Thurazur's Field Notes

[Son of the King]

WARNING: Spoilers ahead for the Pathfinder 2e Beginner's Box adventure.

This is a little AAR of the Pathfinder game I played in (as a player for once!) this weekend. More to come as I write my scruffy notes up into something that feels like the diary Thurazur might write in the evening.

There's a second session planned in a few weeks, so hopefully this tale ends up with quite a few entries.

Thurazur's Field Notes

Otari

It was around lunchtime that we came upon the seaside town of Otari. The road wound down through the vineyards into town as Sister Cynthia and I arrived, looking for adventure and interesting discoveries. At this point I've been travelling with the cleric for a few months; she's an interesting character, but a good person to have at your back in a pinch.

Presently we found ourselves at the door of the Rowdy Rockfish, an entertaining looking tavern. Hungry and thirsty from the road, we decided to step inside. Pushing the door open, the Rowdy Rockfish didn't live up to its name. Entirely lacking in rockfishes, and not at all rowdy, the Rockfish seemed to be a relatively upmarket establishment. The bartender stood behind the bar polishing a wine glass as the locals sat around the tables enjoying their lunch and chattering to each other. There were only two notable things in the whole place; a shady-looking character lurking by the far corner of the bar, and a table near the door at which a huge orc and diminutive gnome were just sitting down.

I decided to engage with these two points of interest in reverse order, and sat down at the table whilst Cyn went to the bar to make the first and perhaps most important discovery about Otari - what wine was available. I introduced myself to the orc, named Grugnog Thunderpants (I think I heard that right), and the gnome who just goes by Clive. Apparently Grugnog owes something of a life debt to Clive after he saved him from an unseen attacker, though Grug seems not entirely pleased with this situation.

As soon as I got talking to these two, an elf walked in and apparently had the exact same thought process as myself. She sat down at our increasingly unusual looking table and introduced herself as Elderberry, a druid from the mountains come down to the coast for a change of scenery. She has a small mushroom friend who she has trained to backflip, which provided a nice icebreaker standing on the table. Conversation flowed easily, especially when Cynthia returned from the bar with Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir for all. As it turned out we were all in the same boat, in town seeking excitement and adventure. We all agreed that the shady character by the bar looked worth talking to. I asked a nearby local if they knew who it was, and apparently its a local fish seller named Tamily Tanderveil who has been having some trouble. A very promising lead then. Clive volunteered to do the honours.

The lead turned out maybe not so promising as Clive reported back that apparently Tamily's cellar has been ransacked, and her entire stock of dried fish has gone missing. She wants some brave adventurous types to venture down there and work out what did it. It's not exactly the height of adventure, battling dragons and demons, but I guess honest pay for honest work. Tamily offered 5 gold pieces for the job, which seems almost too generous for a simple "check out the cellar" job. We agreed to help, after a large helping of potato tapas from the excellent bartender. I really recommend the food in the Rockfish, I'll have to come back sometime. The hassleback potatoes were a particular delight.

Otari Fishery Cellar

After lunch we made our way across town. The directions of "it's by the sea" seemed a bit questionable, but it turned out to be pretty easy to find the fishery. Upon entering we headed straight down into the problematic cellar. Lit by torches in sconces on the walls, it was easy to see the problem. The barrels were all ripped open by animal claws, and there was a great gaping hole in the far wall. Interesting that Tamily didn't mention that part. No wonder she offered 5 gold pieces.

We took a look around the cellar, but there wasn't really much else in the way of clues. Deciding to take the obvious one we headed towards the hole in the wall. Grugnog and I took the front, confident that between us we could take whatever made the hole. As we approached it, we started to hear skittering and scampering sounds in the darkness. Suddenly, a huge rat leapt out, followed by another, and another, and two more after that. These were no ordinary rats, they were the size of dogs and with teeth just as sharp. Grugnog began proceedings, dispatching the first rat easily with his greatsword. This was the high point of our first engagement together, as I followed up by dealing a terrible blow to the wall next to a rat, Grugnog greatly amused by my ineptitude. Elderberry wrapped magical vines around that same rat before giving it a quick jolt with an arc of magical electricity. This is where things started to go downhill.

The rat wriggled free of the vines, and went for me with a viciousness I wasn't expecting. Its teeth sank into my leg, somehow fitting painfully through the links in my chainmail. Another rat went for Grugnog, biting his legs over and over. I managed to pull my axe free of the wall in time to swing at it as it bit, but that only drew its attention to me. Infuriated by the wounding I gave it, the rat lunged at my currently rat-free leg, ripping and tearing as if my armour were paper.

As the blood poured down my legs and I began to wonder if this is really how it all ends, Clive showed some of the tenacity that led to Grug's debt, charging into the maelstrom of teeth and tails to club and punch the enraged rodent into submission. A magical ray of healing from Cynthia rejuvenated my spirits and strength as I steadied myself and readied my axe. Yet another monstrous rat scuttled past me heading straight for Grugnog, though it never found its target. My axe came crashing down on it, driven on by my pain as I cleaved the rat in two.

Grugnog and I combined to see off another of the swarm, before Cynthia showed our new friends just how unsettling she can be. Her eyes glowed as she destroyed the mind of the final rat, an eldritch lance fatally piercing its sanity. Elderberry made up some healing salves and administered them to the wounded as we sat on the cellar floor. As we recovered our strength and gazed into the now horrifying darkness of the tunnel, we were in unanimous agreement. Our payment terms needed renegotiating.

[Jubal]

This was a fun little read

It'd be nice to know more about Thurazur, though maybe that's intended to slowly become apparent through reading?

[Son of the King]

It'd be nice to know more about Thurazur, though maybe that's intended to slowly become apparent through reading?

That's what I'm hoping I can make happen. Whether it works as well as I want remains to be seen.

[Son of the King]

Here's part 2, looking at my notes I think there'll be around 3 more parts like this from the first session.

Field Notes - Page 2

Otari Fishery

Grugnog held up the giant rat as if it were a particularly impressive fish. Clive glared at Tamily.

"You see what we've been dealing with? These things are fierce!"

"Well are they all gone? Is that what ransacked my cellar? It might be big, but I don't think its big enough to eat all my fish."

"All the more reason we need to be paid more!"

I interjected, "Look Tamily, these things nearly killed two of us. If there's something worse than them through the hole then it's going to cost more than a gold piece each."

"Hole? What hole?"

"The enormous hole in the wall of your cellar... How did you not see it?" I was baffled, and starting to wonder if Tamily was playing some kind of game with us.

"I didn't. I was... scared. I didn't investigate more than noticing that all my fish were gone."

It seemed believable enough. I decided to change tack a little, "We want to help you, but the risk involved seems pretty large."

It had the desired effect, "How about double?" Tamily conceded.

We looked between one another. Grugnog looked convinced, though I think he was just relishing the thought of another battle.

"Triple" Clive suggested.

"I... Fine." Tamily offered her hand and we each shook it. Leaving the rat behind, we headed straight back down into the cellar.

The Hole

The ominous hole that had been spewing forth rats was still quiet. One by one we wriggled into it. Presently it opened out into a walkable passageway, diving deeper into the ground via a sequence of ledges that seemed like a natural cave formation. We hadn't gone far when the tunnel opened out into a large room. At this point I was glad of the torch I'd brought from the cellar; we were standing atop a significant drop. I could only just make out the floor of this large cavern in the torchlight, to the amusement of Grugnog who was having no trouble seeing in the dim cave.

Clearly it was too far to jump, and footholds looked sparse. Spelunking is a bit out of my wheelhouse, with my previous travels involving climbing through old ruins at worst. Some of those skills turned out to be transferable as I quickly found a secure place to tie a rope and used it to climb down the rock face. Cynthia followed down my rope, but her grip slipped in the damp cave and she fell from only a few feet down the ascent. I leapt to catch her, but my own footing wasn't the best on the slimy floor and I only succeeded in breaking her fall. I like to think that I improved things a bit at least, though we were both bruised.

This large room turned out to be mostly empty, it seemed to be an entirely natural cavern with little sign of anything that could sustain five ferocious rats. Noticing another passageway heading out on the left side of the room, we decided to follow it. This passageway was brief, and quickly opened into another large room. I couldn't see the other side in the torchlight, but could see the sticky-looking webs strewn across the floor and around up to knee height. Those with better eyesight could make out a way out on the other side, and we began to pick our way across the cave towards it. Stepping over and ducking under webs was going well until about halfway, when Elderberry's misplaced foot just barely brushed a web as she stepped over it.

The unmistakable sound of enormous legs touching the floor followed and we looked around to see a huge spider, standing taller even than Grugnog and prowling towards us. Clive wasted no time. I'm not sure whether the gnome is exceedingly brave or completely reckless, but he demonstrated why Grugnog doesn't actually try to get rid of his company by charging straight for the spider and punching it square in between the eyes.

Taking advantage of the distraction, I sprinted behind the beast and wailed on it with my axe. I wasn't going to let this turn into another debacle like the rats, and indeed it didn't. Between my axe and Clive's punch the spider had bitten off more than it could chew as it curled up, dead.

Exploring the lair of the monster we found a shriveled bundle of rags and bones in the corner. Whatever poor soul this was had left behind a valuable possession; a shortsword with a gem-encrusted hilt. I took this, vowing to honour it's previous anonymous owner.

We headed back to the passage we had been heading for, and slipped through the gap into another short tunnel. This tunnel led to yet another rough cave, although this one looked a little less natural than the previous ones. Most notably, there was more than one way out. On the left, another tunnel bending around out of sight. On the right, a tunnel with an ominous blue glow at the end of it and faint sounds of creaking and cracking echoing up it. The tunnel the the right also had a barricade up to almost head height blocking it up, and upon taking a closer look at its construction we realised it had been built from this side, to keep whatever was creaking out of this room.

We decided to trust the wisdom of whoever built this barricade and hurried into the tunnel on the left. This felt much more handmade than the previous natural caves, and indeed some way along it we saw an actual door on the left. Unfortunately, this door was atop a cliff that looked at least 10 feet high. Having left my rope on the previous cliff to climb back up, I looked at the others. It was then that I realised that only Cynthia had followed down my rope, the others all clearly having similar realisations that we'd all left our rope tied to the top of the previous cliff.

After letting us consider our stupidity for a moment, Sister Cynthia sighed and opened her pack, pulling out her rope and offering it to us.

"Who is climbing up to attach the rope then?"

[Son of the King]

Field Notes - Page 3

The Basement? (Is this even still classed as the basement?)

I looked at Cynthia, and she looked at me. The others were also looking at me, so I took both the hint and the rope and began climbing. This cave wall was actually pretty straightforward to climb, I managed to find footholes without much effort and make my way to the top quickly. Once at the top I found a convenient stalagmite and attached the rope, throwing it down to the others. They quickly followed me up and we opened the door.

The door shuddered open; clearly it hadn't been used in some time. Behind it lay a room as small as it was disgusting. A damp stench hung in the air and mould coated the walls and floor, furry fungi dangling from the ceiling. In the centre of the room was a small table, and on the table was a suspiciously clean bowl of perfectly clear water. Cynthia stepped inside and quickly announced that we were standing in an ancient shrine of Gozreh. Between the lot of us we took a closer look at the bowl, determining it to be imbued with some kind of magical property, though the exact details weren't clear.

I did the only sensible thing, and scooped up some water in my hands and drank it. It seemed like the quickest way to work out what was going on here, and the lack of mould on the bowl and in the water gave me the confidence that it was probably meant to be drunk. I don't know much about Gozreh, but I struggle to see how there could be this much mould without it being at least slightly intentional for decor reasons.

Since I'm writing this, it's clear that the water didn't do me much harm. It tasted a little strange, and I felt ill (as if sailing an extremely stormy sea) for a long while, but overall I think it improved my health. I recommended it to the others, but they didn't seem keen. I made a mental note to remind them of the choice after we've found whatever actually took Tamily's fish.

Further down

Satisfied we'd seen everything up here, we quickly climbed back down the cliff, bringing the rope with us this time. We wasted little time in heading deeper into the cave along the passageway we had been following, and before long we heard the sound of voices coming from ahead.

The voices sounded frustrated, and they didn't sound human. After a few minutes we found what they were coming from as the passage opened into another large room. On the far side of this room was a large iron cage, containing some barrels and crates. In front of the cage, trying without much success to force it open, was a ragtag group of kobolds. Grugnog stepped forward into the room and got their attention.

"What are you doing?"

A small-voiced kobold turned to us, "Want fish! Getting fish!"

I stepped forward alongside Grugnog, "Did you take the fish from back there?" I gestured back down the tunnel we'd stepped out of.

The kobold replied with a grin, "We take fish! We want fish!"

The other kobolds took notice at this point, turning to face us and brandishing their spears in our direction.

"What do you want with all that fish?"

The kobolds chittered in unison, "Fish! Fish for the fish god!"

Clive, Elderberry, and Cynthia had joined us in the room by this point, and Cynthia spoke up, "Who is your fish god? Why do they need so much fish?"

The first kobold took a step closer, his grin now menacing, "Fish! Fish for the fish god, to destroy town!"

I glared at them, "You're not going to destroy the town, I'm sorry."

"Fish! Fish! Give us your fish!" The kobolds charged.

I batted away the first spear, before landing a fatal blow of my own with my battle-axe. Alongside me Grugnog's greatsword glimmered in the torchlight as another kobold fell. Another kobold managed to break his spear stabbing at Clive, and Clive attempted to make the most of the opening by landing some of his increasingly familiar punches.

Another kobold came at me and fell by my axe as I heard the ethereal sound of Cynthia beginning a haunting hymn, before I saw the unfortunate recipient falling dead. The final kobold was backed into a corner, being punched by Clive. We held Clive back and tried to reason with the creature.

"Where's the fish?"

"Eaten by the fish god!"

"What is your name?"

"K-Kevin"

"Do you want to live, Kevin?"

"Yes! Yes!"

"Then leave this town, and never return," Grugnog was looming tall over the cowering kobold.

"Yes! I go now!" Kevin sprinted down the tunnel we had come from, without looking back.


The Cage

After catching our breath we looked around the room a little more. Further along the wall from the tunnel we came through was another narrow passageway, with a door just visible at the end. Before heading deeper we decided to see if the kobolds were right about the cage containing crates of fish.

Grugnog and I easily worked together to force the gate open, and we all stepped inside and started opening boxes. There was no fish.

Mostly the crates contained worthless items; there was a lot of old stained cloth, and some bits of mouldy bread. Elderberry had the idea of trying to speak to the bread and some mouldy cloth, and managed to learn that the fungi here had been locked in their crates for some time, and had no knowledge of the outside world. I've never seen someone do this before; it seems like an interesting skill that could have real use in some older, more open places. I'm starting to think that I'll stick with these people for a little while.

Under the cloth in one crate we did find a small treasure hoard; a gleaming shortsword with a magical shimmer to its hilt and a gold ring sitting atop a small pile of silver coins.

We shared out the spoils, and I took a look at the body of the kobold who we were originally speaking with, who had charged me initially. As I was doing so I noticed an interesting amulet around his neck. It was a simple thing; a piece of string with a piece of what seemed to be eggshell attached to it. The shell was quite thick and patterned green and white, unlike that of any bird I'm familiar with. I gently lifted it off the kobold's head and placed it carefully in my pack, wrapped in some of the stained cloth from the crates.

The Tunnel

Having satisfied our curiosity, we headed now into the obvious next passageway. Expecting kobolds to burst through the door at any moment, Grugnog went first with me immediately behind. Elderberry followed close too. As Grug reached the door there was a sudden click. I had a brief instant to curse my hubris and carelessness before the rocks landed on our heads. I should've expected something like that as the cave turned more to a ruin, but in our excitement to press on I'd not been thinking.

We crawled back out from the rubble, bruised rather than seriously hurt. Cynthia looked at us, amused, and began a healing incantation. The divine light of Calistria surrounded us as our pains disappeared.

Our strength restored and a valuable lesson learnt, we headed back into the tunnel, clambering over the rubble and double-checking that there was no more about to fall on us. Grugnog pushed open the door, into a room full of torchlight.

[Son of the King]

Field Notes - Page 4

The Statue

As the door swung open, it revealed a long and fairly narrow room lined with torches. A statue of what looked like a priest stood in each corner on the left hand side of the room, whilst on the right there was an alcove around halfway along. Standing in the alcove was another large statue, this one holding its hands out above a table scattered with gold coins shimmering in the torchlight. At the far end of the room another corridor headed into darkness.

After a cautious glance at the priest statues, we approached the table with the gold coins. We were all feeling on guard now after the rockfall before we entered, taking care with everything we did. As we stood contemplating whether or not it would be safe to touch the coins on the table, a loud voice boomed out from the statue.

In my hands I judge the value of all wealth, raising up whichever is greater. One of these coins is a deception. Find it using only two judgements to receive my blessing.

I picked up some coins, weighing them in my hands. They all seemed to be identical. Clearly this would need some thought. There were nine coins in total, so we quickly discarded any simple guesses or splitting into two groups.

"What about three groups of three?" somebody suggested; I think it was Cynthia.

"How do we find the individual one from that though?" Grugnog questioned.

I had a sudden moment of recollection; I've seen puzzles like this one before in some books on ancient ruins like this room seemed to be.

"Yes! We can weigh two groups against each other. If they balance, we know the deceptive coin is in the other group, otherwise we know its in the group that is less valuable. Then we can just do the same again."

"How does doing the same thing again help?"

"I mean, we take the group that we know has the coin we need, and weigh two of those coins against each other and then use the same logic to determine the lowest value coin."

None of us could see a flaw in the logic, so we decided to go through with it. Splitting the coins into three sets of three, we placed one set in each of the statue's hands, leaving the third set on the table. There was a clicking and creaking, then the grinding crunch of stone moving against stone as the statue's right arm raised up and its left arm lowered.

Putting the other coins aside, we took the three coins from the left hand of the statue and waited as the arms moved back slowly to their initial positions. Once in place, I placed one coin in each hand and we waited. The hands didn't move this time. I picked up the third coin and held it up in front of the statue, speaking aloud "This coin is the deception".

As I spoke the coin faded to a dull grey, and the voice spoke again.

You have found the deception, now receive my blessing. The coins are yours.

As the voice ended there was a click which echoed down the corridor at the far end of the room. We shared out the coins between us and headed towards the source of the click.

The Lever

The corridor turned out to only be short, with a door in the end and a second door coming off to the side. This second door was opening of its own accord as we arrived; clearly the origin of the sound we had heard. Behind this door was a small room containing a chest and a lever. Immediately Elderberry announced that this room had magic in it. We started by looking at the lever, still cautious about rushing things with the chest after our experience with the rocks.

After some inspection we (I say we, it was Cynthia who really drew attention to it) determined that the lever seemed to control some kind of mechanism in the next room. There was much debate about whether or not to pull the lever, but we eventually settled on opening the door to the next room first. I volunteered for the task.

Moving as quietly as I could, my chainmail clinking around despite my best efforts, I slowly eased open the door and peered through the crack. The next room was large, with four pillars holding up a vaulted ceiling. I noticed particularly that the floor had two distinct colours of tile. The whole setup was clearly a trap of some kind, that kind of flooring almost always is in a ruin like this in my experience.

I pushed the door open wider to get a better look at the far side of the room, and now noticed a number of kobolds lurking in the shadows. They seemed to be guarding a spiral staircase that disappeared downwards at the far end of the room. I watched for a moment as a kobold walked calmy across the blue tiles I was theorising were trapped. Nothing happened.

Satisfied that I'd learnt everything I needed to, I closed the door quietly and slipped back to the others.

"There are kobolds in there, four of them I think. The floor also looks trapped. My guess is that pulling this lever does something to the floor."

"Shall we pull it then?" Clive asked.

"I think its worth a try; the kobolds didn't look in any mood to have a conversation.'"

"Yes! Pull it!" Grugnog added enthusiastically.

Clive pulled the lever, and there was the sound of some unseen mechanisms turning within the wall. No sounds from the other room however. I headed back to the door and opened it slowly.

Nothing had changed. The kobolds were patrolling back and forth at the far end of the room. I decided to put the theory to the test and pulled a coin from my pouch, before throwing it across the room. The sound of the coin hitting the far wall echoed in the large chamber, and the kobolds all looked up and towards where it landed in unison. Several of them walked forwards, spears raised, to investigate. As they stepped onto the blue tiles, there was the sound of more mechanisms turning.

The others were gathered around the door too at this point, just in time to see several spears launched out of previously unnoticed holes in the wall on the left hand side of the room. The spears arced through the air as the kobolds desperately dived to try to avoid impalement. A shout went up.

"INTRUDERS! Quickly!"

Most of the kobolds began to run towards the door as we started to make our way into the room. Elderberry waved her hands, and the kobold who came off worst from the spear trap was suddenly encased in frost, before collapsing to the ground, dead. The other kobolds were not put off, and continued to come for us.

Cynthia began to sneak around the edge of the room, avoiding the blue floor as precaution, though it seemed like the trap was a one-time thing. Taking up a position where she could see the only kobold who hadn't charged us, she pointed her finger, apparently casting a message spell. She tells me that she was trying to persuade the kobold to leave, but only got ravings about fish and fish gods in return.

The kobolds continued to approach and I took my own spear in my hand. I took careful aim at the kobold who seemed to be most headed for me, and threw with all my might. My aim was true, and my throw stronger than expected as the force of the spear lifted the kobold off his feet, pinning him to the wall behind. Another kobold ran into a pillar as the melee was about to be joined, and Elderberry took advantage of the opening to find her mark with a javelin.

The kobold near Cynthia was busy setting up some traps around the top of the staircase. Cynthia's eyes began to glow with their tell-tale fiery light as she entered into a battle of wills with the kobold. She told me after the fact that this kobold was quite resistant, constantly screaming inside about the fish god.

Clive wailed on the unfortunate kobold with a club, finishing it off. Grug joined the fray at last with a thrown spear which wounded the trap setting kobold, before I retrieved my own spear and launched it in her direction too, though I missed my mark. Grugnog drew some daggers and threw them at her, but she had now finished with her traps and had the reaction speed to avoid both of them. Elderberry threw a javelin from across the room but the kobold danced tauntingly out of the way of that too.

Cynthia's eyes burned brighter and the kobold froze to the spot, her eyes widening. We all looked at Cyn as the kobold began shouting aloud about fish, giant fish, monstrous fish, trailing off into gibbering nonsense before collapsing to the floor, seemingly dead.