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You are sent to the city of Katapesh, with instructions that you are to help with the retirement celebration for Venture Captain Roderus. When you arrive, you are asked to wait for a short time before meeting with him.
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Valtyra takes a seat to await the Venture Captain. She is dressed in nice dress of silk in an emerald green color. A woven belt cinched at her waist has only a few items hanging from it a, a leather covered tome with arcane etching engraved into the cover and a pouch. Her red hair is held back with a simple hair tie.
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A large nagaji walks in with a small well dressed woman sitting on his right shoulder and a mangy, scarred, flea-bitten, mongrel of an alley cat on his left shoulder. The small woman appears to be pleasantly waiting for a conversation to begin. That cat looks like he is waiting for someone to come close enough to slash with his claws.
Sself am Thressh. People call me Voicess. Don't know why. He points to the little woman, Thiss be Angel. Sshe talkss lotss. he points to the cat, Thiss be devil. Get closse and he bitess.
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A Varisian woman and her pet owlbear enter the establishment. She wears her Varisian cultural roots proudly, but she has not let fashion win over functionality, as proven by her fur-lined hide armor, shield and an assortment of throwing spears carried on her back. A beautiful scimitar scabbard adorned with braided Varisian silk scarves protect a well-worn blade, and a badge showing a sword overlaid over blue wings has been sewn into her backpack.
The look on the woman's face reveals amusement. The seven foot tall owlbear cub's face reveals that food has been detected...
"This whole retirement tradition is funny, don't you think? this whole business sounds a bit unnecessary, but I'm happy we're going to do this- ceremony? or is it just an excuse to get drunk?- somewhere in between I suppose. Winnie and I can finally stretch our legs from this awful boat trip here. I'm Zeldana by the way. Pleased to meet you all. It's my first time here in Katapesh; apologies for my lack of knowledge about the local... fashion sense..."
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Fine clothes go far to hide the fine, dull gray chain mail Djorn is wearing. They do little to hide how heavily armed he is.
"We shall have to compare styles, sometime and you'll have to tell me where you found such a wonderful companion," he says to Zeldana, nodding to indicate how similarly the are armed, though it is a silver hammer hanging from his belt, his shield seems designed to be as much a weapon as a defense and there are shorter darts stored with his javelins.
"It seems that most celebrations are little more than an excuse to drink" he says, his sky blue eyes twinkling and his long top knot, his only hair, bobbing with amusement.
He nods a greeting to Thressh and the two silent occupants.
He also subtly offers a bit of dried meet to the cat, but otherwise pretends it does not exist, as deference to its feline pride, knowing it will deign to greet him when it is ready.
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A tall powerfully built half orc woman decked out in heavy armour and a large array of weapons bursts into the room. Am I late? Valsin was always scolding me for turning up late and I'm trying to do better but there's always something interesting to look at or see or talk to. She pauss for a moment and takes a look around, I don't see no Venture Captain type hanging about, phew, just as well, not after last time, it was sooooo embarassing. Anyway, did someone mention a party?
You are taken into the Venture Captain's office. Venture-Captain Roderus, an old, white-haired human, stands up from his chair with a slight groan.
"Ahhh," he winces slightly. "What a relief to see you. I’ve requested you for a project that’s very important not only because failure could adversely affect every Pathfinder in the city, but also because it’s the last mission I intend to give as a venture-captain."
He takes a deep, steadying breath. "I need you working as staff for my retirement party. It’s all been arranged already; there’s food coming, entertainment, decorations, and all the expected distractions. What we need now are bodies: someone pouring drinks, someone on security, that sort of thing. You get enough egos in one room and set the wine flowing and someone’ll pick a fight, sure as day. We need Pathfinders keeping the other Pathfinders in line."
The old man sighs.
"Or, at least, that’s the official story. Unofficially, you’re here because I need eyes and ears all over the room tonight. There’s more at stake here than you might realize. I kept hoping that those two venture-captains, Phlegos Dulm and Wulessa Yuul, would learn to make peace by the time I was gone, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be. The city’ll be in their care once I’m gone, and the two of them have been at each other’s throats since before I announced my retirement. I can’t leave in good conscience if it means Pathfinders fighting in the streets. Work that crowd tonight. You hear those two talking, you come straight to me. You hear rumors, you come straight to me. You find evidence of a plot, you come straight to me. Are we clear?"
"Those two have been venture-captains for years and never got along, but now I’m hearing reports about sabotaged goods, intimidated contacts, and even Pathfinder missions mysteriously going awry. It’s obvious those two are connected to all that, and Pathfinders sabotaging other Pathfinders cannot be overlooked."
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Yousse want eyess and earss everywhere?!? Oh yess, I can do that! I can put sspiderss on the wallss they have lotss of eyess. And wolvess have good earss. I can do sseveral of them. And...
Devil bats his snout and Angel whispers in his hear for a few moments. He wantss what? more whispers But he ssaid... more whispers Oh all right. {sigh} won't be ass fun though.
Angel ssayss I can sstop fightss and no one sseess catss while talking.
"Dougle, my assistant, will hand out specific assignments, but we need people working security, tending bar, delivering food, that sort of thing. If any of you can sing or play, we’ve got some bards coming who say they’d appreciate support."
He's clearly too tired (and aged) to get into a long discussion justifying his way of approaching the problem.
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Djorn leans against one of the walls, arms crossed over his chest, watching and listening to both the Venture Captain and the questions from his fellow agents.
"At least it's a Pathfinder party, so no one will expect us to be unarmed," he says with a wry smile.
"I could sing, if worst came to worst, but it would be an awful short party, since everyone would flee."
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I have a fine signing voice booms Talea as she pulls out a small jounral from her pack and starts consulting it.
Anyway, when and where will this party be happening! If you want us to provide security do you suspect there might be more dangers than these squabbling venture captains? Got some old enemies likely to crawl out of the woodwork to "see you off" she says nudging him in the ribs.
Phlegos Dulm runs a shop that specializes in poisons and potions, and he has some sway with the city market and the city’s masked rulers, the Pactmasters.
Many of Phlegos Dulm’s enemies have turned up dead from poisoning—too many for it to be mere coincidence.
Wulessa Yuul has always dealt with information, while Phlegos Dulm has always dealt with the markets. These days, however, they are both crossing into each other’s territory, actively courting Pathfinders to work for 'their side' even when the mission should have fallen under the other’s jurisdiction.
If you have no more questions, Roderus introduces you to his assistant, Dougle, a rather rough but dependable looking halfling who is smoking a cigar. Dougle clearly already knows about your instructions. He looks over you, and seems pleased with what he sees.
"Any questions for me before I introduce you to those you'll be working with for the evening?"
"The party will be right here at the lodge. The Venture Captain does not have any enemies such as you speak of."
A small voice speaks up in response to Voices:
Looking down, you see that the voice is coming from a young goblin. He is surprisingly neat and clean, and somehow manages to have an educated inflection to his goblin.
Dougle introduces the young goblin as Zig.
"I can carry things, I can clean things. I'm good at noticing stuff. I can help, and maybe someday, I can even be a Pathfinder like you!"
The little goblin has an easy smile that seems completely free of malice, and also seems very sincere in his admiration of Pathfinders.
Next you are introduced to a trio of half-elven musicians. They are sisters Kaba and Kora, and their brother Kitt. As soon as you meet them, they start telling you about their experiences helping defend Absalom during the Fiendflesh Siege, and how that won them their freedom from slavery. They are in Katapesh looking into some slaves who were smuggled out of Absalom instead of being freed.
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Yay! More goblinss! The big hulking Nagaji sits on the floor next to the little goblin. Yousse and sself can ssneakss around party and lisstenss to all. None ever sseess goblinss. We hearss everything and tellss otherss.
Yowrl! The cat smacks Voices again. Cat sstill ssayss sself ppossed guard door. Sself not knowss why. No one sstealss doorss.
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Djorn grins as Voices talks to his "fellow" goblin. He pats the smaller goblin on the shoulder.
"It takes a lot of work and dedication to be a Pathfinder. But if you want it bad enough and are diligent enough, I'm sure you can do it," he says.
He looks to the half-elves then. "Once we get through this party, I'd be happy to help you look for those lost slaves. I wasn't there for that assault on Absalom but I was pleased that they gave you the opportunity to fight for your freedom. It's only right."
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Talea scowls at the mention of slaves having been smuggled out of Absalom rather than being freed.
That is disturing news, I too was once a slave in Absalom. I was captured in my youth, I was never really keen on living here and ended up in a bad place. It wasnt long before the Siege so I was fortunate in that at least.
She trails off and seems a little lost in the past.
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"Slavery in Absalom. I honestly thought the city was moving beyond that abomination. Mores the pity though I suppose." Valtyra gives a rueful shake of her head. "I will be sure to keep my eyes out for those who you are searching for. If you would be so kind as to provide us names and descriptions to help in the search."
Zig seems even more excited after Sek's encouragement. There seems to be something rather endearing about the little guy.
The half-elves explain that they don't have specific names, but that they know the slave-masters smuggled some slaves out so that they couldn't be set free.
Dougle then introduces you to a local woman hired to help out for the evening. Her name in Vinius Borr. She nods to you in greeting, and then walks away to keep up her preparations.
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"Well, they can't hide from Pathfinders. Especially if they did wrong in our own home. We'll start hunting them, tomorrow," Djorn reassures the half-elves.
He simply nods to Vinius in return. She's clearly busy so he does nothing to slow her.
Though he does call out to her as she leaves. "Let me know if I can be of any assistance in your preparations."
"She mostly prepares and serves food. What about you? What can you do?"
The following are the tasks which the PCs are asked to perform during the party. Two of these tasks (Translate for Guests and Perform with the Bards) are optional and needn’t be attempted if the PCs do not wish to.
Security: The PCs must break up arguments and keep guests in line. This task requires an Intimidate check.
Pouring Drinks: The PCs not only must pour drinks, but also must do so with a flair that entertains the crowd, requiring a Sleight of Hand check.
Deliver Food: The PCs must mingle with the guests and make sure that the right person gets the right food. This task requires a Diplomacy check.
Feed and Tend the Animals: Several Pathfinders have brought familiars, mounts, and animal companions, which must be fed and tended to. Handling this eclectic menagerie requires a successful Handle Animal check.
Translate for Guests (optional): Not everyone speaks Common with the same degree of skill, and some guests find it easier to use their home languages and dialects. Providing this service requires a successful Linguistics check.
Perform with the Bards (optional): Kaba, Kora, and Kitt are supplying the evening’s entertainment, but they are more than happy to have a PC participate in the show so long as she succeeds at a Perform check.
You may each take either one or two of the above tasks. At least one person must take each task that is not labelled optional. It may be possible to substitute a different skill for the one described.
After skills are picked and rolled, I'll need to weave them together for you into something that resembles a story.
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I have no particular desire to spend time carrying canape's to bored pathfinders but I can make sure people get what they want. I might translate, I've travelled a lot and picked up many languages or I can succumb to racial steretyping and provide a bouncer service. However, I also like to sing loudly so happy to help out there too!