Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

[DragonParadox]

Of Song and Sighs ​

The Season of Still Stone

Cob takes to picking out loot from the ruin of his former captors with the gusto of a dung beetle in a Deepbat roost, fastening one dagger across each forearm and one down his spine, only to arm himself with what he proudly proclaims is the 'spikiest' morning star, though he does give the odd jealous look at the polished wood and brass crossbow you had claimed off one of the guards. How he could possibly expect to heft the thing you have no idea...

Truth be told, you are struggling under the unaccustomed weight of the bedroll tied to your back and the sack of supplies you are hefting. Should be good for about a quarter-season with magic to top up the waterskins made of tough impermeable snail-hide. Duergar make good work, if only they weren't such cast iron sons of bitches. Judging by the contents of his song, your diminutive companion seems to agree:

Goblins need a blade to fight,
Scare the stunties with our might.
A rusty blade should do the trick,
Their floofy beards we mean to nick.

The eerily cheerful words of the song bounce off the stones of the Long Walk, twisting and fracturing until it almost seems as though there are scores of other goblins hiding among the stones singing all along.

Into the loot we must dig,
To find a blade not too small, not too big.
Into the mounds we will dig deep,
Out with a blade we will creep.

So it goes for a good four hundred heartbeats while the last sounds of Vex and his kin are lost behind you, pushing away the silence of the tunnels the way a hungry Ankeg pushes aside soil in search of roots and truffles.

A rusty blade to cut their hides,
Dig it deep into their sides.
Look at the mess that we have made,
With our fine new dwarflicer blade.

Finally he seems to run out of verses about his dwarf-killing deeds, giving you a bit more of a chance to talk to your less exuberant companion on the road. Her name is Mina and she is of Vische, a place in the Burnlands, though how far from here to there she cannot say for she has long been carried under the ground by slavers who did not wish to see her eyes, nor hear her tongue.

"They say my mother was Sczarni who became lost in the storm that had come out of the Gravelands with dead hounds on her trail. She scrambled to the door of one of the High Houses of Pharasma, judge and midwife of souls. The monks took her in out of piety, though they did not have much hope for her or for me. I was born hanged, you see, with a cord round my neck, but somehow I lived and breathed, but my mother did not. The Mother Superior said my soul must have wandered far, to loose the color of my eyes and gain instead a wisdom of the ears."

Here she stops to roll up the cloodweed sleeves of her ropes again, for all the good it will do her. You would offer to help, but your sorcery will only mend it as new, not adjust it.

"Some said I was cursed and that it was devil's script under my eyes. I thought... I thought to make my own in Caliphas where I would be less strange, and that was when I found Pepper. He was... he was...."

It is not that you never saw someone cry before, you had after all, in fear, in pain, in anger even, but you had never heard someone sob so openly. Even Cob stops his singing and looks at Mina curiously.

"Pepper, you have pepper in eyes?" the goblin asks, ears perking up with intrigue.

"Pepper was my cat, my familiar," Mina manages to get out. "He came to me, told me there was a reason for all of it, that I would find who I was along the side of the road and in the light of Desna's veil. But I joined up with a caravan and they were... not good people, not at all. They killed him, tied me up, and drugged me. Not sure how many times I was sold on, but I think it was months and months before I ended up with the dwarfs. They were going to sell me to a wicked nymph, a Lady of the Court of the Ether."

You know that place, by fel reputation at least. Queen Frilogarma of the Ether Throne is said to trade in dreams and desires as much as gold and silver, and she is known far and wide as a collector oddities. Was that where the caravan had been going when it had been ambushed twice over and broken?

Though now that you consider it a question comes to mind... where are you all going? Cob seems to be happy as long as there is trail bread to be had, songs to sing, and the odd duergar to kill. Mina is looking for answers about her heritage and perhaps a way back to Caliphas, but you... where do you want to go?

[] Get off the Long Road at once, the last thing you need is to be caught by a duergar patrol in the possession of looted duergar goods in the company of escaped duergar slaves
-[] Head north into wet Xulgath inhabited tunnels
-[] Head south into drier tunnels inhabited by Mongrelmen hunters and trappers

[] Continue east down the main road towards the city of the dark fey. They may trade with the Children of Droskar, but they are no vassals of theirs and will care little of you robbing them. Not to mention that above the Endless Gulf is one of the surest paths to the Burnlands whence Mina comes

[] Write in

OOC: Mina is currently a witch without a familiar so she does not have spellcasting.

 

[DragonParadox]

Hunters and Hunted ​

The Season of Still Stone

There is no shortage of ways opening off the Long Road. To the north, rust red signs dripping in abstract tendrils frame narrow clefts wafting with the scent of brackish water and rotten eggs. Not even Cob seriously considers a trip down there, even when he is sure that he can hear the sound of other goblins. But to the south the passages angle up like the main gallery of the Long Road and the stone remains mostly dry, marked by the crude but welcoming markings of the mongrel tribes: a flame in a circle, two snakes with their tails entwined with their heads touching, even the crossed dagger hilts of the People's mark for peace.

"Traders welcome it looks like..." you say, as much to hearten yourself as Mina. You had never been off the road this far and the legends of cave spiders, scorpions and worse things abound. The bare stone gives way to a carpet of wild lichen and, a few hundred feet in, to the first glimmers of blue-grey light filtering from somewhere far below, maybe even as far down as the drow-lands, though it seems unlikely than anyone would have failed to plug up those kinds of gaps this close to the Long Road.

As the light grows so too do the sighs of life. Vines as thick as your wrist rapping round and round the tunnel almost like they are holding the tunnel in place and to each of them anchored curtains of delicate spider webs filled with all manner of tinny crawling things; flies and beetles, bats and bugs, some look dry and withered as the stone while others...

"Don't put that in your mouth, Cob," you snap at the goblin. At the wounded look he gives you the best you can do is sigh. "It might be poison." Or it might be a lure for whatever had woven those webs, you do not add aloud.

It's clear from the way that she is very carefully not looking at the walls that your other companion is a lot less cavalier about spiders and other crawling things. So you start talking, asking questions almost at random to keep her mind off shadows in the fickle light; her favorite food, her favorite color, what clothes and customs are like in the Burnlands, how the tribes of Ustilav are ordered and how they honor their ancestors. A great deal of what she answers makes little sense to you. Why would vast crowds beyond counting worship the natural passage of life and death? Life and death happen on their own! But other glimpses of life in the monastery are fascinating; the ritual of morning prayer, the adjudication that even the mighty and the old should show humility, the teaching of writing and drawing alongside practical skills like farming and weaving.

The idea of having practically unlimited space to graze the 'sheep' that make their thread is still hard to wrap your mind around, though at least Mina seems to be thoroughly distracted when you ask if the beasts extrude the thread from the front side or the back.

"Sheep don't..." the giggling gets so bad she is practically struggling for air. "They grow hair on their bodies, the same way we grow hair on our heads."

"Oh..." you shake your head, feeling an awkward smile forming on your face, though more at the word 'we' than 'sheep'. The sounds of laughter and talking bounce across the limestone walls farther and farther, until it falls to silence, at first companionable, then again uneasy. Thin trickles of water, bitter and dark, start streaking from above like the sighs of unseen spirits, then slowly, just on the edge of hearing...

Tap, Tap, Tap

Tinny black and withered things fall from the webs. "Maybe we should..." The words 'turn back' never make it past your lips as Cob suddenly shouts:

"Up! Up Spider!"

There you see them, a split second before they can pounce; splayed out shadows, eight-limbed and deadly racing down the curtains of web without a sound, their many eyes glistening with the boundless hunger. A mated pair and new to the area you would guess from the bright red coloring on the back of the beasts.

What do you do?

[] Fight
-[] Write in how

[] Flee

OOC: Random encounter ahoy, though hardly the worst one you could get.

 

[DragonParadox]

Of Spiders and Saurians ​

The Season of Still Stone

Good luck is like the coin you pay yourself, the thought slides across the surface of your mind like oiled rags on steel as you mutter a few nonsense words of prayer, cross your fingers and snap them. You watch in mounting horror as Cob throws a dagger only to have it snap off the lead spider's hairy head as the thing tugs in its legs and jumps on him. How the little fellow manages to roll out of the mass of legs and descending fangs you will never know, but that he does even as Mina has to contend with the other spider scuttling down the wall towards her. It looks like she is going to be able to scramble clear, but then a sharp scream rings out, her heel foot had caught in the stone under the carpet of lichen, she stumbles stung

Mina takes 2 Damage (Now at 6/8 HP)

Arms straining from the unfamiliar wrenching you bring the duergar crossbow clear and shoot, catching the thing between the thorax and the abdomen. Spiders you find out then do not scream in pain, but they do shudder with a rasp and click of plates ichor flowing freely.

Spider takes 10 Damage (Now at 6/16)

Alas Mina's shot goes wide as she scrambles for her stonebow and Cob may as well be throwing rocks for all the good it does. The uninjured spider keeps after him, though thankfully not able to catch the bouncing morsel between his sharp legs to wrap him in its web. The wheel flies and flies in your hands in desperate haste trying to keep the wounded spider in line even as it seems bound and determined to kill Mina, stinging her again in the left arm.

Mina takes 1 Damage (Now at 5/8)

Blood drips and trails from her ruined sleeve as you take aim... and manage to hit it right between its many eyes, the iron bolt shattering the chitin and piercing right into whatever it uses as a brain.

Spider Takes 8 Damage -> Spider Killed.

Turning towards the other spider you wonder if if is worth trying to lead another bolt or if you should try your luck with a dagger when a blur of green and brown drops from the cavern roof right on top of the beast. Knotted scaled arms like great serpents descent, twist and rip as inchor fountains from the spider. At first you mistake the being for a Xulgath champion, a foe more dangerous than the spiders ever could be, but the more you look the more differences you mark from the dead foes you had seen dragged into the Firehall as a child. For one the pattern of scales is much righter green, the back marked with back-swept frills that give him... definitely a him, a vaguely aquatic look. The eyes are set further apart and the row of ivory teeth that escape the narrow jaw have almost all been files to even points as fine as the ones on the necklace that hangs about his neck ending in a rat's head talisman.

Spoiler: Rescuer

"Good hunt!" he says in the trade tongue twisted into hissing sylables like the coils of a serpent twisting against one another. "Do you require aid?"

"I..." Mina looks at the mountain of scale and flesh cautiously, cradling her arm, but before she can answer Cob interjects: "Cob not need help, Cob is best spiderest killeriest in Nar Voth."

"Unlikely," the lizardman breathes, staring down at the goblin with unblinking yellow eyes.

Rather than address... whatever that is you quickly move to heal Mina probing her shoulders with careful fingers. Thank the dark none one the poison seems to have gotten in.

Mina Heals 3 Damage -> Now at 8/8

"Claim?" the hunter motions to the spider you have shot. On the one hand you do not lack for provisions and you have no idea how to carve up a spider, but the poison could be useful you know.

[] Yes, lay claim to the spider

[] No, let him have both, maybe it will get you a bit more goodwill with the strange hunter

OOC: So... about that lizardman you guys almost voted for. That was a very good random encounter you rolled.

 

[DragonParadox]

Cauldron Bubble ​

The Season of Still Stone

"Can we trade? Our spider for any useful local knowledge you can share? We are unfamiliar with the area."

The warrior tips his head to the side, his neckless of teeth and bone clinking against one another as he seems to consider not just your words, but your manner as well as the way Mina and Cob seems to draw closer to you at these words. "Trade good," he proclaims, seating himself on a wide flat stone. "Come from Cauldron? You go to Cauldron to trade?"

So it is that you are regaled to the sight of the two spiders being butchered with impressive swiftness and only mildly alarming cracks and squelches as the warrior, Gorok Farstrider, explains what he knows of the cave and its environs. It seems you have inadvertently stumbled into the local hunting grounds that the mongrelmen of Cauldron use to harvest both mature spiders for their chitin and meat along with their webs and eggs. "Eggs make good whelp-food, helps them grow strong and healthy, but they are dangerous to get so there are always contracts to get more of them for the larder..." he emphasizes the point by cutting open the thorax of the female spider and scooping out a double handful of eggs that he places in a wedge of chitin he had ripped off the back of the male.

After he has harvested all the eggs he covers them with another chitin piece which he laces up with braided spider silk that he had passed through crudely made holes on the sides to create a kind of covered pot of spider eggs, which he further seals in with a combination of cave dirt and spider guts heated over a quick fire to make a crude kind of glue.

Mina looks faintly ill when Gorok adds a strategically placed spit or two into the pot to make it gel, but really that just seems all the more impressive to you. Use everything you've got.

"What's Cauldron like? Big pot?" Cob asks, adding with sudden suspicion. "They no eat visitors in big pot?" From his manner you guess that was a problem he's had to deal with before.

Cauldron, you learn is a large, mongrelmen settlement built along the shores of a small thermal lake whose bounty of shell-fish, salamanders, and bone-reeds feeds a large population. As many as fifty families, almost three hundred humanoids in all. Apart from the lake the other major trading good of Cauldron are the alchemical concoctions of its shamans whose reagents are harvested from the local spiders, like the fangs Gorok crushes and adds to one of his many pockets, and the vegepigmy tribes of the nearby Midnight Jungle.

"Good-for-you that you didn't stumble into them, smarter than the spiders, more of 'em," the lizardfolk proclaims. "Hunt you with thorn-dogs."

Admittedly you could have done without the detailed description of how packs of thorn dogs go after unprepared travelers down the narrow tunnels, boxing them in until the final rush when they tear at the soft flesh of the face and neck, but it is clear Gorok is a practical treasure trove of information about the caves 'south of the Long Road and east of the Chimneys'. That description of his leads to a question of just what these Chimneys are.

Apparently there's an old xulgath mining town west of here, its airways breaching the surface. Not that many folks would know for sure on account of the fact that it still breathes the noxious fumes of its long dead makers, forging some of the best steel in the region under the watchful eye of the 'the Brass Salamander.'

"Salamander, like..." you pluck one of the lizards out of the nearby webbing, the withered husk still showing the feathery gills just under the head.

"No," Gorok shakes his head. "Clockwork construct, made to be half-xulgath half-climbing beast. Make fine steel. Not as fine as dwarf, but good for blades. That is where I bring eggs to Cauldron to get more supplies."

"Why?" It sounds intriguing, granted, but there are a lot of intriguing places in the deep caves of the world. It doesn't mean you have to poke all of them.

"Get steel knife from trading hides once, use until it breaks, no more steel knife. I bring secret of steel to tribe, make knives for many, many generations." He pauses a moment, as though he had not been asked to articulate the idea in full before. "Brass Salamanders make things, make steel because they were made to do so. They not know how to keep secret like living smith."

Clever... assuming he does not get killed off by ancient malfunctioning xulgath constructs at least. You turn to the others. "I think we could accompany Gorok on the way back to town at least."

Mina nods and Cob bounces in a vaguely approving way, and so you are off.

On the way to Cauldron which of your companions do you want to find out more about?

[] Cob (Goblin Rogue)

[] Mina (Human Witch)

[] Gorok (Lizardman Ranger)

OOC: This is also your chance to help make the character sheets if you have any specific ideas, though it is not necessary. I can do them all myself if you are not feeling inspired or just want to be surprised.

 

[DragonParadox]

Goblin's Gab ​

The Season of Still Stone

As Gorok leads the three of you down wider and more familiar paths towards Cauldron, Cob is more than happy to talk about himself, at least when he isn't bouncing ahead with his musical misadventures bouncing all over the narrow tunnels.

"Cob was born in the Big Forest that the Bigs call Barrowood. The Stone Munchers were the tribe of Cob's father and Cob's mother that rode around in boar carts thrice greased. Made war with the worgs of the woods, they wore worg-fur caps, and sometimes they would even take worg cubs to raise with the pigs, called them fur-pigs, and those were the fiercest allies of the Stone Munchers. But then the worgs got scared of the mighty Stone Munchers and they ran ran all the way south so what were the Stone Munchers to do? They turned to raiding the oomans of Dekarium and making pickles out of their ears. Things were good and the pickled ears were tasty and every warrior had a dog fur rug, but then the spiky ones came. Ooman knights they were, wore caltrops on their heads and their boss-fire-maker had a big bat with ash-sprinkle wings that turned the fire of the goblins against them. Big killy fires they were..."

"I think," Mina speaks up shyly. "The spiky fellows sound like Chelixian hell-knights, servants of the Thrice Damned House of Thrune and cruel law-makers. Not that most people would think it unreasonable to send them against a tribe of goblins that are... er, making rugs from people's dogs and pickling their ears."

You nod along for a while, head swimming with the names of strange gods and stranger places. It sounds like the Burnlands, with their vast fields of crops under the sun, can afford to have enormous empires that march armies of tens of thousands against each other for power, prestige, and the glory of their gods. To be honest, you are not sure if the wars and revolutions of the likes of Cheliax and Andoran are not madder to your ears than the goblin raids Cob talks about. At least they go to war because they are looking for new hunting and scrounging grounds.

"When Mama Cob was under Lamashtu with Cob the Stone Munchers, the Bone Burners, the Blue Faces, and the Rust Tinkers all came together in a Gob-Moot. That is where we see who has the biggest mouth and the smartest noggin to lead the tribes to make knew tribe, but it did not go so well. Urg the Unclean drank all the mushroom beer and then he took a bath in the Bloodwine that the Blue Faces had traded with the wolfmen of the woods, and then the brother of the old Stone Mucher chief set fire to the bang-tent of the shaman of the Rust Tinkers and he made a really loud BANG that killed six hands of goblins."

Perhaps you might have done without that bang being rendered at full volume in the tale, but it does have the gift of keeping you very interested as your goblin companion counts out the six hands on his dexterous fingers before stuffing a piece of duergar bread in his mouth that momentarily pauses the story in a shower of crumbs.

"Then just when we thought that the Gob-Moot would break up into a fight a ooman called Jurdan Terzain came and killed the chief's brother and he made Urg the Unclean's head blow up like pig bladder and into tasty brain meats, and then he said he'd be the chief of the goblins. Now there hadn't been a ooman chief of goblins before so a lot of lads and lasses tried to shank him good, but he had stone skin and the stick that would make heads blow up like balloons so lots of them died and lots more of them ran away. Jurdan looked around and he called them dumb 'cause he had lots of food and would share with any goblins who would volunteer to help him'. Now Cob Mama asked to volunteer with what and he said help make stronger goblins... That seemed a fine enough idea to her 'cause once the goblins were strong enough they'd be able to beat up the boom-man and have a proper goblin chief again."

One cannot really fault the logic, though something tells you at least some of the goblins announced their plans for treachery out loud.

"So some of the tribe volunteered to listen to Jurdan and he gave them all sorts of things to munch and to drink; Red Cackle Water and Boil on Tongue Grease, Blue Mole Milk and Holey Cheese. Some got sick, some got maybe sick. but some got strong and with big gifts like Cob once he was born..." He slaps his hand on the stone for emphasis... and for a long moment nothing happens, but then you notice the color of the stone starting to leech into him like ocher on raglichen. Makes it easier to hide, for sure.

Spoiler: Cob

Name: Cob
Alias: N/A
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Age: 14-ish
Race: Goblin (Small Humanoid)
Level: 1 (255 XP/2000 XP)
Class: Rogue (Makeshift Scrapper) 1
Feats: Catch Off-Guard(B) Throw Anything (B); Vandal
Traits: Color Thief, Goblin Foolhardiness, Mathematical Prodigy
Drawback: Magical Klutz
Class Features: Sneak attack +1d6
Languages: Goblin , Duergar

HP: 10
AC: 10 +4 (DEX) +1 (Size) = 15
Initiative: +4 (DEX)
Attack:
Dagger: 0 +1 (Size) +4 (DEX) +1 (Facing a larger foe with no allies nearby) = +4/+6 [1d4+4+1d6+1]

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The makeshift scrapper is proficient with only simple weapons.

STATS:
8 (-1) Strength
18 (+4) Dexterity
14 (+2) Constitution
14 (+2) Intelligence
13 (+1) Wisdom
10 (+0) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 0 +2 (CON) = +2
REFLEX: 2 +4 (DEX) = +6
WILL: 0 +1 (WIS) = +1

SKILLS:
Acrobatics (Dex) 4 +4 (DEX) = 8
Climb (Str): 4 -2 (STR) = 2
Craft (Int) 4 + 2 (INT) = 4
Disable Device (Dex) 4 +4 (DEX) = 8
Escape Artist (Dex) 4 +4 (DEX) = 8
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) (Int) 4 + 2 (INT) = 4
Knowledge (Engineering) (Int) 4 +1 (Trait) + 2 (INT) = 5
Perception (Wis) 4 + 1 (WIS) = 5
Ride (Dex) 0 +4 (DEX) +4 (Skilled) = 8
Sleight of Hand (Dex), 4 +4 (DEX) = 8
Stealth (Dex) 4 +4 (DEX) +4 (Size) +4 (Skilled) +2 (Color Thief) = 18

Equipment of Note: Dagger x2; Stonebow

"What makes you think this Jurdan will allow you to take his gifts and use them against his or his people?" Gorok growls from up ahead.

In answer Cob just shrugs. "Him lie to us we lie to him. See who lies better. Better than starve like old tribes. Anywho, when Cob got big and out of cage I thought to bring back some of the really strong juices that Jurdan was keeping for himself to tribe so we can drink in secret. Sneaked right in through the window cause he had big stupid glass windows, but then I saw there were all kinds of numbering and lettering things, steal the thoughts right out of your head the elders said, but I thought to myself since Jurdan has plenty of thoughts in his head, maybe too many so that can't be it. So I took one of the books with the fancy red tower on the cover and I stole it away all to myself to look at, took some potions of course too, became heap-good sneak of Jurdan's Volunteers. All went good until..." the goblin gives a long wet sniff and wipes his nose with his hand.

"Until?" you probe gently, not something you had a lot of practice in.

"Went in to grab more books, but thing came up from under troll skull and started screeching. Cob tripped into cabinet with many many jars, blew up like old bomb tent. Next thing I know Cob back in cage like baby goblin with other goblins. Outside they talk dwarf. Took a while to learn what-say, but I'm smart-learned-good. Dwarfs say Cob slave now, sell to derro for experiments. What derro?"

A bloody nightmare in the flesh, you think back to all the stories you had heard about the mad experiences of the flesh-smiths. "Something you won't have to worry about Cob, not while you're with us."

What does Akorian think of Cob's story?

[] The goblins were foolish to take a leader from among their human foes

[] Jurdan is sure to come to a bad end if he keeps using his tribe like this

[] The Stone Munchers and other tribes would have been better off trading and crafting than continuing to raid and thus tempting the wrath of their neighbors

[] Write in

OOC: Meet Cob the absurdly sneaky. If you guys would like to tweak the sheet do not hesitate to say so.

 

[DragonParadox]

A Fair Shake ​

The Season of Still Stone

The High Hearth meal, strange as it is to call it that with no hearth to speak of, not even a lantern, makes for a strange experience with so many people around. So many people who want to talk to you at least.

Mina and Cob are clearly still envying being able to eat their fill of their former masters' provisions as opposed to the slop they had been given on their journey, though they show it in markedly different ways. Cob digs into it with the gusto of a digger through a root plot while Mina eats in quick bites like a frill lizard at the watering hole, one eye peeled for danger.

That is not to say there is much in the way of danger around here. Long feathery curtains of moss mark a path dotted with lantern-rests, though really you have no idea who would need that much light on a wide flat road that could hold a whole cart and beetle with room to spare. No sooner had the sound of water to your left shifted from the slow steady drip to a constant bubbling that you see the first sign of habitation. The low amber light of a stone lamp revealing a face that seems to have been carved from the uneven stone of the tunnel, half-horned and spouting chitinous plates that flow into his hardened robes the man holds up a crude stone spear adorned with strange whorls.

Spoiler: Mongrelman

"Halt, who goes there?" he snaps, the last syllable twisting into a whistle from his odd mouth parts.

"Strangers seeking shelter, spider hunters," Gorok answers, motioning to the chitin capsule on his back.

"Huh... dark folk, don't see many of you lot this far south. Anything to trade?" he looks you over head to toe, though he does not notice the shadow cast by his lantern thankfully.

"A few weapons mayhap, some water sponges, though you do not seem to be lacking for a clean drink," you shoot back in what you hope is a laidback way. "We've some coin, so more likely to be buying than selling."

Spoiler: Roll

Wisdom Check To notice the Unnatural shadow: 1d20+1 = 5 (Failure)

"Well then, pass by the Belly of the Beast to get a drink of something stronger than water, you hear," the guard says, waving you off with a three-fingered hand.

With that the four of you pass under the roughly triangular gate that leads into the village of the mongrelmen.

The first thing that hits you is the faint but pervasive smell of rotten eggs rising from the eponymous 'Cauldron', a thermal lake some three hundred feet in diameter whose margins had long since outgrown the settlement that had grown up around it. A rickety array of scaffolding thus climbs up the walls of the cavern, hooked into ledges laboriously carved with stone and copper tools over the generations with each business and house seeking to advertise itself in a way as varied as the people who call them home: here a colorful carpet lolls out like the tongue of some cave dwelling frog, there lanterns burn with sputtering purple fire of some alchemical concoction. It's hard to miss the Belly of the Beast, it being the place whose door is wrought from the petrified jaws of a great dragon with lettering proclaiming a good time to be hand by all in half a dozen languages under stone and over it. Deep and sonorous, the call of stone drums rings out as if from the Belly of the Beast.

"Come, Gorok pay for meeting meat, we talk business after," your guide motions up the most solid set of stairs leading up to the tavern. He had clearly had Cob at 'meat' and Mina is content to follow you along for now so follow you do into the noisy cavern filled mostly with a bewildering array of mongrelmen, though you spot a pair of orcs, particularly small-tusked ones, in the corner throwing dice and even a Dancer of the People offering some kind of game involving colorful cups at another table.

'Meeting meat' proves to be some kind of spiced lizard haunch covered in a thick sauce of pale bulbs and the meaty petals of the spider-bane flower, fresh off the stem too for they are still wriggling a bit.

"You don't like?" Cob asks Mina hopefully.

"Just the moving bits," she answers, sounding a little faint.

The goblin does not need to be told twice, polishing off the offending petals and his own portion before you are halfway through the meal, though to be fair you are keeping more of an ear on what Gorok is offering.

"You come with me to xulgath vents, use bows, use magic healing, we take what we can, split it even four ways, other than the knowledge we can all take in our heads, then we go share with tribes."

"Ah, I do not have a tribe..." the words taste strange on your lips. Not unpleasant, but like the sauce you had just eaten, unfamiliar.

"Cob not have tribe either. Jurdan take..."

"To his ruin," you say with simple conviction. "Chiefs who use their people can only get away with it for so long before they are caught out and then they too are used, for kindling."

Mina nods adding: "My tribe is far away in the Burnlands."

The saurian guide considers the words for a long moment before his tail twitches in what might be a decision. "Then you come with me longer. We can teach tribe then learn things along the way, find new tribes."

You look around at the faces in the shifting light of the Belly, so different from one another and yet animated by a common seeking, a shared spark. You extend your hand. "A fair deal." A moment later Mina's pinkish hand and Cob's small grey one is added to the pile, leeching the color from the table. Then the slightly bemused Gorok gingerly places his scaled hand atop it.

What do you do next?

[] Go to the market to sell some of your goods
-[] The spider remains
-[] Weapons and alchemical items
-[] Write in

[] Look for jobs or bounties, there is sure to be someone in need of hands for hire
-[] That pair of orcs seems to be trying to catch Gorok's eye
-[] The Dancer in the corner is trying to catch your eye

[] Head out at once to the Vents to steal the secret of steel

[] Write in

OOC: We will be doing more companion talks in the next update, but for now you guys have to decide what to do now that you are in civilization.

 

[DragonParadox]

Treasures Lost and Found ​

The Season of Still Stone

The market is alive with the clatter of pots and the shaking of wares as merchants as many and varied as their wares try to tempt the dwarf coin out of shoppers purses.

Acrid alchemical smells mingle with the sweet liquors likely to send you off to the land of dreams for a month, the smoky aroma of roast meats vies with the bitter scent of medicines you are assured can cure every ill from a migraine to drow poison. The logic to the last claim presumably being that if you got poisoned by a drow you are likely to be dead long before you have a chance to ask for your money back.

You quickly learn that the more colorful the awning the richer and better established the merchant is, with the ones who can only boast raglichen cloth being 'just swept out of the tunnels'. Whereas the more elaborate bloodweed coverings mark someone who has been dealing successfully in Cauldron for many turns of the seasons, like the red-maned fellow who buys Gorok's spider guts on the half-shell as well as the fist-full of water sponges you do not need, your own magic more than enough to see off thirst no matter how long the journey might be.

• Lost 3x Water Purification Sponge and Spider Remains
• Gained 35 gp

Though the trade does not come out to as much as you might have hoped you are at least reasonably sure that you are not being ripped off, and when adding the coin from Gorok's other hunts to your own carefully scraped together savings you come out with a decent chunk of coin, the gold-plating glinting enticingly in the low light of the market lanterns.

• Gain 130 gp (Gorok starting wealth) -> Total funds at 285 gp

Thus enriched you set off to find some armor to help keep Cob safe, or at least as safe as the goblin's natural inclination will allow, as well as perhaps get Gorok a better weapon than his claws or the great bone mallet hewn from the leg of a previous quarry. Alas, there are no dwarfs about to sell flowing chainmail or ornate axes, their caravans do not pass by Cauldron that often outside of the Season of Fire, but tucked away in a corner of the market you come upon a blue-scaled fellow garbed in crimson robes stitched in geometric fashion, silver dragons adorning his horns.

Spoiler: Kobold Trader

The sign hanging from the awning proclaims the messy piles of weapons, armor, and stranger paraphernalia strewn before him to be 'Hryx's Hoard'. It is a fair assumption to make that the trader's name is Hryx, or so at least you reason.

"Hryx is Great Dragon Lord, Destroyer of Derro, Ripper of Roppers, Slayer of the Svirfneblin..." The proclamations goes on for a bit in this alliterative manner, adding yet more impressive and bewildering titles, until at last he the kobold runs out of either breath or ideas.

"And this Hryx is selling his hoard right now to us?" you ask carefully, looking over the wares. Not a one of them has the faintest touch of true enchantment, though the fire-pots do glow with the embers of alchemical power.

"Yes, great Hryx doing you great honor in offering you glorious treasure of his hoard for shiny coin," the merchant proclaims, not even blinking.

Looking over his goods you mark at once that they seem to have been forged by many hands, from a crude ogre hook with blood rusted into the metal to a delicate star-knife adorned with silver runes. Some are not even weapons, but duergar tools that had been reforged for war by some smith of lesser skill.

Among the armors set on hooks behind him you spy lizard-skin shirts, a cuirass of bone and brass, another of scavenged dwarf-plate beaten into place with more ambition than skill and, strangest of all, black armor of supple snake skin and fungus wood treated with poisonous oils to make for a poor meal for any beast with a stomach less hardy than a slopper.

What do you buy from the kobold trader?

Weapons:

[] Spiked Gauntlet
Cost 5 gp Weight 1 lb.
Damage 1d3 (small), 1d4 (medium) Critical x2 Type piercing
Category light Proficiency simple
Weapon Group close
Benefit: An attack with a spiked gauntlet is considered an armed attack. Your opponent cannot use a disarm action to disarm you of spiked gauntlets.
Note: The cost and weight given are for a single gauntlet.

[] Short Spear
Cost 1 gp Weight 3 lbs.
Damage 1d4 (small), 1d6 (medium) Critical x2 Type piercing
Range Increment 20 ft. (thrown)
Category one-handed Proficiency simple
Weapon Groups spears, thrown, tribal
A shortspear is about 3 feet in length, making it a suitable thrown weapon.

[] Kuri
Cost 8 gp Weight 2 lbs.
Damage 1d3 (small), 1d4 (medium) Critical 18–20/x2 Type slashing
Category light Proficiency martial
Weapon Group light blades
A kukri is a curved blade, about 1 foot in length.

[] Starknife
Cost 24 gp Weight 3 lbs.
Damage 1d3 (small), 1d4 (medium) Critical x3 Type piercing
Range Increment 20 ft. (thrown)
Category light Proficiency martial
Weapon Groups light blades, thrown
From a central metal ring, four tapering metal blades extend from this weapon like points on a compass rose. By gripping the crossbar that runs through the weapon's open middle, a wielder can strike with it as a deadly melee weapon. Alternatively, by gripping it by the outer rim, a starknife's light, aerodynamic design allows it to be thrown short distances in a manner similar to a chakram.

[] Ogre Hook
Cost 24 gp Weight 10 lbs.
Damage 1d8 (small), 1d10 (medium) Critical x3 Type piercing
Category two-handed Proficiency martial
Weapon Group polearms
Special trip
This large crook of sharpened metal makes it easy to trip and catch fleeing opponents. Invented by ogres, most ogre hooks are Large and crudely fashioned—often from metal torn from previous victims' weapons and armor. Despite their poor workmanship, the rarity and peril involved in getting ogre hooks make such items quite valuable.

[] Pickaxe
Cost 14 gp Weight 12 lbs.
Damage 1d6 (small), 1d8 (medium) Critical x4 Type piercing
Category two-handed Proficiency martial
A two-handed version of the heavy pick, the brutal pickaxe is equally effective at breaking up earth and stone as it is at sundering flesh and bone. Often a weapon of convenience for commoners, the pickaxe is also a favorite among brutes and thugs who value the intimidation factor afforded by the immense weapon.

Armor:

[] Hide Shirt
Light Armor
Cost 20 gp; Weight 18 lbs.
Armor Bonus +3; Max Dex Bonus +4; Armor Check Penalty -1
Arcane Spell Failure Chance 15%; Speed 30 ft./20 ft.
Made from animal hide and giant lizard scales over a shirt of interwoven cords, these chest and shoulder coverings protect without restricting mobility.
The wearer of a hide shirt can make a DC 15 Strength check as a standard action. If he succeeds, the armor gains the broken condition and drops to the ground rather than requiring the usual 1 minute it would take to remove it. The armor must be repaired as though it had taken 8 points of damage before it can be used again; a broken hide shirt grants no bonus to Armor Class.

[] Lamellar Cuirass
Light Armor
Cost 15 gp; Weight 8 lbs.
Armor Bonus +2; Max Dex Bonus +4; Armor Check Penalty 0
Arcane Spell Failure Chance 5%; Speed 30 ft./20 ft.

Lamellar is a type of armor in which small plates of various types of materials are strung together in parallel rows using fine cord. Lamellar plates can be constructed from lacquered leather, horn, or even stone, though suits of iron and steel are the most common. Lamellar armor can be crafted into various shapes, including partial pieces such as breastplates, greaves, or even entire coats. The properties of specific suits and pieces of lamellar armor are determined by their material.
This armor consists of a light breastplate and shoulder guards made from lacquered leather plates bound together and fitted over a silk shirt.

[] Fungus Wood Armour
Light Armor
Cost 85 gp; Weight 25 lbs.
Armor Bonus +3; Max Dex Bonus +3; Armor Check Penalty -1
Arcane Spell Failure Chance 15%; Speed 30 ft./20 ft.

This suit of leather armor has plates of fire-treated fungus wood sewn over vital areas. Though not as effective as metal armor, it offers better protection than leather alone. Unlike metal armor, the wood is slightly buoyant, and the armor check penalty for swimming in this armor is 0. The noxious nature of the black-cap lacquer used in the construction of this armor means that any non-ooze living creature who uses a bite attack against the user must pass a DC 12 Fortitude save or become nauseated for 1 turn. The DC is increased to 14 to hold down a wearer which had been swallowed whole. A failure in the latter case leads to vomiting up the bearer

[] Scale Mail
Medium Armor
Cost 50 gp; Weight 30 lbs.
Armor Bonus +5; Max Dex Bonus +3; Armor Check Penalty -4
Arcane Spell Failure Chance 25%; Speed 20 ft./15 ft.

Scale mail is made up of dozens of small, overlapping metal plates. Similar to both splint mail and banded mail, scalemail has a flexible arrangement of scales in an attempt to avoid hindering the wearer's mobility, but at the expense of omitting additional protective layers of armor. A suit of scale mail includes gauntlets.

Alchemical Substances:

[] 5x Alchemist's Fire
Cost 20gp x vial

You can throw a flask of alchemist's fire as a splash weapon with a range increment of 10 feet.
A direct hit deals 1d6 points of fire damage. Every creature within 5 feet of the point where the flask hits takes 1 point of fire damage from the splash. On the round following a direct hit, the target takes an additional 1d6 points of damage. If desired, the target can use a full-round action to attempt to extinguish the flames before taking this additional damage. Extinguishing the flames requires a DC 15 Reflex save. Rolling on the ground provides the target a +2 bonus on the save. Leaping into a lake or magically extinguishing the flames automatically smothers the fire.

[] 4x Acid Flask
Cost 10gp x vial

You can throw a flask of acid as a splash weapon with a range increment of 10 feet.
A direct hit deals 1d6 points of acid damage. Every creature within 5 feet of the point where the acid hits takes 1 point of acid damage from the splash.

[] 2x Clear Ear
Cost 15 gp x dose

This green gel is poured into the user's ear and takes effect 2 hours later, enhancing senses and memory but increasing irritability. For 6 hours, the user gains a +2 alchemical bonus on Perception and Knowledge checks and a –2 penalty on all Charisma-based checks.

[] 3x Antitoxin
Cost 50 gp x dose

If you drink a vial of antitoxin, you get a +5 alchemical bonus on Fortitude saving throws against poison for 1 hour.

OOC: Here we are. Not the most gold you could have, but enough to get some decent armor and weapons, or stock up on consumables for a rainy day.

 

[DragonParadox]

An Offer One Can Refuse ​

The Season of Still Stone

Spilling most of your gold into the grasping claws of the merchant is not an easy decision, nor one you come to lightly. A part of you almost expects the fragile comradery to break over it and each of you to go your separate ways, but Gorok does not grumble when part of his stash goes towards getting a patch-scale shirt for Cob, nor when the pots of acid and alchemist's pitch are split between Mina and you... with Cob receiving the last after a moment's silent counsel taken between the rest of you. He did say he knew how to handle an alchemist's weapons from the time he had robbed Juran. If you are going to trust him with a knife at your backs, the reasoning goes, you might as well trust him with a fire pot.

Granted, Gorok dons a coat of metal scales over the dull grey of his hide and a crook of black iron, that did not come from any duergar forge you know, propped over his shoulder promising death or capture to beast and warrior alike.

Spoiler: Shopping

Weapon:
Ogre Hook for Gorok

Armor:
Hide Shirt for Cob
Scale Mail for Gorok

Alchemical Substances:
1x Alchemist's Fire
2x Acid Flask
2x Antitoxin

Total Cost: 234 gp
Remaining Funds: 51 gp

Thus you find yourselves once more a crossroads, who to speak to and what to seek in your quest for meaning, for lore, for purpose... and for eating something other than tunnel rations eventually. Mina giggles when you share the thought, though from her expression she obviously agrees with the point behind it.

Perhaps catching the laughter in the crowd, or simply marking you for the odd company you are, the pair of orcs from earlier approach with their proposal. They explain that they are brothers, prospectors for a Burnland chief, 'noble' Mina calls him in her own tongue, and that they had been paid to find every entrance from below into their employer's copper mine. However, they had quickly found themselves unequal to the task of dealing with the colony of vegepygmies that had taken up residence in the lower passages, forcing them to flee downwards, eventually finding their way to Cauldron. The elder of the two, Urz, promises to split the nine hundred gold commission, two thirds for you and one third for them, but when Gorok growls that you would be doing all the work the younger is quick to agree that you should have all of the gold.

Spoiler: Rolls

Half-Orc to bluff: 1d20 +5 = 15
Akorian Sense Motive (Guidance): 1d20+7+2 = 17

Something smells like week-old eel here... "Coin falls from your purse like blood from the guts of a dying man and yet there's no trail of silver or red behind you. Could it be it's us you are trying to gut?" Your words are quiet, conversational, so much so that you do not think the family of four out selling baskets not four steps away did not even notice.

"What the... we are offering you prop'r coin!" the smaller of the brothers seems aggrieved that you are not putting your nose to the stone like a good hound.

"It's not your coin I doubt, but your words." In three quick steps you move between him and the nearest lantern, letting your uncanny shadow fall over him, its misshapen head snapping like an eager hound. Whatever power is behind it, if it is even something more than your own strange sorcery, approves.

Spoiler: Rolls

Akorian Intimidate: 1d20 +3 = 22
Half-Orc Willpower: 1d20 +1 = 18

"Fine, fine, you got us! We're smugglers using the old mine to trade with the Darklands, but now it's all filled up with those bastard mushroom-men."

Rather than say anything you just stare at them, knowing they are not done with the truth-telling.

"The last batch of 'herbs' is up there, but we ain't telling you where, that isn't part of the deal. It ain't yours, it's ours." Not having grown up under a rock you know what the word means when it comes to illicit trade. They are smuggling poisons to the surface from Nar Voth.

"Don't come to us, we'll come to you," you sneer, moving past the older of the orcs.

While Mina looks a little intimidated herself by your performance Gorok is obviously content that you had dug up the truth and Cob... well Cob just wants to know if vegepygmies are good eating.

"No!" You have to be getting along. That came from three throats at once.

What do you do next?

[] Take the smuglers deal
Reward: 900 gp
Task: clear a small tribe of vegepygmies out of an abandoned mine

[] Head to the Vents to steal the secret of steel
Reward: Lore, Treasure
Task: Fight or sneak your war into the inner sanctum of a xulgath tribe

[] Speak to the Dancer, alone

[] Look for more hunts or bounty missions

[] Write in

OOC: And Akorian has his first undiplomatic social encounter. I have to say, doubling the bonus from Guidance makes for quite a good early edge.

 

[DragonParadox]

Reading Shadows​

The Season of Still Stone

Nine hundred gold pieces are... nine hundred gold pieces. Whether it be in the forms of weapons, armor, more alchemical supplies, or provisions for the long journey to the surface that Mina desires and you are drawn to that is too high a price to turn up your noses at. What you all not only can but do turn up your noses at is the one gallon barrel of aptly named rotgut, which you mean to use on the vegepygmies heart-mold, bought from a grizzle-haired mongrelman for a single gold coin. The old man first glares at the coin with his single bulbous frog eye, then bites into with gusto.

Lost 1 Gold
Gained a barrel of Rotgut

"Ah... those coins are lead, aren't they? Gold-plated?" Mina asks, looking a little ill from more than just the fumes. At your nod she adds. "You shouldn't bite into lead like that. Doctor Henrick, who worked, or works I guess, at an insane asylum in Vische treated painters who went mad from white lead. It was very sad. Some of them still wanted to paint, you see, but they did not really know how."

"Lead can kill you? The stuff they make money out of?" You ask with a shake of the head that is less denial and more surliness at the arbitrary dangers of the world.

"Not all money. In Ustilav gold coins are just gold. They are bigger too and marked with Desna's wings, but only noble folk handle them..." What follows is a description of Ustilavic coinage that bores you to tears, though when you start counting rocks on the side of the tunnel she stutters off, leaving you feeling vaguely guilty and not knowing what to do with the feeling.

Spoiler: Rolls

Sense Motive DC 10: 1d20+5 = 7 (Failure)

"What's the matter with your shadow?" she asks after another half-mile's trudge down the smooth black which seems to have been carved for no other purpose other than to bounce the traveler's eye off.

"Woke up with it like that," you answer laconically, sure that she'll be content to leave it at that. People are usually content to avoid the matter of your shadow, with its twisting boneless movement and jagged smile, when they can.

"The Desnan Monks teach that the shadow is part of the soul," she muses instead after a moment.

"So what does it say of my soul that my shadow is so monstrous?" you challenge, stung and hating yourself for it.

"I don't think it looks like a monster." Mina motions ahead, by the light of the swinging stone lantern, where you notice the hunched bestial form of your own shadow trailing after Cob, their heads almost level. "Looks kind of like a goblin. Maybe that is what you were in your last life and it stuck around."

"I'm pretty sure those are wings on its back," you shoot back dryly. In truth, you had seen your shadow fly only when you were fleeing for your life.

"Well maybe you were some kind of Fairy Goblin," she insists.

Whether she was going to carry on the line of reasoning you will never know as a responding 'Eurgh' from Cob, complete with stuck out tongue at the very notion of a goblin so transformed, puts an end to the line of conversation.

Still, you cannot quite help yourself from teasing a little. "If you had drank the right potion who knows what could have happened."

"No, no, no, wrong potion, worst potion," he insists, drawing a hiss of amusement even from your reptilian guide.

As the hours pass though and your feet start to hurt against the cold stone Gorok calls for a halt and asks you how you want to deal with the matter of provisions along the way. He is used to hunting for himself and is reasonably confident that he can provide for the rest of the company as well, but you will have to go slower and by more circuitous ways where the lizards and slurks congregate, which will also give more time for the other denizens of these tunnels to find you and perhaps try to make a meal for themselves.

What do you vote to do?

[] Keep eating the dwarf supplies (-24 Duergar Trail rations for the round trip)

[] Hunt for your food (Does not spent trail rations; twice as likely to have a hostile encounter; potential for hides and other trade goods from the creatures Gorok hunts)

OOC: It's a six day round trip to the mines and there are four of you. Those supplies are far from infinite so I thought this would be worth a vote.

 

[DragonParadox]

On Straight Paths Stumbling ​

The Season of Still Stone

Counter to what common sense might indicate, the tunnels get drier as the climb, winding slowly to the east only to cut south in an oddly straight path where the walls turn suddenly smooth, the corners sharp as the echo of many steps only grow more pronounced. Running your fingers over the stone you find it rough with the passage of years, and maybe water, yet it is hard to escape the obvious conclusion, someone had built this place. Who and for what purpose one can only guess at.

All marks of habitation save for the stone itself had long since been worn by time or taken far away by wanderers and scavengers. Still, whoever the mysterious builders might have been you can at least thank them for the spacious roof such as you had not enjoyed since the Long Walk. Cob might be untroubled by any passage wide enough to squeeze his head through and Gorok might be as used to traveling bent over, tail swinging for balance, as he is standing up, but you and Mina are far more cheerful with room to hold your necks straight.

It is in that long tunnel, a few thousand-beats at most after your seventh meal down there, that Cob scrambled back up the way he had gone, the red sparks of his eyes the only herald of his return as the soft soles of his feet make no sound along the polished tunnel floor.

"Found a break?" you call out, more than a touch disappointed, having enjoyed this place far more than the tangled snarl of tunnels before.

"No break, others coming down the tunnel, walking-crawling-climbing with big crab-beast that has stuff, maybe treasure, lashed to its belly..."

"It's going on the ceiling?" Mina glances up, obviously worried. Like the walls the ceiling might once have been smooth, but is now crisscrossed with cracks and limestone nodules.

Personally you are more concerned about 'others' with tools, weapons, and purpose than you are for any beast. A creature will only follow you so far as the prospect of turning you into a meal is worth the trouble of the hunt, but people, they are spiteful.

"Others?" you prompt.

"Pale-bellies, morlock," he hacks up the word in an alarmingly good rendition of the only time you had heard one of them speak. If the duergar are unpleasant by reason of cultural inclination and xulgath are more so from a willingness to throw their neighbors in the pot, morlock combine the worst of all worlds. Their 'prophets' snarl their demands with the surety of ones who think they are masters of all they survey, even as behind them the starving masses of the tribe present a threat as real as it is pitiful. A dancer had once recounted that they even send their children into battle, at the front because they are the smallest. Thank dark this is just a raiding party.

Spoiler: Rolls

Cob to identify the Encounter : 1d20 +6 = 13 (Success)
Not trained in Knowledge (Nature), so no roll on the beast

Stealth and Perception Rolls

"How many?" Gorok asks, seemingly untroubled by the prospect, though admittedly it is hard to read a face of scared scales.

"Three and crab," the goblin scout replies, sounding very certain and understandably quite proud of that certainty. "Coming on slower than us. Beast has long legs but moves slow."

"So we could just go back down the tunnel..." Mina says, though without much enthusiasm and little wonder. It would put you two thirds of the way back to Cauldron.

"We talk, mutual-gain," Gorok offers. "They might have fought moldmen. All of flesh are enemies of them since all are food for fungus in their eyes."

Admittedly the morlocks must have claimed their loot from somewhere and they are coming from the direction of the mine. For all you know they had even done your job for you, but on the hollow side if you try to talk to them you will lose the element of surprise.

"Do we want to make enemies here?" Mina's mind had obviously been running alongside the same stream as yours.

What do you suggest?

[] Try to ambush the morlock raiding party
-[] Write in plan (optional)

[] Try to speak to the morlock raiding party, you can at least agree on the undesirability of vegepygmies for neighbors.
-[] Write in plan (optional)

[] Write in

OOC: I hope the pic of the rolls is fine, it would have been a real chore to link that many rolls. There is an error in there, the Morlock should have been rolling +2 not +12 for perception, but I only caught that on his third roll, but I left the rolls in since it did not actually change the result.