Harbormaster Takule Kanwo “ is an overworked man of Caldaru descent with green eyes and a trimmed handlebar moustache. As a former officer in the Senghor navy, he respects military experience and naval expertise.
You find out a great deal:
Mbansa is a former entertainer who inherited a struggling arms company. She has a keen business mind, and, after having turned the business around, is known around town as the "Iron Lady". She is young, and accents her dark skin with vibrant clothing. She respects those with mercantile skill and an eye for financial opportunities.
Your new comrade and expert sailor climbs aboard the fishing boat with you and starts sailing.
Wallace’ singing is awful but he seems to know what he’s doing. Can you possibly support him?
White-Tooth Wallace takes the helm and throws commands in rapid succession as they pull away from the dock and make their way out of the harbor.
He manages to easily avoid bumping against anything in the tight areas and with your support he is able to slip ahead of two slower moving ships as the assisting crew works quickly to get the sails in place on the nimbler fishing vessel.
Bolting into the open sea Wallace breathes a sigh of relief, ”Ahh, the hard part’s done, now we just hope the weather stays clear.”
With that everyone settles into routine. Vulpina, Torku and Loam trade off periodically with Wallace at the helm to give him breaks, but no time is lost as he keeps them expertly on pace.
Even the others manage to help a little bit, hunting down three rats that had stowed away.
As you approach the other coastline the sun sets. Dawn breaks and you can see the destination. As you near the coastline you can see a few stone ruins poking up from the jungle to indicate you are in the right area. It is morning with clear skies, you definitely shaved some time off the trip, but the small boat did not provide a restful night and no one was able to get a full night’s sleep.
While White-Tooth Wallace advises everyone, ”Ahh, all right, that’s my job done. I’m gonna take a nap, I’ll leave it up to you for the rest. Wake me when you need to head back.” He retires into the small bunk room and shortly you hear deep snoring.
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Loam powers through the difficult task of manning the helm, though she finds it hard to steer. Now she watches for telltale signs of recent Aspis activity. "The Consortium's 'covert' operations leave much to be desired," she says. The ratfolk isn't being very quiet either, but the overall effect is brought down by her light footsteps.
You sail along the coast and slip the fishing vessel up close to the shore and tie it off against a few gnarled but sturdy roots. The snoring is still constant from the cabin, but now the sounds of the jungle start drowning it out.
After two hours you are successful to find tracks and you all follow them.
Making their way into the old city, everyone keeps a close eye out for enemies and signs of the Aspis. Many foot and paw prints are found in the soft muddy ground, but none appear to be from booted humanoids.
After about an hour, Korum, with the aid of the others, notices something peculiar ... boot treads in the mud. Pointing it out the group quickly finds more matching prints. You all can easily follow the trail of the Aspis from here.
It appears they have headed deeper into the city ruins.
The city extends all the way to the shore, though the where the shore begins and where the city does is harder to tell than normal because of how boggy and muck filled the places is.
Much of the ruin has sunk, leaving great swaths of water several inches deep amongst the tall buildings. .
You find a plausible location with signs of a recent campfire and a discarded pair of muddy boots with a hole in one toe. With some further scouting, Korum leads them in what he feels is the right direction.
The ruined city streets turn damp and sodden as the aged stone pathways dip under shallow, green water. The surrounding buildings are little more than collapsing heaps of stone with few exterior walls standing upright, save for a large elevated structure to the southeast that remains mostly intact. The remains of a marble statue lies shattered at the knees in the center of the crossroads, its torso and head hidden beneath the increasing depths.
The map roughly shows the different terrains, I have tagged each different section with what it is, I’ll try to put narrative clues in as well.
Bogs: If a square is part of a shallow bog, it has deep mud or standing water of about 1 foot in depth. It costs 2 squares of movement to move into a square with a shallow bog, and the DC of Acrobatics checks in such a square increases by 2.
A square that is part of a deep bog has roughly 4 feet of standing water. It costs Medium or larger creatures 4 squares of movement to move into a square with a deep bog, or characters can swim if they wish. Small or smaller creatures must swim to move through a deep bog. Tumbling is impossible in a deep bog.
The water in a deep bog provides cover for Medium or larger creatures. Smaller creatures gain improved cover (+8 bonus to AC, +4 bonus on Reflex saves). Medium or larger creatures can crouch as a move action to gain this improved cover. Creatures with this improved cover take a –10 penalty on attacks against creatures that aren't underwater.
Both shallow and deep bogs increase the DC of Stealth checks by 2.
The Climbable Rubble is actually quite stable and provides no movement penalties, but does require a DC 10 climb check to get on top.
Just as the water gets too deep to easily see the tracks and hear a voice from ahead. ”Оооо, я збіраюся знайсці сапраўды вялікую змяю на гэты раз!”
Then another voice, ”Я знайшоў гэтую чарапаху, я збіраюся стукнуць яго па галаве ... пачакай, ты чуеш што-небудзь?”
The voices go silent, you think they came from where the statue is submerged in deep water.
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Vulpina's weapons are already halfway out of their sheath and holster when Torku speaks up, and she chuckles. "Right you are!"
She frowns when they reach the abandoned campsite. "The simple observation of this boot makes my own foot feel sodden," she sighs.
As they come upon the voices, she strains her ears...
"It's like I can almost understand them... but it is beyond me."
First Voice, ”Oooh, I'm going to find a really big snake this time!”
Second Voice, ”I found this turtle, I'm going to hit him in the head with... wait, do you hear something?”
Your discussions are not very sneaky and before you can talk further you see that near the statue two human sized, toad-like creatures bearing oversized clubs and javelins strapped to each of their backs approach.
They call out, "Зогс! Чи яагаад энд байгаа юм бэ?"
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Vulpina clears her throat. "Hello!" she says, a little slowly. One only needs to speak a little Taldan to recognize a greeting. Maybe it will do.
She raises her blade, but only keeps her thumb on it as she raises her fingers in a waggle of friendly greeting.
EDIT: Actually, with a roll like that, maybe she's brandishing her weapon instead. Whoops!
You now claerly understand them.
"You are an idiot. We should have waited until they come nearer and ambush them. They surely belong to the other whte-faces we drove away earlier." A second voice says "Do not blame me! Do not forget that I allowed you to torture that human who is still lying in the back there! We just wait until they come nearer and then kill them."
You see that the taod creatures are arguing but at the end both nod to each other.
You suddenly hear a human cry of pain from the buildings to the right.
The two boggards start smiling as if they enjoy the sound.
[Dice=Linguistics]1d20+8
The paladin clearly takes his hand away from his weapon and lengthens his arm, palm up. He smiles broadly, "Hello." I hope these guys are willing to chat.
Doran had just returned from a mission from Katapesh when he was asked to join a group of Pathfinders in Senghor.
When he arrived in the city of Senghor yesterday, Doran learned that Mirian had not been informed by Finze that another Pathfinder would join.
In a last minute adventure Mirian decided to guide Doran over to Boali herself and because of her skills as a sailor they obviously arrived only shortly after the team. She returned to Senghor immediately trusting that the team would take care of their latest addition.
Mirian even gave Doran her Wayfinder so there would be no trust issues given the complicated characters she witnessed during their travels to Senghor.
Doran's skills as a tracker allowed him to follow the group and when he hears voices and then sees a group standing only several meters away from two Boggards, Doran knows that he has found the other Pathfinders based on Mirian's description of the team he was supposed to meet.
Makras, Korum and Torku suddenly hear faint foot steps behind them and suddenly see a man standing 30 feet behind them with a red and black Wayfinder in his hand.
You suddenly remember that Mirian's Wayfinder looked exactly like this. The red and black colors are quite unusual.
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Vulpina eyes the wayfinder.
"Hold there, if you would. Anyone can get their hands on a Wayfinder," she says. In fact, the last time I saw someone's Wayfinder that was not my own, it had been stolen and ill-used...
She doesn't particularly remember seeing Mirian.
Sensing an opportunity, she turns to the boggards, raises her pistol, and fires.
"We are fighting, right?"
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The large man of Taldan stock stands over 6 feet tall, his large frame plowing through the undergrowth. He carries a finely honed sword of black metal in a meaty hand. He holds up a wayfinder.
Ho, there. I am Doran. I was sent to meet you. Apologies for my being late...my summons got misrouted. Here, I have proof from Mirian he says as he hold the trinket up..
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”Wonderful. Let’s announce to everyone in a ten-mile radius that we’re here,” Torku mutters. ”Not like there could be an entire tribe of the boggarts nearby. Or their queen. And let’s just announce to any Aspis agents that we’re here too while we’re at it.” He motions behind him at the newcomer. ”Looks like we’ve already attracted one of them.”