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1) I am based in Southeast Asia (UTC +8) so my posting hours may be unusual (especially for those in North America). I usually update at least one or twice per day. Just to keep the game moving, please post at least once every day and at least once during the weekend. If you disappear for more than 24 hours, especially during combat, I will simply place your character on infinite delay just to keep things moving.
2) Please label all three of your actions. Even if you think what you are doing is obvious.
3) If I am unavailable for longer than 24 hours, I will let you know in the Discussion Tab. Out of respect for your fellow players and myself, I ask that you do the same. Real life happens, and real life will always take priority over the game, but out of fairness for your fellow players, please let us know if you will be unavailable for an extended period of time.
4) Please complete the Macros and the Slides linked at the top of the page.
5) Questions, concerns? Feel free to share them in the Discussion tab.
6) Let's have some fun and tell a great story together! After all, that's what we are here for.
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An ash gray skinned human enters. He's wearing a leather armor and has a shortbow in a quiver bound along his leg as the manner of a pistol.
Hello, my name's Kerlok Sholmes, the well-known detective and ghost hunter. You probably heard something about me. I'm the one who resolved already a lot of mysteries for the Society. No doubt that a new one will be offered to us. Otherwise the Society wouldn't have called me. Of course.
He pauses a second, then:
Yes, I resolved mysteries in Absalom, but also in the desert of Katapesh, in Taldor and so on.
Looking at Ravina: And I won the Balgidtrek. I suppose you know what it is?
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Dust.
One particle.
Then two.
In the infinite blackness of space, at the incalculable probability of fate, two particles collide. The nearby protostar, __________, scattering a hundred trillion specks in an infinite number of different spherical directions, a single trajectory anomaly caused the collision of the two cells that would, spans of unimaginable time later, coalesce into Golarion.
I remember when we met. A cool blue solar light setting the backdrop. I felt my consciousness for the first time split into a single unit, able to distinguish itself as a unique entity, and too, able to recognize a similar change in you. We danced in the void, our embrace setting into motion a great choreography of other celestial starstuffs, joining us together with others, creating new forms of matter. My memory is long and strained - for the further back I reach for my own origin, the murkier the nebulae of other memories render the sifting, entire sequences of events rounded off to the nearest significant figure, my estimation approaching a relative simultaneity.
Except that experience of meeting you that first time. A single shining star dotting an endless sea of darkness. Yes. That I can remember.
You became lost for a long time. I became lost for a long time. For the next clear memory I have is water - salt water - waking up and feeling the wetness across my skin. I have skin. Not skin really, more like bark. Hard, rough, supple. Teeming with an energy that flows from my center: The single particle at the center of my heart. Ancient nearly as time itself, irreducibly small, yet immeasurably large. What you might call my soul.
And so, from the sea I emerge, walking with my legs - not legs really, more like roots - walking with my roots, stepping forth from the tides, and onto the crumbled rock - sand, I think it is called - onto the sand past where the ocean has fully receded, and into another fluid. Air! Cool like ocean but dry. I observe - no, Feel! - I feel the rivulets of my curves running droplets of water sticking together down my roots and arms - not arms, branches - down my branches depositing their salty mineral into my bark, and dropping back into the sand to return to earth. I step forth from the ocean, at once old and new; witness to before the beginning of recorded time, yet birthed upon the beach to walk upon the planet as it’s denizen, ignorant of it's truths and it's ways…
What is my purpose now?
Perpetually wet across the living wooden frame that houses a small onyx crystal that sparkles with singular intensity in it's depths, an otherwise roughly humanoid shape, drenched in seaweed and mollusks, arrives with a purposeful but purposely slow stride.
It turns to the ulfen woman "I believe my purpose - what you refer to as a mission - is to Defend Golarion" so matter-of-factly, Apoc speaks without ego in a simple tone uncluttered by turns of speech, and reciprocates the question "What is your purpose, Rovina Sverdsdottir?" listening purposefully to her response (if any), considering it greatly.
Slowly but eventually, he turns to everyone before him, an excellent listener, always unrushed, delighted the question at hand is one of great importance!
"What is your purpose, Kerlok Sholmes?" after listening to his response (if any), he answers his question "I have heard something about you. I have heard how you are called" it seems there is some confusion about the meaning of the word "heard" here as the Awakened Prime of Celestia cannot yet help but interpret it literally!
"What is your purpose, Ambius?" after listening to his response (if any), he answers his question "I am new. 30 weeks old. I understand that to be a small proportion of a creature such as your's life" a starfish on Apoc's face wriggles here - perhaps the equivalent of a "smile" of sorts?
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A tall and slender man walks, holding a three-foot long well-polished wooden walking cane for aesthetic. To add to his flamboyance, he wears a caramel-brown homburg hat that is coupled with a free-flowing coffee-brown dueling cape, in addition to his light-brown padded armor and chocolate-brown long pants accented with dark-brown well-polished leather shoes. His all-shade-of-brown outfit is accessorized with manacles, adventure bag with things of many sorts, and different kits for repairing, disabling and climbing.
He stops and adjusts his spectacles to get a better view of his surroundings. He is one of the adventurers tasked to facilitate a negotiation with somebody named Free Captain Stella Fane in Port Peril. He overhears a pale human talking to a tall female and a goblin about the thing he thinks he will be involved.
He straightway goes to them with his wooden tapping on the ground in rhythm with his brisk walking. He stops in front of them.
”Aheemmm,” he clears his throat for attention and introduces himself to them without their permission, ”Lady and gentleman, and goblin, and you , I am Nanoc Evitceted.” He gives them a graceful bow. ”I overheard your conversation and I believe we are on the same page. So what do we have here so far?” he asks them.
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It takes a couple of moments for Apoc to understand an existence as an end to it's own means, but when Rovina mentions "taking her place among" he is reminded of something and looks up at the night sky "To join once again the constellation another shining light. I understand" he doesn't understand why such an ambition might arise in the curious being, simply accepts that it does. As the ulfen made not any additional queries of her own, Apoc takes this an implied request for termination of the subject matter.
Of all the creatures he has met, human behavior has eluded him the most. But he was acclimating slowly to it.
Turning to another curious creature - but seeing not a book in sight! - our stellar hero's curiosity remains fixed when he asks "Nanoc Evitceted. I can be called Celestia of Prime Awakened. I do not understand to what "page" you refer, but ask: What is your purpose?" again pausing to listen carefully and consider the response.
Strange behavior indeed.
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”Curiouser and curiouser!” Nanoc mutters to himself. He still cannot comprehend the existence of the being standing next to him. He stares intently to the intricacies of the being: a wooden frame, a living crystal(?), some starfish and seaweeds, things that would normally go together for him.
”Purpose, you say? Hmmm...” he ponders the question as if it is his first time to be asked as such, more strangely by the being he has never seen before. ”I have never thought of that actually,” he explains,”but maybe I'll know when the time comes. For now it is to live.” True, he hasn't found his true purpose even after doing private investigations for years, or maybe it doesn't hit his mind at all.
”Oh, by page I mean, in we're on the same page, it means, we're together with this, or we agree with each other. You see now? Same page, like we are words on the same page. Hehehe!” Nanoc further explains, but now awkwardly, not even sure if Apoc understands him beyond the conrasu's complexity.
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A black-cloaked figure arrives upon the scene, pausing to analyze those present. From beneath the cloak, a loved hand reaches up to remove the cloak's hood, revealing a being of pale-blue skin, which is translucent enough to display a series of interconnected silver and gold lines beneath it. The strange, integrated markings faintly resemble tattoos. Though they display a sort of mathematical beauty, the markings do not correspond to any known form of writing or arcane rune.
“Greetings. My designation is 7019090072452414749257838637412586730286754309.”
The android’s visual scanners survey those gathered before it as its artificial brain makes a series of calculations. Engaging an apparent subroutine, the android continues, “However, I understand that most humanoids tend to prefer brevity to precision. Therefore, you may refer to me as ‘Sev’.”
Sev turns his attention towards the Awakened Prime of Celestia. "Analysis: Although your form shares several notable features with those considered to be characteristic of the description, 'humanoid', I am not presently equipped with sufficient data or subroutines to anticipate your preference with regard to designations."
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"An order in the sextillions might be sufficient to encompass the quantity of celestial masses within one known universe - I wonder in what multiverse one might necessitate such a magnitude as quattuordecillions as a means of ensuring unique designation?" Again, the counter-question is honest, curiosity genuine, before Apoc actually answers the question levied at him "I am inparticular as to my own designation - though if I were to assign myself a numeric quantity, I might consider the moniker "2" foremostly"
He then turns to Kerlok Sholmes and after pausing a moment to think, responds thusly "Surely anything outside of my own experience. Perhaps also the underlying mechanics that have generated every moment up to and including this one from whichever arbitrary starting point. And too the axioms that underlie those mechanics. And the fields in which those axioms operate. Or anything that is to this system of systemics, elementary" he pauses further to consider, and having travelled his mind with eccentricity now, reverses course to think with concentricism "The mission before us is also something I do not understand" having given what he imagines to be a satisfactory answer, he turns to Nanoc Evitceted.
With further thoughtfulness "If we were upon opposite sides of this "page" as you put it, looking as through the text so as to invert the orientation of the characters, might you still posit that we were, in fact, still "on" the same page, given that our relationship to it was canonically indetectable by relative means?"
The starfish on Apoc's body, the meanwhile talking with these three companions, turned with a rotation of first 30 degree, then 45 degrees, and then 60 degrees (using the Golarion Solar system for measuring a change in angularity), increasing in tandem with the in the center of his chest - perhaps the "tell" that the conversations he was having were stimulating!
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As you check into the Lodge in Absalom, you spot the following message on the board:
"I need some agents to travel with me to the Shackles on an important mission that will affect the future of the Society in western Garund. I need people who aren't well-known as being Pathfinders, so you'll do. Meet me at the Glorious Payoff as soon as you can.
It is signed "Capt. Calisro Benarry" and has note of which pier the ship is docked at."
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As a splash of salt crashes over the bow of the Glorious Payoff, Calisro Benarry deftly steers her ship through a hidden channel, carefully navigating through the barely visible rock and coral that protrude slightly from the water’s surface. Behind the Payoff, a slightly smaller ship—the Sea Sparkle—follows, making every effort to follow Benarry’s course as closely as possible. Off the port hull, the deep green of the Garundi coast is illuminated by the late afternoon sun.
"See those gulls?" Benarry shouts over the flapping of the sails, "that’s the sandbar we’ll be dropping you off at. Barely sticks up over the waves, but the seabirds flock over it to feast on crab. As I explained earlier, Vidrian—you might have known it as Sargava not that long ago—needs explorers to chart the trade routes to the south that they couldn’t use back when it was ruled by Cheliax. Simple enough bit of adventuring, but the new nation’s been having trouble with the Free Captains of late. Turns out when Vidrian broke free of Cheliax, the locals stopped paying the pirates protection money, and now they’re the number-one plunder target in the Shackles. What’s more, the pirates have set up a blockade preventing our ships from making it down to Vidrian to assist."
"Thankfully, we’ve got someone on the inside. Stella Fane, a Free Captain with ties to the Firebrands and the Pirate Council, has been in contact with the Society. She and members of the Society’s leadership have put together a fairly clever plan to help the Society’s ships pass through the pirate blockades unharmed. The Wind and the Waves willing, the Payoff and the Sparkle can sail to Vidrian, no problem. While we’re doing that, I’ve arranged transport for you to Port Peril to meet with Fane and get her to sign this contract making the whole thing official—she may be a pirate, but she’s the kind that holds to her word. You’ll need to avoid drawing too much attention until after the deal is done. Once she’s signed the contract her friends in the Pirate Council will ratify it and there won’t be much the lesser captains can do. Be careful. Anyone looking to put a stop to this need only ensure that contract never gets signed."
"Any questions for me before you all need to jump over the side?"
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I beg your pardon, but how do we reach the shore from the sandbar?
A simple question. Really.
And can you describe us Stella Fane, please?
"Your second query is an efficient one," notes Sev. "As for the initial one, there is no need for concern. In the event of a water landing, my technoframe may be used as a flotation device."
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Calisro Benarry laughs at Kerlock's questions.
"You will be picked up by someone working for us. As for recognizing Fane, you'll know when you see her. Oh, the contract is really a long-term trade agreement; we tell her where we’ve had reports of slavers—she hates them and it’s no skin off Society members' backs to let her know—and she approaches us first with any information she receives regarding archaeological sites and historical discoveries. Our obligation requires us to make the information exchange each time one of our ships passes through the Shackles, so attacking a Pathfinder ship is the same as attacking Stella and her allies on the Pirate Council. Smartest deal we’ve made, if you ask me."
"Careful with that contract, by the way. It’s all magicked shut, so only Fane can read and sign it. Now if there isn't anything else, you can all jump overboard and swim to the sandbar."
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"On the origin of your species, Kerlok Sholmes, it could also be viewed as a returning to your origin" what was intended as an elaboration might come off as a rebuff.
PLUNK
Diving with unexpected grace (no splash!) into the shallow water, the starfish clinging to Apoc's limbs twirl and spin to propel him unto the sand, which, upon arriving, he turns now to face the day star, absorbing it's delicious light as it makes it's downward arc over the horizon, and, incidentally, or as a matter of perspective, back into the sea...
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However you make it to the sandbar (either jumping off the rail, going down the ladder and stepping off, or getting thrown over the side, much to Benarry's entertainment), you drag yourselves cold and thoroughly soaked onto the sandbar. Fortunately, there is a warm breeze and you're not in danger of catching a chill. As you dry off...
You notice the top of a crate sticking out at one end of the sandbar
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The salty water sprays against the conrasu's face... a trapezoidal prism polyhedron constructed of thick wood with tiny rivulets that trap and furrow water along channels that give a form and texture to the otherwise flat cartesian planes that intersect here and there... the adorning sealife shakes with spasms of alacrity at the ocean's faint touch, lending a semblance of humanoid-like life to his complexion...
...and here, unconcerned with the box - and perhaps soon-to-be-liberated contents! - the Awakened Prime of Celestia enjoys this moment on the bar, as though connecting with some deeper sense of purpose to the stillness of waiting, lost in his own silent thoughts, basking with great joy at the remaining but fastly dwindling rays of sun!
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”Interesting. What might its contents be?” Nanoc contemplates as he visually inspects the crate found by the others. Dripping wet and all, he walks back and forth with his hand on his chin and the other with his wooden cane as he waits behind for Rovina to force open th crate. It excites him to think what is inside of it.
Could it be a golden treasure? he tells to himself. Ah! Ah! Maybe a magical map to a golden treasure? he adds. Or... his face is grim just thinking about it, maybe it hides hideous creatures just waiting to be released?! and much grimmer in his thoughts, or an unforgiving curse that will befall upon those who open it!
He pauses walking as different thoughts dawn on him. ”Are you sure you want to open?” he asks them.
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”Oh.” Nanoc is speechless. ”Then let's see what monstrosities will be unleashed then,” he says in exaggeration with a flourish of his hand into the air. He even invites the conrasu to have a fair share of curses that will sooner or later befall to them as victims, and not as the one who opened it.
”Hey, Apoc, come over here. I think, by the looks of it, you have spent already an eternity with sea waves and all. I suggest you join us to witness the unfolding of what lies inside the crate they have found and opened.”
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Rovina pulls out a crowbar and easily pries the lid open. You see a bunch of bottles, mostly cracked and broken, but you do find a bottle of some sort of spirit with a dragon turtle label and a flask filled with some sort of liquid.
Your examination reveals that this is a bottle of Southern Squall, a rather high-end liquor.
The other bottle contains Lesser Bravo's Brew
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As you wait on the sandbar, trying to identify the objects in the crate, a small boat appears, sailed by an elderly dwarven woman. She anchors the boat at the sandbar and begins moving around sacks of shellfish and crab traps to make room in the cramped vessel. She looks over at you.
"So you younguns are jus' gonna watch an old woman move all this without helping? I figgered you younglings would at least help out an old lady. If you wanna get going to Port Peril now, get over here and help move this stuff around to make some room! Hlar's the name, by the way."
"Y'know, Calisro Benarry made me come out here earlier than normal so you might as well help me row!"
Hlar sails her boat in a meandering path to shore along the submerged rock formations. Occasionally, she would stop, put a knife between her teeth and suddenly jump overboard and dive to the bottom of the ocean and returns with an oyster, sea urchin, or squid.
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”Nanoc, at your service,” he bows long and so low as he introduces himself to Hlar, ”to help with the sacks and traps of sea creatures from the dee... Woah!” He is surprised as soon as he rises up, as the elderly dwarven woman jumps overboard. He is about to rescue the woman and tries to hold her in the arm but he just grasps thin air.
”Treacherous world!” his arms raised toward the heaven and facing it. ”How could you let the woman live such a meager life to the point of taking here own life?! She could have been, she could have been, uggghhh! No words can express the pain I am feeling right now...” he is now on his knees, facing toward the side of the boat where the elderly dwarven woman jumps, ”May her soul, may her soul rest in, ahhhh!” he jumps out of fear, thinking he sees the woman who has just come back as a rusalka covered in weeds but it is just her tangled wet hair.
”You're back,” he says to Hlar with a sense of shame after what he has done, ”I thought you... Never mind.”
He then goes to work with the sacks and traps, piling them neatly on one side.
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Apoc is happy to rowed along, and make no hurry either way, but will pick up an oar if the boat otherwise looks underrowed, which it doesn't.
Tangentially, when Hlar jumps in the water, our curious conrasu hero does as well, but not to find her or help with collection, instead he steers clear, allowing her to do her work, swimming and enjoying the water in his own right. Too, some of the starfish shuck themselves from his body, as others come swimming along to replace those, renewing and refreshing his vitality somewhat, before he crawls back over the side before the woman has fully returned.
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As Nanoc dramatically screams at the sky, Hlar pops back up with a large lobster in one hand and a bag of oysters in the other.
"You what? Thought that an old dwarf like me can't cut it? Hmmph. You young whippersnappers think you're all invincible and all... I gotta make a livin' too, y'know? Benarry isn't paying me enough."
Hlar’s boat arrives in Port Peril around sunset. As you drift into Crescent Harbor, sailors disembarking for shore leave remain clearly visible, singing rowdily as they work. Hlar soon lands at a smaller dock to unload her catch and gestures at Fane’s ship in one of the docks—the Risen Albatross.
"Stella has a penchant for riotous nights on the town once she’s returned to port are well known. But I don't know where the kids go these days. You can talk to the harbormaster, Tsojmin Kreidoros. He might have a better idea of where Fane disappeared to."
Tsojmin, a dwarf, is close by, checking off tasks written in a ledger. Hlar points him out to you and sends you on your way.
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Thank you for having allowed us to reach the harbor and for the clue as well.
Then he goes to meet the harbor master.
Excuse me. My name's Kerlok Sholmes. Yes, I'm the well-known detective you should have heard about. Now I would like to ask you for a clue about the place we can find Stella Fane. Do you know where she is, please?