Ilivan takes offense to Baz' gesture. "I've been fighting demons here longer than Commander Manaria has been old enough to even wield a sword; she's inexperienced little princess who made a bad call. She has some fantasy of some grand ending where we just show up and fix all her problems, dreamed up like the child she is. By Calistria's honeyed bosom, I'd not be surprised if she is fancying the idea of us somehow mystically pulling a fix for the Wardstone she's sitting on out of our arses!" He marches up to Baz' and matches his skeptical gaze with a stern one of his own. "This 'rescue' idea is nothing more than a death-wish. They're marching these men into their nation-sized stronghold. If we walk up to their gates, all we're doing is giving them more victims to sacrifice and the Commander will keep making more and more mistakes until Deskari has trampled over every single person in Avistan."
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Baz meets Ilivan's gaze and gathers his thoughts before speaking. When I was young, I was always taught that the Inheritor was the goddess of justice...honor...valor. I cannot fathom how the opinions you have expressed of late can be reconciled with these values. Those men marched into danger out of a sense of justice. What justice is there in leaving them to die? Where is the honor in leaving men of valor to wither at the hands of foul demons? Baz pauses, glancing at the party. With or without you, we are going to attempt to save those men. Not because we are Pathfinders, not because of the gods we believe in, no, we are going to save them because it is the right and just thing to do. Baz then begins to gather and check his gear in preparation to leave.
Ilivan closes his eyes, returning to a less "drill-instructor-esque" stance and continues to speak with Baz. "Very well, then. You'll be held accountable for whatever happens, be it some divine reward from the Heavens above or the permanent stain of blood from those you dragged to their deaths." He moves to the door, before adding in another comment (and waiting a moment for any responses.) "I'll be ready to leave as soon as possible, though I believe the Commander had some leftover supplies for you."
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Desmond's eyes widen as the teifling begins his impassioned verbal take-down of Ilivan. The ranger, ashamed at his previous doubts, bows his head silently as Bazresh finishes his declaration to do the right thing.
The ranger sheepishly shuffles himself behind Bazresh, convinced that he, his fellow Pathfinders, and anyone else who chooses should seek out the captured men and return them to safety.
"Count me in," he mumbles to Baz. He averts his eyes from the rest of the group, still embarrassed by his lack of courage.
2 potions of cure moderate wounds 3 potions of shield of faith (CL 6th) 10 flasks of holy water Access to borrow any simple or martial weapon from the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook 2 potions of cure serious wounds 2 potions of barkskin (CL 9th) ...and the pièce de résistance, 1 wand of haste with 6 charges.
Before the group leaves, Sir Morgan (the scout who you first met at the time of the pass-code transfer) gives Baz a small map that marks a shallow ford across the West Sellen River where they can cross with their mounts. From there, it’s quite easy to pick up the kidnapped soldiers’ trail, leading directly west into the Worldwound. Desmond and Varg also can reveal that there are number of (between 2 to 6, depending on how many legs) hooved captors are driving eight humans (and one of the goats is apparently on fire, as their prints are charred.)
They can tell the group are moving slowly (as determined by the sizable remains of pools of of human blood that the very strange goats demons have apparently been too busy to stop), so the the group should be able to catch up to them.
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Luisila’s green eyes narrow a bit as she takes in her companions’ reaction to Commander Wardroxan.
She looks at Desmond standing beside her, sticks out her index finger and places it under his chin, before gently closing his mouth.
I can’t blame them. She’s hot! Sir Ilivan? Not so much …
“Guys, many demons can teleport great distances at will, but are incapable of taking but a few meager, nonliving objects with them. This means that ones with human prisoners would need to manually transport them, so they can be regularly tracked and probably caught-up-to if we leave today.”
“I’m all for leaving now to rescue those poor wretches.”
When the fort’s cache is revealed. Luisila is taken aback but tries hard not to show it.
Woah … this is what they’re lending us to fight these things??
Luisila will tie 5 blunt, adamantine and ghost salt arrows with a weapon cord and place them in her backpack. She will replace these with 16 cold iron arrows.
She will then put her own holy water in her backpack and take two of the fort’s vials.
“I’ll leave you guys to distribute the healing potions between you. I think Cleaver should have one of the barkskin potions.”
“Can anyone cast Haste?”
Luisila keeps a sharp lookout for trouble. “I am very keen to get some buffs up before we make contact with the demons.”
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Omrax will carry any item left over but does not ask for anything in particular.
The paladin has been remarkably silent after the exchange back at the fort with Illivan and Wardroxon.
Normally eager to ride in front, he takes his place next to Baz. When he thinks nobody can hear them.
"Sir Baz, today has been turned on its ear and the Inheritor has tested me. If you would have told me when we left I would be siding with a Tiefling over on of my own order, I would have though you to jest . " after a bit of silence, he follows with an even lower comment.
"And thank you for convincing him to come. All arguments I considered would have only ended with me in a court marshall. " he clamps the Inquisitor on the shoulder, with a hint of a grin.
Nobody's quite certain how many demons there are, or what they are, given the limitless possibilities of circumstance surrounding the situation.
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During the travel, when Súrë gets distracted by a single, gnarled black-and-gold wasp, he follows it to a large pimple-like bubble in the earth (easily 4-feet in height.) Ilivan grabs Súrë by the Griffin Mane of his armor, "Don't touch that; that's full of Hellwasps."
The group quickly mounts dashes past the bubble as the bubble pops anyways! The swarm to bursts out and gives chase, but the distance their horses can give them easily puts them out of caring distance and the swarm simply buzzes about in the distance. A small squall brushes up a thick dust, which is rough to breathe. Sir Ilivan's eyes grow wide as he slides out of his saddle, hands nowhere near any weapons.
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"Hey guys! Stop being mean!" Súrë puts his hands over his ears and calls BIG BIRD down from the sky to land next to him. "He didn't know any better! We all had trouble telling the farmers apart from those nasty things inside them!"
Súrë's eyes well up with tears a little bit and he shouts, "MY NAME IS Súrë AND I HAVE A PET BIRD!" He then starts to cry openly.
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The Savored Sting teaches Revenge is scraped from a cold dish onto a midden, rained on for a decade, planted in a vegetable patch, raised as rhubarb and baked in a pie to be served to an enemy’s loved ones and offspring – along with its leaves of deadly poison …
Any opponent will have to do better than schoolboy taunts to get the better of me.
She ponders some more … Is this some trick spawned by the Abyss to divide us? Good luck with that! I trust my companions – literally – with my life.
Sweet Calistria, I confess though … I HATE not taking the initiative.
Luisila dismounts and moves to hold the bridle of Cleaver’s horse. She readies an action to BoL the big Ulfen if a hostile action is made against the party.
Sir Ilivan doesn't verbally react to Baz' questioning, and curls up in the fetal position on the ground!
Desmond: SAVED
Luisila: FAILED in her post
Omrax: SAVED
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The sylph dries his eyes and stands back up. "Squawk?" he says to BIG BIRD.
BIG BIRD, for once, does not respond but just puffs his feathers.
"It's ok," Súrë reassures the bird.
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Luisila drops her hand from the bridle of Varg’s horse. Her eyes widen as she looks up and to the left.
A look of shame comes over her face as her cheeks flush pink.
Then her features harden and she begins mouthing something as she strides purposefully towards Sir Ilivan, ignoring the rest of the party, except for Varg.
“Leave him, Cleaver! He’s mine!”
She kneels down beside the supine form of Sir Ilivan and with a calm, practised hand, draws her dagger, as if she is about to perform a ritual she has carried out many times before.
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Desmond gets down off his horse and tries to follow after Luisila to stop her. "Heel, Sahrek."
But, Sahrek doesn't come to his master's side. The ranger looks back at the wolf.
"Sahrek, HEAL." This time, he's more emphatic.
A low growl emits from the bared teeth. Suddenly, the wolf leaps at his master, snapping his jaw at Desmond's leg, taking the ranger by surprise.
The wolf's jaws snap down on nothing but the air.
"What in Gozreh's name has gotten INTO you, boy?"
Desmond: SAVED
Luisila: Saved in her post
Omrax: SAVED
Sure: Saved
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Omrax looks on in fear as the other Iomedean casts a spell on him! The group surrounding the half-elf can clearly see the "dust" is unable to touch him (though the "dust" within his system is not visibly expelled!) However, he snaps to reality just as everyone is threatening him! Ilivan hunkers down in a fully-defensive stance! Luisilia also seems to return to regular (unless sacrificing people is "regular for her" for you)!
Your rage and the attached enchantment (which I DID count your +2 in my rolls) is broken.
Sahrek also calms down at the command and follows orders, though BIG BIRD and Varg don't seem to calm down! BIG BIRD flails about wildly as unattended horses flee a short distance!
You are under the effect of "Attack Nearest Creature" result of Confusion for 2 rounds. Go nuts, but feel free to metagame a bit to hopefully not murder any of the party. Also, fun fact: Ilivan can totally survive a max-damage Power Attack crit from your axe. Probably...
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Varg momentarily shakes his head in a disoriented fashion with the Axe raised over his head, but a visage of anger reappears on his face. he drops the axe, flies into a Rage and dives onto Ilivan in an attempt to grapple him.
Normally, confusion would make you "attack to the fullest intent," which if I've read Cleaver right, would be a "Raging Power Attack Axe to the Face," but the "please don't murder the party and make the scenario's star rating plummet" text persuades me to let you just try to throttle the guy. On the next round, however, you're attacking someone who attacked you (or Ilivan if you want) with your other Greataxe. And definitely raging.