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Exiel tries to direct Torag's wrath at Rasputin, but something seems wrong. The smiting seems to not take effect! He flies through the blade barriers and evades all the blades. He attacks and hits, but his sword passes through the image, and he realizes that when he detected the illusion aura on Rasputin earlier, it was because this Rasputin is an illusion, even though the spells that it casts are very real.
Mike and Rhon are too slow to avoid the blades and take full damage!
Green, Blue and Red try to touch Exiel and 42. Green and blue miss Exiel, but Red succeeds in touching 42, causing him to feel very weak indeed!.
42 retaliates with a couple of strikes. The first misses but the second one hits blue. The scimitar has full effect but his spell only partly affects blue because it is incorporeal. Blue is quite hurt but not defeated yet.
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Although badly cut by the balde barrier, Mike retains enough awareness to realise he needs to get out, and he throws himself out of the barrier before blasting the illusory Rasputin.
Rasputin looks calmly at your positions and the nearly-destroyed blue.
"Dasvidaniya Olga," he sneers as he calls down a dark vile flame that engulfs blue, his illusory self and all of you. The animate dream that had already been substantially injured by you is destroyed in the unholy flames.
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Exiel sees 42 drop and realises he needs to put a stop on the illusory Rasputin's spellcasting. He takes a 5ft step into space occupied by the illusory Rasputin activates an emergency force sphere, then immediately casts a dimension door to put himself back in the midst of his allies, leaving the scrying sensor and the illusory Rasputin within the sphere.
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Tragically, Rhon succumbs to the dark flames and falls to the ground, his last thoughts that the dark fires will soon be replaced by the welcoming warmth of Torag's forge. 42 also falls, his breathing shallow but still clinging to life.
Exiel steps into the illusion and casts his spell. The Rasputin illusion does not disappear! Another spell and he reappears outside. Rasputin looks somewhere between amused and annoyed.
Red and green fly to either side of Exiel and try to touch him. Both miss. But it looks like Green has finally shaken off the blindness from the glitterdust spell.
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[ooc]I currently have 135 points of non-lethal damage, but I'd caution you against attacking me, as to be honest, I don't want to kill you. I don't think that I'll die anytime soon, especially since I'm almost immune to Coup de Grace (I have 95% immunity to critical hits). Confusion is the one thing that I did not expect to need good defense against, since I really haven't encountered it (except for one of the earlier floors of the Emerald Spire). I've only taken damage from the blade barrier once so far, so I'm not really hurting that badly.[ooc]
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Still confused, Mike blasts Exiel's force sphere, rocking and rattling it. Rasputin adds his own blast of dark fire from within. The barrier still holds, but does not look like it will weather another round of such punishment from both sides.
Exiel casts his spell and goes invisible. The animate dreams howl in anger, then turn their attention to the last standing target they can see, flying up to Mike to attack him. Unfortunately for Mike, the fake Alexei has also shaken off the blindness and also flies back through the wall and up to Mike to attack him.
Mike is attacked from all sides and avoids one attack but is struck by two more. Fortunately for Mike he is already well-acquainted with the negative energy of the void, and he withstands the touches better than most normal men would.
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Mike suddenly feels tired and mentally drained as the curse takes effect. He strikes back at the fake Alexei with a magical attack, partially disrupting his incorporeal form.
Rasputin unleashes another strike of dark fire from within the sphere. The sphere rattles furiously and begins to crack but not break.
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The three animate dreams reach out for Mike again as they have no one else to fight. All of them touch Mike one by one, and even with his resistance he finally succumbs, falling to the ground.
Rasputin sneers as he sends one more burst of dark fire at Exiel's barrier. This time it finally collapses.
"Too slow, Rasputin. But you have killed a friend of mine, and there will be a reckoning!"
Still glaring balefully at Rasputin, Exiel calls forth Lauriel, who snatches up the weapons of Rhon and 42. He then recites the verbal component for the dimension door spell, and transports himself and the other 3 pathfinders away from this horrid place.
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Exiel makes a questionable choice and teleports to the graveyards. As soon as he arrives, he lies low, trying to avoid detection.
The muddy trenches tear a gaping scar through a field of headstones and wooden crosses at the northwest corner of the prison camp. Upturned bone from centuries of burials crunch underfoot, hidden beneath the packed snow. In the distance, a pair of the immense animated vehicles rumble in his direction, but do not appear to have detected him yet. Looking over his shoulder, he sees that the camp is buzzing with activity as soldiers patrol the interior trying to search for intruders. Curiously, although it is still mid-day the watchtowers appear to have their searchlights on are sweeping the interior of the camp with them.
As Exiel ponders how to handle the oncoming animated constructs, he sees a stunted little creature dressed in a long, shapeless coat and a worn ushanka that just barely conceals two hooked horns curving from her brow. She has tiny black close set eyes, and its skin is slate gray, and it appears to have an oversized shovel in its hands. Like Exiel, it too is crouched near the ground, facing the camp, though she is now looking over her shoulder at Exiel. She looks back to the camp, then at the approaching metallic behemoths. Finally, she beckons Exiel to follow her, then hops into what appears to be a large ditch nearby.
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"Well, she ain't attacking us and she didn't call those tanks on us," Exiel mutters to himself as he looks at his fallen comrades. "And I'm in no position to refuse help either!"
Exiel will drag his friends to the ditch, trying to get there before the tanks arrive. If necessary, he will call on Lauriel to activate the spell tattoo he had given her moments before so that they can get in the ditch before the tanks arrive.
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Exiel and Lauriel gather the fallen and manage to get to the ditch before they are spotted. Once inside, they realize that rather than being just a ditch, they have instead been led into an unearthed mass grave. The little creature sits among the bones as if completely at ease with the situation, which in her case is shown by not scowling more than she had been previously. When she speaks, it is with a deep accent, not unlike that of the water-fey Libuska who you spoke with moments ago. She speaks in the Sylvan tongue which Exiel's handy translator interprets for you.
"You not friend of the one who wants to take Little Grandmother's throne. You not from here. Polina see, Polina can tell. Tell Polina why you here."
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While Exiel plays medic, Lauriel converses with their new friend.
"Hello nice lady, we are certainly NOT friends of Rasputin. In fact, we crossed paths with him and were unfortunately unprepared, but once we recover we intend to try again. This man here is one of... um.... Little Grandmother's Riders, and we are trying to rescue her. If you can give us any help, information or advice, we would be most grateful!"
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The dark-skinned fey creature looks at Exiel sideways as he performs his distinctive paladin-healing.
"That is new Midnight Black? Poor Little Grandmother, has no one better to rely on," she says as she shakes her head in disappointment. "But you little one, you show Polina respect. Polina like. You want save Little Grandmother? Polina help."
"The one who wants to take Little Grandmother’s throne now lurks in the church-but-not-the-church, far, far away, between here and the land from which I come. The one who built the anchors of the world has been broken, body from soul. You bring both to me, I make him help you, tell you how to go to the church-but-not-the-church."
She breaks into a wicked grin.
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"Well, it so happens that we quite serendipitously found the lantern goat that held his soul even before we knew we needed it. Do we just break it to release his soul? And do you know where his body is?"
"And I'm almost afraid to ask... but if he's dead... how exactly are you going to 'make him help us'?"
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"Ridiculous girl. Polina bring him back from grave of course."
"Body is over there," Polina replies as she points to barracks to the South-West of Rasputin's house (the one you just fled from).
"You need rest, you go rest. Have body, have lantern, bring to me," she adds with finality as she gets to her feet, dusts herself off and begins to poke at soil in the bone-strewn ditch/grave.
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While Unconscious, Mike is clearly in the pitch of some sort of fever dream. "No, don't, please. Take me instead!" he cries out as the near fever dream seems to overtake him.
When he becomes conscious, Mike's eyes will snap awake and, after getting his bearings, will offer up his wands to aid in healing.
"What happened? I think I was effected by mind magic, but I'm not sure." asks Mike when he finally gets his bearing and healing with a nod of thanks.
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"Aye, we stayed a little too long and pressed one building further than we should have, instead of pulling out to rest. The enemy was far deadlier than we had thought. At least we were able to work out something of Rasputin's abilities and tactics. It is a cheap and dirty one - he is somehow able to cast a projected image spell through a scrying sensor, allowing him to throw spells at us with impunity while he hides in his pocket dimension. I can use that knowledge against him to some extent when we next encounter him... but sadly Rhon has paid dearly for the information and our mistake."
When Exiel translates Polina's words, Exiel suddenly snaps alert.
"Wait, bring him back from the grave? You can do that? Can you bring Rhon back also?"
Once the group is done with Polina, Exiel will use his remaining spell slots to cast invisibility on the party members, carry Rhon's body and fly back to the hut.
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"Stupid boy! Your friend, bring back, what good? Viktor know how find Rasputin. He know how go to far away church-but-not-the-church. Your friend know? He don't know! So what use?"
When you return to the hut, it perks up expectantly, then slumps back into a dejected state when it sees that you are not accompanied by its master. Nonetheless it opens its doors for you dutifully. When you enter, you notice that the interior configuration has changed once more. It is more spacious inside now and is set up like a kitchen, along with a table for dining and a bubbling stew in a cauldron over a fire place. At the far end, there are 2 doors. One is slightly ajar, and you can see that within is a well-appointed bedroom with a large bed and desk. Anastasia is sitting on the bed, more composed now though her expression is still sullen. She looks up at you when you enter, and simply nods. The other door is wide open and leads to a much smaller room plainly furnished with four lumpy bunk beds crammed inside. There is no doubt as to who the Hut favors.
The thanadaemon known to you as the Coffin Man stands at the fireplace, slowly stirring the pot whilst he mutters darkly to himself. You can see signs of food-preparation around the kitchen and the smell from the cauldron is surprisingly pleasant and appetizing, despite the daemon's apparently foul mood. It would appear that some kind of arrangement had been made, though the daemon seems most dissatisfied at having to play the role of a cook and butler to a young girl. His eyes burn with dark fire as he glares at you.
"Tell this to anyone and not even Baba Yaga will prevent me from finding you and ripping out your tongue," he growls.
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The thanadaemon known to you as the Coffin Man stands at the fireplace, slowly stirring the pot whilst he mutters darkly to himself. You can see signs of food-preparation around the kitchen and the smell from the cauldron is surprisingly pleasant and appetizing, despite the daemon's apparently foul mood. It would appear that some kind of arrangement had been made, though the daemon seems most dissatisfied at having to play the role of a cook and butler to a young girl. His eyes burn with dark fire as he glares at you.
"Tell this to anyone and not even Baba Yaga will prevent me from finding you and ripping out your tongue," he growls.
Exiel bites his inner lip to avoid chuckling at the sight, and refrains from giving promises about his silence lest he proves unable to keep them. However, the grim reality of Rhon's corpse in his arms reminds him that their situation is still dangerous and dire. He asks the coffin man where the mercane is, and then goes to see him.
"Zilvazaraat, we are in need of a raise dead spell, which I believe you are able to arrange? The Absalom chapter of the Silver Crusade on Golarion will arrange for the necessary recompense."
While the mercane makes the preparations, Exiel will go to see Anastasia, bringing with him the Romanov family portrait that they had found in the large tent where the dullahans had lurked.
"I see you're... well, a little better, which is great under the circumstances. Look, we found something while we were exploring the camp. It's a portrait, and you're in it, along with your family. It was displayed prominently, so it seems that your family was well thought-of by whoever owned it. When we get to Golarion, I'll see about getting a proper frame for it. It will help you remember them."
He does not tell her about the animated dreams, deciding that it would do her little if any good to know that Rasputin was even now still desecrating their memories.
Once all that is done, Exiel will wait for Rhon to be raised, and then unload all his remaining healing into Rhon to help him recover.
"Ho there, Brother Delver. You fought valiantly but the time has not yet come for us to rest. That foul spellcaster still has much to answer for, and we will make sure he answers!"
Finally, once all that is done, he goes to one of the beds in the other room and plops himself down, finally able to rest just for a little bit before the renew their assault on Rasputin's base.
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Exiel calls Zilvazaraat through the statuette telling him that they are in need of a raise dead spell (and any other items that you require). He accepts the terms of payment being that the Silver Crusade will pay the costs when he next visits Golarion.
Anastasia thanks Exiel for the portrait. She seems to appreciate the gesture, and the portrait seems to comfort her a little. She stares at it as Exiel leaves the room, never taking her eyes off it.
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Rhon inhales a ragged breath as he is brought back from River of Souls. Rhon looks around for a moment before gaining his bearings once more. "Did we win?"
Hearing Exiel' words Rhon turns to Zilvazaraat. "I would ask two other services of you. One that will allow you to collect even more from the Silver Crusade and the other for which I will pay you."
"First would you help restore me closer to whole. I know that it takes time to regain ones full strength after one is brought back from death but this will at least allow me to be closer to full fighting strength when we confront Rasputin again. Second..." Rhon pulls out the shattered remains of his Dwarven Waraxe and lays them out. "I would like to have my axe made whole once more."
Rhon will also use his own wands to heal himself. "Does anyone else still need any healing?"