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1) I am based in Southeast Asia (UTC +8) so my posting hours may be unusual (especially for those in North America). I usually update at least one or twice per day. Just to keep the game moving, please post at least once every day and at least once during the weekend.
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Tuesday/Thursdays - all day, as they are the 2 busiest days of my work week
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8) Let's have some fun and tell a great story together! After all, that's what we are here for.
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As the last sea devil falls, Meleeka finishes of her opponent with a fiery punch. Several Vudrani monks and other inhabitants arrive soon after, including Melipdra and Rirzik. They report that the remaining sea devils have been defeated and the settlement is safe. Venture-Captain Melipdra produces two minor healing potions and hands it over to you. One of the dockhands comes forward and hands you a scrimshaw whistle made of Dragon Turtle ivory. "W-w-we thank you for saving us. It's not much but it's all we have."
"Only one? You’ve been bested, Meleeka," Melipdra finishes dressing a wounded porter while gesturing toward her assistant. The martial artist drops the smoldering remains of a sea devil’s torso into the sand and returns to the pier to rummage through the scattered crates. The venture-captain continues the briefing. "Like I was saying, the Society has enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with the Monastery of Unbreaking Waves. The local undines have made great strides in rebuilding the monastery since we defeated the undead responsible for the school’s disappearance.
But the tradition now faces a new threat. An incursion of sea devils is attacking the monastery. You might know them as sahuagin. I was told that the monastery needed our help, but to see a shiver of this size make it to Wavebreak Haven means the situation must already be dire. We must come to the aid of the Unbreaking Waves, now!" She gestures to the surf, where a short figure is soothing several half-horse, halffish creatures. "Rirzik here will escort you by hippocampus to the underwater monastery, where Grandmaster Remendi is organizing the resistance."
Rirzik steps forward, smoothing his turquoise eyebrows, and takes a deep breath, "I have enough hippocampi for everyone. They were a little spooked by all the noise, but I calmed them down."
"And the Society came through with the supplies!" Meleeka interrupts, hauling several large bags across her shoulders as she rejoins the group on the beach. "There are enough potions and fins for each of you. I wish I could join you, but as my fire burns brighter on dry land, I think I’ll be better off seeing to the defense up here."
Melipdra rests a hand on her agent’s shoulder in reassurance. "There is more to a battlefield than the front lines. Support our allies on the shore however you can, and remember to not lose sight of the bigger picture. Helping our allies means helping to preserve a still largely undocumented tradition. We must not let the Unbreaking Waves become another casualty of this senseless violence."
Meleeka hands each of you four Potions of Water Breathing. There are enough for each of you, including your animal companions. She also hands you a pair of swim fins. She asks that the fins and unused potions be returned at the end of the mission.
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The sea is calm as the hippocampi diligently follow Rirzik’s lead, diving beneath the waves. The temperate waters are clear enough to see the monastery only minutes after leaving the shore, a sprawling complex of over two dozen buildings flanking a precipitous bubbling trench. Impressive gardens of colorful seaweed and coral dot the landscape in labyrinthine paths. The pristine trails are ominously deserted. All signs of life are concentrated around the tallest structure at the center of the monastery—the great hall, carved out of twisting stone accented with glowing sapphires. About fifteen minutes after leaving the shore, the hippocampi reach the doorway, where a trio of undine monks stand watch. The youngest swims before Rirzik’s hippocampus and holds out his hand. The mount bucks as the guard refuses to step aside.
Rirzik quickly defuses the tense situation by explaining that the PCs are Pathfinders. The attitude of the guards immediately and visibly shifts as they bow and gesture the PCs to the central building. Rirzik departs with the hippocampi, while the guard leads the PCs past the foyer of the school to meet with Grandmaster Remendi (N female undine human martial artist) and her wife Zulfibha (N female undine human cleric of Gozreh).
A sprawling elliptical arena has been converted into a makeshift war room. A swirling roil of bubbles and currents fills the center of the fighting pit, flanked by a pair of undines meditating on its churning eddies. Within the confines of the sphere float numerous colorful coral figurines in a three-dimensional map of the monastery and surrounding areas. A school of tiny, colorful fish swims into the room. The figurines on the map begin to move as the fish whisper to the undines, several of the coral lumps are forcefully ejected into a half-filled net near the ceiling.
"Pathfinders," a stern voice calls out from the other side of the arena. Grandmaster Remendi takes only a moment to look away from her work before returning to watching the sphere. "I wish I could properly receive you, but I’m afraid we don’t have any time to spare. Excuse me."
Remendi turns to Zulfibha with a raised brow, muttering to her wife while focusing on the movement of the coral. In response, Zulfibha raises a religious symbol of Gozreh, and a small cod zips to her shoulder. After a few short words, the fish darts out of the room. Remendi turns to an anxious merfolk on the other side of the arena. "And you can send the supplies to Afmari!"
"Excuse me," Remendi says as the merfolk glides out of the arena. "I’ll try to make this brief. The sea devils are beginning to converge. We’ve been able to hold them off on the open waters, but our forces are stretched too thin to handle concerns away from the front lines. We need an elite team capable of responding quickly as the silt clears. Your performance at Wavebreak Haven has proven your skills."
A cuttlefish speeds past and whispers a message directly to Remendi, breaking her train of thought as she pounds her desk with a clenched fist.
"I’ve received your first mission. Rirzik will guide you and we will keep in contact. Please, for the sake of our school and our students, help us defend the Unbreaking Waves!"
"Our intelligence has confirmed sea devils and sharks," Remendi says. "But the exact details of other threats are difficult to confirm given the variety of sea life in the region and unpredictable cunning of our enemy."
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"As far as I know, sea devils are aggressive amphibious humanoids who rule hierarchical empires from Golarion’s oceans to the Plane of Water. Despite their strictly regimented culture, sea devils are known to lose control at the scent of blood and enter a violent frenzy." Siyokoy informs the others about sea devils when it is mentioned.
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You are directed to a field hospital set into a series of caverns in a nearby reef. "Someone has disrupted the magic keeping our central field hospital from flooding. Investigate the disturbance and fix the wards. Do not let any blood spill into the sea."
You receive a magical pearl containing magic to repair the ward. Rirzik explains that the field hospital is located in a series of old eel caves, kept dry with magic to minimize the complications of underwater surgery and make it more difficult for oceanic predators to enter. The hospital also houses non–water-breathing allies from shore who are put at risk by the failing wards.
Rirzik leads the way down a steep crag toward a shimmering reef. Blood red coral grows on the side of an underwater ridge spotted with cave entrances. A large, magical air bubble forming a film around the largest opening. Past the bubble’s film, a tunnel strung with bioluminescent algae stretches into a series of caves, and though the air is breathable, water streams in from several points, forming a wet layer on the ground. Injured monks and rescued sailors lie in makeshift cots throughout the ward. Supplies are strewn across the floor. Three exhausted medics run from patient to patient, taking readings and performing triage.
You have the following tasks:
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"Agreed, Rinshu." Grom has trouble keeping his unruly beard from flowing up into his face in the near-weightless water. "Best to fix what's broken before a shark swims in here. Or before a hoard of grindylows flood this place. I've heard of sea devils that can command them through telekinesis or something."
"That said, I'm not sure if I'm of much help. I have a basic knowledge of weird magics, but I'm much more adept at slapping them down when things go wrong."
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"Agreed, Rinshu." Grom has trouble keeping his unruly beard from flowing up into his face in the near-weightless water. "Best to fix what's broken before a shark swims in here. Or before a hoard of grindylows flood this place. I've heard of sea devils that can command them through telekinesis or something."
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"Yeah, we should stick together in case something bad happens. Let's try to get this done so we can get back in the water!"
Elias is hoping to finish any tasks that require the party to be underwater as quickly as possible... so he doesn't have to drink another one of those yucky potions.
"I know a little about primal magic."
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"I'm not a potionologist, but I've always been told adding extra ingredients can throw off the formula. Could make the mixture less effective, or have side effects. At least that's why Ma always made me drink the fish liver oil unsweetened."
Grom starts humming "A Spoonful of Sugar" as he inspects the cavern.
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As you enter the field hospital, you are greeted by Odru, who appears to be the leader of the group. "Thank goodness you've come! We are nearly at the end of our rope!"
If you examine the coral:
DC 22 Perception
You can use the ward-repairing pearl to heal the coral focus.
Odru is in the midst of prepping for a complex procedure, though she makes time to answer questions as she assembles her equipment and scrubs in. She has a collaborative and nurturing personality.
Ratha is busy formulating compounds for patients.
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Rinshu and Vanessa head over to the coral and attempt to repair it. Rinshu understands the nature of the beast and restores the wards.
Odru sighs. "I agree. This is beyond mean. It's outright evil!" She gives her scrubs a final check and sighs again. "Three surgeries today. Will it never end? Do you know anything about merfolk anatomy? I have to repair someone's insides and I've never seen it before. We can talk later, I gotta run!"
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"Do you know something that have happened here?" Siyokoy asks Odru while she works on something.
"It would help if you arrange your tools like this." he changes position of some medical tools Odru will be using, in such a way that she can easily remember them. "How about that? You can easily remember which is which even with your eyes closed."
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Rahla looks up from what she's doing. "No idea what happened! I've spent the last few days doing nothing but preparing formulas for our patients! What do I know about the wards?! If you don't mind, I'd like to get back to work now."
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Grom nods appreciatively at Rinshu's work. "Well done repairing those wards. Looks airtight to me. That's one thing less to worry about."
Grom stays silent during the interview with Odru, but when Black Molly questions Rahla, he chimes in. S'cuse me, you seem to be avoiding the question. Those wards were tampered with, and we're suspecting one of the doctors might have done it. We're narrowing down the possible suspects, and we're gonna waste a lot of everyone's time until we get a proper answer. So if you're innocent, tell us what you know so you can do your job and we can do ours."
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Rahla looks up from what she's doing. "No idea what happened! I've spent the last few days doing nothing but preparing formulas for our patients! What do I know about the wards?! If you don't mind, I'd like to get back to work now."
”What kinda chicanery is this, then!?”, Molly demands. ”Make their deaths ‘appear normal’? Whose deaths? What’re you up to? Talk afore I rip out yer soul an’ wring the truth out of it!”