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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.
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 note that on the following days, my posting can get unpredictable:
Tuesday/Thursdays - all day, as they are the 2 busiest days of my work week
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 sprawling camp of tents and wooden buildings overlooks a forest of red pines. Sounds of hammers and saws echo from afar, as construction crews of Pathfinders and centaurs raise buildings for classrooms and a makeshift infirmary. Veterans bearing coffee and breakfast greet new arrivals, eager to swap stories and add the newcomers to their exhausted work details.
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Back again. Nal breathes in the peppery-piney scent of the blood-red pines. After multiple missions in this area, she isn't surprised that the Society called her back. I need more missions in dark places, honestly. It's easy to see why: with her deep charcoal gray skin, black hair and eyes, and deep black clothing, she sticks out like a sourceless shadow in daylight.
Now where is... Scanning the camp, she gives the workers as wide a berth as possible, not wanting to have to field requests for assistance while trying to find her contact on time.
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In the forest is a pine so short its likely no more than three years old. One could easily overlook its human-like features, like needles shaped as man's facial hair, near its top. Then it starts moving around and it seems to have a morningstar and crossbow in its branches. They are cutting down my relatives, but I guess sometimes its necessary cycle of life.
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A goblin in tattered wizard robes and a peaked wizard hat comes up to you.
"I'm BakBat. I'm great and terrifying wizard. I can burn many things. This spellbook" (he shakes a dirty, used spellbook) makes me powerful."
He has a mask reminiscent of a rodent pushed up on his forehead, ready to be put on his face.
If you peer over his shoulder while BakBat is studying his spellbook, you will notice that each page has crude drawings on them. Most likely in crayon.
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Raphaeleos has been waiting for the others while he waits, sitting on a wooden crate. He wanders his mind while overlooking the forest of red pines below them to spend time. When he hears a goblin introducing himself to others, he thinks that they might be the other agents he might be joining for their mission. He gets down from the crate and goes in their direction to introduce himself as well. "I'm Raphaeleos. I will be your medic for this mission." he tells them and taps his satchel of healer's tools. He wears a pair of clean white gloves that is distinct from his faded clothing.
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Another goblin, in a draconic jump-suit approaches the forest encampment, ducking under and around the taller workers. He spots the agents assembled so far.
Hey! I'm Arfsnarf! Fortune-teller extraordinaire! My clacky rock can tell us what may become of this mission. So far it has never let me down!
He retrieves a multi-faceted, round'ish object roughly the size of his fist and lets it roll onto the ground and into the midst of the forming team. It lands on one of the flat sides, such that one face shows clearly at the top to present a number.
Oh no...
He looks around at the group and focuses on Pine.
Maybe it because they killing your relatives around here? Maybe we're supposed to save them!
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Joining the group just in time to hear Arfsnarf's declaration, Nal chuckles as he describes the clacky rock. "Looks like a good time to make our own luck." Having associated with frauds of all sorts in the past, Nal is inclined to disbelieve in such things. Still, the practice is entertaining, as long as no one takes it too seriously. I'll have to make sure he doesn't, she gently muses, knowing that sometimes people can turn these things into self-fulfilling prophesies. He's got a good heart, to recognize how a Leshy might be feeling around here, and offer him hope.
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A stocky leshy clad in pinecone armor and a jaunty eyepatch emerges from the crowd. He clutches a clipboard and puffs out his chest. "I am Blackberry, the esteemed commander of the training course. My friend Urwal requested we construct a special obstacle challenge to test the newcomers’ mettle, and you will be among the first to find Urwal." Blackberry gestures into the woods, but all that is visible from this point are Iobaria’s iconic blood-red bruorsivi pine trees.
As if on cue, a group of bedraggled and dejected-looking Pathfinders, all spattered and dripping a thick purple liquid that looks suspiciously like jam, emerge from the forest from the direction that Blackberry is pointing.
"Ah, perfect! The previous group just finished with the latest obstacle course!" Blackberry looks pleased. "You can proceed forward without any delays! I really hope that you put on a better performance than the last few groups." groups honored to complete it! Get through if you want.
A smaller leshy clears her throat, tugging on Blackberry’s shoulder. As the other leshy whispers in his ear, Blackberry’s good eye blinks. "My friends! The greatest heroes of the Finadar leshys! Forgive me for not recognizing you earlier! My vision is not what it once was… and thank goodness! Word from the wise: if you can avoid it, don’t let a piece of the Abyss lodge itself in your face."
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Aucturn shares its nickname, the Stranger, with one of the constellations of the Cosmic Caravan. It held special significance in Old Koloran, the pre-human empire of the cyclopes, and is associated with foreboding news. The city of Min-Khadaim, and by extension the Pathfinder Society’s Iobarian basecamp, are part of the lands that the empire once held. The Wanderer is the planet of Triaxus, a planet with an irregular orbit that takes 317 years to complete. The Wagon is one of the constellations of the Cosmic Caravan and is said to carry the other stars across the sky. The conjunction of the two is a rare event, and an excellent omen for a journey of discovery. The planet Aucturn is associated with foul magic and illusion.
Iobaria is home to a rare species of highly flammable conifer pine known as bruorsivi, also known as blood pine. The forest had always been prone to brief, intense fires that burned out naturally or were contained by elf druids and centaur sages. Recently, a massive fire swept through the Finadar Forest when a group of goblins living in the skeletal remains of an old draconic graveyard triggered an incomplete cyclopean ritual. Those who have seen the graveyard have marveled at how many generations of dragons must have lain buried there.
Cyclops relics corrupted the land here, causing horrific scars and lingering Abyssal pollution that infected many of the nature spirits that called the Finadar Forest home, including those that inhabited leshys. A group of Pathfinder agents cleansed the spirits of this Abyssal corruption. Iobaria is home to a rare species of highly flammable conifer pine known as bruorsivi, also known as blood pine. The forest had always been prone to brief, intense fires that burned out naturally or were contained by elf druids and centaur sages. Recently, a massive fire swept through the Finadar Forest when a group of goblins living in the skeletal remains of an old draconic graveyard triggered an incomplete cyclopean ritual. Those who have seen the graveyard have marveled at how many generations of dragons must have lain buried there.
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Blackberry leads you for a small hike through the forest. A pair of centaur construction workers sit on the sidelines of a clearing, drinking refreshments. "Another group! I am Tombu," a loud centaur proclaims. "Remember, we drink every time they get one to the face!"
Meanwhile, leshys in purple bandanas grab pies from a nearby table and walk to clearly marked obstacle checkpoints. Blackberry points to a plump, pumpkin-headed leshy who is tying an orange bandana around his eyes. "Your job, Pathfinders, is to escort Jackpot here through the obstacle course and help him keep heading in the general direction he chooses, without letting him take harm. You may steer him around hazards, but you must let him keep moving. Every time you fail, you get–"
"Pie to the face!" the centaurs shout.
As Blackberry finishes his instructions, the exuberant Jackpot takes off running blindly forward. Jackpot is a leshy bard-in-training who loves overacting his difficulties and narrating the problems he endures during various hazards, complete with sound effects. The blindfold slows Jackpot down slightly, so you easily catch up to him.
The first obstacle in the course is a 20-foot-square pit with small wooden walls that prevent creatures from moving around it. Come up with a plan to get Jackpot to the other side. Jackpot runs straight for it.
Athletics to help him climb in and out
Acrobatics to swing across (Tarzan style)
Crafting to build a bridge
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"Hey, wait!" Raphaeleos exclaim at blindfolded Jackpot already running blindly. "Slow down!" as he runs after him. "Be careful!" but he realizes how can Jackpot run carefully if he is blindfolded. He looks around and finds fallen logs. He then assembles them with his ropes to make a makeshift bridge for the leshy.
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We just gotta keep working on reducing goblin-hate!
"Agreed. Goblins are as likable as any other people."
And then Jackpot bolts. Oh great. This is going to be wild. "Time to fly, fearless guy!" Nal calls out, grabbing a vine alongside Jackpot and swinging with him so she can be in reach to catch him if he falls.
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Holding his 'spellbook' in one hand and balancing Jackpot in the other, BakBat will activate his Lifting Belt, and walk across with no effort.
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Haka guides Jackpot through the river but the goblins show how it's done and carry him across. The leshys cheer as you cross the finish line. Before Blackberry can congratulate you, Jackpot suddenly falls to the ground, as if in pain. He pulls a jar of blackberry jam out of his head, dousing himself with it liberally. "Look at all this blood! I need first aid!"
Blackberry laughs and pulls you aside, handing each of you a jar of sticky blackberry jam that is also a gecko potion.
As you enjoy your victory, you hear rustling from the edge of the forest line.
"One can read the stars, but not the future." A voice from overhead proclaims. Two centaurs flinch as a copper-scaled iruxi drops from the tree behind them. "I am Urwal of the Verdant Wheel," the iruxi proclaims. "Like the Wanderer, we must make haste." With a brief nod, Urwal slings a pack over his shoulder and heads into the woods.
You follow Urwal into a clearing.
"Destinations. We speak of them as if we always know the places we must go. But if you do not know where you must go, can you find your way back? More importantly, can you feed yourself along the way? Let us see if you can. While we have some provisions, see if you can fetch some food for our journey from the surrounding terrain."
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Pine Sapling and Haka both easily find enough food to feed you. Urwal is impressed. He moves deeper into the woods.
The journey into the Finadar Forest continues on for several hours, during which Urwal provides little additional context for the trip beyond staring up into the open sky. Along the way, the forest thickens, and Urwal requests that you find him a clearer path through the forest that can still take them in the same direction.
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Urwal’s tail twitches as he glances up at a patch of sky, barely visible through the trees. "You may wonder why I tested you your skills at a seemingly trivial obstacle course and at wilderness survival. This is not just a random lesson. A powerful force calls in my dreams, and the stars tell me that we must heed it. I cannot sense them while awake, so I must enter a trance. Like Jackpot, I embark on a vulnerable, sightless journey, and need your protection. I don’t know who or what calls. I can only feel the urgency. They sent me a vision of two partial constellations, the Stargazer and the Stranger. The Stargazer studies the heavens so intently that he cannot see his surroundings." Urwal pauses and shrugs. "Some signs need little interpretation."
Urwal provides you with some other supplies, including a greater rope of climbing, a climbing kit, four pup tents, and tackle.
With that, Urwal nods to you, closes his eyes and enters his trance.
Urwal is unaware and unrousable. If you try to feed him or offer him liquids, Urwal swallows automatically, but he eats minimally. You can guide him around obstacles, but he keeps walking towards his unknowable destination, no matter what hazards lay in the way.
Along the journey, you discover that standing in front of Urwal and grasping his shoulders stops him from moving for 1 round; doing so requires one action, but no check is necessary
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Raphaeleos points to others what he sees. "It looks like he is walking towards that faint tracery of spider webs in the trees in this area. Do you think it is safe to let him go in that direction?" he inquires the others. He then stands in front of Urwal to make him stop for a while before he proceeds into the direction he is going into.