You have been summoned to the Cathedral of Aroden in Almas for a briefing from Venture-Captain Brackett....
Another man paces the floor as you enter, obviously agitated. As you get settled, he turns and sputters. "“Our manuscripts are sacrosanct! You must make an example of this thief!”
The voice echoes off walls where packed bookshelves compete for space with religious icons and statues. You have come to the Pathfinder Lodge in the Andoran city of Almas, a former cathedral of Aroden, now one of the Society’s foremost libraries. Wystorn Telfyr, librarian of the lodge, continues to rage. “I don’t expect you field agent types to grasp the gravity of such a theft.”
Behind Telfyr, Venture-Captain Brackett winces and tries to smile apologetically. “Somehow a thief sneaked past the wards of our reliquary,” continues the librarian, “and stole the Fleshforge Manuscript, a priceless example of the illuminator’s art, embellished in rare inks and exquisite gilt. Certain scholars of the arcane arts—myself excluded, of course—might also perhaps covet it for its content. The Fleshforge Manuscript details how Nex’s fleshforges in Ecanus supplied monstrous beasts for its ancient war with Geb. I myself have a modicum of talent for constructs.”
Telfyr gestures immodestly toward several homunculi shelving books around the library. “Yet I freely admit this manuscript has proven beyond even my comprehension.”
Venture-Captain Brackett unfurls a map on a table. “Thank you for favoring us with your presence so swiftly, fellow Pathfinders. Divination pinpoints the manuscript on a tiny island off Nex’s barren coast—the Monastery of the Unremitting Tide—here." He says, pointing, then continues. "The mission is twofold. Return the Fleshforge Manuscript safely back to the Society, and ensure this thief will never try to steal it again. Questions?”
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A tien man of average heigh (for a tien), olive skin, brown eyes and a wry smile on his face was standing near you.
He wears a black lacked armor with some red touch on it, a ruby symbol of Asmodeus around his neck and an insignia of one of the Hellknight order.
He was accompanied by a strange creature looking as a shapeless mist which he called Kyofuu.
He presented himself as Xian Taiko follower of the Mighty Asmodeus.
Taiko tried to remember some usefull piece of information and said
Thanks you Venture-Captain Brackett to think of us for this mission. I'm here to serve.
What do we know about the thieve and the reasons of this theft ?
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"“Our manuscripts are sacrosanct! You must make an example of this thief!”
“I don’t expect you field agent types to grasp the gravity of such a theft.”
A tall bronzed half-elf wearing no shirt but displaying a branded symbol on his bare chest in the shape of a hand answers, "On the contrary, Telfyr, Irori values knowledge and manuscripts hold certain value in our religion."
"The Monastery of the Unremitting Tide? Do you know which god they service? It sounds like one of the many Iroran training monasteries with which I am familiar. If so, I can hope that my devotion to the faith will provide sufficient bargaining power to return the manuscript with little bloodshed. If they are true followers of Irori it was likely not a theft and there may have been a misunderstanding; we Irorans have an utmost respect for the law and never commit such a crime knowingly."
Turning to his new companions, the half-elf finally gets around to introducing himself with a bow. "Hello. My name is Faraz Aram, a devotee of the teachings of Irori. Well met."
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A previously unnoticed woman in dark red robes speaks up while taking in the people in the room. "You should probably invest in some better wards then. When this is all over I can assist you in setting things up in a more secure manner." Erin offers the librarian, before taking a look at the new crew in front of her. Her gaze halts briefly on the Tien man. "The society never learns." She thinks to herself with a small shake of her head.
Looking back to Venture-Captain Brackett, the blonde woman asks. "So, we steal the book back and kill the person who took it?"
Taiko remembers much of the history and the area, while Faraz adds a little tidbit of his own to the information.
Collectively they know:
Echoes of an ancient war with its undead neighbor Geb define Nex’s wilderness. Plant life still refuses to grow on land touched by Geb’s necromantic blight, and Nex’s own fleshforges were responsible for many of the beasts that still roam its wastelands.
The Monastery of the Unremitting Tide is a peaceful order of Vudrani monks dedicated to Irori. The order left Jalmeray for Nex 200 years ago. They revere Irori’s aspects of history and knowledge, focusing less on self-perfection and martial prowess.
The door to the reliquary was locked the morning after the theft.
The reliquary houses artifacts worth much more than the manuscript. Strangely, the thief ignored them.
Until shortly before the theft, the West Chapel had housed the manuscript. Compared to the reliquary, the chapel is virtually unwarded except for, notably, an ancient hallow spell, cast shortly after Aroden’s death by clergy of Iomedae.
Telfyr continues, adding a bit more information. "The manuscript was one of several documents I moved down from the West Chapel into the reliquaries fifteen days ago. I noticed the scroll was missing four days ago. It is a scroll made from three sheets of paper sewn together, scribed in Osirian hieroglyphs around 150 years ago, illuminated with gold leaf, and bound to two scrimshawed rollers each carved from a human rib.”
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Faraz bows his head as he shakes Erin's hand.
"A temple of Iroran monks as I suspected," Faraz intones. "They revere history and knowledge; it may be that it was not seen as a crime in their eyes and they were perhaps only recovering something they felt was rightfully theirs. But I will not try to defend their actions any further until we have investigated the matter and learned the truth. Their faith may have been corrupted for all we know now. Let us board a ship and head for the island, if you are all ready for the expedition."
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A halfling of slightly below average stature for his race sits in this meeting. His hair is a light brown, and his eyes are blue. He wears blue breeches, as well as an open blue vest with gold trimming and a multicoloured butterfly embroidered on the back. Sheathed overtop it in a partial scabbard is a shortsword with part of the sheathe missing, as if to display the three notches in the blade. He carries a backpack that looks like it was built for an individual one-and-a-half-times bigger than him, as well as newer-looking burlap bag.
"I learned how to punch stuff once from a mole guy. Pretty fun." Weiman states. He looks at the chest fist symbol, "That seems like a really tough place to try to slap someone from, though!"
-Posted with Wayfinder
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“I don’t expect you field agent types to grasp the gravity of such a theft.”
A middle aged man that had been listening intently while petting a large grey wolf at his feet speaks up. "Listen here, bookworm, I may have grown up on a farm, but I've seen enough to know that some lousy pieces of paper can be more dangerous than greatsword any day of the week. I think we've all been around enough to take something like this seriously."
Desmond scowls a little, but his face lightens up in a smile, creases forming at the edges of his mouth. "Human ribs, eh? That hard up for bookbinding materials? Yeah, we'll get your manuscript back and teach the fellas that took it a lesson. Wouldn't be the first time dealing with a gaggle of monks."
He glances down at Weiman, "You? Punch stuff - since when? That sure would'a been helpful when we dealing with those tarnspawn things! Jeez, Weiman..."
Brackett raises his eyebrows almost imperceptibly at Desmond's comment, but only says. "Unless you have anymore questions, you should be on your way. I have arranged for passage on a trader ship bound for Quatium. From there, you will takes a smaller sailing vessel to the monastery and be drop off on a beach nearby."
The sail across the Obari Ocean is pleasant and uneventful, while the smaller ship allows the party to drift up to a landing site, unseen and under the cover of darkness.
The island where the Monastery of the Unremitting Tide stands is only a quarter-mile across, and holds little else to interest. There is a simple ship, hove up on the island’s only sheltered shore. The monks’ crops, invasive plants they brought from Jalmeray, have long grown wild across the rest of the island, choking out native underbrush that was better suited to life in the shade of a pine forest.
In the distance, you can see the outline of the monastery against the night sky.
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Weiman looks to the ranger, "Such foes are unworthy of my fists of rage. I only punch things that require being punched, like statues."
Weiman, now garbed in an open-front monk's robe, draws a full-face monkey mask/helm. Before donning it, he notes to the inquiry. "Pfft, we'll be fine. Besides, if they get uppity, we can just kung-fu them."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Kyofuu flies over the monastery walls and sees a central courtyard, and sees a reflection garden in the southeastern corner. The rest of area is enclosed and the doors are shut.
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Kyofuu came back to its master.
Taiko said to Faraz
That's a good thing but isn't strange that all the doors are closed ? I imagine monk's monastery as a busy place with monks training in the open... or may be it's different in Jamelray than in my birth country Faraz san ?
After a short silence he added
But, we will try the peacefull solution and I will follow Erin san moto about returning the favor in case it goes wrong
As Kyofuu returns to his master, Taiko learns that there are two men sparring in the courtyard and an older man watching them.
Knocking on the gate, minutes later the gate is opened by a surpirsed looking monk. "We have few visitors to the Monastery. What is it that you seek?"
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"Greetings," the half-elf says with a bow, "I am Faraz Aram, a brother of the faith," he indicates the hand-shaped brand on his chest, the holy symbol of Irori, "although I am also a Pathfinder and these are my Pathfinder brothers. We come seeking knowledge, as Irori has taught us to do, about a missing manuscript that some of our superiors believe may be in your possession. Do you mind if we enter and speak with you about this?"
The monk bows and turns, leading the party inside. Two towering edifices face each other across this meadow, one reverently decorated as a temple, the other austere as a library. Overgrown wildflowers choke former pathways between the buildings. At the center lies a sunken pool teeming with lotus flowers. An elegant tiger statue, sculpted from a single mass of banded rhyolite, crouches, preparing to pounce, beside the pool. Several doors line the courtyard—one on the south side is slightly ajar. An alcove on the western side contains a plinth holding a wooden bust, whose likeness is remarkably that of Weiman! In the northeast corner, steel glints from two weapon racks.
A man with a long white beard sits next to the weapons rack, observing two students sparring in the yard.
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"That is. . . foreboding," Faraz notes to the party quietly as he nods to the statue. He approaches the older man with a bow. "Greetings. As your student may have said, I am Faraz Aram, a Brother of the faith. These are my fellows; we are Pathfinders who have come in search of a lost manuscript. We thought you might know where it has gone. We are prepared to negotiate for its return; we would not deprive you of its knowledge if that is what you desire."
The old master listens to Faraz, not saying anything, but occasionally wincing as if in pain. Finally he speaks. He yells to the sparring monks, who turn to confront the party!
The monk master moves forward and punches at Faraz!
With a lightning fast punch, astonishing for someine his age, he clocks the paladin in the chin!