Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

21st of Lamashan 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)

Cob had come a long way from a wicker cage swinging among the branches of the Barrowood, and an even longer way from the far more sturdy cage the nasty-stunties can put him in. He had gone through caves filled with bug people and lizard people and rat people and boring old cities of longshanks who built their own caves, probably 'cause they weren't clever enough at delving to find their own, but they were really good at moving rocks. He was still stumped at just how much time and fiddly work longshanks, humans, the proper word for these ones was humans, he reminded himself, were at the fiddly-work of making locks. Why bother? Why put it on a window made of glass? Sure, today Cob didn't wanna get caught because then it'd be trouble with the iron-boots, the 'Watch' who weren't very good at watching judging from the way he sneaked past two of them on the way here just to prove he could. But if he didn't care about that he'd just chuck a rock through and open it from the other side.

The other side... The goblin gave the left side of the window he was working on another look and he noticed that a particular patch of it was a little too clean. He flicked it and it opened. Turns out the lock he had been working on for the last way-too-long had been fake and this was the real one. Tricksy-tricksy... Cob was starting to like the woman with the funny name. Too bad she'd probably sic the dogs or the horses on him if she spotted him.


Up through the window and into the house they went, then ooh up went the little lead case from his magic bag. It was really nice, the magic bag, not the lead box, that was just heavy. From the bag came hissing smoke, the witch-spirit.

"Still don't see why you didn't just go through the cracks," the goblin groused.

"If I were a diabolist in a city where such are about as welcome as the Rahadoumi Pox, the first thing I'd do is ward my home from spectral intruders, if not to hold them off at least to alert me."

The words made the inside Cob's skull hurt, but he had to admit it was quiet so he answered the same way: "What's a devil?" he asked back as he started looking through the room for any secrets, sticking close to the red walls until it looked like his skin was covered in blood

"An invasive class of outsider intent on imposing their vision for the universe upon all life on this world and beyond," came the answer, though to Cob the meaning behind it sounded a little bit like 'cage-makers'. Better cage makers than the stunties had caught him and somehow related to the red-thing he'd helped kill before they all got on the first boat.

"Why does the tricksy lady share vinegar-and-pickles with them?" he probed, even as he rattled a drawer for its secrets.

"Ambition, willful blindness, tradition and indoctrination, arrogance or stupidity, take your pick."

Cob nodded thoughtfully, popping a sweetie from the now open drawer into his mouth. "Thinks she's more tricksy than she is. Say, if you were a missing El-e-no-ra, where would you be?"

Cob Knowledge (Engineering) (DC 15): 1d20+10 = 12 (Failure)

"Likely not somewhere I would wish to be. We are not actually looking for her though. Bedrooms tend to be up in this kind of old Chelish house, perhaps we are lucky and the lady keeps a diary," came the silent snake-answer.

"Maybe writing's not always dumb," Cob attempted to be polite. "That writing would be really dumb."

"Quite," came the sharp edged answer.

So up the stairs he scampered only to plop into a laundry basket when one of the servants passed by. Luckily it was nicely goblin-sized, a good place to plan their next move. Wait, what was that though? A familiar smell flooded his nostrils and he had to remind himself not to chew. Blood. Some of the sheets were covered in blood. Lots and lots of it.

"Being careless about sacrifices is she?" Sirim-snake hissed. "One advantage of running a laundry I suppose, but still no excuse to be careless."

Admittedly, Cob did not much fancy the prospect of dying slow under some dumb devil-shaman knife, but he had a good sense of his own sneakiness so out and on he sneaked higher still until he came to the proper fancy door. It was very shinny around the edges. He sighed, knowing that he would never fit out through the window. Some of those shinny lines though formed symbols, runes... Cob knew how to deal with those. Just had to scrape a bit...

With a deafening boom the door exploded.

Cob to spot the Trap: 32 (Success) -> Cop to disable to trap: 19 (Failure by more than 5 points) -> Cob Reflex Save (DC 18) = 18 (Success) -> Evasion Triggers No Damage

It was only Cob's long experience with magi that went 'boom' that allowed him to throw himself out of the way and down the stairs just in the nick of time, landing in a crouch. He could feel Sirim-snake's magic going over his face and hands, like slick oil, making him even more unseen than he was and not a moment too soon. A woman with a big wig charged out of the room with a knife in one hand. Had she pulled that from the wig? A part of Cob was wondering if he could wear a wig, most of him was just trying to stay still.

Cob Stealth vs Breolia Perception: 36 vs 18 (Success)

She started to shout something in a tongue Cob didn't speak, but the snake-friend still speaking in his head said she was probably calling for a devil, one she had already bound. There would be a lot of them searching the manse soon... not not quite yet, she set off at a run down the stairs past Cob with a purpose in mind.

"Likely heading to her sanctum," came more snake-advice.

What do Cob and Sirim do?

[] Follow Breolia

[] Try to search the bedroom before any devils arrive

[] Just get out while the getting is good

[] Write in

OOC: Not the best rolls you could have had, but they are still in stealth. Sirim did not have to roll since he's inside the staircase.

21st of Lamashan 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)

Sirim had never considered goblins worthwhile... no, truth be told he had never considered goblins, but this one, despite exhibiting most of the characteristics of the breed, was not only sociable but competent. What he had thought was merely an expendable asset, the way Ratters in Nirsoch would often train a terrier to go down holes too narrow for their masters, proved instead able to perform as well as any silent blade in service to the Umbral Court, knowing when to be still and when to spring into action. As soon as Breolia's steps had faded from the stairs he spun shadow into light, entrancing colors.

"Now! Take that you can, burn the rest" He called out in encouragement, likely unneeded as Cob scampered into a chamber full with a nauseatingly clashing of pinks, oranges, and golds. If there was a chromatic circle of Hell one could assume this was a fair approximation, even aside from the bed being two sizes too large, enough to make an architect weep. Rays of morning light played fitfully through the silk curtains fashionably drawn closed.

Perception Rolls (Sirim, Cob): 13, 25 (???)

"What are you doing?" the words came out aloud, in a harsh croak that was a close to a shout as he could manage.

As though to contrast with his earlier thoughts, the goblin had decided to pour a vial of acid all over the side of the bed, burning silk, wood, and varnish, and then started to pry boards apart. At least until he saw the square shapes of small padded traveling chests, prepared it seems for a quick escape. Ironic that it would be that caution that would serve her so ill.

Lost 1 Acid Flask

Gained 2 Unopened Traveling Chests

As as Sirim's accomplice swept both chests into his expanded pouch he swept through the small vanity desk, hoping to find letters or that proverbial journal, alas without any luck. It is fortunate that he had just been turning towards the hole in the bed-frame when Cob came out holding a silver cup, its rim ornate with grape-vines cast in black iron.

"What's this for? This poison?"

"Best not to test it..." Sirim trailed off, a memory from childhood playing behind eyelids he no longer had. Pale-faced men visiting his father's shabby little apartment, being told to hide in the closet and not make a sound, seeing in the crack between the boards a cup like this one set menacingly on the table. He knew what this was, a Heart-Keeper cup, a vampire's accoutrement, made to keep blood fresh for when they could not sup from a member of their herd, or simply when they wanted to terrify a too zealous functionary away from their interests.

Sirim Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20+12 = 30 (Success)

Gained Blood-Keeper Cup

"We must leave now!" Sirim's urgent instruction came no later than the sound of breaking glass and the first breath of hungry flames.

"Window?" Despite the ransacking of the chamber both of them were still unseen so the only sign of him rushing to the window in question was the shifting of torn sheets.

There would be no getting back through the building after this. Sirim agreed... but he wasn't the one who would have to dive from the third story onto the busy street below.

He could not see the goblin jump, but he definitely heard the whoop and crash onto the cobbles.

Cob Acrobatics (DC 15) = 16 (Success) -> Falling Damage 3d6 = 7

Cob Takes 7 Damage -> Now at 35/42

Luckily, among the passers most of the attention was on the smoke emitting from the open window, not the thump of a small body hitting the cobbles than bouncing up bruised. Whatever resources Breolia may have had to deal with the likes of the Eagle Knights, they had not prepared her for this.

Cob Stealth -5 from moving fast vs ??? Perception: 27 vs 18


The pair met the others across the river in Timberton, at the agreed upon meeting behind the old water pump so as not to draw too much attention to their rather odd company near the sight of what the girl Mina had euphemistically called 'ruckus' with a knowing if half-embarrassed smile while they had been planning this.

Alas, she was a lot more worried now. "But... it can't... she can't be a vampire. It's light out and you said the window was open and the curtain drawn!"

Used as he was to encountering the undead under the 'Blessed Veil', Sirim had not even registered the fact. Rumors were rifle of spells and artifacts that would allow the undead to walk under the sun in full for a time, but there were ever rumors in the ranks of the Umbral Court of veiled strength, a weapon in itself.

"What do we do now?" Gorok asked, drawing the conversation back on course as he so often did, the axel around which the spokes of the wheel turned.

"We have more than suspicion to give to the Eagle Knights now," Mina noted.

"Which we gained by breaking into a house and starting a fire," Akorian put in darkly. "I'm not even sure how much the law of Andoran even applies in the Embassy District."

"Enough," Sirim interjected. "Law and practice are not wed as often as one might guess, so as long as we give them cause to arrest her they will find reason to do so."

"What about merchant-man? Won't he me upset?" Con piped up, subdued, mayhap at the notion that might have 'ruined' the trip.

"Not if we don't tell him." Mina again, more resolved for the arguments. "We know Breolia's something hungry or has dealings with them as well as with devils. We have to end this, one way or the other."

What does Kori think the party should do?

[] Go to the Eagle Knights with the untampered evidence
-[] Write in arguments

[] Open the chests yourselves and try to learn more
-[] Write in arguments

[] Go to Gavhaul with what you found
-[] Write in arguments

[] Write in

OOC: Cob searched that bedroom real good.