Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

The Season of Still Stone

You are torn, drawn to investigate the murder, but afraid of who or what you might find, curious and not a little greedy to claim the gemstone, yet hesitant to make any promises to the troll to head out to who knows where. So in the end you go along with the others back the way you had come to the chamber of red 'stars' Gorok had glimpsed, though as Warty shakes himself awake for the long journey ahead you bid one of the stablehands to seek out the troll and warn him that someone is after his treasure, having already slain his companion.

"Spit on it?" the woman covered in patches of scales and feathers, scars crisscrossing her upper arms, knotting and twisting all over her back, asks. One does not take up caring for traveler's beasts by being timid of temperament.

Instead you just toss out the coin. "I've no need of oaths."

Lost 1 Gold

It is only when you are well out of the town that you realize the words could be taken for something more sinister than simply taking her at her word. Shaking off the thought you turn your eyes to the tunnel with a spring in your step from being freed of the tyrannies of carrying every tool, every treasure, and every scrap of supplies between the four of you. How it was that Cob ended up on the slurk's back directing it you're not sure. Something about how he tamed a wolf when he was four, a riding 'pede' at five, and how they did not even try to eat him more than once after he covered himself with birch sap. A birch, you learn from Mina, is one of those 'tree' things you still can's visualize, but you don't worry about it too much. Cob's doing a good job with his new iron spurs, just sharp enough to be felt, though not near enough to break through the creature's thick hide and do any damage, and the travel reign attached to Warty's left tusk. Other beasts you know have two reigns to use for both travel and battle, but a great slurk does not need direction in battle and thanks to its slime the rider has no need of the reigns to help keep themselves in the saddle.

The first leg of the journey is relatively peaceful, the long tunnels lit by the sputtering of mating fire beetles, their colors growing brighter as they become engorged with passion. Alas, they were not unnoticed by other denizens of the wild tunnels. As Gorok sets out to scout ahead after a sixth bell meal, or what you judge to be one in the echoing silence of the tunnels broken only by the gentle lapping of the shallow stream to your left, he does not return in his usual manner, silent as any Whisper-Foot. Instead he comes splashing through the water, and little wonder given what's behind him. A pair of blue-green spiders, each about as large as the their quarry is snout to tail, leap and skitter along the surface of the water with eerie grace, clearly intent on making a meal of him.


What do you do?

[] Send in Cob and Warty, there's scarce a better place for the beast to fight than in water

[] Shoot and bespell the spiders from the shore, the important part is to get Gorok to safety

[] Write in plan

OOC: A short update this time, but also a chance to fight something straightforward for your first battle with Warty at your side.

The Season of Still Stone

The first moments of the fight are chaos as you struggle with your bow while Mina's voice rises and rises towards some sorcery you had not seen from her before. Your bolt goes wide and the foremost spider scuttles forward, its many black eyes still upon Gorok. Fortunately Cob thrives on chaos and Warty is willing to go along with. Splashing through the muddy water slurk and goblin charge into the same beast Mina had wounded, tossing it into the air with the weight of their charge and a goblin dagger still lodged in its belly.

Spider One takes 8 Damage -> Now at 14/22
Cob is disarmed of his dagger due to the slurk slime all over his hands

Perhaps wary at the sight, the second arachnid stands at bay and twists its abdomen around beneath its spindly legs to shoot a thread of yellowish silk which Gorok narrowly dodges under, throwing himself into the water with a splash. Luckily the other spider is in no position to do anything about it as Warty slashes into its belly with his tusks, eager perhaps to get to eating. Encouraged, Cob throws a second dagger after the first, striking the spider through one of its many eyes, thus making an end of it, though none of you could have predicted what happens next.

Spider One takes 17 Damage -> Slain

The other spider, which had been practically upon Gorok, twitches, turns, and with that same eerie grace falls upon the body, injecting its liquefying poison just below the head in a sickening parody of a kiss. While you and Mina look on in stupefaction, Gorok, ever willing to take advantage of a change in fortune, turns and strikes the beast with his axe, cleaving through chitin and flesh.

Spider Two takes 14 Damage -> now at 8/22

Alas, this time Warty had misjudged the leap, landing with loud thump five paces from the foe. It is more than close enough for Cob, however, to throw one of his remaining daggers, making an end of it before it could do more harm.

Spider two takes 9 damage -> Slain

"What... what was that?" Mina asks shakily, then perhaps noticing the slow snap of Gorok's tail and recognizing it just as you do for a sign of confusion she adds. "With the eating, I mean?"

"I do not know," the hunter replies with what might be a flash of frustration in his slitted eyes. "The colony was devouring each other, uncommon for spiders of these sorts. Sometimes the female spider might eat one or more of her brood when times are lean, but adults consuming each other... I have never seen it in all the time I have walked and swam these tunnels."

"Should we stick around to butcher then?" you ask reasonably.

The sinew and whatever silk that can still be recovered would be wroth a fair bit of gold in Cauldron or elsewhere, but if the beasts are so rilled up perhaps it is time to be on your way.

What do you argue for?

[] Stay and butcher (180 gp worth of materials)

[] Continue towards the old mine

[] Write in

OOC: Short because the spider fight was not that complicated, but I do need a vote here.