Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

22st of Rova 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)

On the following day Cob finally manages to recover from the 'big whoozy', an expression which in Goblin succinctly describes both the thing being drunk and the consequences thereof, though he does miss Warty as Gorok and the other iruxi head off past the River Gate, so named because it allows the Arthfel River past the gate and into the Fresh Harbor, in order to find places for the slurk to stretch his long legs. Thankfully your large-eared friend isn't one to drown in disappointment when there are fresher, better experiences to be sampled. He is quick to accompany you and Mina in search for the butcher's shop Iolda had told you to meet her at.

Ordinarily one might raise some objection to crossing half the city in order to get paid, but before you left the ship she had also implied that it's a good place to get 'sausages, cracklings, and fresh crispy bacon,' all of which sound excellent. So it's down among the narrow, crooked alleyways of East Copperdown until they open up into the wider streets of the Fleet District, built around the two great bridges that link the two sides of the city and—so it seems to you—the Brightlands entire. Here an ebony skinned man in a robe embroidered with celestial signs argues over the price of enormous ivory tusks with a woman wearing a cylindrical golden cap that pins a bright red veil while there a pair of bearded warriors cheerfully roll a barrel of ale towards a waiting longboat as they hum along a song of their people. Through the crowds you spy merchants selling spices and salt, seeds, herbs, and timbers, mushrooms, pelts, and copper ingots. A few are even hawking stranger wears, tall jars with faces half humanoid and half beast, ornate stone masks, and copper talismans 'From Mysterious Osirion'.

In the crush no one notices Cob, in truth you and Mina might have lost sight of him too if he didn't occasionally pull on your cloaks. In among all the sail makers, mast and rigging designers, woodcarvers, chartmakers and cartographers, who is to notice or care for three more travelers trying to read the signs of shops passing by? In truth you needn't have worried, for the Hog's Side is marked out by the sign of a very finely carved out hog looking quizzically at a pair of golden scales. The hog is not the only one looking bemused when Mina giggles beside you.

Cob Stealth (DC... irrelevant): 1d20+24 = 44 (Critical Success)

"The scales," she explains. "They are not that similar to the Abadaran symbol the banks use, not enough to get the owner in trouble, but the positioning and colors just barely hint at it enough to give people a guilty laugh."

"And what does this 'Abadar' himself think of the matter, I wonder?"

Though you did not expect an answer she gives it: "Small offenses to Abbadar are generally repaid in coin, so if a few of the people who pass by here decided they have insulted the god with their laughter the temple coffers will grow and the God of the First Vault will smile as he takes his cut like as not."

At that you nod silently as you peer up at the building. There is something odd about the windows... the ornamental frames that split them into small panels, otherwise common in the city, are thicker in the middle. That's when you realize it's not one floor above the first, it's two, both of them sized for halflings. Clever, if any of the humans or other larger folk were ever minded to invade they would rush headlong into a narrow, hard to assault chokepoint they might not even realize is there until it's too late.

Akorian Perception (DC 15): 1d20+8 = 21 (Success)

Neither theological nor architectural musings last long in the face of Cob's delighted whooping at the sight of all the varied meats hanging from the roof of the shop, a parade of meaty morsels standing at attention.

"Ah, good, you made it!" Iolda calls out from the door, human-sized to let in taller customers. She seems a good bit more relaxed than you are used to seeing her without the heavy travel cloak and hood. "I was afraid you might have gotten lost back in Fleet. I'm going to be walking the fields soon, but before that..." Another bag, twice as large as the one she had paid you with in Cheliax, clinks on the counter, behind which a wispy haired halfling with something of a family resemblance to her watches with a carefully neutral expression that does not match his many laugh-lines.

You gain 200 gp

All Party Members gain 600 XP (All freed halflings made it to safety)

"We should buy meat stuff for when we go on far-journey!" Cob proclaims at the sight of the gold.

"Now then I'm a woman of my word and I promised free meat. Da will help you get something..." For his part, Iolda's father, the butcher, does not look overly enthused to be volunteered. "I had to tell him about the demon, the ghost thing, and the big snail," she confesses. "Da thinks you're... a bit much."

"So he thinks we're mad then," Mina concludes before turning around and offering him a smile probably a little wider than she's comfortable with. "Don't worry, sir, we are only mad on the road."

The shopkeeper, Brim as he introduces himself, does not see that. He sees a smiling human woman making the presence of her odd companions seem less dangerous, so he unwinds enough to laugh and get to Cob's order.

Mina Diplomacy (DC 12): 1d20+1 = 19 (Success)

"Look, I wanted to talk to you about the path we took from Longacre to the sea. Are there more like that under Cheliax?" Iolda asked seriously.

"There is only one Long Road, but there are hundreds of paths that branch off it and thousands upon thousands more branching off of those. It is as though you asked me to name all the paths one might take through a forest around each individual tree." Seeing her expression brighten you feel compelled to add. "But just like a forest the wilderness of Nar Voth can be a perilous place. You would need guides, better ones than I, to see one journey grow into many."

A bit of Iolda's good cheer drains away, though by no means all. "I'll keep in mind. There is more gold where that came from for such things... especially now. The harvest crew I'm a part of just drew a new patron from that last run."

"Oh?" you probe.

"I'm sorry, can't tell you more." She seems to mean it from the grimace. "He's very private. I'm sure once you and your friends have made a few more runs into Cheliax that will change."

What do you reply?

[] Try to press for the identity of this mysterious patron (Diplomacy DC 20)

[] Ask her if she knows any other tradesmen in the city... particularly ones interested in a darkwood door

[] See if she knows anyone to trades in spell-scrolls and potions

[] Write in

OOC: You guys can only choose one thing, Iolda is pretty busy.

22st of Rova 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)

"We're looking to sell a large piece of... darkwood I think it was called?" You look to Mina for confirmation, to which she nods.

You had not expected Iolda to look suddenly worried. "Darkwood? Now where did you get that from?"

"It was a door, we've been using it as a riding platform for our slurk..." The confusion still had not abated, though some of the worry had as you explain. "Warty the toad."

"That... that thing's darkwood? You've been using two hundred pounds of darkwood as a cap on a toad's back?"

Old Brim gives her a look that says clear as if he was shouting it: 'Well you knew they were weird, didn't you?' but his daughter isn't looking his way.

Instead she collects herself and goes on to explain. "Well, Gavel Nevissa Rolante at the Lumber Consortium offices will buy it off you, but not for a good price. They have a monopoly on harvesting lumber all throughout Darkmoon Vale and oh how they'd like to extend it. Either way they'll buy it by weight, so you could even hack off some of it for you own use before you sell it. On the other side of things, Silea Naran at the Forester's Endowment is more likely to take it off your hands for a fair price. They work with the Consortium and hold their accounts, but the first bank of Andoran, that's their other name, are not above making deals with independent loggers, settlers, or even the odd druidic familiar of the Arthfel. Finding an old door made out of it is kind of like independent forestry if you think about it."

When Mina had explained the concept of a solicitor to you it had seemed very strange indeed, someone whose whole job was to quibble at the details of rules. Surely there couldn't be that many of them even in a city this big? Now you are starting to wonder whether everyone in Augustana does that for fun and the solicitors are just the ones who make a living out of it.

"Either way it'll be a bit of a coup. Silea might even keep the door intact either for the bank to use itself or to pass on to some other House Naran heir to show off their wealth and good taste. Any idea who carved it?"

"It was in the upper reaches if Nar Voth, below what would be the Cheliax Andoran border I think..." you start.

"Ancient Azlanti portal, harvested as part of their mystical pacts with the kindly fey of the region," Iolda interrupts. "Through the relentless march of time has stripped the magic from it, it still endured through the long ages until it could be restored to the kindred of its long lost makers, sure to protect any vault or dwelling as faithfully as it did its last."

"Lass, I think your old da's memory might be going. When did I raise a down-bridge huckster?" the butcher asks as he hands Cob an armful of sausages, doing a poor job of hiding a smile just the same.

"Someone once told me that it's not false advertising to sell a story," Iolda counters. "Not my fault I'm better at telling stories, is it?"

That brings to mind the seed of an idea. If what you are selling isn't wood, nor even properly a door, but prestige in the game of merchants and bankers, couldn't you play them against each other, try to start a bidding war over the door? It might even earn Gorok's Company a bit of notoriety in the bargain.

What do you do with the darkwood door?

[] Sell it to the Lumber Consortium
Can hold back as much of the 225 lbs for your own later use as you like, will get 30% of Market Value

[] Sell it to the Forester's Endowment
Must sell the whole door, will get 60% of Market value

[] Try to auction it off
Must sell the whole door. Potential for high profit, potential reputation gain. Will have to deal with commercial regulations in the city or arrange an ilegal sale

OOC: Found the first inconsistency in canon of the quest. The companion book Andoran Spirit of Liberty makes it clear that the Forester's Endowment is a bank that does business with the Lumber Consortium. On the other hand, the setting book Andoran Birthplace of Freedom describes it as 'a society of naturalists who rail against the commercial exploitation of Andoran's natural resources, especially by the Lumber Consortium' and has someone who is not a member of the controlling House Naran be in charge of the Augustana branch. I went with the first version since it makes more sense in the socio-economic context that Andoran exists in, but I also made it so they are more open to dealing with druids and independent loggers to show the tensions between the institutions.