeled 'anti-toxin'.
"Behind the door? Don't know," he responds. "Just this morning the powerful magic blocking it seemed to dim. Like a spell about to run out of duration."
"The pathfinders who discovered it were unable to bypass it. However the city was besieged by a horde of demons at the time. No one has really had the time to come back to it until recently. I presume that Venture-Captain Jorsal was pursing the implications or maybe looking for someone who could dismiss or break the magic," says the scarred man. "We were assigned to watch and reported the fading of magic. I presumed too that is why you were summoned."
[dice=Spellcraft]1d20+9
potion of cure moderate wounds, a scroll of perceive cues, an elixir of vision and the anti-toxin.
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"Powerful magic needing defeating?" asks the halfling in blue.
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"Indeed, I believe that is exactly what we are here to do. Well, that, and see what might have possibly gotten inside. But, tell me, my friend, what sorts of demons besieged the city? Did they seem to have any particular targets?"
I'll go ahead and try to Detect Magic and also Detect Alignment on the door, check around for any sorts of tracks around the area, and perhaps see if the door had otherwise been tampered with.
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Little Foot makes a small sharp whistling sound, as he moves over to check out the door with Garinol.
"I can run point." He says, as he frowns at the door.
A moment later, there's a bit of a commotion over near the doorway, and yells of surprise, as a large bird barges its way into the room.
It lets out an aggrieved squawk at the dwarf, then ruffles its feathers indignantly, before settling in to wait, eyes watching everyone with small furtive movements.
"Oh, that's Fairbeaks." Little Foot adds, hitching one thumb back towards the axe beak. "He can be a bit grumpy, so watch your fingers if you want to keep 'em all." He gives the bird a bit of a glare, then adds. "He usually does what he's told."
Once the door has been determined 'safe', he will open it, and carefully take the lead going down.
Lots of comings and goings over the last couple of weeks, but nothing special stands out in terms of tracks. There is a lingering aura of abjuration, but the spell itself has gone out. Garinol looks for catches or wires on the door, but finds nothing.
Theo opens the door to find the inquisitor's examinations accurate; he doesn't trigger any traps. A set of dusty wooden stairs leads down, the bottom of which holds a rather nondescript door.
A long set of dusty wooden stairs leads down into an equally untidy archive of tall shelves populated by crates, bins, and tomes. A handful of folios lay scattered about the room, concentrated most heavily near a large table that stands only about two feet tall.
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Searching the desk & other parts of the room will require an Appraise,
Knowledge (arcana or planes), Linguistics, or Perception check, or an appropriate Profession check.
[dice=linguistics]1d20+3
[dice=perception]1d20+10=29
Any of the skills are appropriate, but you are only making one attempt at research.
,
The majority of the works detail studies of demonic anatomy, surveys of the southeastern corner of the Worldwound, and Sarkorian relics tainted by the Abyss. Several entries suggest Thurl resorted to unsavory business practices to obtain what he wanted.
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Little Foot tosses a book down on the table with annoyance. "Mostly Vudrani to me." He grumbles, clearly not able to read much of it.
"Can just drag it all back and let the big brains back at the lodge sort through it, I suppose."
He scowls, and shrugs slightly. "None of it seems particularly damning though."
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Taking a step back towards the group, I'll speak a bit lowly, "Um, folks, we are not alone. Over here by me. Small. Can't make it out, but I see red, cream, and even purple flesh, like a bunch of pain spilled or something."
Holding a hand out, to try to look friendly, "We are not going to hurt you, lil' guy. Why don't you come out here. We are Pathfinders, and we are trying to find Venture-Captain Thurl. Maybe you could help us?"
"Pathfinders?" the creature cautiously steps out of hiding. "I knew the DECEMVIRATE would not forget me." The creature is looks like a patchwork of cream, red, and purple skin with asymmetrical horns and mismatched legs and stands human height. She nearly curses in abyssal at Garinol's mention of Thrull.
"I am Venture Captain Valais Durant. It is such a relief to see loyal agents once again in my lodge. Very well then. Shall we get started with your mission?" She moves to address the group as a whole. "The traitor Thurl built a hidden workplace past this room, and that’s where he performed his most vile experiments. If the Society is to understand just how FOOLISH he is, someone must uncover his terrible schemes. That’s where you come in, Pathfinders. There is a hidden door against that wall.” She waves a crimson claw toward the reading table. “Beyond you shall find his lair. ANY QUESTIONS?”
Her voice is strong, though it is interrupted by a deep, booming, and confidant sound.* Similarly, sometimes the voice switches to soft and hissing.**
I called Thurl a traitor for his experiments," Varial answers before her eyes glaze over and she starts gaping wordlessly. She shudders then seems to come back to herself. "I am a Pathfinder and a Venture Captain," she answers Garinol.
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"I am Garinol, a warrior-priest of the Dawn's Light, as well as a Pathfinder." offering a hand in greeting to the Venture Captain. "I'm going to be up front with you. We are here to investigate Venture Captain Thurl, but our mission is to uncover proof of his foul actions, and to stop any schemes that we might find. There are a lot of rumors going around, but no evidence, and we can not accuse someone on just rumors. We need to know for sure. What experiments was Thurl doing? And how long have you been down here? Where you trapped? Why didn't you try to knock on the door for help?"