You are all at the Grand Lodge in Absalom, either between missions or waiting for your first mission, when you are summoned to the office of one of the Deans of the Society, Marcos Farabellus. The shaven-headed human indicates several chairs in front of his desk, then pulls a sheaf of papers from one drawer of the desk. "Pathfinders, I have a task for you. It's not a traditional mission, but it may lead to one or more--it's more open-ended than the usual. This will take you to the far reaches of Varisia. Ever heard of Kaer Maga?" Before any of you can answer, he continues, "The Society has no lodge in the city of Kaer Maga, and we never will. That said, on occasion it may happen that Pathfinders spend some time in the city, doing--well, whatever they may feel like doing. Except advertising that they're Pathfinders. Don't feel like doing that.
"Now, there's a lot happening in and under the city. The Pathfinder who happens to be spending time there now has been there for a few months, and it's coming on time for him to realize that he needs to go somewhere else. Your job is simple and undefined: travel there, contact the Pathfinder, and then just stay there for a couple of months. Keep your ears and eyes open for information. We'd be particularly interested in anything about the temples there, but whatever you find out will help. Here's a short briefing on the place. Good luck, Pathfinders! Explore, Report, Cooperate!"
Though an anarchic "civilization", a loose consortium of groups, gangs, and families rule the people of Kaer Maga. The entire city is a melting pot of citizens from all cultures, such as the Ardoc family of Bis; the Brothers of the Seal, who are ready to kill each other over whether they should open the great portal they guard somewhere deep in the caverns beneath; the gently whistling Sweettalkers of Tian, with their lips sewn shut to keep them from uttering the true name of their god; the Augurs, troll seers who predict the future by casting divinations with their own intestines; and the bloatmages, with the leeches that keep them alive attached to their bulging bodies.
The city is divided into 11 districts. Eight of them are contained within the hollow stone ring, and are known collectively as the Ring districts. The other 3 are in the city's open central area, and are known as the Core districts.
There is also a great network of underground tunnels and chambers known as the Undercity.
With that, you are off to Kaer Maga, the Asylum Stone.
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Tusk Two-Bladelooks around at the other members of the party. If it were up to him the entire group would be nothing but warriors. Well, warriors and one bard. Maybe a cleric. Healing is good. But none of those good for nuthin' wizs or sorcerers.
Tusk gives Jianyu Tu a suspicious look.
That one looks like he might be a sorcerer. No wand, that's a good sign.
Which is an ironic thought since Tusk has a wand of his own. One of them handy-dandy heal 'em up sticks. Well labeled in big letters so nobody gets the wrong idea. Even if the fact that he is carrying an orc double axe, composite longbow, and wearing a breastplate should be a dead giveaway. The breastplate is a bit odd though, with what looks like bone fragments and teeth glued to the edges. Well, he is a half-orc after all, so a bit of that kind of thing is only to be expected unless you want to defy the stereotype.
As he contemplates the others, he spends his time productively sharpening his blades with a whetstone.
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"I've found that the easier a mission sounds, the more complicated it turns out," says a tall man clad head to toe in red with a scythe. "The least you could do, Captain, is tell us the name of this wayward sheep and how we're expected to extract them.
"Oh... and you can call me the Red Reverend. I'll do my best to keep everyone on the right side of the veil during this disaster-in-the-making."
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Kaer Maga? Isn't that place really, really dangerous? Nitre gulps. Her missions with the Society hadn't really gone great so far; so much death--her own in particular!--and here they were sending her to Kaer Maga!
Yikes!
The young dwarf makes nervous eye contact with the others, and tries to fake a confident grin.
You can tell that Nitre's grin is as nervous as a grin could be.
"The current agent on site is an elf, Tere di Montefeltro. He's competent, but he's been there long enough. I don't like leaving Pathfinders there for too long...even in a place like Kaer Maga, someone always starts asking questions. It takes longer if you have a job, though. "
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While Marcus Farabellus tells the little introduction to the intrepid adventurers a chair is still empty, in the course of the situation a door is ajar and there is a laugh in the background, "calm boys another day I will come more calmly, we will tell lies, we will dance and drink all night but today I don't think I have a job". A few seconds later Mithsrandir enters the room. "A thousand apologies, Master Farabellus, but some Pathfinders have temporarily detained me from my duties. I am Mitsrandir and I have been ordered to report to your presence". Mitsrandir in a young elf, although she has been many moons since her birth is tall, thin and has copper-colored hair, so her outfit must be a kind of troubadour rather than a warrior.
"Very good, now that you're all here. I've made arrangements for you to travel most of the way by river. Get what supplies you need, and report when you get back."
The trip to the Storval Stairs is relatively uneventful. On reaching the city you make contact with Tere, a tall, quiet elf. He seems to be glad to be relieved of duty. "It's time I was going. Someone figured that I had some money in storage and set a few of the Tallow Boys' hangers-on on me. That was yesterday, and I figure I've got a day more before whoever sent them realizes they aren't coming back. Anyway, good luck!"
Over the next few weeks, you settle into a routine. During the days you work; Mitsrandir and Jianyu don't have much to do, but Nitre is able to find a brewery that needs some help, the Reverend gets a job with a local meat seller, and Tusk hires out as a bodyguard. During the evenings, you go out to various eateries and taverns, buy drinks for people, and mostly listen. You gather tremendous amounts of information--gossip, really--about the more notable citizens of the Asylum Stone, all of which you dutifully transcribe for return to the Grand Lodge. It doesn't seem like something that justifies a relatively accomplished team of Pathfinders spending time on, though, and you find yourselves hoping each new day will finally bring your replacement.
It is at this point that Tusk is retained as a guard for a priest of Pharasma, one Valanthe Nerissia. Tusk is sure that a cleric of her rank should be able to call on temple guards, but also knows that it's not his place to ask questions of the paying customers. He escorts her to a meeting with two of the Tallow Boys, a local gang that Tere mentioned on his way out. He is not privy to their discussion. Whatever they discussed, though, does not leave the priest in a good mood after the meeting. She says nothing on the walk back to the Godsmouth Cathedral. When she's about to pay Tusk the rest of his fee, though, she pauses and gives him an appraising look. "Would you be interested in another job--something that would pay a lot more than this? Do you have any...colleagues, let's say, who might also be interested?"
This is how all of you come to meet with Valanthe at midnight, in a side chapel off of the main cathedral. Without preamble, she begins, "The Cathedral has a problem. Bodies are going missing from the Godsmouth Ossuary, the great burial vaults we tend. I'll pay you 500 gold pieces to find and stop the body thief, and another 250 gold pieces if you clear any other threats from the area of the vaults where we think the body thief is hiding. You can keep any valuables you find, except for anything that bears marks of the faith of Pharasma, which I ask you to return to me. Are you willing to take on this commission?"
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tusk perks up at the offer, having had far too much of this boring guard duty nonsense. he joined the pathfinders because soldiering was boring and, well, guard duty make soldiering look like party time.
"How much did you say? 500 gold? Dang, I think we will take you up on that offer! I will if they won't"
And maybe a random street thug will do the trick if we can't find the body thief. I'll bet there are a few desperate customers out there that would fess up to to it for a cut.
Nobodies fool, and still harboring questions about why he was hired in the first place, he asks, "Not that I'm the type to complain about a high paying job, but what is the hitch and why don't you just use some of your temple guards to do the deed."
"They're good for watching the cathedral and making sure that priests get places safely, but they don't tend to handle surprises well. This job promises to have a few. The thefts have to stay a secret until the problem has been solved, and if a detachment of guards disappears for a day or two it'll show. The hitch? You'll be entering a sealed level of the Ossuary, through a door that as far as I know hasn't been opened in centuries. Temple records from that period are sketchy at best, so I have no idea what you'll find. If the body thief got in there, other things may have as well.
"If you accept, be back here before noon tomorrow, and don't tell anyone about the mission."
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"Oh sure, we'll just explore your dark, scary, temple dungeon that's been closed off for centuries with no idea of what's there? Sounds just great! I know why you don't want to use Temple guards; you don't want to have to explain their total disappearance! But we're nobodies; you won't have to explain anything when we don't come back!" Nitre appears incredibly nervous about all of this, but she seems to calm down after some reflection.
What are you doing?!? This is exactly what you want to do! Exploring in unknown places, looking for ancient secrets of who-knows-what. Don't ruin this now because you're a little scared! Get it together!
"I'm sorry. I just... it's a little nerve-wracking. Don't you think a little more than 500 gold might be in order when you don't even know what we might face down there? What if it's a dragon?"
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The Reverend grins wickedly. "Don't worry, if there's a dragon down there, there should be more than enough treasure to replace a few singed limbs."
Of course, it doesn't help anyone if your allies freeze up during a fight.
"If it were that bad, though, they would have called in someone more competent than temple guards a long time ago. We're probably just going to have to clean up a few rats' nests, convince a zombie or two to leave us alone, and collect the reward."
The priest clears her throat. "Divinations are questionable since the death of Aroden. Even so, the Lady would have warned us of something that powerful in the Ossuary. As She warns me of many things." She looks pointedly at the Red Reverend.
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Tusk looks down at his gear, mentally taking notes. "Like what? I got what I need and then some. You got some suggestions I guess I have a little cash to blow..."
after a brief pause he adds
"You know, I've been meaning to get some adamantine coated arrows. At some point in my career, them big-wigs keep tellin' me, I'm goin' to have to fight a construct or something with really tough hide. I'm fast, but I don't pack the punch needed to get through a hide like that. Do we have time?"
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”This one time some monks from my temple went down into some caves. I wanted to come but they said I I hadn’t finished my training then I did it anyway and a skeleton pulled by head off.... the head bald dude used a spell so I wasn’t dead any more because apparently I’m a great example of ignoring ants for inner peace...”
Jianyu nods sagely.
”What was the question again?”
You obtain what supplies you need before entering the ancient crypts, then return to meet Valanthe. She leads you down a narrow, twisting cliffside path from the cathedral to the Godsmouth Ossuary. The path leads up one of the gigantic carved faces on the cliff, a figure known now as the Unnamed King. The path, of course, takes you into the carving's mouth and past guards in black and silver. A set of doors leads into the ossuary proper, where robed and hooded Pharasmin priests silently tend to the deceased. Valanthe guides you through luxuriously appointed catacombs packed with bodies and down several stairways. The further into the rock you travel, the less frequented and well-kept the burial chambers become. Finally, you reach an area that obviously sees little use or traffic--most of the burial niches are empty and dusty, the air is musty and close, and the only sound is your breathing and the clinking of armor and gear as you walk. Even that sound dies away quickly.
In this disused portion of the crypts, Valanthe stops before a locked door. "This is the only known entrance to the lower levels of the ossuary, long sealed. Once you enter, I will lock the door behind you." Anticipating an adverse reaction, she raises a placating hand. "I don't have another key, but I do have this for you." She hands one of you a hollow tube about a foot long, made of a silvery metal. "This is a chime of opening with five charges remaining. As long as you have a single charge left, you can use this to unlock the door from the other side and leave. Here are some other items you may find useful." She passes over a bag holding ten bottles. "Five of these are blessed water, and five are potions of cure light wounds." She smiles slightly. "They're labeled. If you have no other questions, I'll let you into the crypt." She traces a spiral in the air over you. "Pharasma's blessings go with you all."
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For a second there, Tusk though that Nitre actually gulped down one of the potions and was about to berate him, but then he notices he is just being a noisy coward.
"Pah!"
Tusk is right on Jianyu's tail as he enters, his unusual competitiveness rearing its head, not willing to allow anyone to have more 'action time' than him.
Looks like Jianyu is the one to beat. This should be easy!
On the other side of the door (which grinds as it opens, as the dust of centuries is dislodged from the hinges) is a small room with a spiral staircase leading down. Valanthe catches a glimpse of the stairs and audibly gasps.