Current characters
Blossym - Ninja 2
Darren - Swashbuckler 2
Nijena - Paladin 4
* Please dot in.
* Starting shortly.
You are awoken in the middle of the night by a sharp rap at your door. Opening the door, you find a sleepy-eyed page requesting your presence in Drendle Drang’s quarters. You dress hastily and navigate the halls of the Grand Lodge. As you near Drang’s chamber, snatches of violin music waft from the hall where his quarters are located. Arriving at the door to his chamber, you realize the music is emanating from his room and your knocks go unanswered. Entering his room in ones and twos, Drang ignores his guests until six groggy Pathfinders arrive. Once all six are assembled, he sets the violin down abruptly and strolls over to the fireplace mantle, retrieving a felt slipper and a meerschaum pipe. He withdraws a small pouch from the slipper and opening it, removes some shag tobacco. He begins to pack the pipe with the tobacco before removing a hot poker from the fireplace, touching it to the pipe bowl, and drawing on the pipe until the contents kindle an ember. He stands eyeing the assembled group and puffing on the pipe for a long few moments before speaking.
Pathfinders, I called you in tonight to discuss a problem I need you to solve. he says as clouds of pipe smoke drift lazily around his head. Have you ever heard of Darsielle Du Moire? He’s the third son of a wealthy Chelaxian count and a little prick at that. he says before tanyone assembled can answer his question. He exceled at squandering the family fortune on debauchery and hedonism before this old man gave him the boot. Old man Du Moire gave his son a small sailing vessel and a privateer’s writ and sent him on his way. Well Darsielle took to a privateer’s life like a jackal upon the carcass of a fallen stag. Drandle says as he begins to pace the room. In a few short seasons, he sank half a dozen pirate ships, as well as one or two Andoren vessels that he claimed were unmarked. Dreng rolls his eyes. Due to tales of his ruthlessness, the infamy of his ship, the Hydra’s Fang, has spread. Then the little bastard sailed in to Westcrown and demanded to be made an admiral. Drandle smiles and shakes his head. "Darsielle’s got a pair on him. I’ll give him that. Anyway, his demands didn’t sit well with the current high-admiral, Astran Thrune. Compounding matters, the Andoran government accused Du Moire of deliberately attacking free Andoren ships. Dubbing his attacks “acts of war,” they threatened to retaliate unless the Chelish government placed a cease and-desist upon the Hydra’s Fang.
Dreng stops pacing long enough to knock some of the ashes out of his pipe and reload it with more tobacco. Where was I? Oh yes, soon after the Andoren accusations, several of the imperial families called for the privateer’s head. Upon official word of his condemnation, Darsielle fled Westcrown and went on a rampage, foundering ships and looting small towns up and down the Andoren coast. This time, the Andorens responded with a formal declaration of war. Hoping to avoid conflict, the Chelish diplomats promised to permanently rid the Inner Sea of the Hydra’s Fang, provided they stay their attacks. Andoran accepted a temporary treaty, giving Cheliax 30 days to make good on their offer". Drandle smiles again, shaking his head. "Such a little bastard. Well, a fortnight later, Darsielle struck the small Andoren village of Wittleshine, burning it to the ground. He churned the ivory sands to black ash, butchering scores of fishermen and seaweed farmers before dragging off the living in slave chains. Keeping their word, Chelish dragoons attempted to stop him by ambushing him with two battleships just off shore. Chelish rear-admiral Gusarre the Bleak led the dragoons and in a radical maneuver rammed the prow his ship, the Righteous Fury, into the Hydra’s Fang’s hull. Unfortunately, one of Darseille’s men got off a lucky retaliatory shot that struck Gusarre in the throat, pitching the admiral into the angry waters. In the disarray, Darsielle’s men set the Righteous Fury’s sails aflame with a barrage of tarred arrows. Du Moire quickly piloted a narrow escape, while the remaining Chelish ship chose to aid their allies rather than give pursuit—a poor decision, for which her captain was later hanged" Dreng frowns. "Be glad we don’t live in Cheliax"
He stops pacing and stares at the party. "Which brings me to your part in this. With the Hydra’s Fang’s badly damaged hull taking on water, Darsielle desperately sought safe harbor in the one port where he could still pull favors, Diobel. Right here in our home territory. Drandle smiles wickedly. I need you to go the Diobel where you will be contacted by one of agents at a local pub called “The Tails”. He’ll tell you where to find Du Moire. Also we have intelligence that says that Darsielle has some tablets that we’d like to get our hands on, but your contact will explain everything. Dreng gives the party a half-cocked smile. So you better get packing. Any questions?"
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Wearing his traditionnal black cloak and expressing emotions. , Jobin the light opens his mouth. "We just need to have those tablet... Their life are at the hand of Pharasma."
Still I would like to not kill them. It doesn't matter for you my goddess when they will go.
And this man know so much about politic? Isn't he an historian?
Baphos listens carefully the orders. "Sorry sir and fellows. I have just a few questions that maybe you can answer. Can you give us more information about Diobel and Du Moire? What is the name of our contact? Is Du Moire more usefull dead or alive?
"The contact is a fellow named Osprey, he's there gathering information - we have little presence in those parts only graft and favours we have banked, it's a bit of a wild place. He will be able to give you more information on Diobel, that's what we have him there for - things move quickly and a week is a long time in Diobel politics"
"What happens to Du Moire... thats for your conscience and circumstance, but he needs to meet justice - whether at the hands of the Pathfinders or handed over to the local authorities for fair trial and due punishment"
Dreng nods vigorously at Blossym. "Yes, yes, leave as soon as possible". With those words he turns his attention away from you and picks his violin up and begins playing again.
***
You arrive in Diobel via the overland route from Absalom to meet a contact in a pub known as “The Tails”; a dingy, brine-soaked shack covered with swordfish tails located in a rundown section of town called South Reach. There, bitter longshoreman coming off the graveyard shifts pile in and slam rounds of a potent shark-fin liquor, cursing and complaining until they’re drunk enough to be carted home by noon.
The disparaged scene has few prying eyes—the ideal place for Pathfinders to pass along their covert whispers. You enter early in the day, when the small crowd of older men is at its most drunk and rowdy, the revelry within barely contained by the boarded-up windows. You stand out like sore thumbs among the ruddy-faced dockworkers, most of whom have more ginblossoms than teeth.
The crowd immediately heckles you for being up-scalers and gold-thumbers, demanding you spend some of your coin to buy the bar a round, but quickly fall silent when moments later, a dark, cloaked figure rises from the back of the bar. Then, eyes averted, everyone returns to their former conversations. Drawing back his cloak, your contact reveals himself—a man his late forties with obvious Chelaxian features and a faint beard. He introduces himself only as Osprey, then invites you to sit before he finally tells you why the Society dragged you to Diobel.
“We’ve word that the accursed Chelaxian pirate Darsielle Du Moire’s has anchored his much sought ship, the Hydra’s Fang, in the harbor. Everyone’s looking for that bastard. He carries with him some ancient tablets of extreme historical value to our organization. Unknown to most, Wittlestone, the small Andoren town Du Moire razed to the ground, was also home to Myraxus Threeshadows, a noted but aging sage and umber mystic supposedly of ancient Azlanti descent" Osprey shakes his sadly before continuing "Among Myraxus’s possessions he kept ancient forgeries of several tablets used in ancient rites during Old Azlant’s height. When Darsielle destroyed the village, he slew the wizard and took the tablets, hoping to pawn them to one of his buyers in Diobel. The tablets are a priceless archeological treasure, one greatly desired by the Pathfinder Society. In fact, just prior to the Azlanti’s death, we placed several bids to purchase the tablets and so naturally were the first to realize they’d gone missing".
"You must race to get Du Moire and recover the stolen tablets before his pursuers find him or he flees port. If our sources are correct, we’ve learned that he owes a substantial amount of money to one of the Consortium’s more ambitious Enforcers, an importer named Lubor Staizkal. Likely he needs to settle with him at some point. Go to Lubor’s shop on Meldon Lane, near the docks, and see if you can pick up Du Moire’s trail from there, then do whatever you can to get those tablets. May the Gods speed you in this task.”
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Blossym smiles at Darren's confidence. "We certainly will! You can count on us, Osprey, sir." Blossym excuses herself to use the young ladies room, only to reappear moments later. "Ok! I'm ready. And by the way, the facilities here are autrouscious. I would find a more suitable meeting place in the future," she whispers pinching her nose and waving her hand in front of her face.
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Jobin the light nods and walks in the direction of the shop.
I am starting to like this one.
[b]"Before we go, i warn you companions of my behavior. I do not care about the lives of those pirates but this is not the case for their deaths. I will personnaly give them their funeral rites. So we will lose some time, if you are not careful. Stone is nothing to Pharasma will.
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Ok, Osprey. Anything else you can tell us about Du Moire, the tablets, Staizkal? The information you have can help us in this mission.", "I would find a more suitable meeting place in the future,", "will Lubor be friendly to us, or hostile?'
"You don't like the smell of fish? Diobel is a rough town, but there is a sense of order about the place, mostly because the Kortos Consortium keeps it that way - their enforcers are feared and respected. Lubor Staizkal is owed a lot of money, but not by us, and being a businessman would only get quarrelsome if his business and profits were threatened. The tablets are still a quandry, hopefully Du Moire wont try pawn them to Lubor or something else inconvenient"
Diobel stands upon the flooded ruins of a former siege town on the western coast of the Isle of Kortos. The inner harbor is fortified by a gigantic maze of derelict war-barges, crumbling break walls, and haphazard jetties constructed from the rubble and iron of ancient fortifications. Only smaller vessels can fit through the maze, so warships and large merchant galleys must anchor further out in the open waters off Kortos. As a formal display, any ships seeking to moor in port must first send ashore representatives to register with local officials.
Registered boats receive a temporary harbormaster’s pass, after which they can ship in goods in flat-bottomed barges or rowboats. These crafts are led into the maze, pulled along a series of dock-lined canals that weave through the twisted passages. The maze enters first into the Shallows, a wide bay sheltered from the main harbor. The Shallows then flows beneath the main docks into the Underdocks, a shadowy series of walkways that traverses shoals along the rocky shoreline.
Scattered through at various intervals are barnacle-and-algaecrusted stone bunkers and small floating docks concealing rowboats, barges, and other small transports. The bunkers provide shelters to many of the port’s seedier denizens, storage facilities, and on occasion structural stability to the town itself. Ladders and pylons connect the Underdocks to the rest of the port above.
Diobel is run by elected members of the merchant’s council known as the Kortos Consortium. Electorate terms are generally long, with some members holding their positions for decades. More often than not, those who take on the Consortium’s responsibilities end up forfeiting or retiring their other business ventures (usually shipping companies) and settle down in Diobel as career politicians.
Technically, the Consortium is a free and independent organization open to any merchant willing to pay Consortium dues. The Consortium makes concerted efforts to reduce the trafficking of contraband, stolen merchandise, and tax-free imports, as well as the exporting of contraband Kortosian artifacts that fall outside Absalom’s enforceable jurisdiction. Most members find the organization’s enforcement extremely effective, though only the highest-ranking members possess knowledge of the organization’s true interests and activities...
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Darren gives Osprey a friendly grin. "Nice to meet you." Then he follows Baphos out the door.
-Posted with Wayfinder
As the party rises to leave, Osprey reaches into a satchel and removes a bundle of rough maps, handing one to each of you, giving directions to Meldon Lane.
***
On Ospreys advice, you arrive at the shop of one of Du Moire’s supposed connections. A sign over the door reads “Lubor’s Imports.” The door hangs slightly ajar. All is dark within, and eerily silent. As you peer inside, you witness the scene of a recent brawl. Furniture lies smashed and strewn about. Near a closed door at the back of the shop, two bodies slump upon the floor, their blood pooling slowly beneath them.
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What happen here? Are they still alive? Is there other in here? I know Pharasma, there no time for these questions.
"Their fate are on Pharasma choice." says the priest.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Jobin casts his spell, but it finds no life left in the body to grip to. Both men are firmly dead. The party moves in... the only things of note the two bodies of the men and the door leading to the east in this otherwise mishmash of an emporium. There is a lot of blood on the floor, these men came to a violent end.
Blossym catches the sound of moving boxes and muffled talking on the other side of the door, the door looks very sturdy.
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Jobin stays silent and walks at the end of the group. He looks around for something unusual.
-Posted with Wayfinder
The party starts gathering around the door, some ready to rush it.
Jobin just notes that the shop hasn't really been 'done over', though there is a lot of blood everywhere and it looks like things just must have got way out of hand. The muffled shuffling and movement can still be heard on the other side of the door, someone is moving boxes and furniture.
Aside from the sturdiness of the door, Blossym sees no traps, but the door IS locked.
A teenage girl hovers over the corpse of a middle-aged merchant. Her silent eyes filled with tears, she mouths the word “daddy.”
Nearby, two thugs wait, ready to fight off the party!
R1
Yugatta
Nijena
Darren
Blossym
Baphos
Jobin
ENEMY
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Aw, poor kid.
"We're here to help, kid!" Darren steps into the room and dives to get to the girl, aiming to stand between her and the thugs. Then he tries to skewer the thug nearest him with his rapier.
for
-Posted with Wayfinder
R1
Yugatta acted
Nijena
Darren acted
Blossym acted
Baphos
Jobin
ENEMY
Yug rushes the room and starts swinging, one blow goes wide - the other finds a waiting jaw.
Darren is next of the mark and manages to place a blow on the heavy who just ate a face full of fist.
Blossym quickly positions too - also having success!
R 8
O 3
Nijena does not connect....
R 9
O 3
The girl isn't all she seems as she takes an aggressive stance!
Darrens blow being the heaviest draws some return ire... the thug swings with intent!
Attack
Damage
Crit?
Add Damage
Meanwhile, his comrade tries getting a blow on to Yugatta
Attack
Damage
Concentration
vs 17.
A magical force streaks fro the girls hand into Darrens back!
Damage
R1
Yugatta
Nijena
Darren
Blossym
Baphos
Jobin
ENEMY