Shifting vertically via the flight magic from Sara's banner, Maria continued her assault on the creature, not having any other way to harm it.
Lacking any further great ideas, Zileska lashes out with her whip at the elemental.
Zileska's whip crackles with lightning, electrocuting the water elemental. Maria stabs it three times, leaving a trio of light wounds behind.
Sara grabs a heavy bludgeon from her bag and flies at the elemental, smashing it. As it reels in a daze she clobbers it twice more, Melodie's voice causing the thing extra pain. With a great shudder, the creature collapses in on itself, drenching everybody with warm water.
In the aftermath of the fight, Zhi realizes that the northern pool has a pair of traps. The first one infuses anybody inside of it with a numbing chill that leaves them stiff and logy. Then, a trap door would flush the pool and its contents down into a basement chamber below. A lever concealed in a planter activates and deactivates the trap door.
"I think we should have that removed..." Melodie suggests when Zhi points out the trap. "I'd prefer to have a working bath than an easy way of disposing of my enemies..."
"There's still stuff below the house, and Gannaius in the basement." She summarises, "But I suggest we wait on that until we've finished the rakshasa and I can take this disguise off. Too hard to explain otherwise."
"The two are not mutually exclusive," Zhi comments with a smirk. "And never discount an easy way to get rid of annoying people."
The small woman wrings out her hair and shakes off the remaining water.
Searching the manor's first two floors reveals some treasure. The dining room's porcelain tableware is worth 300 gp, and an oil of arcane lock sits on a shelf near the kitchen. The servant's room has stacks of books lining the walls covering subjects that range from magical theory and biographies of major spellcasters to astrology, astronomy, zoology, philosophy, and political history. The library here consists mostly of interesting but readily available books, but a few stand out as valuable, including Golden Blooms on Porthmos Shores (150 gp), Kirran’s Alchemy in Theory and Practice (200 gp), and a rare second printing of Gods and Kings: A History of Taldor that contains the misprinted date of Grand Prince Beldam I’s birth (600 gp), as well as a greater book of extended summoning (lawful).
Eventually, the two rakshasas return from their mission in the city. Melodie greets them and easily lulls them into a false sense of security as the rest of you wait in a convenient lead-lined crate on the upper landing. When the time is right, you kick open the crate and leap down at the unsuspecting fiends!
Melodie pulls out the wand of sending and dictates a short message to High Strategos Pythareus.
You have been betrayed. Jeroth has turned - your castellan is dead, replaced by a rakshasa. Trust no-one! May Taldor Endure!
"Hopefully that will set the cat among the pigeons." She says with a satisfied smile. "That should mean only two left."
-------------------------------
Melodie pulls out her chakram and hurls it at the nearest Rakshasa - taking advantage of the fact that it is, as yet, unengaged. Not that it matters as the creature dodges her throw with contemptuous ease!
Zhi descends to the first floor as silent death with her blades drawn.
The gruff voice of Maxillar Pythareus responds to Melodie's sending. What?!? Who is this? Identify yourself at once! I do not take unsolicited advice from odd women! Lying to the emperor of Taldor is treason!
Sara hops down and assaults the same creature as Zhi, poking it in the eyes with two sharply manicured fingers.
As Zhi's blade pierces the rakshasa, Sara takes the moment to deliver a stunning and powerful kick of her own.
As Sara kicks the shapeshifter, Zhi stabs at it again.
While Zhi and Sara attacked one, Maria leapt down to engage the other.
Since she's exhausted most of her store of enhancement magic, Zileska sticks to the whip.
... to no avail.
Your blistering assault leaves one of the rakshasas seriously wounded, despite her supernatural resilience!
Both rakshasas go on the defensive, warding themselves with shield spells.
Zhi moves invisibly to and fro stabbing here and there, never in the same place twice.
Melodie takes a long step back from the melee and finds her foot tapping in a rhythm completed unrelated to what she's doing. She attempts to paralyze the unassaulted rakshasa.
Even with the fiend's spell resistance lowered, Melodie's spell falters!
Zileska unleashes a dispel magic spell to strip the rakshasas' shields.
Zileska successfully counters the unwounded rakshasa's shield spell!
Sara takes the makeshift club she'd earlier made use of and breaks it over the head of the rakshasa after a series of decisive hits.
The rakshasa crumples under Sara's heavy blows, leaving just one foe standing.
Maria focused on keeping this second rakshasa busy while Sara and Zhi finished off the first one.
The rakshasas snarls as Maria stabs her. She tries to retaliate with kukri, teeth and claws, but the tiefling dodges all of her strikes!
The chant continues in Melodie's mind as Zhi shifts from the fallen figure to the one still standing.
Sara joins in on the fun, stomping on the rakshasa's feet and kicking it in the stomach.
Though fun it may be to stomp and kick the rakshasa, Sara's heels aren't able to punch through the fiend's supernatural resilience, leaving her unharmed. Zhi fares better, the invisible rogue leaving several bloody wounds behind.
This time Melodie overwhelms the creatures magical resistance and attempts to lock it in place.
The rakshasa seizes up, eyes wide as the paralysis takes hold. It's a simple matter for Maria to plunge her sword deep into the fiend's heart, slaying it!
"That's it then." Melodie says, looking distastefully at the bodies. "I suppose this might be a good time to use that trapped bath?"
"We should let Gannaius out and investigate underneath the house. I assume that's where the chest leads at least." Melodie suggests, luxuriating in her own form again. "Any thoughts on the proper order for that? We still don't know how or why he was captured in the first place..."
Zhi appears a moment later, still bouncing on the balls of her feet. It takes a few minutes before she returns her weapons to their sheaths and begins to calm down.
"Let's talk to Gannaius first," she says, her eyes still moving around as if looking for threats. "Maybe he can shed some light. While you're doing that, I'll check the chest for more planned surprises."
You flush the bodies down the trapdoor in the bath. The water magically refills itself once they have gone down the hole.
Gannaius doesn't even look up when you enter his cell. After weeks of torture and abuse, it seems that any fight left in the Lion Blade has been extinguished.
***
Inspecting the chest in the basement, Zhi discovers a trap designed to fire a fusillade of arrows at anybody who disturbs the lock or lid. The chest itself is locked, but it looks like a key taken from the dandasuka will fit once the trap is disabled.
She also finds a secret door hidden in the east wall that likely leads to whatever room is below the baths.
"Hello Gannaius." Melodie says gently. "We're here to rescue you. Jeroth and his creatures are dead. You're safe now."
"This isn't another trick?" Gannaius asks warily. Melodie is eventually able to convince him of your true intentions. He relaxes somewhat, but is still on his guard. "It's about time. I've been here for over a month! I thought for sure Kathann would have sent a rescue party sooner."
"Getting in here wasn't easy." Melodie replies, keeping her tone kind. "Honestly we weren't even sure that you were alive. The way you just disappeared... what happened to you? The Lion Blades have been in Zimar for years without detection."
"What happened to me? Milon Jeroth happened. Nobody knew that Pythareus's spymaster was secretly a rakshasa. He must have used his magic to root us out. A stray thought would have been all it took to lead to our downfall."
"Well that's all in the past now." Melodie continues, trying to keep the soothing tone going. "What do you want to do now? Go back to the Academy? I'm sure Kathann would like to debrief you."
"I'm tired of being a victim. I want to be useful. If there's any way I can help your operations here in Zimar, I'd like to do so."
Gannaius is being deliberately evasive with his answers. There's more to the story than what he's saying.
Once she finishes informing her wife of her plans, Zhi sets about rendering the chest's trap harmless.
Once she finishes, she's quick to open the lid to see what someone would spend so much effort to protect.
The chest contains 3,286 gold pieces, as well as an iron flask inlaid with runes of silver and stoppered by a brass plug bearing a seal engraved with sigils, glyphs, and special symbols. Buried beneath all of the coins is a well-crafted scimitar. The flask radiates moderate magic, while the scimitar radiates strong magic.
"What are you hiding Gannaius?" Melodie asks, letting steel creep into her tone. "Remember, no-one knows you are down here... I want the truth."
When she gets a chance Melodie takes a look at the items Zhi found.
Gannaius sighs and lowers his eyes. "Fine. I already lost everything, guess there's nothing left to lose. It's my fault the Lion Blades were wiped out. I had convinced myself that my lack of progress in the recent upheaval had negated my value to the Lion Blades and that they would soon eliminate me. I planned to sell a few secrets to Milon Jeroth in exchange for enough coin to flee the city and start over in Absalom. However, I didn't know the truth about Jeroth; he kidnapped and tortured me to learn everything about Lion Blade operations in the city. Then... Then he killed them all."
Melodie leaves Gannaius to recover for a minute and steps outside for a private conversation with the other ladies. "He's the traitor." She says, grim. "He was afraid that he wasn't useful anymore and decided to sell out to Jeroth for a new life. The rakshasa double crossed him. Shall we tell Kathann or just let him go?"
"Be careful with the flask, I think it's cursed." Melodie explains. "I guess its to deter thieves or something like that."
"Thieves?" Zhi answers with a shocked expression. "What kind of people do they take us for?" She smirks.
"So lets see what they have in the way of real treasure," she continues indicating the secret door.