The adventure begins in Nerosyan, the capital of Mendev and once–central command for the war against the demonic hordes that spilled out of the Worldwound. The easily find the Castor Lebris, the one who posted the bounty to find a missing deed. They meet him at his architectural firm
office, where they warmly welcome them inside.
"Castor Lebris. I assume you are here to help me find the missing deed?" he begins.
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Bramblespine slowly unfurls and rights themselves, raising up from what initially appeared to be a thorny rose bush into a rather thorny humanoid who's hands open up like petals on a rose while closed roses encircle their neck.
With a strongly arboreal voice, Bramblespine speaks. "I am Bramblespine. Once a guardian of Feathereyes' Maze, after nearly 200 years of service I have decided to commit a life to exploring The Universe, with the help of the Society for whom I have served for so long."
Bramblespine is a Ghoran.
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"Indeed," a kholo in a set of robes with colors and patterns suggesting that it came from the Mwangi Expanse says with a faint smile.
"I am Lioness Lapping Blood and it is always a pleasure to help a friend," he says.
A small, night black hyena with luminous white eyes sits idly gnawing on a bone at his feet.
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A green-skinned Goblin pipes up "Excuse me, I'm here for the briefing too"
"Pennypockets, or just Penny is fine" he announces "and I bid you all warm greetings on behalf of the peoples democratic republic of Thistletop" he wears padded armour of a rather dashing cut, with sword, buckler, and crossbow.
"Yes, here to help find the missing deed"
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It had been a long hike down.
Rugged and round, a wizened(-looking) old tengu arrives in the quaint architectural office. As he speaks, long "bearded" feathers trail his beak, wriggling in his gruff pronunciation of the words "There remains a disturbance" ominous, he cocks one eyebrow - also of elongated but thin plumage - and feels the wood of the walls with his hand, proclaiming a judgement of it's craftmanship mentally, before continuing "The highest places of these lands look down upon a scarred badland" he seems concerned for those in the room with him, and stands beside his fellow pathfinder - between the warriors and the witches - nodding in unison as they too speak his mind.
Lore: Mountain and Volcano
Cantrips: Ignition
Rank One: Interposing Earth
Rank Two: Exploding Earth
Vessel: Earth's Bile (30-ft 10-burst 2d4 blunt 2d4 fire 1 persist vs Basic Reflex)
Lore: Architecture and Engineering
Cantrips: Sigil
Rank One: Mending
Rank Two: Knock
Vessel: Traveling Workshop (Training in Crafting and Thievery)
"Thank you for coming and heeding my call." he tells them.
He pauses for a while and stares blankly outside.
“Have you heard of the settlement of Bulviss? It was a small hamlet near the border with the old Worldwound.” Castor sighs. “No, you probably haven’t. It was wiped off the map by demons during the Fifth Mendevian Crusade, when the crusaders fought the demons. I want you to travel there and retrieve a deed that should be among the rubble. Mendevian law says you’re entitled to whatever else you find, as the only others who may claim it are the villagers’ next of kin. And since I’m the only next of kin that survived the town…”
Castor trails off as his gaze drops to his desk. His expression is full of barely repressed grief. “My brother, Pellas, and I grew up in Bulviss. I’d acquired a valuable tract of land after settling here in the capital, but I sent the deed to him for safekeeping. Now he’s missing, and I don’t know what happened to him.
“My hope is that by scouring the town, you’ll find clues about my brother’s fate. You can’t be less helpful than the crusaders, at least. Help me recover my deed and bring back information about my brother. Whatever else you find at Bulviss is yours to keep.”
You might have questions, I believe?"
Castor stares at the hobgoblin before he answers back.
"Truth be told, I fear that too much time has passed to find either the deed or answers to my brother’s fate. Adventurers started leaving Nerosyan once the Worldwound closed, so my calls for help went unanswered for months. The crusaders are equally uninterested in helping me beyond hunting for lingering demons. I actually plan on selling the deed and leave Mendev behind, but I need closure before I can move on." he says as he holds back his emotion.
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"I cannot pretend to understand your pain, my friend. But I will promise to do all that I can to help you ease it by finding out all I can about what happened to your hometown and your brother," Lioness says, somberly laying his hand on the man's shoulder.
He lets it linger for a moment before turning to the rest of the group.
"Shall we go?"
"Thank you, everyone." Castor replies with a timid smile in his face.
"As far as I know, the demons sacked Bulviss after they broke through Mendev’s backlines. Though crusader reinforcements routed the demons soon after, those few hours were enough for the demons to destroy Bulviss. I asked the crusaders to investigate again, but they only confirmed that the area was free of demons before advising me to hire adventurers." After providing this explanation, Castor shares a physical description of his brother and marks the town’s location on a map.
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The trip to Bulviss takes a day and is uneventful, save for the sign of patrols of mercenaries who lazily watch out for demonic threats. The approach to the hamlet shows evidence of an attack. Farmhouses are destroyed and fields lay fallow. The town itself is little more than the shells of buildings and a ruined well. A survey of the area indicates three buildings with the least amount of damage, the most promising places to search for clues.
One of them is an overgrown house. The slightly opened door shows that the house’s interior is largely intact and light filters through closed shutters that haven’t opened in years.
You also notice that the jagged holes in the floorboards conceal cunning foot traps filled with inward-facing barbs. There are like six of them. DC 17 Thievery to jam the pincer’s trigger mechanism for each trap.
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"Wait," Zaighar says and gestures to those marching behind him. He points out the dangers to the others. "Bats roost inside. Simple enough to drive them away by breaking open the shutters and windows. But there are at least six ankle biters built into the floor boards. Will need to be careful or cover them."
After he explains to the others, he approaches to rip a window out of the dilapidated wall.
The hobgoblin fighter easily rips the window out from the wall. Light streams through the new opening, disturbing the bats inside and sending them flying out into the open, darting past the adventurers.
Pennypockets gets close to the entrance and jams the trap nearest to the door. If they want to enter safely to search the house, there are five more that need disabling, unless they want their feet pierced by the traps.
Once all the traps have been taken care of — one of which almost pokes Pennypocket's hand — the house is easy to search. Though most objects are just ruined accoutrement, a half-burned roll of parchment can be found in the fireplace.
The group presses on to the next closest building to search.
The next building is a large building at the center of Bulviss that used to act as a catch-all gathering place, but its final function was as the townsfolk’s last defense. The signs of battle are obvious upon entering the hall. Battered and torn remnants of barricades litter the floor and dark stains have seeped into the stones. At the back of the main hall is a shrine to Iomedae that looks remarkably intact.
If anyone flips the pages or moves the book to a get a better look of it, you easily find that
piercing plus holy damage
Bramblespine and Wizel find that
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"Divide the work. I will search over here," Zaighar says.
He finds an open book. The hobgoblin grunts as he views the passage. He lifts the cover in order to flip the pages, and a loud crack followed by a clang and a thunk echoes in the shrine. Zaighar looks over his shoulder at the scuff on his plate. He then goes back to flipping through the pages.
Despite moving the holy book, the triggered bolt from a crossbow hidden by the shrine’s back that whizzes toward him is not forceful enough to get through his armor.
Under the words are the names of townsfolk, nearly a hundred people who stayed behind. If you look at every name,
With nothing else to looks for in the central building, the group can check out the last building intact. A sign on the door indicates it s Lebris' residence.
Going in, trap schematics litter the inside of this home, along with hastily written instructions on how to install them. Much like his brother, Pellas had a knack for engineering, though whereas Castor focused on architecture, Pellas enjoyed intricate mechanics.
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Lioness chats up the rest of the group on the day long trip to the village but grows visibly somber as they approach the ruins.
He remains that way, contemplating the death and destruction as they make their search. He often lingers behind the others thoughtfully as they move efficiently from one location to another.
"Perhaps the rest of us should step back while our nimble fingered friend examines the box," he says as Zaighar brings it out. "We do know Pellas was prone to trapping things, after all."
Penny takes his time unlocking the lockbox and finally opens it. Thankfully, the box does not have traps installed to impale Pennypockets, but caution is a piece of good advice while the goblin works on the box. He opens it and finds that it holds the deed you are looking for and other mementos from Pellas' brother, Castor.
When they are done searching the last building and about to leave or to spend more time to find Pellas, a mournful howling erupts from the well! They find a group of beheaded emerge from the well. One of the flaming skulls matches Pellas’ description and has a turnkey lodged inside of it!
Map Link: ENCOUNTER MAP
Note(s): ☘️: Hero Point, OG: Off-Guard
CHARACTER IN ➤ BOLD TYPEFACE CAN ACT! STRIKETHROUGH NAMES ARE ELIMINATED.
➤ Bramblespine | |
Severed |
Flaming |
Lioness Lapping Blood | |
⠀⠀⠀Bone Bearer |
Zaighar | |
Parted |
Wizel Genius | |
Old Crow at Mountain's Top | |
Scorching |
Burning |
Pennypockets | |
Uncoupled |
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Bramblespine exits the house and opens up a hole in the clouds, allowing a burst of sunlight light to descend on the skulls.
Bramblespines washes the skulls with a burst of sunlight.
Flaming: vs Revealing Light
Parted: vs Revealing Light
Scorching: vs Revealing Light
Burning: vs Revealing Light
Uncoupled: vs Revealing Light
The skulls howl again, all dazzled at varying degrees. Severed flies and enter's Bramblespine's space and bites the ghoran!
vs Concealed
vs Bramblespine AC 17
Entirely misses but it tries again.
vs Concealed
vs Bramblespine AC 17
P damage
Several of Bramblespine's thorns break off and hook into the attacker!
vs P damage
Flaming, on the other hand, advances and spits fire at Wizel and Zaighar!
vs Concealed
vs Wizel AC 20
vs Concealed
vs Zaighar AC 21
Both attacks miss the targets.
Map Link: ENCOUNTER MAP
Note(s): ☘️: Hero Point, OG: Off-Guard
CHARACTER IN ➤ BOLD TYPEFACE CAN ACT! STRIKETHROUGH NAMES ARE ELIMINATED.
Bramblespine | |
Severed (Tiny) | Dazzled (10 min) |
Flaming (Tiny) | Dazzled (2 rd) |
➤ Lioness Lapping Blood | |
➤⠀⠀⠀Bone Bearer |
➤ Zaighar | |
Parted (Tiny) | Dazzled (1 min) |
Wizel Genius | |
Old Crow at Mountain's Top | |
Scorching (Tiny) | Dazzled (1 min) |
Burning (Tiny) | Dazzled (2 rd) |
Pennypockets | |
Uncoupled (Tiny) | Dazzled (10 min) |
[dice=second D8 from being lvl 3 for wicked Thorns]1d8
Zaighar launches the metal ball of his weapon to crack the heads! Severed cracks and thrown to the side. But his continuous whirling of the metal ball misses to hit Flaming and Burning.
Map Link: ENCOUNTER MAP
Note(s): ☘️: Hero Point, OG: Off-Guard
CHARACTER IN ➤ BOLD TYPEFACE CAN ACT! STRIKETHROUGH NAMES ARE ELIMINATED.
Bramblespine | |
Severed (Tiny) |
Flaming (Tiny) | Dazzled (2 rd) |
➤ Lioness Lapping Blood | |
➤⠀⠀⠀Bone Bearer |
Zaighar | |
Parted (Tiny) | Dazzled (1 min) |
Wizel Genius | |
Old Crow at Mountain's Top | |
Scorching (Tiny) | Dazzled (1 min) |
Burning (Tiny) | Dazzled (2 rd) |
Pennypockets | |
Uncoupled (Tiny) | Dazzled (10 min) |
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Bone Bearer darts out and gets between Flaming and Scorching.
Then, Lioness invokes his moonlit patron and casts a Shroud of Night over Burning.
When Lioness invokes the power through him, Bone Bearer lets out a throaty barking laugh.
Finally, Lioness hurls a gravy boat that had been scattered out of a nearby house during the siege at Flaming.
Bone Bearer moves between some skulls while Lioness casts dark hex at Burning!
Burning becomes shrouded in murky darkness, causing everyone to be concealed to it.
Bone Bearer lets out a throaty barking laugh that scares the skulls!
Lioness hurls something heavy but misses to hit the target.
Parted flies toward Zaighar and bites him!
vs Dazzled
vs Zaighar AC 21
And again.
vs Dazzled
vs Zaighar AC 21
Both bites miss.
Map Link: ENCOUNTER MAP
Note(s): ☘️: Hero Point, OG: Off-Guard
CHARACTER IN ➤ BOLD TYPEFACE CAN ACT! STRIKETHROUGH NAMES ARE ELIMINATED.
Bramblespine | |
Severed (Tiny) |
Flaming (Tiny) | Dazzled (2 rd); Frightened 1 |
Lioness Lapping Blood | |
⠀⠀⠀Bone Bearer |
Zaighar | |
Parted (Tiny) | Dazzled (1 min) |
➤ Wizel Genius | |
➤ Old Crow at Mountain's Top | |
Scorching (Tiny) | Dazzled (1 min); Frightened 1 |
Burning (Tiny) | Dazzled (2 rd); Frightened 1 |
Pennypockets | |
Uncoupled (Tiny) | Dazzled (10 min) |