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Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

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Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Sep 13, 2023 at 2:05 AM, finished with 18 posts and 6 votes.
  • [X] Upgrades
    -[X] Gorok will sell his Ogre Hook and set aside his Bone Earth-Shaker. The former because he has found a better weapon and the latter because it's sentimental value is greater than it's usefulness as a weapon. He'll keep his Masterwork Rapier as a backup weapon.
    --[X] Purchase the Masterwork Greataxe.
    --[X] Purchase a couple regular machetes if they're available.
    -[X] Also, in lieu of tents, Mina might suggest purchasing a couple of heavy oiled or waxed canvas (or the Darklands equivalent) tarps. They might not be as comfortable as a tent, but with a bit of rope or twine and some sticks they can at least be setup to keep the rain off of us.
    [X] Upgrades
    -[X] Gorok will sell his Ogre Hook and set aside his Bone Earth-Shaker. The former because he has found a better weapon and the latter because it's sentimental value is greater than it's usefulness as a weapon. He'll keep his Masterwork Rapier as a backup weapon.
    --[X] Purchase the Masterwork Greataxe.
    -[X] Also, in lieu of tents, Mina might suggest purchasing a couple of heavy oiled or waxed canvas (or the Darklands equivalent) tarps. They might not be as comfortable as a tent, but with a bit of rope or twine and some sticks they can at least be setup to keep the rain off of us.
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Arc 3 Post 7: Through Murky Waters
  • Threadmarks
    • Through Murky Waters ​

    Season of Rushing Waters

    The best that can be said of your new 'tent' is that it can technically stand up on its own, just as long as one does not jostle the sticks holding it up too much. It can just about fit two people, three if they are friendly and one of them is Cob, to which Gorok has shaken his head and proclaimed: "I have scales, slurk has thick hide, cat has fur, we can stay out under the sky..."
    • Gorok Gains Masterwork Axe
    • Sold Ogre Hook
    • Gained Improvised Tent
    To which the cat in question had hissed, the sound leaving nothing more for his mistress to translate. Pepper is obviously not impressed by the great orc-splitter of an axe Gorok had gotten his hands on, orc-splitter in both senses since someone had used magic to etch a roughly triangular stack of avoid shapes into the face of the axe, orc work if ever you have seen one. Whoever had done it hadn't been much of a craftsman, but ne can still recognize the pyramid of skulls, the mark of Zagresh the Destroyer, a raider's good and a bloody one even in that company. Given what it takes to part one of them from their weapons normally at least you can be certain there's one less bloody handed killer about to trouble the passages of Nar Voth.

    Akorian Knowledge History: 1d20+5 = 19 (Success)

    Meanwhile Mina had managed to find a 'scroll' containing magic which her familiar assures her she can learn. A pity you cannot find the spellbook it had clearly been torn out of, but given the apparent age of the bloodstains that almost swallow some of the arcane formulas odds are good the rest of it is in no fit state to be read in.

    "It feels ghoulish to be picking at things like this," Mina says softly smoothing out the parchment between her fingers. "The fruits of the journey come to a bad end."

    By way of reply you point at the axe. "All journeys can end of that sort, be they dreadful or blameless the ground can always swallow you up with no way of knowing why or how. The best we can do is look out for our own backs and..." The memory of the fight against the goblins and the Caligini sent against you by the 'woman dressed in leeching light' comes back to you. "The best we can do is not to kill without thought and beyond need."

    "You think we need to kill?" she asks troubled

    Cob, Gorok, and you look at her as though she had just asked if you need fire to cook. Even Warty gives an confused croak, though that might be just at everyone stopping.

    "You're right, you're right," Mina shakes her head, hair veiling her eyes. "I had my head still stuck in stories. Silly of me after everything that's happened."

    Though you wish that you could offer some comfort you cannot think of any that's not a lie so you keep your peace,

    Gain Scroll Frostbite

    Current Funds: 990 gp 7 sp 15 cp

    ***​

    For some reason you thought Gorok would lead you up though the temple entrance you had discovered, forgetting that he had to have come down from the Burnlands somehow himself. That somehow turns out to be a series of half-flooded tunnels south of Cauldron. No one but Warty has fun wading through the cold and muddy water, but at the very least nothing worse than rot-moss seems to have taken up residence here yet. Named for its uncanny resemblance to open sores on the stone and the fact that anyone foolish enough to try to eat it will suffer slow agonizing gut-rot the stuff does have one use, if dried it makes some of the best kindling around, a fact known to Gorok's tribe as much as to your people.

    That is how they had discovered the entrance, though he had been the one to figure out that long ago these dreary tunnels had been part of an ancient trading way that carried xulgath ingots, tools, weapons and the work of their psychic craft into the lands of the iruxi where they were exchanged for the bounty of the wetlands above. Especially food, which is far more easily grown under the open sky, at least according to Gorok and Mina, Cob not having paid much attention to such matters.

    As Gorok scraped some of the moss off the wall with a repurposed piton it almost seams that you can hear other sounds in the echoes of his work, cries far off and and the echoes of many feet. With a start you look around, but there is nothing, and no one else can hear you. The ancient band of silver grows warm about your brow.

    Gorok Survival: 1d20 +11 = 12 (Critical Failure)

    Suddenly a voice rings out from above, high with anger alarm, like air currents though rattle shrooms. Looking up you see a creature whose broad face that seems slapped together from loam and grit under a hood of lacy greens. The creature is poking at the opening with a stick that would seem entirely unremarkable if it were not for the fact that it's glowing.


    "He says we are trespassing and hurting his garden or house or nest. The language he is using is not clear," Mina explains as she grips her own staff tighter. "He's telling us to put it back."

    Gorok stops and ponders her words for a while looking back at the creature. "That which has been cut cannot be set back."

    "He... says his name is Root Wiggling in Stone and Water," Mina takes more time to think about how to translate than it her wont. "I think he is asking us to tend the fungus until it grows back in half a season or so."

    "Sound boring. Stab?" Cob asks with wide eyed hope.

    What do you suggest?

    [] Fight
    -[] Shoot it until it goes away
    -[] Write in

    [] Compromise
    -[] ...maybe you could leave some of your supplies as compost/payment (Will leave you low on supplies on the surface)
    -[] Write in

    OOC: I know diplomacy is not a forte with you guys, but this was a crit fail. You do know he's a plant so sleep it not any good.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Hmm, annoying. Best to figure out a compromise to avoid a fight.

    @DragonParadox we have any remains of those fungus men from before when we grinded them up? Any fungus related things at all in inventory like that fungus bomb thing?
     
    That's a really weird looking creature. Hopefully this doesn't turn into a fight, since we have no clue what this thing is capable of. If it comes down to it, though, I would much prefer fighting it rather than giving it our food supplies.

    @DragonParadox, any chance Gorok or Pepper's Knowledge (Nature) pinged on what this thing is? Also, what size is it?

    Speaking of Knowledge (Nature), now that we're out of the Darklands, the next time Mina sleeps she needs to switch Pepper's Skilled Knowledge bonus from Dungeoneering to something else. Probably Nature, given our current location.

    [X] Massgamer
     
    Goldfish said:
    That's a really weird looking creature. Hopefully this doesn't turn into a fight, since we have no clue what this thing is capable of. If it comes down to it, though, I would much prefer fighting it rather than giving it our food supplies.

    @DragonParadox, any chance Gorok or Pepper's Knowledge (Nature) pinged on what this thing is? Also, what size is it?

    Speaking of Knowledge (Nature), now that we're out of the Darklands, the next time Mina sleeps she needs to switch Pepper's Skilled Knowledge bonus from Dungeoneering to something else. Probably Nature, given our current location.

    [X] Massgamer
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    Oh it is small, but neither Gorok nor Pepper can see all the way up thee since they do not have darkvision and that is outside the range of the light you have with you.
     
    [X] Compromise
    -[X] Offer the ground down remains of the fungus men killed awhile ago along with anything fungus related you might still have
     
    [X] Compromise
    -[X] Offer the ground down remains of the fungus men killed awhile ago along with anything fungus related you might still have
     
    Are we lagging those remains with us? I don't see them anywhere in our inventory.
    DragonParadox said:
    "Sound boring. Stab?" Cob asks with wide eyed hope.
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    Cob speaks my language, and the puppy eyes are irresistible. The request is unreasonable, the supplies are valuable, and this is too far removed from civilization to resolve through the means of currency which would be my pick of reaching a settlement. Tough luck.

    Would a fire elemental be hindered fighting in the water?
     
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    I thought we already sold the vegepygmy paste a while ago when we returned to Cauldron?

    I'd rather compromise on hunting something nearby to use as compost than giving up out supplies. Kori should put on his snake oil vendor hat and bluff him.
     
    Tomcost said:
    I'd rather compromise on hunting something nearby to use as compost than giving up out supplies.
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    That's reasonable. So long as we can keep it from stabbing us in the back.

    If it fails, then a fight it is.

    [x] Compromise
    -[x] Offer to hunt down something to be used as compost to grow more fungus instead.
     
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    @DragonParadox , how many days of travel are we from Cauldron?

    It is entirely reasonable, as we have barely started our journey, to offer our relatively cheap food supplies and then go back and buy more.

    Also, I like this poor guy. I think he is a Lichen Leshy. We just invaded into him home uninvited and started tearing it down, and he is just talking to us instead of attacking. I wanna be allies.

    Also I have a speech prepared already:

    [X] Put on the snake oil vendor hat
    -[X] "We apologize, fair one! We did never intend to cause any harm here, yet we have clearly failed! I am afraid that in our ignorance in these matters we would cause more harm than good. Yet, we have some repute as explorers and problem fixers both!"
    --[X] "Tell us, fair one, is any creature other than us affecting your task? Are these plants in need of nutrients we could bring? We have access to settlements nearby, and they need not to know that we are bringing these things to you."
     
    Tomcost said:
    I thought we already sold the vegepygmy paste a while ago when we returned to Cauldron?

    I'd rather compromise on hunting something nearby to use as compost than giving up out supplies. Kori should put on his snake oil vendor hat and bluff him.
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    *checks*
    Yes you did, you would just be offering the fungus bomb, sorry for the confusion

    Tomcost said:
    @DragonParadox , how many days of travel are we from Cauldron?
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    You are three days out of Cauldron
     
    How about this? I don't want to fight if we don't need to, and the little guy hasn't threatened us or done anything that would really justify killing it. We might not to get a friend or ally out of this, but it could still be helpful to have a non-hostile contact who lives so close to Gorok's entrance to the Darklands.

    [X] Apologize and offer compensation.
    -[X] Mina apologizes to the creature in its language, stating something to the effect of "We didn't realize this was your home/garden/nest." Then explain that we cannot spare the time to tend the fungus until it regrows.
    -[X] We'll offer the creature a steel dagger to aid it in its work and to defend itself if necessary (along with suitable instructions on how to maintain the blade), and invite it to join us for a meal. If it finds our foodstuffs palatable, we'll promise that when we return this way we will try to bring more food for it.
     
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    If we don't actually have fungal waste, I guess that also works.

    We should probably also explain how to maintain a steel dagger while we're at it, too, or else it'll rust and they'll feel reasonably cheated.

    [X] Goldfish
     
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