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Fiametta squints and frowns at Aldus' words. It's not that he's wrong, exactly. He's just overstating his case. We are the ones acting, but we are not separate from the gods...we are their partners. This is for our glory, but also for theirs.
She moves in behind Aldus, then sends forth another cloud of acid. "Lord Asmodeus," she says, "Please smile on our endeavor this day and strike down the spider that besets us." Then she draws her dagger and smiles.
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Nebraska keeps trying to hit the spider, but this time she succeeds, dealing a nasty wound to the arachnid. Jakwin tries to follow with another attack, but his foot slips on some old, crusty webbing, sending his strike wide. In the meantime, Aldus fires his bow again, but his aim is poor just like before.
The spider counterattacks, but this time it focuses on Nebraska. Unlike Jakwin, the Qadiran Pathfinder’s defenses are not so high, and the spider manages to find a spot to bite at her leg.
Nebraska can sense the weakening poison of the spider flowing through her veins, and she suddenly starts feeling weak and tired.
Fiammetta sends another acid cloud to the spider, but again the vermin manages to avoid it. In the meantime, Dolgarth manages to climb out of the pit and is ready to join the fray.
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: light (Aldus, Jawkin, 9 minutes remaining)
Nebraska
Jakwin
Aldus
Giant spider
Fiammetta
Dolgarth
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Nebraska fails to connect with the spider, but Jawkin quickly comes in her aid, anticipating another attack from the many-legged monster. The bard’s longsword splits the beast in two, sending a spray of foul-smelling green ichor into the air and on Nebraska’s hair and clothes.
Good news never come alone, and as soon as the spider rattles to its death, Nebraska’s organism manages to fight the effects of the poison, protecting the Qadiran girl from further weakening.
---
Once the fight is over, the group takes a look at the derro corpse spotted by Dolgarth and Aldus before. As the Pathfinders can now see with their own eyes, among the dire rat corpses in the webs is the bloodless corpse of a derro. On the corpse of the derro, the Pathfinders find two potions of cure moderate wounds, a leather armor, a short sword, and a repeating light crossbow with 10 poisoned bolts. While the sword and the leather armor are sized for a small creature, the repeating crossbow is strangely sized for a human-sized creature, just like the poisoned bolts.
---
Leaving the room wherein the giant spider dwelt before their arrival, the Pathfinder move north, walking on the walkways flanking the waterways. The water is 10 feet deep and moves rapidly. At the end of the northern passageway, the tunnel ends into a sewer grate leading to smaller and smaller pipes.
The sewer water flows in from the north and swirls about this room, drawing larger pieces of garbage and refuse into a floating pool of trash at the center. In the middle of trash floats three well-dressed, bloated corpses, their skin purple and splotchy and their bodies floating face down.
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Aldus lowers the bow as he's about to let an arrow fly loose. "Damned webs. Couldn't hit a dragon with those things blocking every arrow I shot," he shakes his head and loudly exhales whilst trying to salvage some ammunition.
The Galtan laughs a bit at Dolgarth's comment. "Well, it was a rather memorable entrance, Dolgarth, if that is of any solace." He takes the wand out of his belt and touches the half-elf's leg; the lines of the engraved scenery flash with green energy that slowly propagates to his his leg, veins pulsing with the same colour for a few seconds.
Once the pyrotechnics are finished, Aldus raises an eyebrow. "Well, that seems to have worked well. Now, which direction shall we go? East?"
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"Ugh! JAK! That thing's, gross! Everywhere!" Nebraska gags as she stumbles away, her foot still numb from the bite moments before. "Ugh my hair!.. well, damn it. It's alright, we're just at the entrance to the sewer after all.." Her frown curls into a grin at the end there, showing she'a over the initial repulsion to get filthy.
"I'm glad you're ok Dolgarth, sorry I snickered, it was just so sudden and surprising.. Hey! These bolts will work in my crossbow! Would one of you strong men mind carrying an extra pound for me?" Nebraska gives her most charming smile as she looks for a volunteer.
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"Not a problem, Nebs, I probably would've laughed too, had it not hurt as much," Dolgarth replies, doing so now that the pain has passed. "I can carry those extra bolts for you. It's getting a little heavy, but it shouldn't affect me much, if at all. Maybe one of us should invest in one'a those magic backpacks, when we have the gold."
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Whilst Nebraska is passing some of her ammunition to Dolgarth, Aldus borrows Jak's spear to bring the corpses closer to the ledge. Looking at their clothes, he frowns. "Do nobles in this country do anything but continuously backstab each other? Hells, if the Red Revolution doesn't come soon it might find its job already done and finished," says the Galtan. 'And with a lot less bloodshed. And with a lot less hate mongering amongst the masses,' he continues to himself, frown deepening.
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Nebraska takes out her wand and gives herself a trap, casting Mage Armor onto herself. "Fiametta, if you ever want to use this please feel free! Save yourself some magic. Also, if anyone feels uneasy about a situation and wants some extra protection just let me know!"
Ready to go, Nebraska starts to look down the sewer tunnel to the East.
Following Aldus’ suggestion, the Pathfinder go east. They cross several wooden planks and see a few sewer intersections, but they don’t find anything noteworthy until they reach the eastern end of the channel and turn north.
Someone constructed a large dam here made of wood scraps, ship beams, broken crates, and rocks. Beyond the dam is a room that once functioned as a catch basin for the sewers but now has dry, clean floors. In the northwest corner of the room, a sewer grate is set in the floor, and a huge chalk drawing of a rat about to pounce is sketched on the floor near the dam. A human warrior wearing a studded leather armor and wielding a quarterstaff guards this room. “Who are you?!”
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: light (Aldus, Jawkin, 5 minutes remaining), mage armor (Nebraska, 57 mintues remaining)
Aldus
Nebraska
Jakwin
Fiammetta
Dolgarth
Guard
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Seeing the quarterstaff-wielding man together with the rat drawing, Aldus quickly springs to action. He takes a step forward, draws his bow and takes aim at the man.
"Comrades, I think we are getting closer!" the Galtan says and then addresses the guard: "You are outnumbered! Lay down your weapons and we will show you mercy!" When the cultist fails to surrender, Aldus releases his arrow.
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To Aldus remarks, she shakes her head. "Truly, the Taldan nobility is decadent and has lost its way. But do you really think the peasantry could do any better? They would only ape their former aristocracy, but to less effect. Clearly the entire country needs more disciplined leadership that can take them back to first principals. Taldor was a proud country once, it deserves the chance to be an equally proud province."
----
Fiametta smiles at Nebraska in thanks. "Thank you for the offer -- I will certainly take you up on that, after my current protection wanes. Similarly you are welcome to healing from my wand, should you be so unfortunate as to take damage."
----
"Another big chalk rat? Can these savages not even be bothered to build an effigy out of driftwood?"
Fiametta shakes her head, then advances and casts her favorite spell, causing another acid mist to coalesce around her opponent.
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Aldus fires his bow precisely, and his arrow lodges in the guard’s chest. The man reaches out for the arrow and makes an attempt to pull it out of his body, but before he can do he’s reached by Fiammetta’s spell, which causes him to use his hands to cover his disfigured face. “Aaaargh, what did you do, WITCH?!” The man steps back, and positions himself on a trapdoor. “You shall not pass!”. His quarterstaff is ready to strike, but the guard seems to be waiting for you to engage him in melee before making his move.
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: light (Aldus, Jawkin, 5 minutes remaining), mage armor (Nebraska, 57 mintues remaining)
Aldus
Nebraska
Jakwin
Fiammetta
Dolgarth
Guard
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Aldus gives a sad, bitter grin to the Chelaxian. "A few months ago, I would have been happy to discuss this for hours, Fiametta, defending the rights we, the peasantry, have to self-government. Nowadays, though," he shrugs, "I'm not sure if that's not just an excuse for tyranny in a different costume."
---
Bow in hand, Aldus runs west, nocks and arrow and releases it.
"There is no hope in your allegiance with decadent aristocrats like the Teppish! We urge you to stop this madness now!" Says the Galtan, somehow still holding out hope that the man will surrender.
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Nebraska moves her rapier to her buckler arm and draws her hand crossbow. She levels it calmly and the cold iron bolt flies at the sound of a soft crack. She looks at the device after shooting it, 'This is sooo AWESOME! I wonder what else they make like this?' The tinkerer in her is slowly falling in love with the modern mechanism.
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Aldus and Nebraska quickly finish the guard. The man collapses on the ground, and as soon as he does, a magic trap triggers, creating a sudden burst of flames than envelops the area around the trapdoor. Strangely, the man’s body is spared from the effect. As the Pathfinders soon realize after a quick examination of his body, the man is wearing a green trinket, which perhaps gave him immunity to the trap. The trap already triggered anyway, and fortunately none of the Pathfinder were caught in the burst of flames. Except for the trinket, the man has a studded leather armor and a quarterstaff on himself, nothing more.
---
The Pathfinders are now at a crossroads. A trapdoor is just in front of them, and it was protected by a magic trap and a human guard. During their travel through the sewers, though, some of the Pathfinders noticed that there was also a channel leading to the north, not far from where the group has fought the giant spider. Will the group use the trapdoor or go back and see what’s beyond the northern tunnel?
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Aldus looks with sadness at the man falling down, only to have his beard almost singed by the flames. He waves his hand in front of his nose as the smell of burnt sulphur reaches his nostrils. "Some type of magical trap?" He says more to himself than to the others.
"Very good job, everyone. Especially that last shot, Nebs," the Galtan says with a smile, fetching a couple of arrows from Jakwin. "Now, should we go down immediately or finish scouring this floor?"
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Nebraska reloads the hand crossbow, this time with a poisoned bolt, then resets the safety and stows it once again on her lower back on top of her tools.
"Thanks! It felt a lot safer taking care of the situation before we had to engage in hand-to-hand, we all did a pretty good job there. It makes me wonder though, will any of these people be willing to talk and surrender? Who would have thought that the end of times would bring such loyalty... are all religions like that?"
She gets two replacement bolts from Dolgarth and then sits on the edge of the walkway with her feet dangling over the lower drained floor. Nebraska rubs her leg were it was bitten, the bite mark isn't bleeding but there is still a weird color to the skin around the wound.
"I'm for finishing up here, wouldn't want something coming down behind us and getting us cornered down there. Gosh, what if they released the damn on us?! Gross ."
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"They're fanatics. Much harder to dialogue with and very unlikely to surrender. But we can always try," says Aldus, looking at the dead guard.
"It's a valid idea, in any case, but–" he crouches by the body and hold the trinket in front of his face –"what if we try to get an edge, in case we find other cultists? I could spin a glamer and look exactly like this guy, say there's something wrong with the trap. Wouldn't last long, but could make our lives a tad easier."
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"I certainly hope we don't have to kill them all," Dolgarth agrees, handing over the requested two bolts. "I like that idea, Aldus. Our mission is to capture the jet rat. We just need to figure out where it is, you could distract them and someone could get it. Then we scarper, as quick as we can, and alert the authorities of this location as well."
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"I just want to preface this next statement with I'm still fully functional and good to continue forward... but this bite had something in it. A poison. I'm a little off my edge, a little, a little , weaker. I can still slip by just about anything when it comes to that, but I'll have to do it with less, just to make it easier."
"I like the idea too Aldus, would it take a lot of time to get ready incase we need it?"
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"If you want to try such a strategem," Fiametta says, "who am I to say no? I'm not sure I'd want to try it myself, but if you think it might work..." The wizard shrugs.
"I do think if we want to explore any more of the sewers, we should do that before going below. We may not even be coming out this way."
The Pathfinders decide to retrace their steps and explore the northern area of the sewers they had left unexplored before. Just before he enters the room to the west, Aldus casts a disguise self spell on himself in order to appear like the guard the group has just defeated.
This room appears to have once been the basement of the building above, the wall seperating the basement from the sewer long ago smashed in and repaired, giving it the appearance of a natural part of the sewer system. The ceiling here is 30 feet high and the room is lit by torches in the north and south walls. Stacks of crates and barrels line the north wall, and a set of finely carved stone stairs start on the south wall and make their way up and around the west wall to a door high above the room in the northwest corner.
As soon as he enters the room, Aldus realizes someone laid an ambush here. He spots a man with short black hairs wearing a black robe crouched behind the crates, and an ugly, small creature (Picture) not far from him. The symbols of Groetus are clearly depicted on the man’s robes. The man has some features that Aldus immediately recognizes as similar to Dalirio’s. Before Aldus can even act or alert his companions, another creature, similar to the small, blue one next to the man, pops out from behind another crate and throws a dart at Aldus. The dart misses the Galtan bard by a inch.
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"Jemas, what are you doing here!?", says the man to Aldus, leaving his cover. "I hear you're in company..." The man's voice turns to a much grimmer tone. "Filthy traitor!"
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: light (Aldus, Jawkin, 1 minute remaining), mage armor (Nebraska, 53 minutes remaining)
Fiammetta
Jakwin
Grench
Mites
Nebraska
Dolgarth
Aldus
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Jak, with blade already in hand, rushes into the room, taking up a defensive position in front of Aldus. ”The little guys are mites! Fey things!” He looks down at the mites with a look of incredulity, ”And hideous little buggers to boot, no?”
As he waits for the ambush to commence in ernest, he begins slapping his hand on his thigh, creating a heart-pounding rhythm. ”Today’s the day we draw our blades. Today’s the day you bleed in spades.”
It’s a simple tune, a tavern tune, but it gets the blood flowing.
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A little nonplussed by the ferocity of the tiny creatures, Dolgarth runs up to protect Aldus. Hearing what Jak says, he tries a bit to harmonize with him while asking a question. "So they be fey, Jak, you say? Need us cold iron to win the day?" It is at that moment, however, he decides to restrict his singing to tavern dares when he is already drunk, the better not to hear his own voice.
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Aldus scoffs at the man "Me, traitor? Stop directing your own treason at me, coward. To think we trusted you." He looks at the mites "These people have been hired to take care of this traitor. Help them seize the Teppish or you'll get the whip! Go! Move!" The Galtan says, moving closer to the stairs.
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While Fiammetta waits to see what her companions will do, Jawkin rushes into the room and takes up a defensive position in front of Aldus. In the meantime, the man hisses something at the mites*, which immediately rush to Aldus and Jawkin and try to attack them with their tiny daggers. The first of them manages a surprisingly accurate strike which misses Jawkin’s heart by a mere inch, but still wounds him. The other mite fails to connect.
In the meantime, the man shouts something unintelligible and moves his hands as though he was trying to crush Jak’s cranium at a distance.
Fortunately, Jakwin steels himself against anything the robed man is trying to do to him. In the meanwhile, the rest of the Pathfinders rush into the room, while Aldus moves forward. His attempt at deceiving the mites, however, clashes with a language barrier. The mites don’t seem to understand a single word!
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: light (Aldus, Jawkin, 1 minute remaining), mage armor (Nebraska, 53 minutes remaining)
Jakwin
Mites
Grench
Nebraska
Fiammetta
Dolgarth
Aldus
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Jawkin tears down the mite in front of him with a single, mighty blow. The only mite remaining retaliates against him, but the attack misses wildly. In the meantime, the human grasps an amulet bearing the semblance of a skull-faced moon and pronounces some unspeakable words as he stares at Jawkin with a blank look.
Right after, Nebraska pierces the mite, but her rapier does not end the ugly creature. It’s only a matter of time, though, for Dolgarth quickly finishes Nebraska’s job and delivers the killing blow to the fey. In the meantime, Aldus fires an arrow at the robed man, but he misses him.
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: light (Aldus, Jawkin, 1 minute remaining), mage armor (Nebraska, 53 minutes remaining)
Jakwin
Mites
Grench
Nebraska
Fiammetta
Dolgarth
Aldus
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Dolgarth considers vaulting over the crates, discarding the idea just as quickly as it appeared in his mind. He instead takes the long road and smacks the man's hand lightly with his flail in an attempt to relieve him of his amulet, should it help. "Anytime you feel the need, surrender, that would be fine!"
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Jawkin clubs himself in confusion, but the robed man seems not to be satisfied enough with him, and once again squints at the Taldan bard as he pronounces some dark words accompanied by intricate hands gestures. Fortunately, Jawkin’s will proves stronger this time, and he steels himself against any blaspheme effect the robed man was trying to inflict on him.
Nebraska’s poisoned bolt flies high over the man’s head, and neither Aldus nor Fiammetta have better luck with their ranged attack. Dolgarth, however, manages to engage the man in melee and disarms him of his amulet. “NOOO! HOW DARE YOU, MISERABLE RAT!?”
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: light (Aldus, Jawkin, 1 minute remaining), mage armor (Nebraska, 53 minutes remaining)
Jakwin
Mites
Grench
Nebraska
Fiammetta
Dolgarth
Aldus
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