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Haliban recalls something he heard during his time regarding the Crypt of Fools. The name is unknown to most of the population of Cassomir, and the general public who know of the name claims it to be a fairy tale, a place that may have existed.
"The engineers know, the engineers know where to find the Crypt of Fools! You find engineers in Hall of Wonders."
The Hall of Wonders is a fairly popular government building in the district, probably 7 blocks away from where Swift Prison lies.
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Painting 1: Aroden fails to save prisoners from derros, no specific location
Painting 2: Aroden soothes children with flute (specific notes) while derros torment gov't officials at Hall of Records
Painting 3: Aroden tries to escape derros at ruined Quickfall Abbey while other derros attack retaining wall by the sea
Groetus moon on all paintings
"You have proved most disturbingly helpful. I hope your soul is able to find peace; though probably not in the way that you would like."
Mūn nods his assent to the others. "I think the Hall of Wonders should definitely be our next step. I have noted the musical notes, though I think Reese is likely to be our best performer, no?"
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Glad the others worked it out, Marius shrugs his broad shoulders and makes to leave the cell and collect his companion. "Well sure, let us speak with these engineers, though it is likely to cost us." he states as they discuss their next moves. "So, what are Derros anyway? Don't sound like any Demon i've heard of so i doubt their that. And why does Groetus the nut-ball want them?"
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With the directions from the townspeople, it's not difficult to find the Hall of Wonders. You make some idle chatter during the uneventful walk to the place. Smoke and steam pour through many openings of this misshapen building known as the Hall of Wonders. Gears and gizmos can be heard clicking against one another in a rhythmic cadence. A loud “chunkchunk” sounds as several pistons churn up and down, powering some unknown machine. A cacophonous symphony of grinding metal plays on. An enormous sign, nearly the entire width of the building, declares it to be the Hall of Wonders. There are many windows across the building.
You hear faint sounds of screaming from the inside.
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As Harry opens the door, he only reveals thick smoke ahead. It's difficult, almost impossible, to see anything further than 5 feet ahead of you. As you walk through the smokey hallway, you encounter an opening in the wall leading towards what assumingly is the source of the noise. The wall adjacent to the hallway to you is 20 feet high.
The screams become much more audible, but on top of the noises of the machinery, it's difficult to tell who or how many people are screaming. In the centre of the room , beyond the mist you can vaguely make out three great structures piercing from the centre of the room.
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Not hearing the screams over the sound of the groups clinking armour and heavy footfalls, Marius has to take the man's word for it as they pick up speed. With two prayers to the Angel of War, Marius first gains a boost of speed, moving much more fluidly and catching up with his companion Curze. The Second brings forth a globe of light on his breastplate as they spy thick smoke billowing out of the room.
Coughing as they enter, Marius draws forth his wicked Greatsword and turns to his faithful Tiger. "Hunt!" he orders as he listens out for signs of further screaming.
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Haliban bravely moves as fast as he can to the source of the noise, attempting to get down to business. He moves through what almost seems to be a maze. As Haliban finally steps out from the mist, he finally realises the place and the situation for what it truly is. The Hall of Wonders is full of odd structures. A brass planetarium rotates in the northeastern corner. Next to the celestial model, a clockwork contraption ticks and tocks as it turns on its axis. Finally, a giant metal crab sits with its claws extended on a southwestern platform. A hatch at one end of the crab provides an entrance into a barrel-like chamber; inside two levers rest near the front of a cockpit.
A woman armed with a flail stands in the top catwalk watching down on the proceedings, she face emotionless and cold. Two half-orcs have seemingly rounded up the habitants of the hall into the corner of the room, beating them helplessly with clubs as they scream for help and for the bullies to stop. They are currently abusing and torturing a female gnome. The Orcs immediately see Harry within their line of sight! "Guards!?!" one screams, alerting everyone.
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Hearing the cries for help, Maius takes up a swift sprint with his god-enhanced speed, his Greatsword poised as he feels Reese' rage flow through him. Spying the enemy half-orc in blue, he swings his swowrd, though his hampered by the display.
for
Calling back across the room, he whistles for Curze to follow. "Kill!"
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Haliban starts the proceedings by firing a well aimed shot at the presumed leader. His aim is accurate as the arrow finds itself nudged in between a slit in the armor. She howls in pain. "Owhhh!"
Reese recognizes the woman to be a cleric of Groetus, the so called god of end times. Like most evil cleric's she is known to be able to channel negative energy, and cast devilish spells. The half-orc thugs, are trained fighters.
Reese starts to inspire the Pathfinders through her raging song. And immediately Marius and Curze, jump into the fray with their sharp swords and teeth! However, they find themselves on the unfortunate end as the song alerts the Thugs enough for them to dodge out of the way.
Mun has his mind pre-occupied in matters in another dimension, but eventually makes his way into the room after hearing the distinct clashing metals in the sound of combat. He attempts to bring divine intervention to the fight, and cast bless.
The evil cleric is not having any of this, and cast a spell of bane to even the odds.
The half-orcs move around with their weapons in hand to attack the closest enemy possible. However, they are not as tough as they look, and none of their attacks come even close to connecting with the pathfinders.
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His blessing dispelled, Mūn looks up towards the evil cleric standing on high; he begins reaching for his bow when he sees her fall from multiple other shots. With a little grin, he instead calls on Ashava's aid to grant he and Selûne increased effectiveness in combat. He then steps over the nearby ropes, entering the crab-like contraption. This looks interesting, he thinks, studying the two handles. I wonder if I can make it work....
Calling upon the strength and wisdom of a deity, you gain a +1 luck bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls for every three caster levels you have (at least +1, maximum +3). The bonus doesn't apply to spell damage.
Benefit: When you are adjacent to or sharing a square with your companion creature and that companion creature has this feat, you can cast a spell on yourself and divide the duration evenly between yourself and the companion creature. You can use this feat only on spells with a duration of at least 2 rounds. For example, you could cast bull's strength on yourself, and instead of the spell lasting 1 minute per level on yourself, it lasts 5 rounds per level on yourself and 5 rounds per level on your companion.
Selûne understands Mūn's command without difficulty, and lopes off around the far side of the crab-like contraption even as the elf is stepping inside. Her eyes lock on one of the orcs, and she bears down on it, snapping her jaws tight on one of its arms with an extra edge of ferocity fueled by Reese's song.
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Reese returns the favour with a hard strong blow into the stomach of the thug. He nearly loses his lunch, and it's clearly evident he is barely holding himself together after such a strong knock.
Mun hops right into the compartment and realise that the levers are likely means to operate the crab's reaching pincers. Meanwhile, Selune the bear easily sinks her teeth into the unprepared half-orc, dealing a big amount of pain.
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Curze the raging tiger brings a very devastating assault on the pair of half-orc's in front of her. His claws slash and bring down one orc with tremendous force, while he turns his bite to the other. The pain experienced is excruciating and they fall unconscious as a result of.
Marius turns his focus on the last thug, and steps forth to deliver a strong but inaccurate swing. However, the last half-orc knows when he is outnumbered and commits sepukku, an act that may be considered an honourable way for death for the followers of the end times, rather than to fall into enemy hands.
Upon hearing combat has ended, the wounded gnome quickly springs to her feet. "Please... help us! Them thugs kidnapped more of us earlier! Whatever should we do..." Clearly you recognize her as an engineer, with trinkets in her belt, goggles on her head, and other signs that scream engineer.
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Harry begins reloading his musket as he walks forward, chewing on a new toothpick he got from...somewhere.
No worries Ms, Cavalries here. Whatever information you got may help... any idea what they may be up to, or what they want?
He checks the sight and points at the ceiling.
And most importantly, where they are so I can give them a lead present.
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Mūn grips the two levers, quickly jerking the crab's claws to life. He swings them around, looking for a target, and is perhaps a little disappointed to find none survive. He lowers the claws gently, careful to not drop them on top of any Pathfinders or engineers, and steps out of the mechanical contraption.
"Indeed. We are already in hot pursuit; they are from a dangerous cult that wants to bring about the end-times! We have more leads, but if you can share anything you know, perhaps that will help us prioritize our search. Did they say anything particular while they had you in captivity?"
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Feeling the song given anger leave him, Marius gives out a deep breath and realises the lack of focus meant he had struck no-one, his drill sergeant would have been disappointed. Turning to see Curze eyeing up the corpses, Marius gives a sharp whistle to the beast. For a moment it seems that Curze is to refuse before reluctantly padding over.
Hearing the cries from the engineers, Marius makes his way over and offers his wand to heal any injuries as Curze glares. "Don't mind the Kitty." he says with a smile. "Now, who have they taken and where did they go?"
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The fog, by now, dissipates, clearly revealing the magnificence of the Hall of Wonders, and makes moving around easier. Haliban, eventually finds the path up to the unconicious cleric.
The gnome boldly speaks up "My name is Queck...hmm...If I recall correctly they took six of our men! It was not long ago, maybe an hour? They demanded we hand over any blueprints that detailed the Crypt of Fools. They said something about keeping the location of hidden tunnels a secret. I overheard their leader telling the cultist who led the kidnapped engineers away that she was staying behind to find out if we knew anything else about the Crypt of Fools and the tunnels. She then said, ‘Tell Dalirio he can have these.’ What did she mean by that? I'm not really sure where they went.” She sighs in disbelief over what has happened.
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Nothing of interest comes from searching the captives, just some mundane weapons and armor. However each of them own a holy symbol, that clearly represents that of Groetus.
None of them speak a word, they spit in your faces as you attempt to make them say a word. Clearly that of followers of Groetus fears not of death.