[ooc]@Miso: Oh, sorry. Mixed that up. Must've scrolled too far.
Miso's first scorching ray was resisted by Katiyana but his second one burns her despite her fiendish heritage! Jennix heals himself as Miso hands him another potion. Zachary flies up to the window but then finds the wind too strong inside and simply lands on the platform.
Terflynn moves forward and tries his luck at hexing the evil creature.
Katiyana resists the hex and turns her ire upon Terflynn! She flies up to him and tries to bite him in the neck!
Jennix grabs the proffered potion and quaffs it.
"Stay back, you monster!"
Terflynn steps away and tries to curse the woman with foul luck.
Miso draws his last potion of cure moderate wounds in case Jennix needs it while he strikes at the crystal.
"Time to smash some overly gaudy decorations!" Zack yells as he begins hacking at the crystal on the platform next to him with his sword.
Terflynn inflicts poor fortune on the Sithhud priestess as Miso almost breaks a knuckle on the crystal. Zachary puts a scratch in one of the other crystals! Katiyana continues to attack Terflynn with a wild hunger!
"Jennix, the platform! Miso, help me!" Terflynn directs as he moves back to cast a spell. "And as for you..." he half-smiles at the creature who just clawed him as he conjures magic from the dark tapestry.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Although Terflynn's images are not enough to frighten Katiyana to death, they nonetheless inflict some damaging scars on her psyche!
Jennix takes another couple swings at the crystal.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Miso tosses the potion at Jennix's feet, then turns with his own fury on the flying lightning-bearer.
Move to sylph (Move action), attack her using Dragon Style unarmed strike and Stunning Fist. (Charge if possible, though I think Jennix is in the path, so probably not. Also, if Terflynn has a weapon out, he counts as a flanking partner, so potentially +4 to hit.)
plus a DC 16 Will save for Stunning Fist.
As Jennix hacks away at the crystal, Miso moves in from behind and delivers a kick that knocks the fiendish sylph unconscious!
Jennix falls to the ground, breathing heavily. "Did we win?"
"I certainly hope so." Terflynn says, drawing his sword a few moments too late. "I used my best magic on her."
"She's dead?" Zack calls from the upper platform.
The wind still rages but Katiyana has fallen and you quickly end her life, hoping that taking out this villain will have ended the strange violent weather in the region.
News of Katiyana's demise reaches the caravan, heartening their spirits and breaking the storm overhead that plagued them for so long.
"Fine work gentlemen. Miso, I believe this headband might serve you best, though it would suit anyone really." Terflynn says, considering the magic of the item at hand. "But lest we forget, I will catch my death of cold if we linger any longer. Let us destroy these crystals and be done with this place."
Miso will take the holy symbol of Sithhud and tuck it away. I must learn about this demon lord, he muses aloud, for, to know one's enemy is to learn something of oneself.
The party takes some time to destroy all the crystals. When all six crystals are destroyed, the Storm Sphere implodes, quickly dwindling away into nothingness.
It is a 500-mile journey from the Storm Tower to Dead Man's Dome, where Ulf hopes to find the Path of Aganhei on the other side of the Crown of the World. Ulf and the rest of the caravan are anxious to get moving.
"The road is long ahead. Let us make ready immediately."
After passing by Dead Man's Dome, you and your caravan soon descend from the High Ice into the basin surrounding Ruun Uvas, where you can rest in the village of Ul-Angorn, perched on the shores of the Saltsea Lake.
Pop: 626
Purchase Limit: 3750
Spellcasting: 3rd
Items: bracers of armor +2, elixir of hiding, scroll of barkskin, scroll of true strike, wand of faerie fire, wand of shield of faith, +2 ghost touch splint mail, +1 ki focus nunchaku, scroll of envervation
South of Ul-Angorn, the caravan must traverse the 20-mile-long Ovorikheer Pass, which rises above 5000 feet. Once atop the pass, the caravan passes through the ice-sheathed Domagalki Forest, known as the Wood of Winter's Deadly Roar.
Descending from Ovorikheer Pass, you then enter the lands of the Osman Confederation surrounding Lake Buriyiim. The town of Jaagiin stands square int the Path of Aganhei.
Population: 1371
Purchase Limit: 7500 gp
Spellcasting: 4th
Items: +1 shortbow, +2 punching dagger, bead of force, ring of force shield, scroll of heal, wand of rope trick, wand of scorching ray, +2 spell resistance (15) chainmail, +2 hide armor, major ring of electricity resistance
Jennix marches along with the caravan, glad to be moving downward.
Miso, too, is pleased to be heading out of the High Ice, and hopes they are able to sell the sylph's armor in one of the trading towns to help provide Terflynn with alchemical supplies.
As you approach the Altan Zuud, also known as the Last Pass, the temperature steadily drops and ominous storm clouds dominate the southern horizon. As the caravan ascends toward the pass, you clearly see storm clouds racind overhead, swifter than the wind, and hear a fell, feminine laughter mocking you from the clouds, interspersed with peals of thunder. The mountain peaks ahead are swallowed up in a roiling blizzard as avalanches cascade down the mountain faces to block the pass. The blizzard's fury seems restricted to the pass itself, for the moment at least.
WIth the pass ahead blocked, Ulf suggests making for the Erutaki town of Ketskerlet, 200 miles to the east, and from there trying to cross the Gulf of Khorkii, or at least taking shelter in the dwarven delves on this side of the mountains, but he is not hopeful that the caravan will make it before the storm catches you.
Shalelu recommends scouting out other passes through the Wall of Heaven, even though Ulf claims that no other passes are traversable at this time of year. Sandru wants only what's best for the caravan, and none of the suggestions so far seem to offer much chance of the caravan surviving.
But Koya Mvashti offers another solution. She has studied the history of Desna's worship in many cultures, past and present. She recalls the account of a traveler from long ago who traversed the Crown of the World and spoke of the Uqtaal clans-tundra nomads who worshiped Dsna as the Queen of the North Star, their guide and protector in the long actic night. The Uqtaal believed that souls sought to follow the North Star even in death, and through long years they excavated a subterranean necropolis within caverns at the feet of the Wall of Heaven. Beyond the stony tombs of the fallen, the Uqtaal caved a passage-called the Path of Spirits-for the souls of the dead to make their way onto the High Ice to follow the North Star to the top of the world, where Desna would carry them home into the stars. The account was hundreds of years old, but the traveler claimed the necropolis was very real and that he had found the northern exit of their tunnel, as wide as a highway, flanked by twin stone statues of Desna. By using the landmarks recorded by the traveler, it might be possible to find this pathway. With few other tenable options, Ameiko suggests following Koya's guidance.
The caravan has finally reached the Wall of Heaven Mountains, your last barrier before Tian Xia, only to find the pass blocked by avalanches and morozko. Your only chance to safely cross the mountains seems to be to find the Gates of Desna and the underground passage known as the Path of Spirits.
The Gates of Desna lie 30 miles west of the Last Pass. The gates are named for the statues of the goddess that flank the entrance to the necropolis between two arms of a peak. One statue is broken off at the pedestal, but opposite it still stands a primitively carved statue of a woman with butterfly wings eternally facing north, with a roughly carved eight-pointed star graven into her forehead. A quarter mile beyond, a cave mouth yawns at the head of the valley, with a carved stone lintel and doorposts etched with faded stars: the entrance to the Path of Spirits.
"Desna has never personally slighted me, but I can say that ancient tombs are not often forgiving places. I only wish I had enough magic to get us through another way." Terflynn sighs as he rubs his mittens together, silently thanking himself for making such warm apparel. "I suppose we four will investigate the path and ensure its safety."
Miso nods. The safety of Ameiko and of the caravan is paramount, as the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
"As one of the few, I humbly dissent." Terflynn mutters in response.
The long, dark Path of Spirits is a trip of approximately 50 miles from the entrance at the Gates of Desna to the Uqtaal Necropolis. The ancient nomads delved only where necessary, following natural faults, rifts, and cave systems.
You upon a cairn of stones and skulls. The skulls are all embedded in the cairn’s northward face and are painted with red demonic faces.
After traversing the long, dark tunnels of the Path of Spirits, the caravan draws near to the Uqtaal Necropolis deep beneath the Wall of Heaven. Within 1 mile of the necropolis, the tunnel becomes wider and straighter, and rows of skulls, all facing due north, are laid in unbroken lines along each side of the passage.
"Well they certainly weren't wanting for bones with which to decorate." Terflynn says, reaching out as though to grab a skull, but stopping a few feet short, putting his hand back down. "I would have used more greens or yellows. Give the place some color."
"Probably best not to touch anything. Wouldn't want to disturb any of the spirits." Zack comments while listening to Terflynn's musings.
The tunnel ahead is clearly worked, the floor and walls smoothed and decorated with faded cave paintings of starry skies, colorful auroras, and pale, headless shades marching along the path. Regularly spaced hewn stone pillars decorated with star carvings stand on either side of the tunnels. Atop each pillar sits a bleached human skull, painted with a red demonic face, all facing north.
Ahead, a carved bridge spans a deep crevasse in this large cavern. At each end of the bridge, stone pillars support a flat lintel, carved with star-shaped niches set with red-painted human skulls. On either side of the far lintel, a dusty portal of stone marks one face of an angular tower built into the rock, with narrow slit windows overlooking the bridge.
Closer inspection reveals Erutaki pictographic runes on the pillars and lintel, stating Here the dead walk. Trouble them not, nor bar their path.
Jennix follows along, stopping to read the picrographs. "Lovely...."
"Can you read this Miso?" Terflynn asks, looking at the runes on the pillars. "It's not a language I recognize." He then takes a seat on the ground and begins casting spells, detecting for magic in the area.
Miso translates for Terflynn as he studies the macabre scene. He also takes care to see that the floor is clear enough for the caravan to pass through.
The bridge looks strong enough to cross, although when you try to get closer you come across an invisible barrier.
Terflynn notes that it is an abjuration bubble covering the bridge, specifically an antilife shell.
Jennix glances at Terflynn. "Antilife? What happens if we walk through it?"