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Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

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Arc 5 Summary
  • Informational
    • Arc 5 is where the pace picks up.

    The party says goodbye to Click, leaving him in the care of the temple of Desna. They visit the local Pathfinders' Lounge, where Sirim reveals himself a defector from the Umbral Court of Nidal, for which he is likely to be hunted until the end of his days. They go to Forester's Endowment, a famous Andoran bank, to cash out on the banknotes found in Arc 1, which is how they get involved in the plot to unravel a conspiracy by House Vaylen by raiding the tomb of Egriso Vaylen to make his spirit stand witness... and they overhear a curious conversation between the head banker and a dwarf who claims he found pillars of pure adamantium in the Verduran forest. Nobody believes him, and the dwarf stomps away to look for help funding an expedition elsewhere, but Kori, by virtue of his dreams, recognizes the cryocapsules from the moon. The Azlanti survivors have made planetfall and now walk among men!

    The middle of the arc is spent infiltrating Egriso's tomb, to find out he turned into an allip and had been sealed inside. He was more talkative than one would expect, telling the party that he planned to use the mold as a mutagen to create super-soldiers to prepare for the inevitable war with Cheliax, but was forced to take poison by his own uncle to avoid shaming the House. He gave us the names of the conspirators, which we promplty passed to our employer.

    The last matter that needed to be taken care of before moving on with the story was the destruction of the phylactery at the hands of the priest of Pharasma, to help the soul of the lich pass into the River. However, the ring couldn't be destroyed in one go, and the party had to face a desperate retaliation strike from a group of adventurers whose dreams were hijacked, and a wererat who used their distraction in an attempt to steal the ring. Lycantropes are particularly despised throughout Andoran, and the party was pressured into killing the ratkin while the adventurers surrendered after coming to their senses. But they got the feeling he was not acting alone...

    The arc concludes with the party sifting through maps to visualize the locations of known Azlanti vaults.
     
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  • Informational
    • Arc 6 Summary
  • Informational
    • Arc 6 starts with the party being spied on by rats -- it looks like someone holds a grudge for killing the ratkin -- as they track down the dwarf, Master Urgor, who seems to have found the aid he was looking for... at the hands of the Aspis Consortium, a shady organisation with a reputation to match their name. Apparently Urgor is worried about it too, and he hires Gorok's Ghosts to serve as an extra set of eyes and ears looking out for his stake in the claim. The expedition is funded by Lord Loric Gavhaul, an Aspis agent in good standing, and the party is placed under his command.

    On the way to the Pathfinder's Lodge, where they hope to get supplies for the journey ahead, the party meets Cozut, an Azarketi prince, who mistakes Kori for a Dancer and invites him to his wedding. The invitation stands even after the misunderstanding is cleared, and it appears Cozut has something in mind. Putting that aside, the party proceeds to the Lodge and discovers their new employment has made them no friends there. They receive a counter-offer to betray Gavhaul and make sure the Consortium doesn't benefit from the expedition in any way, which, after a brief consideration, they accept. They are issued anti-divination talismans and instructions on how to contact the Almas Pathfinder branch.

    As they leave for the wedding, the party gets shot with an arrow and then honest-to-god terrorist-bombed. Thinking on their feet, they get off the street which they guess to be a prepared killing ground, and break into one of the houses... to find it booby-trapped against would-be burglars, and an eight year old girl discharging the traps in their faces. This is how the team meets Anippe, daughter of Eshe River Runner, who is a of the line of Arclords of Nex. Thankfully, Eshe herself is absent at the time, and the child is happy to show them the backdoor for 10 gold coins... 20 for not telling a word to her mother. The party pays her for the trouble, but they also choose to introduce themselves and tell Anippe to relay their apologies to Eshe before departing.

    At the wedding they are approached by Prince Cozut, who explains that he is in love with another woman, and asks Kori to think of something to stop the wedding. The prize being an Azlanti pendant containing memories and experiences of his people and giving him powers of divination, Kori agrees to give an ominous prophecy. He would declare that if the wedding were to proceed, it will lead to a devastating war with Cheliax, which is technically true, though not for the reasons everybody assumes. No falsehoods are found in his statement, and the wedding is postponed for a year, which leaves the prince content enough.

    Sensing that their welcome is wearing thin, and with unknown pursuers after their lives, the party promptly sails for Almas with the rest of Gavhaul's expedition.
     
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  • Informational
    • Vote closed.
    Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Mar 5, 2025 at 2:56 PM, finished with 19 posts and 4 votes.
    • [x] Caution and Curiosity
      [x] Caution and Curiosity
      -[X] Everyone capable of doing so begins using Detect Magic to examine their surroundings for the traces of spells, enchantments, traps, etc., while Cob pays special attention to potential traps and structural dangers. He will also use his cloak's Detect Secret Doors power to search for hidden spaces. Gorok will use the spectacles of Detect Fiendish Presence to search for such signs. If anything particularly concerning is spotted, Sirim will cast Greater Detect Magic to examine it in more detail.
      -[X] Only after they have confirmed that doing so won't trigger wards, traps, or some other nastiness, will the group begin exploring beyond this first chamber.
    Click to expand...
     
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    Arc 10: Post 68: What Lights Above
  • Threadmarks
    • What Lights Above ​

    19th of Abadius 4708 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)

    The air is as thick with the blue of abjuration and the swirling orange red of conjuration as it is with mist wafting in from the tangled garden to the south. Wait, how do I know that's the south? When you interrogate the feeling direction simply feels that way with the tug of familiarity, though you've never been in such a place in all your days.

    "Wonder what they need all the light for?" Cob points at the chandeliers, then out in the direction you had been watching. "There's plenty to see even for longshanks, right?" he asks Anippe who nods.

    "Maybe a storm broke down a door?" Mina offers reasonably. "It looks like the wind carried all the branches in here."

    "A most expansive realm," Sirim allows, trying to make sense of the carvings on the wall, either flowers of some alien design or geometric patterns that open akin to them.

    "Then why are they still lit?" Cob motions with his dagger. "Who's making the fire?"

    "Magic?" you offer, but even as you do so you realize the haze of conflicting auras is no thicker there than in other parts of the chamber.

    Akorian: 1d20+11 = 14 (Failure)
    Cob: 1d20+19 = 32 (Success)
    Gorok: 1d20+13 = 29 (Success)

    "Hunter!" Gorok shouts, an arrow snapping the bow he had pulled from across his back a moment later to strike the cracked stone vault. "We see you!" It wasn't just a warning, you realize as the glittering mass of gilded wood and fine wax flows and quivers... and reforms.

    Pinpricks of flame revolve into the eyes of a an alien hunter, its voice like the whistle of wind over steel, like quivering cords of copper and gold: "Flesh speaks, blood speaks? Do you seek the hand that withers?"

    "M...mimic," Anippe's voice quivers on the word.

    Anippe: 1d20+7 = 9, 27 (Critical Success)

    For his part Sirim has no such qualms. "Fascinating to hear you speak. Most of your kindred set their minds to stalking prey, not conversing with it. This hand that withers, is it yours?"

    "Oh...no... no!" Still pretending to be a very large chandelier the creature starts to laugh. Disconcerting, but at least it's not attacking. "No sense working up more of an appetite than I already have when your death is so near."

    With these words the strange creature begins to crawls along the ceiling on strange half-mimicked pseudo-pods and making its way out of the room, perhaps to make itself scarce among the trees, perhaps simply because it has a spectacle to watch.

    "Come back! Come back and explain yourself!" Oriel shouts, almost jostling one of the spheres with his wings. "Explain yourself or be counted renegade!"

    The ooze pays the challenge, or perhaps better to say heckling, no mind, continuing on its way.

    What does the party do?

    [] Attack the ooze before it gets out of sight, you don't need it spreading news of your arrival

    [] One immediate danger removed, thousand of others still lurking, you do not have time to meddle in such matters

    [] Try to get some answers out of the ooze since it is so talkative
    -[] Write in offer any questions you wish to pose

    [] Write in

    OOC: Enjoy.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Alright, but who is lighting the other chandeliers?

    ...by the way, the latest Interlude is marked as belonging to Arc 15. Anippe may be an Arclord, but it's a bit too early for her to mess with powers of time and narration.

    [x] Mina uses her Slumber Hex on the Mimic before it can escape.
     
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    Our first Mimic sighting! Nicely spotted, Cob, Gorok. If we weren't already adventurers, we would be now. :p

    And this one is a talker. Let's capture it and give it a chance to speak some more. Thankfully, Mimics don't have any special Immunity to Sleep effects, and unless this thing is Mythic it shouldn't even get a saving throw against Mina's Slumber Hex.

    [X] Mina uses her Slumber Hex on the Mimic before it can escape.
     
    I really doubt that there is some central intelligence the mimic will report too. This seems more of abandoned place that turned into a magical ecosystem, better to just let it be than risk a fight that might draw something that is actually dangerous. That being said I do think that asking it some questions may be worth it.

    [X] Mina uses her Slumber Hex on the Mimic before it can escape.

    Slumber Hex works nicely to capture it without disturbance
     
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    At least this mimic was spotted early, and since its so talkative I want to know what the hell it was talking about in regards to us 'dying soon'.

    It would have been better off pretending it was mindless and running off.

    [X] Mina uses her Slumber Hex on the Mimic before it can escape.
     
    Goldfish said:
    Thankfully, Mimics don't have any special Immunity to Sleep effects, and unless this thing is Mythic it shouldn't even get a saving throw against Mina's Slumber Hex.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Well, it gets one, but it's during Mina's turn the following round ...though it doesn't say if it's at the start or end of Mina's turn. Hmmm
    Mythic Hexes (Su): When you use a Hex that requires a saving throw against a non-Mythic target, that target is automatically affected for 1 round (which doesn't count toward the Hex's duration) and can't attempt a saving throw to resist the Hex. On your turn the next round, the creature attempts its saving throw as normal.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    @DragonParadox, when you're fresh in the morning can we please have a ruling on if the saving throw is attempted at the start or end of Mina's turn (or if it's up to her), and then we can add it to her char sheet?
    ---

    [X] Mina uses her Slumber Hex on the Mimic before it can escape.
     
    Arc 7 Summary
  • Informational
    • Arc 7 has us cross paths with the pirate vessel which could have started the prophecized war operating under a false Chelish flag if we didn't alter its fate. A brief scuffle ends with the party getting their hands on a bit of Throneglass, and with Gavhaul sinking the enemy ship with a single spell, which raises a few eyebrows since no one can figure out what the spell was. Also, our ship's cook Big Oka is outed as a worshipper of Sun Eater, and is kicked out by the crew; the team rehires him to work for them instead.

    The expedition arrives in Almas, and there are several arrangements to be made before it can proceed, as Gavhaul does not want to pay the Andoran tax and would rather smuggle the adamantium into Taldor. The party splits up and gets to: save a scholar from being ripped off by scammers, visit a theater, look into buying land for Gorok's tribe to settle, and visit an Aspis contact who will be responsible for smoothing things out with Taldan border patrols. However, the bureacrats do not accept settlers from Cheliax without a prior recommendation, and Gavhaul's liaison turns out to be an ancient vampire diabolist. Said diabolist is responsible for the kidnapping of a noble's sister to steal her skin and identity, which the party learns about in the most hilarious way possible. The nefarious plot in disrupted, and the grateful noble gets Gorok the deed to settle the Carpenden Plains, but the logistics of the expedition becomes complicated as a result. The party conspires with the Almas Pathfinder branch so that they offer Gavhaul their services to transport the Aspis goods across the border.

    Gavhaul becomes a little paranoid around Akorian; this tends to happen when you invite your employees to meet your coworker and they murder her in cold blood not a day after. On the other hand, the vampire had a certain book depicting various foul rituals that is of major interest to both Sirim and Gavhaul; the former because he intends to use the knowledge to restore his body; the latter because he has clients who would pay a pretty penny for a copy. Having assembled a group of dwarven smiths to take care of raw adamantium on the other side of the border, the expedition sails up the river to the Verduran forest.

    Four clear factions emerge: there is Master Urgor Surefoot with his clan of dwarves; there is a group of former crusaders turned sellswords working under Captain Leontas; there's Gorok's Ghosts with Big Oka; and then there is Gavhaul, the caravan master in charge. The party tries to get to know the other two leaders, to get a feel for how likely they are to stand down in case of mutiny.

    However, before they get anywhere, the caravan is assailed by a hunting party of kytons looking for a 'heretic'. The Umbral Court sends Sirim their regards, but no one except the party knows this, and no one can be allowed to know because it would reveal a lot more we've been trying to hide. The kytons are driven away; the sole prisoner Gavhaul has taken is quietly disposed of; and the survivors are hunted down by the party and Master Urgor, who has a special ax to grind with demons and undead. The party runs headfirst into an ambush made out of undead children in the best horror set piece to date. They choose to go to the nearby village to let them know of the children's fate and give them a chance for a proper burial. They find out there is a swaithe running around trying to kidnap kids, and when they go looking for it they discover one of Lamashtu's unhallowed grounds where they are assaulted by demon wolves. Urgor gets possessed, but the attack is repelled, and from the captured swaithe the party learns the village is run by a coven of hags who kidnad changeling children to swell their ranks. Those who refuse to join... well, those are the ones the kytons raised into undeath. The party makes haste to reunite with the caravan, leaving this entire mess behind.
     
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  • Informational
    • Arc 10: Post 69: Strange Sting
  • Threadmarks
    • Strange Sting ​

    19th of Abadius 4708 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)

    "Maybe we can convince it to linger," you start. What you need most of all is information, and who better to know this place than a predator that's stalked its byways for who knows how many centuries? Mimics bubbling with fecund growth are as unconcerned with the passage of time as any other frailty of the flesh, so long as they have something to feast upon.

    "Got it," Mina says... and that is the last thing that goes well.

    She starts to sing a song of drowsy slumber, but instead of lulling the creature off its perch it instead whirls into a spiral of flesh that flows like quicksilver, with dozens of leech-like mouths breathing out jets of flame that super-heat the air into a an unearthly screech.

    Mimic Will Save: 1d20+8 = 28 (Critical Success)

    "Stop! Stop! Make it Stop!" You do not hear Anippe as she slaps her hands over her ears, but you read the words on her lips as you realize what this is. An inverted silence focused on the creature itself that permits no spells that need be uttered.

    "Cob, the ground!" Alas, Sirim's warming comes too late as the fallen branches and detritus on the chamber floor comes alive with a carpet of diminutive creatures that seem to have been made of leaf and branch to spindly limbs to the needle sharp teeth that they now sink into Cob's legs and arms in a frenzy.


    Cob Takes 13 Damage -> Now at 62/75

    To her credit before you had done more than drawn your sword Anippe had raises the fiery ruby and from its heart roused the elemental which had served you so well. For a moment you wonder if it has the wits to burn only the swarm and not the goblin, but you needn't have. They had forged well the dwarfs in the depths of the world, as for all its rage the creature is not without wit as it begins to burn its way through the foe as the dead leaves and branches catch easily. Best end this before it gets to the trees though.

    Verdant Swarm takes 6*1.5 = 9 Damage -> Now at 40/49

    What do you do?

    [] Keep trying to capture the mimic, that it has some kind of magic only means it's all the more likely to know some of the creatures of this place

    [] Kill the mimic before its screech can draw anymore of the denizens of the Refuge

    [] Gorok tries to talk to the swarm, perhaps he can talk it down or at least confuses it

    [] Write in

    OOC: A shorter update than I would have preferred, but you are in combat so can't really be helped. To be clear it's only the space around the mimic that is magically silenced by its scream, Kori has more than enough movement to move back and cast as can Mina. Anippe's finished her turn though and can't move until next turn.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Damn this is kinda what I didn't want, better kill it now to lessen the risk of it alerting anything, the. Run the away from this place asap so we do t run afoul of anything that is already on its way.
     
    Hmm, okay, that complicates things a bit.

    If the Mimic even got a chance to make a Will save against Mina's Slumber Hex, that means it's has some degree of Mythic power. We should expect other creatures in this place to be similarly empowered.
     
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