Come inside the new Pathfinder lodge in the Qadiran city of Sedeq to celebrate its grand opening! Enjoy the party and mingle with people.
|
A Pathfinder agent walks into the party, snacking on some baklava. He's jovial and gregarious, and loudly greets everyone he knows by name.
♫ Party rock is in the house tonight
Everybody just have a good time
And we gonna make you lose your mind
Everybody just have a good time ♫
|
Into the lodge darts a lithe, young elven woman with a fur-lined cloak, heavier than one expects in these parts. She has a pack over one shoulder and a longbow over the other and they both drop down in a fluid motion as she discards the thick coat, as if squarely completing the transition from a much colder place. Underneath is nondescript hide and breeches of earthy tones. Her complexion is overly pale, even for an elf. Most interestingly, an intricate pattern of tattoos can now be seen reaching from her forearms to just where her hands meet her wrists. Sleeves hide where they begin. Her blond hair is always tied back and out of her way.
She moves very deliberately and swiftly, while her at-rest stance is of someone about to break into a sprint. She's always "on her toes."
Hello! I heard there's a mission to take up here. I'm Endra!
Before the PCs even came into the new Pathfinder lodge in Sedeq, they actually received letters a few weeks ago from Venture-Captain Esmayl ibn Qaradi of Sedeq Lodge and Fola Barun, leader of the Envoy’s Alliance faction, stating their purpose for the newly-opened lodge.
I’m afraid there’s nothing for it. These negotiations are simply too time-sensitive for me to slip away to Sedeq for the week. I must leave the role of host at our new lodge’s grand opening in your capable hands. Don’t worry, all the arrangements have already been made. All you need to worry about is playing nice with the guests when they arrive. Tell some stories, work the crowd, make sure everybody has a good time, and most importantly, make a good impression. Remember, most of this crowd agreed to come so they could judge the mettle of the Pathfinder Society with their own eyes. The friends you win today could make all the difference for our future prospects here.
Good luck.
Venture-Captain Esmayl ibn Qaradi
P.S.—I’ve forwarded a request from Venture-Captain Fola Barun, leader of the Envoy’s Alliance, who wants you to make some new friends for the Society. Please do your best to fulfill her needs. To avoid making mistakes, be sure to mingle and learn what you can about our guests. Work first, then enjoy the party!
I hope this letter finds you well. For that matter, I hope it finds you at all; I know how easy it is to mislay things while running hither and yon the way you do.
I just wanted to remind you of the honored guests we discussed who were interested in the Lodge opening. We burned quite a few favors getting all of them to agree to an appearance, so let’s try to get our fair share of the bargain, yes? There’s three in particular who I believe are already inclined to favor us. They just need a little nudge to seal the deal: Kendesh al-Maren’s little sibling, Khayrat; the historian Casira bint Meji; and Sir Agdal Karga, head priest of the Shrine of the Cleansing Flame.
We need to dig our roots into the local culture as soon as possible, lest all the good will we’ve fostered dry up and get blown away. If you find the chance to make a good impression on those three during the party, take it!
Yours,
Fola
|
|
Zazu spent some time training, between the missions. He learned how to use armor and made his hands more nimble and better at opening locks, disabling traps and lifting things. He was wearing a form of suit cut to a Ratfolk whom he was, he carried a topper hat that hid his horns, some of his tiefling heritage. He was walking nervously, muttering to himself "We should be finding Safa and trying to free her and not being a host on a party..." he turns and hides a small sandwich in his hand that quickly lands in his check pouch and is devoured in seconds
He clearly is eating his stress.
|
|
Jiggo focuses on the task at hand, cleaning up the hall and preparing to make some friends. He filed his report and made a request. If Safa didn't bend their master's orders so much the Pathfinders this meeting wouldn't be possible.
The Venture-Captains know what they are doing, and making allies was more important than freeing a trapped genie. So they claim.
Jiggo sighs and resigns himself to be patient. Salera waited a hundred years to save him, hopefully Safa can endure for a few more days.
He moves to one of the shrubs and checks for any mud or dirt that may have washed aside.
One of the few lessons Salera's mother managed to drill into her head: Make powerful friends. Parties like this are the easiest way to gather favors.
Salera checks the water fountain for any signs of contamination. Easy way to poison everyone. She stretches her bat wings and notes the feathers growing along the edges. Make up your damn mind, Heaven.
"Looks like the fountain is clear. Let's get this shindig over with. Then we can help Safa, and punish whoever is controlling them." She grins and rakes her claws against the surface of the water. The fun part.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Zhamie heads over to the buffet table to find Zazu already there, apparently stress-eating. She approaches Zazu and tries to calm him down.
"Nozing to vorry about mon ami. Zhust enjoy yourself."
"Don't you mon ami, me!" Zazu yells and for a moment he calls down "I am sorry, we spend days looking for them, plenty of folks on the streets! We reached out to those kids from the market. Guilds pulled various connections and nothing. It is a bit tiring." says Zazu
|
|
Azu read the venture captains letter with dread. If there was one part of the Society, Azu routinly hated it was the social.
At the gates, Azu finds a place where Ako can rest out of the way. Once inside, he easily locates the other Pathfinders, was easy, they clearly looked like they were on a mission and were the ones dressed accordingly. Azu introduces himself and gets to the point.
"Safa, I do not see that name mentioned in the letters."
|
|
"Ah yes, I forgot to tell you and Endra." Jiggo calls her towards Azu and himself.
"When Peter, Zhamie, Zazu and myself arrived to this lodge, we couldn't enter. A... rather cheerful djinn by the name of Safa was guarding the lodge and kept the members permanently asleep. On behalf of their... master." Jiggo almost spits. "We had three tasks to complete or the lodge would never open, and the members would sleep forever."
"I'll skip the details, but we weren't able to free Safa. And now we're helping with the lodge." He shrugs. "I do want to help Safa, but maybe this lodge will provide more clues."
"Patience will open the way to glory." He clutches his silver symbol of Shelyn.
With everyone enjoying the celebration, the entrance doors open filling the new lodge with different guests. Laughter, music, and the chattering of dozens of curious voices waft through the wide-open doors of the newest Pathfinder lodge, which have been thrown open to the public in celebration of its grand opening. It feels like half of Sedeq has come to tour the sun-drenched, mudbrick chambers and gauge all that the Society has to offer their city.
The heart of both the building and the party is in the central courtyard. Scores of visitors stand, sit, or lounge on benches as they enjoy the sunshine, the newly-planted gardens, good conversation, and delectable finger foods. Waiters weave between guests, topping off wine goblets, coffee cups, and pots of steaming tea, all to the tune of sweet music drifting from the balconies of the upper floors. To the west, a pair of wooden doors stands open, from which guests drift in and out of a dining room full of tables heavy with food. At the courtyard’s center, a three-tiered marble fountain babbles with fresh water.
|
|
Zazu calms down a bit before the guest arrives and stands there awkwardly as he can be but trying to chat with the guests. He saw how others are showing off their djinns to impress the crowds, he would do the same, just without the djinns.
Every now and then he sends a spectrum of lights towards the ceiling, accompanying it with some sounds
When Zazu sees Azu standing in the corner "Come on Azu, we talked about this. You say that you are man of the wilderness, and gardens, speak about gardens today. The same nature, just instead of looking for food, speak about how to nurture them."
|
|
Jiggo asks openly about the guests of honor. He's new to the area, so he wears the naive newcomer role well.
"And you are... Casira bint Meji? It's an honor to meet you. I am Jiggo Maeleranti. This is my one and only Salera." He points up and slightly behind him, and she curtsies in response. "I'm very glad to meet you on behalf of the Pathfinder Society."
Zazu entertains some young ladies in colorful dresses with his trick of swirling lights and sounds. The women are so fascinated enjoy the ratfolk's show with their wine in their glasses, cheering to one another. Zazu overhears them when the lady in red gossips something to the other ladies. ”Girls, you know Agdal Karga?” she asks them, flipping her hair with her face blushing as red as her gown. ”I have this crush on him and I wanna share what I know about him. He credits Sarenrae with giving him the second chance of returning to life as a duskwalker, and dedicated his every waking moment to living up to her ideals. I stalked more about him and I found out that he is the head priest of Sedeq’s largest Sarenite church, the Shrine of the Cleansing Flame. Also, he’s a long-time correspondent and political ally of Shahiyan Deena al-Parishat and often invokes her name in fiery polemics against the city’s infamous genie-binding trade. Such a nice man, I heard he is coming here!” she concludes while the other ladies giggles and squeals in delight.
Peter begins to tell a tale of their latest exploits to a group of men in suits, telling about how they saved their fellow Pathfinders from the invisible hand of an unknown being in which that being is proxied by a djinni. He tries to distract them with his story and attempts to look here and there as he tells stories, but does not find somebody that looks like a fox. Nevertheless, he learned from the gentlemen that a certain curator of the Southern Qadiran History Museum named Casira bint Meji will be attending the celebration too.
Jiggo attempts to look for one of the esteemed guests, by trying to approach a random person and purposely(?) mistakes her for Casira bint Meji. The woman politely responds, ”I'm sorry, no, I'm not Casira. You could have mistaken me because of my hair similar to hers, haha,” laughing nervously while tapping her short white hair on a bun, ”I am an archaeologist, but Casira bint Meji is the curator of the Southern Qadiran History Museum and a renowned scholar, having penned four popular tomes on local history. Her contacts in the academic community makes her an invaluable resource for your Society’s historical excavation projects.”
Azu begins to mingle with others too and finds himself with a group of young hunters. He takes this opportunity to impress them on how to hunt wild boars and deers in the forest. He is so performative in his impression (because he knows his craft so well), he is even compared to Khayrat Al-Maren. One of the young hunters speaks, ”You are like Khayrat Al-Maren, he is playful and charming, and he has won the ear of many influential nobles with his kind smile and good sense of humor, though he has politely rejected all attempted courtships as of yet. Despite being well-liked, it is known that he has a deep fear of rejection. Khayrat al-Maren is the younger sibling of the Peerless Kendesh al-Maren and a popular attache of the Imperial Court. Party guests note that Khayrat is 'bearing his shoulders today,' a tasteful way of communicating that the genderfluid sylph currently presents as a man and uses he/him pronouns. I hope I can see him here today.”
Having learned what the Pathfinders found about the esteemed guests, they share them to one another. Sooner or later, these information will be helpful for them once they get a chance to encounter them during the grand opening celebration.
|
|
Endra keeps reaching for her bow that isn't there while milling about in this social setting. She's a fish out of water if there ever was one.
Now this, is survivalism.
She tries several times to approach party-goers but shies away each time.
Finally, she resorts to tell other party-goers stories about her adventures scouting the woods of Irrisen, patrolling for goblin raiders. Only when one is hooked on them does she ask about Casira.
Endra finds herself among a group of young men that seems to find interest of her adventures. Unfortunately, when she ask about Casira, they seem to not know anything about her. She may have left the group empty-handed, but at least her allies have enough precious information.
Azuk on the other hand, starts to be on a hunter mode, which some guests notice to be out-of-place for a party and celebration. He begins to track the skelm, that could perhaps just be his imagination, until he finds himself in front of the wooden shed built in the southeastern corner of the courtyard. He is sure that what he saw came from here, or perhaps went inside it. When he opens it, to the surprise of some ladies near it, he finds nothing but gardening supplies and other tools required to tend the gardens and maintain the fountain. Maybe he is just being paranoid or something. The ladies are looking to see if he will be doing some cleaning or something.
A delighted gasp rings from the center of the courtyard, drawing the crowd’s collective attention to the fountain. A sweet, fruity scent floods the air as, before the guests’ very eyes, the fountain’s waters shift from clear to a dark red-purple hue.
A round of appreciative applause follows shortly, with a few guests voicing their praise of the magical surprise. Someone dips their goblet into the stream and takes a sip, then dissolves into sputtering laughter—the drink isn’t wine, as they’d all assumed, but non-alcoholic grape juice. “And a lovely vintage, too!” That declaration spreads the laughter to the surrounding guests.
A resounding crack interrupts the merriment. Despite the sheer weight of the marble pieces, the fountain’s tiers have separated and begun spinning at high speed! The guests go from laughing to shrieking as they scatter, the nearest already splattered with juice that has no doubt ruined their fine clothes. More and more of the sweet liquid spews from the fountain while its tiers spin faster and faster, flinging grape juice in all directions!
"Accckkkk! Stop it from spinning!" the lady shrieks, seeing her dress gets drenched with the juice from the spinning three-tiered juice fountain before she can even run away from it.
Terrain Condition: Juice on the floor (squares in red) makes the affected square(s) as difficult terrain.
Active Condition:
ENCOUNTER MAP
Azu HP 56/56, AC 21 | Ako HP 38/38, AC 21
Zhamie HP 24/24, AC 16
Fast Spinning Juice Fountain
Jiggo HP 34/34, AC 15 | Salera AC 19
Zazu HP 38/38, AC 20
Peter HP 26/26, AC 18
Endra HP 26/26, AC 19
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Don't you mon ami, me!" Zazu yells and for a moment he calls down "I am sorry, we spend days looking for them, plenty of folks on the streets! We reached out to those kids from the market. Guilds pulled various connections and nothing. It is a bit tiring." says Zazu
|
|
Before Zhamie can try to calm Zazu down she hears the commotion outside and goes to investigate. She sees Jiggo and Salera holding on to the fountain. Zhamie runs forward, sloshing through the red goop on the floor and tries to grab onto the fountain's base.
Unfortunately, she's ill-prepared for the task and lands face first in the red goo.
Azu attempts to Grapple one of the tiers of the spinning fountain, but the spinning fountain seems to graze his hand with its sheer force of its centrifugal slam.
Azu is able to Grapple it with some damage onto his hand, so someone needs to disable it.
Terrain Condition: Juice on the floor (squares in red) makes the affected square(s) as difficult terrain.
Active Condition:
ENCOUNTER MAP
Character in BOLD may act!
Azu HP 49/56, AC 21 | Ako HP 38/38, AC 21
Zhamie HP 24/24, AC 16
Fast Spinning Juice Fountain | Tier 1 (Grappled, 1/2 Disabled) | Tier 2 | Tier 3
Jiggo HP 34/34, AC 15 | Salera AC 19
Zazu HP 38/38, AC 20
Peter HP 26/26, AC 18
Endra HP 26/26, AC 19
Zazu attempts to disable the mechanism with some forks but it does not work.
Terrain Condition: Juice on the floor (squares in red) makes the affected square(s) as difficult terrain.
Active Condition:
ENCOUNTER MAP
Character in BOLD may act!
Azu HP 49/56, AC 21 | Ako HP 38/38, AC 21
Zhamie HP 24/24, AC 16
Fast Spinning Juice Fountain | Tier 1 (Grappled, 1/2 Disabled) | Tier 2 | Tier 3
Jiggo HP 34/34, AC 15 | Salera AC 19
Zazu HP 38/38, AC 20
Peter HP 26/26, AC 18
Endra HP 26/26, AC 19
Salera watches Azu hold the thing still. "I got it." She runs up to the fountain.
"Hold still. It's like a fancy lockbox." Her fingers dance around the fountain, keeping it in place.
Jiggo, meanwhile, moves towards Azu, making sure he doesn't slip on the grape juice. "I'll help with your injuries, one second!"
Salera, with some quick but precise tinkering, is able to disable the mechanism of one of the spinning fountain's tier. Two more to go! Jiggo moves to help Azu of his injuries.
Terrain Condition: Juice on the floor (squares in red) makes the affected square(s) as difficult terrain.
Active Condition:
ENCOUNTER MAP
Character in BOLD may act!
Azu HP 49/56, AC 21 | Ako HP 38/38, AC 21
Zhamie HP 24/24, AC 16
Fast Spinning Juice Fountain | Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3
Jiggo HP 34/34, AC 15 | Salera AC 19
Zazu HP 38/38, AC 20
Peter HP 26/26, AC 18
Endra HP 26/26, AC 19
Not wanting to get his hands dirty, Peter instead shield himself and casts Guidance for Zhamie and Endra.
Terrain Condition: Juice on the floor (squares in red) makes the affected square(s) as difficult terrain.
Active Condition:
ENCOUNTER MAP
Character in BOLD may act!
Azu HP 49/56, AC 21 | Ako HP 38/38, AC 21
Zhamie HP 24/24, AC 16 | Guidance (1 rd)
Fast Spinning Juice Fountain | Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3
Jiggo HP 34/34, AC 15 | Salera AC 19
Zazu HP 38/38, AC 20
Peter HP 26/26, AC 18
Endra HP 26/26, AC 19 | Guidance (1 rd)
Zhamie attempts to grab the next tier to stop it from spinning, but she fails, grazing some skin from her hand with bludgeoning damage.
Terrain Condition: Juice on the floor (squares in red) makes the affected square(s) as difficult terrain.
Active Condition:
ENCOUNTER MAP
Character in BOLD may act!
Azu HP 49/56, AC 21 | Ako HP 38/38, AC 21
Zhamie HP 11/24, AC 16 | (2 actions left)
Fast Spinning Juice Fountain | Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3
Jiggo HP 34/34, AC 15 | Salera AC 19
Zazu HP 38/38, AC 20
Peter HP 26/26, AC 18
Endra HP 26/26, AC 19 | Guidance (1 rd)
Zhamie misses the spinning tier and retreats.
Terrain Condition: Juice on the floor (squares in red) makes the affected square(s) as difficult terrain.
Active Condition:
ENCOUNTER MAP
Character in BOLD may act!
Azu HP 49/56, AC 21 | Ako HP 38/38, AC 21
Zhamie HP 11/24, AC 16
Fast Spinning Juice Fountain | Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3
Jiggo HP 34/34, AC 15 | Salera AC 19
Zazu HP 38/38, AC 20
Peter HP 26/26, AC 18
Endra HP 26/26, AC 19 | Guidance (1 rd)
|
|
Endra is bewildered by the sudden activation of this device and her teammates jumping into to swift action. She would be one to help with the blunt force and hold it tightly for those with more nimble fingers.
I'm glad some of you know your way around devices better than me! Let's see if I can get it stopped again!
She runs towards the center and throws both arms up to try to grab onto it, aware that the intense spin might bruise them.
The spinning caught the attention of Endra and she quickly moves towards it to Grapple it, and she is successful. What needs to be done now is to disable its mechanism!
Terrain Condition: Juice on the floor (squares in red) makes the affected square(s) as difficult terrain.
Active Condition:
ENCOUNTER MAP
Character in BOLD may act!
Azu HP 49/56, AC 21 | Ako HP 38/38, AC 21
Zhamie HP 11/24, AC 16
Fast Spinning Juice Fountain | Tier 1 | Tier 2 (Grappled, 0/2 Disabled) | Tier 3
Jiggo HP 34/34, AC 15 | Salera AC 19
Zazu HP 38/38, AC 20
Peter HP 26/26, AC 18
Endra HP 26/26, AC 19
Azu does the disabling of the the spinning fountain's mechanism and he is successful at partially doing so.
Terrain Condition: Juice on the floor (squares in red) makes the affected square(s) as difficult terrain.
Active Condition:
ENCOUNTER MAP
Character in BOLD may act!
Azu HP 49/56, AC 21 | Ako HP 38/38, AC 21
Zhamie HP 11/24, AC 16
Fast Spinning Juice Fountain | Tier 1 | Tier 2 (Grappled, 1/2 Disabled) | Tier 3
Jiggo HP 34/34, AC 15 | Salera AC 19
Zazu HP 38/38, AC 20
Peter HP 26/26, AC 18
Endra HP 26/26, AC 19