The Eagle Knights of Andoran are a state-funded military organization sworn to protect their homeland and to destroy the vile institution of slavery and those who profit from it.
The Pathfinders start their adventure at the edge of the nation of Andoran, just outside of an Eagle Knight encampment.
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Chileax and its history of slavery go back far. The leaders gave it cute names and they've absorbed much of Absalom's "Slavery Row" after the practice was finally outlawed.
Issil made her position very clear. Her grandmother harbored many escaped slaves and either bought their freedom or "convinced" the slavers to look elsewhere. Issil's mother maintained the practice, though with more diplomacy and less fire. Issil sided with her mother and traveled to Andoran, using her connections to secure routes, learn more from the Andoran abolitionists and fulfill her duty as a Pathfinder.
Her other side partnered with her grandmother and swore to burn every slaver to ash she could get her hands on. It was so fun to watch them scurry away at the first sign of danger. They could assign a coin value to every life but their own.
A human woman emerges from a tent, covered in a white ash makeup and red-inked leather armor. A whip, rapier and shortbow stay at her hips.
"The Carnelian Signet, at your side. You said slavers and I came running. Now then, where are my friends?"
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Juane had been tasked by the Society to go something he didn't ever expect to ever do, help a bunch of Andoran Knights. While he didn't much care for slavery and found the institution unsavory, his Chelaxian heritage and his own families loyalty to Thrune made him feel conflicted, though if it was what the Society wanted he trusted them.
"Ah, the Carnelian Signet, I thought I'd meet you again," he says getting up from a log fallen around a camp fire. He had been just tuning his guitar.
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A dwarf enters in a slouch, making him appear even more like a rumbling rock. The illusion is only served by the fact that the man grumbles and mumbles in a way that resembles a rock slide.
He opens with a grunt.
"Unb."
Then deigns to introduce himself, after a fashion, his words running together and hard to make out.
"mmf gld bhre 2."
His gaze is sullen, when he makes eye contact, which is seldom, seemingly preferring to keep his eyes down. Across his back is a large instrument of pounding, across his front is a large hunk of flattened metal.
"Jaune, good to see you again." She grins. "After our previous drunken adventure, I thought we may never meet again. I almost washed the taste of that Besmara's Brine out of my mouth. I wish we kept that rum we found along the way."
"Are you as excited to light up some slavers as I am?"
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"To you as well madame, if only we could have shared some together in discussion privately. Though it was used in service to our little party to good success. I myself prefer a nice scotch," he speaks honestly with a smile, [/b]"I am indifferent to issue of slavery unfortunately, especially when working with Andorans, but Duergar are no friend of anyone and it is best they be taken care of and prevented from doing their despicable practice. After all I am much in favor a free market that doesn't use humanoid chattel."[/b]
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A familiar, modestly dress elf approaches the group again after a short absence. She absent-mindedly fidgets with her bowstring and dusts off her travel clothes.
Hello Carnelian. Hello Jaune. So... how do the both of you feel about working with the Andoran Eagle Knights? I suspect, at the very least, it will be somewhat more predictable than a den of pirates loaded up with drink...
"Predictability is annoying and stifling. I admire the spontaneity. Spices things up." She smirks.
Indifference. We'll have to work on that, Juane.
"I wonder who they will deploy alongside us, Endra? I've heard many agents signed up for this mission. Fighting Druegars and freeing slaves is too tempting to pass up!"
An Eagle Knight officer steps aside from the ranks, doffing his hat jovially. “Pleased to meet you all! Lieutenant Evanno Pratt, at your service. But you can call me Evanno, or Ev.” He smiles as he waves your group over to a table bearing several incomplete maps, labeled as depicting nearby sections of the Candlestone Caverns."
"The question is, why exactly have we been asked to congregate?"
A few days prior, the Pathfinders received a letter from Venture-Captain Brackett.
To my trusted allies,
I hope that this letter finds you well. An acquaintance of mine has reached out to the Pathfinder Society regarding a treasure that we cannot afford to pass up—a journal that once belonged to the accredited dwarven spelunker Ghelib.
The namesake of Ghelib’s Fissure in the Candlestone Caverns, he gave the surface world much of our knowledge of the upper layers of the Darklands before he disappeared on an expedition. Any additional insights the journal contains would be invaluable to the Society.
The journal, of course, comes with a small price: my friend and former protégé, Evanno Pratt, is a lieutenant in the Steel Falcons, one of the three branches of Andoran’s Eagle Knights. They’ve been monitoring a duergar raiding party that has been plundering the surface, and they are requesting our help to put a stop to these attacks.
Not only would the retrieval of Ghelib’s journal represent a significant scholarly find, but a joint operation with the Steel Falcons also could be an excellent way to rebuild Andoran’s relationship with the Society. Make a good impression with the Eagle Knights, and stay on your toes underground. Even the upper layers of the Darklands can be treacherous.
Yours most sincerely,
Venture-Captain Brackett
Ev continues. “We’ve been dealing with a problem these past few weeks that a bit of collaboration should be able to solve. A group of duergars from the Candlestone Caverns have emerged, raiding the nearby lands for slaves and supplies. We’re not sure if they’re a scouting party, colonists, or something else; frankly, it doesn’t matter to us. They’re abducting Andoren citizens and that’s not something we can allow to stand.”
Evanno’s expression darkens slightly. “We’ve been setting up some barricades in Candlestone, blocking off several passageways. Our plan is to force the duergars into this cavern right here, forming a two-pronged assault to wipe those filthy slavers out before they can escape deeper into the Darklands. The second prong,” he gestures to your group, “is right here in front of me. When my platoon found that journal on a duergar body, I knew that good ol’ Brackett would send some of his finest in exchange for it—and you all certainly seem capable. The placement of barricades is nearly done, and we want you to meet us there through the fastest means necessary; once they realize our trap, we need to act quickly. This map’s incomplete, so feel free to depart from it if you find a faster route. Any questions?”
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Hancock fidgets while he waits for the briefing, his right leg bobbing up and down producing a regular drumming on the floor.
"Gd, qustn. 'bout time dey put me to use." he contributes, with a frown. He looks around the room appraisingly, trying to assess the quality of the personnel he is assigned with. Rapiers, daggers, bows, hide armor, leather armor. Nobody with any kind of real armor, and the biggest weapon he could see is a longsword.
"Whadda yuz guys do?"
Though they did not look like much, he knew better and had been beaten pretty handily during training by someone wielding a rapier. Then there were the devious mages, looking all frail and pathetic until they launched a rock at you or blasted you with lightning or fire.
The lump of rocks was talking? Amazing. He was... appraising her.
"For me, I am quite good at turning up the heat." She produces a flame in the palm of her hands with a simple finger snap. "But nothing compared to your raw strength."
She looks to the Garundi man. "Looks like we'll get our answer soon. Someone approaches."
She listens to Evanno. She was never one for details, but it seemed simple enough. "So, we wait at the ambush point, or we find a better place to wipe them out. And, as a bonus, we get a book." She chuckles. "When do we start?"
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Hancock listens nervously, but goes all still at the mention of duergars and fondles his maul haft lovingly. Though not a vengeful sort, the distaste for duergars are bred into dwarves from a young age.
"Ms a gud misn." He nods approvingly and smiles at the fire lass.
Unfortunately he is not exactly a fount of knowledge. He just knows 'dwarves good, duerger bad' and any information beyond that is half lies. Though that does not mean he won't share.
"Drgrs' eat yer beard ifn not crful."
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Endra squints and looks confused at Hancock's question. She looks at her bow, then her rapier. She holds each in a hand outstretched and looks at the dwarf, shrugging. I get by with these.
As the briefing proceeds, Endra cringes a bit, and others might notice. The Darklands?! I do not love caves... The elf scout is far more used to the wide open outdoors, after so many years of scouting as a lookout for goblin raids.
She exhales nervously. I suppose that's the point of the Society. Always something new and different.
She finally gathers herself enough to ask their contact a question.
The kidnappings. How many Andorens were taken, and do you expect them to be with the party we're ambushing?
"How many Andorens were taken, and do you expect them to be with the party we're ambushing?"
"We don't know how many were taken total - at least a few dozen that we know of, but there may be more. We can do a more thorough search for the missing when the caves are secured."
"How many are we expected to be encountering?"
"Not a lot. We're just skimming the surface of the caverns to take out the ones that were bold enough to attack the surface. We're not waging war against the entirety of the Darklands."
"When do we start?"
"As soon as you're ready!"
"I've been ready since yesterday." She grins. "But first, a minor healing potion." She marks a vial with her sigil - a flaming kiss.
When the party is ready, Lieutenant Brackett cheerfully directs them to a tunnel leading to the cavern where the duergars are to be cornered. He reminds the Pathfinders that the way there is long, and that time is of the essence to catch the duergars in the pincer maneuver.
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After about an hour’s travel down the caverns, the tunnel plunges into a steep decline too tall and uneven to simply walk down.
"I can create some Light. Could someone else carry this?" She finds a rock to alight.
The tunnel slopes down, and she continues her strut.
She doesn't even break her stride.
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Jaune holds the illuminating rock in his hands, taking it gently from the Carnelian Signet, "I shall, do be care I would ask," he says as they began their journey into the cave system. He made himself rather wary, not wanting to encounter that strange plant life he had hear so much of.
Even with the light Jaune is fumbling in the dark.
Luz, with no darkvision and with no torches, follows Jaune down the ravine.
Everyone, save Jaune, gets down without any incident. Jaune trips and is about to fall all the way to the bottom, but Signet catches him , saving him.
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The Pathfinders find that the sharp slope ends in a wandering cavern. As the Pathfinders make their way around its perimeter, they find a metallic grate securing the only apparent exit from the room. The grate appears to be completely sealed, with no knob, lock, or other mechanism to open it. Near the grate, an inscription in a mixture of Dwarven and Undercommon glows faintly on the wall.
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"Thrune be damned, if you hadn't caught me I'd have taken a plunge I'm afraid. Not sure if I'd have been written a song of if that was the case," the bard spoke taking a deep breath. He thought maybe it would be better if he had tied himself to something or someone in the future.
[b]"A blank to me sadly[/be] he spoke not knowing a lick of undercommon nor dwarven, barely knowing what they were.
"Juane, please. You're holding our only light source." She holds the bard's clothing within her grip as his balance tumbles toward the bottom. She grins. "Save the tumbling for a staged performance."
At the bottom, she sees the grate. She reaches for her tools, only to realize there is no mundane way to open it. She looks at the nearby inscription. She lacks Dwarven or Undercommon knowledge, but it seems simple enough.
"Ah, it's a simple cipher. I have a theory. Hancock, can you confirm?"
The Carnelian Signet believes the text draws heavily on a book called Successful Methods for the Enslavement of Lesser Races, but the page numbers form a code that alludes to two hidden switches near the
grate. Pushing the switches allows the grate to open.
Endra looks at the patterns and gains insight into duergars’ thinking. She doesn't recognize the significance at first, but has the feeling it will come into play later.
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A low rumble can be heard nearby as a spider the size of a halfling is blown against the wall, reeking of corrosive stench and clearly dead.
It appears the duergars placed some bombs nearby in a makeshift trap, and, while they're easily detected, the Pathfinders must find a way past.
"Ha!" The Signet laughs as she recognizes the text. "They're as stupid as Chileax slavers. But there is a code here. Three steps to the right... two forward... half an arm's length up and and a full length to the left." She steps around to the side of the grate, reaching her arms out to the wall. "Here and... here! I feel some switches. Am I correct, Endra?" She gets confirmation and opens the grate. "Child's play. Those duergar can't hide forever."
She takes a half step back as a spider splats against the wall. "Lovely." She pulls out a pack from her armor and unfolds it, revealing a neatly organized array of picks, tools, and small weights. "I can try to disarm it."
Luz carefully leads the party through the minefield while Hancock disables a stray bomb.
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As the Pathfinders traverse farther into the tunnels, they hear the sounds of pitched battle between the Eagle Knights and the duergars far in the distance, but they’re at a risk of becoming lost if they charge forward too hastily!
With time pressure bearing down, one hero must take the lead.
Issil sits back and watches Hancock disable the device. He's quite deft at this.
The sounds of battle cause her to draw her whip. "Which way do we go?"
Luz is so good at guiding the group that the group ends up surprising the duergar.
As the Pathfinders exit the winding tunnels, they enter a large cavern that is barricaded at several points.
The Eagle Knights are fighting the duergars in one corner of the room.
Round 1: The bolded may act!
Jaune (NV / light)
Red Duergar (unobserved to J/E/S/L)
Endra (LLV)
Signet (NV)
Luz (NV)
Blue Duergar (unobserved to J/E/S/L)
Hancock (DV)
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Jaune drew out his sword, preparing himself for what could be a rather hard fought fight. He'd then move up, partially, flanking Endra. He probably couldn't use his guitar much down here, clearing his throat in preparation to sing out his magical repertoire instead.
"Alright then, lets teach these bastards a damn lesson not to cross the Society," smiling as he prepped for battle.
Amidst the noise of the battle, some magical chanting can be heard. Hancock notices that the Red Duergar has disappeared.
Round 1: The bolded may act!
Jaune (NV / light)
Red Duergar (unobserved to all)
Endra (LLV)
Signet (NV)
Luz (NV)
Blue Duergar (unobserved to J/E/S/L)
Hancock (DV)
"Well, it isn't my style, but we'll have to light things up." The Signet pulls out a torch and prepares to light it up.
"Hancock, do you know how many foes we face? And where they are?"