Feel free to mingle before we begin.
|
"Another day, another investigation." Khari shines her horns and then her wayfinder. She checks her tonics, makes a mix and labels it emergencies only before leaving the inn. "Keep the room clean for me- I might be out for a while!"
---
Janira's death still lingers in her mind. Her sacrifice not forgotten. Travel from Galt always gave her time to write new journal entries and mingle with the locals. After they asked questions about her horns and the goat fur, it was easy to learn their secrets.
----
"Hello, I'm Khari Sidare. Rhymes with Starry." She extends a hand to her fellow Pathfinders. "Are you on a mission, too? This is my second one. It should make a juicy story."
|
Tsuan returns a deep bow rather than a handshake.
"This will be my first mission with the Society. Where did you go on your first mission? I hope we travel somewhere far away - I'm trying to make a map of all of Avistan."
She pulls out a large map with a lot of empty space. Many islands along the Varisian, Nidalese, and Chelish coasts are filled in, but very little of the inland areas.
|
|
"Oh. My first mission was the Confirmation. We visited the Kortos Mountains, close to the Isle of Erran. We noticed a lot of Gillfolk liked to congregate there. Turns out the cave waters were sacred. A priest there even let me swim through it for a bit."
And by "let" Khari means she tricked the priest into granting her access.
"There were remains of an Andoran shrine, too."
|
Kurnak sits in a corner with his arms folded and just grunts. "Been to places, seen things..."
After a while it occurs to him that he might get over a little rude, so he adds "'tis my fifth mission. Mostly Absalom, 'cept for that one time in Taldor. Lot's of undead. Oh, the undead!"
He spits to the ground and then taps on it.
He grins to the ganzi's bend of truth.
"The name's Kurnak. Kurnak Sourtooth."
Steady sleet patters against the window of Dryblade House, breaking up the Lodge’s eerie silence. Venture-Captain Istivil Bosk emerges from his office accompanied by dwarf in a military uniform, who pulls a flask from his coat pocket and fills two small glasses with vodka.
“I’ve already made excuses to my superiors, and I’ll check in myself every few hours to make sure the safe house is still secure,” the dwarf rumbles, handing one glass to the venture-captain. “You focus on hammering out your agent’s escape route.”
“Already working on it,” Bosk replies. The two raise their glasses in a toast.
“Then may we take this story to our graves, and drag our heels the whole way there,” the dwarf proclaims as they each down their vodka. The dwarf sets his glass on the table, dons a thick wool cloak, and trudges out into the sleet.
”That was Brandur Clovesh, a sergeant in Daggermark’s infantry,” Bosk explains, closing the door after his departed guest. “Please excuse his brevity. He’s taking a big risk to help me out of a dire situation, the same situation that led me to request your aid. One of our local agents, a gnome named Timinic, has been exploring and surveying the sewer complexes beneath Daggermark. I made sure to clear his activities with every official possible so we wouldn’t draw unwanted attention from the Assassin’s Guild or the Poisoner’s Guild, which run the city behind the scenes. To my knowledge we’ve stayed in the Guilds’ good graces, but somehow Timinic’s mission ran afoul of...” A fit of coughing interrupts Bosk mid-sentence, and he begins gasping and clutching his chest. His vodka glass shatters as it tumbles from his hand. Moments later, the venture-captain collapses.
|
|
A tall Ulfen man opens the door as the man drops his glass and hits the floor "Ah hell, is Waggi late for the party?" He looks down at the man with a crooked grin that soon turns serious.
"Guess I showed up just right." He pulls out a vial from his belt and stoops over, prying open the man's jaws and dumping the contents slowly down.
"Let's see if that does the trick.. if not then I'm outta ideas."
”I’ve been poisoned.” Bosk moans on the floor.
”Quickly. I have a potion of delay poison in my desk. Somebody fetch it. Hurry.”
You see the dwarves footprints leading away from the building.
”Find Brandur Clavesh. He will have more answers. Please hurry.”
Bosk groans in more pain.
Maps and surveys from Timinic’s exploration of the Daggermark sewer complexes cover Bosk’s desk.
You discover that most of the Pathfinder’s excursions began at the Dripping Wall Distillery. Timinic’s field notes also mention several encounters with suspicious folk lurking in the sewers near the distillery, and include requests to provide extra security for the distillery’s proprietor, Ramyla.
You find the hidden potion.
|
|
Tsuan thanks Etna for her help. As a matter of fact, given our modifiers, it should have been Tsuan aiding Etna.
"Etna, my new friend, I do have a minor correction - my name is Tsuan. In Lung-Wa culture, the family name is first and the given name is last. Lai is my family name."
"We'll need to head to the Dripping Wall Distillery after we're done here. There were some suspicious characters there and we need to protect the proprietor, Ramyla."
Tsuan either helps someone else keep searching the desk, or moves on to his personnel files if we found everything.
Wymarc and Lai find the potion in Bosks desk. They hurriedly bring it back to him.
”Find Timinic. Hurry.”
Bosk says, barely able to speak.
”My safe combination is 23-24-09. The personnel files are in there.” Bosk musters all his strength and barely conscious.
Lai gently pours the anti toxin in Bosks mouth. Immediately a spongy, foamy mass fills his lungs and begins to pour out his mouth and nose. Bosk immediately falls unconscious and begins to suffocate.
The poison is dark reaver powder laced with aconite root and other substances to enhance its potency, an intricate and customized recipe that is not available on the market.
|
|
Tsuan lays Bosk on his side and grabs a piece of cloth (ripping a piece off her clothing if necessary) to use as protection as she tries to clear as much of the foam out of his mouth as possible.
"I'm little use getting poisons out of people."
Tsuan chases after Waggi to tell him to head to the Dripping Wall Distillery.
|
|
"The poison is dark reaver powder laced with aconite root and other substances to enhance its potency. That's tailor made stuff not available on the market. Dammit! I thought that potion was there to help with his condition. "
Since there's nothing else for him to do to help Bosk, Kurnak grabs his nodachi and follows Etna outside to track down the sinister dwarf.
.
Khari races to Bosks desk to get the files while Lai rolls him on his side. Realizing that no help can be given, Lai tracks down Waggi to go to the Dripping Wall Distillery. Wymarc also heads to Bosks desk to find the files. Etna and Kurnak try and track down the dwarf.
You input the combination and the safe pops right open.
The safe contains reports on Pathfinders who work out of Dryblade House as well as people of interest throughout Daggermark. The contents reveal that Brandur Clovesh brought the imperiled Pathfinder Timinic to a safe house on the city’s border, though it does not specify where. Timinic’s file also notes that while in hiding, Timinic will recognize those who call themselves “Guardians of the Open Roads” as fellow Pathfinders. Another earmarked dossier tracks the movements of a wanted killer named Cladara, and notes that Cladara’s murders have prompted city-wide investigations, an unusual response to deaths caused by any Assassin’s Guild member in good standing. A third file suggests an apothecary named Pemak may have connections to the Daggermark Poisoner’s Guild.
In addition to the files, the safe contains a bird feather token and a scroll of share language
You pick up his tracks following them reveals the dwarf’s footsteps spontaneously increased in size and spacing, as if he suddenly grew and took on a much longer stride. While following them you are stopped by a woman in the street.
”Did you see that man with the small clothes on?
Pipes line the rafters of this squat building, channeling runoff from Daggermark’s curtain wall into large collection barrels. Simple wooden chairs and tables fills the main room, separated from the barrels by a bar stocked with whiskey. A staircase leads down to a lower chamber with a floor of packed earth.
You see Ramyla, the owner, behind the bar.
|
|
Khari reads the documents. "So there's a safehouse. If we can find out where, maybe we can find Timinic there... it doesn't say where, though!"
"Pemak is an apothecary. He has connections to the Daggermark Poisoner’s Guild. Is he behind this?"
"And then there's the killer Cladara. Really high profile, more than usual."
She finishes reading the files. "Too many leads, not enough time. I can try to find Pemak's shop. I'd like someone... sneaky to go with me."
|
|
Tsuan looks around to see if anyone is paying more attention to them than they ought to.
Tsuan puts two silver on the counter.
"Two, please.
When Ramyla brings the beer, Tsuan speaks as quietly as possible in a crowded bar.
"Ramyla, we are from the Pathfinder Society. Bosk has been poisoned, and your life may be in danger. We found some documents suggesting Timinic was investigating the sewers near here. Do you know where we can find him?"
|
|
Tsuan looks around to see if anyone is paying more attention to them than they ought to.
"Ramyla, we are from the Pathfinder Society. Bosk has been poisoned, and your life may be in danger. We found some documents suggesting Timinic was investigating the sewers near here. Do you know where we can find him?"
Waggi nods. His scraggly beard nodding along with him. He keeps an eye peeled on whoever pours and delivers the beer, as well as anything that looks suspicious in the immediate room.
Although Daggermark seems anarchic, the infamous Assassin’s Guild and Poisoner’s Guild wield considerable influence over the city from the shadows. The Guilds’ reputations prevent too much disorder, as locals who threaten the status quo tend to wind up dead.
Any Daggermark citizen can hire an Assassin’s Guild apprentice once per year for a nominal fee, but members of the city’s military cannot be targeted by these trainee contracts. This rule has led to a high rate of military enlistment.
20+: The Poisoner’s Guild is closely allied with the Assassin’s Guild, though the poisoners’ interests are more academic in nature. Poisoner’s Guild members often serve as contractors, brokering assassinations as a means of testing their newest concoctions.
Openly discussing assassinations makes locals jumpy, so Guild contractors use coded language to discuss targets. Guild contacts typically refer to assassins as “specialists” related to whatever job they use as a public front.
Wymarc and Khari decide to go the Pemak. Kurnak casts detect magic and tries to pick up on the dwarfs trail.
”The human went that way. He was wearing clothes that seemed like they were tailored for a dwarf.”
”Bosk has been poisoned? Is he ok? Timinic had many excursions into the Daggermark sewers via my basement’s access point. He reported about suspicious humanoids traveling in the sewers near my business.”
You see a curly haired woman frequenting the bar. As you watch her get a drink and take it to her table you see her pull a vial or powder from her pouch and pour into her drink. You also notice her paying very close attention to you and Waggi.