|
After a hurried summons to the Grand Lodge in Absalom, a quick conversation with Venture-Captain Alissa Moldreserva, and a wet, stormy trip across the Inner Sea to Andoran, the small, warm Pathfinder Lodge in Augustana is a welcome break from travel.
“I can’t believe we are wasting our time on this matter,” says Caudron Wallace, the venture-captain of Augustana as he paces the main hall.
“Frankly, I want as little to do with it as possible, so I’m passing it on to you.”
Wallace nods toward a door at the back of the room. “The vagrant through there was found collapsed on our front steps gripping a wayfinder of all things. We still don’t know who he is. Talk to him, for the tale he tells is amazing if true, and then come back here.”
|
|
As you enter the room at the back of the main hall, you find a small sitting room with six comfortable chairs and a few bookshelves filled with the latest Pathfinder Chronicles. An old, withered man sits in one of the chairs, half-dozing when you enter. His skin is shockingly pale and his features are sharp with high cheekbones and a jutting chin. Despite his incredibly filthy visage, matted white hair, and infirmity, when he awakes and regards you he does so with a look of absolute, confident superiority.
“My loyal subjects, welcome! I know that some of you might" not recognize me in my current state, but it is truly me, Gandros, the long-lost Prince of Augustana. I have been in hiding since the untimely death of my father, the Emperor, preparing for my return to glory. Unfortunately, I bear ill news. The army I have been gathering in the otherworld has been infiltrated by agents of our enemies. When last I called my forces together for inspection, dark assassins attacked me and I barely escaped with my life.”
He takes this opportunity to roll up his sleeve and reveals a series of recently inflicted claw and tooth marks on his right forearm. He then launches into a breathless retelling of how he came to be in the Lodge, without pause or acknowledgement of interruptions.
“I fled back through the magic portal to this realm. Grievously wounded, and with the assassins in close pursuit, I leapt into the dark river. I floated past the Almsman’s Sanctuary, but couldn’t climb out of the water. I did manage to grab one of the bridges, but a plank fell in with me. I held on for dear life and continued to drift downstream. I went over a waterfall and then emerged in the lake of ships and crawled to shore. Augustana has changed since I last walked my city’s bright streets, but I managed to find this house, bearing the symbol of my father’s empire.”
He holds up the wayfinder hanging from a chain around his neck. “I knew I would find help here! If you remove the threat from my kingdom below and help restore me to my rightful place as Emperor of Andoran, I will grant you any boon within my power!”
|
A large and lightly armored warrior stands at the back of the room eying this would be Emperor of Andoran sceptically. He then speaks his voice deep and devoid of any emotion.
What would you have us do to deal with this menace? he inquires. While he might doubt this man's claim he is a pathfinder and has been assigned a mission one he will carry through irregardless of his personal feelings.
|
A lithe, athletic elf woman with dark hair stands with her arms crossed in the center of the room, a puzzled look on her face. Lightly armored, she carries no weapons aside from a shortsword, and a long metal tube with a handle at one end strapped across her back. To those who've never seen a firearm (which, judging by the questions and stares she'd gotten in the past, seems to include most other new Society recruits), the function of this device would be a complete mystery. "Prince Gandros?" She searches her memory, trying to recall if she'd even heard of him.
|
A small gnome dressed in simple functional garb that has numerous burn marks, alchemical stains, and a few holes from both sources, sits in the back of the room, scowling at pretty much everyone.
A pair of smoked goggles rest atop his head and even in the muted light of the current room, his eyes are narrowed.
Although he doesn't socialize much, when he does talk, it is with a very thick lower-class accent filled with strange slang and often cryptic commentary.
"Right barmy lurker, this one." He mutters.
"Why the toffers pawnin' this prig on us?" He adds frowning. "More skipper then swell."
|
|
The bow carrying Varisian woman at first seems pleased to be in the Augustana lodge, but the curt explanation from the Venture-Captain and the rambling words of the so-called 'Prince' have turned her mood for the worst. With arms crossed, she asks, "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, guy. How do we find this magic portal to your kingdom?"
|
|
Gadros ignores Turan and Tori when they speak to him and somehow is able to covey that he's doing it on purpose
At the sound of Adeah wondering who he is he looks directly at her and raises an eyebrow, almost as if waiting for her to say more.
Adeah herself remembers nothing about anyone being called Prince Gadros but she does give Milo the idea to think about what he knows and he is able to come up with;
a mask, but most folk believe he is a priest. Most of the city’s poor do not know where his sanctuary is—those who do know won’t tell.
You also have no clue about anyone ever being called Prince Gadros
|
|
Gadros seems pleased that Adeah is treating him with respect and with some effort on your part you are able to get him to answer some questions you have, but even your best worded phrases come back with nonsense answers, he also contradicts himself while answering any of your questions..sometimes even in the same sentence. During all this he is aloof and intolerable.
For example when asked about the magic portal he tells you it was yellow and it ripped open the sky..but it was also purple and had sparks ..and it sometimes had an orange glow around it while it changed shape from a circle to something which was a bit more square, and it floated around from left to right..or it might have been blue.
The only thing he knows about it's location is that it's upstream in the sewers
|
|
Once you are done talking to Gandros, you can return to the main hall to converse with Venture-Captain Wallace.
“My diviners say that there is some truth to his story. There has never been a Prince of Augustana, nor an Emperor in Andoran, but the old fellow has a surprising amount of knowledge of the pre-revolution noble families of the city. He may be the lost scion of some noble line. If so, he’s fallen far. From the filth and stink on him when we found him, we’re fairly certain he’s been living in or near a sewer. The wayfinder is also a mystery, but for now, it makes him one of ours. However, I’m more interested in his supposed gate to the otherworld. If it exists, I want to know about it. Implausible as it may seem, I’m certain that his injuries were caused by otherworldly beings.
We must take the possibility of a portal seriously. I don’t want to dirty my hands with this, but you don’t have that choice.
Retrace the old man’s path through the sewers. The Almsman, whom he repeatedly mentions, is rumored to be an eccentric priest who runs some sort of hidden beggar’s sanctuary in the sewers. He may know where our prince’s portal is, if you can find him. But be warned; a local gang calling themselves the Steel Wyverns claims the sewers near the Almsman’s Sanctuary as their own territory.”
were once the most powerful criminal organization in the city, but they have been in decline for decades. Now they are a rag-tag gang of thugs and petty crooks. The wyverns prefer to fight with spiked chains, which they call “Wyvern stings.”
a mask, but most folk believe he is a priest. Most of the city’s poor do not know where his sanctuary is—those who do know won’t tell.
|
|
Their conversation with Gandros, if it could be called such, proves frustrating and unhelpful, so she's thankful that Wallace is able to clear things up. Knowing little and less about the Steel Wyverns or this man called the Almsman means she isn't afraid to push forward. "Fine by me. Just point us in the right direction."
|
|
"Git ain't right in the head" Milo observes, as self-proclaimed prince rambles on. "Knew a scroll thumpin' blob once what claimed he was the second coming of Aroden. Would put on the patter, all the while toolin' yer pockets."
He glares at Gandros, not trusting the man at all.
"Almsman ain't no toffer." Milo offers, when the name comes up. "Heard word a him. Some prater takin' in all the spongers in some crib down the skipper." He shrugs slightly. "What I hear anyway. Obvious he knows the life I'd guess. Probably where that tosser fell out from." He adds, hitching a small thumb back towards where Gandros waits.
"As for those Wyverns... bunch a prigs wavin' their iron links and nickin' translators from the spongers nowdays. All flat, no flounce, they says."
|
|
As you talk about hitting the streets Venture-Captain Wallace remarks that the Almsman is under the streets, in the sewers and he suggest looking for him there.
Finding a sewer access point that's big enough for you all to fit through takes some time.
The channels in major tunnels are 10 feet wide and 5 feet deep. Where passages meet, there are usually planks laid across the channels to allow pedestrians to cross from one walkway to the other.
The water in the channel is revoltingly filthy.
|
|
The cantankerous wizard, having barked and complained for much of the ship's journey, sits by the fire with his dusty, cobwebbed hat down over his eyes. His rattling snore echoes throughout the main hall, but as you return he wakes with a start. "...huh, bwuh... Wha? Leaving, are we? Did none of you ingrates think to wake an old man?" he seethes, lurching to his feet with surprising vigor and making a beeline for the group, staff tapping on the floor. He stops dead in front of the Venture-Captain. "... frooom the deep trance of a scrying spell. Ahhrmmyes. I'm spry as I ever was, Captain. Wouldn't catch me sleeping on the job! No sirrah!"
Clearing his throat, he slinks from the hall and begins to aid Milo in his investigations. "Hrmm, I used to be stationed not far from here, Milo my old boy! Those were the days! No crawling through sewers back then, I'll have you know." he stops, as if in thought. "Aside from the time I dropped by ring of counterspells down the privy. If memory serves there's an outflow pipe along the docks, although a fat lot of good that knowledge did me. There wasn't enough coin in all of the First Vault to get that back..."
The wizard hobbles along in step, having no idea he just volunteered some useful information.
|
|
She isn't able to learn where the best entrance is, but she knows enough about Absalom's sewer system to make her wish she didn't have to go down into it at all. Filthy place, that. Their gnome companion seems familiar with what lies ahead, but she can only pick out one word in five. "I don't speak... whatever that is you're speaking," she remarks to Milo as they head out. "Surely you've spent enough time in the Society to learn the common trade language by now?"
|
|
"Well, it sounds like, uh, Archibald knows a good place to get started. Although the prospect of exploring the sewers based on the word of a guy obviously out of his mind isn't exactly something I'm looking forward to." Tori says with a shrug once out of the presence of the Venture-Captain.
"Anyway, it doesn't look like we have anyone able to quickly heal injuries so I'll need to stop at a potion shop first."
|
|
"I don't speak... whatever that is you're speaking," she remarks to Milo as they head out. "Surely you've spent enough time in the Society to learn the common trade language by now?"
Milo glares at Adeah indignantly, with a hint of embarassment. "Kings own Taldane, if its a downer." he retorts angrily.
Realizing his lower class upbringing is showing, he clams up after that... Not wanting to get ridiculed more. He remains silent for a while, inwardly fuming.
|
|
Milo stops at a shop and passes out a few silver for an odd sectioned board with hinges. Folded up the strange device is almost as big as he is. He continues on after the others, the planks resting over his shoulders occassionally overbalancing him in one direction or the other.
"Hrmm, I used to be stationed not far from here, Milo my old boy! Those were the days! No crawling through sewers back then, I'll have you know." he stops, as if in thought. "Aside from the time I dropped by ring of counterspells down the privy. If memory serves there's an outflow pipe along the docks, although a fat lot of good that knowledge did me. There wasn't enough coin in all of the First Vault to get that back..."
"Worse places to flop." The gnome mutters. "Smell'll curl yer bacca pipes, sure enough, but not like ta get rolled or yer neck opened."
"Slept in one for a month once, after my ma bleached out. Was to tight for the worst of the bludgers ta reach... Weren't too bad... Til the rains flushed ya out." He shudders slightly at some unpleasant memory, and goes quiet for a while after that, just listening to Archibald chatter.
|
|
She sighs, oblivious to Archibald's accidental help. Was this creature raised in the gutters? She was never much good with people, but communicating with one's allies could mean life or death-- that was a lesson she'd learned quickly.
|
|
Since Turan was able to get the location of one of the outlets from the sewer that leads into the sea you can enter if you want
Assuming that Turan tells you guys about it, repeating the description here;
As you walk along the docks looking for a sewer outlet you finally manage to locate one with the pointers you got from the locals as the pipe extends under a breaker and is hard to see from land.
If you enter the sewers by the outflow pipe the first 100 feet are a major passage without a walkway, so you'd need to wade or swim through the filth...or find another way in to bypass this
|
|
The effluvium is difficult terrain to move through, and the current is fairly swift.
the channel drifts downstream 20 feet per round.
As Turan moves through the filth it takes him a bit of time and effort but eventually he reaches:
The smell of waste and rot is strong in this large chamber where filthy water flows in a series of cascades between tiered stone tanks. A raised platform along the east wall is connected to the passage’s walkways by several thick wooden planks creating a makeshift bridge. On that platform is what looks to be a makeshift alchemy lab on a rough-hewn table—beakers,
glass vials, dirty bottles, and moldy buckets cover the entire surface of the table.
There are 3 humans here, one of them sees you enter the area and says: "Hey you there, this be our turf..drop everything of value you are carrying and leave..and _maybe_ you can get out of here unhurt"
|
|
She follows Turan, thoroughly revolted by the conditions. "Cannot BELIEVE this," she mutters to herself. She tries holding her nose for awhile, but after nearly losing her footing, decides she needs both hands free for balance and simply holds her breath for as long as possible. When they reach the three human thugs on a raised platform, she actually envies them. At least their clothes are clean. "As far as I'm concerned," she pauses to wipe off a bit of muck that managed to get on her hand, her face screwed up in disgust, "you can have it. But first, we've got someone we need to talk to. They call him the Almsman."
|
|
Milo works his way through the sewage without hesitation, almost like he's done it before.
The large plank over his shoulder suddenly becomes a multipurpose tool... occasionally a brief floatation device, sometimes a balancing assistant, or used to sweep away more suspicious and overly large lumps of floating material. At one point he even uses it like a large ungainly paddle as he tries to keep his footing in the chest deep effluvium.
Still, his size is not well suited for the endeavor, and his head goes under a few times, despite his attempts to stay above the filth. He comes up coughing and spitting, slinging out a string of angry curses in a variety of languages (though mostly orcish) that would put the most seasoned of sailors to shame.
Needless to say, he's in a foul mood when they run into the three humans on the raised platforms.
|
|
Tori keeps her complaints to herself as the group moves through the waste water, but her expression definitely suggests disgust and discontent.
Her bow at the ready, but not yet pointed at the sewer dwelling thugs, she says, "Yeah, we're just here to see one guy. We really don't want any trouble but we sure aren't going to give you anything."
|
|
"Well little lady..you might not want any trouble...but you sure got it , if you don't drop your stuff right now"
The humans twirl their chains as the move forward to stand at one of the planks crossing the "water" ready to use them if need be while the human in not wielding a chain moves towards the workbench and picks up a few vials..holding them where he can easily use them. (readying actions)
init
You guys
Wyverns
|
|
Milo, still dripping with filthy water and picking off the occasional mystery glob, scowls at the men across the way. "Cark this!" He growls angrily. "I'm flashin' for a right and proper barney if these prigs think they got us coopered."
His eyes flash dangerously. A flash that quickly multiplies, until they appear almost on fire. Suddenly the fire bleeds out and down his arms as he makes a mystical gesture and utters an arcane word in draconic.
The flame shoots across the intervening space, separating briefly on either side of Adeah, to rejoin again in the form of a snarling, fiery draconic figure that roars across the sewer towards the man on the far side, before exploding in a flash of light and sound and flame.
plus dazzled (DC 11 Reflex for half damage and no dazzled)
|
|
Milo sends out a small dragon shaped piece of fireworks that damages the human next to the alchemical work bench..but he is able to shield his eyes enough to not be dazzled by it
Archibald then tries to set the vial the human has in his hands to unconformable high temperatures to realize that burning disarm only works on metal objects and not on glass vials
Adeah draws her wierd looking silver tube and starts to put powder and other stuff inside it
Tori shoots an arrow at the closest thug (+)
Turan waits and readies his weapon in case on the thugs would get close enough for him to use it
The human next to the workbench picks up a small bag and throws it at Adeah but that only results in him littering the sewers even more as it falls short
The wyverns with their spiked chains move forward to try to engage you
"This is your last change!.. After this we bring the pain!"
init
You guys again
Enemies