Tales from the Dig Site

Nixret lowered her pack and placed it gently on the ground in front of her cot in the small barracks near the Azlanti dig site. “Finally! Field work!” She thought to herself. Of course, the field work was to be heavily supervised, and concerned a site that had been stripped of all known dangers by actual agents—not initiates like she and her companions. Still, training or not, it was a field assignment, her first time spending significant time outside of the Grand Lodge in Absalom since she first left the Sewer Dragon warrens to join the Society. Even if it wasn’t the real type of field work she read about countless times in the Chronicles, it was still one step closer to her Confirmation—and from there, her story could really begin.

Illustration by Bruno Cesar

Sure, the swamp wasn’t exactly pleasant, given the extreme humidity, endless buzzing insects, and the slight sulfurous odor making everything smell a bit like old eggs. The barracks tent would be incredibly crowded, and her instructors had been sure to instill in them that this wasn’t a vacation—if anything, they’d work harder than they ever did in Absalom. Still, she couldn’t help but envision herself finding some unnoticed Azlanti artifact during a training exercise and earning her place in a chronicle then and there. And even if the Blackwood Swamp wasn’t the most comfortable place to be doing field work, it could be far worse. The iruxi of the nearby Tskikha enclave were incredibly welcoming, and one of their chief hunters, Kazuuk, had even come out to meet them in Cassomir, ensuring the initiate’s safe arrival at the dig site. The new Venture Captain out of Oppara, a kobold like her as she was excited to discover, Lolly Adafish had set up a temporary office in Cassomir and saw to it that the initiates wouldn’t want for provisions.

But the fact of the matter was, here there was no more busywork. No more lectures dealing only with theory. No more cleaning up after a menagerie of birds as a punishment for sneaking out. This was real field work. And even if other Pathfinders had cleared the site years ago, it was still an Azlanti ruin, and she’d still be exploring it. Even if that exploration was going to be heavily supervised, she couldn’t help but look forward to what this training would show her, and what she could show her instructors. Nixtret fell backwards into her cot, grinning wildly, the sudden movement causing her companions to jump slightly in surprise. “This is going to be our moment!” she exclaimed, more to herself than to any of the other initiates. The others just shook their heads, glanced at one another, and smiled. They all knew that, regardless of anything, no one could best Nixret in a contest of daydreams.

Illustration by Diego Machuca

Josh Foster
Pathfinder Society Developer