Misha raises an eyebrow a moment, and then smiles. "And me without my juggling kit! We will proceed with entertainment, your eminence, but a question--have you seen a sort of half-dragon fellow come through here? Did he entertain you? I want to be sure we don't replicate his act."
Rikar raises one eyebrow at Misha's reply, curious how she aims to have them entertain this strange creature. He's game to try, however, and does his best to assist her in the conversation, "Aye, would hate to bore you with a trick you've already seen."
Pausing for a moment, the sphinx ponders and responds to Misha; "you are a very talented young lady. Seeking knowledge you have not earned with a carefully worded question, however I also am smart enough to not fall into that trap" she replies to you. "So what can you do to entertain me?" she asks again.
"What can we do to entertain you?" Rikar asks, already tired of the sphinx's supercilious air. "We can beat you within an inch of your life, and then flip a coin to decide if we let you live - how's that sound for fun?"
His upper lip curled in a snarl, he continues, "So how about you tell us what lies ahead, and anything else you think would be useful, and we'll see if we can't find a nicer game to play?"
== 60 minutes
"Now, now. No need to be hasty. I was appointed by the gods to not let anyone pass, however, a half dragon man beat me in a game of riddles, so I let him and his men pass and wander freely in the city. I do not know his name nor his goals as he seemed quite unwilling to talk other than to win the riddle game."
"When did he pass by? How many men?" Rikar asks brusquely. "What were they armed with? Did he do anything beyond playing your riddle game?"
Telman cannot help but smile at the ranger's approach. Yup, that was entertaining!
Misha nods, she too, thoroughly entertained.
"Right, that'll do," Rikar says, easing off a bit on his threatening tone - but only a bit. "Just tell us what you know of this city beyond, then step aside and we'll take care of this Aogarn."
While Rikar speaks with the sphinx, Misha whispers to Therena, "Any thoughts on entertainment? Or would it be prudent to deal with the fiendish creature the way we deal with most fiends?"
”I myself have no wish to leave a fiend at our backs once it gets over it’s fear of us and decides on petulant revenge,” she whispers back.
Therena keeps a suspicious eye on the crypsphinx as they pass along, and looks over her shoulder several times until the thing is out of view.
Deciding to leave the sphinx alone, for now, the party moves to the north east, thru the open area.
You come to what appears to be an ancient, derelict fountain. Of course there is no water anywhere; the eight columns surrounding the fountain are devoid of any statue or ornament. Only the central column retains some decoration, though it is as dilapidated as the rest of the city. The strange thing is, what appears to be an armored man is standing guard besides the fountain …
Misha comes to a halt and eyed the armored man. Is he alive? A statue? Does his look fit Athan area or is this clearly someone new?
"Ah, you are the ones following my master. What is it that you want from him" the man says as he keeps his distance.
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To the team, sotto vocce: "Well, he's got some magical items on, at the least. No telling what kind of creature or effect he really is, under all that steel. Misha, maybe spin another yarn, perhaps we can get some intel from him before he turns hostile?"
Josef remains near the central column, trying to keep an eye on the humanoid while appearing casual.
Misha doffs her hat. "We are members of the Pathfinder Society researching the ancient Athans, with a tangential interest in making sure whatever is down here doesn't cause the end of the world. We came down here of our own accord, not to follow anyone, although when we saw signs that someone moved through here recently before us, we were curious. So we don't 'want' anything from your master per se, but we are wondering what he--and you--are doing here."
Rikar awaits the man's answer, ready to take a more forceful approach to convincing him to answer the party's questions, should the need arise.
While the rest of them are focused on the strange metal man, Therena pretends to be distracted by the ruins, keeping an eye out for an ambush.
+2 Underground
+12 Underground
As Misha tries to talk with the armored man, Therena keeps vigilant, looking around, and she hears a group of men behind her, all looking somewhat similar to the man at the fountain, come out from one of the barely standing buildings and approaching fast, weapons drawn.
"Master says they have more of the tears. Kill them and bring the tears to him." she hears one of them say.
After presumably receiving a warning from Therena, Misha casts good hope on the party and then draws her swords, moving toward the armored man.
Therena moves down and left so she can clearly see between the ruined buildings.
”Six more of them, being quite rude and nicely clumped,” she announces and casts roaming pit. The space between the two buildings is too narrow for the pit, meaning the closest guy to her is safe, but the three right behind him are perfectly aligned. Then with a wave of her hand, the pit moves back to snag the next two.
Reflex save DC 22 to jump clear. Failing that, they take points of falling damage.
Hearing the warning and seeing their aggressive stance, Telman looks to create some distance between the group and their enemies by trying to drop the vanguard.
plus
plus
plus
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All four shots strike true, biting deep into the guards armor.
vs AC 23
vs DC 25
vs AC 24 Misha
Telman, knowing that Therena is into pits, takes out the lead guard approaching from the south, letting her take care of the rest of them. She casts her spell, and the three that the pit appears under, fall directly to the bottom of the sixty foot deep pit. Rikar and Latys move to the fountain man and attack, however the scythe and Latys claws just move thru the creature, as if it was not there. Misha also moves over to hear the creature and casts good hope on the group. She sees what Rikar and Latys did.
The three guards in the pit try to climb out, but keep sliding back down the slippery wall, while the two guards not caught, move up to Misha, so not be be in the line of the pit and attack her, however only one hits.
The fountain man, stands there and speaks to Rikar, "ah, my disguise works too well. Do you always attack first? Humans have such bad manners." He then changes his appearance into that of an old human man in robes.
Misha takes a quick sidestep to flank one of the guards with Rikar and swings both blades at him. "Setting up an ambush isn't exactly good manners either, Mr. Kettle."
”You boys stay there,” she calls down the pit and moves to get all her friends within range of haste, which she then casts.
Seeing Therena's pit keeping the group of guards at bay for the moment Telman turns his attention to the guards around Misha, freeing up Rikar to focus on the man at the fountain.
plus
plus
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The first shot sends two arrows at the guard Misha has already wounded. Seeing that is enough he shifts targets to strike the other one with several shots as well.
Don’t forget haste. Everybody after Therena in round 2.
vs DC 25
Josef casts a dispel magic on the now old man where the dragon guard at the fountain was standing, however his spell fizzles completely and the old man is still standing there. Misha steps to flank with Rikar, and wounds the guard between the two of them. Telman finishes off that one, and then severely damages the remaining out of the pit guard. Therena casts haste on the group, while Rikar and Latys continue, at least one more time to attack the old man, however their weapon and claws just pass thru as if there was nothing there.
The three at the bottom of the pit try vainly to climb out, and you hear more guards coming from the south. The old man speaks, "well, I see speaking to you is not worthwhile, so I will go now" and he disappears.
"What the hell was that righteous indignation about? We did speak to him first, and he ignored my question while his guards came in to attack us from behind." Misha rolls her eyes. "What some idiots will do to convince themselves they're in the right."
Misha steps around the other guard who has engaged her () and unleashes a flurry of blades, infusing mystical energy into her weapons.
Presuming that was the already wounded guard, she turns him into a fine mist.
Therena also moves back to get line of sight, and then drops a black tentacles on the group of 4.
Booooooo!!
Hope I don't regret this...
The campfire tale of a dwarf running forward onto a bridge comes to mind as Telman moves around the corner to engage the approaching guards. The story is quickly replaced by a more recent memory, the memory of the arrow that just dropped the guard fighting Misha and Rikar. A few arcane words as he pulls his bowstring back and an arrow magically appears nocked and ready to fire.
Telman releases and the arrow splits into three as it flies toward the group to the south.
vs AC 22
vs AC 22
vs DC 25
vs AC 22 Telman (really! a frickin 1 for damage roll!
Josef casts a spell on himself, and grows to twice his size. Grabbing his halberd, he stands at the ready. Telman moves into position, and casting a spell, four arrows appear and strike the four guards that are in range, damaging each of them. Therena casts black tentacles, however all four guards ignore them and move out of the area, one heading to Telman, and the other three over to the side, trying to flank the party. Rikar steps up and severely wounds the one between him and Misha, and then Latys rips it to shreds.
With the both guards in front of her, Misha concentrates on what happened to the old man, and comes to the conclusion that this was an illusion of some sort that faded away, rather than an invisible spell, or teleportation type spell.
The three in the pit, continue their futile attempts to climb out. The five to the east work their way thru the partially upright building and appear out the other side, looking to attack Misha and Rikar, but trying to stay away from the edge of the pit. The one guard who moved out of the tentacle range and next to Telman, swings his sword and nicks the archer.
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Josef steps to the southeast and full attacks the guardsman standing next to the pit.
to hit; power attack, haste, GMW+3, enlarge person, arcane strike, for magical slashing/piercing damage
to hit; power attack, haste, GMW+3, enlarge person, arcane strike, for magical slashing/piercing damage
to hit; power attack, haste, GMW+3, enlarge person, arcane strike, for magical slashing/piercing damage
"Foolish, indeed. Our blades will slay you all, and any who flee will die with arrows in their backs. Yield, and we may yet be merciful."
Therena does a quick estimation, and although the ruins make exact calculations difficult, she thinks she’s good, and flings a fireball against the partially-ruined wall that’s just adjacent to the eastern edge of the pit. The three guys in the pit are too far down to be affected, but the five other guards aren’t so lucky. I believe the 20-four radius will just miss Misha and Josef.
+1 force
All fail DC 19.
Sheathing one of her swords, Misha casts ear-piercing scream on the most wounded looking target.
The guard bears down on Telman and the archer only smiles. "That supposed to scare me?" He then proceeds to fire arrows right into his face.
plus
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plus
vs AC 22 guard
vs AC 22 (threat)
vs AC 22 (threat)
vs DC 25 (just realized (I am that thick headed at times) they cant make the DC...
Josef steps next to the guard near the pit, and wounds him severely. Telman snickers at the scratch and snaps off four arrows at the guard that had the temerity to attack him, and that guard dies on the spot. Therena casts a fireball into the group of five still standing, just missing Misha and Josef. The guard that Josef hits dies, while the others take damage from the well placed spell. Rikar and Latys move up and attack the guard, while Misha screams at the guard, finishing him off.
The three guards in the pit give up trying to climb and decide to wait for the spell to end. The three remaining guards throw down their weapons and surrender.
Still chuckling a bit at Misha’s ‘Mr. Kettle’ crack, Rikar looks around in satisfaction as he notes they’ve defeated the guards while suffering hardly a scratch. ”Well, that went well, though I’d like to know where their leadership is.“
He turns to the group of guards who have surrendered and says, ”Tell me where your boss is, and how many others there are in your party. Or you’ll have your choice of facing my archer friend’s arrows or the twin blades of the clever one. And I may feed the scraps to my cat.“
"Our leader is Aogarn, son of the Dragon tribe shaman Aedhaine, and we are the last of our tribe. He is in the in the Temple of the Dragon Lord to the east of here. There is a key to get into the Temple, where our leader is. Besides Aogarn, there are perhaps six others."
"What does Aogarn want here? What brings him here?" Rikar demands as he continues questioning the guard. "Are the six others more guardsmen like you, or does he have more powerful lieutenants? And finally, where can I find the key to get into the temple?"
Once Therena spell ends, and the men at the bottom of the pit come to the surface, they see the others have surrendered or been defeated, those men also throw down their weapons. One of them, steps forward to answer Rikar questions. "I am Sergeant Dworak, and can give you most of the answers you are asking for. Aogarn is obsessed with bring back the city of Archaneroth to the mortal plane, instead of this pocket plane created by the gods against the Dragon Lord. There is an area called the Traveling Seal, which you needed to have tear shaped stones in order to see it at the top of the tunnel you used to come here. You must have at least one in your possession or you would never have made it down here. Aogarn has one, a black opal shaped like a teardrop that opened the pathway above. He is currently in the Temple to the Dragon Lords, which is thru the entrance to the east of here. You need a translucent, glowing sphere to put into a depression in the wall which opens the door. As far as I know, Aogarn has destroyed all but the one he has, so you will have to break down the stone door. Good luck with that! Once in the Temple proper there are many powerful undead to overcome before getting to where Aogarn is. These undead seem to fear the sphere, as Aogarn held it up in front of him, and the undead left us alone, at least for now. He is where the Traveling Seal standing stone is on the east side of the temple. In order to bring Archaneroth back, he has to overcome this standing stone. While he is a very powerful wizard, he has not found a way to do it yet, so he stays there contemplating that. That is all I know, none of these men know anything more as I am their leader. Permit us to retrieve our weapons and we will leave, going back up the tunnel and hopefully find a way to the surface, as I no longer believe in Aogarn and his dreams."