Dot to hold place.
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.
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
Felicitas Aurora is a young woman, about 5`4`` with maybe 120 pounds. Her heritage is not so obvious, as she it only shows in the silver orbs she has for eyes. She has long platinum blond hair, usually braided in a thick lush braid. In private or on the stage she wears long flowing dresses, either in golden or emerald green.
But if she on a mission, she wears a well made explorers outfit of leather shirt, leather vest and soft boots and gloves of deerskin, dyed in emerald green with a matching osirion linnen tunic in soft colours, together with a light mithral Shirt and her trusted mithral rapier she named witty repartee on her side.
He voice is pure honey and her songs can make stones weep.
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.
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.
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.
of Nerosyan and searched for Thurl claim to have found
evidence that directly incriminates the dwarf. They
found letters that indicate a link between Thurl and a
known demonologist and enemy of the Society, Tancred
Desimire. Such a link would no doubt mean that Thurl has powerful demonic allies and is somehow important
to Tancred’s future plans against the Society.
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Fade walks into the street from the lodge, a sight of stringy unkempt black hair, wrapped in ill fitting black clothes. His face seems pinched, as if suffering some unknown frustration. Before anyone can get a good look at him, he quickly disappears from sight, right in the middle of the street.
Later that day, it is reported that several food vendors report stolen apples, berries and a variety of cheeses, along with one very angry wine merchant complaining about a rare bottle having gone missing...
When Fade finally does meet up with the rest of the team, he appears, seemingly from out of nowhere, surprising most if not all those present. The front of his clothes bear the crumbs of recently eaten cheese, and at least one poorly camouflaged wine stain, while his fingers are sticky with berry juice. He stands a modest height, just under 6 feet tall, with a slender build. His dark eyes match his dark black hair, and his face seems set with a perpetual scowl. Just the tips of his long ears are visible, betraying his mixed heritage of elf and human.
"K'. I'm here now." says while smacking his lips. "So what's all this about a traitor?" *<sigh>* "I suppose we're going spelunking and handling the wards and traps are my thing."
Then, seemingly as an after thought, he adds with a roll of his eyes, "Right...Name's Fade. Nice to meet you."
"Not that good. It seems that little dwarf is not the clean shirt he claims. It is rumored he has some demonic allies.
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Kalangkang is a young halfling dressed in a blue cape with a hood on his head. Based on his attitude and dress it is obvious that he is from a wealthy family. An experienced observer can notice that he is quite awkward.
He approaches the other Pathfinder and approaches himself, and says, "Hello there! What will we do about Thurl?
He starts to play with the light in his hand.
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Dumm stares at the piece of paper the courier tries to hand him. "Can... Can read you this to I?" After the letter is read to him, he ponders. "So is a venture-captain a traitor maybe. Need they me to help look at this." He nods. "Tell them will go I."
Some time later, Dumm meets the others in front of the lodge in question. His brown hair is carefully braided and interwoven with twigs, feathers, and small bones. A brawny half-elf, he wears a shirt of armor made of strong leaves and strips of darkwood bark. His visible weapons include a common greatsword and sling. "Am I Dumm," he says proudly by way of introduction. "Am I happy to be here to help."
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A shy half-orc joins the group, obviously still groggy and not fully awake, and his eyes nervously shift between the other Pathfinders gathered, as he fidgets uncomfortably. While it's obvious that he is half-orc, his features are much more human like than orc. And while he would be considered large for a human, he is fairly small compared to his orc brethren. He wears a worn breastplate that seems too small for his body, clearly made for a man of normal size. But his most striking features are the numerous tattoos and ritualistic scars that cover his body anywhere you can see exposed skin.
Korug looks down at the floor when he talks with the others "Hi, uhhm, I'm Korug. Soooo, what do we do if we find him? Bring him in or kill him? I don't like killing much, but sometimes I just lose control and it happens..." He looks up at the others sheepishly, assuming they're judging him for his past misdeeds. "So what kind of wards were there? Like magic stuff, or monsters? Sounds like probably some demons."
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Fade wipes his hands on the front of his jerkin, and after failing to get the sticky berry residue off, pours some water over his fingers and then does it again. Finally satisfied, he looks up, only now seeming to pay attention.
He answers Dumm first, "I don't know for sure but I would say yes, you are Dumm and you are happy to be here."
Turning to Korug, he smiles crookedly, "Let's go with the plan of bringing him in alive, like Kalangkang said..." with a quick glance to Kalangkang, "I am just going to call you Kang from now on just so you know..." then back to Korug, "and if things don't go that way, then they just don't. We'll roll with whatever surprises come along. K? Glad you're all on board with that, 'cause things almost never go as planned."
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Kalangkang looked at Fade with a smile in his eyes "You can call me whatever you want, as long as we are in good relationship!"
He turns his eyes so that he can see all the gathered. "Let's go. I'm impatient and anxious for adventures and excitement."
He spoke this full of confidence but in fact "If I survive, I'll ... I'm so dead, I’m so afraid!”
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Thurl’s Lodge is a modest structure that lies in the Egelsee district of Nerosyan. Once known as a contract site for cut-rate mercenaries, the building rarely sees visitors from the crusader host now. 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.
Outside, four pathfinder agents are finishing loading up books from the ground floor into the cart. One of them spots the team and waves them over.
Hallo! You must be the slayer team that's come in to clear the place out right? Captain sends a present.
He pulls from the cart a box with some items in it, the contents include a potion of cure moderate wounds, Dust of appearance, a scroll of perceive cues, an elixir of vision, and an antitoxin.
Your job either just got harder or easier though. The door to the basement that we couldn't get unlocked? The one covered in abyssal glowing runes? The wards on it failed while we were in there, the runes disappeared and you can open it now I think. Wasn't about to touch that, figured let the professionals deal with it. Best of luck, and gods look after ye.
There is little else of interest on the ground floor. The heavy iron door that leads into the basement is undecorated and unlocked currently. Opening it leads to 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.
Someone stands in the shadows of the basement, behind one of the book cases. A voice whispers from the book stack, staying in the shadows...
Are you... Are you pathfinders?
The voice is female and nervous. Those of you with dark vision can see the huddled figure hiding itself towards the back of the shelf. It's body is a looks like a patchwork of cream, red, and purple skin with asymmetrical horns and mismatched legs. It's clearly demonic of some sort.
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From behind you comes a voice.
"Intaresting"
it says, if you look around you see a slender elf standing there.
Her skin a pail and eyes dark, she has on a very well made uniform of some kind, but no weapons but for a dagger in one boot. Her eyes do not move off the Demon kin
This is Lady Alya De Qill, a law enforcement agent used as a consultant by the pathfinders now and then. They tend to hire her services when something 'odd' has happened. She is respected for her skills but often talked about for her aloof and cold manner.
she is looking past you intently at the demonic form.
"Yes we are, dose that matter to you"
And then she adds
"Demon kin"
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Fade cocks an eyebrow, with an otherwise disinterested look on his face. With his eyes half lidded, somehow his pinched face seems even more pinched, especially between his eyes at present.
"Yep. We're pathfinders. Come out of the dark. It's not like we're going to bite." he says with a weariness that is plain to hear.
He barely reacts to the other feminine voice, that of Alya, from behind him.
Demon kin eh? At least that seems interesting. Damn! Blasted headache is really working me over today. I can tell this is going to be a long day already.
The woman steps out into the dim candlelight, and she is an even more grotesque sight when fully visible. Covered in stitches and staples that hold together bits and pieces, she looks like a meat ragdoll in all the worst ways... she wears nothing, and this, unfortunately, shows that the damage extends to her whole body. She smiles rather grotesquely, and seems genuinely happy to see them.
Ah! That is good. I am Valais Durant, a Venture Captain.
She looks at her hands and sighs.
Or... I was. I was sneaking around in the darkness trying to prove that the thurl is a traitor... unfortunately I got my proof... more proof than I ever wanted..
She sniffs and seems to be holding back tears. As she speaks at one point her voice shifts into a soft, sickly whisper.... at another, a deep growl that seems impossible to come out of the small woman. She weekly smiles at the team forcibly.
But the decemvirate seem to have finally sent me back up...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 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.
Looking at the woman for a moment in shock Felicitas
"Well Lady Ventur Captain, we know our orders! Explore, Record, Cooperate, get the heck out alive!"
"What happened to you?"
Feli feels that she is being completely honest and truthful.
Thurl turned on me when he realized the Decemvirate had me investigating his operation. When one of his turned me in, he surprised me and knocked me unconscious. I awoke in one of the chambers below, and made my way
here. And here I wait, in the shadows…
To Kalang she continues...
Other than what he did to me, I don't know much. Beyond this door is a large area that Thurl used as some kind of dumping ground. A small shrine conceals a secret passage to a second level below, but that shouldn’t be a problem to get past with me around. Beyond that Sadly, I don’t know much of what was happening in the lower levels, as I escaped just after I woke up. I’ve waited here since, expecting the Decemvirate to send me some
fresh minions.
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Dumm recoils at first, but when he realizes the creature is friendly he relaxes somewhat. I don't even want to think about what kind of experiments led to that. "So... So is Thurl guilty, then? Need we proof that is Thurl a friend of the demons. Is that actually why came we down here, or part of why. Can say you this?"
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Alya walks up to the woman come demon. Taking a close look at the what has been done to her.
"I believe what has been done to you can be reversed. If not the demon parts added to you flesh will take you over full. Thy are already showing affects on your. Do you wish to be restored?"
She says bluntly to the woman, all cold hard logic.
Valias blinks a few times.
Of course I wish to be restored. But it will not be a simple process and it will take time. Thurl is working with demons, and is trying to harness their powers in strange ways below. How exactly, I was not able to figure out, but it was clear that he had no moral boundaries in his research. I have already waited here in the shadows long enough, who knows what is happening because of his experiments? We must attend to those first... we can see to my... condition... afterward.
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Blathering Simpleton! That's priceless! This is really going to be interesting.
"Jorsal wanted us to enter the basement and find what evidence we can that implicates Thurl in activities against the Society. Once we've explored this place, he wants us to report back to Starrise Spire and await his return." Fade says with a grim look.
"That means we need to look over all this stuff a bit first," he says gesturing around the room to the books and folios laying about, "seeing as the last group couldn't get in here. We'll head down below once we see if there is any important here."
Fade then moves to look over the table and some of the nearby folios. He activates a moonrod, if the candlelight is not enough.
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.
Fade's keen eye also spots the seam to the secret door behind the desk that Valaris mentioned.
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"You were on target when you said he wasn't the clean shirt he claimed to be Feli. Not that I mind a little dirt on a guy, don't get me wrong, but messing around with demons is going too far." Fade says with a click of his tongue.
Seeing that there isn't much left to look over in the room, he moves to the secret door and looks it over for traps or alarms of any kind before he opens it. "Might as well get to moving. Who knows what kind of trouble Thurl is getting up to down there. You coming Val? You have a personal stake in this from the way you tell it."
Valaris nods.
Venture Captain's should be more willing to take on the same work as field agents anyways... and I owe it to my partners who didn't make it to bring to stab him in the back, then skin him alive.
You're... pretty sure meant to say justice there.
I'm... not quite as strong as I use to though, so I'll let you lead.
She shrugs and holds up her claws in a sort of resigned look.
No thumbs kinda makes a lot of my previous skills kinda useless.
Fade doesn't find any traps on the door. Moving aside the desk and opening the hidden doorway reveals further steps that spiral down for possibly 200 feet or more. Finally reaching the bottom, the door opens into a chamber that stretches ahead and to either side as far as the eye can see. Wall segments stretch from floor to ceiling, as much resembling overgrown stalactites as architectural features, and chunks of shattered masonry and other rubble litter the otherwise even floor. Long since expired torches rest in sconces affixed intermittently to the walls. Fade's keen eyes notice a few chalk markings on the walls, and he also sees that whoever knocked down these walls went to the trouble of making a mostly straight path forward through the maze.
"Well then we should move it! There was never an epic tale called the waiting company, who didn´t move out to adventure!"
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The insult has no effect on Lady Alya, she is keenly watching the face of the abomination.
"Interesting"
and her eyebrow goes up.
Then as they look over the notes and papers. She flicks over some. Taking out a small note book and pen she jots down a few scribbles on what is there. Where others do not see much Alya sees some interesting nuggets in the works detail studies of demonic anatomy, Taking a two books into her bag.
But she is most interested in the surveys of the southeastern corner of the Worldwound. Rolling them up and also taking them.
She looks over the Sarkorian relics tainted by the Abyss. But dose not touch them. She says one word.
"Ann-ri-cosh!" and then "Mal-ish" as she moves her hand over the objects.
Then after Fade gets the door open, she follows the others, insisting on being behind Valais.
"It's not that I don't trust you Valais it's just that I don't trust you Valais. So please after you."
She says with out any sarcasm at all, as if it was a fact being stated.
As they get to the large subterranean space, Lady Alya pulls a large steel ball from a belt pouch and holds it in one hand.
Lady Qill finds no magic items among the objects, though a few have psychic significance they seem to mostly be due to their storied history and subsequent taint rather than any magic or power. Curiosities for study nothing more.
Valais looks a smidge hurt, but not so bad, and allows Qill to walk behind her without any protest. Once down in the maze, she looks nervously around and shudders.
Didn't like this place coming up... don't like it going down either.
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Seeing Kang trying his best to take in things, Fade grins and comments, "Keep those peepers wide Kang. We'll need sharp eyes in this gloom."
He continues to look around himself as they walk, but casually as if not paying attention...
He asks Valais from over his shoulder, "How long ago was it that you came up and what did you run into along the way?"
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As they come across Valais and ask their questions, Korug mostly keeps to himself, afraid that if he draws attention to himself, the others may start asking their own questions about his strange markings. He tries not to make it too obvious, but he finds himself constantly staring at the odd creature, wondering how she came to be in such a state.
As they enter the maze, Korug draws his polearm and keep it at the ready, should any danger come near. He stays near the front of the party in able to best protect the others.
Valais goes to chew on her fingernails, and then sheepishly remembers she doesn't have any and instead scratches a horn.
There wasn't... I just got a bad feeling ya know? I was in a lot of pain, was mostly just running straight as fast as I could... but I could feel myself being watched.
Fade's obscenely sharp eye catches something that looks like... a faint bluish translucent horn? fading back into the walls. Something is indeed watching them... what that means for now is anyone's guess.
Fade can also see with his half-elf vision the distance to the center of the maze through the path that has been cut through. Near the center of the maze stands a raised altar made of ivory-inlaid wood, its virtually pristine condition a sharp contrast to the shattered walls around it. At the center of the altar rests a statue of two figures locked in combat: a brass bull and an iron dwarf that gripes the animal by a horn from over its shoulder while holding a warhammer aloft. A torch burns near it's base.
Valaris points to it...
I grabbed a torch from down below... i dropped it when I scrambled out of the stairs there... I didn't realize there was a statue though...
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"Really? You ran right by it and didn't realize it was there? You must have really been in a terrible state to miss that. That or..." and Fade steps back, motioning for the others to do so too. He takes out the elixir from the care package and downs it.
He reaches out to inspect the statue with his aether, working it like an additional hand, seeing if it's real or imagined, living or inanimate...
The statue is very real to Fade's touch. As they reach the statue, Valaris blinks and looks around.
Um... there was a door here... I swear there was... I climbed out of it, scrambled, dropped the torch and ran to the first thing i saw...
She points at the big gaping hole they just walked through.
But i don't... see the door anywhere.
Closer now, Fade sees Delicately incised words encircle the statue’s base, reading, “In my name is the strength of my history, my tradition, and my people. Speak your name into my ear, and I shall judge your worth.”
Fade also spots the faint shimmer of an inverted pentagram on the gorgon’s brow. Also, closer up, he can see that Torag is off balance and that the Gorgon is poised to strike.
"Interesting, someone thought that Baphomet would win against Torag. Nonsense!" Felicitas moves toward the statue and ponders for a moment.
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"Don't go near that thing." Fade practically growls.
He leans in and whispers to Feli and the team as they stand around, "I caught a glimpse of something. It's gone now, but we are not alone."
Then in more normal tones he says, "Look, I wouldn't normally care one whit about whoever those two are but in a place like this, and after meeting Val and reading about our targets interests, that thing just bothers the crap out of me. The pentagram thing on the one guys forehead especially seems strange. You said that was Baphomet and Torag? I can tell who Torag is so the other one must be Baphoboy. Who the heck is that?"
After a brief pause for a reply, he continues, "What I notice is that the rest of this place has rubble all over, like someone came crashing through here with a vengeance," he says sweeping his arm around to their surroundings, "but that is just sitting there with nothing wrong with it. Val said she came out right near here. So something must be hidden... or maybe magic makes a door appear. I don't know yet, but just don't go leaning in to whisper a name till I am sure you won't be getting a shiv in the ear... Look, let's just step back, say thirty feet or so while I try something."
Once everyone has backed off from the statue, Fade concentrates and tries to manipulate it with his aether from what he hopes is a safe distance. He tries picking it up first, then pushing it one way or another if that fails. If it doesn't budge, he moves closer, right up to it in fact, and tries to see how and what it is constructed from. He looks the floor over too wondering how it might conceal an entrance or portal. Gods but I hate dimensional magic. I really hope it's not that. There one moment, gone the next. *shudder*!
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"Is good that made someone this straight way through," Dumm comments idly as they make their way toward the center.
The half-elf's fingers twitch nervously at Fade's assessment. He was thinking something similar, remembering a large statue that animated itself during a previous mission. Nothing scares him quite like things moving that ought not to move. So... Think you that maybe will come these things to life? Or move?"