Taicho, too, notices that the brass nameplate can be slide aside to reveal a small chalkboard and thin piece of chalk.
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Taicho walks up and extends his right, healthy arm, pushing aside the brass nameplate. Revealed beneath it is a small chalkboard and a thin piece of chalk. Taicho picks up the chalk, in careful strokes - almost in caligraphy - writes the word "Wiffle."
The toad on his shoulder emits a sound that sounds vaguely like a croak.
A stone doorway opens on the western side of the room, revealing a cavern made of stone. The lighting grows dimmer the further in you attempt to peer.
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Trique enters Caskmail's altar room and peers down the cavern.
He particularly notices something awry with the walls. "My friends, it would seem this cavern was created magically-- using stone shape spells," Trique whispers clutching his crossbow, "I'm also inclined to believe we might expect traps..."
Trique holds his fingers in a crooked pattern and begins casting a Detect Magic spell. He whispers,
"Sia odael aer Ai mi soli, vaelaer tandrolar eisar, maer eil myr, eil Paeraes Tandros syl toli aer!"
reveal magical auras, spells and schools, and Detect Magic through mine eyes!"
Trique's eyes gain a faint glowing aura of blue and yellow.
"Wymarc or Vari, if you'd care to do the honors, I'll back you up and detect for magic traps."
Several desks are arranged along the northern and eastern edges of this small stone alcove. Whereas the stonework leading to this chamber is rough, the walls in the alcove are polished. A single gem rests among the neatly filed papers on the desk, emitting a soft luminescence that brightens the small room.
Yes, there is a magical aura in this room.
There’s only one aura and it’s very faint.
The aura is emanating from the glowing orb on the silver chain.
→
Upon examining the papers, Hennarr realizes that nearly all of it is in some sort of code - and the language isn’t common, that’s for sure. Still, all of the paperwork is neatly filed and carefully organized.
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"I'm detecting a faint magical aura from the glowing orb..."
"I believe this is a simple Continual Flame spell, that's all I can detect for now."
Trique begins to study the paperwork, taking great care to keep them organized and place them back in the correct order when he picks up any new paper to examine. "Hrrmm... most interesting.."
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“This information is quite complicated and I can’t put my finger on it yet,” Trique utters in befuddlement, ”I’m thinking we should take these papers for further examination. They may be important later on. Someone took great lengths to hide this information, and others have taken great lengths to ensure we find it.”
Trique examines the drawers and surface area of the desks to determine if he can find out who might've written all of this.
That's, uh... That's not very shrine-visiting-like behavior, now, is it?
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Wymarc throws up a hand to signal to the others to halt...he looks back and holds a finger to his lips and then points to the larger chamber then holding four, then five, fingers, estimating how many foes may await...
Wymarc will then carefully sneak to peer in the larger chamber to take a peek, bow ready to fire if needed...
"Acht!" the dwarven cleric cries out in startled surprise, then looks down to stare at the arrow sticking out of that awkwardly nubby, soft bit of flesh just beneath the kneecap. "Oi!" he shouts, any pretense at secrecy now officially gone. "I've taken an arrow to the knee!"
The others obviously startle, but are slow to react - they'd been searching for the lot of you, but had hardly expected to be ambushed themselves. They clearly expected to have a bit more time to prepare for their mischief.
Combat Round 1 + Surprise!
Effects
Terrain
Those bolded below may act.
Vari
Aragar
Taicho
Wymarc
Trique
Hennarr
Yellow
Blue
Red
Green
That said, go ahead and post both your surprise round and your first round of combat or just that first round if you've already gotten in your surprise.
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After hearing the commotion of the dwarf crying out in pain, Trique decides he needs to get in there to back up Wymarc as soon as possible. He places the pinch of red and blue sand back into his pouch and instead pulls out a small glob of softened butter, then he uses his other hand to make a series of somatic gestures while casting a different spell.
Quietly, he utters, "Raili si mas ail si pae, jhoji ei sos ail si bol, taji sor aer balor or os mol!"
like a thief in the night,
make this elf vanish out of sight!"
Trique immediately vanishes from sight, becoming invisible, then makes his way into the Shrine room still clutching the glob of butter. He attempts to hide near the entrance to Caskmail's Altar in case the two enemies on the north side of the room come to engage Wymarc. Trique leans as closely to the wall as he can as to not block the path for the rest of the party to come out into the Shrine.
Distracted by their fellows' call, the strangers in the room don't appear to notice the empowered Vari. Especially, since, you know. The Dwarf cleric's last words were decidedly less than auspicious. He falls with Wymarc's second arrow punching into his chest. "Knew I shoulda had tha drink!"
On your right, a half-orc dressed in strangely ritualistic robes with a necklace of shrunken bones approaches but is quickly shaken by Taicho's mind fear. Unsure of what just happened, she shivers, but then attempts a bit of her own trickery.
She toys with something in her hands, and after a moment, Aragar feels a thick cloud fill his mind. A human wielding a greatclub takes long strides towards the fallen cleric, rummaging through his belt pouch. A halfling moves with him, a potion already in hand.
"I go' 'im! Go fine where tha' came fro'!" the small humanoid hisses. As soon as he reaches the cleric, he drinks the potion and touches the dwarf, but finds it is to no avail. Grimacing, he shakes his head. "A go'er, he is. No matta -- we'll aven' 'im!"
"That, we will," the man agrees, his voice a menacing growl.
Combat Round 2
Effects
Terrain
Those bolded below may act.
Vari
Aragar Will save, please!
Taicho
Wymarc
Trique
Hennarr
Yellow mind feared for this round only
Blue
Red
Green -18 hp
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Trique quickly places the glob of butter back in his pouch and grabs a small pinch of blue and red sand between his fingertips. Invisibly, he moves forward towards the halfling and the human on the other side of the Shrine room.
A swirl of chromatic lines whirl in Trique's invisible hand that bursts forth into a cascading rainbow into the eyes of his enemies, while Trique loudly casts the spell,"Ia mar byr tyli, bys mar o mi, TYStI ThYS toli mae os tylys sai mel eil shol si!"
Trique becomes visible once more. He shouts, "Vari, I may need help if they resist this!"
Trique color sprays the two to the north while Wymarc puts an arrow through the half-orc's throat, effectively deleting him from the map. With all of your opponents unconscious of bleeding out, you're free to leave if you so choose.
Combat Round 3
Effects
Terrain
Those bolded below may act.
Vari
Aragar Will save, please!
Taicho
Wymarc
Trique
Hennarr
Yellow
Blue -7 hp unconscious 1/7 rounds, the stunned & blinded 0/3 rounds, possibly dead?
Red unconscious 1/7 rounds, the stunned & blinded 0/3 rounds
Green -18 hp
Through their combined efforts, Wymarc and Hennarr find a few (3)potions of cure light wounds, but nothing identifying or special.
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"If we can find any rope in their backpacks, we should use it to bind the ones still living. We don't need these folks to follow us, and it would be a shame to cause any further bloodshed. If they have magical items or weapons, they should be relieved of them, just in case they do attempt to track us down again," Trique says reluctantly.
Trique holds his fingers in a crooked pattern and begins casting a Detect Magic spell. He says, "Sia odael aer Ai mi soli, vaelaer tandrolar eisar, maer eil myr, eil Paeraes Tandros syl toli aer!"
reveal magical auras, spells and schools, and Detect Magic through mine eyes!"
Trique's eyes gain a faint glowing aura of blue and yellow as he begins scanning the bodies for any potential magical items they may be carrying.
It takes only a few moments to begin trussing the two remaining ambushers up like a particularly delicious turkey. Still confused by what's happened and decidedly disoriented, the two are easy enough to lead to a guardhouse. It seems they're not local to the area. A bit of investigation and careful interrogation proves they're in fact Chelish mercenaries who've been hired to gain leverage on the Society.
Drandle Dreng arrives at the guardhouse not long after, with plenty of praise.
"I was a bit worried to learn that some of my agents were with the guard, but I'm glad to hear that you've turned over violent criminals rather than being caught up in some big mess yourselves."
He smiles at the group, pleased by their success. "You've done very well here; the Society'll be very interested to decipher these documents and see where it all leads," he notes. "I think it'll be very interesting to see how you all grow as Pathfinders." Cheerful, he adds, "Be sure to relax a little after this - it's well deserved. And if you haven't been Confirmed yet, come find me - I'll speak to Shaine about getting you on the list as soon as possible."
With that, he takes his leave. Some days later, however, you receive a notice from Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin. It's an update on what's happened with the information you've uncovered.