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Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

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Mmm... That a lot of free real adamantine! Can we get shares in this new exciting startup?

[x] She seems a reasonable sort, ask about the banknotes
 
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Unfortunately, we don't have any real IC justification to believe the story is anything more than the results of Fey trickery. Chasing down the Dwarf to intervene would not make any sense.
 
Goldfish said:
Unfortunately, we don't have any real IC justification to believe the story is anything more than the results of Fey trickery.
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Says you! I bet Cob finds the story fairly plausible. He's heard stranger. He's done stranger.

The only reason we lack the IC justification to pursue is because it does not sound eadible. :whistle:
 
Well, it's close by, and people in the city all seem terribly busy. We, on the other hand, are not is a hurry, and just came out of woods infested with worse things than the fey.

By the way, isn't checking out rumors to see whether they should be acted upon a job for adventurers, especially if the woods are deemed not entirely safe? When I first heard it I thought there'd be a new request put to the local adventurers' guild or its nearest equivalent. Dunno what that might be in Andoran.
 
Nevill said:
Well, it's close by, and people in the city all seem terribly busy. We, on the other hand, are not is a hurry, and just came out of woods infested with worse things than the fey.

By the way, isn't checking out rumors to see whether they should be acted upon a job for adventurers, especially if the woods are deemed not entirely safe? When I first heard it I thought there'd be a new request put to the local adventurers' guild or its nearest equivalent. Dunno what that might be in Andoran.
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I would not really call it close by. This is a map of Andoran:


Augustana is to the SW along the shores of Aspo Bay. Fusil is in the Verduan Forest all the way to the east up the Sellen River, one of the most isolated settlements in the land.

The closest thing to an adventurer's guilt in Golarion would be the Pathfinders, Kori does not know if they heard of this yet.
 
DragonParadox said:
I would not really call it close by. This is a map of Andoran:


Augustana is to the SW along the shores of Aspo Bay. Fusil is in the Verduan Forest all the way to the east up the Sellen River, one of the most isolated settlements in the land.

The closest thing to an adventurer's guilt in Golarion would be the Pathfinders, Kori does not know if they heard of this yet.
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That is very far away for adventurers of our level. Eyeballing it, I'd say 1200-ish miles.

On top of the distance would be the logistics involved with securing a large amount of adamantine. We don't have the skills or equipment to work with the metal, nor the ability to transport it. At best, we could reasonably end as guards for an expedition sent to investigate the story.

Given the expense of that, however, and the likelihood of it being Fey shenanigans, it will probably end up as something a higher level adventuring party will be hired to check out.
 
I all but forgot about that choice, and what I wanted out of it. And what I wanted was...
Nevill said:
[x] Ascendancy
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...to be accepted as one of the Azlanti heirs, not just by a damaged machine doing a blood scan, but in truth. The story of a descendant of a powerful civilization who 'degenerated into a primitive barbarism' becoming someone people of the said civilization could acknowledge as one of their own... and making use of that acknowledgement, to whatever ends. A pariah expelled from polite society finding the acceptance he craved in the least likely of places.

Maybe not just for us, too, as one of the vaults requires 'a male and female of the blood' to enter.

Beats Camaraderie by a mile, if you ask me. :p :whistle:

Of course, Azlanti are likely to hold unfavorable opinions on 'primitives', and I don't mean just us but everyone who aren't them. They seem like a haughty sort. We could be the link between the two worlds.

Ah, but we'll see if that isn't still in the cards, just not in the way I imagined it.
 
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[x] She seems a reasonable sort, ask about the banknotes

Solving all plot threads at the same time. How wonderful is civilization.
 
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Arc 5 Post 14: A Writ Unmasked
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    • A Writ Unmasked ​

    23st of Rova 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)

    "What about the banknotes?" you ask, sounding it out in duergar, literally 'false-vault-parchment' with the implication of 'kindling for the forges'.

    Mina swallows a startled laugh as she gives you a dirty look, but she agrees with the substance of your idea at least, taking out the banknotes you had recovered seasons ago from among the moldfolk's grisly bone shrine. "Could you look at these please?"

    Though the mistress of the hall does so it's clear she is humoring you at first. Then she frowns, takes out one of the notes and holds it against the light to read. Moving urgently now, Silea Naran takes out a silver eye-piece ringed with diminutive runes and places it on her right eye to study the paper again.

    "Aroden's ghost!" she curses suddenly, making Mina flinch.

    Is it still blasphemy if the god being insulted is already dead? you wonder as your host quickly leads you up a narrow flight of stairs and through a door that closes with the heavy thump of metal merely disguised in wood. She motions distractedly at a trio of padded chairs, though only Cob takes her up on the offer and that so he can peer out the window from a high perch.

    For her part Silea resumes her study of the banknotes, looking each one over with the silver eye-piece and setting them aside. Finally, when she is done, she turns to a point about halfway between Mina and Gorok, unsure of who the leader is and says: "All of these are legitimate. They are worth eight hundred and fifty sails in total, though they really shouldn't exist for reasons that... well never mind that, I'm sure they'd bore you to tears. What can you tell me about where you found these?"

    At that the four of you exchange looks and shrugs. No reason not to tell her after all. The only thing you had killed in that fight were moldfolk, their pets, and one of the Hungry Dead. Gorok does run his fingers across the haft of his axe, a reminder that it too had been found in the same haul.

    So Mina tells the story, from being hired by a pair of half orcs to clear out a mine their mysterious employer had an interest in, to finding a cargo manifest pinned to a corpse, referencing a certain Egriso of Augustana, and finally to the final resting place of the mercenaries among whose remains you had actually found the banknotes.

    "The manifest, do you still have it?" Silea asks sharply.

    Thankfully Cob does, having grabbed it at some point along the journey since no one was using it. In spite of the... spiked gate trap designs drawn on the back in charcoal, it still seems to be intact. That does little to set Silea's mind at ease though, if anything she looks even grimmer. She steps out from behind the desk. "You have brought a matter of grave import to my attention and for that I thank you. From here we have two options..." She raises her left hand, cupped as though it holds water. "I pay you the full face value of these notes, despite the fact that you are not the intended beaer your deeds so far have more than compensate for that, or..." she raises her right hand in like gesture: "I retain your services to help deal with the problem you have just revealed."

    "Isn't that a little... hasty?" Mina asks dubiously. "You've only just met us."

    At that Silea glances at Cob, who was sitting backwards on his chair now, eyes barely peaking over the backrest. "Some things are obvious at a glance, like how you four have no connection to the high society of Augustana or Almas. And from your account, which has been materially substantiated, you are quite competent, particularly at, let us say, surreptitious acquisitions."

    "What acquisitions would those be?" you ask, starting to understand the shape of this.

    "Acquiring more proof of a dangerous conspiracy," she answers, picking her words the way a scout picks his way through a roper's den. "It would be unwise to tell you more than that if you do not agree to the contract. It would simply multiply the chances of information getting to the wrong ears too soon."

    Mina seems half-convinced, Cob is always as enthusiastic about sneaking around, while Gorok is more reserved. He could certainly see the use of eleven hundred and fifty more Golden Sails, but he is not one to dive into unknown waters lightly and these you would wager are murkier than most. On the other, hand if you fulfill Silea's deal it would get you something perhaps more precious then gold in the long run, contacts among the wealthy and the powerful of Augustana.

    Do you take the deal to acquire more proof of conspiracy for Silea Naran?

    [] No, the risks are too great
    Exchange the Banknotes for 850 gp

    [] Yes, take the deal, you could always use the money and the connections
    Receive the above 850 gp in addition to another 1,150 gp

    [] Try to negotiate for a more pay
    -[] Write in sum

    OOC: Social rolls not shown this time around since they would constitute out of character information.
     
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    • From my experience with dangerous-conspiracy-interrupts...

    Should you accidentally cross someone powerful enough to run one and reveal it, you stand to get a lot by having them run into the ground for good and ensuring other powerful people profit from it.

    I'd rather be paid in items and spells, though. If this is Not!France, I bet there will be confiscations involved once the heads stop rolling. Surely something might get lost along the way. :whistle:

    [x] Yes, take the deal, you could always use the money and the connections
     
    Nevill said:
    From my experience with dangerous-conspiracy-interrupts...

    Should you accidentally cross someone powerful enough to run one and reveal it, you stand to get a lot by having them run into the ground for good and ensuring other powerful people profit from it.

    I'd rather be paid in items and spells, though. If this is Not!France, I bet there will be confiscations involved once the heads stop rolling. Surely something might get lost along the way. :whistle:

    [x] Yes, take the deal, you could always use the money and the connections
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    Andoran is pretty stable, it is Not!France alright, but the year is more like 1900 than 1793, there is a strong executive in the person of the Supreme Elect with broad powers, but a three term limit etc... The reason they are so stable is that Galt got the Terror about 60 years ago and never stopped.
     
    At the risk of being too greedy, I'm leaning towards taking the deal. It doesn't seem like an assassination or combat-oriented mission, but rather a stealth-focused one, and that's what we're really good at.

    Everyone in the party has max Stealth skill ranks, Mina and Kori can both cast Invisibility, and Mina has Pass Without Trace and Disguise Self as SLAs. Cob's resting Stealth bonus is +24, and Pepper's is +15. Pepper's can also be boosted to +23 by changing the bonus from his Manifest Dream ability.

    And finally, Kori's Searching Shadows spell is perfect for long-range breaking and entering. The spell can last as long as he continues to concentrate on it, it has a range of 140 feet, and let's him search a 10 foot radius each round with a boosted Perception check.

    All together, our crew is probably the best people she could find for this sort of job.

    [X] Yes, take the deal, you could always use the money and the connections
     
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    Well, it seems we have run into something quite interesting.

    And we have a great investigation party to get it done!

    [X] Yes, take the deal, you could always use the money and the connections
     
    Could you remind me what we know about the banknotes and the manifest?

    I vaguely remember the quest we took from two half-orcs who paid us to clean the mold lab. We found the remnants of a party of mercenaries in there, led by a priest of Abadar, 'Master of the First Vault'. The banknotes were hidden in a hollow wooden leg of one of the dead fighters. The manifest was discovered... independently, I think? Someone from Augustana, allegedly Egriso, was buying hazardous substances.

    The orcs said they killed the mercenaries because those were 'muscling in on their turf', or something? Implying a conflict between their boss, and whoever the mercenaries were representing. Did I remember things right?
     
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