Another All Tengu Adventure
After adventuring separately all over Golarian, your all Tengu group finds yourself called once again to the gates of Heidmarch Manor. Though months have passed, little has changed here at Heidmarch Manor. From the frilled metal fence, you still spy the elegant main manor house, several small cottages, a topiary maze, and a well-tended pond. However, the trees are now sporting their autumn colors, leaves ablaze in shades ranging from gold to fiery red.
A muscular bored looking ulfen man is leaning on the fence, munching an apple. With his blond hair and tall frame, he’d be good looking if his mouth hadn’t curled into a sneer. “What? The whole feathered freak show’s back? Didn’t Sheila send you lot away so you wouldn’t embarrass the real Pathfinders?” When he sees Sarano, he looks at her with a nasty smile. "Ooh, look! It's s-s-shy little S-s-sarano!"
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The storied trail recorded in the convoluted chronicles of the ignominious General Chak has brought the curious corvine creature back to Heidmarch Manor.
Chak is fantastically festooned in the same jeonrip style hat and false fu manchu, but he has picked up a pair of spectacles this sit upon the ridge of his beak.
"It was insinuated, hinted, and suggested that there would be pie at this gathering, meeting and congregation as is our customary, traditional, and usual fee."
Anders stares at Chak, open-mouthed, trying for a moment to figure out what the tengu said to him. Then he latches on to the word, ‘pie.’ “Pie? Ha! Listen to you lot, talkin’ like you’ll have tea with her nibs herself? As if Sheila would stoop to even talk to you beaky butt-heads.”
At this point, Ebrylis, the half-elf gate guard, comes out, one eyebrow raised. Then Ebrylis whacks the rude man with a clipboard to the back of his head.
THWACK!!!
“Anders, you turd! That’s enough out you. We takes all kinds here, we does. Now, you gonna apologize, or do I have to assign you latrine-cleaning duty again?”
Anders, still rubbing the back of his head, sulks. “They started it!”
Ebrylis takes out his clipboard, and notes something. “Latrine duty. Thanks for volunteering, Anders.” Then he turns to all of you with a wide smile. “Well, if it isn’t the famed sleuths of Ilsurian! What have you lot been up to?”
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
A bit slower because of the irritating burden that metal armor provides, Andrietta is not there for the initial eruption between Anders and Sara, but the subsequent discussion does not fall on deaf ears.
Her quarterstaff that she leans upon seems to have gotten a nice bit darker, perhaps even replaced with a different wood entirely.
Said quarterstaff was starting to be choked up on when Ebrylis intervenes, which causes the grip to revert to normal.
"Child, I've seen desperate kami ready to blow up mountains behaved better than you. Learn some manners and respect your elders!"
She straightens up a bit and wipes some imaginary dust off her armor.
"Well, goodness, kids. I hope the road's been kind to you. Mister Ebrylis, can't speak for the rest, but Shelia had me over in the Sanos woods looking for some missing fellow Pathfinders and then was tabbed for an emergency run over to the Dragon Empires. Had t' talk down that kami I mentioned. Let that be a lesson... good manners, respect, and dignity can save whole nations, Mister Anders."
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Nodding along, "Yes well. .I adventured in Irrisen, rescuing a Lady for the Pathfinder Society, it was so cold there. . and every time I cast a spell I could see my breath. . It was magical. . but so cold."
Looking around to see if anyone heard her story fidgeting with her hands.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Hello everyone... so good to see you all again, especially you, Sarano. You look lovely as always. And you Grandmother are as feisty and strong-willed as ever. And you Chak, verbose, wordy and chatty as usual." He grins at you all... and walks over to Anders and 'accidentally' stomps on his foot, and when he reacts, elbows him in the gut.
"And THAT is for the disrespect and rudeness to Sarano, and all of us. Enjoy latrine duty... or should I say doody?" He walks away from the guard with a satisfied smile.
"I've missed you all... I went to the Neryosan area, where we investigated the doings of a traitorous venture-captain, who helped facilitate a demon attack. Terrible business, that. Glad it's over. I wonder what Ms. Heidmarch has for us today, don't you?"
|
In the distance you see another Tengu approaching Heidmarch manor, with something small flying behind them. As they get closer, you can see that it is Stali and the clockwork of the Gearwright's. Last time you saw it, it was a smashed wreck.
As he gets closer you notice a few other things different. He has much better armor on, and it wearing a strange hat with a fin and a V-shaped wing pointing forward on it.
Seeing the group of you, he waves as he approaches. Once he is closer, he calls out "Good to see all of you! I'm just getting back from a trip into Isger. There were some problems with caravans going missing that Guaril Karela needed people to look into." He rubs his legs, as if to wipe away something slimy. "I don't care for the man, but was able to fix the problem."
"Why are all of you here?"
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
First I helped oversee, supervise, and direct an archeological expedition in southern Cheliax, then traveled back to my boyhood home of Goka to infiltrate, sneak into and invade a rumored Aspis cell that was forming, before I returned to Absalom to investigate, explore, and look into the ruins of a school. In between those journeys I would travel back to Ilsurian to run the scrivener shop I opened, initiated, and commenced at the conclusion, ending, and finish of our last adventure together. I hope maybe to hire a competent, able, capable assistant to keep the shop running, functioning, and operating in my absence.
|
|
"Good work, Sara dear. You're a strong force for good!" the grandmother offers as she watches K'kei approach Anders...
She doesn't pick up on the subtlety of the foot stomping, but when Hikaru rants at the beleaguered guard she shifts grip on her apparently much lighter quarterstaff and gives a gentle chiding bap to the swashbuckler.
"Respect goes both ways, Hikaru. You show a better example to Mister Anders and apologize."
Stali's arrival makes the older tengu brighten a bit. "They got it working! They got it working! I'll be." Commentary about the hat is not made, as Andrietta's own choice of headwear is somewhat eccentric...
|
|
Hikaru sighs and walks over to Anders again, bows slightly and says "I'm sorry if I hurt your foot. I should have let the rebuke from your superior suffice." Hikaru gives Anders a little chagrined smile as well as the apology.
He gives Stali a grin when he spots the clockwork. "Well, well... I'm glad you got it working... and your hat is great! Good for you!"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Anders, still nursing his foot, glares up at Hikaru. "Save it, Beak Breath." He gets up, turns his back and stalks off.
Ebrylis shrugs. "He just can't stand that you guys were the ones to clean up his team's mess in Ilsurian. Sore loser, that one." He shrugs.
So... I've got your old lodgings waiting for you. You can clean up, catch lunch, then wait for Milady Heidmarch to summon you to the briefing. Do you fine folks need anything in the meantime?" He looks around, blinking. "Wait a minute. Where's Vralk and his friend.... What was his name? Nice fellow, blue feathers, handsome?" He consults the entry logs. "Oh yeah. Gallako. I was expecting the great and mighty Vralk to chide me by now."
Ebrylis holds out an arm for Vralk to land on. "When you two are here, there's always pie. Glad to see you again, great and mighty Vralk!"
|
Link to picture of Vralk in all his finery
"Greetings everybody. Its very good to see you all, especially when we're all eating pie!. Its been quite awhile and I imagine there have been quite a few changes with you.
I've certainly taken up a couple of other paths since we last met. The Carnival made me realize that being an entertainer and helper was more important to me than doing damage.
I also turned out to have some strange ancestry in my background. Suddenly found myself developing new powers, some of which manifested in my Spirit Familiar Vralk the Mighty, Ruler of All.
It has made him even more vain than before. He insists on wearing jewelry now.
As you can see, he is now wearing that wonderful scarf that we received from the Carnival. He's pretty darn awesome using it, actually."
You set up in your old lodgings, the same cozy two-level house that you had before. You still get stares as you wander around Heidmarch Lodge, but you also get nods of approval and some waves from Pathfinders with whom you’ve worked with on other missions.
The summons to see Sheila Heidmarch comes after lunch.
The Visitors Lounge is on the first floor of Heidmarch Manor. A liveried servant nods when he sees you enter, and opens the door for you with gloved hands. Inside, dark maroon walls, walnut trim, and brocade rugs fill the lounge, all dimly lit by a few small candelabras. Plush velvet and leather couches provide comfortable seating for guests, while a crackling fireplace lends a warm and friendly glow. To the side, a small, glass-topped bar in the corner boasts an elegant collection of vintage brandies and fine elven wines.
Sheila Heidmarch sits on one of the couches by the fire, along with a nervous looking woman that looks like she might bolt at any minute. As you come in, you hear her ask, “Are you sure that they can be discreet?”
Sheila responds in a normal tone. “These are agents that handled a political powderkeg in Ilsurian with grace and aplomb. I think they can handle a little tax matter.” She smiles to you. “Everyone, this is Jeminda Anikee, one of the accountants serving the City of Magnimar. Jeminda, I’ll let the team introduce themselves, and then you can tell them exactly what you need.”
Sheila looks expectantly up at you.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Gallako will get a quiet nod. "Welcome back, you two. It must be something serious if they've gotten us all back together, so everyone be polite and mind your manners... and Vralk, dear, are you courting a possible mate with all that finery?"
The grandmother will 'accidentally' and discreetly drop some shiny copper pieces for Vralk to 'claim' without being a total litter-bird about it.
Andrietta will be polite and respectful to the hardworking members of the Manor, and will make *not quite an event* out of sharing tea with anyone that wants to.
This particular steeping will feature a monkey on the box, and there's sobriety and calm during the not-quite-ceremony.
"Miss Anikee, dear, relax. You're in the company of our family-in-spirit, we won't let anything bad happen to you."
Accountants? HERE? Is the Society being Audited!?!
"My name is Andrietta Ebonfeather, and Grandmother Crow has me along to make sure these good kids stay that way and don't go too far astray.
Before you let us know what you're here about, I'd humbly ask, dear, whether you're here to settle some money matters or... other matters?
In Kwanlai, Accounting is an entirely different color of feather, and nothing is more feared than being 'audited' by one of the local families. I've lost too many children and grandchildren to those sorts of shenanigans."
The grandmother backs off, to show that she means no offense after the voicing of concern.
Miss Anikee blinks. "They collect children as taxes in Kwanlai?" She looks aghast. "No, it's a money matter... and a personal one..." She breaks off, embarrassed.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Stali commands Eits to stay in his room. It settles into the corner and folds it's wings into their compartment.
On entering the room, he pauses a moment when the woman expresses her doubts. Well, nice that Lady Heidmarch has confidence! Now to reassure the accountant.
Nodding in Jeminda's direction, he introduces himself. "I am called Stali Onepenny, a scout. If what you want is discretion, doesn't it make sense to send a team that has worked together before? I believe that Sherrif Kyra Feldane in Ilsurian was impressed by our ability to keep important information from leaking out."
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Miss Anikee blinks. "They collect children as taxes in Kwanlai?" She looks aghast. "No, it's a money matter... and a personal one..." She breaks off, embarrassed.
Seeing Jeminda's reaction to the idea of children being taken simply as taxes, rather than *children's lives*, the grandmother will nod quietly and soberly.
"No need for that, dear, it's a different country in a different land for different people who have sort of lost their way, and it's cautionary. Kids, don't be shy here, chirp on in."
|
|
Hikaru practically dances over to Jeminda and bows deeply before her, flourishing his brightly feathered hat. "And I, dear lady, am K'Kei Hikaru, but you may simply call me Hikaru... We of the east place the family name first, given name following. How can we help you resolve your accounting problem? Mathematics are not my forte, but I will do what I can."
|
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
"What? You doubt, question and distrust our ability to be discreet, inconspicuous and subtle? Whatever would cause you to suspect, reckon and conjecture that we are talkative, chatty and garrulous creatures? Furthermore, while I agree, concur, and hold with Andrietta that children can be quite taxing, wearing and burdensome, if it is a matter of money to be accounted for than I am your bird. For I am the renowned, legendary and celebrated GENERAL CHAK, scribe, scrivener and a notary extraordinaire!"
Chak gives a deep bow and the jeonrip hat falls askew of his beak, causing his newly acquired spectacles to be pushed down his beak which in turn nearly forces one side of his false whiskers off his face, hanging precariously be a corner.
Jeminda shoots a panicked look at Sheila, who smiles airily. “See? The perfect group to settle your little accounting matter!”
Sheila looks encouragingly at Jeminda. “Wine?” Then she glances at the rest of you. “Will the rest of you have wine or something else? Ebrylis told me that we should also serve pie.” She lifts a cover behind her with little petite single serving fruit pies. “Now that the niceties have been observed, why don't you tell the others why you came to us?”
Jeminda sighs. “A few weeks ago, I discovered that the small village of Ravenmoor hadn't paid its taxes to Magnimar in several years. The village's yearly tax owed has never been large, so it's not surprising that the mistake has gone unnoticed for so long.” She pulls out some papers and shuffles them in front of her. “In fact, my research suggests that the village hasn't been lax with its payments maliciously, but rather as a result of Magnimar simply forgetting to send a tax collector up to the remote village because of a repeated clerical error over the past 15 years.”
|
|
Way earlier:
"Not courting. Yet. But as the Great Vralk it is only right that I wear clothes fit for ME"
Seeing the coins, Vralk casually and nonchalantly lands on the floor and after SECONDS just happens to pick them up. He is very pleased with himself, certain that nobody has noticed him filch the coins.
A tiny bit earlier
I am the great and mighty Vralk, feared by my enemies and beloved by my friends. I am, of course, very discrete. This is my good friend Gallako. He is pretty smart for a two legs.
Anybody who beats his bluff of 9 would recognize that he doesn't understand the word "discrete"
"Ooooh. Tiny pies."
Flying down, he grabs a pie in each claw and then flies up into the rafters.
"Fruit. Not bad. Any bacon pie?"
|
|
"As my little friend says, I am Gallako and happy to be of assistance. I have a variety of talents, although not really including accounting. "
When Vralk flies up, he leans in a bit closer and speaks softly
" You don't have to worry about Vralk. Despite his bluster he actually does follow my orders (mostly). And, quite frankly, any stories he tells will be greatly exaggerated tales about what he did, nothing about why we did it"
“That’s part of the problem, Stali. I’m worried that the Magnimar bureaucracy will look at this issue, and come to the same conclusion.” Jeminda colors. “While a year's worth of taxes might not be much, over the course of several years of missed payments and penalties, the amount due has climbed to 500 gold.” She pauses. “I didn't want to go to my superiors with this news before I had the 500 gold accounted for. I was afraid I'd be blamed for allowing the missed payments to go on for so long in the first place.”
|
|
Stali looks over at Shiela Heidmarch for a moment, then looks back at Jeminda. I know that if it were only 500 gp, she wouldn't send us. I wonder what Shiela Heidmarch is looking to gain from this?
"Perhaps it would be better to ask, how did you find the error?" Maybe that will give us a clue as to who was hiding this.
|
|
Hikaru narrows his eyes and looks at Vralk as he flies up to the rafters with his pie, and gently chides him with, "You're a two legs too, Vralk... just sayin'..." Then he chuckles and turns his attention back to the matter at hand.
"For a city the size of Magnimar, five hundred gold is next to nothing.. why would they be so upset over such a sum? Sounds like it would be easy enough to collect and replace it and let it be done with... unless there is something more going on perhaps? It might be good to know who in Ravenmoor, nice name by the way, was responsible for making this payment and who in Magnimar was personally responsible for either collecting it, or sending someone to collect it... Maybe there was some collusion between them? Corruption or bribery even?"
He adds as a footnote almost, "And why send a whole team of Pathfinders over such a paltry sum? I'm not saying we won't go or anything, I'm just curious if there isn't something more to this than we're being told."
She adjusts her glasses. “It had been years since there has been a proper top-down audit. With a new City Council in place, I thought I’d run through everything so that I could provide them with a full report of the state of our finances. And that’s when I found this series of errors. I knew that if I brought it forward, I’d be suspected or marked as a troublemaker.”
She looks down. “Instead, I contacted a tax collector I felt I could trust—my brother-in-law Elias Kyle. I received a short letter from him from Galduria a week after he set out to collect the 500 gp from Ravenmoor, but in the 2 weeks since that missive, I’ve heard nothing! Elias seems to have vanished, and now I’m responsible not only for a missing 500 gp but for a missing employee of the free city of Magnimar! This is a horrible mess!”
She takes a deep breath. "I know the Pathfinder Society might see this as a paltry sum, but this is much more than I'd make over several months!" She looks worried. "In a small village like Ravenmoor, this amount may be difficult for them to raise. Farmers tend to have all their money in livestock and goods."
|
|
"Are you intending to come with us, Jeminda? If not, we'll need all the information Stali is asking for... perhaps you'll let us see the letter if there's more information in it?" He nods to Sarano, "And you are correct, my dear Sarano... a life may hang in the balance, so we must go, and quickly... as soon as we are ready to set out, we should make haste."
“Galduria? It’s halfway between us and Ravenmoor... about 125 miles?”
She shows you the letter.
Jemmy, ha! I am TOTALLY the FASTEST traveler there ever was. Made the trip from Sandpoint along the Lost Coast road in RECORD time. Ha! Galdura is a buzz kill, though. All they have to eat is fish. Gross. But hey, if the weather holds I'll get the money from those dumb farmers and be back in Magnimar in a week and a half! Score!
Elias
___
“Elias... Um. I don’t have a picture, but he’s a short, stocky man of Ulfen descent with a shock of red hair. That kind of makes him stand out when he’s amongst us Varisians.” Jeminda pauses, closing her eyes to picture him. “He’s a rough looking guy. My dad kept complaining that he looked like a no good thug, when Lily started dating him, you know? But it was true love and she wouldn't give him up... Admittedly, though, he does sort of have blunt, ugly features like boxers get. He has coarse, patchy facial scruff and...” Jeminda breaks off.
“You guys are discreet, right? Well, he had a predilection for strong drink. Ever since the death of my sister a few years ago, Elias has fallen on hard times.” Jeminda then holds up her hands. “But, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about him! He’s recently made great strides in kicking his drinking habit and had even been hired by the city as a tax collector. Even if I hadn’t vouched for him, I think he would have gotten the job without my help!”
She smiles for a moment and then her smile falls. “He was eager to take this job, meet new people, and make things right for me. But... it's been over a month since I last heard from him, I fear he's been waylaid by bandits or worse.” She takes a deep breath. “I need your team to travel to Ravenmoor as quickly and quietly as possible, and once there to accomplish two tasks: find out what happened to Elias and collect the 500 gold owed in back taxes. I'll provide a letter introducing you.”
She wrings her hands. “If the townsfolk aren't able or willing to pay the money, I’ll settle for a report to that effect and can then try to go to my superiors for further support—my primary concern at this point is for my brother-in-law's safety. I’ll try to arrange an appropriate reward for all of you if you can solve this mystery. Can you help me?”
___
She wavers and bites her lip. "I'm worried that he may have fallen off the wagon... and... I'm worried that he might have seen all that money and disappeared on a bender in Riddleport or something. But he wouldn't do that to me, right? Because we're the only family we have now!"
Her hands are shaking.