ep 15 RSS 9-10/1/4712 - Gray Oozes, Gray Maidens

Group explore the hidden laboratories of Sorshen, discovering powerful magics and accidentally releasing a pair of oozes who give them a tough fight. The group settle to rest; Anastasia seduces Gedout.

The next morning as the group are waking, they hear a Gray Maiden patrol. Gedout kills the leader, three are captured and made to swear allegiance to 'Sorshen' - Keelan. Two more Gray Maidens appear, but are captured before they can escape to warn others. They reveal the teleporter up to the next level, kissing the foot of a Sorshen statue. The first three are set to guard the lower level, while the other two accompany the group through the teleporter to a quay on the shore of an underground lake. They notice Keelan-Sorshen getting to her feet after kissing the Sorshen statue's foot...
____________________

Quillax's Account - by Keelia.

Part 1

--

As I shake the water from my clothes, I look around the now-crowded room, trying to find where to put myself without falling in the grate or bumping into others. I dislike leaving my Clank behind, but he would not fit. I will ensure we return for him.

The room is small, barely three strides across, and has four doors. Whilst I was tying up the boat, our casters have found it is an anti-magic spell that nearly caused me to drown. This is worrying as our magic users wear no real armour and depend upon magic heavily. And I cannot retain an animal form, to me, that is more unsettling, being forced from my nature by magic. Still, what is, is. I have blades but I sense no danger, although it is hard to smell anything over the smell of wet barbarian or hear over the complaints of wet clothes.

We find there are four exits from the room, excluding the grate through which we entered. A door is chosen at random and, after a quick listen and a casual check for traps, it is opened.

There are four rectangular shapes, larger than adult human sized, covered with sheets. There are short chains with cuffs at each corner of the rectangle. After what happened with Keelan and the last rectangular object we interacted with, I am very wary. Gedout rips the sheet from one to reveal an empty stone surface. The sheets are all removed and to my relief, there appears to be no further coffins. After a reminder not to trap themselves in the cuffs, I leave the team to investigate, keeping my senses attuned to the room we left. There were three other doors, after all, and we are not quiet.

A book found causes quite a stir with Sephiria, who exclaims with delight over three spell parchments tucked inside. If I understand her excited babble, they are very powerful. perhaps written by the runelord's apprentices, or even the runelord herself. They are safely tucked away and the book is pored over by those who can read it.

Gedout and Neril have expressed an interest in the next door now to our right, and it is opened. The smell of sulphur causes me to recoil and refuse to enter the debris-scattered room very far. Sephiria and Anastasia push their way through the group as a book has been spotted. As has a pentagram on the floor. I pull back, remembering the last summoning circle. The fire elemental was not something I would have wanted to fight. After some discussion, spell casting, and investigation, it is determined the pentagram is a summoning circle for a powerful monster. It is also unstable and our very presence could set it off. But the book is coveted by Sephiria so it is snatched away from its lectern home with mage hand, careful to avoid the pentagram. Apparently, this one was written by the runelord and is worth a great deal, both intellectually and monetarily. I will have to watch and intervene should someone make off with it to the market. With nothing more worth risking summoning the beast, I insist we leave and close the door.

We cross the room to the opposite door and find an abandoned alchemy lab. Knowing my companions, I quickly check for anything dangerous and find three unstable potions to be avoided. We find four more that are not dangerous to handle and those with the abilities to determine what they are investigate. I keep an eye on Gedout, who seems overly fascinated with a corroding urn that has place of pride in the room. Until we know what is in there, it's best not to touch. When I look back, the four potions we found had been secreted amongst robes and packs. I care not who has what, with the exception of perhaps Keelan and Gedout. I fear they might drink something questionable out of curiosity.

After running out of things to investigate, the Urn draws attention. General consensus is we want to know what's in the sealed, corroding jar, but we're fairly sure it's bad as it's corroding from the inside out. After further discussion, we decide to secure a safe path first and find at least two rooms' distance in case it's poisonous gas.

With Neril literally climbing the walls with boredom and Gedout resorting to investigating the contents of his left nostril, I urge the team towards the final door.

That door opens to a large room with a starburst pattern on the floor, some rather graphic wall art (I didn't know someone could bend like that), and some stone couches. Paranoia following the summoning circle in the other room determines we take care here. We determine the starburst is actually a suggestion spell - relatively harmless generally but I attempt to radiate the understanding that if anyone tries this on me, I will hurt them when it wears off. Thankfully, I slip through the room towards the opposite door without incident. Others are not so lucky.

Gedout, still fascinated with Keelan's gender/body switch, decides to have some fun after being bored for the last few hours. Although, I admit that Keelan did perform an admirable handstand.

We continue past the room and into a proper boudoir. While Anastasia investigates the bed, I spot a hidden door in the far wall. Interesting.

Remembering the urn, I suggest that now is a good time to check it. We have a door which will allow us to proceed forward if need be and two rooms' distance. Another mage hand (from Anastasia -ed.) and a quick retreat. As expected, inside was a bad thing. We retreat from the ooze which is unlike the ones we've seen before. It proves it is more unusual by giving chase.

We find out quickly that it is acidic, which explains the corrosion of the urn. I'm going to stay well back as an animal form is going to do me no good unless I want burned paws or mouth. Spell casting it is. Luckily, the monstrous slime does not fare well against magic or weapon. We nearly destroy one when a second appears. Hopefully, there are no more than that. Once both are destroyed, we wait but no more appear.

Part 2
-------

Despite my suggestion to rest, some of the party decide to explore the next door's contents. It reveals a hallway with ten more doors. Nine are identical. I stay put, suggesting rest now that there is no immediate threat. Ignored again as there might be something behind those doors, the nine identical doors are opened to reveal bedrooms.

The final door on the right (ed. - north wall) is ominously cold. Most of the party agrees it should be investigated when we are rested. Gedout has a different idea.

Thank Mother Nature that I was not in that hall as, due to a sudden wave of cold, most of the group is unconscious. Neril, who barely avoided the same fate, starts to recover our friends by dragging them towards safety. I start to cast healing spells, beginning with Keelan as he, no she, can also heal.

We are fortunate to be able to get everyone up to their feet once more. After that, the consensus is to rest - finally.

I watch with amusement as the tiefling tries her hand at seducing the barbarian with the suggestion star. I wonder if she was too subtle with her suggetion as he brushes off her advance. Instead, she goes for reward and shares her water. Which she drugged with a love potion. This makes me displeased. You do not drug anyone in the group while in enemy land. I ponder what she could be playing at for a moment and resolve not to take anything from her until I am certain of her once more.

We discuss sleeping arrangements, and most decide to stay in the main room so as not to split the group. Whilst not comfortable, at least we are safely together. Except for Gedout. And shortly after, also Anastasia.

And it suddenly becomes clear. She is a succubus, of course. Silly me. I appreciate that at least they took a different room, although the thick stone walls and the two closed doors did little to quiet the sounds of their coupling. Neril casts a silence spell which gives us peace until they are through and finally, we are allowed to sleep with the protective alarm set on all the doors, courtesy of Sephiria.

However, Neril's hissed warning is the first notice I get that there is something wrong. Although my own ears soon pick up the whispered voices. Voices that do not belong to our group. We ensure our group within this room is awake and quietly prepare ourselves. Listening at the door reveals that touching the frost door is still haunting our steps as apparently puddles of water that gave our presence away.

I glanced to my companions when the sounds showed they had discovered our companions in the next room. But why has Keelan stiffened? Did he, she, hear something I missed? But it quickly turned out that we had a plan. Keelan does have the body of a RuneLord, after all, and the door was thrown open as our ruse that Keelan was a RuneLord began. But our sleep addled states worked against us, so we entered into battle.

We killed one but subdued three of these armoured enemies that smell of hatred. A liberal use of Keelan's new form (hair neatly straightened) and the suggestion star, resulted in us getting three 'followers' turned to our side. I hide their dead leader's body so as not to distract them from their belief that Keelan is who he, she, is pretending to be.
After liberal questioning, we determine the plan of Anastasia's newly found half-sister, who was bound in her mother's place in the Lady's Light. Anastasia has a knack for deceit and Sephiria uses her noble background to support it. Even Neril gets in on it. I keep my distance. I do not want to spoil their work.

Unluckily, two more Grey Maidens spot me and the distance or my own lack of acting weakens my intimidation. They flee rather than fall in supplication of our bard. We give chase. They will not listen to reason, but we do not dare kill them lest we shake the faith of the three which we healed. If we do, we would be outnumbered as they are heavily armored.

Neril, Sephiria, and Keelan are able to subdue one heading for some doors. I head quickly for the other Maiden, who has lit a grey flame. It is unsettling and I don't want to see what can be done with it. I have heard tales of these Grey Maidens, a bear is better suited for this. I cast my hopes that my superior weight should help pin her and it does. Little Tricks gets the torch away when it falls from her hand.

Our converts manage to talk these two new ones into believing our story, so we now have five Maiden converts. It will go badly if they turn against us now, so we must be careful. We find what the torch can do - it opens the door to a teleporter! Apparently, out the other door is a series of enemies we would have struggled against, likely finding defeat if they had been summoned.

We decide to use the teleporter. We quickly realize a problem. For our ruse to continue, these Grey Maidens must not know that Keelan is not the real RuneLord, so they cannot see him, her, use the teleporter. We send some away to guard the doors after the others have gone ahead. Then, Gedout goes through to act as a distraction in the hopes that they do not see Keelan rising from the crouch. I follow through immediately and see Keelan still rising as I do. I try to bluff that I caused him, her, to stumble. I do not think the Grey Maidens believed it though. I do not lie well. They make no movement of threat, at least.

Now, we must decide our next course of action.

ep 14 RotSS 9/1/4712 - Sorshen

9/1/4712
The troglodytes hold a great victory feast of dead bullywugs through the night, and Uggilo preaches to his flock of how Zevgizab has smote down their enemies with furious vengeance.
After resting the group check out the Lady's Light above ground; they find no entrances but Quillax senses the sinister presence of a Will-o-Wisp.
Anastasia's alligator is too large to pass through the tunnel beyond the Bullywug caves, and has to be left behind.
In the caverns beyond, the group dispatch three giant solifiguds and reach a chamber guarded by pillars - caryatid golems! Too powerful to defeat in melee, Gedout & Keelan barely survive; Neril places the Lust Run on his chest - the caryatids allow him through. The Runed-up party descend a black feather fall shaft into a shining hall. There they see a sarcophagus painted to show Sorshen.
Bullywugs follow from behind - Mama Beballa and her survivors. They are swiftly defeated, Gedout taking Beballa's enchanted longbow.
The group open the sarcophagus, revealing a stasised Sorshen, apparently a Clone. Keelan tries to steal her jewelry... And is struck dead by a Phantasmal Killer spell. Runelord Sorshen awakes... Only Keelan's mind is within this new body!
Leaving the dead Keelan in the sarcophagus, the group press on, finding boats by an underground river they head upstream. Quillax-shark finds an underwater side tunnel before a waterfall/portal and investigates it in otter form; this is dispelled but luckily human-Quillax pushes open a brass grate and emerges into a small chamber. The others follow; except Clank the mechanical man who gets stuck in the tunnel and has to be pulled out. Eventually the group regather in the grate-room, Neril listens at the doors...

Time ca 3.30pm.

ep 13 Runelords of the Shattered Star 8/1/4712 - Against the Bullywugs

A sunny morning. Keelan & Neril spot the Pyrohydra moving east to feast on the corpses on the battlefield. Quillax leads a group of troglodytes into the swamp to locate the herbs for her Filth Fever cure, while Anastasia the 'demon emissary of Zevgizab' stays to guard the trog caves and bond with the giant alligator. The trog priest Ugilo assigns to the group five trog warriors including his son Ugilo Junior, a powerful trog warrior, one of those healed by Quillax.

Three of the group (Neril Keelan Sephiria) sneak south to the Pyrohydra cave while it's out and grab the best items from its piles of treasure, then rendezvous with the five trogs at the stream and head west to the bullywug village, joined by Gedout.

Ugilo Junior sneaks into the village and rescues a diseased trog maiden, Azoresh, from the Filth Fever hut, then proceeds to ravish her. Two trogs take her home. The group then sneak into the village, but a strange frog/octopus monster in the central pit raises the alarm. A fat female bullywug emerges with several others and uses enchanted arrows to explode Ugilo Jnr's two trog warriors. The group fall back, but Keelan blinds the female bullywug leader - she hops into the tadpole-infested lake to escape - then uses a fireball orb to blast the pursuing bullywugs, turning the tide. The party counter-attack, cutting them down - three bullywug survivors flee.

The group loot the chief's hut then head west to the bullywug's temple-cave, dispatching four more bullywugs. The enemy chief Daghop appears, a bullywug barbarian who fights fiercely but falls before their combined onslaught. Further in some giant frogs are easily dispatched. The tunnels beyond are coated with an ochre substance Sephiria identifies as Solifigud repellent/soporific. The group return to the trog caves to report and rest overnight. Quillax has returned with the herbs to brew a cure for the filth-fevered troglodytes.

The Pathfinder Society

The Pathfinder Society
The Pathfinder Society has existed for more than
400 years. Members include treasure hunters,
explorers, tomb raiders, historians, and vagabonds
who roam the farthest reaches of the world seeking lost
relics and answers to the world’s most enigmatic and
dangerous riddles. These heroes brave vine-choked
jungle ruins, ascend snow-capped peaks, and comb
sun-seared desert sands in search of buried tombs and
monuments of bygone ages.
Society members send records of their exploits to
their venture-captain superiors, who in turn review
them for accuracy before forwarding the manuscripts
to the leaders of the Pathfinder Society. The most
exciting and enlightening of these have the potential
to be printed and distrubuted as volumes of the famed
Pathfinder Chronicles.
Though the Pathfinder Society itself isn’t concerned
with the specific actions of individual Pathfinder
agents, they require those agents and their actions to 
conform to the general code of exploration, reporting,
and cooperation. Those Pathfinders deemed incapable of
following these simple rules are removed from the Society.
Most Pathfinders are trained in the necessary skills
at the Grand Lodge in Absalom, but a few experienced
adventurers are given field commissions in the Society
once they’ve proved they’re capable. Such is likely the case
for most Pathfinders participating in the Shattered Star
Adventure Path.
The Society is directed by the Decemvirate—10 masked
and secret members whose identities are protected even
from each other. It’s not known how long each Decemvirate
member occupies the position; likewise, every aspect
of their existence, from nomination to election, from
meetings to formal public functions, and from day-today
functions to retirement, is utterly mysterious. The
identity of the Ten is the Society’s most closely guarded
secret—one, some say, that the Decemvirate is willing to
kill to protect.
The Pathfinder Society is based at the sprawling Grand
Lodge of Absalom, but the organization as a whole has
many official lodges spread throughout the Inner Sea
and toeholds across Golarion.
Goals of the Society: Explore, Report, and Cooperate
The Society recognizes no formal bylaws, but adherence
to a general code of behavior is expected of all members,
and evidence of behavior contrary to this code is grounds
for removal from the organization. The three most
important member duties are as follows.
Explore: Pathfinders are expected to further the
knowledge and reputation of the Society by traveling to
distant lands, unearthing forbidden secrets, and piecing
together the secret history of the world. Agents are
encouraged to travel uncharted lands in search of ever
more fantastic mysteries.
Report: In the course of their adventures, Pathfinders
are expected to keep detailed journals, maps, and
accounts of their exploits. At the conclusion of a
successful mission, agents send a copy of their notes to
their immediate superior, a regional venture-captain,
who makes a full analysis (often involving divination).
Records of especially noteworthy exploits make their
way to Absalom and the Decemvirate, who compile
the best tales into irregularly published editions of
the Pathfinder Chronicles, which in turn make their way
back to venture-captains for distribution to Pathfinder
agents in the field.
Cooperate: The Society places no moral obligations
upon its members, so agents span all races, creeds,
and motivations. At any given time, a Pathfinder
lodge might house a fiend-summoning Chelaxian,
an Andoren freedom fighter, an antiquities-obsessed
Osirian necromancer, and a friendly Taldan raconteur.
Pathfinder agents are expected to respect one another’s
claims and stay out of each other’s affairs unless offering
a helping hand.


Heidmarch Manor

Heidmarch Manor is the home of two of Magnimar’s
most eccentric citizens: esteemed hunters, explorers, and
Pathfinders Sheila Heidmarch and her husband Sir Canayven Heidmarch. 
The world-traveling adventurers
have retired to Magnimar, but have not been content to
settle into the quiet life, instead opening their sizable
manor to the Pathfinder Society. The first Pathfinder lodge
in Varisia welcomes all members eager to explore the still
relatively unknown land, including the surrounding region
and the mysterious City of Monuments itself. Visiting
members of the Pathfinder Society are welcomed to the
manor by comfortable lodgings, a well-stocked library of
far-flung lore, and its owners’ sagely advice.

Magnimar

Magnimar City info - from the free Shattered Star Player's Guide 





Magnimar Major NPCs

Built in the shadow of megaliths, Magnimar
endlessly endeavors to surpass the overwhelming
scale and grandeur of the ancient wonders that
litter the Varisian landscape. A place of great opportunity,
social stress, and cold beauty, the city exudes the air of
a southern metropolis, seeking to rise above its ignoble
beginnings as a refuge for Korvosan outcasts to become
a beacon of culture and freedom in an unforgiving
land. Yet its towering monuments, elegant gardens,
ostentatious architecture, and elaborate sculptures form
but a cracked mask over a struggling government and a
desperate people in need of heroes.
Magnimar’s founders were adventurers, and the spirit
of the adventurer and explorer keeps the heart and soul
of Magnimar alive. It should thus come as no surprise
that the monuments the city is so well known for often
have ties to adventuring themes. In addition, many of
the major works have been magically empowered over
the years. The source of these enhancements are hotly
debated—some assume they were created by now-dead or
anonymous spellcasters as a gift to the city, while others
suspect these magical effects instead represent a legacy of
ancient Thassilonian wizardry lingering in the region’s
stones. In truth, these effects are manifestations of the
mysterious patrons of the Seacleft region, the ancient
empyreal lords so beloved and venerated over the past
several thousand years by Varisia’s native people. These
lords have welcomed the land’s newest settlers, though
their welcome is subtle.
With many of the monuments, boons are granted to
those who perform minor acts of worship and respect to
Magnimar, its monuments, and the empyreal lords who
watch over the city. Any nonevil intelligent creature who
performs a specific act before one of these magically
charged monuments and makes a successful skill check
awakens the monument’s magic, and, in return, gains a
small bonus of some sort with a duration of 24 hours. A
single person can never have more than one monumentgranted
bonus in effect at any one time; attempts to gain a
second bonus before the first wears off automatically fail.
In addition, a person can only attempt to benefit from a
monument bonus a number of times per week equal to
her Charisma modifier (minimum of once per week)—the
city of Magnimar responds most often to those who carry
themselves with greater poise and personality, after all.
Magnimar boasts a population of over 16,000
inhabitants, with the great majority of those being
humans. In turn, most of these humans are ethnic
Chelaxians and Varisians, and while Shoanti and Sczarni
maintain a large presence in the city, they are essentially
marginalized and considered troublemakers. Half lings
make up the next largest demographic, followed by elves
and dwarves. The remainder of the population consists of
gnomes and half-breed races.
The city is split in two by a massive cliff face, separating
the city into two major districts. The one atop the cliff
is called the Summit and the one below that meets
with Varisian Gulf is called the Shore. The slums of
Magnimar, known as the Shadow since that district sees
little sun during the day, lies below the Irespan, a colossal
and ancient bridge ruined ages ago. In terms of the trade
and purchase of magic items, Magnimar has a base value
of 12,800 and a purchase limit of 75,000 gp.
Heidmarch Manor, a Pathfinder Lodge and home base for
characters in this Adventure Path, is found in the Alabaster
District located in the Summit. Other districts throughout
the city offer locations that may interest adventurers. The
Bazaar of Sails, easily the largest free market in Varisia
where all manner of goods can be found, is located in
Dockway as well as in Old Fang, a popular watering hole.
Temples to various deities can be found in the City of
Monuments. The Dome of the Savored Sting, a temple of
Calistria, is found in the Keystone District; this district
is also home to the Church of Pharasma, which tends to
the city’s dead and newborns. Deadeye Lodge, a church of
Erastil, can also be found here, as can the Cynosure Tower,
a church dedicated to Desna. Up on the Summit in the Naos
District lies the Church of Iomedae, and just a few blocks
away stands the Cathedral of Abadar. While in the Keystone
District, those studying arcane magic might want to visit
the Stone of the Seers, a school that focuses on educating
casters in abjuration and divination magic.
On the edge of the cliff overlooking the Varisian
Gulf, many seek entertainment at Serpent’s Run, a huge
hippodrome that features all manner of exciting events
from decathlons, horse and dog races, displays of magic, 
circus performances, and mock-gladiatorial battles. Just
across the Capital District in the district of Naos rises
Magnimar’s tallest structure, the Arvensoar, home to
Magnimar’s military forces.
On the opposite banks of the Yondabakari River lies
Ordellia, known also as the Foreign Quarter. Those
seeking potions and other alchemical products often
search out Billivin’s Benevolent Balms and Effulgent
Elixirs, though some doubt the reliability of his wares.

PC Attributes

Keelan Nightsky (Sorshen Clone Body), Half-Elf Azlanti Human Bard:
ST 10 DE 17 CO 14 IN 19* (15) WIS 13 CHA 16
*'Natural' INT is 15 without the headband of intellect.
Trix, faerie dragon familiar:
ST 3 DE 20 CO 13 IN 14 WI 12 CH 16

Sephiria Kaddren, Human Bladesinger Wizard:
ST 8 DE 16 CON 14 INT 18 WIS 12 CHA 8
Feat - Resilient (Con).

Neril, Human Monk:
STR 12 (+1) DEX 18 (+4) CON 13 (+1) INT 8 (-1) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 10 (0)
Feat - Observant Feat

PC - Keelan Nightsky, Half-Elf Bard (RIP M1 4712 AR) (Joe)

Keelan is a Half-Elf orphan who was brought to the long gone Night Sky orphanage in Riddleport by a travelling band of Starstone Brewers. The exact nature of his origin is unknown to him and not something he has ever paused to give much thought.

The only memory he recalls is watching, with an intense and permanent fascination, one of the travellers playing some manner stringed instrument. Over the following years he would spend much of his free time learning to play a variety of instruments. This allowed him to earn a small amount of coin busking in the harbour or in the many taverns that he would split with his best friend and accomplice in mischief Aleana.

However, Riddleport would provide other opportunities as they grew up. The pair had a strong bent towards adventure and learning and would often spend nights breaking into the libraries’ of the many scholars present in the city. Keelan picked up particular interests in languages, storytelling and anything that detailed mechanical invention, most often of Gnomish origin.

Not all the opportunities the city would provide were so carefree however. Over time Keelan would put his musical gifts and regular residency in the taverns to fence many low key goods. Aleana would solicit business incoming at the docks while Keelan would organise the exchanges, for a small fee of course. A few pilfered sacks of grain here, some dubiously obtained casks of ale there, rarely anything of significance.

This provided a small but steady stream of income and kept them below the radar of the more organised criminal groups. Or so they thought. During one of his regular musical sessions several sizeable thugs burst into the tavern, weapons drawn, and made straight for Keelan. He managed to make a hasty exit and found his way back to the secluded, abandoned building he and Aleana called home.

To his horror upon entering he found that the already run down building had been completely turned over and in the middle of the floor laid the lifeless body of Aleana, a dagger in her chest with a single blood soaked playing card skewered upon the blade. Keelan hastily grabbed what possessions he could and abandoned the city.

He spent the next few years coping with the sorrow while learning to deal both with the confusion over what had occurred and the loss of his dearest friend and lifelong companion. He spent this time travelling from town to city plying his trade as a musician and labourer earning coin until recently arriving in Magnimar. It is time he got his life back on track, if only to honor the memory of his friend, and upon hearing the Pathfinders were recruiting his sense of adventure and love of learning are again piqued.

ep 12 Runelords of the Shattered Star 3-8/1/4712 - Curse of The Lady's Light #1

3/1/4712: On a drizzly winter afternoon, Sheila Heidmarch summons a group of Pathfinders to Heidmarch Manor for their latest mission - to find the next part of the Shattered Star! Group decides to take ship to the Lady's Light; on the way to the docks to meet the Captain they run into a dodgy busker Keelan recognises as Sambin Turshaw of Riddleport, and his youthful companions (Marlan & Shevy Grindsmord) who are picking the crowd's pockets... Gedout interrupts things, Sephiria loosens a lute screw, ending the peformance, and Keelan extorts half of Sambin's donations. Four sailors from the good ship Wanton Ways escort the party on deck; they speak with her captain Yarnelle Fessender and arrange transit to the Lady's Light.

5/1/4712: The Wanton Ways sets sail at dawn. Sheila has provided 2 weeks of iron rations. That night fellow passenger Dialla Marteme slits the throat of Chubby Sewel, the unpopular second mate (brother of first mate Pockeye Sewel), but when caught she persuades the group he had it coming for murdering her 13 year old sister back in Kaer Maga 17 months ago. Chubby's corpse is thrown overboard with the ship's boat, Dialla assumes his appearance.

6/1/4712: Next morning at breakfast everyone comments how much nicer Chubby is. The ship comes in close to shore northwest of the Lady's Light to let down the party's boat. Dialla hands over a dragonstooth dagger & ring of protection to Keelan in thanks/payment.
The Wanton Ways will be coming back this way in two weeks (20/1/4712) - the party can light a signal fire if they want picked up then.
With Quillax swimming alongside in shark form the boat rows in to shore, to a mossy hut atop a small island, home of Maroux, a one-eyed half-orc witch. Her seaweed, rat and swamp water broth does not sit well with Keelan or Quillax -  Gedout enjoys the home-style cooking. After some bickering the party agree to fetch her Kelpie's Hair seaweed from the wreck of the Impdrake - shark-Quillax does so, despite the objections of the skeleton crew. Maroux tells them of the Gray Maidens that have come to the Lady's Light under Captain Oriana. Sephiria  Kaddren recalls the tale of Oriana's many deaths at the hands (arrows) of Naglatha, a follower of Good King Tsadok Arabasti, who three years ago liberated the city of Korvosa from the tyrant Queen Ileosa and her Gray Maiden warrior knights. Not all the Maidens surrendered to King Tsadok's just mercy, some have become outlaws and mercenaries. According to Maroux, ten days ago Oriana visited Marou claiming that Sorshen, Thassilon's Runelord of Lust, had risen again in the Lady's Light. Oriana tried to recruit Maroux, who declined. Anastasia interrogates Maroux, who admits that there was a faint sulphurous stench around Oriana that time. Anastasia suspects a Succubus is at work.
That evening the party return again to the wreck to destroy the skeletons & seize the dead captain's enchanted rapier. Maroux lets them rest in her hut overnight. She seems to quite fancy Gedout, but declines his offer of 'help around the hut'.

7/1/4712: The party head south over Maroux's skull-bedecked bridge, through woods and around Lake Gaulos, to the scene of a recent battle between troglodytes and bullywugs. Amidst the carnage they find a filth-fever infected dagger and a trog holy symbol of their demon-god, Zevgavizeb.
Reaching the trog lair west of the lake, the party detect the trap in the trogs' oil-drenched barricade. Negotiations prove inconclusive until Anastasia appears as 'Emissary of Zevgavizeb' and is taken into the foul-smelling lair. Confronted by the trog priest Uggilo, she summons a great mass of writhing tentacles, apparently convincing the reptile-men of her bona fides. The others are permitted entrance. Anastasia demands and receives the service of Uggilo's giant crocodile, while Sephiria chats with a spell-tranced trog who reveals the back entrance tunnel to the lair, and Quillax cures several filth-fevered trogs; also teaching the trogs a brew that should help cure the disease.

8/1/4712: The group rest overnight in the dune-grass of the hillocks above the trog lair. Two trogs succumb to filth fever overnight. Next morning the party make plans to continue their quest, now with allies...

PC - Neril, Human Monk (Francis)

Some things are elementary mistakes when on the streets. You do not rob adventurers. You do not steal magic items. You do not run away from monks.  And in one fateful day Neril managed to break all three. And it then took the monk in question twenty minutes to run the exhausted and terrified ten year old to earth.

[Mechanics note: Urchin ability: Secrets of the City. Double your speed and that of the group you're with when crossing a city. Hence being able to turn a race with a high level monk on home turf into an endurance race.]

If Neril had been brought down in seconds it would probably have been no harm. A minute and he might well have been killed. Twenty minutes across the streets and decks of Magnimar against a master of the Night Wind temple? That sort of talent gets attention, and Neril was recruited (technically after a choice - but his choice was mostly scared nodding). The monk who recruited him went missing a year or two ago - not unexpected for a professional adventurer.

Most of what Neril knows and will say about the temple is complete and utter rubbish; Master Nichael was someone who fled from an older and more skilled temple, invented and stole a tradition he claims reaches back a thousand years, and added in some ridiculous heroes and fortune cookie style "wisdom". And half a dozen other apprentices to compete against/be exploited. And occasionally he'll drop nuggets of wisdom about his training. All true even if some of them sound as if they are from a horror movie.

Neril graduated about a year ago when he started to gain control of shadow magic - Nichael hadn't thought that that would work and made Neril a journeyman before Neril realised that he had tricks his magic-using master didn't (as opposed to elemental magic).
[Francis note: Nichael is LE who pretends to be LN/LG, but is corrupt, cruel, creepy, and sadistic (and possibly a highwayman, using "training excercises" to get carriages derailed) - and razing the temple to end many of the discipline drills and possibly solve a few missing persons cases might be an idea. Neril will resist this of course]

Since then he came back to Magnamar and joined the Pathfinder Society and relearned the city (some of his old routes don't work but he has some new ones). He's in demand for being impossible to sneak up on (a few rogues have tried - but passive perception 20) and by being willing and able to play decoy wizard.

PC - Sephiria Kaddren, Human Bladesinger Wizard (Judith)

Sephiria Kaddren

Ask anyone in Magnimar what the first thing that comes to mind when you mention the name “Kaddren” and the answer you will usually get will be: spellcasters. The second thing will likely be the rumours surrounding the recent disappearance of Lord Nerumer and Lady Andreena Kaddren in Viperwall.

It meant that their eldest daughter Zimandi, already a formidable wizard, became head of the family when only in her twenties. Wanting to consolidate her position, Zimandi asked for her family’s support. In response her youngest sister, Sephiria returned from the Arcanamirium in Absalom where she had been teaching following her own training there; it had long been a Kaddren tradition to send promising children away to study at the best magical colleges of Golarion, and Sephiria was no exception.

While teaching at the Arcanamirium, Sephiria was invited to become an initiate of the Pathfinder Grand Lodge, with a view to focusing on translating ancient texts as well as doing research, but also with the option of going out on expeditions.

It was only where she returned to Magnimar that Zimandi recalled how shy and awkward her youngest sister could be unless holding forth on some abstruse piece of history or linguistics. A strict and expensive upbringing had instilled basic good manners, but Sephiria, always too focused on her next research project, had never enjoyed the endless rounds of dinners and visiting.

After yet another mistimed lecture on the impact of Thassilonian grammar on modern Varisian syntax, Zimandi hurriedly arranged an introduction for Sephiria to Sheila Heidmarch of Magnimar’s Pathfinder Society, suggesting that it might be a better outlet for her talents…

Heidmarch Pathfinder Lodge, Magnimar

There are typically only a few Pathfinders at the Lodge at any one time. Sheila is usually in residence, coordinating expeditions and arranging supplies.

Senior Pathfinders include
Venture Captain Sheila Heidmarch (f), Thuvian-Chelish, from Korvosa. Tactician-Adept (Monk).
Sir Canayven Heidmarch of Magnimar, Sheila's husband. Ranger.
Mandali the Awakened Gorilla, of the Barrier Wall Mountains in Thuvia. Sheila's friend & companion.
Brodert Quink the Scholar-Sage, formerly of Sandpoint. Thassilonian expert. Wizard.

Mid-rank Pathfinders include
Koriah Azmeren (f), Half-Elf Rogue. Focus on the Darklands.
Almya Gorangal (f), sour Chelish Wizard, from Korvosa. Focus on the ruins of the Mushfens.
Joadric Heimurl, bombastic Kellid Barbarian. Focus on the Malgorian mountains.

Junior Pathfinders include
Lerizzle, human-raised Drow Rogue from Magnimar's Underbridge.
Scotty Saldare the Korvosan Ranger.
Ilvain the Elf Wizard.

Pathfinders Seeking the Shattered Star
1.Quillax (f), human Moon Druid, from Wolf's Ear. Shard of Pride.
2.Gedout, human Barbarian raised by gnomes in the Fogscar Mountains. Shard of Greed.
3. Keelan, Half-Elf Bard.
4. Anastasia (f), Tiefling Warlock of the Old Ones.
5. Sephiria Kaddren (f), noble, slightly bookish Bladesinger Wizard, from Magnimar.
6. Neril, human Shadow Monk

Sheila Heidmarch

Brodert Quink

Sir Canayven Heidmarch

PC - Anastasia, Tiefling Warlock (Rebekah)

Anastasia, Tiefling Warlock 

Anastasia, like so many of her kin is unmistakably of demonic ancestry. She stands slightly taller than the average human woman, on cloven hooves (not unnerving in the slightest). Apart from her violet hair, small fangs and goat-like horns, her most disarmingly demonic quality are her golden eyes. Naturally alluring, despite lacking any interest in seducing her foes/peers (unless the situation calls for it out of practicality for survival). In terms of age, in tiefling terms she would about the equivalent age of an adult human (20-30).

Anastasia's origins would curdle any noble cleric's blood...

Her story begins a long time ago with her father, in a small fishing hamlet on the Lost Coast. The young man found himself a prodigy in his small village, he possessed a small amount of magical talent. His mothers favourite son, he was petted and spoiled from an early age. As many young people do, the young wizard set off into the wider world on his 18th birthday and managed to scrap through the entrance exams into a Magnimar's prestigious wizarding guild. However although he possessed an inflated ego, he lacked magical talent. He soon found himself outmatched by his peers and ridiculed for being a country bumpkin relentlessly. The poor young man, alas, even more unfortunately fell head over heels in love with a noble's daughter, whose brother was also enrolled in the guild. He of course, declared his affection guilessly and was brutally rebuffed.

Filled with impotent rage, the young wizard began researching darker methods of obtaining the fair ladies affection, namely against her will...

One night when he was researching deep in the library, he accidently summoned a succubus. Rather than draining him instantly, the succubus, saw the young fool as far more useful to her alive. The young wizard had immediately fallen under seductive charm upon seeing the creature, forgetting the pretty noble girl. He fell to his knees and offered to be the demon's slave in exchange for her affections....

A strange number of disappearances began to escalate in the city over the next few months. Then people were found dead in their beds, usually young lovers or handsome men. Over time suspicions began to arise in the guild that dark forces were at work...

The source of the dark energy was tracked to deep within the catacombs of the wizarding guild itself. However by the time the combined might of the city's spell casters and clerics staged their assault, all they found was a young man, skeletal and half mad, sobbing uncontrollably, whispering 'She said she's take me with her...I love..my love...come back!' over and over like a mantra...

The young wizard was expelled from the guild, but with no strong evidence to link him to the crimes, he was sent home to the little fishing village he had spurned for greater things so long ago...

....The young man returned to his little village and his loving mother, and for a time things were peaceful again. He was still a shadow of the cocky, boastful boy you'd left a few years ago. But overtime weight returned to his frame and he awoke less often screaming in the night.

However fate is sometimes cruel and one day the young man's mother found a bundle of rags on her doorstep. She, being a kind woman, reached down and picked up the pitiful creature. Inside the bundle lay a small baby, mewing like a kitten. However as the woman looked closely at the babe, she recoiled in horror, fangs, hooves and golden eyes. A demon. The woman screamed and holding the bundle away from her ran to the nearby cliffs, but before she could hurl the baby into the sea, her beloved son caught up with her. He grabbed the child out of her arms and immediately was transfixed by the same eyes of his lost love. His mother begged her son to destroy the child, but he was overjoyed seeing the baby as proof that his love had not abandoned him. He wrestled the child out of his mothers arms, then because she would not relent, he pushed her over the edge of the cliff onto the rocks below.

He was left on the edge of the cliff, holding his daughter. Sparing not a moment to mourn his mother, the young man wrapped the precious bundle in his cloak and then fled his home village, never to be seen by his family again.

                                      *         *          *

Anastasia always knew her father loved her, but with the wisdom of small children she could see that her father's love bordered on obsession. She was guarded by him as his greatest treasure, forbidden to play with other children that came across on their travels. Her father impressed upon her from an early age that she was 'special'. But as she grew older, Anastasia began to realize unlike her father, the rest of the world, thought she was special on a very different, sinister way. Woman would hide their babies when she walked past, children ran away, villagers would hiss. No matter how often her father praised her beauty, the reality of her appearance and its impression on others was inescapable. Her father was more than when it came to the subject of her mother, he was deranged. He painted pictures, drew her likeness on clothes to hang inside their lodgings, he had the rough shape of a horned woman, fashioned in copper, which he would kiss frequently. They were searching for her, he would tell Anastasia and when they found her, she would take them both away to a fantastical place. As she grew older Anastasia began to realize the depth of her father's madness. The failed wizard, no longer young, was haggard now in appearance. They were little more than beggars chasing a dream...

Then one dark moonlight night Anastasia awoke to the sound of his thin pitiful cries, the kind a rabbit would make when in the jaws of a fox. Looming above her father's bedroll was a great winged beast, with claws raised and glowing golden eyes. The creature was picking the remains of her father's flesh from its teeth as he gurgled below it. 

'You'll understand, he was useless in the end. Pathetic. All humans are' the creature said, rising up out of the shadows. Anastasia recognized the eerily beautiful face that had haunted her childhood.

The creature extended a claw, 'We can hunt together if you want, you're of my flesh after all, I can show you how to attract much more delicious prey, than that bag of bones' she hissed. 

Anastasia screamed and fled into the night, as the creature cackled behind her.

Anastasia stumbled out of the community of shacks that her and now deceased father had inhabited, she made it to the edge of the ramshackle community before the screams began…
‘God’s have mercy!’
‘He’s dead…ripped apart!’
‘What beast could have done this?’
‘It was the demoness, that little bitch he had tagging along with him!’
Anastasia’s keen hearing picked up the last cry and she was filled with dread. She had experienced prejudice for her appearance her entire life, but accusations of murder…that was an offence that would have her killed, either by the mob or by the law.
Wrapping her cloak around her, the young tiefling ran off into the back streets of the strange city, she and her father had only reached two days before…
*****
Anastasia lived or more accurately survived for the next few years on her wits. She had many professions, most of them short-lived. Tavern wench, street hawker for a magic emporium, petty thief, she even gutted fish on the quay side. Her father had been a man raised in a fishing hamlet after all and they’d often fished for their food.
Anastasia was offered several ‘jobs’ in seedy establishments, praising her fine features and her exotic beauty. However the thought of resorting to such acts, even to survive, disgusted her.
On the other hand she did find that she could easily persuade people to do what she wanted. Some people were more easily effected than others, usually men. She found she could conceive hard-faced inn-keepers to let her sleep in their basements, mean spirited bakers to spare a burnt loaf. Over time she began to manipulate others with greater effectiveness and with better results.
Then she began to hear their thoughts…
Such a power has been sought by many a great sorcerer, but to Anastasia it was a curse. It was constant, a roaring, cluttered mess of knowledge. She could barely think herself, she could hardly sleep with the noise in her mind. The weight of sorrow, thrill of happiness and all the other swirling vortex of emotions assaulted her from all angles.
She became less a beggar and more a pitiful madwoman, wandering the streets in her rags, muttering whispered words, unable to think for herself.
Some took pity on her and she was fed occasionally, that was not enough to keep her healthy and she soon became skeletal and hunched. She would have died and perhaps the world would have been better off with one less Tiefling, but fate again was kind or cruel depending upon interpretation.
Anastasia was lying curled in a heap in an alcove one night, outside what she did not know or care was one of the greatest wizarding colleges in the known world. She was muttering in her sleep, the collective thoughts of whoever passed by. When the shadow of a figure was cast over her, the person seemed to listen for a few minutes to Anastasia’s ramblings, as if mulling a decision over in their mind. Anastasia suddenly felt herself picked off the ground, gently, she hadn’t been handled with such gentleness in long time.

                                          ****

Over the next few weeks, the figure, who it was revealed was a young man by the name of Ricben, cared for Anastasia. As Anastasia became to regain her health, she began to notice her surroundings. Ricben rooms were that of a young wizard, notes littered the desk and spilled onto the floor, potions and instruments were carefully placed on numerous shelves.
Ricben explained that he was developing a ‘new type’ of magic through his research. He blathered on about words like ‘telepathy’ and ‘cosmic influencing’. Anastasia didn’t give a damn what he said as long as he kept feeding her soup and let her sleep in his bed a few more nights. Ricben had given over his bed to his patient and had taken to sleeping next to her on the floor. When she gained greater strength Anastasia reached out into his mind to gauge his intentions.
The young man was very fascinated by her, not only her demonic appearance but he had realized she had the ability to read others thoughts and emotions. Although she sensed he wanted to study her abilities, she did not sense that he lacked any compassion for her. Ricben was thoroughly a very kind and sweet young man, a little foolish and guileless perhaps, but inherently good.
Overtime Anastasia regained her ability to walk and speak, Ricben questioned her thoroughly about her abilities and origins, desperate for any shred of knowledge. He kept asking her about oceans and read to her in a strange language to see if she could decipher its meaning. He said that the books and scrolls were written about the ‘Old ones’. He also waxed lyrical about a ‘grand cosmic plan’ and the return of the all-knowing God from the ocean. When he spoke like this Anastasia felt a shift in his mind, a creeping darkness. However she chose to ignore it. She had never had anyone in her life, apart from her father, who had shown her such care and gentleness.
It would have been better if Anastasia had been ruthless, took off into the night with the foolish Wizard’s gold in her pockets. Unfortunately for them both, Anastasia fell in love with the young wizard and overtime his desire to learn about the Tiefling became more personal rather than a scholarly exercise.

                                           ****

They were happy for a time, Ricben helped Anastasia learn a way to control her abilities, so could regain a sense of mental independence. Anastasia in turn allowed any experiments that Ricben wished to perform upon her. However he always took great care never to hurt her…at first. He also taught her magic that she could use to defend herself and illusions to hide her true appearance.
Anastasia felt as if she had a new life, she could stroll along the quay with her lover without stares, shouts or being spat on. She felt that she was finally free from the burden of her mother’s blood. The young wizard even proposed and they married in a tiny, isolated chapel with an elderly half-blind cleric (who preferred his ale over asking difficult questions).

                                               ****

However as time passed Anastasia began to sense a change in her husband, a creeping darkness. He became more reclusive, he ate barely anything and slept a few hours a night. She would often to wake to find him still scratching his quill fervently as dawn broke. He became thinner and his smile disappeared as well as his gentleness. The experiments would hurt now as he had exhausted other gentler ways, he became increasingly annoyed at his lack of results, he spoke to Anastasia only with short, sharp words.
Then one morning Anastasia was awoken by her husband, he had a beaming smile on his face and the past months worries seemed a memory.
‘I’ve done it!’ He cried ecstatically, ‘I can hear them, all of them!’
Anastasia didn’t fully understand these words, it didn’t seem to matter, she had her husband returned to her and that was enough.

                                              ****

Ricben seemed more stable and sane, they went back to taking long walks by the Quay side and everything returned to normal.
Anastasia discovered soon afterwards that she was pregnant. Ricben was overjoyed and the promise of a child pulled his fragile mental state back towards reality.
Anastasia’s pregnancy was uneventful until it came to giving birth. The labour was agonizing, Anastasia suffered the pain for two whole days before Ricben was forced to find a midwife. They had been too afraid to hire one, having heard too many tales of midwives drowning Tiefling babies at birth.
The old crone that Ricben came back with, pronounced that the child was already lost. She helped Anastasia bring the babe into the world, but her prediction was correct, the child was born dead.

                                           ****

The death of the baby sent Ricben over the edge, he became deranged. He ordered Anastasia not to bury the body and took to his books in frantic research.
That night Ricben gathered up his notes and old black tome, he told Anastasia to bring the child.
They made it to the quay side around midnight. It was a full moon and the water was black as ink.
Ricben unmoored a boat and persuaded the frightened Anastasia to get into it. Then he rowed them away towards the open ocean…

                                            ***

The dawn was red the following morning, stark and bloody.
The fisherman had been awake for hours already preparing their boats to go out onto the open water.
The sight of one more small boat on the horizon was not uncommon and no one took much notice until it came to shore.
As it came to rest next to the dock, the clattering and chatter stopped abruptly.
Inside sat a Tiefling, her hair and horns laced with seaweed, her clothes sodden with salt water. In her arms squirmed a baby, its eyes glowed an unnatural green in the morning light.
The Tiefling ignored the assembled men, and stepped out of the boat and onto the shore.
The fishermen watched as the Tiefling holding the baby walked away, they were filled with an inexplicable but overwhelming sense of dread.

                                             ***

Anastasia's year out (4711 AR)

Anastasia spent the year with her daughter Lilith, leaving her in the care of 'Guardians' in a small seaside hamlet, just after celebrating her child's sixth birthday. Alongside caring for her daughter, she spent time researching her patron.

As a result her powers grew (Charisma +1) but her sanity became even more suspect. Anastasia was always quiet and unnerving in appearance, however now she not only converses to herself in infernal, but also sings to herself. The melody is faint but haunting and sounds somewhat like a lullaby. The party might also notice her violent streak has become more pronounced...