[Day 23 and 24 – The Elf Job explained and a challenge]
[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened October 17, 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 23 (continued)
Late Morning
Having made her way into the top-most chamber of the Therrasic Spire, Marativy was surprised to have been caught by an elven wizard with a pseudodragon familiar. Instinctively she turned invisible and stealthily moved to the side, but the elf apparently could still see her and tracked her movements by looking at her without making any other actions.
Marativy and the elf [introducing himself as Elaneiros] had a conversation. When Marativy described what she was looking for [a way into the Undercity to find a shard of metal], Elaneiros recognized what she was describing as the Shard of Gluttony. He was willing to explain the location of the shard if Marativy would do a job for him. Marativy was at least willing to hear the elf out.
Elaneiros explained that there was only one Augur who had the actual gift of prophecy and this troll had been kidnapped. Elaneiros needed that troll to be taken from his kidnapper and brought to the Spire. Elaneiros also wanted to meet the rest of Marativy’s companions. Marativy agreed to convey the requests to the rest of her group and see what they thought. Elaneiros provided her with a token that would allow her to return to the top floor of the Spire.
Marativy made her own way out of the Spire, not looking for Gridik or Swamprover to avoid blowing their cover. When she returned to the Grange in Downmarket she explained to Roscuro what had happened. Roscuro agreed it sounded promising, but they should consult with the rest of the Ratpack before accepting the offer.
Noon
Hrefna and Templeton returned from their investigation of the Ardoc Factory. Hrefna explained that they had learned little posing as laborers and failed to get jobs there. Roscuro, Marativy, Templeton, Zitch, Hrefna, and Ariphi discussed the proposal and what other options they had to find the shard they sought. All agreed that Elaneiros was the best lead so far and they should meet with him.
Near Sunset
Gridik and Swamprover finished their work at the Spire and turned in the materials to Koif’a. She thanked them for their work and suggested they not return until the end of the week. Gridik departed with a cheerful “See you tomorrow!”
Once the two wizards returned to the Grange they were brought up to date on things.
Evening
Gridik spent 90 gp from the scroll supplies to successfully add Nondetection to his spell book.
Day 24
Morning
Zitch stated he would stay at the Grange so he could continue work on Marativy’s magic belt. Templeton volunteered to also stay and watch over Zitch. This seemed prudent and so Roscuro, Marativy, Gridik, Swamprover, Hrefna, and Ariphi left to go meet with Elaneiros at the Spire.
At the Spire
Marativy again picked the lock on the front door of the spire and the group entered. Marativy led them up the left-side stairs to the lift on the second floor. The group crowded onto the platform and Swamprover made the lift ascend. It stopped two floors short of the top. Marativy handed over the token Elaneiros had given her, which allowed Swamprover to raise the lift the last two floors.
Inside the library, Elaneiros was waiting in a seating area. He asked where the witch and foo dog were and Roscuro answered that they were taking care of business elsewhere. [This gave Roscuro a bad impression of Elaneiros as an arrogant, know-it-all wizard that continues to shade their relationship.] Once the Ratpack was settled in seats, Elaneiros explained the job.
Elaneiros needed the Ratpack to get one of two things: either retrieve the kidnapped troll prophet Augustille or break into the Augur Temple and take the official record of Augustille’s prophecy. As the Ratpack did not relish stealing from an organized temple of trolls, they asked for more details on rescuing the troll prophet.
Elaneiros explained that Augustille had been kidnapped by the third son of the Ardoc family, Berkanin Ardoc. Berkanin was holding Augustille in a family-owned building on the family compound in Bis. That compound was guarded by construct guards. Roscuro accepted the job, stating that if the job was do-able, the Ratpack would do it.
Roscuro then asked about the shard’s location. Elaneiros explained he would provide that information after he had the prophet, but he would provide the Ratpack with some assistance in their retrieval if they could provide proof they could defend the shards better than the current guardian. At first Roscuro thought Elaneiros was going to have the Ratpack fight him, which would have been cliché and Roscuro advised against it. Instead, Elaneiros wanted the Ratpack to defeat his automaton snakes and lion.
End of Session
Rat Whispers
[Note on names in this book – mostly they are hard to pronounce. Elaneiros we pronounce E-lan-ER-i-os. Even though that is not what the writer intended (I think they meant it to be pronounce E-lan-I-ros with the second E being silent), it is what we can remember reliably. I wish the writer had gone with more pronounceable names, especially for those characters who get referenced a lot.]
[I dislike the trope “prove yourself by defeating me/my goons in combat” when it appears in movies and I hate it when writers put it into an adventure. In a movie it lets the star establish his characters credibility, but in a RPG it is just a pointless fight. I really wish the writer for this book of the adventure path had instead make Elaneiros accept that achieving either of his tasks meant that the PCs met his needs.]
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 9
Next Session: Session 11
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