After a while you decide to continue on the path into the Delirium's Tangle and you are all trying to perceive the princely perfumes of Nuar who enjoys the finer things in life. His unique cologne cuts through even the stink of the caverns.
1. An hour passes and you have the feeling that you make good progress. The passageway seems to continue ahead as far as you can see. The imprint of a single hoof stands in the dust gathered along the left wall. This gives you proof that you are on the right track.
2. The tunnel makes four hard lefts before coming to an intersection. The remains of a bronze mechanism, recently destroyed, lies on the floor. You do not know what this is but you are getting closer you feel.
Survival Aid, Take 10
2/3. You unfortunately are losing the scent of the perfume. An hour has passed and you are getting lost in the maze. And the emotions you felt at the start of the maze are intensifying.
2/4.
You are wandering through the uncomfortable maze and its engineered walls with death beneath your feet. Jinath has taken the lead and you realize that is a little easier for all of you to follow the tracks. Nonetheless, you do not succeed to find a clear path forward. A thick aura of danger is pushing you forward and you have the feeling that you are ... losing it sometimes ...
3/5.
Suddenly, Jinath sees something. The walls angle inward more at this crossroads, but the ceiling soars to impossible heights above. A spatter of fresh blood marks the left wall ... Minotaur blood!
4/6.
The constant, curving sides of this passage close in with every step. What was once a concealed door is broken and left ajar with a tuft of white hair caught in the latch. Jinath identifies the hair and it is from a Minotaur. You are slightly relieved but the maze is trying to pierce your emotions and does not want to let you escape ...
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After traversing the maze for several hours: ”I will say, there is definitely something sinister about this maze...”, Lucious mutters as he tightens his coat. not that that is always a bad thing he muses.
”we are at least headed in the right direction, this blood is fresh”, he says optimistically. ”admittedly, I’m no expert on Minotaurs, but i doubt losing this much blood would be very grave for one. On the brighter side, fresh blood means he’s close, and a wound should slow him down” he adds frankly with a smile.
Or,
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”aye lass there will, they both have existed since time immemorial, true enlightenment is found by mastering both”
"I think darkness should be countered, pushed back, but... but...", Inga loosens the leather choker of her armor, to breathe more freely. Obviously feeling oppressed.
"But it feels as though Darkness will slowly smother us all......."Inga moves up as close as she can to the source of magical light.
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i supppse not being able to see in the dark would shroud it some perilous mystery he considers,”darkness only smothers that which cannot stand and hold it at bay. True, the light protects those who cannot stand the dark, but in doing so it enslaves them in fear of the unknown darkness.” he says almost absentmindedly as he looks around the maze.
Upon seeing the girl is disturbed, he hastily adds with a kind smile ”Worry not though, your in good company and we are well equipped what lies ahead”
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"I do enjoy your discussion of darkness and light. I've heard these terms before, but it seems your discussion is more of a... metaphysical sense of the word."
Nyloth wonders how much longer they will be in this maze, it almost makes him dizzy constantly making twists and turns. At this point, there is no chance he could remember his way back out without some serious luck.
You step over bones and suddenly see something shiny. It is a metal box with strange runes. The box is in a good shape and opens the moment you have it in your hands. Within you find a hand-written book.
An Elven hand-written booklet full of notes lies in front of you. It explains how the Delirium’s Tangle is the pitiful offspring of desperation and betrayal, the life’s work of the elf Abysiel Greensummer and his unknowable patron of madness and evil from beyond the borders of this world.
When the elves first returned to Golarion, they understood little of human culture or mortality, and they dispatched great ambassadors into the world to review mankind’s advancement. As one of the first elves born and raised among humans, Abysiel Greensummer saw generations of tutors and childhood playmates whither and die before he reached maturity.
Time became the enemy, not to him but to everything he loved. As an immortal adult, again and again he failed to save those he loved from the march of the seasons. His obsession drove him ever deeper into forgotten magic of the fey and forbidden evil faiths revering the nine hells.
In time, the whispers came to Abysiel. So quiet it strained his mind to listen, these whispers spoke of impossibly complex diagrams and an elven artifact, Izryen’s Hourglass, which could hold back the tide of years. Desperate to save the humans for whom he had grown so fond, Abysiel acquired the hourglass from a Chelish cult of Asmodeus.
He then secretly constructed the diagrams on a massive scale as an intricate series of rooms and halls deep beneath the city of Absalom. His project eventually became a maze of impossible angles and curves that twisted the mind. Abysiel’s Tangle tugged at the boundaries of reality and slowly drove him mad as he grew stronger through the madness and evil that was attracted to the maze he was constructing.
On its completion, Abysiel’s whispering patron betrayed the obsessed elf. A force from the void reached through the Tangle into reality ...
THE REST OF THE PAGES ARE RIPPED OUT
5/7.
You are still wandering and hope to see the sun again one day. Six passageways flow together like a river in this chamber and seem to sublty shift and move. A large, bloody handprint is the only landmark that remains constant. The aura of danger and despair that you felt at the start of the maze is starting to get stronger again.
6/8.
The tunnels are now better engineered and you see Elven artwork mixed with something else ... something that seems from another world. The passage continues but now has smooth, white walls.
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Meux shuffles along with the rest of the party in, mostly, silent contemplation of his surroundings.
[dicce=PER DC 20]
When Inga comments on the darkness, Meux offers,
"Yes, the darkness can seem overwhelming. But remember this, you can either see this as stifling and oppressive, or an opportunity. The more powerful the darkness feels, the greater the moment is, when a true hero...shines shall we say..."
7/9.
You feel as if you are getting stronger and more confident as Nyloth's nose smells the perfume more and more. A skeleton lies against the wall ahead, a message crudely sketched in charcoal next to it: “Left is back but back is clockwise and right is too hot. I’m sorry, Garanel.”.
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Interesting, thinks Hadega, turning the idea of the this place over in her mind, They all have different views on what form the danger of the maze takes.
She says, somewhat to pass the time as they look for clues to the minotaur prince's trail, "There was once an elven man named Gilded Arundril who sailed the Inner Sea long ago, a corsair, a rapscallion (an altogether unpleasant and undignified person that would never be welcome at my table). He was an awful pirate, failing at every attack he attempted, but nonetheless, his fame grew across the inner sea. His ship, its name lost to time due to damaged historical documents, loved him so much that it rebuilt itself after every failed attack. He soon grew rich off of the invincibility of his ship, using its love again and again as a shield. And soon his ship could not bear to put him in danger any longer. It took poor Arundril to an island at the edge of the world and deposited him and his treasure there and patrolled the seas around it so he could not escape, so he would be safe for as long as his lifespan lasted him."
She goes on walking a little further.
"That is the story of Gilded Arudril." And then she looks at Inga and Lucious, and finally Janith. "Love can be a prison. Darkness can be luck. The light can blind, and the only thing that matters IS YOUR POSTURE! Janith keep that chin up! You missed something over there!"
And then she goes back to her normal, chiding self.
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Hadega says, "Of course I speak Elven. Were you not just listening to my recounting of...on second thought, never you mind. May I have the book now, please? Thank you very much."
She flips through the pages as she walks, back impossibly straight, bifocals perched on the bridge of her nose.
"Fascinating, it seems I have another story to tell to pass the time. Let us learn the tale of Abysiel Greensummer..."
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”an interesting tale to be sure Madam Scrimsworth”, says the dwarf as he twirls a strand of his beards; while he does this the viper appears again out of his sleave and slithers it’s way through his thick beard and up and around his neck before slipping back in the suit through the collar.
”so the maze is a giant diagram that breaks the very fabric of reality... all in an attempt to reverse the ravages of time, such a pity. Sounds like whatever was whispering to him got him in the end. I wonder if this hourglass is at the center of the maze...” or perhaps this “whispering patron was the Prince himself... after all the hourglass is from his followers. It seems Solomon and his master were right, becoming a pathfinder would afford me many more opportunities to seek power.
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When Hadega asks for the book Meux abruptly straightens up lest his lack of posture incur her wrath-she truly frightens the gnome. He then looks sideways at Nyloth. In Meux's mind the monk is subtly reeling from his constant use of shine...mocking the monk's attempt to placate him after slighting the divine power of his god. He smiles, musing,
"Yes, feel the icy barbs of Yamatsumi's mockery monk! They shall continue...how long? Until the volcano has has been appeased! Not even I know how long you shall feel the brunt of his mighty tetsubo! Time will tell sir...time will tell!"
In Meux's mind his constant assailing the monk with his "shine" is piercing Nyloth's very soul with anguish. He believes his wit is that proficient!
8/10.
The mechanical components of the Tangle are a providing many clues to follow with tracking. A low, rhythmic hum buzzes through the stones of the floor, causing a jaw-rattling vibration.
7/10.
Suddenly, the tracks vanish in front of your eyes as if your 'prey' teleported away. Simultaneously, you feel your mind sending out warning sign to your body as negative emotions flood your being.
> Pit Trap
Perception rolls
-> First to see the trap (all before him affected by pit trap)
As the group is walking Meux miraculously sees the outline of a trap and stops walking but is too late to warn the four companions in front of him that need their reflexes to jump away as the floor beneath Jinath, Nyloth, Inga, and Lucious vanishes to reveal a pit trap.
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Inga is moving along, scowling at the darkness around, when she hears Meux call out: Don't stop, and then she glimpses Jinath and Lucious leaping around like mad.
As the ground is seemingly pulled from under her, she plummets down, wondering why Meux wanted her to keep on walking into this.
With great absence of elegance, she crashes into the bottom of the pit, on her behind: "Ouch!", and looks around... it is very dark down here.
"HELP!"
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Nyloth clearly misses a step as you can easily see him in front of you one minute, and the next, he is at the bottom of a pit.
The drop catches him so off-guard that he doesn't get a chance to arrest his fall, hitting the bottom hard.
"Ah, I seem to have found a rather deep hole. Does anyone possess a rope?" he says as he dusts himself off.
"Not to worry Igna, I'm sure our fellow pathfinders will be able to help us get out, if not, we can work together to get out."
The pit trap was a surprise but Inga and Nyloth are only mildly injured and with some help get out of the pit.
9/12.
You continue on your path and Jinath has a break through as he suddenly sees Minotaur fur. The leftward-curving passage deadends, but turning around to backtrack reveals a brand new passage that slopes gently upward. You feel better, safer, stronger ... but you believe nonetheless that the real danger lies ahead of you.
10/13.
Jinath continues to guide you and he is sure to be on the right track. Suddenly, the jaw-rattling vibrations cease as a giant, bronze door appears in the passageway ahead.
You can discern that the barrier between the material plane and whatever other plane the Delirium's Tangle is connected to is very, very thin in this room. As you realize this you already feel that the two planes are starting to connect ... and you have only little time.
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When the Pathinders ahead of her tumble into the pit, Hadega lets out a sharp puff of air. "Of course I have rope! Now stop that dilly dally shilly shally and climb back up here. I would rather not spend the rest of my twilight years in this filthy maze. Let us go!"
She lowers her husband's old coil of rope so the others can climb up.
_____
Hadega examines the door and the room around it. "This is it. We must be very close. The barrier between this world and the next plane is very thin, and see what an intruding guest does to an affair? If you learn anything from all this, it's that you shoulder NEVER attend an affair uninvited. It is simply rude and uncouth. In any case, we only have a little time before this uninvited guest merges completely with our plane of existence. No dawdling! Backs straight!"
Hadega estimates that you have only seconds left!!
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Meux Shuffles to the left side of the party, hoping to bathe whatever emerges with a good spray of volcanic fury he then grasps his iron holy symbol and calls upon the power of Yamatsumi to send him a semblance of his power and protection...
"I call upon the power of The Mountain Lord for a pure instrument of his power!"
A tetsubo made of divine force appears and circles the diminutive man.