GM Enchanter's 1-06 Lost on the Spirit Road (Inactive)

Game Master Enchanter Tim

You all have traveled to Minkai to help Venture-Captain Amara Li to lay the groundwork for a new Lodge there. You have been working in Sakakabe, a wealthy city known for trade in pearls and silver.

Li summons you to meet with her in one of the gardens of the Kiniro Kyomai teahouse, a famous teahouse run by geisha.

The quality of the Kiniro Kyomai’s tea, food, and samisen music make it a popular destination for locals and travelers alike. When you arrive, she is seated and motions you inside.

"Please sit. Would you like an tea? Or perhaps some food? It's tradition that the host prepare the food and drink and serve her guests. Please, some refreshments before we talk about other matters." She offers each of you some tea.

Kondai will sit and take some tea, albeit in his normal taciturn fashion.

Samna settles in and smooths her coat, her upright posture and comfortable demeanor in the teahouse making a strange contrast with the rough traveling clothes she is wearing. She inclines her head to Amara Li over her steaming tea cup.

"How fare things in Minkai?"

Alaric passes on the tea but graciously accepts some of the food. "This is a long way from home. It must be an urgent matter?" He tries to take in and understand the situation.

Amara Li nods, putting down her teacup and settling in for a more serious discussion.

“I fear that misfortune may have struck some of your fellow agents. I hope that you can help them return here to safety, but I fear the task I have to request of you may instead center around recovering what you can from your fallen allies and, if it is safe to do so, completing the mission in their stead.”

“Last year, I received a donation of relics from Taldor. The route is lengthy and complicated, so I will spare you unnecessary details. A caravan carrying the relics safely arrived in Hongal to the north, where it met up with a pair of Pathfinder agents, Lin Po and Ti Lan. These agents inspected the cargo, sent me a missive indicating that all was in order, and joined a second caravan to take the Spirit Road through the Forest of Spirits. The journey is understandably long, taking over two months to complete. Still, the caravan is late, and I fear that they may have run into trouble along the way. They were supposed to reach Sakakabe two weeks ago.”

“While it’s possible that they were waylaid in the northernmost parts of Minkai, I believe it’s far more likely that they ran into trouble in the Forest of Spirits, a mystical place that shelters departed souls and most of the world’s kami. Kami are spiritual guardians with a deep connection to certain living locations or living things. The locals pay great respect to the kami, never intruding further into the forest than their one coastal road, the Spirit Road, and a number of small settlements built around shrines. This should make tracking the caravan simple, since there’s only a single road along which they should have had to rest or resupply at some point. I need you to check each of the roadside settlements until you find the last one to have seen the caravan, then track it from there and figure out what happened.”

"Sounds simple enough, " says the tall woman with dark blond hair sitting in the corner of the teahouse. She has remained quiet throughout the proceedings, preferring to listen before opening her mouth, something that has gotten her into trouble on numerous occasions. "Wonder what kind of trouble they ran into. Though I think my companions and I, " she adds, grinning at her friends, "should easily beat the problem."

Do I get a level boost since I think I'm in the lower tier?

Level bump only applies to lowest level in a tier; level 1 in this case.

Qigiq frowns thoughtfully as the Venture-Captain explains the situation. "We cannot leave them lost," he says. "We will do our best."

"The forest sounds interesting, if a little dangerous. Hopefully the agents are just delayed or distracted--I know I've been tempted to follow a side trail or two in my day. Any advice for getting through the Forest safely?"

"Let's see if we can find them." Alaric shoulders his pack. "Hopefully it is not too late."

Amara Li frowns and considers Samna's question. She speaks slowly as first, then more quickly as she gains confidence in her answer. “Be sure to respect the kami and the local traditions honoring them; I don’t want you to come to harm in your journey. The kami are mostly benevolent, so long as they receive the proper respect, but there are some dangers that might have harried the caravan. Bandits, hobgoblins, and giants, among other creatures, dwell within the forest. The forest also hosts some aggressive plants and animals, not to mention malign spirits such as the oni, the sworn enemies of the kami. The locals will know more than I what perils to expect.”

She looks around at the group. "Any other questions?"

"Are you going to tell us what these relics of Taldor are? Maybe these . . . 'spirits' of yours disliked the cargo?"

"That might be good to know, " Fran agrees, a bit annoyed at not having thought of it herself.

"Does anyone speak Tien?" the Erutaki priest asks.

From outside of the establishment there's the sound of a stick rythmically hitting the ground, tip-tap tip-tap. After a moment of quieter conversation an older, dishvealed looking dwarf slowly and carefully ducks into the place. He pauses and pulls back his hood revealing a incongrously meticulously groomed beard and the pearly white and scarred eyes of someone who has clearly lost their vision.

He listens to the various conversations happening, before honing in on the Pathfinders. Using his stick in hand, he tip-taps up to the low table everyone is around. "You're Pathfinders, right? Erastil's Broken Bow string I hope you are!" He feels out for the table and an empty spot before slowly lowering himself into a sitting position. "First mission for the Society after I join to start earning money to send back to Eltran's Folly and what do they do? Send me an entire continent and a half away, where people BARELY speak Taldane and nothing makes sense. Who the flip made doors that SLIDE open? I swear I spent 5 minutes trying to get a door open to a restroom before some kind soul showed me how to do it. At least people are kind and helpful to the elderly and blind here."

As the dwarf rants he pulls out a jug of some unusual liquid and feels the side of it before popping the lid. "Anyone want some turnip ale? It's my own vintage!" Even from a distance it smells like it could probably varnish wood, if you tried.

"So what're we doing so far away from everything I know?"

Amara Li makes a face of disgust when offered the turnip ale. She tries to hide it quickly by taking up her teacup again and quickly sipping.

"Welcome, Stersk. I trust you'll eventually fall in love with our customs on this side of the world." She smirks a bit. "Perhaps a sweet bean cake for you?"

She turns to Kondai and Fran. "The relics come from Taldor, but they are all originally from Minkai. I convinced the collector who owns them to donate them so we may display them here. But they're trinkets really. Their value is historical, not magical. As for the kami...they're mostly benign. They can possess living beings, but only to share their memories and experiences. They exert little control over their hosts. Like I said, I'm more concerned about other threats to the caravan."

Alaric tenses not looking for any sort of possession. "Everyone ready to head out? They may be in trouble."

"Searching for a Pathfinder caravan lost--only lost, we pray--in the woods," Qigiq informs the blind dwarf.

”If I must.” Kondai grumbles.

Then Venture-Captain claps her hands together. "Excellent. I will arrange for some horses and a cart with supplies for you. It will take you a few weeks to reach the Forest of Spirits. Please gather anything else you might need for your journey."

Feel free to choose school items and slot anything special.

School Items: Minor Healing Potion x2.

Amara Li makes a face of disgust when offered the turnip ale. She tries to hide it quickly by taking up her teacup again and quickly sipping.

"Welcome, Stersk. I trust you'll eventually fall in love with our customs on this side of the world." She smirks a bit. "Perhaps a sweet bean cake for you?"

Stersk gives a huff and with the confidence of an elderly man who doesn't give a flip says, "I doubt that. But some food would be great. You grow any good turnips out here?"

"Searching for a Pathfinder caravan lost--only lost, we pray--in the woods," Qigiq informs the blind dwarf.

Sterk gives a nod. "An old search and rescue eh? I'd be down for that. Can't quite search as well as I used to, but I'll help you out."

Picking up a Minor Healing potion for a school item

At your request, Amara Li provides a translator to help you speak to the villagers you may meet. With your horses, cart and supplies, you make your way out of Sakakabe overland for weeks of travel on a road that winds through the Osogen Grasslands to reach the Forest of Spirits.

Along the way, you cross paths with travelers heading south into Minkai, as well as the nomadic herders who call the rolling plains home. No one you meet knows anything about the missing caravan.

When you enter the Forest of Spirits, the atmosphere changes. The forest is cool and damp, and profoundly alive.

Snow blankets the ground and clings to branches of towering pine and spruce trees. Birds, rodents, foxes, deer, bears, and numerous other creatures roam through the woods, keeping their distance from the road. The density of the trees suggests that logging is almost unheard of in this forest.

Animals are not the only creatures moving out in the woods, however, occasionally you feel like someone is watching.

As you progress through the forest, you visit several small villages, none of which have seen the caravan. You find signs of passage from several caravans and groups that travelled on foot, and the remains of campsites right next to the trail. However, there are no indications that any of these groups came to harm.

Arriving at the village of Tano, you are met by a half-elf who speaks in accented Common. Your translator speaks to him briefly and then helps when he is unable to find the right words. "Greetings. You have been traveling the woods? I hope you have found them pleasant. It and the animals who live within are our treasure. My name is Jak. You are welcome to rest here, but you are searching for something?"

Alaric explains the situation as best as he can. "A pair of Pathfinder agents, Lin Po and Ti Lan, came through here with a caravan filled with relics. They have not been seen for some time and we are the recovery team sent to make sure that they are alright."

Jak thinks for a few moments. "Several caravans from Avistan have passed along the Spirit Road in recent months. I'm sure one of them could have been your friends. Come, let's go see my uncle. He would have kept records of visitors to the village."

A little bit of basic math with the map distances suggests your caravan should have been through here about 6 weeks ago.

Jak leads you to a library where his uncle Shirota is overseeing two young men copying scrolls. While these are mundane records, Kondai and Alaric recognize arcane techniques in Shirota's instructions. When Jak tries to interrupt, his uncle holds up a hand and raps sharply on one of the desks to correct the student's technique.

Feel free to make an Arcana check to impress Shirota or provide some instruction of your own. No penalty for individual failures, but there may be reasons you don't wish to try.

Arcana: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Samna tries to remember the correct techniques for writing the arcane runes, but her efforts aren't very impressive.

"How long do you expect his instruction to last?" Qigiq softly asks Jak.

Acana: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

"Wouldn't walking there be a little faster?" Alaric is curious how looking over arcane sigils will help their plight.

Arcana: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25
"Hmm, your techniques are almost caught up to Numarian Standards. Are these sigils for slowing someone down? That's a good training technique. Slow yourself down and force yourself to fight like that, then when you fight at normal speed it seems like the world is in slow motion."

Stersk stands a few feet from the table, arms crossed and clearly bored. He can't read what the man or his pupil are doing and listening to an instruction in the arcane mysteries of the Arcane magics in a language he doesn't understand is unconducive to conversation. He sidles up to Qigiq and Jak, also adding in, "We going to be here long? I feel more useless than water in a rainstorm."

Shirota listens to Kondai intently. "Ah, you are trained in Numerian Standards? Very good. Explain the technique to them and I can go find your caravan records."

It takes a while for Shirota to return with a thin book and a much thicker one. "I found that your caravan did pass through, stopping for a day for rest. However I remembered another reference too." He taps the larger book. "It seems instead of taking the main path they chose to take an older path toward Minkai, which veers into thicker woodland for several days before joining the main road. They did not share their reasons for their strange path and despite our warnings they seemed committed. Will you be attempting to take this path too?"

At this one of the young men abruptly stands. "No! These strangers do not know our ways! They will disturb the creatures of the forest, likely as their friends have. The forest-animals are to be treasured and any harm come to them is our responsibility!" He puts his hands on his hips and looks sternly at Stersk and Qigiq.

Shirota glances at the young man and then back at your group. The instructor taps lightly on one of the books waiting to see how you deal with the challenge.

Intimidate checks, please. This is less being threatening than imposing your will. Again, no penalty for individual failure. I'll also consider other skills though they will be more difficult.

Samna gives the man a sharp look and prepares to tell him how it is.
Making him my hunted target.

"We're trying to get the other travelers out of your forest as quickly as possible. They've already been disrupting things for weeks. Please: Don't slow us down. We're trying to help."

Intimidation: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 7 + 2 = 28

Stersk tries to give the man one of the stares that got him his last name during his adventuring days...

Intimidate: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (18) - 1 = 17

He is just barely able to line up his gaze with the man, before commenting, "I can't even see the forest animals! They're more likely to run from me than I'm going to do anything to them!"

Intimidation: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18

"We will be quite alright and will disturb as little as possible." Alaric tries to calm the young man down.

Intimidate: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Fran stares the young man down. "We are Pathfinders. We don't damage anything if we can help it. Obviously you have much to learn."

"It is my duty to help travelers who become lost and our assignment to find the missing caravan," Qigiq says, taken aback by the vehemence of the young man's objection to their traveling the paths.

Intimidation (T): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

He opens his mouth to speak more, but he senses that he is not making any headway on his own.

Grumbling, Kondai will help.

Looks like we found this group's strength.

The young man visibly shrinks under the combined tirade of the group's strong arguments and he slumps back into his chair. Shirota drops the large book loudly on the table, startling everyone and breaking the intense challenge that you have so thoroughly turned back against the student. "They are quite correct, Umi. It is their duty to find and help their friends if they have gone missing. And it is our duty to help them understand how to honor the forest animals."

Shirota bows his head deeply towards the Pathfinders. "The library is yours to use if needed." He claps his hands loudly and the two student as well as Jak stand up straight. "Now, Umi, Wei. Lessons are finished. You will help the Pathfinders research the path their friends took. Jak, go to the inn and ask for rooms. They will be my guests."

For the rest of the scenario, you receive +2 to Recall Knowledge and Lore checks. However you also have Weakness 2 vs natural attacks.

Once Shirota has given his instructions, the young men snap into action, coming over to examine the map and the books. Jak rushes out the door of the library. But it's only a minute later that you hear him yelling. He runs back in, speaking rapidly in Tian. He looks at you and takes a moment to catch his breath before saying, "The village is under attack!"

You rush outside the library, and you see several tiny creatures closing in from either side of the village causing chaos.

Bold may go
Round 1
Kondai
Francine
Enemy A
Alaric
Stersk
Qigiq
Enemy B
Samna

**Battle Map**

Please ensure your bonuses in the macros are correct. I'm using those for your initiative. I did look up Stersk's. Also, please place your icons on the map around Francine, Samna, and Stersk. If you have a moment, please fill in the initial slides with icons and marching order too.

Whoops sorry about that forgot I needed to fill in the macros in the first place.

His probing cane already in hand, Stersk immediately pulls out a pistol worn down some with age, but still clearly showing the signs of his clan from back in Alkenstar.

◇ Into the Fray to draw both weapons

Fran will delay until the monsters get closer.

Are you using doll heads?! That looks creepy :)

"What fresh batch of insipidness is this?" Kondai will say, rolling his eyes. Nevertheless he'll <>Cast Shield, <>Enter Arcane Cascade, and see if he can Identify any of the creatures he can see.

GM can choose a creature for me to concentrate on my skills are updated on the tracker or in my character bio. I honestly don't know which one is which so just flip a coin or whatever.

Two of the creatures rush forward and you can see them better. They are tiny fey things with large bat-like ears, but are armed with sharp shortswords. The other three appear to be little dolls, moving jerkily.

One of them rushes Kondai and tries to poke at him with the shortsword, but he dodges the attack.

Shortsword: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15
Piercing Damage: 1d6 - 2 ⇒ (4) - 2 = 2

Round 1
Kondai
Francine (delay)
Fey (red, green)
Alaric
Stersk
Qigiq
Dolls (purple, yellow, teal)
Samna

*Battle map*

These are tiny creatures, so I believe they need to get into your space to attack you. And yes, you're fighting creepy dolls.

Just as he starts moving, Stersk realizes that any enemy is right next to him and he can't spring forward like he'd been planning on. He raises his pistol and fires a shot.

Clan Pistol: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20
Damage, Piercing (concussive): 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

He then swings his can e out at the flying thing near him muttering about how annoying even the bugs here are.

Reloading Strike, 2nd strike: 1d20 + 8 - 5 ⇒ (5) + 8 - 5 = 8
Damage, Bludgeoning: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

He then moves towards the true enemies in the area, the dolls.

Stersk blasts the fey in front of him. It shrieks in pain and anger, but easily parries his cane.

Round 1
Kondai
Francine (delay)
Fey (red -4, green)
Alaric
Stersk
Qigiq
Dolls (purple, yellow, teal)
Samna

**Battle Map**

I forgot a very important roll for Sterks's attacks! He's blind and needs to make a DC 5 flat check against the concealment!
Flat Check: 1d20 ⇒ 15

Qigiq moves to Francine's side and prays, "Powers of the night sky, guide us through this battle!"

Stride, Cast (V,S): bless
White square = Bless (+1 status bonus to attacks)

Alaric moves near the stairs as he quickly springs up his hellish dust. "What are these?" He looks at the strange doll heads in fascination. "Are they spirits?"

◆ Stride
◆◆ Incendiary Aura

”Ah! Getoffme! SPIRIT . . . BREAKING . . . CANNON!!!”
<><>Spellstrike+Gouging claw
Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
Damage if hit: 1d6 + 4 + 2d6 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 4 + (6, 2) + 3 + 1 = 17

The creature is presumably too small for him to kick. <>Cast Shield

Going to hold Kondai's action for next round. Fran, I assume you'll come out of delay now that you have enemies within reach. Otherwise, you'd just be losing the turn.

Round 1
Kondai
Fey (red -4, green)
Alaric (aura)
Stersk
Qigiq (bless)
Francine (delay)
Dolls (purple, yellow, teal)
Samna

**Battle Map**