Are you willing to risk such a thing, Iolana? You would be all alone in there and there is no telling if there is some creature or trap waiting.
A10: A jumble of five crushed humanoid skeletons lie in the southeast corner of this chamber. Stone niches in the southern wall contain a few pieces of clutter.
The bones crumble to dust if touched, as does much of what remains of the bodies’ nonmagical clothing.
The shelves contain several ancient magic items. Among a collection of exotic cups, bowls, and silverware worth 75 gp in all are a bottle of air, a decanter of endless water, and a sustaining spoon (which produces gruel with an abnormally spicy taste). The Thrallkeepers also kept two scrolls of clairvoyance, two scrolls of sending, and two scrolls of dimension door here.
The treasure scattered among the skeletons consists of a crystal locket depicting a two-headed dove (worth 325 gp), a pair of sapphire earrings (worth 4,350 gp), and a bejeweled holy symbol of Lissala (worth 2,000 gp). Also found among the bones are three magic items: a +1 magical beast-bane dagger, a bright orange cloak of resistance +3, and a scabbard of keen edges.
When Iolana transports in, Ayako spends the time tensely waiting, fearing that she had fallen prey to some kind of trap. When she returns, Ayako breaths out in relief.
So what did you find? Upon being presented the items, Ayako nods over the. These will help us keep fed and watered in the Cinderlands, and this cloak is quite potent, has anyone here not improved their cloak? This will help ward off magic that could harm the wearer.
"There were five skeletons in there as well. Poor things. I hope they didn't sit there an not be able to use the scrolls and die."
Iolana looks at the Cloak. "It's really bright. Sebastian I think the scabbard is for you."
"Where to next? That mark will only last so long."
Let us go to the House of the Moon so we can find the Truth Speaker
"They had endless water and food. Maybe they were just sick of the world and retreated there?" Tyrandro comments. Looking at the stuff he adds "But you're right. Orange doesn't suit your complexion. From that point of view I'd suggest Ayako take it. But for the magical properties I'd take it too."
If there are no objections, then Tyrando can take it. Ayako is ready to leave the ruins.
When you make your way back to the entrance, the emberstorm has stopped and Krojun and the Thundercallers have already left.
The trip north is uneventful. You rest under the stars one night (at night, Ayako gets the feeling of being watched again) then make it to the House of the Moon the next day.
A silvery stone shrine stands atop a low promontory in the foothills here. The surrounding stone has been smoothed by ages of wind, but the shrine itself remains as stark and unweathered as the day its final block was set in place. The structure shimmers with a slightly reflective sheen. A 30-foot-tall opening allows access to the shrine interior at ground level. The curving sides of the archway are framed by the long peacock-like tail feathers of an immense star monarch carved into the building’s facade. The creature’s wings furl to the left and right, fanning over two side towers attached to the central spire, which rises to a height of 100 feet. Above, a silvery sphere caps the central tower’s peak, as if the moon had fallen out of the sky to become impaled upon the steeple.
Not unlike your other encounters with the Shoanti, as you approach the temple, you are approached by a patrol of four Lyrune-Quah. The patrol consists entirely of women, their heads shaved bald and armed with starknives, the favored weapon of Desna.
Trinia explains, "These are Moon maidens, the traditional honor guard and protector caste of the Lyrune-Quah. They are an order of rangers who prefer to travel and hunt at night under the moon’s watchful eye."
One of the women addresses you. "I am Tekrakai. Explain to me why tshamek dare approach a site sacred to the Lyrune-Quah."
Greetings, I am Ayako and these are my friends who seek to gain the approval of the Shoanti and be accepted so we can speak with the Sun Shamen. We have learned that a Truthspeaker named Akram lives with you and wish to seek his endorsement of our deeds. Ayako shows her Thrallkeeper Mark. This mark I have gained by passing one of the Shoanti's tests but it will fade in a few days, if the Truth Speak sees it, others will believe we have passed the test when he vouches for us. May we speak with him if he dwells with you?
Tyrandro is oblivious to any emotions of the Lyrune-Quah besides the obvious dislike of tshamek. "What't the meaning of tshamek again?" he asks Trinia.
Outsider
Sebastian eyes the women as they approach, sizing them up. At first, he has trouble actually confirming that they're women. The starknives they wield are an unorthodox weapon choice. They're clearly Desnans, as nobody else would bother with the silly things. "I didn't know the women shaved their hair. How's that work for you, Tyrandro? Maybe that's not all they shave."
I hear Kuthites often shave their heads. Helps keep blood from matting the hair.
Tekraikai relaxes at Ayako's response. "Truthspeaker Akram is not here but he is indeed scheduled to arrive with the rest of my tribe in a few short days. We went ahead of the tribe to prepare the site only to find that our sacred House of the Moon has been claimed by a highly territorial monster. We have been unable to drive the monster off, and I'm worried that this year’s pilgrimage may need to be rerouted. Bearing that mark, I wonder if Desna sent you to us for a reason."
A favor for a favor Ayako thinks. What beast is this? We might be able to 'convince' it to leave via words or force.
Tyrandro readies his bow. "I guess a soon to be dead beast."
He is pleasantly surprised that these shoanti show normal social behavior. Like asking for help. He wonders if being a dick is a character trait of Krojun specifically, or his tribe. Or if it is a trick of the Shoanti to confront every tshamek with him first so all other Shoanti seem nice in comparison.
Iolana puts her hand over her face and rolls her eyes at the gents.
When she hears there is an issue she sighs slightly to herself, "We are willing to assist you. What kind of beast has claimed the temple?
It's probably Krojun. We've discovered he's highly territorial." She mutters under her breath.
Maybe this will help us gain favor. Wasn't one of the things taking care of terrible beasts."
While the Shoanti women are still far enough away. "I suddenly get the feeling the topic of domestic violence in Shoanti society has to be evaluated before we pursue to reach our goal of access to their society by marriage." Tyrandro replies to Sebastian gulping at the prospect that a discussion about who has to do the dishes could become a really painful experience.
Tekrakai sighs in relief. "Thank Desna for you offering aid. It would be dishonorable for me to ask such a boon. But the truth is we aren't able to handle this beast on our own. I've already lost nearly a dozen of my moon maidens to it and before you showed up I had consigned myself to the inevitable humiliation of admitting to the rest of the Lyrune-Quah that I was unable to secure the House of the Moon."
"I can actually tell you much about this creature. You will not be able to convince it with words. We call it a Red Reaver. Its claws can rend flesh and its roar can cause fearful discord. But perhaps most importantly, the creatures is easily distracted by artistic beauty so a performance could well lull it into a state of temporary calm. Also, unfortunately, if you were thinking of trying to catch it unaware, I'll point out that the creature never sleeps, and as long as it defends a site it counts as its territory, it fights with a ferocious focus. Driving the thing off permanently is likely impossible, and killing it is the best solution."
"If you are ready, my moon maidens and I are prepared to assist you in battle. Follow me. I will take you to the House of the Moon's entrance."
Once at the entrance, Tekrakai says, "Prepare yourselves now. Once the Red Reaver spots us, it will swiftly move to confront us."
The moon maidens each cast lead blades and longstrider on themselves.
Unlike the moon maidens, your boneslayers are content to stay behind, unless you ask them to participate.
Trinia says, "Tekrakai mentioned an artistic performance may calm the beast. I can try playing my flute to distract it while you get into position."
"I can explain the interior of the House of the Moon to you too, so you know what to expect." says Tekrakai. "The House of the Moon is an ancient structure, built (according to legend) by an army of lyrakiens to serve Desna’s faithful as a place of shelter during the Age of Darkness. At night, the walls glow providing dim illumination within the structure. The entire building is suffused with Desna’s grace, and a worshiper of Desna who sleep inside the building at night are visited in their dreams by one of Desna’s favored agents."
"The House of the Moon’s interior consists of two floors—a large open area below that serves as a gathering hall and a smaller area above known as the “sky well”. The two floors are connected by graceful spiraling staircases."
"The walls in the gathering hall are decorated with symbols and imagery sacred to the worship of Desna. A massive starknife made of white stone, measuring 20 feet from tip to tip, sits on a pivot in the center of the floor. The starknife is very cunningly balanced, so that despite its size, visiting priests can easily rotate it on its central axis to reflect the current month and day."
"Above, in the sky well, a moonlike sphere emanates a shimmering curtain of moonlight at all times that then reflects upward against the ceiling to project an accurate image of the clear night sky, regardless of the time of day or weather. In this way, the sky well functions as an observatory, allowing astronomers to stargaze even on stormy nights or at high noon."
"The Red Reaver spends the majority of its time in the gathering hall and will likely spot us as soon as we enter."
Ayako looks at her left hand. Well, I might as well use this.
Ayako first Blesses the group
She then casts Remove Fear on Sebastion,Tyrando and Iolana
If this creature is wicked, I can help shield us for 2 minutes, I will cast that just before we assault
Just before they Assult, Ayako calls upon her Thrallkeeper's Mark and waves her hand over the ground. The dust and dirt seems to flow together and forms itself into a rocky lion that shakes off the dirt and stands next to Ayako
I am ready.
Mushu stands behind Ayako, a glowing hand clutching a wand hovering above him.
Tyrandro follows Ayako with her new pet once the attack starts he steps out of hiding so he can see the beast and fires.
Fluffy places himself between Tyrandro and the red reaver.
Sebastian starts violently when the dirt near him turns itself into an enormous lion. "Whoa there!" As if the wolf wasn't enough?
Trinia casts cat's grace on Tyrandro and Sebastian. And she casts haste on the party. Then she leads into the gathering hall with her flute at the ready.
The room is exactly as Tekrakai described.
The walls in the gathering hall are decorated with symbols and imagery sacred to the worship of Desna. A massive starknife made of white stone, measuring 20 feet from tip to tip, sits on a pivot in the center of the floor. A formidable stack of picked-over animal carcasses and seven dead moon maidens are heaped in the southwest corner of the hall.
The Red Reaver stands right in the center of the room. This massive beast has six tiny eyes and atrophied wings. Its stooped stance evoking a gorilla-like frame.
Trinia begins playing her flute. The Red Reaver pauses momentarily to listen but then shakes of its fascination and roars in rage.
"It didn't work!" scream Trinia.
Trinia hastily steps out of the way and switches songs to one of inspiration.
Before the battle Iolana casts Invisiblity on Sebastian and Tyrando.
Iolana tries her second favorite spell, and creates an acid pit below the creature.
OMG! I don't think we can all fit in there.
Everyone looking at us with detect magic will be permanently blinded from the flash :P.
Sebastian bravely charges straight up and stabs the Reaver through once.
Tyrandro hits the Red Reaver with two arrows.
The four moon maidens rush into the room and spread out. They each enter into a rage and throw one starknife at the beast. All the weapons bounce off the the creature's thick hide harmlessly.
Iolana opens a pit right underneath the Red Reaver. The creature nearly slips in but at the last moment, it flaps its tiny wings that shouldn't be able to carry it but somehow do and lands precariously on the edge instead.
The Read Reaver flaps its ridiculously tiny wings again and floats into the cover away from the pit. It then thumps its chest like a gorilla and lets out a thunderous roar.
Trinia and two of the moon maiden's are shaken by the frightful roar. Tekraikai drops her other starknife and turns to flee in panic. Only one moon maiden stands resolute.
Your ranged attacks ignore anything but total concealment and cover.
Prerequisites: Dex 19, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, base attack bonus +11.
Benefit: Your ranged attacks ignore the AC bonus granted to targets by anything less than total cover, and the miss chance granted to targets by anything less than total concealment. Total cover and total concealment provide their normal benefits against your ranged attacks.
Normal: See the normal rules on the effects of cover and concealment in Combat.
Tyrandro is unaffected by the primitive show of - what exactly is it? Imposing behavior? Well, it's another volley of arrows that will answer that.
Fluffy ignores the roaring ape too and stays in his position.
Ayako and Mushu are bravely unaffected but the Dire Lion flufs up it's fur in fear.
Ayako moves to stand near Trinia while Mushu speedy trots behind her
Shaken as it is, the lion moves up and to the NE so it is 20 feet e of the Red Reaver.
Hearing the creature's roar, Sebastian feels an unnatural fear course through his body, but Trinia's uplifting song helps him to beat back the panic that threatens to grip him.
"We've got this thing on the ropes," he calls to the others. Darting forward, he presses the attack.
Round 2
Ayako whispers at the creature, sending painful chattering through it's ears.
Gift of Madness (Su): You tap into the unthinkable void between the stars and cause a single living creature within 30 feet to become confused for 1 round. A successful Will save negates the effect. This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect. At 7th level, the confusion lasts for a number of rounds equal to your oracle level. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. 8/Day DC 19
Since Trinia ended her bard song with her saving finale, she resumes a new inspiring song. She's relatively safe in her current position so she stays put.
Sebastian, thinking he has the Red Reaver on the ropes gives chase. The Red Reaver shows Sebastian that he still has plenty of fight in him when it clamps down on Sebastian with vice-like jaws and shakes and tears flesh. So shaken up from the trauma, Sebastian's own attack is too feeble to properly hit.
Tyrandro's arrows continue to be effective and hits the Red Reaver with two more.
Ayako's whispers turn out to be too much for the simple-minded creature to comprehend and it is plunged into a cloud of confusion.
Tekrakai recovers from her momentary panic and bends down to pick up the weapons she dropped. The other moon maidens remain shaken but still close in around the beast and throw another round of starknives. Unfortunately, like last time, none pierce the creature's hide.
The Red Reaver flies into a confused rage and attacks the nearest creature that attacked it: Sebastian. Sebastian's finesse is no match for the Red Reaver's brute strength. He can do nothing as it bites and claws him like a wild ape. But the creature isn't done with Sebastian and after it digs its claws into him, it nearly rips Sebastian's arms from his body with a powerful rend.
Round 3
The Lion charges at the Red Reaver after the devastating attack and tries finishing it off
"Sebastian, leave standing next to that thing to the lion." Tyrandro shouts. I should explain him the benefits of ranged combat sometimes.
Ayako is dismayed as Sebastion is mauled and limps forwards. A squeal from her elects a nod from Mushu and the glowing hand darts forwards and taps Sebastion with the wand.
Trying to recover from being chomped on, Sebastian attempts to parry the creature's next attack to no avail. For a brief flash of a moment, it isn't the hulking beast mauling him, but the creature from the dungeon beneath the Arkona Palace. The creature nearly tears his arm off, and his innards threaten to spill out of a gash in his abdomen. The world fades to black.
Tunstall sneaks over, grabs Sebastian and pulls him away.
Iolana shakes off the effects of the scream. She steps into the room and sends a ray of Ice out from her hand.
She repeats her spell hoping to take down the creature. She looks worried for Sebastian as the creature almost tears him to pieces.
Iolana's rays hit and freeze his flesh.
Trinia maintains her song and moves up to help heal Sebastian.
Tyrandro continues to pepper the Red Reaver with arrows. One penetrates the creature's skull and it falls down dead with a earth shaking thump.
Tunstall sneaks over, grabs Sebastian and pulls him away. I have no clue what kind of action that would be.
Ayako is amazed at the combination of Sebastion's rapier and Tyrando's bow to take down threats. We need to have a way to make Sebastion harder to hit. Using her magic in conjunction with the others, Ayako gets Sebastion's insides back inside of him. That was far too close, we need to think of a way to keep you from taking blows like that.
"Like staying away from large clawy and toothy creatures." Tyrandro comments.
After the battle, Tekrakai approaches you. Her disposition is much friendlier than before. "Thank you. Truly you were sent by Desna to help us. I would like to invite you to stay at the House of the Moon with us as guests until the rest of my tribe arrives. Once Truthspeaker Akram arrives, I will vouch for your honor. I have little else to offer, but any weapons and armor that my fallen moon maidens bore is yours if you wish it. They have no use for such things in the afterlife."
One of your boneslayers, Ahalak, says, "Our cultural mores require us to avoid too much interaction with the Lyrune-Quah. We will camp out of sight in a nearby vale until you decide to move on. Come get us once you are ready."
The moon maidens begin clearing out the dead and cleaning up as best they can. As long as you agree to stay, they also help you get setup and comfortable within the temple.
Thank you for your hospitality, we will help you deal with the corpse of those creature. I am sure that presenting it's head as proof of our aid to you will help us with the Truthspeaker. Ayako will help tend any lingering wounds and removal of of the Reaver while they wait.
Tyrandro abuses Fluffy as a workhorse, harnessing him to drag the body of the Red Reaver out of the temple. But he doesn't help when it comes to mop up the mess. He goes for a little sightseeing in the temple. If the moon maidens are not opposed to it, Tyrandro will set up camp under the magical ceiling showing the stars on the top story of the building.
Fluffy stares daggers at Tyrandro for making him work like a horse. After the work is done he lies down at the opposite wall of the room pouting.
I am sure that presenting it's head as proof of our aid to you will help us with the Truthspeaker.
If the moon maidens are not opposed to it, Tyrandro will set up camp under the magical ceiling showing the stars on the top story of the building.
The Moon Maidens are not opposed and let you sleep upstairs. At night, the temple is quite spectacular. As the sun sets, the stone blocks that make up the walls and floor glow [ooc](I imagine like those glow-in-the-dark toys that glow neon green). And on the upper floor, the domed ceiling accurately emulates the night stars even though you are indoors.
The rest of the Lyrune-Quah tribe arrives, as scheduled, a few nights later. Tekrakai introduces you to the rest of her people. When Tekrakai speaks of your deeds defeating the Red Reaver, the other Lyrune-Quah Shoanti become noticeably impressed. Knowing that you are looking to meet the Truthspeaker, Tekrakai goes to find him. A few moments later, an aged man named Akram steps forward to introduce himself.
"Greetings, friends. Tekrakai speaks highly of you. So you've come to the Lyrune-Quah in search of a Truthspeaker. Well you've found one. Now tell me what important quest you have that requires my service. Truthspeakers hold an important position among the Shoanti and we do not undertake journeys lightly."
Greetings Truthspeaker Akram. I am Ayako and these are my friends. We have come here in order to seek the guidance of the Sun Sphaman to aid our struggle against the Queen of Korsova who has seemingly gained the power of the Fangs of Kazavon, a foul artifact that she wears as a crown. We have been told by Thousand Bones,who we aided in the past that by completing certain goals we can gain the trust of the Sun Shaman.
Ayako holds out her hand and shows her Thrallkeeper's Mark. I received the Thrallkeeper's Mark in the ruins that is guarded by tendrils of an unknown beast and by floating in a strange stone orb. We have also slain the Red Reaver that haunted this temple and ask that you speak of our deeds so when the mark fades others will accept that we completed the task.