"Cathy! Channel!" Terana commands, focusing for a moment before a wash of rose light emanates from her.
Cathyriel salutes, out of reflex. "Yes, ma'am! Channeling, ma'am!"
"An orrery?" says Tobar. "Makes sense, given the Azlanti predilection for divination..."
He brings his crossbow down to a ready position, nervous, as the sensation of a crawling dread washes over the team.
As the rest of you prepare for the worst, Terana channels positive energy throughout the room. With luck, she is able to just disrupt the haunt's manifestation. The rumbling ceases, and the eerie whistling noise fades away. It seems the threat has been neutralized, at least for now.
"...idea."
Cathyriel finishes the sentence she was in the middle of when the haunt interrupted. She gives Gideon a Hard Stare: "I'm told that in Ustalav, they have a saying: 'if you don't want the monster, don't pull the lever.' Possibly we should consider something similar."
"I agree." Terana says, shooting a look at Gideon. "This isn't the first time you've jumped in Gideon. I know its exciting but could you at least let the rest of us get out of the room first?"
For possibly the first time, the scholar seems flustered, hesitant to speak. "...you're both right, of course. My apologies for jumping in without pausing to give the rest of you a chance to weigh in. I know I let my enthusiasm get the better of me sometimes. I'll do my best to rein it in." he answers sheepishly.
After a moment, he continues. "Well...it seems that the danger is passed for now, at least, and I'm definitely not going to try those same coordinates again. Even so...we have a golden opportunity available right now. We're near the high point of the this island and have a functioning telescope in front of us. It might be wise to survey a little, see if we can find any hint of where our quarry has gone or if there are any other landmarks worth seeking out. And I would also suggest trying to remove that ioun node when we leave...so that anyone who comes after us doesn't make the same mistake I just did."
Because of the observatory's high elevation, this location is an excellent place to use a spyglass to scan the surrounding terrain. By spending 30 minutes of surveying your surroundings, you spy a tall pillar of stone jutting up several miles to the southwest. It's as clear a landmark as any.
Going through the data entries stored in the device indicates coordinates for that location. While you are studying this data entry, the metal pin panel shows the word "pillars" in Azlanti, and displays a three-dimensional representation of the location's topography. There are actually seven pillars of stone, each taller and thicker than the previous one, which stand in a spiral-shaped formation.
Each planet's location relative to Golarion at any given moment is also stored in the mechanism. Curiously enough, much older data entries include two planets orbiting at a distance between Verces and Eox, and the panel displays the names Damiar and Iovo for these entries. Gideon remembers seeing those planets represented in the observatory where you fought Helektherie--the Twins, as they were called, were destroyed long before Earthfall, and their remains form the asteroid belt known as the Diaspora.
Working carefully, Tobar is able to remove the ioun memory node from the device without damaging it. The gemstone itself is worth 5,000 gp, but the data contained within makes it invaluable.
"I'm never gonna forget this place is here...scholars back on the mainland would likely give their eye teeth for an opportunity to make sure of the astronomical tools here. Maybe one day we'll be able to synthesize those control nodes ourselves and keep using the telescope. As far as moving on...in lieu of any other information or direction on where to go next, those stone pillars seem as good a destination as any. What does everyone else think?"
"I think we should follow the stalkers." Terana opinions. "Getting our missing colonists back is more important than archaeology. The ruins have been here thousands of years. Our friends won't last that long."
"Normally I would agree with you completely, but right now we don't have any leads as to their whereabouts; not since we lost their trail at the river. I do agree with what you said earlier that it's more likely they went south rather than doubling back to the north, and that rock formation looked to be on the southern tip of the island, so I figure it's as good a place to make for as any; I have to believe they're just as likely to use those kinds of landmarks as a rally point as we are."
Cathyriel nods in agreement. "We've lost the stalkers' trail. Trying to find landmarks they might also be using seems as good a way as any to regain our bearings."
"We got any magic that could divine their location, or that of the missing people?"
"I don't, myself. Divination has never really been my niche."
After resting overnight in the observatory, you make your way down the tall hill and southwest towards the pillars. About halfway there, you can hear several footfalls in the undergrowth ahead of you. You see a group of three clockwork constructs stomping through the forest. Two of them are humanoid-shaped and wield polearms. The third clockwork has six limbs, one of which ends in a broad fist, another extending into an articulated metal lash.
They don't seem particularly observant. They haven't noticed you yet.
Gideon stays hidden in the brush, trying to stay out of sight of the constructs for now. Looking back to the others, he speaks in a low whisper,"I'm gonna try talking to them...tell them we're hunting ugothols that we've tracked here, find out if they've encountered them. What do you think?" he asks the others.
Tobar shrugs. "I guess it's worth a try."
FIRST LEVEL
Bless
Divine Favour
Divine Favour
Liberating Command
Protection from Evil (D)
Shield of Faith
SECOND LEVEL
Align Weapon (D)
Communal Protection from Evil
Spear of Purity
Spiritual Weapon
Spiritual Weapon
THIRD LEVEL
Communal Resist Energy
Searing Light (D)
Summon Monster III
Summon Monster III
FOURTH LEVEL
Holy Smite (D)
Spiritual Ally
Spiritual Ally
Cathyriel nods in agreement with Tobar, but looks dubious. "I'd say it can't hurt, but..."
Terana simply nods, staying behind her tree with her hand opening and closing sporadically. Every fibre of her being screams readiness to leap out and confront the machines.
Attempting to talk to the clockworks won't get you anywhere.
"Hmm...the more that I think about it, the more I'm not sure talking is a good idea. It's unlikely that they'd be able to have any real conversation with us; they're not truly sentient, just programmed to respond to a vast number of stimuli. I doubt they're programmed to react to the sudden appearance of humankind after literal millenia of patrolling." he says.
"So...we can bull through them or try to work our way around again."
Tobar furrows his brow and says, "I don't understand - how are they different from the constructs we were just talking to not all that long ago?"
"It's Not that they wouldn't talk to us, it's just that they probably couldn't tell us anything useful. We're in the heart of the old Azlanti empire here, so I seriously doubt the person who created them have them the capacity to understand and answer 'Hey, seen any ugothols lately?'."
"Leave them then." Terana suggests. "I don't want to run into that lash if I don't have to!"
Gideon nods. "I'm fine with bypassing them, too."
You remain concealed as the clockworks grind and clank past your hiding spot, continuing their perennial patrol. You wait several minutes until you are sure they are long gone before continuing your trek. After another hour and a half, you reach your destination.
Seven pillars of stone, each taller and thicker than the previous one, stand in a spiral-shaped formation. The pillars bear many intricately carved symbols inlaid with a silvery metal and lines of a crystalline material, and each pillar is fitted with a ring-shaped, metal dial with similar symbols carved onto it. The entire area seems unnaturally chilly and dim, as if a great shadow lay over the land.
"We've seen this spiral symbol a lot recently...the worship of Pharasma was a lot more prominent than I expected it to be, assuming it has the same symbolism as the star-and-spiral stuff we were seeing before." Gideon remarks.
"All these symbols...they look like what you'd see in the teleportation circles used in rituals today."
"...huh! Not local teleporting, either! Some of these symbols...this one, here...and that one, over there...these are extraterrestrial locations. Gods only know what they were teleporting out...or in." he adds.
"So, is there any way of telling if these have been used recently?" Terana asks, keeping things focused on the mundane and practical rather than the miraculous.
"So... if they're extra-terrestrial... the orrery wasn't just for studying the stars, but for finding destination spots," suggests Tobar.
Cathyriel looks bored. "Who cares? Does it help us find the missing people, or the stalkers? If not, let's come back later. None of this is going anywhere. Unless it teleports away."
”Unless the missing people were taken to another planet by their captors.”
Cathyriel grimaces. "I really hope not. I've found enough evil to war against on this planet."
She looks at Gideon. "Is there any way to tell if this device has been used recently?"
"Hmmm...I'm not sure. Let me look around a little more, see if there's anything that could give us a bit more information." Gideon answers, beginning to poke around the immediate area, hoping to find the center of the teleportation circle or anything more specific regarding its activation.
After a few minutes of studying the pillars, a foul mist bubbles up atop two of the pillars as a pair of horrid creatures appear. These gaunt, long-limbed quadrupeds have huge, soulless eyes and a toothy maw. The lean creaturse move with a predatory grace.
One of the snarls, and you feel as if the air grows heavy around you, causing your movements to be slow and sluggish. The second one seems to slip between the angles of reality, appearing at the base of the pillar beside Gideon. It snaps at him, tearing the bard with its teeth.
The monster's soulless gaze seems to threaten doom...
Terana meets the beast's gaze squarely. "My god protects me beast. She will not do the same for you!"
Stepping forward she lashes out with her glaive.
Cathyriel is a veteran of the Glorious Reclamation - fiends stepping out of the air from nowhere is just another day for her. Brandishing her holy symbol, she calls down the wrath of her goddess on the beasts.
Gideon cries out in agony when the creature's teeth tear into him!
Suddenly feeling as if weighed down by some unseen force, Gideon scrambles away, as best he can, taking a five-foot step backward so Terana can take his place while simultaneously casting a spell that fills her with courage.
Glowing red sigils appear on the monsters' bodies when they are next to the pillars, and similar sigils appear on the pillar. Gideon deduces that it is probably possible to disrupt the creatures' connection with the pillars by realigning the symbols.
Realizing that there might be an easier way to end this fight than pure combat, Gideon calls out to Tobar, hoping he might be able to move to realign the symbols more quickly than he while Terana and Cathyriel hold the creatures off.
"Right, just tell me what to do," says Tobar. He hooks his crossbow to his belt and rubs his hands together.
The creatures howl in pain as Cathryriel's holy smite blasts them and leaves them blinded!
Gideon takes the opportunity to start realigning the symbols while Tobar moves to the bard's sign, holstering his crossbow. Terana slices into the closest monster with her glaive.
The creature that attacked Gideon does so again, lashing out with tooth and claw. The other one slips through reality to appear next to Cathryiel, assaulting the cleric!
Terana steps between the beasts and attacks the creature assaulting Gideon again.
Gideon howls as the creature's attacks find purchase in his flesh, leaving him bleeding badly and hardly able to stand. still, he stays on his task, trying to finish re-aligning the symbols on the pillar he is working on while directing Tobar to do the same for his.
Cathyriel steps back, calling on her goddess for aid as she does so; a shimmering angelic figure appears behind the creature she's fighting.
The hazy figure strikes at the beast.