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Rushing Dragorin and Ravenmantle across, suddenly a explosion right next to Xiaobo sends him to the ground, causing him to drop the rope that the other two had been climbing across the pit. Dragorin and Raven fll to the ground, hitting the soft, grimy water, and then the hard ground. They stand up, surprised they are not caught the same way as just a few feet up north. As they rise to their feet and everyone, realizing the path is safe, begins to move closer to the cave. Suddenly, another blast erupts, hitting Alan, Dragorin, and Ravenmantle full blast.
Suddenly, Xiaobo spots a woman at the cave. She is trying to shout to you to hurry, that it's safe inside. She calls out to you to rush inside, but the wind and ambient destruction is drowning out her calls.
Xiaobo manages to make it to her, and hears her shout, "Hurry, inside. I'll stay and watch for your friends. If they fall, I'll get them. You are hurt."
Doing nothing else but hustling to safety, everyone else takes a bit more damage from the burning ash before making it inside. Once inside, though, they can thankfully breath once more, after clearing the smoldering ash from their lungs. It takes two or three of your water skins to wash it away and keep it from harming your equipment even more.
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This long-emptied barrow seems strangely devoid of the Abyssal taint that was so potent beyond the cave’s entrance. A dim lamp illuminates a small chamber at the end of the narrow tunnel, exposing a meager bedroll, scraps of devoured carrion, and a bucket of fetid water. It seems to be a small cave. The woman standing before you, an Eagle Knight by the looks of her tattered cloths, nods and says "I am Illayna Kradow. I joined up to fight in the crusade, but in a recent battle, became lost when the land shifted. It cut me off from everyone. I still hear their screams when I sleep. I've been locked away here, trying to heal up before I try to make it back. Who are you?"
She wears heavy arms and armor, though it's been badly dented and dinged. Her Blue and Gold cape, and crusader's tabard are nearly in shreds, though still clearly distinguishable.
"We can rest here safely for a day or two. When I'm able to travel, you can go with me north. You should come with me. We could really use al the help we can get."
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Forgive my trepidation but you seem awfully trusting of strangers in this horrible land. I also find the coincidence of your being here, our only refuge from the storm, to be a little too convenient. If you are who you say you are then you would not mind the casting of a few divination spells to verify your identity.
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Ravenmantle grimaces as shock of the drops him toward the foul water. Oh no, this is going to get ugly. Fortunately, after fouling his garments, he realizes that is isn't sinking any deeper like Alan did previously. "Thank the gods, this part is all clear. We'd better hurry across before another one explodes." No sooner does he issue a warning than the next one explodes. He continues to hustle, pausing only when the woman unexpectedly appears outside the cave. Suspicious of anyone in this corrupt land, even one garbed as an Eagle Knight, Ravenmantle, slows his race to the cave to study the woman, in case it is a demon assuming the form of a friendly human. Keeping his findings to himself for the moment, he finishes the race to the cave, whispering a quick prayer to Andoletta to wipe away the effects of the terrible landscape outside and then washing off the last remnants of the Worldwound. "We? Milady, we expected to find no one here. Of whom do you speak? Are there crusaders in the area?"
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Alan will be the last to come in making sure the slower companions make it safely, this will also give the appearance of being a servant. He will play up that role, keeping his head lowered and watching the events unfold in the hut gently rubbing the form of the dragon carved into his wayfinder.
21 Nonlethal, 21 Lethal
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You do sense evil, but it comes from all over. It's almost blinding really. She also does radiate magic, sort of all over her body, which is likely her armor.
Further back in the cave, you see that one of the burrows had collapsed, strewing a few long dead bodies into a small pile on the ground in a corner. It seems that Dame Illayna has mad an effort to cover them with what scraps she has left, but it causes the cave to stink terribly, as well as ruin the small pool of water that has begun to drain into the cave.
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"How long do we need to wait for these things to not explode or the ashy air so we can continue our mission"
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Dame Illayna states only a day or two, allowing her to heal up, you all to rest, and the weather to clear. As far as you can tell, that looks about right, though you admittedly have very little experience with the Worldwound's changing conditions.
She also tells you that she intends to head back towards the city of Storasta, (not far from where you are trying to travel too).
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There is no need to act like that, those are just bruises not broken bones. Now, you can either tell us what in the nine hells is going on here and who or what exactly you are! Alan says approaching the Mendev Knight his hands out in front not only to not provoke this woman but also in order to protect himself if things go south.
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As you surely know, your path leads you soon into the heart of the vicious Worldwound, where demons threaten the very fabric of all we have worked for in the relative peace of the Inner Sea. While I do not envy the challenges that await you, your mission does present us with several unique opportunities.
A young paladin named Illayna Kradow left the Eagle Knights’ ranks a few years ago to fight the Abyssal hordes as part of the Mendevian Crusade. We maintained contact with her as an agent in the north, but all contact with her ceased several weeks ago after she was sent on a reconnaissance mission near the ruined city of Storasta. Uncover her fate if you can, and if possible, bring her back safely.
I am also aware of the prophecies you seek and am intrigued by their rumored contents. Our learned loremasters have informed me that the volumes may contain information on the possible fate of our organization and influence on the rest of the world. I would like nothing more than to find encouragement for our cause to spark an even greater spread of democracy. Though the prophecies are massive, try to find me anything you can regarding our land.
Of all the places you’ve been sent by the Ten, none rankles me like the Worldwound. The very thought of it disgusts me to such a degree that the normal pleasures of my position now elude me. Such unfettered chaos as plagues the Worldwound should be squelched as efficiently and unequivocally as possible, and I need your help to do so. Bring me a sample of the air, earth, and water of the Worldwound - specimens that accentuate the unpredictable and devastating nature of the region. With these we can study and combat such phenomena both there and closer to home.
I shouldn’t need to warn you that you will surely encounter the denizens of the Abyss in the barren and ravaged wasteland of former Sarkoris. When you do, brand an upturned pentacle into the flesh of the most powerful demon you encounter. Send those fiends a message that the Hellknights and Asmodeus himself will render the chaos they spread into order soon.
Make your trip worth it and warm my heart; perhaps I can warm yours in return.
Don’t disappoint,
Paracountess Zarta Dralneen
Your journeys take you now to a land whose secrets may be even less accessible than our own, not due to the continual march of time, but rat her by t he extreme threat the environment and its invaders present. I speak, of course, of the dreaded Worldwound. I am sure you will not fall victim to t he dangers that have claimed so many, but nevertheless I want you to make your trip of value to the Order — we can’t know when we’ll have another chance.
Much of the culture of the barbaric Sarkorian tribes who once lived in the region has been lost to the Abyss, but surely some remnants survive. Find what you can and create as detailed a report as possible. Our Pharasmin clerics are especially interested in their funerary rites, so be on the lookout for their characteristic burial mounds.
While your companions and the Society may be primarily interested in t he content of the so called Sarkorian Prophecy, I am more intrigued by the documents’ author. Such a conduit of foresight has not been seen on Golarion for over a century , and I would love more information about her. If you encounter anything giving her name, lineage, or story, please ensure it finds its way back to us.
For the greatness that was, and may be again. . .
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Realizing something is wrong here, off somehow, you manage to break away to try discuss it in private amongst each other without drawing attention that you know something. While doing so, you notice well hidden beneath some of the ancient bodies, a fairly fresh one. It's a human female. Her body looks to have dies less than a week ago, but the odd thing is, while there are a few wounds, mostly bludgeoning, they are not nearly enough to have killed her. She has been stripped nude, but it looks like her bruises are the result of heavy armor protecting her. There is no indication of poison, nor disease either, leaving you a bit baffled. And the corpse appears to be an exact clone of this other woman, Dame Illayna Kradow.
Beneath the pile of bodies, you also find that one of the coffins is still mostly hole. It's bottom had been destroyed, depositing the body to the ground with the others, but, on the inside, you notice an odd set of etchings of the fading relief carvings. While it is far too heavy, and still mostly buried within the earth and stone, if you could find a way to make a etching or copy, some within the Society would be very interested. It might take a little time, though, and with everything else you have discovered, you are not sure just how much of that you have.
Utilizing notes and the secret Pathfinder system of doublespeak and coded hand gestures to try to communicate without being detected, everyone manages to get all this information.
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retcon
current
actions still stand pointing at her "twin" laying on the ground.
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Deciding to accuse the living Dame Illayna Kradow, you go to the small section of the cave she has been using as her quarters, only to find her not there. Thinking she might have attempted to leave the cave, you then rush to the entrance, but do not see here outside either.
As you begin to do a quick search through the cave, knowing there is not far she could have gotten, you hear an ominous voice whisper to you. At first, you think it is just in your mind, but realize it's rather an unseen or perhaps disembodied voice, that all can hear, but it's source is unseen. The voice seems different than the only other one you have heard in this cave, though some of the mannerism are the same.
"Not so easily slain, then. I would have dragged this out, played the victim while draining your souls as you slept. No matter. I'll still have them as I bite into your flesh. Anal. . . nethrack. . ."
Suddenly, a blackness begins to form around you. It's cold, nothingness seems to ignore your body, slamming against your mind and soul with full force. The explosion of unholy power only lasts a moment, soon clearing the air.
Immediately after calling on the foul magic, the "creature" is revealed, magically floating in the air down the only hallway from your area. As the magic that had made her invisible vanishes from casting an aggressive spell, she floats to the side, just outside of your ability to charge her, and setting the battlefield to attempt to force you, once again, into her web.
Now visible, you see not the visage of Dame Illayna Kradow, but rather a crone. Grisly fetishes and the rags of once fine clothes hang off the corpsethin frame of this horrifying "woman". She also seems to have been tainted by the evilness of this place, and patches of her dark skin bear that corruption in the form of demonic glyphs. Two small, (unusable) bat-like wings hang painfully from her back, and he hands are appear as some sort of distorted combination of claws and pinchers.
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ROUND 1
Alan () & Xiaobo ()
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Mestamorga, the Night Hag ()
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Ravenmantle () & Dragorin ()
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A Night Hag! Though this one seems different. They are resistant to damage from sources other than Magical Cold Iron. They are also resistance to magic. Be cautious they carry a nasty natural disease that strikes instantly. While not terribly physically offensively powerful, they are physically tough.
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Did she just say she would bite my anal?!?. Alan quips.
He shrugs off the negative energy with ease.
21 Nonlethal, 30 Lethal
Hmm, she looks like Auntie Baldwin from a couple years ago when I did the favor for Ollysta Zadrian at her home for recovery with all those children.
Alan moves up cautiously, he then jumps in the air delivering a kick to her solar plexis, if her anatomy is anything like a humans.
Fighting Defensively: AC 40
Stunning Fist DC 16 or Stunned
Including the bonuses for Cornered Fury
if first attack hit second attack immediately occurs as a free action.
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Xiaobo will move up swift action to add wis to roll and grapple. Will spend a ki for ac
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Both "monk" rush up, trying to remove the threat of the Hag before she can counter, but fail to connect. Despite her decrepit form, she is actually very fast, and it seems well prepared to defend herself.
Not liking her enemies being so close, she clutches one of her fetishes, then points at Alan, chanting a few dark words.
". . . dorthnei diednei!"
ROUND 1
Alan () & Xiaobo ()
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Mestamorga, the Night Hag ()
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Ravenmantle () & Dragorin ()
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The night hag's spell hits Ravenmantle with its full force, but summoning the strength of Andoletta, he quickly shakes off the sickened feeling and heals most of the damage. The halfling jogs forward with his bow readied and as soon as he spots her in battle with the monks, he lets a cold iron arrow fly at her, full of the wrath of his god.
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Xiaobo, what ability lets you add your wis to grapple.
At 5th level, as a swift action, a maneuver master can add his Wisdom modifier on any combat maneuver check he makes before the beginning of his next turn. He must choose which combat maneuver check to grant the bonus to before making the combat maneuver check. This ability replaces purity of body.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Dragorin's not quiet holy and not quiet unholy energies course through the room, strengthening you as you press the attack. Ravenmantle is able to send a single arrow flying, and just as she is about to pluck it from the air, her hand misses, and it strikes her in the breast, causing her to ooze a strange, bluish blood.
Alan follow's up with a barrage of strikes, but she seems to recover quickly, and avoids them all.
ROUND 2
Alan () & Xiaobo ()
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Mestamorga, the Night Hag (-31)
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Ravenmantle () & Dragorin ()
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Xiaobo will make flurry of manuevers to grapple using swift to add wis to the first one
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Xiaobo manages to grasp hold of her leg, then using her own flying body as a ladder to climb up and begin to wrestler her. While it doesn't harm her, it does help to distract her from defending herself as much from others.
Not caring for such imputes, she tries to sink her filthy, diseased fangs into his shoulder.
ROUND 2
Mestamorga, the Night Hag (-31, grappled)
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Dragorin (), Ravenmantle (), <round 3> Alan (), & Xiaobo ()