Nerosyan: the capital of Mendev, positioned at the confluence of the West Sellen and Egelsee rivers. This city of over 65,000 souls is a beacon that draws crusaders from all across Avistan and beyond.
Nerosyan recently suffered a siege, when demonic hordes from the Abyss surged forth from the region known as the Worldwound to assault the city. Brave Pathfinders stood side-by-side with the city’s defenders, managing to push back the attackers and ensure Nerosyan did not fall to the demons.
Venture-Captain Jorsal, the Society’s principle representative in Nerosyan, took charge of the Pathfinder defenders and since the siege has deployed numerous groups on missions throughout the region. Having left Nerosyan to survey the devastation of Kenabres, which fell to the demonic offensive—Jorsal ensured some of his agents remained behind in Nerosyan to guard the Starrise Spire, the local lodge.
Our kitsune pathfinders have received a letter from Jorsal, indicating that he needs their assistance for an urgent mission in the capital....
"Esteemed Pathfinders,
I trust this letter reaches you without incident. I remain in Kenabres, assessing the damage dealt by the demonic offensive that struck all along Mendev’s western border. Although the city is devastated, the fiends lost momentum and failed to maintain their advantage, and several particularly brave crusaders have rallied the scattered forces for a counterattack.
Since the siege of Nerosyan, I have mulled over a most troubling discovery. I received reports from Pathfinders involved in the siege implicating Thurl, Nerosyan’s other venture captain, of knowing that the demons would attack and when. What little evidence I have goes so far as to suggest that Thurl assisted the demons in planning the assault against us.
Following the attack, I sent several Pathfinders to investigate Thurl’s lodge, and though the ground floor was bare of any further incriminating evidence, the lower levels were inaccessible. Thurl left many magical wards to keep out intruders, and until we could investigate further and confirm whether or not my dwarven colleague had engaged in dire mischief, the Decemvirate has ordered that I not publicise my suspicions. I received word only an hour ago that those wards appear to have faded.
I have called you to Starrise Spire not for mundane guard duty but because I can trust you to finish the investigation of Thurl’s lodge. Go there, enter its basement, and find what evidence you can that implicates Thurl in activities against the Society. Once you have explored his lodge thoroughly, report back to Starrise Spire and await my return.
The Pathfinder Society must know for certain whether Thurl has betrayed us and to what extent our trek to Jormurdun—to say nothing of the Mendevian Crusade—has been compromised. Our efforts shall mean nothing if sabotaged by a traitor, and the sooner we know, the less damage he can inflict.
Inheritor guide your hand,
Venture-Captain Jorsal of Lauterbury"
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"Racial reputations are only useful when dealing with large groups," admits Hiiragi. "A group is made up of statistics, but a person is made up of their experiences."
She pushes a pocket of fried tofu skin and rice into her mouth, speaking around it; "It's important work we'll have to do, but dangerous as always, and if we're going to be indoors, I fear our usual tricks might be hard to pull off."
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Our wonderful tactical leader and foxy fox champion of Lady Taramyth arrives in town proudly confident. He greets the fellow champions of good with a heartfelt hello there and asks a few questions as he goes.
Interesting, there are two lodges here. That is odd. I wonder if this is just one of those weird politically motivated things or if there were actual traitorous actions!
Once he meets up with his allies confidence seems to just roll off of his beaming smile, "Fear Not Allies, we shall get to the bottom of this mystery!"
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"Agents have been complaining for a while now that Mr. No Nonsense has been rather reckless with his assignments into the Worldwound, many deaths and mutters of keeping information from the Decemvirate abound," Itami adds. "Hiiragi, groups are made of people too. Are groups then not the collective experiences of the individuals? At want point does a life become reduced to a mere number to be disregarded?"
He prods Kenta with his walking stick. "I'd suspect someone so gripped by the sanctity of life to at least pretend that they have an opinion here!" He throws the Paladin a sideways glance. "Why are you different now? I can almost taste the holiness of your bearing as it peels off you. Like a snake that's been cursed to perpetually slough it's skin." He shivers and takes a step back from Kenta. Is he turning into one of those idiots that the Divine have decided to prop up? That's the last thing we need, next he'll tell me he walked through a plague-riddled town and didn't get sick, or that he fears nothing. PAH! Smoke and bloody mirrors is what that is.
He eventually frowns though as he reaches the same conclusion as Hiiragi. "Indeed, lurking in a basement calls for a different approach than what we are used to."
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Hiiragi chuckles; "Oh, naturally. I am more saying that while dwarves as a group might be generally loyal, and one may make assumptions with some truth to them, we must not presume that every dwarf we meet is loyal... much like we must not presume that every kitsune we meet is a clever trickster. After all, doing so would lead us to overlook our dear Kenta!"
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Kenta's brow furrows as he attempts to keep up. He just shrugs when asked for an opinion, "What one says is less important than what one does." There, that settles that.*
He muses on their mission, "So usually we just sneak around and talk a lot. So if we can't do that, we should be yelling who we are, kicking in doors and hitting stuff?" He practices a couple strong leg kicks.
Having first assembled at Starrise Spire and shared what information you have gleaned since your arrival in the city, you make you way to Thurl's Lodge.
It is a modest structure that lies in the Egelsee district of the city. A single front door provides ingress. No other doors, nor windows even, are visible. A blacksmith and a local brewery flank the lodge (as Toshiko's well-honed senses could tell you from three blocks away).
As you arrive, four other Pathfinders are loading stacks of books into a cart for transport back to Starrise Spire and later analysis. "Ah, you're the crew V-C Jorsal has assigned to search the basement then! Excellent!" says a burly Kellid male.
"Rather you than me, mates" adds a heavily scarred halfling warrior. "Heard awful things about Thurl, and three of the team I made my Confirmation with never came back from his Worldwound assignments."
"The door to the basement had a potent abjuration laid upon it - it was fair covered in abyssal runes" a bookish older woman tells you as she directs her unseen servant to load the cart. "But the duration has recently expired, the runes vanished. I vouch that the door is safe to open now."
The fourth Pathfinder, an elf in monastic robes, hands you a small wooden box. "Jorsal asked me to give you this. It has a few useful items within. The Venture Captain has labelled everything for you."
The box contains the following items: a potion of cure moderate wounds, a scroll of perceive cues, an elixir of vision, a vial of antitoxin, and a small pouch containing a handful of dust of appearance.
"Good luck friends" says the Kellid. "See you back at Starrise Spire later, Inheritor willing.".
Inside Thurl's Lodge, the ground floor has been emptied. The heavy iron door that leads to the basement is before you, and unlocked...
Onna successfully casts the Perceive Cues spell from the scroll.
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Itami smiles condescendingly and pats Kenta's shoulder. "Let's make it past the first door before we decide on a modus operandi, shall we?"
Regardless of the old woman's promise, he scans the door for magic himself. Never learned how to divine the nature of magic, but knowing where it is is usually just about as useful. Once everyone is settled, he takes his place in the very back of the group.
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Itami detects a lingering dim aura of abjuration on the door, confirming that whatever wards were in place have recently expired.
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Itami let's gravity overcome his neck muscles with a sigh. The next time Hiiragi brings the potion to her lips, his hand catches the potion and keeps it upended until she downs it.
"Whatever magic on this door is fading. Unless someone else needs help with a potion..." he says with a smirk. Looking around during the pause at the others, he eventually shrugs at Kenta and points at the door.
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Kenta is determined that he can hear stuff too, but alas all that he hears when pressing his ear against the door is the sea
Hiiragi similarly detects nothing amiss, and so the paladin opens the door. And reveals a dusty wooden staircase leading down...
...you duly take the stairs, and pass through an open door at the bottom. You find yourselves in an untidy archive of tall shelves populated by crates, bins, and tomes. A handful of folios lay scattered about the room, concentrated most heavily near a large table that stands only about two feet tall.
Hiiragi and Onna's magically enhanced senses detect a figure hiding amongst the shelves...
Knowledge (planes) DC20 (DC increased for rarity)
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Kenta enters the dark room first after requesting a bit of light cast upon his sword. As it glows he looks around for dangers.
When Onna mentions the word Demon he raises his sword high, ready to "SMII..." but trails off as Hiragi speaks her deflating Hello.
He looks around, hoping to discover whatever they are seeing and at least be able to make up his own mind.
DANG THEY ARE GOOD AT HIDING!
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As Kenta walks past, Itami taps his sword and it begins to glow. I wonder what ethical and moral conundrum we'll wrap ourselves in this time! Nothing beats the bandit harpy home invasion after letting post-raid goblins live their best life. The old man smiles.
Less confident in the ubiquity of kindness in strangers, he slowly, carefully, pulls out his wand.
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"Hu... hullo?" calls a soft, female voice from the dark. "WHO GOES THERE? SHOW YOURSELVES, WRETCHES!" another harsh and unlovely voice booms from the same place. "Shhh. We must hide! Stay quiet, ssss." a third voice hisses, again from the same place. "Who are you?" calls the female voice again.
"Pathfinders?" says the hidden woman.
She creeps out of hiding, revealing herself in all her hideousness.
"IT'S ABOUT TIME! I am Venture-Captain Valais. It's a relief to finally see loyal agents in my lodge! The traitor Thurl built a hidden workplace past this room, and that’s where he performed his most vile experiments. If the Society is to understand just how FOOLISH he is, someone must uncover his terrible schemes. That’s where you come in, Pathfinders. There is a hidden door against that wall.” She waves a crimson claw toward the reading table. “Beyond you shall find his lair. ANY QUESTIONS?”
"NOTHING IS WRONG, INSECT! Nothing a little murder wouldn't solve. I am fine. Merely tired of waiting. But you're here now." Valais responds.
Kenta kicks at the wall...
...and it swings open, revealing a vast dark chamber beyond.
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Toshiko is vaguely concerned about this strange Venture Captain.
¿Es normal gritar y silbar para ustedes? No lo he visto en ninguna de las misiones hasta ahora.
To the VC she says I am Toshiko. This Pathfinder thing is new to me, but do you have anything to drink?
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"I'll be back," Itami announces, waving away Valais' words. Marching back up the stairs, he pokes his head out and calls for the other Agents working away. "Nothing beyond the Agents who have entered leave, understood? No matter what comes out of here, no matter what it claims to be. If this door opens and it isn't us, shove it back down," he orders. Without waiting for a response, he closes the door firmly and calmly walks back down.
"On our way then," he says. Abruptly, he brings his hand to his mouth and gasps. "Kenta! I saw... something in the shadows of that room! We must deliver it from Evil! QUICK! INTO THE BREACH!" he urges, wand pointing at the dark room. And let's get away from this nutjob, the Society will have to figure out what's wrong with her.
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"Drink?" Valais replies to Toshiko. "No. Maybe there are stores below? The tears of our enemies, sss."
As Itami returns, Kenta leads the way into the dark chamber.
The chamber stretches ahead and to either side as far as the eye can see. Wall segments stretch from floor to ceiling, as much resembling overgrown stalactites as architectural features, and chunks of shattered masonry and other rubble litter the otherwise even floor. Long since expired torches rest in sconces affixed intermittently to the walls.
Venture-Captain Valais follows you in. "Find the shrine."
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Itami makes eye contact with Hirragi and nods his head in agreement. As the others look around, he keeps his wand in hand and puts some space between him and the VC. This demon hybrid thing won't get the best of us. I've heard of devils and their trickery, she won't take us by surprise when she turns!
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You travel through a large, and mostly empty chamber. There are lines of rubble on the floor, and occasional walls (or more accurately, sections of wall) that run from floor to ceiling. Everything gives the impression that you are in a shattered maze.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Valais answers Onna.
Soon you see ahead of you a raised altar made of ivory-inlaid wood, its virtually pristine condition a sharp contrast to the shattered walls around it. At the centre of the altar rests a statue of two figures locked in combat: a brass bull and an iron dwarf that grips the animal by a horn from over its shoulder while holding a warhammer aloft.
You realise that you've only seen a fraction of this chamber.
Kenta doesn't recognise anything about the altar or shrine - it's just a dwarf fighting a bull. However, there is more to it...
Delicately incised words encircle the statue’s base, reading, “In my name is the strength of my history, my tradition, and my people. Speak your name into my ear, and I shall judge your worth.”
"That's the shrine" says Valais from behind you. "It conceals a secret entrance to Thurl's lair."
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