Damned in life - A Pathfinder 1E Adventure in the Infernal City of Dis

A Lodestone for the Damned​

Bloom season

"I would cherish the opportunity to find something that would not want to eat me. Potentially." You say to the group with a self-deprecating kind of sarcasm that, while not making this funnily funny, serves to not make the conversation too serious.

"Whatever that boney tree is, there is a bounty of souls to claim there. We are making a profit from the situation somehow." Thrag'Ka muses.

A sharp exhale from Nasha cuts her before she can count Soul Shards that have not been earned yet. "Idle souls attract predators. We won't be the only ones watching from afar." She says, putting a weight on the other side of the scale. Three pairs of eyes turn to Seldlom.

The druid shrugs. "I am curious, I have not heard about anything like that. The worst thing that happens, we could always look for something else." At least that settles the matter, and you quickly get your looted supplies inside the Bag of Holding, and let Nasha guide you out.

---

"That is… a Willow. A Weeping Willow." Seldlom says upon seeing the droopy branches lazily falling towards the ground, where they serve as protection for a score souls which appear to be simply sleeping below, at least by what you can make out in the distance. "A Weeping Willow made out of bones and souls." He finally says, pointing out at the ways that the trunk and branches bend, seemingly making screaming faces in each twist.



That rings a bell… you think that you might know, but why is this here? "I think this is a lost Bonewrought Willow, but they belong in Purgatory, granting peace to souls there and allowing them to pass on."

A glimmer of something flashes in Nasha's brown eyes. "They take care of souls, like a flock?"

You shrug. "They do grant them peace, and in turn absorb the remaining quintessence of them. Their memories supposedly stay within and strengthen the Willow. It is a mutually beneficial pact."

Seldlom raises an eyebrow at your explanation. "A symbiotic relationship, I had not seen something like this in Baator."

"The tree is eating the souls like everything else around, what's the big deal with that?" An annoyed hobgoblin interjects.

"It is not eating them. It is allowing them to pass on, then simply absorbing the remains." You try to clarify, but you internally groan as you see where this is going.

"A vulture will likely wait until you are dead to eat you, bones and all, the tree is part plant enough to think long-term then!"

"The souls are willingly coming to the tree to get peace, Thrag'Ka. It is no predator." Comes the tired reply from Nasha.

She flashes a grin at that. "That means that it functions as a lodestone for the Damned! We could use something like that!" Shameless greed is in her eyes. You sigh, and change subjects.

"Nasha, what did you manage to find nearby? Any predators waiting for these souls?"

At that Nasha nods, unfortunately. "I do not know what it might be, but there is something below ground, a mound of earth moved oddly when I was nearby. I think that whatever it was, it was planning an ambush on whatever thing tried to reach the tree."

"Yet it did not attempt anything on you, for you were no defenseless Damned to easily prey on." Remarks Seldlom, almost eager to point out the fact. Oh, that means then…

"It is intelligent enough to choose its battles, and has been feeding on the Damned attracted to the tree." You conclude. There are at least two factions here. Three if you count yourself here.

"We should play one against the other, pick up the spoils." Comes the predictably ruthless plan for Thrag'Ka.

"Or we could try to make contact with the tree, it is the one least likely to be hostile towards us." Says Nasha.

How do you approach the situation?

[ ] Attack the Willow head on, claim the bounty of souls for yourself.

[ ] Attack the hidden predator, there might be no immediate bounty that you know of, but perhaps it could grant you the gratitude of the Willow before you approach. Worst case scenario, it will remove a potential ambush.

[ ] Approach the Willow and try to make peaceful contact.

[ ] This is none of your business, look for other plants you could potentially hunt and use.


A/N: I have been planning this encounter for a long time, I think this is going to be fun!

The Shepherd of the Lost​

Bloom season

Wading through the tall grasses, fortunately unhindered by them through Seldlom's magic, you all soon come near enough the great Willow for it to notice. Seldlom had been right, the ecological niche of something not malicious growing in Baator would grant it an advantage, which in turn would translate into more sustenance. Thus, the tree you carefully observe from a distance is huge, beyond the usual size you would have thought it would have.

You all do as agreed, even Thrag'Ka, who complains under her breath at having to pretend in this manner, but she complies anyway. Weapons lowered, both your arms and head adopt a slow and awkward gait that resembles a zombie's, but it is not quite oneAfter discussing with Seldlom, you determined that making yourselves too visible, like raising your arms in peace, might seem threatening. Yet, reducing visibility could make it appear as though you were trying to sneak up on the tree… Thus, this gait resembling a particularly lucid zombie, but perhaps one of the less illuminated Damned, could work.

The branches eventually move, rattling the bony appendages at the same time that they reach towards the lounging souls in a protective motion. You stop in your tracks, to signal both your determination and your non-hostile intentions and wait. Eventually, as the strange plant realizes you are not going anywhere, it extends a full branch towards you, the appendage made out of four smaller ones, in turn composed out of finger bones. In a motion, three of these ones bend, leaving one in the middle firmly being flicked at you. The signal is practically universal at this point, being known both in Armun Kelisk as in Dis, and you can feel your cheeks redden, as you spy an amused sneer in Seldlom, a half-contained laughter coming from Thrag'Ka, and utter confusion coming from Nasha.

Then, the single 'finger' flicked at you bends too, and is raised again, three times in a row. "I think that it wants only one of us to come near." Says Nasha. You suppress the urge to slap your face in shame, and volunteer to come near.

Fortunately, Nasha's guess appeared to be correct, the gnoll's lack of deeply learned cosmopolitan norms worked in your favor, and the Willow makes no further movements. It is when you are almost within the reach of one of its long skeletal branches and can admire the various individual bones of its trunk that it slowly, gently, reaches for a soul sleeping, rousing it and grabbing it delicately from both armpits and carries it towards you. Oddly enough, it is not a creature you have seen before, because it had the head of a black crow in a mostly humanoid body. With some rattle of the osseous branches, the three appears to be telling something to the soul, which then looks at you and speaks:

"Dà mùrén xiǎng zhīdào nǐ de dòngjī"

You blink in confusion, the crow creature too, and soon the tree is trying to put another soul in front of you, the crow back to rest once more. This one is something you are more familiar with: a human, a young lad in early adulthood.

"The Great Shepherd asks about your purpose here". He tells you, with a certain uncertainty in its voice that is typical from all the fearful Damned. The language is the Taldan tongue of Golarion, but at the very least you understand this one, so you reply and explain your trip to gather supplies for your own, and to control the population of hostile predators in the Plaza if you can help it.

The branches rattle again, and soon enough the soul is translating it to you:

"The Shepherd says that we are being preyed upon too." The boy blinks, then looks at the tree in askance, apparently oblivious to the whole thing. You do not remember the last time you actually spoke to one of the Damned, you had learned that their fate was sealed on way or another since they arrived at Baator, and for your sanity if nothing else, you have been told many times to not waste time trying to wrench anything useful out of them. They have forgotten their life, and barely understand their role here.

Once the confusion of your interlocutor here has been clarified, he continues, now with his voice trembling, "The Great Shepherd says that there are dead tree roots waiting to hunt the ones that come to find peace with us. They hide below the earth, then try to drag us below earth to sup on our essence."

"There are many of them?" You ask. The boy nods, "Aye, two of them, the Great Shepherd says! When they burrow underground he can't pin them down with his branches, nor pierce them with his spines, he says."

It appears that there is a fresh opportunity to both get rid of another predator in this place, but also to generate some goodwill with the Willow. You doubt that he would relinquish his claim on the souls he is helping find peace, but perhaps there is something useful to be gained from a huge tree which calls souls, and so Soul Shards, to it. On the other hand, these life-sucking roots could be used to gang up on the Great Shepherd and steal its bounty of souls he is caring for.

What do you answer?

[ ] Offer to hunt the undead roots plaguing the Great Shepherd.
- [ ] Try to bargain for some kind of concession from the tree. Write in what.
- [ ] Do it for simple goodwill. Without predators you could find an arrangement where you both mutually benefit from it.

[ ] Lie, and go looking for the undead roots. Together, you will be able to claim the bounty of souls from the Great Shepherd, even if you have to let the creatures have some of them.

[ ] Exchange some advice along the lines of other possible predators and leave, there is not much to profit from here.