Menace Under Omelette

Bonesy McRattles, a skeleton gunslinger, and Hacket Hamshank, a goblin cook, arrived at Tamily’s office together in the afternoon of the 28th of Desnus, a Starday. They had no experience in the affairs of adventurers, but on this day they would venture into dangers unknown for the first time in their lives. Today they were going to aid Tamily, the owner of the fishery. Before they could enter the fishery, a construct appeared before them. It called itself D.W.C. And it, too, was curious about the job in the fishery basement. They shared a few words with each other before entering Tamily’s office.

When they entered, Tamily greets them with eagerness. She assumed that their presence was due to her call for help. When they told her that they were indeed here for the investigation she hastily led them into the basement. They followed her and the impromptu party was left on their own, as Tamily did not wish to waste any more time.

The Basement

An exploration of the basement led to no clues regarding the whereabouts of the missing fish, but Hacket eagerly took some dried fish from storage. When DWC examined the hole in the wall, clearly visible, four giant rats jumped out and attacked them. Their first encounter was slow, but they had no problem in disposing of the rodents. After a quick repair and some rendering of the meat by Hacket, they moved on.

A Giant Rat gnaws on D.W.C.'s leg.

The slope led them downwards, deeper into the hole. And their inexperience as adventurers became evident. It took longer than necessary to descend into the darkness. Eventually, they dropped into the cave and found themselves in a bed of cobwebs. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, they stepped forward, but from the corner of the room, a Giant Spider emerged. It proved to be a worthy adversary, biting and chewing on Hacket before he landed the final blow. He was, however, nearly dead. They fled back upstairs because no one had thought to bring healing tools with them.

Bonesy faces off with the spider.

They surprised Tamily when they appear, and she readily offered them her spare healing potions. The party then realized the severity of their unpreparedness, so they rested a while longer. And yet, they still continued back into the basement.

A quick goblin scamper past the storage room led them back to the spider's den, where they found a skeleton of a kobold. Past this room, they eventually reached a fork in the road. One way was open, the other blocked by barricades. Not being able to discern anything past the barricade, they skipped past it.

Following the left path, they found a ledge. D.W.C. and Hacket climbed it with no problem, but Bonesy showed off his skill in acrobatics, instead; he attempted a backflip onto the ledge, which was no problem at all. There they find a door, which they open, and they find a statue of Gozreh. The statue reaches out towards a bowl filled with water, offering it to the party. They choose not to risk drinking the water, after D.W.C.’s admonitions of desecrating altars.

Climbing back down from the ledge, they continued on.

Hacket was the first to notice the group of kobolds ahead. Four of the little dragon-scaled creatures were fiddling with a lock on an iron gate with no progress in sight. Hacket wanted to sneak by but the kobolds heard him and they all turn to him, surprised. "What are you doing here?" they ask him. Hacket tries a diplomatic response, and the kobolds simply tell him to leave. That was when Bonesy pipes up from the dark, revealing himself to be a skeleton. The kobolds raise their spears and move to attack.

Hacket tries a diplomatic approach, Bonesy interrupts.

In the following series of blows, one of the kobold found themselves covered in Hacket’s puke while its companions steadily fell in battle. The party decided to end its misery, and they finished the kobold off while it was blinded and sickened. The remaining kobolds were swiftly dealt with.

They then examined the gate that the kobolds were fiddling with and they tried to open it themselves. D.W.C. charged at the gate, trying to force it open. The large, lumbering automaton made no progress, much like the kobolds. They eventually gave up because they realize that they did not have any Thieves’ Tools on them and attempting anymore would just tire them out. They vowed to return later.

There was only one way forward from there, a door, which led to a seemingly safe passageway. Bonesy charged in with no regard for his safety. A rock-fall trap reveals itself and Bonesy did not react in time. He suffered some damage but was able to stand afterwards.

A moment of readjustment, and they continued on. In the next room, they found another altar for a deity, this time to Abadar. The deity proudly announces a puzzle for them to solve. D.W.C. solved the coin puzzle, and they found the locked room filled with treasure. They found a hole in this room, and they listen in carefully.

More kobolds, it seemed, in the next room. They began to connect dots; maybe it was these kobolds that were stealing the fish?

Gathering everything they learned before, they made a plan. D.W.C. was to sneak in and get a favourable position. They manage to get the initiative, but the following battle was a ruthless exchange of steel and gunfire. The 3 Kobold Warriors, led by a Kobold Trapmaster quickly get the upper hand, despite the party’s tactics. A lowly Kobold Warrior managed to take down Bonesy, as his earlier wounds from the rock-fall trap were left untended. D.W.C. was dealt a destructive blow, but they manage to remove the Warriors from the battle. Hacket was the final one standing, but he now had the impossible challenge of facing the Trapmaster alone. One slash from the Trapmaster’s sword and Hacket fell to the ground, wounded and dying.

But unbeknownst to them, a set of eyes were watching the Trapmaster slash and stab the unconscious Hacket. A sudden crunch of pistons unlatching themselves were heard, and from the collapsed construct of D.W.C emerged a Sprite. This Sprite was tiny, she could fit in the palms of the common hand, or even inside an automaton construct. This was DWC, a Sprite Inventor, and creator of the automaton known as D.W.C.

She wasted no time in slashing at the Trapmaster but found that she did not have the same strength as her construct. She fled back into D.W.C., luring the Trapmaster closer until, finally, she rigged it to explode, and that was enough to rid them of the Trapmaster for good. The sound of battle ends, and the echoing explosion dissipates into the air.

DWC triggers an explosion, destroying her construct invention in order to save Bonesy and Hacket.

She rushed to Hacket and Bonesy, who managed to fight off death for today. She awoke them, not caring that she had revealed herself. With an exchange of words, her secrets were exposed, and she chose to trust them with it. They wished to resurface as soon as possible since they could not heal themselves and D.W.C. would require rebuilding. But they were glad, at least, to not be dead.

They retreated to town and follow Tamily’s advice, heading for the Dawnflower Library. Tamily is nowhere to be found and the sun had long gone. When they arrive at the library, the head priestess greeted them, and seeing their state, she led them to their healing rooms. The clerics there were more than helpful, providing them with free services and leaving them the healing room for their use for the night.

GM Note: Menace Under Otari is the adventure from the Beginner's Box of Pathfinder 2e, made by Paizo. Canonically, in the world of Tera, this took place in the town of Omelette, but since this was our first foray into Pathfinder 2e, the players still know this village as Otari.