Shardra supports Kiboko!
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Kiboko proves surprisingly ineffective at communicating with the race that gave him part of his heritage but thanks to Shardra's efforts the situation does not devolve into a brawl or something worse.
Takahiro on the other hand is able to track down a human leather merchant named Dorost who's rumored to have had some dealings with Eando Kilne while he visited the Pinkskin district. Dorost is a somewhat pushy traveling leather salesman. He has three saddles still tainted with ash and blood from when orcs cut down his horses for food, and the belts and bags he sells are made from what seems like unusual leather. He says he will happily share what he knows if anyone purchases something from his stall.
Shardra looks disgusted after hearing Kiboko speak to the woman.
She aids to continue their search!
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"Waterproof bag... Sorry! I had a few made of troll-stomach tissue but they sold like goblin-meatcakes on market day..." Dorost apologetically answers Kiboko.
Through your collective effort you search Scabtown and easily make contact with one Madiskaal Erindor, a female tiefling minstrel, originally form Cheliax said to be is one of the primary information brokers in Urglin. The tiefling woman is tiny, appears to be of indeterminate age and dressed in finery and brimming with jewels. From what you heard, Madiskaal is one of Urglin's richest citizens. She is accompanied by four orcs, two of whom usher her about on a litter and where she's accompained by a comely, bare-chested human male. Madiskaal considers her time valuable and asks for 5 gp for 10 minutes of her time.
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Finding the Bloodworks is easy, for it is Scabtown's largest structure at 300 feet long, 200 feet wide, and nearly 60 feet tall. The arena is built of bone, stone, and hundreds of stretched sheets of leather, and dozens of banners fly from the rooftop, the symbol of Rovagug most prominent among them. Only two entrances admit its bloodthirsty audience, and each has a sign that crudely advertises a ticket price of one silver piece in Common, Ore, and poorly painted pictographs.
You arrive in mid afternoon and soon discover that the bloodworks don't open until dusk. You try gaining an audience with the master of the arena, Ploog, but you are told he does not entertain visitors outside business hours. Left with few other options you wait for the Bloodworks to open their gates but soon discover the entry fee for Orcs and "pinkskins" is different. One silver penny for the former and 1 gold piece for the latter...
The interior of the Bloodworks is very similar to its exterior, with panels of hide-wrapped wood forming a dusty fighting pit in the building's center. Roughly built bleachers wrap three quarters of the way around the perimeter, and the northern end is dominated by a keep of earth, stone, and wood with steeply slanted sides and two sweeping sets of stairs that descend to the arena's floor like a pair of insect mandibles. Between the stairs is a massive set of wooden double doors large enough to accommodate a pair of mammoths. A few rows of seats sit further up the side of the keep, and immediately behind them rests a large throne crafted from the bones of nearly every creature to walk the Cinderlands.
As you are finally allowed inside the arena you immediately realize the Bloodworks is not a quiet place. The patrons (mainly orcs, by far but humans are here as well) scream in delight and excitement as a tall, richly dressed orc adresses them from an upper balcony. It's Ploog, the ringmaster of this place, who starts personally introduces the combatants for the first event of the evening: a large ettin (named Vroth the Crusher, apparently) against a team of 6 human gladiators. As he completes his speech, Plooh ascends to the top of the keep lounging on the bone throne he keeps there.
You need to find a way to make contact with him but for the moment the guards patrolling the arena seems extremely vigilant. The crowd on the other hand is extatic for the slaughter taking place on the stage. The ettin is clearly the superior combattant and wastes no time in crushing most of its opposition before cruelly toying with the remaining pair of combatants, to the amusement of the audience. After a long and bloody while the event concludes and things seem to calm down. While the dead and mangled bodies of the gladiators are being removed from the arena you think you have your chance to make your way to Ploog...
Shardra is completely disgusted by this display of violence and death!
May the spirits guide the souls of the fallen to a calmer realm to find peace.
She approaches the guards with some gold in her hand.
"We hope that you have records of the planned audience we have with Ploog. Please find the evidence here."
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THe guards consider Shardra's request with a mix of hatred for her dwarven nature and calculated cunning, not wanting to get on Ploog bad side, in the end caution wins and they relent:"Very well, but you must know there's a... fee one pays to meet up with master Ploog... I'd say fiftee... nop, eighteen gold pieces. Pay up and we let you inside, if you can't pay you are clearly not worth master Ploog's time, so you don't get to waste his precious time, pinkskins!"
Ploog is a slightly rotund but entirely muscular orc who wears crimson and silver robes and a feathered cap. As you enter, one of the four orc guards motions for you to stand in front of the desk at a respectful distance from his boss. Ploog is seated at his desk counting coins from the day's earnings, and he doesn't seem to be willing to acknowledge your presence. The burly and well armed orc guards make sure none of you approaches him further and "suggest" you wait for him to adress you.
After several minutes Ploog finally stands and asks:"So we have visitors. Good, good. What can I do for you, or more importantly... what can you do for ME I wonder? Let's hear it... I'm nothing if not a charming and well natured host, so I'd love to learn why a bunch of pinkskins and a renegade decided to bother me in my own arena, must be REALLY IMPORTANT, I guess! Go on! I'm all hears!" he says in a very polite tone
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Kiboko addresses Ploog.
"You call Kiboko renegade? Kiboko is not of Belkzen. Orcs cover whole of Golarion. Kiboko is of Mwangi Expanse.
Kiboko and comrades seek man named Eando Kline. He passed though here. Made an enemy of you perhaps. You know where he went? Perhaps you want us to convey a message when we find him"
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"Yes, yes... a thousand apologies then, your accent fooled me I guess." Ploog says waving his hands at Kiboko before continuing.
"Old Eando and me ENEMIES!?!?!? Whay! That's outrageous! Preposterous even! It's true we had a disagreement but that's something I'm willing to forget and forgive, as long as I get recompense for my unjust losses... You see, Eando ended up causing the death of a prized possession of mine. A rare and precious bulette... a land shark, as the dwarves call those magnificent, bloodthirsty beasts! In doing so I fear dear Eando incurred quite the debt with me and the Bloodworks... killing the one and only specimen in my possession costed me dearly after all! That said I came to respect the man for his daring escape. Anyway, if you came here searching for him I fear you wasted your time. He's notb here anymore, obviously. He ran away after that little misunderstanding in the arena and I don't know where he's hiding... otherwise I would have respectfully asked him to repay his debt..."
”If you have any information on his whereabouts then we could try to find him and maybe also convince him to repay his debt. How much does he owe you for the land shark?“ Shardra asks in her deep voice.
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Ploog gives Takahiro a huge smile:"I'm glad to see we are all on the same page here! That's exactly how things stand. Unfortunately Eando... left Urglin before we could settle our disagreement, on amicable terms, of course!" the orc ringmaster sighs in disappointment and shakes his head sadly.
"And no, unfortunately I don't know where Eando is right now, otherwise I would have tried... to make contact with him, all I know is that he left Urglin with an half-blood guide. Now that I think about it, he had come asking for one a few days before the incident... It's a pity things went down that way because I had just found a capable guide for him! Ah, you pinkskins... I swear sometimes you are madder than Ankhravs in heat! Anyway, I reckon Eando was a pathfinder and since you are asking for him I guess you might be as well. If that's so you might want to pay his debt off... and to answer your question, dwarf, the only suitable payment for a grown bulette would be another bulette! If you were to catch one I would be willing to consider Eando's Kline's debt extinct"
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"Kiboko does not think you have any love for Kline. You are an orc. And Kline bested you, here in your own home. Be assured that Kiboko has no love for Kline either, but must find him.
Can you bring forth the guide that you were to hire to Kline? We would speak with them."
Ploog will demand an exchange of course. "We will agree to some manner of exchange of services."
Shardra raises an eyebrow.
”I will definitely not enslave a land shark just for your fun games and let it suffer at your hands! I am usually the diplomatic type of person but this kind of cruel behaviour is against nature and would definitely not be supported by the spirits that I follow!“ she says and looks upset.
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"Your words wound me again half blood... but my appreciation, or the supposed lack of thereof, for Eando Kline are not really a matter relevant to this discussion I think. You want a guide for Urgir... and of course I can introduce you to one... but the price is the same we just discussed: a live, healthy bulette delivered to me in 2 days... but if you have moral qualms about procuring one, I guess our meeting is officially over and you may go your own way, asking around for a guide to Urgir... I wonder how well it will go..."
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"Kiboko cares nothing for your feelings Ploog. The price of your aid is preposterous."
Kiboko briefly contemplates killing Ploog where he sits, just to make a point. But the possibility that it would take too long to find the guide that he needs without Ploog's help stays his hand.
"If we were to fetch you a bulette, where would we look for one?"
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Bulettes are notoriously foul-tempered, attacking far larger creatures with no regard for personal safety. Solitary beasts except for the occasional mated pair, they spend most of their time patrolling the perimeters of territories that can stretch up to 30 square miles, hunting game and punishing interlopers with a fury that shakes the hillsides.
Bulettes are perfect eating machines, consuming bones, armor, and even magical items with their powerful jaws and churning stomach acid. Lacking other food, the bulette might gnaw on inanimate objects, yet for unknown reasons no bulette voluntarily consumes elf flesh—a peccadillo many point to as evidence that elven wizardry was involved in its creation. Dwarves are also rarely eaten by the beasts, though the bulette still slaughters members of either race on sight. Halflings, on the other hand, are among the beast’s favorite meals, and no halfling with any sense ventures into bulette country casually.
The bulette is a cunning fighter, surprising foes with its impressive agility. One of its favorite tactics is to charge forward and launch itself into the air in order to drop on its prey with all four razor-sharp claws extended. Folklore claims that the flesh behind the beast’s dorsal crest is particularly tender, and that those willing and able to wait until the fin is raised in the excitement of combat or mating can target it for a killing blow—yet most who have faced the landshark agree that the best way to win a fight with a bulette is to avoid it entirely.
Bulette's saves: Fort +11, Ref +8, Will +5
Bulettes are notoriously foul-tempered, attacking far larger creatures with no regard for personal safety. Solitary beasts except for the occasional mated pair, they spend most of their time patrolling the perimeters of territories that can stretch up to 30 square miles, hunting game and punishing interlopers with a fury that shakes the hillsides.
Bulettes are perfect eating machines, consuming bones, armor, and even magical items with their powerful jaws and churning stomach acid. Lacking other food, the bulette might gnaw on inanimate objects, yet for unknown reasons no bulette voluntarily consumes elf flesh—a peccadillo many point to as evidence that elven wizardry was involved in its creation. Dwarves are also rarely eaten by the beasts, though the bulette still slaughters members of either race on sight. Halflings, on the other hand, are among the beast’s favorite meals, and no halfling with any sense ventures into bulette country casually.
The bulette is a cunning fighter, surprising foes with its impressive agility. One of its favorite tactics is to charge forward and launch itself into the air in order to drop on its prey with all four razor-sharp claws extended. Folklore claims that the flesh behind the beast’s dorsal crest is particularly tender, and that those willing and able to wait until the fin is raised in the excitement of combat or mating can target it for a killing blow—yet most who have faced the landshark agree that the best way to win a fight with a bulette is to avoid it entirely.
Ploog chuckles:"There's no ifs here half blood, either we do business or we do not. So I'll let you know the best place to find bulettes 'round these parts is several miles south of Urglin, and those hunting those majestic beasts would be well advised to bring some means of capturing the one alive and well, and transporting it back here. I'll also add that Kurush is the only one merchant in Urglin who has a cage large enough to contain a fully grown bulette. Finally I'll give you one more piece of advice for free: know that even a heavy wagon is not sturdy enough to cart an unconscious adult bulette back to the city. I think two such wagons lashed together might be enough though..."
”If we depart tomorrow after all is done here then I can memorise the spell to make the land shark sleep. But I am doing this out of loyalty to the society. Poor being ... “ Shardra says shaking her head.
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Senses: darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent, tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +11
Tracking a bulette takes you into the Cinderlands, a dangerous environment thanks to its precarious position near a tectonic fault line and the many volcanic vents that proliferate the region.
”I am still reluctant ... but I will aid. Listen well ... “ and Shardra offers all her knowledge.