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Vivekanadra doesn't recall anything in particular about the Steaming Sea.
Mission briefing completed, the party heads for Iceferry's harbor. The captain of the Wandering Hearth is Eynilla Vriggdahl, a middle-aged Ulfen woman whose sun- and salt-bleached hair, weathered face, and callused hands speak to long years spent at sea. Her people skills would indicate that she's accustomed to having people follow her orders, and that she doesn't often have passengers. "Make sure you're equipped for the voyage. The route is as safe as anywhere on the Steaming Sea, so be ready for ill weather. Things go bad, the crew won't have time to help you." Her words, unfortunately, prove prescient. You're three days out of Iceferry when a storm comes up, and it's a bad one. Captain Vriggdahl shouts commands in Ulfen from the bridge, her voice carrying over the roar of the winds, and the crew desperately struggles to keep Wandering Hearth from heeling over--a task they seem to have in hand, but at the expense of making sure that the cargo stays put.
Dice rolls:
As Seamus reaches the landing, he and Kronug glance over the edge and see a humanoid figure in the webbing, its outlines blurred by the layers of silk. It hisses in oddly enunciated Dwarven, its voice a husky contralto. Dwarven:
"Trespassers in Lokmorr's shrine! Prepare to meet your end!" Round 1: Initiative order
Dice rolls:
Does anyone besides Grannik have any glyphs?
"They took small boats and hugged the shore. Unfortunately, they shipped out again not long after they returned--Shoreseeker's loss meant they didn't get much pay, and sailors who've been to Arcadia and back don't tend to be ashore long. I expect them to be back in six months or so--too long for me to wait. As to the dangers of the journey, the sea's never entirely safe, but the ship I arranged for you--the Wandering Hearth--has a fine crew."
"Grannik has the right of it. The other vessel was in a hurry to return to port, and didn't want to try to either navigate unfamiliar shoals or send a jollyboat in. They're sailors, not trained Pathfinders such as yourselves." He smiles a bit. "And they didn't say they saw a sea serpent, which I take as a good sign--sea stories grow in the telling, so if they'd seen so much as a large manta ray, by the time the tale got to us it would've been some sort of giant shark that chased them off!" He turns more serious as he continues. "Shoreseeker's crew made it back here safely, though. Odd as this sounds, they didn't have a lot of information--at least, nothing consistent. Something might have attacked the ship, or it hit a shoal and ran aground, and Hlavard told them to leave while he investigated. He never lit the signal light that it was safe for the crew to return, so they made their way back to Kalsgard."
The Venture-Captain's dog nudges him whenever one of you talks, and he turns to whoever is speaking and watches them carefully. "Oddly enough, it's supposed to be warmer than here...not that that's saying much. Valenhall is on the coast of Arcadia. It's a settlement founded by Ulfen explorers more than five millennia ago, and when Linnorm Kings grow old they sail there to finish their lives. Every great Ulfen hero dreams of that voyage. "Now, Grehunde the Sun Chaser never had the chance to sail to Valenhall--she died in what she planned to be her last battle. Her gorget was passed down to her descendants, most recently Hlavard Grenskuldr, also a Linnorm King. It should go without saying that Hlavard was an impressive warrior in his youth, but he's now an old man. A month ago he sailed off toward Valenhall to set up a shrine to Grehunde there and finish her journey. He planned to ensure the gorget found its final home in a place of honor. Unfortunately, something happened to his ship, the Shoreseeker, along the way. Merchants report that the ship is still partially above water, but they didn’t get close enough to find out what happened. While his children respected Hlavard’s decision, they would rather not have their father’s body and the priceless family heirloom at the bottom of the ocean. I’d like you to find the ship and retrieve Hlavard and the gorget. I’ve arranged a ship for you, the Wandering Hearth, to follow the Shoreseeker’s path through the Steaming Sea."
Yeah, it's an Uncommon language and not a regional one. In a home game I'd give it to you, but not in PFS.
It's at the top of the page. I'll try to link it in my header, too.
As the party has become inured to the physical stench in the room, the underlying miasma of (for lack of a better word) evil becomes more obvious. It's similar to what you felt in the house proper, but more intense.
After a bit of work, you're able to extract the source of the magical aura, a foot-long tube made of a silvery metal that's probably mithral. DC 26 Spellcraft check to identify: This is a chime of opening with 5 charges remaining.
The party has been sent to Iceferry, the northern district of Kalsgard, the capital (to the extent there is one) of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. Following the directions provided before your departure, you are able to find the local Pathfinder Lodge. A gnome prominently wearing a wayfinder greets you at the door and introduces herself as Lirall. After letting you into the Lodge, she selects a cord labeled "Office" from one of a bundle of colored cords near the door. As she does so, a dog's howl is heard from further inside the building as a trio of blue-skinned goblins scampers through the entrance hall. A large husky, the apparent source of the howling, bursts out of another corridor and seems to be ready to chase after the goblins before a tall half-orc follows the dog and lays a hand on her back. The half-orc gestures for the party to follow him back the way he came, to a small meeting room. He indicates several chairs, but remains standing, watching the party members. "My thanks for your coming here. I'm Venture-Captain Bjersig Torrsen. And this is Mahki. Apologies for the ruckus. The Frostfurs are talented scouts, but they have an adversarial relationship with Mahki. She doesn’t particularly like them either. "To the reason I called you here! The Grenskuldr family traces their lineage back to the storied warrior Grehunde the Sun Chaser, a Linnorm King who ruled over the city of Jol and whose victories in battle were legendary. The family still has a lot of influence. I’ve asked them to help out the Society, and they’ve asked for a favor in exchange. That’s where you come in. Are you familiar with Valenhall?"
I've got time to run one of the other nonrepeatable early quests. Here's a LINK to the signup for Quest #3, Grehunde's Gorget. We'll start as soon as I have six players, or 48 hours after I get a minimum table. Will Herkemer Halfshanks
report HERE for your mission briefing. There are two more slots open until everyone has checked in.
Please put your icon and information into the second and third slides.
I've got time to run one of the other nonrepeatable early quests. Here's a LINK to the signup for Quest #3, Grehunde's Gorget. We'll start as soon as I have six players, or 48 hours after I get a minimum table.
The slow descent continues. Up ahead, Seamus can see another landing through the webs.
Dice rolls:
The party enters the next room, roped together and using Lybram as an anchor. The hallway opens into a large, flooded room with three isolated alcoves just above the waterline. The roar of water pouring into the chamber is loud enough to drown out quiet conversation. There is an undine woman in one of the alcoves, a crab eidolon in the water that's similar to the two you've previously seen, and a third creature that looks like the construct you fought on the uppermost level. Unlike the one you saw before, though, this one is undamaged and has a sharklike mechanical tail instead of legs. It's armed with a ranseur. Round 1: Initiative order
Dice rolls:
The only thing below you in the cavern is the pool of water at the bottom. DC 20 Knowledge (Arcana): The smashed puzzle box has inscriptions on it associated with necromantic magic.
As the party descends further, the webs become thicker and thicker, draping from the underside of the steps above in great opaque sheets. More and more spiders cling to the webs, crawling back and forth.
The gnome shakes his head, smothering a smile. "Those are harmless, unless you're a little bug."
Scraping away the lichen on the way down reveals an epic poem on the life and mighty deeds of the deceased. It tells of his magical hand, that allowed him to wield the tremendous weapons of his hated foes, and his enchanted coat of mail, fashioned from the fingernails of giants he had slain. Eventually it comes to a section entitled "The Tragic Fall of Steelhand," which relates how he was betrayed by his squire and kinsman, Lokmorr Erdergun, after they defeated the fire giant Gunderroth, called Dwarfskinner. Lokmorr took credit for killing Gunderroth after Nargrym had fallen in battle, and was initially hailed as a hero. But a priest of Torag, one Byrim Forgepride, discovered the truth and confronted Lokmorr. The squire killed him in turn, still hoping to conceal his crimes. In this he failed. The ruling council of Janderhoff branded his forehead with the mark of a traitor, struck his family name from the dwarven histories, and caged him alive in Steelhand's tomb, to spend his final hours in the presence of the hero he betrayed. His relatives willingly joined other clans after proving themselves worthy and untainted by their closeness to the kinslayer. It is at this point, around forty feet down, that the stairway shaft begins to fill with wisps of spiderwebs, populated by numerous hairy brown spiders. DC 10 Knowledge (Nature): These spiders are mundane and harmless.
Thanks for playing! I've reported the scenario. Chronicle sheets are linked below; let me know if there's anything wrong with them. I'll leave the game active for a couple of days, or until you let me know you've downloaded your chronicle. I still have enough room on my Google drive that I'm able to leave the sheets available, if you ever lose yours.
Unable to verify that all items have been found, the party takes Meleeka back to the Venture-Captain, who takes charge of her and informs you that with what you've returned they've accounted for everything that was missing.
The armor, both rings, the war razor, and the mask are all magical. There's also a faint aura of magic coming from under the mold near the largest growth.
The gnome nods tentatively. "Sure...." Descending the stairs while searching for traps will take some time.
Nia has never seen anything like the fungus before.
If everyone else agrees, let's wrap this up. Ma'elo, do you want your downtime activity result on your chronicle?
The inscription at the top of the stairs is in Dwarven, using a highly formalized writing style. It reads "Here lies the pride of our clan, Nargrym, son of Torgrym, called Steelhand. He passed to Torag's halls and was laid to rest with utmost honor in the 9063rd year of Sky, called 4706 in Absalom Reckoning. May he be remembered forever as the Giantslayer." The inscriptions appear to continue along the stairs down.
Stepping into metagaming for a moment, you're done with almost all of the scenario. The only remaining question is what you do with Meleeka, and that has no bearing on your reward--it's just something to enter in the report. (Of course, killing her and/or the disciples after they've surrendered will earn you a point of Infamy, so I advise against it.)
There are no other listed items to be found. However, Meleeka was said to have traded some items for passage, and the list was not guaranteed free of error.
The interior of the obelisk houses a flight of narrow and precariously steep stairs descending into a dark shaft that plummets to an unknown depth within the earth. The passing years have crusted the walls and stairs with overlapping rings of yellow and pale green lichen. DC 10 Perception: The lichen is harmless, and covers some sort of inscriptions in the stone, about four feet above the steps.
By the time Garrick has recovered, the noises from the room have ceased, ending in a despairing moan that dies away, followed by a double thump as of two bodies hitting the floor. In the absence of any urgency, the party takes its time navigating the slippery slope. The air in the damp room beyond the door reeks of a horrific stench—a foul combination of decay, brine, and mold. The cave contains a rickety table, its damp surface cluttered with all manner of what appears to be garbage: empty bottles, bits of clothing, crumpled bits of paper, and more, lying in neatly organized rows. A painting leans against the far side of the table, facing a large leather chair that sits nearby. This chair’s high back and cushion are horribly stained by smears of rotten meat and its arms are sticky with blood. A smaller table sits against the southern wall, its surface heaped with plates and platters of rotten, maggot-infested meat. The nauseating stench of the room seems strongest to the west, where the cave’s wall has been overtaken by a horrific growth of dark green mold and dripping fungi. At the center, a patch of black tumescent fungus grows, its horny ridges and tumorlike bulbs forming what could almost be taken to be a humanoid outline. What appears to have once been an exquisite puzzle box the size of a man’s fist lies smashed on the ground at the fungoid shape’s feet. Iesha's body, slashed multiple times, lies face down across the body of Aldern Foxglove. A bloody war razor lies next to Aldern's hand. It's quickly apparent that something terrible has happened to the young noble, though--his fingernails have grown into lethal-looking talons, his tongue is at least twice its normal length, and his canine teeth are now fangs. The appearance and the stench are enough for Nia and Andrezi to conclude that he had become a ghast before Iesha laid him permanently to rest. Garrick realizes, looking at the garbage on the table, that all of it was his--the letter from home, a missing whetstone, a scrap of bloodstained cloth that used to be part of his tunic before an encounter with a dogslicer, and more. The only items on the table that didn't come from Garrick are a stack of charcoal drawings of the dwarf in heroic poses...along with a letter written in a graceful hand. It is addressed to Aldern at his Magnimar town home . The painting looks like it might once have been a fine portrait of Iesha, but someone (presumably Aldern) has used blood and rotting flesh to cover it with a clumsily-drawn picture of Garrick. The underlying painting looks salvageable with skilled restoration (or several prestidigitation spells under the guidance of a less-skilled painter). The dead aristocrat wears a suit of leather armor, a pair of rings, a rather extravagant and valuable noble's outfit, a mask, a key, and a locket on a fine chain around his neck. Inside is a picture of Garrick. On the table among the noisome nourishment is another key ring holding two keys: one is tarnished iron set with a round opal that looks valuable, and the other is bronze. Its head is carved to look like a roaring lion, and it has an unusually long tang ending in a set of three notched blades.
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