What she offers is in this alias - Mercantile Street (17)
Search Posts
Arriving at the Cerulean Teahouse , they decide upon their point of entry! Across the street, other buildings burn to the ground... Willowshore Lore (Untrained) vs DC 20:
Qing Mai-Lai had a Secret Door installed between the Pantry (northern-most room) and the Private Banquet Hall (north-east room).
We are going to need a tiebreaker! 1) Matsuki Estate
Publicly Known Shrines
Discoverable Shrines
Eternal Blaze Ironworks (W1)
Boarded up for now, there is no sign of Luda Bama. Athletics or Thievery check to Force Open or Pick a Lock! The Mushroom House Wares (Ordinarily): adventuring gear, drugs, poisons, tattoos
Across the street, the party observes something strange - which was in fact marked on Granny Hu's War Map - but whose importance was perhaps lost in all the excitement... ...The Governor Heh Shan-Bao's Manor - down to the foundation itself - is simply missing...
I see. That makes more sense. You just listed her "home location" in the spoiler then? I can make an amended post. It's a habit - this alias has info for NPCs based on their home location - so you can re-brief yourself. Lots of NPCs!
Party Status:
Vekka Tchakon (HP 14/15) @ Spellslots 0/1 Ho Lan (HP 06/15) @ Spellslots 2/3, Focus 0/1 Kazuki Sato (HP 14/19) @ half quiver of arrows? Auntie Wu & Mogu (HP 09/16, Mogu 5/5) @ Spellspots 2/2 Sigurd Kolphan (HP 17/17) @ Spellslots 0/2, Font 0/4, Focus 0/1 Just before pushing on, the party takes a moment to examine the Eternal Lantern! This stone lantern is a 5-foot-tall stone lamp carved from silver-laced granite from the Gossamer Mountains. Its interior contains a cold iron cage with a lotus-shaped pedestal on which three glowing copper coins once sat. It’s said that the light from this lamp protects Willowshore from all manners of evil... Religion (Untrained) DC 5 or Willowshore Lore (Untrained) DC 5 single check per PC:
The Eternal Lantern is an immobile 15th-level magical item located on the southern side of Dawnstep Bridge. Gifted to Willowshore many years ago by Master Zhi Hui, the lantern has never been extinguished for as long as anyone in town can remember... To relight the lantern, all the PCs need to do is open the grill on the Eternal Lantern’s southern face, place three Blessed copper coins in the cold iron cage within, and then close the grill. Each of these is a single Interact action, and once the last is completed, the lantern ignites once more. While the Eternal Lantern is lit and the three coins remain inside, it sheds light in a 30-foot radius (and dim light for the next 30 feet). Blessed copper coins can be obtained by visiting different Shrines and performing the appropriate rites (upon mundane copper coins), which differ by Shrine. Critical Success?
Spoiler:
Lighting the Eternal Lantern would cause the Mirage Mist to end, as well as repel animals that had been granted cruel sapience and the ability to speak. Also, Willowshore’s shrines take note whenever their Blessings are used in the lantern by the PCs, and their interest and approval results in a boon granted to the PCs as soon as the lantern’s light shines out. This boon grants the PCs a +1 item bonus to skill checks they attempt with that deity’s divine skill!
❖❖❖ ❖❖❖ ❖❖❖ Having made haste , the party arrives shortly at Granny Hu's two-story home - only to find a note posted on her door. Note on Granny Hu's Door:
Outvoted, Kolphan and the other Southbankers cave to the pressure of their rivaled teammates, Ho Lan and Kazuki Sato, who insist that Granny Hu's military experience would be the best consult right now, which, quite frankly, may prove to be rightfully so... ...in any case, the Red Mirage Mist makes it hard to navigate to the precipice between the two geographies - Dawnstep Bridge! - and with monsters afoot, the way there is perilous: The party risks another attack, lest they wind around their once-familiar hometown with new eyes! Exploration Tracker:
Auntie Wu @ ??? Kolphan @ Defend ? Lan @ Scout ? Sato @ ??? Vekka @ Avoid Notice ?
Sense Direction (DC 10): Critical Failure ➤ GM rolls for Wandering Monsters four times (!) Failure ➤ GM rolls for Wandering Monsters twice Success ➤ GM rolls for Wandering Monsters one time Critical Success ➤ Avoid rolling for Wandering Monsters altogether!
The party enters Willowshore - Monsters and mayhem abound, sounds of: children running in the streets screaming, the smouldering sound of buildings on fire, villagers fighting tooth and nail thither and yon, maniacal laughing, crying, praying, dying… and what worse, in just this instant, another, thicker gust of Red Mirage Mist floods the immediate area, locking the horrible sounds behind crimson veils! Fortunately, as locals, the party, each individual member, knows exactly where they are, and where everything else is (if it still stands…), thus, the Red Mirage Mist invites the party to rediscover their own home town building by building, block by block, and as this new reality dawns upon them, they decide where to go first! GM Tip (Open!): 1: Visit your Home (Whose? What building again? Heirloom!)
The party enters Willowshore - Monsters and mayhem abound, sounds of: children running in the streets screaming, the smouldering sound of buildings on fire, villagers fighting tooth and nail thither and yon, maniacal laughing, crying, praying, dying… and what worse, in just this instant, another, thicker gust of Red Mirage Mist floods the immediate area, locking the horrible sounds behind crimson veils! Fortunately, as locals, the party, each individual member, knows exactly where they are, and where everything else is (if it still stands…), thus, the Red Mirage Mist invites the party to rediscover their own home town building by building, block by block, and as this new reality dawns upon them, they decide where to go first! GM Tip (Open!): 1: Visit your Home (Whose? What building again? Heirloom!)
While the party tries to reason with the gremlin, taking stock of their situation, some new realizations come to light! Beyond where the corpse of Hai-Er Ha and the Blue Jinkin lay, another scene of expired carnage comes into view: four additional bodies - two more Eastern Tower guards, and two more Jinkins (not the Black Jinkin that fled either) - sprawled after what looks like the beginning of the skirmish that the party just interrupted - with a fifth (maybe sixth) set of tracks afoot. Ahead, it looks as though the Black Jinkin took the bridge over the Duyue River, and into the eastern entrance to Willowshore! Tracking (Survival, Trained) vs DC 5:
Two serpentine creatures were involved in the skirmish, judging by the singular slicks bearing heavy weight. Critical Success?
Spoiler:
You follow the tracks into a grassy brush... and discover two dead snakes.
Examine the Bodies (Medicine, Trained) vs DC 13:
The two guards died of poison! Finally, where once stood a stone statue of a guardian spider in a shrine next to the road (see "Spider Gate (W30)" in this alias's profile), now lies only an extinguished lantern which was once held in the spider's fangs...
Sigurd Kolphan knows that the shrine to Shizuru is the Mother’s Coil (W20), and that Invoking it’s Blessing (a 10-minute activity requiring a single copper piece), in addition to using the Religion skill or Shizuru Lore skill, may also be accomplished with the Diplomacy and Warfare Lore skills!
Kazuki Sato knows that the shrine to Daikitsu is the Nine Ear Shrine (W9), and that Invoking it’s Blessing (a 10-minute activity requiring a single copper piece), in addition to using the Religion skill or Daikitsu Lore skill, may also be accomplished with the Survival or Farming Lore skills! Auntie Wu knows that the shrine to Pharasma is the Lady of Souls (W10), and that Invoking it’s Blessing (a 10-minute activity requiring a single copper piece), in addition to using the Religion skill or Pharasma Lore skill, may also be accomplished with the Medicine and Fortune-Telling Lore skills!
Would any of those NPCs carry over the tengu aversion? Settlements have traits. Notice the one for Willowshore spoilered in this avatar's dashboard! Or perhaps your questions is: Can someone simultaneously hold prejudice for another's ancestry while still maintaining a "friendly" or even "helpful" attitude towards them? My personal answer: It would depend on the person / NPC. A perhaps more direct (but possibly not helpful) answer: All the AP would like you to know about starting the game - including the NPCs around town - is contained within the Player's Guide. =)
Previously... "Beautiful... The stars are warm tonight. Don't you agree?" The trio stop talking among themselves and just look at Yagon Suel, exerting no effort to answer his question, nor bothering to look up into the sky. The awkwardness of the moment grows as it seems like they are waiting him out, again not saying a word. As the dhampir eventually turns to leave, they resume whatever conversation they had been engaged in before being interrupted... ...Later on, struck by curiosity, Yagon Suel and Slick endeavor to discover just what is so mysterious about the strange trio: The Human Spiritualist seems to be the leader, and seems to share a special bond with the Wyrwood Spirit Guardian. And too, they seem to both practice the same stoic Martial Art , practicing in tandem so as to create openings for eachother by focusing on offense . That is where their similarities end, however. The Human Spiritualist is also a master of the Occult arts and can combine them with quick mantis strikes . Conversely, the Wyrwood Spirit Guardian can jump and strike in quick succession , and can draw upon the shadow plane to weaponize it's energy . They seem to do best when fighting side by side! The Half-elf Soul Archer seems to work to harry any attackers of the primary duo with arrows made of some strange light energy that seems to come from his own bright essence which, it seems, he is not only lightning fast on the draw , but can guide the path of his arrows with the power of his spirit ! When pressed, he also wields an impressive sword that looks ancestral in origin . He too seems to share a special, but quite different, bond with the Human Spiritualist, perhaps equally as strong. |