Brelar drinks a potion and tries to recover from his ordeal. The drow scowl at his (totally correct) assessment that they have been less than helpful and they raise their hand-crossbows to fire at the dragon. "Our poison is useless against dragons, mage," one of them spits back.
Unsurprisingly, the bolts do little more than bounce off the dragon's hide. With a flick of her wrist Cadrilkasta causes the lightning to strike out at Argust this time, recognizing that he is the most immediate threat to her.
She then attacks the dwarf, careful not to use the claw that holds the Shard of Sloth.
Argust avoids the brunt of the spell, however he gets struck all five times by the creature! He then tries to fight back!
for
for
for
for
for
for
and DC 24 or
Brelar casts greater invisibility and moves.
Karn heals the many wounds of the party as Argust starts chopping up the dragon. All of his strikes draw blood and by the end of his furious hacking, the dragon collapses on the ground in a pool of blood....
As it does so, however, the drow turn their crossbows on the party. "Thank you. We will claim the shards for our Mistress now."
It does not take long to put the drow traitors in their place though, and now the Shard of Sloth rests before you to claim as your own!
masterwork longsword with a filigreed platinum handle worth 557 gp, four large darkwood and mother-of-pearl keys shaped like demons that do not open anything you can find but are worth 500 gp, a shrew statuette wearing a pointed cap carved from smoky quartz worth 75 gp, a magnificent mithral tray depicting a murder of crows around a dead tree featuring tiny little flakes of jet for the crows' eyes wand worth 2500 gp, a Small +2 flaming spear, a huge jug containing sand and 50 pearls worth 100 gp each, a pi]lens of detection[/i] in a silk pouch embroidered with an image of a snake eating a hound (the pouch itself is worth 50 gp), a huge gilt-edged tureen depicting a dragon turtle and set with a trio of diamonds (worth 5300 gp in total), an eversmoking bottle carved to resemble a fat man with an open upturned mouth, a leather case containing a manual of gainful exercise +3, a poorly taxidermied gnome with a frozen elixir of firebreath in his mouth, the fully articulated skeleton of a dog-man (the wire used to articulate the skeleton is silver and worth a total of 250 gp), a glass jar containing a two-headed owlbear fetus that clutches a stone of good luck in one beak and a stone of weight in the other, and a complicated adamantine puzzlebox scroll tube worth 4000 gp and containing a scroll of miracle.
Activating the Shard of Sloth with an incandescent blue sphere ioun stone allows you to use the shard without worry about its curse:
Gain summon monster III as a spell-like ability usable 1/day.
Gain a +4 insight bonus on all concentration and caster level checks.
Penalty: You become lazy and sedentary, and become sickened for 1 hour whenever you make more than a single move action in any round. All of your movement speeds are halved.
With the defeat of Cadrilkasta and the recovery of the Shard of Sloth, your quest for the Shattered Star essentially comes a close. You can leave this forsaken realm and return to Magnimar to tell Venture-Captain Sheila Heidmarch the good news.
Sheila is overjoyed but while the recovery of the seven shards is certainly an accomplishment worthy of legend, actually rebuilding the Sihedron itself is an even greater task. "Many famous individuals have come to or are en route to Magnimar not only to witness the rebuilding of the Sihedron but also to meet the adventurers who braved five Thassilonian ruins to recover the shards. I ask that you remain to help take part in the reforging ritual. This is an opportunity for you to revel in your glory and enjoy the fame. You have certainly earned it."
"Sure! I'd love to have the chance to talk with some of the other Pathfinders about what we found--I hope I'll be able to write it all down. Adventuring has been a lot of fun, but I could use some down time."
Will there be ale? And salted pork? If so, ya can count me in!
"Of course Lady Heidmarch, I am more than pleased to take part in this reforging ritual! We have gone to extraordinarily difficult lengths to reach this point. Have all these guests been properly vetted? I would hate for some....opportunistic types to think maybe we've done all the work for them." Brelar says enthusiastically.
"Oh, do not worry. The Society has the security handled and the procedure will done atop the Irespan, away from the crowds. I have heard that two of the Decemvirate will even be in attendance. It will be quite a festival though, and partly in honor of your achievements. There will be a meeting of the Sihedron Council later to discuss the proceedings. Congratulations again."
One day before the commencement of Reforging Festival, the Sihedron Council is scheduled to meet at Heidmarch Manor. This meeting takes place in a large tent set up on the Heidmarch Manor grounds, with Sheila assuming the council’s leadership role, as befits the fact that it’s her Lodge that sponsored you in the first place. Her husband, Sir Canayven Heidmarch isn’t formally a member of the council, but he’s here to support her and ensure that the wheels of progress continuously roll forward, toward the artifact’s reassembly. Also in attendance are the following:
Aram Zey (male Taldan): Master of Spells for the Pathfinder Society
Archisa Aparna (female Varisian): Famously dashing, treasure-hunting local Pathfinder
Bevaluu Zimantiu (female human): Caretaker of Magnimar’s shrine to Desna
Ernst Landis (male Chelaxian): Chief curator of Magnimar’s Museum of Ages
Haldmeer Grobaras (male Chelaxian): Lord-Mayor of Magnimar
Ibra Demerios (female Varisian/Shoanti): Stubborn head archivist of Magnimar’s Founder’s Archives
Ismeir Odinburge (male human): Commander of the city watch
Jyronn Imikar (male human): Leader of the local church of Abadar
Koriah Azmeren (female half-elf): One of Varisia’s most famous Pathfinders
Kreighton Shaine (male elf diviner): Master of Scrolls for the Pathfinder Society
Leis Nivlandis (male half-elf): Master of the Stone of the Seers in Magnimar.
Marcos Farabellus (male human): Master of Swords for the Pathfinder Society
Sabriyya Kalmeralm (female human): Powerful local merchant
Toth Bhreacher (male human): Founder of Magnimar’s Golemworks
Verrine Caiteil (female elf): Executive moderator of Magnimar’s Council of Ushers
Sheila clears her throat and addresses the group with the following short speech. "Greetings, friends and associates, and thank you for agreeing to join the Sihedron Council. Tomorrow afternoon we will gather atop the Irespan to perform the Ritual of Reforging. I’ll give a short speech to introduce the council members, in particular the heroes who braved certain death to gather the shards of the Shattered Star, and then they’ll have a chance to regale the gathered crowd with tales of their adventures. Next, all seven shards will be brought together and placed in the Sihedron Shrine I’ve had my people haul up out of the dungeons under the Crow. We’ll need several spellcasters to help siphon magical energy into the shards. My research has indicated that once the ihedron is reformed, there’ll be some flashy lights and sounds, but that there should not be a dangerous discharge of magic—all the energies will be absorbed by the Sihedron itself in the process of reforging. I’d like the heroes themselves not to be involved in channeling magic into the Shattered Star, though, since if something does go wrong, they’re our best option to handle whatever develops. And once the Sihedron is reformed, I see no better option than appointing them the artifact’s new keepers! And now, if there’s nothing more, I thank you again and I’ll see you tomorrow upon the Irespan!"
Sheila’s hope for a quick end to the council meeting shatters as the gathered assembly all burst into voice at once. After a moment of chaos, Sheila and Sir Canayven quiet them down, and Sheila asks each group to voice its concerns.
Magnimar’s city officials are eager to use the Ritual of Reforging to inflate the importance of Magnimar while the Pathfinder Society is here and paying close attention, while the Society is eager to lay claim to the Sihedron and take it to Absalom for study. Other members of the council worry that the ritual may be tampering with potent magic that is better handled behind closed doors.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Brelar, why the big party? Ya think they'd just wanna get it o'er with quiet like and such, huh?
Argust feels a little strange without the shards he has been carrying around, wondering what he'll replace them with.
Although news of the Shattered Star’s recovery is on everyone’s lips, the general public is mostly ill-informed of the specific events preceding the festival, yet they are excited nonetheless. You have very little responsibility leading up to the festival—Sheila’s hired a small army of workers to set things up on the Irespan, and throughout the setup, the crowd of onlookers gathering on the immense bridge deck grows. It’s not long before it becomes obvious that the festival is quite popular. Vendors and entertainers arrive days in advance, jockeying for position along the broad expanse of the monument. The site becomes an impromptu marketplace as tenants of the Bazaar of Sails relocate to capitalize on the coming crowds, and it isn’t long before opportunistic souvenir peddlers are selling cheap dolls made in the adventurers’ likenesses, slivers of fake “skymetals” purported to have been shaved from the Shattered Star shards themselves, and seven-pronged wooden star toys that threaten to bruise and batter more than one child over the forthcoming weeks. In short, the cause for celebration turns into something of a circus for a population needing little excuse for revelry.
By the day of the festival, a sizable portion of Magnimar’s citizenry ascends to the Irespan, with people of all classes crowding the monument. Processions of local luminaries—an impromptu parade complete with local street musicians, fortune-tellers, plenty of doomsayers, and all manner of revelry—form atop the massive monument. At the center of the festival grounds sits the Sihedron Shrine, a block of stone bearing the indentation of the seven-pointed star sitting on a stout wooden stage and surrounded by a velvet rope creating a cordoned area a hundred feet across.
Shortly after noon, Lord-Mayor Grobaras ascends to the pinnacle of the Irespan to give a blatantly self-congratulatory speech about the nonexistent (yet to him somehow pivotal) role he played in the success of your quest, managing to mangle your names and take the lion’s share of credit for the deed. For their part, Sheila Heidmarch and the other Pathfinders take his political meanderings in stride.
After the lord-mayor at last makes his closing remarks, Sheila takes the stage to offer up more honest accolades to yourselves, while explaining to the assembled citizens the importance of this momentous occasion and stressing the threat of the slumbering runelords and the security the protections of the repaired Sihedron will provide against their depredations. As she closes to thunderous applause, the members of the Sihedron Council assemble in preparation for the Ritual of Reforging.
As the ritual begins, members of the city watch step forward to help ward the cordon surrounding the shrine. In addition, hired professionals of House Derexhi filter through the crowd to discreetly silence rabble-rousers who might disrupt the ceremony. You are humbly requested to use their newfound celebrity to assist in these matters, and help distract the potentially dangerous throng as the ritual begins. With the ring of protective guards and city watch in position, Sheila gives the signal. The seven assembled ritualists bear their respective shards, and with mumbled words of power, slowly begin moving toward one another.
The ritual itself requires seven spellcasters to channel powerful magical energy into one of the seven activated Shattered Star shards. The council fortunately includes seven such characters—Aram Zey, Bevaluu Zimantiu, Jyronn Imikar, Koriah Azmeren, Kreighton Shaine, Leis Nivlandis, and Toth Bhreacher. The process requires them to expend all of their magical power into the shards. As they do so, the Sihedron Shrine, the shards, and the spellcasters themselves suddenly become wreathed in prismatic energy—all seven colors of the rainbow. shine from each shard, then surge downward out of each spellcaster as their spellpower ignites the latent spark in the shards. A low rumbling begins, accompanied by a higher-pitched buzzing sound as if from a cloud of bees. As these sounds and lights intensify, they become almost too painful to bear. Just as a ripple of unease starts spreading through the crowd and guards, the sound culminates in a peal of thunder as a beam of light arches up into the sky from the Sihedron Shrine to pierce the clouds above. A moment later, the spellcasters stagger back, fatigued but otherwise unharmed, as the reforged Sihedron rises up into the air to slowly hover a foot above the ground.
The crowd, needless to say, erupts into a roar of applause and triumph.
Sheila nods to the PCs, asking them to step up onto the stage while the seven fatigued spellcasters are led away by other council members. She whispers to you, “That went better than I...”—but that’s all she can get out before a strange thing happens on the horizon.
You notice a strange darkening in the sky to the west as a mass of dark clouds forms over the angry sea below. An instant later, the Irespan begins to vibrate and hum with a thunderously low drone. Unfortunately for Magnimar, the eerie vibrations in the Irespan are only the beginning....
As the Irespan begins to vibrate and drone, panic quickly seizes the crowd. People scream as the crowd starts to surge south toward stable ground, for all those who have visited the Irespan before have never felt the solid stone beneath them shake so. Soon after the panic starts, a greater catalyst enhances the fear as the ground itself suddenly heaves and shakes.
Magnimarians have long known of the presence of shriezyx harbored within the network of tunnels that worm through the Irespan’s pilings, and as the ancient bridge hums with resonant power, an exceptionally old and powerful specimen of the spider-like monstrosities wakens from its centuries of slumber. On the second round of the earthquake, this enormous monster bursts out of the Irespan a mere 50 feet north of the Sihedron Shrine. The monster roars and immediately begins attacking fleeing citizens
(+2 underground)
The great spider-beast sends citizens flying backward over the crowd with an easy flick of its sickening arms.
Brelar hurls a delayed blast fireball at it!
DC 27 Ref for half.
Argust will move 40' toward the creature!
Brelar's small bead of fire hovers in the air for some time before eventually exploding on the spider creature, taking out a few fleeing citizens in the process! Argust bravely marches through the crowd towards the shriezyx, which snaps at the dwarf in the process:
Bert tries to move up within 30' of the huge creature before calling on his luck and shooting at it. His new gun jams, though!
Brelar's firey blast has frightened the shriezyx and it turns from Argust and starts quickly climbing back towards the hole in the ground from whence it came!
Where'd it go? Come back here! Argust will move to the edge of the hole and wait for it to come back!
Argust feels weaker from the poison in his system! Regsrdless, he taps his heels and charges the enemy!
for plus
Brelar casts scorching ray blasting the shriezyx with fire!
*threat!
Karn rushes up as Argust charges back in, although he nearly slips in some of spider guts. Brelar continues to light up the enormous shriezyx, which cowers and readies to run back down into its hole away from the frightening flames!
Setting aside his newly-built weapon, Bert returns to the trusty gun that's served him so well before. He sights down the barrel and shoots the monstrous arachnid!
Bert puts a bullet into the monster as it scurries away back underground, quite wounded and frightened.
Magnimar is known as the City of Monuments, and 12 of those monuments have mysterious and magical legacies. Now that the shriex has gone, you take a few breaths and realize that the 12 non-Thassilonian great monuments of Magnimar have begun to hum softly and become limned in glowing light.
While the earthquake was unsettling, the tremor didn't cause a lot of physical damage or injuries. Once it’s over, the citizens feel a sense of relief. Unfortunately it is not common knowledge that earthquakes along the coast can cause tsunamis to form, although with your collect expertise in disastrous situations, you have a sinking suspicion that it is only a matter of time...
Bert scratches his head as he looks around the cityscape and tries to remember his city history. "Don't see that every day, huh?"
Bah! It ran away again! Is everyone alright? Argust will ask for healing
Bert can't recall such a thing ever happening in this area before but tsunamis are not unknown in Golarion. Luckily Karn is keeping his wits about him and starts ordering civilians to seek high ground. Some of the guards and other authorities start taking after his example, repeating the command as they run down streets in every direction.
Moments later as you yourselves seek higher ground, consciences safer seeing that the streets have mostly cleared, the first tsunami wave that washes in to Magnimar. Hundreds of people must have been caught in the wave but as if that is not bad enough, but with each successive one, strange flotsam is carried into the city, and the waves themselves take on an unusual oily sheen.
Amid the tangle of broken buildings, upturned carts, and unfortunate
citizens, an increasing number of metallic limbs of a strange nature are visible. These are the arms, legs, and other body parts of specialized clockwork soldiers but where they are coming from is yet a mystery to you.
The tsunami’s waters take over an hour to finally flow back into the sea, during which time no additional significant damage is caused by the flood. Citizens trapped on roofs or in ruined buildings cry for help. As the rescue effort commences, it becomes obvious that Magnimar’s citizens aren’t the only creatures who’ve been affected by the disaster. The skies churn with flights of raucous seabirds, while countless sea creatures, including sharks, reefclaws, devilfish, and other dangers, have washed up into the streets.
Brelar! Karn! What do we do about all the seafood? Bert, do you know what them things are, those weird arms and legs?
It seems, unfortunately, that not all of the clockwork gear washing up with the tsunami has been destroyed or discarded: long and metallic, three serpentine constructions resembling mechanical eels with several paddle-like limbs are swimming down the street below you!
(+2 underground)
The leviathons swim down the street and spot some civilians hurriedly swimming to get inside. The people are too slow though and three of them are quickly snapped up by the beasts.
"Wow, clockwork leviathans!" "Use electricity and adamantine weapons!"
Argust will rush to the aid of the civilians in the area!
for plus
"The tsunami’s waters take over an hour..."
Karn gives everyone a blessing as Argust bravely wades out into the street towards the monsters! The serpentine construct snaps at him as he moves in but his blade bites back and sends a few gears flying into the water!
The halfling calls on his luck and fires on the damaged leviathan. Three shots ring out in quick succession, and Bert laughs as the echoes die away. "Ha! I knew I could make this thing work!"
Brelar pulls out a metamagic wand and channels his arcane energy through it before unleashing a gout of electricity at each of the clockwork beasts!
Bert and Brelar find that these massive things are hard to miss and together they finish off the first one from the safety of the side of the street! With Argust as a clean target before them, the other two keep biting at the dwarf!
Next round, 2 rays each shoot out at the other two creatures!