[ACO] PF2e Q4 - Port Peril Pub Crawl (P6) (Inactive)

Game Master UncleFroggy

"That's right," Palo agrees with an approving nod. "It's on us to actually get the job done but it's in their best interests to give us as much support as they can to *help* us get the job done!"

Noticing that Arn seems to be peering around, she adds, "Are you looking for something else?"

"That's right," Palo agrees with an approving nod. "It's on us to actually get the job done but it's in their best interests to give us as much support as they can to *help* us get the job done!"

"Oh, I see." Felinzi looks back at the wares of the quartermaster's shop. Then looks back up at Palo hopefully. "Then... can have two?"

"Don't worry about it," he says to Palo, a little sheepish but still in a good mood. "This should be enough." And then, to Felinzi - "Well, we can't exactly clean them out, other agents need these too.."

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."

Unfortunately, his good mood has deteriorated over the course of the travel, the killing blow having been dealt when at one point he'd stepped into a steaming pile of camel dung. So, he doesn't have much grace left over as he glowers at Elrekah, trying to scrape said dung off his boot on the sandstone. "Well, you heard her. Not needed here then, are we?"

“More?” Auntie says, perplexed.

She reaches up and tugs at Aron’s sleeve, saying “Let’s not be hasty.”

Turning to the guard, she says “I didn’t think they were sending another group, but sometimes these details get missed.”

“Who is in the other group of Pathfinders?”

Felinzi just stands there indecisively. He wants to sneak away with Arn given the likely prospect of more hot and sweaty work to do - especially around new people. But he also wants to show everyone that he can be helpful.

So for now, he just stands there watching and trying not to be noticed.

Dr. Croaker grabs a marvelous miniature ladder before leaving.

"After all the hard work has been done?" Dr. Croaker blinks, as he considers the ramifications of this situation. As far as he's concerned, the less digging, the better. Still, it's better to find out who exactly is this eager archaeologist.

"You know how bureacracy is." He waves a lazy flipper. "We just came off a steaming hot assignment in the capitol, but then our Venture Captain redirected us here to help out. This other Pathfinder... he came with all the proper paperwork, did he? I'd like to see it."

"The expedition began about a month ago. The entrance has already been cleared so the head Pathfinder arrived and began cataloging the site. In any case, I'd like to see your permit before I let you enter."

Elrekah produces a document and hands it to you.

"New guy! Bring out our permit!" Croaker looks imperiously at poor Felinze. "Madame, I am sure you will see that all is in order."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

"Hmmmph." Meanwhile, Dr. Croaker looks over the other permit. "Interesting that this permit is identical to ours, but was applied for a year ago."

He chooses that moment to whisper on the wind to his colleagues.

"Didn't Balentiir state that the permit was approved and then sat there in the bureaucracy for a while? What if someone found our permit, knowing that it would be a while before we received it, and acted on it ahead of us?"

Arn, still grouchy from the sand and the heat and the camel dung, briefly flirts with the idea of making a snide comment like well, at least that guy would've actually wanted to be here, but he manages to squash that impulse as he wipes his forehead with his wrist.

"There's nothing we can do about it now," he sighs, both in response to the whisper and the response to the guard. He casts a glance at the desert behind him. "Well, at least when we go in we'll be out of the sun."

Auntie becomes curious after Dr. Croaker’s statement and looks at the paperwork herself. She then hands it to anyone else who wants to see it, or the guard if no one else wants it.
Auntie Kikiru's Perception (T): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

Palomia (and Relas as well) both peer over Auntie's shoulder to look at the permit, also curious about its implications.

Great. We'd better get in there and put a stop to whatever these shenanigans are.

"Hmph. We're here now so we may as well make the best of it and catch up. I'm sure the 'head Pathfinder' could still use help cataloging the interior."

She gives the rest of the group a pointed look.

"I burn papers to ash?" Felinzi asks while looking them over. "That fix problem?"

Looking around, some of you notice the pillars around the entryway.

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

Society: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Arn thinks of making some comment, but then forgets how to pronounce 'Osirion' and decides it's probably safer if he just doesn't. "Well.. you could burn them, but I - would that help in any way..?"

Society: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16

"Oh yes. Enough fire can fix any problem."

Felinzi looks over at the entry pillars. "But maybe papers aren't the problem. Why would someone want to hurry and sneaky their way into crypt?"

"I've changed my mind. New Guy should definitely not be carrying our paperwork." Croaker looks at his own damp hands and then says, "Auntie Kikiru, can you do the honors?"

As Croaker looks around the collapsed pillars, he asks, "Does it look like these collapsed recently? Or did our 'Senior Pathfinder' do this? I hope no more pillars collapse while we are here."

Then Croaker sighs. "I'm assuming that he wanted to hurry and sneaky his way in here for the same reason all grave robbers do... treasure." But Croaker spreads his arms wide. "Unless by some miracle we're dealing with a rogue archaeologist who really has history as his first love, in which case, he can be our newer New Guy when we recruit him to the Society."

But Croaker's tone is dubious. "Eh. I don't buy that. Let's meet him for ourselves."

Auntie Kikiru's Society (T): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

Auntie Kikiru takes the papers and puts them away in her coat.

“I do so hope the person is willing to be reasonable.”

"Well, it'd be rude of us to keep him waiting," he says as if being rude is anything new to him. He steps over a fallen pillar and peers down into the depths of the dig site.

There are 2 entrances. North and West (Ignore the southern section, it's not used in this adventure). Which way?

Are these hallways underground, or just walkways between buildings?

Felinzi comes up alongside Arn. "I'm not hurry or sneaky to get in here. I just follow you?"

You decide to Go West. Before you move past the guard post, Elrekah suddenly gestures to her guards, barking out, "Hey wait! Guards! Stop those frogs and their party!" As the guards grab you, Elrekah shows you another missive. "Arn, Croaker, Felinzi and Auntie Kikiru. I received a missive from the Osirion government that you haven't completed your waiver forms that render the Osirion government free from any liability in case you perish inside the ruins. You need to sign HERE. I also have been told that this Dr Croaker is a chronic offender!"

Are these hallways underground, or just walkways between buildings?

Felinzi comes up alongside Arn. "I'm not hurry or sneaky to get in here. I just follow you?"

just corridors, though the west entrance appears to be the main entrance

"Chronic offender?" Dr. Croaker blows his paperwork towards the guards. "There, liability forms all signed! Now we have a job to do. I suggest that you let us do it, Madam."

“Oh dear, do you really chronically offend people Dr. Croaker?”

The small lizard fills out the form for Auntie as she teases Dr. Croaker.

Arn signs the form and hands it off without any further fanfare, still looking down the hallway. "Well, at least we weren't pitched off the side of a ship this time."

With the paperwork all done, you proceed to the Western Entrance.

“Trap!” Auntie Kikiru calls out, pointing to a tile that Palomia is about to step on.

She gestures for Polomia to step back, saying “Sorry if I startled you, dear. You were about to step into something you wouldn’t have liked.”

“Trap!” Auntie Kikiru calls out,

"Slow fang?" Felinzi asks curiously. He goes and looks at where Kikiru is pointing. "Yes. But," he looks around at the ruins marked with symbols of the dead, "this is not good place for home."

Thievery: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

"Maybe that why such bad slow fang."

“Slow fang? I don’t understand. I’m a Grippli, we don’t tend to have fangs.” Although, there are ways to change that…

Felinzi grins a big toothy grin. "Oh, the ... trap." He points to the trap. "Used to protect home while the tribe is away and not around to bite intruders."

"Hey Palo, you really should pay more attention to where you're going," Relas calls out. "It's a good thing Auntie's got such sharp eyes!"

Palomia steps back from the trapped tile, giving Felinzi room to work, and glares at Relas. "Hey, that could've almost happened to anyone, okay? I'll note that you didn't spot it either!"

Arn grimaces as he looks at the tile. "If it's not for a home, then it's for something else that they don't want us seeing. Should probably be more careful.."

Auntie prevents Palomia from stepping on the trap while Felinzi manages to disarm it.

Please draw out your exploration pattern on the map

After a couple seconds of looking apprehensively at the halls before them, he eventually makes up his mind and steps towards the room directly opposite the entrance.

You enter a large room.

Akmajet made frequent prayers to Set in this elaborate shrine. The centerpiece of the shrine is a 10-foot-tall statue of the god himself, holding a brazier of lit coals.

You also startle a man who appears to be digging for something in the back wall. He jumps to his feet, startled.

"It's about time you got here. I was wondering if I was going to have to catalogue the entire ruin myself! Get to work on that side."

Auntie Kikiru's Religion (T): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

Looking at the stranger, Auntie asks “Pardon me, who are you dear?”

"Yeah, hello to you too," Palomia scowls as she crosses her arms over her chest. "You catch more flies with honey, you know."

Arn responds about as well as can be expected to that, and is already opening his mouth for some backtalk before he looks around them, looks at Palomia and Auntie, and settles for grumbling bitterly as he leans against the threshold of the room.

Did the permit we saw have the dude's name on it?

Religion: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

At the imperious tone, Felinzi skitters over and tries to hide behind one of the pillars.

Stealth: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19

"You mean you don't know me? I'm the head Pathfinder for this assignment. Norden Balentiir of the Osirion chapter sent me to catalogue this site. I suspected the Pathfinders here are slacking off, seeing that you arrive after all the hard work has been done!"

Arn clamps his jaw shut so tightly it makes an audible click. His patience is wearing extremely thin. "Well, if we're not needed.." he says, pretending to step back towards the exit. As he does, he huffs at the group like ugh, can you BELIEVE this guy.

“Strange, since that is who sent us and the venture-captain did not mention you. Who are you again, dear? I’m Auntie Kikiru.”

"If you must know, I'm the famous Pathfinder Durvin Kline. I had a feeling that the Venture Captain did not want to appear that his chapterhouse is shoddily run, which is why he didn't bother mentioning me. Now will you help me or not?! If you don't know of my accomplishments, I am a a pioneer of the exploration of Azlanti ruins and the discoverer of a lost serpentfolk city."

"Now then, if you're done being star struck at being in the presence of a famous personality such as myself, are you going to help me or do I need to have you go back to Pathfinder training at headquarters?!"

Pathfinder Society Lore: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

“So are you Eando’s son? I believe it was Eando that discovered a lost serpentfolk city.” Smiling sweetly, she adds “So what is your opinion of the various faction leaders, including the one Eando leads?”

Felinzi peeks around the pillar, fascinated by this battle that is using words instead of weapons, magic, or teeth.

Well, maybe teeth are involved - at least a little bit.

Society: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18

"Hey, wait, that's-" Arn starts, but quickly catches Auntie's drift and nods along. He, too, leans against the pillar, but he at least has the forethought to pretend to start working. "Huh, but why would the Venture-Captain not mention you if he wanted to give a good impression? Since you're all that, of course, and this place is so far out in the desert.." He takes a second and then sniffs. "Nah, never mind. I know why."