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Wrenching her feet out of the vines and stepping out of the vines, Faliana gives a screech of victory over the giant gorilla! She was strong, but she hadn't found what she was looking for, where is it? What was it? Puzzled for a moment, she lets her usual defences down and gets overwhelmed. Her face starts to violently twitch and change going from the triumphant snarl of moments ago to a mask of pure-primal rage. She starts screeching in time with the monkeys around the room and advances on not-monkey-leader's back, an almost hungry look of violence in her eyes. As she gets close she raises her intertwined balled up hands as if to bring them down on the man's head. Before she starts her down swing she stops in mid-motion. A very weak sound escapes her lips, and Anavi's voice flits out for a brief second. "Oh, no you don't"
Her face gives a couple violent spasms of motion, before settling down into Proto-Faliana's usual snarl. She screams, although weakly, "My body, you no have," A moment later her face takes a look of confusion. "Anavi?" She looks around for a second and then catches sight of the totem in front of not-Monkey-leader, she then stomps past him standing over the idol. "You, you take Anavi! DIE!"
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Dale will wriggle his skinny self out of the grasping plants.. or at least try. "Arrggghhh they've got me! But not for long!" He tries again!
"Ah ha! Who's awesome now you damned Gramineae!" He quickly dances out from some others that try to grab him as he celebrates victory.
"Oh hey, smash that wooden thing then look around for 2 more! We gotta go get Nigel up there too!" He says pointing to the man tied down.
Right before her eyes, the haft of Drusilla's morning star starts to warp and bend, forming a crooked arc by the time it stops. Enraged, the warrior starts trying to beat on the little wooden idol with what remains, not even caring that it makes a poor weapon in its current configuration... her thoughts are only on smashing the perceived source of her anger with whatever she has on hand.
Monty, feeling himself for the first time in a while, but sore all over, walks over to where the idol is as well, and tries to bash it with his staff... though he only succeeds in batting it around the floor a bit, like some children's game.
Tad, finally managing to break free of the grasping vines, calls on the holy fire of Sarenrae once more, and launches another fire bolt across the room. This time, with no plants tugging on his arm, he manages to hit the idol cleanly, the flame just barely missing Monty on the way by. The fire scorches one corner of the wooden icon, sending it spinning.
Faliana seems to be having some problems, forces beyond most peoples' ken warring inside her head. As she pulls herself free of the grasses clutching at her feet, and marches across the room, it looks, for a moment, like she intends to attack the unsuspecting Monty... but at the last second, a brief shudder goes through her body, and her lips peel back in an angry snarl. Instead she hurtles past the vanaran, to stand over-top of the wooden idol, trying to scream at it with vocal chords torn to shreds, as she prepares to smash it into splinters. She does not seem to realize, or care that her position interferes with the others' attempts to do the same.
Above you, the monkeys clinging to vines over your heads screech at you, clearly furious!
Back in the doorway, Dale does valiant battle with dead and dried plantlife around him, until he too finally manages to get himself free of their grasping influence... at least for a moment. He calls a warning to keep an eye out for more of the idols, followed by a less needed suggestion to destroy the one you have found.
-- Round 4 -----------------
proto-Brady (-4), Monty (-9) <---- still here!
Tik Taan
Dale, proto-Faliana (-1 nl), proto-Dru, Tad
Just Brady to go!
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Brady continues to focus his attention on the tiny idol dancing around on the floor, even though the area continues to get more and more crowded with the pack. Driven by a desire to be the one who destroys the small thing, he dives at it with all that he has, oblivious to pack members in his way, nearly knocking Faliana off of her feet!
It takes everything he can give, but Brady manages to keep all of his anger focused on the tiny wooden idol on the floor... the alternative being to focus it on his former packmates... which his baser instincts are clamoring for him to do... now!
Even then, he barrels into Faliana with far more force then he needs to, sending her staggering backwards. Any control she had, at that moment, is gone in an instant, as hate and anger swarm her thoughts with the overwhelming need to retaliate against the one that would dare assault her!
Before she can fully turn on him though, Brady continues in his singular focus, smashing his fists, down on the idol, one after the other.... a crack forms as the force of the blow sends it rolling off to the side, but the brawler is relentless and the next blow breaks the thing right down the middle before it gets far.
There is a small yellowish flash of light, and suddenly the entire gallery goes quiet! All around you, the monkeys that had not stopped screeching and hooting since you entered, start to reel, their noises suddenly cut short... a few who were clinging to more precarious perches up high even tumble off and fall to the floor.
A moment later, all three of the mist-affected pathfinders' heads go back and their mouths open, as if screaming in silent agony.... as they do so, silvery mist flows out of their mouths, merging for a moment between them, before sinking into the mist at their feet.
They too then stagger, as if having taken a sudden blow, falling to their knees or leaning heavily against the wall.
Whatever had a grip on your brains felt like it was ripped free ... under protest.
You all have a headache, and Faliana's throat is burning, but otherwise, back to normal!
The elven man tied atop the alter stops struggling at the same time, and a moment later you hear a low groan.
All of the vines and grasses cease writhing and trying to grab a hold of anything nearby, and shortly thereafter, the silver mist that has graced the floor (and even the ceiling) the entire time you've been here, slowly fades away and disperses... like it was little more than warm breath on a cold night.
As the mist goes, all of the monkeys start to recover from whatever had staggered them a moment before, and look around with confused and fearful eyes. They then start racing towards the doorway in ones and twos, heading for the exit.
Combat Over!
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Monty coughs a bit, trying to clear the burning from his throat. He looks around at he de-misted pathfinder friends.
First round of ale is on me after this. He rasps as he begins walking up the ziggurat to Nigel. He reaches the ex pathfinder and begins working on undoing his bonds.
I must say... the old monkey rasps I don't think i'll be recommending your new exhibit to my friends.
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With the last tendrils of mist drifting free of his lungs, Brady slumps to the floor, his back resting against the wall. "It was... so real." He drops his head into the palms of his hands, but his head immediately bounces up as he looks at the other Pathfinders. "I was ready to kill you." He eyes land on Faliana, who was in the most danger. "Not just ready. I wanted to. It was all I could do to focus on that idol." His eyes go the shattered shards scattered on the floor nearby. "Weren't there more of those around? Bless the Starstone! If we see any more mist, don't breathe it!"
He pays little attention to what happens on the Ziggurat, simply resting and trying to recharge his mind.
You are a little concerned about Faliana and Monty though... both of them are showing some sort of of dark inflammation at the back of their throats.
When you were examining Faliana's head, your hand came away with a large clump of hair. As a grippli, you don't have much dealing with hair... but you're pretty sure its not supposed to come out in wads like that.
The first thing Monty will notice as he climbs the ziggurat to see about the man tied up there, is another little wooden idol, similar to the one Brady smashed over by the wall. It sits motionless beside the altar to which the man is secured.
"Ugh..." The elvish man groans, in response to Monty's comments. "That was... unpleasant."
He cranes his neck, trying to see who you are. "Can you untie me. I think the worst of it is gone."
"Who are you people?" He adds.
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"Pathfinders"
Monty rasps as he finishes looking his ropes.
"if you don't mind, could we discuss details at the lodge about you acquiring pathfinder property? Half your museum tried to kill us and we could use a drink. Or eight.
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Pathfinders?" The man says, surprised, as he slowly gets off the altar.
"If your people choose to sell to me, fair and square, that is your problem, not mine." He adds indignantly at Monty's tone.
He squints at Monty, obviously used to using some sort of corrective lenses that are now long gone, then starts slightly when he finally gets a good look at him. He glances around nervously for a moment, before shaking his head and sighing.
"Sorry..." He concedes with a sigh. "Recent primate troubles and all... am a little jumpy. Wasn't expecting a vanaran." He looks around the Grand Hall, though clearly can't see much without his spectacles.
"How bad is it?" He asks dreading the answer.
"Kadarnik or Yannis must of unwrapped the idols." He says, with a sigh, "Told them to leave them in the cloth for now, given the protective runes on it, but sometimes they take cataloguing too seriously."
He spots the second Tik Taan idol, and starts for a second time. "Oh dear... we need to get that back into the cloth. Did you find the others? There were three in the batch Lugizar sold us."
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Monty sees the idol, and quickly rips off a piece of the bottom of his robe with his foot and grabs the idol, careful not to actually touch it, and tosses it over to Thad in his waiting open cloth.
No insult taken. I'm rather done with my cousins myself. I'm afraid that the place is, as the ancient primate sages say... Oook, Ack, Ah ah. In common, I believe you would say "Deep in the s*#@ter." Speaking of which, your latrines are going to need some serious repairs.... and a new custodian to make those repairs I'm afraid...
He looks around again, looking for the third Idol.
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The sight of the other Pathfinders getting back to business is enough to shake Brady from his self-focused doldrums. Explore. Report. Cooperate. Don't forget the last one; you're part of this team too. He makes himself get up, and starts working to assist in the recovery of the remaining idols.
"If these need to be destroyed, you can count me as the first volunteer to help. But I'll need to wear gloves; I don't trust 'em."
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Dale heads up with the others to check on Nigel "Welcome back!" He nods in agreement with the others as they gather up the remaining idols carefully, taking a moment to listen to what Tad has to say then nodding along with his thoughts.
"Yes definitely definitely!" He turns to introduce himself to Nigel "Yes I'm Dale, we were sent by your friend Adril Hestram at the Pathfinder Society to help with an issue over here. Quite the issue indeed! May we perhaps see the other curiosities you purchased to help see what sort of other issues may be present? Perhaps we could examine them outside, in the sunshine? Get a good breath of clean, mist free air in our lungs!"
Assuming we make way towards the outside Dale will hold Tad and Nigel back a moment to tell him what he knows of what likely is starting to happen to their friends.
Nigel visibly bristles when Dale mentions Adril's name... though the Venture-Captain had told you earlier there was some bad blood there.
"Adril sent you?" He replies, frowning slightly.
"Well, I suppose its nice to see him trying." He adds cryptically, then sighs. "And for that, I will be ever grateful. Thank you all!"
He gets to his feet and observes as you fold the idols back into the old Mwangi cloth.
"When Lugizor said he had artifacts to sell, I was overjoyed to get them. It was just the three idols, wrapped in that old bark cloth." He motions towards the cloth Tad has the two remaining idols wrapped in. "I didn't for a moment think it would result in... this." He waves absently at the destruction all around.
"It just took over your mind." His eyes go distant, as he remembers the ordeal. "One minute, doing inventory... Then this mist rolls in, and suddenly I just want to destroy everything."
"Perhaps it was good all the monkeys and apes charged in and dragged me to here, else I might have." He stops suddenly, a confused look on his face. "Were did all those primates come from anyway? Surely the idols didn't create those too?"
He shrugs slightly, realizing the question wasn't really important anymore.
"And you say it affected everyone? What about the others, the rest of my employees! There would have been half a dozen or so on duty when it started. Kadarnik, Yannis, Milgen, and Saldak would have been in the offices... and I'm certain I saw Sheg and Maldroog cleaning up in the East Gallery before I went into storage." He looks at you hopefully, then recalls Monty's words from earlier.
"Oh..." He whispers.
"Did any of them get out alright?" He asks.
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Monty scratches his head as he leans heavily on his staff, trying to take preassure off his injured side.
Aye... only by the grace of the gods did we make it... I was a bit more familiar with... Primate feelings, but I don't think I could have kept it up for much longer.
He looks down at the dead gorilla and sighs softly shaking his head before turning back to Nigel. He scratches his chin and thinks, trying to recall events through the fog.
Let's see... saw Saldak running for it, he'll be safe... Kadarnik and Yannis are... um... let's say sleeping off a headache. Milgen... didn't make it. As for your cleaning staff.... one is alive, but the half-orc fellow didn't make it either. I'm truly sorry we couldn't save them. Forgive my tactlessness, this mess has made a old monkey rather cranky.
"Sheg then." Nigel mutters sadly, at news of the custodian that died.
"I'm sure you all did what you could." He adds. "Without your assistance, I dare say none of us would be making it home."
He starts to head back towards the offices, limping slightly. "As to those..." He waves at the bundled cloth that Tad is carrying and glances at Brady. "They have already cost us dearly, destroying them would just make it worse!"
He frowns slightly. "If this has proven anything, it is that there is still much to learn from those... though perhaps I will entreat the Society to assist with it going forward. Tell Adril to contact me. I'm sure the cloth will keep them inactive for now, but a few extra precautions going forward would probably be wise."
He stops outside the East/West gallery doors, looking at all the destruction and sighs slightly.
"Hold a moment."
He ducks into the Hall of Honored dead and opens a small cabinet in the base of one of the displays. Very carefully, he pulls out a finely crafted bejeweled spear with brittle, white bird feathers tied to the end with crumbling ancient leather straps.
"Here, this is for you." He offers. "It is also from the Expanse."
"No, no, not from the same place as the idols." He corrects quickly. "No, this was found by Chelish explorers back when Sargava was still a new colony. During prince Haliad the First's reign. I know Adril has had his eye on this for years, for the Pathfinder collection."
He hands it over. "Think of it as trying to mend a few bridges."
He reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a small dark purple disk-shaped stone and looks at it thoughtfully.
"I was cataloging these, when everything went wrong. Forgot it was in my pocket." He ponders it for a moment, then hands it to you as well. "Here, give this to Adril too... I know the Society has a particular interest in these."
"It's an ioun stone." He explains. "They are of Azlanti origin, originally, I believe. All of the wayfinders you Pathfinders carry were build to interact with them specifically."
He shrugs slightly, frowning. "Though this one is damaged, so won't work in the compasses. But still some magic in it regardless. I'm sure your superiors will be glad to study it."
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At the mention of the pack of monkeys Dale chuckles a bit "Oh, those monkeys were probably the ones that escaped around the city. I guess when your inside man Trantos brought these relics to town it excited all the local captive monkey's to revolt or something!" He pauses a moment before adding another few thoughts.
"Do you know what happened to Trantos? Did he skip town or? I heard he wasn't looking too good when he arrived in Absalom and I don't like the sound of his symptoms..." He gives a bit of a worried glance towards Monty and Faliana.
He later takes a quick look over the items with a pleased look in his eyes. "These will do nicely! You and Adril really should work our your differences. The Society and this museum have many of the same goals and would do well to work together sometimes. Maybe we can help be a go between? I'd personally love to have a look around the museum here to see what you've got. I'm a bit of a lover of all things new, old, and strange!"
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Angrily shoved out of the way, Proto-Faliana brings her hands up to slam the back of Brad's head but she gives a cough and the mists burnley out of her mouth. Suddenly clear headed, confused and then realizes what she was about to do. "Oh, Ashava. Was that all real?" Stumbling backwards from the shock of how deeply she'd been affected, Faliana starts to hyperventilate before a look of surprise crosses her face. With a smile, she starts crying. "Anavi's back! And no worse for the wear! I need a few seconds to process this and talk with Anavi."
After a few minutes of sitting down and staring blankly at nothing, Faliana's face convulses and settles into Ana's hard lines, looking a little weary around the edges. Giving everyone a smile, she stands up. "Good work everyone! Sorry for not being here, but you did well without me. That was exhilarating; didn't think I'd be able to fight on my own again!" She then happily helps the rest of the group in collecting the idols and tyding up, humming a tune the entire time. When she gets a chance she starts to talk about what it was like for her. "I didn't realize when we were entering the building that everyone wasn't seeing the thousands of monkeys. According to Faliana it was just mist for you guys. I guess it that was the only physical manifestation of those evil monkey spirits. That explains why you weren't being careful. It also explains how they could attack me, and I them!" With this she gives a sigh of contentment. "It was like the first crusades all over again, enemies on all sides. But for some reason they weren't trying to destroy us but capture instead. Their mistake, they were weaker than an imp and only had numbers on their side." Getting too caught up in analyzing their tactics, Anavi gives a shake of Faliana's head and continues. "Not completely weaker than an imp, they were able to haul long dead souls back into their bodies and force them to fight you. All except..." She pauses for a second and blushes deeply. She the starts again, in a meeker tone of voice. "...Moke. The Mugwani man with the kukuri. He resisted their tortures and promises and instead gallantly fought them back without breaking a sweat. I can't understand what he said, but I think he mentioned 'Jambala Jaeg' and 'Angazhan.' Anyone know Mugwani? I think I need to learn. He handled those kukuri so well and he might be short but he's not wanting for... Uh... Fighting talent." Her eyes glaze over for a moment with the memory,and once again she has to shake herself out of it again. She then breaks out into a big smile. "The others went back home when you defeated them but Moke is going to be sticking around in that kukuri!" She then settles down again the hard lines coming back onto her face. "But I have some bad news, those Vargouilles were real, trapped here and released but the money spirits. Next given the state of Faliana's hair and how much her throat hurts she may need magical attention shortly." Her serious conversation over, she turns to Monty and with a smile and a knowing wink, says, "Good luck with Faliana and don't do anything to hurt her." Finally an exhausted look comes over her face. "Faliana is done crying, and I'm pooped. I'm going to sit back and relax for a bit."
With this Faliana's face does its twitchy movements and settles into the softer looks of Faliana. She gives everyone a wane smile and wipes a tear from the corner of her eye. Then proceeds to help Nigel in anyway she can.
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The 'common' language in the Mwangi expanse is Polyglot, (much like it is tien in Tien Xia) ... but I assume PFS needs to assume everyone can speak the local language of Common (which is Taldane!) ... so its a PFS assumption. Only way to be fair to everyone in organized play.
Human's get around it by being granted a free regional language, depending on where they're from... non-humans have to do it the old fashioned way unfortunately.
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Nigel shakes his head. "Adril may have extended an olive branch... or maybe it was his own self interest... Those fences are not mended yet. Let us not get ahead of ourselves."
"Will take me forever to fix all this mess anyway." He adds, indicating the damaged museum. "Maybe once I get things sorted I'll reconsider."
Tad tries to convince Monty and Faliana to immediately come with him to the Lodge for treatment.
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The 'common' language in the Mwangi expanse is Polyglot, (much like it is tien in Tien Xia) ... but I assume PFS needs to assume everyone can speak the local language of Common (which is Taldane!) ... so its a PFS assumption. Only way to be fair to everyone in organized play.
Human's get around it by being granted a free regional language, depending on where they're from... non-humans have to do it the old fashioned way unfortunately.
When the group finishes helping Nigel get the place back in order, Faliana gathers up all her fallen hair and in a strained cheerfulness comments, "Anavi is being insistent that I get this checked by a demon expert. I do know the local priestess of the small shrine to Ashava near here. It's a full moon tonight so she'll definitely be up and dancing and she might be able to help me and Monty, too, if he needs it."
She then pulls the Vanaran close, gives him a big hug and whispers something I his ear.
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ng Nigel get the place back in order, Faliana gathers up all her fallen hair and in a strained cheerfulness comments, "Anavi is being insistent that I get this checked by a demon expert. I do know the local priestess of the small shrine to Ashava near here. It's a full moon tonight so she'll definitely be up and dancing and she might be able to help me and Monty, too, if he needs it."
She then pulls the Vanaran close, gives him a big hug and whispers something I his ear. ** spoiler omitted **
The old Vanarian chuckles and whispers back to her.
He pats her shoulder gently, a shared secret between the two.
Yes, I think that's a splendid idea. I'm sorry my dear froggy friend, but I think I'll visit the shrine first... there is no guarantee that the lodge will have a healer available at this time of night, and I'd much rather see a priest dedicated to healing such... darker things.
He holds out an arm to Faliana and smiles softly.
My dear, will you help an old monkey walk the streets tonight? It isn't safe for a monkey my age to be wandering around at night. A strapping young warrior woman will do just the trick to keep hooligans at bay. Let's go see your friend.
Dale stays behind to talk to Nigel, promising to meet you back at the Lodge. Monty and Faliana head towards the Ascendant Court district.
They will easily be able to make your way through the moonlit streets to the temple of Ashava. Faliana has been there many times, and knows the way well. By the time you get their though, Faliana will have lost about a third of her hair... its almost like a little of it is falling off with every step she takes by then. The sight of her, as she comes into the temple, causes quite the response from the priests therein.
Normally, they would require you to wait until the priests have completed their moonlight devotions, but the urgency of her condition seems to override that protocol, and within minutes of arriving you are being tended to.
Although both of them are clearly infected, Monty's condition was progressing at a far slower pace, and any hair he has lost to this point, could be blamed on over-shedding.
The curative magics come with some rather strange rituals out in the moonlight... it will be almost an hour before you are done... even later before you get back to the Lodge.
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If you need some money for the healing I got some cash. Don't hesitate to ask
Monty happily sighs at his now recovered throat, and looks at his slightly thinned hair on his arm. He bows deeply to the priests.
Thank you for your kindness, blessings upon you... and of course, a donation...
He pulls his pouch with what he knows to be fair coin for the service of saving his life and the spells cast and passes it to the priestesses.
Take this money, and may you use it to save others and bring glory to your goddess.