Evergreen scenario lvls 1-2
Hello all, and welcome! One of the players will not be able to post until sometime tomorrow, possibly late in the day.. so dot in, get acquainted, and we will start as soon as our 5th joins us.
|
Even though the room is warm, a frail looking elf wearing a sweater and scarf meekly slinks into the meeting.
"I don't understand why we have to do this confirmation, it seems so... trivial."
He sniffles as he tries to find a seat. "My name is Jaxal, if anyone cares."
Then he opens a book and starts reading to himself.
|
A dwarf sits at a table nursing an ale. He is muscular and broad, even by dwarf standards. He wears battered armor, and a dwarven longhammer rests against the wall nearby.
"Grimnir Hammerhand, at yer service. Confirm us, already!" he bellows a bit too loudly. He has clearly had a drink too many, especially with business to be done. He goes back to his ale as he awaits the arrival of the others.
And if yall could post over in the discussion tab as well, I would appreciate it!
The invitation delivered last night was remarkably simple, especially given the importance of the occasion: “Start where it all began. Meet us at the Pig’s Paunch one hour before dawn.” The Pig’s Paunch is a run-down building with a faded sign of a large pig standing on its hind legs, arms folded above a corpulent belly. Inside, the air is thick with the scents of human sweat, stale tobacco, and leftover food. In the center of the room, surrounded by inebriates sleeping off their revelries, a familiar elven man stands high upon top of a large round table.
“Welcome! Welcome, my students! Please, have a seat!” With that, Kreighton Shaine, the Pathfinder Society’s Master of scrolls, nimbly drops down to sit cross-legged on the table before looking about the tavern with a sense of reverent wonder. “Can you believe it? It all started here years ago—well, over four hundred of them at least. Under this very roof the Pathfinder Society was born. But today! Today you will begin your Confirmation! Master Farabellus, Master Zey, and I all agree you each have shown your worth and dedication to the Society, so there’s no better time to see if you can handle becoming full field operatives. Allow me to introduce you to Janira Gavix,” he says as he motions for an excitable halfling woman to approach. She wears a large backpack and carries all manner of tools, pouches, and scroll cases around her waist.
Shaine continues, saying, “Janira here will be going with you on your Confirmation. She was one of my brightest pupils and will no doubt be an invaluable resource on your journey, for she discovered the caves you are about to explore during her own Confirmation.” Janira speaks up in an enthusiastic and cheerful voice, “Greetings, aspiring Pathfinders! Six months ago, while I was mapping cave entrances in the foothills of the Kortos Mounts, I witnessed a lone gillman entering a concealed cave. I thought little of it at the time, but I saw another one enter the cave again a month later as my Confirmation stretched on. A few days later, after I completed my assigned task, I entered the cave system, but was unable to find the gillmen.”
Master Shaine hops to his feet. “Initiates, for your Confirmation, you will travel to these caves to explore and document its many passages. Additionally, and most importantly, you are to learn what the gillmen are up to in there. Oh, and you need to come back alive as well.” With these parting words, the Master of Scrolls jumps off the table and strolls out of the building while humming to himself, leaving Janira to answer any questions that you might have.
|
Levin slips in through the door of the tavern just as its last user starts to close it. His hair is stark-white, and his skin is darker than most halflings. Luck is with him as he finds a seat just as Kreighton Shaine, the Master of Scrolls, starts explaining the mission. Absently, in his hand Levin flips his lucky coin: a silver piece depicting a butterfly on one face and a four-pointed starknife on the other. Where exactly it came from, he couldn't say; he's had it for as long as he can remember, and he's never once seen another like it.
Janira nods at Sindarintol's comment "It may be, and it may not be. There are several things that we may encounter along the way. And time to shop is fine. We can pick up any needed supplies on our way out of town. Do you have any other questions?"
Janira smiles at the kitsune. "Good question! To gete there will be a hard days travel through what may be some hostile territory. There will, of course, be the normal risks of traveling in the wild, but entire tribes of centaurs, harpies, and minotaurs constantly vie for territory up and around the Mounts, with harpies being the most common at higher altitudes and centaurs controlling the lower slopes and foothills"
"On to the details of the mission at hand,” Janira says with an eager grin. “After reviewing my mission reports personally, Master Shaine believes it is no coincidence that each time they entered the caves it was during a full moon, so it is also no coincidence that you have been called here now, just a day before the moon is full again. We both believe that tomorrow night is our best chance to find out why these caves are important and what exactly the gillmen are doing in there. The caves we’ll be travelling to lie under the base of the Kortos Mounts. We’ll need to spend every minute of daylight possible to reach the caves by foot, crossing over the Cairnlands, taking the paths to Diobel, and finally making our way through the wilderness. With any luck we won’t run into any of the local inhabitants. Once in the caves, we’ll need to work together to explore and determine whether any gillman are present or have been recently. Keep an eye out for any other clues that might hint at the caves’ significance, too.”
|
|
"Let's see... Think this'll be easy?" he asks his coin. Levin releases the coin onto the table, and with a whir it becomes a ball of spinning silver.
The coin wobbles to a stop, the four-bladed starknife facing upward. He grins. "Just the way I like it."
-Posted with Wayfinder
an amphibious humanoid race believed to be the last
descendants of the ancient Azlanti people.
The group finishes up their shopping and heads out of the city gates before turning to the west and heading into the wilderness
|
|
"Hmm, the Azlanti, or gillmen as we seem to be calling them, are an amphibious humanoid race. It is believed that they may be the last descendants of the ancient Azlanti people. These modern folk are actually called Low Azlanti, although I don't know why."
"Perhaps if we had time, I could do more research in the library to see what others may know?"
"I am afraid not.. we don't have time to stop for that. We will be hard pressed to get to the caves in time."
|
|
"Aw, come on," he says to Jaxal. "That'd take all the fun out of it. Besides, I'm feeling lucky. I'm Levin, by the way," he says, holding out one of his small hands. "Levin Hessel."
-Posted with Wayfinder
As the party progresses deeper into the forest, the trees towering overhead begin to shield most of what remains of the day’s sun and the vegetation beneath grows denser. Janira pauses a moment and pulls out an intricate silver compass emblazoned with the Pathfinder Society logo: the Glyph of the Open Road. “I received this wayfinder when I successfully completed my Confirmation. Should we be successful on our journey, you will get your own as well.” She flips open the device and holds it in front of her; the initials J. L. are engraved into the inside of the device’s lid. After studying the compass inside for a moment, she remarks, “We’re on the right path. We need to keep heading northwest past those large rocks up ahead.” Most of the trees in this section of the forest have trunks that are too big for any creatures to share their space. Sporadic patches of light undergrowth provide areas for creatures to hide while restricting movement for those passing through. A large rock outcropping to the east rises nearly 20 feet above the forest floor, and a small sinkhole to the northwest drops off sharply, descending to the ground 10 feet below.
Suddenly, 3 different swarms drop our from the trees above you and start to move in on the party.
Jaxal
Sindarintol
Mamori
Levin
Spider Swarms
Bold is up
Sindarintol
Levin
Grimnir
Jaxal
Mamori
Spider red
Spider blue
Spider green
Seeing the peril that the group is in, Janira rushes forward and draws a wand from her belt. Pointing it towards the green spiders, she sends out a cone of fire at them.
Turning them all into crispy crunchy buggers.
Red Swarm moves in behind the group, while Blue finds Mamori.
Bold is up
Sindarintol
Levin
Grimnir
Jaxal
Mamori
Janira
Spider red
Spider blue
Spider green
Bold is up
Sindarintol
Levin
Grimnir
Jaxal
Mamori
Janira
Spider red
Spider blue
Spider green
Grimnir manages to melt the blue swarm with a gods-touched throw of acid, and Janira spins around, trying to take out the last swarm with another burst from her wand.
cooking the last of the little buggers.
Out of Combat
Janira calls the scattered party back together "Hey, Everyone! Come back! We managed to kill them all!"
Once the group comes back in and everyone is rested up for a minute, Janira stands and sets her pack on her shoulders. "We have a long way to go from here, so lets move on. We have to get there before nightfall!" The party heads off deeper into the forest.
|
|
Surprising to all, Jaxal does quite well in navigating the forest.
"Look out for that plant. It is poison ivy - see the three leaves and the red dot? Interesting. First time I have ever seen a live specimen, but I have read about it extensively."
"This way - see how the light is reflecting off that water? Clearly the sun is to our left, based on the reflection angle and the time of day. Geometry studies are useful sometimes. This means our direction is thus..."
"Let's go around this nest. Those are clearly the species known as Maximus Annoyingus. I read an article about how those can even be deadly to some, although for most they just cause extreme itching when bitten. It is best that we avoid them."
As Jaxal lectures his way through the terrain, he makes notes in his journal and even collects a few specimens. Sort of like a kid collecting ants. Any ranger would just shake his head in disgust, but for Jaxal, this is all rarely seen and never experienced.