Jorin moves forward as the last duergar falls.
Round 3
26 Fredrik
21 Sveinki
19 Ironwhip
18 S'Slarn and Darren
14 Jorin
13 Aestrid
Fredrik takes a moment to heal as Sveinki readies his swing when Aestrid can drop the wall!
On the other side of the wall, Ironwhip grins and speaks again in his gravelly tongue. He steps five feet toward Darren with menace in his eyes. Suddenly he explodes with rocks, peppering Darren with shards of crystal and rock, wet with blood! Darren attempts a vs DC 18 for half! He suceeds, taking half damage, but Ironwhip presses on and attacks!
for damage!
for damage!
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Aestrid begins chanting and reaches out to touch the wall. Suddenly, the wall parts to reveal a 15' wide hole about 5' high. The stone flows onto the ground to make a low hump and to the sides to make pillars at the flanks of the "window" in the wall.
She spits, "Vengeance is at hand, Slaver!"
Her leopard charges forward, leaping at the last moment to bite and slash with its claws.
Aestrid causes the stone to pull back to reveal the duergar priest beyond. The duergar calls back in a gravelly tongue and tries to smash the leopard as it leaps! for damage!
The canny duergar dodges the flaming sphere!
Sveinki's strike hits the duergar hard, but he spits blood and gravel and continues on. Darren's arrows, too, hit hard, peppering the duergar, but he refuses to fall! Jorin's whip lashes out and wraps around the heavy hammer, which falls to the ground, shrinking down to medium size. A splash of acid in the shape of an arrow follows, hitting the dwarf and burning into him.
Round 4
26 Fredrik
21 Sveinki
19 Ironwhip
18 S'Slarn and Darren
14 Jorin
13 Aestrid
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Sveinki narrows his eyes, recognizing a dangerous foe when he sees one. The punishment the duergar has endured makes his an enemy worthy of respect. But knowing that he cannot withstand Torag's sacred attacks for long, he winds up his hammer and aim another blow at the gray dwarf, acid dripping from his longhammer as it hammers away.
Sveinki's blow is not critical, but it does seem guided by Torag himself. With a mighty battlecry he strikes the duergar, who falls to his knees, still cursing in his gravelly tongue. He spits at Sveinki's feet, then shrinks down to medium size once more, dead.
Darren feels a sudden lightness as the spirit Tanbaru parts from him. "I am avenged! Thank you, outlanders. You have given me rest." He shimmers and disappears!
There are still rooms to explore, and heeding this, you peer into them. A barred office sits to the west, where a strangle metal device sits atop a long table. To the east, however, you hear a weak voice in accented Common. "Hello? Hello, outlanders? Please, please help me." Two cells stand to the east, the northern most one unoccupied, but the southernmost one contains a gaunt wayang man, manacled and shackled at the wrists and ankles and looking tired and beaten.
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Darren doesn't give himself a moment to relax, though his body is rife with wounds, he looks about for traps, scared something bad is about.
"Check his body. See if he has keys, if not, I'll handle it." With that, he heads towards the cage, checking for traps along the way and then on the cage/lock itself.
Darren finds no traps and after a few moments, is able to unlock the cage holding the wayang.
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"Good day, sir...Why are you being held here...so isolated...and are there others we can free?"
Darren rummages about for a moment and then pulls out a wand and begins using it on himself.
"I am Darren Varkon of the Pathfinder Society...we have come looking for people we have found to be no more...but...I hate slavery more than almost anything, so seeing that these dwarves were slavers...I felt the need to put a stop to it."
The wayang rubs his wrists where the manacles cut into him. “Thank you, thank you, I cannot thank you enough for defeating that horrible man. He sent a raiding party to my village to capture and enslave. He and that Mueritt force us to work day and night, until we are too tired and weak. They say if we don’t keep up, they will sacrifice us to their god. So many people have already been taken away, and they never return. I collapsed and woke up here, chained to the wall.”
Catching sight of one of your wayfinders, the wayang freezes. "But, but! You're Pathfinders!" He raises his hands in surrender. "Please don't kill me!"
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Aestrid dismisses her invisibility and addresses S'Slarn, "Is the Sky Key piece there?"
To the wayang, she replies, "I don't know what you have been told, but we Pathfinders are a relatively benign bunch, except to those like the Aspis Consortium, who scheme to destroy antiquities or who fight against us or our allies. At any rate, we are your rescuers. My name is Aestrud Tularssan."
She bows, speaks a command word and so doing resumes her own natural appearance rather than that of the duergar smith.
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Fredrik heals the group making sure they are all together and the only ones affected.
After it he joins the search for the sky key using detect magic. And eventually gets to the cells.
Have no fear, the goddess decided to spare you and so shall we. We are friends, you have nothing to be afraid of. You are safe with us.
The wayang looks confused. "But the men came to our village, the men with the pins and told us all about the horrible Pathfinder Society: how you sought to enslave us all, how you killed and murdered at will, how no one was safe from you if they stood between you and the things you wanted. They were very persuasive."
The wayang nods slowly. "Does that mean something?"
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"It doesn't matter what you believe, really. You are welcome to return with us to freedom and it is we Pathfinders who have done the deed." Aestrid says. She shrugs, clearly having no more time for this man, and turns her gaze to the barred room to the west.
"That looks like the sky key, perhaps." She says, indicating the thing on the desk beyond the barred portal. She looks around for a means to open it and if it is not a simple latch, she moves back to Ironwhip's body and looks to see if he has anything that would work as a key, checking for magic auras at the same time...
The wayang nods, considering this information. "There are indeed many more slaves deeper in this complex, but there are far too many to free by force. A few of us did hatch a plan to free the slaves and start an uprising, but we would need keys to the manacles."
Aestrid, you discover a key to the room wherein lies the Sky Key hidden on the dead duergar.
The wayang nods, thoughtfully. "If you could distract the guards, it would make things easier." He suggests you attack a guard outpost, but allow them to call for aid, then withdraw before the aid can arrive, then repeat at another outpost, thus tying up the guards from stopping the escape.
Aestrid unlocks the bars and picks up the piece of the Sky Key! However, she realizes immediately that the key was strategically placed over some sort of hole, as a white mist erupts and engulfs her! Fortunately for her, she is fortified by her goddess and manages to emerge from the cloud, coughing and wiping the mist from her eyes, but no worse for wear!
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That was close...
Aestrid returns to the group and returns to the central chamber with the Key. She nods acceptance to the former slave's plan and then gathers the last valuable items before they leave. "Savour your new-found freedom and don't hesitate for a moment in striking your former captives. We will do our part."
A few moments of conference and the plan is set! The wayang heads quickly into the corridors while you head in the opposite direction. The battle is brief, but pitched. By the time the ruse is done, you've each taken damage! But you emerge, bloodied and bruised, from the duergar caverns to discover a long train of slaves also escaping. Together you trudge through the mountains to a safe village that Swareti, the wayang you rescued, knows of. Once there, the freed slaves approach you with reverence and thanks. A few of them start at your wayfinders and comment that a well-dressed man came to their villages and spoke of the Pathfinder Society and its crimes, but as they all end up saying, "Clearly he must have lied." With the truth about the Society and their freedom, they break into groups, heading back to their different villages. With thanks and farewells, you finally step into the glowing orbs behind you and find yourselves back in the tapestry room of the Pathfinder Society.
Aram Zey waits impatiently for you there. Seeing the Sky Key fragment, he smiles, a rare sight. He quickly asks about your mission and hearing of it, sighs. “The transformation of Naldak’s descendants into duergar was an unexpected and unfortunate development. However what matters is that you recovered another piece of the Sky Key. You successfully completed your mission.” The Master of Spells returns his attention to the tapestry. After a few moments, he barks, “Why are you still standing around? Do you want an award for doing your jobs?”
Word of your accomplishment, however, soon gets around and you have agents walking up to you and asking you to tell the story of 'how you rescued a thousand slaves from a duergar army without taking a scratch!'
Indeed! In case it matters, he was a CR 8 foe. I should have chronicles on the way for everyone shortly. Expect a PM with the link for download! Thanks, everyone! I had a good time running this.
Also, I need PFS numbers from S'Slarn, Darren and Jorin, please. Thanks!