GM Valen's The Sandstone Secret & Port Peril Pub Crawl (PFS2e Quests 1 & 4 - January 2021) (Inactive)

Game Master Lysle

By the invitation of Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir, you have been brought to the Sandswept Hall, the Pathfinder lodge in the Osirian capital of Sothis. A converted jail , the walls of the compound contain the two-storey main structure, underground vaults, and gardens.

By proxy, they had mutual interest, the Venture Captain and the Councilman Professor, a joint venture whose hedge fund was managed by proper economists back in Absalom. But like all wealthy men, sometimes one forgets exactly the details of the "pies" one has sunk "fingers" into, a privilege usually reserved for subordinates of lesser station. He had come to remind Norden Balentiir of these Prime Opportunities - stoke his lust for cool returns and hearty dividends! - in either case, having joined the Pathfinder Society to essentially double-dip Field Testing with Account Management.

Lighting a stoag with a custom ignition port housed in his right gauntlet, our "hero" consults the first local he sees where he can locate HQ.

"You" pointing at the passerby "Sandswept Halls - which direction from here?" looking to back his polite ask with a crude cajole as to buffer Plan A with Plan B, anticipating some troubleshooting here, and looking to sidestep queries into his activities abroad.

A barrel-chested (and perhaps somewhat rotund) man enters the lodge. Undoubtedly he is a wizard.

"Greetings fellow Pathfinders! I am Arlo of the Solemn Towers. The towers were far too solemn for me, so here I am! I come bearing gifts for all of us!"

With that, Arlo unwraps a bundle of delicious smelling roast fowl. Perhaps it's the unique combination of herbs used in the roasting, but any of you who would normally include this sort of thing in your diets find the scent quite entrancing. "I came across a vender just down the street. Though I begged him, he would not divulge the secrets of his techniques for creating such an fine dish. Please, help yourself!" Arlo grabs a leg quarter for himself and begins to eat.

A short woman wearing a black shawl darts through the streets of Sothis without sparing more than a passing glance at the wonders of the Osirian capital. She arrives in front of the Sandswept Hall, appraises its façade and, with a short nod to herself, enters the building. After stating her purpose and being taken to one of the many rooms reserved for visitors, she requests a keleshite saffron tea and, her order fulfilled to a satisfactory — albeit not particularly high — standard, takes a seat in a corner of the room that partly conceals her presence from new arrivals, her decorated cane propped against the armchair’s side.

What initially looked like a bizarre obsidian bracelet uncoils itself from her wrist, crawls over the teacup and dips its head into the warm beverage. Mafalda Delacerda smiles at the centipede before her peace is disturbed by the portly man who announces himself as Arlo.

“It is a charming thought, but I will refrain from indulging at the moment. Please, take no offence.” A few wrinkles form around her eyes as she gives the man a polite smile. “Lady Mafalda Delacerda,” she continues after taking a short sip from her tea. “Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am sure the towers are a poorer place without your presence.”

A flame-haired gnome enters the room. She wears dusty leathers, and has a smudge of dirt on her left cheek. She is festooned with various pouches, weapons and gear, but seems to be carrying it with little effort.

”Hi!”, she says sprightly. ”Marigold Longfoot. Is this where...” She trails off, sniffing the air. ”Is that chicken?”, she asks, her eyes widening.

"Oh yeah, it's chicken. Good stuff, too. Try this spice!" A clawed hand carefully extends a bowl of salts and dried herbs, swimming in oil. The other hand downs another drumstick, with a purple-skinned woman chewing happily. The tip of her tail swishes to and fro.

"Oh wait, you guys are Pathfinders, right? I'm Swayaah Maeleranti. I'd shake hands, but they're pretty greasy."

Just waiting on one "Runelord" and then we will get things started!

”Thanks!”

Marigold snags a wing with a grubby hand, and clinks it against Swayaah’s drumstick. ”Cheers!”, she says, before she dips it in the spiced oil, and starts gnawing on it.

What initially looked like a bizarre obsidian bracelet uncoils itself from her wrist, crawls over the teacup and dips its head into the warm beverage. Mafalda Delacerda smiles at the centipede before her peace is disturbed by the portly man who announces himself as Arlo.

“It is a charming thought, but I will refrain from indulging at the moment. Please, take no offence.” A few wrinkles form around her eyes as she gives the man a polite smile. “Lady Mafalda Delacerda,” she continues after taking a short sip from her tea. “Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am sure the towers are a poorer place without your presence.”

"What kind of blasted contraption is that?" though his word choice is terse, the professor basks in wonderous curiosity.

"And with so many moving parts, how did you fit it into such a tiny housing!?" he approaches closely now, flipping down his visor and pressing a button on his gauntlet, which causes a protruding spyglass of sorts to shoot out with a whirring sound a few inches, which he uses to amplify the curious bracelet to his left eye "Steam? Crystal? I cannot identify the Power Source!" the man looks truly stumped...

The Pathfinders don't need to wait too long before their last companion, a new diversity hire named Shagrat, rushes into the room. Like other goblins, he's a little over three feet tall. Though a little less scrawny than other goblins, his body is still dwarfed by a wide, ungainly head. He grins to reveal a wide mouth of uneven fangs, which leaves the impression of a particularly mischievous streak that may cause all kinds of trouble to humankind.

"Shagrat smell munchies!" he exclaims, smiling broadly.

Mafalda tilts her head in confusion and then smiles once again. “Oh, you mean Beatriu? You would have more success by approaching this problem from a natural philosophy perspective, Professor. I would recommend caution, she can bite.” She lowers the teacup and the centipede once again dips its head inside. “As for her…power source, she enjoys tea, but I suspect it is more of a luxury than a need.”

When the goblin enters the room she raises an eyebrow and lets her hand inch closer to her cane in reflex, but does nothing else once she is convinced the creature is…well, not hostile, at least.

Swayaah pulls out some chicken meat and hands it to the little goblin. "Hey man, come on. Sit down. We get like, 5 minutes to lounge before the Venture-Captain gives a lecture." She yawns and then wipes her hands on a handkerchief.

"Hey, cute centipede." She smiles and looks at Mafalda. "How'd you tame that critter?"

Having been introduced and fed, the Pathfinders make their way to the gardens outside the Sandswept Hall.

As members of the Society, there is certain information that is well-known among most agents.
See Handout #1 on Slides

The shaded trees provide welcome respite from the sweltering midday sun. Among them is Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir.

Picture of Balentiir now on Slides.

The man reaches up to one of the date palms overhead, pulling down a bunch of ripe fruit before extending it along with his hand in an offer for sharing. “They’re good for much more than shade, my friends. But I did not call you here to enjoy my garden. A few months ago, I finally received confirmation that we would be able to execute one of the last excavation permits issued by the Osiriani government. The site is a desert location where the dunes have shifted, revealing the beginnings of a staircase leading down beneath the sands."

“The Osiriani government is protective of its cultural history," he continues, "and with recent changes in their stance on allowing foreign archaeologists to work inside their borders, I wasn’t sure this permit would even stand. The bureaucracy was rather slow this time around, but it turns out we were approved before they stopped issuing permits. I’ve already secured your provisions, including camels, tents, food, water, tools to perform the excavation, and a map to the site. As you know, it may take many weeks to clear the site of debris. The desert can be unforgiving, so don’t hesitate to return here to rest as needed."

“The government has already sent guards to oversee the site and protect against any potential thieves. Remember—keeping up a good reputation in Osirion is vital to the Pathfinder Society’s presence here." He pauses to take a bite of fruit, before warning, "Don’t antagonize the guards.”

When ready, please place your token in anticipated marching order.

Mafalda is about to reply to Swayaah when they are asked to move to the garden. “Perhaps it is better we leave this for another time and place, where and when hard liquor is readily available,” she says, reciprocating the tiefling’s smile. The centipede once again coils itself around her arm as she stands up and follows the servant.

Once outside she politely refuses the date whilst she listens to Balentiir, clasping her hands close to her chest. When he mentions the guards, she asks: “venture-captain, forgive me my bluntness: are we to understand your warning as a sign the guards might antagonise us or actively look for reasons to do so? If that is the case, do you have any recommendations on how we might placate their anger?”

"Eh, they're just guards. Doing their job. I'll calm em down one way or another." Swayaah finishes munching on some dates. "Anyway, we're doing to do some digging. Got it." She shrugs and grabs her stuff.

She stretches her shoulders and calms down. It's nice to not have anyone gawking at her for once.

“venture-captain, forgive me my bluntness: are we to understand your warning as a sign the guards might antagonise us or actively look for reasons to do so? If that is the case, do you have any recommendations on how we might placate their anger?”

"In recent years the Osiriani policies on allowing outsiders to investigate their tombs and sites have become far more strict, following several disasters originating in opened tombs. The Pathfinder Society has retained its permits for several sites where it had already begun work, which the Osiriani government has honored, albeit with additional

"As for advice," he continues, "I suggest that you keep your permit on-hand and comply with any requests by the guard. Access to the ruin is only by the permission of the government and, by extension, its agents."

Any other questions by the PCs?

In addition, I meant to ask if any of you have run this quest or played it previously with a different PC. If you've played it, please PM with the opponent(s) that you recall facing as I'd like to make the experience as different for as many of you as I can.

Swayaah nods along. "Makes sense. I assume we have permission to take anything inside that isn't bolted down. Hopefully nothing leaps out to steal our souls, right?" Swayaah grins.

"For the sake of good scholarship, not to mention respect for the local culture, you are to document the location and condition of any noteworthy artifacts that you uncover." Balentiir instructs. "Once you have done so, the objects can be removed for the purposes of a more thorough examination here in the lodge or elsewhere. Of course, if they are--'bolted down'--or otherwise cannot be extracted without damaging them, it is best to leave them in-place."

Councilam Professor Serj Harlequinn can see that Venture Captain Norden Balentiir is a spendthrift - not a quality you want in an investment partner. He pulls opens a latch on his gauntlet and presses a few buttons - an antennae raises from his back and beams a message back to his partners in Absalom who begin immediately divesting from their as-of-moments ago joint venture. "He'll find out through his channels, I'm sure" our shrewd hero mentally reassures himself, as his smile curls with a slight hint of mania.

He takes a date.

"That is a wide berth of adjudication - nearly anything can be removed without damage, given sufficient manpower, time, and capital, no?" he remarks to the VC's answer to Swayaah's astute question.

"I am ready to proceed" he says, absent-mindedly now looking around the room at his coworkers here, finishing his gaze upon Beatriu, and narrowing his eyes.

Sorry for the delay in posting. I couldn't get on the site for a long time. I have not played this before with another character.

The goblin Shagrat nods at the instructions, though it doesn't appear he's paying close attention. "Go in, see what we find, not hurt reputation. Got it," he says.

When Serj mentions proceeding, Shagrat nods. "Shagrat also like to go without plan. It his favorite way," he says.

Mafalda gently bows her head. “It shall be as you command, venture-captain. I will make sure everything is properly documented.” She turns to the others. “I am also ready to proceed. Whatever questions I still have can be left for the Osiriani officers.”

Beatriu, comfortably coiled around Mafalda’s arm feels suddenly disturbed by the heavy scrutiny of Serj. It turns its head so it can face the gnome and makes a chittering sound, which is quite possibly the centipede’s equivalent of narrowing its eyes back at him.

@Shagrat: I think the whole site was wonky yesterday; something to do with bad weather messing up the server.

”More snacks? Thanks!”, says Marigold, taking a date. She bites down on it, and winces.

”Ow!”, she exclaims. ”I didn’t know these things have pits!”

As she nurses her tooth with her tongue, her ears perk up at the mission details. ”So we get to go tomb raiding?”, she asks, the pain all but forgotten. ”This job’s gonna be tarts!”

”So we get to go tomb raiding?”

...was that a glint of greed in the Councilman Professor's eye!?...

I have wrestled and defeated the elusive "cookie beast," so I'm back.

Arlo listens intently to the group, and finds the idea of delving into an ancient burial tomb fascinating, even if it does entail a bit of digging.

Taking some dates for the journey, Arlo is ready to set off.

Please note that my token is slightly different from the artwork here on my posts. I really want to use my token from the Hero Forge website. Considering Arlo is holding a chicken leg, it's obvious which one he is.

If Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir noticed either to Marigold's question or the glint in the Councilman Professor's eye, he gives no indication. The man sees the party is provided the permit to the site and is well-provisioned for the journey across the sandy wastes.

The weeks-long journey in the desert passes uneventfully. When you arrive at the area on the map noting the location of the ruin, you find that an entrance to the underground structure has already been excavated.

Clear evidence of a staircase can be seen descending into a passage beneath the sands. A canvas fence secured around staircase keeps most of the sand away from the opening.

Nearby, a guard sits under a tarp, humming a pleasant tune to herself while two additional forms adorned in the attire of guards, lie prone in the shade where four camels can be seen resting.

As you approach, the humming pauses, and the guard cries out, "Unless you have a permit, you shouldn't be here! And if you happen to be more Pathfinders, then you must be among the lazy ones. The rest of the expedition's already done most of the hard labor of clearing the entryway."

Picture of the guard has been revealed on the Slides.

Councilman Professor reflects on this comment - indeed, he has worked hard his entire life to earn the privilege of indulging in the sloth concomitant with the labor-saving potential of cutting-edge science - even if this very irony is unfortunately lost on him.

But he keeps as much to himself, instead deferring to the Gnome or Tiefling - or other such foolhardy company - deigning not to acknowledge the snide comment, spoken from one bedecked in the trappings of peasant muscle, let alone respond to it, calculating that the expenditure of attention - positive or negative - would be as ill-advised as proffering the receipt of a stock whose company had slipped into bankruptcy.

He does wonder who has the permit - as this is not a detail he would have ordinarily overlooked!

“Greetings, my good woman. Here are our permits,” Mafalda says, getting down from her camel and handing over the permit. “We are indeed pathfinders and I our venture-captain would surely have notified us if any others were to come before us. The news you disclose are most worrying. How big is this expedition you mention?”

”That just means we get to do the fun part, right?”, Marigold asks.

Swayaah is very chatty along the way- too many questions, too little time. And all of this sand is boring her. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. She hates sand!

But she enjoys the solitude, just staring at the moon. Sometimes a couple of predators run by, see the group, and keep going. The days are hot and the nights are bitterly cold, but Swayaah's been through worse.

"Huh, stairs." Swayaah raises a curious eyebrow as they approach the excavation site. "I thought we were supposed to be here first?"

Swayaah hops off her camel and approaches the guard. "Lazy? Oh yeah, that's me. But not when I'm on duty. What's your name? I'm Swayaah." Swayaah continues chatting the woman, trying to understnad her intent.

Swayaah will Pursue a Lead, focusing on this guard. Her method is interrogation, so she can do this over a 1 minute conversation.

Perception vs Guard: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 6 + 1 = 13

She nods along with the woman. "So, you mentioned someone got here first? Our Venture-Captain said we would be the only ones here. When did this other group arrive? Are they still here? Sounds like they didn't cause trouble, at least- I know we won't, either!" She laughs.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 5 + 1 = 9

Swayaah's hint of danger and trouble, combined with her demonic appearance, earns her no favors.

”I’m sure it’s fine!”, Marigold says to Swayaah. ”The guards would have asked them for a permit, same as us, so it’s all golden! See?”

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

“Greetings, my good woman. Here are our permits,” Mafalda says, getting down from her camel and handing over the permit. “We are indeed pathfinders and I our venture-captain would surely have notified us if any others were to come before us. The news you disclose are most worrying. How big is this expedition you mention?”

Mafalda provides the standing guard with the access permit to the site, which was furnished to the Pathfinder by Venture-Captain Balentiir and which bears the official seal of the Osiriani government along with a date stamp indicating approval of the permit little more than three weeks ago.

After several seconds of perusing, the guard declares. "Looks to be in order. I'll hold onto for now and return it to you when you are prepared to depart."

She pauses for a moment, then remarks, "As for what your venture-captain may of told you and the notification that you may have received, I have no knowledge. But, the expedition was a sizable one. Must have been dozens of workers here, I'd say, over the past month or so. Most of that time was spent just clearing and securing the entrance." The guard points to staircase that descends beneath the sands. "In any event, once all that hard work was done, most of your fellow Pathfinders just up and left. Went home I guess. Only the head Pathfinder has stayed behind. He's been cataloguing the ruin's history for the past week."

”That just means we get to do the fun part, right?”, Marigold asks.

"Depends upon what you think of as 'fun', I'd wager," concedes the guard with a smile.

Swayaah hops off her camel and approaches the guard. "Lazy? Oh yeah, that's me. But not when I'm on duty. What's your name? I'm Swayaah." Swayaah continues chatting the woman, trying to understand her intent.

She nods along with the woman. "So, you mentioned someone got here first? Our Venture-Captain said we would be the only ones here. When did this other group arrive? Are they still here? Sounds like they didn't cause trouble, at least- I know we won't, either!" She laughs.

"My name?" asks the guard, seeming quite pleased to have someone with whom to speak and pass the time. "I am Officer Elrekah. Don't mind the others. Too much sun and drink."

As if to punctuate her words, one of the prone guards emits a loud snore, before rolling over onto his side.

"As you can see, you aren't the only 'lazy' one around here." Elrekah continues. "Again, I don't know what you've been told by your higher-ups, but I can assure you that no one has been to this site in the past month other than your Pathfinders. They haven't caused me any trouble and I trust that you won't either." She punctuates her last statement with a stern look.

"Of course we won't cause trouble, Officer Elrekah." Swayaah avoids eye contact and instead looks at the sleeping guards before grinning. "All work and no play makes Jill a dull girl, but too much fun and no work burns her out." Swayaah laughs at her own joke. Anything to break up the mood.

"We'll be on our best behavior. We need to talk to our teammate down there. So uh, catch you later!" Swayaah waves goodbye and prepares to head down the stairs.

Councilman Professor absolutely seethes with anger at the prospect of information being withheld from him at the briefing - at the same time, he is relieved the menial labor of excavating the entrance has been completed.

When out of earshot of Officer Elrekah, he remarks to his crew "Seems jockeying for rights to claim this site in our legal name is afoot - and no less the opposition with a considerable head start! - as it is said, business is as much an endeavor to sort the Fit from the Not-so, meaning there might be other means upon our veritable table here, beyond mere negotiation by verbal agreement!"

It is hard to read his emotion here - perhaps a cross-wire of anger, excitement, and curiosity mixed with a fourth unidentifiable feeling - but as if to emphasize his point, the manic gnome drops the visor down on his helmet, and pressing a button on his gauntlet, activates a low-frequency cycle of internal combustion, humming his Rocketpack Armor, adding the slightest levity to his step, as he keeps his eyes peeled for dangerous or treacherous competitors!

Scout

Shagrat isn't all that much of a thinker, but something isn't sitting quite right.

"All this make me think Fake Pathfinders been here," he muses, out of the guard's earshot.

"Shagrat not meet any of them, but you hear of these Aspis guys that try to take stuff before Pathfinders. Maybe one of them here first and pretend to be us? Anyway, Shagrat not like to think. Run in first, ask questions later."

I'll also Scout

Seeing the Goblin run ahead of him with reckless exuberance, Councilman Professor grabs the metallic shield from his Rocketpack rig, and locks it into the latching on his other gauntlet!

Switching to Defend!

“Thank you for your assistance, Officer. One last thing before we let you return to your duties: could you describe this “pathfinder” that stayed behind?”

After obtaining her reply, Mafalda bows to the guard and immediately turns to her colleagues. “As much as it surprises me, I agree with you, Shagrat. I believe we have an impostor to deal with, on top of whatever grisly things might lie inside these ruins.”

She bangs her cane a few times on the staircase’s first step and gestures to the others. “After you.”

Once inside, Mafalda will initially Investigate (occult).

Swayaah loves this goblin. Still, it doesn't hurt to be cautious. Swayaah hunches down and sticks her tail out to help counterbalance her weight.

I'll switch to Sneak as my Explore activity. The Trap Finder feat means she can passively find traps even if she's not searching for them.

”Ooo, a spy hunt!”, Marigold gasps. ”This is even better!”

She grabs her shortbow, and keeps a sharp eye out as she descends, looking for anything (or anyone) suspicious.

Search

A 10-foot-wide staircase descends from the sun-scorched surface into the ruins below. Fine sand and dust covers the floors of the steps and the underground chamber that greets you at their base. The few rays of sunlight that manage to peer down the stairwell is the only natural lighting provided.

The height of the ceiling is 10 feet and each stair is 9 inches tall.
Dim light absent that which the party brings.

Several of the pillars in the once-grand entryway where you now find yourselves have collapsed. Statues around its edges depict scarab beetles.

Map is now revealed on Slides.

Ahead to the west lies a wide corridor. To the north of it is a more narrow corridor and to the souths stands a closed, stone door.

Please move your PC token on the map accordingly. We are NOT in rounds, so feel free to describe a series of actions if you wish. You are also free to change your stated Exploration Mode if you'd like.

Society: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

The Taldan woman is the last one in. Seeing the dark room, she bangs her cane three times and sends four globes of light floating around the chamber, moving them as required. Casting Dancing Lights.

She stops in front of one of the scarab statues. “Scarabs are often associated with death in Osirion. We are in a tomb, most likely.” She traces some of the symbols with her cane and then proceeds to take notes for the report requested by the venture-captain.

Marigold takes a moment to breathe in the wonderment of the recently-unearthed chamber. ”This is so minty”, she whispers to the others.

Then she gets to work nosing around. She creeps over to the northern hallway, and peeeeks around the corner.

Society: 1d20 + 2 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 3 + 1 = 11 Swayaah looks at the cute scarabs as her eyes adjust to the low light environment. Not her style. Mafalda lights up the room, and Swayaah squints in response. Too damn bright.

She looks South, and continues Sneaking.

Arlo stares intently as he steps into the ruins. A serious, studious look creeps across his face, and his mustache twitches the tiniest bit.

He casts a light spell on the end of his staff. Pausing for just a moment, he takes some leftover roast chicken out of his pouch and takes a bite.

Finally, he moves forward, using his magical abilities to detect magic as he does.

Using the Midpoint Theorem on his handy Gauntlet Vector Positioning Unit, Councilman Professor applies himself to the center of the team, eager to meet this cunning competitor of his, and twice so to give him a piece of his mind, raising an inordinate weight of metal and gears into the air.

Steel Shield out, Defend

Shagrat sniffs at the stale air, but continues scouting forward.

"Me spend lots of time in places like this before become Runelord," he says as he looks around. "Smell same. Well, also spend lots of time in sewer. That not smell same."

He investigates toward the south, looking at the room that spreads out before him.

Scout.

He investigates toward the south, looking at the room that spreads out before him.

As the goblin heads southward, his action is halted by the sharp-eyed Marigold, who has barely spotted, out of the corner of her eye, a wall socket loaded with a spear and a slightly-cocked floor tile in the southern passage that she discerns is likely a connected pressure plate.

Shagrat's token moved and location of trap now indicated on Map.

Anyone wishing to disable the trap may attempt a Thievery check to Disable.

A man of Science, but not the Underworld, Councilman Professor leans down to deal with the trap, but would immediately defer to one of greater facility with the disassembly of contraptions, seeing as his true knack is for the opposite!

Will roll Thievery +4 shortly if nobody else steps forward!

“Like the professor, I am happy to defer to those who have a better command of this sort of device.” The moment someone steps forward, her eyes turn black for a second or two as she speaks. “You have my aid, humble as it is.” Casting Guidance on whoever attempts do disarm the trap (+1 on the skill check)

”Whoa! Not so fast, there, Shaggy!”, Marigold pipes up. She hustles over to the western hallway. ”On it!”

She takes out a tiny prybar and snips, giving that floor tile the hairy eyeball. When Mafalda casts her spell on her, she says, ”Thanks!”, and waggles her fingers in return. Then she focuses on the task at hand, the tip of her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth, as she tries to disarm the trap.

Thievery: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 7 + 1 = 11

Can I retry the Disable Device, or would I have to use a Hero Point?

Swayaah looks silently, pulls out her Thieves' Tools, and... sees Marigold is all over it.

She waits patiently to see what happens.
Swayaah has a +4 bonus to Thievery against traps, so she'll let you lead the way. If someone has to spring the trap, Swayaah will volunteer. Trap Finder gives her a +1 bonus to AC and Saves against traps.