Accompanying her notebook entry, Ulisha filled the next several pages with crude maps, complex equations, and further notes. She apparently returned to the Pathfinder’s cave mentioned in her previous entry. By observing the angle of the ridgeline and her current position, she was able to calculate the crash site’s probable location.
The last page on the matter includes a detailed map into Numeria with various landmarks and a destination. An addendum written in recent ink warns, “Tread lightly. Numeria remains a mystery to the rest of the world. Those who stay too long draw unwanted attention.”
I may have jsut made a monumental discovery. While searching for an Osirian urn in an Absalom museum, I came upon a collection of charcoal rubblings in an old scroll tube. According to the notes that accompanied them, they were taken by a Pathfinder from a cave wall somewhere between the border of Numeria and the River Kingdoms. The rubbings depict what Numerians now refer to as the Rain of Stars. WHile this cave alone is an incredible find, I believe there's something even more remarkable. In the rubbings, one of the smaller objects has a line that connects it to the horizon. While the Pathfinder dismissed this line as a stone fracture, I have another thought. I believe whomever witnessed this Rain of Stars must have seen where one of the smaller objects impacted and etched the line as a point of reference! No all I need to do is calculate where the ridge lies in relation to this cave and I'll have my name in the history books.
Some of you might've already heard of the land of the fallen stars before, or are outgoing enough to ask about your destinations:
Numeria is a brutal land where only the strongest survive. It was shaped by an astronomical event known as the Rain of Stars, when a large meteor exploded in the sky and rained down upon the land.
15+
The Kellids that call Numeria home often scavenge the fallout from the Rain of Stars for a rare metal known as Numerian Steel. Scholars call the substance adamantine, and it is famed for its durability and ability to cut through the hardest materials as though they were cloth. When alloyed with iron, it is less durable and much less valuable.
20+
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Thurgar, by chance, knows a little about their destination.
"Oh, yeah, Numeria. Place was hit by a meteor. Or, I guess, the meteor blew up in the sky and then the pieces hit the place. I don't know what it was like before, but now it's a pretty lawless, savage place. There won't be any tea parties or picnics on this trip," he says.
You have time to resupply in Gralton nefore leaving for your trip to Numeria. The team travels northbound to the town of Hajoth Hakados, then head west to cross the Sellen river. Ulisha’s map is straightforward and easy to follow, and your trip is surprsingly uneventful as well. It's quite easy to slip throught the unguarded Numerian boarder.
After few days of travel, the team approach the crash site indicated in Ulisha's map. The trees become sparse as the you climb into the Numerian foothills. A series of switchbacks rises to a low summit, and you guys make your way up to the top. The view is phenomenal at the crest of this hill, where Ulisha’s map indicates a crash site. Vast plains extend to the north, where clouds gather on the horizon. To the south, the Sellen River cuts a definitive border between the River Kingdoms and Numeria. However, no sign of a crash can be seen...
You discover that the soil along the slope of the hill here is looser than it should be, as if a recent rockslide had establish a new layer and cover whatever that's underneath.
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Thurgar is too busy admiring the view to notice the ground beneath his feet. "Say what you will about the disaster, it brought this land to a somewhat primordial state. Beautiful isn't it?"
He takes a moment to relish the open expanse. "And think of the opportunities! Mines, farms, quarries, groves! All this unclaimed space waiting to be profited from!
"Oh...what are we doing? Digging? Sorry, not even a garden trowel here, but I can probably make do with my axe, in a pinch."
The oread takes out his heavy shield and start removing dirts. After about 15 minutes of digging, the shield hits something metalic and solid. Further digging reveals an ovoid shape metal object that's 10ft in length and 5ft in diameter at its widest point. The metal is strange and unfamiliar to most...
The surface of the big metalic object is scratched and dented but unbroken, overall it appears to be relatively undamaged. A 3-by-5-foot section of the side of this metalic object appears as thought it could be opende on a hinge. Said part is shut tight when you attempts to open it, maybe you need to find a better leverage point...
Samantha can tell that this metal is some sort of alloy, but can't really figure out its composition. You got a feeling that it's not entirely alien though.
Newt searches every corner of his brain but fails to come up with anything. Maybe he should have picked metallurgy as an elective during his Pathfinder training. His muscle power on the other hand, is enough to easily pry open the pod.
The inside of the wreck is cramped. A single chair made out of the same strange metal faces the hatch, dozens of straps hang inside the device, and an array of levers and buttons lines the interior on one side. Several dozen palm-sized metallic discs and an unadorned silvery bracer lie scattered across the interior.
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Thurgar keeps a respectful distance as the others go about cracking open the weird metal object. If it came from the sky, there's no telling what's inside it.
For that matter, he takes out his hammer and shield, ready for trouble.
When it doesn't explode immediately upon being opened and nothing comes out to eat anyone's face or brain, he leans in curiously to see what they've found.
Lara and Newt works together and figure out that those are Silver Disks, the currency used in Numeria. They worth 350gp total. The silvery braclet is not silver, and you don't know what it is or what it does. That's the extend for what you find in the pod, the rest of the equipments in it are all broken beyond repair and worthless. The hull itself worth little as scrap metal as well.
Assuming you take the money and the silver bracket you found, do you guy with to do anything up here before you head back to the River Kingdom?
You do not find anymore treasure around the hilltop.
As you expect for taking things from the Numerian land, during your descend on the switchback, the local step out from the surreounding brush and block your path. They spoke with heavy accent.
"Stop right there!" demands a Kellid woman who hefts a massive blade. "You folks are not from here, and those things are not yours. Give us the silverdisks, all the gold you have, and anything else you found there. Then you may live."
As the Pathfinders has set their mind on forgoing diplomacy and securing their loots by force, both sides get ready for the inevitable conflict...
A warrior advances right next to her comrade. She stares at the Pathfinders menacingly.
Initiative order, round 1
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Green
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Lara
-----
Red
Cyan
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Samantha
Thurgar
Newt
As Lara's bullet leave a blood mark on green, the green Kellid throws a Tanglefoot Bag back at her. Sticky goos burst out and entangles Lara, gluing her to the ground. The red kellid charges at Newt angrily with her greatsword and cut deep into the oread's shoulder. The cyan kellid moves forward and fire her longbow at the grippli with spell component pouch, mortally wounding the witch.
The wound on Newt and the dying Samantha tells you that the kellid are offended greatly by Newt's words.
Initiative order, round 1
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Green -2
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Lara entangled, can't move
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Red
Cyan
-----
Samantha -17, prone, dying
Thurgar
Newt -12
Green moves up and throw another tanglefoot bag, this time at Thurgar, entangles and glues him to the ground as well.
Initiative order, round 2
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Green -2
-----
Lara entangled, can't move
-----
Red
Cyan
-----
Samantha -18, prone, dying CON check needed to stablize
Thurgar entangled, can't move
Newt -12
Bold is up!
Newt and Thurgar's attack both miss its target.
As Lara struggles to reload her pistol amidst the chaos, the Red Kellid warrior seizes the opportunity. With a swift and brutal strike, she brings the greatsword down on her. Lara feels a searing pain as the blow connects, sending her sprawling to the ground, unconscious and bleeding profusely.
With a fierce, triumphant roar, the Red Kellid warrior steps away from Lara's body, her eyes locking onto Thurgar. Thurgar barely has time to brace himself before the warrior's devastating strike lands with crushing force. The impact is overwhelming, and Thurgar collapses as well.
The blue warrior advances and throws yet another Tanglefoot bag at Newt. The gooy substances covers Newt and quickly harden, entangling and gluing him to the ground.
Initiative order, round 2
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Green -2
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Lara -18 entangled, prone, dying
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Red
Cyan
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Samantha -18, prone, dying
Thurgar -17 entangled, prone, dying
Newt -12 entangled, can't move
...................After some unpleasant encounter with the local Kellid, the team arrived at Hajoth Hakados, the neutual trade hub. Thanks to a hidden Pathfinder Lodge in town, you easily secured a ship to go back to the River Kingdoms to report your finding. You later finds out that you have probably encountered the Blood Gar tribe. They are violent, water-dewlling predators who raid and plunder riverside settlements and prey primarly on foreigners. Your water-bound return trip is made safe by the massive influx of millitary vessels going up and down the Sellen river in response to the recent crusade in the Worldwound.
Ulisha is glad to see her hypothesis confirmed. She let you all rest in town for a few days after all the mountain climbing you have done for her, and wait for the next instruction/lead.