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Watts takes in the library, draws comfort from the layers upon layers of volumes and texts. He seems both uncertain where to start and content to start anywhere.
A realization hits and brings him back to reality. "It would seem I'm a bit distracted here. It would takes some time for me to see if the manuscript was hidden here or identify some common line between the books stolen here and using that information to discover the purpose and identity of the villain here."
"However," the tengu says as he once again appreciates the among of collected knowledge, "that would take a significant amount of time. As much as I would enjoy knowing all details before pressing forward, it may be August's direction is correct. Maybe we should go to the temple."
"If you asked me to look through this library, I would not need much encouragement."
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"Considering the fragile state of the majority of the books here presently located on this library's premises sufficent protectional measures are required lest the knowledge contained within the collection disintegrate alongside the physical pages," Diri states, following August away from the bookshelves, much to her own chagrin.
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The key works on the door of the temple, and it opens easily.
This huge temple encloses a peaceful, echoing space. A faint aroma of old incense lingers here. Polished blue flagstones decorate the floor. Where the walls meet, the corners curve gently so that nothing jars the eyes. At the temple’s center, a round wooden pillar rises out of the floor, stretching up to support the roof ninety feet above.
Bizarrely, the pillar bristles with a motley collection of lumber, as if someone were building some horrific mockery of a tree. Joists, beams, a door, and a ship’s figurehead—an angel holding twin scythes—all hang off the pillar like branches. Thousands of scrolls and books hang from every surface as if they were leaves.
Sitting in between the door and the pillar, are 4 priests in meditation, two male, 2 female.
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Watts slowly steps to one of the priests, more and more as they continue not to respond before laying an hand on them.
"Comatose. They are still alive but they are not able or move. I'm uncertain how aware of us they even are, but I suspect they can't even perceive us. I have encountered undead that have attacks that result in this. Allips, maddening creatures that tear apart your mind. Eventually leaving you unable to resist their maddening babble and eventually leave you like the priests here. If left unable to recover, death would come from not being able to eat or drink."
He continues to check each of the priests with similar results. He gives each of them some water, carefully, but grants them little other aid.
"This is worse than that though. Eventually you can recover naturally from an assault from an allip. The priests are in need of powerful restorative magic to even allow them to act again as they have been drained of their wisdom."
Watts looks up the pillar both trying to gauge it's stability and whose purpose was served creating it. With very deliberate movments he starts climb up to the pages. "I do not wish to stop you, but if I get a look at some of the pages, I should be able to identify more about them."
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Most of the pages are towards the top of the tree. Given your keen vision, you are able to discern several items of note from afar.
Near the base of the 'tree', you notice several pages that have been torn out of books and attached to this pillar. Higher up the writings seem more and more important. Towards the top, you can see an ornate scripture, a page that appears to be a scroll, and a branch that is actually a bow around 70, 75, and 80 ft up respectively. Up at the top, 90 ft up, you can see a page that matches the size and writing style of the other page you recovered from the manuscript.
The pages are all attached to the 'trunk' with a thick resin or sap, taking a nominal amount of force to remove. With care you are able to remove the sheets without damaging them via carefully peeling them back.
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Watts is able identify the scroll relatively easily.
Although climbing the pillar while doing so appears to be quite a challenge.
He wonders about the other items, wondering whether to leave them in place or not. Contemplation of cursed items and the possibility to retreat to prepare an extract of identify, but decides that is excessive for this action. He carefully removes them from the pillar so that he or Diri might identify them at ground level.
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Perception + Initiative
All of a sudden, the aroma of a pine forest begins to permeate the room. Unfortunately, before you are able to realize what is happening a wave of negative energy builds up on the upper reaches of the tree.
As the party watches the brave tengu get buffetted by the necromatic wave, you hear a voice and watch as the figure of a woman rises from through the ground at the base of the tree.
"You and I should parley..."
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For a brief moment Watts is lost to the world his senses find themselves in another place a moment. He squawks in agonizing pain as negative energy washes over him. He almost loses hold of the pillar but quickly regains his grip.
Aside from choked sputters the investigator doesn't have much to say as he recovers from the ordeal although does seem to be gathering his thoughts. Relaying them from the roof of the room would be difficult however.
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"You! Birdfolk! Remove yourself from my tree or be removed!"
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A quick glance at the scroll and bit of the manuscript, but Watts does not take any action to remove them from the tree.
These are not going anywhere for the moment. Safer here than anywhere else.
Watts gives a brief response in the lyrical language of the fey before beginning a decent down the tree.
"Do not worry Fahd. No matter their state, dryads are understandably protective of their tree."
"She died protecting this land from the same magic that blighted the rest of Nex. I would assume the documents, fragments, and idols bound to this pillar were all once a part of a tree that once stood at the center of the island and since have been broken into pieces and spread across the Inner Sea."
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"We are not fighting her." The tengu accepts August's help getting down the last few feet.
"At least, I would advice against it. One reason would be the fact that it is hard for a ghost to pass on. They are also the least malicious of undead. The ... evil ghosts like Fahd described encountering on his prior expedition are still significantly more common, but she seems willing to avoid fighting and I would suggest taking this opportunity as far as we are able."
"As a note, I think it is prudent to note that I do not believe I am under any mind controlling effects at the moment. Although if I was, I likely would not inform you. However the reason behind her actions seems more reasonable. I still certainly do not agree with them, but she is far different from what I expected to find."
Satisfied with his answer, he directs himself to the ghostly dryad giving a greeting in Sylvan introducing himself any any others who wish before continuing in Taldan.
"I can continue speaking to you in Sylvan if you wish, but for the sake of understanding of everyone, I would prefer to speak in the Common Tongue.
"If you wish, I would like to know your name and your desire here. Is only to rebuild your tree or is there something more?"
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She waits cautiosly as Watts descends from the tree and then begins to speak, in common, in a rather condescending tone. “I am Jathyl, immortal defender of the forest. I am the rightful owner of all of this, retrieving what is mine! You mortals stole from me when you stripped her branches, severed her to half her height, and flayed her to half her girth. You’ve chopped and carved and pulped, disfiguring and destroying her flesh. Know that I feel every cut of your saws, every nail you impale. I feel every ridiculous word you scrape with your irritating quills. From all across Golarion your precious knowledge flows across my skin. While peddlers in Ecanus seem happy to pay for your petty words, I find them all utterly without value.”
She looks the group up and down before finishing. "What I want, is my forest back... the way it always was, unsullied, lush, and without taint."
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"Without divination, it is guesswork to how to best resolve this. I think she takes issue less with the creation of paper and more the creation of paper using her tree. The bond between a dryad and her personal tree isn't something I fully comprehend, but it would have been akin to me being feathered, flayed, and my skin was used to for any sort of documentation." He brushes his arms as he emphasises this. "To say the least, I would be upset."
Watts turns his attention back to the dryad fully as he debates between four cultural gestures for showing respect to the wronged before deciding on the Osirion variation. "I cannot offer any apology to you Jathyl, any I give would be lacking and feel like nothing more than empty words. Writing is my life and to see it pain someone in such a way leaves a poor taste in my beak."
"Jathyl, you would have us remove this monastery from the isle and let nature slowly reclaim it as it has for the last year? Our immediate mission is the recovery of the information from the manuscript and I'm confident I could convince you to let us copy from the pages that came from your tree, I wouldn't feel satisfied with that conclusion. Even with the damage done to the monks and priests here, I still would wish suggest cohabitation."
He looks to the party for input, unwilling to make bargains for the fate of this monastery or the mission without knowing what the others wish.
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"That does not sound like a bad idea. Even though it may take some time, if she would let us copy the papers, we could always try and have the monks relocate or they could probably stay here, if they are willing to come to some sort of terms.
Fandral hesitates slightly before asking the dryad,"Would you allow us to make copies of the manuscripts and scrolls that you reclaimed? In this way you can keep what you have and we can replace what we wrote."
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“No. Touch my tree and you will pay the consequences. If you try to steal my tree from me again, meat, I shall destroy every building on this island and control all flesh. Destroy my vessels and I shall find another and another, perhaps yours. Destroy my essence and I shall arise three days hence, ready to tear apart your boats, your homes, and your flesh. What you will do is beg forgiveness on behalf of all mortals and leave.”
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We could salvage a lot in three days.
"The information scribed on the scrolls here is worthless if contained in a state where it cannot be researched and vetted and experimented upon by anyone besides this undead scourge," Diri states, clenching her fish around her holy symbol. "Peaceful terms would be an ideal resolution but we may not have a choice if those scrolls are to be reclaimed."
She looks to the dryad, to Watts, to August, to Fahd, to Fandral, ready to fight if necessary.
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She is operating from a position of strength, there is little I can offer her that she cannot already take. While antagonizing any undead has a strong probability of conflict, other routes seem to lead to failure.
Watts shows some trepidation as he confronts the undead. His mind running through the various abilities they often have at their disposal. Still he stands in front of her as he attempts to shield himself from incorporeal attack with pure debate.
"Knowledge is important to me and while I will always keep in mind the tribulations you have been through, I would not forgive myself to abandon those records here. More importantly, I do not see the path you are taking will ever achieve your stated goal. Over the last year you have pieced together your tree again, but the island does not appear any more verdant or lush as I saw from ages past. The monk's garden is overgrown and the walls of this monastery are crumbling, but it will not become what it once was at this rate. When a tree falls within the forest, a new one grows in it's place and life continues."
The investigator gestures at pillar emphatically as his speech becomes more desperate, slightly. "What new life will grow here? What will this island be with an immortal spirit as the sole caretaker? I submit it to you that without change there is no life and that your island without such change will eventually be no better a state than the blighted lands of Nex!"
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There is a conflict in the mind of the tengu as he both appreciates his continued life and irritation with the retreat of the ghost. He narrows his eyes at the floor she departed through, analyzing the weakness of the building's foundation.
"We should take these priests to rooms; make certain they receive proper care." Watts begins to shift one of the priests to allow for easier transportation. "Following that, I believe we should continue exploring the monastery. There is more the manuscript we have yet to collect and there might be other information and tools that might help us."
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"They have been assaulted by a powerful undead. Without powerful healing magic they will not wake."
Seeing Fahd's haste, Watts speaks as the afflicted are moved. He doesn't have much strength, but appears very willing to put in any effort to make certain the priests are safe.
"The undead that attacked them is what was controlling you and affecting the monastery for the previous months. She is the dryad Jathyl and lived during the imfamous war between Nex and Geb. This island used to once be a peninsula attached to the mainland of Nex. During that magical attack from Geb that blighted the land, Jathyl used her magic to remove the land bridge and stop the destructive necrotic wave from reaching this area. In the process though, it would seem killed by Geb's attack."
"The central pillar of your temple was once her linked tree. A personal tree that can be described as an extension of itself. The documents and other items that were stolen were originally part of her tree and she has been working to reclaim them and use them to rebuild the pine. She compelled the decommissioning of the paper making workshop possibly because it was used on portions of herself. She has retreated for the moment and is not inclined to fight us. At least compared to other undead. Her demands are simple. Her tree left alone and cede control of the island to her. I do not believe any of us here find those terms acceptable."
As the priests are laid down, Watts checks their positioning ensuring they remain safe as they remain unresponsive on their beds.
"She claims that we do not have the ability to destroy her permanently. That any victory against her would only last three days before she rejuvenates. I am inclined to believe her. Undead of her sort can only be destroyed under certain conditions, typically by removing the thing that connects them to this world or resolving the issue that compels them to remain here. It might mean fully reconstructing her tree or more destructive actions."
"We may be unable to avoid conflict here. Whether or not we come to blows though, we do need more information. If we temporary dispatch her, record what we need from the tree, and retreat, she maybe able and willing to haunt us for the rest of our lives. We should finish checking the rooms here before it gets much later. Then we can decide if we wish to attempt research or a more direct confrontation."
Watts is going to approach the north eastern door, inspect, and open it.
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Diri will happily provide triage for injured party members- -an injured party is an inefficient party!
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If the scroll has not been identified, Diri will cast read magic on it.
"While haste can often times bring about carelessness and unwanted consequences I agree with Fahd that moving along before the ghost concludes we are less problematic deceased rather than after," Diri agrees.
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If more than the scroll is magical, Watts will quickly prepare and consume an extract of identify to discern the abilities of the items. The content of the scripture and pages are of the greatest interest to Watts, but for the moment he doesn't spend spare more than a few moment to skim the documents. Others can feel free to take on the items. The scroll, if it is commune with nature, is just slightly outside of Watt's ability to use.
Aside from that Watts is still ready to check the north-eastern door before opening it.
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The bow is a +1 Human Bane Composite Shortbow
The small piece of scripture is magical and bears the writings that would be contained in a Phylactery of Faithfulness. As a matter of fact, it seems as though one of the priests that you are moving is wearing one such phylactery which is currently missing it's scripture.
As you finish placing the priests in their bunks, the master thanks you. "I'll tend to them and make sure they are nourished. Once this has been resolved, I'll send for restoration magic from the mainland, but for now I fear their greatest threat is the continued presence of the ghost that did this..."