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The green dome overhead ripples and flexes, visibly weakened but still present. The same woman’s voice from earlier booms from everywhere and nowhere at once.
“This… this isn’t what I wanted. I wanted a world with purpose again—with certainty. But I suppose there is no greater way to die than in the same fiery cataclysm that marked Aroden’s first step toward divinity. Join me in martyrdom, Pathfinders, and try to die with some dignity.”
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Thoril, deprived of his weapon, grows a set of magical claws and digs into the Ooze that's surrounding him. He takes further damage as it begins to digest him, but he is able to slay it from within.
Valeros steps closer to the two Lightning Elementals, slashing one with his longsword which seems to be enough to severe it's connection to this plane, and thrusts his shorter blade into the other, likewise sending it back to it's native plane.
Romnus vomits up the last of the greenish energy which quickly wafts up towards the green temporal shield creating a dome around the town, trapping you all within this doomed time. As the last bit of it leaves him, the green dome overhead ripples and flexes, visibly weakened but still present.
“Good show, Pathfinders,” the injured form of Kreighton Shaine manages between blood-soaked coughs. “But Lady Arodeth is a true savant and driven to fanatical extremes. The same energies that infected her casters above have also seized her soul, and I fear she has already killed several of your fellow chroniclers. Or will have killed them. Blast, but this is confusing.” Shaine props himself up to continue speaking. “However noble her goals may have been, if Lady Arodeth forces us to remain in this time, we will all die. If the Sky Key is still functional, you must reactivate it before the Starstone arrives.”
The machines in this chamber begin to spark and smoke, and female bodies take shape from the green miasma. Shaine continues, “She has learned to create temporal copies of, as I have. She can produce an army, left unchecked. Some teams will need to hold the line here, in this chamber, so that anyone confronting the true Lady Arodeth in the room beyond isn’t overwhelmed by these simulacra. You know your team’s capabilities better than I, but I promise you Lady Arodeth will be not yield easily.” With that, the chorus of murky green figures announce, “I would have brought destiny back to this world.”
As you and your team begin to make your way towards the Vault, you begin to hear the sounds of battle in the distance. Along the way, you see the bodies of many Pathfinders you have known, many of them well renown and experienced agents that have stood in as instructors. Travelling down a very recently cut tunnel into the earth, you begin climbing down towards the Sky Key Vault itself, some 30ft below the surface. Nearly to the end, you suddenly hear the same woman’s voice from earlier booms from everywhere and nowhere at once.
“This… this isn’t what I wanted. I wanted a world with purpose again—with certainty. But I suppose there is no greater way to die than in the same fiery cataclysm that marked Aroden’s first step toward divinity. Join me in martyrdom, Pathfinders, and try to die with some dignity.”
The first room you enter shows the clear signs of a recent battle. One that does not seem to have gone well for anyone. Enough Pathfinders lie still and bloody on the ground to make two, possibly even three teams, and there are just as many "copies" of Lady Arodeth as well, all slain. The signs of magic explosions of all sorts covers the room as well.
Veins of strange metal line the walls of this massive chamber. Enormous bronze devices connected to the walls by massive cables spark and spew steam, almost obscuring the large vault door at the far end of the room. The door is labeled with a single word in a plethora of languages: danger. Stagnant water collects at the bottom of a ten-foot wide pool in the middle of the room. A gasping, bleeding elf who looks like an aged version of Kreighton Shane lies across the room.
This version of Shaine is to battered and bloody to speak, barely holding on to life, he simple points towards the door behind him. Behind him is the Sky Key Vaults inner room and the Sky Key itself.
Heavy walls and strange panels in this room all focus on the strange orrery in its center. Raised on a small dais, and separated from the rest of the room by a wide trench , the device oozes a thick, emerald light. The air smells of ozone, like standing amid a roaring thunderstorm. From here, Society scholars controlled and manipulated the Sky Key’s power, first to run their experiments and then to conjure the serpentfolk city Sessegishoss. The controls here are complex and essentially useless so long as Lady Arodeth remains an Anchor, invested as she is with so much of the Sky Key’s strange energies. As in the reservoir, Society architects installed a trench in this room, both to protect the Sky Key and to control the room’s tendency to flood while they devised a better long-term solution. As you enter, you also see two versions of Lady Arodeth standing, guarding the Sky Key. Neither of them are infected with the sickly green energies, so are likely only two "copies", with the real one here hidden somewhere. She shouts at you, concealed by magical invisibility "You are fools! All I wanted was a world that made sense. If you fight against that, now all of you must die!"
The prophecies from the Book of 1,000 Whispers guided her, almost as a holy book, leading her and her cult to try to fix what had gone wrong, throwing the world and fate, and destiny all out of whack, but when the last of the prophecies had passed, when it showed recorded history that had never happened, the Harbingers had been dealt a terrible blow, as there was no longer any way to repair the damage that had been done with the disappearance of Aroden. Until the Pathfinder Society had blundered upon using the Sky Key to disrupt time. Despite her true and fervent effort to fix the past, to save so many thousands by returning Aroden to the world, at whatever cost, you can tell that part of her wants to be talked out if this. That she knows that she had had her chance and it too is now gone, lost with the repeated misuse of the Sky Key by both her people and your's.
However, right now, you have VERY, VERY LITTLE TIME LEFT, and you need to both remove her as the last and strongest Anchor that is keeping the time sphere locked in place, trapping you all here, and also reactivate the Sky Key itself to get home. You have a choice: Try to convince her to give it up or slay her, or rather all of hers.
Kyra pulls out her wand of cure light and taps Thoril with it twice. She then drinks her potion of Protection from Evil, and casts Bless again.
You mustn't do this. You know that Aroden would not want this. He knew his destiny and went to it with open arms. You cannot change the past, and your god would not want you to."
"Look at what is happening around you. You know we will all die here if you don't stop this. Please think about what you are doing. The history that we learned. We saw the fall of the Serpent kindgom. We learned a great deal about it's past and it's gods. We have seen the Start Stone falling to the world. We don't belong here, and we should not die when that stone falls.
"Your Harbringers were ill from the green energies. I'm guessing that they are making you sick too. They cause you to not think clearly. You should release them, and help us activate the Sky Key so we can return to our time, and your people will be healed."
"Why are you doing this? We know you wanted to bring Aroden back, but you had to realize that this wouldn't do it. He is in the past, and his age has gone. You can learn from this and go forward. I know you didn't mean to cause all this to happen. We can still fix some of it, and save lives. I know you really don't want to hurt anyone."
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"The world always makes sense! Everything that happened, happens and will happen has its purpose. The line of time mustn't be dirupted! You can do nothing with the fate."
"And you knows that, too. So why don't be so arrogant and admit that you've mistaken!"
"As Kyra said, your mind is clearly damaged by the green energy and so is your people's minds. Think of them, too."
"You want Society to pay for its mistakes. This is fair. But ordinary agents aren't responsible - we just followed the commands from above. Save innocent lives and i assure you, we'll help you to punish those who are respponsible."
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While you can not see her, her moment of silence over your words, and your fervor seem to indicate she is at least moved by your words.
You mustn't do this. You know that Aroden would not want this. He knew his destiny and went to it with open arms. You cannot change the past, and your god would not want you to."
[dice=Know Religion]1d20+7
[dice=Kn Religion]1d20+9+1d6
"Look at what is happening around you. You know we will all die here if you don't stop this. Please think about what you are doing. The history that we learned. We saw the fall of the Serpent kindgom. We learned a great deal about it's past and it's gods. We have seen the Start Stone falling to the world. We don't belong here, and we should not die when that stone falls. [dice=Diplomacy]1d20+9
"The world always makes sense! Everything that happened, happens and will happen has its purpose. The line of time mustn't be dirupted! You can do nothing with the fate." [dice=Diplomacy]1d20
[dice=Diplomacy]1d20+8+1d6
"Your Harbringers were ill from the green energies. I'm guessing that they are making you sick too. They cause you to not think clearly. You should release them, and help us activate the Sky Key so we can return to our time, and your people will be healed."
[dice=Heal]1d20+11
"As Kyra said, your mind is clearly damaged by the green energy and so is your people's minds. Think of them, too." [dice=Heal]1d20
"Why are you doing this? We know you wanted to bring Aroden back, but you had to realize that this wouldn't do it. He is in the past, and his age has gone. You can learn from this and go forward. I know you didn't mean to cause all this to happen. We can still fix some of it, and save lives. I know you really don't want to hurt anyone."[dice=Sense Motive]1d20+4
"And you knows that, too. So why don't be so arrogant and admit that you've mistaken!"[dice=Sense motive]1d20
[dice=Sense Motive]1d20+7+1d6
"You want Society to pay for its mistakes. This is fair. But ordinary agents aren't responsible - we just followed the commands from above. Save innocent lives and I assure you, we'll help you to punish those who are responsible."[dice=Bluff]1d20
"Aroden, god of human culture and history. Destroying humans not what he stood for. Trying to alter history, not his will. Disgracing Aroden with your actions. Stop this, think of him. If Aroden were here, he would strike you down, in defense of humans. Do this, and no better than Tar-Baphon." [dice=Kn History]1d20+9+1d6 [dice=Kn Nobility]1d20+9+1d6
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The asteroid looms impossibly large overhead, and the air grows stiflingly hot as the world itself begins to rumble. High overhead, the dome of green energy shudders, twists, and finally shatters, and Pathfinders’ bodies begin melting into flowing particles as the world slips away.
Just as quickly, you stumble as Bloodwatered Meadow coalesces beneath your feet, as it does for countless other Society agents. The wildflowers bob lazily in the wind, and nothing but a few still bodies stand as testament to the bloodshed and struggle of the past five hours. Kreighton Shaine, looking several years older, staggers to his feet and gives a nervous chuckle before climbing up a small knoll and waving his arms for the crowd’s attention.
“What we have all witnessed here today has been a remarkably journey that included sights no living soul on Golarion has witnessed. The Sky Key has allowed us to walk among the serpentfolk and Azlanti, gazing upon several of the greatest events to shape Golarion and the region that would one day become the Inner Sea. Let the catastrophe that we witnessed and narrowly escaped humble us and teach us so that we might find value in preserving the messages and wisdom those lost people may have left behind for us to discover. I think we all have some responsibility to remember those who passed so that our modern world can exist.
“You have all observed great things and have notes to share. This much is certain. But for now, let us… let us simply take a few days to reflect. The Society, I imagine, will send agents to collect your notes and interview you about your experiences. Until then, find your families and loved ones, as I know I shall. Failing that, find some passion that ties you to the here and now, and embrace it.
“We survived, Pathfinders. I am proud of your Unrivaled Accomplishment!”
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The woman bemoans, allowing her spell to fall, revealing the true Lady Arodeth for the first time as she mutters “I am a fool. All I wanted was a world that made sense! Not all of this.”
“I have learned something of these controls, and I fear the damage my Heralds and I have inflicted in our zealotry has damaged your Sky Key. It now acts less as a projector and instead like a bridge. . . And a bridge must be anchored at both ends. For any of you to return now, something, . .. someone, must remain behind or else the path home will collapse. I have earned this fate. As I said before, I can think of no finer way to die than in the fiery cataclysm that spurs on Lord Aroden’s journey to divinity. It will never be enough to make up for the blood we have shed here, Pathfinders, but know that I truly regret what I have done here today. I have one request of you, a charge really. Do what you can, for my people and yours to heal the damage that I have caused. I'm certain many of my people are still afflicted by madness. Do what you can for them. . .” Without another word, she begins manipulating the Sky Key to dismantle the temporal energies and send you, all of you, home.
The asteroid looms impossibly large overhead, and the air grows stiflingly hot as the world itself begins to rumble. High overhead, the dome of green energy shudders, twists, and finally shatters, and Pathfinders’ bodies begin melting into flowing particles as the world slips away.
Just as quickly, you stumble as Bloodwatered Meadow coalesces beneath your feet, as it does for countless other Society agents. The wildflowers bob lazily in the wind, and nothing but a few still bodies stand as testament to the bloodshed and struggle of the past five hours. Kreighton Shaine, looking several years older, staggers to his feet and gives a nervous chuckle before climbing up a small knoll and waving his arms for the crowd’s attention.
“What we have all witnessed here today has been a remarkably journey that included sights no living soul on Golarion has witnessed. The Sky Key has allowed us to walk among the serpentfolk and Azlanti, gazing upon several of the greatest events to shape Golarion and the region that would one day become the Inner Sea. Let the catastrophe that we witnessed and narrowly escaped humble us and teach us so that we might find value in preserving the messages and wisdom those lost people may have left behind for us to discover. I think we all have some responsibility to remember those who passed so that our modern world can exist."
“You have all observed great things and have notes to share. This much is certain. But for now, let us… let us simply take a few days to reflect. The Society, I imagine, will send agents to collect your notes and interview you about your experiences. Until then, find your families and loved ones, as I know I shall. Failing that, find some passion that ties you to the here and now, and embrace it."
“We survived, Pathfinders. I am proud of your Unrivaled Accomplishment!”