The documentation of our wonderful misadventures through the world of Pathfinder. NPC(s) online var sc_project=9844595; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_security="7aac6aef"; var scJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://secure." : "http://www."); document.write("");
As Salazar got used to his role as Blackjack, the team heard a strangely familiar voice behind them.
"Travelers!" came a hissing whisper from behind them.
"Who goes?" Salazar asked, feeling ever-powerful in his new attire. As they approached, the man pulled back his hood, eliciting an instant smile from Leotal.
"It's you," he said, "The noble who had all that trouble with the guards."
"And it's you," the man said, returning the smile and giving a small bow, "The brave warriors who saved my skin. Amin Jalento. In case you forgot. Anyway, I think I may be of some use to you right now."
"How exactly can that be?" Salazar sneered, doubtful that his young thing could provide any assistance. While Blackjack was supposed to be a man of the people, the Ranger was simply letting all the power go to his head.
"You're looking for Vancarlo, are you not?" he said, responding only to Leotal. "Well, I see you've already found out he isn't home," throwing a timid smile towards Blackjack and a weak grimace towards the smoldering home. "Anyway, he's with Salvatore Scream: a painter near Old Dock. At least that's where he was last seen."
"Pleasant name, that," Leotal responded, showing a very unusual hint of sarcasm. "How do you know all this?"
"I was studying fencing under him."
"Thank you. Your help on this may prove invaluable, but we mustn't waste any more time with chit-chat." With this, they gave a curt nod, and silently parted ways.
The trip to Old Dock was quiet. Most people in the town were shut away, so there was really nobody to bother them. Once there, finding the house was pretty easy; the dilapidated excuse for a harbor hardly had anything left standing at all, and only one thing that looked even remotely livable. A knock at the door brought no response, but that was unsurprising. Shouting also had no effect. With that, a hard push (though he would later describe it as a light tap) from Gustavo granted them entry, and they all proceeded inwards.
The old dwelling looked worse on the inside than it did on the outside. Worse yet, each room they explored didn't seem to bring them any closer to finding either Orsini or Scream. One room seemed to hold potential, as it contained nothing but different types of fungus growing over the walls. Salazar—who possessed the ability to communicate with such flora—spoke at length with them, but was only able to learn that they were harvested for paint colors and Scream never did anything else in that room. Hope almost gone, they team checked a final room. Here, however, they found they were not alone in this house.
Inside stood a female Elf, dressed in a very unsettling set of hooked chainmail with a spiked chain hanging off her hip. She was clearly able to see everyone enter, but made no indication of moving from her current spot, which was hunched over a pile of paintings. Instead, the Elf muttered a greeting.
"Hello," she said, picking up a piece of art from off the pile and frowning at it. Nobody quite knew how to react to such a sight, but Leotal was leaning towards something negative.
"Who are you?" he calmly demanded, not returning her salutation.
"My name's Laori Vaus. You haven't seen Salvatore anywhere, have you?" She sighed at the painting, replacing it on the pile. Grabbing another, she examined it with the same grimace as before.
"No. We were hoping to find him here."
"So was I, but it seems that there's nothing left but his paintings. At least I think these are his," she said, squinting at the canvas and bringing it closer to her face.
"What makes you think they're not?" Vaus looked almost confused by the question, and turned the painting towards Leotal as if it was obvious. When he didn't respond, she made an overly-grand gesture towards it with her hand.
"There's absolutely no mention of Zon-Kuthon anymore! The style is his, but none of the content is the same." The Paladin's hand twitched towards the hilt of his blade. Zon-Kuthon was a god he recognized, but certainly not one that aligned with his morals. His original suspicions were all but confirmed: this Elf was most likely evil. "Oh, come off it," she suddenly said, reading Leotal's face like an open book and snapping him out of his thoughts, "I'm not going to do you any harm, Paladin. I just want to find Salvatore."
"For what purpose?" His hand had yet to move from his sword.
"I'm simply a fan. But he's not here, so I'm going to find him. And you're welcome to join if you wish." With this, she put down the painting, gave a broad smile, and skipped through the party towards the door.
As the baffled group finally shook themselves and caught up to Vaus, they asked her where exactly she planned on going to find him. She happily explained that the only reasonable explanation was that he had been kidnapped by the Emperor of Old Korvosa, and that she had to go there to rescued him. When asked how she came to that conclusion, she'd just give a confused smile and said, "Isn't it obvious?"
At the palace, the team was greeted by the sounds of screaming coming from the roof. More disturbing yet, it was always followed by raucous cheering. Whether Scream was here or not, it was decided that this was certainly foul play, and something that needed to be investigated. After convincing the guards that they were no threat, they managed to sneak by and find a decently-sized hole in one of the walls.
Inside here was a dimly lit room, the only light source being the hole through which they'd just come. While it illuminated the path to the door inside, it left the high ceilings in complete darkness. It was as Leotal noticed this that a giant tentacle swung down and grabbed him, taking him in a tight hold. As everyone else tried to run to his aid, three more tentacles swung down, blocking their path. The hight and maneuverability proved to be difficult for all but Salazar (who was easily able to shoot upwards), Vaus (who's spiked chain had excellent reach), and Archim (who mostly flew around distracting the appendages). Despite this, Gustavo was able to use the extra length of his double-sided blade to take a good number of his off. Once the four receded back into the rafters, the team made a dash for the door before anything else could happen.
They found themselves in the corner of a hallway. Half stretched out ahead, and the other half to the left. Following the latter, they found it leading to a door, and a descending staircase. However, the staircase was blocked by rubble and debris, looking like the walls had collapsed inwards. Not wanting to take the time to dig, the team tried the door.
Inside here were more paintings, very similar to those found in Scream's house. Vaus ran over to them, quickly grabbing each one and looking it over. She lamented that these, too, were lacking in any mention of Zon-Kuthon. Disheartened, but not beaten, she left the room and proceeded down the unexplored portion of the hall. The rest of the team followed closely on her heel as she rounded the bend and jogged up the staircase. It was only when they found themselves suddenly surrounded by guards that they realized they probably should have used a little more caution.
"Ah, we have some visitors here. How may I help you?" sounded an old, but harsh voice from a large throne in the center of the floor. It was undoubtedly the Emperor.
"We want Scream," Vaus said before anyone else in the group could muster any sort of response.
“And who are you to come into my area and make demands?”
“Arena?” Leotal asked. The Emperor motioned to the expansive court behind them that covered almost the entire roof of the castle. The Emperor, guards, and adventurers were standing atop a tower which overlooked this.
“Arena,” the Emperor confirmed. “For Blood Pig. A sport I think you might find quite enjoyable”
“We did not come here to play games—”
“Oh, but I think you did. Because you want what only I can give you, and your current situation leaves you little choice but to consider what I have to say. And what I say is this: If you can win a game of Blood Pig against my finest players, then you will get five minutes with the artist.” His words were quick and poisonous, but betrayed almost a hint of boredom. It was obvious that he was very rehearsed in making overly grand threats and deals such as this.
Realizing they did, indeed, have little choice but to comply, the team agreed to the Emperor’s terms. He rules of Blood Pig were very simple, at least on paper. A live pig—covered in grease—is released onto the field. Each team has to try and get it into the opposing team’s goal, while also defending their own. How that happens and who gets attacked in the process is left up to the players. First to three points wins.
The party converged and tried to devise a plan. Knowing little without experience behind them, they decided that the simplest plan was to get the pig to Gustavo at all costs. As the biggest and burliest, he would hopefully have no trouble keeping the squirming animal down and barging through to the goal. Looking up from their huddle, they noticed that the opposing team was already on the field and in formation around a hole that had suddenly appeared around the center. The group did their best to confidently walk over and form themselves in a way that made it seem like they knew what they were doing.
Before they could even get themselves fully settled, the Emperor called for the game to start. From the hole in the center, the greased hog was quickly raised up, and the opposing players ran for it. With surprising speed, Gustavo was able to run up and push down his opponent and grab the pig. It did not take long for him to realize that keeping the animal in check was much harder than anticipated. His distress was noticeable, so the party quickly surrounded him to ward off the opposing team while he advanced. They advanced about halfway before the pig finally escaped Gustavo’s grasp.
In one move, an opposing teammate tripped the pig over and slammed an elbow on top of his neck. This elicited an excited laugh from the ramparts around them. The hog’s spine snapped, the lifeless animal was now very easy for the opposing team to control. From there, it did not take long for the opposing team to score their first point. Gustavo took the hint pretty quickly, telling Arlen to move his Eidelon between him and then enemy while she killed the next pig and scored the next point. This visibly troubled the Emperor’s team, who were not used to anything short of a perfect game. Their anger made them clumsy, and allowed another pig to pass through their grasp. The game was now two to one, with the adventures just one point away from winning.
Noticing this, a few guards hopped down into the field and joined the opposing team. An obviously unbalanced match, this left the group little choice but to change focus form the pig to the players. They managed to knock out or wound enough players and guards to make the match even again, but this allowed the opposing team to tie the score.
With tensions high, Salazar sent Archim after a few of the tougher opponents, having him ruffle his wings and fly all around them to distract them from the final pig. Seeing an open opposrinity, Gustavo took one side of his double-sided sword and slapped the final pig across the field, the grease allowing it to slide right through to the goal, winning the game.
Back up on the tower, the Emperor was visibly distressed. This was the first time he was ever forced to make good on a promise. The team continually demanded answers, insisting that they had passed his challenge. They were met with nothing but stammered excuses and unintelligible mumbling. Finally, Salazar tired of this, and ran up to the Emperor and pulled a dagger to his throat. The guards, many still wounded from the game, did little to stop him. The Emperor noticed this, and between squirms yelled out, “He’s in the cell behind me!”
Laori ran up to the door in question, and did indeed find the missing artist behind it. For giving the information, the Emperor was thanked with a quick slice to the throat from Salazar’s dagger pressed against it. This move was a shock to everyone else around them. As the team readied themselves for a fight against the guards, they suddenly found that this may not be necessary. The Emperor's protectors laid down their weapons and began filing out through the stairwell. It seemed that none of them wanted to be their in the first place, and they were just as much prisoners as Scream was.
Once they were alone with Scream, the group brought him out an informed him of everything they had gone through trying to find him and Vancarlo. A surprisingly calm Scream thanked them for their help and informed them that he would truthfully just like to return home. For their kindness, however, he was able to give the the information that Salvatore was being held by the Arkonas, and also the directions to the palace. With that, he proceeded down the stairs and made back for his place of residence.
Pathfinder Introduces Magical Girl/Boy/NB Class, All Other RPGs Lose Relevance
http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5likr
“So I mentioned that warlock and zealot (which were arcane and divine vigilantes for those of you not part of the playtest) are now archetypes. All told, the vigilante has 10 pages of archetypes, the most that any class has ever received in a book. After all, he has plenty of catch-up in order to match his older cousins that have been around for more books… .The magical child archetype covers the “magical girl” trope, with a transformation sequence ability (faster switch between identities, but with flashy lights and music), summoner spells, and an otherworldly buddy.”
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