Free of his entrapment, Rogar wastes no time in doing what he does best.
Sia spins and attacks the other skeleton.
Eustoma levels her bow and fires again.
With all of you focusing your attacks, including critical hits from Rogar and Wulfram, the undead creature doesn't stand a chance. You quickly obliterate it!
Taking a few moments to search the inanimate bodies still dangling, you find one still wears a signet ring and gold necklace bearing the Sabine family crest--the same family that the Molthuni general, Katra Sabine, belongs to. Tucked in his boot is a letter:
You’ve never caught Azaersi asleep because she no longer sleeps. There is a passage in her wardrobe leading down... somewhere, and she spends her evenings there with that accursed witch-worm. I could not bypass the guardian below; it is tireless and brutal, but it fears the red shard. If you can steal Azaersi’s red shard, I believe you can cow the brute! I shall attempt to do so and report additional details to you.
-V. Sebine
Wulfram called upon the spirits to heal Rogar, and recited a few prayers to protect his allies.
Once that was done, he read the note and commented, "Sounds like there's a secret passage in Azaersi's quarters."
His preparations complete, he looked for the path ahead.
Eustoma casts Greater Magic Fang on Sia. "Let's go. We should keep an eye out for the red shard."
You pass through an empty guard room and emerge from the tower into a courtyard past the Onyx Citadel's entry gate. A jagged crystal field runs along the south side of the Onyx Citadel—the only significant landmass on the island not incorporated into the fortification. To the west, another short series of stairs leads into the citadel.
A dozen trolls linger here, and at one end of the courtyard, atop a throne made of over-sized quartz crystals, is an enormous troll with nine heads! All of her heads turn to squint as you, nostrils flaring. "Who you be who come to the court of Ziatakra Bicker-Tongues?" she bellows. "With strange beasts in tow as well. Be you intruders?!?"
Wulfram was skeptical that they could bluff their way past the trolls, but he held his tongue, so Karla could at least make the attempt. He surveyed the enemy's positioning, sizing up where to place a fire spell for greatest effect.
Ziatakra's heads grunt and growl, but the troll settles back onto her throne. "Oktar. We have not seen you in long time. Good you come back," the troll rumbles. "Somebody already attacked fortress! Killed Grimhorn and tower guards. We guard courtyard, make sure nobody gets through!"
Wulfram followed Karla, her bluff seemingly working so far.
The lesser trolls growl and move out of your way as you cross the courtyard and step into the Onyx Citadel proper via the stables. This area is largely empty, housing several stalls plus a cordoned-off room which acts as a barrack. A wide, curving stair on the northeast side of the stable ascends to an upper floor, while a narrower stair to the west leads into the ground floor of the citadel.
Wulfram looked around before consulted with his allies, "What do you think? Check out the upper floor first, before moving into the ground floor of the main citadel?"
Wulfram doesn't notice anything unusual nearby.
"Aye. Works fer me." Rogar says, and follows along, his fingers twitching in anticipation of the inevitable fight that will break out.
The stairs lead up into a war room. A giant diorama in the center of the room has had a basket-sized boulder dropped onto its center, crushing several model towns, toppling other models, and cracking the sturdy wooden frame. Several painted sculptures that depict troops and major locations lay scattered around the destroyed diorama near a small lantern that provides dim illumination to the room.
A large door at the eastern arc of the circular chamber provides an exit, an a second stairway spirals up towards the citadel's roof.
A female bugbear in the uniform of an Ironfang lieutenant screams at a trio of similarly dressed hobgoblins. "Azaersi has left us no other recourse! I will not rule an empire of rubble!" the bugbear howls. All four turn as you enter the room, and the bugbear squints at your disguises.
"Oktar? Is that you? Where the hell have you been?" she demands.
"The general has gone mad, that's what's going on!" the bugbear screams. She gestures at the display in the room, which Karla realizes is a diorama portraying the nations of Molthune and Nirmathas. It seems the Legion has been trying to predict the scope of the damage Azaersi's final plan will inflict. "She wants to bring the whole Onyx Citadel crashing down in the middle of our conquered territory! It is insane! We have waged this war to carve out our own nation on Golarion. We want the cities intact, not smashed to bits! Plus, this would be a warning sign to all the other nations of Avistan that have thus far ignored the regional threat our Legion poses. What sort of response would such a brazen act of destruction provoke?
"The solution is clear. We have to assassinate General Azaersi!"
The three hobgoblins nod in agreement, though this might be because they are too afraid to try to contradict the intimidating bugbear.
Eustoma vigorously as well. If she thinks everyone things it's a good idea. Maybe we can send the crazy bugbear at the general and save us the trouble of the fight.
Wulfram grunted in agreement; he was afraid of speaking for fear that his accented speech will give the group away.
"The trick would be to find her," the bugbear snarls. "Azaersi is nowhere to be found half the day. But the witch-worm she adores so much slithers out of its hiding place whenever something goes wrong with the mana battery at the citadel's pinnacle. Lure the worm out, get it to tell you where the general is hiding, then go and do what must be done!" She gestures to the stairs in this room that lead further up.
The doors out of the war room exit onto a broad terrace. The terrace is well protected by a crenellated outer wall that rings this tower of the citadel before spilling out onto a wide balcony. A trio of gargoyles with wings and claws of crystallized ruby roost here, but they let you pass with but a glance. A door leads into the main citadel, where a long hall connects to another balcony where three hobgoblin archers look out onto the vault to the east. They, too, are easily fooled by Karla's illusions.
Stairs here lead up to the Citadel's third floor, where a low balustrade skirts the northeastern arc of the complex. Several scorch marks scar the surface of this onyx terrace, and two ballistae are loaded and ready to fire. Four hobgoblins are here, livening up their guard duty by detonating bombs and watching the explosions.
The doors at the end of the balcony lead back into the Citadel, where yet another set of doors opens onto a circular chamber. A grand, recessed dueling ring dominates this room. Skirting the ring is a five-foot path cordoned off from the ring via a flexible rope secured to several three-foot-tall posts.
Six poorly equipped humans provide a pathetic resistance against a trio of hobgoblin monks. A wizened female hobgoblin is demonstrating a variety of deadly techniques on the cowering slaves. Stairs across the room lead up to the roof where the mana battery is located.
The old hobgoblin looks up as you enter. "Oktar? No... Something is not right." She narrows her eyes, then snarls in anger. "Look alive, students! These are impostors, cloaked in elf magic! It's time to put your training to use!"
Eustoma draws her weapon, and moves to where she can attack the old hobgoblin.
Sia bounds up to the closest enemy and bites.
Wulfram flew forward and called on the battle spirits to aid his allies. "For Phaendar!"
Battle Spirit (Su): A shaman surrounds herself with the spirit of battle. Allies within 30 feet of the shaman (including the shaman) receive a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and weapon damage rolls. At 8th level and 16th level, these bonuses increase by 1. The shaman can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.
Rogar summons his magic and pelts the elderly hobgoblin with a blast of metal and stone.
Despite the hobgoblin's skills of perception, she is unprepared to deal with a torrent of razor-sharp metal and stone. Rogar's first maximized blast shreads through the hobgoblin's body, and as she falls, he quickly blasts another enemy. Karla raises a wall of force to isolate one of the monks with no escape while Nik'o pounces upon the wounded monk, ripping him apart! Eustoma and Sia injure the other one, though the wolf fails to trip it.
The trapped hobgoblin snarls angrily and pounds ineffectually on the wall of force. The wounded one desperately attacks Sia, not coming close to even harming the wolf!
Rogar lazily finishes off the wounded hobgoblin before waiting for the trapped one to come into his line of fire.
Wulfram attacked an enemy he could reach.
Both remaining hobgoblins quickly fall to your fury!
The human prisoners thank you profusely for their rescue. They were kidnapped from various towns in Nirmathas and brought here to serve as target practice for the Ironfang soldiers. They will remain in hiding here until you are able to escort them to safety.
The stairs here lead up to the mana battery at the apex of the Onyx Citadel. Jet-black spines of crystal jut down from the vaulted ceiling of this massive chamber, massive bolts of blue, green, and purple lightning arcing between them. The energy in the air causes your hair to stand on end. Ancient runes and diagrams trace across the room’s floor and walls, with secondary additions made in glistening silver.
While disabling the massive energy charge here won’t destroy the transposition engine, it will reset the charging process--and also likely alert the Legion's commanders that something has gone wrong.
The only way to discharge the massive amount of magical energy collected here is for a living creature to physically mar one of the metallic diagrams etched into the floor or walls, using her body as a conduit. Creatures bound by magic—such as summoned creatures, eidolons, and phantoms—and nonliving creatures (such as constructs and undead) can’t be used as a conduit to discharge the gathered energy. Only a living, breathing creature can break this arcane circuit. Once the circuit is broken, the discharging energy will strike all creatures in the room with acid, cold, electricity, and fire.
Wulfram rested for a moment and said, "Right, let's go and disrupt the mana battery. Anyone have any ideas on how to do that?"
"Let's go get it." Eustoma holds her bow ready.
Wulfram replied to Karla, "I think that's the idea: get their attention, and lure Zanathura to come and investigate. Then we get her to tell us where General Azaersi is hiding."
"How intense do you think the energy will be?", Wulfram wondered. "I could meditate and memorize some protective spells.
"In any case, I think we should go up and have a closer look."
The battery thrums loudly as Wulfram goes up to take a look at it. Up close, he can feel the massive amounts of energy radiating off of it. It probably isn't a good idea to even be next to it for any length of time!