The adventure begins with the Pathfinders inside the retrofitted merchant vessel the Glorious Payoff, under the command of Venture-Captain Calisro Benarry. She invites them to meet her at the helm of the ship, where she navigates the vessel down the Garundi coast. This quest assumes that they have been traveling together for several days and have had ample time to get acquainted.
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A half-elf with blonde hair and blue eyes greets everyone as he arrives. He is dressed in a robe of many colors - ranging from teal, ochre, violet, purple, gold, bronze to different shades of green. He sports a starknife and wears a singular large wooden holy symbol around his neck - Desna's.
He dusts off his shoulders and soft boots out of habit, and then faces everyone."Well-met. I came as quickly as I could. I am Tarkis. Where are we going?"
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Jaehaera is a tall elf with blonde curly hair, wearing studded leather armor. She has a few bottles hanging loosely from her belt, and a wicked looking chain that drapes over her shoulders. She has a thick Kaer Maga accent. In her time sparring and training, she seems to take her time and makes very methodical, planned movements.
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Where one finds a sprite one often finds a dozen more. But even rarer than one sprite alone, is two.
Shimmer is determined to get to the bottom of this. Why would the Pathfinder Society send two of them? One sprite, sure. A full team of them? Yes, that makes sense.
But two? Very interesting. It's enough to suggest the Society selected sprite agents on purpose, but if so why send all these giants instead of even more of them? Perplexing.
Shimmer wears studded leather armor. She has a bow slung around her chest, but also a pistol at her hip. When she needs to reach something more than eight inches off the deck, she mutters about "giants" and a set of dragonfly-like wings of light unfurl from her back.
But who cares about any of that? She's focused on solving what she has decided is a mystery.
"I can figure it out," she assures everyone "I used to follow a detective around, you know."
As a splash of salt crashes over the bow of the Glorious Payoff, Calisro Benarry deftly steers her ship through a hidden channel, carefully navigating through the barely visible rock and coral that protrude slightly from the water’s surface. Behind the Payoff, a slightly smaller ship—the Sea Sparkle—follows, making every effort to follow Benarry’s course as closely as possible. Off the port hull, the deep green of the Garundi coast is illuminated by the late afternoon sun.
“See those gulls?” Benarry shouts over the flapping of the sails, “that’s the sandbar we’ll be dropping you off at. Barely sticks up over the waves, but the seabirds flock over it to feast on crab.”
“As I explained earlier, Vidrian—you might have known it as Sargava not that long ago—needs explorers to chart the trade routes to the south that they couldn’t use back when it was ruled by Cheliax. Simple enough bit of adventuring, but the new nation’s been having trouble with the Free Captains of late. Turns out when Vidrian broke free of Cheliax, the locals stopped paying the pirates protection money, and now they’re the number-one plunder target in the Shackles. What’s more, the pirates have set up a blockade preventing our ships from making it down to Vidrian to assist.”
“Thankfully, we’ve got someone on the inside. Stella Fane, a Free Captain with ties to the Firebrands and the Pirate Council, has been in contact with the Society. She and members of the Society’s leadership have put together a fairly clever plan to help the Society’s ships pass through the pirate blockades unharmed. The Wind and the Waves willing, the Payoff and the Sparkle can sail to Vidrian, no problem. While we’re doing that, I’ve arranged transport for you to Port Peril to meet with Fane and get her to sign this contract making the whole thing official—she may be a pirate, but she’s the kind that holds to her word. You’ll need to avoid drawing too much attention until after the deal is done. Once she’s signed the contract her friends in the Pirate Council will ratify it and there won’t be much the lesser captains can do. Be careful. Anyone looking to put a stop to this need only ensure that contract never gets signed.”
"Do you have questions?"
"Do we have a meeting spot for Stella Fane? How will we know its her?"
"Well, it is up to you to look for her in Port Peril. Ask around, she is too famous not to be known."
"Do they accept pets in the bar?" asks Duvar considering which of his companions should he bring along for the ride.
"I don't think tavern owners would not mind." she shrugs at the idea of pets in the bar.
"I've just one question: how will we get from that sandbar to the bar?" asked Tarkis.
"Good question. Well, you have to wait for Hlar, old grumpy dwarf on her boat. She will bring you to your destination."
The venture-captain hands over to Tarkis the contract.
"It’s a long-term trade agreement; we tell her where we’ve had reports of slavers — she hates them and it’s no skin off Society members’ backs to let her know — and she approaches us first with any information she receives regarding archaeological sites and historical discoveries. Our obligation requires us to make the information exchange each time one of our ships passes through the Shackles, so attacking a Pathfinder ship is the same as attacking Stella and her allies on the Pirate Council. Smartest deal we’ve made, if you ask me. Careful with that contract, by the way. It’s all magicked shut, so only Fane can read and sign it.”
She then instructs them to jump overboard and swim to the sandbar — the water’s too shallow for the Payoff to get closer, but it’s calm enough in the lee of the sandbar that the Pathfinders have no trouble swimming to shore.
(Low-Light Vision)
Duvar and Folmyr tries to open the crate but Jaehaera is able to pry it open without trouble.
The opened crate reveals a rare bottle of rum stamped with a stylized dragon turtle.
The crate also holds a flask of lesser bravo’s brew and several dirty, cracked bottles.
The tide comes in as the Pathfinders wait on the sandbar, eventually leaving them standing in a few inches of water in the middle of the ocean. About an hour later, a small boat appears, sailed by an elderly diver, Hlar.
"Name's Hlar. I assume you are the ones sent by Benarry? Hop aboard." she invites them, shifting around sacks of shellfish and crab traps to make room in the cramped vessel. Over the next few hours, Hlar sails her boat in a meandering path to shore along the submerged rock formations, every now and then jumping overboard and freediving for several minutes before reemerging with an oyster, sea urchin, or squid.
Hlar’s boat arrives in Port Peril around sunset. As they drift into Crescent Harbor, sailors disembarking for shore leave remain clearly visible, singing rowdily as they work. Hlar soon lands at a smaller dock to unload her catch and gestures at Fane’s ship in one of the docks. "Fane's ship, Risen Albatross. Just a warning. Stella Fane’s penchant for riotous nights on the town once she’s returned to port are well known, though I really don't know where the kids go these days. You might want to ask the harbormaster Tsojmin Kreidoros. He would probably have a better idea of where he saw Fane head after her ship docked and unloaded." she tells them and looks around. "Oh, there he is, lucky you." she points out the bald bureaucrat close by, checking off tasks written in a ledger.
"Off my ship, will get you back from here later when your mission is done." she dismisses them.
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"A few inches" of water over the sandbar being a larger issue for her than for the tall ones, Shimmer sits on the unearthed crate as they wait for the boat.
She's a little irritable already, and more frustrated by the continued delay. But they're on time for the meeting anyway.
This is a little more her size, and she marches towards Kreidoros. "Excuse me! Can you help us with some directions?"
The bald dwarf momentarily stops writing and gives Shimmer an irritated can't-you-see-I'm-busy look for being disturbed by what he is currently doing.
The bald dwarf sighs and rolls his eyes before he stops whatever he is doing and speaks to them.
"I saw her go to Last Catch, or so I heard. You know Last Catch? It's a tavern on an islet in Crescent Harbor. Just go that way, you can easily find the islet and the building." he gruffly spits out the name of the drinking establishment where Stella might have been spending her hard liberated gold.
"Go away now, you're wasting my time." he dismisses them away and continues working on his ledger.
Having learned the location and turning around toward the harbor, the Pathfinders can clearly see that one of the docks leads out to a small islet. Walking down the dock, they find themselves at an open-air tavern with a large open space facing the sea. Several fishing boats have docked directly at the restaurant, unloading both ingredients and customers. Many of the patrons appear to be amphibious or otherwise from aquatic ancestries, and a few enjoy their drinks while bobbing up and down in the water off the pier. In a corner, Stella polishes off an absolutely massive plate of what looks to be fried octopus.
When she spots them, Stella says, “You are the ones sent by Benarry? You’re just in time! Like little baby cleaner fish, not knowing that the shark might decide it wants a meal more than sparkling teeth. Let’s see what we’re dealing with. But first, a toast!”
Stella Fane orders a round of drinks for them and raises her cup in a toast “to calmer seas” before throwing it back.
Wouldn't you rather share something a bit... better?" Chakson holds up the bottle of Southern Squall.
Stella grabs the bottle, opens it, and she pours a toast with it and they drink those instead.
"You really know what to bring in drinking huh?" Stella tells Chakson.
"Now, of course, I want you to entertain me while we talk business." she motions them to the nearest dart board.
Stella takes her place in a line on the floor in front of a dart board. "I challenge you to beat me in darts." she tells them with a wicked smile.
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Shimmer is a little surprised that more of the tall folk aren't jumping in here. Though if Folmyr can do it, why can't she.
She picks up a dart and holds it over her head in two hands. She stares at the dartboard for a moment, measuring the distance and considering the best way to throw. Like a javelin, like Folmyr did? Overhand? Grab it by the end, spin around, and fling it?
Probably not that last one.
Oh. No, it wasn't the last one.