Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

29th of Kuthona 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)

"Hail good man, what reason have you to come upon us in such haste?" you call out in a loud clear voice, surprising even yourself, knowing luck is against you yet as shadow follows substance another voice arises, weaving meaning from the silence between. "What need have you of a man who doesn't seek your company?"

"We're his kin," another who does bear some resemblance to Trysus, as father to son or uncle to nephew mayhap, speaks in the same strange monotone. "He's gone strange in the head, you see, 'cause all of the drink. If he just could talk to us sober he'd see sense and then we wouldn't have to chase you down no further."

"I don't think he's lying," you say turning your head towards Mina, who seems to find as little comfort in it as you do.

"There's more than one way to not lie," she says looking over the group of villagers. They had been soldiers once, the people of Longacre, and now again whatever had come over them seems to have lent them back the vigor of their youth even as it had leeched the color from their eyes and the depth from their scowls.

"Would that be Trysus changing his mind, or having his mind changed for him?" As you ask the question a memory of the temple of Abadar comes to you. They worship him even in this land. "Be it a contract you mean, or theft?"

The approaching villagers seem to flinch all at the same time, all in the same way, like the wind rippling through a field of wheat. "We would never take what is not given! True as the Merchant we are"

"I don't know that much about the Chelish but..." you trail off. "I don't think merchants have a reputation for being particularly honest. That's not a name for Abadar either."

"Not for Abadar, no." Mina looks down at the bag of holding that hangs from Warty's saddle. She motions for you to wait a moment then rummages around the contents for a uncomfortably long moment before she pulls out a very particular sword, one which you had taken from the Ogre champion.

"Swear on the sword you don't mean the man harm and if he doesn't seek your company you will let him be," she calls out, holding it aloft so that the winged eye upon the hilt shines clearly under the light of day, the mark of a dead god.

"Where... there did you obtain that?" Horses paw at the ground as though they had caught onto the nervousness of their riders or, you cannot help but think, of some greater thing that rides them all.

"Spoils from a dead ymris," Gorok uses the old iruxi word for giant, it's meaning something like titan-kin. More honor than that horror deserved living or dead if he'd asked you, but he had not and now the villagers ask questions after question, too many to answer and the first time more than one of them had spoken at once.

"He was a servant of the Hungry Moon reeving through the lands of Taldor," you explain, one eye on the river. Gods only know what the Chelish Navy will do if they catch such a strange company as yours, though at least if no blood is shed they might just decide it's someone else's problem.

"We will swear, if you swear not to speak of us to any living or dead beyond this place for a year and a day, and the same promise we will take from Trysus if he does not choose to stay with us," the seeming leader says at last.

Now it is about at this point that you have many questions of your own, though content to let them lie.

Cob however is less discrete: "What's all this 'bout a dead god? Why you care if he's dead?"

"As man dies so he shall arise," the one who looked like Trysus says, only to be silenced by glares from the others.

"I think they're being honest," Mina says, looking up at Sirim for confirmation which she receives, though it's clear the shade is almost as curious as Cob about goings on with the people of Longacre and their 'affinity' for one another.


What does Kori think?

[] It's worth a shot, bring Trysus over to talk to them

[] They are probably lying, give him a phantasmal steed and let him make his own way out of here

[] Write in

OOC: Enjoy.

29th of Kuthona 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)

And things had started out so well— you think, the edge of sarcasm almost sharp enough to cut even unseen. Sure you had brought the disheveled man out to talk to the others right enough. He'd even had a chance to ask about 'Sammy', the one who looked related to him. Alas, the moment he'd come within sixty feet of them Mina's voice rises in shock: "Stop! What are you doing?!"

You just barely have the chance to notice the telltale gleam of silver in her eyes that marks the second sight before the villagers start drawing weapons in eerie synchronicity.

"If you value your word or your god, be still!" you shout, pulling Trysus back with one hand and setting the other to your sword. "Else let steel be thine tongue and thine corpses witnesses!" Calculated venom drips from your lips. The way they had reacted to Mina's outburst brings to mind they might now fear an oath-breaker's brand more than death.


"We mean to show him the truth!" 'Sammy' sounds frantic as he motions almost due west, almost overbalancing entirely if his horse hadn't corrected. "We can't say it with words or they'll hear!"

"They? Who's they?" Trysus asks, face twisting as fear battles longing upon it.

"They devils, the queen, the ones who took our future from US!" Even Cob flinches back at the sheer hate in that last word, not from fear maybe, but the sheer inhuman force of it. "Mankind's bright Destiny, Our Throne among the Stars, gone, all bound in devils chains they wear like jewelry! It is sickening! Don't you feel it, father? Don't you want to be part of something more, something that's not just their damned legions?"

"What did you see?" Gorok asks Mina.

"Magic like a cloud studded with stars, expanding from their mouths and eyes towards him. Maybe they were just trying to talk, but it couldn've been enchantment..."

It is at that point you do something which some might call rash, if not so much as half the fights you've gotten into. You take the arcane band off your head and in one swift motion 'crown' Trysus with it. "Will yourself to see their minds, so you shall know how true they are."

Mina looks at you impressed, most likely by your generosity. Probably best not to say you are considering how easy it would be to recover the true silver band from his corpse if mind-to-mind contact turned him hostile. Certainly better odds than contacting them mentally yourself.

Thus the erstwhile drunkard freezes in place again, but he doesn't start stabbing, gibbering, or kicking, so far an excellent success to an unwise plan hastened only by the presence of the Chelish ship. "Oh... oh... are you sure? Why'd you have to go and burn the...?" Unfortunately you do not hear the other side of the conversation, but whatever it is it seems to satisfy him. "Yeah, I see where you're coming from... better than how we were even if we're gonna be half... ah right, don't talk about that part."

Just as you breathe a sigh of relief, the day turns out to have one more surprise for you. Trysus turns to you and asks: "Say, you folks are from down below right? The Darklands?"

"Some," Gorok answers cautiously.

"Do you know a place we could go down into? We... er... us Longacre folk are going to need a place to hide soon." So saying he hands you back the true silver band.

"Kori, I think this is your call, you know the place best..." Mina doesn't say the whole thought, but it's easy enough to read the rest of it off her face. 'Do you want these people down in Cauldron's tunnels, spreading whatever they have?'

What do you answer?

[] No, you do not know a way

[] Yes you do
-[] Tell them the way
-[] Tell them the way only if they reveal their secret

[] Write in

OOC: Enjoy.