With the second musket shot, the grippli drops the archer, who slides down into the copper bowl atop the statue.
Not having sight of the caster due to the statue, his last bullet goes into the human attacking Lore, who, once hit, lets out a yell of pain.
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Turg informs the Mites to swarm the remaining enemies, in an attempt to provide as much flanking as possible.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Turg once again looks into the void and calls forth a small army of mites to do his bidding.
They move into flanking positions and swing at the caster.
#1 real on 1
#2 real on 1
The first two mites pop an image each, leaving only one remaining with the caster.
The closest thug stabs again at Lore with his rapier, not liking his chances with his allies no longer providing support. He steps away after missing.
for
The caster Lyone makes a quick arcane movement, trying to avoid being hit as he is surrounded on all sides.
vs DC 15+2
"I must bid you adieu for now..."
And he and his remaining image disappear from sight.
The thug by Lore calls out.
You ba$tard, Lyone! Do not leave me here!"
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Eadie cries out in dismay. "I really don't want to have to fight Lyone again. Can anyone block the south staircase or univisible him/identify where he is?"
"Maximo and the mites should be able to still reach him and I can get very close if we can work out where he is."
Eadie points the sharp end of her blade at Dewey but otherwise delays.
Dewey is cowed by Maximo and looks ready to drop his weapon and surrender.
.
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"Dewey ... STAY!"
As Lore travels towards the middle of the room, Eadie follows her friend. When Lyone's position is revealed, Eadie moves into an adjacent square and swings her falchion at his potion bottle.
"Ooh, sorry. Did I get your fingers? Surrender now or next it will be your head, Lyone."
"I very nearly didn't fail my paladin entrance interview you know."
Lyone, seeing his cover blown and potion shattered, lowers his weapon.
"With unimaginable regret, I must surrender. You have me, and good."
The two captives surrender themselves and their weapons. The others are all dead after bleeding out or worse and do not respond.
Each of the 3 thugs has a masterwork rapier and a CLW potion but not much else of value.
If you climb or fly up to the bowl in the statue, you find the dead tiefling archer Orlicino. His body has a potion marked cure serious wounds; +1 breastplate, +1 longbow with 40 arrows, masterwork
greatsword, 25 gp
Lyone has +1 falcata, ring of protection +1, cloak of resistance +2, belt
of giant strength +2, wayfinder, spell component pouch,
spellbook
As you investigate the sleeping
alcoves, in Lyone’s room you find a ledger detailing the Aspis
Consortium’s entire tapestry operation and his duty
roster for the agents under his command. Reading this
lets you know you have dealt with all remaining
Aspis Consortium agents within the Well of Tainted
Virtue, but also that the remainder of the well is far from
unoccupied.
Lyone’s notes mention Lissalan cultists, as well as
discussing the payment of Thassilonian artifacts and
other wealth to them in thanks for their assistance in
breaching the Hao Jin Tapestry.
Lyone, seeing your interest in the ledger says
"I have conducted my own observations on the cultists.
While I do not know their
exact numbers, I can unquestionably say they are led by a
“hideous giant of a Shoanti woman,” and “a man with
red hair and dead eyes.”
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Eadie lifts her visor so Lyone can see her expression.
"Does anyone mind if I borrow this one for a little while?"
"Of course not, Sweet Heart! I'm delighted you've found something that looks so great on you in your size!"
Eadie places a firm gauntleted hand on Lyone's shoulder and pushes the man to the ground. "Lyone, sit!"
The warrior drops her falchion onto her right shoulder, with Louis and Hewey's blood still dribbling from its tip. She picks up Lyone's falcata in her left hand and examines it carefully, turning it over from time to time, before looking the Aspis leader in the eye.
"I hope you are not one of those ba$tard bosses who thinks just because someone is good they are weak. Oh, and your polite act cuts no ice with me. You've demonstrated what type of person you are by abandoning your team mate."
With cold eyes, Eadie points the falcata at the Aspis' neck. "These are my friends. We look out for one another. Don't think for one second that I don't know what you would do to us if our positions were reversed."
Eadie calls back without taking her eyes off the snake. "Lore, please take enough CLW potions to heal up. Cara, I'm surprised you're not already all over Lyone's spell book."
Back to Lyone, she spits. "You must know more than that! Can the Bronze statue of Lissala on the upper level animate? What's in the alcove beyond it? Give us a general layout of the dungeon - traps, tricks and threats it contains - or a VERY good reason why you can't. What are the Lissalans up to here? And where did that wayfinder come from?"
Sweetly now. "Dewey, do you believe in second chances? Maybe as a Pathfinder? Do tell us if he's lying."
To her companions. "Where to next, gang? Do we want to check if we missed something in the alcoves at the top of the north stairs? Tackle the other Lissalan statue or continue via the stairs to the south?"
Eadie speaks to Lyone.
"Madam, I cannot say what the statue upstairs is capable of doing. We have spent our time down here. Other than casting an alarm spell on the gate you entered. As to this trinket..."
He points to Caradeum and the wayfinder he was carrying. Hewey, whom you have killed, told me he found it on a body of one of your Pathfinder agents sent her. However, you would need to ask him more about...well, if you can get his corpse to speak, that is." he says this last part with a wry grin.
"So now you have gained the upper hand, what are your plans here in the Well of Tainted
Virtue and for myself and Dewey?"
The wayfinder does not have any name or initials, but has what appears to be an unrecognized family crest
and the Shadow Lodge emblem engraved on its back cover.
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“Wow! A genuine Shadow Lodge wayfinder, huh Caradeum? I bet the agent that owned it died during the time Grandmaster Torch led the faction.”
Eadie *shrugs* “Recovering it back then would probably have been a big deal. I guess Torch wouldn’t be very interested in it now.”
"So now you have gained the upper hand, what are your plans here in the Well of Tainted Virtue and for myself and Dewey?"
Eadie casually tosses the falcata into a far corner away from the Aspis boss before giving him a couple of love-pats with her gauntlet. “I’m not going to hurt him, Maximo ... Unless he makes me mad.”
The warrior puts her face closer to the man. “Let’s get something quite clear. We ask the questions. You answer them. Got it?”
“We do know (the Aspis) are led by an agent named Lyone Ekarian. Apparently he’s a wizard who thinks the best use for his magic is upclose fighting, so clearly he’s an idiot.”
Eadie turns to her companions. “Is there anything stopping us using the Tapestry to deliver these two back to the point we embarked from and then returning? I mean does it have limited uses per day or anything? Does anyone have any more questions or a better idea of what to do with them?”
She drops her visor and faces the snake again. “I know someone who is a big fan of yours, Lyone and would love to have a chat.”
Eadie and Lore sense no trouble from the two captives.
You find little else in the three alcoves.
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"Now, now, Lady Eadie." Maximo offers soothing words to the woman warrior after she butters up Lyone like a crumpet about to be devoured. "The man has been nothing but generous with his information since his surrender. Clearly, there remains a noble bone within his misguided body."
At her suggestion to return Lyone through the Tapestry, Maximo offers a smile of perfect white teeth. "Yes, let us return him to Aram Zey. I believe he would enjoy discussing the finer points of the magical arts with him. At length."
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Eadie wipes her blade vigorously on the captured spell component pouch, destroying the item and scattering its contents in the process.
She silently glowers at Lyone as Maximo speaks, in case the Aspis wizard warms to the paladin, before nodding curtly.
“Where to once we hand these two over to VC Zey? Continue south up (?) the next staircase? Have we checked behind the western curtain?”
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"Yeah, sure, whatever." The very interested Turg replies to the general questions.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Behind each arriving creature floats a 2-foot-diameter sphere of pulsing blue light, each visible only to the creature whose journey to the tapestry created it. A creature stepping into its own extraplanar eddy is shifted back to the Material Plane, to the same place it traveled from. If that space is occupied by another creature, the teleported creature appears in the nearest unoccupied square.
-Posted with Wayfinder
The three alcoves to the east have minor items belonging to the 3 thugs and two Aspis. Nothing of value besides the notes already reviewed.
Checking to the west, gauzy curtains drape a balcony entrance,
occasionally fluttering with air currents from the shaft.
From here the well's shaft extends 60 feet to the surface, with
the bottom of the well 110 feet below.
Continuing down the stairs to the south, you find, unlike
other rooms in the complex, this one shows no signs
of even cursory habitation. The reason for this desertion
seems clear: time and decay have rendered the level unstable.
A crack runs across the ceiling, sagging under the weight of
unsupported earth above. Dust and pebbles trickle down
with the vibration of the slightest footstep. The room itself
is almost completely bare, with undecorated walls. Stairwells
lead up and down from the main room.
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Eadie thinks long and hard about the options open to the party.
As the group stands at the entrance to the unsupported southern room she says. “Does anyone have any knowledge of engineering? I’m wondering how likely a partial roof collapse is if we travel through the room – one at a time, say. I’m also concerned about traps or fighting an opponent and they let off a fireball in this room leading to a ‘rock fall – everyone dies’ type of scenario.”
“Before we make any decision to go in, could we scout the room with a mite or three, Queen Turg?”
At the balcony Eadie looks up in astonishment at the surface above and the water far below them. “I guess we could drop ropes over the edge and descend to the stairway/ledge – but I think we’d be terribly exposed if we did. Flying or featherfalling down might be an option …”
She picks up one of the fallen Aspis’s mundane shields. “I’m pretty sure I could throw something into the lake from here. Do you think I should do that and we see what happens? Or should we remain stealthy?”
The warrior lifts her visor and scratches the side of her face. “Otherwise we could see what’s beyond the upper chamber with the bronze statue of Lissala in it. Just march through and see if it animates. We could scout that room with a summoned critter as well.”
She pauses again before blowing a puff of air out of her cheeks through her mouth. “Have I missed anything? I don’t think there’s an obvious choice. I don't really wanna drop down to the side of the well. The narrow ledge will be difficult to manoeuvre on and there’ll always be the chance of getting bullrushed into the water.”
“I wonder if travelling past the bronze statue on the upper level might be best? Especially if we mite it first. Gotta say I’m not sold on that option though. What does everyone think?”
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Eadie *bobs* to her friend. "I think you've summed up the situation better than I did, Lore."
"Hmm ..." Lore's comment about the unstable room encourages Eadie to think some more. "Maximo ... Caradeum, I bet you have had experience making a swift, nimble exit from a lady's balcony. Am I right?"
She smiles at the pair. "If you stand on the western balcony - behind the curtain I mean - you can see another balcony located in the south ..."
"Not that way, Chochok! The other south."
Eadie points in a south-westerly direction. "I wonder if we could fly over there to continue our exploration? I have a potion of fly and could ferry people over. I wonder if we should do that invisibly?"
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"It just so happens that I picked up the trick of featherfalling in the Battle of Highcliff." Maximo says with a straight face. "So, should falling with style be needed, I have that covered!"
As the group decides the next course of action, he gets out one of his empty extracts, fills it with some wine, and drops a small bead into the liquid.
Chochok checks the floor for tracks, and only sees one set of tracks disappear into the dust of the room to the south.
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Eadie wears a wry grin. “Of course you did, Maximo. The Battle of Highcliff, huh? I'll have to check the Master of Scrolls' history books later.”
“Now, turning from pleasure to business, I am leaning towards ferrying everyone over to the southern balcony via flight. Does anyone disagree, have another idea or prefer a different approach?”
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Eadie sees the Horizon Walker's discomfort at the flight plan and tries to think of a way of cheering him up ...
"It's OK, Chochok." The warrior says with a reassuring pat on the grippli's shoulder. "IF we decide to go by air, when it comes to your turn, I was gonna suggest carrying Lore in my arms and have you ride on my back."
"I can transport both of you together, Cho 'cos you're just a bitty thing."