"Yes-yes, to the back, slink in like rat-rats from the drink. Not too far off-off, to be fair."
Olander muses as they go to the back.
Pride came before the fall into the muck producing the stench.... I predicted that one well, unfortunately. Olander says with remorse.
It takes Sandu a moment to realize that Olander is not taking a shot at him, he waits at the alley mouth to give the others time to move the "Passenger"
The butler gestures to a clear space inside the back entrance to indicate where to place the load from the cart.
He provides an additional coin as a tip for the donkey cart driver and sends him on his way. "Keep your activities with these folk this afternoon to yourself." he commands the man.
Turning to you, he says: "I don't know what the Mistress will think of all of this. I will let you explain it for yourselves."
He then leads you through the house to meet with Mistress Heidmarch.
"Good afternoon my young friends." she says. "What news do you have of Natalya?" she asks.
Her face grows concerned as the gray-faced man shakes his head.
"She had fallen in with goblins, and was unwilling to listen to us."
we brought her belongings. he lays them out, pausing for a moment, and then adds the arrowhead.
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Nocki says "Well, milady, the girl went coo coo. We finally found her in the Underbridge hiding in an abandoned house. But as we tried talking her into coming with us, she kept talking about how powerful she had become and how pitiful we were. So we shut her up." By his tone, Nocki seems to think that the story is humorous.
Cooperation is a core value. We practically begged her to return peacefully with us s, insisting she’d defeat us when all evidence pointed to the contrary. Unfortunately a lucky crossbow bolt ended her delusions permanently... Olander recalls what he learned in Absolom before they recalled him back to Magnimar.
"The human-girl fought us with some stupid-goblins in an abandoned house over a sewer pit. We traded crossbow shots for a while, after we flamed and chopped down the gobbos. Finally I shot her in the neck and she fell-fell into the poop-water below. Then we came here, with all the stuff-gear she had stashed away."
"Poop-water ..... be sure to use that term in your official report." Sheila says dryly.
She looks over the items that Sandu presents and when she gets to the coppery arrowhead, her eyes widen and her jaw drops in shock. She obviously recognizes what it might be.
"Come join me in the parlor." she says in a more controlled, polite tone. While she's addresses all of you, she seems to be directing the invitation specifically at Sandu.
You follow her into the parlor, sitting in comfortable chairs and she continues: "I think I know what this is, but in order to be sure, I would like to affix an ioun stone to the indentation in the object's face. I suspect it is based on Azlanti magic similar to that the Pathfinders based the design of their wayfinders on, and if it reacts to an ioun stone in the same way, we will know I am correct."
Sheila excuses herself for a few moments, then returns quickly with a scarlet-and-blue sphere ioun stone in her hand.
She sits again and passes the ioun stone to Sandu.
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Nocki was unready for this quick appearance of the topic of magic. He tries to follow the line of thought and as his mouth hangs open, Bear stops munching on a leaf. The dwarf puts Bear behind his shield as an arcane experiment is suggested. He thinks of taking cover himself, but cannot stand the idea that the others would think less of him for it.
Olander looks quite curious that she appeared to hold an ancient magical item. After all, such a discovery would be chronicle worthy and bring fame to the fledgling group of pathfinders, even if the chronicle did detail the sewer...
Sandu turns the stone over in his fingers, "Yes, I am the one who should do this' he slowly places the stone in the object.
Once the ioun stone is placed, it flashes with coppery light and fuses to the shard, and its appearance changes to look as if it were made of the same material as the shard itself.
Sheila breathes out a sigh of relief and speaks up: “What you have found, my friends, is nothing short of a miracle. Varisia has seen its share of miracles of late—the discovery of Xin-Shalast and the defeat of Runelord Karzoug, or Korvosa’s release from mad Ileosa’s rule come to mind—but this discovery will soon be remembered as an equal to those events. This is a powerful Thassilonian artifact, a fragment of horacalcum and a portion of the Shattered Star of Xin: to be precise, the Shard of Pride. I suspect that the shard’s current carrier already knows more about it than I do, in fact...”
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“...the discovery of Xin-Shalast and the defeat of Runelord Karzoug..."
Nocki listens to Sheila's speech with wide open eyes. He knows something important is happening and he is part of it. However, he doesn't understand half the things she says about and looks at Sandu hoping he will make more sense.
Sandu gasps as the star fragment changes. "I, i don't want to touch it again." is voice is shaking, "Did Xin reach through time to touch me?"
What’s that?
Sheila goes on to tell you:
"The Shattered Star was a powerful defensive item created well over 10,000 years ago by the founder of the empire of Thassilon, an exiled
Azlanti named Xin. At that time, the item was known as the Sihedron—a seven-pointed star made of the seven skymetals infused with powerful magic. When the runelords rebelled against him, this item was broken into seven parts (at least, according to the legends), and the runelords each claimed a shard for their own. In the 10 millennia since Earthfall and the end of Thassilon, the shards have shifted locations, yet they have never been reassembled into the Sihedron."
She continues: "I've studied such things for years and the legends of the Sihedron are among the most famous about artifacts of the past, but I never thought to have a fragment fall into my lap like this."
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Nocki looks at the piece of metal with glinting eyes. He gets worried as Sheila says things about it falling into her lap. She didn't really do much to find it and it doesn't belong to her in his opinion. Still, he cannot get himself to confront his superior. He says "That's curious... Maybe it belongs in the Grand Lodge vault in Absalom. I mean, there's no real hope to put the Sihedron back together, right?"
"Wow-wow, this thing is that old, huh? And it makes you smarter and teach-teaches you about history? Quite the find-find, if you ask-ask me. What was a newbie Pathfinder doing with-with it?"
Sheila says: "The Shattered Star represents a powerful defense against the dangers that seem to be rising up against Varisia, and rebuilding the artifact would give the region a powerful defense."
"I do not know how this artifact came to be in Natalya's possession. There are more clues to be uncovered there I am certain."
"Now, one of you should take up this shard and concentrate on the image of a seven-pointed star." she finishes and looks at you.
Olander agrees, Yes, quite the find, it should make quite a chronicle... particularly should we take on this quest to find all seven shards of the star!
Join the pathfinders, recover an artifact... If there is any way I can make a name for myself, this should be it!
Olander offers, foolishly I'd be happy to give it a shot. I think I have sufficent willpower to withstand it!
Olander picks up the shard and gets a faraway look in his eyes.
Sheila explains: "Each fragment of the Shattered Star is linked to one more fragment in a set sequence, and if you concentrate on the Sihedron while holding a shard that’s been “awakened” with the proper ioun stone, you'll get a vision of the location in which the next shard in the sequence is located."
"The location won't be completely exact—but it should be enough to set you on the right course."
"Now, tell us what you saw." she says to Olander.
the Irespan and Magnimar’s harbor, around one Irespan piling in particular—the Crow. We best get going there, but I’d like to pickup a crossbow first..
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Nocki is impressed by all this. He says "This will be a worthwhile find, indeed. You are right to trust us with this, milady." He accompanies Olander to replenish his stack of crossbow bolts.
He adds "What should we expect? I mean, how should we equip ourselves best?" The questions are directed more at the party than at Sheila.
"I will use my ladies gifts to see this through. I should likely close my shop while we do this search."
We best be picking up some more crossbow bolts.. and a crossbow for those of us who've never thought they'd need to fight at a range... I don't suppose their are any wizards here at the lodge who'd mind us taking a quick peek at their spellbook? We seemingly have magical items that we don't know what they are, and I've been itching to try out these new tricks Mikkitar taught me.
"I can find you a copy of the spell workings for use in recording it as an extract." Sheila offers.
"Besides that, what else can the Lodge do to help you prepare?"
"I for one have never heard of Xin. or the Sihedron, I don't even know where I would start to look. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Ancient artifact of unknown power, and a quest-search to find the rest of the pieces? Yes-yes, I am in. For help-aid, maybe maps or notes? The gangs near where we fought the girl-human were most difficult-annoying, more intelligence on those near the Span will help."
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Nocki chuckles at Sandu's question and says "Red man Olander here says it's towards the Irespan and Magnimar's harbor. Maybe we are to equip ourselves for a trip to the sea? Oh, I have to refill Bear's leaves supply."
Nocki makes sure to restock his leaves before leaving. He also asks "Do we have enough money for swimming magic?" He means scrolls and potions, but he wants to pass the impression of being an arms only warrior. The others don't really know his connection to Bear is arcane.
"I have no idea what you should expect." Sheila answers.
"The Irespan is of ancient Thassilonian manufacture. Such places are known to have hidden secrets."
"It's surprising that such a prominent place hasn't been searched over before, but perhaps there are secrets that still remain."
"I can point you in the direction of a man with a boat that can ferry you across the harbor." she offers.
"Before that, I would suggest you gather your resources and investigate all of the items you have found."
"I also still have this." she says, sliding the magic ring form the box you opened for her on you first meeting.
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Nocki scratches his head and says "Now, how do we prepare ourselves for something we don't know what it is?" He looks at the things he recovered from Natalya and says "Now I have this climbing equipment here. If we need to climb the Irespan, this will come in handy."
He then looks again at the items they recovered and looks at them closely.
"Magic and fire-fire are good choices for preparation i think. More burning is more good-good, especially with folks hiding behind wall-barriers. I can learn that spell and make an extract tomorrow, will help to learn-find what those items do."
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Nocki notes "So, we've found 2 scrolls in a sealed case, a short birch wood wand, a smokestick, a masterwork mithral short sword, a well made pair of soft leather boots tooled in a pattern that suggests cat tracks, a climbers’ kit, a secondstory harness, a set of masterwork thieves’ tools, money and the piece of the shattered star."
He thinks for a while then says "Well, I and Bear can take care of the climbing, but there are some things here that we don't care much. Anyone care to wear these boots here?"
Olander carefully studies the scroll. He pulls a few reagents and begins brewing extracts.
"Yes-yes, we should spend some time and gold to find-study what these items all do. Tomorrow morning, Olander and I can brew-make the magic to do so. Maybe we ask some friend-allies if they have more information on the Span?"
Olander makes two extracts of identify.
Olander discovers that the wand is a Wand of Mage Armor (11 charges) and the ring is a Ring of Featherfall.