Vaetta, able to see the combatants rushes in to aid her companions. Turning to the closes foe, she swings her translucent conjuration at the beast just as a wave of nausea hits her. Her aim thrown off, she swings high.
With the enemy distracted by a new face, Emma steps back and downs a viscous concoction. Her wounds begin to mend themselves.
Lutorinus finishes his prayer and grants his allies an infernal blessing of the gods. Immediately following the tiefling appears to split in two...
The new face standing between it and its previous meal, the odious entity tries to get a taste of the woman with the strange weapon. Biting on her armor, it's unable to penetrate the leather hide. Swinging a jagged paw, it scrapes the woman's armor and in it's frustration swings wide on it's last attempt.
Finding it difficult to bend so low, the reptilian continues to bite high over the amphibians head. A smile creeps over it's face as a claw is about to make contact, but the grippli side steps at just the right moment.
Giri's aim doesn't look too promising on his first swing, though the second lands home.
Giri
Enemies
Vaetta
Emma
Lutorinus
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At least Giri isn't useless... "Lady Greyfrost, for the pain," he explains as he whips out another wand and anoints her with the pentagram of Asmodeus in a well practiced motion. Seeing that the beast hasn't attempted to attack him, he absorbs his copied image. "Giri, strike with purpose. Vaetta could use some assistance as well."
Holding her ground, Vaetta swings again. As another wave of nausea throws her off balance, she slashes the air.
Concentrating on a pile or crumbled stone, Emma levitates the rubble. Just as she zeros in on her target a sudden movement distracts her. The refuse landing harmlessly at the beast's feet.
Lutorinus aids Emma with her wounds while giving tactical suggestions.
Giri, feeling more confident now fakes low. As the reptile reacts to his swing, he quickly brings his other dagger up and catches the foe square in the chin.
The lizard facing Vaetta lashes out again, desperate to taste her supple flesh. Having been so close in it's last volley, it snaps its jowls closed too early and comes up short with it's first grab. Viciously smiling as it's second hooked hand lands on her shoulder, it swipes her flesh.
Frustrated with the agile amphibian, the creature lets out an angry screech as it yanks a wooden beam from it's waste. "靜止！" The slab comes up and sails straight down at the small frog, bashing it over the head.
"Stand still!"
Giri
Enemies
Vaetta
Emma
Lutorinus
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Giri's head rings with the blunt force from the piece of wood hitting him on the head.
"BBBBrabbble...."
He steps back and lets one of his daggers fall to the ground. With his free hand he grabs a net, strapped to his waist, and throws it at the creature.
Through her determination Vaetta keeps swinging, but alas her blade still hasn't found it's mark.
By shear force of will and frustration, Emma focuses her mind on the evasive lizard. Suddenly wings erupt from her and sails toward the assailant. As the two collide with a Thud the wings vanish.
The cleric warns the reptiles in their native tongue of impending doom as he anoints the young woman.
Giri stumbling back from the blow to his cranium, drops one of the daggers. Frantically pulling a folded coil from his waist, he hurls it towards his foe. Expanding as it flies through the air, the net covers the reptile.
"你嚇不倒我的開胃菜" Bellows the troglodyte closest to Vaetta. Licking it's blooded claw, it desperately tries to get a bigger piece of the woman. Just catching her opposite shoulder with a claw.
Now covered by a rope lattice, and his meal just out of reach, the creature wildly yanks at the material. Unable to get a firm hold on the net, the beast fails to remove it.
Giri
Enemies
Vaetta
Emma
Lutorinus
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Seeing Giri's little daggers sink deep into the Troglodyte's flesh, he turns his back to it, eager to end this fight. Very viscous when he hits... Enabling him in combat will be most effective. If it is clear his foe is down, he will move to the right of the remaining Trog, taking the long way around. "Vaetta, step into your next swing," he orders.
Vaetta still struggling to get the hang of her weapon, seems to be just missing the mark.
Emma spies a suitable pile of gravel and manages to paint the perfect mental picture of the lizard taking a face full of the pointy objects. Suddenly the projectiles shoot across the room and catch the unweary beast squarely!
Attempting to assist the young lady, Lutorinus suggests a change in her form, glancing over his shoulder as the frog proves it's worth. A vicious one, two swing imbed both daggers in the beasts neck.
Impaled, the troglodyte's face goes suddenly rigid. Reaching out, it grasps upward towards the ceiling, before tumbling over as a rotted oak in the woods.
Howling at the sudden impact, the remaining foe sneers. 你不需要先傷害我嗎?" Looking over towards Emma, it adds "回報時間" as it sidesteps Vaetta. Drawing it's club, it swings for her pretty face. The experienced woman easily ducks his obvious attack.
"Payback time wench!"
Giri
Enemies
Vaetta
Emma
Lutorinus
Following the cleric's advise, Vaetta swings again. Though closer than her last attempt, she still comes up short.
Fed up with the combat, Emma brings her morning star to bear. With a satisfying Crack she whacks the beast's right ear. His eyes go suddenly blank as he staggers from the blow.
Noting the young female's form improving under his direction, Lutorinus offers more words of wisdom.
Happy with his accomplishment, Giri strides over the bleeding lizard and assesses the other foe. After but a moment, he reaches out and slits it's throat. Falling like a sack of potatoes it remains silent.
As the sounds of battle fade, Heryn peers in from the entryway. "Uh...you all ok?"
The papers chronicle the personal exploits of Selmius Foster, a famous Pathfinder whose name you recognize from your training as Pathfinder agents. Most of Foster’s more infamous adventures appear here in varying amounts of detail.
You also find this document and this document
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"If I was physically exerting myself, I would feel the same way. Fortunately, I did not have to," he says to the uneasy Varisian.
Lutorinus anoints Giri the same way he had previously. The size of the pentagram almost humourously large on such a small creature. "Let me know if you are still in pain after a minute or so."
Finished reading the documents, he passes them to Emma. "It appears there is a rat hidden within the Society." Investigating it would put them in my debt... This will be worth looking into.
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Giri's body slowly heals back to its former glory and the frog croaks with pleasure. He moves over to the creatures and makes sure they are really dead, aka slits their throats. He inspects the bodies for loot and finds only wooden sticks. He continues to inspect the room But finds nothing of real interest apart from the letters.
As the group is reading through the letters Giri starts folding his net back up for future use. He keeps glancing back up at the group, after a while he finds a moment where no one is looking his way and he sneaks off a little further into the hallway.
He hides a little further and digs a little toad out of his backpack and licks it. His eyes turn into large discs and seem unfocused.
He returns in under a minute back to the group, his eyes large and unfocused.
"Rrrrready"
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"I agree Vaetta. We may even be able to arrange another job investigating this betrayal," Lutorinus says, eager for more work.
"The idea sounds enticing, but I must first know more. What does this entail? How intrusive is the process and it's results? What benefits are there to be had for me?"
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The Chelaxian sits crossed legged on the floor and motions for the tiefling to sit in front of her. As he does she begins to concentrate and reaches out, gently touching his cheek and for 10 minutes a range of emotions, dreams, and feelings passes through them. At the end they can feel each other in their heads.
Watching the strange activities of Lutorinus and Emma, Heryn shakes her head. Mumbling to herself "You society types just keep getting stranger and stranger".
After a few minutes she gripes "I'd like to be getting home if you are done here."
You make it back across the plank without issue. Proceeding up and out of the Wounded Wisp. Heryn gives a curt wave bye and heads away from the building.
The torrent of rain continues as you make your way back to the alley where you left Dreng. As you approach, the man stands, shaking his arms and legs to regain feeling. "Ah, welcome back. I was about to give up for the night. You have my parcel?" he asks with a grin.
Drandle Dreng eyes the frog wearily as Emma acknowledges the retrieval. His head snaps towards Vaetta when she mentions the secret compartment. "Oh? That's quite the intriguing discovery."
Stroking his beard a moment, the man seems deep in thought. Considering his words carefully, he adds "It's not the Society's way to horde information such as this. It is important that Pathfinders respect the finds and claims of their colleagues, and this exciting mystery is yours to pursue.”
"I would request you hand over any documents you found that don't involve this mystery. I would have other agents begin decrypting the information and comparing it to the exploits published in the Pathfinder Chronicles. Aside from that, I implore you to let me know what you find on your quest."
Standing to leave, he gives you a quick nod. An inquisitive look aimed at the grippli, though he says nothing and departs.
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"Well we have at least two options regarding continuing the investigation..." Vaetta says to her teammates after the Venture-Captain departs.
"First, we can investigate Mausoleum in the Ivy District and hope we discover whatever clue lay hidden there. This is likely to be quite dangerous, such is the nature of tomb delving..." Vaetta explains.
"Second, we can investigate the names mentioned in Aldophus' addendum. Eylysia must have had a good reason to add them to the Wall of Names." She continues.
"Given that you two are obviously more experienced than I... what do you think we should do?" Vaetta asks, looking to Emma and Lutorinus for advice.
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Perfect, one job rolling into another! The Society will be paying the Temple handsomely for this.
"There is a third option. This Fimbrik in the Arcanomirium," he adds, pointing to the bottom of the Selmius' letter. "Neither seems significantly more promising than the last, whichever is closest shall suffice." She has good instincts to ask others for input, but the answer lay right before her in the same document she was reading... She will mature with time, perhaps into a powerful ally...
Heading back the way you came, the rain seems to be letting up. Just as the Wounded Wisp comes into view again, you turn north and enter the familiar grounds of the Grand Lodge.
The monument is a curving wall of black glass that stands atop a small hill at the western edge of the lodge’s grounds. Trees surround the hill, providing ample shade and privacy for those visiting the wall to remember fallen comrades. Carved into the wall are the name and date of death of every Pathfinder killed in the course of duty since the wall’s construction, and most entries also include a sentence or two summarizing either the agent’s greatest accomplishments or how she died.
Looking over the names, you come across three that seem to have been hastily cut into the glass. While the rest were placed with great care these three lack the pristine work of a master.
The names are Doulgonlir Caskmail, Hollis “Evil Grin” Thorne, and Karina Clamp.
You also realize these 'pathfinders' depicted never existed.
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Lutorinus gestures to the names of poor workmanship.
"These look suspect. The level of effort and mastery are clearly inferior to this otherwise pristine work. Does anyone know something about these people? I have never heard of them before, must not have been worth much." Worthless sods must not have even been worth the Society asking their usual artist to contribute their names! A wall commemorating the fallen would be a useful monument... something for the people of Isger to rally behind.