This is part of a series called "Tales of the Magaambya," and is in my set of TTRPG Wrap-Up fiction. I am in several TTRPG groups, whether it be D&D, Pathfinder, or something else, and to keep track of the plot and keep myself on my toes, I write session wrap-up notes in the form of in-character journals. In this case, this is the grand tale as told by a bard of their personal adventures and exploits. It is based on the characters in a Pathfinder 2e game of Strength of Thousands that I run, which takes place in the world of Golarion.Consider this your warning that THIS SERIES WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE STRENGTH OF THOUSANDS ADVENTURE PATH FOR PATHFINDER SECOND EDITION. All within is personally written by me personally, summing up the exploits at my personal table, and are not at all considered "canon" to the adventure, and ABSOLUTELY contain deviations from the published adventure that I put in myself. But it will spoil the story, so beware.

Part 7

The Introduction Ceremony

Starday, Arodus the 8th, 4720 Absalom Reckoning

As Starday morning came, the party rose early, eager to meet the day. Tea was brewed and new nicer clothes were donned. All five, as the sun rose, approached the stage erected at the edge of campus, shaped like a key and decorated with intricate, colorful, circular mosaics, set up with tall pillars flanking the ramp up. A small curved stone wall stood just past it, as seating for any potential audience. But as the sun rose, our mentor, Teacher Ot, was nowhere to be seen, waylaid for some reason or another.

But we soon found that this was by design, as another met us. Another Pugwami, also a small dog-like person, head too large for their body, looking like a terrier beset by mange, eyes a brilliant blue and nearly bulging out of their head, and draped in far finer clothes than a gremlin ought to have (albeit clearly mismatched scraps, but nicely colored and patterned scraps). We quickly learned that this was, had to be, the aforementioned Kurshkin.

She arrived with a sword and a bow, and with an assistant, an insect-like Vexgit, coated in a thick black exoskeleton and wielding twin hammers. This cohort of five had no way of knowing, but would later learn that in expelling the gremlins from the barn, and performing a fey abeyance ritual, this gremlin already nursing a grudge against the Magaambya, willfully took it as a sign that the school intended to purge the gremlins by lethal force. When she heard this team was to be honored at a stage? Why sabotage was the most logical choice. But we came early, at the crack of dawn, and she had no time to sabotage the stage.

As such, with no words spoken, we found ourselves in dire combat, set upon by both, hammering us with attacks. In retrospect, her punches were pulled, intended to harm and demoralize us, but not to kill. No arrows landed in organs, no sword strikes across the belly, all an attempt to make us run, make us scared.

And to aid her demoralization efforts, the insufferable gremlin carried with her an ethereal aura of unluck. Not a one of us could land a blow reliably, struggling to have an arrow hit her rather than miss, somehow landing in our friends' shoulder. Spells failed, spears barely missed. It was perhaps your humble narrator's most frustrating fight in memory, even to this day.

But with the party's fervor and insistence, eager to resolve the situation, and stop her without lethal force, Kahara finally got a net over her after wearing her down, her assistant having run off after a couple of hard hits. She explained through strained, hate-filled words what her plan was, and how she intended to get her revenge on the school, all thanks to the help of some kind of "Stone Ghost."

She would not relent, simply spewing her hate until we forcibly dragged her from the campus and set her out several miles into the jungle. When we finally found Teacher Ot, he explained he was waylaid by a series of unlikely events, no doubt caused by Kurshkin's unluck and intentions. He cancelled the Introduction Ceremony, dubbing us official Initiates, and setting up meetings the following week with our teachers going forward, promising to help us choose our lecture series and classes.

Kahara was left furious that Teacher Ot allowed this to happen, putting the students in danger, but she was satisfied by his horror at what had occurred. It seemed his absence was beyond his control, and that this was not only unprecedented, but also showed a weakened state of the wards about the school. Combined with the knowledge of the tunnels beneath campus, he promised to put forth a renewed effort to ensure the safety of students going forward.

However, he also ensured the five of us understood that gremlins were tricksters and troublemakers, not murderers, and that this combat proved that. Her fighting style made it clear she had no intention of killing us, just demoralizing. While most of us accepted this, Kahara was not entirely sold, though accepted his promises of discussing the issue with teachers going forward.

Worn from the fight, bruised and battered, we bandaged up, rested in the hot baths, hopeful that our opening week would be, by far, the most exciting part of our academic career. But this humble bard thinks that, even back then, the five of us knew that we were destined for far, far more than this alone.