Background
This mission takes place in and around Pashow, the smallest of the five allied city-states that make up the nation of Thuvia. Located in the barren southern desert, Pashow relies on its inhabitants’ knack for magic and its proximity to the Citadel of the Alchemist to make up for its lack of natural resources.
Every year, six vials of sun orchid elixir emerge from the Citadel of the Alchemist, destined for one of Thuvia’s five city-states. Only this city-state holds the right to sell the precious liquid, which restores its drinker to the prime of youth. The elixir fetches a hefty price and provides most of the city’s income for the next several years. Given the elixirs’ prospective worth, the city-states spare no expense protecting the vials. The painstaking efforts the city-states take to secure their precious cargo makes theft a daunting prospect.
Nevertheless, these precautions do not guarantee safe transport of the sun orchid elixir. Pashow, Thuvia’s smallest city-state, has suffered severe economic hardship after losing its last two elixir shipments to mysterious accidents with teleportation magic. Pashow’s leader, Emir Guldis, fears that losing the elixirs a third time could incite a rebellion.
Scenario Introduction
The salty air of Aspenthar’s port yields to delicate perfumes and incense as a servant leads the way into an elegant townhouse.
Another servant serves tea in Tian porcelain, offering the first cup to Lady Gloriana Morilla and the second to a regal woman wearing a colorful headscarf and a striking gold necklace.
“At last, our team has arrived!”
"All right, Big Sister. I hope they are nice," answers the even smaller plant creature.
Apek the juvenile T-Rex sniffs about, then stares confused at the two things that move around like prey - or friends for boss, it could be that too! - but smell like boring plants.
The tiny leshy bravely walks up to the T-Rex and tries to pat it. She probably can't reach any higher than his elbow, though.
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Even though she is a grown up woman, Lady Naysha looks like a young, teenage girl. She has black hair, a bright smile, and eyes that sparkle with joy. She wears very fancy clothes and jewelry, and always carries around her beloved stuffed rabbit, Miss Whiskers.
When she is given a letter by a messenger to set sail for an assignment in distant Pashow, she smiles and claps her hands! Lady Naysha was in her garden, playing with her fairy friends. Pixies, and pookas, brownies and fairies and lots of others too! She had waved goodbye and skipped off to prepare for her mission!
"Oh, boy! This one says we're going to the desert! I have never been on a mission in the desert before! Won't this be fun, Miss Whiskers?"
As Lady Naysha and Miss Whiskers skipped down the road to get to the docks, all of her fey friends followed her. She couldn't see them right now, but even walking through the roads of Absalom she knew they were there!
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When she sees the ship she smiles and hurries aboard. She giggles and jumps up and down on the deck. "Whoah! It' rocking! So much FUN!!"
Lots of sailors turned to look at her. She only looked like a child. They did not think she belonged. But, Lady Naysha did not mind. She knew she did. She was a Pathfinder. And a good one!
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Eventually, Lady Naysha arrived in Pashow, and went to the fancy townhouse she was supposed to meet everyone else at. It looked very nice, but was much smaller than her family's many different mansions.
When she sees the other Pathfinders, Lady Naysha smiles at them, showing off all of her sparkling clean teeth, and curtsies. "Nice to meet you, everyone! I'm Lady Naysha! And THIS is Miss Whiskers!" She holds up a big, stuffed rabbit toy. "She's happy to meet you too!"
The stuffed rabbit doesn't seem to move or anything.
"And these are my fairy friends!" she says pointing behind her. "Come out, fairy friends!"
Nothing seems to come out.
Lady Naysha giggles like it's a real funny joke! "They're very silly." she explains.
Recognizing some of the other Pathfinders, she waves happily. "Hello again Fuzzzy, Bobby, and Ruslo! What's up?"
She looks at the plant people and smiles. "Are you fairy people, too?"
She looks at the man with his dinosaur. "Wow! You sure are cute! What nice, big teeth you have!" she moves to pat him and doesn't seem scared at all.
Then she turns to the fancy people who are offering her tea. Lady Naysha curtsies politely and takes a seat. "Oh, yes, thank you. I would love some tea."
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The old man smiles. "Well, if you say so, Bobby!"
He looks at the other people nearby. "I'm sorry, have we met? I can't seem to recall..."
"My name is..." He strokes his beard in thought. "Ah... That is to say... Hmmm... I can't seem to recall... It's all rather fuzzy...."
Suddenly he smiles. "Ah, yes! That's it! Fuzzzy! My name is FUZZZY! Pleased to meet you! Have we met? I can't seem to recall..."
Looking at his owl, Fuzzzy asks, "What am I doing here, again...?"
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"Ah, yes! A mission!" he exclaims with a smile. "I love missions! I'm a Pathfinder, you know!" He nods his head and then suddenly looks confused.
"I'm sorry, have we met? I can't seem to recall..."
At the sight of Lady Naysha waving at him, Fuzzzy smiles and waves back.
Seeing tea, Fuzzzy takes a seat. "Tea? I love tea! Tea is meant to be drank, you know."
He nods wisely and helps himself to a cup.
Apek gives a sniff when Lady Naysha pets him on the snout. He behaves well, master's taught him what he can and can't eat. Lady Naysha seems like one of the can'ts. He sniffs the rabbit with more interest. It's as disappointing as the plant people. Utterly inedible smelling.
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Lady Naysha smiles, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Apek! And a pleasure to meet you too, Ranus!" She smiles happily and winks at Ranus. "You'll just have to wait to see what I can do!"
Lady Naysha looks at the little plant people in the hot sun. "Huh!" She exclaims. She pulls out her waterskin and sprays water at the two plants. "You look hot and thirsty! Is that better?"
When Fuzzzy mutters a lot, Lady Naysha giggles. "Oh, Fuzzzy! You're so silly!"
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The tiny leshy smiles as Lady Naysha sprays her with water. Then she lifts up her arms to be picked up. She clearly sees how the bunny is being hugged, and wants to be hugged too.
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Suna smiles at the wizard who talks so much to his owl. She also keeps an eye on Sita. She knows her little sister can sometimes be a bit of a pest to people who don't understand her.
"No, we aren't fairy people. We are nature spirits, given plant bodies. A kind old druid gave me this form, and then taught me how to summon a nature spirit as a friend to make Sita."
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A tall Varisian man enters. He has a small patch of facial hair under his lower lip. He wears a Varisian head scarf. Earrings glint in the light. At his hip is a grappling hook with a length of rope. He wears very fine crocodile leather boots.
“Hey there everyone! I’m Ruslo.” He has a friendly smile.
Ruslo winks at Lady Naysha “Very nice to see you again little lady.”
“Old man! Good to see you found your way.” Ruslo pats Bobby on the head and feeds the owl a piece of rations.
Ruslo pulls out another piece of ration and tosses it casually up into the air. Watching as the ration descends towards Apek.
With a hunter's reflexes, Apek snatches the food out of the air. He keeps an eye on the newcomer, not out of suspicion but more just in case more food is getting tossed around.
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"Nature spirit? Cool!"
Lady Naysha reaches down and picks up Sita. She gives her a hug, and carries her in her other arm, just like she carries Miss. Whiskers. "Let me know when you want to go down."
Lady Naysha laughs at Fuzzzy. "Oh, Fuzzzy! You always forget. We're the same age, silly! 25!"
Lady Naysha does not look 25...
Sita begins singing a happy little song as she is carried.
Leaves are falling
Skies are grey
Now we know it's autumn.
Trees are barren,
Skies are white,
Now it's winter cold.
Trees are blooming
Skies are blue
Now we know it's spring.
Leaves are open,
Skies are bright,
Time for summer fun!
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Lady Naysha smiles and dances back and forth while Sita sings. "What a lovely song!"
Lady Naysha tries to sing the song back to her.
After the song is done, Lady Naysha says, "Do you want to hear a joke?"
"What did the big flower say to the small flower?"
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"What do you get when you plant kisses?"
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"Why shouldn't you tell a secret on a farm?"
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Lady Naysha laughs happily.
"Remind me later and I'll show you a magic trick!"
Lady Gloriana looks at all of you and gestures to the other teacups.
“Please help yourselves. It seems as if we have a very ... special group of Pathfinders gathered for this mission!" Lady Gloriana says with a sly smile.
"I hope some of you will be masters of disguise as this mission is mostly going to involve stealth, reconnaissance and an understanding for tactics and strategy."
Lady Gloriana looks at the regal woman wearing the colorful headscarf.
"Allow me to introduce Lady Ziralia, eldest daughter of Aspenthar’s liege, Prince Zinlo. She has requested the Society’s services for a rather intriguing project.”
Lady Ziralia nods to you all.
“Thank you for the introduction, Lady Morilla. As it happens, I am here today on behalf of Pashow, not Aspenthar. Like Thuvia’s other cities, Pashow relies on the sale of sun orchid elixir to fuel its economy. Unfortunately, the last two batches destined for Pashow’s auction house were lost to mishaps with teleportation magic. Emir Guldis has borrowed money to keep the city afloat, but Pashow cannot afford to lose another shipment. Magic failed the last two times, so I’ve petitioned Guldis to transport the vials in person, as my father does. I rallied enough public support that the Emir was forced to see reason, and he began building some armored convoys and training guards to escort them."
She pauses for a moment.
“Guldis has entrusted me with looking into his transport’s total security. Our interactions have been somewhat tense of late, and his full motives for choosing me for such a sensitive task are not yet clear. Nonetheless, the task at hand takes precedence over idle speculation. If this shipment is lost, Pashow will suffer greatly, and I respect the weight of my responsibly in preventing that fate.
She looks at Lady Gloriana and then at you again.
“The Emir plans to send the transport on a practice run from the Citadel of the Alchemist to Pashow with a decoy elixir. Your job is to perform reconnaissance, plan an ambush, and raid the transport. To best assess the transport’s vulnerabilities, we are treating this exercise as a genuine heist. The guards don’t know they are being tested, so they will respond to you as they would respond to a real thief trying to infiltrate their operation. They do know that Guldis appointed me as his auditor, however, so my direct involvement will be limited. I am here to offer advice, monitor your strategies, note any security flaws you manage to exploit, and report back to the Emir. I will counsel you as best I can, but you should approach this heist however you see fit. I understand that this is an unusual mission, but Pathfinder agents are well known for their resourcefulness.”
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A tall Pathfinder emerges from the shadows in the corner of the room, in a dark green cloak, bow slung over his shoulder...not very good at the social graces, he was content to stay back and observe what he assumes will be his companions on this venture...
He pulls the cloak's hood away from his head to reveal wavy brown hair and a face accented with distinct Elven features...
"Wymarc, at your service...count me in for this intriguing adventure. It appears we had be most careful...for if we are discovered, your guards will fight to kill while we won't have that option available to us. As you say, we must be resourceful indeed..."
KNOWLEDGE (GEOGRAPHY) OR KNOWLEDGE (HISTORY)
Much of Thuvia’s land is desert. Its civilization revolves around the five allied city-states that control the sale of sun orchid elixir.
Pashow is the smallest of Thuvia’s city-states, and its people rely on their magical aptitude to compensate for the barren environment.
Those who live outside Thuvia’s main settlements cluster around the desert’s scarce oases. Local warlords called Water Lords control most bodies of fresh water. Although most consider Water Lords little more than bandits, those who secure an alliance with a Water Lord can operate outside of the city-states’ influence.
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KNOWLEDGE (LOCAL) OR KNOWLEDGE (NOBILITY)
The nation of Thuvia consists of five independent city-states, each with its own interests. Every year, one city receives exclusive right to auction off six vials of sun orchid elixir, which fuels the local economy for the next five years while the elixir cycles among the other four city-states.
Pashow has been suffering from intense financial turmoil after its last two batches of sun orchid elixir were lost. Though no one knows exactly what caused the teleportation accidents that compromised the shipments, locals hold Emir Guldis responsible, sullying his reputation as a leader.
Many of Pashow’s citizens believe Ziralia singlehandedly salvaged the city’s economic infrastructure, and a group of agitators seek to overthrow Guldis in favor of Prince Zinlo’s daughter. Rumors hold that Guldis sees Ziralia as a threat, but cannot openly act against her without drawing her supporters’ ire and risking a coup.
Some believe that Pince Zinlo subtly supported Ziralia’s rise in popularity, hoping to bring Pashow under his daughter’s control. The ambitious prince has been building his military strength, and many fear that putting Ziralia on Pashow’s throne is just his first step toward conquering the rest of Thuvia. Ziralia, however, is a vocal advocate of city-state independence, which makes her true position concerning Zinlo’s political maneuvering unclear.
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Lady Naysha nods. "Yeah, this is super important! Pashow has been suffering from intense financial turmoil after its last two batches of sun orchid elixir were lost." She takes a sip of tea. "No one knows exactly what caused the teleportation accidents that compromised the shipments, but the locals hold Emir Guldis responsible. It's made him super unpopular!"