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1) I am based in Southeast Asia (UTC +8) so my posting hours may be unusual (especially for those in North America). I usually update at least one or twice per day. Just to keep the game moving, please post at least once every day and at least once during the weekend.
2) Please keep all posts and communication in all channels limited to a PG-13 level and be both positive and inclusive.
3) Please label all three of your actions. Even if you think what you are doing is obvious.
4) If I am unavailable for longer than 24 hours, I will let you know in the Discussion Tab. Out of respect for your fellow players and myself, I ask that you do the same. Real life happens, and real life will always take priority over the game, but out of fairness for your fellow players, please let us know if you will be unavailable for an extended period of time.
5) Please note that on the following days, my posting can get unpredictable:
Tuesday/Thursdays - all day, as they are the 2 busiest days of my work week
6) Please complete the Macros and the Slides linked at the top of the page.
7) Questions, concerns? Feel free to share them in the Discussion tab.
8) Let's have some fun and tell a great story together! After all, that's what we are here for.
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BK flamboyantly plops himself down on a chair that is the right height for his gnomish size. Banterknell (or BK to his friends) is dressed up in wildly colorful clothing, perhaps to compensate for a very slight bleaching that has begun in his hair, though he keeps that mostly hidden under a jester's cap. His mouth is stretched into a wild grin, perhaps a bit too wide. He eyes show desperation and everything he says seems like it ends with an exclamation point.
"Greetings, fellow adventurers! So you think we will be dealing with spirits, being so close to the Spirit Road?! Anyone know what a Spirit Road is?"
He takes a flute out and gestures with it towards the road, or in a random direction if he has no idea where the road is.
"Banterknell, adventurer par excel lance, at your service! Ready to do battle with spirits or just entertain them for a bit."
He says this while wildly poking his flute in the air like he is doing battle with a spirit. He looks almost desperate. Scary in his determination to get into the thick of things.
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A short, stocky human with dark hair and what looks like a permanent case of windburn on the parts of his face that can be seen through his beard accepts the offered food with a mumbled thanks. He wears a lightweight cloth tunic with embroidered cuffs and collar under hide armor. "Some spirits are helpful, some not so much." He slurps a bit of tea before looking up at the others. "I'm called Kimmo." With the introduction done, he returns to looking at the floor while he eats.
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"All this talk of wine, spirits, and tea! My, you all are a most thirsty bunch, it would seem," chimes a gnome. Beneath a mop of colorful green hair lies a pointed nose and gleaming grin. "I am known as Rethersfell the Evocator, though I have, at times, been called more colorful names."
"Magic lies in all words, whether they be enspelled or mundane. Thus, while some may seldom use more than a few, I seldomly choose to speak fewer than a sum!"
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"I need you to investigate something for me," Amara Li says as she pours golden buckwheat tea into simple yet elegant cups. "Despite the vast and somewhat dangerous wilderness that surrounds it, the Spirit Road is the lifeblood of trade between Hongal and Minkai, and now it has been inexplicably blocked." She pauses. "The Forest of Spirits is home to departed souls and kami, the spiritual guardians of the forest. Travelers through this region rarely dare to stray from the road for fear of offending either."
She passes the cups along the table, and then continues. "Some merchants that I hired to transport goods to Hongal reported that a thick and disorienting fog laid across their route. One woman told me that she heard howling ghosts when she tried to enter, and another was bitten by relentless tiny teeth. The merchants soon found themselves leaving the fog where they had entered. Shaken by this experience, they turned around and reported back here." Amara Li sighs. "There is another group of merchants who left from Hongal, and have not been seen since, and other merchants coming from Minkai have reported being unable to pass through. "[b]It is always hard to map a region as ever-changing as the Forest of Spirits," Amara continues, "but consider this as close an approximation as we can get." Amara unrolls a delicately painted map. "As you can see, the Spirit Road connects Minkai to Hongal along the peninsula’s southwestern coastline. The largest settlement on the Spirit Road is the village of Ohira, right at the delta of the Bunkatsu river. But crossing the Bunkatsu at this time of year is dangerous, so most merchant caravans take their heavy wagons to the crossing slightly north of the Spirit Road at the bridge that leads to the tiny village of Silvertree." Amara taps her finger on the dot representing the village.
"There seems something sinister to this strange and persistent fog. We think the source of the fog must be somewhere near one of these two villages and the Bunkatsu river. With so many of my experienced agents dealing with literal fallout of Godsrain, I’m hoping that you can investigate the phenomenon and tell us what we need to do to end it. Any questions?"
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"If there are no further questions, I wish you luck on this."
The journey from the Three Gates Lodge in Kayajima through the Osogen Grasslands is chilly but scenic, with brisk winds blowing through the swaying plants of the prairie and mountains soaring to either side of the plain. Along the way, friendly nomads and hearty herdsmen wave from a distance, and some locals approach on horseback to warn travelers with rumors that the Spirit Road has been blocked. Finally, the northern city of Hokkoshi comes into view. As the last stop for travelers venturing into the Forest of Spirits, Hokkoshi teems with Spirit Road guides and merchant caravans, all glumly stuck in town.
The merchants clamor to talk to any Pathfinders who approach them, telling them stories of the mysterious fog that is blocking all travel across the Bunkatsu river. Most of the merchants and guides are veterans with many prior crossings of the road; none have seen a fog this impenetrable or permanent. They confirm that the fog has blocked all travel for the past month. The merchants refuse any offers to accompany you while the fog persists.
Once within the woods, almost all traffic on the Spirit Road dies away, though the sounds of birdsong and skittering wildlife fill the void. Old growth trees enclose the path on both sides, with the occasional a break in the trees revealing a view of the azure seawater of the Sapphire Sound. Down below, waves crash against a rocky shore and the air tastes not just of pine but also of finely misted salt spray.
One by one, snowy squirrel-like creatures with the twitching long ears of rabbits arrive on the path. The squirrel-rabbits watch you with intelligent eyes, always following at a watchful distance. As you travel onward, more and more squirrel-rabbits arrive, skittering overhead from branch to branch or hopping along the sides of the path.
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"Now, yer average squirrel does love a nut," Glim agrees with Banterknell. "But, what we have here are Risucho. These little fellas are kami, and what they like is delivering news and mail from village to village."
"Say little buddy," he squats down and gestures to one of the kami, "You got any good news today?"
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A light mist gathers, swirling around the trees. The risucho Old Glim is talking to chatters at him then starts hopping slowly away, stopping every few seconds to look behind and check if anyone follows.
The squirrel-rabbit skitters to a halt as an antlered figure arises out of the mist to the mixed scents of cherry blossoms, sea spray and cloying blood. As the mists clear, her form becomes fully visible. With bright green fur and cherry blossoms sprouting out of her antlers, her face is that of a furious macaque monkey. "Well met, strangers, I am Sakura, the guardian kami of Silvertree." says she "Do you feel it? An unholy miasma resides in what was once a sacred wood. The village harbors it and it festers in my domain like a weeping sore."
Sakura continues, "I have laid this fog in to separate Silvertree from the rest of the Forest of Spirits. This is not just to punish the village, but also to protect the rest of the forest from infection. I will not remove the fog until the villagers rid themselves of this horrid thing. Can you find the source of unholy energy? Perhaps if you can find a way to navigate this fog, you can also find a way to free the village and remove the filthy source of miasma. I do not know exactly what the source of the foulness is, only that I sense it within the village and its presence is enraging, not just to me but to the other forest spirits. Some of them have been maddened by it, losing all sense and reason. I’m losing all sense and reason! Dig until you find it, and then destroy it!"
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With his usual chutzpuh and over confidence, BK almost yells his response, "Whatever the cause, whatever the source, you can count on us to rescue you!"
His overly bright eyes and manic grin is a bit disturbing though. Not quite the gleam of someone insane, but, perhaps, headed that way.
He quiets down, though, when the questions start flying and picks a nice soothing tune to set the ambiance for the meeting.
with expert group impression and versitile performance
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"All this happened approximately three weeks ago. I know not what caused it but surely you can feel it, can you not?!"
The white squirrel-rabbits chitter at Sakura, and then hop hopefully to the edge of the solid fog barrier. Sakura’s eyes narrow as she studies the Pathfinders before her. "Very well. I will allow you within the fog, and we will see how you manage the challenge. Perhaps you can find your way." Then Sakura pauses. "Should you meet enraged kami, defend yourselves, but try not to kill them. They know not what they do."
Sakura opens a hole in the fog barrier.
WONDROUS WAYFINDING
The mystical nature of the fog offers its secrets only to the persistent.
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NAVIGATION TRACKER
Round: 1
Obstacle: WONDROUS WAYFINDING
Overcome:
DC 17 Arcana/Occultism to trace magical resonances,
Expend a rank one or higher spell to create a crack in the magical barrier.
Successes: 0/3
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Those with ** may go
**Kimmo
**Rethersfell the Evocator
**Jotrix
**Hadrimos
**Banterknell
**Old Glim
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Jortix and BK manage to penetrate the fog. You see massive trunks from old growth trees rising out of the fog, suggesting there might be viewpoints higher up.
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NAVIGATION TRACKER
Round: 1
Obstacle: SCOUTING HIGHER GROUND
Overcome:
DC 15 Lore (make it fit) to scout the forest
DC 17 Athletics checks to climb the highest trees
DC 17 Acrobatics to balance and swing on branches
Successes: 0/3
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Those with ** may go
**Kimmo
**Rethersfell the Evocator
Jotrix
**Hadrimos
Banterknell
**Old Glim
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Kimmo and Hadrimos try to get up a tree but are unable to. Old Glim and Rethersfell rack their brains to scout the forest but this is something they've never seen before.
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NAVIGATION TRACKER
Round: 2
Obstacle: SCOUTING HIGHER GROUND
Overcome:
DC 15 Lore (make it fit) to scout the forest
DC 17 Athletics checks to climb the highest trees
DC 17 Acrobatics to balance and swing on branches
Successes: 0/3
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Those with ** may go
**Kimmo
**Rethersfell the Evocator
**Jotrix
**Hadrimos
**Banterknell
**Old Glim
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BK and Hadrimos both get up the trees and above the foggy ground.
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NAVIGATION TRACKER
Round: 2
Obstacle: SCOUTING HIGHER GROUND
Overcome:
DC 15 Lore (make it fit) to scout the forest
DC 17 Athletics checks to climb the highest trees
DC 17 Acrobatics to balance and swing on branches
Successes: 2/3
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Those with ** may go
**Kimmo
**Rethersfell the Evocator
**Jotrix
Hadrimos
Banterknell
**Old Glim
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Jortix also manages to get up off the ground and into a tree. Unfortunately, there's nothing much to see up there. The fog is thick and disorienting, but everywhere you can find signs in the natural world that offer clues to orient yourself.
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NAVIGATION TRACKER
Round: 2
Obstacle: FEELING ONE’S WAY
Overcome:
DC 15 Survival checks to Sense Direction in the fog,
DC 17 Nature to examine local flora for clues,
DC 19 Perception to notice sounds, smells, or other sensations in the fog.
Successes: 0/2
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Those with ** may go
**Kimmo
**Rethersfell the Evocator
Jotrix
Hadrimos
Banterknell
**Old Glim
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Old Glim and Rethersfell manage to find clues in nature to pick their way through the fog. Up ahead you find a disturbing site. A broken down cart with several half-eaten dead bodies are all that remain of a merchant caravan that failed to penetrate the fog. Their ghosts wail their frustrations about their interrupted lives and needless deaths.
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NAVIGATION TRACKER
Round: 2-3
Obstacle: PHANTOMS IN THE FOG
Overcome:
DC 15 Religion to lay the spirits to rest;
DC 15 Mercantile Lore to soothe the angry spirits
DC 19 Deception/Diplomacy to soothe the angry spirits
DC 17 Other Lore to promise to help the ghosts with unfinished business (make it fit)
Successes: 0/2
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Those with ** may go
**Kimmo (2 checks)
**Rethersfell the Evocator
**Jotrix
**Hadrimos
**Banterknell
**Old Glim