Warmest Greetings,
We have been travelling to wild and distant lands again so I've no idea if1 this or any of my other messages are getting through.
Drama at the Red Dragon Tavern
However our travels came later, today's adventure started, as most of them do, on Starday. We were in the Red Dragon tavern in the Foreign Quarter of Absalom, it was fairly busy, trade was brisk and the joint was jumping. Seated at one table were some members of the Pathfinder Society; Rorn the Black, Adril Hestram and an younger man, Jassole an initiate of the society.
Lady Helena approached them and bought them a drink and engaged them in casual conversation. "We are independent adventurers but we would be interested in joining the society." She said, not asking the rest of us if we were interested in having our style cramped by a bunch of constipated rule followers.
"We could take you in as initiates." Rorn replied.
"We'd be looking for rapid advancement through the ranks." Helena pushed herself forward nearly smothering the handsome man with her ample assets.
At this point I noticed some other characters enter the bar, less savoury than Rorn and his companions. One, a halfling, made his way towards the bar, while a human and an elf positioned themselves with a clear view of the table that Rorn was seated at.
"Hard for us shorties to get served ain't it" I quipped to the halfling as I gave him a once over, noticing as I did that he had a loaded crossbow concealed beneath his cloak. He ignored me and pointed his weapon at Rorn. I grappled with him and the crossbow went off striking Adril who slid from his chair. The elf, a spell caster, cast sleep and the initiate and the commoners in the inn slumped to the ground causing more confusion. The human drew a bow and shoots at Adril but misses.
A beefy, armoured chap burst through the door of the tavern but before he could take more than a pace of two Kissara laid him out with a sleep hex. I started to have at the halfling who told me to stay out of it before jumping behind the bar. I followed him but before I could stick him with my blade he vanished and reappeared next to Miria. Someone had managed to finish off the armoured warrior but before we could stop him the halfling touched him and the pair vanished along with the ranger.
"Do you know them?" Lady Helena inquired of Adril
"Yes." He replied tersely, "We're leaving. Thank you for your help, perhaps we will see you around." With that they left and walked to the nearby Pathfinder Lodge.
I examined the bolt and determined that the poison was Tears of Death, very expensive poison.
An Invitation
Three nights later we received a note inviting us to meet Adril back in the Red Dragon.
Adril arrived and thanked us again though he then told us, "Previous events are not up for discussion" holding up a hand to forestall any further questions regarding the events of Saturday night.
"I've looked at your careers and I want you to investigate something, not Pathfinder business. I've been asked for a favour from a friend in Jalmeray. A favoured cousin of the ruler has gone missing, I've been asked by Lord Pansidar to look into this."
Adyel was reluctant to come with us as it was a boat owned by Vudra and Jalmeray is an outpost of Vudra.
Eventually we managed to persuade Adyel to join us and we departed on the morning tide for Jalmeray.
Arrival in Jalmeray
After seventeen extremely uneventful days at sea we arrived at Niswan, the capital of Jalmeray, early in the morning.
There was nobody to meet us so but we noticed one of the dock workers watching us closely. A street urchin approached us and offered to take us to the embassy for a few coppers. we agreed but then several guards approached us and told us to follow them to the palace.
The palace was very luxurious and we were shown into one fine room after another until we arrived to one where an obese man wearing a turban was sitting amongst a pile of cushions. Another man approached us and introduced himself as Lord Pansidar.
As servants brought food and drink he explained the situation.
It appears that the Thakur's2 cousin has been killed. From the state of the body, drowned in acid, the Cult of the Ebon Destroyers has been blamed. In response the Thakur has banned the worship of their god Dhalavei. Now there have been death threats against the Thakur.
"You cannot trust anyone must find the cult and destroy it, especially its leader." Lord Pansidar was very insistent on the last part, "You will be rewarded with fifteen hundred gold pieces."
Now a few months ago that would have sounded like a lot but now we were taken aback by the paucity of his offer, especially as we were going up against a death cult and he was in the employ of the ruler of a rich nation.
Mirria was persuaded by the offer of a Chelaxian embassy in Niswan but the rest of us were left with nothing extra.
"I suggest you speak with a few people who have knowledge of the situation." Pansidar continued, "Prince Camber, Lord Mahindrah who knows a little about everything, Pravasakh a spiritual advisor, Varanassy a high caste merchant and Captain Harita of the palace guard."
He gave us a writ of authority and sent us on our way. As we returned to our accommodation we were accosted by a young street urchin who handed Lady Helena a note. I gave her a couple of coins to delay here while Lady Helena read the note, "The promise of death awaits you if you interfere."
The girl started to run away but Kissara hexed her to sleep and we carried her back to our accommodation where we questioned her. It appeared that Lankesh, a silk merchant, gave her the note. We let her go and went to the market which was starting to close up for the day and Lankesh had already gone home for the day.
Merchant Mayhem
The following day we went back to the market but his stall was empty but we found where he lived from a neighbouring stall holder. We headed there and I watched the back door while Miria went to the front, and amazingly didn't just smash it down instead knocked on it politely while Lucciola and Dio watched the street.
The door opened and Lankesh stood there. While he was distracted I picked the lock and entered silently through the back door. As soon as he was shown the writ he slammed the door and started fumbling with some keys. He locked the door and then ran towards me shouting "Mistake!" I attacked with my sword but he twisted out of the way, this was no mere merchant! This was confirmed when he transformed into a strange creature with a bat like head. He drew a kukri and attacked, the blade missed but he managed to bite me.
By this time Mirria had managed to break the door down and joined me in the attack. I fell back and launched some magic missiles but they fizzled out, the beast had some form of spell resistance!
"It's a rakshassa!" Lucciola shouted joining the fray. Mirria seemed to be having trouble damaging Lankesh as well and I was out of the combat, badly wounded.
I watched as blade and spell, claw and tooth failed to do significant damage until Kissara managed to fell our foe with another of her trusty hexes and Lady Helena's summoned earth elemental delivered a coup-de-grace.
We searched the house and found a receipt for some silk, some keys, a few gold pieces and a chest containing some changes of clothes. One matched the rags worn by the street urchin that accosted us on the first day, another set was that of a palace servant and another would suit a wealthy silk merchant.
We determined that after a brief rest we would return to Lord Pansidar with this news.
I'll pass this to a courier on the way, for who knows what will happen next!
GG
