Do you belong?
Dot.
Seelah shifted nervously as Hayato crested the hill.
Red lightning flashed in the sky beyond, illuminating the meeting point. Jinfu didn't even blink, clearly now used to the phenomena of the strange weather.
Lo Ma stood nearby, her face an equal mix of displeasure and disappointment.
Seelah held out a note.
"The Doctor... uh, another note arrived..."
Trusted associates,
I have discerned something of the nature of these strange phenomena we’ve seen, and I think I have just the tool that may help. In my office at the Sincomakti School of Sciences in Rozenport you’ll find a small vial of a most potent substance that I ...
.. and by “I,” I mean “you”_will find useful later.
It is an experimental magical herbicide. I planned to use it on the ivy growing over my office windows, but our current predicament may call for it instead. You’ll find the vial in a cupboard on the wall behind my desk. It glows purple, so you can’t miss it. Bring it back quickly so
that we can move forward in these investigations.
Dr. Quolorum
Seelah sighed.
"Looks like we're headed to Rozenport."
is hidden amid the town’s labyrinthine avenues.
immaculate, have become unkempt and particularly weedy in the last few days.
studied here.
Seelah considers what she knows about Rozenport, which is barely enough to find it on a map.
"From what I remember, that nice Mwangi gentleman last week said that Rozenport was on some sea cliffs."
She holds up a key.
"This was with the doctor's latest letter. I imagine it's a key to his office."
A cool breeze blows over the hilltop. Hayato senses it - Reiko is nearby, she just doesn't wish to make herself known at this time. Probably a bad hair day.
The journey to Rozenport comes easy - even easier to those who have their own horse.
Seelah occasionally tries to help Lo Ma cross a stream.
You make your way through Rozenport to the Sincomakti School of Sciences. Finding Dr Quolorum's office is fairly easy to find once Lo Ma berates one of the school's groundskeepers into revealing its location.
Dr. Quolorum’s office is a single-story, 20-by-20-foot square building made of fitted limestone and covered in ivy vines. The door has a lock, but is swung partially open.
Seelah, holding up the key, appears a bit disappointed as she tucks it back away in her non-masterwork pack and shrugs at Hayato.
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Good thing we had a key. Little sister is not very good with locks.
Hayato seems to consider dismounting before entering the building. Shaking his head as if though trying to dismiss a foolish thought, he urges Jinfu through the door.
Jinfu! Take us inside.
After all, what use is there in having a mount if you don't ride it?
Hayato stops Jinfu just short before stepping in.
The contents of the room float aimlessly about as if loosed from the bounds of gravity.
A large oak desk spins slowly in the center, and a matching carved oak chair floats near the ceiling. The walls are lined with low bookshelves, but the books and countless other items that once rested there drift gently in midair. Ivy-covered windows to the west and east provide only dim light.
A closed cupboard on the north wall beckons like an old Tien suitor for Lo Ma's affections.
Seelah points at the cupboard.
"That's it! That's the cupboard with the vial... but how do we navigate a room that has no gravity?"
Jinfu looks up at Hayato, grunts and whinnies. Hayato recalls Jinfu ate much grass just a short few hours ago.
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Lo Ma smacks her sword cane across Hayato's chest.
"AyyyYaahhh!! Hayato! Did you remember to take Jinfu outside to POTTY? Jinfu YOUR pet! YOUR responsibility! If you cannot take care of Jinfu properly, how will you attract good WIFE??"
Lo Ma gives Hayato a whithering look of motherly contempt.
"Lo Ma just looking out for your own good. Your choice whether to listen to her or not. Lo Ma don't care!"
The old woman looks expectantly at Hayato.
"AyyyYaaah!! This room a mess!! Lo Ma will help clean. SO dirty. REIKO?? REIKO?? Where are you? COME HELP LO MA CLEAN ROOM!!!
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Hayato contemplates pointing out to Lo Ma that we are already outside, but thinks better of it.
Bowing his head, Hayato responds to Lo Ma.
It was a long journey and it slipped my mind. I will tend to Jinfu now.
Dismounting Jinfu, Hayato leads him off somewhere he can take care of his business.
Returning on foot Hayato appraises the situation in order to try and determine the best method of obtaining the vial.
Where is this cupboard you speak of!? I see nothing of the sort in this mess of a room. Sister, get over here and help Lo Ma clean up this mess!
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Sighing heavily, Reiko ultimately decides that it doesn't matter none of her kin are able to spot the broad side of barn (let alone hit one). At least it was one skill she possessed.
Assessing the situation, the ninja appears as suddenly as she tends to disappear, Lo Ma's sensitive blood pressure be damned.
It would seem my skills may actually be best suited for this task. I can likely navigate to the cupboard by leaping between the debris.
Without further word, Reiko springs into action.
Reiko begins leaping through the office, navigating the awkward gravity as she springs off the floating desk before landing on the far side and gripping the shelves. With a free hand she pries the cupboard open...
And finds it completely empty.
A large book, bound in red leather with the title Collected Wisdom and Secrets of the Luralia floats over and flaps open.
"HAAAA! Denied! Am I right, or am I right?"
The book shudders a bit and a different voice seems to answer the first. The pages forming the "mouth" seem to have flipped to sections covering "Wildlife and Fauna of Distant Tian-Xa".
"Hey! That not nice! Girl ninja just trying to help nice mother outside rooooooom!"
The book shudders again, this time opening to what appears to be several inserts that were more recently added. A dull, monotonous voice drones forth.
"Nahw, nahw. This young mind shurely craves Knahw-ludge. Knawh-ludge about what might hau'hve happened to the vie'hul that used to be in this cuh'buhrd...."
The book shudders one last time, flipping back to the first chapter.
"Whoaa... those inserts took over for a second. Look, I'll try to do everything I can to prevent that personality from speaking again..."
The "book" rotates in mid-air to "look" towards Hayato and Lo Ma.
"Oh... I can tell you all about the vial. But, but, but..."
It's pages flutter for a moment as multiple personalities within struggle for dominance.
"You gotta tell me stuff first... good stuff. Like stuff about the world outside this room. Yeah, yeah. Three things. Three good things."
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Of course it's not that easy. It's never that easy.
Reiko tilts her head curiously at the book, the only sign from her cloaked face that indicates any level of confusion.
If you are, indeed, a book of... Knowledge, then might you know the location of the vial that previously inhabited this cupboard?
Reiko hesitates in mentioning the word "knowledge," apprehensive it may be the trigger for more... Disturbing voices housed within the magical book.
The book contorts and convulses. As far as Hayato is concerned, Reiko's words are responsible for what is happening next.
"Knahw-knawh-knawh..."
"Quiet you! Stay cloooo---"
"Young mind.. Knahw..."
"I'm trying to get us some knowle..."
"Knahw-lllllll..."
WHUMP
The book closes for a moment, orbits the desk, thuds against it once, twice, three times for good measure before floating back to the room's center.
"There. So, yeah. I think I quieted that voice. I told it you all were going to tell us three amazing things about the current state of the world."
It spins around, yet again.
"So... go!"
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SISTER! Do not summon that other voice again. It hurts my soul for some unknown reason.
The slow, drawling nature of the second voice in the book grates on my senses
In what is an obvious attempt to collect his thoughts, Hayato attempts to provide the book some information about the outside world.
There is an organization of "terraists" that appear to be amassing an army of reptilian people. Their leader wears a silver mask that covers his entire face.
Come to think of it, I'm not sure how he even moves around while wearing that thing...
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Reiko winces, regretting her earlier choice of words, though hardly because of the pain it had inflicted on her brother. If anything, that was a saving grace.
There seems to be a newly discovered variant of the Varisian language. It appears to be contagious, like a disease or curse, and may have potentially originated from what they call the... Dooklands?
Reiko's Tien accent somehow manages to butcher the already heavily butchered tongue she couldn't shake from her wanderings through the Grand Lodge. Oh, how the voices always echoed.
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"Current state of world you say? Old man, Dr. Quolorum, you know him, right? He works here. This office his.. Well, he send Lo Ma, Seelah and these two kids on crazy quests. We get useless things for old man.
Personally, Lo Ma thinks he sends us on missions so that he talk with Reiko. Maybe old man wants wife? But he so old.
Reiko very shy, so maybe old man last chance for her? Or maybe old man likes Hayato? Hayato strong boy, plays with horse all day. very virile!
But Dr. Quolorum so old..."
The book floats silently for a moment, it's open pages facing Lo Ma.
Seelah sighs, looks to Hayato for a moment and then to Lo Ma.
"The Worldwound. It opened further. Demons poured out. They were stopped."
The book resumes bobbing again.
"Good! Good! Those were all so interesting. I must learn more about this Varisian dialect."
The book shudders. It glows with brilliant light. It shudders again, and flies open like a knowing grin.
"So... it goes like dis, yea? HA! Yea, dat's real guuuuud. I likes dis! I'm gonna talk like dis from now on!"
It floats back over to Reiko, clearly expressing a preference for ninjas.
"So get dis. Like two days ago, dis poor dude, he looked like a farmer or somethin'... he comes in here all rushed like he's lookin' fer somethin'? And I don't mean a gud time cuz Lo Ma ain't here back den, you know what I mean? HA HA HA!"
The book's pages flutter as if the book is laughing at Lo Ma.
"Anyways, so dis dude, he takes dis vial from dis cupboard.. dat one yous went'ta and da whole place goes spinnin'!"
The book zips around the desk a few times, illustrating what it means to spin, just in case it was unclear.
"Weeee... like diiiiiiiis! Anyways, he was cursin' and kickin' and it was real funny. Not like smelly-suspect-funny, but like 'ha-ha' funny. Anyways, he says somethin' about usin' da vial at da greenhouse. Hope dat helps!"
The book zings off, crashing through a window into the outside world.
"HAHAHA! I'm freeeee! Time ta go teach dis world about dis great new langooo--- uhhh, dis new ways ta's talk!!"
The doctor's office is quiet. Except for Jinfu's breathing. And Lo Ma's near-silent rage.
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Taking careful note of both the path that lies ahead, as well as sharp notice of her brother's failure, Reiko stifles an exceedingly rare chuckle.
Perhaps there's some equestrian tips in that book that Hayato can benefit from, Lo Ma. Let's be off, then! NINJA VANISH!
Despite it being wholly unnecessary, Reiko draws her flash powder and throws it to the ground, attempting to disappear under its cover before following the trail.
Reiko is gone.
Seelah presses her palm to her face, sighs, and begins to walk off after Hayato and Jinfu, holding her arm out for Lo Ma.
The greenhouse is constructed from wrought iron and glass and resembles a cage as much as it does a garden. Forty feet tall at its highest peak, the structure is elegantly arched and smoothly curved. The gate on the western end has been bent out of shape and swings on a single hinge.
The gate sways barely, as if touched by some unseen force... in reality though, Hayato knows that Reiko has just beat him into the greenhouse.
Riding up astride Jinfu, he coaxes his mount inside while Seelah and Lo Ma struggle to keep up.
The air in this room is humid and aromatic. Odors of earth and mud clash with crisp notes of sweet flowering plants. Farther in, a freshwater spring burbles quietly.
The interior of the 50-by-40-foot greenhouse houses disturbing, albeit harmless, plants that are overgrown and huge, with strangely twisted limbs and oddly pale leaves. The branches and leaves gradually turn to face you all, following your movements.
A body, drained of blood and rapidly decomposing, is just off the path to the south.
A vial lays on the path ahead to the pond.
A man shambles ahead, just next to the pond .
He groans, his eyes rolling back into his head. It appears the fungus sprouting from him is controlling him. He shambles towards Jinfu and Hayato, the fungus eagerly seeking new hosts.
Initiative
Reiko moves like the wind through the northern shrubs. Spores bubble and pop as the "man" moves towards Hayato and Jinfu. He grunts a word out, but his will matters not - a mount he does what his rider commands.
"Hellllpp..."
Jinfu snorts, knowing that mounts never get to do what they want when they want.
Round 1
12 Reiko :
11 Mold :
10 Lo Ma :
9 Hayato :
8 Seelah :
Now Up: Reiko
Reiko moves in, but in her enthusiasm to strike before Hayato, she swings high and wide allowing the mold-controlled-man to sidestep.
The spores erupt in a shower as tiny tendrils seek and find their way deep into Reiko's soft, pale flesh.
Spores (Su) Whenever a mindslaver mold hits a creature with its spore pod, or whenever a creature touches a mindslaver mold (including when a creature hits the mold with a touch attack, unarmed strike, or natural attack), the creature must succeed at a DC 15 Fortitude save or take 1d4 points of Wisdom damage as the mold’s spores swiftly drain away the victim’s willpower and sense of self. The save DC is Constitution-based.
[ooc]Roll the DC15 Fort or take Wisdom damage as your willpower and sense of self as a ninja decay in the wake of Hayato's shadow and Lo Ma's constant reminders.
Round 1
12 Reiko : Moves in, misses her ninja strike
11 Mold : Fires spores at Reiko, which burrow into her flesh
10 Lo Ma :
9 Hayato :
8 Seelah :
Round 2
12 Reiko :
Now Up: Everyone
Seelah, taking a page from Reiko's playbook, shouts to all who are willing to hear her in the greenhouse.
"PALADIN SMITE!"
As she begins to glow holy light, you see the shock on Seelah's face.
"What the...? It worked!"
Drawing her shortbow, Seelah works to land an arrow in the mold but accomplishes about the same as Reiko and Hayato (which is to say, very little).
for
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Reiko's sense of self worth and identify slips away as the spores find their way under her haramaki and burrow deep into her flesh. Why you be ninja? Ninja is useless. You make better wife as Expert or even Warrior! Though Lo Ma said nothing, her endless tirades cut deep beyond the mortal ear.
Combat is not your strong suit. Nothing is your strong suit. Reiko shakes the thought from her head, but decides she should retreat carefully, her eyes catching the glint of the vial beneath Jinfu's hooves. Narrowly, the vial avoids destruction, and Reiko decides moving to retrieve the vial is the best course of action.
.. Jinfu, touch AC10 (Dex 13, large size)
The fronds of the mold wiggle in apparent anxiety as they sense a large new home awaits them.
Hundreds fire off into Jinfu's exposed flesh, burrowing in.
Jinfu snorts in derision.
I am Jinfu. Mighty horse. I am worth more than my master or those he travels with. I am the best warrior among us - for I have bite and two hoof attacks.
Round 1 Con't
11 Mold : Fires spores at Reiko, which burrow into her flesh
10 Lo Ma : Moves and berates
9 Hayato : Rides up and misses
8 Seelah : Moves up, fires and misses
Round 2
12 Reiko : Tumbles away, grabbing the vial
11 Mold : Lobs spores at Jinfu
10 Lo Ma :
9 Hayato :
8 Seelah :
Round 3
12 Reiko :
Now Up: Everyone!
Seelah lobs her shortbow into the shrubs and draws her longsword as she works to circle about mold-man.
Let's try that again..."
for
for
Seelah's sword bites deep, hacking away a good chunk of mold from the controlled man, which flies off into the pond .
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Holding up the vial for a moment, Reiko waves it at Hayato.
Unlike you, I am completing our mission before your useless animal prevents us from doing so.
Reiko stows the vial in the breast of her haramaki and thinks better of her comment, stepping back from the rear of Jinfu and his dangerous (if wildly inaccurate) hooves. Dropping her Wakizashi, she draws her kusarigama in preparation for repositioning.
Hayato hacks away more mold, but just as swiftly as he does so the greenish growth repairs some of the damage. Another green burst shoots at Jinfu, but Jinfu twists away in time, seeming to focus on Reiko's latest comments.
Round 2 Con't
10 Lo Ma : Moves into flank, misses
9 Hayato : Strikes for 6 as Jinfu does little
8 Seelah : Crits for 13
Round 3
12 Reiko : Taunts Hayato, stows vial, draws kusarigama
11 Mold (17dmg): Heals, lobs spores at Jinfu yet misses
10 Lo Ma :
9 Hayato :
8 Seelah :
Round 4
12 Reiko :
Now Up: Everyone!
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Reiko sidles forward, winding up her Kusarigama to strike at the fungus, and casts a glance to Seelah for assistance.
Perhaps the two of us might succeed where my kin would fail.
There is neither malice nor a drop of sarcasm in her voice. Merely statement of fact.
Reiko readies to strike from 10 foot reach once she has a flanking buddy.
Or... Perhaps not.
Lo Ma's voice disrupts the two Tien while both Jinfu and Seelah find they are able to focus their efforts.
for
for
Seelah, continuing to glow, gives Lo Ma a bit of a smile like a favored daughter as her longsword purrs, gliding effortlessly through the humid air.
Purrrrrrr...
As the mold begins to wither and blacken on the ground, the man collapses into the pool of water.
"Uhhh...."
The man, after some aid from Seelah, identifies himself as Silas Gren, a gardener on the grounds. He relates that he came to check on the greenhouse and found one of his assistants, Alerin Quinn, possessed by some sort of fungal creature.
He rushed to the doctor's office and grabbed the experimental defoliant. Upon returning, the fungus got the drop on him and he's effectively been under its control since.
As you check the body of Quinn just off to the south of the path, you find he's long dead - his body drained of all fluids.
Over the next few days, Seelah helps poor Gren recover and you all eventually depart from Rozenport and deliver the experimental defoliant to the doctor.
A little over a week passes since you've delivered the defoliant and a new letter arrives that Seelah passes around.
My most capable allies,
This is it! I have finally triangulated the source of the intriguing phenomena near the peak of Diremark in the eastern reaches of the Hungry Mountains. It’s so obvious in hindsight, considering the legends of the place, that I’m surprised nobody thought of it sooner.
Given the highly charged nature of the ether right now, it’s best if I accompany you to the source to learn what has transpired. Meet me on the slopes of Diremark and we’ll put this mystery to rest before the new semester begins and I return to the drudgery of reading first-year essays on the ethical questions raised by charm spells.
Huzzah!
Dr. Quolorum
After everyone's finished reading, Lo Ma's favorite paladin states the obvious.
"Looks like we're headed to the slopes of Diremark. Guess we'll pack up and make any last purchases and head up in about an hour or so?"
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What does Lo Ma know about Diremark and Hungry Mountains? Lo Ma from Nagajor! Know nothing about place. Wonder if kids know? They better be studying!
"Oh, Lo Ma knows EVERYTHING about that place. Maybe good chance for kids to show how HARD they studying?
You want know what Lo Ma read in Weekly Pathfinder Daily? Ambrus Valsin SLEEPING around with subordinates! And Kreighton Shaine got kicked off ISLAND during last vote! Grand Lodge very exciting!! Tribe has spoken!"