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Reacting quickly,Kvina takes a moment to focus her senses on the creature and tries to detect it there's the presence of evil.
Kvina finishes the draw of her bow, takes a fraction of a second to fire it and lets her arrow fly with a motion so polished it's almost blinding. As she grabs for another arrow, she starts replying to people. "I don't know about interesting, but definitely a development. Merisiel, don't feel like you have to engage the thing if you don't want to, those tentacles are a little off-putting. Quintius, I have no idea! And Sesotho, definitely not human and probably not sentient."
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Kvina' attack cannot reach the writhing tentacled creature, and her actions expose her to another attack.
The vicious tentacle wraps around Kvina's throat.
The choking beast tightens its grip.
And drags Kvina down the tunnel...
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Valtyra steps fully into the room. "Leave her be!" She points her finger at the Choker and an arrow of pure force flies forth striking it unerringly.
"There is a Choker in here! Watch out! it can grab and choke you!"
Valtyra casts Magic Missile. (standard action)
(force damage)
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"Thank you for the warning, Valtyra. I'm sure Kvina was able to find out this as well." Quintus mutters, finally getting into the room and seeing what is happening. There is an enemy somewhere, but Quintus' way there is blocked by Valtyra and Kvina.
"Hey, here's another corridor. Maybe we can get behind the critter!"
Quintus starts moving towards the tunnel, but his heavy mail armor makes his progress rather slow.
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As she fires off her arrow, Kvina realizes the errors of not moving further back as the tentacles of the thing they are fighting come in close and wrap around her neck, cutting off her air supply. Before she is even able to react the thing pulls her in quickly and drags her further down the hall. The tentacles furhter tighten on her neck as she as much hears as feels a pop from her neck and the world becomes very distant before going completely dark.....
She wakes with a start as healing energy flows through her body, mending whatever happened to her neck. Realizing she is still in the grasp of the evil tentacled thing, Kvina's temper flares. She starts mouthing soething that almost looks like a short prayer. When she finishes a white shimmering decends on her form, and Kvina starts to struggle against the grasping tentacles of the creature, trying to break free.
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Valtyra's magic harms the creature, while Sesotho revives his comrade and Quintus seeks to outflank the foe.
Kvina, meanwhile, calls upopn her holy power and attempts to wriggle free of the creature. She is unable to tear free of its grasp.
The Choker drags Kvina further into the darkness as its grip continues to choke the yougn paladin.
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Kvina tries to struggle again for a second before giving up on trying to break free and decides to just focus on taking down the monster before it takes her down. She draws out her longsword that immediately starts to shimmer a bright red. She pulls the sword back and tries to stab it inot the creature right in front of her.
_______
A light flashes into the creature's face and as it does the creature is struck by Kvina's sword and Quintus' mace. The two weapons collide with an audible ching and the creature falls dead at the pathfinders' feet.
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"Kvina, are you okay?
"Shall we see why Venture Captain Drang sent us here?" Valtyra steps back into the entryway of the cavern and utters a few arcane words.
The creature is emaciated and scarred, its body a slumped bag of sinew. Around you the dim light shows your companions in arms, eyes bright with exertion.
Kvina is still clearly injured and the bruising around her swollen neck seems especially vivid and painful. The rest of the group have escaped unscathed.
When you check the desk, the files there chronicle the personal exploits of Selmius Foster, a famous Pathfinder whose name you all recognize from your training.
Most of his more infamous adventures are referenced here, but it is obvious there’s also another investigation that he had been pursuing before he died: the lost records of a Pathfinder named Eylysia.
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Kvina decides to hang back and let the others start rifling through the papers while she gingerly investigates her own wound and stealthily tries to clear the feeling of choking from her throat.
After a few seconds she pulls Sesotho aside and asks him if he had another healing spell or two he could use on her.
Hopefully with a her neck in a better state, Kvina finally moves in closer to the desk and rifles through the papers, she mostly just reads the two memos, though. With them her anger mild slowly. "We should continue their investigation! To think this Eylysia was going on so many missions and then not reporting them. She was breaking one of the basic tenants off being a Pathfinder! I do agree with Merisiel, we should probably send along a note and a different bottle of wine. After that, maybe heading to the mausoleum? Or we could try seeing if the Wall of Names is still open at this hour."
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"Oh, very well." Valtyra says with a slight huff. "I still say Drang already knew about this though. If you want to send him a note though, go ahead, I won't stop you."
"I am in agreement with going to the mausoleum but I am not sure what the names just being on the wall might be able to tell us though. Researching the names she placed on the wall at the Arcanamirium however could provide us with a trail to follow in this case."
"So shall we start with the mausoleum the stonemason is laid to rest in?"
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"I suggest we leave Drang out of this for the moment. We can contact him, if we come to a dead end in our own investigations. Let's head to the mausoleum."
In the Wounded Wisp, Quintus catches Sesotho's words, and follows him to the halfling. "If you have healing magics to spare, I would be grateful of receiving such spell. I was not wounded by the Choker downstairs, but by a far greater force. For gravity is ever-present danger even for the greatest hero." he says, with a pained smile.
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Kvina gathers her things and leaves the basement in a bit of a daze, trying to hide her neck wounds, not wanting people to worry or cause a ruckus. But when she gets dragged in front of Janira, she relents, exposing her neck and the horrid bruising on it. She explains, "I let my gauard down for a second and the thing had me by the neck and knocked out before I even knew it! I can cannel a little bit of divine power, but not enough to heal myself like a proper holy warrior, so any assitance you can give me would be amazing!"
Janira grins, "Only Dreng could get you into a fight with a wine bottle."
She is then most gracious in supporting her fellow pathfinders.
You leave the Wounded Wisp with some good-natured jibes ringing in your ears, most aimed at Dreng's 'dangerous wine', and Janira trying to find a good punchline for a joke about Pathfinders in wine cellars.
As you approach you can see that the tomb is in a formal necropolis, guarded by a high fence, although the gates stand open to welcome mourners.
When you arrive at the graveyard, you find a custodian tending the graves. A sombre-looking woman with a streak of white in her otherwise dark hair who wears the robes of a Pharasman cleric.
The woman approaches, "What business have you here, in Pharasma's realm?"