Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

Arc 5 Post 8: Shadow Flight
Shadow Flight

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

"There's no worse fool than one convinced he has things figured out, unless it is one whose willing to fight you over it. No sense giving these ones a chance to grow into the latter," you call to the others in duergar, getting an amused hiss from Gorok and a worried look from Mina. "I am well," you assure her, and maybe yourself a bit in the bargain. "I'm used to it."

"You shouldn't be," she says simply, setting a comforting hand on your shoulder as the four of you quickly move down the 'Silver Street'. A clever thing, the little plates one can read at a glance to know where you are, though they'd be even more useful in the tangled alleys of Copperdown.

The buildings too are grander here, with two stories being the norm and three not uncommon. Oddly enough, the second story always seems to overhang from the first, braced against the stone of colorful facades with sturdy timbers. The yards before them are spacious and verdant, full of unfamiliar shrubs and vines, grown high to provide shade against the glare of the sun.

"Mommy, Mommy, why's that big lizard walking like a man?" A little girl that looks like she might blow away in a strong wind from all the fluttering lace she'd been wrapped in points urgently at Gorok from one of the benches set by the carved wooden doors, only to be admonished by the woman beside her as she sets down her book to look. Odd that she would be bring something so precious out in public.

As you turn away and out of sight of the pair a great structure unfolds ahead of you, four white stone towers pinning the corners of a rectangular building with a roof of clear colorless glass. All its doors thrown open to reveal what looks like a whole festival bubbling inside, from colorful dancers moving to haunting song pipes to the familiar sound of mildly intoxicated laughter.

You look to Mina for an explanation, but she offers a helpless shrug.

"That is or was Andoren's Feasthall," Sirim explains, obviously projecting his voice to all three of you. "It was recently acquired from his Church by a halfling called... Chestnut, I think."

"The dead god?"
you ask startled. "He's still worshiped?"

"In theory,"
comes the reply, tinged with dark amusement. "In practice Church assets do not vanish just because their patron died, and in Andoran, unlike many places across the Inner Sea, local authorities did not confiscate their properties. Spared the worst of the convulsions of the Chelish Civil War this land probably has some of the most Arodenites outside Absalom. A fitting patron, really, for what passed for the nation's nobility, godless priests to minister to powerless nobles. "

Sirim's account of the People's Revolt, far less stirring and grand than that which you heard aboard the White Eagle, concerned instead with the interest of lumber barons and merchant 'princes', takes up most of the walk. It takes you among the tall and colorful houses of the well-to-do then among the grander, sterner abodes carved in what your serpentine guide calls 'Old Chelish White' from the days when this had been the major port of first the Taldan and then the Chelish Navy. The timbers of Arthfell Forest sent down the river that shares its name had built not one but two empires across the surface of the world and now they are in the hands of a third young realm, hungry for expansion in the name of its own peculiar ideals.

"Not that the Andorans want to build an empire of course, perish the thought. It would be a Federation of the Free, a People's Redoubt, a state of Equality and Brotherhood... in which they of course are the elder brothers."

Mina seems a a touch crestfallen to hear the shadow mage's account, so you point out that even with all that had been said that this realm was still far above the devils' realm from which they had revolted.

The Pathfinder Lodge is not at first sight anything extraordinary among the stately swan-houses, it did not remark itself among the flock by height or width, by the grace of its colonnades or the height of its flanking trees. Yet to eyes that could see the unseen another world was revealed. Colors spieled into the air, shimmering blues and reds that promised warning to those within for any trespass and, you would judge, swift punishment to trespassers.

Without needing to be asked you take out the medallion as Sirim rises from Gorok's shadow where he had been hiding. The sound of a hand knocking on the heavy doors of the lodge rings out, though no such hand is raised. It does not take more than the span of six quick breaths for a dark haired boy in mismatched leathers to answer... and almost jump back in shock at the sight of the smoky serpent coiling in the air.

"Initiate, bid thy mistress that Sirim of the Pale Sun has come with news fit only for the ears of a Venture Captain and above."

For all it had been the subject of so much talk the boy does not even look at the medallion. "Of course, of course, right this way honored guests," he squeaks.

Sirim Diplomacy (DC 15*): 1d20+11 = 27 (Success)
*-10 DC for the presence of the medallion

"My thanks," you say politely in the hopes of setting him a bit more at ease as the four of you slip inside what looks to be a room specifically built for waiting, to judge from the three low couches set against the walls and tables set with hardcakes and unfamiliar fruit. You are starting to wonder if there is such a thing as having too much space.

"So I guess we can hear the secret that is only for the ears of Venture Captains?" Mina says after an uneasy silence.

"Knowledge of my pursuers could hardly make you less safe, given the assumptions my foes have already made, and it might make you more safe, or more guarded at least," Sirim offers as he takes the medallion. "I, you see, am something that common knowledge holds does not exist, a traitor to the Umbral Court of Nidal. Well..." he pauses in thought, an edge of razor sharp humor entering his mind-voice. "I suppose one should say, common knowledge holds that such do not exist outside the lightless torture chambers of the Cathedral of Exquisite Agony in Pangolais."

Mina Knowledge (Religion) (DC 20): 1d20+11 = 22 (Success)

Mina's illusory face turns pale as death, but before she can speak Sirim continues. "The reasons for my defection were not purely material, but as one can imagine my compensation was considerable just the same."

"That is why that devil was hunting you, wasn't it? The Umbral Court called upon its allies in Cheliax to make sure you could not escape?" Mina asks.

"While no doubt the one who signed the papers was a member of the Court, it is the Midnight Inquisition which hunts me," pride radiates from the words like heatless witchfire that does not burn but freezes. "I know much that the eldest and greatest in Nidal would wish forgotten, and that which they would rather never see the light of day." It is not easy to follow eyes of smoke and shadow, even when Sirim makes himself known, but this time it is clear he is looking at the silver band you wear. "I seek secrets that only the halls of Azlant might yet keep." He pauses a moment, drifting upwards on a gentle draft. "Come now, I see that you have questions and it would be faster for you to ask than for me to lecture. I tend to wander rather far afield when I do so. I cannot grantee that I will answer every question, but I will speak no untruths."

Do you have any questions for Sirim?

[] No, let Mina and Gorok ask the questions

[] Yes, you are as curious about him as he seems to be about you
-[] What is Nidal like? All places in the Burnlands are strange to you.
-[] Where did Sirim meet others of the People?
-[] Is he trully a diabolist to have known so much about how Click's powers came to be?
-[] What does he know about the times before the People descended into Nar Voth? Where did he learn it
-[] Write in


OOC: I've been looking forward to this update a lot. Hope you guys enjoy.
 
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[X] Yes, you are as curious about him as he seems to be about you
-[X] Where did Sirim meet others of the People?
-[X] What does he know about the times before the People descended into Nar Voth? Where did he learn it?


Figure these are the ones that we'd care about the most.
 
I'm glad to see that Sirim wasn't blowing smoke up our asses about the Pathfinders. Now it makes sense why an Assassin Devil was after him, too.

He's the kind of hunted that would make it important to be behind wards, lead-lined walls, or a Mind Blank. I hope he hasn't been Scryed too much since we killed the assassin. He hasn't spent a lot of time interacting with us, but there has been enough that someone Scrying him could have seen us enough for it to be dangerous. It's a shame he's got that kind of enemies, he could have probably made a good traveling companion.

This is one of those times where I wouldn't mind someone keeping us waiting so we more time to ask Sirim questions before we're interrupted.

[X] In addition to whatever questions Mina or Gorok may have, you ask:
-[X] What does he seek among the ruins of Azlant?
-[X] What does he know about the times before the People descended into Nar Voth? Where did he learn it?
-[X] What can he tell us about how the People on the surface live their lives? Reciprocate by telling him of life down in Nar Voth to help contrast the differences.
 
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I'm glad to see that Sirim wasn't blowing smoke up our asses about the Pathfinders. Now it makes sense why an Assassin Devil was after him, too.

He's the kind of hunted that would make it important to be behind wards, lead-lined walls, or a Mind Blank. I hope he hasn't been Scryed too much since we killed the assassin. He hasn't spent a lot of time interacting with us, but there has been enough that someone Scrying him could have seen us enough for it to be dangerous. It's a shame he's got that kind of enemies, he could have probably made a good traveling companion.

This is one of those times where I wouldn't mind someone keeping us waiting so we more time to ask Sirim questions before we're interrupted.

[X] In addition to whatever questions Mina or Gorok may have, you ask:
-[X] What does he seek among the ruins of Azlant?
-[X] What does he know about the times before the People descended into Nar Voth? Where did he learn it?
-[X] What can he tell us about how the People on the surface live their lives? Reciprocate by telling him of life down in Nar Voth to help contrast the differences.

I mean you could still join him on his ventures, think of all the XP and loot you can get fending off assassins from Nidal and Cheliax. ;)
 
If Sirim got scried upon they already saw us

They will be coming after us at this point
Not necessarily. The Scrying spell has a very limited duration. It could have been used to determine if he still lived and maybe where he was at any given time, but not much else for most purposes. Greater Scrying isn't so hampered, but it's also a 7th level spell, so it's unlikely to have been used to find him simply because worse than an Assassin Devil would have been sent after Sirim if the people who want him dead were willing to dedicate the resources to a 13th+ level spellcaster.

Despite traveling with us for several days now, Sirim has not interacted with us much at all, so the chances of him happening to have been around us while being Scryed are pretty low, IMO. Days could have passed before anyone even realized the assassin had failed and that they would need to check on him.

It's not guaranteed, but it's enough to assume we shouldn't be targeted for our limited association with him so far. Definitely don't want to be hanging around him long-term, though.
 
Not necessarily. The Scrying spell has a very limited duration. It could have been used to determine if he still lived and maybe where he was at any given time, but not much else for most purposes. Greater Scrying isn't so hampered, but it's also a 7th level spell, so it's unlikely to have been used to find him simply because worse than an Assassin Devil would have been sent after Sirim if the people who want him dead were willing to dedicate the resources to a 13th+ level spellcaster.

Despite traveling with us for several days now, Sirim has not interacted with us much at all, so the chances of him happening to have been around us while being Scryed are pretty low, IMO. Days could have passed before anyone even realized the assassin had failed and that they would need to check on him.

It's not guaranteed, but it's enough to assume we shouldn't be targeted for our limited association with him so far. Definitely don't want to be hanging around him long-term, though.

Also worth keeping in mind that that if someone did cast scrying while he was hiding inside a solid object, which is most of his time since the ambush, they would have seen nothing since there is no light in there to see by.
 
I know little of what is going on, save that the guy is more trouble than he is worth. And I thought the lich-thing was bad.

But... he is worth a lot nonetheless.

All questions that concern me are the ones about the People. I wonder if he can fund an expedition to one of the vaults. I suppose we may reveal our knowledge of one of their locations? Would like to have a map to see where they all are, first.

[x] In addition to whatever questions Mina or Gorok may have, you ask:
-[x] What does he seek among the ruins of Azlant?
-[x] What does he know about the times before the People descended into Nar Voth? Where did he learn it?
-[x] What can he tell us about how the People on the surface live their lives?
-[x] What is Nidal like? What kind of enemies can he expect to come looking for him?
 
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I know little of what is going on, save that the guy is more trouble than he is worth. And I thought the lich-thing was bad.

But... he is worth a lot nonetheless.

All questions that concern me are the ones about the People. I wonder if he can fund an expedition to one of the vaults. I suppose we may reveal our knowledge of one of their locations? Would like to have a map to see where they all are, first.

Well if you want a general run down on Sirim and his people asking about Nidal is likely to give you the best wide scale view. I will say this much Nidal of all the nations of the upper world is the only one to maintain true political continuity thorough the Earthfall ten thousand years ago. Some of the founders of modern Nidal were Azlanti and Theselonian refugees and some of those may still be present as unimaginably ancient undead, members by definition of the Umbral Court. So you know if you are looking for prime Azlanti lore there are few better places than in the head of an Umbral Court defector.

It is... er not without risk.
 
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[x] In addition to whatever questions Mina or Gorok may have, you ask:
-[x] What does he seek among the ruins of Azlant?
-[x] What does he know about the times before the People descended into Nar Voth? Where did he learn it?
-[x] What can he tell us about how the People on the surface live their lives?
-[x] What is Nidal like? What kind of enemies can he expect to come looking for him?
 
The vote isn't very interesting huh? Second update incoming, do not expect this to happen often.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Mar 27, 2024 at 3:28 PM, finished with 11 posts and 4 votes.

  • [X] In addition to whatever questions Mina or Gorok may have, you ask:
    -[X] What does he seek among the ruins of Azlant?
    -[X] What does he know about the times before the People descended into Nar Voth? Where did he learn it?
    -[x] What can he tell us about how the People on the surface live their lives?
    -[x] What is Nidal like? What kind of enemies can he expect to come looking for him?
    [X] Yes, you are as curious about him as he seems to be about you
    -[X] Where did Sirim meet others of the People?
    -[X] What does he know about the times before the People descended into Nar Voth? Where did he learn it?
    [X] In addition to whatever questions Mina or Gorok may have, you ask:
    -[X] What does he seek among the ruins of Azlant?
    -[X] What does he know about the times before the People descended into Nar Voth? Where did he learn it?
    -[X] What can he tell us about how the People on the surface live their lives? Reciprocate by telling him of life down in Nar Voth to help contrast the differences.
 
The vote isn't very interesting huh? Second update incoming, do not expect this to happen often.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Mar 27, 2024 at 3:28 PM, finished with 11 posts and 4 votes.

  • [X] In addition to whatever questions Mina or Gorok may have, you ask:
    -[X] What does he seek among the ruins of Azlant?
    -[X] What does he know about the times before the People descended into Nar Voth? Where did he learn it?
    -[x] What can he tell us about how the People on the surface live their lives?
    -[x] What is Nidal like? What kind of enemies can he expect to come looking for him?
    [X] Yes, you are as curious about him as he seems to be about you
    -[X] Where did Sirim meet others of the People?
    -[X] What does he know about the times before the People descended into Nar Voth? Where did he learn it?
    [X] In addition to whatever questions Mina or Gorok may have, you ask:
    -[X] What does he seek among the ruins of Azlant?
    -[X] What does he know about the times before the People descended into Nar Voth? Where did he learn it?
    -[X] What can he tell us about how the People on the surface live their lives? Reciprocate by telling him of life down in Nar Voth to help contrast the differences.

Too open ended. We just want the juicy lore dump!
 
Arc 5 Post 9: A Rare Account
A Rare Account

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

As it happens you have many questions, perhaps too many, but first thing's first: "You said you know of the time before my People, the Caligini, descended into Nar Voth. How do you know it?"

"As a graduate with honors from the School of the Pale Sun in Elith Lorin, I served many masters for many years, some of them truly ancient, raised into undeath by those themselves raised during what the world not under the shadow calls the Age of Darkness. Though even so, a memory preserved in death is not as sure as those who keep it would claim. Free their minds might be from the frailties of flesh, yet still they are colored by regret and nostalgia. The ancient dead live in the past the most and, as is the case when one lives in a place a long time, one is overcome with a desire to change the curtains."

Sitting on the couch to your left Mina giggles at the unexpected bone-dry humor, but Sirim does not seem to be paying much attention.

"As fortune would have it I eventually received a posting at the village of Icebow Bridge, serving the Library Without Light as an archivist, an organizer of lore and facilitator of scholarship," the last is aimed at you and Gorok, you realize. "Therein lie tomes written by the survivors of Earthfall, most of them not of native Nidalese stock at all, for the horselords kept few records, but the human flotsam of Azlant and Thassilon. It is they who were the architects of Nidal, who set the foundation stones of the Cathedral of Exquisite Agony, and who penned treatises of taxation, trade, and philosophy for a nation new settled. True there had been tampering and redacting across the long ages, else we are to believe that every single hungry stranger who stumbled his way under the shadow was a secret Kuthite, or else selected by the Midnight Lord through the trials they had personally endured, but even so its insights were tantalizing."

Truth be told, even the explication that a place of knowledge is so vast that is it the full duty of scores of people, including magicians, to keep it organized boggles the mind... except that that small quiet part that is is not surprised at all, the one who recalls dreams under ashen skies. A strange sorrowful recognition grows and grows where Sirim's thoughts touch your own.

"After the the decline of the reptilian realms, either by sword and fire or by subtler more mysterious mechanisms, every coast knew the kiss of an Azlanti ship's prow. The Inner Sea upon which we have all sailed of late was in that age was little more than a great river of salt water into the heart of their colonial hinterland. Indeed, the reason the heirs of Xyn choose to settle in the land now called Varisia. Azlant itself was sundered by Earthfall and those few survivors who endured by arcane means or serendipity were then doomed to starvation by the darkening of the skies. There were no easily available tunnels into the Darklands on the continent itself, it would have been ready invasion route for the serpentfolk. Thus, shadow-seer, Calignas, for which your people are still named, through all the long ages must have been a trading port among the colonial hinterlands. I discovered several shipping manifests that would only make sense if it had been a major port, alas its true location fell prey to the quills of the Inquisition or other even more obscure forces in the last ten thousand years. All I can say is that it must have been in either Southern Avistan or Northern Garund, with a strong probability of being placed more along the center than east or west on the axis as the cities of the west closer to Azlant are known and there would have been no place for another among them, and much farther east than Andoran or Western Taldor there was naught but the wilds where the fey and the green elves are masters."

"What is Nidal like?" you ask after a moment to take in the enormity of the answer he had given, hardly pausing for breath. The Songs you heard do not long contend themselves with the place where the Long Descent had started, but all agree that it had been a place of ease and comfort before the dark tested them. Many were said to perish then and few to pass into the dark and be remade.

"It is a dreadful place. It is a beautiful place of painful wonder and joyous sorrows, it is the land under the veil of the Midnight Lord that is neither night nor day but ever shadow, just as the bargain was made in those days of yore. I could name its cities for you, its fortresses and its provinces, though the names would mean little." A sigh or something like one passes from him. "It is as a well deep and dark, its surface rippling in the spring wind. The three who made the bargain still reign as regents of the Midnight Lord, the Black Triune."

"Dead ones?" Gorok asks, thrifty with his words as ever.

"It is said neither they are neither living nor dead as the land is neither light nor dark, nailed by Zon Kuthon upon the precipice of mortality. In either case theirs is the shame of surrender to the Arodonites under Haliad the Third of Cheliax, and theirs was the hand that strangled the foreigners and their friends during the First Midnight Inquisition. They seek to return Nidal to what it was, but a thing once broken cannot be unbroken, not even Shadowbreak. There are many in Nidal that see profit in alignment with outside powers, indeed such contacts are what I was trained for originally. Of course, if one were to ask the Expansionists why they act they would say it is to protect the divine borders of Nidal, trade is trade, bargains are bargains, bonds are bonds. Insinuating that truth a touch too loudly is why I am out here waiting to get access to my pay from the Pathfinders." No untruths he had said and there is nothing in his voice or manner that makes you thinks he had broken from that agreement, but you have a feeling, a conviction more of the gut than the head, that there is more to tell there that he's not sharing.

Akorian Sense Motive: 1d20+11 = 30 vs Sirim Bluff: 1d20+11 = 31

"So you said the Midnight Inquisition is after you. What are they like?" Mina blushes. "Leap Day Luck, that sounded silly, like I'm asking it they're nice! You don't have to bother with that if you don't..."

"I do not know enough of the inner workings of the Church to make much of a prediction alas, but I can make a fair bet they will not simply fill the streets of Augustana with assassins, they would have to tell them all what I did. The simple fact that a member of the Umbral Court could betray the Midnight Lord is... blasphemy to imply. And they will not send anyone too senior either. Members of the court will be watching each other, as the last thing they want is for one of their rivals to learn the way of it, for the glory of the Midnight Lord of course." This time you do laugh, for you are starting to understand how the shadow mage's humor twists.

"So... from the silence I guess you expect one of us to ask how you did it?" Mina interjects into what had become an odd silence, broken only by the hiss of the lantern overhead dying down little by little. "I'm also guessing you are not going to tell us, so I'm not asking."

"Excellent guesswork," Sirim agrees, just as the door the initiate had passed through opens.

"Captain Goldgather will see you now, Master Sirim," a only somewhat tremulous voice interjects.

"As I shall likely have to argue with her for anything beyond simple coin, what do you wish for for your reward for bringing me this far?"

[] Coin, simple and easy to spend, but will likely be less valuable overall than if you asked for something more specialized (1,000 gp)

[] A magic item, the Pathfinders have many items useful for just the kind of exploration you have in mind, why not look through and claim one
of them? (1,225 gp equivalent value)

[] Spells for Mina and Pepper to learn, no item and certainly no coin can match a single well-placed spell (1,225 gp equivalent value)


OOC: No mixing and matching in this case, Sirim has to make very specific arguments that have to do with Pathfinder bylaws to give you either a cheaper item or spells from the Lodge library. They would not work if you ask for more than one thing
 
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[x] A magic item, the pathfinders have many items useful for just the kind of exploration you have in mind, why not look through and claim one
of them (1225 gp equivalent value)
 
[X] Spells for Mina and Pepper to learn, no item and certainly no coin can match a single well-placed spell (1,225 gp equivalent value)

Always happy to learn more spells! Never enough spells!
 
Good night guys, see you tomorrow as we polish off the last of the quests from last arc... dam there were a lot of them. That journey took a while and not just in terms of IC time.
 
Great chapter, @DragonParadox. I always enjoy good world building. Makes me want to visit Nidal someday, in spite of the craziness.

I'm leaning toward the money. It gives us options and eventually we'll be able to spend it on improving our gear. There are not many good magic items that are so cheap, and Mina is not really hurting for spells. There are spells she could use, of course, but she only has so many spell slots to go around. She'll be learning 3rd level spells next level, too.

[X] Coin, simple and easy to spend, but will likely be less valuable overall than if you asked for something more specialized (1,000 gp)
 
[X] Spells for Mina and Pepper to learn, no item and certainly no coin can match a single well-placed spell (1,225 gp equivalent value)

Magical items can be stolen
 
[x] A magic item, the pathfinders have many items useful for just the kind of exploration you have in mind, why not look through and claim one
of them (1225 gp equivalent value)
 
You can but that is a roll of the dice in both senses of the word. You could end up with something that is worth a lot less than a thousand gold pieces or a lot more. Up to you guys if you want to take the risk.
So tempting...

[X] Coin, simple and easy to spend, but will likely be less valuable overall than if you asked for something more specialized (1,000 gp)
 
[x] A magic item, the pathfinders have many items useful for just the kind of exploration you have in mind, why not look through and claim one
of them (1225 gp equivalent value)
 
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