"You are welcome to rest here, and I have some healing spells should you need any now?"
"I do know what's above ground here, and I can draw you a map of the first level of the below ground areas, beyond which there are strange and ancient doors from an age before us, that only the Masked Abbot knows what was beyond. I am afraid that Ardathanatus has the keys to all those doors, to include the one that leads to the lower levels, although I've seen that horrible medusa go through it once, so she may have a key as well."
"Which buildings are you interested in knowing about?" he asks as he begins sketching a map.
Gemel is pretty sure the man had disclosed everything until he speaks up again, "Ah, about that personal matter ..."
"Out with it, then"
"Right ... I ... am a fool. I sent a sending early on in this attack, out of fear mostly. It went to my daughter, Koriah, and of course she came. A famous Pathfinder, reknowned for her skill in the Darklands, she doesn't know the meaning of 'lost cause'."
He chokes back tears with a few sobs and with a strained voice he continues, "She came in like a runaway horse, barreling through half the redcaps and then ... that medusa .. emerged from the refectory ... and ... t-t-turned her ... t-t-to ... stone. The evil beast left her in the courtyard for a day, frozen in stone in that horrific petrified last moment. Those vile redcaps befouled her in so many awful ways and then eventually one of those tw-headed cretins dragged her back into the refectory."
He pauses another moment, overcome with emotion, before finishing with, "I don't know if you have the capability, but I know her death isn't a foregone conclusion. Please, by all that is holy in Desna's name, please save her!"
"Koriah Azmeren is one of ours, a pathfinder. We'll be glad to rescue her, just as she would try to rescue us. So the medusa is lairing in the refrectory. What about the other building, beside the postern gate."
"And there may be means to return her to life from stone, so do not lose hope," Braelex adds, strangely affected by the half-elf's story. "At the least, we will secure her for you."
"We will need to confer on our plan going forward, but for the moment, I'd be glad for your healing magic," she adds, trying to divert the subject.
She listens and tries to memorize the map details as Caz explains them.
Tell us of your daughter. Did Koriah follow both your faith and vocation father? Or had she chosen a different path?
"The building to the north of the Postern Gate is the kitchen with a rather large pantry. I've only seen the redcaps enter and leave there."
"Koriah was raised here as a child after her mother's death. She read everything she could get her hands on, but the ways of the cloth were not for her. She left as soon as she came of age, but we've stayed in touch over the years."
Braelex will happily take some minor healing from Casamir.
"The redcap indicated southwest and up as where we can find the 'Hen'. I'd suggest we head that way. Do you think those gargoyles are going to be a problem?"
"I am unharmed Casamir, but tell me about the wards on this tower. Will they stop me from using Dimension Door to return us here, inside the tower if we run into more trouble than we can handle?
Turning to Braelax, he replies "I doubt it, did they not leave with the lady redcap? Still, we might do well to be wary of any statuary."
Medusa. Fight her from a distance if possible and go in blindfolded for melee I think.
"I have a trick that should work Relan. An odd magic I have will let me summon hats! It can be adapted to the situation; if I get the chance, she'll be wearing a hood and not be able to use her gaze..."
10 ranks +3 trained +3 cha
Casamir easily heals up Braelex's wounds with the practiced grace of someone who has spent decades communing with their god.
"Off to the refrectory then." Before we go, Gemel will cast See Invisible. He will also carefully orient himself in the Pharus Pharasmae so that he can dimension door inside the ground floor safely.
Relan is hopeful for this hat trick Gemel has spoken of, but prepares and has ready a blindfold just to be prudent. He nods his readiness.
The party steels themselves and heads back out into the infiltrated Abbey, slipping across the courtyard and past the bodies of the slain ettins into the refectory.
An elaborate fresco depicting a banquet shared by the many deities of Golarion decorates the four walls of this dining hall. The refectory is in complete disarray, with smashed tables and chairs and all kinds of cutlery and crockery scattered here and there amid loads of dirt and rubbish.
A grand stairwell to the upper floor is set along the west wall, splitting to the north and south in flanking ascending flights. An extravagant headdress consisting of a veil hanging from a silvery crown is draped over the north banister at the foot of the stairs.
Based on your conversation with Casamir, you surmise the headdress is the titular symbol of the Masked Abbot, the office accorded to the highest ranking priest in the Abbey at any given time.
Gemel concentrates and casts an eagle eye over the room...
10 ranks +3 trained -1 wis +6 Skill focus
Relan takes a defensive stance and looks around for threats and valuables before he asks That headdress looks nice. Any enchantments on it. Its just sitting there to be picked up. Braelex, you see any traps?
"It's certainly radiating abjuration. Could be a magic trap, could just be enchanted... Your area of expertise Braelax"
If Braelax pronounces it safe, Gemel will attempt to identify it's properties.
10 ranks +3 trained +7 int
"I'll check for traps."
Braelex scours the item for traps, but after careful scrutiny declares it safe.
Gemel moves forward to identify the crown and veil properties, but as he shifts it from the banister, a previously invisible glyph highlights on the crown. Gemel has a moment to scrunch up his face and shoot an irritated look at Braelex before the glyph explodes in a violent concussive force that shatters some of the closer crockery and blows the party back.
Braelex suppresses the evil vision with a shudder, and notes a nearly invisible glyph inscribed on the headdress' crown. "Wouldn't touch this ... nasty bit here."
"Good spot Braelax. Let's leave that alone for now then. We can solve it later... for now we have a medusa to find and settle...Up the north stairs?"
Vuloo slips on his ring of invisibility and follows the group of the north stairs.
Andel will cast good hope on the group.
The party heads up the stairs and they end in a short ladder and trap door. Pushing through the trap door, the party finds themselves in the top floor of the north tower.
The northwest corner of this room is circular, with windows that overlook the sea. In the round-shaped section of the room, a high-backed leather armchair sits facing one of the windows, its leather surface stained and stinking of decayed meat.
The door to the south leads to a rectangular room that is almost completely lined in wood and furnished with a round table with a single chair, several stools near a large fireplace, and two tall bookcases flanking a window with flowery stained-glass designs.
The door to the east leads to a massive chamber. This huge room is a large open central chamber surrounded by an ambulatory, creating a sort of indoor arcade with numerous five-foot-wide arches providing access into the center. In the central chamber, which sits under a vaulted twenty-foot-high ceiling supported by wooden timbers, twenty-one ornate chairs stand in solemn ring, their backs against the walls of the arcade between each of the arches. On the high back of each chair is the beautifully sculpted holy symbol of one of the major deities of Golarion. An immense dark fireplace looms to the west. To the north a door leads out to the balcony the redcaps were firing at you from earlier.
Standing around the room in various locations are corpses, mummified and wrapped but very much animate as their red eyes turn to face you as you enter. Your attention however is drawn to the massive creature seated in the chair of Urgathoa. A horribly decayed and oversized goblinoid of some sort. It stands slowly as you enter, hefting a huge axe that pulses with a necromantic energy.
"Can't ... feeel," it moans and the other corpses in the room shamble toward you.
+2 Dex +4 shard
1 rank +3 trained +7int +4 pasts life memories +1 Lore
Relan moves to survey the room and considers the undead.
Andel backs up and attempts to identify the goblinoid undead.
Braelex will make a thorough search of the Abbot's chambers, especially in and around the bookcases.
The bookcases beside the window are almost empty, and contain just a few books of obscure poetry and litanies written in Aklo and Abyssal—a collection of demonic literature. On the table is a small book of poems in Abyssal dedicated to the demon lords of Golarion. The inside back cover of this book has been used to scribble a short poem (see Poem Handout in Roll 20)
The books on the shelves, while also grim and blasphemous in subject matter, are rare editions worth 400gp in all.
Relan takes stock of the creature moving out into the room to get a good gander, watching how its skin stretches dry and tight and notices the speed at which it moves, and he identifies it as a juju zombie that was once a bugbear albeit a huge one, coming in at 10 feet tall. Andel confirms it with a quick commentary and then retreats back into the North Tower.
The creature, while slow to get up, suddenly rushes forward with unnatural alacrity, swinging its axe as it closes with Relan, slamming the warrior and sapping at his soul ... Relan fends off the drain, but hears a voice calling for him as the blade touches his skin.
; HIT!;
Relan is saved from a nasty blow by Gemel's symbol. He elects Combat expertise and begins his attacks.
Braelex and Number One move into the room. Braelex moves into the corner and fires a bolt at the zombie fighting Relan. The golem moves up with a crackling and attacks with its blade arm.
; plus
;
Gemel barks a command at Nibbly, "Guard" and moves to the door of the council chamber. Surveying the scene he waits for the mummies to close, planning to fireball them once they concentrate...
DC 20 Reflex for 1/2
