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Nel gives a sardonic smile as if expecting a similar answer from the Shaitan and not being let down. He spends a moment reading the man, his mannerisms and general attitude before speaking again.
He tries his best to remember a blessing in Terran, hoping to smooth over the Shaitan's attitude towards them.
Everyone tries their best but clearly Harmonius and Nel are the best negotiators at the table. Harmonius drives a hard bargain and Nel catches the terms of the agreement that Reyshal would have left ambiguous to be exploited later. "Yes, excellent," Reyshal nods as a deal is struck. "I can provide you a place to rest should you need it and will promise to always treat Pathfinders fairly should more of you pass this way again. I will guide you to the Lucent Archive where you should be able to find your colleague. I can also give you several addresses and contacts with my family in the capitol city where the Society should find Grave Treader."
"But for now, let us go onwards to the Archive!" Reyshal leads the way, gliding along the earthen floor easily and without hesitation.
Ahead, the sparse scrubland of rose-hued crystalline fans ends several hundred feet from a small cave entrance that glows softly with white light. Within, the cave opens into a steeply sloped shaft hundreds of feet in diameter and crisscrossed with multifaceted prisms-some laced with veins of metal. Many of these pillars extend only several feet from the ground, creating a jagged staircase that leads to especially large columns near the bottom of the cavern.
"I can not accompany you further." Reyshal says as he watches the scene from afar. "My kind can not enter without significant pain. You must go on with out me but I send my good will along with you. Good luck in finding your friend."
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As they travel through the various crystaline chambers, Nel takes out his battered notebook and makes various scribbling notations and diagrams of the place as they walk. He also takes great care to map out the location to the Archive. With their destination reached, Nel gives the Shaitan a slight nod as he makes his way up the stairs, keeping his eyes out for traps of the physical kind instead of the the magical barrier.
You continue on down and see no other creatures. Several anthropomorphic crystalline statues dot the broad tunnel and ahead you can hear a soft humming. Following this strange sound, you realize it is coming from a woman with stark white hair and onyx-black skin. She is dragging a moistened finger absent-mindedly over a pillar with her back to you and she does not even notice your approach until you are quite close.
"Oh!" She says in surprise when she turns to see you. She slowly stretches her neck from side to side and then stretches her back out to stand up straighter, as if she has not moved for some time. In fact, you notice that when she turns several glassy filaments break free from her feet. She opens her jaw a few more times before continuing, "So, someone has finally followed in my footsteps. Welcome to the Crystal Womb. I am Sorrina Westyr, the Pathfinder Society's Master of Spells."
"Greetings, we have been sent by the Society to locate you. Please forgive any impertinence, but I cannot help but notice you've become attuned to your surroundings." Rowanna offers, her curiosity getting the better of her.
Examining the rather curious sight, "Our briefing was a bit. . .bland on the details, have you always been so. . .crystalline?"
Sorrina slowly shakes her head from side to side. "No, I am human." She looks down at her hands and the rest of her body, studying herself. "Huh. Interesting. Maybe not quite as human as I once was. This place is powerful, after all." The discovery that she is no longer human and seems to have morphed into an oread fascinates more than troubles Sorrina.
"So the Society has sent more agents after me? Welcome again then, good friends. But what are you doing here?"
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Nel looks puzzled at the Venture Captains choice of phrasing, wondering why previous expeditions had not been mentioned to them by Zarta or Kreighton. Shrugging off the thought for a moment before phrasing his next statement and question.
"Other agents have been sent to find you? I wonder if, as a creature of earth now you cannot leave the barrier we were told about? The reason we are here is rather sensitive. You see, Master Zey has been murdered by the Aspis in an infiltration of the Grand Lodge during the annual ceremonies. They also stole his soul and, as they are unable to ressurect him, they wished to see if you would take up your old position as Master of Spells."
"No, no, but I once had companions."
After hearing about Aram Zey, Sorrina shakes her head. "I knew him back when I was the Master of Spells, of course. A promising, if not prickly, young lad. I would love to take up my old position but we must get out of here first."
"It is not my earthiness that keeps me here. I have not yet discovered the location of Sairazul's Tears as I promised, though I have traced where that information might appear: an area I am forbidden to enter, called the Sapphire Stacks. The fey guard it vigilantly, though I have not seen them recently. She studies the nearby pillars for a moment before adding, [b]"Several of these hum with dissonant tales, and this one has developed surface cracks, almost as if the Lucent Archive were suffering. I had assumed that the fey were giving me room to work, but perhaps they are instead combating this malady instead."
"My one attempt to reach the library's lowest levels was fruitless, and it seems that my bargain with the fey was binding. Soon after I arrived, the fey guardians and I negotiated a deal, allowing me to remain as long as I pleased so long as I did not trespass in the library's deepest reaches. I shall travel with you as far as I can. Then perhaps my magic can follow where I cannot."
Sorrina nods slowly and turns to show you the way. "The Lucent Archive is the most interesting place, I think you'll agree. Just as the rings of a tree can speak to its surroundings in ages past, so too can the echoes of all elemental earth imprint itself in the right crystals. Each of these prisms stores memories of mountains, continents, planets, and even other worlds for those able to understand it. Some can sing their stories like so," she says, running a wetted finger over the nearby pillar as she walks. "Another, called halite, is one you can taste, and it catalogs Golarion’s waterways as they cut fissures into the earth. My favorite is an amethyst stump that speaks through the dreams of whoever sleeps upon it. I have barely scratched the surface of what resides here."
Sorrina hesitates before continuing. "I have never been inside one of the towers though, and if the information contained within is physically anchored, you may need to research and transcribe it as best you can. If there is a way to disrupt the wards, that might provide me a chance to enter and find what we need. If you can extract the records in a way that won’t harm them, that would be simplest. Once you have seen and overcome any dangers within, we can assess the best course of action."
Several especially large, octagonal formations jut from the bottom of the Lucent Archive. Unlike the other prisms, these are hollow and contain one or more rooms each. The method of entering each varies; the tower Sorrina believes holds the secret she seeks has a high-peaked set of double doors made from blue-tinted glass and silver. Only the tower’s northernmost facets are visible, for the rest of the structure is within the cavern’s wall.
As she approaches within 100 feet of the towers, Sorrina’s stony flesh begins to crack and fleck. Positing that she could become a liability if the wards become stronger, she waits here for you as you forward.
You make your way through the doors into the tower. Triangular designs etch the floor of this octagonal chamber, whose smooth walls of bluish crystal rise eighty feet to a peaked, eight-sided dome. A pair of two-foot-tall triangular daises of blue-tinged stone stands between double doors set into the north and south walls. Stacks of hundreds of inch-thick glassy plates tower higher than the doorframes.
In the room wait four pale yellow humanoids with blank, bulging white eyes and gangly arms and legs. They clutch pickaxes in their knobby hands.
One of them calls out something in Aklo and the rest start to chatter at you in different tongues.
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Whilst following Sorrina, Nel takes intensive notes of their surroundings and the formations noted by the prior Master of Spells, he takes a taste of the Halite and notes down his findings. Bidding her farewll at the barriers, he keeps an eye ye out for traps before spying the strange creatures.
Nel seems puzzled by the creatures and curses himself for not knowing the languages of the deep earth I must spend some time on my languages he muses as he stuides the creatures to see if he knows.
Nel and Rowanna recognize these things as pechs. Untold ages ago, the pechs served forgotten masters in the deepest caverns of the world. In time, their masters moved on, leaving the pechs bereft of guidance and the unspeakable horrors some of them encountered in tunnels near the surface transformed those pechs into derros over the course of several generations. But these are pechs of the ancient race, skilled miners and stonemasons.
The first pech shouts back at Rowanna in Aklo.
The lead pech then starts casting a spell as the others raise their weapons.
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Nel readies his Rapier as the Pechs become hostile and focuses his attentions on the creature to his left, studying it for weaknesses. Drawing an infusion from his bandolier with his tail he pops it into his mouth, his muscles tighten and his reactions quicken.
Despite the situation his voice is calm and calculating.
"Why are they threatening Rowena? These are Pech, you want cold-iron weapons, watch their earth magicks and don't try turning them to stone"
+2 vs Purple Pech
for +2 Atk/Dmg vs Purple
Two of the pechs close in on Savage and another moves in on Nel!
The other nods his head and the ground beneath Nel's feet shoots up, sending spikes of crystals at the tiefling!
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With his enhanced reflexes from his concoction speeding his limbs, Nel nimble avoids the pick of the first Pech, though his parry was far off the mark but is caught solidly by the spikes of earth ripping from beneath him.
A soft curae, he switches his focus from the furthest Pech to the one directly ahead. Before striking with a duelist's flourish.
for
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Harmonious will move, putting himself between Rowanna and the far off hostile Pech, drawing his Scimitar as he goes.
"Woah, woah I think we got off to a bad foot everyone! We can work this out!" Flashing a smile back to Rowanna, "Think you can translate for me?"
I really think we can work through this, these creatures aren't nearly as evil as their Derro cousins.
Jaysin is relentless and quickly takes down two of the small fey! Xue then charges in and nearly skewers the next as Nel works his blade in from the other side. Harmonius is still trying to talk things out as Rowanna attempts a hex on the caster but has no luck. The wounded pech backs up a step and swings his pick at Xue:
As the other sends another blast of crystals at Nel!
blue: 25 dmg
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Harmonious, aghast at his teammates will run over to the downed Pech's, drawing his wand of Infernal Healing as he goes offering up a prayer to the redeemer, Saranrae "As I use this wand to redeem the devil inside, let it's healing redeem these pech" and will cast it on the more hurt of the downed Pech.
Turning to the rest of the Pech and his party, "Guys we really should consider our options here!"