|
So, venture-captain, we have to kill this vampire wearing a gold mask, right? Not capture him, right?
Wearing a black leather armor, the small goblin who already asks questions is smiling at the venture-captain, waiting for his answers, leaning on his staff. A mask is for now fixed on the top of his head but it will surely be fixed on his face once the beginning of the problems to solve. A decorative dagger at the belt, he seems weak to be an adventurer under his cloak but at the same time he also looks quick and agile. So perhaps he has more resources than expected at first view.
|
A female gnome, with a red rat’s nest of hair, bursts into the room. She wears leather armor, which is festooned with all sorts of tools and weapons.
”Am I late?”, she asks breathlessly. ”It wasn’t my fault! That orc couldn’t drive worth a sheck!”
She looks around. ”Oh, plat!”, she adds, looking relieved. ”Marigold Longfoot, lovable rogue!”
|
A tall man with the trappings of what appears to be a detective joins the group.
"Isaku Beru. I run a detective agency in Absalom. I was told of this "vampire" that threatens the Pathfinders. Since Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin is one of my biggest clients, here I am."
"Marigold Longfoot, is it? I've heard of you. You and a goblin compatriot of mine met during one of her earlier missions. Lokaloka is her name. Delightful creature... not as crazy as her brother..."
|
|
A tall man with the trappings of what appears to be a detective joins the group.
"Marigold Longfoot, is it? I've heard of you. You and a goblin compatriot of mine met during one of her earlier missions. Lokaloka is her name. Delightful creature... not as crazy as her brother..."
Marigold’s eyes light up, and she breaks into a wide grin. ”Lokaloka! Yeah, she was a firecracker!
The smaller we are, the harder they fall!
There’s traps to evade, and treasure to haul!
With Loka and Gaby, and Marigold too,
It’s off to adventure and fame! Toodle-oo!
How’s she doing?”
You each receive a letter instructing you to report to Razmiran. You arrive in Xer by riverboat and proceed on foot to the Exalted Lodge, where you are ushered into the private office of Venture-Captain Narsen.
The spacious office in Razmiran’s Exalted Lodge is well appointed, with luxurious seating, one large desk, and a smaller desk covered in paperwork. A pot-bellied mouse of a man, presumably Narsen’s current assistant, sits at the smaller desk. He barely seems to notice the arrival of guests in the room, sparing a momentary gesture toward the sofas without pausing the steady scratching of his quill on parchment. A tall, silver-masked man in dark robes soon enters.
“Ah, my new assistants! Welcome. As you may have surmised, I am Venture-Captain Narsen. I don’t know if Fola Barun gave you the full details, but we’ve got a bit of a vampire problem here. What’s worse, no one seems to be able to do anything about it. Priests and Pathfinders alike who have gone out to hunt the offender have failed to return, and I can only presume that they’ve perished in the attempt. I hope things will go a bit differently with your help on the matter. I cannot stress the importance of this mission enough; if we do not deal with this vampire, my position in the priesthood will be at stake, and with it the Pathfinders’ very presence in this nation.”
He pauses to regard each of the Pathfinders before him, then dismisses his assistant. After the mousey man leaves, Narsen sighs and continues, “I’ll tell you what I know, but there’s little to add. I’ve got a rabid vampire in a golden mask killing my allies, an unhinged vigilante striking fear into the hearts of my peers—which they then vent onto me—and a lodge that I’m only keeping together through strength of will and the occasional thrashing of overly ambitious juniors.” He takes a seat behind the well-appointed desk, folds his hand in front of him, and leans forward, his shoulders seeming to bear a great weight.
“I’ve arranged transportation in the form of magically enhanced carriages that will take you to the Exalted Wood, where the attacks are occurring, along with a vampire slaying kit for each of you.” He gestures to a pile of equipment to one side of his desk. “As many of you know, driving a stake through a vampire’s heart and decapitating it is one of the only certain ways to destroy it. Your mission is to slay this gold-masked one, along with any of his spawn, and return his mask to me as proof of your accomplishment. In addition, you cannot allow the vigilante Shattermask and the vampire to meet, lest he attempt to use the vampire as a tool to spread heresy, or worse, gain vampiric powers to put toward his depraved ends. I expect you have questions before I send you on your way. You may speak freely here, so please, ask away.”
|
|
When the venture-captain says something about new assistants the goblin looks behind him to see who they are. So when he has finished the sorcerer begins with his questions: Who are these new assistants? Can we take them with us in expedition? Is it some garlic in the vampire slaying kit? How many pathfinders were killed? If you say there were killed you have found their corps. So where did you find them (location on map please)? Did they have got two holes in the neck? When did these murders occurred in the wood? Since ages? Since 2 weeks? When did they occurred in the day (only during night?)? You say the vampire wears a golden mask. How can you tell so? Have you seen them? Where? What does the police? How far away is the wood from the town? What can we expect to find in the wood? Is it a special wood? Why this name of Exalted Wood?
Then he stops to let Narsen the time to answer the first save of questions.
Narsen taps his fingers against the chin of his mask before answering as many questions as he can from Okh's barrage. “It’s a more complex issue than I made it out to be, I’m afraid. Gold masks represent the highest ranks of our priesthood, and the heresy of a vampire dressed as such an esteemed individual murdering Razmir’s citizens cannot be overlooked. To make matters worse, they’ve begun specifically targeting anyone wearing a wayfinder, which has led my peers to blame this mess on me and the Society. And where rats believe they sense weakness, they will try to gnaw their way in to spread filth-fever and rot in their wake. Like that vigilante I mentioned before.
“I’ve arranged for a pair of magically enhanced coaches to take you to the border of the wood. They are waiting when you’re ready, and I’ve already loaded them with enough rations to feed you all for a week. In addition, the equipment before you includes forty wooden stakes, half a dozen garlic necklaces, a pair of magical silver daggers, torches, and a stout axe.”
|
|
And if we try to be precise: how many pathfinders were killed? How long ago was the first one killed? Which marks on their bodies? Who saw this vampire? And why do you call them 'vampire'?
The goblin is doubtful about all this vampire story as the venture-captain seems not to be in position to answer very simple questions.
The venture-captain glances at Marigold. “An anti-establishment brute calling himself Shattermask likes to hunt Razmiri priests and destroy their masks in very public, very violent displays. He’s been seen stalking the edges of the Exalted Wood recently, and I cannot have him be the one to find the gold-masked vampire first. I need you to find him and keep him far away from that vampire. I don’t care how, and I have no interest in what you do with him so long as you ensure that he’s not my problem anymore.”
He then sighs at Okh. "You're a meticulous one, aren't you? If you'd prefer to remain here and review my reports, you are welcome to. But part of my job is to summarize what you need to know."
Marigold recalls that golden masks indicate the highest level of the Razmiri priesthood, and the gold required to craft one is in short supply for most citizens of Razmiran. If the vampire is wearing one, it’s likely that he either was a high-ranking member of the priesthood or killed such an individual.
You find a pair of sturdy enchanted coaches waiting for you at the front gates of the lodge. The coaches need neither drivers nor animals to draw them and take you to the border of the Exalted Wood. The coaches, bound by their magic, leave once you have had sufficient time to unload your supplies. It is late afternoon and the lighting under the canopy is normal.
The Exalted Wood is dark, tangled, and difficult to navigate under the best of circumstances, but it seems particularly perplexing as the sun sinks low in the western sky, shadows stretch ever longer, and a mist obscures the path forward.
|
|
Isaku meticulously jots down the case details in his notebook. He decides that his investigation will take two threads, Shattermask and the Vampire.
Arriving at the entrance of the Exalted Wood, Isaku attempts to pick his way through the wood.
Not wanting to take any chances, Isaku pulls out his dueling pistol and loads it.
Despite the gloom, the Pathfinders manage to stay on the trail.
Up ahead, at the side of a shadowed crossroads, rests a wounded man in the process of binding the worst of his injuries. His face is covered by a rough wool half-mask, and he wears a bandoleer of stakes and garlic around his chest. The belt around his waist holds a skinning knife, a carpenter’s hammer, and several other tools more at home in the hands of a fisherman than an adventurer. At his hip, the pieces of several broken Razmiri masks dangle from leather cords, clattering softly against each other as he moves.
The man look sup at the group of you and sighs, “I suppose this is it then, eh? Vampires and Pathfinders, both sucking the life outta the good folk of Melcat.”
The stout, masked warrior climbs to his feet unsteadily, drawing his skinning knife and a well-used hammer from his belt.
“Do me a favor after ye kill me,” he asks. “Iff’n ye see a silver-masked priest with an elven blade, tell him that Boris the fisherman put a hunnerd of his fellows in the ground for what he did to my boy, and I’ll be havin’ a bit o’ a follow up for every one o’ them I meet in the Hells.”
He stares at you, clearly waiting for you to make the first move.
Still holding his weapons at the ready, the man responds, "One of the masked priests took my son. Anyone who is with them is my enemy."
The Pathfinders manage to convince Shattermask that they are not a threat. He produces six lesser camp shrouds and suggests that you make camp with him tonight. Which you should be doing now anyway, as it is getting quite dark.
Shattermask sprinkles salt around the perimeter of the camp and strings up lines of hempen cord strung with old cutlery. “The vampires don’t actually give a lick about salt, despite the folk tales,” he explains. “But some o’ the spirits that travel in their wake’ll turn from it, and most o’ the spawn can’t turn ta mist yet, so these chimes will give us a bit o’ warning if they come sneaking up on us. Last of all, one o’ these,” he tosses his own camp shrouds onto the fire, “will really make it hard for ‘em ta get tha better of us.”
The Pathfinders eventually agree on watches, but it doesn't matter who is up when, because when the enemy tries to sneak up on you, their inability to find the camp or bypass Shattermask's makeshift alarm ensures that you are all prepared for their attempted ambush.
(Pilgrim’s Token)
Round 1 - bolded may go
Fin-thir
Isaku Beru
Okh
Red
Purple
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Marigold Longfoot
|
|
Isaku attempts to calculate an angle on Red (the closest). He also tries to figure out what they are ()
Isaku shoots at Red, sure that his calculations work.
"Okh! Get Red! I've weakened it for you!
()
Isaku concentrates and points at Yellow, sending a fireball at it.
Isaku reloads his pistol