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”Hey, think we could entice her out with food or something? Maybe use mage hand to get her attention and lead her out? Now, I mean, I’m used to holden my breath and all bein a sewer kobold and all, but ain’t no way on this green planet I’m dragging anything that big anywhere it don’t want to go. Y’all picking up what I’m laying down?”
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"That might be a good idea to try, or perhaps Ennillee could go in and try and grab her, dragging her back. I've got an idea... we could tie a rope to Ennillee to drag her back out, in case she should be overwhelmed by the spores.
"Ennillee, first, you should wear a mask, a bandana or something. I could try an' make you one if you ain't got one. Still, holdin' yer breath would prob'ly make sense, too.
"Or, maybe we could just try a lasso?"
Gobo will supervise the recovery operation from this vantage point; this is the most efficacious utilization of his talents.
Gobo will do it! He wishes to be free of this place!
He runs in, bandanna streaming like a rainbow and dropping the pole arm on the way, and tries to grapple her!
What does Gobo do now!? He requires instruction!
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After Ennillee comedically slips on a broken mushroom cap and Zalmora trips over Baxter, Gobo heroically rushes in and grabs on to Kallia, dragging her out of the spore cloud despite her incomprehensible mutterings.
After a few moments out of the cloud, Kallia's mutterings begin to subside and, for the first time since you found her, she seems fully aware of your presence. "What...what's going on?" She looks around, bewildered. Seeing the mushrooms and the results of her thrashing, realization dawns. "Oooh. I guess I should have been a little more careful. Thanks for the rescue!"
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hmmmm… that Iruxi was hiiiiiiiigh. I have got to find those and maybe get a sample to my main man back in The Puddles. Maybe try and get a good crop going. Maybe sell a little on the side. Gobo might be down with that. He’s cool.
oh gods what is that taste? Ugh. I think I’m gonna hurl. cough cough that sheet ain’t right. What about that one? That green and red looking m+~+*+*~##+!?
”Yeaaahh… alright that’s what I’m talking about.”
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Alladin begins to feel the effects of his sampling. None of the rest of you notice a difference. Ingmar, meanwhile, easily collects and bags a sample for Urwal.
With your collection done, you lead Kallia safely out of the cavern and back into camp. As the huts and tents that comprise your temporary home come into view, and the voices and noises of a bustling Pathfinder camp just become noticeable, a familiar voice speaks up from right behind you. Turning, you see Urwal emerging from a shrub nearby, twigs and leaves still stuck to him. "You have returned, and in greater numbers than you departed! That is interesting indeed!" He quickly looks through your samples, nodding in appreciation, and tucks them away for more thorough documentation later. "You have done well, I'm sure your new friend agrees. And you have returned at an auspicious time, as well. Valais Durant has just arrived, and would like to see you. To camp!" Without waiting, he strides off toward his tent, oblivious of the rest of you once more.
Kallia, somewhat bewildered, watches him go. "Who is that werido?"
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After a warm meal and a night’s rest, Valais Durant asks you to meet her in her tent. When you arrive, she welcomes you inside, gesturing to some chairs gathered around a table before offering you tea from a steaming pot thereon. Once everyone is settled, she begins, her voice kind but strong.
”Thank you for responding to my request. Our expedition is facing a unique challenge. Our members are eager to uncover the secrets of these ruins, but an agent of our old foes the Aspis Consortium has been sabotaging our efforts.
”Time and again, we’ve been at odds with the Aspis Consortium, but recent contact with Consortium agents has been mixed. The Radiant Oath faction, of which I’m the leader, is willing to forgive this agent their transgressions and offer protection if they agree to cease their efforts to thwart us. We believe many dangers lurk in these ruins, especially in the sewers where the saboteur is hiding. I’m less worried about the sabotage than the safety of the individual behind it. No one deserves to die down there.
”Unfortunately, this saboteur is wary of the Society. Please don’t advertise your status as agents as you seek them out. Once you’re able to build a rapport, let them know redemption is possible if they wish it, and get them to safety. Now, do you have any questions?”
Gobo leans his polearm — blade up — against the chair and sits down.
He sips his tea. Gobo's watchword is "discretion."
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"I'm afraid they ran away before our agents could get close," Valais says with a chagrined expression. "I can show you the entry to the sewer and point you in the direction of the ruins, but you may need to do a bit of searching."
Gobo's polearm slips off the chair and falls onto the tabletop, the blade buries itself centimeters from his teacup.
Sewers…!?
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”Join the Pathfinders they said; go to the country they said; get some fresh air they said; relax in nature they said. So I do all of this and where do I go? INTO SOME GODS FORSAKEN SEWERS! If I wanted to tromp around in sewers I wouldn’t have to leave Absalom. Hrrrrm.”
Composing himself, “You want us to turn this… did you say ass piss… agent into a Society mole? Double agent kind of thing? Also, what kind of sabotage has this interlocutor pulled off? Bombs? Dead falls? Equipment destruction? Might give us an edge on capturing this soon to regret their life choices person.”
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"No, you don't need to try and convince them to help us. Just convince them to stop sabotaging our efforts and to leave the sewers; it's dangerous down there, and I don't want anyone getting killed, even them. Offer them your protection, if you think it will help--they might even accept that, especially if they don't know you're Pathfinders. Try to convince them that we aren't looking for revenge." She glares at Alladin. "We're not looking for revenge; you don't need to make them 'regret' anything, just convince them to leave, and that they will be allowed to leave safely."
"As for the sabotage, it's nothing too major. Mostly annoyances--collapsing tents, animals loosed into camp, diverting a stream to flood a dig site, etc."
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Once all of your questions are answered, Valais leads you to a rusted metal grate in the side of a low mound, recently cleared of overgrowth. A short distance within, a similarly rusty ladder leads ten feet down to the rocky bottom of the sewer tunnel, slick with moisture and algae. The tunnel is about 8 feet tall and 5 feet wide, and seems to be hewn out of the stone itself, though in some places the rotting remnants of wooden supports fall away from the ceiling and walls. With no raised maintenance walkways, you must tread carefully across the slick stone, the ground uneven and difficult to traverse .
You find yourself at the junction between a north-south channel and an east-west channel. Chalk markings on the wall denote the cardinal directions along with a seemingly random sequence of numbers and an arrow pointing east. A mess of humanoid footprints show the grate has served as an entryway for at least one other recently.
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The westbound passage travels about 100 feet before turning north, an aqua glow spilling around the corner. Once the passageway has turned north, you see the ceiling covered in groups of tiny lights, which reveal themselves to be insects on closer inspection. They dot the walls and ceiling all along the passage, illuminating the tunnel with dim light.
Continuing forward down the tunnel, Zalmora spots an antique-looking bronze key in a small pool of water. About a quarter mile past the key, the passageway links up with another, right where the spill-off forms a pool of deep mud. Doing a little triangulation, you suspect that this passage is likely the northern one from the original intersection.
Following the passage further north, you meet with yet another passage, this one ten feet wide and traveling east-west. A dim light gleams from the west, where the passage seems to open up into a larger room.
Gobo stares up at the gross sewer bugs on sewer ceiling, and snaps a fashionable parasol above his head. Though Gobo has been viciously thrust from the disciplines of mycology to coprophagy, he shall persevere! He casts Prestidigitation constantly as he explores.
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As you approach the area ahead, you hear the chink of metal on rock and a woman's voice saying "Blast it! Don't tell me I dropped it out there in the swamp."[/b]
Moving ahead, you find as large dead-end room, dimly lit by a nearby grate and more glow worm clusters. The area looks lived-in, with the platform in the back of the room holding a fire ring and a bench assembled from fallen rocks holding some gear. A dwarven woman rummaging through a pack looking for something stops what she's doing as you approach, looking warily up at you with one hand resting near the pommel of her sheathed dagger. She looks up at you, waiting to see what you are going to do.
Gobo twirls his umbrella. Gobo is a mighty runelord of pride! His expansive mind, capable of conjuring reality-twisting cantrips, is currently being squandered in the examination of vile, sepsis-spreading glow-worm colonies.
He almost sneers a bit too much at the hovel this person is living in, but manages to hide it behind a spin of the parasol.
He cares nothing for the activities of vagabonds in the sewers.
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With the pretense of them studying bugs established, Zalmora contributes by sharing what she knows about mushrooms.
"Gobo's preference has always been grasshoppers dipped in chocolate, which is something of a delicacy in Tian Xia. Which, to be clear, these bugs are not."
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”What do we have here? Be still my beating heart, but what is a fine looking dwarf like yerself doing all the way out here? In the sewers, no less. Where are my manners? Please allow me introduce myself. I am Alladin Sarsippius Sulamanagic Jackson III. As I am a kobold, I know a thing or three about sewers. Rich folk always thinking if it gets in the sewers, then no one gonna find it. But we both know that is most definitely not the case. And these Taldans, where do you think they learned such a horrendous stupid idea? Why, from their Azlanti ancestors. And where are we?” Alladin holds out his hands, palm up, nodding his head.
”Now, we also do not want any trouble either. All of here are after the same thing: treasures! That and money, but you know how it is. So, after all that why don’t we sit around a fire, chat, pass a nice fat pipe, maybe have some food (the ranger is an excellent camp cook), and discuss how we can come to a mutually beneficial relationship. I happen to know several fences of repute; ie, their quiet and efficient.”
Alladin turns to Gobo and mouths silently, I really do finishing with a wink.
Now, it pains me to admit being at a disadvantage, as I do not know the pleasure if the person with whom I am doing potential business.”
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"Your...after the bugs? You're not...." She seems to consider a moment. "My name is Branwaen; I work for the Aspis Consortium...well, for now. I...well, my family owes them a debt--thanks mom--and if I don't pay it off then my brothers will have to. I thought you were...well, I thought you might be Pathfinders here for revenge."