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Nectanebo and his newly formed minion both move in to attack, but neither of them is able to land blows, as devastating as they might have been against their surprised foes. Kitajo drops into a "come and get me" stance, awaiting anyone to rush at him, while Hen "summons" another ally to the field.
The two sailors each move towards the closest foes to them, one going after the skeleton warrior and the other the knight, both drawing a ratty scimitar as they do. The first hits the skeleton, but with such an ineffective weapon it simply cuts a small notch into the breastbone with no effect. The other's weapon goes straight through the night, as she curses it's magical protections.
Marduk rushes forward with her enormous axe, cutting one of the poor sailors down where she stand. The mists seem to react, . . . favorably, to the wanton spilling of blood, and near the tree line, just out of sight, you swear you hear a dark laughter.
Risa moves in a bit closer and calls on divine aid to help herself and her allies while Night Hunter also advances a bit, drinking double barreling two drinks with ease.
The Half-Orc and one of the sailors each return fire, the sailor stepping back and drawing a crossbow, which she levels at Nectanebo. The Half-Orc, aware of the fogs detriment, still fires her bow, though advances closer before doing so. Necktie manages to avoid the bolt, even from such close range, but Marduk is not so lucky, taking the arrow in the shoulder and spilling more warm blood on the mist covered ground.
Nectanebo, Kitajo, and the strange skeleton that seems to fight for Nectanebo all advance on one pirate sailor, cutting her down where she stand, which oddly, does not seem to cause their leader any noticeable grief, though it seems the mists themselves react favorably to the spilling of blood, almost as if they grow that much thicker as the body lands dead on the ground.
ROUND 3
Nectanebo (life link)
Skelly ()
Kitajo (life link)
Henrikuaxian ()
Marduk (Rage, charge, -8)
Risa ()
Night Hunter (life link)
Half-Orc Leader RED ()
Sailor ORANGE ()
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With barely a conscious effort, the gnome looks at his knight, and the knight springs forward to engage with the leader. It takes a swing toward her, missing to one side. Henrik will then move forward, and cast another spell in the direction of the leader.
A sound manifests behind her, a sound like a sword being drawn from the scabbard of an invisible foe. It seems to be coming from about 5 feet southwest of her.
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Staying back, Henrikuaxian "buffs" his summoned ally, though it seems that this new spell leaves a bit of doubt in the Half-Orc's mind. It seems like she has gotten he impression something is not right, but can't figure out just what it is.
Marduk and Night Hunter both rush in closer to the assault, with Marduk getting in an extremely lucky blow that again drops her target, cut nearly in half from should to pelvis. Once more, the mist, if not the land seems pleased with your offerings.
ROUND 3
Nectanebo (life link)
Skelly ()
Kitajo (life link)
Henrikuaxian ()
Marduk (Rage, charge, -8)
Risa ()
Night Hunter (life link)
Half-Orc Leader RED ()
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Staying back, Henrikuaxian "buffs" his summoned ally, though it seems that this new spell leaves a bit of doubt in the Half-Orc's mind. It seems like she has gotten he impression something is not right, but can't figure out just what it is.
Marduk and Night Hunter both rush in closer to the assault, with Marduk getting in an extremely lucky blow that again drops her target, cut nearly in half from should to pelvis. Once more, the mist, if not the land seems pleased with your offerings.
Risa moves in closer to her allies while arming herself with an implement of healing. As she does, the leader takes a step away from the group while drawing and knocking a pair of glowing arrows, turning her focus at the Elf, Necktie. She launches both simultaneously, and as soon as they leave the both, both arrows burst into fire.
ROUND 4
Nectanebo (-18, life link)
Skelly ()
Kitajo (life link)
Henrikuaxian ()
Marduk (Rage, charge, -8)
Risa ()
Night Hunter (life link)
Half-Orc Leader RED ()
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Kitajo and Night Hunter's flying fists and feet are enough to put that Half-Orc down with a loud thud, followed by a short moment of silence. Oddly, you realize that there does not seem to be the sounds of nature, crickets, birds, or other common animals around. Deep within the mists, you also notice something moving. Always out of the corner of your eye.
At one time it seems to be vaguely humanoid, while someone else swears it seems to walk on four legs. Regardless, nothing jumps out to attack you. Yet. . .
While you take a fem minutes, suddenly the bound and gagged man seems to struggle, as if "waking up", but you are pretty certain he had been awake the entire time and was just playing dead.
He tries to speak, but his gag prevents him from getting things out in any manner you can actually understand.
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The man replies "Σας ευχαριστώ, γενναίος και δυνατός πολεμιστές. Νόμιζα ότι έγινε για. Το όνομά μου είναι, Ilzinian."
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"He's speaking Celestial, silly," Says Nectanebo while Risa restores him. He then kneels before the man.
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As far as you can tell, the man has some minor bruising, but no serious wounds. He responds to the Vulture, again speaking only in Celestial, "Μπορούν, όπου αναζητούν την Folding βάρκα. Μπορούν, όπου το πλήρωμα του Pride της Aspenthar που έφερε την ομάδα μου εδώ. ΕΓΩ,. . . Δεν ξέρω πού είναι, ή η ομάδα μου. Θα πρέπει να έχουν καταραμένοι ή μαγευτεί στο Λαβύρινθο, για τώρα μπορώ να μιλήσω μόνο αυτό και μόνο γλώσσα, και είμαι δυσκολεύονται να θυμόμαστε όλες τις λεπτομέρειες για το τι συνέβη.
"
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Whatever it is in the mist, it, or perhaps they, seem to avoid direct contact, robbing you of the ability to see just what it or they are. Every time you think you get close, or move towards a peculiar noise, you simply find nothing, only to see out of the corner of your eye movement elsewhere.
As Ilzinian and the Vulture continue to converse in Celestial, you all begin to realize that he can clearly understand the common Taldan tongue, but for whatever reason can not speak or respond in any other language. He doesn't understand the curse, and you believe him, or even how or why it happened.
From what you can gather, the paladin believes that one of his team members had been carrying a Folding Boat, and he explains that the sailors and pirates had been the crew hired to transport the Pathfinder team here. For some reason a mutiny broke out, which led to their own ship being breeched and sinking just off the coast. Ilzinian was not present, so is extrapolating from what he had overheard while being tortured for information he didn't know. It seems that Half-Orc woman, named Atanda had assumed command of the surviving crew through brutality, and was seeking the boat as a means of escaping the island.
With no other choice, you agree to journey into the Labyrinth to find the other missing Pathfinders, and a means of getting off of the island. For those of you who had been here before, you know the way, though it has been some months.
Months ago, a group of marooned kuru cannibals erected a gruesome skull-headed effigy from tree branches, jungle vines, and the bloodstained bones of their cannibalized companions in the middle of this clearing.
In the center of this clearing stands a large monolith, about five feet in diameter and twelve feet tall. Carved into the dark stone are the faces of dozens of one-eyed humanoid creatures, their mouths agape as if preparing to appease an unspeakable hunger. Visitors from ancient Ghol-Gan erected this standing stone. It once siphoned energy from Sevenfingers’s tomb to generate powerful necromantic effects. Since the passing of Ghol-Gan, the magic has diminished, though the stone still radiates a faint aura of necromancy and evil.
Finally making your way back to the Halls of the Flesh Eaters, you find a crack in the earth splits the ground here, most of it covered by thick weeds and the roots of a huge strangler fig tree. Below the tangled roots is a deep shaft that descends into the gloom.
Home, sweet home. Since the events of Hall of the Flesh Eaters, no creatures have moved to occupy the uppermost level, and it takes the Pathfinders only a short time to reach the second level. The heavy door to the second level , has been chopped to pieces, though you can tell it once depicted an immense scowling face.
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The second level of Sevenfingers’s tomb is known as the Labyrinth of Hungry Ghosts, for it has long been infested with malevolent ghosts, haunts, and corporeal undead that hunger for the flesh and souls of the living. The spiral stairs descend 80 feet from the Hall of the Flesh Eaters to a large mist-filled chamber.
Sevenfingers designed this mist-shrouded chamber. He removed a large section of the north wall, creating a 12-foot long, 10-foot high breach. Beyond the breach is a sheer 420-foot drop to the frothing sea. A great deal of mist has seeped into chamber from this opening, though it isn’t as thick as the mists outside of the tomb.
The floor is spattered with dried bloodstains, the Pathfinder agent Zumek met his end in this room, and his body has been tossed in the northwest corner.
Ilzinian notices the corpse immediately, and makes his way over to it, kneeling in some sort of personal prayer for the recently deceased.
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"Fascinating. I wonder why that big hole is there? More of the mist too. I wonder if that's bad?" The gnome follows Ilzinian to the body, keeping a respectful distance as he goes through his prayer.
I wonder what killed him?
When Marduk chimes in, sounding very confident, Henrik nods his head in rapid agreement. "Absolutely, definitely the negative energy."
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Risa walks in, peering into the gloom as she keeps glancing down at her wayfinder. "How odd."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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...
Suddenly there are sounds from somewhere within the mist of something moving. At the same time, as odd to imagine as it might be, but you can think of no other way to describe it, a patch, a rather large patch of the mists seems to be moving, almost at you. . .
ROUND 1
Marduk ()
Nectanebo ()
Skelly ()
Henrikuaxian ()
Night Hunter ()
?????? W
Risa ()
?????? M
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Noticing the movement in the mist, Henrik shakes his head at the mist. "This just won't do - can't see a thing down there! What if something interesting happens?" The gnome reaches into his scroll case and retrieves a scroll. He immediately begins casting from it. He points straight south of him, right into the large area of mist that seems to be moving, and a violent gust of wind erupts from his finger in that direction. Once that is done, he will take a discrete step back behind Kitajo.
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Marduk begins to advance, poking and prodding about, just in case whist "The Vulture" calls magical energies into his weapon. His skeletal ally, with mental instructions, makes itself ready for slaughter.
Nothing of seems to happen in those precious few seconds, not until Henrikuaxian had to go and destroy the peaceful serenity of no knowing what is coming to kill you all. With a few spidery phrases in the language of magic and an odd gesture here and there, suddenly clearing the room of all of the mist. . . well, almost all of the mist. A patch of it simply does not relocate as the rest of the normal mist does, but instead seems to simply swirl around itself as if it where oil atop water. As soon as the spells magic ends, it reforms into a patch of mist nearly 10ft by 10ft by now 10ft tall. Perhaps it was always doing so and you could not see it, or,. . . OR, perhaps someone made it mad, and this is how the creature displays it's wrath, but, now you can clearly look within its area and see scene of utter horror.
The somewhat humanoid figure is first to react, rushing at the group. The flesh of this walking corpse is rotting and putrid, its body skeletal in places and its eye sockets glowing with red light. It is clearly undead, and appears very zombie-like, although it's clear that this undead is smart, if savage.
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ROUND 1 <+1 Att/vs Fear>
Marduk ()
Nectanebo ()
Skelly ()
Henrikuaxian ()
Night Hunter ()
Zombie-Like Undead RED (charge)
Kitajo ()
Risa ()
Mist Creature BLUE (-10)