“Those who rely on certainties are certain to be disappointed.”
― Road of the Patriarch
"Psst. You guys dot so loudly. It is usually dot and delete."
Whispers the irrepressible mephit.
You have all gathered in VC Norden Balentiir’s office on the second floor of Sandswept Hall, home of the Sothis Lodge of the Pathfinder Society. A location no doubt familiar to some of you.
After introducing himself, the Venture-Captain shutters off the windows overlooking the lodge’s tranquil gardens and seats himself behind his writing desk before raising his hand for silence.
“Osirion is filled with countless ruins, pyramids, tombs, and other strange structures dating back thousands of years. For centuries, the lore and artifacts locked away in these locations were out of reach, but the Ruby Prince Khemet III saw the potential for increased trade and taxation in these long-buried sites, and decided to allow explorers and treasure-seekers to enter these tombs.”
“The Pathfinder Society has been at the forefront of this work for many years. Our best Osiriontologists lead teams all over the country that send historical items, preserved mummies, and even magic items back to Absalom for cataloging and further study—after securing approval and paying the appropriate fees to the pharaoh, of course.”
“One of the more productive ruins is the Bent Pyramid, named for the edifice’s crooked apex.”
Though the more otherworldly note the shallower angle follows the trajectory of the wandering planet Aucturn in Golarion’s sky for the 4 months of every 56 years when the two planets are at their closest distance to each other.
“Items found within indicate the pyramid was used as a residence by an Osiriani mage who called himself Aram-Hul, and was converted to his tomb when he died unexpectedly. The Pathfinder researchers have placed his death near the end of the reign of the Four Pharaohs of Ascension.”
Legends state that the Four Pharaohs were only able to set their mutual distrust aside and ally with one another after they magically bound their fates together in a solemn pact: a pact that rendered any further attacks against one another futile and perhaps suicidal.
“Despite the numerous traps and lingering magical effects, our people recovered several especially interesting items, which they boxed up and sent away by caravan.”
VC Balentiir frowns. “Unfortunately, every single one of these items has been stolen by hooded raiders who attack the caravans at night, not far from the excavation site. Originally thought to be an opportunistic local rabble, the skill and coordination of their attacks have convinced me that whoever is behind the thefts is specifically after the liberated artifacts.”
“(My own opinion: sounds like gnight gnomes).”
“I would like you to travel to the Society’s Dig Site in the Valley of the Pyramids, a few days travel south of here to consult with the Expedition’s leader Pathfinder Delver Abasi Semru. Track down the raiders, recover any stolen items still in their possession and put an end to their raids.”
“Now whom may I tell Semru I am sending? Are there any questions at this stage? Semru is obviously better placed to respond to anything site specific than I.”
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"Oooh, Kernuffle" says a voluptuous woman reclining in the protective embrace of a giant ape "we is going thief-catchin'!"
The woman's greenish skin and plentiful tattoos, scars and piercings suggest orcish blood, though she lacks the bestial features common to half-orcs. She does, however, have cloven hooves. So does the giant ape.
"I is called Nana Grilka" she adds. "Is any of you girls what is having a baby? Or is any of you boys what wants to make a baby? I helps the babies come!" Nana explains.
Nana wears an expensive-looking gown and is draped in jewelry; her hooves are decorated by lacy bespoke 'shoes'. Around her neck are various amulets and fetishes, amongst them an iron disc forged in the likeness of a three-eyed jackal.
"Groaaawwwllll!" growls Kernuffle.
The giant, hooved ape wears studded leather armour, a harness and a spiked collar. One muscular arm is wrapped around his mistress as the pair sit on a mound of cushions in the briefing room.
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Upon seeing the cleric, Bo does his best to stay out of her line of sight. Barring that, to keep as much furniture as possible between them. At least now I can fly away if I need to. Not trapped on a boat with her like last time. The monk shutters involuntary at the memory.
At the briefing, the vacant-eyed taldon man has little to offer.
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Xilt looks at the others. He is not social by nature but cannot help but notice the obvious tension in the room between the clerics and the monk.
"Not to worry Thaddeus. A person can worship an aspect of a deity and not follow their entire portfolio. It is pretty clear which aspect Nana follows most clearly."
"I do know a little about the pyramid and the four pharaohs of course."
The mephit companion shakes his head at Xilt's truism and responds in his typically dry tone.
"Really, what an astute observation there."
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Nana, oblivious to anyone else's misgivings, sees the little mephit and waves at him.
"Oooh, hello! I knows what yous is, sometimes I summons yous to help. You's a mephit! You's a cheeky one, isn't you, eh?"
Turning to the mephit's companion, she adds "Does you know the Holy Mama then? Is you from Belkzen too?"
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I agree...there are followers of many different religions amongst the half orc nation...why just my lat mission in Lastwall, we had a knight or Sarenrae on our team...stout fighter she is...don't want to face her head on in a fight... a tall lanky elf says as he listens to the briefing. he carries a wickedly curved sword of elven manufacture on his side and an odd looking bow made or horns. when he walks, it's very softly and silent.
“Well, seeing some of you know each other – perhaps in an Abadarian Holy Multiplication Text kind of way, I won’t hold you up any longer.”
“The Valley of the Pyramids is a good two day camel ride to the south. I’d recommend picking up any supplies you need in Sothis before you leave. There is no chance Semru will be able to supply the kinds of items professional gnome-hunters might need.”
VC Balentiir then pulls two letters out his desk drawer and passes them over to you. “Your respective faction heads have seen fit to provide you with a secondary mission.”
“I remind you, Pathfinders NOT to let faction politics get in the way of completing the primary mission. Nobody will thank you if Ol’ Mutton Chops has a new bauble to impress the Paracountess with, while our most important expedition in Osirion is abandoned. Dig?”
Banentiir produces a third letter with the flick of his spring-loaded wrist sheath, and waves it at the shadows.
“One final thing. I’d like to thank you all for your tolerance in not mentioning my Kyra Cosplay outfit. Every now and then my partner dresses up as Merisiel and I as Kyra. Reignites the smouldering embers if you will — leaving you with a bad case of sunburn if you’re not careful!”
“Anyway, your attitudes are well in keeping with the spirit of acceptance the Ten foster, and I thank you for it. Good luck and Gozrehn Speed to you all.”
@Yours is mined: As a Salt Mephit I thrive under arid conditions. Will my boss need to protect me from the desert heat (with Endure Elements) or should I be fine?
As the terrestrial Pathfinders get to know each other better—or rather, as Nana tries to get to know them better, the mild weather holds as the group journeys steadily south, with Bo scouting from the air.
By the second day, the party has crossed the threshold into the desert proper and without elemental endurance magic or the like, humanoids native to the Inner Sea region begin to suffer.
By mid-morning of the third day, Bo is visited by a small, swift bird-of-prey, which is careful to remain outside of bow range as it takes the party’s measure.
Half an hour later you reach the Society's expedition site amongst the enormous tombstones and pyramids that give the valley its name.
The dig team visibly relax when one of them spots Rallas’ Jade wayfinder, and you are directed with warm smiles and pats on the back to a large central tent, where you are informed Pathfinder Delver Semru has retreated from the heat for a short tea break.
“Welcome, Gnome Hunters!” is the middle-aged Garundi man’s greeting, as he offers you a cushion on the floor and a cup of steaming black tea.
“Though most Taldans I know are fools, their custom of drinking tea on a hot day though unintuitive, works surpisingly well at conquering the heat.”
His eyes glitter with excitement. “I have new information since you left Sandswept Hall! I have just deciphered a carving that indicates the Bent Pyramid has a counterpart buried underground, tied to an unknown energy source.”
“Did VC Balentiir mention the engineer-wizard Aram-Hul? My current theory is he convinced the local inhabitants long ago to swear fealty to him and offer him tribute in exchange for protecting them from rival tribes.”
“Whomever has been stealing the artifacts from our caravans knows where this second pyramid is—quite possibly within the upper Darklands. We simply cannot allow a rival to control such an important strategic site.”
He grins. “And that’s of course where you come in! My dig team managed to follow a faint trail leading from the last caravan attack two nights ago to an abandoned quarry close enough to have supplied stone for the Bent Pyramid’s construction.”
Semru looks up earnestly. “Might I suggest you begin your hunt there?”
“Are there any questions?”
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"Oooh, look. A birdie! He must've been sent by the Holy Mama to watch over us. Is a good omen!"
Traveling on the mission, Nana has swapped her fancy dress for a mithril breastplate decorated with a ruff of feathers.
"The Holy Mama has lots of beyootiful feathers!"
"I is called Nana Grilka" she tells the Delver. "Is we goin' underground then, to look for the gnomes?"
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“I would lay good odds you have the right of it, Nana Grilka.”
Semru raises a finger. “But we Garundi have a saying, ‘Man makes plans, and the Holy Mother laughs.’”
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Xilt has been careful to fortify the party against the elements each night so no one has been feeling the heat so far. He has also been enchanting himself and his familiar with various long duration magics before retiring to sleep.
"Yes, Bo. Perhaps the bird belongs to Semru. He seems particularly intelligent for a regular falcon."
K-Nature of 21 on a take 10.
The wizard nods at Delver Semru.
"A wise but mundane protection against the heat. We are all well-protected I assure you."
"You are a variable cornucopia of information about this dig. Well done. I think that we will start at the beginning if everyone agrees of course. Following the trail does seem like a good way to ease into this mission."
Tzleztor
Endure Elements 24 hours, CL 10
Ant Haul 24 hours, CL12
Xilt
Life Bubble 24 hours, CL 12
Ablative Barrier, CL12, Extended 24 hours
Crafter's Fortune 10 days
The salt mephit is practically glowing in the desert heat and the lack of moisture in the air is obviously appealing to his alien physiology.
"Man, this desert is just like home. I mean not really but it is so great here. Better than the dark and damp dungeons where they usually send us."
He turns to Semru.
"So how far away is this quarry you mentioned?"
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The slight at Bo's nationality seems to fly right over the young man's head.
Now that the group seems to have a more focused purpose, the archer applies magical and mystical protection to his physical defenses. He then removes a small lavender crystal from a pouch and meditates for a moment. The gem loses a bit of its luster before Bo slides it away.
"Is there any hint as to who else is here?"
“Do you refer to the identity of the raiders, my little amphibian friend?”
Semru gives Tad an odd look. “Why gnomes of course!”
"What exactly did those gnaughty gnomes steal?”
“The usual tetrahedral fare: gold, jewels, objets d’art, canopic jars, miniature river yachts, death god idols and of course, honey.”
"So how far away is this quarry you mentioned?"
“Not far. A league or two at most.”
Semru puts down his teacup and leads the others outside where he shades his eyes and points out the Bent Pyramid, not too far off in the distance.
“Head directly for it and you’ll stumble across the pile of rocks that comprises the old quarry. Good hunting and may a drunken camel never spit in your face, Fellow Pathfinders.”
“… unless you’d like him to, Nana.”
Seven miles later the rubble left over from the construction of the Bent Pyramid becomes evident. Shortly afterwards, a reconnoitring Bo discovers the underground entrance to some kind of cavern close to the faint trail the surviving caravan victims followed.
Though the trail outside the cavern has been disturbed by members of the dig team, there is enough soft sand at the cave entrance to hold a few decent tracks.
The exact number of creatures is impossible to determine, as it looks like whoever made these tracks has passed this way several times.
Could Pathfinder leadership be mistaken about the ancestry of the humanoids who made them?
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These tracks are...odd. Look...they're about double the size for a gnome...and the person making them had their feet wrapped or padded...either for protection or to disguise their tracks...hard to say... the elf says as he points out the tracks and tries to figure out what's going on.
I fear a trap... he says as he gets out a wand and activates it.
Tzleztor nods to Rallas as his wand fizzes out. It is pretty clear that the mephit employs a plethora of magical devices as well being decked out with wands, scrolls and even a staff.
"Man, I hate it when that happens. Better luck next time."
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"Is we ready to go down in the dark now?" Nana asks. She retrieves pebble from a cloth wrap - once removed from the wrap, the rock glows with a bright light. She sets the stone in the eye socket of the polished humanoid skull that floats in front of her.
"Come on Kernuffle! George will light the way for you!"
"Do you have any idea about how old these tracks are?"
Bo spots nothing lying in wait for the Pathfinders in the completely dark entrance tunnel.
As the party enters the adit, the view back towards the entrance may re-kindle the spirit of underground exploration you first experienced as a rookie Pathfinder years ago.
The broad tunnel slowly bears west as it moves deeper into the golarion, where the temperature reaches a comfortable coolness. Here and there small patches of crystals, and sporadic mineral-encrusted pools are surrounded by patches of mushrooms, some of them glowing faintly. The tunnel has a few side passages, but they all end in collapses or dead ends after no more than 40 feet, leaving a relatively easy path to follow.
After about two hours of travel, the tunnel approaches a broad cavernous opening paved in limestone and lined with walls of venerable hieroglyphics.
Translation of the Ancient Osiriani writing is rendered virtually impossible by the amount of eroded or missing characters. However, one particular pictograph seems to have been added much more recently than the bulk of the writing.
The Abyssal prince is NOT a part of the Ancient Osiriani pantheon.
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Xilt comments on the relative new construction of the tunnel system and mentions that the pictograph is associated with a demon lord of forbidden knowledge and magic.
"Very interesting. Needless to say this demon prince is not part of the ancient osiriani pantheon and a recent addition. In my opinion speaking his name would not be wise at this time. These are all new developments so we should expect to meet with some interesting resistance."
"With the evidence we have gathered so far it is pointing to an underground cult with extra-planar ties to the Abyss."
28 K-Dungeoneering on a take 10.
30 K-Planes on a take 10.
The mephit smiles at his master.
"All of this is very interesting in an academic way of course but have you not realised that it is all so unnecessary? Generally hitting the so called bad guys over the head with something heavy, taking their stuff and returning the magical do-hickey to the society is more than enough to complete every mission."