[PFS] Season 0 run, mixed with Dragon's Demand

Game Master Irish202

Drop it? No... I prefer to do zis.

While Urbar works to distract the Fey with spinning swords, Tereze tucks the lore stone under her breastplate to make sure it's not hit by any of the suns rays once the sun comes up.

I'm assuming that draws an AoO, but it's worth it to keep our objective safe.

Depending on whether Cynder is still standing after Urbar's/Locke's attacks... Also, could we just confirm his location on the map?

Grapple (Initiate): 1d20 + 18 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 18 + 1 = 24

If the irritating little fey creature is still standing after the onslaught of attacks, Gwen will move forward and attempt to wrestle the little monster to the ground!

Locke throws a frost bomb at Cyflymder, and the evil fey dies in an icy explosion that spreads its tiny limbs all over the place.

Combat's over!

Tereze puts the lorestone at the bottom of her backpack, to keep it from being touches by sunlight. You do some sleepy-sleepy, and head off to the Grand Lodge on the next day.

Conclusion:

When you return to Absalom’s Grand Lodge the lorestone's added to the Society's collection of mysterious articfacts — although unlocking its mysteries will consume many years (at best).

Defeating Cyflymder’s gang removes a minor menace from the Verduran Forest, allowing local, peaceful druidic activity to resume. But, as explorers push ever deeper into the dark groves, friction is bound to flare up again.

Chronicle sheets will follow soon! Please make a Day Job roll if you haven't yet, so I can add it to your sheet.

The trip home was filled with tea and laughter, though Ery kept his excitements limited. It was as if he was he didn't feel quite right.
He kept up a charming masque as he could, but as the trip got them closer home, he became more distant.
After the debrief, of which he remained simply quite during, he left, waving to the others as he usually did with a limp as he made his way to the saloon.
The limp, a result of healing with unset breaks, wasn't painful, but his walk was noticeably less fluid. Something, one could tell, caused him great shame.

A week after...

Five months have passed since you escaped the town of Belhaim and the watchful minions of the dragon that resides within the Dragonfen. You have seven more months to become strong enough to take out the dragon, and failing to stop it will result in Belhaim's destruction. You have grown much stronger in the past five months, but now one of your own has left you. The three deans, the masters of scrolls, spells, and swords, agree that your training has to be intensified.

Locke gets help from the master of scrolls in his experiments. The master of scrolls constantly comes up with fresh ideas for new extracts Locke could use, and has a vast collection of tomes which Locke can use to study.

Tereze and Fiona study with the master of spells, who helps them explore their own magic. Their understanding of magic grows, and with it their control over it.

Urbar and Gwendallyn are made to spar with each other by the master of swords. It's clear Gwendallyn dominates in unarmed combat, but during the armed sparring sessions she doesn't hold a candle to Urbar. The results of the mixed style sparring bouts vary. Sometimes Gwendallyn manages to pin and immobilize Urbar, but sometimes she gets hit by a flurry of rapid swings of Urbar's practice swords before she can even touch him.

Of course, you're also given new missions to gain more experience in the field...

0-07 Among the Living

A week ago, you were seated in the main hall of the Grand Lodge of Absalom, waiting for the arrival of Absalom’s newest venture-captain, a tall, dark-haired and olive-skinned Varisian woman named Eliza Petulengro. Renowned for her composure under pressure and the author of more than two dozen Pathfinder Chronicles entries, she appeared in the hall suddenly, a stack of chronicles in her arms, and looked you over before speaking.

“My greatest pupil, Pathfinder Bodriggan Wuthers, has gone missing. He followed a cleric contact back to Wuthers’s home city of Oppara to work on a massive dig beneath the House of the Immortal Son, Oppara’s famed opera house and once temple to the dead god, Aroden. That was a year ago. He sent monthly reports, hoping to see their publication in a chronicle, before all contact dried up a few months back. I’m worried something has gone wrong, and the Society has a vested interest in the artifact he was researching and seeking. We want you to travel to Oppara and find Wuthers. We’d like to know exactly what he was seeking, too, since he neglected to inform us through his monthly correspondence. He hinted only that the cleric of Irori he was working with told him the object was the world’s greatest ‘living’ artifact—whatever that means.

“I have a few tidbits of information to pass to you before you go: the House of the Immortal Son is nearly impossible to access. It took Wuthers months and countless bribes to get where he did. For you, I have a much simpler idea. Go to an opera, wait for an opportunity, and then exploit it to find Wuthers and his dig site.

“Be sure to wear something festive—the Taldan nobility are arrogant on their best days and if you arrive at the opera dressed like that,” she waves her hands at you, “they’ll surely lose your tickets or regret to inform you that the opera house is oversold.

“Go and report back to me directly upon your return to Absalom.”

Have you done research before heading toward Oppara? If so, please make the appropriate rolls!

It's an opera house, so it's possible that ballets are performed there... so in case it helps I'll roll Dance: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28 to determine what I would know about it.

We clearly are going to need a way to dress up but sneak in our combat gear. We could do Magical disguises or just all dress up and stick our gear in an invisible magical sack.

Tereze turns to Fiona and Gwen.

What do you think, would the dresses from our dinner work again? If not, I'm sure there are more places to go shopping here.

Knowledge(History): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

Fiona nods quietly as Eliza briefs them, listening only halfheartedly. Her thoughts wander to Eryzule's absence. It feels different to be in yet another one of these awfully long briefings without him (and without his great tea, she adds to herself), and she can't help but reminisce about their shared past adventures. Ery, his quips and odd behavior aside, seemed to understand her at some deeper level. Perhaps it was the right decision for him, she thinks to herself, to leave this life of endless adventure and settle down. As much as she would have liked that for herself as well, she realized she still felt her time with the Society was not complete.

The briefing was almost over when Fiona returned her focus to the present. "I've never been to an opera," she admits when Tereze suggests wearing their former dress. "And since I gave away the dress I wore to that dinner to one of my patients, I would need to get a new one. I just didn't think we'd have to dress up again so soon..."

After a while she adds, "I had a Taldan acquaintance once. She was fine, I guess, but all her friends were Taldan and the word arrogant can only describe so much of what they were. I hope the people of Oppara would be better, otherwise it's going to be a difficult mission."

While studying new alchemical formulaes, and refining others already in the book, Locke was looking for something that would give a new recipe some finer touches.

Having studied some more about the topics of nature, Locke still wanted a 2nd opinion on some of the listed ingredients. At the time that thought hit Locke, the master of scrolls was on an errand, and Locke decided Fiona might have some insight on the matter.

Urbar rummages through his pack to see if he still has his outfit, which seems so although a bit crumpled.
"Well, I'm ready."
He seems very distracted as he keeps glancing back, hoping to find Ery with them.

Gwen reads the letter from Ery and rolls her eyes, clearly expecting this to be some rouse of his to get an emotional rise out of her. For a brief moment she considers tossing it into the hearth of the smoldering embers of the fireplace in her Inn, but something about the penmanship and the strange stains draws her eyes again. She reads it again, this time pushing her cynicism down and listening to the words Ery was saying to her. She suddenly crumples the letter in her fist as the first word pops, unbidden into her mind. 'Coward.' But then she immediately regrets such thoughts and works suddenly to smooth out the letter as a torrent of conflicting emotions rushes through her. She had never been one that was good with such things and it confused her thoroughly to feel such a conflict. She wanted to be angry with him, she was to hug and comfort him, she wanted to scream in his face for abandoning the group, she wanted to... she just didn't know anymore... She grabbed the nearest mug she could find and began doing the only thing she knew to do... drown her worries in ale. Several, several mugs later she was drunk and ready for a fight...

Gwen appeared much more subdued at the briefing the her usual self and she clearly had been in a fight the night before as evidence from the swelling on her left cheekbone and the black eye she wore proudly. "Don't worry. This is nothing, my opponent got it worse." she grinned. "Yeah, dressing up. Wonderful. I'd rather just go find another slaver and break his arms. Or maybe another giant, maniacal gnome. That sounds more up my alley than an opera." She huffs indignantly and moves around the rest of the group quickly. She began to understand why some folks chose anger over sadness; it was easier to be angry than depressed. "I'm sure I'll probably be hanged for breaking some dainty noble's pinky nail in Taldor. Gods, but those arrogant people always irked me. I'll meet you all at the docks, need to go back to my place and get my dress."

Knowledge: Local: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16 Going to use my Tavern Vanity for a +1 bonus on this check to see if any of my tavern-goers know much about this situation.

As Gwen turns to leave Tereze holds up her hand.
Gwen Wait.

Then moving closer to her she asks very quietly:
Are you OK? Do you want some company? She seems genuinely worried about her friend.

Gwen stops and looks at Tereze. "Sure, whatever." She turns away and starts walking, wincing at the harsh tone and immediately wishing she could take it back. She stops outside and waits for Tereze, holding a placating visage. "I'm sorry Tereze, I didn't mean to snap at you like that. It's just... I got a letter from Ery last night and I'm guessing you all may have as well. He's quitting, Tereze, he's leaving us. After all we've been through together. He's just giving up. I don't know how I feel about that. Part of me wants to punch him and be angry while another part of me wants to go find him and tell him that everything is going to be okay. More than any us, he's had a very rough go with our group. I mean... he died and was gone for several days. I cannot even fathom what that does to someone. So, I think I understand why." She stops the sudden tide of words spilling rapidly from her mouth, rubbing a hand over her face. "I don't know how to deal with all the emotions. It's easy to be angry and to want to hurt people, bad people especially..."

Tereze grabs her friend and pulls her into a hug and whispers.
I know. I got a letter too. But I don't zink he was giving up. I zink he felt like he had nothing more to contribute to the team, and was dragging us down.

She pulls back a little and looks Gwen in the eye.
As much as he frustrated me with his odd comments, I am going to miss him too. But zat is life. Life is change, Life is growth. Sometimes change is hard, but only ze dead stop growing. Our team is just changing like when Vicard left. We grew past zat, we can grow more now.

Honestly I would rather know zat Ery is safe here, zen go face zat dragon again with him doubting his own abilities. Zis way we can look forward to meeting him between missions and telling him all about our adventures.

She wipes the tears starting to form in her eyes and asks.
I know I am not him, but we have a couple hours before we have to meet ze group again. I have heard zere is a shop down zat way selling something called "Chocolate Iced Cream" that is supposed to be really good. Do you want to go try some with me? If nothing else we can talk about how crazy all the nobles on our mission will be.

At the meeting...

I'd rate those chances of them being arrogant fairly high.
Still, the stylish buttons did work wonders on black & leather at the Baroness' dinner, and so may fairly well in a theater.

The quiet in the group was unmistakable, though. A missing face of a team member. That is, until..

Yeah, dressing up. Wonderful. I'd rather just go find another slaver and break his arms.

"I'd tag along for such stress relief."

Locke held out a small flask to Gwen.
"I've been studying some nature topics, including some basic medicinal.
It should help the recovery of the swelling."

Earlier

Gwen looks at the flask and waives it away. "No thanks, Locke. I'll wear this proudly like a badge. Its my way of honoring my opponent; he was good, patient enough to take several punches and wait for the opening. I was sloppy, but tougher. He didn't get another chance."

Tereze

She holds onto Tereze like a drowning woman holds onto a boat and buries her face into her thick hair for a moment, stifling back the tears that threatened to escape. "He wasn't dragging us down... I could've explained that to him if he'd just given me the chance." She listens intently to Tereze's words, nodding reluctantly at the wisdom there. You're right. I think the hardest thing is the way he did it. Yeah, I'd like that. Sounds like it could be delicious."

At Gwen's polite dismissal, Locke nods slightly.

"If you wish.", then puts it back in the bag.

Urbar Looks from Tereze to Gwen.
"He sent a courier to me... I thought it was a really bad joke..."
He looks at the door where everyone entered, sadness in his eyes.
"Seems not."
He moves out after Tereze. After following most of their discussion he awkwardly says.
"Mind if I come?"

When Urbar asks, Tereze looks over at Urbar and a slight blush appears on her cheeks. She looks back at Gwen and says hopefully:
Gwen? What do you say? Should we all try something new together?

Gwen glances around at all her companions with a sad smile. "Yes, let's do that. One last hurrah for the Lord of Tea. I would like it if you all came, maybe it would take some of the sting of loss away."

Urbar nods, relieved.
"I wouldn't want to ruin your iced cream moment, we could go for some tea. Maybe even buy some for our travels, since..."
He glances about again, still not finding his rival/friend.
"... He will not be returning."

I wouldn't want to ruin your iced cream moment, we could go for some tea. Maybe even buy some for our travels, since..."

He glances about again, still not finding his rival/friend.
"... He will not be returning."

"No, yet that doesn't mean we can't return to visit him.

"I will periodically visit him, if he can be located."

At Gwen's proposal of going as a group, Locke nods with a cheerful tone.
"Sounds good."

"Ice cream is a good idea," Fiona adds. "It'd do us all well to drown our sorrows in something sweeter than ale." As the group begins walking towards the ice cream parlor, she jumps in to fill the silence.

"Ery's departure... I should have expected that. All good things come to an end, and this is no exception. The only thing it really shows is that a person can only trust him- or herself. Everything else, everyone else, they just come and go, fill our lives for a few precious moments before disappearing again. My mother was one, Ery is another. I'm sure there will be more in the future for me, for you, for everyone..." She falls silent for a few seconds to gather her thoughts, then starts again, "I guess the question is whether it's worth making all these connections, building these relationships, investing so much in them just to have them dissipate so quickly. Once I had no doubt about it. Now I'm not so sure. Maybe it is better to just stay alone, blaze your own path through this life by yourself. That's what Ery did, and for all we know it'll work for him.

She stops speaking, catching herself after saying a bit more than what she had wanted to and before saying a whole lot more.

"Maybe... Maybe not..."
Urbar answers, not sure which side he is on just yet.
"I think companionship is good once in a while."

Tereze looks at the others.
I... I was... She seems to draw her courage and continues on. I was sent away from my family almost zree years ago. So I spent a good amount of ze time before I met you all by myself.
Being by yourself has a few advantages. You might get emotionally hurt less, and have nobody you are responsible for. But it a lot of disadvantages. She starts ticking things off her fingers.
You get lonely, you never have someone else to distract you from your pain, you are a target for zose who are looking for bad things, you have no one to help you if you get hurt, you have no one to celebrate your accomplishments with and no one to rely on when you really need something.

She looks at Fiona.
Being with people is work. However the chance to share Joy, Hope, Love and Fellowship is more zen worth the cost. Yes zey may leave, but zey can never take the time, memories and gifts you both shared while zey were zere. Anything you share with a friend, increases in the giving, as it helps you and them. To give zat up, She shakes her head. I do not want to do zat again.

Urbar nods along, agreeing with Tereze.
"Depends on the people around you, but yes... I think I agree with that."
He scratches Ulfa's ear and then adds.
"Friends can make you feel at home away from home."

Gwen puts her arm around Fiona's shoulders and pulls her friend close. "Tereze said it far better than I could ever hope to do. I was alone for a while and it was awful. While Ery is no longer a part of the Society and our missions, he is still a part of this family." She glances over at Urbar. "Nine Hells, I think Urbar even said it better than I could!" She grins at her friend. "He's right, while my Inn is the place I return to every time, this is my home; with all of you. Ery felt like he could no longer keep up with the rest of us and that he was a burden. I don't feel he was, but I also don't know what he went through during that time when he died. I cannot imagine it was an easy thing to experience. And then the alligator... I understand why he left, even if it was not the I would have preferred to see him go. He is still around and I hope to see him now and again to share our stories with. So cheer up, young Fiona." She stops and looks Fiona up and down. "Just how old are you, anyway?"

She stops and looks Fiona up and down. "Just how old are you, anyway?"

Locke smiles faintly.

One of the infamous questions, never to ask of a lady.
Ah, i remember that one day that the same question caused a ruckus, amusing that was.

Urbar smiles, a rare sight, though sadness is still in his eyes.
"Now where is that shop... It's about time we should get there..."
Before moving on he eyes Fiona up and down, not sure how old she is either.

Perc check, estimate?: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

Tereze listens to the others ignoring the rude question about her friend's age.

Family. Yes Gwen, zat sounds about right. Maybe not family by blood, but ze family we choose.

She looks around and then suddely says: Zere it is! Pointing at a shop that has a sign that says "Frosty Reaches" in front.

Fiona listens to the others, thinks for a few moments, then answers "Your words ring true of course, and I've had a close relationship I lost so I've experienced my share of loss before. And yet sometimes you - I - just don't have the power for this. Sometimes I feel I can barely hold myself together. It's just so draining, you know?" She takes a moment to gather her thoughts, then adds, "And now, with Ery leaving, I also feel bad as if we somehow let him down, we somehow made him feel he could not keep up with us. Was this really inevitable?" She finishes with a heavy tone, ruminating on her feelings and ignoring the ice cream shop they were looking for.

Fiona looks quite young, in her late 20s perhaps?

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23

Urbar looks Fiona up and down with his hard eyes and shrugs. He enters the store, not wanting to get in trouble over a number.

*Ding*

The burly ranger glances around and sees a small counter with the top made of glass. The glass feels cold to the touch and behind it seems to be ice. Behind the counter are glass containers filled with nuts, colourful sprinkles and other icecream related stuff. A young woman smiles at him and greets him.
"Can I help you sir? We have a wonderful selection of iced cream. Even chocolate iced cream, though stock is limited."
She beckons towards the counter where several pots of iced cream stand, marked with small labels with colourful drawings of different fruits.
"Oh, I see your friends are coming. The more the merrier!"

Urbar nods, glancing around and waiting for the others to enter.

Locke holds up a handkerchief to Fiona.

Speaking of age, how old is Urbar? :o

While *I* know it's rude to ask a lady her age, Gwen isn't as adapt at such things and frankly finds such faux paus to be exhausting. She has no issue with telling anyone her age. Also... I'm curious how old Urbar is as well! I always pictured him as a grumpy early to mid 30's.

Gwen smiles at the camaraderie they share as they all enter the shop. She looks around in wonder at the display and grins. "The wonders of this place will never cease to amaze me." She leans over to look at this 'iced cream' Tereze was telling her about. "Oh, chocolate for me!" She says to the shop owner. "Please."

Yeahhhhh... :) Only one way to find out!

The cheery woman replies to Gwen.
"One chocolate coming up, a cone I assume? Iced cream just isn't iced cream without a cone! Any toppings?"

Urbar glances over the flavours and sees and odd shade green one.
"What's that?"
He says as he points at the counter, the woman responds in a happy tone.
"That's pistachio, also a fun new flavour. Want to try? You can have more than one flavour if you want!"
Urbar glances intently at the small signs, completely out of his element.

Oh try it! Tereze encourages Urbar.

She turns to the woman and lays a gold down.
Get zis group whatever zey want. Then she looks down at the glass counter.

Oh, Strawberries and Cream are wonderful together. Can I have a cone of zat? She points at the red bucket.

"Strawberries?!"

Locke steps over to the display with excitement.

"Ma'am, i'll have that, if you please."

The woman smiles and nods, filling the first cone with chocolate and hands it to Gwen. The following two she fills with strawberry.
"You sure that's all? A gold could buy you all two flavours."
She beckons towards the counter.
"There's a world of flavour to discover!"

Urbar in the meanwhile makes his choice.
"The green one, pistachio you called it? And chocolate. Please."
The woman nods and scoops the iced cream onto a cone.
"Here you go! Do you guys want any other flavours? I can also add the same flavour if you'd like!"

"Two strawberry coming up. You sure you only want one flavour? A gold can buy you all two flavours!"
She fills two cones with a scoop of strawberry iced cream.
"There's a world of flavour to discover!"
She says with a playful smile, beckoning the display.

In the meanwhile Urbar made his choice.
"The green one, pistachio you called it? And chocolate. Please."
She fills the cone with the two scoops and hands it over. He looks somewhat uncomfortable and confused at the iced cream, never having had any in his life.
"This stuff is... Odd..."

Locke is enjoying the strawberry goodness.

Once outside of hearing distance of the saleswoman...

"Delicious, though nothing tops the genuine thing."

In a voice so loud and booming the team is sorely tempted to cover their ears, a man in full plate armor riding, of all things, a giant turtle, rides up to them.

GREETINGS MY FELLOW PATHFINDERS!

The shining polished plate is adored with turtle shells and similar symbols, and the man's face is a lantern jawed smile that radiates joviality.

My humblest, and deepest apologies my friends for missing the briefing! But I only just received my summons!

He shakes his head and tuts, waving the summons. Depending on your knowledge of the region, you may peg that the letter is addressed to a region that should take someone 2 to 3 days to ride from, not a morning and a half.

I am never one to turn down the call of ADVENTURE! but they really should find a more reliable method of transporting the mail. Horses are such spindly legged things. Roshi had to run almost all of the way! Didn't you Roshi?

He reaches down and pats the giant turtle, who you get the feeling is giving you a look reminiscent of one saying "I'm so sorry about this."

They should ride TURTLES! Fine, glorious beasts, stout of leg and strong of breast! Why, a fine sized turtle can carry triple what a horse can!

He strikes a pose, pointing to the sky.

AND THAT IS WHY THE GRAECA FAMILY HAS BEEN RIDING TURTLES FOR GENERATIONS!

Pointing now to the group, he continues.

NOW, My new stalwart companions! What is our mission? And how may I be of use on this ADVENTURE!? Is there evil to be thwarted that me and the mighty Roshi may assist you?

Tereze deadpans:
We are going to an Opera in Taldan. Does your Turtle have a fancy shell he can wear?

Testudo Scoffs, stepping off the turtle and pulling aside the saddle to reveal a gleaming polish that's as shiny as his armor.

Roshi is a proud Graeca turtle! His forefather's lead the charge of the Graeca mounted brigade across the wild lands! A turtle shell such as this could not be any fancier! For it is the history of every Graeca turtle that is etched into the magnificent pattern on his back!

Roshi, meanwhile, offers a deadpan stare to Tereze right back.

In response to the 'can't be any fancier', Locke thinks of snapper turtles.
Add spikey armor for more badass factor.

"Hey, speaking of colleagues and animals, has anyone seen Urbar on the way here? He's usually arriving early."

Is this Urbar another companion? Testudo Inquires, his jolly smile growing WIDER somehow.

I AM ALWAYS EXCITED TO MEET NEW COMPANIONS! NEW COMPANIONS ARE HEAVEN SENT! He says with a flex and flourish as he points to the sky.

Cue ceiling collapsing as he points up... ^^

LOL

Well he was here a bit ago... Tereze looks around confused.
I wonder if the Ice Cream didn't agree with Ulfa.

Then she smiles back at Testudo.
It is a pleasure to meet you Sir. I am Tereze Amnell and zis is Locke, Gwen and Fiona.

She lowers her eyes to the turtle and continues
[/b]I've never seen someone ride a turtle before, does he like to be petted... or bite?[/b]

Testudo proudly pats Roshi on the head.

Roshi is a fine Graeca Battle Turtle! He will be happy to receive affection from a comrade, and will only bite in pursuit of JUSTICE! and ADVENTURE!

You can practically hear the exclamation points.

Also He whispers conspiratorially. And by Whispers, more "Shouts at a slightly lower volume." He loves his vegetables and fruit. Surefire way to win him over. Especially if it's something he can crunch into, like lettuce.

MRMmmmurrrah. Agrees Roshi.

Locke raises a palm as a calm greeting, still sort of unsure of what to make of the burly man and his turtle. While Urbar was rough and slightly grumpy at times, this man was pretty much a polar opposite...still looking rough though.

"Hi."

"So, what country are you from?"

Testudo returns the greeting.

My family hails from Taldor, and our family line goes back for GENERATIONS! My Father is a turtle rider, HIS father was a turtle Rider, and HIS father was a turtle Rider, and HIS father was a turtle Rider, and HIS father was a turtle Rider...

He stops for a moment for a deep breath,

and HIS father was a turtle Rider, and HIS father was a turtle Rider, and HIS father was a turtle Rider... and the records get sketchy after that, but we PRESUME his father was a turtle rider! And so on.

He pats Roshi on the head.

Some of my family has lead the charges in Taldor's great army's over the years. Always a bit difficult though, for some reason there is such bias against such noble steads!