[Pathfinder] From the Deep (IC)

[Storm Vermin]

It was a morning in the late spring, in the month of Spalis, and the city of Arbil was bustling with activity. A shipload of exotic new goods had recently been approved for sale on the open market. With rising prices over the recent lack of iron and ore, everyone was excited over the influx of goods.

Suddenly, a commotion began at the northern side of the market, and the crowd grew silent as they watched one of the city’s most respected seers, Zorotaer, push violently through the market. The old ophiduan pushed his way from one crowd of people to the next, clinging to the hems of robes and the shoulders of children as he staggered unsteadily across the square.

In the center, he nearly toppled over as he stopped, and began to shout “The end is nigh! The end of the future! The ground will split and the Flow will be torn asunder! All will be lost... Unless... you, you! And... And you and you!” each accusation was punctuated by a sudden point of his finger, one at an Ophiduan member of the crowd, the next two at two Elans in the crowd, and the last one at an Adonai . No one had time to process what he meant before he added, “Cut the strings...” With the final enigmatic statement, Zorotaer collapsed as a rag doll tossed aside, and though people rushed to help him, all eyes were on the ones prophesized to save the city of prophecy.

[BelGareth]

Idonas was perusing some wares that he had no interest in, he was more interested in the thoughts of those around him. He liked eaves dropping, it played to his ego, and put him in a good mood.

His smiled faded when eyes suddenly were upon him after the madman had pointed him of the crowd.

By the Flow, what do the Godsminds want now? He thought to himself. He peeled away into crowd, or at least attempted to, he just recalled who the crazy was, the Most revered Zorotaer, it was not good to be outed like that in an apocalyptic forewarning, definitely not.

He started to feel queasy and stumbled through the crowds to somewhere he could find some peace and quiet. He needed a drink, and fast.

[Burnheart]

Kraxan is wandering through the market, enjoying the break from his studies and soaking in the sights, sounds and smells of the bustling market when he notices the venerable Zorotaer pushing through the crowd.

What is the venerable Zorotaer doing here? he wonders shocked and alarmed as Zorotaer makes his prophecy of doom, when the seer collapses Kraxan rushes forward "Great Zorotaer can you hear me?" he asks his voice fall of concern.

[Meriss]

Jethran had been merely sitting in the marketplace. Toying with his harp and broadcasting a general sense of generosity. Of giving. Hoping that some heard his wordless song and dropped a copper or two into a small sack by his feet.

Certainly not the most upright of actions. But a body must eat. Here in this place of scaled serpent men who mistrusted his every action, his every move. More than one guard had given him a long hard look, and he had turned aside one probe at least with his new found power.

But that did not matter, now, he sought knowledge. Understanding was his quarry now. Somewhere, someone knew what happened to him. And how to reverse it. Perhaps if he lost the power he could return to his tribe. But did he truly want to?

But now all eyes were on him. All those in earshot now gave him a hard questioning look. Could this savage truly save the city.

He raised his hands in a plea. Speaking his native tongue he opened his mouth "I am a foreigner among you! I have no part in this prophecy!" He broadcast a sense of confusion, surely the seer was going blind, he must have meant someone else, anyone else.

[meemaas]

Fir

The Elan turned to see who was being pointed at just in time to see himself as one of the targets. He sighed to himself, and backed into the alley, hoping to get out of the sight of the crowd that was crowding over the prophecied. He kept his gaze towards the others chosen, and decided if anything, he'd approach the other like himself. Backing through the alleys, he'd circle around the marketplace towards where he saw the other Elan who had been pointed out, starting to approach him.

[Storm Vermin]

Zorotaer was, as far as Kraxan or anyone else investigating the body could tell, dead. The crow was torn between mourning the seer and trying to reach the prophesized heroes, but about a minute after Zorotaer’s ominous words, a ringing of the glass rose above the noises of the market. It was soon joined by the clattering of stone, clay and wood. The rumbling of the ground violently threw people to the ground, and they soon covered most of the floor of the market, trying to cover their heads as stalls and shelves collapsed, spilling their contents everywhere.

It was over in less than a minute, and though the market had nearly collapsed in the commotion, the remainder of the city seemed to have survived in mostly one piece. However, this was too much of a coincidence for the people of Arbil, the seer’ s prediction followed so closely by such a powerful
earthquake. Worse, the seer had also seemingly predicted the end of the world, and the tension in the crowd was palpable as they suspected that more might have been wrong than just an earthquake.

Before the fear could escalate into panic, the booming voice of the city’ s overseer, Mosephi, echoed through the mind of everyone present, “Everything is fine, and all should remain calm. The Protectorate has everything under control. Citizens should begin taking stock of damage. Thank you all.” The overseer himself, along with a small group of soldiers, was moving in from the northern end of the marketplace. Most of his retinue broke off to help citizens up and out from under collapsed stalls, but Mosephi himself went straight for the destined, who were herded together in all the commotion. He looked at the four men before him, considering them carefully, before speaking.

“Greetings. As some of you may know, I am Mosephi, the ruler of Arbil. I would like to meet with you in my villa later this afternoon. As much as I would want to discuss the whole matter now, I must first see to Zorotaer and make sure that the city wasn’t seriously damaged.” He turned away and started walking towards the fallen seer.

[Burnheart]

Kraxan backs off when Mosephi approaches, bowing respectful before leaving to find a quiet place to think.

[meemaas]

Fir

He turns towards the other Elan, and tilts his head. "So, why do you think we were picked out? It seems like an odd bunch to be claimed to be the saviors of all we know."

[Meriss]

Jethran was now shaking worse then the ground had. This one serpent man in the midst of soldiers had singled him out.

First the elder, now this. Jethran's ancestors had deserted him as surely he had deserted his own people. Curse his ill luck.

He turned and tried to make some sense of this sudden turn of events. What had happened?

[BelGareth]

Idonas, attempting to flee and find that drink he needed somehow, miraculously got turned around and was inexplicably standing next to the others who got pointed out.

Of course this would have to happen to him.

And then the ground erupted all around him, it was all he could do to stand, but he managed it. Oh how would have loved to elevate himself above the chaff with the power of his mind. He had heard a power like that existed, but he knew it not.

Damn this dastardly weak mortal body! One day I shall be a mighty Psion...oh whats this? Overseer Mosephi wants to talk to us, but yes, yes of course.....This is splendid...

He turns to the other elan, who apparently had forgotten that our kind were hunted and repulsed by everyone except our own. Mentally shrugging his shoulders he deigned to reply to the man.

"Haven't the foggiest my good man. I wouldn't even begin to understand the motives of the Overseer." turning to the others he continues "But starting to understand, I think, is the first step, I will meet any of you who reason it worthy to do so, at the Overseers villa this afternoon."

[Storm Vermin]

Mosephi ordered three of his soldiers to pick up Zorotaer, and together the five left the plaza. A minute or two after the overseer left, a scream rang through the market. It came from a house othe north end of the plaza, which was particularly badly damaged, with its door ajar, the frame having completely shattered. For a brief moment, anyone watching it could see a glimpse of a grey, felince creature slipping the building.

Two soldiers immediately ran towards the house, and, after a moment of indecision, one of them ran off, presumably in search of reinforcements, leaving the other guard to stand watch.

[BelGareth]

Looking to the others he sighs.

"Well? Are you all going to stand there or are you going to find out what in the overmind was that noise?"

[Meriss]

Jethran looks to the elan. "This is our concern? There are guards, yes?"

He watches as the others look at him in horror. "Go, we help."

He draws a lone arrow from its quiver and nocks it carefully in the drawstring of his bow. All this for some over excited serpent housewife?

[Burnheart]

Kraxan hustles over to the house and asks the lone solider "Why are you just standing here when someone needs help?"

[Storm Vermin]

"Have you seen that thing? It's a thought eater! It will tear me to shreds if I go after it, but I can at least block it for some time in this passage." The guard spouted, clearly agitated due to the whole situation.

[BelGareth]

Idonas, having followed the others over to where all the commotion was happened to hear the guard, but not knowing what a thought eater was he paid little to no attention to the mans words.

"Well then, shall we sally forth and conquer the vile beasty?"

Idonas readies a Mind thrust for the thought eater.

Range 25ft.
[roll0] will negates DC 14
-pp (Discipline power)

[Burnheart]

"Then we shall venture forth and slay the beast" Kraxan replies unslinging his mighty Hammer and looking to the others "I'll take point" he says before heading into the passage.

[meemaas]

Fir

Fir smiles at the mans apparent fear of his own death, and calmly followed behind unstrapping his scythe from his back. Spinning it between his hands, he began to decide how best he was going to teach the thought eater the meaning of fear.

Knowledge (Psionics) the Thought Eater
[roll0]

[Meriss]

Jethran considers, a thought eater. Those could be most dangerous, but still the plains had taught him to face his fears. To look danger square in the eye and not to back down.

He readies his mind for this battle.

[Storm Vermin]

Jethran remembered a few details he had heard about thought-eaters in his journeys. They were strange creatures that fed on psionic and mental energy. They were said to possess several psionic abilities, among them the ability to become ethereal. On the other hand, they could not survive on the material realm for long, and would rarely engage in prolonged fights.

Armed with that knowledge, the group barged into the ruined house. The screams came from a basement located just next to the front door. The party sped down the stairs and entered into a room , about 15 feet wide and 20 feet long. In one corner, a small creature, its skeleton visible through the wispy, ethereal flesh that covered its form, stood over a cowering ophidian woman. The creature was startled by the sudden arrival of new opponents, and turned towards the armed people, a strange sound somewhere between a hiss and a growl coming from its beak.

[Storm Vermin]

The thought eater focused for a while before rushing towards Idonas and taking a swipe at him with its front paws.

Touch attack versus your flatfooted AC:
[roll0]
If that hits, you lose 6 power points.

[meemaas]

Fir

Fir focuses his Psionic energy, creating images of unspeakable horrors and launching them at his target, he spins his scythe and closes the distance to block off its escape.

Intimidate check [roll0] vs. DC 10+HD+Wis mod, -2 to my check if the Thought eater is considered mindless

[Storm Vermin]

The thought eater cowers and quivers, clearly terrified by the psionic display unleashed by Fir.

The Thought Eater is shaken for 5 rounds.

[Burnheart]

Kraxan backs up to bring his hammer down upon the cowering creature with all his might, hoping to finish it off quickly before it does more harm.

Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Expending psionic focus to activate Psionic Weapon [roll2]

[Meriss]

Jethran fills his lungs with air and begins to sing in Ventradi.

Though the others do not understand the words each of them is filled with sense of courage, as scenes of wide open spaces, rolling grass, and the thunder of hooves, fill both heart and mind.

He prepare to draw and loose his arrow as he sings.


Inspire Courage

[Storm Vermin]

The hammer strike completely crushed the monster's head. The headless body fell down and started to dissipate, disappearing in a matter of seconds.

Yup, 16 damage does the thought eater in. A minute of silence for the poor animal, please.

The woman in the corner watched the short fight in horror. After the though eater was defeated, she slowly rose to her feet. "Th-thank you! I thought for sure that... I... How could I repay you?" She stammers, still shaken by her encounter with the psionic predator.

[Burnheart]

After defeating the creature Kraxan re-slings his hammer before turning to the woman "Are you alright, it didn't harm you did it?" he asks concerned.

[Meriss]

Jethran rolled his eyes and shook his head as he relaxed his draw. It was just as he had suspected, an overly excited house wife.

He puts away his arrow, meanders over to the spot where the predator dissolved. Surely a city of this nature had some sort security against predators of the mind. He carefully examines the ground.


Knowledge (Nature) [roll0]
Knowledge (Local) [roll1]

[BelGareth]

Idonas went reelling from the beast when its claws sundered his flesh and drained him of power. He could feel it sucking out the very power of his mind and it felt like agony, he felt spent, like he would have if he had exerted himself.

He watched as his new companions slayed the beat without breaking a sweat, good. He thought, at least they were useful for something, he would have to find someone or something to block blows for him.

Liar popped out of his pocket and hovered by his face, the crystal seemed to be emphatic towards him, somehow a physical manifestation. He felt it in his head, and he smiled swanly, mentally nodding to the crystal he stood and allowed it to hover around his head.

Hearing the woman he crooked his head towards her. "Well, where did it come from, for starters."
[roll0]

[Storm Vermin]

"I'm fine, I think." the woman said. "I don't know how this thing found me. I was just minding my business when this quake happened, and the next thing I know it was trying to eat me!" she let out a nervous chuckle. "Oh, where are my manners! My name is Marsha, and I would like to invite you upstairs. I will clean up later. And I think I have something fighting men like you could use."

After bringing her saviors up and fussing for a while about the destruction the earthquake caused to her living room, Marsha went over to a cupboard and produced a pair of flasks, both filled with reddish liquid. "Drink those to heal your wounds. I hope you will never need to use them, but better safe than sorry, yes?" she said while handing the potions over to the party. "I think the overseer offers bounty for killing any hostile creature that has slipped into the city. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to clean up here a bit, try to do something about these doors, and see how my sister is doing." She looked about her home with a worried look on her face.

As far as Meriss could remember, the city of Arbil depended on the precognitive powers of its seers to predict where any predators might strike. This, combined with natural distaste wild beasts have for big settlements made predator attacks extremely rare. Evidently, that particular thought eater managed to find a window of opportunity in all the commotion.

[BelGareth]

Idonas moves upstairs with the rest of the party, careful to remain in the center of the moving muscle, he would not be caught like that again.

Watching the woman make a fuss of all the fallen detritus of the room, he sighs, seeing that he was in the company of a seemingly simple woman. Liar floated next to his head and bobbed. Apparently he agreed.

He grabbed the flasks and peered at them in an attempt to identify the liquids; *Probably poison* chimed Liar, Idonas grinned and handed them to the others.

"Well then, if there is a bounty, we might want to collect that when we go to his villa."

[Meriss]

Jethran looks suspiciously as the Elan hand the potions over. There would be time to find out just what these were.

Meantime there was an offer of bounty on the table. And a hunter never turned down bounty.

"Do we need a ... token of the beast? For the bounty?"

[meemaas]

Fir

"Bit late for that right now. We can hope they'll take our word for it though."

[Burnheart]

"Indeed." Kraxan replies to Fir before turning to the woman "Marsha I'm glad you're fine but we should be going now, thank you for the healing potions" he says with a smile before heading out the door.

Once outside he turns to the others "Shall we head to the manor now? or does anyone have somewhere they'd like to stop off first?"

[Meriss]

Once outside he turns to the others "Shall we head to the manor now? or does anyone have somewhere they'd like to stop off first?"

Jethran shrugs placidly. "Suppose not. Not knowing the city well. Lead on."

He follows along with the others.

[BelGareth]

"Well then, let us depart here and move onto better abodes."

Idonas says, as Liar bobs up and down, as if mocking a head bob. Smiling ruefully, he took off, following the others.

[meemaas]

Fir

Fir nods, strapping his scythe back to his back and following behind the others.

[Burnheart]

Kraxan leads the others to Mosephi's manor arriving shortly before the time given them by the overseer earlier.

[Storm Vermin]

The group quickly made their way to the overseer’s villa, passing several patrols of soldiers and groups of confused citizens. The guard tasked with keeping an eye on the thought eater followed the heroes in order to confirm that they have killed the beast. Eventually, they arrived to a beautiful three story building located in the north of Arbil, overlooking the city’s reservoir and the ocean below.

Once inside, the group was invited by a servant into a sparse room where, across from Zorotaer, still unconscious but miraculously alive, sat Mosephi. He stood up as the fated enter the room, and ushered them to sit in the now-vacated couch.

“I am glad to see you. I have heard that you were prophesized to avert the end of the future, hm? Yes, I know all about it; Zorotaer said he has been dreaming of it for days – though the specifics of the situation had escaped him until, obviously, he wandered into the market.”
He sighed, and ran his hand over his head. “Normally, I would look into the future and see what he meant by it. But, also like he predicted, the future is broken, missing, obscured. Search the Flow around you, something is wrong. And doubtlessly it is tied to this quake.”

“I will be busy here for some time, as will the guard, assuring the citizens that everything is in hand. It seems only fitting to ask you to be emissaries to the kobolds of the mining village of Vensnak to the north. Hopefully they will have more details as to what the quake actually was, being the experts of the earth that they are. And while there, perhaps you can discover why they have stopped their shipments of ore. “

[meemaas]

Fir

"I have no reason to refuse. Do any of you?"

[Meriss]

Jethran gives another of his enigmatic shrugs.

Suppose so, big gorram heroes are we. Onwards to glory!"

Ancestors! Do these people do nothing but talk? For this I left the plains?

[BelGareth]

Idonas walks with the group, having a mental conversation with Liar as they go, enjoying himself, but still furious to be so powerless from the creature.

Moving into the room with Zorotaer and Mosephi he bowed deeply, "It is both an honor and a privilege to be among you both." he said in earnest. "I would gladly travel to the kobolds as the cities envoys, for as you say, they are great in the ways of the earth." he pauses for a moment, "I do have some questions however, could you elaborate our part of the vision you had?" "It is worrisome that we have been pointed out, yet as you say so yourself, the future is clouded, the flow is disrupted. Just not a moment ago we were fighting a Thought eater within the city limits!"

[roll0]

[Storm Vermin]

Mosephi shook his head. "Zorotaer is still catatonic, and he couldn't provide any clear clues before this morning, only seeing some glimpses of a terrible fate hanging over the city. And now... no seer in Abril can even predict the weather for the tomorrow day, let alone try to track such a vision."

The overseer stood in silence for a while, before continuing. "I have heard of the thought eater, and how you dealt with it. By the city law, you deserve a reward for this deed... as well as something extra, to help you in whatever challenges you will face on the path of prophecy."

The ophiduan walked over to a small safe placed in the corner of the room and withdrew four small pouches from it. They made a pleasant jingling noise as Mosephi handed them over. "Here, a hundred gold for each of you. I'm afraid I won't be able to aid you much more, given the current state of affairs, but I would recommend preparing well for the journey ahead of you. The Hirauu Forest was never the safest place, and who knows what things this earthquake might have stirred up." The overseer said, referring to the woodlands between Arbil and the kobold mines.

[meemaas]

Fir

Fir empties the contents of his original coin pouch into the new sack, tying it to his belt where the old had been, and then speaks up. "Is there anything you can tell us about the village before we leave?"

[Storm Vermin]

"Vensnak is a small city, mostly hidden underground. Its entrance above surface is a cavern, sitting right next to a small stream. We have received their last shipment of ore three weeks ago, and had no contact with them since then. This has happened before, right after the founding of Arbil. The kobolds were searching for new veins back then, and I hope that is the case right now. You should expect cordial greeting, since we are good business partners with the kobolds." The overseer explained.

[meemaas]

Fir

"Fair enough." He turns to the rest. "Ready when you are"

[Meriss]

Jethran

Jethran looks from examining his arrows. "Ready. We go now?"

[Storm Vermin]

"Very well. The travel to the edge of the forest should take you two days, and getting to Vensnak can take about three days. Feel free to rest before leaving, I imagine the fight with the thought eater might have tired you a bit. If you don't return two weeks after you leave the city, I shall send my guards to the city. I wish you luck in your journey." The overseer said his farewells to the visitors and settled down behind his desk.

As the group made their way towards the city gate, they were approached by an old human. "Hello there, gentlemen!" he shouted, trying hard to keep a jovial tone. "My name is Felton Razcatcher, and I was wondering if you would want to help a poor merchant down on his luck? You see, some looters stole valuable goods - three crates of silk - from my warehouse some time after the quake, and I will be out of business if I don't get it back soon. I, well, I can't give you any money, but I could put a good word for you at the market, that would be worth more in the long run, I think." The merchant said, wringing his hands.

[meemaas]

Fir

"I dunno. We have things we ought to be doing, but if we come across those looters, i'll be sure to remember you and bring them back with us. Sound fair?"