"Hopefully you'll find it to be an interesting ... hey, look at all this! Did we interrupt you in the middle of a project?" Bastiano is immediately distracted by the pieces and parts of whatever Derrol is building.
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After Eric is safely out of earshot, Autumn nods and half-agrees with San. “Yes, let’s get Vildran, but don’t forget we need a key to get inside Stonehome. Unless you have the tools and skill to make one from Janis’s mold, we’ll need to find that Derrol Finnick that Elsie mentioned.” Bastiano glances sideways at Sidonie. "Well, I wouldn't say we need a key. But sure, a key is easier. Let's try it that way first." Elsie's more than happy to explain where Gold's Ruin lies, but not before chastising any of you who ended up dripping on her floor. The sodden kayal blushes (his cheeks turn a darker shade of gray) and counts his coins before buying another muffin by way of apology. Also because he's hungry.
Sorry for my absence - rough couple of weeks at work.
Bastiano has been hanging back, but as the conversation draws to a close he decides it’s safe to chime in. “Ordwi wasn’t sick, though - she was here to help treat those who are. We traveled with her up the coast, and we’d like to pay our respects and see if there’s anything she would like us to bring her from town.”
"I doubt we'll manage to catch one of the Gorumites alone, but it might be worth the effort. I wouldn't want to make the attempt anywhere near their temple and/or fortress, though - if we try and fail, the whole place will be on alert and it will be impossible to sneak in."
Nobody is more surprised than Bastiano when his gambit pays off. He nudges Sidonie and whispers, “Pretty good idea you had, to come check out the ship. Maybe we didn’t find the cause of the disease, but we’ve gotten some new information and maybe an ally. Like I said, everything’s connected to everything else!”
He takes a step back as she turns her attention on your group "I couldn't help but overhear you asking about our business here in Iron Harbor. My name is Janis. Please rest assured that if you're simply travelers coming through, you have nothing regarding our business to worry about. However, it seems to me that you come in rather suspicious circumstances. I suggest you explain what brings you here to Iron Harbor. And the truth this time, not some stories for little boys." She grimaces as she looks over the group of you. Sometimes we're stuck with the truth. Confronted by an intimidating authority figure, Bastiano babbles nervously. "A priestess did. Bring us here, I mean. As her bodyguards on her voyage to Iron Harbor. She was asked to help deal with this recent plague. And when we got here, we saw your ship - which we were told arrived right before the plague started. You can't ask a disease questions - at least, I can't - and it isn't something people can really see and point to, but you can ask people questions about a visiting ship. So we did, because isn't everything connected to everything else anyway? And besides, New Thassilon is interesting! Are you a New Thassiloner or an Old Thassiloner?"
“Sounds like a good idea to me. It’s at least as likely to give us a lead as he is. And maybe the Thassilonians will be a little friendlier.” Bastiano follows Sidonie out to check out the big ship. “Let’s hope they give us that tour. Can you tell whether it’s a merchant ship or military?”
Bastiano puts his silver coin on the counter for lodging and another for two muffins. Once Elsie gives him his change, Bastiano offers one of the muffins to San. “Have the Gorumites all been staying in since the Thassilonians got here, or just most of them? Sister Vanda met us at the dock, but other than that, I mean. Is there bad blood between them?”
Bastiano allows the more gregarious members to take the lead asking passers-by for directions. When they are ignored (or worse), he puts up the hood on his cloak and waits a little ways off. “Just in case I’m making people uncomfortable because I look too foreign,” he mutters to Sidonie, but he relaxes a little as the others don’t seem to get any better response without him in their midst. “Oooh, muffins!” Like San, he fingers the coins in his pouch.
Bastiano glances at the sails of the ship from Xin-Eurythnia with frank curiosity. "Well, if you're sure, I expect we could find something to do."
Bastiano frowns. “Stay in town? But we’ll miss… I mean, as your bodyguards we won’t be much good stuck in town. Not that Sister Vanda doesn’t look capable, but we, um, we have an obligation.”
I think with Bastiano being away for a bit we just didn't circle back to this, but some in the party had expressed interest in at least seeing if the dero would tell us more detail about the disease. I think that's right.
Bastiano takes a minute to balance his fear of this terrible-sounding disease with his almost desperate need to follow the trial of this deepening mystery before coming out the way he knew he would. “Oh, yes! Iron Harbor! Happy to help! And absolutely, we should question our unwilling traveling companion. Maybe in the morning? I’m sure the dero attack is connected to Ordwi’s mission - I mean, I don’t really believe in coincidences. Isn’t everything connected in some way?” He suggests that in addition to keeping the prisoner tied up, they secure the dero to the anchor (if it has been pulled up) or some immobile part of the ship in sight of anyone standing watch. “Unless someone feels confident about their ability to knock him out without killing him?” Once that’s decided, he finds an unoccupied spot on the deck and stares up at the stars for a few minutes before pulling a book out of his pack, a travelogue by an adventurer about their journey across the Crown of the World. He doesn’t need light to read the text, but the detailed color maps are illegible using only his darkvision, so Bastiano concentrates a moment and the faint orange glow from his eyes increases a bit, providing just enough dim light to bring out the colors on the page.
"Agreed! I'm in favor of getting as far from this island as we can as quickly as we can."
He looks around the deck helplessly. "And yes, I am definitely going to need some direction..."
Bastiano double-checks the bodies of their foes just in case Sidonie missed something, then takes a chance and checks their prisoner’s pockets, too, and asks to look for anything he might have missed.
Bastiano glares at Yellow as the dero stabs him and runs off. He tries to focus on the dero’s vital organs but is too shaken by what is only the second real fight of his life coming so quickly after the first. He swaps his bow for his rapier, then takes a deep breath and moves with some trepidation to join the fight.
“Look out!” Bastiano studies the nearest dero , draws his bow, and fires.
Horrified at the sight of the wounded fisherman, Bastiano jumps into the dinghy and begins rowing back as quickly as he can.
“What’s going on over there?” Bastiano wonders aloud. “Shouldn’t Autumn have given us the signal to pull back the dinghy by now?” He looks back up the beach and into the trees, clearly anxious. “Vildran, can you reach her with your whispering spell?”
Bastiano stays close to San and the (real) prisoner when they walk back to the ship in case the dero decides to talk. He keeps his rapier drawn and ready.
Bastiano translates everybody’s questions for the prisoner and the answers, such as they are. He adds one more question of his own: “How did you know where to find your target’s ship? It’s a big ocean with a long coastline, and even a big boat is tiny by comparison. Finding a ship on that route wouldn’t be too hard, but finding a specific ship would be almost impossible unless you were told where to look.”
“As long as he doesn’t start talking too much, that’s not so much of a burden. Translating Aklo to Taldane isn’t too taxing; it’s speaking it that I find painful. And even then, that wouldn’t be a reason to kill him.” He frowns at the murderous creature. “Not by itself, anyway.”
Bastiano would prefer to keep it alive in order to question it, definitely.
Bastiano gives Sidonie a worried look before turning to the priestess. “Bastiano, I mean, my name is Bastiano. And I think Autumn’s asking the right question: what are you traveling to do? I don’t mean to pry - “ he totally means to pry “- but if you think it might have something to do with the attack, it would be good to know.”
“Oh, yes, right!”
Bastiano jogs over to the remaining dero. Pushing his glasses back into position, he peers at the dero with faintly glowing eyes before addressing them in Akko. “Hello, we’re going to ask you some questions now. Please answer them truthfully and completely, it will go so much easier for you that way.”
“Ow! Damn! Sorry, everybody, I’m not used to the woods!” Bastiano squints through his glasses at the blue-garbed dero to look for weaknesses, then moves closer for a better shot. He quickly slides his rapier into its scabbard and draws his bow, then fires an arrow at the nearest of their attackers.
Talking as they race the setting sun, Bastiano grimaces at Vildran's comment. "I learned it as a child. It's surprisingly useful where I grew up, but I don't like speaking it - it hurts my throat. And I usually end up with a headache after any conversation much longer than the one we just had." To Autumn, he says, "I can help with magical light for a few of you if you'd like me to cast it on you directly or on something you're carrying, but I've had more practice sneaking around than pretending to be someone I'm not. Better that I scout ahead to try to give some warning..." Your travel is interrupted by the *thwck* *thwck* of arrows or bolts fired through the underbrush. At first you think you're under attack, but then realize it sounds like it's coming from further away. Then, a strident female voice shouting "Think you can take me, you weasels!? Come out where I can see you!" followed by a yelp as more bolts fly. The altercation seems its coming from the south, likely no more than a couple hundred feet away! "Right!" Bastiano casts light once on an item of Autumn's while Autumn or Vildran casts message to let him communicate quietly with the group, then moves cautiously into the dark towards the woman being hunted.
Uncertain, Bastiano shakes his head. “I … don’t know, Autumn. I think maybe it was more like a threat? Because after dark she’ll be dead? Anyway, I think we ought to try to find her before that happens, whether she’s Martin’s priestess or someone else from the ship. I can see well enough in the dark but I think that might not be true for everyone in the group.”
"Our quarry is not your business... unless you seek her as well?" After a calculated pause it adds slyly "That meeting can be arranged. You need only wait until the sky grows dark. My kin corner her as we speak." Bastiano translates again for the group and adds, "We should definitely be ready to move, but let me try one more thing before we go." He responds to the dero in Aklo. "I don't think we'll know if we're seeking her until we find her! Whatever your quarry did must have been pretty bad for your whole family to go chase her. How come you were left behind?"
Bastiano yelps, then mumbles a translation to the rest of the group. "We're moving on, don't worry," he calls back in rusty Aklo. "But who have you been tasked to kill? And why?"
I apologize for being offline the last several days. I've been slammed with work deadlines for a couple of weeks now, but the most stressful of them was today and my part of the project is finally done. I should be in better shape for the rest of June, at least.
“I wish we’d gotten a description of the other passengers who were on the dinghy from Martin. It would be nice to have some way to know whether the bodies we’re finding are from his wrecked ship, or some other group.” Bastiano tightens his pack to keep it from jangling and draws his rapier. “Come on, Sidonie. Let’s go see if she’s alive. San, can you cover us?”
Bastiano listens attentively to Sidonie's explanation of how to make a seat from the rope, and follows along with another length of rope when she demonstrates. When the group puts it into practice and the thing actually works to get them all over to the other side, he walks up to her and gives her a hesitant tap on the shoulder. "That was very interesting! I bought that climbing kit just in case I ever needed it and never had any real reason to figure out the best way to use it before now. How'd you learn how to do all that? Do you do a lot of climbing?" “Perhaps it’d be simpler for you to just tie a second rope to the body—then we can haul it up separately. We’re certainly not lacking for rope.” "That makes sense, Autumn - both how to get the body up here, and why. I mean, about the information we might get from it. After all, even if it isn't the missing priestess's body, she wasn't the only passenger in the dinghy, right? I don't know if we'll be able to tell from the corpse if it was on the same boat, but we might get a clue. San, if you're a little put off after your fall, I could handle the climb down if Sidonie will give me a hand setting up the rope with the pulley and anchor and so on."
That makes sense to me. I think if we're losing our divine caster, I'll tweak Bastiano to start trained in Medicine in place of Religion, which he can pick up at level 2 instead of the other way around. He doesn't have healer's tools, but I don't think there's anything that would prevent him from borrowing Vildran's until there's an opportunity for Bastiano to buy his own (assuming that's all right with Vildran!). Bastiano is a little squishy to be in the front - comparable to Sidonie, but because Strategic Strike doesn't depending on sneaking or flanking, it probably makes more sense for him to be there than it would for the rogue. Let's try it out and see how it goes.
Bastiano pulls two tightly coiled lengths of rope, a grappling hook, a hammer, pulleys, crampons, and some pitons out of his pack. “Take what you need, San. I haven’t had much practice with this gear so I’m sure you’re less likely to break your neck trying this than I would be.”
“Autumn? Huh?” I absolutely did not expect her to join this mission, let alone chase after us to do it! “You’ve got some sand on your sk… never mind. Sure, east makes sense.” Before they move too far from their arrival point, Bastiano takes a moment to examine the crustaceans, hoping to recognize them up close or at least learn something about them in case the party encounters them again.
Bastiano searches around the campfire for any sign of where the priestess - or anyone else from the shipwreck - might have gone, and whether they went under their own power.
Bastiano looks around unhappily, then sighs. "Well, I guess this is it what it takes to be an adventurer. I didn't realize it would be so wet!" He wraps up his gear as securely as he can and climbs gingerly over the side of the ship's rail. He calls out, "Thank you, Mister Thorn!" before dropping into the water and trying to swim to shore.
When you attack with devise a stratagem (and you use your INT in your attack roll) you count the attack as a strategic strike, which deals an additional 1d6 precision damage. Got it, thanks
Bastiano, you forgot a die! Which one? Did I misunderstand Devise a Strategem? It’s my first time using it.
Bastiano grabs his bow and nocks an arrow, then stares at the odd-looking creatures, then flinches as Vildrian’s spell turns one of them into paste. We’re too low. I think I need a better angle. He leans further over the rail and waits for a swell to raise the ship before loosing the arrow from his bow.
Bastiano arrives at the dock out of breath from running, wearing leathers that look a little too big for him and carrying an overstuffed backpack, his sword slapping against his leg. Once on board, he seems to relax once he finds a seat on the deck out of the sun, in the shadow of the main sail, and pulls out his journal to make some notes. I will never get tired of sailing on a ship that travels only across the water! The slight, gray youth chats a little with Sidonie and though he finds it hard to get a word in edgewise, thinks he senses a kindred spirit with the same desperate curiosity he suffers from. She did make him worry that perhaps his accent was still thicker than he hoped after all the time he has spent practicing his Taldan since arriving in Sandpoint - at one point, he rattled off the scientific names for half a dozen species of sea creatures that could have been the ones that attacked the boat, and she acted like she had no idea what he was talking about. Bastiano takes time to speak with Vildran and San during the journey as well, even braving the sun to walk with San on one of the elf’s anxious circuits around the deck. He only has a few minutes to talk with Tao before the oracle shucks his armor and jumps into the water.
I didn't notice that we only have one PC with Medicine, yikes! Bastiano is likely to add a new trained skill at level 2 from the psychic archetype (he's already trained in Occultism), so he can make that Medicine - he won't be particularly good at it, but better than nothing.
"San and Vildran, I know from the bookshop, but I don't think I've met either of you." He nods to Tao and Sidonie. "Bastiano Ravenpool. I've been working at The Curious Goblin for a couple of years, which in Sandpont means I'm still a newcomer. I hate to run out on Chask without any notice, but he knows I was thinking of moving on and I suppose now would be as good a time as any. How about you?" Once the intruductions are finished, Bastiano glances down at the book in his hand and grimaces. "I think I probably need to run back to the shop to pack a few things. Not that I won't be bringing a book or three, but there are things I'm going to want to have along on this investigation that I didn't bring to the cathedral. I'll meet you all at Mr. Thorn's boat in a few minutes."
Bastiano’s face creases in an uncertain frown. “Maybe we should be checking out the island first, though - the priestess and other passengers may be stranded. Could you point us to the island? And where exactly was your priestess heading along the Kindred Coast?”
What day is it? How long was he floating out there? “Um, it’s Oathday. The sixth of Erastus, 4723. What happened to leave you in the water? What day was it happened?”
Bastiano squeezes one last book on the shelf, completing his reorganization of the Biographies section at The Curious Goblin into alphabetized subsections based on how believable they were. Most of the bookstore’s selection of biographies are self-published, ghost-written memoirs of aristocrats whose minor political scandals and youthful “adventures” were far too tame to hold a reader’s interest without gross exaggeration, but there are a few worth reading and even rereading. Then there are others that are clearly autobiographical but disguised (however thinly) as fiction. He glances at a slim volume he has pulled aside to read during his break, which is one of these: Steps Upon the Sanguine Stair, by Ailson Kindler. He picks up the novel - obviously based on Kindler’s own adventures as an agent of the Pathfinder Society - and starts back for the cool darkness of his room at the back of the shop when he hears the bell over the door jangle. Sigh. He adjusts his glasses and turns, smiling at the woman who has just come into the shop. “Good morning, Alma. How are you? How’s… business?” Idiot, don’t ask about Arika! She’ll tell you if she’s heard anything she wants you to know. “What? Oh, yes yes, good morning, business is fine, but did you hear about the man they found washed up on the beach?” Bastiano listens in fascination as the baker describes what she has heard of the man and his condition before bustling back to her own shop. He turns to Chask, his employer, who nods with a grin and makes a shoo-ing motion with his hands. “Go, go! You won’t be any use to me until you find out what’s going on anyway. Just make sure that when you come back, you can tell me something more than the same gossip everyone’s already heard!” The bookseller has to raise his voice for the last sentence, as his clerk is already out the door and jogging towards the Cathedral. When Bastiano arrives, the others see a short, wiry, bespectacled young man in dark clothes. His skin is gray, his hair black, and the only hints of color anywhere are his eyes, which in the gloom of the cathedral appear to glow unnaturally, shedding a faint orange light even through the thick lenses of his glasses. It gives him the look of someone literally burning with curiosity as he peers through a gap in the crowd around the dying man.
Posted Bastiano’s backstory & NPC relationships on his profile.
I’ll add Bastiano’s backstory and key relationships to his profile page this evening. I expect he’s living in a back room at The Curious Goblin for now, but does not intend to stay there much longer.
The theorycrafting builds I played around with had Bastiano taking Thievery and Stealth both up to master proficiency by level 10 (if not before), so taking turns/friendly rivalry sounds like fun! As you might expect, Sidonie will be way ahead of Bastiano on social skills, so I like your thinking - I can see Sidonie treating Bastiano a little like Wikipedia.
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