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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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A heavily armoured human warrior, leaning forward on his chair in an almost brooding manner, awaits the venture-captain. His eyes perk up a bit at the sound of the little leshy's voice.
Smiling weakly, he replies, "Oh, hello, there. Nice to meet you...Professor. My name is Aloysius, chosen of Erastil."
He looks about to extend his hand in friendship but considers the plant creature's small limbs and thinks better of it.
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It is an okay view.
Alone at the top, an aged tengu with grey plumage and a "beard" of stringy... feathers... scratches his chin (the space just below his beak), blinking his eyes slowly and poised in a meditative criss-cross of legs, perched atop a branch that overhangs a nearby pathfinder lodge. Several people mill about below - adventurously dressed types - one human, one not-quite human, one a large pumpkin of sorts... "How long have I been sitting here?" he suddenly wonders to himself. "Oh yes..."
Indeed, a Geometric Map assembled with a Piecemail-Protractor and Cobbled-Compass had, according to his Mystic Calculations, had brought him to exactly this Point in Space, and unlike a fool, he had double and treble -checked his work, confident in his facility with the nuances of theoretical-to-practical application. For, although he had no intentions of publishing, Old Crow at Mountain's Top had contributed greatly to the scientific art, even if only he had ever shared the fruits of his labor with himself - some hapless hope that his own mortality would be less-longer-lived than the gifts he had decided to, well, (there is no other way to say it!), 'come down the mountain' to give to the world. After some extended refinement of course. I mean... "Oh, what does this note say? To go... Down there!?"...
Looking from on high down low, he hops down and follows Aleksandr without even introducing himself...
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A youngish dwarf wearing full armour, shield and a large hammer stomps into the room. He looks about "Ambrus Valsin said I was wanted. Some'et about a rainy day? " he asks.
Then looking around he sees a team assembled. "Hmm.. maybe it be a code word. I be wondering what 'e thought I could do about it raining. Build an umbrella maybe?" he ponders.
Then, he extends his hand. "Khaul Ironetoes, crafter in the service of Torag, also at yer servide."
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A small canine humanoid clad in plate mail in a traveler's chair with a rose emblazoned on the spiked wheels enters the room. A large axe that glows faintly is strapped to the back of the chair. He cheerfully offers a paw to each of the other Pathfinders. "Hello, I'm Ra'uf. They usually send me in when they need muscle, but I am pretty good at getting Agents out of all types of bad situations."
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As you talk and swap stories, Rain in Cloudy Day walks in with a stack of papers balanced precariously in his arms. Unable to see where he's going, he trips on a fold of the carpet and sends papers flying everywhere. He picks himself up off the floor, blushing slightly. His eyes widen at the six Pathfinders looking at him, concerned for his well-being. He exclaims with relief.
"Ah, you’ve arrived! What a relief! I’m a bit overwhelmed at the moment, and I could use your help. The Pathfinder Society leadership is in a closed-door meeting right now, reviewing the latest news from Iobaria, the distant land where the Society has focused its efforts of late. I can’t wait to hear more about all the interesting things our agents discovered there! But, while they’re busy, I’ve been asked to catalog the flood of correspondence from our Inner Sea lodges. Just look at all these letters! Ambrus—that is, Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin—asked me to sort and summarize all of it, but there’s so much! And, I’m not ashamed to admit that with my relative inexperience, all of it seems urgent! I’ve got to put a report together, but I’m overwhelmed by all the unfamiliar names and places! Here, take these letters. See what you can make of them. I’d hate to miss something important and disappoint the venture-captain, and I think the meeting is almost over."
As you help him clean up the mess, your eyes land on some of the missives he was carrying.
"Feel free to share these among yourselves and exchange information."
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As you give Rain this information, he eagerly writes it all down in his notebook. As a brand-new Pathfinder agent, he is especially curious about any information pertaining to the Pathfinder Society’s older factions. Rain ponders aloud whether these events might be related, but before he can ask for more details, a tall man with tan skin and dark, meticulously groomed hair throws open the doors and strides into the office: Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin clearly has something urgent on his mind. Rain in Cloudy Day jumps up to interrupt him, proclaiming that the report summarizing the correspondence is ready. The venture-captain, taken aback, accepts the journal that Rain shoves into his hands. Rain watches expectantly as Valsin skims the report.
Ambrus Valsin nods to those gathered and says in a gruff voice, "Ah, yes. Thank you Rain, agents. Let me see… this is all quite worrying! Your thoroughness is praiseworthy. Unfortunately, we cannot act on any of this right now. Another urgent matter has come up, right on our doorstep. I need agents to go to the Blakros Museum and meet with Curator Adjutant Seshuun, who is temporarily in charge. I do not have any details, but she’s requested the Society’s immediate presence, and she seems upset. We’ve worked hard to establish a working relationship with the museum, and I do not want it to fall to pieces now with everything else going on. Please help the curator with anything she may need, and if you can, try to make a good first impression. Rain and I will remain here and bring this report to the Society’s leadership. Some of this is quite serious, and we’ll take it all the way to the Decemvirate if needed!"
Ambrus Valsin turns to you. "Any questions before you leave?"
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"I think Imelia would love to see the museum."
Aleksandr concentrates, raising one arm, palm presented. What looks like a black rose tattoo fades in, filling the space in his palm from top down. As he does this a portal to the ether opens and another hand, one more slender and delicate pushes through with a matching tattoo on her palm. Aleksandr gently grabs the hand and pulls her through. Her form is radiant, not merely as a term of beauty, fitting as that would be, but literally radiant, suffused with the power of life.
"How about a trip to the museum my dearest?"
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Ambrus Valsin smiles slightly as he fields your questions.
"Curator Adjutant Seshuun is filling in for Nigel Aldain, who is currently on Sabbatical. I've not really met her so I don't know if there are any topics you should avoid. I do have to stress that we need to make a good first impression with her. As far as nexus points are concerned, I do not know."
Turning innocently to Khaul, Ambrus says "I've heard that the spaghetti in the Museum cafeteria is delicious, though others have told me that it's not fit to eat for even an otyugh."
Before striding out the door, Ambrus turns to Rain and comments "Oh Rain, next time, before you compile official reports, make sure you reference your sources." Rain hastily writes down this advice in a section of his journal labeled "How to Report."
As you leave, Rain hands you a sack containing four Lesser Healing Potions. He also offers you a single moderate alchemical bomb.
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Khaul eyes up the bag warily.
"Why would we be needin healing potions in a museum?" he asks, slightly worriedly. "Unless some of dem rumors' be more than just... well.. rumours."
When the bomb comes out his eyes go wild. "And that be something nobody wants ta be seein in a museum! Good first impressions would be to check that before we be goin in the door."
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"Curious" the aged tengu looks at the explosive compounds - grabbing the tanglefoot bag - he asks Aleksandr "How does it function? Do I just pull this tab" and with dangerous curiosity, he begins to do just that...
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"Curious" the aged tengu looks at the explosive compounds - grabbing the tanglefoot bag - he asks 1d4 Aleksandr "How does it function? Do I just pull this tab" and with dangerous curiosity, he begins to do just that...
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Your trip from the Grand Lodge to the Blakros Museum is uneventful, though Old Crow looks around constantly, as if looking for bad guys to throw the tanglefoot bag at.
You arrive at the museum to what could only be called a scene of controlled chaos. Gardeners and landscapers busily haul plants and building materials through the gardens that flank the path leading to the imposing, multistory building that is the Blakros Museum. Its outer walls are crafted almost entirely from a single chunk of volcanic rock. A woman stands near the entrance, speaking with several of the workers in a calm yet commanding voice. She has deep blueish-purple skin and vibrant teal markings, denoting her ancestry as one of the aquatic azarketi. She approaches you and introduces herself.
"Well met. I am Curator Adjutant Seshuun. What business do you have at the museum?"
The plants—a few real, but most of them fake—are intended to make the gardens appear like a grove straight out of Iobaria.
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"So, you’re the ones Valsin sent to fix this mess. No, not the gardens. The shipment! You know, the relics? The Iobarian relics? Surely you can explain why the shipment hasn’t been delivered yet. The Sixwing Drake should have arrived with the relics by now, but I’ve heard no word. We can make the gardens look as authentic as we want, but nobody is going to visit an empty exhibit. The recent business with the curator, Nigel Aldain, has tarnished the museum’s reputation enough as it is. I can’t allow the Society’s delays to cause further problems. You look like you might have questions. Please tell me you can help?"
Per Ambrus Valsin’s request, you may wish to make a good first impression on Seshuun.
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At the reassuring words of Aloysius, Professor Whitegourd and Aleksandr, Seshuun visibly relaxes.
"I apologize for being short with you. This job has been really maddening. I need to make a good first impression with the museum management. But all these disruptions are getting out of hand. I am grateful for any help you can provide. I hope that the museum can assist the Society as well."
"Now then, it is imperative that you make your way to the docks to see what has happened to the relics aboard the Sixwing Drake. We can talk of other matters later, but for now you must go to the docks as soon as possible. I do have some items for you, though. These may help you in your search for the relics."
She hands you an everburning torch, as well as a small statuette of a Black Dog. The statue is about an inch high. "His name is Dusty. To summon him, you need but to place the statue on the ground and speak his name."
Your journey from the Blakros Museum to the docks doesn’t take long. The waterfront teems with activity and the sights and sounds of one of the Inner Sea’s largest ports. Once you navigate through the crowded streets, you approach any one of the dozens of dockworkers, who wave you toward the docks where you can find Harbormaster Hansara Molnesh and the Sixwing Drake.
Hansara Molnesh is a tall, broad-shouldered Garundi woman with weathered bronze skin and graying hair. She directs a small group of dockworkers who are busy loading barrels onto a sleek, blue-sailed ship emblazoned with the name Sixwing Drake in faded paint.
"Well met! What is it you need?"
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The harbormaster frowns in confusion. "Someone already came by to get the shipment. At least… I think they did? They were… hmm. To be honest, I can’t remember. Come to think of it, everything that happened this morning is all… cloudy. Wait, why are the workers loading cargo on the ship?!" She turns to the crew gathered on the docks and the Sixwing Drake and shouts, "Hey, listen up! The Pathfinders are here for the shipment! Let’s get to work!"
Moments later, a dockhand on the upper deck steps rigidly toward a stack of barrels and says something inaudible over the din of the harbor. A series of massive explosions obliterates the Sixwing Drake, spewing flames and charred debris onto the docks.
Seconds later, two creatures resembling walking burning trash piles step out and advance at you.
Momentarily stunned, Harbormaster Molnesh snaps out of her stupor and begins barking orders, directing firefighting operations.
"You handle those creatures, we'll take care of the fires!" she shouts at you.
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COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 1
Tactical Map
Active Conditions:
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Those with ** may go
**Professor Whitegourd - AC 18, 48/48
Green
Aloysius Gallo - AC 22 (24 w/shield), 64/64
Aleksandr Ostenoff - AC 20, 41/41; Imelia AC 21
Old Crow at Mountain's Top - AC 19 (21 w/shield) 26/26
Ra'uf Steelwheels - AC 21, 39/39
Khaul Irontoes - AC 21 (23 w/shield), 52/52
Pink
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Professor Whitegourd conjures up a Giant Skunk that sprays a potent, acrid musk in a 15-foot cone over both flaming monsters.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target is sickened 1.
Failure The target is sickened 3.
Critical Failure The target is blinded for 1 round, becomes sickened 3, and takes a –2 penalty to Stealth checks from the horrific odor for 24 hours or until the musk is removed or neutralized, requiring 10 minutes of thorough scrubbing with soap.
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Both creatures get covered in musk, but both appear unaffected. Green oozes forward and produces a fiery beam that reaches Ra'uf.
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COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 1
Tactical Map
Active Conditions:
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Those with ** may go
Professor Whitegourd - AC 18, 48/48; Skunk AC 16, 21/21 (DC 21 Basic Reflex pending)
Green
**Aloysius Gallo - AC 22 (24 w/shield), 64/64
**Aleksandr Ostenoff - AC 20, 41/41; Imelia AC 21
**Old Crow at Mountain's Top - AC 19 (21 w/shield) 26/26
**Ra'uf Steelwheels - AC 21, 39/39 (DC 21 Basic Reflex pending)
**Khaul Irontoes - AC 21 (23 w/shield), 52/52 (DC 21 Basic Reflex pending)
Pink