The woman's face turns sour at the accusations. "The Abyss always overcomes the forces of Hell, my friend!" Her bedraggled features take on new form-that of a night hag, transformed by the fiendish powers of the Worldwound.
The hag stands from her pile of rags and reaches out to bite Gregor. "Oh, the clever ones are always so tasty!"
Devko slices in with his blade while Ceric hastes the party!
Ceric recognizes this night hag as half-fiendish. It has DR/cold iron and magic, spell resistance, and is immune to charm, cold, fear, fire, poison, and sleep. It also has resistances to acid and electricity as well as a smattering of spell-like abilities.
Ezrek's first bomb goes off course but the rest fly true. His bombs don't seem to be hurting her as much as usual but nonetheless burn away a fair amount of skin from the wretched creature.
Gregor then expertly cuts it down!
Illayna’s equipment consists of +1 half-plate, a masterwork heavy steel shield, a +1 demonbane longsword, and a potion of eagle’s splendor.
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"I know I have friends here so I don't mind sharing that being an Eagle Knight was not my first choice in life...but they've been decent to me since Torch's betrayal. I suppose freedom is a fine enough ideal so long as you know what to do with it." Gregor realizes he's pontificating and reigns himself in. "If this heathen was able to assume that identity, its because somewhere around here is the body Eagle Knight in a sorry state. I guess I'd just like to return the favor and see her off properly."
Spending some time searching deeper in the partially collapsed burrow, Gregor is indeed able to find a much new body amid the many decaying victims. She looks remarkably similar to the disguise the hag was using and it can be assumed that this is the body of the real Illayna.
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After resting for some time and waiting for the Abyssal storm to cease, the party is able to head deeper into the Worldwound, following the directions to the ghost town of Storasta, where the safe house is located.
Calling the outskirts of Storasta a “ghost town” would be a generous act, for the broken buildings, ruined streets, and utterly abandoned alleys could benefit from even the presence of the restless undead. Outside of Storasta proper, only a handful of structures remain intact enough to be habitable, most clumped on a single street shielded from the rest of the city by what may have been a publicly tended forest or park before the Worldwound destroyed it. Among these buildings stands a traders’ guildhouse that the Pathfinder Society used as a minor waystation for field agents in southern Sarkoris.
Among the few surviving structures in this map-speck trade stop in Storasta’s shadow, the ramshackle guildhouse stands somberly. Its sign was long ago sandblasted to unreadability, but the silhouette of the Glyph of the Open Road can still be distinguished cut out of a dangling shutter. A split rail fence barely stands around a small yard in the building’s front.
As the party approaches the safehouse, however, you hear someone call out from near the building. They step out to reveal themselves as a human man wearing worn adventuring clothes and a wayfinder around his neck. "Shhh. Be careful. This is the Worldwound, after all. Nowhere is truly 'safe'."
"Waiting for backup like you, of course. I wasn't sure how 'safe' the safe-house truly was."
Before Ceric can cast his spell, Gregor gets a bad feeling about the man. Indeed, the man has begun to grin wickedly as his disguise fades and his form becomes huge and monstrous, growing four arms, two of which end in large pincers.
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"Man..I'm starting to get a feeling of deja-vu"
"This seems to be a glabrezu demon. It has DR/good and spell resistance. It is immune to electricity and poison and has resistances to acid, cold, and fire. it also has constant true seeing, a monthly wish, and a daily power word stun. They can also greater teleport and cast veil at will, among other spell-like-abilities."
Ceric then casts haste on the entire party (again) before moving a bit away from the demon
Ceric hastes the party!
Devko then deals several devastating blows to the demon!
Ezrek's bombs hit the glabrezu in rapid succession and, despite not having their full effect, still take him down!
The party checks outside and deems it wise to enter the safe house rather than tarry outdoors any longer. This modest sitting room was once the lively heart of the Pathfinder waystation, playing host to passing adventurers, ribald jokes, and hours of laughter and song. Now it lies in shambles under a century’s worth of dust and decay.
When you enter you see a man wearing noble robes-dirty and torn from his time in the Worldwound-and a tall Ulfen woman with a long, blonde ponytail pulled through a ring in the top of her helmet. They look up in surprise as you enter; they were clearly in the process of searching the room
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Devko smile at the group, drawing his weapon and said with a casual tone
I'm sorry to ask, but before all thing, are you demons or Night Hag in disguise ? We are tired to be attacked by creatures who seemed friendly. So before anything, please let us use magic on you. It will be a shame that your meeting end in a bloodshed as everyone thinks they are demons in disguise right, but in fact are just unlucky travelers, don't you think ?
"Aye," the man says, "you are wise to be suspicious. But we were sent here with one other companion by our venture-captain in Whitethrone to retrieve an ancient prophecy. He's in the basement poring over what we've found now."
"You're from Absalom then? The Grand Lodge?"
Before Ceric casts his spell, the man says, "Fine, but we better lay everything out then. Graukur, come out." As he says this, suddenly the corner is populated by a tengu who was previously unseen; obviously invisible. "Well that's Graukur and I'm Rovald. This," he gestures to the woman, "is Embla."
Ceric detects magic in the room and finds nothing unusual now that the tengu is out in the open; they have magical gear but nothing out of the ordinary.
"So, do we trust each other a little more now? What brings you out here? Are you for Absalom?"
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Devko smile broaden when Ceric said it was Ok.
Greetings friends, I hope, I'm Devko Obradev, owner of the Devil's Dance in Absalom and also famous for being the winner of the Ruby's championship.
Both of our Captains seem to have sent us on the same mission. I hope we could help each other to find this ancient prophecy and get out of here like an azata in hell ! Or an archon in the Abyss, as it seems more apropriate in our case, ha ha !
Odd, I don't remember there is a logde in Whitethrone...
Devko doesn't remember there being a Lodge (or Venture-Captain) in Whitethrone.
"Caggrigar just set up the Lodge before we left so he's assuming the role of Venture-Captain. He came along with us since its the Lodge's first mission but he's down in the basement studying the findings. You folks involved in the making of any new Lodges lately?"
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Not yet, but we certainly hope to do that in the near future. We are based in Absalom, so it's more difficult to us.
said Devko.
I remember my first mission ! It was in Absalom, doing dumb job for Captains throughout Absalom and be attacked by strangers, almost dying...
But at the end I found friends... and some kind of family.
added Devko with a his face showing regrets and old souvenirs.
He moved to sit in one of the chair and asked
Did you find something drinkable ? I'm thirsty and as your captain don't seem to be here to judge you or mind what you could do I suggest to drink at this famous prophecy ! and to the reunification of all the lodges in better hands, right !
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Rovald offers a spare waterskin to Devko, still eyeing the party warily.
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Devko thanks with a nod Rovald and still smiling Devko turned to his comrades and said
Please my friends, we are on the same side here. These good lads are pathfinder like us. They share the same goal.
Then offer a hand to the three pathfinder from Withethrone
Please, chare with us your stories and take a sit.