The Slinging Piper is a cheerful tavern run by one of the oldest halfling families in Absalom - and a popular destination for Pathfinder agents between missions.
"There you go luvs - chicken stew and our home-brewed ale," a smiling halfling woman announces as she ascends a stepladder built into the table and effortless places six bowls and mugs atop. "I gots other folks to help too, but give a holler if you need anything." She bustles off, leaving the Pathfinders to themselves for the moment.
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"Thank you kindly"
Adumariel nods to the halfling in thanks and waits for the others before starting to eat. She is dressed in an eclectic outfit, parts eye-catching and remarkable and others dust-caked and worn.
Her boots are black leather inlaid with deep ruby filigree in an elven pattern, her fingerless gloves set with sapphires at each knuckle. On the top of her neat, pulled back hair is a pair of dusty goggles you might expect to see on a miner, and resting by the table a fine purple umbrella with a crystal pommel.
She pulls a handkerchief from her pocket and lays it across her lap as she looks at the stew with delight.
"My goodness this does look lovely doesn't it. Please do start. My name is Adumariel Odranti, and it's a pleasure to meet you all. I've been with the society only a short while, my daughters offered to take over our store in Lepidstadt when my husband passed away so I could get back to my first love; adventuring. It's been over a hundred years since I first learned to wield spell and sword, but it's starting to come back to me"
She smiles at that and begins eating in a measured fashion, dabbing her mouth with the handkerchief and listening to the others.
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Former Master of Spells Aram Zey addresses the assembled Pathfinders as more agents stream into the Grand Lodge. “Pathfinders, an entire world is in danger! The Hao Jin Tapestry is on the brink of collapse. If we do not act now, all its wonders and its people will be lost to us forever. Find your assigned group, aid in our preparations to enter the demiplane however you can, and await further instructions.”
Countless Pathfinders stand ready in a large stone room deep beneath the Grand Lodge. A ragged tapestry covered in clashing colors and abstract symbols rests on an inclined slab in the center of the room, surrounded by scaffolds and ladders. Scholars frantically rush along the scaffolds, studying a flurry of rips appearing on the tapestry.
A harried oread woman approaches. “I am Master of Spells Sorrina Westyr. I won’t mince words - the situation is dire. This cloth is the famous Hao Jin Tapestry, an ancient relic the Pathfinder Society acquired in the Ruby Phoenix Tournament six years ago. It contains a vast wealth of locations, treasures, and peoples torn from Golarion by the sorceress Hao Jin. We have explored many regions of the tapestry, struggled to keep the Aspis Consortium from turning its populace against us, and devised a means to use the tapestry for fast travel across all of Golarion. But now, it has begun to unravel. We must act quickly to repair the tapestry - and that means sending agents into the demiplane itself. Our former Master of Spells, Aram Zey, knows more about the tapestry than anyone here. He is preparing a formal briefing. In the meantime, familiarize yourself with your team, discuss any previous experience you may have with the Hao Jin Tapestry, and gather what information and resources you can.
"One more thing, and this is important: you will be able to retreat safely from the tapestry to Absalom. However, we cannot risk damaging the tapestry further by sending groups back and forth. Be sure that you gather everything you need before entering the tapestry, because once you return to Absalom, you will no longer be a part of this mission." She rushes off to brief another group of Pathfinders, leaving the agents to prepare.
The damage to the Tapestry looks bad from here, but perhaps a closer inspection could reveal more.
A group of Aspis agents was recently arrested in Absalom - perhaps they know more.
The Hao Jin Tapestry is a rather well-known artifact of the Society, and maybe the stories about it could help shed some light on the situation.
There's a strange sensation prickling the hairs on the back of the neck, as if being watched by invisible eyes.
Nearby, a repair team is assembling for travel into the Tapestry - do they have everything they need?
Fellow Pathfinders - especially ones who have visited the Tapestry before - could be the best source of information on what to expect inside.
Given the variety of scenes depicted on the Tapestry, the terrain inside could be anything.
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Adumariel examines the tapestry after putting her goggles on, and leaning over from some scaffolding
During the aspis interrogation, she fades into the background through sheer lack-of-force-of-will, occasionally offering a perfunctory "yeah"
She has had experience travelling the planes though, and to the tapestry in particular, so she's able to recall some relevant details
Her keen elven senses pick up something odd just at the edge of their range
She offers some advice in a slightly condescending manner to the repair team.
She tells the assembled pathfinders of her recent trip into the tapestry to see an ancient Tien community that will perish without their help
Finally she is suprisingly insightful about the terrain she saw when she was in there last.
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Jarl takes a look at the tapestry, but is distracted by all the activity.
Jarl tries to look menacing during the interrogation, drawing himself up to his maximum height and allowing the elemental energies suffusing him to show.
Thinking over the little he knows of the tapestry having never visited it before, he remembers a vague story he once heard.
Noticing the strange sensation, he is at a loss for what could be causing it.
Taking a look over the nearby group, he notices they are missing acouple of things.
Speaking with other pathfinders, Jarl is in too much of a rush and accidentally offends several of them.
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The undine begins inspecting the tapestry.
Perception
He screams at the Apsis prisoners, trying to crack them under pressure.
Intimidate
He tries to recall anything special about the tapestry.
Know. Planes
He feels the weird sensation at the back of his neck!
Spellcraft
Ash helps prepare the repair team, best as he could.
Know. Arcana
He asks the more veteran members about their experience in the tapestry.
Know. History
He thinks back to any positive information he might have discovered in the Pathfinder library.
Profession Librarian
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Xukong - an ominous, disturbing, masked creature bearing a sword that looks like something straight out of legend - barely speaks a word as...it...finds its way to the party, only bothering to flash its Open Road token and offer a bow so unnaturally stiff you are somewhat concerned for its health.
Xukong inspects the Tapestry closely, looking almost comical as it bends, gloved spidery hands behind its back, at what might just be a perfect 90°-angle. Much insight does it have to share.
Xukong seems disinterested and remote at the interrogation, but just the sight of it is enough to help creep some of the captives out.
Despite only a limited familiarity with the Hao Jin Tapestry, the mysterious masked warrior turns out to be no stranger to extraplanar travel, and in a voice like a trickle of wind slowly diffusing into a vast void, shares a number of comparative insights based on both seasoning and scholarship.
Despite not being able to see the back of Xukong's neck beneath its long hair and exquisite cloth-and-metal mask, one does get the sense that there wouldn't be hair growing on it anymore than there would be grain growing in a salted field - but it doesn't take much to notice the creature's acute sensitivity-bordering-on-paranoia. In fact, the sensation causes it to thrash about in violent spasms, much too bothered by the experience to really consider it well - nonetheless, it can offer some educated guesses as to what's going on.
Xukong looks over the repair team's magical implements - its subsequent recommendations are solid, but the repair team has a hard time understanding the way its idiosyncratic, heavily-mathematical manner of speaking.
Although a rather asocial individual even among fellow adventurers, Xukong is no slouch when it comes to academic and esoteric matters. Plenty of information is gained.
"Will there be dirt, or is the floor of the entire plane like a vast carpet...?"
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Kit mills about, mingling with the other pathfinders and waving her finger puppets about to get attention when needed, occasionally mocking the Aspice captives (though tastefully and with humor). She pauses briefly by the tapestry to inspect it and though she easily spots problems, she has no useful advice to give as far as repairing it.
The agents notice that the largest holes in the Tapestry appear around six of the regions that Pathfinder agents visited in the past few years. The Tapestry itself is radiating warmth, but there are spots around the largest tears where the air is chill as a grave.
The Aspis agents insist that the Consortium is not involved in whatever might be going on in the Tapestry, and the Pathfinders do not sense any deception from them. "It was too unstable when we tried going back in," one of them admits, "but it was already like that - we didn't cause it!" The Aspis are also willing to talk about the various creatures the Consortium met during their own explorations into the demiplane.
Most of the regions in the Tapestry are pulled directly from Golarion, the Pathfinders recall. However, most of its denizens have lived in the tapestry for their entire lives, and some can trace back many generations to ancestors who lived on the Tapestry as well.
A sudden feeling of anxiousness passes over the Pathfinders as a malicious, supernatural presence tries to enter their minds. They shake it off, but not before sensing an intention to feed on the chaos and death in the Tapestry.
Grateful for the assistance, the repair team offers a few of their supplies. "We've got better equipment now, so maybe you could make better use of these?" one of them suggests as she holds out a collection of bottles and vials. "If we're lucky, we'll get a shop set up inside too. Won't have everything, but it should have enough for emergency supplies."
Stories of the various exploits of the Pathfinder Society in the Tapestry abound amidst all the hubbub. Ratfolk, lizardfolk, ancient mummies, manipulative demons - truly a wide swath of creatures call the demiplane home.
The stories also mention buildings, caves, tunnels, ancient ruins, mountains, and deserts - though many other terrains and environments are known to exist in the Tapestry. A few quick tips for how to deal with such a wide variety accompany the tales.
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Each PC receives a potion of cure serious wounds...[/ooc]
The opportunity being at hand, Xukong purchases several scrolls:
- feather fall
- waterproof
- splinter spell resistance
- stone call
- force sword
- bladed dash
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Aram Zey cries out in alarm as a massive rip appears in the Hao Jin Tapestry. A silvery void dances within the breach. “The rifts are widening—we’re running out of time! Quickly, Pathfinders. Finish your preparations and gather around the tapestry.”
Aram Zey’s gaze remains fixed on the tapestry as he addresses the crowd around him. He is harried and pale, with dark bags under his bloodshot eyes. His hands tremble slightly as he sets a mug of coffee down on a table already littered with empty cups. “Pathfinders, the Hao Jin Tapestry is falling to pieces. Both the physical object you see before you and the mystical realm it contains have been unraveling for several months, possibly even longer. My only hope is that there is still time to save the tapestry
and those who live inside.”
The former Master of Spells glares at the tapestry for a moment, and then a new rip catches his attention. He jabs a finger at the frayed fabric. “There! You see? The degradation is causing—or perhaps caused by—rifts to the Astral Plane that are appearing throughout the demiplane. Fixing these tears is not as simple as stitching fabric or performing a few rituals. We must enter the tapestry itself, find the rifts, and repair them as best we can. But the tapestry is in chaos—undead horrors are emerging throughout the demiplane, and we do not quite understand why. On top of that, the people and creatures of the tapestry are reacting to the chaos, and they are only making matters worse! That, Pathfinders, is where you come in.”
Aram Zey finally turns to face the crowd gathered around him. “The tapestry is a massive realm, and we have spent years exploring it and using it for travel. I fear that our activities are at least partly responsible for the degradation. I don’t think it’s a coincidence many of the six most damaged areas of the tapestry are sites of previous Pathfinder missions.” Zey’s face twists into a pained expression, “My efforts to repair the demiplane over the course of the last several days have met with nothing but failure. The decline continues to accelerate. I have no choice but to send you into the tapestry to deal with the chaos around these six sites. I’ll be sending in other teams to perform the laborious work of patching the rifts once you’ve established control of the situation. Then I can work on a permanent solution. Time is of the essence. By my estimates, in a little over two day’s time, the entire demiplane will collapse without your efforts. I don’t care what motivates you, whether you want to preserve powerful artifacts, save innocent lives, or be a good Pathfinder—get in there and get the job done.”
Aram Zey returns his gaze to the tapestry, raising his hand to his forehead and wincing in pain. In a low grumble, he adds, “You all are this demiplane’s last hope. Don’t let them down.”
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Adumariel looks over the provided potions, and selects one labelled "Placebo Effect"
She turns to her group of allies. "Undead horrors he said. Arm yourselves appropriately" She starts going over the scroll cases at her belt, looking decidedly nervous.
"Oh!" she exclaims, before running over to requisition something from the society stores.
"Ok I'm ready, sorry"
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Mun gratefully accepts the healing potion along with a potion of invisibility. He tucks both into the finely detailed and fashionable garments of silver and blue that bedeck his frame. He calls Selune to heel and the bear lumbers over, standing close and looking ready for anything. They gather with the other Pathfinders nearby, awaiting a Venture-Captain or someone else to direct them as to where to enter the Tapestry.
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Kit also joins the queue with Mun, wondering who she will end up being partnered with, holding the reins of a light warhorse stuffed with gear. A mongoose pokes its head out of the top of her backpack squeaking and pointing at the tapestry.
"Yes, Kane, we are going in there. No, Kane, it does not look safe but think of the stories we will have to tell!"
In her excitement she lets her tail show showing that she is a Kitsune in human guise.
Kit is a shorter than average woman with lustrous coal black hair and a pale complexion. Kit's cloak has all kinds of mask embellishments on it. Tiny theater masks with serious and comedic expressions. Her only weapons are a finely made whip and an ordinary looking crossbow.
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A handsome man flashes a dazzling smile at the group of Pathfinder agents as he herds them around to an exposed section of Tapestry. "Excellent - don't mind me. Venture-Captain Arnaut Daniel, at your service." He gives a sweeping bow, and when he stands back upright there is a long ivory rod in his hand.
“Now, as Aram Zey said, we have identified the six most damaged areas of the tapestry. Unfortunately, each of these areas is populated. In some of them, you’ll find allies who require aid, and in others long-time foes that would thwart our efforts. We must defeat these foes or win them over to our side. Choose your missions carefully! If you have visited the tapestry before, its people are likely to remember you, for good or ill." He points at the locations of interest on the Tapestry with the rod.
“I do have one piece of good news - the tapestry’s attempts to repair itself have caused loose threads from these six locations to connect to each other. What that means for you is that traveling between those locations once you’re inside should be straightforward. Advance scouts tell us these connections look like bridges made of tattered fabric decorated to resemble the two locations in the tapestry that the bridge connects.
“As for getting back home, when you enter, you’ll leave a little blue portal behind you. It’s called an astral eddy, and it’s your personal connection to the Material Plane. Walk back into it, and you’ll reappear in Absalom. Once you’ve come home, though, we won’t be sending you back in. Too much stress on the Tapestry - and we're already putting it through a lot with everyone going in at once. The venture-captain frowns, but continues.
“You have two days to complete as many missions as you can, but don’t be so hasty that you throw away your lives. Take the time to rest if you find a safe place.” He waves a hand carelessly, and a blue-and-yellow butterfly flutters over to Kitoro with a scrap of parchment dangling precariously from its feet. "We've summarized what you might find in these locations here. Now hurry!"
Competing any of the missions below can assist in the Pathfinder Society’s efforts to secure a region of the tapestry. Choose carefully, as you likely do not have time to tackle every mission.
Mission 1: Visit our Muckmouth lizardfolk allies, help them fight back an incursion of undead, and secure a source of magic relics for their tribe.
Mission 2: Our ratfolk allies in Round Mountain sent out a call for help. The entire mountain is unstable, and dangerous creatures abound! Secure passage to the Pagoda of the Rat.
Mission 3: The Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment has flourished since we cleansed it of corruption, but now its leader falters in the face of the tapestry’s chaos. Go to the temple and set things right.
Mission 4: The duergar of Slave Mountain are becoming more desperate and aggressive. They are taking slaves beneath the mountain and performing a disturbing ritual. Do what you can to understand their dark plot, and stop the ritual!
Mission 5: The Aspis Consortium poisoned many of the tapestry’s residents against us. Three factions have nonetheless agreed to meet with us. You must convince them to trust the Society in this desperate hour.
Mission 6: We know of a mystical fountain that never runs out of water and so could help with the tapestry’s repairs, but it has stopped working. Secure this eternal water source.
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Mun absent-mindedly brushes non-existent dust from his fine threads, and gives Kit a sharply pointed--and completely unsubtle--look straight down the slope of his nose.
The look lasts but a moment, but it is unquestionably there before he nods in agreement with her agreement to his suggestion.
Turning to Adumariel, he looks at her closely. "I don't remember you; we weren't on the same team, were we? No; I forget Pathfinders sometimes, but I'd have not forgotten a fellow elf. Well met, from mine in Kyonin to yours."
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Jarl is drawn to the mention of an eternal water source, but hearing several of the others settling on mission four he nods in agreement. "Ok, let's go".
Jarl moves into an area of space and focuses for a moment. After a few seconds water appears around him before streaming into a disk of ice and water swirling on his arm as if it were a shield.
The Pathfinders press their hands to the tapestry and with a flash find themselves in a large, dark cave. Incoherent murmurs and groans echo off the hard stone walls, and Tall stalagmites emerge from the cave floor surrounded by shallow pools of water. Ahead a dim purplish light emanating from a multifaceted black gemstone the size of a human skull illuminates several humanoid forms heaped around the stone.
With a roar of challenge, one of the figures raises a hammer and points it at the Pathfinders!
Round 1! Bold may act!
Mun
Selune
Blue
Yellow
Red
Xukong
Kitoro
Adumariel
Ashwell
Jarl
Green
Purple
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Stepping through, Mun is unsurprised to see that they are already in the thick of it. "Selune! Stay back and defend me until we see what they do!" He calls on Ashava to protect them both; a shimmering glow almost like moonlight settles over both briefly before fading away. He grips the bear roughly by the scruff of the neck and drags her through the crowded Pathfinders to set up a momentary defensive position with his spear at the ready.
Selune follows her master, stepping in front when he stops and letting a fierce roar out in the direction of their foes. She looks ready to strike any who come close.
"Hold deg i nærheten - beskytt steinen!" one of the creatures calls out. Two others nod in response and raise bottles to their lips, letting the empty glass fall from their hands and shatter on the ground. The leader steps forward, holding aloft his hammer in one hand and a smashed mushroom in the other.
The grey-skinned creatures in front of you are duergar, dwarves from deep beneath the ground who no longer worship Torag and his family and instead seek to enslave other creatures and tear down their works. Having grown up in the dark, duergar have keen darkvision - but they also suffer from an increased sensitivity to natural daylight.
The other two creatures shambling around in the back are ghouls, undead creatures always starving and never satiated. The stench surrounding them can drive creatures struck by their sharp claws or teeth into paralytic shock - though thankfully elves are immune to this debilitation, even if they are not immune to the disease carried in the creature's saliva.
The grey-skinned creatures in front of you are duergar, dwarves from deep beneath the ground who no longer worship Torag and his family and instead seek to enslave other creatures and tear down their works. Having grown up in the dark, duergar have keen darkvision - but they also suffer from an increased sensitivity to natural daylight. Duergar are also immune to phantasms and paralysis thanks to constant exposure to these threats in the Darklands they call home.
This looks similar to a dwarf, but not like any dwarf you've ever seen.
The creatures behind the strange dwarves are ghouls, undead creatures always starving and never satiated. The stench surrounding them can drive creatures struck by their sharp claws or teeth into paralytic shock - though thankfully elves are immune to this debilitation.
Round 1! Bold may act!
Mun (SoF)
Selune (SoF)
Blue
Yellow
Red
Xukong
Kitoro
Adumariel
Ashwell
Jarl
Green
Purple
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Cursing herself for not considering light when facing duergar, Adumariel draws her ioun torch from one of her jacket pockets and lets it go to allow it to orbit her.
"They look like ghouls, and are they ... are they duergar? They look different to what I recall, perhaps it's the dim light"
"He's improving his speed magically, probably to close. Let's see what we can do about that"
She touches her sheathed elven thornblade and clicks her heels together, and a light briefly seems to emanate from within the scabbard.
Finally she begins moving toward the action with a step.
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Upon arriving in the cave Jarl looks around able to see through the darkness. He spots the group of figures standing around the jewl
Seeing Mun move forward and hearing the roar from Solune he moves forward to take up a better vantage should things turn to violence. Allowing his concentration to slip, water erupts from his skin forming a whirling maelstrom of water and ice around him.
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"Indeed, Duerger. Oooohhh! I know a story about them!"
Kit begins an oratory about a very unsuccessful encounter (for the Duerger) between them and the dwarves. as she hops up on a rock (nice makeshift stage) and pulls out some finger puppets she can use. The makeshift comedy is not flattering, not flattering at all. Think keystone cops.
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Xukong moves closer to Adumariel in a disturbing, staccato, almost-hopping motion. You notice it doesn't move too close, though, to anyone.
"I have not intersected with you before," It says in a voice like a sharp pencil scrawling across paper before shifting on its heel in a disturbingly smooth motion toward Mun. "But YOU, I have. Interesting times, yesss...?"
"You will - perhaps - recall thessse," Xukong continues as it shows Mun and a pair of wands - one, a red coral wand shaped like a pitchfork , the other a verdigris-coated copper wand tipped with a stylized obsidian sunburst, as well as a single flask filled with translucent black liquid . "If I am gravely damaged," the truly foreign figure announces to the party. "use *these*, or like magics, to fix me. I have...special sensitivities. However, so long as there is time enough when all steel is silent, I have acquired even better, albeit more tedious, means since we last met."
Before entering the Tapestry, Xukong draws a wand shaped like an isosceles pyramid of black marble, its edges lined with diamond, and touches it to both shoulders. Its form is momentarily overlaid by a the stylized black silhouette of a suit of armor .
Xukong recognizes these foes. It has fought such before, and remembers their hidden strength. Its takes a moment to draw another wand - a slender crystal number with a stylized Tien floral motif - and waves it over itself before advancing with its unsettlingly bizarre hopping gait, bearing in hand a massive black sword shot through with glowing green runes (or are they cracks? Very hard to tell).
The Pathfinders slowly advance, magics briefly illuminating the stark rock walls in flashes of light and blades ringing as they are drawn from scabbards. One of the ghouls steps in front of a duergar and waits, but the other rushes towards Jarl, spittle streaming from its face as it howls...
...but it is buffeted to and fro by the dwarf's strange liquid halo, and its teeth catch only water and air.
Round 2! Bold may act!
Mun
Selune
Blue
Yellow
Red
Xukong
Kitoro
Adumariel
Ashwell
Jarl
Green
Purple (Charged)
Selune paces her master, ready to bite into any creature that threatens Mun.
Two of the duergar grin, the light from Adumariel's ioun stone reflecting off uneven and ragged teeth. They toss small caskets at the bear - one explodes in flame, the other in a splash...
The flames arc too high and bounce to the side, barely scorching Selune. The acid, on the other hand, slams right into the bear's shoulder and eats away at both her and her companion's skins. The lead duergar laughs - a hollow, mirthless sound. He points his hammer at the light circling Adumariel's head, and tiny particles of dust seem to spew from the end towards the Pathfinder...
...and the elf's light is drowned out by iridescent black particles that coat both Pathfinders and try to weigh them down - but Adumariel and Ashwell are too strong to be held back and they shake the dust off themselves in the dark.
Round 2! Bold may act!
Mun (-3)
Selune (-6)
Blue
Yellow
Red
Xukong
Kitoro
Adumariel
Ashwell
Jarl
Green
Purple (Charged)