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→ Day 1, 9:00 PM (Sunday, 1 Lamashan 4717)

The group makes their way through the forest as it becomes increasingly dark outside, and after about forty minutes of travel from the cave (1 mile of forest) you emerge from the woods. Broken remains of ships and boats on the shore form a perimeter around heaps of barrels, crates, and other items that look like salvaged cargo. Additional ladders, nets, ropes, and weights have been attached to the ships and boats. A crimson flag on the mast of the largest ship proudly blows in the wind. Not long after you emerge from the woods, an arrow whizzes past the group. Those of you trained in combat can tell that it was meant as a warning shot—a warning that the following arrows will not miss.

About 60 feet away, from atop the heap of remains, a figure made of wood that stands maybe three feet tall shouts out to the group. "Reveal your true form, spies! You can't fool us!" The figure moves to draw another arrow and awaits action from the party.

Life kinda went into a tailspin the last couple weeks, sorry. I'll do my best to get something substantive posted today when I've got some time.

The cavern looks to be somewhere where creatures had been residing up until recently, judging by the tracks outside. It doesn't look like they go any deeper than what is on the map. The only real direction that you have at this point is that the earlier tracks led west.

The groups concerted efforts make rather short work of the chaos beasts, leaving no room for recourse as they are torn to shreds from seemingly every angle.

Twisted Caverns—End

Coming out of the scuffle mostly unscathed, the party is free to examine the cavern. Amid the filth, grime, and junk left behind here, there is a ring and a 1-foot-tall jade statue of a humanoid-serpent hybrid creature.

As the party prepares, the chaos beasts seems to realize they must have been spotted. One charges straight for Sarine while the other makes its way around the rocks to position itself next to Aurelian. Aurelian and Sarine pummel the one that charges forward, though Aurelian notes that his attack doesn't seems as effective as it should be. The beasts, their anatomy impossible to discern, seem to have no weak points.

The beast that charged lashes out at Sarine with tentacle-claw, and while the damage is the least of the pains she had endured today there is a feeling of instability in her form—a feeling that she is just barely able to shrug off.

Everyone is up! Sarine takes 8 damage.

Entering the cave, the party sees the horrid source of the noise: a rat the size of a very large dog, its form twisted upon itself beyond all recognition. It inches slowly closer to the party, though in its mangled state it couldn't possibly do any harm. Were it not for the incredible senses of Zay and Narue, the party may have been set upon by whatever lurks deeper in the cave. However, the dinosaur and the feline hear sounds from within the waters deeper in the cavern.

Twisted Cavern—Round One

Initiative Order
???
→Party

Not realizing that they are noticed, creatures in the water in the back of the cavern begin to move about the cave, using the walls, stalactites and stalagmites as natural cover from line of sight. The rat continues to move toward the party, but its exertion seems to prove too much and it dies before even making it to the front line.

Everyone is up!

→ Day 1, 8:00 PM (Sunday, 1 Lamashan 4717)

After sorting through their findings and patching each other up, the party moves further to the west in the direction that the tracks were leading in before they stopped. A crack in the hillside opens in a spacious natural cavern. Horrific screeches resembling those of a panicked animal echo within the cavern.

@Aurelian: Yes, you get a panache point back from the hollow you killed.

Zay's thundercloud doesn't manage to connect with the swarm, but Sarine enters the fray with her greatsword to great effect. With the aid of the clasp, Sarine tears through the swarm with her weapon and in two swings it is entire dispersed.

Aurelian lands two more quick stabs on the hollow, the second one destroying the creature outright.

Hollow Forest—End

Sarine and Tettia are able to remove the remaining ticks with the help of their companions, preventing them from taking any further damage from blood loss.

Zay's thundercloud emits more lightning into the swarm of ticks, surging electricity through the shimmering mass of bugs and blasting many of them apart.

Aurelian manages two swift and deadly stabs with his rapier, further loosening the connection the hollow has on the material plane. The creature tries to strike back at him, though the swordsman is too fast and dodges the blow outright.

Primrose and Tettia exit the swarm, one of them succeeding to remove the bugs and the other not having nearly as much luck.
@Tettia if you don't meet the above criteria by the end of your next turn, you will take 4d6 damage from the ticks clinging to you.

The swarm, something so primal that even its utter lack of intellect is bypassed, sees the hollow and its members begin to scurry back. If the hollow is defeated they will certainly come back for more.

Everyone is up!

If you want the amulet Sarine you can grab it as part of a move action past Zay for simplicity

Zay summons a thundercloud inside the bounds of the swarm, and bolts of electricity surge out to the thousands of insects below. It appears to be rather effective.

Aurelian's blade darts out twice at the hollow that he dealt the deadliest blow to earlier, both of which connect thanks to Primrose's inspiration. The creature still appears to be hostile, though Aurelian is pretty sure that it's form is beginning to fray.
Cannot crit incorporeal without ghost touch, as Zay mentioned.

Tettia unleashes a volley of three missiles on the hollow that Aurelian nearly has downed, all of which slam into the creature. As it is pelted with the force of the magic missiles it dissipates from the world entirely.
Hollow 1 is destroyed!

Sarine gets out of the body of the swarm, but several of the bugs cling to her upon her exit! She conjures another gout of flame, killing many of the bugs in the swarm, but it continues to surge and seek blood from her companions.
Unless you take a full-round action and a reflex save DC 20 or take 10 points of area damage you will take 4d6 damage at the end of each of your turns starting with your next.

The tick swarm continues to surge forwards towards the main group, engulfing both Primrose and Tettia in small, bloodsucking bugs.
Primrose takes 16 damage and 3 con damage! Tettia takes 15 damage and 4 con damage!

The remaining hollow attempts to attack Aurelian once again, but its ghostly arm is parried and Aurelian counters with a solid strike.

Everyone is up! If you didn't see in discord, everyone currently has 3 hero points.

The ticks approach Sarine, and while her spell does seem to kill some of the creatures they still proceed to wash over her and drain her blood. Tettia's sphere appears to just barely hit the creatures in the swarm, burning away some of the ticks before they even make it to Sarine.
The DC would actually be 13 for that: min int 12 and SL 2. Sarine takes 15 damage and 3 constitution damage

Aurelian has his own issues to deal with as the sets of eyes begin their approach. As they come closer to him, they appear to be gaunt, shadowy bodies that are little more than insubstantial tattered cloaks. Their most disturbing feature, however, is their gaping mouths. Aurelian is fairly certain he can partially see through them, and when the first makes its move to touch him he dodges out of the way and lands his prepared thrust. The creature wails in pain as his magic weapon tears through its incorporeal form. The other moves to touch Aurelian, but he deflects the ghostly arm and follows it up with another powerful stab.
Aurelian takes no damage but does manage to deal damage to both incorporeal foes.

Everyone is up! As level 7 adventurers assume you all know swarm basics. This is a fine swarm, so no weapon damage is applicable.

→ Day 1, 7:30 PM (Sunday, 1 Lamashan 4717)

The group is able to follow the tracks into the woods to the west until they abruptly stop, evidently covered intentionally from here. Hollow husks of crooked, leafless tress grow from the blackened ground in this forest. The bark on the trees is marred with wound-like cracks that weep blackish sap.

As the tracks reach their end, rasping legs of a hideous, shining carpet of fist-sized ticks rattle ominously as they being their approach. Additionally, everyone but Primrose sees two shadows not too far off that have two flickering pinpoints of light where their eyes should be.

The Hollow Forest—Round One

Initiative Order
→Aurelian
→Tettia
→Sarine
→Primrose
Tick Swarm
???
Zay

Aurelian, Primrose, Sarine and Tettia are up!

The group's combined effort on identifying the tracks reveals that they are likely those of humans, faceless stalkers, and an unusually large skum—a race of intelligent amphibious humanoids.

Nothing appears to stir in the direction of the tower, and as the group approaches the boat it is quickly evident that no one is nearby. There are quite a few tracks near the boat heading west from here, and with some work they could be identified. The boat itself is labelled Liberty's Herald—it looks to be the size of a ship's boat, not the full ship.

If you'd like to investigate the tracks, knowledges of the local, dungeoneering and nature varieties may yield results.

Part Two: Exploring Zanas-Tahn

→ Day 1, 7:00 PM (Sunday, 1 Lamashan 4717)

The group makes it across the way, just barely beating the storm to shore. With a group effort you find a rock overhang to dock your boat under and successfully secure it for your eventual escape. The island that you've landed on is not dissimilar from Ancorato as far as the flora and fauna around you. Not far off, you see a structure:

An ancient, square, stone tower stands in the sand at the
water’s edge. The tower’s battlements show few cracks
and little wear despite the construction’s apparent age, but
the tower’s upper stories have crumbled away, and only a
broken stump and piles of rubble remain.

Moored not far from the tower in the opposite direction is another boat that is not much larger than your own.

→ Day 1, 3:30 PM (Sunday, 1 Lamashan 4717)

The party makes short work of rigging up some rudimentary sails, and your new estimate for time would be about five hours before reaching the island from which the light came.

Lets say either crafting, survival, or knowledge engineering. For the sake of out of game time we'll assume that the lowest rolls with be aiding the best roll. Each round of checks will take the group about half an hour.

I completely misread the passage from the book about making your way to the island. It will take 7.5 hours, not 1. This could be expedited if you have any sort of magic that could make you row faster or if you manage to affix a sail to your small boat. My apologies for the misinformation. If that changes any spells cast/abilities used feel free to undo those.

→ Day 1, 3:00 PM (Sunday, 1 Lamashan 4717)

Aurelain and Zay don't find much of note, just some boot-tracks and the aforementioned signs of a boat being moored here.

Not long after Tettia's message is complete, a reply message is flashed across the gap: "Acknowledged." After that, the light on the other side stops flickering. As far as you can tell, it will take the group about an hour by boat to reach where the light was coming from.

Tettia, being an expert on Aquan grammar, is able to decipher what the message is saying.

“Status? We must go.
Leaving Karnax behind. It is waiting with instructions.”

The party doesn't take long to reach the peninsula that they seek. They spot the aforementioned the sea lavender along the way, its modest, sweet, perfumy fragrance cutting through some of the mounting tension.

You dock your small boat on the shore of the peninsula and make your way up to the precipice.

After a few minutes of looking around, it is impossible to not notice some flashes of light from a distance. You can't quite tell from where other than the direction with an unaided eye, but they appear to be consistent.

Yeah, we're gonna be pretty handwavey about it, for sure. Jenner can do anything that you would be able to afford, and as you level up we're just gonna say that continues to stand. He's just going to become the colony's premier source of magical item creation.

I was assuming that you all would like to head to the peninsula, since after you gathered all of that information it seems like that would be where Carter was headed on all of his alleged trips out of the colony. If you would like to investigate where he was spotted in the woods first, though, that is where we will have our sailors set course.

Looks to be maybe an hour or two past noon.

Alright, so I'll have to get it as an in character thing in a few but I asked Zay if we could have Jenner as a group crafter to stay in the colony and work on items for you and we have the green light. So, if there are any magic items that you would like made we'll have Jenner handle it.

"Well, I was about two miles north when I saw him," Jacques says, holding his chin in thought. "And if I remember right he was heading west. Thought that was odd, considering far as I know there's nothing out that way."

You feel as if you have gathered as much as you could in terms of directions. There is a peninsula due west of Talmandor's Bounty that would require going north and west or taking a boat. Luckily for you, you have the option to take a boat ride. If you go on foot you think it will take you about an hour. If you would like to go by boat it will only take you half an hour including time to get set up.

If there are other matters that you would like to investigate in town, please go ahead and lead the way!

"I was a few miles north of Talmandor's Bounty, just checking up on some rabbit traps I had set," Jacques responds to Sarine. "I think he had a spyglass with him. It's all I can figure, given the size and such. Hope that was any help, but that's all I remember."

While Zay fetches what they need for sailing the rest of the party seeks out Jacques Hughton. When asked about seeing Carver Hastings the day before the attacks, he takes a second to think and responds.

“Aye, I saw him two days ago there. I thought he was lost because I couldn’t think of any other reason he would have wandered that far from the colony. I think he was holding something in his hand, maybe a scroll tube or something of similar size and shape. I followed him for a while but lost sight of him after a few minutes. Afterwards, I didn’t think much of it because Carver was a strange duck all along.”

Given that you're looking for a peninsula (and that you know that it's a peninsula) you're pretty sure a boat would likely be more appropriate anyways.

I just sent someone a PM about something regarding the shopping thing, I will hopefully have a good answer for you later today! Apologies for the delay. As for the sea lavender, there are a few spots around the island. Think of it as a clue to help shorten the time you need to spend searching for this peninsula later :)

So, as a group, would you like to continue investigating matters in town or would you like to head out? If you're heading out, are you leaving on foot or by boat? Are you looking for the peninsula or trying to go straight for the island?

Aurelian and Primrose

“She was always such a sweet lady, but a few days ago she suddenly started asking me about meeting her alone in the strangest of places after sundown. I didn’t understand what was going on, and I had a lot of work to do, so I just said no each time. I didn’t want her to be cross with me, so I didn’t ask too many questions. I’m sorry. I should have known something was wrong.”

Tears start welling up in Colson's eyes. After a moment’s hesitation, Colson exclaims, “The scent! I remember she smelled different two nights ago—like sea lavender.” Having previously explored the island, Aurelian remembers a number of places where sea lavender grows on the beach.

Sarine, Tettia and Zay

The only additional tracks that Sarine and Zay find are ones that lead from the west towards the government building. In following them, the party is reunited outside the wreckage.

Aurelian and Primrose

It does not take long for you to find Colson. He is helping clean up at the burned down government building with some of the other townsfolk, and he seems to perk up a bit at the sight of Aurelian's approach. "Heard what you did," he says, reaching out a grimy hand for a handshake. "Thanks for keeping us safe. I know you and yours did the best you could against those monsters."

Sarine, Tettia and Zay

Zay is well aware of a simple fact about your typical avian creature: they are rather stupid. Thankfully, Zay manages to communicate their questions coherently to the incoherent mass of color and feathers. While their answers are hard to decipher both due to the sheer number of birds as well as their incompetency, Zay puts together that a particular shapeshifter was using a shiny object at a peninsula to the west. Additionally, they saw the melty-face people take normal-face people on boats from that same peninsula to an island not too far off.

@Sarine: I'll do some reading this weekend to give you a good update on the state of the colony. Admittedly the start of book 3 gets right to the investigation bit so I hadn't thought to make an update of that kind. Additionally, feel free to pick up your last order. As for making another one, let me look into the options that we have for that and get back to you. I might change things up on that front a bit.

@Everyone: I should be posting with some regularity here now, though I will say the actual days of Christmas Eve and Christmas will likely not be included in that. I have two families to bounce between and will likely be too busy.

Aurelian and Primrose

Your efforts to speak to the folks around the colony feel largely fruitful as townsfolk fawn over the new arrival and her masterful orations. They give you two leads that you find of particular interest. The first is a fellow named Colson Werton who allegedly was romantically involved with one of the shapeshifters (by some accounts knowingly, though in Aurelian's experience that doesn't sound quite right). The other is a hunter by the name of Jacques Hughon who claims to have seen Carver Hastings somewhere peculiar the day before the attacks.

Sarine, Tettia and Zay

Your efforts prove to also be very fruitful. Sarine and Tettia are able to identify some tracks that diverge from normal foot traffic and that even in some spots you see distinctive claw marks that match the shapeshifters. Taking your findings in aggregate you determine that one shapeshifter in particular appears to have entered the colony from the west just a few days ago.

As for Zay, they use their skills with the local wildlife to gather a veritable mass of birds. Realizing that there are more birds here than they could have hoped to initially gather, it may be best to take this avian convergence to the edge of civilization.

@Zay: Go ahead and give me a survival check to scout out some birds, we'll see how many of them you find.

@Everyone else: If you would like to ask around and gather information from those that remain, go ahead and give me either a diplomacy or knowledge (local) check. If you want to look for tracks from the shapeshifters, give me a survival or knowledge (dungeoneering) check. If you want to do something else either in or around the colony, lemme know and we'll go from there!

"A pleasure to meet you, Primrose. I'm afraid that I can't recall a Josef, myself, though my exhaustion-addled mind may be getting the best of me," Ramona replies. She turns to Zay and gently pats their head. "And you as well, Zay. If you're not, in fact, an intelligent squirrel and instead a shape-shifter of some kind please do any of that out of the view of the colonists." The last person she turns to is Aurelian, and she appears to think back for a moment before responding. In a tone both exhausted from the events of the days prior as well as tired of the newfound mistrust from everyone in the colony, she replies. "Unless I'm mistaken you spent your time on the Peregrine using sword-training as a cover for inundating our crew with innuendo," she says with a half-hearted grin. "I hope that should do to alleviate your suspicions of me. I think I've got nothing to do but trust that the lot of you are who you say you are."

"With that, I should get straight to business. During the last few weeks, you’ve shown your importance to the colony, and many of you have exhibited incredibly useful talents that can help us further. I would like for you look for clues about the missing colonists’ whereabouts. Studying the bodies and equipment of the shapeshifting creatures you defeated may reveal something useful. It’s also possible that people here in the colony might have seen something that may help you. Last, you might want to search the colony and the surrounding area for any suspicious-looking tracks, signs of struggle, or drag marks that might point us to the right direction, but it may be like trying to find a needle in a haystack unless you have an idea of where to start looking.
“I’m afraid I have to ask you to hurry, since we don’t know why these monsters were kidnapping our people. If they wanted food or destruction, they wouldn’t have taken the victims alive. As you can imagine, everyone tends to assume the worst, and every passing hour is painful to those whose friends and family are missing. Please bring me back good news as soon as possible, but at the latest in six days from now. I don’t believe I can keep the people calm much longer than that, and those taken might have died from hunger or thirst by then.
“I must return to my duties—I’ll try to do whatever I can to help the people recover from the attack. The recent events have caused morale to plummet in the colony, and some people just want to go home. But before I go, please tell me if there is something I can do to help you with the investigation.”

Hey all, I'm back from PAX! Unfortunately I've had the flu since yesterday and my brain and body are both quitting on me. I will hopefully be back to posting soon.

With soot on her face and blood on her jacket, Ramona Avandth wearily nods a greeting when she opens the door to her house. “Sorry for contacting you the way that I did, the attacks have made me paranoid. Thank you for saving our colony and dealing with those... monsters. If it hadn’t been for your efforts and bravery, we would have lost many more of our people. But as you probably guessed, I didn’t ask you to meet me only because I wanted to thank you. We mustn’t give up hope that there may still be a way to find the people that those aberrant horrors had taken. I feel that they are still alive somewhere."

Appraising the group, Ramona frowns. "I only recognize three of you here," she says, putting her index finger up to her chin contemplatively. "And we're missing some. Mind filling me in? And, as it seems introductions are in order, I'm Ramona Avandth." She sticks her hand out in Prim's direction for a shake.

Tettia takes a look at the scroll and is uncertain about its contents for a moment. At first it appears to be gibberish, though after a few moments she pieces together that it is in a simple cipher of Taldane, dwarven and elven.

Before the squirrel skitters off, its job completed, it responds to Zay's inquiry.

As silence begins to fester in the air among the group members—an appropriate side-effect of the colony's losses both recent and a while back—a squirrel begins to very deliberately approach Tettia. As it comes closer, you can all see that its long bushy tail is coiled around a rolled piece of parchment. It stops at Tettia's feet and stares up at her expectantly.

Bringing candy will get you a hero point ;)

the same hero point I would be giving you anyways, of course

If you look on Warhorn I'm Levi Steadman on there. I'm doing exclusively PF2E tables, doing every 4-hour slot other than Saturday at 8pm. I'm really excited, this will be my first convention to GM other than GenCon.

Nah, I'm flying in Friday morning from Detroit. I will be GMing all slots other than the Starfinder special, so we should definitely meet up!

Just as a heads up I'll be at PAX Unplugged this weekend so I won't be able to post from Friday 12/6 to Sunday 12/8.

Just as an update, things do appear to be on track for me to post on Monday. I'm very, very excited to get started with you guys and I thank you for your patience while I get my life together :p

Knowing all of the IRL stuff that I had going on at the time I took this up, my intentions were to get the ball rolling by the first week of December. As it stands I'm probably in a good enough state to get things started. I've been running through in my head a first post to get us on track, though I haven't had the chance to get it posted because I was moving this past weekend.

Yeah, the macro is totally fine. I know dice order is important with how the forums work, so feel free to roll crit stuff after the fact. I sometimes have to do the same thing when I have a big turn as a GM.