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change of plans time to do direct damage to this horrible thing Shade talks to his friends telepathically and will make sure he flies to a vector to miss his allies.
Shade will fly to within 50ft ft straight back and 10ft up(to be within 60 ft which is the spells range from the large ape and hit him with acidic spray (DC 27) Reflex save for half.
Spell Penetration:
Damage:
2nd round if no save:
When Zarzuket tries his spell he's interrupted by a volley of arcane missiles.
The beast dodges a chunk of the acidic blast. What does hit him quickly melts away sections of his armor.
The beast reaches for the swashbuckler when he closes in but finds his glowing touch knocked aside. Zandu returns the favor, landing a solid blow but it doesn't seem fully effective.
Upon seeing Zandu's scimitar blunted Zarzuket realizes that this giant ape is actually a bestial lich!
Adaxis the Roc will step to grant Zandu flank after watching his best friend turn into a mist of blood and feathers. His avian screams echo loudly jn the cave.
Adaxis avenges his fallen companion by tearing into the bestial lich. Most of his attacks are blunted much like Zandu's were but his bite tears through the gorilla's form uncontested.
Enraged, he turns his attacks on the giant bird.
Blood trickles down the huge bird's beak knowing his time on the material plane is nearing its end.
Working in tandem, Adaxis and Zandu bring the giant beast-lich down. Its huge armored form crashes to the ground where it rapidly crumbles to dust. Bestial laughter fills the air.
With the cult's leader vanquished, the party is free to untie and release Venture-Captain Kyalla, who remains bound to the grim altar. Unfortunately, it appears whatever ritual the lich was performing has already taken hold. The Venture-Captain's once beautiful form is gone as she's undergone a savage physical change: her brow is noticeably enlarged, her arms half-again as long as normal, and a thin coat of fine, blonde hair covers her chest and arms. Despite the vile transformation, she remains partially human — at least physically.
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Zandu performs a over exaggerated bow just moments before the large ape crashes to the ground causing a explosion of bone dust to plume behind him.
"hmm seems like our VC has been primialized " Zandu says as he looks over her.
" I wonder if the large one left instructions laying around or maybe a big red button to reverse the thing he was doing?" Zandu says as he pulls out his copy of evil plans for dummies.
Zandu finds no information on the ritual that was performed on the unfortunate Venture-Captain.
"New body... want Eddington... no more hurting", she mutters.
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"We're too late again? First Keel, now her! Why do these things keep happening to us?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
Whatever magic was used in this transformation it's far beyond Butyl's understanding. Maybe with more time and greater resources he could come to understand what's happened to the Venture-Captain.
With the wayfinder found still tied around Kyalla's neck, the party is able to activate a toppled portal in the Venture-Captain's ruined camp which whisks them back into the Maze of the Open Road. A short few hours later, the party returns to the Woodsedge Lodge with the transformed Venture-Captain Kyalla in tow.
Back at the Lodge, Venture-Captain Eliza Petulengro and Osprey are initially excited for the party's return, only to hang their head at the sight of Kyalla's bestial transformation. After the initial shock fades the pair thank the party for their hard work and for risking their lives for the betterment of the Society.
Eliza locks Kyalla up for her protection and vows to find a way to one day cure the ape Venture-Captain of her affliction. Osprey mentions dedicating time to the library in the interest of researching a cure but the pale seeker does a poor job of hiding his lack of faith in finding a treatment for Kyalla’s situation. He quietly takes Venture-Captain Keel's partially melted remains from Zandu. Unfortunately, he doesn't offer to help clean up the mess the remains made within his bag of holding.
In light of the fact that Adril's agents continue to be a step ahead, Eliza insists that the party remain within the lodge's confines for the time being. The more savvy members of the party get the feeling the house arrest is more about keeping an eye on each of them than keeping them safe from the rogue Venture-Captain's machinations.
You’ve had a few days’ rest in the Woodsedge Lodge before Venture-Captain Eliza Petulengro welcomes you to the lodge’s meeting room once again, now largely repaired since the Red Raven’s assault more than a week ago. She is joined this time by a dark-haired man, slender and silent, clothed in a simple traveler’s cloak, heavy shirt, and wool pants. The dark-haired man stands behind Eliza as she gestures for you each to sit, a heavy chest set on a table beside him, a thick iron lock sealing its contents. Once you’re settled, Eliza makes a few gestures, muttering a few incantations before sighing heavily and directing her attention to you once again.
Eliza speaks, “The man beside me is one of my agents in the Grand Lodge in Absalom. He is not a Pathfinder, is not employed by our illustrious organization, and is my little secret. Therefore, you need not and will not know his name. He has spent the better part of this week gathering a host of information on Adril Hestram — his motivations, his reasons, anyone he spoke to in the Grand Lodge, and most importantly, the contents of his personal quarters.” Eliza reaches back and thumps her hand on the heavy chest. “All of that is in here. You can look through it if you like—I have—but it hasn’t told me anything I didn’t already know save one piece of information: I know where Odrian is.”
Eliza waits a moment to see your reactions and then continues. “If you recall, Odrian was on Adril’s target list, but it seemed as though Hestram didn’t know where Odrian was. At some point just prior to joining you in the journey here, he found what he was looking for. It seems Odrian leads a doublelife—apart from being a venture-captain and, let’s face it, likely a member of our Decemvirate, Odrian is also Prince Odrian, the Thurok of Arl, a city high in the cold mountains of the northern region of—“ Eliza pauses for a moment. “Well,” she continues, “a city on the planet Akiton.”
After the party's had a moment to process the revelation, she continues.
“It seems likely to me,” Eliza goes on, “that whoever took Adril’s body from this lodge likely took it to Akiton, as neither Adril nor any of his co-conspirators have shown their faces at the Grand Lodge, and since it was the only other location he was seeking and hadn’t found when he set his plan in motion here in my lodge."
“I want you to travel back into the Maze of the Open Road, find Condria again and see if she can’t guide you to the portal that leads to Akiton. As far as I know, Akiton is cold and dry but you can breathe the air, even if it’s a bit thin. Go there, find out where Odrian is, and find Adril or any of his conspirators should they still be there. I shouldn’t have to say it, but I will: I want Adril alive, should you find him. He has many questions to answer and many deaths to answer for. Any questions?”
"It's possible but I don't think so. It's more likely his exploration as a Pathfinder brought him Akiton and he set up something of a life for himself there. Maybe he'd planned to open a lodge there in the future. I suppose we won't know until you bring him home."
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Shade listens to everything said and considers if he knows anything about this place and says the probability of difficulty with Hestrum on a distant planet with time to orginize and gather allies is very high, Captain. Do "we" have any other information you may find wise to impart on us you forgot to say(humans always being too emotional...)
"Akiton is cold and largely barren but is habitable. Our records indicate that a human-like race is the dominant one but there may be others. I'm afraid I don't know much more than that."
Once preparations are complete, the party departs the lodge for hedge maze and the extraplanar Maze of the Road within. The maze's medusa guardian is waiting when they arrive, her head bowed and cloaked.
"Welcome Pathfinderssss. What passsssagess can I help you find today?"
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"Yes we hope to go to Prince Odrian's portal located on the planet Akiton. But first" Zandu says as he reaches into his bag and produces a fine Chelish red " I would like to gift you this as a thanks for helping us out... and a sorry for squishing you with a hammer" Zandu says as he hands her the bottle " Try not to ssslur too much now"
Despite the insult, Condria marvels at the gift. "Thank you. It hasss been centuriesss since anyone hasss offered me a gift. Follow me."
After an hour of wandering the mazes's seemingly endless twists and turns, Condria brings the party to an arch of red-tinged steel, twisted at impossible angles and framing a shimmering swirl of reddish-orange light that sometimes seems to manifest an impossibly tall pyramid atop which rest thousands of red-skinned humanoids either kneeling or prostrate.
"Thissss isss the portal you ssssseek."
"No. I'm bound to this Maze for eternity", the medusa answers grimly.
The very light twists and bends as you step through the red portal, time seems to stretch and pull at you, your skin tingles and then burns, and then, just when it begins to hurt, the world solidifies once more, only it’s not your world any longer. You find yourself standing atop a vast stepped pyramid made of enormous blocks of red stone. The pyramid has to be at least 500 feet tall and its base occupies nearly half the dusty city that surrounds it. All around you, down every side of the pyramid, red-skinned humans, their heads shaved clean and dressed only in loincloths and thin shirts, prostrate themselves on every step and chant quietly in unison: “Odrian, Odrian, Odrian.”
Just then a sudden, icy blast of wind tears across the pyramid, disturbing clothes, whipping at red flags, and causing the canvas roof above the portal to groan with age. Though in every direction beyond the city you can clearly see red desert, the air is as cold as a glacier and as thin as the highest mountains on Golarion. None of the red-skinned humans prostrated before you seem to even notice the cold.
But someone has noticed you: suddenly one of the mourners stands and stares at you from under a thick brow with large, dark eyes. Though he wears the same clothing as the rest, he carries a thick sword on his hip, a shield on his back, and a quiver with a few javelins in it on one shoulder. He regards you silently for a moment and then says, in perfectly unaccented Taldane, “if King Adril is yours, you can have him back.”
Seemingly placated by Butyl's words, the red-skinned man nods and turns to Zandu. "Perhaps we have similar goals. I am Kol Voss, brother of the Princess Verrish who is widow of Prince Odrian, Arl’s thurok. Prince Odrian was slain in his quarters by that cowardly beast Adril Hestram. I would see him removed and my people freed from his corrupting influence."
As Voss speaks the others around the party begin to break from their funereal trance. They stare at the party in rapture, as though beholding the very gods themselves.
Quickly a crowd starts to form, pushing at Kol Voss to move him aside — a dangerous move on such a tall platform. They tear at the party's clothes, grab for their hands, and shout in a strange tongue. Women try to push babes into Zandu's arms, the men kneel in fealty, and all the while the crowd pushes in closer and closer, threatening to crush each other and the party.
The Father of Creation's voice echoes in Butyl's thoughts.
At Zandu's request, Voss shouts a few words in his native tongue. The crowd stops clamoring for a few seconds only to surge forward again with twice the fervor.
"I should have known that would happen. They think people from your world are gods. They'll tear you apart in their 'worship'. We have to get out of here."
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gods huh Zandu thinks as he makes plans to revisit the planet when he next has the chance.
"I Zandu the Terror of the Tides, the Star Strider, and Harvester of Heads. Seek to meet your oppressor and have no time for you. Cross my path and invite Misfortune and risk my wrath!!" He says in his best god like voice he could muster in an attempt to cow the mob.
and he activates his armor to lift off the ground to hover in his dramatic display.
Adaxis transforms into a huge-sized roc and begins to perform fly-overs breezing the crowds' hair and clothing.