Introduce yourselves in this thread.
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The figure looks short for a human, and his hair and beard are definitely styled like a dwarf, but he's entirely too tall to be a dwarf as well. It's the greyish skin tone that reveals his oread ancestry. He seems sparingly outfitted, though well equipped for battle, at least.
Most strange is the owlbear that seems to cling to him like velcro, never leaving his side. When the first Pathfinders arrive, the oread introduces himself. "Rocko William; call me whatever you like from that. You waiting for our assignment too?"
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The door to the lodge opens revealing the silhouette of a person. Upon entering you see a creature covered in bark and moss. Sinew replaced by vines and roots. They calmly enter the space and occupy a chair, catching the tail end of Rocko's introduction.
Rectitude leans their walking stick on the table and responds, In this life I have taken the name, Rectitude. I too have been called here by the society.
Rectitude has lived thousands of lives to the point where gender and most defining personality have blended together. The only memory that persists is the notion of balance.
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A half-elven woman with dyed hair stands with the others. Her traveling leathers look freshly-purchased, although her backpack, bulging with vials and containers, does not. Her belt is adorned with a few light weapons common among Society delvers-- a mace, some throwing spears-- as well as one that isn't: a cruelly serrated dagger that gives a sinister note to the girl's otherwise cheerful demeanor.
"And I'm Mizzie Mysken!" she says brightly. "It's not my full name, but I like Mizzie better."
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The invitation delivered last night was remarkably simple, especially given the importance of the occasion: “Start where it all began. Meet us at the Pig’s Paunch one hour before dawn.”
The Pig’s Paunch is a run-down building with a faded sign of a large pig standing on its hind legs, arms folded above a corpulent belly. Inside, the air is thick with the scents of human sweat, stale tobacco, and leftover food. In the center of the room, surrounded by inebriates sleeping off their revelries, a familiar elven man stands high upon top of a large round table.
“Welcome! Welcome, my students! Please, have a seat!”
With that, Kreighton Shaine, the Pathfinder Society’s Master of Scrolls, nimbly drops down to sit cross-legged on the table before looking about the tavern with a sense of reverent wonder. “Can you believe it? It all started here years ago—well, over four hundred of them at least. Under this very roof the Pathfinder Society was born.
“But today! Today you will begin your Confirmation! Master Farabellus, Master Zey, and I all agree you each have shown your worth and dedication to the Society, so there’s no better time to see if you can handle becoming full field operatives. Allow me to introduce you to Janira Gavix,” he says as he motions for an excitable halfling woman to approach. She wears a large backpack and carries all manner of tools, pouches, and scroll cases around her waist. Shaine continues, saying, “Janira here will be going with you on your Confirmation. She was one of my brightest pupils and will no doubt be an invaluable resource on your journey, for she discovered the caves you are about to explore during her own Confirmation.”
Janira speaks up in an enthusiastic and cheerful voice, “Greetings, aspiring Pathfinders! Six months ago, while I was mapping cave entrances in the foothills of the Kortos Mounts, I witnessed a lone gillman entering a concealed cave. I thought little of it at the time, but I saw another one enter the cave again a month later as my Confirmation stretched on. A few days later, after I completed my assigned task, I entered the cave system, but was unable to find the gillmen.”
Master Shaine hops to his feet. “Initiates, for your Confirmation, you will travel to these caves to explore and document its many passages. Additionally, and most importantly, you are to learn what the gillmen are up to in there. Oh, and you need to come back alive as well.” With these parting words, the Master of Scrolls jumps off the table and strolls out of the building while humming to himself.
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The Half-Orc listens, to the senior Pathfinders and his peers. He seems to be very still, if he's doing anything... he's sizing folks up.
Violence is always a last resort, we'll talk to them. And if we need to, we will talk to them some more. He drives his fist into his palm with an audible "smack" sound.
Natural environmental dangers can't be "reasoned" with, though. But, it seems we are all attached at the hip for a bit.
Let's make the best of it. He smiles genuinely.
During your travels, you may have seen parts of Kortos or heard of the gillpeople before.
were responsible for the gillmen’s transformation. Any alliance between them appears to have fallen apart over the millennia, however, and the gillmen are now an independent people.
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A tall tengu in a black leather vest adorned with a large black hood walks out of a shadowy corner, downs what was left in his ranked and sits down at the table.
"Tok Taket." the tengu says as he takes off his hood.
"Good ta meet you all. Don't know much about gillman or the caves in question but I'm always up for a good cave dive. Plenty of shadows."
Tok grins misceiviously and leans back in his chair.
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Just before the halfling starts to talk a short and stocky, stocky even for a dwarf, dwarf enters the room and sits down.
He has a large mane of a ginger beard and ginger hair. While he initially looks unkempt, on closer inspection his hair is lightly styled and managed. So it appears that his mane is a choice. He is completely unclothed apart from a pair of shorts that come down to his mid thigh. Attacked to the side of his rucksack is a long bladed spear. He is covered in scars and even though some of them look bad, obviously none of them were lethal.
Dalgur listens to the halfling and nods.
Next post on Monday.
Everyone please go ahead and purchase any items you want to.
Note thay, as we are heading into caves, characters without darkvision should have means to see.
Kreighton Shane re-appears, whispers something to Walks with Giants, and they slip out the door to another adventure.
“On to the details of the mission at hand,” Janira says with an eager grin. “After reviewing my mission reports personally, Master Shaine believes it is no coincidence that each time they entered the caves it was during a full moon, so it is also no coincidence that you have been called here now, just a day before the moon is full again. We both believe that tomorrow night is our best chance to find out why these caves are important and what exactly the gillmen are doing in there.
“The caves we’ll be travelling to lie under the base of the Kortos Mounts. We’ll need to spend every minute of daylight possible to reach the caves by foot, crossing over the Cairnlands, taking the paths to Diobel, and finally making our way through the wilderness. With any luck we won’t run into any of the local inhabitants. Once in the caves, we’ll need to work together to explore and determine whether any gillman are present or have been recently. Keep an eye out for any other clues that might hint at the caves’ significance, too.”
"Any questions?"
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Rocko nods at the ginger dwarf when he enters, a friendly smile on his face. Good to see familiar features from home here, good indeed.
He responds to Janira with a question. "What should we have with us on this little quest? I got me blade and not much else. I've spent plenty of time below the ground... but walking through wood and crossing stream ain't my specialty. Should I go shopping before we head out?"
"One of the most exciting things about adventuring is that you never know what you'll need! But that being said, your mission is to explore, report, and cooperate, and many Pathfinders forget important facts in the heat of battle. A means of writing and recording is often helpful to keep all the facts straight."
As the party progresses into the forest, the trees towering overhead begin to shield most of what remains of the day’s sun and the vegetation beneath grows denser. Janira pauses a moment and pulls out an intricate silver compass emblazoned with the Pathfinder Society logo: the Glyph of the Open Road. “I received this wayfinder when I successfully completed my Confirmation. Should we be successful on our journey, you will get your own as well.”
She flips open the device and holds it in front of her; the initials J.G. are engraved into the inside of the device’s lid. After studying the compass inside for a moment, she remarks, “We’re on the right path. We need to keep heading northwest past those large rocks up ahead.”
Most of the trees in this section of the forest have trunks that are too big for any creatures to share their space. Sporadic patches of light undergrowth provide areas for creatures to hide while restricting movement for those passing through.
Rocko teases Kaliban by picking up a rock and saying hello to it.
"Caw, caw!" it replies.
Wait, what?
"Caw, caw!" it repeats.
Rocko is a bit confused, but then notices that everyone else has their weapons drawn.
"That wasn't the rock," Kaliban informs him, "That was some kind of gigantic bird!"
Two young hippogriffs appear through the trees. Their calls let others know that they've found some meat.
"Your first test," Janira smiles.
"A new story begins / A halfling and six friends / Searching the caves / Making the saves / Waylaid by 'griffs with wings ..." she begins singing.
Round 1, the bolded may act
Rectitude
Hippogriffs
Tok
Mizzie
Kaliban
Rocko
Dalgur
The hippogriffs caw to each other, and take to the skies. Looking for bright, flashy colors, they swoop down on Mizzie and Tok.
Rectitude swings at Blue as it lands, but misses.
Blue pecks at Mizzie ... and connects.
Red pecks at Tok ... and misses.
Rounds 1-2, Pathfinders may act.
Rectitude
Hippogriffs
Tok
Mizzie
Kaliban
Rocko
Dalgur
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"Ohhh, they just bay-bies!" Rocko motions to Walfredo, urging the bear to stay where he is as the hunter approaches the hippogriffs cautiously.
"T'aint my four-tay, but I'll give it a shot.... Okay you flyin' beasties. C'mon over to Rocko William, and let's play!" He braces himself to be bowled over by a pair of enthusiastic--but hopefully now friendly--hippogriffs.
Rocko looks the hippogriffs sternly in the eyes.
Don't do that, it hurts us.
Just a little?
No, not even a little.
"Caw, caw!"
The hippogriffs seem a little miffed, but they bob their heads in apology and leap into the sky. The older brother intentionally cuts off the younger brother.
"Caw, caw!"
Stop it!
I didn't even do anything!
Mommmmmmmm!
Janira walks up to Mizzie and taps her with a wand of cure light wounds.
You move on.
The dense forest opens to a wide clearing at the base of a sheer cliff. Thick vines cover the surface of the cliff stretching 30 feet overhead. “Here! The cave entrance is behind those vines,” Janira says with a broad smile as she walks to the cliff’s face. She pulls back several layers of vegetation to reveal a narrow crack in the cliff’s surface. “This is where I saw the gillmen enter.”
As she motions toward the aperture, the surrounding woods come alive with the sound of small animals fleeing some unseen danger and a large creature crashing through the undergrowth.
The halfling worriedly remarks, “Quick, take cover before whatever it is spots us!” As if she’d summoned the creature with her words, a massive horned monstrosity emerges from the trees. Standing eight feet tall on a pair of cloven hooves and wielding a tremendous axe, the bull-headed creature roars with unbridled anger when it spots the group.
Guessing that a minotaur is beyond her charges’ capabilities, Janira screams, “A minotaur! There’s little chance we can stand against it. Take this bag,” she continues, pulling off her backpack, “and head deeper into the caves. Finish your mission. I’ll lead it away from the caves, lose it in the forest, and join you as soon as I can. Now go! GO!” She heaves her backpack into the cave, casts a spell, and darts off toward the minotaur before turning to lure it away.