The captured cultists prove exceptionally close-mouthed and loyal; its hard to get a single word out of them.
Hard, that is, for those other than the Hellknights' interrogators, who take silence as a direct challenge to their abilities.
Come the next morning, Rosa receives a full report.
"This statement is given by Signifer Victarious, on this Oathday the 18th of Arodus at dawn, in the year 4716 AR."
"The accused are two robed human males, presumed heretical cultists, of middle to young age, apprehended by Knight Luminass the previous day. They used wizardry, were involved with the bestial corruption of an innocent and suspected of further crime and perversion."
"Each proved initially recalcitrant, such that more than initial verbal and physical intimidation was necessary. After following the 8th Procedure of Torture (with the optional mind charms at the appropriate avenues), both proved far more loquacious. What follows is, to this Signifer's belief, the truth as they believe it."
"Accused identify themselves as Acus and Reus. Accused name themselves servants of the 'Dominion of the Black', that same dark cult as in Pamphlet Hereticus chapter 3 verse 2. They claim their leader Abtaroh Vorenic (incinerated by Knight Luminass) was a 'living incarnation' of the Dominion, using its magic intrinsically. Both seemed scholarly enough that mere sorcery is unlikely. Accused states that Abtaroh Vorenic sought to prepare the region for the arrival of an 'emissary' from the Dominion. No further details were given; typical of the minimal direction required by a fanatical and foolish cultist."
A note is attached from the Paralictor in charge of the embassy.
"Arrangements can be made for the accused to be delivered to the Isgerian judiciary, with your report to substantiate the charges against them. Unless you request otherwise, they will face trial and punishment within the week."
A further page is attached.
"Pamphlet Hereticus, Chapter 3, Verse 2."
"The Dominion of the Black (sometimes named as the Black Truth) refer to a heretical cult on Absalom focusing on the supposed impending arrival of an immense army of alien and dark beings, and their pre-emptive activity on Golarion, both by alien and mortal agents."
"Heretics encountered by the Hellknights have been known to plot the unwilling transmutation of innocents into alien servant beings, to bring about the destruction and genocide of all with a rare indiscriminacy, and to seek access to ancient relics and writings they claim refer to this armada. The whiff of madness is always around this cult."
"Further details to be found in records maintained by the Order of the Gate."
with the report in hand, Rosa ported them
They come into being in the center of town early morning. Again shocking a few of the locals up early.
Rosa looks around to find the Inn then heads up to it,
Once there she found the others. Smiles she greets them.
"Well I hope the day finds you well. We have things and news"
She takes a seat and while they ready or eat she reads a report in her hand to them.
"The accused are two robed human males, presumed heretical cultists, of middle to young age, apprehended by Knight Luminass the previous day. They used wizardry, were involved with the bestial corruption of an innocent and suspected of further crime and perversion."
"Each proved initially recalcitrant, such that more than initial verbal and physical intimidation was necessary. After following deeper interrogation, both proved far more loquacious. What follows is, to this Signifer's belief, the truth as they believe it."
"Accused identify themselves as Acus and Reus. Accused name themselves servants of the 'Dominion of the Black', that same dark cult as in Pamphlet Hereticus chapter 3 verse 2. They claim their leader Abtaroh Vorenic The white hair'ed one we incinerated was a 'living incarnation' of the Dominion, using its magic intrinsically. Both seemed scholarly enough that mere sorcery is unlikely. Accused states that Abtaroh Vorenic sought to prepare the region for the arrival of an 'emissary' from the Dominion. No further details were given; typical of the minimal direction required by a fanatical and foolish cultist. Notes on the Pamphlet Hereticus"
"The Dominion of the Black (sometimes named as the Black Truth) refer to a heretical cult on Absalom focusing on the supposed impending arrival of an immense army of alien and dark beings, and their pre-emptive activity on Golarion, both by alien and mortal agents."
"Heretics encountered by the Hellknights have been known to plot the unwilling transmutation of innocents into alien servant beings, to bring about the destruction and genocide of all with a rare indiscriminacy, and to seek access to ancient relics and writings they claim refer to this armada. The whiff of madness is always around this cult and so on"
She places the report back in her pouch.
"In a nut shell they are a mad punch who want to end the world. All we gave to do is find the rest of them and wipe them and this 'emissary' from the Dominion if that was what fell from the sky."
Rosa sits back and lites up a smoke waiting to see what the others say.
"That's all well and good about the Dominion, but wiping out a whole cult is a tall order for 4 people." Dragash starts cautiously. "Shouldn't we be focusing on the more manageable task of stopping the emissary? If the emissary is dealt with wouldn't the Dominion have no more reason to be around here?" Dragash asks.
"Your order can deal with the rest of them in due course but we aren't some military group with just the 4 of us here."
Dragash focuses on their next step. "Though it seems the crash site should be our focus if that is indeed where the emissary is. We'll be able to stop the Dominion activity, bring stability back to the region and likely find out if Dalviss's suspicions are right. Though, that might be true already if the meteor was carrying an emissary since he believed it was a ship."
Rosa nods as Dragash talks.
"Your right, Dragash. I'm for any plan that works, If I'm anything its pragmatic"
She then hears out him and the others, more than happy to work with what they known. This was not going to be an easy task and Dragash had a good point.
"Watch the world burn then," Will says more to himself. That made things easier. No worrying about misguided fools and morals. They wanted to destroy the world. He didn't want that. Simple.
In response to Dragash's concerns, Will merely states, "I'm only here to help Dalviss." He is certainly in agreement that they should not attempt to take on a worldwide cult but he doubted Rosa was implying that. Then again, maybe she was and he didn't catch it.
The group appears in town with a flash; at the sight of activity some attempt to form a mob, but the guards quickly disperse them as the group head to the mineshaft.
Dalviss is waiting. "You're back! What happened, friends?"
Looks at Dragash and Will.
"He's you friend"
Is all she says as he asked for what they have been upto
Will looks at Dragash and back to Dalviss. "Found the culprit. He exploded. End of story." Likely that would not be fantastic enough for Zerisi or accurate enough for Dragash but that is what it boiled down to. To Dalviss, who had dealt with Will several times, he just now realized that even the most apathetic person he'd met could be annoyed.
"Come now Will, that's note even CLOSE to the end of the story!"
Zerisi chimes in, slapping him on the back before launching into a "thrilling" account of his time in the Hellknight capital.
"And what have YOU ALL been up to? How's the town? And where's that cultist at?"
"That is a somewhat brief and curt overview. There is more Dal my friend but we will need to confirm that for ourselves and get back to you. The crash site as you guessed from the beginning might have the answers we've been seeking." Dragash says, adding to the conversation.
Rosa takes out the bag of holding that Zerisi got her,
"It's for the book and orbs, any any-other thing we kind connected to this cult. I want to have a look at that book if I may. Did you find anything of interesting in it last night?."
Then seeing the captive acting odd.
"Seems we are heading south"
Will mounts up on Arion in preparation to leave, resting the end of his weapon in brace next to his foot.
The journal's contents are in Aklo; a fair few important details can be turned up.
Abtaroh received visions from an entity; the 'Emissary from Beyond', a creature her family has been waiting generations to aid. The visions drove her to come to Dustpawn, to gather the crystals that littered the landscape- crystals which can be ground up to make the dream-toxin. She notes that she has laced the drinking water of Dustpawn with those crystals, which will grace the town's inhabitants with bestial dreams, preparing them for the glorious transformation into the Emissary's arrival upon its arrival. She notes that a particularly dangerous dose has been given to Nalan Hossler of the Mineshaft tavern, hoping he will mutate and increase drastically in size.
From her visions, Abtaroh knows that the crashed meteor is in fact a ship created to sail the stars, built on Golarion but now returning after a long, long voyage. Its crewmembers have been transformed by the Emissary's dreams ad visions into monstrous half-beasts to serve as the Emissary's minions.
In her visions, she saw a powerful orrery in a crashed ship, missing plants; she feared it could harm the Emissary. She notes that four of the spheres were recovered from an elven oracle who survived the crash, and whom they were forcing to provide supplies of Create Water.
Finally, a map of the area featuring the crash site is found.
And they make there way Rosa reads out the contents of Aklo journal.
"Well that star fall was a craft then"
"Well that's basically confirmed now. We should probably depart as soon as we are able!"
Dragash states rearing to go.
"Oh, absolutely, I agree. Why wait?" Zerisi says, agreeing.
The party musters, and heads its way out of town, guided by the bat-lady. The land is quiet, charged with possibility, until eventually the crash site comes into view.
A great furrow has been carved through the hills here, creating a brand-new valley amid the peaks. The ground is blasted and scorched, and the trees surrounding the area are charred and burnt leafless. The furrow only somewhat resembles a crater for
the huge object embedded at its center obviously struck the ground at an angle. This object resembles nothing so much as a streamlined arrowhead of stone and strange crystal. A huge crack along the object's southern side allows brief glimpses into the dark interior, revealing the thing to be hollow. Now and then, crystals along the object's length sparkle and sizzle, sending up a faint plume of strange green smoke. Dozens of large vultures perch atop the object or lurk in the burnt branches of the surrounding trees-the birds are strangely silent and watchful, as if they know death is imminent in the area.
Looks over the site from there vantage point.
"Hector, get down there, fly around, see whats there"
Dragash waits for Hector to return before they begin descending into the crater. While they wait he prepares a potion he might need.
As if waiting for this, four giant vultures perched atop the craft fly up; two head for Hector, two for the rest of you.
Two bite at Hector
The others move 3/4 of the distance to you.
In Raven form Hector moved over the site, when two of the local birds make a move to make him dinner.
Two snaps at him, both missing, had him high tailing back to Rosa.
He became invisible and double moved away.
Dragash coats two arrows with acid then drinks his mutagen. No reason to waste bombs on just birds.
Zerisi's head swivels towards the birds and he flips a pair of cards into his opposite hand, where they start glowing faintly, before throwing one at each approaching bird in a single flowing motion.
Points her sword at the approaching birds. Waiting for them to get within 150'
Zerisi's cards strike true, slicing away muscle mass to fall to the ground as they shriek their disapproval.
Her sword point at them she lines up her shot, trying to get more than one.
Then a ray of NG darkness shoots out from her sword some 150'.
Will and Arion waste little time getting into the fray. The valiant steed explodes from a near stand-still to full gallop in seconds. As Arion closes on the first aerial predator, Will brings his blade so far back around it nearly goes full circle next to Arion's head. Without a signal, Arion leaps and Will swings, using their combined momentum for a devastating attack.
An array of blasts quickly down one of the vultures and severely wound a second; with a coughing cry, the remainder streak off into the distance away from you.
Slips her Sword on to her back where it locks in place.
"Hector front and center, unseen this time."
Then she starts to make her way down to the crash site.
After driving off the buzzards, Will urges Arion closer to the fallen rock. To be sure none of the other buzzards get any ideas, he draws his bow and periodically fires it to drive off any other remaining birds. From this side, the crack seemed to be the only way in and Arion was too big to maneuver in there. He dismounts and orders his companion to stay put as they approach closer.
As they get closer, Zerisi starts flicking through his deck of cards with nervous excitement. Every so often he stops, draws a card, and stares at it briefly before shuffling it back into the deck, wordlessly.
When Hector goes off to scout, he quips:
"Always so cautious Rosa. What could happen? Let's just get down there! Don't you want to see inside?"
"What could happen, 5 fire balls in your face that is what could happen"
She says dryly, reminding him of what happened in the cave.
The group steps closer.
A sizable chamber fills the space beyond the crack in the strange ship's hull. The crack spreads across the width of the room, splitting the area in half. The western half is taken up by what appears to have been a meditation area and by a kitchen with a large circular stove sitting in one corner, while to the east lie the ruins of several tables. A small storage area lies to the north.
Deep bellows of rage greet you as elven eyes and hands are matched with a rhinoceros' legs, horn and mouth. Raising large blades, a pair assault you.
Rosa pulls her sword and cast magic-circle-against-chaos on herself.
Then gets ready to meet the attack.
evil = chaotic
This spell wards a creature from attacks by evil creatures, from mental control, and from summoned creatures. It creates a magical barrier around the subject at a distance of 1 foot. The barrier moves with the subject and has three major effects.
First, the subject gains a +2 deflection bonus to AC and a +2 resistance bonus on saves. Both these bonuses apply against attacks made or effects created by evil creatures.
Second, the subject immediately receives another saving throw (if one was allowed to begin with) against any spells or effects that possess or exercise mental control over the creature (including enchantment [charm] effects and enchantment [compulsion] effects, such as charm person, command, and dominate person). This saving throw is made with a +2 morale bonus, using the same DC as the original effect. If successful, such effects are suppressed for the duration of this spell. The effects resume when the duration of this spell expires. While under the effects of this spell, the target is immune to any new attempts to possess or exercise mental control over the target. This spell does not expel a controlling life force (such as a ghost or spellcaster using magic jar), but it does prevent them from controlling the target. This second effect only functions against spells and effects created by evil creatures or objects, subject to GM discretion.
Third, the spell prevents bodily contact by evil summoned creatures. This causes the natural weapon attacks of such creatures to fail and the creatures to recoil if such attacks require touching the warded creature. Summoned creatures that are not evil are immune to this effect. The protection against contact by summoned creatures ends if the warded creature makes an attack against or tries to force the barrier against the blocked creature. Spell Resistance can allow a creature to overcome this protection and touch the warded creature.
Will crosses the threshold into the odd home, his steps light across the debris. He comes to a stop in front of the Rhino men, ready to take their attacks and retaliate in kind.
With the arrows he prepared returning to being inert, Dragash throws a bomb at the one rhino he can see and prepares two more arrows.
Dragash's bomb lands, exploding against harsh rubbery hide. It fails to stick him to the ground.
As will gos forward dos do's Rosa,
"Shield!"
She evil looking dark sword brings a shield of force into being in front of her.
Zerisi follows Will into the room, taking up a position next to him, and draws and hurls a glowing card towards the Rhino.
Zerisi's card lands a glancing blow.
Swinging their longswords, the two bellow and charge. "OUR HALL! OURS!" One blow is struck against Will, another against Zerisi.
Will lands two blows, slicing greater chunks off of their wired, muscular frames.
She looked at the two, something was off here, one must be a magic copy.
Rosa steps up trying to work out what kind of thing this was. The great black Hell blade she held in her hands sucking up dark evil live light and screaming with joy. She had killed demons and angles with this blade, its bite was keener than any other matter. She swung and it came down biting.
Dragash coats one last arrow then fires off a volley against the one that Zerisi targetted to make use of his card abilities.
Will's readied blade and Dragash's bombs, helped by Rosa's strike, make short work of the two horned warriors; they fall to the ground in ribbons.
Rosa fails to detect any magical trickery. The two can be identified as id mutants.
The great black blade came down and with little resistance split on to the head of the half-beats-being in front of her. Dark Energy played over its body as it shuddered once. She held her sword as it eyes rolled back and the now dead body fell to the floor at her feet.
Looking at it for a moment, she moves and sliced off both head, in quick suction. Then she flicked her sword once to get the blood off and then clicked it.
"I could not find any magic which cloned them, so they may be twin of some kind. Its very odd."
casting detect magic, to find the times, then She kicks the body close to her, and says
"The Breastplate's and swords are magic, there seem to be some other things in the pouches"
She then dos the same around the space.
"Hector have a look around the next rooms, touch nothing, keep unseen and just do a fast peek"