[Day 20 and 21 – Arrival and a tour for shopping]
[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened September 26, 2022.]
[SPOILERS! If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]
Player Characters
Marativy – female ratfolk 8th level Ninja
Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 8th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar
Roscuro – male ratfolk 8th level Monk
Swamprover – female grippli 7th level Wizard
Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura
Via Roll20
Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 8th level Summoner (Synthesist)
NPCs
Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 6th level Wizard (Invoker)
Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue
Autumn
Day 20 (continued)
As the Ratpack entered Kaer Maga through the ancient gaping hole in the side of the structure, the district they entered was The Warrens. This is clearly the poorest part of the city with hovels stacked on each other. Behind the stacks of hovels, to either side, were the cavernous entrances to Kaer Maga’s outer ring of districts. The obvious main street through the Warrens to the inner city [where the Ratpack wished to go] was lined with packs of street urchins attempting to sell junk/get hired as guides/pickpocket those new to the city.
Like any other group of new arrivals, the Ratpack was immediately surrounded by urchins as they made their way down the main street. Zitch and Marativy noticed one of the urchins steal some of Gridik’s scroll reagents while the kobold was distracted by a different urchin. Marativy stole the reagents back without being noticed and re-planted them in Gridik’s backpack. The rest of the Ratpack was aware enough to keep hold of their valuables.
After a bit, a higher grade of street urchin arrived and drove away the pickpockets. He introduced himself as Gav Nahli and offered his "superior guide services" for a "mere" 5 gp per day. Roscuro had been expecting something like this but haggled a bit to not look like an easy mark. He eventually relented and accepted Gav’s services.
After explaining where they wanted to go [Haverston’s Grange, where the Pathfinder Society had arranged rooms]. As the group resumed travel through the Warrens, Gav provided a bit of a travelogue, pointing out the location of the Pillars of Dream as the group passed the side street leading to them. Gav explained the Pillars were as old as the structure the city was built in and touching them led to the toucher falling asleep for several hours.
Once past the Warrens, the group entered Downmarket, one of the three districts inside the torus that held the outer districts. [Imagine a glazed donut. The three inner districts are where the donut hole is. Now hollow out the donut so that it is a circular tube and then take a bite out of the northwest corner. Where the bite is is The Warrens and the other districts are inside the hollow donut.] The group walked nearly to the lake inside Kaer Maga and then turned south. Haverston’s Grange was near the southern end of Downmarket, just past the Auger Temple. The Augers were trolls who foretold futures with their own entrails, cutting open their own stomachs to do so. Once at the Grange, Roscuro paid Gav and asked that he show up in the morning for more guide services.
In the Grange, the Ratpack spoke with Lynette the combination barkeep and innkeep. Roscuro explained they had a reservation through the Pathfinder Society. Lynette confirmed that there were four pre-paid rooms reserved for a week. After that the Ratpack would need to pay on their own. Roscuro agreed to this.
While the rest of the group got settled in their rooms, Roscuro ducked out with Marativy to stop by the Auger Temple. Roscuro wanted to get a feel for the organization and maybe some useful information. The duo found a couple trolls standing in front of the temple talking with each other. One of the trolls turned to face the two ratfolk and Roscuro asked for a divination about his current business. The troll walked them over to a side area and then explained that auguries cost 15 gp. Roscuro paid, curious to see how this worked. The troll then cut open its stomach to examine its own entrails before stating that it saw in Roscuro’s future an individual with a shadowed past, deep secrets best left untouched, and an unexpected friend. Neither Roscuro nor Marativy were convinced that anything supernatural had just happened, but they thanked the troll and left.
Back at the Grange, the group had dinner, which was spicy dwarven fare.
Day 21
Over breakfast [2sp per person at the Grange], the Ratpack discussed options. They decided that learning the lay of the land in Kaer Maga would be a good idea and some shopping for magical reagents was necessary. When Gav arrived, they paid him to take them to find magic shops. Gav recommended they go to the Tarheel Promenade district as it was the center for all things arcane in the city. There were a couple routes to get there from Downmarket and the Ratpack selected the route that went around the covered portion of the city to see the various districts. Also, they wished to avoid having to pay tolls to get through the gates in the walls between the inner districts and the outer districts.
Gav took them north and then cut through a small part of the Warrens to get to Oriat, the northern-most outer district. Oriat was the home to the city’s artists, philosophers, and hipsters. Gav warned that the Brotherhood of the Seal, a monastic order that resided in Oriat, was undergoing some form of schism and the monks were fighting each other periodically. Best to avoid that.
Walking through the outer districts clockwise, the next district was Ankar-Te, the center of the undead trade in the city. Gav had the group stick to the main street through this district.
The next district was the Tarheel Promenade, which occupied the southeastern quadrant of the outer city. The two notable shops in the district were the Wheel Unbroken [expensive] and Gadka’s Magical Oddities [discount]. Marativy, following Zitch’s instructions, purchased the necessary materials to upgrade her Belt of Dexterity [from a +2 to a +6]. Neither shop had all of the materials necessary, so Marativy split her purchases between the stores and made both proprietors very happy after purchasing 8000gp worth of reagents in both shops. Gridik was able to locate two of the spells he wanted [Nondetection and Spontaneous Immolation] and bought a scroll of each.
After spending time shopping, the group continued the tour of the outer districts. The next district and possibly the smallest was The Bottoms. The Bottoms was home to abolitionists and freed slaves. Just past the Bottoms was Cavalcade, another small district that was home to the city’s manufacturing businesses. There were several streams running through this district with many bridges and waterwheels in evidence.
The next district was Bis, which occupied the western side of the outer districts between Cavalcade and the Warrens. This district was wealthy and the home of the Ardoc family, makers of constructs and automatons. Gav pointed out the Ardoc family compound and later their factory as the group walked through the district. Several guard constructs were seen at several street corners and Marativy noticed small flying observation constructs up on the roofs of a number of buildings.
The group then clipped the corner of the Warrens to re-enter Downside. Roscuro paid Gav for the day and told him to come back in the morning.
Dinner Time
The Ratpack met with Abra from the Duskwardens at a restaurant across the street from the Grange for dinner and to discuss options to explore the Undercity.
End of Session
Rat Whispers
[This session was mostly a big exposition dump with a little shopping on the side. It took a while for all the players to understand that the inner and outer districts didn’t just have a wall between them, but the outer districts were enclosed in a tube. I omitted mentioning the Highside Stacks, a district that is accessed from the outer districts of Cavalcade and The Bottoms but is also somehow outside the structure and hangs over parts of Downside and Hospice? I have no real idea how it works, especially as there is a stream shown that appears to start at the lake and flows south through Highside and Cavalcade without explaining how it makes the jump up to Highside. I assume “magic” is used but maybe the map drawer missed the detail. Hard to say.]
Ratpack
Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions
Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions
Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions
Last Session: Session 6
Next Session: Session 8
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