[GDXII] PF2e Q1 - The Sandstone Secret (P1) (Inactive)

Game Master UncleFroggy

Please dot (add a post) in here and then delete your post to add yourself to this campaign.

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.

The shaded gardens outside the Sandswept Hall provide a welcome respite from the sweltering midday sun. Venture- Captain Norden Balentiir reaches up to one of the date palms overhead, pulling down a bunch of ripe fruit to share with the table.

Go ahead and introduce yourselves

For the first time in his Pathfinder career, Quinthalas finds himself the earliest to arrive. He realises, that he hates waiting.

Quinthalas is a tall and wiry dark-skinned elf male. He is dressed in plain dark brown robes. He has his pure white hair neatly tied behind his head. He sports a single dagger by his side, though his belt appears to have many pouches. He is carrying a leather backpack that looks like its built to withstand a beating.

He greets Venture-Captain Norden "Good day Captain. I'm Quinthalas. I look forward to this assignment".

Toasty! bounces a bit.

"Greetings fellow Pathfinders! Maybe you've seen my sideshow around Absalom... Will... it... BURN!?!"

Toasty! beams for a moment, showing off his rather burnt staff.

"The show where for a nominal fee we take your items and find out how flammable they are."

Banterknell (or BK to his frineds) is dressed up in wildly colorful clothing, perhaps to compensate for a very slight bleaching that has begun in his hair, though he keeps that mostly hidden under a jester's cap. His mouth is stretched into a wild grin, perhaps a bit too wide. He eyes show desperation and everything he says seems like it ends with an exclamation point.

"Greetings, fellow adventurers! I am looking forward to an exciting and fun filled mission with all of you, full of danger, powerful artifacts, and lots of burning!"

He says this while wildly waving his flute in the air like he is doing battle with something a lot larger than himself.

"Banterknell, adventurer par excel lance, at your service!"

"...Say, Mr. Goblin, you know Pennypockets? A Society goblin, much like yourself, but a bard like me... only not."

Because, of course, all the goblins in the Society must know each other.

"Will it burn? Will it cook?
Let's all go and take a look!
Burning pyre to the sky
We will make the baddies die
We might make a bloody row
But Goblins are the good guys now!"

"Pennypockets" the Goblin bows "I bid you greetings from the Peoples Democratic Republic of Thistletop"

"Banterknell is correct, I'm a Bard like him...only not. I'm a talented Bard" Penny giggles furiously, happy to have gotten one over the sour-puss curmudgeonly BK.

BK jumps a bit as the unorthodox bard makes an appearance.

Eying him through rolling eyes suspiciously, he asks "Are YOU coming with us? I protest!"

"A Protest! Great! Toasty already has the burning torches - EVERYONE GRAB A PITCHFORK!"

"What are we protesting today? Unfair taxes? The illegal occupation of Sandpoint by human squatters?"

Toasty looks at the ashes of what was mostly once likely a map.

"I think Sandpoint is in Varisia and Toasty! think we are in Osirion."

"I dunno, it's Banty's protest, we're just here to help"

"Am I the tallest person here?"

read as "only intelligent"

He looks around in both amazement and dismay. But, he does like the goblin bard's poetry... so he has a wry smile on his face, as he feels bitter-sweet, with the company he's with.

He takes out a journal he's been keeping and begins writing an entry...

Mother, you won't believe who I've been partnered with today...

"Yes, seems like you are the only longshanks" Penny confirms as he looks around the space "You'll be ok though" he assures Quinthalas.

A fungus leshy tips their pirate hat in greeting to the others "Hello! I am Eddie. You can call me Eddie." They smile, shuffling around the table to find the most shade before taking a seat.

"Is anyone else hot or is it just me?" Finding a nearby pitcher of water and pouring some.

A hooded person arrives at the scene, the simplicity of his clothes apparent. He does not have many ornaments except for hand wraps covering his fists, an adventurer's pack, and a healer's tools.

"Greetings, I am Gilgamesh." he says in a low voice under the hood.

"There! You are not alone any longer. Now there is a second human!"

Not to be outdone by the other-bard, BK starts playing some rousing music on his flute using it to cast prestidigitation to cause an unlighted candle to dance.

"Human? I'm an elf Banterknell. But hello Gilgamesh and Eddie! Welcome."

He grabs some of the dates Venture-Captain Norden gave, and passes it around.

"Silly me. You really don't look alike at all."

"No worries Banterknell. It's hard to tell his ancestry with his head under a hood. Not that it matters. But we do need to know each other's faces..."

The Venture-Captain continues the briefing...

"The Osiriani government is protective of its cultural history, and with recent changes in their stance on allowing foreign archaeologists to work inside their borders, I wasn’t sure this permit would even stand. The bureaucracy was rather slow this time around, but it turns out we were approved before they stopped issuing permits. I’ve already secured your provisions, including camels, tents, food, water, tools to perform the excavation, and a map to the site. As you know, it may take many weeks to clear the site of debris. The desert can be unforgiving, so don’t hesitate to return here to rest as needed.

"[b]The government has already sent guards to oversee the site and protect against any potential thieves. Remember—keeping up a good reputation in Osirion is vital to the Pathfinder Society’s continued presence here. Don’t antagonize the guards."

Your journey to the archaeological site is relatively uneventful. With the supplies provided by the venture captain, you have plenty of resources to handle the desert’s most basic threats. You travel at dusk and dawn, resting during the day when the sun is at its hottest. When you arrive at the ruin, find that the ruin’s entrance has already been excavated. The staircase leads down to a torchlit chamber. A canvas fence secured around staircase keeps most of the sand away from the opening. Nearby, a guard named Elrekah sits under a tarp, humming to herself to stave off boredom while two additional guards nap in the shade, resting with four camels.

"More Pathfinders? You should be ashamed of yourselves, arriving after the hard work has been done."

Toasty! asks "What do you mean... more... Pathfinders."

"More Pathfinders you say? Who were here ahead of us? I'm Quinthalas by the way."

"Indeed, more you say?"

BK waves his flute in the air dramatically.

"Can't say that I enjoy hard work. Much more partial to playing, though it did take hard work to be able to play well!"

The trip is long and a bit taxing for Eddie, they keep to as much shade as possible. During rest stops they raise their staff to the sky, and ask the fungal spirits for water. "Please keep us from drying out like old bark. My skin is too young to be dry and flaky!" Their staff pours out two gallons of fresh, clean water to refill everyone's canteens and water skins. Maybe even splash a bit on a face or two.

During the trip Eddie also works to make friends with all the camels, having a very soothing effect on wild animals. Their words and quirks also seem to be easy to get along with, catching multiple people's attention while drawing smiles.

"It was nice of them to give us all these supplies and camels!"

Eddie really focuses on diplomacy and wild empathy, always trying to choose the path of a smile if possible. Also has group impression. The staff of water was a convenient purchase from a couple scenarios ago!

---

After arriving Eddie claps their hands together excitedly "Its already cleared, that's great news! Maybe we've met these other Pathfinders before? It was thoughtful of them to do all this digging for us." They offer up some water to the guards, trying to get a smile and some additional information.

"How many were sent and how long have they been here? Are they friendly?" Eddie lays on the charm.

Diplomacy (Make Impression), 1 minute: Group Impression - 4 targets: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

Elrekah relaxes as Eddie lays on the charm, though she does wonder if she's been in the sun too long if she's talking to a mushroom...

"This expedition started last month. Most of the time, they were excavating and clearing the entrance. The head Pathfinder only arrived recently to catalog the contents. The other agents went home once the entrance was cleared. If you're here to join the head Pathfinder, you'll need to show me a permit please."

Several of the pillars in this once-grand entryway have collapsed. The statues around its edges depict scarab beetles.

There are also two entrances. Which way?

Eddie is untrained in Society, and has a -1 to all INT skills so, best not make the attempt. Anyone else?

Eddie stands there, mouth a bit agape when 'permit required' comes up. The VC didn't mention needing a permit.. what are these permits.. The little fungus's brain slowly grinds on the question.

Ok, my confusion was the briefing didn't say they actually handed us a permit, only that the PFS had been granted a permit. The list of supplies, etc don't mention a physical permit.

"Well, our Captain did say we had our permit approved. Is that what you mean?"

Well, the V-C did say that a permit was approved. It's assumed he gave it to you to take to the ruins :)

Elrekah looks at your permit. "These appear to be in order. Our thanks for the water. It's much cooler than what we have here."

Toasty! nods and shrugs "Lets go in and find out. Maybe VC getting old and forgot they already sent team."

Eddie nods slowly, agreeing with Toasty! "I forget things too." They admit, smiling and waving goodbye to the guards, ironically leaving the camels standing around.

"Let's go south, it feels cooler." Eddie offers, taking off their pirate hat and wiping away some beaded sweat on their cap.

Society 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

"Hey I know those... scarab beetle iconography is commonplace in tombs and other places associated with death."

With everything in order, Gilgamesh silently enters the ruin and motions the others to follow him.

When he is out of earshot, "Head Pathfinder? Is that what they are called now?" he asks before continuing on.

With lots of 'dramatical' gestures that really serve no purpose other than to be dramatic, BK lets his thought be known (to the others, not the guard).

"Call me the pinnacle of cynical, but it could be an imposter on the roster! Only one way to find out though, let's go and say hello."

To the guard he asks, "What was the name on the permit the head guy gave you?"

Randomness: 6d6 ⇒ (1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 4) = 101d6 ⇒ 6

"Here, he left his permit with us. You can have a look at it." She hands you a parchment with the government's seal on it.

perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Toasty! ponders how flammable the permit is but decides not to burn it for now.

perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

It takes BK only a glance to notice the oddity.

"Oh dear, oh my! How long are these permits good for, my good guard Elrekah?"

"That, unfortunately, is not in my wheelhouse. I just make sure that the permits are good, and both of them appear to be good." Seeing Gilgamesh approach the entrance, she calls to him sternly, "Sir, please do not proceed further until I have cleared your group."

Toasty! asks "You've seen our permit, what else do you need?"

Quinthalas asks "What else do you need from us?"

"All very unusual, you have a permit, what you need now? A song?"

"You could all dance that new thing I heard of. Baby Shark or some such"

Sorry, I couldn't resist! But I'll post an update tonight when I get home! :)

Gilgamesh stops but shrugs at the guard's silly request. He does not know the dance of a baby shark. He can't even imagine baby sharks can dance.

"You may proceed. Find the "head Pathfinder". If he's a fraud, try to bring him in."

Which way - since there are 2 entrances

Quinthalas asks the guard "Where do you recommend we go?"

"Lets go burn doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo" hums Toasty! to himself.

BK dashes by the guard and looks around the corners, then looks over his shoulder and asks "What are you wating for?"

Icon moved

please trace out on the map your exploration pattern. I'm going to assume you'll be opening doors as you see them so I won't bother asking. :)

Map drawn on!

Thanks, Pennypockets.

Gilgamesh will follow behind everyone, now that they have been given permission to explore the ruin.