Sylvia adjusts her glasses.
Fumbus adjusts his glass vials.
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Adventuring in Tian Xia each of you arrived in Minkai within the past few months. Since then you have been working with Venture-Captain Amara Li to help lay the groundwork for a lodge in Minkai, performing a variety of tasks that are well-suited to your individual skills.
You know that Amara Li has been collecting relics from across the world to house in the new museum with a focus on relics from Minkaian history that have been kept in other nations. To this end, she has been traveling all over the nation to pursue leads. These relics have come from a combination of purchases and donations, and she has occasionally called on local Pathfinders to guard the relics.
Your group has currently working in Sakakabe, a prosperous city famous for its trade in silver and pearls when Venture-Captain Li summoned you to meet with her in one of the gardens of the Kiniro Kyomai teahouse, a famous teahouse run by geisha. The quality of the Kiniro Kyomai’s tea, food, and samisen music makes it a popular destination for locals and travelers alike. She waits for everyone to arrive and enjoy their tea before turning their attention to more serious matters.
Sylvia looks nervously at her neighboring Pathfinders... "I... I'm excited to be in Tian-Xia. I read lots of reports from here but never thought I'd be able to be here myself..."
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A scarred elf with patches of skin practically yellowed like parchment joins his fellow agents in the garden. "I always expected I would find my way here eventually. I was right. I assume this meeting signifies the end of my days hauling construction material." He takes a quick swig from one of many flasks at his belt. "Likely to do something more meaningful."
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Already sitting at the table when others arrive is an elf wearing a set of chain mail that drinks from the handle-less tea cups as if it were flagons, gripping it in one hand. The man is rather tall—even for an elf—and he holds a certain amount of beauty in his disposition that is quickly shattered at the sight of the sword sheathed upon his back. Jangling against the chain of his armor is a rather small silver necklace with a pendant in the shape of a trio of daggers.
As the other Pathfinders approach he smirks. ”My my my. I was beginning to grow bored.”
Having been poured a cup of tea, Fumbus reaches for the pot. Removing its lid, the goblin gleefully pours its entire contents into his waiting mouth before wiping his mouth on his sleeve. His mouth proceeds chewing for a few moments. The goblin then swallows.
"Not bad," opines the goblin, "But a bit more chewy than Fumbus expected." He gives a wide, sharp-toothed grin with scattered bits of tea leaves visibly stuck within his teeth.
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Hamarel offers Fumbus another flask, lower-quality alcohol than what he was just drinking. "For a much smoother taste, then," he says jovially. "So how have you all been working to build up the Lodge? As mentioned, I did so in the literal sense. Centuries' experience are second to a lack of general bookishness."
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A pale, dark haired male elf steps into the room and looks around as if searching for someone. His purple eyes lock onto the group of two elves, two humans, and the goblin. Upon seeing them he moves towards them, his dark green to the point of almost being black robe swirling about him.
When he reaches the table, he pauses and reaches into his robe with his right hand.
"Pardonnez-moi, mes ami, while I wheep zis out."
He then pulls a tarnished brass goblet out from the pocket of his robe. Looking around the room he spots a barmaid and he holds up his goblet to her, motioning for her to bring a bottle of wine. "Zangria, if zou weell, mademoiselle."
He pulls over a chair and sits down. "Here we are on ze far side of ze world. Ze Pathfinders go everywhere eet seems. Pardonnez-moi for my lack of manners. I am Xathos de Varisia. Eet ees a pleasure to meet all of you."
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Sylvia adjusts her glasses as she looks nervously at the goblin Fumbus as he adjusts his glass vials commenting about how exciting Tien is.
An elf with yellowed and scarred patches of skin join the group as they are served tea introducing himself as Hammarel.
Another elf dressed in chain mail is already sipping tea holding the cup as if it was a flagon. He looks relieved as the other pathfinders arrived introducing himself as Celister.
Karando Tull a human Champion takes a seat and leans back as he comments on the hospitality and music.
Fumbus skips the cup and grabs the teapot to drink from before commenting about the chewiness of the tea. The sever seem taken aback, but quickly retrieves a spare teapot.
Hamarel offers the goblin a flask of something more alcohol.
A third elf joins the group speaking with an accent he introduces himself as Xathos de Varisia.
With the full group assembled Amara Li sets down her teacup, ”it is time to turn our attention to more serious matters. I fear that misfortune may have struck some of your fellow agents. I hope that you can help them return here to safety, but I fear the task I have to request of you may instead center around recovering what you can from your missing allies and, if it is safe to do so, completing the mission in their stead.”
After a brief pause where Amara Li looks at each Pathfinder to ensure that they are agreeable to the idea of a recovery mission.
The venture-captain continues “Last year, I received a donation of relics from Taldor. The route is lengthy and complicated, so I will spare you unnecessary details. A caravan carrying the relics safely arrived in Hongal to the north, where it met up with a pair of Pathfinder agents, Lin Po and Ti Lan. These agents inspected the cargo, sent me a missive indicating that all was in order, and joined a second caravan to take the Spirit Road through the Forest of Spirits. The journey is understandably long, taking over two months to complete. Still, the caravan is late, and I fear that they may have run into trouble along the way. They were supposed to reach Sakakabe two weeks ago.”
“While it’s possible that they were waylaid in the northernmost parts of Minkai, I believe it’s far more likely that they ran into trouble in the Forest of Spirits, a mystical place that shelters departed souls and most of the world’s kami. Kami are spiritual guardians with a deep connection to certain living locations or living things. The locals pay great respect to the kami, never intruding further into the forest than their one coastal road, the Spirit Road, and a number of small settlements built around shrines. This should make tracking the caravan simple since there’s only a single road along which they should have had to rest or resupply at some point. I need you to check each of the roadside settlements until you find the last one to have seen the caravan, then track it from there and figure out what happened.”
“Be sure to respect the kami and the local traditions honoring them; I don’t want you to come to harm in your journey. The kami are mostly benevolent, so long as they receive the proper respect, but there are some dangers that might have harried the caravan. Bandits, hobgoblins, and giants, among other creatures, dwell within the forest. The forest also hosts some aggressive plants and animals, not to mention malign spirits such as the oni, the sworn enemies of the kami. The locals will know more than I of what perils to expect.”
Amara looks at your group, ”Do you have any questions?”
Hamarel offers Fumbus another flask, lower-quality alcohol than what he was just drinking. "For a much smoother taste, then," he says jovially. "So how have you all been working to build up the Lodge? As mentioned, I did so in the literal sense. Centuries' experience are second to a lack of general bookishness."
Fumbus takes a long swig, swishes it around in his mouth, then swallow. "Could be a bit more chewy, though." he says as he picks a few leaves out from between his teeth and tosses them onto his tongue before taking another long swig from the flask.
"Worked on buildings, too. Only burned down three." the goblin explains. "After that, the Longshanks' tell Fumbus he should go hide in woods. Did good job. too. Fumbus not found for eight days. Probably could have not been found for longer, but came out of hiding once told that Longshanks had a mission for me."
After a brief pause where Amara Li looks at each Pathfinder to ensure that they are agreeable to the idea of a recovery mission.
Fumbus releases a soft belch in the affirmative, which smells of faintly of the fragrance of tea and dislodges a piece of tealeaf from between a pair of pointed teeth.
“The locals will know more than I of what perils to expect.”
"What missing Pathfinders look like?" asks Fumbus. "Then, can share description with kami if Fumbus get possessed."
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"I have heard those kami can exercise a minor possession over travelers. A harmless thing, perhaps useful for communication." Hamarel pauses, as if in thought. "Still, I may defer that duty to another, if possible. And what are we to do if the agents aren't in the forest? Return to you, or proceed to Minkai?"
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"Zis zeems like zis could turn into a deadly zerious mission. Zince we need to speak weeth ze villagers along ze road, eet would be helpful eef we spoke zere language. Do any of us speak Tien? Also, eet zeems we will need a lot of supplies for zis journey. I suppose we zhould buy some horses and a wagon to haul zem."
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Taking a long swig from Hamarel’s flask Fumbus complains that it could be more chewy. After a bit of chatting Fumbus gets around to ask what the missing Pathfinders look like.
Amara Li gives a detailed description of the two Pathfinders.
Hamarel shares what he knows about Kami, then ask what to do if the are not in the forest?
The Venture-Captain takes a moment, ”In the unlikely event that the caravan is not in the forest then it could have ran into trouble in the grasslands which would be greatly more difficult to search than a single road through the forest. Go speak with the villages along the forest road and see if the caravan as passed. Finding the last village to see the caravan you can then follow the trail from there.”
Celister asks for directions to the Spirit Road.
Xathos ask if anyone speaks Tien and also about supplies.
Amara Li smiles, ”A map will be provided along with a sturdy wagon stocked with basic provisions for a month and a pair of horses to pull the wagon.”
Amara Li smiles, ”A map will be provided along with a sturdy wagon stocked with basic provisions for a month and a pair of horses to pull the wagon.”
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." Fumbus repeats, shaking his head at the words of Amara Li as if she had said something terribly wrong.
"Map, yes. Wagon, good. Provisions, of course! Otherwise, no!"The goblin points at the elves. "Longshanks strong...ish. Longshanks pull cart! Otherwise, Fumbus walk!"
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"Fumbus, you are welcome to walk, but you need to think about the rest of us. We can't pull a heavy cart for a month because you dislike horses. No one is asking you to ride one."
Karando shakes his head. "What would you say if someone said they wouldn't go into the forest with us because we had a goblin along? We all need to work together on this."
Sylvia listens carefully and even takes a couple notes regarding the mission and plan.
Sylvia tries to distract Fumbus from the horse problem with her notebook full of sketches of humanoid skulls.
"Fumbus, let me show you something... Before getting promoted to the library at the Grand Lodge I used to work at the morgue cataloguing fallen Pathfinders... I used to make sketches on my break, come take a look."
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Celister stares at the objecting goblin with a look of bewilderment on his face.
What has that one so riled up?
We can't pull a heavy cart for a month because you dislike horses.
The elf resists the urge to facepalm.
The horses! Duh!
Celister stands from the table and cracks his neck.
”Well, is there anything else, Venture-Captain, or should we get going?”
"What would you say if someone said they wouldn't go into the forest with us because we had a goblin along? We all need to work together on this."
Fumbus scratches his head quizzically as he ponders the Pathfinder's question. After a few moments, he asks, "If say, 'would not go into forest with goblin along', then Fumbus ask, 'Where would go with goblin along'?" He looks awkwardly at the human as if the answer were somehow obvious.
Sylvia tries to distract Fumbus from the horse problem with her notebook full of sketches of humanoid skulls.
"Fumbus, let me show you something... Before getting promoted to the library at the Grand Lodge I used to work at the morgue cataloguing fallen Pathfinders... I used to make sketches on my break, come take a look."
"Nice work." the goblin opines as he views the sketches of the skulls. "But, need learn better how to draw skin."
Hamarel chuckles. "Have you ever seen a horse, or merely heard your people's terrifying tales of them? You may find that friends reveal themselves in the most unlikely places." The elf does look more likely to acquiesce to the goblin's demands. "But I will pull the cart, if you so desire."
"Oh, Fumbus seen of horses. And horses' hooves! And teeth!" replies the goblin with a shutter. "After Fumbus..er...leave...tribe, Fumbus go look for food around human places. Saw horrifying horses! Deadly dogs! Even, hideous humans!" The goblin shutters again.
Then, realizing that he may have made offense, Fumbus turns toward Karando. "Don't worry, Fumbus willing to go into forest with longshanks. Fumbus have strong stomach for such things!"
"But, don't expect Fumbus to ride." he adds softly.
Amara Li suppresses a smile, ”My apologies master Fumbus, would you prefer a pair of yaks in place of the horses?”
"Apology accepted." answers Fumbus, looking quite relieved. "And, yes, prefer yaks."
He glances at Karando, then cups his mouth and leans into Amara Li to ask, "Now, can human be replaced too? Would prefer another yak."
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Xathos rolls his eyes at what he perceives to be goblin silliness regarding perfectly good horses and clears his throat.
"Pardonnez-moi, but do any of zou speak Tien? Eet would be most unfortunate to reach a village and not be able to speak weeth ze local people."
He also makes arrangements for a case of Sangria to be placed in the wagon discreetly.
Sylvia nods "I learned Tien... you see there were these anatomy books, but written in Tien..."
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Fumbus makes a fuss about bringing horses to pull the wagon as the others try to reason with him or distract him from his fear.
Amara Li comes to the rescue by offering Yaks in place of the horses which satisfies the much relieved Fumbus. The Venture-Captain declines to add more Yaks and less longshanks.
Xathos discreetly loads an extra case of bottles in the wagon.
Sylvia shares with the group that she speaks Tien.
After completing any purchase in Sakakabe, the group sets off with yak powered wagon down the long load follow the caravan’s path in reverse. Although Sakakabe is the closest city to the forest of Spirits, it still takes several weeks of travel on a winding road through the Osogen Grasslands just to reach the Forest of Spirits.
Once or twice one of the yaks show their affection by catching Fumbus with its long blue tongue licking the goblin’s head with such force that it almost picks him up off the ground. The beast’s affection leaves him unharmed but dripping with Yak spit.
Along the way, your group crosses paths with travelers heading south into Minkai, as well as the nomadic herders who call the rolling plains home. Unfortunately, no one the group meets in the grasslands has seen the caravan or people you’re looking for.
When you finally enter the Forest of Spirits, the atmosphere changes. The forest is cool and damp, and profoundly alive. Snow blankets the ground and clings to the branches of the towering pine and spruce trees. Birds, rodents, foxes, deer , bears, and numerous other creatures roam through the woods, keeping their distance from the road.
The density of the trees suggest that logging is almost unheard of in this forest. Animals are not the only creatures moving out in the woods; You occasionally see unexplained movement in the trees and rocks or feel like someone is watching you.
As your group progress through the forest, you visit several small villages, none of which have seen the caravan you're looking for. You do find signs of passage from several caravans and groups that travelled on foot, and the remains of campsites right next to the trail. However, there are no indications that any of these groups came to harm.
As the sun starts to descend from upon high, you group comes to another small village that is adjacent to a well keep roadside shrine. There are a hand full of villagers going about daily task of shelling nuts gathered from the forest, preparing animal hides and curing meat obviously from a recent successful hunt. None of the villagers stop what they are doing to greet you.
Sylvia hears them speaking in Tien about their bountiful harvest and hunt.
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Hamarel marvels at the lush forest. "Much like home in Tangle - well, Kyonin, at least. Likely with a different suite of spirits, though."
"It would be some hunt to leave them so exhausted as to miss us," the elf says, gesturing to the yak-herding goblin. "Sylvia, should we call to them? It could be seen as rude. We must ingratiate somehow."
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”Hmph. The only spirit you must deal with in Galt is the spirit of revolution, for better or worse. Anyway, if we speak kindly enough we should get the information we need. Let’s ask around, see if we can find anyone who speaks Taldane; Sylvia can see if she can find out anything in their native tongue.”
Sylvia adjusts her glasses and nervously steps forward and speaks Tien.
"Greetings... We're uhhh looking for a lost caravan..."
Fumbus walks up to one of the villagers who is curing meat. The goblin points at one of the curing slabs, then asks, loudly and slowly in Taldane,
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Hamarel marvels at the forest and wonders how the busy villagers could miss their arrival.
Celister speaks boldly about Spirit of revolution in Galt.
Karando looks to Sylvia to speak to the industrious folks.
Sylivia approaches the hard working villagers asking about a lost caravan
One villager a hunter by his looks, glances up from his work of gutting brace of rabbits, replying in Tien ”Many caravans pass by here, we mind our own business as do they. We are very busy preparing food for the coming winter and there is too much work to do for idle chat. We must sort the mushrooms, cure the meat, prepare the animal hides, and shell the nuts.” He returns to his work. To be fair they don’t seem to have enough villages skilled in the ways of nature and Survival to process all their bounty.
Fumbus walks up to one of the villagers curing meat and loudly ask for some. The old woman looks at the goblin and starts yelling at him in Tien ”Goblin no touch meat! Goblin no touch!” She grabs a blackened stick from the fire and holds it menacingly.
Xathos takes a drink of water as he looks over the village. The only thing of interest is the roadside shrine which seems to have some offerings of arrowheads, nuts, berries, and a hunting snare. There are also some wood carvings depicting hunting scenes hung on the walls of the shrine.
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Celister sighs as he undoes his ponytail and lets his dark hair hang to his shoulders.
”Fine! I’ll turn on the elven charm and see what I can learn.”
Celister holds up his necklace’s pendant to his lips and kisses the triangle of daggers and makes his way around the village flirting with handsome (most likely elven, if any) gentlemen that he comes across and eventually dropping the question of the missing caravan, hoping that his natural charm will overcome the language barrier.
Sylvia looks to Fumbus "I'd back off if you want to keep both eyes..."
Sylvia then adjusts her glasses and goes to check out the offerings on the shrine.
Not understanding the old woman's words, Fumbus blows robustly on the blackened stick, hoping to get it any lingering embers to reignite and produce a flame. Heeding Sylvia's words, he puts a grimy hand over each of his eyes and then continues to blow.
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Celister lets his hair down and goes about the village trying to gather information. Unfortunately due to the village’s small size only a few houses and maybe a dozen villagers he quickly learns they are insular as a group and speak only Tien. He does get the strong sense these people main occupation is hunting and that they would respond better to like minded individuals.
Sylvia warns Fumbus to back off as she inspects the shrine finding that it appears to reflect their respect for the hunting lore.
Karando steps up to help sort mushrooms he sets aside two poisons ones picked by accident as he speed through the task. The leader who was watching him closely notices and nods in grudging respect.
Confronted by the woman wielding a burn stick, Fumbus with his eyes closed tries blowing on the still smoldering ember at the end causing it to burst into flame. The woman yells some more choice but unintelligible words at the goblin as she waves the now burning stick.
Hamarel lends a hand to the stick wield who is curing the meat. He tends the fire and turns the spits with slabs of meat saving them from getting burnt. The woman nods and accepts his help and takes a swig of the alcohol. She coughs and grins as she chatters away in Tien ”You helpful, why you keep pesky goblin around?”
The hunter leader watches the added help from the visitors and sighs as he calls out to Sylvia in Tien ”I apologize for my rudeness, I may know the caravan you seek. About six weeks ago a caravan came through here they were asking about the old road. Sometimes the forest changes the path the road takes. Opens new ways and closes old. The caravan leaders Lin Po and Ti Lan where insisting on taking the old path into the forest they would not say why.”
Karando Nature success.
Hamarel Survival Second success.
Syvlia asks "I know they they didn't say, but might you care to speculate why they took the path they did?"
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Xathos ponders the information and steeples his long pale white fingers together as he thinks. Finally he says, "Why would zey take ze old road? Eet ees not ze direct route, zerefore it certainly would require more time spent on ze road. Zey either were trying to avoid somezing on ze main road or had a compelling reason for taking the less traveled route. Zince we did not encounter any problems on ze way here, I would zey we need to catch up to zem on ze old road. Zere could be trouble and zey may need our help."
Upon hearing the choice of the prior caravan of Pathfinders, Fumbus waxes aloud
"Two roads diverged in woods, and Fumbus-
Fumbus caught woods on fire and hence,
Burned through wood another pathway. And that,
Has made all the difference."
He scans the forest, trying to determine any discernable reason why one road would be taken rather than the other--and also where to possibly start burning.
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Having spent time interacting with the hunters some of their ways have rubbed off on you.
Hamarel asks what happens when you take an old road.
Sylvia translates and ask the hunter to speculate why they took the old path.
The hunter shugs, ” Mostly likely lost or worse. As for why I do not know, but they seemed to be firm in their decision.”
Celister watches over the yaks and wagon feeling out of element.
Xathos suggest following them down the old road.
Fumbus waxes poetically for a goblin. As he studies the forest. He sees no reason to take the old road but does see a nice big tree that would burn nicely.
Just as Fumbus is eyeing the tree it starts to move menacingly towards him! Two other trees move into the village looking angry.
Average init: 13
Blue tree:
Green tree:
Purple tree: