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"Good idea," Pinball says to Manius, shaking off her hand a bit from her failed attempt to make a construct laugh.
"That's what the rod was for," she says with a headshake. "If only I'd rolled better on my identification check been able to tell they were constructs, right off..."
She fails to see her own nose. Nevertheless she casts detect magic, scanning any statues that might be remaining, the stained glass window, and the pool of glowing green liquid. She also picks up a chunk of stone from the shattered snakes and hurls it at the stained glass window, just in case something's lurking on the other side. Or watching them through it.
Blanmieux and Pinball fail to find anything. Garret gives it a shot. and with Blan's help, spots a secret door in the northern wall that apparently leads behind the stained glass!
He leads you to it, and pops it open with a deft hand, revealing a small room beyond. Eerie green lights burn all along the walls of this laboratory. A staircase ascends to the east, and a collapsed one lies to the west. A stained-glass window looms over an operating slab where the
remains of a humanoid creature lie chained to the stone. Several tablets and other strange items lie atop the various tables. A sweep of detect magic reveals a potion, two scrolls and a large bastard sword that glow with magic!
The sword is a large +1 planar bastard sword and the scrolls are scrolls of fly!
There doesn't seem to be anything else of import in this room and looking at the stairs down, they are blocked with tons of rubble and rocks, too much to move without a dedicated expedition to help. It appears that you have explored the entire dungeon.
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"Well, our mission was to figure out if this place was actually Taldan. It seems like elements of it have been clearly hoaxlike. Hoaxical? ...false," says Pinball. "Like the gilding on the lions."
She peers at the tablet then fishes out a scroll.
"And we have these various tokens that seem keyed to the various shrines," she adds with distaste, unhappy at the idea of all the devil lord iconography.
The tablets mean nothing until Pinball reads her scroll and suddenly they become clear. The tablets contain information about both infusing constructs with fiendish energy and the war with Ancient Osirion. One tablet details Jistkan plans to arm constructs with manufactured weapons designed to combat their div enemies.
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"Goodness," says Pinball with a slow blink as she processes the full import. "How fascinating.... this complex may have been designed to infuse Jistkan constructs with hellish energy...... hence all the devilish altars. The snakes we fought... their fire did seem very-- infernal."
She reads the tablets aloud to any who care to listen.
Gathering up the items you've found, as well as the evidence of the colony's origins, you head back to the port town and secure passage back to Corentyn aboard a Chelish frigate. Once there, you head to the Museum to discuss matters with Zefiro Ballinger.
Except... Something feels wrong as you approach. The Museum is dark and you can hear muffled voices in the East Wing.
Double doors open into a hall filled with bookshelves, display cases, and two large tables piled with manuscripts. Several oil lamps keep the darkness at bay even at night. A rolling ladder stands at the east end of the library. Two staircases near the doors rise to the balconies on both sides of the hall. The railed balconies run across the length of the hall with a third one rising even higher to the east. There, a pair of doors leads into a second-story office.
A woman with dark, flowing hair speaks from the highest balcony. “How nice of you to deliver yourselves to me. I was just about to come find you! I strongly advise that you turn yourself in for questioning—though I must admit that part of me hopes you won’t, since our friends to the east are sure to hammer the truth out of the traitor Zefiro anyway.”
Two Hellknight armigers armed with greataxes accompany her, with two Corentyn guards armed with guisarmes. A Hellknight stands with a guard on the floor level, and the same pair stands on the balcony above.
"This, as you say, is about the treachery of Zefiro Ballinger and your known association with him. I have authority to take you all into custody under suspicion of collaborating with a traitor. You may resist, in which case my men will use force. You may come along quietly and let the glorious torturers discover the extent of your guilt. Either way, you will be punished for your crimes, scum." The woman seems to delight in the predicament you find yourself in.
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"We should be careful, this doesn't feel right..."
Pinball listens with an unsmiling expression, then a shake of her head.
"I have great respect for the law and if I had any possible faith that we might clear Zefiro's name, let alone our own, by actual due process, I would be obliged to surrender and go with you," she informs the woman.
"But you've just expressed that the judgment has already been passed-- with no due process-- and the sentence decreed, and that you're planning on using torture to make us 'confess.' This is no rule of law. Just tyranny. Thank you for that, though, as it removes any burden of cooperation I might otherwise have felt."
Pinball is already moving. She darts south, up the stairs towards the first upstairs balcony guard.
The woman's face breaks wide into a smile. "I had hoped you'd resist." She positively purrs.
Round 1:
The Heroes
The Foes!
Pinball bursts into action, double moving up the stairs! Theleb summons a glowing spectral weapon, while Blan draws his weapon. Manius heals himself, while Garret casts mage armor on himself and moves to the opposite side as Pinball.
The woman snaps an order to "Take them!" and the guards and Hellknights spring to action. The woman murmurs a spell and a bolt of lightning explodes from her outstretched hand and arcs toward Manius and Theleb! !
The hellknight on the ground charges Blan! for damage!
The hellknight on the balcony likewise moves to attack Garret! for damage!
The guard on the ground moves a bit more cautiously to attack Manius. for damage!
The guard on the balcony likewise attacks Pinball, pausing to step back five feet. for damage!
And... Round 2: the heroes are up!
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Manius armor fully extracts the electricity aimed his way, luckily his heritage lessens the impact a tiny bit
Manius then smirks as an attack against him bounces of his armor with a nice ringing sound.
Manius then roars as a rage overwhelms his common sense and his vision turns red
Manius then takes a step forward and swings his falchion at the same target Blanieux is attacking
H1 -8/30
H2 30/30
G1 22/22
G1 22/22
IT 35/35
Blan attacks, dealing a grievous blow, but fails to kill outright. Manius steps up and hits the same foe, but the foe is tough and remains standing!
H1 -8/30
H2 23/30
G1 15/22
G2 9/22
IT 29/35
Theleb's dagger hits the woman twice, drawing blood, but not stopping her assault.
Pinball shocks the Corentyn Guard, causing him to swear and twitch!
attacks the Hellknight! Down goes the armored foe and out lashes Garret's feet of fury! for damage! He then attacks again! for damage! His second attack hits!
The hellknight fighting Blan swings his greataxe again! for damage! Then his eyes roll up into his skull and he collapses!
The hellknight on the balcony stands up and Garret attacks! for damage! But he misses. The Hellknight returns the favor! for damage!
The Guard fighting Manius steps back 5' and attacks! for damage!
The Guard fighting Pinball similarly steps back and attacks! for damage!
The woman snarls in anger as the first Hellknights falls, taking his loss personally. She touches a rod on her hip and points at Blanmieux! for Strength penalty!
Round 3: Heroes are up!
Pinball ducks under the slow guard and races toward the woman! Theleb's ghostly dagger strikes the woman again, and again draws blood! Blan strikes out and drops the guard to the ground! Manius is left holding his weapon as his foe is cut down in front of him!
H2 2/30
G2 9/22
IT 24/35
Garret 7/38
Garret again tries to trip his opponent! and follows up with an AoO! for damage! He finishes his flurry with another attack! for damage!
The lone living guard chases after Pinball and gets close enough to attack! for damage!
The remaining Hellknight tries to stand! for damage and Garret hits him, again! Still he swings at the halfling with a roar! for damage!
The woman smiles at Pinball. "I have no desire to harm you, child. But I will, if you persist in this madness." She steps off the balcony, and takes to flight! She lands atop the first bookshelf and smiles at Manius. Fingering a pearl in her pocket, she points at him! for strength penalty to him, Fort DC 15 for half penalty!
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Pinball siiiiighs when the woman floats away. To nobody in particular, she says, "I seem to be collecting insults on this trip. And, lady, you're the one who brought up torture as the course of action if we cooperated. That's not really persuasive, just so you know. It should be 'cooperate and everything will go well for you,' not 'cooperate and something awful is going to happen to you anyway.' I mean, this is just basic psychology," the gnome rattles off, and casually twists aside from a second guisarme strike. She looks rather bemused to realize the guardsman is still trying to attack her, and equally bemused when Blanmieux chucks a javelin their direction rather than dealing with the closer threats.
"Oh... fine," sighs Pin to the guard. "I'll try and heal you once this is over. I understand you're just following orders and don't have a choice. Blanmieux, I feel a more beneficial course of action would be for you to attack someone over on your side of the room, though I can only assume you're acting out of misguided chivalry."
With that she steps back into the guarsdman, speaks, and lights up with electricity again before tapping the guard lightly on his armored torso-- ravaging him with a second wave of electricity.
The hellknight goes down beneath Garret's feet, twitching a little, but not moving aggressively. Theleb flings a ball of fire, but it goes wide of the woman and lands in a pile of rolled up scrolls. They begin to burn merrily as the woman laughs. Blan flings his javelin, which sinks into the guard's side. Pinball's touch causes the guard to twitch, but she sense they'll be no healing where he's gone... at least judging by the overwhelming smell of burnt hair and flesh. He falls.
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Feeling his strenght get sapped Manius knees go weak.
Then seeing the woman fly above him Manius drops his falchion and pulls out his sling. He quickly drops a sling bullet into it and sends it spinning above his head before releasing it towards his target, focusing all his attention at her
(Challenging her since she's the only target we have left)
"Come down here and face me in single combat!"
The woman laughs. "I think not, traitor!" She stops laughing as the sling bullet cracks her hard in the head! She snarls and begins to make hacking sounds deep in her throat, then vomits forth a swarm of spiders that covers Manius in short order! damage and I need two DC 11 fort saves: one against poison and one against distraction!
This done, she pulls forth a potion from her pouch.