Nalar casts a spell and Relan feels the fog shroud shatter around him, although the raging insanity all around him is still there.
The creature continues to lash out at Andel biting him this time causing the blood to pump loudly in his ears, drowning out the sound of everything else It also causes Andel to fight back in his continued confusion.
It commands Thyrl to attack nearest creature again!
; success!
; miss
; miss
; miss; + poison above
Shaking his head to clear it Relan seems to become aware of the threat for the first time. He looks down at his self-inflicted wounds in wonder for a quick moment then focuses on the threat. He is too shaken to think clearly about it though.
The mobile fighter moves up and attacks with the guisarme power attacking. He chooses to gain +2 on attacks, +2 Dodge bonus to AC and +2 to reflex saves.
Nalar casts his last dispel at Braelex, doing his best to turn the tide as his familiar attacks him to no effect.
0
Prestidigitation
Detect Magic
Read Magic
Light
1
Charm Person
Cultural Adaption
Magic Missile
2
Investigative Mind
Protection From Evil Communal
Mirror Image (2)
3
Heroism
Displacement
4
Charm Monster (3)
Dimension Door
Andel selects +2 on attacks, +2 Dodge bonus to AC and +2 to reflex saves.
; Confusion
; Confusion
Andel steps back and attempts to identify the creature.
He calls out the creature's weakness the best he can in his deaf state.
Vuloo will cast burst of radiance on the creature (DC 18 reflex save). He his careful to not include Relan or the others in the spell's effects.
Braelex enjoys a lucid moment as she regains her awareness, wincing at the bolt she shot at Relan. She steps a few feet to the south and hurls a chain of three bombs at the abomination. "Kill it with fire!"
;
;
;
;
Andel with impeccable force of will shakes off the confusion and avoids falling into the pit, but the poison rips through his body and he shouts out over loudly the details of this summoned seugathi from the Abyss.
Relan steels himself against the insane warbles and disturbing aura and slips forward, jamming his guisarme into the creature's thick hide. It resists somewhat, but the strong fighter gets into the soft gooey parts underneath, hurting it for the first time.
Vuloo casts a blinding flash of light at the fiendish beast and fights against its innate resistance to magic. He succeeds and the seugathi unleashes an unholy scream as it blinks its eyes rapidly to clear the light.
Braelex finds her senses for long enough to throw three explosive devices at the worm creature and in a burning rage it thrashes to the ground and slips into Nalar's pit where it hits the bottom and remains unmoving. The confusing aura of madness lifts and the fog begins to dissipate.
Wounded and breathing heavily Relan says My thanks Nalar. You spell got rid of the damnable fog and let me clear my head. It saved me from myself. He looks a little embarrassed at his self inflicted wounds.
Vuloo detects magic on the area and searches the seugathi for anything of interest.
Nalar shrugs, a smug look on his face. "Why thank you, and I must give praise where it is due, I saw you gain first blood on the beast. Bravo." He says, saving the Dispel Magic for later. With an amused chuckle he looks over at the pit. "Were I not so talented with mental Magic I would consider specializing in pit spells with all the good they've done for us."
Braelex rolls her eyes, adding, "Yes, yes... but what was that thing?" She aids Vuloo in the search for valuables.
"That was a feind touched seugathi, nasty neolithid spawned beast." Nalar says as Thyrl curls up into a ball to stop it's head spinning.
"Urgh, but what was it doing here?" The outsider asks, cradling it's head in its paws.
Nalar shrugs. "Who knows, once the pit has run out it's duration I'll take a look at the room."
Eventually Nalar's spell diminishes and the body of the creature rises slowly back to the top ... nearly perfectly in the middle of the summoning circle, which you now see is significantly damaged. Vuloo finds the sword and the wand both radiate magic.
In the back of the room, Andel whistles in amazement. "This book, From the Minds of Monsters, is incredibly well preserved. It appears to be an investigation of the nature of many monsters that are capable of strange mind-controlling powers. The truly astounding thing, though, is that the book looks like it was penned by Sorshen herself. This may be the the only known item in existence written by her!"
Vuloo detects overwhelming transmutation and divination magic from the book.
Vuloo attempts to identify the magical properties of the sword, wand and the book.
; sword
; wand
; book
Andel will study the wand.
Braelex eyes the book warily. "Such an artifact would be incredibly powerful in the right hands, and incredibly dangerous. I've heard tales of other Pathfinders encountering tomes of the Runelords. None of them end particularly well."
As soon as he hears the contents of the book Nalar immediately begins to look at the book with longing. "I would very much like to read it, who knows what we could learn from a book penned by the Runelord Sorshen herself?" He gives the book a scan with his own detect magic. "I detect no Enchanment or Necromancy on it so we can at least rule out any attempt by the Runelord to possess or tamper with the reader." He says, tearing his eyes away from the book to look at everyone. "If it's okay with everyone I would like to read it, before we hand it over to the lodge for it to be inevitably spirited away to some vault like everything interesting we Pathfinders dig up."
With some measure of self control he goes and examines the circle, pondering it's damaged inscriptions.
Nalar will also examine the wand.
The longsword is a +1 keen longsword and the wand is a wand of cure critical wounds with 10 charges.
The book's details are beyond the limits of detect magic, other than you are aware that this is an artifact. You will need to try a more powerful spell to learn its details or find a sage or historian knowledgeable in the subject item or its creator.
Nalar examines the circle and realizes it's a well-scribed and powerful summoning circle that has weathered over time. Looking about the room, its age and thinking back to the process, he has a flash of insight from the Shard of Lust ... some cataclysmic event interrupted the magical energies of the summoning and held the creature inbetween boundaries in some sort of stasis until you made a change to the room. Assuming this was the same cataclysmic event that ended the Thasillonian Empire, it's been thousands of years.
Vuloo will take the wand of cure critical wounds.
Working your way back through the dungeon to the beach, the Gray Maidens pause to pay their respects to their fallen comrades buried in the sand. However when they see the graves dug up and looted with the bodies left unceremoniously behind, Oriana whirls on you, anger flashing in her eyes.
"No one else came before or after you, now did they? You want to explain this ... this ... dishonor?"
With the help of Andel's very detailed map, Nalar is able to dimension door over two boat pilots to pole the boats back through the strong current.
Braelex has the good decency to look embarrassed. "We can only claim ignorance and apologize. When we entered, we had no idea what, or who, lay ahead. We came upon recently dug graves and searched them for clues."
"I will help restore them, respectfully, to their rest." She glances at the others for assistance.
Vuloo will help Braelex bury the bodies. "We meant no disrespect. Please accept our apologies."
This certainly happened before we were friends. If I recall you were even trying to kill us for a while there. Relan adds as he also begins to help set things right.
Oriana is the very vision of controlled rage, "Friends or not, you shouldn't have touched them! Even our enemies on the battlefield wouldn't dare defile a grave!"
Somewhat mollified by Braelex and Vuloo picking up shovels, Oriana still growls as she says, "And their weapons and armor that they bore to the grave with them?"
Nalar raises an eyebrow as the situation unfolds, the wizard chooses to stay quiet and crosses his arms across his chest, confident that the other pathfinders are capable of resolving the situation them selves.
Vuloo returns the armor and weapons to the bodies before we bury them. "I assure you we only took these artifacts for academic study. I apologize again."
Growing tired of this Relan grips his weapon and prepared to defend himself. We needed to know how they died. We did not know what we faced down here. It was necessary. You may choose to take offense if you wish but none was intended. I will not say further of it. If you wish to fight over this then draw steel.
As Relan opens his mouth and speaks his piece Nalar grits his teeth in annoyance and steps forward to put his silver tongue to use and avoid conflict.
"Oriana I am sure after the stressful past few days I am sure you can forgive my friends for their actions. While their disturbance of the graves of your sisters is no doubt dishonorable I beg you to forgive them, they were simply doing what they needed to do to survive. Now that any danger has past I have no doubts they will properly see your sisters belongings returned and their resting places restored so their spirits wont become restless. Their actions meant no offence and they are sorry for taking what did belong to them. I understand what your sisters mean to you. The pathfinder society also understands the meaning of comradeship, it emphasizes cooperation and teamwork so that your fellow pathfinders become like a family. I know that I would be equally upset and angry if I found the graves of my fellow team members to be defiled." He says, working his charm as he tries to get the stoic commander to let her guard down and deescalate the situation. Thyrl does it's best to help, pulling it's best cute kitten face as it sits on the wizard's shoulder.
Oriana, incensed by Relan's remark is restrained by Quennelle who whispers to her and then interposes herself physically between the warriors. Oriana spins on her heel and continues to work on restoring the graves.
Quennelle listens to Nalar and then nods courtly, "Apology accepted. We understand your actions, but remember emotions run deep," the lieutenant glances back and lowers her voice, "Especially given the commander takes every death personally. "
Turning to Relans, she gives him an appraising look and a half smile," Big man, you might want to put your penis away and pick up a shovel. May help you dig your way out of this. "
-Posted with Wayfinder
Nalar let's himself think for a moment. "I can sympathize, know all to well how deeply emotions effect us."
He watches Oriana work for a few moments more before he grabs a shovel and helps out. Not used to physical work his hands quickly grow tired but he gives it as good as he can.
As he does Thyrl flies over to the bodies of the dead and watches them.
Not willing to let the conversation end on an insult Relan reports It was not I who threatened violence. And I'll remind Commander Oriana that it was not I that sold out Helena Martien and tried to feed her to the sea hag. In fact I was the ones who saved Helena. I think you both have a short memory of what we have done for you. If our deeds fall short in recompense and your honor demands more I'll be pleased to answer Oriana or you in single combat today, or any other day. With that he walks away.
Vuloo follows behind Relan. "Let's begone from this tomb. I'm eager to return to civilization."
After the bodies are re-interred, Braelex washes off in the stream and then gathers her things. "Indeed, it will be nice to see the sun again."
Quennelle smirks and shakes her head slightly but doesn't respond to Relans final word.
The moment passes and the Maiden sailors head with Nalar back to the boats and effectively ferry every one back in several trips.
You pass back by the now empty sepulchre of Sorshen's clone and an eerie chill passes through you all as you glance at Braelex and are reminded of her death and reawakening.
The alchemist uses her extracts and rises up through the pit, dropping a rope behind for the others to climb out. You head back down the tunnel and are reminded of the giant albino solufugids you left behind and are about to bemoan not having any more of the orange goo when one of the Maidens breaks out a jar and tosses it forward.
With thanks, you pass by the lethargic beasts and exit, finally, into the afternoon sun and the cloying dampness of the marshlands.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Vuloo smiles up at the shining sun. "Ah, praise Sarenrae, it feels good to be out of that dungeon! Well, we need to get back to Magnimar to regroup. Unfortunately, we won't have the luxury of taking a boat back, so we'll have to navigate the fens."
Vuloo looks around and tries to get his bearings.
Passing the sepulcher, Braelex frowns in thought, but then shakes her head and continues on.
Once finally outside, she takes in a deep breath, smiling. "I never thought this gross, sticky swamp air would smell so sweet!" She takes a look around the marshlands, trying to get a semblance of direction. Then, with a start and raised index finger, she takes out her wayfinder.
"Magnimar is that way," Braelex indicates.
"Or we could wait for the Wanton Ways to come back, in a few weeks or so."
I'd prefer not to wait, but do not relish a walk through the swamp. Any other options?
Nalaar stretches in the fresh air. "So this is where we ended up? What do you think Thyrl?" He asks as the familiar gets its bearings with it's constant know direction ability.
"I think the soonest we leave this swap the better. They have never been my favorite biome."
Nodding in agreement Nalar walks over Oriana. "And so our journey begins. If you don't mind my prying what awaits you and your women when you reach civilization? With this venture of your's undone will you be sticking around Magnimar long? I'm sure the lodge will be grateful for the assistance you provided us and would be able to find work for you and your cohort, if you would be interested."
To Nalar he only shrugs, "I'm sure our comrades at the lodge will be quite happy to see you return. I would like to spend some time in Magnimar documenting what we found under the Lady's Light. Eventually we will have to find the other pieces of the Sihedron. I pray that they are in a more hospitable location than the Mushfens."
Vuloo then sighs as he swats an insect, "I have no desire to navigate the swamp, but I don't think we have any other choice. I don't think we can count on the Wanton Ways."
He then turns to Relan, "Sir, will you lead the way?"
Andel breaks out the map and Relan and he discuss a plan. By foot, it looks to be a 50-mile slog through a trackless swamp. You guess it will take about 33 hours of hard walking. Andel recommends 4 days. Quennelle comes by with some news as well, "We are out of rations and have about 2 day's water apiece since we all refilled at the underground river. We'll need to either forage or share supplies if you all have enough."
Oriana listens to Nalar's questions and takes several moments in contemplation before she responds, "We would welcome any good word you can put in for us. I know that things have been strained with the compulsions, the strange world under there and the loss of some of my ...", her eyes mist for a moment as she chokes back tears, " ... charges, but if the Pathfinder Society has work for us, we can perform. Thank you."
Assuming Relan finds enough food for the group, Vuloo will create water for everyone.
Braelex uses her Wayfinder and alchemist abilities to help navigate the marshlands.