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The chest is... quite substantial. 2 feet wide by 4 feet long by 3 feet tall, and it (and its contents) weighs over a hundred pounds. 100 lbs exactly for the purposes of tracking carrying capacity.

"I think it best if Venture Captain Dreng rests for now," his assistant says after Leon addresses Drendle. The ailing Venture Captain nods weakly, his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling carefully. "I'm looking over what the Society has put together here, and I'm not seeing a line item for any spellcasting services. I imagine the Decimvirate decided that the risk and depreciation to several seasoned Pathfinder field agents such as yourself was more than enough resources to dedicate to this task. If you would like to spend gold out of your personal accounts to better protect the cargo, I'm sure the Decimvirate would appreciate your initiative. I would defer to your own expertise." The seneschal smiles at his own private memory of his attempts of getting the Society to reimburse him.

"A fast ship should get you into Trollheim in a little over a month. And yes, I would suggest packing warmly, above and beyond just arcane means for protection from the elements."

"Savory, unsavory, I cannot attest to the flavor profile of Rognvald Skagni, but again, these documents are for his eyes only. If the Ur-bishop of Winlas wants to sneak a peak, politely refuse."

There's not any pre-written knowledge in this part, Corba, but if there's a specific topic and a roll you want to make, I'm not afraid of a little improv.

If they haven't already, will the following Pathfinders please report to Venture Captain Dreng here

Shannon Rosenthal
Cayden Barleybrew
Corgrim Tailas (or your 5th level sorcerer if you so choose)
Leon the Brute
Erica "Bobbie" Zufan
Corba Nana

The scene opens on Absalom during the night. The fire in the hearth is roaring. Venture Captain Drandle Dreng pokes at the fireplace, putting another log in. He coughs a wretched hacking cough. The man isn't just sick, he's ill. He shivers, despite the sweltering heat in his small private room. "I've got a routine mission for you," his voice is raspy and pained, "Though a dangerous routine mission. An ally of ours in the Land of the Linnorm Kings -- Rognvald Skagni, write that down, that'll be important. He's writing a report on the state of the governments of northern Avistan..."

"I received a letter from him, requesting that we send him several key documents from our archives to him," He coughs again into a kerchief. Something definitely came up on that one. He grimaces and puts the kerchief away, and gestures to a heavy chest. "Those are the documents, and I need you to take them on a ship heading north and deliver them to Skagni."

He has another coughing fit, and gestures for his assistant, a well-dressed Vudrani man to come near. He whispers a few raspy orders to the man, and collapses into his chair. "Venture Captain Dreng wishes for me to give you this key," the assistant says, producing a large bronze key, along with a pouch of gold, "They key will open the chest. The gold will procure your travels to Trollheim, where Skagni resides. Whatever you do, do not let the chest out of your sight and do not, under any circumstances, allow it to be searched. These documents are for Mr. Skagni’s eyes only. Are we understood?"

that's six, so closing recruitment.

Looking for another CORE character. Any level character will bump us into high tier.

Recruitment here

If we can't find another person, are you still interested in playing, Shannon?

going to leave the recruitment open for a day more, but as it stands, our APL is 3, for a 1-5 in season 2 with 4 players, that is low tier.

Recruitment for the Shades of Ice trilogy, in CORE campaign open here.

This is where we discuss what's going on, out-of-character.

this is where we play.

Player expectations: I need a full character sheet before we start. I don't care about the format necessarily, but it needs to have the feats you took, the rogue powers or whatever you chose, your skill bonuses, your inventory of magic items.

In gameplay, I'd much much prefer that you are as explicit as possible with your die rolls, especially with temporary and circumstance bonuses.
attack: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33 damage: 1d8 + 16 ⇒ (8) + 16 = 24 isn't acceptable.

+2 longsword, power attack, inspire courage: 1d20 + 14 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 14 - 2 + 1 = 19
slashing damage, power attack, inspire courage: 1d8 + 9 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 9 + 6 + 1 = 18
Is what I'm going for. Basically, if I have a question about the math, between your die roll and your character sheet, I should be able to figure it out. This is as much for your benefit as my own. If you forget a buff that the party gave out, its a lot easier for me to do the math correctly if I can see your math.

GM Expectations: I am not a quick GM, at the best of times. I am currently attending school and getting my masters full-time, which does mean I have some odd things come up. I would not sign up if you're the type of player who thinks "I need this character to be free on X date to play at Y-Con." This is a three-scenario trilogy. After Parts 1 and 2, we will re-assess about who wants to move on to the next part.

I have 4 stars in PFS1, but I stopped regularly GMing 1e in 2021, so if I get a rule wrong, PLEASE bring it up, and correct me.

Character Name:
Player Name: (as you want it on the Chronicle Sheet)
Character Level:
PFS Number:
Faction:
Day Job:
Do you understand what being CORE means?: (y/n)

Okay I have added CORE and fixed Numair's prestige.

Okay, Numair, it should be fixed now.

This should have your chronicle sheets.

Khellek's note-taking would probably reveal that there were tunnels in the basin, that most likely led to Nar-Voth or Sekamina. But they were intentionally caved in. The skum didn't want even worse things coming up from beneath them. No real mechanical effect, just a point from the scenario that I thought was cool.

With flight to get back up to the surface, and Khellek's knowledge and Sarenrae's stoneshape, the pathfinders seal off the skum's horrible monument to Sifkesh, and the evils contained within it.

The party sets back on the way to the rookie Pathfinder camp, thinking most likely that Venture Captain Sharrowsmith is their most likely way back home.

However, at the Pathfinder Camp, Agent Osprey is waiting for you, and is eager to hear your report.

I have a midterm tomorrow, but I will try to have chronicles for you Wednesday. Feel free to make a report for Osprey.

Yeah, in general, I think it helps to be very explicit about where all your modifiers are coming from. It definitely gets to be a pit of a pain when we get to high levels.

With his head below water, Grog is able to take off Mogla-Tor's head with two mighty whacks of his axe.

At the stalagmite that juts from the floor, there is a pile of skum-stolen and skum-created treasures. Gold-plated crocodile teeth, a red marble chalice with silver filigree, an obsidian ceremonial dagger, a pile of gems, and a pile of gold coins. none of which detect as magic.

With the abyssal runes carved in the stalagmite, Khellek can determine that the abyssal-infused stones, like the Khellek picked up earlier, weaken the will of those who hold them, especially against enchantments. Especially enchantments that were about hurting themselves. right now, Khellek would take a -8 against Will saves to hurt himself, but they don't give the final boss the ability to cast enchantment spells like that. >:( Which, there's also a pile of such-infused stones, probably more than a thousand pounds worth of stones.

At the alter, there is a dead body chained, and his eyes and mouth sewn shut. He also has a wayfinder on his body, engraved with "Eiastor Wyrn" written in a Skaldic script.

would there be interest in some relatively low level CORE games? Thinking about running Shades of Ice Trilogy.

Numair's force barrage pounds into the skum's sternum. In a split second, the skum's entire life flashes before her eyes. Emerging from their soft egg shells. Murdering some of her clutch mates. Learning to speak Aboleth. The forging of her trident. The sacrifice of her first egg clutch to the Demon Lord Sifkesh. The time they kidnapped a Rumawa shaman and forced him to butcher and eat a crocodile before forcing him to commit suicide. All this and more, washed away in the basin of water in the drowning stones.

Cerae circles around next to Mogla-Tor.

Mogla-Tor makes a flurry of attacks on Grog.

War Razor, - prayer: 1d20 + 9 - 1 ⇒ (6) + 9 - 1 = 14
Slashing Damage, - Prayer: 1d4 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (3) + 3 - 1 = 5
War Razer, - prayer: 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (15) + 4 - 1 = 18
Slashing Damage, - prayer: 1d4 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (1) + 3 - 1 = 3
Claw, - Prayer: 1d20 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 - 1 = 1
Slashing Damage: 1d4 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (2) + 2 - 1 = 3
Bite, - Prayer: 1d20 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 - 1 = 18
Damage, - Prayer: 1d6 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (6) + 2 - 1 = 7

Round 3/4 (haste, prayer and Inspire Courage +2 active)
Khellek
Cenae
Numair (-7)
Mogla-Tor (-28, underwater)
Grog

Please remember, if you're underwater, then you take a -2 to attack and do half damage if you are using slashing or bludgeoning weapons

Because of the water, I don't think you can five foot step, since you don't have a swim speed, and thus don't have a speed of at least 10 feet, which is a requirement for a 5-foot step. I might be wrong about this, but that's what it appears to be from my reading of the rules. So either you would provoke from moving and I need a swim check, or you provoke from making a range attack in melee, and I don't need a swim check.

Yellow Claw, AoO, - prayer vs Khellek's AC +1 from Haste: 1d20 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 - 1 = 2

Unable to claw Khellek's face, it again tries to grab Khellek by the neck.

CMB vs Khellek's CMD, -Prayer: 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (15) + 4 - 1 = 18

It actually grabs ahold of the old man, and a strange grin, filled with needle-like teeth breaks out on its face.

Round 3 (haste, prayer and Inspire Courage +2 active)
Khellek
Yellow (-10)
Cenae
Numair (-7)
Mogla-Tor (-28, underwater)
Grog

Even with the resistance that the water provides, Grog makes a massive cut into the chest of Mogla-Tor

Round 3 (haste, prayer and Inspire Courage +2 active)
Khellek
Yellow
Cenae
Numair (-7, Will Save needed)
Mogla-Tor (-28, underwater)
Grog

Grog, can I get a swim check?

Mogla-Tor's Reflex: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
Red's Reflex Saving Throw: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

The red-tinged gills of one of the remaining skum burn to a crisp.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Mogla-Tor screams in a slurring Taldane. The last part of it seems to be infused with a magical spell, and it swarms at Numair. I need a DC 14 Will Save or suffer the effects of silence, which would include inability to cast spells with verbal components. He dives into the water, and moves very quickly, a small glint of a sharp object in his hand.

Round 2 (haste, prayer and Inspire Courage +2 active)
Khellek
Yellow
Cenae
Numair (-7, Will Save needed)
Mogla-Tor (-28, underwater)
Grog

I think y'all are over-estimating the hardiness of these creatures. The little guys are CR 2, and a 16 hits.

Khellek's jittery nerves don't cause him to miss, and the crossbow bolt sinks directly into the skum's chest cavity. It falls into the water below with a splash

One of the last remaining skum, with yellow-tinged gills, dives into the water and tries to grab the old man.

Grapple vs Khellek's CMD+1, -1 prayer: 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (8) + 4 - 1 = 11

But fails to gets its arms around him. technically would provoke an AoO if Khellek has means of attacking in melee.

Round 2 (haste, prayer and Inspire Courage +2 active)
Khellek
Yellow
Cenae
Numair (-7)
Mogla-Tor
Red
Grog

Gonna assume you mean Orange and then Blue, since red is several squares away from you, Grog?

Grog easily cuts two of the skum in half

Round 2 (haste and Inspire Courage +2 active)
Khellek
Yellow
Cenae
Numair (-7)
Mogla-Tor
Red
Green (-18)
Grog

The bat guano smell is overpowering, so the little bit of extra that Numair brings out doesn't affect our poor adventurer's poor little noses.

Pink, Reflex, DC 24, -Prayer: 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (10) + 4 - 1 = 13
Green, Reflex, DC 24, -Prayer: 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (20) + 4 - 1 = 23

Somehow, in direct defiance of Sarenrae's will, Green survives.

As Cenae swims forward, one of the lurking skum, the blue one who had dived in earlier, reveals where it was and stabs at Cenae!

Blue vs Cenae's AC (+1 with Haste), - Prayer): 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (3) + 4 - 1 = 6

But its for naught, as the trident is too sluggish to pierce Cenae's armor.

Mogla-Tor steps forward and suddenly is encased in a black inky shroud of shadows. leaving him visible because Grog could still see him, but if you are not Grog, you do not know where he is.

The skum with the red-tinted gills jumps into the water, and darts around a rock to get to a flank with one of its partners.

Trident, Flanking, - Prayer, vs Cenae's AC +1: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 4 + 2 = 13

But is unable to make contact with Cenae's flesh!

A skum with green-tinted gills skirts around for a better position on the party.

Round 1 (haste and Inspire Courage +2 active)
Blue
Khellek
Yellow
Cenae
Numair (-7)
Mogla-Tor
Red
Green (-18)
Grog
Orange

Khellek says a few words of encouragement. One of the skum throws their trident at Numair.

Trident: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Piercing Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

The trident actually strikes true and cuts into the sorceror's belly!

Round 1 (haste and Inspire Courage +2 active)
Blue
Khellek
Yellow
Cenae
Numair (-7)
Mogla-Tor
Red
Green
Grog
Pink
Orange

"Erk erk, erk, not all of you had to die," Mogla-Tor rumbles.

INITIATIVE
Mogla-Tor Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Red Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Blue Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16
Pink Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Green Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Orange Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Yellow Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
Khellek Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15
Grog Initiative: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (3) + 0 = 3
Cenae Initiative: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (7) + 0 = 7
Numair Initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Whoa, what happened to the dice roller

Blue
Khellek
Yellow
Cenae
Numair
Mogla-Tor
Red
Green
Grog
Pink
Orange

Blue dives into the water. based off the cut-out vertical view of the map, I am pretty sure that the water is much deeper than you are tall.

Eventually the party makes it down to the bottom of the cavern, having to make a leap of faith into the waters below, which breaks their fall. (Except for Numair, who can fly.) Its dark, dim light from lumniscent moss is the only light down here. A massive stalagmite juts from the floor on the dry part of the cavern. The stalagmite is carved to look like a human woman with bird wings, and her eyes and mouth sewn shut. Prayers written in Abyssal cover the statue. Around the cavern, several green-skinned skum circle the cavern, hooting in Aboleth.

Their leader with his purple cape is at the stalagmite with his trident glowing. He points at the Pathfinders, and shouts in a slurred Common, "Be gone from my Lady's realm!" He sniffs the air, and a cruel smile twists on his face, and then points at Khellek. "You will be a good sacrifice for the stones. You live for now, the others leave, and then you die later."

One skum pops out of the water next to the party.

The workmanship is crude, but whatever is down there probably uses it.

So Numair is flying, the rest of you taking 10 to climb the ladder?

Now that Khellek is down with megaliths, the aged scholar can tell the group that the glyphs at the base of the megalith are sigils associated with the demon lord of suicide and heresy, Sifkesh.

In the tunnel in the base of the second megalith, the sloped shaft quickly becomes too treacherous to stand, and the party slides nearly 80 feet, and luckily there are no fiendish giant bats to harass the party while they traverse. At the end of the sloped shaft, there lies a small hole that descends nearly 200 feet, into the Darklands. Luckily, a crude ladder made of wooden spikes will allow you climb down.

The maps are centuries old.

Can I get a climb check from Grog? I imagine that having Khellek would bring you to a medium load, which should be -3 compared to your normal armor check penalty. You can take ten if you like.

Inside the tube is a handy haversack, and inside the haversack is a bottle of air. Alongside the bottle, there's a set of ancient maps, with Abyssal scribbling on it.

There are also a few glyphs on the megaliths that will need either a Knowledge Religion (from Numair or Cenae) or someone needs to get Khellek down somehow.

"Well, since you asked..."

Perception: 1d20+22.

[assuming the sorceror isn't going up and like, touching the drowning stones, and is up flying away from them]

Cenae loses her grip on the guano-covered rock and falls down the ravine.

Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 2, 6) = 14

You can take ten but a 9 is not sufficent to climb and fails by enough for you to fall.

Oh, sorry, I thought it was just a heal check, but it also allows a knowledge (nature), and Khellek would recognize the bones of being both animals and humanoids. The scenario doesn't specify, but I'd assume human, elf, orc, dwarf, all pretty common in the Mwangi Expanse

Alright, cool, we'll skip. The encounter is more annoying than anything, as far as I can tell.

A low-rolling fog creeps from a clearance in the jungle ahead. A small, mist-filled gorge splits the landscape. Shallow waterfalls spill over the steep palisades, fed by runoff from brooks and other trickling waters that snake through the humid jungles. From out of the ravine below climb twin stone megaliths carved into vaguely humanoid shapes. Their eroded faces turn upward so their gaping mouths fill with water. Badly weathered, the craftsmanship and culture is beyond recognition. About fifty feet below, amid dried, broken branches and other detritus, hundreds of cracked bones litter the misty ravine floor.

The Drowning Stones are gigantic, nearly 40 feet tall. They also sit on the opposite edge of the gorge, so the Pathfinders must find somehow to get to them from here. The mundane way would be to climb down the ravine wall, but obviously, perhaps a Pathfinder knows of a non-mundane way. DC 15 Climb check to climb the deceptively slippery slope. Khellek would recognize the pale slime covering the ravine walls as bat guano.

The scholar steps forward to examine the dead succubus. He has met them before, but this one seems somehow different. Maybe it was her unusual lack of minions, or willingness to engage in hand to hand combat, or general lack of subtly. But something seemed wrong to him.

Anything obviously different about this one from a regular succubus?
Did the body fade as it would if she was a normal summons?

She did have minions at the beginning, but not enough, and not nearly strong enough to really pose a threat. They have a laughably low perception check written in to notice the skum waiting around her in the bushes with their weapons drawn. (Numair would have to roll a highly negative number on the die to fail it.) I thought about going ahead with her trying to fool the party and lie, until someone actually asked for a perception check, but I figured that would be cheating Numair out of his investment in perception.

Cenae slices into the succubus, who does not fade away. Black demonic ichor pours from her body into the jungle dirt. The skum have gold and their weapon armor both detect as magical. both of the skum have +1 leather armor and +1 tridents. One of the skum has a leather bag, inside of which is a decapitated human's head. Old Faction mission stuff, but I thought it's a nice touch.

Cenae
Numair
Khellek
Grog (-24)

The sound of water rushing is overpowering. The waterfalls that the Drowning Stones drown in must be nearby, perhaps less than an hour's walk.

Question for the party, would you want to do the optional combat encounter?

The demon succubus is able to weather two massive blows from the flying half-orc, but the cleric's scimitar hits in her spine, and she falls to the ground twitching.

Combat Over

Cenae (-23, Heroism)
Numair (-2, magic circle vs Evil)
Khellek (heroism)
Grog (-36, Shield of Faith, heroism, magic circle vs evil)

Both Cenae and Grog hit their marks with their weapon, though, the end result with her magic is a relatively small scratch. She had temporary hit points is what I'm trying to say, you just got through to her actual HP

She beats her wings and strums to the left and reaches out to touch Grog again.

Concentration to cast defensively: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (13) + 20 = 33
Touch Attack vs Grog: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30
Damage: 6d6 ⇒ (3, 2, 6, 5, 2, 6) = 24

Round 4-5 (inspire courage, Haste)
Cenae (-23, Heroism)
Numair (-2, magic circle vs Evil)
Khellek (heroism)
Grog (-36, Shield of Faith, heroism, magic circle vs evil)
Mermaid Succubus (5 feet off the ground, -5, +24)

Its a spell-like ability.

The Razor flies forward and tries to touch Cenae, and drain her.

Touch attack vs Cenae: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18
Damage: 6d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 1, 5, 5, 5) = 23

Round 3-4 (inspire courage, Haste)
Cenae (-23)
Numair (-2, magic circle vs Evil)
Khellek
Grog (-12, Shield of Faith, heroism, magic circle vs evil)
Mermaid (5 feet off the ground, +37)

Cenae's magic partially counteracts the demon's magic.

oops, my bad, don't know why I didn't bold the rest.

Round 3 (inspire courage, Haste)
Numair (-2, magic circle vs Evil)
Khellek
Grog (-12, Shield of Faith, heroism, magic circle vs evil)
Mermaid (5 feet off the ground, +14)
Cenae

Grog guts the fish-like creature on the other side of the battlefield.

"Hmm, you think you're clever," the succubus says as she flies in and tries to touch Numair on the cheek.

Touch Attack, Numair's touch AC: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14
Damage: 6d6 ⇒ (1, 2, 1, 4, 4, 2) = 14

Lets see, your touch is 10 normally, the Magic Circle would increase it to 12, haste would increase it to 13, so I think just barely enough.

Round 2 (inspire courage, Haste)
Numair (-14, magic circle vs Evil)
Khellek
Grog (-12, Shield of Faith, heroism, magic circle vs evil)
Mermaid (5 feet off the ground, +14)
Cenae

"Why don't one of you come up and join me?" the demon says with a wink. Her fish-like companion back-peddles away from Grog and his axe and withdraws to a different defensible position. Full withdraw, did not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Round 2 (inspire courage, Haste)
Blue
Numair (magic circle vs Evil)
Khellek
Grog (-12, Shield of Faith)
Mermaid (20 feet off the ground)
Cenae

Khellek would recognize the new demonic form as a succubus. She would have damage resistance that is overcome by good or cold iron weapons. Immune to electricity, fire and poisons, resisting acid and cold. She would have an innate resistance to spells.

Grog spends his time hacking one of the fish-like creatures to bits, though he only is able to kill it with his last blow.

The winged demoness gets up in the air, but her voice somehow cuts through the jungle sounds and the waterfall, and rings in Grog's ear.
"Get away from the half-elf, run!" I need a Will Save, DC 21. You get a +2 bonus from Numair's spell, and I believe, if you fail that you get ANOTHER Save, with a +4 bonus.

Round 1
Blue
Numair (magic circle vs Evil)
Green
Khellek
Grog (-12, need DC 21 Will save, see above)
Mermaid (20 feet off the ground)
Cenae

Numair casts a spell, and the remaining creature lying in wait springs into action. It takes just a second to stare at Khellek and then seems to move on, getting into position next to its ally and Numair. Double Move

Round 1
Blue
Numair (magic circle vs Evil)
Green
Khellek
Grog (-12)
Mermaid
Cenae

It's maybe the size of a child's hand. They don't give a weight, but I can't imagine it being more than a few ounces.

Lang leads you deeper into the jungle. The sound of rushing water, like a massive waterfall, begins to overpower the sounds of nature. However, in the jungle path, there's a stone, and on the stone, a dark-skinned mermaid is sunning herself. She smiles warmly as she sees you approach.

"Oh, you've brought him back, thank the gods! He ran off, rambling, and ranting. I fear the man's lost his mind. We were trying to find his compatriots and suddenly he was accusing me of murder!" The mermaid says.

Numair, however, quite easily, spots two fish-like humanoids hiding in the brush. They have tridents. The mermaid sees that Numair sees them, and shifts back to her strangely attractive demonic womanly form, with leathery wings.

Yeah, I think the intention is to have a role play before the initiative but Numair can't fail the perception check for her hidden compatriots, even with distance penalties, so, we are on slide no 6, I recommend viewing it at at least 55% zoom

Khellek Iniative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19
Grog Iniative: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (17) + 0 = 17
Cenae Iniative: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (9) + 0 = 9
Numair Iniative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24
Mermaid Iniative: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14
Blue Iniative: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
Green Iniative: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

One of the fish-like creatures moves up and tries to stab Grog with its trident.

Trident: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (9) + 12 = 21
Piercing Damage: 1d8 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

Round 1
Blue
Numair
Green
Khellek
Grog (-12)
Mermaid
Cenae

Khellek can't recall any demonic mermaid-like creatures, though, of course, its possible for a fiend to mate with humanoid like a mermaid, and create a fiendish mermaid. Demons that live in the water, the most famous is probably the Hezrou, a brutish frog-like creature.

don't read too much into this question, but a) are you taking the stone with you? and if so, who is carrying it?

The small rock does have a faint aura of enchantment magic on it.

I don't want to short change your investment in the knowledge skills, Khellek, but the scenario doesn't give any DCs for the knowledge or a caster level for the stone to determine a Spellcraft DC, but it does specifically say it gives a faint aura of enchantment.

"It wasn't a flood, it was the river that killed us, the things that live in it," Lang says, as if it were obvious. Perhaps his thinking is not entirely linear at the moment, "We were coming back from the Stones, and the mermaid and her river things tore through us."

"I think I was carrying Wyrn's satchel, I think? I don't remember. Maybe he needed help carrying things?"

"That's one of the stones that Lichten took from the Stones." The harried man says, pointing at the rock that Numair holds.

The Pathfinders, having voiced no objection, take the man who tells them his name is Lang, back to their raft, and back peddling upriver to the Drowning Stones.

After a grueling five more miles, Lang tells the group that they'll need to ditch the boat and make the rest of the journey on foot. "Its the only way."

He starts the group on a grueling hike into the jungle.