The First Step on the Road to Glory

Synopsis
"My quill takes its first sip from the inkpot and scripts (or, rather, scribbles) the first lines of the book about the travels, adventures and victories that lie ahead. The book that will extol both its hero{ine} and me, its author Linzi the... (note to self: when I come up with a fancy nickname, add it here).

I am writing this in the banquet hall, where Swordlord Jamandi Aldori has just finished telling us about the mission that lies before us. Tomorrow at dawn our team will set off to the Stolen Lands in order to accomplish glorious feats. This is where my book begins, and the gods themselves can't say what will happen next!"

Leave the hall

 * ''We have a long road ahead of us, but we all need to get a good night's sleep. Fortunately, Lady Jamandi has graciously given us each a bedroom in her mansion. I have to admit, I am so excited that I won't be able to even close my eyes! Fortunately, I had a chance to talk with the future hero{ine} of my book. I think undefined is just the person I was looking for!

Follow Linzi

 * ''I didn't manage to get any sleep, but it wasn't due to my excitement. In the middle of the night, the mansion was attacked by some cutthroats who came out of nowhere! Blood and screams everywhere it was terrible! I had no idea what was going on, but undefined was in the room next door  so I decided we had to team up, or they'd cut us down one by one!

Help Jamandi Aldori

 * ''This is a nightmare! The mansion is swarming with cutthroats killing everyone they can find! Lady Jamandi is on the defense in the banquet hall — and we have to help her. And we have to gather anyone who is still alive along the way!
 * Break the door to the armory and find some weapons.
 * Go through the trap-filled hallway.
 * Help the wounded dwarf.
 * Go through the fire.

Help Jamandi fight the assassins

 * ''How disgusting is the monster who has burst into the banquet hall — and how valiantly and gracefully is Lady Jamandi holding it off! We have to help her, or our journey would be over before it even started!

Speak with Jamandi.

 * ''We won — but it's a bitter victory. Of all the brave heroes who had assembled in this hall mere hours ago, only a handful still live. Does this mean our expedition to the Stolen Lands will be canceled? Let's see what the swordlord has to say!

Outcome
"I write this in the same banquet hall in which we just finished helping fight off a vile attack on the mansion. Our adventure started much earlier than I'd expected — and it turned out to be much crueler than I'd imagined. It pains me to think that so many of those who just recently heard Lady Aldori's speech are no longer with us. But still, against all odds, we venture forth!"

Leave the hall

 * We have a long road ahead of us, but we all need to get a good night's sleep. Fortunately, Lady Jamandi has graciously given us each a bedroom in her mansion. I have to admit, I am so excited that I won't be able to even close my eyes! Fortunately, I had a chance to talk with the future hero{ine} of my book. I think undefined is just the person I was looking for!


 * Begin by listening to Jamandi Aldori and Ioseph Sellemius explanation for funding an expedition into the Stolen Lands.
 * Speak to the various NPCs in the Banquet Hall for brief background chatter, then transition out of the room to begin the next sequence.

Follow Linzi

 * I didn't manage to get any sleep, but it wasn't due to my excitement. In the middle of the night, the mansion was attacked by some cutthroats who came out of nowhere! Blood and screams everywhere it was terrible! I had no idea what was going on, but undefined was in the room next door  so I decided we had to team up, or they'd cut us down one by one!


 * After being awoken by Linzi, defeat the assassin that breaks into your room.
 * Follow Linzi outside and save Tartuccio, who will give you Tartuccio's Present as a reward for saving him. Equipping the ring will seem like a good idea since it grants additional AC, but be sure to remove the ring before speaking to Jamandi Aldori at the end of the prologue in order to make it easier to convince Jamandi that you are not a spy. You will want to hold on to this ring throughout the game as it will be extremely useful as a piece of evidence during a quest in Chapter V.

Help Jamandi Aldori

 * This is a nightmare! The mansion is swarming with cutthroats killing everyone they can find! Lady Jamandi is on the defense in the banquet hall — and we have to help her. And we have to gather anyone who is still alive along the way!


 * Continue through the mansion until you encounter Amiri battling a group of assassins. She will charge into the nearby entrance hall without joining the player's party yet.
 * Enter an entrance hall to trigger a short cutscene in which a Frost Giant tramples one of the assassins and blasts a trio of guards with Cone of Cold, then proceeds further with the remaining assassins while blocking off the passage they took.
 * Cross the landing North to another hallway, this time blocked with rubble. Pass a [ Dexterity 7] check to traverse the rubble, and defeat the assassins on the other side. All skill checks in Pathfinder: Kingmaker comes with an experience reward; generally speaking, the higher the DC of a skill check, the greater the experience reward.
 * In a new hallway there are a pair of doors, one leading Northwest which requires the Watchkeeper's Key to get through, and one to the Southeast leading into the armory. Pass a [ Trickery 1] check to open the armory door and take any equipment that might be useful for your party; Tartuccio initiates a short conversation after interacting on the lockbox on the table, indicating that it contains the guards' pay and suggesting that the player take the gold. Entering the armory at all, which is required to proceed with the storyline, will prompt Tartuccio to accusing the player of treachery later on, doubly so if they looted the guard's pay; the player will be forced to return the guards' pay during the conversation with Jamandi Aldori regardless of what is said.
 * Opening the door to the next hallway will prompt a conversation with Jaethal, after which she will join the player's party. Continuing down the hallway may reveal a series of thr ee [ Perception 5] [Trickery 10] negative energy traps; Jaethal is healed by negative energy damage rather than harmed, so if the party fails to disarm any of the traps she can trigger the trap without issue.
 * At the end of the trapped hallway is a pair of doors; the door to the Southwest is closed and leads to a courtyard, while the door to the Northwest is open and will prompt a short cutscene between two assassins trying to find a cache of treasure hidden in the mansion. This will start the errand quest A Secret Room; the fastest way to resolve this quest is to interact with the statue on the left in the first room, followed by the statue on the right in the first room, and finally the statue on the far right of the second room. Note that approaching the chair next to one of the lootable tables will cause enemy ooze to spawn.
 * Returning to the door to the courtyard, entering will reveal a trio of assassins; if the Wildcards DLC is active Kaessi will catch the assassins from behind while the player's party distracts them. Once combat is over Kaessi will momentarily attend to Harrim before running off to join Kesten Garess. Exploring the room that Kaessi emerged from will reveal a hidden switch with a [Perception 1] check, which will lower the door to a secret room with a chest.
 * Speak with Harrim to add him to your party; the dwarf is initially certain of his impending dramatic death at the hands of a minor wound, but by giving him a potion or passing either a [Diplomacy 15] or [Intimidate 15] check you will convince him to stand and continue fighting, after which he will join the player's party.
 * Walking Northwest in the courtyard will reveal Kesten Garess and his trio of guards. Kesten and his men are busy fighting the fires in the courtyard, and he adamantly insists that the player should proceed without him to catch up to Jamandi Aldori's pursuers; if Kaessi is present she will charge straight through the flames on her own since she is resistant to fire.
 * The next section will be the first illustrated book episode of the game. Illustrated book episodes are non-combat encounters that typically include a series of skill check challenges. This illustrated book episode has a few options, each of which will influence part of your conversation with Jamandi Aldori at the end of the prologue. To most efficiently get through this illustrated book episode the player's party should:
 * Drench themselves with water.
 * Rush inside.
 * Pass an [ Athletics 9] check to help Valerie rescue a trio of injured guards or [ Diplomacy 10] check to convince Valerie to leave the guards. If the player does not choose to drench the party members in water the DC of these checks increases to [Athletics 15] and [Diplomacy 16] respectively.


 * If the player's party attempts to find another way around the fire, they will be unable and must pass a [ Reflex 11 ], [ Mobility 12], or [Athletics 12] check in order to make it through without suffering additional damage, and also increases the ensuing checks with Valerie to [Athletics 13] and [Diplomacy 14]. If the player does not choose to drench the party members in water the DC of these checks increases to [Athletics 19] and [Diplomacy 20] respectively, which makes this path the most rewarding in terms of experience, but also the most difficult to pass. Failing any of these checks will forfeit the bonus experience for succeeding, as well as cause the party to take damage; also note that Valerie will be fatigued no matter which options you pursue. Upon reaching the other side of the fire, if the Wildcards DLC is active, companions will comment that Kaessi is nowhere in sight.

Help Jamandi fight the assassins

 * How disgusting is the monster who has burst into the banquet ha ll — and how val i antly and gracefully is Lady Jamandi holding it off! We have to help her, or our journey would be over before it even started!


 * Proceeding through the door at the end of the hallway will prompt your first loot transition; most transitions from floor to floor of a dungeon or from an area to the world map will open a loot table with all items that are being left in the area. This includes items from enemies, lootable objects, and hidden caches that have been spotted via a Perception check, but does not include items from hidden caches that have not been spotted yet, and creatures that are skinnable cannot be skinned from this loot table. This convenient tool allows you to be sure you've picked up all the loot that you've earned in an area, while also allowing you to cruise through an area more quickly without having to stop and loot everything that you have slain, and even giving you an opportunity to more quickly offload loot that is weighing the party down by dragging and dropping or double clicking items in your inventory directly to the ground.

Speak with Jamandi.

 * We won — but it's a bitter victory. Of all the brave heroes who had assembled in this hall mere hours ago, only a handful still live. Does this mean our expedition to the Stolen Lands will be canceled? Let's see what the swordlord has to say!


 * After wiping out the remaining assassins, Jamandi Aldori will want to speak with the player about the events that just transpired. Making a hard save before this conversation is advisable as some of the choices here will directly impact your access to companions for the immediate future. Tartuccio will immediately try to throw the player under the bus as a foreign spy, prompting a series of skill checks to defend the party's actions:
 * The first challenge allows you to make a [Diplomacy 10] check if you don't have the ring equipped when the conversation begins, or you may show your hands without the ring on sans skills check. Alternatively if you do have the ring equipped when the conversation begins you will need to make a [Diplomacy 10] check to convince Jamandi that Tartuccio gave the player the ring and is trying to set the them up.
 * The second challenge forces you to make either a (Lawful Neutral) [Dimplomacy 15] or (Chaotic Neutral) [Diplomacy 15] check to defend yourself for taking the guard's pay from the armory if you did so. Alternatively the challenge will force you to make a (Lawful Neutral) [Diplomacy 11] or (Chaotic Neutral) [Diplomacy 11] check to defend yourself for breaking into the armory even if you didn't take the guard's pay.
 * The third challenge forces you to make either a (Neutral Good) [Diplomacy 15] or (Neutral Evil) [Diplomacy 15] check to defend yourself for convincing Valerie and the party to leave the guards to die in the fire. Alternatively the challenge will force you to make a (Neutral Good) [Diplomacy 11] or (Neutral Evil) [Diplomacy 11] check to defend yourself for taking the time to rescue the guards from the fire rather than rushing directly to Jamandi.
 * When all is said and done, even if all of the challenges have been failed Jamandi Aldori will declare that she doesn't know enough about either the player or Tartuccio to rule either of the two out as a conspirator in the attack, and will send both on their way with their own teams. However, the party members that will continue to follow the player on their expedition depends on the spread of alignment choices that the player made during the conversation, and is determined regardless of the success or failure of the check:
 * Amiri will join the player no matter their responses.
 * Valerie will join the player if they chose the (Lawful Neutral) response, but will join Tartuccio if the player chose the (Chaotic Neutral) response.
 * Harrim will join the player if they chose the (Chaoticl Neutral) response, but will join Tartuccio if the player chose the (Lawfu Neutral) response.
 * Linzi will join the player if they chose the (Neutral Good) response, but will join Tartuccio if the player chose the (Neutral Evil) response.
 * Jaethal will join the player if they chose the (Neutral Evil) response, but will join Tartuccio if the player chose the (Neutral Good) response.
 * With teams decided, it's time for the real adventure to begin! Don't worry about not being able to keep every companion that you started with, the companions that left at the end of the prologue will be available soon enough. If the player doesn't have access to healing spells and doesn't intend to recruit custom companions from Anoriel Eight Eyes, then it may be recommended make alignment choices which allow the player to keep either Harrim or Linzi to maintain access to some form of magical healing.
 * To continue with the walkthrough of the main quest from here, please proceed to the Stolen Land article.