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ROUND 2
Quint (), Grundar (), Dumm (-11), Skerdo (-4), & Andruss ()
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Chelish Thug 1 (-5), Chelish Thug 2 (), Chelish Thug 3 (),
Chelish Thug 4 (), Chelish Thug 5 (), & Chelish Thug 6 ()
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Quartz ()
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Quarts steps up to hurl a small vial of nastiness into the crowd of thugs at the rear, catching on directly in the chest and sending an explosion of flaming death out around her. It catches two others, who likewise fall to the ground, severely wounded, if not dead outright. The one whose leg had been badly injured is among them, and as he falls to the ground, he lands on a sleeping dwarf, startling him to wakefulness, who jumps up, seeing fellow Pathfinders in a scrap, moves to join them.
J stands up, taking a sap to the face as she rises, and nearly gets knocked out cold from the blow. She stands, wabbly on her feet, but suddenly it's as if the alleyway grows a bit darker. Everyone suddenly feels a chill, and unnatural one, and suddenly, literally out of nowhere, a ghostly figure that seems to be comprised of a soft green mist appears, striking it floats directly at the thugs and raises a large fist, bringing it down hard on the unaware Chelish thug grappling with Dumm, slaying the man outright, followed by a massive thunderclap as Quint unloads another round of his strange weapon into another.
ROUND 2
Quint (), Grundar (), Dumm (-11), Skerdo (-4), & Andruss ()
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Chelish Thug 3 (-6), & Chelish Thug 4 ()
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Quartz ()
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The appearance of the ghostly figure is too much for Dumm. I hate when the dead don't stay dead, he thinks before shedding his rational faculties altogether. Slipping into his primal state, the one that had kept him alive in the wilds, he draws his sword. Dimly aware that the spirit had helped him and is therefore, if nothing else, an enemy of his enemy, he turns on the remaining thugs.
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Grundar will move up to where number 4 was and if someone attacks Dumm Grundar will use immediate action to grant him 2AC
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Not long after the green apparition strikes, it vanishes again. The rest of the Chelish mariners fall before your might in short order. Amongst their gear, you do find a total of 5 potions of Cure Light Wounds, but little else of worth.
J. looks very uncomfortable, her secret partially revealed, though she is not sure just what to do in it's aftermath. “I guess I should tell you, considering who you are and where we are going. I’ve been keeping him a secret for far too long in any case."
She closes her eyes for a moment, concentrating, as a single tear rolls down her cheek. “Grishan, can you come out, please. These people would like to meet you.”
Grishan steps out of J.’s body, revealing himself to be a green-tinted apparition that resembles an emaciated 14-year-old boy with sunken cheeks and hollow eyes. He is still wearing his school uniform consisting of a blouse covered by a vest. His legs end just below the knees, trailing off into nothingness and he floats above the ground at the same height he stood in life.
The ghostly boy speaks, "I am Grishan Mal. . . I remember some of you. J. and I loved to sneak away back before, to tell ghost stories. And that's where I was when the earthquake struck 20 years ago that killed us all. When the building collapsed, we and the other students where trapped. Only J. survived, thanks to you. We never knew why, but all of the others, . . . we ran out of food. I was the last to die, but I couldn't leave her. She had given up hope, crawling into an empty tomb to waste away in peace, but then the soul-sucker came to feed on her. I couldn't leave her, so I fought it. The only way I could. The only way I new how to, and I jumped into her soul. It kept that monster away from her, but she wouldn't wake up. She wouldn't die, either, and so we just laid there. Until you came to save her."
"Now, we are bound together somehow. I think our spirits sort of stuck together somehow. She doesn't remember much. I don't think her mind could handle it. There was too much pain and she was, we where all just children. But I think, whatever I did to save her, I think it, . . . there is a lot I can't remember."
"I remember wanting to be a knight. But I don't remember much of my life. Why I was at that school. Who I was. I think when we joined there was too much for her mind to handle for both of us. And I think," looking back at J. with honest concern,"I think that's why she needs you so badly. To take her back there. I don't know. . ."
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Skerdo backs up when the spirit appears, but when it doesn't seem to threaten them in any way, his guard relaxes. Slightly.
"I'm not that trustful of things that don't stay dead," he says gruffly. "J., if you got any sway with this spirit at all, I'd like to ask him to stay under wraps unless he's got something real important to say. Still," he adds, eyeing Grishan thoughtfully, "I guess you did help us out back there. Thanks for that, at least."
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"Hmm, interesting..."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Mal", Andruss greets the boy.
"You made a good job protecting her from this 'soul-sucker'. Do you know if this creature still alive? What kind of monster it is?".
The witch tries to soothe the children after the tension of the battle with soft words.
"J., my little child, Mal established a bond with you until the end of your days. Your souls are now acting as one, and we will help you to find the origins of this bond, why it happened and discover what occurred there years ago. You all have my word".
"And I expect that she tells this to her mother when we come back, for sure."
Andruss open a shining smile to them.
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Dumm returns to himself when the threat subsides. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he notices his gaping wound for the first time. He also takes a more careful look at the apparition. Like Skerdo he is wary at first, but listens to J's story. "You have a talent, J. Dead things no stay dead around you. He no will attack us?" Dumm turns his attention to his wound. "Know someone how to use this?" he asks his allies, pulling a wand out of his pack. "It's magic. Heals wounds."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Dumm watches in amazement as the gash closes and mends, leaving only a faint scar in its place. "I wish I can use magic, " he says quietly.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"Wow thats really cool. I've heard of things like this before. Your a Spiritualist, and your her Phantom Spirit. I don't know much about it personally but i know there are those in the society that can help you learn to master this power." Quartz says excitedly. "Your just full of suprises Cap." He adds with a smile to J.
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Grishan does comment that he does recall something about his life revolving around a place called the Arboretum Arcanis, and asks that you stop there on the way. He doesn't know why, but feels it might be some sort of unresolved business.
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The foyer of the Arboretum Arcanis is in shambles. Debris and dead or dying plant matter cover the mosaic-tiled floor. A gnarled black thorn tree still clings to life in a giant masonry planter. Two massive skylights in the ceiling afford a view of low-hanging, purple and black clouds above; the crystal dome is completely obscured. Piles of rubble obscure most of what once may have been doorways, but a door to the west is free from debris.
Most of the Arboretum now lies in ruins and is inaccessible. The crystal dome is cracked, with a large central portion missing at its apex. Vines have grown through the cracks in the dome, so thick that the interior of the dome is shrouded in perpetual dim light, even on bright, sunny days.
As you step inside, Grishan suddenly seems to begin to remember something, saying, "I, I remember hiding something here. Somewhere. . . A red lion. I think maybe if we can find it, . . ."
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From outside, you can sense really only trace magic, but nothing really telling. Inside is actually much the same, for now at least. And while the clouds do hide some magic, it's a little unclear as to just what they do. There is, almost like a thin layer of dust, the hint of necromancy and evocation covering most things.
To your left you see a single door, and to the right, what like another section of the garden that had been so damage in the earthquake that it collapsed. You can make your way a little bit beyond, down a hallway, but it ends shortly around a corner.
Returning to the main room, you instead begin to try the other door, but just as you reach for the handle, suddenly the large old tree seems to move. There is a strange creaking sound, and what originally looked like a stump begins to almost mold itself into a humanoid shape.
It says to you, in a strange, monotone voice, speaking a bit slowly, "Sssttop. Wwwhhhooo disturbbbbssss ttthhee gaarrdennnnn? AAllll wwwwhhhoooo wwwwoooouulld pprrrooooooccceeed muuussssstttt ppppaaaayyyy ttttthhhhheeeee ffffeeeeeeeeee."
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Grundar goes to the front of party and plants tower shield. Total defence while the party talks behind me
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"Wow a talking tree guys!" Quartz exclaims. "But whats the fee? And how can you talk? What are you? Are you really a tree? How long have you been here? Whats it like being a tree?" He then rattles of his questions quickly. Then turns to J not waiting for the answers. "Was there a talking tree here when you got here? And did it have a fee? I hope the tuition isnt too high...."
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Andruss stays in an austere posture as he comes close to the "alive-tree", looking for a safety position between the creature and Grundar's shield.
"Greetings, Mr... Tree. We don't want any troubles, we are here to help some friends, find their roots. Probably this place is bonded with them in some way, and we won't desecrate it. Can we enter, Sir?"
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"My name is Pip, and I am. I just am. The fee for admittance is but a drop of blood from each of you. It will help immensely."
While the small creature does appear to be some sort of living, sentient plant, or more like a root, you can see interspersed throughout it's body small vials of different alchemical fluids, like it where somehow absorbing them slowly. As it speaks to you, it's hands suddenly begin to change, the "fingers" shrinking a bit, but becoming longer, and at the base of each digit, what looks like an empty syringe-like organic compartment.
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"Why need a tree blood? Trees no have blood. Or look you only like a tree, but are you no a real tree?"
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