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Overjoyed that you have found Eylysia’s notes without opposition, you quickly gather up all the notes that you could as well as the glowing gemstone, and make your way out of cavern back to the shrine.
However, just as the party exits the alcove, three figures stand interposed between you and the exit of the Shrine. Right in front a tall hulking woman , wielding a greatclub rather nonchalantly. Behind her, a half-elven man in robes glares haughtily at you, while beside him, a human man, also in robes but holding a morningstar, stands looking serenely at everyone.
The half-elven man pipes up in a rather high-pitched voice. "Greetings from the Aspis Consortium. We thank you for uncovering whatever you found in the cavern. Kindly leave it behind and we can all be on our way." The hulking woman, however, calls out to her companion. "Erion, you always talk too much. Just attack!" as she lifts up her greatclub overhead. From their threatening stance, though, they know you are not giving up the cache without a fight!
Erion lifts his hand, and points a finger at Tagir. An orange arcane bolt shoots out and smashes into his chest! He then rather cowardly move back and hides behind a pillar.
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"Now this truly is magnificent treasure," Maya says happily as they make their way towards the exit of the secret cavern. She was still far from calming down from the excitement of their find, and made doubly sure that not a single sheet of paper escaped the clutches of her backpack. "I'm ninety nine percent sure that most of this is written in Ancient Azlanti, the dead language of the kingdom of Azlant that even Taldane is derived from, but it seems Eylysia went to even greater lengths to disguise it further. We simply have to get its encryption decoded soon. Think of all the fascinating stories and priceless information we could extract from these texts! And Dreng would probably want to see it too, I guess..."
Maya's speech trail off when the trio of bandits make themselves known. She blinks when an orange bolt streaks into Tagir standing beside her, frowning in distaste. How rude! "I think we'll be keeping what we found, thank you. Such knowledge is to be shared, not hoarded by whoever this Consortium is," she growls, tearing her spear free from her back as her lilac eyes glow with rage. She takes off along the wall, dancing around the hulking woman and kicking off from the stone to lance into the cowardly mage as she slides to a stop.
Free action to bloodrage, +4 Dex
Moving along the wall, if blue has reach
Standard for payback
Kicking off the wall may have looked cool, but it wasn't exactly practical, and Maya slides across the ground a little further than expected.
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Yuvonesom glares darkly at the interlopers, clearly annoyed that they would take what his party has rightfully earned rather than obtain their own treasure. I echo my friend: we will be keeping our prize, and you have made a mistake attempting to take it.
He begins to stride purposefully toward the group, his body once again transforming as he does. He shrinks slightly, his skin taking on a mottled gray hue as it melts into scales, his nails alongating to claws, his face stretching to a reptilian mouth, until he once again looks like the troglodite the reveled so much in the killing of scorpions. But the act seems to have tired him much more than the last.
Standard: Change Shape
Move: Move up to closest enemy
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Maya skirts around the enemies going after the spellcaster, but with his elven reflexes, he ducks underneath her spear. Yuvonesom moves up to engage the towering woman.
She looks are Yuvonesom with glee, eager to get into combat. She swings her her greatclub at him. Yuvonesom just barely manages to dodge out of the way, and the club slams into the pillar with loud thud. She frowns in frustration, then steps back to offer some protection to the spellcasters behind.
The man in the orange robes, seeing Maya within striking distance from him with her spear, takes a step back and holds up his morningstar to guard against any attacks.
Just then, a small female halfling dressed in red leather steps out from behind the pillar to your surprise. She stabs the unsuspecting Yuvonesom, the blade plunging into his stomach. She pulls it out in glee, and taunts her much taller companion. "Ha, Bobbi! That's how you do it!" She does not seem to realise though that the strike was not very deep.
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Seoni's eyebrows furrow in frustration at the intruders "This is most foolish. Leave now, while you still have your lives."
As she speaks she makes a small gesture with her hands and a slight nimbus of light glows around her once, then disappears. Seoni then fishes out a potion and extends it towards Tagir "Here. This will help with your wounds."
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Yuvonesom roars in pain and anger at the impertinence of the small one stabbing him, but keeps his head clear enough to believe that the greatclub wielder is the bigger danger and falls upon her instead, rending with his claws and biting at her.
Full round: Full Attack
No Action: 5ft Step to the right
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Tagir waits for some healing from Iddo but as he starts casting the sleep spell instead, decides to move up to support the close combatants. Seoni weaves magical protection around herself, while drawing out a healing potion to pass it on.
Erion, the arcane caster stares intently at Iddo's spell but is unable to identify it, and hence, not able to warn his party.
Yuvonesom waits for Maya to flank the towering woman, who unfortunately misses her target with her spear. Yuvonesom, on the other hand, in his reptilian form, manages to tear into the enemy viciously, opening up huge gaping wounds all over. The shock from the pain and the massive loss of blood knocks her unconscious, blood pumping into the stone floor.
Erion seeing the viciousness of Yuvonesom's attack, shouts out to the halfling, "Shellie, go after the lizard! Tyro, bring Bobbi back up!" Seeing that Maya is only wielding a long spear and hence unable to attack him at such close range, raises his finger, utters a arcane word, and another bolt of magic burst forth, striking Yuvonesom. He then step away from Maya.
Bobbi's wounds stop bleeding on their own, but she remains unconscious.
Tyro, the orange robed man, seeing Yuvonesom gloating over his unconscious teammate, hesitates to approach. Instead, he concentrates and a wave of divine energy burst forth, healing Bobbi, but somehow manages to bypass Tagir and Yuvonesom. Unfortunately, it was not sufficient to bring her back around.
Shellie the halfling looks somewhat worried that her party's powerhouse has been taken down so quickly but obeys Erion's instructions and stabs at Yuvonesom, piercing through his guts.
Just then Iddo's spell goes off. Both Shellie the halfling and Tyro the healer fall asleep and collapses to the floor.
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Seoni makes a sound of disapproval as Tagir ignores her outstretched hand and runs off to join the combat instead.
Typical. His bravado is going to get him killed.
She moves forward to stand next to Tagir, but upon seeing Yuvonesom being wounded as well, hesitates to pass the potion to Tagir. Thinking that it might be more prudent to save it for a more dire situation, Seoni extends her hand to release another bolt of magical energy to the remaining assailant. "Surrender now, and you may yet be in time to save your comrades."
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Yuvonesom, emboldened by the fall of his enemy, makes a wide run around the pillar to get to the last remaining opponent .ll vestiges of exhaustion have left his eyes, and only the fury of combat registers in his movements. He jumps into flanking with Maya to distract the poor creature and taking an overhand swipe with his left claws.
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Tagir, Yuvonseom and Maya surround the remaining Aspis agent. Although Tagir and Yuvonesom's attack do not get past his magical protection, he appears clearly intimidated, especially with Maya twirling her evil-looking spear in his face. Especially when Seoni's magical bolt smashes into him, nearly knocking him off his feet completely.
He raises his hands weakly. "Hold, fine we surrender. I'll leave behind all our gear. Just let us out of here with our lives." He adds somewhat bitterly under his breath, "The Patrons do not pay us enough to lose our lives."
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Yuvonesom growls, his claws raised high for a breathless moment, before bringing them down and nodding his head. His form shifts back to his aasimar visage, blood still dripping from his well manicured hands and nails. You wouldn't happen to have a cloth or rag as well as some water, would you? I'm afraid I've made a terrible mess, he asks of the remaining Aspis agent, fatigue and pain in his eyes, all traces of battle rage gone.
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Maya snickers at Yuvonesom's remark and wanders over to the pair of dozing agents, poking at the halfling with the sharp edges of her spear and a sadistic expression on her face. And I was just starting to warm up, too... "I should really punish you for harming my Yuvie," she sneers under her breath, blinking and sighing as the anger fades. But I suppose a peaceful resolution is far better than a violent one in any case.
She turns back around and nods at Seoni's question, her warm smile of prior returning in an instant. "Indeed, telling us that much is only fair. I'm sure you'll agree it's a more pleasant alternative to turning you over to the society or city guard."
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Erion glowers at you at the questions. "Do they teach you nothing at the Society? The Patrons are the leaders of the Aspis Consortium. Rather like your Decemvirate, their identities are secret. Although unlike your leaders, ours make no pretense of seeking artifacts for exploration and the uncovering of knowledge."
He grins wryly on hearing Maya. "Trust me. Turning us to your Society or the city guards and we would be back out within a day. With perhaps a chastisement from our superiors. That I would rather avoid, nonetheless. But more than that, I want our lives."
He sighs on hearing Tagir. "We came not for your lives, just what you have found. Our leaders did not even inform us of what it is we seek. Face it, you and I are merely pawns of our leaders who behind their masks seek to extend their agenda, keeping the truth from all of us. For that, it is not worth losing our lives."
Rather astutely, with a raised eyebrow, he throws you a question and leaves it hanging, "Did your leaders tell you everything about this mission?"
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Tagir laughs deep down into his belly, "You expect information from your enemies, when you've admitted your own allies keep you in the dark? No wonder you weren't smart enough to set a real ambush." Nobody told me the Pathfinders had such enemies. I could have joined the Lion Blades if I wanted to fight a war."
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"Of course we are just pawns for our respective leaders", Iddo says when he realizes he's not watching a play, and can join in on the conversation.
"But the Decemvirate allows me to make interesting discoveries, and they pay me for it. So I like being their pawn. Maybe you should too", he adds with a smile probably directed at the Aspis members.
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Maya smiles and nods at Tagir's and Iddo's responses, but only a little. The man makes a worrying point... "It's as my companions say. At the very least our leaders' agendas align with our own, and don't involve stealing another group's findings by means of brute force."
"I think," she adds to herself, kneeling down to check on the tall woman's bleeding and bandage the more grisly wounds.
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"Oh, we get paid, too. Aspis, after all, has trade spanning the entire Golarion. Much better than the Pathfinders, actually." He then turns to stare at Maya. "Don't involve stealing another group's findings by force? You are a new Pathfinder, aren't you?" Erion laughs sarcastically. But he appears grateful that Maya is checking on his teammate.
"You have no objections that we leave then?"
Erion first methodically removes his gold and that of his sleeping / comatose teammates, and lays them on the floor. He then gentle awakens the sleeping halfling and human one by one, explaining to them the situation. The halfling, especially, appears grumpy but seeing the five of you surrounding them, she eventually acquiesce. Among the three, they then lift their still unconscious companion with some difficulty and stagger out.
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You gather up the loot and make your way back to the Grand Lodge. The rain has finally started to let up. Unlike earlier, the streets are starting to get crowded again with people returning from the Starstone Cathedral. Talk on the street is primarily on Sir Reinhart's failure at the Test of the Starstone, many clearly still horrified by his attempt to vault the chasm on horseback, which ended with both him and the unfortunate mount falling into oblivion.
Back at the Grand Lodge, you find Venture-Captain Drandle Dreng in the sitting room. He has pulled an easy chair up by the fireplace and you find him lounging back with his bare feet up practically inches from the roaring fire. He gets up and strides to you as soon as he sees you enter.
"That you took more than half a day to return with Heryn's wine suggests that you encountered some unexpected adventures. Come, share with an old man your stories for today!" Dreng beams at you.
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I don't know, I found it rather adventurous, Yuvonesom counters, standing close to the hearth in an attempt to shake the chill that has settled in his bones, we found an information cache of a long lost, and possibly disgraced, Pathfinder, the story of which I'm sure our friend Iddo can tell much more... eloquently.
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Iddo blushes at being pulled into the conversation. He quickly glances at the notes the party and collected, nods and takes a deep breath.
"Underneath the Wounded Wisp, we located an old letter by one Selmius Foster. He wrote of his suspicions against a fellow Pathfinder named Eylysia, whom he worries has hidden information of her discoveries from the society. We went to investigate the house of her friend, the arcanist Fimbrik, and his house was well-secured using illusions and..." Iddo grabs a handkerchief from his backpack and blows his nose, "...insects."
After another glance at the notes, the storyteller continues.
"We discovered the name we should investigate on the Wall of Names... did I already mention the wall of names? There were three fake names there. So we went and checked what the description of that name, then we went down to the Shrine of the Failed and fought some people from the Aspis Consortium... wait, did I tell you about that stonemason's crypt? Ah never mind, I should arrange my notes before telling a story."
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As you describe to him the happenings of the day, Dreng's beaming smile gets wider and wider, first in anticipation, then in excitement, and finally in pride. He takes from you the stack of Eylysia's notes.
"Well done, my fellow Pathfinder!" he sings out in praise. "I had long suspected Selmius of hiding something in his beloved tavern. Figured it must have been in the cellar since that it one of the few places that have not been touched for the last few hundred years, and have been rather methodically going through the tavern's wine collection. But little did I suspect it would lead to the rumored notes of Eylysia!" He adds on gleefully, "And you took down the Aspis a peg or two in the process! I'll enjoy rubbing this in their faces the next time we meet!"
Flipping through the papers, he mutters excitely, "This appears to be in some form of encrypted Azlanti. Will take us years to decipher everything!"
He then turns back to you. "As new Pathfinder, you have performed beyond expectations. I'll be speaking with Kreighton Shaine, the Master of Scrolls, to expedite your Confirmation. Good job! Please now, go have a well-deserved rest! Tell Heryn to put your drinks today on my tab!" He then turns back and starts reading through the papers.
As you reach the door though, he suddenly calls you back. "Wait. Eylysia left behind a letter right on top, in Azlanti but unencrypted. You might want to hear this." He then recites it to you.
To you who are now reading this,
I trust you are members of the Pathfinder Society, for the clues I have laid throughout the city would have only been uncovered by those familiar with its workings. If I was in error though, I can only ask for your assistance not to disturb the rest of the room, and to deliver this note to the Grand Lodge. The gem I have placed here would be sufficient compensation, I hope.
Within this room are numerous findings that I have put together from my years of travels and exploration. Findings that I did not report to the Pathfinder Society. That I have not done so would be deeply frowned upon by many Society members, and indeed a number suspects me of hoarding my discoveries. Including my dear old friend Selmius. I can only reiterate what I have put forth on numerous occasions. Uncovering of knowledge is a noble goal, and is an endeavour that I have dedicated my life to in the Pathfinder Society. However, I stand firm that some knowledge must remain secrets, at least for a time, as their uncovering would lead to untold damage to innocents. Herein are information that could topple kingdoms, disgrace the honored and disillusion the faithful. As such, I keep these secreted away here, in the hopes that they only come to light generations in the future. When the ones implicated have passed. When such information are no longer damning but would be mere curiosities.
If my attempts to hide them long enough are unsuccessful, I can only beseech you to look through the documents in fine detail first before submitting them. And I can only look to your conscience to decide whether releasing these information would do more harm than good.
And Selmius, I am truly sorry that my acts have driven a wedge between our friendship. With your untimely demise, I have lost the chance to explain my actions, and so I lay it down in this letter. I know you would never have agreed with my actions, so I can only seek your understanding. May you rest in peace.
- Eylysia, 4412
Dreng sighs deeply. "Yes, indeed. Knowledge can be dangerous in the wrong hands. And who knows if ours are the right ones. But with almost four hundred years from when Eylysia hid these away, I trust that the time is now right for them to come to light. Since you were instrumental into turning these up, I'll keep you informed if we find anything of interest."
He turns back to his papers, but suddenly looks up as remembering something. "But wait! Where's my wine?"
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"U-uh, well..." Maya hides her abashment by stretching her arms above her head, humming pleasantly at the sensation. "Well, Master Dreng, didn't you just say the drinks were on your tab today? Of course you mean to partake, right? Besides," she continues, patting Iddo on the head and disturbing his hair a little. "I'm sure Iddo has many more stories to share. I, for one, am certainly looking forward to them."
Maya smiles, glancing at each of the others in turn. "The same goes for Seoni, Tagir and Yuvie. If the texts' encryption will take years to break, then there's hardly much of a rush to get started on it this instant. And, we can see to finding that wine we may have... misplaced, all while mourning the passing of at least three great Pathfinders and contemplating what lessons and secrets they've importantly left behind for us to discover. I promise this is more than simply an excuse to spend more time with all of you..." Her smile widens.
"What do you say?"
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Iddo blushes when Maya suggests he use his storytelling abilities without asking and flattens his hair, dividing it in the middle.
"I'd be glad to stay and celebrate with you all, but I have to go to sleep early today. I was recruited for another mission tomorrow, something about plants."
"Also," he adds after a thoughtful pause, "I don't drink."