Game is played here.
You have been gathered for a pre-dawn meeting in the Sandswept Hall, the Pathfinder lodge in Osirion’s capital Sothis.
Please take a moment to introduce yourselves.
|
The dark-haired Taldan man is so tanned that you might mistake him for a native of Garund. His hair is still damp from being dunked in a barrel of water and his chin freshly shaved. "Good morn--early morning!" he says cheerfully and spoils it with a yawn. "So early but better than at noon when the sun cooks me in my armor."
He sets his shield and silver spear down. "I am Iniquity Pen, thespian and warrior of Shelyn."
|
|
Short, shaggy, and leaning on a staff is a Shoony named Domwurd. A dedicated Pathfinder who has shown a knack for transmutation magic, Domwurd is a notable character in that he's diligent about following the rules and doing the right thing. That said, some agents have noted that his book smarts doesn't always translate into street smarts.
At the moment he's holding a dog-eared tome in his other hand, studying the arcane syllables that glow dimly on its pages.
At Iniquity's words he quickly snaps the book closed and introduce himself. "Domwurd here, and it's a real pleasure to meet you. I admit who I am is somewhat humble in comparison, though I've read as many tomes as I can within the Grand Lodge, and am hoping that I can get some more books on loan from the local libraries in this fair city."
He scratches an ear, which flops about in an unintentionally adorable way. "I do know a bit of magic too, so there's that. But having a devotee to the goddess of beauty as company is great news!"
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hampton is a lanky, bald half-elf with the bronzed skin of an Osiriani. He raises his right hand with his palm the others in a traditional Osiriani greeting. He bears a pair of twinned shortswords, assorted other weaponry about his belt, and a bow slung across his back.
Greetings and salutations! Well met, Friends. I am Hampton Candlewood, Pathfinder and special envoy to the Society from the Risen Guard of the Ruby Prince. I am at your service, he states, bowing low.
Hampton takes a deep breath and sighs contentedly. Ah, praise to the Ancients, at long last they Society has sent me somewhere both warm in climate and warm in my heart. Welcome to my home city!
|
|
"Truly?" Iniquity says in surprise. "I have been assigned on and around the continent of Garund for so long, there ought to be a salty lake named Iniquity's Suffering around somewhere." He wipes his slightly damp brow for effect and laughs. "I would have happily traded my assignments for yours in cooler climes!"
|
|
Meanwhile the tall Ulfen women sweating deeply in the desert heat clunks up to the rest of the group. She has long platinum blond hair curled into a braid and her skin has a shimmering texture of sparkling pale granite with strange veins of metallic sheen running through it. Though, perhaps what is most notable about her appearance is the heavy steel breastplate on she wears with a pair of ticking gears and small metallic tubes arranged across it in several places.
"That makes two of us, my friend. My name's Salka and I'm the true genius behind the Frisk Family Smithing company up in the Land of the Linnorm Kings. I've been doing these field missions keeping up our buyer's partnership deal with the Pathfinders that my brother set up 10 years ago. But I guess the Jabali blood in my veins makes them think they should constantly send me to the desert which I'm growing to start and resent." She breathes out a long sigh but tries to save face in front of her new allies.
“Please be seated, my friends,” Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir gestures to seats around a table laden with breakfast foods, including bowls of bean stew with boiled eggs and flat bread, fried balls of ground fava beans and spices, and fresh dates. Deep shadows under his eyes are testament to the stress of recent weeks, as reports of an undead uprising in the Sandswept Hall have moved quickly through the Pathfinders’ ranks.
The venture-captain is joined by an elven woman with a tattoo on the left side of her face and a dwarf with dark hair and beard. He introduces them as Kinlynn Silverstride, an investigator with the Vigilant Seal faction, and Toruk Melgron, an explorer with the Horizon Hunters.
Norden then briefly outlines how Pathfinder agents recently stopped an undead attack in the lodge, bravely holding the line against undead to protect the city, then fighting them back to their source: a portal deep beneath the lodge.
“We determined that the portal leads to a mysterious Shadow Path which connects the lodge’s basement to an ancient pyramid by passing through the Shadow Plane. We were able to open the portal again to send agents through to learn more, but in the face of even more undead, they were forced to retreat before they could finish their mission. Worse, three agents stayed behind, sacrificing themselves to draw the undead away from the fleeing Pathfinders. The mission wasn’t a complete failure—the agents found some strange device that we suspect is responsible for the undead, but they didn’t have time to learn anything more and didn’t want to make things worse by tampering with it before they understood what it was."
“Clearly, we need to go back with agents who have what it takes. You are some of the Society’s best, most experienced people. We need you to go through the Shadow Path, find whatever’s responsible for raising the undead, and stop it. While you’re there, look for our missing agents—a catfolk named , a human named , and a dwarf named . We hope they’ve managed to stay alive, but if not, bring back their remains. They deserve a second chance if we can resurrect them.”
Kinlynn and Toruk both nod at the venture-captain’s words. “Norden has laid out the most important tasks,” the elven woman says, “but there’s an opportunity to learn more. The Vigilant Seal wants to know what this device is. If you can bring it back so we can study it, that’ll help us find whoever’s responsible for these attacks.” Toruk quickly swallows his mouthful of food, and chimes in. “There could also be information in the pyramid itself. The Shadow Path is particularly stable—according to the scouts’ reports, when you’re on it, you can’t go anywhere but to the pyramid or back to the lodge. There must be some reason the path’s creators chose to establish such a connection. If you can find out what this pyramid is and who was meant to stay dead in there, the Horizon Hunters would appreciate it. But please remember that any Ancient Osirian artifacts from the pyramid could draw the attention of the Ruby Prince, so only take notes, not historic items.”
Norden notes "Unfortunately I can't stick around to answer questions, but please wait a moment, our resources are rather taxed at the moment but one of my assistants is on the way with some helpful equipment."
|
|
Iniquity takes a seat and partakes of the food before them while the Venture-Captain explains the situation. He pauses eating and listening long enough to flash Kinlynn and Toruk friendly smiles when they are introduced.
"I have an associate in Sothis who may prove helpful," he comments. "He would appreciate--ah, hmm." He glances briefly toward Hampton. "Appreciate us not drawing undue attention either."
|
|
Domwurd takes a generous helping of friend fava bean balls, a sure sign that the Pathfinders with him may rue this later.
"I'd be delighted to take what notes I can. Do you have any texts or chronicles that I can look over that explain more about what we know of this Shadow Path? I'm happy to come to my own conclusions as we travel through it, but I'd prefer to know as much as possible for a traverse a road through the Plane of Shadow."
He's quick to share what he knows.
|
|
Hampton greets Toruk warmly, as most associates of the Horizon Hunters do.
He similarly smiles amiably at Iniquity's remark, gently flicking a scorpion of the latter's shoulder. Indeed! Discretion is the better part of valor, my friend, Hampton says. While I would be duty-bound to report any removal of items bearing historical significance to Osirion, I am not so bound by inflexible laws, nor by those who might or might not act outside the boundaries of them.
Things we know:
The architects of the ancient pyramids often set mechanical and magical traps inside to discourage tomb robbers who would steal the riches interred with pharaohs.
The Shadow Plane is a dark mirror of Golarion. As its name suggests, it’s a place of gloom which light struggles to penetrate. It connects the Material and Negative Energy planes, giving rise to many undead that hide in its darkness.
In addition to the undead, other creatures lurk in the Shadow Plane, including velstracs. These horrific fiends find true pleasure in inflicting sadistic torments on mortals.
As you ponder and discuss A male grippli enters the room, hands full with three wooden boxes labeled trapfinder’s kit, undead hunter’s kit, and Osirionologist’s kit. He sets them down on the table before using a wet cloth to wipe his skin. Unlocking the boxes, he looks up and says, “I'm Po’ogaat, Noden's assistant. We don’t trust just any agents with these items, but I think you can handle them… and you may need them!”
“Unfortunately,” he adds, “the Society’s resources are strained right now, so we need to send some of this gear to other lodges. But you get first pick.”
Each of you may pick an item. There are multiple of each item so the picks are not exclusive.
Trapfinder's Kit:
Stanching Rune
Ring of Maniacal Devices
Undead Hunter's Kit:
Deathless Rune
Coin of Comfort
Osirionologist’s Kit:
Brooch of Inspiration
Goggles of Night
Magnifying Glass of Elucidation (Ancient Osiriani)
Po’ogaat gets out a rune inscribing kit while you look through the items. "By the way... Norden Balentiir is prepared to call in some favors to remove any curses you might acquire on your adventure, but please... try to avoid becoming cursed in the first place if possible. Osirion’s ruler, the Ruby Prince, already has his eyes on the Sandswept Hall, and it’s best to avoid drawing further scrutiny by calling in such favors if possible."
Salka confirms existing information, but learns nothing new.
Po’ogaat inscribes Salka's new rune.
|
|
Iniquity carefully reviews the contents of each of the boxes. He makes thoughtful sounds as he picks out various pieces, considers them, and places them back. "That gives me an idea." Ultimately, he selects a rune stone from the undead hunter's kit.
"Po'ogaat, my good fellow, I'll take this for the mission," he says and sets the deathless rune down next to the gripli while he works on Salka's armor. "But I believe I shall stop at the quartermaster before we depart."
Po’ogaat finishes etching any runes before handing over one last item. A Slate of Distant Letters.
"I'll hold on to the matched slate. Once per hour you can write me a message of up to 25 words. This is important, since we need to keep the portal you'll be using closed to keep undead from wandering in, so when you're ready to come back or send any recovered agents through let me know. I'll be nearby, so it shouldn't take me too long to get it open, but just in case I'd send the message say before you make the trip back from the pyramid, it's closer than it looks and staying out in the sands too long might expose you to unknow dangers."
|
|
"I should pick up a rubbing set in case there are more artistic expressions to replicate than text," Iniquity says after a thought. "And a mirror. I know you are all absolutely shocked that I could look this good without carrying one at all times, but it appears that I have misplaced my old one." He laughs and grins. "On a more serious note--not that my dashing good looks are not a serious matter--can anyone conjure light more powerful than our wayfinders?"
With Shoppings and Savings complete, you can head down into the basement and through the portal...
On the other side, you find yourselves in a vast, grey desert that stretches as far as the eye can see. In the distance, scattered limestone ruins rise out of the sandy landscape, shadowy reflections of Osirion’s ancient past. Most prominent among these distant structures is a white pyramid which glows faintly even through the Shadow Plane’s persistent gloom.
Turning around you see a grayscale version of the basement chamber you just departed, oddly resting at ground level without any other portions of
the lodge around it.
Detect Magic reveals nothing. Everything is Dim.
What next?
|
|
"Conjure, no. I can certainly light up an area brilliantly though! ...Unfortunately my current prototype is not very fuel efficient so it only lasts a few seconds and is explosive and dangerous rather than actually assistive in lighting the way..."
That said she shrugs and takes the Slate from Po'oogaat. "Why do these things only work with words, anyhoo? Seems like a total design flaw. Can I draw you a blueprint or a pictographic plan instead? Or does it count pictures as 1000 words or something and immediately start erasing them?" She immediately starts digging through her pack for chalk to try and test her theory with.
|
|
Iniquity laughs at Salka's description of her method of 'illumination.' "Well, not quite the function I was getting at, no."
On the other side of the portal, he reaches down to the wayfinder hanging off of his belt and concentrates on illuminating it. "Let's see if this does anything. If not, Domwurd, might you give it a try?"
Po'oogaat shrugs "That sounds like a good research project for later. I was told it only functioned on words so I never tried anything else, but maybe while on a dangerous mission where you might need to retreat suddenly isn't the best time to muck with your only way of communicating you need to escape that takes an hour to cooldown after each use..."
---
Iniquity's wayfinder flickers a bit, as a bit of dim light extrudes in nearly useless tiny ribbons before the light dies out.
No light is produced from the Wayfinder.
Domwurd's light flickers a bit, briefly expanding to about half the expected brightness before also sputtering out and providing no light.
The torch lights up, fire seemingly to work fine.
Although the light it gives off is a dim and sickly yellow, certainty uninspiring. But it does give off light.
|
|
"Bravo!" Iniquity says with a smile at the shoony. He continues with an expression of mock gravity, "I should drink one of the elixirs that I bought despite your success in case one of those velstrac you mentioned appears. I wouldn't see it coming and would be stabbing into the gloom. It would be worse than rehearsing with poor direction."
He plants his silver pike into the shadowy sand long enough to remove a vial from his belt and drink the contents. "Right, then! The light may hold some shadow beasts at bay. You never know!"
|
|
Salka squints, but her eyes do eventually adjust to the dim lighting. "Well, that's a bummer, I should have picked up some sun rods. Then we'd know for sure if it was the magic or not. Alas... I guess we'll just have to push ahead in the dark for now. And I can send thanks to my ancestor back in the Boneyard for my stronger eyesight, when we get back."
|
|
Domwurd holds out the torch to Iniquity. "Given how bright the torch is, probably best if you hold onto it. The dim light might not be a bother to me, but if one of those velstraks gets close to you, you're going to want to see every ugly bit of it when you go to stab it. And I can't promise to always be beside you. No offense, but you know how the heat of battle can be."
He then looks at Iniquity's hands. "Oh. Are you even able to carry something? Your hands look full."
|
|
Iniquity's pupils have dilated to an unnatural extent following his drink. "While I have had the occasion to need to juggle more than my hands can hold, that was on the stage and not the battlefield," he replies to Domwird, chuckling. "I can see fine now. For now. We had best proceed to our destination before it wears off."
With the torch put away, the party heads off towards the pyramid in the distance with the dim light of the shadowplane guiding their way.
The walk proceeds at a dizzying pace, with the ruins around you blurring by. After about 10 minutes you've reached the pyramid and the portal into it.
Stepping through the portal at the other end takes you into a room where massive sandstone blocks form the walls, floor, and ceiling of this stone chamber. A warm glow emanating from golden decorations on the walls illuminates the room, reflecting off a shallow puddle of dirty water covering much of the floor. Color has returned and you are clearly no longer in the plane of shadows, your trip through to this location having been uneventful.
Additionally you all feel an unpleasant and almost painful sensation as you enter. As though a harm spell were interrupted at the last moment.
A passage exits towards the south west.
Other than the unpleasant sensation, nothing immediately seems dangerous or otherwise hazardous.
|
|
Iniquity squints his eyes and looks around the decorated room but ultimately shrugs. "As you say," he hefts his shield and spear before moving onward. "Hopefully, we will not be making a tense and dramatic exit so that we can investigate these decorations for clues to the purpose of this pyramid, but time may be life for the three who stayed behind."
The hallway continues about 30 feet to a closed stone door. About halfway a passage open to the east. As Iniquity peeks around the corner to see a square room, supported by four pillars with several ancient bodies littering the floor.
“Pathfinders! You came!” a deep voice calls out from near one of the four columns supporting the ceiling of this square room. At first, it appears to be an undead rising, but as the body heaves, it merely splashes onto the wet floor, revealing the bedraggled form of a heavyset catfolk who had been hiding beneath it. Looking around anxiously, he struggles to stand up
"No, I'm Yawellis" they respond as they try and wipe more muck from their mane to show they aren't human.
"Janahar, Tetabu and I tried to draw the undead away so the others could escape. The last time I saw them was when we were investigating one of the strange technological devices we discovered a short distance to the east. I was keeping lookout while they examined it, and when I looked back they were gone. Shortly after that I was assaulted by a horde of undead. Already badly hurt I slayed a few zombies and the ghoul in this room and then hid under their bodies till you showed up."
Yawellis seems legit. They are in pretty bad shape, not at death's door, but in no condition to fight even with some magical healing.
|
|
"We won't ask you to fight any further, but we do need to decide how to keep you out of harm's way briefly. We'd like not to leave either of your companions behind if it can be avoided. The portal to return can only be opened every hour. Can you come back to the entrance of the pyramid and stay hidden there?'