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You've just received a letter sealed with the emblem of Desna in red wax. You break the seal and open the letter and quickly begin reading it, after all, you don't tend to get many important looking letters like this one.
Those rapscallions! Vicious thieves and a band of savages, the whole lot of them.
I trust you're still up for some freelance work? If so, come meet me at my residence, I'm sure you still remember where it is.
Your Friend,
Keleri Deverin
Ah, your old friend Keleri Deverin, an aristocrat and scholar in Magnimar. You've done some work before for her, finding an ancient text or a lost artifact. Sometimes the leads only lead to false finds or worthless replicas which usually meant the job didn't pay well. This time it sounds like something was stolen which means the job's pay is likely to come directly from Keleri's personal coffers. This sounds like a job that might be worth doing.
Keleri also wrote down the location of her residence in Magnimar. P.S. Just in case you forgot where I live. See you soon!
Biffin Rockboots wipes the grime off his aforementioned boots as he walks into Magnimar. His new bosses at the Pathfinder Society got a letter from one Keleri Deverin and decided to send the newly recruited dwarf off on his first adventure.
A sturdy, mature dwarf, Biffin decided late in life to branch out from his career as a temple guard and see the world. What better way than to join the Pathfinder Society?
Biffin stops a passerby and asks for directions to the home of Ms. Deverin. After being pointed the right way, he slowly plods forward. Always forward, never backward! thinks Biffin.
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You arrive at a free standing home of about 3 floors. Upon knocking on the front door you are greeted by your old friend Keleri, a young woman with shoulder length red hair.
"Ah welcome! Thanks for coming so quickly, please come in and join me in the lounge while we wait for the others to arrive. Once they are all here I'll tell you all what happened, in the mean time, let's chat about this wonderful new game I've heard about or maybe the upcoming swallowtail festival." she then leads you to a nice lounge fit to sit up to 9 people across 3 couches.
Sigh, what has Keleri gotten herself into this time? Still Ms Deverin has always been generous with the church of Shelyn, and while his hands are not as masterful as some of the other priests in creating beautiful works for the Eternal Rose, providing assistance to the friends of the church is something that Andrus could readily do. Besides, this invitation comes too closely to that dream. Perhaps they're related?
He finds himself the next to arrive. The Taldan man of slightly above average height and prematurely graying hair on the sides enters the lounge steadily. He smiles warmly at the dwarven being bombarded by Keleri chatter. Andrus carries himself with ease, his lean and sinewy muscles suggests a life of hard labour before entering Shelyn's service, although his eyes reveal a hint of weariness beyond his years.
He first sends his greetings semi-formally to the hostess before turning to Biffin. "Good day, master dwarf. I am Andrus Merula, servant of Shelyn." He rest on his glaive like it's a walking stick, while a carved symbol of long-tailed songbird hangs about his neck.
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Keleri looks angrily at Xune for a moment, "Yes! Hooligans went into my storage cellar and stole a family heirloom from me. Here I was, planning on taking it to the swallowtail festival to have it blessed at the new chapel to Desna, and it gets stolen!" she says fuming. "If you investigate and retrieve it for me, I will pay you quite well, far more than our standard "keep what you find" deal."
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Following this statement a female goblin carrying a tray with tea walks into the room and sets the tray on the table. "Tea for drinking? Mudchewer clan calls me Talga. Bad hobgoblin we call Drakus take mudchewer clan attack fire-hair lady's tunnel, steal all the shinies. Drakus strong bloodsucker, make clan do bad things, I hid in the tunnel until Keleri find me. You can help kill Drakus, yes? Free mudchewers from his chains?" she says as she pulls a dirty rough sketch map of Keleri's cellar and the tunnels connecting them.
“Hooligans?!” The explosive outcry comes from the form of a massive half-elf barging through the door, only just managing to squeeze a greataxe that’s somehow bigger than he is inside along with him. “That’s supposed to be my title, little one! You didn’t forget about your ol’ pal Vardigas, did ya?” He laughs uproariously and opens his musclebound arms for a bear hug.
He grins at the goblin, but seems to be a bit of a one-track mind, so he doesn’t stop addressing Keleri yet.
From behind the massive half-elf and his even larger axe, a small young woman wearing a plain, well-worn dress emerges. She smiles happily at her large predecessor's exuberant entrance, then moves toward Keleri in her turn. "Hel-lo, Keleri dear," the halfling says as she reaches out a dirt-covered hand toward their host. She spots the dirt and her eyes go wide and her deep tan complexion takes on a ruddier shade as she blushes. After wiping the dirt of quickly on her dress, she reaches out again and grasps Keleri's hand. "It's so good of you to write! Poppa and Momma said to tell you hello too. They meant to send me along with Autumn--you remember our little pony--and to send some of this year's harvest, but then Autumn's ankle took a turn and...oh, sorry dear, I seem to be taking up all your attention!"
The halfling woman--barely an adult to those who can perceive such things--drops Keleri's hand and backs up a step before introducing herself to the room, "It's very nice to meet you! My name is Olise Goldear." She adds in a curtsy, and blushes again as she wonders if that was what she was supposed to do.
"It's good to meet all of ya. As a representative of the Pathfinder Society, I wanna say that I will do my best ta fight these hooligans and restore yer heirloom to ya, ma'am. And a bloodsucker, eh? Shouldn't be too much of a problem with me an' this man of the cloth along, methinks. " says Biffin, indicating at Andrus. "Point us in the right direction!"
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Keleri goes to give Vardigas a brief hug in greeting, "Of course I didn't forget about you, but you never stole any of my possessions like these hooligans did."
The goblin takes the map and puts in all of about 6in from the dwarf's face while pointing at the bottom part, "Entrance to tunnel here. I lead you to cellar and tunnel, but no more. Drakus snaps goblins in half and drinks their blood, I'm not going near that."
Keleri pulls the goblin back from the dwarf, knowing that kindness between the two races is more common as of late, but not the majority. "Well, there you have it. Please go retrieve my heirloom, the Star of Desna from Drakus, and if you want to do this goblin a favor, bring peace to the, what was it, mudeaters?" she says, clearly not interested in any sort of way about helping the goblins."Here, take this key to my cellar, not that a key is apparently needed, and good luck, please make sure you all come back in one piece...and with all your blood, as it were." she says as she leads you to the cellar.
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When everyone is ready, the Goblin leads you into the cellar, through the tunnels, and then through the surprisingly connected Magnimar sewers through a secret passage that Keleri likely wasn't aware of.
Between leading the party and looking at the map the goblin explains a little of where they are going, "This place we go to, mudchewers know humans call Ashen Ossuary. We took it when no people around, lived there not hurting no one, then Drakus come. He kill head goblin, take head off and drink blood." she says as she visibly quakes with fear. "We whisper that Drakus evil bloodsucker, do what he says so he doesn't kill us next."
Biffin does not see the unlawful activity either. Surely, he would not have stood for the theft had he witnessed it.
Instead, he moves toward the door, shouting his motto, "Always forward, never back!"
Vardigas beams like he just inherited a fortune in gold, just narrowly avoiding crushing Keleri with the hug. "Don't worry - I won't be taking anything but their lives!" With another deep belly laugh, he lumbers further into the room and plops himself down unceremoniously on the floor while the group receives their briefing.
The half-elf spots Xune's thievery with surprising ease. He looks as if he's about to speak up, but something about the way Keleri treats the goblin doesn't sit very well with him... so he decides to keep quiet. Ends and means, y'know.
As the party descends into the sewers, Vardigas shoulders his way none too gently to the front of the marching order. "This Drakus won't be able to hurt you without a head, now will he?" He hefts his gigantic axe over his shoulder, and even though he's been talking a lot about literally butchering people ever since he arrived, his only expression is a winning smile. "Let's find this fiend and put an end to this!"
"Thugs robbing artifacts brazenly? We can't have that." Andrus speaks up with a quiet but determined voice. Little does he realise what is going on directly in front of him.
"Lead on." He gestures to the half-elf and dwarf.
Olise listens to the conversation with great concern, and exclaims as the goblin reaches the end of its tale, "Oh! He drank the head goblin's blood? How horrible! Well I think we could certainly do something about that, eh Maizy?"
Just then, an ear of corn pops up from inside the top of Olise's backpack, still encased in its leaves. It lets out a muffled squeak, and Olise giggles. "Oh Maizy, there's no need to be afraid. These people will be our friends. They'll keep you safe." The leaves peel down the front of the cob, revealing that the kernels are arranged in a somewhat unusual patter. They are fairly normal for the first few inches, but then there appear to be two dense clusters over top two empty spots, and below those is a wide space where the kernels are packed together to form a curving line like a smile. The leaves unfold the rest of the way suddenly and the corn hops up onto the leaves extended beneath itself like two thin little legs, and two more leaves reach out from the side like a pair of arms. The corn stands on Olise's shoulder and lets out another squeak.
"Maizy says hello, everyone. On, I should clarify, Maizy is my...oh, what was that word again...ah! My familiar! She's a leshy, and she's here to help just like the rest of us."
With introductions complete, Olise and Maisy follow the others as Keleri leads them to the cellar, then as her goblin servant(?) guides them through the tunnels. She smiles happily as the party makes their way along and whispers to Maizy, "Did you hear that, Maizy? We're going to catch a star and defeat an evil blood-sucking beast! It's just like in the stories Poppa and Momma used to tell us kids when we were little. How exciting!"
"Are ye daft, ya durn halfling! This is serious business. Life or death! You better keep yer corn tucked away before either the barbarian or this Drakus decide they are hungry!"
Andrus' only outward reaction at the rather... unusual creature is raised eyebrows. Not that he has seen much wonders in this world, for he has yet to really experience much in his life, but he has learnt that there is usually really no need to over-react. Besides, the corn-familiar is really quite beautiful in its own way.
"Maizy is quite an amazing creature. How did she... um come about? But Master Biffin is right. Best to keep it safe."
Vardigas howls with laughter at the sudden appearance of sentient corn. “The food is a friend! Incredible! I like your attitude, little corn-baby - always smile at whatever comes in life!” He moves like he’s about to try to clap the corn on its tiny shoulder (or whatever its closest shoulder allegory may be), but thinks better of it. Nobody wants to clean kernel chunks off the walls.
Speaking of walls, the barbarian peers around the gloom of the sewers and adds, “How much further, little goblin? Are we close?”
"Maizy is quite an amazing creature. How did she... um come about? But Master Biffin is right. Best to keep it safe."
"Oh," Olise says, suddenly becoming shy as someone asks her a direct question, "Um...well I guess I've always been good with plants and things. Momma and Poppa say I came out of the womb with a green thumb! Well, I was working the fields last autumn and I just felt really drawn to this one little corner where a cornstalk had been planted just a little bit out of the row. I kept taking care of it, feeding it special things, watering it really carefully. And then, well I guess you could say my powers just kind of took hold. And then one of the ears, the biggest on the stalk, just popped off and there she was!" Maizy squeaks affirmatively, then launches into a series of squeaks and chirrups as if she were continuing the story. "Now Maizy, you don't have to tell them that part of the story," Olise objects to her companion. "Sorry, she can have a bit of a mouth on her sometimes."
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The damp sewer passages have led to a slimy cistern that stinks of decay. On the northern edge of this circular chamber lies a pile of burnt bones in front of a scorched tunnel. Part of the slime and muck begins to move and slide forward towards you. Your goblin guide screams and hides back behind the entrance wall.
Initiative Order, Bold May Go!
Combat Slide!
Vardigas
Mona
Enemy
Xune (unseen)
Andrus
Olise
Biffin
This is a sewer ooze. These ooze creatures survive on filth in a city's sewers and, as such, can spew out a wave of filth and slime. This causes acid damage in a 20ft area and slows you down.
Vardigas blinks in surprise and recoils slightly as the slime starts to move. "What in blazes... it moves?!"
Then, he just bursts out laughing and hefts his axe, fixing his murderous grin on the disgusting pile of filth. "Incredible!! Let's see if it's a worthy challenge!" At that, he hurls his burly frame at the slime with his Large-sized greataxe held high!
Crit!
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The ooze gets touched by the magical rose vine and becomes wrapped up in the thorns, however it doesn't seem to very much bother it. Its first action is to unleash a wave of sewage all around the room, yes, it smells horrible.
Biffan and Vardigas need reflex saves, DC 15!
Failure means they both take acid damage and are hampered 10. A critical failure also knocks you prone as the wave knocks your feet from under you. A creature can clean off the muck as an interact action, reducing the hampered condition by 5 for each action taken.
It then attempts to slam into Vardigas with its sludgy body.
Miss
Crit!
Initiative Order, Bold May Go!
Combat Slide!
Vardigas
Mona
Enemy
Xune
Andrus
Olise
Biffin
Vardigas gets knocked clean off his feet and onto his back. "Oof!" Still grinning like the Blood Knight he truly is, he drags himself back to his feet, wipes off some of the muck, and swings at the ooze once more, with feeling!
Apparently, he's just not feelin' it today.
Biffin finally gets in gear and approaches the ooze, shield raised. (actions 1 and 2).
He yells "Torag!" and swings his warhammer! (action 3)
Inspired by the incredible accuracy of her new companions, Olise moves into the room with the slime and draws out her sling. She loads a sling bullet into it and begins to twirl it to prepare an attack.
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Pass!
Vardigas manages to hit the ooze, even after getting slimed and knocked to his feet. Biffin and Xune follow up the initial assault and land more blows on the nasty blob. With their combined blows, the ooze doesn't stand a chance!
Combat Over
Your goblin guide slinks back into the room, careful not to step in any of the muck, "Is-is it dead?" she says with fear in her voice."Mudchewers use room for trash, made slime monster with it on accident I'm guessing, need new place for trash."
Vardigas seems mighty surprised that his axe still makes purchase, even with his balance still askew. "Ha! This should be a day to remember, friends!" He scoops a heaping glob of sludge off himself and then starts cleaning his weapon, cradling it in his beefy arms like a holy object. "What's next?"
Olise cheers excitedly as the slime dissolves into a harmless pile of filth. "Good job, everyone! Maybe next time, I'll manage to do something helpful too. Haha!" She laughs at her own lack of ability to contribute to this fight, knowing that her time to help will come soon enough.
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From around the corner you hear the sounds of what could only be described as crude singing,
"Goblins chew and goblins spit, goblins build a Drakus pit.
Goblins work and goblins kill, lest our goblin blood be spilled.
Drakus call and Drakus beck, Goblins answer or he bite our neck!"
As you turn the corner and see the room you notice that the walls of this long chamber are scorched dark, and the thick layers of soot crusting to the ceiling above attest to the tremendous fire that must have raged through this room in the past. Burial niches in the walls and the row of central pillars contain only fragments of burnt wood and charred bone.
Currently, only four goblin warriors can be found in this chamber. These goblins are gathered in the northern portion of the room and are hard at work building a 10-foot-tall statue of Drakus out of garbage, mud, twine, and bits and pieces of wood. The task isn’t going well—the haphazardly constructed statue keeps collapsing under its own weight—but the goblins don’t let this bother them. When they see you, however, they howl and hoot and race toward you to do battle!
Initiative Order, Bold May Go!
Olise
Andrus
Xune
Orange Goblin
Yellow Goblin
Red Goblin
Vardigas
Biffin
Mona
Black Goblin