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The office of Venture-Captain Finze Bellaugh is densely packed with shelves of books, maps, scrolls, and even more esoteric methods of note-keeping. The room’s wide windows are open, allowing a cool breeze to pass through the office. As the venture-captain stands to greet the gathered Pathfinders, a small crystal ball that had been used as a paperweight rolls off of his desk, falling into a nest of scrolls that are covered in scribbled notes. “Whoops,” the venture-captain says with a chuckle, deftly navigating the mess to replace the paperweight. Having ensured no vital documents are at risk of blowing away, he addresses the group. “Pathfinders! Today, we have an opportunity to do some good for the people of Vidrian and earn a little favor with the government. Here, let’s take a look at this.”
The venture-captain slides a narrow indoor curtain to the side, revealing a bell made of cold iron that hangs low from the ceiling. The bell is one foot in diameter and two feet tall. Intricate engravings depict crocodile-headed humanoids and normal crocodiles with monstrous features clambering out of a deep pool towards smaller humanoids on the bell’s crown. “The Society recently recovered this interesting object. I’ve been studying it, and it seems to have remnants of magic made for repelling bilokos. Or perhaps attracting them? Well, they’re awful things, and according to the old tales, they love bells—perhaps this object is a lure of some kind? According to my research, it belongs to a community of Song’o halflings, who must miss it dearly. This is quite curious, as Song’os typically craft more portable or temporary art to suit their nomadic lifestyle. This, however, is quite sturdy. I think there’s more here than meets the eye.
“How did we stumble across such an object, you ask? Now there’s an exciting tale! Recently, we learned of a band of mercenaries who tried to steal away with a ship and its cargo of cultural relics that need to be returned to their rightful keepers. We worked with the locals to stop them, rescue the ship’s crew, and recover the relics in a relatively good condition...” Finze pauses to closely examine the bell before breathing on the surface and wiping the spot with his handkerchief. “Make that pristine condition!
“Unfortunately, the Imminent Laughter—that’s the ship—crashed during the pursuit. Our priority was rescuing the marooned crew, so the thieves escaped, and we didn’t have time for a thorough search of the wreck. We grabbed what looked important and got our people back to shore. There may be documents on board indicating where the bell came from—after all, the whole point of the Imminent Laughter’s voyage was to bring cultural relics back to Vidrian so they could be returned to their rightful owners.
“So, your mission is to head to the wreckage just up the shore and see what you can find. Report back to me once you’ve explored the wreck. Then, perhaps we can send you to return the bell and learn why it’s so important. If we can lend a helping hand and make some new allies along the way all the better. Any questions?”
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So all the mission is for the mushroom, right?
The old man who asked this is wearing a brown leather armor inside his cape and has a curious sickle at his belt. His shaggy beard makes him special but what is the most intriguing is without contest the swarm of gems flying near him.
So we go to the wreckage, we explore, cooperate and come back to report. Do we bring the mushroom with us for the exploration? Should it be useful do you think?
The man of Irissen approaches from the bell to observe it closer.
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"Eh, jungle halflings I can take or leave," says a diminutive kobold with his hand resting on the carapace of an enormous scorpion. "But those bilokos are just plain bad news. If this thing hurts them, I'm in."
"Say buddy," he says to Vilmur, "What's with the flying jewelry? Not that it ain't nifty, you understand."
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The old man lost in his mind: Mmhh what flying jewelry?
But a voice comes from the swam itself! I am living you know even if his familiar. In fact I'm better to speak with people than my master.
Someone calls back: Well stop it now. The great and magnificent Baba Yaga hasn't given you to me to talk like this.
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A coppery and gold scaled kobold looks up. "What are bilokos?" He stands up and stretches his small wings and his lanky form hunches back down into his natural stance. "Rhaegal can help find this sunken ship but perhaps we should keep bell for our hoard? Dragons like to collect things!" He says the last as if he were trying to teach you.
He moves to examine the bell and sniffs at it, trying to sense if it is magical.
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A crazy old coot, a Dwarf of handsomely good looks and sense, and two kobolds march into an angry swarm of wild halflings, what could go wrong? Nothin' a pile of gunpowder and some steel 50 caliber rifled slugs can't handle!
The weathered old Dwarf in the corner chewing on smoked jerky starts laughing at an inside joke as the others begin the introductions "So just what do we do if these Songo's ain't so keen on us toting around their ancient heirloom? You sure it ain't best to just scuttle that ship and the bell and be done with the whole mess?"
The old Dwarf stands there with a long rifle over one shoulder and a scattergun across the other. Numerous bottles of explosive liquids decorate his person, along with the various stains and smears on his leather armor that accompany someone who lives on the fringes of civilized society.
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The venture-captain points at one of the crocodile-headed humanoids on the bell. “Ravenous fey creatures that can only eat the flesh of humanoids. They plague the Expanse’s jungles, and they’re cunning hunters. Though I can’t discern exactly what this bell’s function is, it seems to be some sort of lure or ward to protect against biloko attacks. All the more reason to find out who owns the bell and return it as soon as we can.”
Scratch, admittedly, we don't know for certain if the owners will want the bell back, but the safest assumption we can make is that they would.
Bilokos are cunning hunters who like to use tricks to single out victims and lure them away from their companions. They subsist entirely on humanoid flesh.
Bilokos have a fascination with bells, often using them for hunting and setting traps, but they can also be tricked by these covetous instruments. Bilokos who eat spellcasters can become more powerful creatures known as elokos, and rumors tell of powerful eloko leaders with connections to primal forces deep within the jungles of the Mwangi Expanse.
Bilokos are cunning hunters who like to use tricks to single out victims and lure them away from their companions. They subsist entirely on humanoid flesh.
As an ancient offshoot of halflings, bilokos will parley with outsiders and accept an invitation to dinner, so long as the offer is genuine and made in good faith.
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"Oh, Bilokos!" Rhaegal seems to enunciate the word differently, but you can't really tell that much difference. "Yes, they are cunning hunters who like to use tricks to single out victims and lure them away from their companions. And they do eat humanoid flesh. Bilokos have a fascination with bells, often using them for hunting and setting traps, but they can also be tricked by these covetous instruments. Bilokos who eat spellcasters can become more powerful creatures known as elokos, and rumors tell of powerful eloko leaders with connections to primal forces deep within the jungles of the Mwangi Expanse."
The small kobold clears his throat. "I mean, that makes sense. If you were to eat a Dragon like me, it only seems normal that you would become more powerful." He glances around. "Oh, I am Rhaegal, defender of mighty Jadirahx. I am also simply called The Dragon."
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"Well, good thing I'm not some spellcaster.. and mushroom man over there seems kinda like an alien so... do kobold-dragons count as humanoids? We could be in the clear.. just don't come runnin' to the dinner bell if ya hear it echoing over the swamp around dusk." He chuckles before chowing down on more homemade jerky.
His attention does perk up quickly though when the word 'wreck' floats back in between his ears "You said wreck didn't ya.. like on the ocean, boat kinda thing? We aren't swimmin' are we? I ain't one fer underwater work... gunpowder n water ain't friends."
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The last came in a short figure. Roughly the same height as Rhaegal or Rannarix. The creature is wearing leather armor and is carrying a staff in its paws. His whole body is covered with fur, and his long snout is moving as he sucks in the air. His tail wags every nice and then. Under his armor, he is carrying a well-looking suit and a topper hat, which he removes
"Zazu Darksnout at your service, once illusionist in a circus but now an effective agent working for Pathfinders."
You can clearly see that tha ratfolk has small horns on his head, which are quickly covered by his hat.
"So we should go to examine the wreckage and get some more information about that bell. Ideally not be eaten by Bilokos while doing that. Sounds simple. Do we have any contacts among the halflings?"
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What are you saying? Bilokos are nice halflings accepting dinner invitation if asked with faith. They are so charming people.
Rhaegal looks at Vilmer oddly. "You eat meals with Bilokos? Even for Dragons -- who occasionally eat people -- that's a weird invite."
He nods at Zazu and then chuckles at the dwarf. "So we go see if wreckage is underwater. See if dwarf has to learn to use underwater squirt gun. Maybe it's not all underwater. But Dragons know how to swim."
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Quickblade is a tall man wearing padded armor. He's tanned and well muscled, a result of living life in the wild. He surveys the room and his companions, not really recognizing them but knowing of them from reports of other Pathfinders.
He scratches his head and gives Vilmur a strange look. He has heard of this individual with an obsession with mushrooms. He also remembers he has Pathfinder friends with an obsession with pickles as well.
"Well met! I am Quickblade Trueshot. I have heard of all of you from reports of my fellow Pathfinders. I am quite honored to be in such august company."
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Slide 2 added with pictures, slide 3 added with the map.
After about 2 hours of uneventful travel north along the shore of Desperation Bay, you reach the wreckage of the trade vessel Imminent Laughter.
Driftwood litters the sandy beach, still flowing freely from the bisected remains of a trade vessel resting in the shallows. Smooth rocks break the surface and surround the wreckage, as if the land itself reached up to tear the boat to pieces before clumsily grasping its prize.
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Scratch spends the two hour hike keeping a low profile in the back, but for short stocky legs he manages to keep the pace up. Once they reach the wreck site he groans and swears "Frickin' A, knew we were gonna get wet.. gimme a minute, I gotta pack these babies away for safe keepin'."
He pulls out three different water proof gun cases, two long guns: his arquebus, dwarven scatter gun, and finally pulling a carefully concealed clan pistol, with an attached silencer, from inside his leather armor. "Can't ever have too many guns.. hehe." He chuckles, securing the goods, and their ammo, just in case things go awry.
"Its damned deeper over here!" He sputters.
"Even worse here!"
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Rhaegal looks at the others wading and swimming out to the ship. He sniffs at the salty air and growls. Some dragons lived their lives in the sea and near water. Others loved the forest and mountains. Rhaegal had never been one for water, but if he was going to fulfill his destiny of dragonhood, he couldn't shy away from this.
The kobold takes a deep breath and shouts, "I AM A DRAGON!!" He leaps into the water as his form begins to change, his scales shifting and his wings spreading as they flap. It looks like the little kobold might actually turn into a dragon!
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Out of the water shoots a coppery and gold scaled...frog? A giant frog to be sure, and it has small wings and a dragon-like snout, but its webbed feet and croak are definitely frog-like. The dragon-frog gives a snort of frustration and then darts off, swimming out to the wreckage before leaping onto the deck.
When the dwarf begins to flounder in the water, trying to save his precious gunpowder, the dragon-frog circles around him. Rhaegal croaks and snorts and swims under the dwarf to help him.
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The kobold takes a deep breath and shouts, "I AM A DRAGON!!" He leaps into the water as his form begins to change, his scales shifting and his wings spreading as they flap. It looks like the little kobold might actually turn into a dragon!
"Yeah!" yells Rannarix, who also harbors the unshakable belief in his own dragonhood, but keeps running into far more dragon-like dragons than himself. He sees it as confirmation that he's not wrong.
The little kobold, normally an excellent swimmer, is so distracted by Rhaegal's display that he swallows a large amount of water and begins to flounder. If a scorpion could roll its eyes, so the eyes of Ruyi Jingu Bang, whom its master insists on calling Mister Snappers, would roll. The scorpion paddles over and seizes its hapless master with gentle claws and drags him towards the boat.
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With the assistance available (along with my misreading the scenario and the check to get this far is only DC10,) you all make it on the the deck of the ship and start to look around.
Adding 1 for scout for the party
A couple of large shapes are approaching the wrecked ship through the water, and they don't look happy to see you!
Initiative
Round 1
Bold May act
Rhaegal Dragonkin
Zazu Darksnout
Scratch
Vilmur
Rannarix
Quickblade Trueshot
Hippopotamus, Black
Hippopotamus, Blue
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The first thing Scratch does when he's safely on deck is unpack his firearms, minus the clan pistol, he leaves that safely sealed up in its waterproof case.
"Look out! They're ACTUALLY coming straight for us!" He hollers, raising the alarm and drawing out his long rifle in one fluid motion. He levels the barrel at the advancing blue creature and unleashes gunpowder fury.
As the smoke begins to clear he retreats a bit up deck, ducking behind a railing as he reloads.
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Based on the morale of the Hippos, I'll rule the Hippopotamuses acquiesce to Rhaegal's request, and end the combat.
The Hippos move off you can feel the wreckage shifting under your feet. We are going to do this searching in rounds, just to make it easier to keep track of the number of actions. Each "Round" takes about 10 minutes.
Each "Round" you can make a Perception or Sailing Lore check (or another skill you can justify, usually at a higher DC) to search the wreckage, before it breaks up.
Search Round 1
Bold May act
Rhaegal Dragonkin
Zazu Darksnout
Scratch
Vilmur
Rannarix
Quickblade Trueshot
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The dragon-frog hops to the edge of the wreckage and croaks loudly, thumping his leg on the deck, trying to warn off the hippos.
"Well why the heck didn't you say you spoke hippo?" He chuckles, slinging his long rifle over his shoulder and riding the wave of the creaking wreck.
"Guess we better be quick about this folks. Dibs on NOT bein' the one to search the privy!"
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Rannarix finds a satchel slipping out of a secret compartment before it falls in the water.
The satchel contains several journals and loose sheets of parchment. These include a manifest that lists the cold iron bell as an important piece of cargo, as well as sketches of a variety of cultural objects and their likely points of origin throughout Vidrian. The notes reveal that the crew of the Imminent Laughter discovered a small coastal cave several miles south of Anthusis, where some smugglers had stored the bell along with numerous other plundered relics.
Thankfully, the smugglers’ possessions included a journal, which you also discover in the satchel. The journal is tightly bound in a waterproof case. None of the pages have dates or names. Each page instead has an entry devoted to a single object, along with where it came from, who might be interested in purchasing it, and what other future plundering opportunities it might present. Individually, none of the objects depicted are immensely valuable, but all together they could fetch a hefty sum.
One exception, of course, is the cold iron bell you are investigating. If you look through the smugglers’ records, you discover a single entry with a sketch of the bell you saw in Finze Bellaugh’s office.
See the Handout added to slide 2.
You also find a scroll case containing three scrolls of invisibility (2nd) and a shark tooth charm, as well as the journal with detailed notes on much of the remainder of the ship’s cargo. Returning these notes to Finze Bellaugh allows the venture-captain to return the remaining cargo much more easily to its rightful owners.
Since you don't find anything else on the wreck, you return to Venture-Captain Bellaugh.
This journal suggests a decent starting point—a tributary leading off a point where the Korir River turns south nearly 200 miles in from the coast. I’ll arrange for your passage on a sailing ship south along the coast to Port Freedom. There, you’ll need to speak with the Rivermen’s Guild to book safe passage on the treacherous waterway.
You should hire a Rivermen’s Guild guide, as the Korir River’s shallow waters and sandy banks are notoriously difficult to navigate. I’ll gladly provide enough money for both the barge and guide, along with a note for you to present to the guild. I estimate that a journey along the coast and up the river to the tributary should take approximately 10 days. From there, there’s no telling what you might find or how far you might need to travel up the tributary. Song’os are notoriously reclusive, but I hope that the bell’s former owners might notice someone traveling into their territory with it. He chuckles, if all
else fails, “maybe you can try ringing the bell.”
You can take this to help you transport the bell he says as he hands you a Type 1 Bag of Holding. You should consider it a gift. he says as he fills it with four weeks of rations for each of you. He also gives you a small pouch of coins to pay for the guide and passage along the Korir River.
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When Rannarix rings the bell, its sound is distant and muffled despite their proximity, as if it were submerged in water. The venture-captain smiles. “Ominous, isn’t it?”
”The area we are talking about is called The Laughing Jungle. It is a large, dense jungle along the southern border of Vidrian. It would be difficult—no, impossible—to find the bell’s owners by wandering around the jungle.”
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The man of Irissen points his finger.
I’ve still a very interesting and important question: in this Laughing jungle can we find mushrooms and what kind of them? You know it’s important to know what kind of spices I should bring there to cook an omelet. I don’t remember: do you like omelets? It’s very delicious with mushrooms. But you must pay attention not to roast the mushrooms otherwise it’s bad.
Then he looks at the venture-captain.
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After spending the day with Vilmur Scratch is starting to think the man eats too many of the wrong mushrooms. "I'll help ya find some fine fungus out there fella, don't want to go eatin' the ones with the white spots, at least not much, and not fer breakfast!"
Scratch checks out this bag of holding, nodding as he's clearly impressed "This thing is water tight too eh? Bet you could fit a LOT of guns and ammo in there.. maybe a couple barrels of powder.. just in case.."
"I've been through the jungles in this part of the world before, probably not RIGHT where we'll be at, but not too far. Kibwe. Lots of wet, and muck, n the SKEETERS! Holy hells them bugs.. Just be ready to check yer boots n yer skivvies fer bugs before you put 'em back on.. maybe try not to even take 'em off unless they gotta dry some. Best to just stay dry as ye can."
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Your 10 day voyage is uneventful. It first takes you southwest along Vidrian’s coast. There are countless farmers, herders, and fishers working at all hours along the coast. When you reach the river outlet town of Port Freedom a few days after you set out, it’s a simple matter to locate the Rivermen’s Guild—one of the most influential groups in the town—and present the venture-captain’s papers (and money).
Finze Bellaugh’s contact with the Rivermen’s Guild is Ellekkara Olin, a Vidric Bekyar native with bright, colorful clothing and flamboyant jewelry that presents the exact opposite mood as her perpetual scowl.
She accepts’ your coins and skims over Finze’s letter three times, her frown deepening each time.
“The Rivermen’s Guild appreciates your venture-captain’s generous contribution. However, we’ve had substantial troubles lately that have tarnished the guild’s reputation. Poachers, smugglers, thieves, pirates, spies—all manner of people with ill intent have used our barges in recent months. Our former, more open policies are no longer in our best interest. We can provide you with a river barge suitable for your party, but not a guide. I recognize that the Pathfinder Society has worked hard to establish itself as a respectful and helpful organization—but many people in Port Freedom, and across Vidrian, disagree. Until you’ve proven the Society is truly here to work with us, not against us, the Rivermen’s Guild can only do so much for you. This coin is sufficient for the barge. Our prices have gone up.”
Everybody except Zazu Darksnout realizes that Ellekkara is stretching the truth when she says that the guild has problems with the Pathfinder Society.