[Day 27 – The Elf Job, Part 2: Talking to the Temple and Acquiring the Prophecy]
[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened December 5, 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 8th 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 27 (continues)
Marativy, Roscuro, Hrefna, Zitch, and Templeton arrived in an alley across the street from the Augur Temple in Kaer Maga. The alley dog-legged and the group was hiding around the corner so the trolls standing in front of the temple would not see them. Zitch cast Heroism on Marativy, Roscuro, and Hrefna and then placed his Ward on Marativy. Templeton followed by casting Invisibility on Marativy. Templeton then flew up onto the roof of the adjacent building to surreptitiously observe the goings on.
Preparations in place, Roscuro and Hrefna walked around the corner and openly approached the Augur Temple with Marativy following along behind, invisible. Acting like they had every right to be there and doing what they were doing, the duo stepped up to the closed door to the temple and attempted to push it open so they could enter the temple itself.
The door was weighted for trolls and Roscuro almost face-planted into it.
After Roscuro and Hrefna failed to open the door or even make it budge, Roscuro waved over one of the several trolls standing around and asked for the door to be opened so he could meet with a person inside the temple. The troll ambled over and asked Roscuro who he needed to meet with. Roscuro confidently stated he was there to speak with the head of the temple. The troll explained that the head of the temple was out, but he would send a message to them. Hrefna asked if there was a temple assistant the two could talk to as they had information to trade. The troll asked thought about it and asked what kind of information. “We understand Augustille is missing,” Roscuro quietly replied.
This got the troll’s full attention. “Then you need to speak with the head of the temple,” he said. “She’s at The Sorry Excuse in Hospice.” The troll then gave Roscuro and Hrefna directions to The Sorry Excuse. “When you get there, tell Vargun ‘Garma told me to talk to you about Augustille.’.”
With no other choice, Roscuro shrugged for Marativy’s sake and then he and Hrefna left, making their way to Hospice. Marativy stayed and waited for an opportunity follow someone into the temple. Once Roscuro and Hrefna were away, Garma, the troll, walked back over to where the other trolls were waiting for clients needing their fortunes told.
Knowing the Invisibility spell on her would wear off in several minutes, Marativy decided to check the door to the temple herself. She had seen Roscuro walk right into it and Hrefna lean against it to open it and fail [both rolled below 5 on their Strength checks], but maybe she would have better luck. To her surprise, it moved under her efforts. Before opening it, she paused to see if any of the trolls had noticed her efforts. One had, but as Marativy had only moved the door a small amount, it decided it was just the wind or something and went back to talking with the other trolls. Marativy carefully pushed the door open just enough to let herself in and then slowly closed it behind her.
She was inside the Temple!
Marativy quickly scouted the first floor, which was mostly empty of people and things. She located stairs down and quietly descended. The main room had two trolls talking with each other, apparently bored guards. There were a couple of open doorways and one closed door. The closed door was on the north wall and Marativy stepped as silently as she could to it. Testing the handle, she found the door was locked. With a growing sense of urgency lest the Invisibility spell lapse while she was exposed, Marativy pulled out her lockpicks and picked the lock.
Once the lock was unlocked, she slowly opened the door, again only enough to let herself in. Being a ratfolk helped here. Once inside the room beyond she quietly closed the door and stared looking around.
The room appeared to be a valuable item storage room. On the back wall, prominently displayed were three large scrolls in ornate scroll tubes. Having no way to tell the scrolls apart, Marativy took all three scrolls and placed them inside her box of holding. At this point she realized she was visible again – Templeton’s spell had worn off!
Marativy shouldered her box of holding and prepared to leave. She could turn herself invisible for less than a minute. Hopefully it would be long enough for her to get out of the temple. She slowly and quietly opened the door to the main cellar chamber. Neither of the guards noticed, but as she stepped through the door, a third troll descended the steps into the room and noticed the still open door.
Marativy quietly and invisibly moved around the three trolls as they moved over to the open door. When she reached the steps she broke into a sprint up them. She heard the trolls bellow as they heard her footsteps race up the stairs and started to follow her. She quickly reached the front door and started hauling the heavy door open as the pursuing trolls sounded the alarm. She was able to get the door opened wide enough for her and squeezed out. She then ran for all she was worth until her pool of ki was empty and she became visible again, the trolls none the wiser to her location.
Thirty Minutes Later
Over in Hospice, Roscuro and Hrefna arrived at The Sorry Excuse. The two walked into the tavern and looked around. As it was still morning, the tavern was nearly completely empty. Other than the bartender, the only occupants were a troll and a dwarf sitting at a table and talking. Roscuro and Hrefna walked over to the table openly and waited for the troll and dwarf to pause their conversation.
They did this almost immediately and the troll woman asked their business. Roscuro repeated the phrase “Garma told me to talk to you about Augustille.” Vargun [the troll woman] asked the dwarf for a moment and the dwarf went to the bar to get another drink.
Roscuro hopped up onto the table and sat so he would be at eye-level with Vargun while Hrefna just took a seat [Roscuro is size Small and Hrefna is size Medium]. Roscuro stated he sought to trade information: information on where Augustille was in exchange for information as to the location of a Thassilonian item under the city and how to get there. Vargun was intrigued. She stood up and had Roscuro and Hrefna follow her into a private room in the back that was magically sealed against scrying.
Vargun and Roscuro discussed why he sought the shard. Roscuro explained that wherever the shard was would also have Thassilonian art and artifacts that could be sold for profit. Vargun asked if he had a sponsor in this hunt. In reply, Roscuro pulled out his pathfinder and showed it to Vargun, saying nothing. Vargun recognized the item and what Roscuro was implying. They quickly came to an agreement.
Roscuro explained to Vargun that Berkanin Ardoc had kidnapped Augustille and was holding him in a torture device on the Ardoc compound in Bis. Roscuro described the device and the location of it as of the previous day. Roscuro also stated that due to the secrecy Berkanin was taking, it was unlikely that the rest of the Ardoc family knew about the kidnapping. Vargun stated that Berkanin was likely to be disappointed with Augustille. Augustille did not start with the ability to prophesize. He once touched the Pillars of Dreams in The Warrens and slept longer than was normal after doing so. Since then he occasionally has episodes where he prophesizes but he has no memory of what he says during those episodes, so torturing him will get nothing. Vorgun also asked if Roscuro and his group had anything to do with the ”excitement” over in Bis the previous day. Roscuro allowed that they did.
Vargun then explained that the shard was most likely in a Thassilonian Workshop that exists under the city, specifically under the Spire in Cavalcade. It is separate from the rest of the Undercity but there might be possible access points hidden somewhere in the Undercity. The most direct access will be through the Spire. This information was the most concrete information the Ratpack had received on the location of the shard so far and Roscuro was happy to have it. It told him his deal with Elaneiros would actually provide a route to the shard.
Both Vargun and Roscuro agreed they were satisfied with the information shared and their deal was concluded. Roscuro and Hrefna left, heading back to the Grange to meet up with the rest of the Ratpack.
11:00 AM
Back at the Grange, Marativy took Gridik and Swamprover aside and showed them the three scroll tubes. The two wizards examined the tubes and found they were sealed with magic.
Once Roscuro and Hrefna were back, Marativy went to work disarming the magic sealing the scrolls. Marativy took her time to avoid tripping any traps or alarms on the scrolls and so they could be resealed after reading the contents. The first scroll was the spell Raise Dead. The second scroll was The Prophecy. The third scroll was a ritual for controlling divine gifts.
Like all prophecies, this one was a poem and not very clear. After reading it several times, the Ratpack decided that they did not have enough information to put it to use. It was copied down and then resealed.
To avoid any kind of war with the Augur Temple, the group decided to return the first and third scrolls. Marativy would take them and place them unobserved into the haversacks of two trolls who were part of the temple. Secrecy being most important, she had the rest of the day to accomplish this.
The group ended the day discussing what questions should be asked using Commune in the morning. The answers to those questions would help them decide on how to deal with the second scroll and Elaneiros.
End of Session
Rat Whispers
[This session was roleplay heavy. Luckily Marativy was able to avoid fighting a temple full of trolls! There was an additional piece of information about the temple interior that I remember being mentioned but I did not write down. The altar inside the temple was to a human deity of omens, but I don’t remember specifically which deity the GM said.]
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 15
Next Session: Session 17
