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<section class="description"><p>A two-story inn stands just off the village commons. A sign above the door depicts a rider clinging to the back of a madly galloping horse with a green mane and a fish’s tail extending from its hindquarters. The inn’s walls are painted a cheerful shade of yellow to complement the red shutters.</p></section><figure class="right"><img src="modules/pf2e-kingmaker/assets/journal-kingdom/waterhorse-sign.webp" width="250" /><figcaption>The Waterhorse</figcaption></figure><p>The Waterhorse was the center of social interaction in Varnhold on days other than Sundays (when the focus shifted to the church). The hostler, Miriam Kolescu, was of old Issian stock from a fishing village on the shore of the Lake of Mists and Veils. She brought many of her family’s traditions and beliefs with her to Varnhold, though she was also a staunch loyalist to the Surtova crown. Her inn is simple but well kept. Its first floor consists of a common room (whose tables are set with rotting plates of food), a kitchen, a bathing chamber, and stores, along with a wing for the Kolescu family. The second floor consists of six guest rooms, all of which save one were unoccupied at the time the population vanished.</p><p>The inn’s most recent patron was also its most famous. @UUID[Actor.GvcutIrf9nMbjyHv]{Ervil Pendrod} had been staying at the inn for about a week before the vanishing. Maestro Pendrod hailed from Oppara’s Kitharodian Academy. His studies into the indigenous peoples of ancient Iobaria brought him to Varnhold when @UUID[JournalEntry.LLqpAfJTEvqiwQiR.JournalEntryPage.4E0PyKqqYxZhDWcE]{Maegar Varn}, a former student of his, sent word of @UUID[Actor.Tru8p4BbBoIS0hbX]{Willas Gundarson}’s unusual find.</p><p>The first thing PCs notice upon approaching the front door of the inn is a single word hastily scratched into the wood of the front door in Common: “NOMEN.” When the beckon of @UUID[JournalEntry.PoopszF8pbV8RtX8.JournalEntryPage.bLqkRjeESdkEMqkK]{Vordakai} summoned Maestro Pendrod along with the rest of the village, he finally realized the true source of the jade “bracelet” and used his last ounce of willpower to scratch this word with his dagger. He did so not as a warning, but in the hopes that those who came to investigate the vanishing would seek out the centaurs for more information about the cause of the event.</p><section class="treasure"><p>@UUID[Actor.8CxxlcQSh06MAfXo]{Waterhorse Till:} The inn’s till holds 1 gp, 37 sp, and 52 cp.</p></section><h3>Common Room</h3><p>Ervil Pendrod established himself in a comfortable corner of the inn’s common room, where he conducted his research on the “bracelet” and the surrounding region, entertained questions from the colonists, and gave impromptu lectures on his findings. He was in the midst of his research when Vordakai came, and the notes he left behind (see Treasure below) intrigued a spriggan who wandered into the tavern the day the Culcheks came to town. Unfortunately for the spriggan, they triggered a defensive ward Pendrod had placed on his collection; the spriggan’s body lies dead on the ground, their arms, chest and face battered and shattered. A PC who succeeds at a DC 23 check to @UUID[Compendium.pf2e.actionspf2e.Item.eReSHVEPCsdkSL4G]{Identify Magic} while investigating the notes and the body confirms that the spriggan was likely slain by a heightened sound burst stored in the notes via a @UUID[Compendium.pf2e.spells-srd.Item.o0l57UfBm9ScEUMW]{glyph of warding}.</p><p>Maestro Pendrod’s research materials remain on the table in the corner, somewhat scattered by the spriggan’s ill-advised attempt to search them, but still readable. They include several books with titles such as Iobarian Prehistory, Centaurs of Central Casmaron, The Untold Cost of the Taldan Armies of Exploration, and the book that once bore Pendrod’s glyph of warding: Secrets of the Rashalka Mounds. Among these works is an incomplete ethnography of the indigenous peoples of the Iobarian steppes—Pendrod was working on a section on the Rashalka centaurs and speculated that a local group known as Nomen is an offshoot of the greater Rashalka population who broke away and relocated to this area in the distant past. Mixed in with the books are a number of charcoal sketches of a heavy jade bracelet bearing peculiar markings that Maestro Pendrod has attributed to the premigration Nomen centaurs.</p><p>At the bottom of the stack sits a letter from Maegar Varn dated 2 months ago and addressed to Maestro Pendrod. This letter describes Willas’s discovery of the jade bracelet on the banks of a “river of local provenance” and requests Pendrod’s presence for further study of the artifact. The “bracelet” itself, however, is nowhere to be found.</p><section class="treasure"><p><strong>Treasure:</strong> Maestro Pendrod’s @UUID[Item.zpB0hbCLGFhy9Kd4]{collection of books} could be sold to a bookdealer for as much as 50 gp, though they might question how the PCs came by books that bear the professor’s own sigil as well as that of the Kitharodian Academy on the inside cover. The academy itself would pay a 75 gp reward for the return of all of Maestro Pendrod’s books and papers.</p></section><h3>Guest Rooms</h3><p>A search of the inn’s guest rooms reveals that only one of them was inhabited at the time of the vanishing. An investigation of the personal effects that remain indicate its occupant was Ervil Pendrod.</p><section class="treasure"><p>@UUID[Compendium.pf2e.equipment-srd.Item.bAfyWCvgsYDyw3ff]{Lesser maestro’s instrument}: Pendrod's finely crafted viola (recognizable as the work of the master craftsman Azores of Wispil), can be found in a case beneath his bed by a PC who succeeds at a @Check[type:perception|dc:20|traits:action:search] check.</p></section><p>Among the more mundane possessions in his travel trunk is a small library of further reference works. These tomes seem to be of less immediate relevance to his current project, but a PC who succeeds at a @Check[type:perception|dc:25|traits:action:search] check locates a centuries-old geography book by one Carmyn e’Brothasa, chronicler of Taldor’s Third Army of Exploration into the north. One passage is marked by Maestro Pendrod and reproduced as @UUID[JournalEntry.1S5XVzEgRf2MKa6U.JournalEntryPage.gEza1vHd4Z3Aq3vl]{Handout 6–2}. Pendrod’s own handwriting in the margin of the text contains a simple but strange note: “@UUID[JournalEntry.PoopszF8pbV8RtX8.JournalEntryPage.bLqkRjeESdkEMqkK]{Vordakai}—sounds familiar—wish I had my full library to research...” The book frustratingly doesn’t provide a location for the mythical island mentioned in the text, nor does it provide any further clues to Pendrod’s cryptic margin note. The name “Vordakai” is a difficult one to recognize, but a successful @Check[type:arcana|dc:25|traits:action:recall-knowledge], @Check[type:occultism|dc:25|traits:action:recall-knowledge], or @Check[type:society|dc:25|traits:action:recall-knowledge] check or a @Check[type:iobara-lore|dc:20|traits:action:recall-knowledge] check to @UUID[Compendium.pf2e.actionspf2e.Item.1OagaWtBpVXExToo]{Recall Knowledge} allows a PC to recall it as the name of an ancient Iobarian necromancer. A critical success recalls also that Vordakai was a cyclops from an empire that predated Earthfall.</p><p>Anyone who speaks Sylvan recognizes that “Olah-Kakanket” translates into Common as “Valley of the Dead,” and a successful @Check[type:survival|dc:33|traits:action:recall-knowledge] check or @Check[type:hills-lore|dc:33|traits:action:recall-knowledge] check to Recall Knowledge is enough to remember that a location bearing this name lies somewhere to the south in the foothills of the Tors of Levenies; it’s unlikely that the PCs will be able to achieve this success, though—they are more likely to learn this from the Nomen centaurs in @UUID[.8EmhsBJ0xEjZeQqv]{Part 3}.</p>
<section class="description"><p>A two-story inn stands just off the village commons. A sign above the door depicts a rider clinging to the back of a madly galloping horse with a green mane and a fish’s tail extending from its hindquarters. The inn’s walls are painted a cheerful shade of yellow to complement the red shutters.</p></section><figure class="right"><img src="modules/pf2e-kingmaker/assets/journal-kingdom/waterhorse-sign.webp" width="250" /><figcaption>The Waterhorse</figcaption></figure><p>The Waterhorse was the center of social interaction in Varnhold on days other than Sundays (when the focus shifted to the church). The hostler, Miriam Kolescu, was of old Issian stock from a fishing village on the shore of the Lake of Mists and Veils. She brought many of her family’s traditions and beliefs with her to Varnhold, though she was also a staunch loyalist to the Surtova crown. Her inn is simple but well kept. Its first floor consists of a common room (whose tables are set with rotting plates of food), a kitchen, a bathing chamber, and stores, along with a wing for the Kolescu family. The second floor consists of six guest rooms, all of which save one were unoccupied at the time the population vanished.</p><p>The inn’s most recent patron was also its most famous. @UUID[Actor.GvcutIrf9nMbjyHv]{Ervil Pendrod} had been staying at the inn for about a week before the vanishing. Maestro Pendrod hailed from Oppara’s Kitharodian Academy. His studies into the indigenous peoples of ancient Iobaria brought him to Varnhold when @UUID[JournalEntry.LLqpAfJTEvqiwQiR.JournalEntryPage.4E0PyKqqYxZhDWcE]{Maegar Varn}, a former student of his, sent word of @UUID[Actor.Tru8p4BbBoIS0hbX]{Willas Gundarson}’s unusual find.</p><p>The first thing PCs notice upon approaching the front door of the inn is a single word hastily scratched into the wood of the front door in Common: “NOMEN.” When the beckon of @UUID[JournalEntry.PoopszF8pbV8RtX8.JournalEntryPage.bLqkRjeESdkEMqkK]{Vordakai} summoned Maestro Pendrod along with the rest of the village, he finally realized the true source of the jade “bracelet” and used his last ounce of willpower to scratch this word with his dagger. He did so not as a warning, but in the hopes that those who came to investigate the vanishing would seek out the centaurs for more information about the cause of the event.</p><section class="treasure"><p>@UUID[Actor.8CxxlcQSh06MAfXo]{Waterhorse Till:} The inn’s till holds 1 gp, 37 sp, and 52 cp.</p></section><h3>Common Room</h3><p>Ervil Pendrod established himself in a comfortable corner of the inn’s common room, where he conducted his research on the “bracelet” and the surrounding region, entertained questions from the colonists, and gave impromptu lectures on his findings. He was in the midst of his research when Vordakai came, and the notes he left behind (see Treasure below) intrigued a spriggan who wandered into the tavern the day the Culcheks came to town. Unfortunately for the spriggan, they triggered a defensive ward Pendrod had placed on his collection; the spriggan’s body lies dead on the ground, their arms, chest and face battered and shattered. A PC who succeeds at a DC 23 check to @UUID[Compendium.pf2e.actionspf2e.Item.eReSHVEPCsdkSL4G]{Identify Magic} while investigating the notes and the body confirms that the spriggan was likely slain by a heightened sound burst stored in the notes via a @UUID[Compendium.pf2e.spells-srd.Item.o0l57UfBm9ScEUMW]{glyph of warding}.</p><p>Maestro Pendrod’s research materials remain on the table in the corner, somewhat scattered by the spriggan’s ill-advised attempt to search them, but still readable. They include several books with titles such as Iobarian Prehistory, Centaurs of Central Casmaron, The Untold Cost of the Taldan Armies of Exploration, and the book that once bore Pendrod’s glyph of warding: Secrets of the Rashalka Mounds. Among these works is an incomplete ethnography of the indigenous peoples of the Iobarian steppes—Pendrod was working on a section on the Rashalka centaurs and speculated that a local group known as Nomen is an offshoot of the greater Rashalka population who broke away and relocated to this area in the distant past. Mixed in with the books are a number of charcoal sketches of a heavy jade bracelet bearing peculiar markings that Maestro Pendrod has attributed to the premigration Nomen centaurs.</p><p>At the bottom of the stack sits a letter from Maegar Varn dated 2 months ago and addressed to Maestro Pendrod. This letter describes Willas’s discovery of the jade bracelet on the banks of a “river of local provenance” and requests Pendrod’s presence for further study of the artifact. The “bracelet” itself, however, is nowhere to be found.</p><section class="treasure"><p><strong>Treasure:</strong> Maestro Pendrod’s @UUID[Item.zpB0hbCLGFhy9Kd4]{collection of books} could be sold to a bookdealer for as much as 50 gp, though they might question how the PCs came by books that bear the professor’s own sigil as well as that of the Kitharodian Academy on the inside cover. The academy itself would pay a 75 gp reward for the return of all of Maestro Pendrod’s books and papers.</p></section><h3>Guest Rooms</h3><p>A search of the inn’s guest rooms reveals that only one of them was inhabited at the time of the vanishing. An investigation of the personal effects that remain indicate its occupant was Ervil Pendrod.</p><section class="treasure"><p>@UUID[Compendium.pf2e.equipment-srd.Item.bAfyWCvgsYDyw3ff]{Lesser maestro’s instrument}: Pendrod's finely crafted viola (recognizable as the work of the master craftsman Azores of Wispil), can be found in a case beneath his bed by a PC who succeeds at a @Check[type:perception|dc:20|traits:action:search] check.</p></section><p>Among the more mundane possessions in his travel trunk is a small library of further reference works. These tomes seem to be of less immediate relevance to his current project, but a PC who succeeds at a @Check[type:perception|dc:25|traits:action:search] check locates a centuries-old geography book by one Carmyn e’Brothasa, chronicler of Taldor’s Third Army of Exploration into the north. One passage is marked by Maestro Pendrod and reproduced as @UUID[JournalEntry.1S5XVzEgRf2MKa6U.JournalEntryPage.gEza1vHd4Z3Aq3vl]{Handout 6–2}. Pendrod’s own handwriting in the margin of the text contains a simple but strange note: “@UUID[JournalEntry.PoopszF8pbV8RtX8.JournalEntryPage.bLqkRjeESdkEMqkK]{Vordakai}—sounds familiar—wish I had my full library to research...” The book frustratingly doesn’t provide a location for the mythical island mentioned in the text, nor does it provide any further clues to Pendrod’s cryptic margin note. The name “Vordakai” is a difficult one to recognize, but a successful @Check[type:arcana|dc:25|traits:action:recall-knowledge], @Check[type:occultism|dc:25|traits:action:recall-knowledge], or @Check[type:society|dc:25|traits:action:recall-knowledge] check or a @Check[type:iobara-lore|dc:20|traits:action:recall-knowledge] check to @UUID[Compendium.pf2e.actionspf2e.Item.1OagaWtBpVXExToo]{Recall Knowledge} allows a PC to recall it as the name of an ancient Iobarian necromancer. A critical success recalls also that Vordakai was a cyclops from an empire that predated Earthfall.</p><p>Anyone who speaks Sylvan recognizes that “Olah-Kakanket” translates into Common as “Valley of the Dead,” and a successful @Check[type:survival|dc:33|traits:action:recall-knowledge] check or @Check[type:hills-lore|dc:33|traits:action:recall-knowledge] check to Recall Knowledge is enough to remember that a location bearing this name lies somewhere to the south in the foothills of the Tors of Levenies; it’s unlikely that the PCs will be able to achieve this success, though—they are more likely to learn this from the Nomen centaurs in @UUID[.8EmhsBJ0xEjZeQqv]{Part 3}.</p>
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entries.Pathfinder: Kingmaker.journals.6a. The Varnhold Vanishing.pages.A12. The Waterhorse.textFlags
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type:perception|dc:20|traits:action:search] check.</p></section><p>Among the more mundane possessions in his travel trunk is a small library of further reference works. These tomes seem to be of less immediate relevance to his current project, but a PC who succeeds at a @Check[type:perception|dc:25|traits:action:search] check locates a centuries-old geography book by one Carmyn e’Brothasa, chronicler of Taldor’s Third Army of Exploration into the north. One passage is marked by Maestro Pendrod and reproduced as @UUID[JournalEntry.1S5XVzEgRf2MKa6U.JournalEntryPage.gEza1vHd4Z3Aq3vl]{Handout 6–2}. Pendrod’s own handwriting in the margin of the text contains a simple but strange note: “@UUID[JournalEntry.PoopszF8pbV8RtX8.JournalEntryPage.bLqkRjeESdkEMqkK]{Vordakai}—sounds familiar—wish I had my full library to research...” The book frustratingly doesn’t provide a location for the mythical island mentioned in the text, nor does it provide any further clues to Pendrod’s cryptic margin note. The name “Vordakai” is a difficult one to recognize, but a successful @Check[type:arcana|dc:25|traits:action:recall-knowledge], @Check[type:occultism|dc:25|traits:action:recall-knowledge], or @Check[type:society|dc:25|traits:action:recall-knowledge] check or a @Check[type:iobara-lore|dc:20|traits:action:recall-knowledge] check to @UUID[Compendium.pf2e.actionspf2e.Item.1OagaWtBpVXExToo]{Recall Knowledge} allows a PC to recall it as the name of an ancient Iobarian necromancer. A critical success recalls also that Vordakai was a cyclops from an empire that predated Earthfall.</p><p>Anyone who speaks Sylvan recognizes that “Olah-Kakanket” translates into Common as “Valley of the Dead,” and a successful @Check[type:survival|dc:33|traits:action:recall-knowledge] check or @Check[type:hills-lore|dc:33|traits:action:recall-knowledge] check to Recall Knowledge is enough to remember that a location bearing this name lies somewhere to the south in the foothills of the Tors of Levenies; it’s unlikely that the PCs will be able to achieve this success, though—they are more likely to learn this from the Nomen centaurs in @UUID[.8EmhsBJ0xEjZeQqv]{Part 3}.</p>