Xcision - Living the Hunt (Pathfinder Solo Campaign)

[Grimtina]

The Rainlands are known for fertility, a warm climate and, as the name suggests, rain. In most areas, it rains at least once every two days, which makes the air humid, especially in the forests and jungles. The people living in the nations here are used to it though and wouldn't want it any other way. Save some natural catastrophe, harvests are good and steady, and almost anything able to deal with the climate grows here.

While there are many villages, some of them very small, and a lot of solitary farms, there are also mega cities several miles wide and with building blocks higher than some towers wizards use to build, surrounded by farmlands often even wider. Floating cities are also a normal sight; 16 of them exist and constantly move around, watching over the rest of the country. There are also plenty of normal towns and cities. The Rainlands provide much of the more exotic needs of the rest of the continents.

Rainlands (http://www.krath.org/arania/private/ForumRPGs/Xcision/The%20Rainlands.jpg)


For the most part, the Rainlands are a peaceful place to live, no matter which of the provinces you live in. For the more adventurous types, there are sill dangerous animals to deal with or ruins to research. but, of course, there is also the usual riffraff, and the Rainlands are not without criminal organizations either. Additionally, smugglers from outside and criminals seeking escape from prosecution elsewhere are not rare.

Because the city states and other provinces do not have the necessary forces to deal with this in addition to keep their own plates empty enough, a very successful group has formed a few decades ago - the Head Hunter's Guild, usually referred to as "Head's Up" from their standard advertising phrase "Need to find an escapee? His head is up if you let us do the job."

Head's Up has many smaller guild houses, but their headquarters is located in Juadas, a place known best for its beer and their main religion centered around magic.

http://www.krath.org/arania/private/ForumRPGs/Xcision/juadas.jpg

Their headquarters may not seem much, more like an expensive inn with few guest arrangements. But you can only get in with the use of a dimensional door spell from the level below - unless you are a member of the guild and have a respective item or tattoo, of course. Prospective customers will be put in front of a scribe's desk. The scribe will not only record your meal wishes but also the job you need done and try to pair you up with one of the many hunters in town, or, even better, already present. If you have an appointment with a bounty hunter already, your meal and the hunter are usually already waiting for you.

Guildhouse (http://www.krath.org/arania/private/ForumRPGs/Xcision/guildhousemain.jpg)

[Devmaar]

The guildhouse link isn't working.

[Grimtina]

Fixed. And I forgot to subscribe to this thread, fixed that as well:smallamused:

[Devmaar]

Okay so where am I at this point?

[Grimtina]

Wherever you want to start. You could have just come back from some hunt, or wanting to find one worth the pursue.

[Devmaar]

Matinol checks his coin purse. He's not desperate for money but a little more wouldn't hurt. With that in mind he makes his way to the headquarters of Heads Up, hoping to find a job to take on.

[Grimtina]

The streets are full of laughter these days, as the city council has announced a tax reduction, something that has not happened in over 20 years. People are more free with their money at the moment, and they are happy to share with their neighbours.

At the Heads Up headquarters, the first familiar person you see is Owin. Owin is something of a factotum among the bounty hunters, mainly because he uses his psychic powers to talk his prey into surrendering. It always worked except once. A psi-resistant smuggler had decorated him with a knife, which left him with only one eye and a bit of a sour disposition.

He grunts at you when you enter the anteroom to the restaurant. "Just been up there," he says. "Got some weird job catching horse thieves - can you believe that? Not much going on when people are happy; they forget about people who owe them then."

The unknown youngling taking care of the dimensional door grins as Owin walks out. "Not as bad as that," he tells you. "It is just that there are a lot of female customers today, and his face isn't exactly likable."

As you step through the doorway and come out in front of the scribe's desk, you can already see that it is true -a lto of females of all ages wait for someone to take on their jobs.

"Let me guess," the scribe says, somewhat exasperated. "You aren't that keen on finding lost loves either, are you?"

[Devmaar]

"I'll find whatever needs finding, if the pay is right that is," says Matinol with a grin, "Certainly I would not reject any proposition out of hand without hearing the details."

[Grimtina]

Matinol is quickly directed to the table of a very rich looking woman about middle age. She has another woman with her, from age and looks, it could be her daughter. They both look up expectantly as you near the table.

[Devmaar]

Smiling at the always-welcome prospect of a wealthy client Matinol takes a seat.

"So, how can I help you fine ladies?"

[Grimtina]

"It's my son-in-law," the older woman says, at the same time the younger one sniffs "It's my husband."

"He walked out on us with all the brides money," the mother explains.

"Not true, something must have happened to him," the girl protests.

After a short argument, the mother wins the right to explain. "He was traveling back from his small town in the north after supposedly setting up their new home there. His people are cattle farmers, but the older brother will inherit the place, so he's not exactly that rich.

He never arrived here. Three days ago, we sent a magic message." She makes this sound very important, and it probably is since magic messages are insanely expensive. "His folks thought they were with us. His brother was supposed to lead a search party but it has not turned anything up. Not a hint of an attack. He's absconded."

The girl starts crying while shaking her head.

"We want him and the money back, so we can get justice. It isn't about the money really, but about our honor."

[Devmaar]

"Very well, I will need a description or picture of the man as well as any other information you think could be useful in finding him," says Matinol before adding, as if as an afterthought, "Oh, and what sort of payments are we looking at?"

[Grimtina]

"We have a description here," the daughter whispers and hands over the portrait of a young man. He's rather average looking, with short, red-brown hair, brown eyes and a nondescript expression. The only remarkable feature are his rather small earlobes. "He also has a small scar on his left chin," the girl says. "But the artist didn't feel the need to include it." Then she hands over a list of towns and villages her husband, by the name of Lysar Abalder, should have come through. You know most of those names, you have passed through several times. There is also his address from his home town.

"We'll pay you 500gp now, and the same when you found him, plus your expenses," the mother explains. "He's made off with 5000pp, if you manage to recover the money on top of him, you can keep 500 of them as well. As I said, it is more about honor."

The girl starts crying again.

[Devmaar]

"Very well, I will find the man and your money," says Matinol. After completing whatever paperwork is necessary for issuing a bounty he returns home and readies himself for the hunt, leaving the 500gp fee secure in his home. With his saddlebags packed he rides out toward the nearest of the villages on the list, still smiling at the prospect of a simple find-and-return mission getting him 6000gp.

[Grimtina]

The "village" although marked as such on any map, is more like a group of farms loosely belonging together, and only 7 at that. With the farm workers, the population barely makes the minimum number of 100 to be called a village.

None of the farms are directly on the main road, to top it off. There's one administrative building, but from passing through here before you know the only person living there is an old gnome sorceress who took on the position of "mayor" mainly so she has a place to stay. Yet, the woman is sharp and usually knows everything that's going on.

[Devmaar]

Matinol goes to see the gnome woman. Maybe she knows something about the man.

[Grimtina]

Dinah, the gnome, welcomes you warmly and listens to the issue. "I don't know the young husband you are talking about personally and haven't seen him passing by recently, but I sure do know his brother Tenkel. Annoying loudmouth, he is. He's constantly complaining and trying to cheat you when you trade with him. He has been through here, actually, two days ago, going north. Maybe that was when he was on search for his brother."

[Devmaar]

Matinol thanks the gnome for her help and rides North to the next village.

[Grimtina]

The next two villages prove quite fruitless, but in the third village, there is a trader on the marketplace who remembers the missing husband well. "Came through here all jolly and happy, he did. Talked about nothing but his wife but still got me to give him a discount on my sweetcakes and breads."

[Devmaar]

That's strange, thinks Matinol. Doesn't sound like the actions of a man about to abandon his wife, maybe the girl was right.

He continues heading north, thinking that when he finds a place where the man was seen returning South he'll have a better idea of where he disappeared.

[Grimtina]

Not too far of the man's home place at a trading station, he is also remembered well. "Yeah, he was going down south, with what I think was a servant. Nice fella. When he left, there was a third man waiting for him outside and they started to argue. If I had to guess, it was about money. You know, people always get that strange look when they argue about money. Or power."

[Devmaar]

So it was between here and [last place] that he disappeared, thinks Matinol. Perhaps this third man was responsible.
Matinol retraces his route to the last village, but more slowly looking for any signs of a struggle.

Track: [roll0]
Perception: [roll1]

[Grimtina]

Some miles out of the village, the bushes at the right side of the road have been trampled, from the looks of the broken twigs and branches several days ago. Someone has tried to fix the bushes somewhat and put some roots back into the ground and then tried to wipe out all tracks.

[Devmaar]

Matinol attempts to follow the trail.

[roll0]
(should have been 12 last time, I forgot the ranger bonus)

[Grimtina]

The tracks lead off the road and into the higher bushes. From the looks of it, it was one person, likely a man by the size of the footprints, leading two horses. One of them must have carried a rider or a similar weight.

[Devmaar]

Matinol draws his bow, nocks an arrow, and cautiously nudges his horse towards the bushes.

[Grimtina]

In the middle of the bushy forest, you find an empty camp. Someone has been tied to a small tree here, and there was one other person sleeping close to a fire. Not much caution has been taken here to hide tracks.

[Devmaar]

Matinol tries to identify as many details about the camp as possible, especially how long since it was last occupied.

[Grimtina]

It was at least two days ago, because it has not rained since then and there are signs of rain around the camp while the center had been sheltered. The food eaten was mostly standard travel rations, except that the black bread usually part of this was discarded for the birds.

[Devmaar]

Matinol looks for any more tracks leading away from the camp. If he finds them he continues to follow them