Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

Arc 0 Post 1: Songs in the Dark
Songs in the Dark

Seventh Bell Prayers, Hall of the Young

Threads of light grey, green and flickering blue danced upon the rough stone of the hall in time with the words of the First Prayer, spoken first in the old tongue of the Ancestors and then in the tongue of the People to the beat of many small hands.

Kápote zoúsame sta parapáno edáfi, sofoí kai epidéxioi sti téchni
Once we lived in the lands above, wise and skilled in craft.

You shuffle against Vex's shoulder and bump against Ixil's foot, knowing that you've earned many pinches and bruises from it, but not caring. You need to hear this, you need to know what the whispers and furtive hand gestures the caretakers mean. Vex claimed that you were defective and they'd feed you to the Sloppers instead of the Knife Gifting. Too tall to be a whisper-foot, too clumsy to be a dancer, too warm-souled to be a hunter, and ugly besides with the way the lines of your face seemed sharp enough to peel the bark off fungus-wood.

Metá írthe to makrý skotádi
Then the long dark came.

In your heart of hearts you had hoped that that the tale-teller be as you are, but she was not. Only coming up to your chin and you haven't gotten your full inches in yet. Yet in spite of the disappointment the light of the burning ether-cap is warm and filling, and the tale she spins grips you like a sudden under current.

Ósoi pálepsan enántia sto skotádi péthanan
Those who struggled against the darkness died.

The tale-teller's wrists shone with sliver bells, finer than anything you had seen before, the pale light holding within it reflections like the face of water. 'If I look close enough into them will I see myself?' You wonder, 'is that the secret to making light and sound cast back into the shape of the world? Would it be strange to take in that light as well? Would it make me more myself? What would that look like?'

Allá o Sofós íxere óti o Skoteinós odigoúse to drómo

But the Wise knew the Dark lead the way.

On she sings and on you clapped, nine times nine, each verse a trial that the old ones were given by the Dark on their way down from the Burnlands into the hidden homes of the People. She speaks of how they had become smaller and nimbler of fingers, save for the warriors and hunters of great beasts, of how song had been stolen from the burbling waters of Orv, how the first blue-flame had been tamed to forge the tools and knives of the People and of how...

Émoiazan perissótero o énas me ton állon óste oi fylés na eínai dynatés
They grew more alike, one with the other, that the clans might be strong.

A thought kindles in your mind with strange surety. 'Had the Old Ones been less alike one to the other, less smooth of face and sure of their path? Maybe you were like them. That wasn't bad right? The Old Ones had been 'wise and skilled in crafts' even before the Dark came. Maybe they too had been like...

[] Write in name

Maybe you weren't just a weird...

[] Boy (Male)

[] Girl (Female)

[] Child (Non-Binary)


OOC: I decided to go with Greek for the Azlanti tongue, because the Taldans who were later Day Imitators of Azlant are very Roman coded. Originally I wanted to go with ye olde Liniar B Greek, but there is no way I am making coherent sentences with just a dictionary. Apologies to any native speakers of modern Greek for the inevitable weirdness of Google Translate.
 
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I am absolutely terrible at coming up with names, so I tracked down the blurb on Azlanti naming conventions in the PathfinderWiki and used one of those. The Caligni are descended from Azlanti refugees, so that's not too far outside the bounds of possibility (...even if that happened 10,000 years ago...).

[X] Akorian, Kori to his/her friends.
[X] Boy
 
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[x] Cassandra
[x] Girl

People where talking about being a oracle who can't do diplomacy, let's take the correct name for this.
 
Caligni Diet and Lifestyle
Caligni Diet and Lifestyle

One of the reasons why the Dark Folk can endure in what are marginal lands in resource sparse Nar Voth is that not all their energy comes from food. One of the Dark Folk is required to eat about half of what a humanoid their size would otherwise have to, with the remainder coming from various sorts of light. While light is certainly rare in the Darklands it is far less so than edible food. A hunter might burn a shoot of one of the great spire mushrooms for a pleasant blue-green glow or ignite the otherwise thoroughly poisonous flesh of a gug or purple worm to sustain themselves and their tribe. It is the habit of setting alight often virulently poisonous things that is credited in the legends of the People with their extraordinary skill with poison. Just as every adult caligni has some kind of knife, even if it is only polished stone, so too do all of them have a small selection of poisons and the knowledge to use them effectively.

There is a darker side to the ability though.

Not only does the light of the Burnlands harm the dark folk more than any other inhabitant of Nar Voth bar the dero, but also a caligni with access to light but without food will starve far slower and more painfully than almost any other being, literally withering from within until they are unable to speak, walk or move. That is the other reason why the knife is the symbol of coming of age. Rather than face the Withering a caligni with no chance to reach food or water will take their own life. It is because of this that knives are always kept sharp and polished until their owner can see some semblance of their reflection in them. Many a tragic song involves the hero 'bathing in the light of their own reflection upon steel' as they ponder their mortality. That one cannot do this with a stone knife, of course, which rather hints at who the heroes of most songs are.

On a lighter note, novel types of light can have novel and sometimes quite pleasant effects on the caligni they are exposed to. Everything from rare crystals from Orv, the deepest layer of the Darklands, to shimmering drow silk to the fading witchlights of forgotten ruins can create mood-altering light. Who knows what one wondrous hues might one find upon the face of the world where light is so prevalent.

OOC: Here's a bit of information that might be relevant next turn when we make the sheet for the PC since themes of light and darkness have not just a cultural but a physiological impact on them
 
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Do the dark folk also learn how to fight with their valued knives as well, or do most of them largely see it as a tool?

From what I'm reading about their caste society, it sounds like the majority aren't really granted the privilege of military training. However, it also seems like the local creatures are really bloody dangerous, and with their warrior-leaders apparently being some real bastards, it makes me wonder how they prevent under dark monsters mauling them at an unsustainable rate.
 
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I think that one "in time with" is redundant. Or am I misunderstand something?
One *with access to light* too much there.

Otherwise, interesting tidbit on what is probably not a well known race.

Fixed, thanks

Do the dark folk also learn how to fight with their valued knives as well, or do most of them largely see it as a tool?

From what I'm reading about their caste society, it sounds like the majority aren't really granted the privilege of military training. However, it also seems like the local creatures are really bloody dangerous, and with their warrior-leaders apparently being some real bastards, it makes me wonder how they prevent under dark monsters mauling them at an unsustainable rate.

All of them are trained at least well enough to be able to defend themselves, just as they are trained in how to hide.
 
Caligni give a whole new meaning to the phrase "taste the rainbow!". 🤓
 
Looking at the Oracle Shadow Mystery, it really does seem like a perfect fit for us if we choose Oracle as our class.

Shadow – d20PFSRD


Bluff, Disguise, Knowledge(Dungeoneering), and Stealth all become class skills. Bluff helps fill the hole left by Diplomacy (assuming we get the Friendless Curse), Disguise for when we don't want to appear as a Caligni, Dungeoneering is probably the most important Knowledge skill in the Darklands, and Stealth because of both the environment, our native abilities, and how well the Shadow Mystery can further boost it. We can easily be as stealthy as the most Stealth-focused Rogue.

Almost all of the Shadow Revelations are great, too (unlike those from a lot of other Mysteries). We'll definitely be spoiled for choice.
Dark Secrets (Su): You learn the hidden secrets surrounding the casting of shadow spells. You can add a number of spells from the sorcerer/wizard spell list equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1, maximum equal to half your oracle level) to your spell list and your list of spells known as divine spells. These have a spell level equal to their sorcerer/wizard spell level. You can add only illusion spells from the shadow subschool or spells with the darkness descriptor to your list of spells known in this manner. Each time you gain an oracle level after taking this revelation, you can choose to replace one of these spells for a new appropriate spell on the sorcerer/wizard spell list.
Dark Secrets is actually shockingly good. That's a huge amount of additional versatility and potential spell knowledge from one Revelation, and it just gets better and better as we level.

And it has further support from another Revelation to make it even more effective.
Shadow Mastery (Su): Whenever you cast an illusion spell from the shadow subschool, increase the strength of such spells by 1% per oracle level you have. You must be at least 7th level to choose this revelation.
 
Having Gaseous Form is also nice. Being good at stealth and having that seems wonderful to sneak anywhere.
 
@Goldfish , just brainstorming, but what do you say of a Stone Mystery Oracle. They get Earth glide! That is bound to be very useful in the Darklands
 
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