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"Because all of our efforts thus far have failed. We have done what we could, but it seems that our talents simply are not enough to break the curses and or ailments he suffers under."
From what you can see, something seems to be causing the man, who they name as Juliver, to suffer from different symptoms. Simply curing the symptoms will not really help, not without getting rid of whatever is causing it, as they would simply return.
"We sent a message out to the lodges around here, requesting a priest with more powers. With luck, someone will hear the call and manage to travel here quickly."
In fact, not too long after that, a Junior Pathfinder arrive, bearing a scroll box. He offers it to the assembled healers, and luckily one of them is proficient enough to use it correctly. Warm healing light pours over the man as a direct line to the Positive Energy Plane opens all around him, but with enough care and control that is doesn't burn him to ash in an instant.
The spell, a full Heal, seems to do the trick, for one instant the many continues to act crazed, not attacking, but certainly struggling to free himself and flee, and the next he seems both fully himself and almost at peace.
“I thank you, friends, for your timely assistance. I don’t know how long I have wandered in that dazed state, but since I am still alive and relatively unharmed I assume it cannot have been long. Which means that the source of my quest lies nearby… and I beseech you to aid me in my cause.” he says, addressing the room.
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“My journey here has been one of many strange trials and events. More important than my story, however, is that of whom I followed on this quest, a man of renown named Eando Kline.”
“Eando is a Pathf inder of rare reputation and honor, a man who has actually put the good of the civilized peoples of Golarion ahead of a personal agenda of discovery and self-aggrandizement—a rare thing indeed among my peers. Eando is in the greatest of dangers, and all of the Inner Sea Region with him. You must help me, for by doing so you help yourselves and all you hold dear.”
“Eando stumbled upon a subterranean city in the far north built ages ago by a strange race of snake men. But it wasn’t a dead city; it was just asleep—and it was ready to wake up. The clues that Eando had been following had been laid by the serpentfolk themselves in the hope that some explorer would unwittingly stumble upon them and rouse them from their age-long slumber to rise and conquer an unprepared world. Eando only narrowly avoided doing just that and barely escaped with his life."
“When he reported back to the Pathfinder Society, Eando refused to publish his findings and discouraged anyone from retracing his steps, knowing the dangers if others should stumble upon that city and wake those creatures. For this he was ostracized from the Society."
“But Eando continued his researches on his own, and discovered something of even more immediate danger—the underground city to the north was not the only such slumbering city. Another city slept beneath Garund as well, and was already beginning to wake on its own. Eando gathered a group of like-minded Pathf inders—such as myself—and we set out to stop this newly discovered threat before it could engulf the unsuspecting folk of Garund.”
“Following Eando’s research, we entered certain deep caves in the Barrier Wall mountains south of Thuvia. For weeks we followed the byways of the Darklands until at last we came to this new subterranean city, called Ilmurea. Unfortunately, it was much more lively than its sister city in the north and inhabited by numerous denizens. The serpentfolk there are on some sort of mission, under the leadership of a powerful priest. They ambushed us shortly after we entered the city. Eando and our companions were captured, and only I managed to escape.”
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Dora blurts out.
THE Eando Kline!?!??! Seriously? No Way! I love him. I have read all his journals. He is the reason I joined the Society. He is a living legend.
She blushes as she realizes she was saying this out loud.
How terrible! Rest assured, we will rescue him! Do you have any more information on this priest and followers? Are they some kind of cultists?
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Rathen's expression doesn't change, but he does say, "I've met Kline before, in Azir. He was keeping away from the Pure Legion at the time. And he helped us, so I'd be a bastard to not come to his aid now."
With mention of the Darklands, Rathen curses. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I've had a taste of that place too. Driders and drow, and stranger things still. Light will be one of our bigger challenges. Not only will we need it, but it'll lure the worst the place has to offer straight to us. Like a moth to a candle's flame, though we'll need to be a stronger flame. More like a fire."
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"Indeed!" Fizz pipes up after the story is told. "Eando Kline is much revered for his success as an agent and we can only hope to have a slimmer of his glory and renown!"
Fizz starts checking over his weapons and supplies. "Well, I don't think we should delay much longer. Ancient serpentfolk and denizens of the deep! Quite an adventure awaits us! The Lord Smiad will be pleased with our efforts, I am sure."
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“While fleeing the serpentfolk, I found an obscure tunnel that led up and assumed it to be as good as any. The tunnel led to a chamber with a magical portal on one wall. I stepped through, hoping it would take me somewhere where I could find aid to return and free my companions, and ended up in some other underground complex. My pursuers were right behind me, so to keep them from following me, I smashed several crystals surrounding the portal, hoping the damage would deactivate it for a time."
“Things are somewhat hazy after that. I don’t think the serpentfolk followed me through, but I encountered what I think was an undead serpentfolk, a wizard, perhaps. It must have hit me with a spell of some kind, because as I tried to find an exit from the new chambers I had entered, I kept losing track of time and what I was doing. Eventually I remembered no more until I came to my senses in your presence. If you are indeed willing to take on my quest, join me, and we can try to retrace my steps and find this portal.”
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After taking a few moments to make some purchases, you follow Juliver deep into the jungles to try to track the portal she claims to have stumbled upon.
It's a few days, mad longer as she only partially remembers details after she made it through, fleeing for her life and not entirely in her right mind. But, rather than finding the portal, you instead find another oddity. A series of natural terraces form the side of this hill. Once, this may have been a tended garden, and flowering vines grow thickly over the walls of the resulting grotto, filling the air with a thick and heady scent. At the back of the grotto, a carved stone bench provides a place of respite in the shade next to a stone door leading into the hillside. A feeling of peace pervades this small grotto, minimizing the sounds of the surrounding ruins with an aura of tranquil silence.
"This! This looks similar to one of the vaults that Kline's team was looking into."
A well concealed stone door is hidden beneath layers of vine and foliage, but your superior survival skills render is easily spotted.
The stone door looks heavy and appears to have been sealed by centuries of disuse, but . . .
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"Yeah, I see it too. Give me some space," Rathen says, displacing the big man so that he can inspect the entrance.
His eyes search for any telltale signs of mechanical or magical traps on the entrance while his ears focus on sounds. If someone has come through recently, he reasons that someone could come through again.
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"Yeah, I see it too. Give me some space," Rathen says, displacing the big man so that he can inspect the entrance.
His eyes search for any telltale signs of mechanical or magical traps on the entrance while his ears focus on sounds. If someone has come through recently, he reasons that someone could come through again.
[dice=Perception]1d20+29
As Frag open the door with relative ease, outside light begins to enter the small hallway, revealing but a single room beyond. Once a buried cistern, the walls of this chamber rise 40 feet to a domed ceiling where a great stone plug blocks off the former water flow. Patches of moss still grow in places on the ancient masonry of the walls. Two stone sarcophagi of ancient make occupy the room, engraved with carvings matching those found throughout the ruined city.
The northern sarcophagus stands open and empty of all save centuries of dust—its lid is nowhere to be found. The southern sarcophagus, however, still has its lid and remains sealed after all this time. An eerie silence seems to reign over this chamber.
You all get the very distinct impression that you are being watched, but see no signs of threat.
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As you begin filtering into the small room, Rathen sees no danger and moves to open the far door. It leads to a dark intersection after a short hallway. One path leads off to the left, but is obscured from you current position, while the other leads directly forward into another chamber and an open hallway at it's end that likewise curves to the left and beyond your sight.
In the far off room, from what you can vaguely make out right now, it seems to be an ancient burial room of some sort, with multiple small alcoves in the walls. There are some sort of religious pictograms on the walls of the far room, but you can't really make out enough detail from here to see what they might mean.
Oddly, you can also make out a few piles of bones throughout the far room, as well as scraps of clothing and other items that seem newer than the rest of the things within this chamber. While most looks at least centuries old, these might have only been here for less then 50 years or so. However, again, without getting closer and actually inspecting these things, you can't tell much, yet.