Cladissa doesn't smell the woman in the other chamber, only the ozone scent of recently released magical lightning. Each pull causes the doors to slam shut, the chamber to rotate approximately forty five degrees counter clockwise, and then for the door next to the lever to open again. Throughout the four magically suppressed pulls the exterior door remains shut. After the fourth pull , Argor sees the magical aura of the chamber the group is in roar back to life.
Remembering the difficulty of dispelling the magic before, Argor puts a little extra into this attempt, drawing on his inner reserves to add fuel to his power.
__________
Argor's spell succeeds once again.
After the fifth pull, the exterior door finally opens into a new portion of the tower. The revolving elemental chamber empties into a broad, windowless hall. Half columns of marble flank the walls, and a carpeted path stretches towards the single exit: a curved stairwell carved of slick, gray basalt. In the center of the hall, atop a marble dais, sits perched a great copper-clad sphinx.
As the group takes this in, a magical symbol on the floor of the room activates.
The metallic sphinx eyes the group coldly. "You are not welcome here. Prepare to perish!" She rises to all fours from her pedestal with a sound of flexing metal, unfurling her great wings.
Initiative:
Party
Andrexiel
Thrassk growls. "We are here to sssave the Sssociety you stupid statue! Out of my way!" entering his bloodrage, he flaps his own wings to spring forward and meet their foe.
His wing clips a column as he lands, and causes his teeth to snap shut on nothing but air.
"Andrexiel! He speaks the truth! We are here to he-AAAGGGHHH!!!" Argor cries out as he clutches his head, reeling from some unseen effect.
Cladissa bolsters her mind against the symbol, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, but we need to continue."
The sphinx shakes off the gathering ice with little trouble. "Say what you will. I know my duty."
The beast who is Grommesson charges with a roar.
Gianluca gives the Sphinx a courteous nod. "Then I'm sorry to have to do this, but many lives are on the line."
Honey-gold wings once more sprout from his back, and he flies toward the Sphinx, sword blazing.
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Thrassk growls. "We are here to sssave the Sssociety you stupid statue! Out of my way!" entering his bloodrage, he flaps his own wings to spring forward and meet their foe. His wing clips a column as he lands, and causes his teeth to snap shut on nothing but air.
"Andrexiel! He speaks the truth! We are here to he-AAAGGGHHH!!!" Argor cries out as he clutches his head, reeling from some unseen effect.
Cladissa bolsters her mind against the symbol, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, but we need to continue." Raising a clawed hand at the sphinx, the witch calls down a powerful hex. Frosty crystals begin to swirl around the metallic creature, but the sphinx shakes off the gathering ice with little trouble. "Say what you will. I know my duty."
The beast who is Grommesson charges with a roar. His adamantine blade cleaves a rent in the sphinx's metallic flesh.
Gianluca gives the Sphinx a courteous nod. "Then I'm sorry to have to do this, but many lives are on the line." Honey-gold wings once more sprout from his back, and he flies toward the Sphinx, sword blazing. His magically enhanced slice cuts an even bigger glowing rent in the creature, but does not stop it.
The sphinx rises up on her hind legs like a lioness at the hunt, and slashes at Thrassk with her bronze claws.
She leaves two bloody furrows in the dragonman's scales.
================================
Adrenia flies forward and grabs Thrassk’s wand from her wand sling, and restores some of the dragon man’s wounded vitality.
The beast who is Grommesson slashes and slashes.
Hating to see a guardian of the Pathfinders be destroyed, Cladissa tries again to entomb the sphinx and take it out of the fight.
Gianluca attempts to dodge behind the Sphinx, getting it between him and Thrassk. Then he swings again with divine glory...and misses badly.
Adrenia flies forward and grabs Thrassk’s wand from her wand sling, and restores some of the dragon man’s wounded vitality.
The beast who is Grommesson slashes and slashes. He cuts two more rents in the metallic creature's form.
Hating to see a guardian of the Pathfinders be destroyed, Cladissa tries again to entomb the sphinx and take it out of the fight. The sphinx breaks free of the icy tomb with a roar.
Gianluca attempts to dodge behind the Sphinx, getting it between him and Thrassk. Then he swings again with divine glory...and misses badly.
Thrassk growls, sidestepping to flank the guardian. He then unleashes on it with everything he's got.
Thrassk's own metallic teeth crunch down on a wing as he rends the sphinxs' already wounded chest with his claws.
Andrexiel steps to the wall, and continues her desperate battle with Thrassk.
================================
Thrassk ignores the new wounds, and continues to shred pieces of bronze from Andrexiel with his teeth and claws.
"Please stop, before you are destroyed. I'll make it so you will harm yourself if you keep up this aggression!" Cladissa shouts as she targets the sphinx with another hex.
Adrenia again channels some healing through Thrassk’s wand to the draconic warrior.
__________
Gianluca steps to the side, keeping the sphinx between himself and Thrassk.
"Once again, I'm sorry to do this."
_____________
Gianluca's glowing blade shears the shpinx's head from its shoulders. The whole construct collapses with a crash on to the tiled floor.
As Argor recovered from the magic that had stunned him, his analytical kicked back into gear as the sphinx construct falls to the floor defeated and destroyed. ”Something is not right here. I do not doubt there to be a danger present, as we have already encountered several foes. But what concerns me is how many of this facilities defenses remain active and pristine...Andrexiel was a potent defender, and while no match for our combined might, to bypass it and the magical wards undetected and inactivated...I feel we are missing something here...”
"Perhapsss. What you say makesss sense. But there can't be that much more of this tower, can there? What choice do we have other than to pressss on?" The bloodied dragonman looks weary.
The beast who is Grommesson calms down and does not see his companions as threats.
"You're both right," Cladissa says sadly, a gnawing pit of despair growing in her stomach. Even if they defeated Hestram for good today, would the Society recover? She didn't necessarily like the answer her instincts were telling her.
"Well, let's go and see what awaits us in the next chamber," she says wearily.
Argor nods. ”Just...be prepared...something is not sitting well with me about this, beyond the obvious.”
Gianluca nods. "I appreciate your caution. Hestram is a cunning foe, and it grieves me to weaken the Society's defenses. That said, I agree that we must go on."
...and with that, Gianluca leads the way forward to the next chamber.
The stairs at the far end of the hallway climb up into a block of unnatural shadow. Gianluca leads the way up them, as the rest of the group follows closely behind him. Atop the stairs, the unnatural shadow disperses, emptying like a river of gray swirling fog into a tremendous, circular atrium.
The fog collects along the perimeter of the room, hovering no more than a foot above the ground. The remainder of the floor is exposed. Its surface appears slick and glasslike. Light from below penetrates the translucent surface, giving off a faint, eerie glow. The walls too appear made of the same, glassy substance. They climb almost twenty feet, then curve inward into a shadowy metal dome. Pinholes of light twinkle on the surface of the dome ceiling, giving it the appearances of the night sky. A shifting array of scenes twist and dance across the surface of the murky windows, depicting scores of people and places in dozens of realms throughout Golarion.
A lone figure — a Decemvirate member —stands in the center of the floor staring into the walls. Her face is covered with an ivory mask, featureless except for pale, pupil-less white orbs lined with jade where her eyes should be. Its surface is inlaid with complex patterns of runes and upon its left cheek rest three, blood-red, crystalline tears. Dozens of silver rings pierce the perimeter of the mask, and it is hooded with a bristling mane of peacock feathers. Beneath the mask, the woman wears a gown of peacock feathers, porcupine quills and shimmering plates of scintillating opalescent abalone. She keeps her gaze on the morphing scenes within the massive windows, though she must have heard the Freaks enter the chamber.
"Lady Shemisss? Isss that you?" Thrassk asks, stepping forward a bit and looking around. "We've been looking for you, are you alright?"
The masked woman begins speaking. Throughout, she remains aloof and detached, never pulling her gaze from the wall. “Well Adril, you have found me at last. I see you have once again manipulated the members of the Society into performing your dirty work. I congratulate you on your ingenuity. Well played. Now that you’re here, you may as well reveal yourself to your pawns."
Afer speaking, Shemis falls silent. Seconds later, all the eraminho stones about the Pathfinder's heads fade to a dull gray color and fall to the floor. Ether spills from the stones and within moments, materializes in the form of Adril Hestram...no wait...lots of Adril Hestrams!
The burly warriors grin toothy grins, and one of them says, "“And so it begins, Shemis… Endgame.”
Initiative:
Initiative:
Shemis 23
Blue 22
Thrassk 21
Gianluca 15
Grommesson 14
Red 14
Cladissa 13
Orange 12
Green 9
Purple 8
Argor 6
Shemis casts a spell on herself. Her outline blurs and it is hard to see exactly where she's standing.
One of the Adrils steps back and grabs a potion from its belt, drinking it. He bends over, clutching at his stomach.
Thrassk rages, turning to the Hestram next to him to attack.
His claws rend the warrior's armor like paper, as his teeth rip the exposed flesh.
"Blast it, Argor, you were right! Well, we still have time to fix things."
Gianluca swings his golden sword in a mighty arc, attempting to hit three of the "Hestram"s.
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Gianluca's blow instantly kills the Hestram that Thrassk already attacked. As it dies, it reverts to the faceless form of a doppelganger. He wounds the other two Hestrams as well, but doesn't manage to take them down.
The beast who is Grommesson roars and slashes an orange Adril.
Another of the Hestrams steps up and attacks Cladissa with a heavy blow.
Cladissa reels from the attack. She defensively casts her spell, hitting the one who struck her with a spell to freeze him in place. Then her spider legs extend and carry her to put Grommesson and Gianluca between her and the other Hestrams.
The Hestram that struck Cladissa freezes in place.
::Grom! Coup de gras the one I just froze!:: Cladissa broadcasts depserately, hopeful that one more enemy combatant can be dispatched swiftly.
The held Hestram can not break free of Cladissa's enchantment.
Another Hestram steps up to Gianluca and gives the golden Pathfinder a good whack.
Initiative:
Shemis 23
Blue 22
Thrassk 21
Gianluca 15
Grommesson 14
Red 14
Cladissa 13
Orange 12
Green 9
Purple 8
Argor 6
Argornfliesnup and away from the combatants on the ground, and calls forth three Earth elementals the size of giants into the chamber. He calls out to them in Terran, pointing out Shemis to protect and to attack the various Hestram’s:
”Lady Shemis, please allow these elementals to protect you while we deal with these traitors,” he says as he gets safe and prepares to more formally engage the fight.
Immediately after summoning them in, Adrenia activates the wand of haste, bolstering the speed of all the Pathfinders. The elementals lumber into battle, trying to drive fists through the skulls of the various Hestrams while maintaining a battle line between them and Shemis.
Two of the elementals land slams on the Hestram who drank a potion earlier. The other misses completely.
================================
Initiative:
Shemis 23
Blue 22
Thrassk 21
Gianluca 15
Grommesson 14
Red 14
Cladissa 13
Orange 12
Purple 8
Argor 6
Shemis runs away from the brewing combat, taking up a defensive position near the far wall.
The Hestram who drank the potion speaks through grated teeth as his bod y begins to bubble and transform. "You damned pups have nearly ruined everything! You come out of nowhere and rise to the top of the Society in a matter of months thanks to your freakish powers. WELL NOW I WILL HAVE THAT POWER TOO!" He stops, doubling over in pain as his form begins to rapidly grow. "RAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhh!"
Thrassk flaps across the battlefield, landing next to Grommesson. His long neck lashes out to bite one of the dopplegangers.