Your summons brings you to the city of Anthusis. Pathfinder Mirian Raas seeks explorers for an expedition on behalf of the nation of Vidrian.
First to arrive is a Varisian female with white hair, and heavily tattooed skin. The tattoos are of arcane symbols, and are visible everywhere from her face to her hands. She is dressed in red-orange spellcaster robes which are heavily marked with arcane sigils. She has a very serious look on her face.
"I am Seoni from Varisia. Well-met." She then sits down, waiting for the others to speak up and for the meeting to begin.
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Caitlin smiles at the assembled company. She is dressed in well worn leather armour and has an elven-made longbow and a Dancer's Spear on her back. She is quite tall for a human and has long blonde hair partially tied into braids.
"I'm Caitlin. I am good in the outdoors and I've had a little diplomatic experience too."
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"Wonderful! Diplomacy is my favorite way to handle disputes." Pipes up a female gnome with wavy aquamarine hair, amethyst eyes, and golden oak skin. She rests the viola she had been playing on her knee while she speaks. "Nice to meet you all. I'm Salaish, and I call dibs on playing the mood music." Tucking the viola back under her chin, she begins playing a light, warm tune that fosters a feeling of togetherness while quickly fading into the background so people can continue to converse.
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A chittering fruitbat flies in, followed by a panting darkskinned tiefling.
Yes Flutterbat, I realise it's probably NOT Celestia's fault ENTIRELY that we're late but it's still convenient.
She stops when she realises she has actually arrived.
Oh, hi. I'm Luna. Protector of the Night, hopefully warding off all the Nightmares. Did I hear someone say Diplomacy?
Luna is a darkskinned female tiefling with two tiny horns and no sign of a tail. She looks to have been descended from succubi. She's dressed in provocutive dark robes and has a starknife as a visible weapon. What looks like a Holy Symbol of Desna is actually black.
One iruxi man hustles you towards the captain's cabin within the Grinning Pixie. "Right this way, right this way. I'm Jekka, by the way." He opens the door. "Sis! More Pathfinders!"
The woman stops talking to some people before turning around. “Welcome, explorers, I'm Mirian Raas. As I’m sure you read in the bulletins, we’ve been tasked with travelling to the iruxi island-city of Ekkeshikaar on behalf of the nation of Vidrian, that we may help negotiate the renewal of the alliance between the two nations. The Vidric Council’s provided us with a map based on ancient sea charts to help us get there, and we’ll be compensated for our efforts!"
“We’ll need to stay sharp, though—this route hasn’t been traveled in centuries, and we have no idea what might be out there. With the help of the Horizon Hunters and my brother Jekka,” she lays her hand on the shoulder of the iruxi next to her, “I have no doubts this will be a successful expedition!”
Captain Calisro Benarry stands quietly near the wall. "Well well, more Pathfiners, the merrier." The Venture-Captain of the Horizon Hunters eagerly looks out the port hole across the sea. "I even brought some ships with me."
A half-elven man clears his throat. "Remember you don't own Grinning Pixie anymore. It's mine now." Benarry frowns briefly before regaining her composure. Meanwhile the man walks up to you. "Eras the Needle. Pleased to meet you all. I will be your captain as we travel to Ekkeshikaar. Also, I'm higher rank as a Pathfinder Captain, so there's that too."
Mirian rolls her eyes. "If you two are done competing..." She moves ahead. "Captain Benarry pilots the Glorious Payoff, Eras has the Grinning Pixie, and we have a tiny ship, the Sea Sparkle coming with us too."
"Alright, I've said a lot. Are you in or out? Do you have any questions for us?"
"With whom will we be negotiating with? What to expect from their personalities and character? Any cultural practices we should be aware of?"
"I can speak Iruxi." Jekka pipes up and raises his hand. "Obviously I can't be everywhere, but Ekkeshikaar's rulers do know a wide variety of languages, including this one." He smiles.
"Once we get there, we'll be delivering these two chests." Captain Benarry kicks two of the treasure chests in the room. "The Vidric Council members have given us two chests of ancient relics from the lost iruxi city of Kutnaar. The leaders of Ekkeshikaar should enjoy these gifts long enough to listen to us talk about reopening trade."
Eras the Needle pipes up. "We can focus more on the identities of the council once we reach there, but Barashk, Shulkuru, Insishish and the Elder Bouldstrom will hear our plea. Once we are in Ekkeshikaar I can give more details. For now we can focus on the trip."
"Besides, they know you're new, so they're okay with cutting you some slack." Miriaan waves a lazy hand.
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"Salaish... Salaish... aha! You're the one Gnimish speaks of. He gets rather starry-eyed when he mentions you. He told me to keep you safe, or he'll cut my supply of coffee off, though it appears you will be the one keeping us safe."
Isaku doffs his hat and bows to Salaish.
Salaish chuckles and replies with a mischievous smirk: "You be careful. He'll do as he says!"
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“We’ll need to stay sharp, though—this route hasn’t been traveled in centuries, and we have no idea what might be out there."
"Really? No one? Or just, no one we know of? That seems unlikely, that's all. Anyway, are we all to stay on this ship for the voyage, so we can respond to threats as a team? Or split up among all the ships? What kinds of threats do we know about in the general region?"
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Salaish chuckles and replies with a mischievous smirk: "You be careful. He'll do as he says!""Salaish... Salaish... aha! You're the one Gnimish speaks of. He gets rather starry-eyed when he mentions you. He told me to keep you safe, or he'll cut my supply of coffee off, though it appears you will be the one keeping us safe."
Isaku doffs his hat and bows to Salaish.
"Oh I know! His coffee is also the best I've tasted! Especially with that Bay-lees cream he adds to it! So how did you get to know him?"
"Sounds like you're all in on this." Mirian Raas kicks up her heels and ignores Eras's frown. "You'll be boarding the Grinning Pixie as soon as Eras finishes his hourly paperwork."
"Daily paperwork." Eras proudly corrects her. "We set sail within the hour. Please make any purchases you need to now." He bows and makes his way outside, shouting orders to his crew.
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"Oh I know! His coffee is also the best I've tasted! Especially with that Bay-lees cream he adds to it! So how did you get to know him?"Salaish chuckles and replies with a mischievous smirk: "You be careful. He'll do as he says!""Salaish... Salaish... aha! You're the one Gnimish speaks of. He gets rather starry-eyed when he mentions you. He told me to keep you safe, or he'll cut my supply of coffee off, though it appears you will be the one keeping us safe."
Isaku doffs his hat and bows to Salaish.
"We've been on a few missions together. I think our first one was at Dacilane Academy. We took a break in the teacher's lounge, and he whipped up some coffee with Bay-lees for us all. It was the best coffee I've ever tasted!"
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After fiddling around a bit on her viola while lost in thought, Salaish recalls a bit of a long ago history lesson. "So, when Cheliax established its colony of Sargava (which has since been overthrown and replaced by the nation of Vidrian), it redirected all trade in the region northward. Chelaxian troops drove off all the iruxi traders during the early years of colonization, 'cause they thought the iruxi were monsters, so the iruxi stopped sending trade vessels into Sargavan waters. Kinda short-sighted, if you ask me."
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As the others start to return from their shopping they see a ratty old Dwarf with a long rifle as tall as he is strapped across his back heading up the gangplank onto the Grinning Pixie. "Back down here again eh? Nothing says clean yer gun twice a day like the humidity of the southern jungles." And their rum.. packs a punch and makes a great bomb too!
He grins to himself, stopping to burp and fart in unison, before finishing the climb. "Scratch Steeltoe, Pathfinder navigator askin' to come aboard Captain!" He haphazardly salutes the first finely dressed seaman he can find, hoping last night's haze clears from his brain sooner than later.
"Uh, Captain?" The sailor turns to Eras. "I think he's with the other Pathfinders?"
Eras the Needle turns to Scratch, sniffs the air briefly and frowns."Time to set sail!" He ushers all of you aboard. "Raise anchor! To you station, sailors!" The crew begins to move. Captain Benarry also sprints into action, as she vaults over the ship railing and races towards her ship, the Glorious Payoff. "Last one to Ekkeshikaar owes me a beer!"
With this, the ship sets sail and Vidrian's coast soon becomes a memory on the horizon. Day one is quite sunny, but two turns cloudy. Day three finally rains upon the ship's deck, but the next day starts with a beautiful sunrise.
Scratch muses about the Garundi coastline and makes a critical discovery. Sea routes into southern Garund have been little used in the last century, and the advent of the Eye of Abendego changed many of Garundi ocean currents from their previous patterns.
The catastrophic Eye of Abendego is not the only force disrupting trade with southern Garund and the nearby islands. Vicious sea devils also lurk in the southern waters, dismantling a ship’s rudders before murdering its crew.
As the sun is finally beginning to set on the fourth day at sea, the Grinning Pixie is jolted suddenly. The ocean’s currents become inexplicably tempestuous, and the ship is pulled wildly off course at an accelerated speed. The helmsman of the Pixie shouts to the crew, “Hold on!” as the vessel speeds away from the convoy. The alarmed calls from the Glorious Payoff and the Sea Sparkle fade, and soon the other ships disappear entirely from sight.
An agonized scream pierces the sound of rushing water, and frantic shouts from the crew emanate from the opposite side of the ship. Devious cackling echoes over the chaos, and the lookout in the crow’s nest bellows, “Ready yourselves! Devils from the sea!”
The Helmsman struggles to keep the ship upright. Maybe you can help.
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Scratch makes the rounds to introducing himself to the rest of the pathfinders and crew. He's pretty rough around the edges but he mostly means well "Jerky? I got a random grab bag here... never know just what yer gonna get!" Lifting a smoky smelling satchel up in case anyone's interested.
He relays what he knows of the local area about the sea currents and sea devils "Little murderous bastards.. I'll spend some time in the crow's nest, hopefully I can put a bullet in them before they get on board."
Luna takes a moment to steady herself before grabbing the wheel alongside the helmsman. With their combined strength, they are able to keep the ship steady.
The ship slows to a crawl as the crew works to stabilize the ship. Multiple creatures hiss and leap upon the deck, reeking of seaweed and blood. Humanoid creatures leap upon the deck, carrying longspears and hunger for the flesh of fools willing to enter their domain.
The raiding group at the bow cackle. They have razor sharp claws and teeth, but you notice the four armed creature with black scales holds a trident. The others only have longspears.
Isaku sees the group at the bow are about to move!
Isaku
Black fourarms
Green
Purple
Sky blue
Luna
Scratch (25 feet above ground)
Seoni
Caitlin
White fourarms
Yellow
Gray
Red
Salaish
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"Good to see you again, Scratch. It's be a while since we were in the Pallid Peak. How are you?"
Scratch squints a bit as he looks down at Caitlin, all while retrieving his long rifle "Never better, but now ain't the best time to chat, we got seaweed munchin' fish folk to blast!" He grins, green teeth almost visible from the deck below.
Isaku delays and lets the enemy come to him.
The creatures move to surround you. Two of them bare their claws and teeth, while one of them draws a longspear. The four armed creature pulls out a trident and approaches carefully.
Black fourarms (Trident)
Green (Longspear)
Purple
Sky blue
Isaku
Luna
Scratch (25 feet above ground)
Seoni
Caitlin
White fourarms
Yellow
Gray
Red
Salaish
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Scratch conjures up a shield spell thanks to his wayfinder before drawing out his arquebus with practiced fluidity. He takes aim at pink's skull before pulling the trigger.
"Ooo that's gonna be messy." He chuckles before ducking down to hide while he reloads.
Slinger's Reload: ◆ Covered Reload: You duck into a safe position or minimize your profile while reloading to make your next attack. Either Take Cover or attempt to Hide, then Interact to reload. As normal, you must meet the requirements to Take Cover or Hide; you must be prone, benefiting from cover, or near a feature that allows you to Take Cover, and you need to be benefiting from cover or concealed to a creature to Hide from that creature.
Initial Deed: One Shot, One Kill: ◇ Free Action: Trigger You roll Stealth for initiative.Your first shot is the deadliest. Interact to draw a firearm or crossbow. On your first turn, your first Strike with that weapon deals an additional 1d6 precision damage. This precision damage increases to 2d6 at 9th level and 3d6 at 15th level.
Aeon Stone (Dusty Rose Prism): Item 3: Source PFS Guide pg. 121
*This aeon stone allows you to cast the 1st-level shield cantrip as an arcane innate spell, surrounding yourself in pink energy.
*The resonant power increases the damage prevented by your aeon stone's shield spell from 5 to 10.
Seoni points at the whitish four-armed creature who has crept up to her and blasts it with a Ray of Frost. She then takes a tactical step backward.
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◆ Step
Scratch turns one of the invaders into a fine pink mist. With her target gone, Luna conjures orbs of force and barrages the green creature with them.
Isaku takes aim and levies a point blank shot to obliterate the fool in his face. He then looks at one of the four armed creatures. He knows it is a Sea Devil. Amphibious raiders and predators who consider all others to be their prey. The four armed ones have benefited from the more radical mutations these creatures exhibit.
They can force their foes to bleed if they strike critically or when their target is off-guard or flat-footed. They can immediately fly into a blood frenzy, lowering their guard but increasing their damage and granting temporary relief from pain.
Seoni tries to shoot one of the four armed creatures but it nonchalantly dodges to the side.
Black fourarms (Trident)
Green (Longspear, 15 damage)
Sky blue
Isaku
Luna
Scratch (25 feet above ground)
Seoni
Caitlin
White fourarms
Yellow
Gray
Red
Salaish
The White four-armed creature slaps Caitlin's arrows out of the way and screams at their allies to run down the stern.
With Seoni and Isaku blocking the stairs, the creatures have to drop off the 10 foot height.
Two of them grab the ledge and carefully climb down, while the Gray scaled creature flops hard onto the deck before standing back up.
Only the creature with Red scales is able to get a bite in.
Black fourarms (Trident)
Green (Longspear, 15 damage)
Isaku
Luna
Scratch (25 feet above ground)
Seoni (11 damage)
Caitlin (Hunt Prey: White)
White fourarms
Yellow
Gray (5 damage)
Red
Salaish