|
A young man dressed in crisp white attire, his clean white gloves standing out against the pale fabric, meticulously checks his gear one last time.
“Everything accounted for, hopefully,” he mutters under his breath, his brow furrowed in concentration.
As he arrives at the scene, his demeanor shifts. “My name is Raphaeleos,” he announces in a calm, reassuring voice. “I will be your medic for this mission. If anyone needs anything, don't hesitate to call on me.” His eyes scan the group with a determined sense of duty, ready to serve and protect his Pathfinder allies.
After the Pathfinder Society’s previous alliance with the Burning Sun orcs, the Society agreed to regularly send teams to Freedom Town to aid them against possible future incursions from the undead hordes of Tar-Baphon. These Pathfinder groups rotate out roughly every month, sending in a new team to Belkzen through the Maze of the Open Road. You have been on-site for the past week or so as the current team dispatched to aid the town. You receive a request for assistance that morning and make their way to the town center to meet with Uirch of the Burning Sun and Freedom Town’s Council Leader, Ruhkat Twisted Tusks. They find the two of them standing before the large town hall, seemingly in the middle of a loud argument. It’s quickly quelled by Uirch pointing out the Pathfinders’ presence, leading Ruhkat to apologize and invite the PCs to join them inside and take a seat in their meeting room. Read or paraphrase the following once the PCs enter the meeting room.
A large orc man bearing heavy armor etched with the religious symbol of Sarenrae and a half-orc woman wearing fur-lined leathers sit next to each other in front of a massive circular table with chairs aligned all around it. Both gesture to the open seats.
The large orc speaks first. "Welcome Pathfinders, I’m Uirch of the Burning Sun. I apologize for our earlier display. Council Leader Ruhkat Twisted Tusks and I have been very worried as of late. In fact, our disagreement is why I requested your presence. Perhaps you can help settle the situation for us." Ruhkat nods and adds, "Our scouts recently noted a swath of unusual activity just outside the city, but they were unable to pinpoint the cause. Personally, I see no reason to believe this is anything but the latest batch of undead scouting for another attack, and I have taken the liberty of preparing the town. Uirch seems to believe something else is afoot, but I’m not inclined to send our soldiers out into the forest when they should be protecting the town if more of Tar-Baphon’s legions arrive." Uirch sighs and shakes his head. "So now you see our predicament and why I asked you to come here. My people are only still in this town to protect Mahja’s body, and I have few Burning Suns to spare. But I suspect someone is seeking to sabotage my operation and destroy Mahja Firehair’s body. When she died last year, we realized she had the mark of a Crucible challenge. It means the orc wishes to challenge a god, and should they win, that god will be removed from existence, while the challenger becomes divine in their place. However, to complete such a ritual, the challenger’s physical body on Golarion must remain intact. And because of that, I worry the disturbances lately are an attempt to sabotage her challenge. By whom, I don’t know, nor what means they’re going to use. A few members of my hold and I have stayed behind to protect her body until the results of the Crucible are confirmed, but I won’t leave her unguarded to confirm my suspicions. So, I’m asking if you’d be willing to investigate the situation. If it turns out I’m wrong, I will concede to Ruhkat and help prepare for another undead siege."
|
Samna swings herself into one of the open seats, "Well: It seems we have come to the right place. You worry about Mahja's body, we'll scout the area."
"Just a few questions: Any word on what to expect out there? What kind of rumors have you heard? Also, how long do these Crucible challenges typically last? You make it sound as if you have been here in Freedom Town longer than expected."
|
|
Fashionably late? Fashionably late.
A young blonde human man enters the meeting room with a fancy coiled whip on one hip and a longsword on the other.
It's Emmanuel Holysmith, and he's been chatting with everyone in the town. Annoying some, entertaining others, and making friends in one way or another.
"Hmm, this could be a distraction, then..." He starts thinking. "Oh, 'sup. I'm Emmanuel Holysmith, but ya'll can call me Manny. Sorry for the morning, but Rushtusk wanted me to check on a horse, and He-Who-Rides-With-The-Sun wanted me to take several laps around the town as punishment, but seems like plenty of people were cheering me on."
"Anyway. This could be a distraction, so it's best we head out, then. What kind of undead attacks have you seen recently? Any specific creatures?"
He pauses. "Any major celebrations or events happening soon? It may be another way to disrupt Mahja Firehair."
Uirch smiles hearing the questions
"The Crucible challenge is an old orcish religious tradition whereby an orc can undergo a ritual at some point in their life to be given a specific mark and take an oath against a specific god. Then, upon their death they can challenge that god to a duel to the death in the realm beyond death. If the challenging orc wins, they become a god in the losing god’s place, and the loser’s soul is erased from existence. It’s considered a very honorable challenge; the chance to beat a god and become one in their stead is a great risk that only our best warriors take, but it’s a cause for celebration. Naturally, unless an orc reveals they have chosen this path to others, it’s impossible to know when the mark will appear on their body until their death. Upon that point, the body must be protected until the mark disappears, and the challenge is shown to be complete."
He pauses for a moment "We don't know which god was challenged and how long it may take, it lasts a year already..."
He pauses for a moment and addresses Mahja's death
"Mahja Firehair was the strongest warrior of our hold and lead the fight against hordes of the Whispering Tyrant’s troops that several of your organization joined us for. Unfortunately, during a speech celebrating our victory over these monsters, one of the undead exploded, and she was forced to jump on the explosion to protect the rest of the party. It was a sad and somber moment, but thankfully, hope returned to us upon seeing the mark of the Crucible appear on her body."
"When it comes to attacks and undead. Well, given the attack that occurred here a year ago, I worry the people of this town will never truly feel safe again. Mainly, we’ve discovered signs of fire in the forests, this time in areas near some of our patrol camps. Additionally, our patrols have reported encountering many enraged beasts as of late. Our citizens, and those of the hold, know better than to anger the animals out here, since many of them can turn violent easily. Our scouts have had to kill many of the angered beasts, and who else but the mindless undead would go out of their way to anger these animals?"
|
A black-scaled kobold listens intently. He is naked, save for a leather loincloth, bracers and handwraps. Tiny bat-like wings sprout from his shoulder blades.
”Challenging a dragon is good, but challenging a god is better!”, he declares. ”Is there a god of dragons? Then Dreadfang challenges him!!” He checks his body for some kind of mark.
|
|
"'Sup Dreadfang. How's your training going? Might want to train some more before fighting a god, I bet it isn't easy." Manny's glad to not be the last person to arrive.
"Hmm, let me ask Shylye for some help here. Maybe she knows more about the Crucible."
Manny turns to the side and begins talking to... you're not sure who. But he seems confident there is a woman named Shylye in the room.
"Uh huh... uh huh... okay. Thanks." Manny turns to back to the team. "So, about the Crucible." He begins to explain what he knows.
"Sounds like we'll check this out, if it's a nothingburger then we'll keep watch over Mahja."
Manny claims a 4th-rank scroll of fly from the Pathfinder Provisions and stretches.
|
|
"We'll take care of this matter while you keep Mahja's body safe." Raphaeleos assures the large orc man.
Raphaeleos then enchants himself with the energies typically used to manipulate the undead.
◆ Life Link
Known Divine Spells (Spell Rank 3) [][][][]
◆◆ Necromancer’s Generosity
◆◆ Rouse Skeletons
◆◆ Vampiric Feast*
> ◆ to ◆◆◆ Heal*
> ◆◆◆ Summon Undead* – Level 2 Undead: Decrepit Mummy, Draugr, Flaming Skull, Ghast, Husk Zombie, Lacedon, Shredskin, Skeletal Champion, Skeletal Horse, Zombie Brute
Known Divine Spells (Spell Rank 2) [X][][][]
◆◆◆ Summon Undead* – Level 1 Undead: Festering Gnasher, Festrog, Ghoul, Plague Zombie, Scorned Hound, Skeletal Soldier
◆◆ Final Sacrifice
◆◆ Necromancer’s Generosity
◆◆ False Vitality (Revelation Spell)
> ◆ to ◆◆◆ Heal*
Known Divine Spells (Spell Rank 1) [][][][]
◆ to ◆◆◆ Heal*
◆◆◆ Summon Undead – Level -1 Undead: Crawling Hand, Predatory Rabbit, Severed Head, Skeleton Guard, Zombie Shambler
◆◆ Necromancer’s Generosity
◆◆ Soothe (Revelation Spell)
Known Divine Cantrips (Heightened Rank 3)
◆◆ Needle Darts
◆ Shield
◆ Protect Companion
◆◆ Void Warp
◆ Stabilize
◆◆ Vitality Lash (Revelation Cantrip)
Samna knows that while the Crucible challenge is sacred to orc culture, most gods know of its existence and its rules, including the interactions between the mortal body of the challenger and how it must stay protected and can’t be moved without very strong magical safety measures to go even short distances. On top of that Manny remembers that while it’s generally considered against poor form for gods to directly interfere with mortals, the Crucible is one occasion where deities have granted their power to mortals with orders to interfere with the corporeal aspects of the divine challenge.
Uirch points you a way to Mahja's residence. The small arrangement of buildings around the major courtyard features torches on each corner of every building, with a larger collection of lights in the courtyard center. The northwestern building’s door is flanked on either side by a pair of half orcs wearing the iconography of the Burning Sun Hold. The rest of the courtyard seems to be mostly empty with a few straggling scouts and guards wandering about not currently on duty.
As you arrive at the cabin, a pair of half-orcs stand guard outside, one out front and the other making rounds, keeping watch around the house proper.
The twins protecting the body introduce themselves as Namiri and Bovar Ashcaller. When asked about anything unusual, Namiri puts a hand on her chin in contemplation briefly. "Well, I haven’t seen anything out front, but my brother has mentioned some weird sounds coming from the forest area to the north." Bovar nods and chimes in, "I hear a bunch of rustling, but when I go to check it out, I hear snorting and loud rushing steps. So, I figured it’s a large animal that gets spooked by a big guy like me running full speed at it. I certainly can’t blame it."
Namiri points out to the map that they have "We marked on the map some occurances of intest. One is near the scout camp up north, the other is further to the east, unusual trails of animals, and apparently a bit further were some religious symbols that could have some meaning. I think you could start by investigating those and see what gives."
|
|
"We'll be lucky if it's just hostile animals," Samna reflects. "Most of them aren't known for making strange religious symbols."
She agrees with the order proposed by Emmanuel.
Dreadfang takes up a position near the middle of the group, keeping his speculation about squirrel cults to himself for the moment.
You approach the outskirts from the Burning Sun’s temporary residences, they pass by a set of Freedom Town scouts preparing for the undead incursion who wave them on into the forested area. Large empty patches are scattered between the trees, with new growth surrounding the burned and broken foliage destroyed by fire and undead only a year ago. Many tracks, both humanoid and animal, line the area, a combination of scouts, guards, stumbling undead, and quadrupedal animals.
The northern scout camp was reported as ruined the last time a patrol went
to try and set up camp there. There were signs of fire damage, and the tents were mostly destroyed, leading the scouts to move on for the evening and note down the anomaly for the rest of the town guards.
Your analysis of the place reveals the fire used to burn the tents and equipment in the camp had both alchemical and divine elements. While sulfur zombies commonly wander into the area, the damage here seems too targeted and intelligent to be caused by a mindless undead creature.
You find a few of the scouts’ usable supplies that survived the damage: four moderate healing potions and three spellstrike arrows (type III).
|
|
Samna rubs a gloves hand on the soot of the tent remains, then tests the consistency. "Alchemical accelerants, but also divine fire of some sort. Odd. Too targeted to be the work of sulfur zombies. Perhaps some more intelligent burning undead."
She wanders through the remains of the camp, attempting to recreate the scene in her mind, and ends up next to an intact tarp. "Ah, what's this?" She lifts back the flap and finds some intact materials.
When you discover everything that there was to discover you head towards another site.
Among the stumps and dried brush, the scouts found an area littered with quadrupedal tracks they identified as unusual since they run repeatedly in a circle. You can try to identify the tracks:
You notice a few of the tracks break off and lead further into the forested area. Following the trail leads to a trio of daeodon bodies that appear to have been killed over a week ago, likely by scouts, but each of them is scarred with an odd symbol.
|
|
"Ah, my specialty," Samna looks over the site, and the tracks, with satisfaction. "Boar tracks, though very large. Odd for them to be circling this way. Perhaps they were trained, or magically controlled."
She almost over looks the trail, but a lucky break allows her to lead the group to a nearby clearing.
"Daeodons, and dead at least a week. What is this strange symbol scarred on them?"
|
|
"Oh! The big boars!" Manny cobbles together enough memories. "Right. I got pulled into that Remaster course back at the Lodge, but I kind of slept through the Monster Core Class." Manny rubs the back of his head. "Turns out bards are pretty good with most standard martial weapons, we just never tried!" He chuckles.
The symbol is too marred to make out, but it radiates magic that can be identified:
You find a bag of
===========================================
When you are done investigating the bodies you move towards the third site.
The scouts reported finding a series of carvings in several burned trees throughout one small clearing. None of them knew what the carvings signified, but strong lingering magic in the area made them concerned that the site could be drawing undead creatures. The town is hoping the Pathfinders, with their wide-ranging areas of expertise, might be able to decipher the meaning of the carvings. There are several carvings on the trees that can be identified
|
|
"Well, no idea what the symbols exactly are, but I'm certain a specific guardian angel knows and will tell me soon..."
"Yup! Divine possession magic. Someone assumed direct control of these big boars." He sighs. "I really was hoping nothing was going to happen. There's a big concert I was trying to set up and the afterparty was... mmmmhmm!"
"Nice catch Dreadfang!" He kneels down for a high-five. "If we don't use 'em we can donate it to the town." Whether or not Dreadfang returns the high-five, he turns to Isaku. "Hey, do you want to hold onto a flask? You always seem to know when you have the perfect shot lined up."
======
"Whoa! More carvings!"
"Eh... hmm... Shylye doesn't know, either."
As you finish analyzing the carvings you hear something!
A humanoid figure in a brown cloak, covered in belts of alchemical supplies rushes off into the forested area, giving you a chance to chase them down back.
Burned trees and brush - 1
The area of forest closest to town is littered with dead tree stumps, ashen branches, and spiky dried brush from fires last year and subsequent undead attacks.
Bold are up! Round 1
Samna
Manny
Isaku
Dreadfang
Raphaelos
Folmyr