Tesparisod shows the Pathfinders a buoy, floating above a chained line of crates below. Tesparisod thanks them for their assistance and promises to call the Pathfinder Society his allies if ever they again ply the same seas. He also asks that they convey a message to Venture-Captain Viore that he would greatly enjoy conversing with the aiuvarin again.
There is some dangerous-looking coral along the path to the crates. Getting past it safely requires an Athletics check to Swim.
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With no shortage of modesty, Don Jurri strips down to his chonies, using his hireling as a "shield" (and an assistant - some of those buttons...)
"Lest we ruin my Immaculate Wardrobe with the Soils of Adventuring" he seeks his assistant's agreement "Salt water absolutely ruins silk, isn't that right, Smee!"
Anyhow, with some further ado, perhaps a trifle over-belaboured, our chivalric hero pencil dives heroically into the depths after Jinglemane and Roark!
Voron quickly decides to watch the operation from land.
Don Jurri gets to the bottom, but not without grazing some fire coral. That stuff hurts!
Jinglemane and Roark safely reach the area Tesparisod indicated.
The crates are caught in small caves in the reefs near the island. Whether they were put there intentionally, or lost when going overboard on an errant ship, it’s unclear. They leak a red ink that seems like blood but doesn’t dissolve in water like octopus’s ink.
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Kit helps Voron back into the boat. “Hold on to this end of the rope.”
Then she sets her pack and anything she doesn’t think she will need aside and gets ready to dive in. She was watching Jinglemane and uses that as a guide for where to go down.
Taking a deep breath, she dives in with the other end of the rope in her hands.
Maneuvering under water, she gets ready to help with moving the crates and making sure they clear the coral. If it looks like it would help, she uses the rope to drag crates.
The Seekers’ Quest drops its heavy anchors as the crew tie up the massive square-rigged sails. From the sides of the main deck, pairs of rowboats are lowered into the choppy waters below for you to follow the scouts towards the docks revealed in the parting mists of the inlet.
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Jinglemane gets tangled in some seaweed on the way up before finding his groove, continuing to bring crates to Don Jurri to open. "Kit, I think I'm getting soggy and waterlogged. I'm not as buoyant as I was earlier!"
Kit says “Sorry Jinglemane, once this is done we will just have to air dry ourselves.”
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The crates are filled with rejuvenating goods and useful items to deal with undead and living foes—almost as if their owners didn’t exactly trust each other. One crate is filled with bottles of which five are undamaged. These five bottles are lesser elixirs of life , another holds ten bottles, five of which are holy water and the others moderate alchemist’s fires. The final intact crate holds fifteen small bags of coin, adding up to 60 gp, 45 sp in total and small missives attached to each bag that have lost their messages in the murky depths. Unlike the other crates, the seal on this one had been broken, releasing a dark red inky substance into the waters as some sort of tracking method.
Tesparisod thanks the Pathfinders for their assistance and promises to call the Pathfinder Society his allies if ever they again ply the same seas. He also asks that they convey a message to Venture-Captain Viore that he would greatly enjoy conversing with the aiuvarin again.
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Fearing the undead, and death, and old age, and wrinkles, Don Jurri stows a Lesser Elixir of Life and some Holy Water in his dried clothes before requesting "Another set of undergarments, Smee!" and changing back into them.
The first few landing boats from the Seekers’ Quest pull into the slip inlet leading toward the docks adjacent to a small settlement. Teams of workers push through the midday heat to load crates marked with Red Mantis stamps onto small barges for the next pass of courier ships destined for parts unknown. But as the newcomers arrive, a few of them take notice and call out, “Hey! You’re not supposed to be here!”
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"I shall be relinquishing control of this operation under it's current management, effective immediately" Don Jurri makes demands with his shrillest aristocratic voice, choosing a tone that would most irritate the ear, not unlike scratching nails against a chalkboard "This team is here to ensure quality, and your new duty, under me, is to allow the inspection" striding forward, he twists the lie deeper and deeper into riskier and riskier "We are furthermore endowed to render judgement as to the acute application of force" he points his rapier at the one who yelled initially "You are entitled, once we make a smooth transition, to relegate your complaints with those above me, who you know I know you know!"
Charming Liar
Your charm allows you to win over those you lie to. When you get a critical success using the Lie action, the target’s attitude toward you improves by one step, as though you’d succeeded at using Diplomacy to Make an Impression. This works only once per conversation, and if you critically succeed against multiple targets using the same result, you choose one creature’s attitude to improve. You must be lying to impart seemingly important information, inflate your status, or ingratiate yourself, which trivial or irrelevant lies can’t achieve.
Confabulator
Even when caught in falsehoods, you pile lie upon lie. Reduce the circumstance bonus a target gains for your previous attempts to Create a Diversion or Lie to it from +4 to +2. If you’re a master in Deception, reduce the bonus to +1, and if you’re legendary, your targets don’t get these bonuses at all.
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Roark pockets a lesser elixir of life and a holy water as well. Seeing Jinglemane squish onto the island, he decides to help him.
He comes up behind the poppet. "Hold still. Dunno if this'll work"
He concentrates and runs his hands through jinglemane's mane. Fortunately, the soaking wet mane does not catch on fire but does produce massive clouds of steam as it dries.
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Kit’s head snaps around, looking at Jinglemane. She rushes over, reassuring him “It is fine Jinglemane, you aren’t hurt.”
She gestures for Roark to back off.
She starts trying to calm Jinglemane down. “Nothing is on fire, you are alright Jinglemane.” She finds his mirror and shows him that his mane is fine. She offers him his mirror back.
Once Jinglemane is calmed down she goes over to Roark to explain. “Jinglemane is still a little frightened by fire. He used to have some stuffing that would catch fire very easily.”
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Then Jinglemane stares in the mirror, and says softly, "Actually, my mane does look a little fluffier. I don't look anywhere so bedraggled. Thank you, Roark." He shakes his head, and does a creditable hair flip, and then does the doggy shake to spray Roark with some of the remaining water trapped in his faux fur.
Don Jurri doesn't quite convince the stevedores that they should be helping the Pathfinders, but Jinglemane's flattery makes them friendly enough to help the Pathfinders disembark and tie up their landing ships out of the way of the loading docks. They are also willing to share two things with the agents.
First, there's a bounty out to protect the port against any influx of armed groups that might disrupt the extra-legal activities going on the island. This bounty is supposedly paid by the same Red Mantis group that has protected their interests with undead defenders.
Secondly, a single voice of dissent against the unsavory Red Mantis Dispatch is an aiuvarin that has come to be known locally as “The Curator.” The Curator offers gold for information about the Dispatch’s activities and safehouses and always pays his debts rather than forcing compliance through threats and intimidation. This map to the back-alley moneylending house, Baccara Holdings, that The Curator uses for business dealings may be helpful later in the mission.
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Seeing Jinglemane's extreme reaction to fire, Roark is immediately remorseful.
"Oh no! I'm sorry, Jinglemane! I didn't know! I wasn't trying to scare you. I thought I could use my fire to dry your mane! Though..." he says with a sudden wink, "I DID make it a bit more fashionable.." This right before Jinglemane sprays him with whatever water was left in his fur.
"SQUAWK!" Roark yelps, though with a silly grin, "I guess I deserved that"
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"I did, and still have the waterskin," Jinglemane admits, tossing his rainbow mane. "But I'm no longer as flammable as I once was. I just need... Maybe I need to embrace my fear. And trust my team."
Then Jinglemane gives damp, squishy hugs to everyone. "I love you guys, and we're going to have such a great adventure together!"
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Kit’s light dress was almost dry in the tropical heat when Jinglemane comes up and gives her a damp hug. With an indulgent smile, she says “Maybe we need to start carrying someone to dry you out, Jinglemane. Remind me to visit a church dedicated to Nethys when we get to a large town. They probably have something.”
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Don Jurri watches as the pirates pack up and move along, unaware of Jinglemane behind him being the subject that they are actually listening too. He takes the poppet's credit as his own, oblivious that anyone else could have shown sufficient competence.
"That is what I thought, yes, You There, move along now" he pinches his nose at the imagined proletariat stink "With greater haste now, go, go"
Soonafter, turning to the party, who he imagines will be impressed with him, he speculates "Surely someone here has money to pay off this "Curator"..."
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Oh my gosh, Besties!
We're having Fun in the Sun on the Island of Reclaimed Souls. We were sort of nervous about what our reception would be here, since at first the dockworkers looked at us like we were totally suss, but then they turned out to be the sweetest people, and even helped us unload our bags.
So... Here's some of the latest gossip. We met with the most stylish assassin Giovana and she has a crush on someone we all know, but I won't reveal whom for all the gold in Thuvia! (Oh, who are we kidding?! Of course I'll tell you, Besties! It's everyone's brooding boyfriend with the dreamiest eyes and a burning desire to stake evil and lock it in a basement, Eando Kline. And was that a blush on his cheeks?)
Meanwhile, there's tons of drama about our own lovely librarian, Zarta! These fake Mantis have put out some kind of a hit on her (but aren't hitting on her, because then they would be JERKS) and that's one of the reasons we have to go AFTER them.
And even worse... The Mantis Dispatch has kidnapped a child and gone after one of our Pathfinders. I don't know if you remember when we got that coded message back at the Grand Lodge, claiming to have captured our Venture-Gossip? Well, they did not capture me, but they may have captured another of my writer siblings, and that must be put to an end.
No kidnapping children, that's not cool. Only the lowest of low lifes do that.
And no kidnapping Venture-Gossips! The Gossip must FLOW!
Hugs and Kisses,
Venture-Gossip
PS Secret hugs from teammates are the BEST hugs!
With an influx of Pathfinders coming to the docks aboard the [i]Seekers’ Quest’s[i/] support craft, most of the docked courier ships and barges push off of the piers to make room for the incoming invasion of armed adventurers.
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Jinglemane is fully stretched out on the beach on his own swim towel, finally drying the last of his damp form in the hot sun. "But this sun feels so good."
A few minutes later, he bounces up off the sand. "Wait a minute... We have children to rescue! And Venture-Gossips!" He tilts the sand off his towel and gives his fur one last doggy shake. "Alright, I'm ready! What about the rest of you?!"
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Smee puts down his copy of the "Venture-Gossip -- M.E. Edition" without even so much as a second thought that it's presence on the ship ought reveal the identity of it's anonymous ghost writer. Nope. He becomes swept up in the drama instead.
His master in some sort of mood, our halfling hero enjoys his "break" by walking around the ship, doing his best to propogate the grapevine.
Gossiping that "I think they would make a fine pair, those two" and "What could that archivist possibly have done to draw the ire of fake assassins?" and "Shame about those children; someone should do something - golly!"
After having hung his master's clothes out to dry for 1 hour, Smee fetches the still-damp clothes and helps Don Jurri re-dress into them - the latter's face bratty and displeasured at having to don clothes that are not fully dry...
...before they depart, he also cleans his master's shirt-pistol, pours in fresh gunpowder, and clears the chamber. "Fit as a fiddle!" trying to cheer him up, he tucks it into his breast pocket "You look ready, sir" he smiles.
The nearly abandoned settlement looms up into the hills surrounding the dockside warehouses. Several rowboats bringing other Pathfinders to begin the disembarkment process reach the docks and tie off, bringing their passengers to solid land in mere moments.
“From everything we know, this island has been nearly uninhabited despite many attempts to settle it.” Zarta Dralneen holds a few sheafs of different maps made of the island’s interior while she gestures out to the small settlement. “Which makes it a perfect place for a hideout, even from the Ilizmagorti forces.”
“Pathfinders, we’ll form a beachhead here,” Eando barks his orders to the agents around him. “Break up into scouting parties and see if we can find where this Red Mantis Dispatch hold court. Once we know where they are, we can find out where they have prisoners hidden and figure out how to bring them down.”
Zarta puts a hand on Eando’s shoulder and takes control of the conversation again. “Remember that we learned about a dark presence here. Something that commands the undead. Keep focused, keep calm, and report back. Somewhere on this island is this Red Mantis Dispatch. Find them!”
The worker’s map leads to a small back-alley office with a hand painted sign decorated with dark roses and gold writing that reads “Baccara Holdings” exactly as the stevedore had described. There is a soft light within that barely makes it through the grime covered windows, but not shedding any light into the streets beyond the alleyway.
The interior of Baccara Holdings is as unremarkable as its entrance. The small office has a single dust covered counter with an unswept floor littered with mud and footprints from the characteristically rubber-soled dock worker shoes. A small everburning torch lights the entrance and several melted candles offer their meager light to the counter and a heavy desk covered in books and letters far beyond. From a nose deep in a ledger on the desk, a tall, dark-haired aiuvarin man stands up wearily to approach the counter. “Welcome to Baccara Holdings. I am the Curator.” The Curator’s clipped accent doesn’t resemble that of the island’s other inhabitants. “Are you here for a loan or for other business needs?”
As the Curator approaches the counter, the candlelight brings his features into focus. Nigel Aldain. Curator of the Blakros Museum and former Pathfinder Society agent. “How can Baccara Holdings be of service this evening?”
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As Kit enters the room, a small breeze follows her. Dust bunnies go running into the corner in response to the breeze.
She goes up to the man and says “Greetings, I am Kitarah al-Tabib of Sedeq. We would like information and heard you may be willing to provide some.”
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"Hello, Nigel!" Jinglemane comes up and smiles. "We haven't met directly, but I helped clean up the matter that happened at your museum with the out-of-control ritual involving the nidalese scholar, Tavvar Hammavsi. Her ritual was about to explode, but we quelled it and kept the third floor of your museum intact." Jinglemane pauses. "But I did get to meet your maintenance man, Chayron. Nice fellow!"
"Anyway, I'm Jinglemane, and we're Pathfinders and I'm really interested in what you are doing here." Jinglemane puts on his reporter glasses and pulls out his notebook.
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